Chapter 169

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Chapter 169: Flex

After Park Siwoo, it was Cedric’s turn.

He got a total of five tattoos.

—Splendid.

Bears, eagles, lions, cheetahs, and more.

Cedric nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the tattoos intricately engraved on his bones. With this, all the male members of the guild had received the benefits of tattooing.

They stepped out of the break room.

Seo Yerim and Han Siah, who had been talking, looked towards them.

Park Siwoo was grinning from ear to ear.

Seo Yerim asked him,

“Did something good happen?”

“Of course. Ahem. Take a look at this, ladies.”

Park Siwoo proudly raised his arm. A drawing of a hunting dog, as if barking, was visible.

[Hunting Dog Tattoo]

[Area: Arm]

[Effect 1. Agility increased by 6%.]

It was clearly just a simple drawing.

Up to that point, it was understandable, but upon closer inspection, detailed information like that of an item popped up. Seeing that, the two women’s eyes widened.

“A tattoo?”

“But why are there stats…?”

“Awesome, right? Hyung said it’s a skill he learned from a Gate. 6% stat increase per drawing. For reference, I got four.”

“Four… that’s 24%?”

“That’s right. And he says we can get more if we level up, right, Hyung?”

“Right.”

Kim Minwoo nodded and briefly explained about the tattoos.

That they were drawings that the Barbarians inside the Gate used to get.

And that they provided powerful stat boosts. Seo Yerim was surprised by the stat part, but Han Siah’s reaction was a bit different.

“That tiny drawing costs at least 25 billion won? Not 2.5 billion won?”

“Originally, Barbarians used to cover their entire bodies with tattoos. The reason they’re small is because I personally modified them.”

“You can even modify them?”

“If you nag them enough, there’s nothing you can’t do. Anyway, all of us guys, including Cedric, got them.”

Kim Minwoo snapped his fingers.

This time, Merhen appeared.

“Merhen. You know about this too, right?”

—Yeah. It’s what those Barbarians were doing back then.

“Do you want one too?”

—…Like that?

“Why? You don’t like it?”

—It’s not pretty.

“Huh?”

—I don’t like it because it’s not pretty.

Merhen replied with a firm expression.

Kim Minwoo blinked.

It was true that the drawings weren’t exactly pretty. Even the hunting dog tattoo on his arm was like that.

A drawing of a dog with blood all over its body, drooling and growling like it had rabies.

At best, it was a fierce and bloody manly feeling, but at worst… it wasn’t pretty.

Park Siwoo scratched his head.

“Uh… do you ladies feel the same way?”

“If you’re going to get it, you have to get it. But the aesthetic sense is a bit… lacking…”

“I’m worried about the price… I don’t know if I should accept something like this…”

The former was Seo Yerim’s answer.

The one feeling burdened by the price was Han Siah. Although she was born into a wealthy family, she hadn’t received much financial benefit, so her reaction wasn’t strange.

“Don’t worry about the money. It’s just a small gift. But the aesthetic sense… uh… that part… Okay, let’s say that’s true. Merhen?”

—Yes.

“Then what kind of drawing do you think is pretty?”

—Something like this.

Merhen reached out her hand.

Water flowed over her hand, completing a delicate drawing.

It was a picture of a tiny puppy sticking out its tongue and panting.

“Wow!”

“So cute!”

The two women looked at Merhen’s water drawing in admiration.

Compared to the hunting dog tattoo, the reaction was completely different.

From feeling hesitant even if it was offered for free, it had changed to a feeling of wanting to get it no matter what.

‘I made a mistake.’

He thought they would be satisfied just by seeing the stat increase.

He realized that the drawing itself was an important factor.

Well, it made sense.

There was a reason why pretty and cute things were popular.

In that context, showing them Barbarian-style drawings might have been a mistake.

Then, he had to correct it.

He called Hail.

The skeleton appeared in the form of a tattoo artist, holding a brush and dye, and looked at Merhen’s hand.

“Hail, can you change the tattoo design to something like that?”

Hail scratched the back of his head as if troubled.

—Wait, you can’t?

The words were a question, but the eyes weren’t. Seeing Merhen’s fierce gaze, Hail hurriedly shook his head. Soon, he started writing on a piece of paper with a brush.

—Really?! For real? You’ll make it cute, right?

—I don’t care. As long as it’s cute. It has to be cute. Got it?

Hail replied with difficulty.

But, was it possible?

‘Well, thinking about it, there’s no reason why it wouldn’t be possible.’

It was the same with the tattoo miniaturization.

—You want to draw it small? Why, when it’s so cool?

He recalled the chieftain’s puzzled expression in the past Gate.

The Barbarians didn’t not miniaturize tattoos because they couldn’t, but because they simply didn’t. The same might be true for drawing cute tattoos.

Why would they draw it cute in the first place?

The purpose of tattoos was not only for the stat benefits but also for intimidation and showing off through the drawings.

In other words, the Barbarians never needed to draw cute pictures. Considering that, it might be possible to draw cute tattoos while still providing the same stat benefits.

‘The materials used would be the same anyway.’

—Let’s go then!

Merhen grabbed the hands of the two women. The two women and one undead entered the break room with Hail.

The first round of work was mostly done.

“Siwoo.”

“Yes, Hyungnim.”

“Summon your holy sword.”

He nodded and summoned the holy sword. Kim Minwoo looked at the sword that appeared with a white aura and took out a rune from his inventory.

Park Siwoo tilted his head at the sight of the rune. It looked like a gray pebble.

The only unique thing about it was that it had all sorts of patterns engraved on it.

“What’s that?”

“A rune.”

“Rune?”

“Take a look.”

He handed the rune to him.

[Effect 1. Restores 0.1% of maximum health per minute.]

“A rune? I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”

“It’s made with a production skill I obtained in a Gate. You insert it into equipment to apply the effect.”

[Translator – Prøks]

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He explained to him about the rune. The more he listened, the paler his face became.

“So… you make it by putting in materials and then insert it into equipment?”

“That’s right.”

“It’s expensive to make, but the effect is really good.”

“That’s right.”

Park Siwoo clicked his tongue.

0.1% of maximum health regeneration per minute.

It might seem small at first glance, but it wasn’t a small effect.

In one hour?

It was a whopping 6% recovery rate.

And runes weren’t limited to just one per equipment.

You could put up to three per equipment. Just by inserting six of these health regeneration runes, you could recover 36% of your health per hour.

It was an item that could drastically reduce potion consumption.

‘This is insane.’

Even though he was a newbie with less than a year of experience, he had accumulated enough experience to beat most veterans in terms of the number of Gates he had cleared.

He knew which options were valuable.

He could feel it in his body.

And he knew roughly how much they were worth. From that perspective, this rune was…

‘Overpowered.’

It was simply a broken skill. Of course, there were definite drawbacks.

The most crucial drawback was this.

“So, even if you make a rune, the option doesn’t come out the way you want?”

“Yeah. That’s the most frustrating part.”

Even with the same materials, it was uncertain whether they would get health regeneration speed or a useless rune like defense increase.

Furthermore, there were frequent cases where absolute values appeared in the options.

Even for the same 2nd stage rune, there was a world of difference between a 20% increase in cutting power and a +20 increase in cutting power.

The former was a top-tier option, the latter was a trash option.

To filter out the trash options and only use the top-tier ones?

You had to spend money freely.

Like crazy.

“Hyung, are you really going to put runes on all of our equipment? It costs tens of billions of won to make just one 2nd stage rune. And we have to replace them when the next stage comes out.”

In other words, if they inserted a 2nd stage rune and then started making 3rd stage runes, they would have to spend more money to replace them.

It was similar to a mobile game with power inflation.

New characters would come out and the old ones would be discarded, and discarded again…

That kind of payment structure.

And it wasn’t like there were only one or two pieces of equipment.

If they decided to insert them, they could easily put in over 30 or 40 runes.

This was a skill that truly required thinking in trillions of won.

Moreover, the higher the skeleton’s proficiency, the more so it became.

As the skeleton’s production skill increased, the runes they produced would become even higher quality.

However.

“What does that matter?”

“Huh?”

“We can just replace them when the next stage comes out. Is that difficult?”

“No, but it’ll cost a lot of money…”

Kim Minwoo chuckled.

“You’ve grown up a lot. You’re even worried about your Hyung’s money.”

“…Are you really sure? No, this is too much. It feels like Hyungnim is taking on all the burden.”

“I have a lot of money.”

“I know, but…”

“You don’t know exactly how much I have, right?”

“Uh… that’s right.”

Park Siwoo nodded.

Few people knew exactly how much Kim Minwoo’s assets were.

Even he himself didn’t know.

How surprised he was when he saw the news that Kim Minwoo had spent 160 trillion won at the Sky Auction House House not long ago!

Considering that kind of spending, even someone as rich as Kim Minwoo would have at best tens of trillions…

“Let’s see…”

Kim Minwoo looked ahead and narrowed his eyes as if checking something.

Soon after.

“I have about 200 trillion won.”

“…Huh?”

“I have about 200 trillion won. Of course, not all of it is cash, but anyway.”

Park Siwoo’s jaw dropped.

Not 20 trillion, but 200 trillion?

And he had even spent money at the Sky Auction House?

“…Why do you have so much?”

“The US and China helped me out a bit.”

He sold 5% of the Money Talks Guild Guild’s shares to the US for 100 trillion won.

On top of that, there was warm support from China.

240 trillion won given as tuition fees.

A portion of that amount had been postponed to the next month. Both amounts had been deposited long ago while he was away in the Gate.

The exchange system in the achievement shop.

This system allowed him to exchange even assets like real estate into points.

The total exchangeable points were 200.

The exchange rate was 1 point per 1 trillion won.

That’s why he had 200 trillion won.

Moreover, this money was something he could earn anytime he wanted.

Just tutoring alone was enough.

If he opened Merhen’s magic tutoring, wouldn’t trillions of won in tuition fees be exchanged?

If he sold runes and tattoos?

It was a completely new stat-boosting system that didn’t exist on Earth, so all the rankers would come running with bundles of money.

And there were also equipment, potions, and so on. There were plenty of things to sell.

‘The battery sales revenue will come in eventually.’

Mana?

The skeletons would provide it.

Material costs?

He had more than enough.

Failure rate?

He could just keep spending until he succeeded.

That’s why he could give them to his guild members without burden.

“…You’re really rich.”

“So don’t feel pressured to accept. It’s beneficial for me if you guys get stronger.”

“…Are you really giving them to us?”

“Of course. It’ll cost a bit, but…”

Runes could be inserted into equipment up to three times. Currently, the skeletons’ rune crafting skill was E rank.

‘They can craft up to 2nd stage runes…’

He was planning to insert all of them.

“Try inserting the rune into the holy sword. Let’s see if it works.”

“Okay.”

Park Siwoo held the rune over the holy sword. Soon, his eyes widened.

“Hyung, it says I can insert it! It seems to be treated as equipment. Should I insert it now?”

“Go ahead. Health regeneration is one of the top-tier options.”

“Yes.”

Park Siwoo inserted the rune into the holy sword.

Flash!

The holy sword turned a bit whiter with an aura. Seeing that, Kim Minwoo nodded.

“I need to buy materials. A lot of them.”

The moment he said that calmly.

[Target ‘Park Siwoo’s’ favorability increases.]

[83 -> 85]

[Details of ‘Guidance of Fate’ are changed.]

“Oh, it popped up?”

Kim Minwoo’s eyes sparkled.

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