Chapter 523

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 523: To the Edge of the Galaxy (6)

A bundle of weapons.

It was clear this proposal had perfectly grasped Yeongwoo’s needs.

He had even specified it as a “bundle of weapons for Sword Mountain.”

“…How the hell did that guy figure out I use Sword Mountain?”

At this, Earth let out a long sigh.

『You’ve got some surprisingly sloppy sides. Your clan crest is literally using the Wedge of the Arsenal.』

“Well, yeah, but it’s not like we go around with our sails unfurled. How’d he figure out the crest?”

『Well… when someone scans a planetary ship, the first thing that shows up is the owning clan’s crest.』

“Ah.”

That was something Yeongwoo had never known.

『Every single merchant out there has already scanned us once. That’s only natural, given how massive this ship is.』

Earth then pointed at the reddish-brown warship on the screen.

『Anyway, you need to decide. Are you going to meet them? We don’t have much time, and we can only make a deal with one side.』

Earth added that in just a few minutes they would re-enter the relay zone.

Yeongwoo nodded without much hesitation.

“They said it’s a bundle of weapons for Sword Mountain. Of course I have to meet them.”

Whatever the word bundle meant in terms of actual quantity, it could only be useful to Yeongwoo.

Even if it were just ten blades, Twenty-Four Sword Mountain would become Thirty-Four Sword Mountain, and the first-level collection effect was nothing to scoff at either.

[Collection Effect: 10]

| +1% damage per registered weapon

‘And once the number of registered weapons exceeds thirty, the third collection effect should unlock.’

So there was no possible loss for Yeongwoo.

“How’s the trade conducted? Do I have to cross over to their side, like when I met Chancellor Herisa?”

When Yeongwoo asked this, Earth shook its head.

『Back then we were the ones in the weaker position. This time it’s the opposite. If you wish, the deal can happen inside Earth.』

“Oh, really?”

That was a welcome thing to hear.

So Yeongwoo immediately designated the venue.

“Then the Grand Assembly Hall is best. There’s plenty of space to lay out weapons, and if something happens, we can fight there too.”

『…Understood. I’ll make the docking channel connect directly to the Assembly Hall.』

“Then I can head down to the Assembly Hall with an easy mind.”

* * *

When Yeongwoo left the bridge and entered the Assembly Hall, the room greeted him with a dimmer, more shadowy atmosphere than before.

This time the ceiling was closed, and only the indirect lighting stretching out from the massive inner walls illuminated the interior.

“Feels like some kind of black market.”

As Yeongwoo muttered, rubbing his arm for no real reason, Earth spoke to him through his consciousness.

○ I’ve set the docking channel’s exit near the round table. Stand there and you’ll see the merchant appear.

“When’s he coming?”

○ Now.

“……!”

The moment Earth said this, a large portal opened in the air before the round table.

The merchant in question was entering the Assembly Hall.

Shhhhhh!

Ripples spread across the portal’s surface, and out stepped a hunched-over ratman.

‘Another ratman? These guys really are everywhere in the galaxy.’

Most delivery couriers across space were ratmen, and even the assassins who had once visited as proxies for the Ship Management Bureau were ratmen.

Just as rats were common on Earth, so too in the galaxy, it seemed.

—It is an honor to meet the Shipmaster in person! Please accept my greeting first!

The ratman dropped flat to the floor, pressing his forehead down.

He was clearly trying to smooth over the fact that he had fired at them earlier just to get Yeongwoo’s attention.

“You little bastard… You dare fire at the Earthship, and think one bow will wipe it away? Insolent.”

As Yeongwoo let his hand rest casually on Bastard at his hip, the ratman’s fur trembled in fine shivers.

—It was but a pitiful greeting from this wretch! Please, forgive me with your vast generosity…!

‘His groveling act is galaxy-class.’

Yeongwoo, however, had long since been certified by the System as a troublemaker, and had survived this far by reading people.

He knew well this was just an act for business.

After all, the very fact he had dared fire ship cannons at a vessel tens of thousands of times larger than his own meant he was no ordinary creature.

So Yeongwoo didn’t intend to dismiss him outright.

“So then, what’s your name?”

—They call me Pacha, the Cleaner.

“…Cleaner?”

Yeongwoo tilted his head, and Pacha carefully raised his.

—Yes. I travel the galaxy’s battlefields collecting scrap.

“Ah, so a battlefield cleaner.”

Which meant, the bundle of weapons he mentioned earlier must have been scavenged from warzones.

“And the goods? Where are they?”

—Here.

Pacha reached into the portal and dragged out a rectangular black steel chest.

Clanggg!

Then another chest, chained to the first, appeared halfway through the portal.

It wasn’t just one crate of weapons.

Clang, clanggg!

In total, Pacha pulled out six crates.

“…Just how many swords did you bring?”

As Yeongwoo looked at the crates stretching across the floor, Pacha counted them off and replied.

—120 blades.

“What?”

—This is the entirety of my stock. Since you use Sword Mountain, I thought you’d need them all, so I brought everything.

Yeongwoo couldn’t help but ask:

“I may be borrowing the Chairman’s Wedge crest, but how could you be so certain I wield Sword Mountain?”

At that, Pacha glanced around the vast Assembly Hall.

—Well… you do command this colossal ship, do you not?

“And what of it?”

—To operate such a vessel while borrowing the Wedge crest… that would be impossible without the protection of the King of Destruction.

Then Pacha lifted his hand into the air and brought it down, continuing his words.

—So, if you are the owner of a ship of this magnitude, I naturally assumed you must have inherited Sword Mountain.

To “inherit Sword Mountain”… it wasn’t exactly wrong, but the nuance was odd.

It sounded almost as if he had seen something similar before.

“You’re not saying you’ve seen someone else using Sword Mountain while also wielding the Wedge Insignia, are you?”

—Of course. On the battlefield of Takikephal, I once saw a colossal Sword Mountain being unleashed. That person’s unique insignia also contained the Wedge.

Takikephal.

Wherever that was, the important part was that another favored child of the Chairman had been there.

Naturally—Yeongwoo wasn’t the only one chosen by the Chairman.

For that matter, even the space pirate Guppy could be considered someone “selected” by the Chairman.

‘Still, I can’t imagine Guppy using Sword Mountain… so it must be someone else.’

And if this person was active enough to stand out in an interstellar battlefield, their power must have been extraordinary.

Even Yeongwoo, despite all he’d been through, had never fought in a war of that scale.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“……”

For now, though, what mattered was the deal at hand.

“Anyway, how do you even have 120 weapons in your possession?”

As Yeongwoo steered back to the point, Pacha opened the lid of the first crate.

Click!

Inside were weapons of every kind, but all drained of their original color, nothing but ashen husks stacked together.

Some even had large cracks in their blades, or were snapped in half entirely.

In short, they were battlefield scrap, broken beyond use.

“What the—these are all just junk metal.”

—Yes, exactly. As I mentioned earlier, what I collect is scrap. A small fry like me couldn’t possibly strip weapons off people during a battle.

In other words, these were spoils gathered from corpses immediately after the fighting ended.

Loot, but of the kind no one came looking for anymore—because their owners were dead.

“Some of these blades are straight-up broken. How are they supposed to be used?”

Yeongwoo picked up one sword from the crate, but unlike normal gear, its tooltip was damaged.

Flash!

「Roar of the Earth Dragon」 – Epic One-Handed Sword

The weapon’s original name and grade were still displayed, but its unique effects were gone.

In other words, it was completely ruined—its lifespan exhausted.

Yet Pacha didn’t flinch even as Yeongwoo’s face twisted in disappointment.

—It may be scrap, but in the hands of Sword Mountain’s master, I know they still hold value.

“They become valuable in Sword Mountain?”

—Yes. Even in this state, they can still be registered in the catalog, and once in there, they can be summoned again through Sword Mountain.

Although, the unique effects of each weapon would never return.

Meaning: they could only expand the scale of Sword Mountain and provide collection bonuses from the weapon catalog.

‘Still, since the grade is displayed… their raw power should be intact.’

Not all weapons summoned by Sword Mountain had the same strength.

Even if they all fell together in the Sword Mountain, their grade determined their destructive power.

So—even if these were broken epics, once recycled through Sword Mountain, their raw might would still equal that of intact epic weapons.

That was exactly the point Pacha was emphasizing.

—I’ve waited quite some time for someone who could revive these weapons’ potential. If you, the Shipmaster, buy them, I’ll sell them at 30% off the regular price.

Adding, this was his way of apologizing for having greeted him earlier with cannon fire.

“Regular price? These are stolen goods to begin with. How can they even have a regular price? The number you name is the ‘price,’ isn’t it?”

—Heh-heh, well, that’s true enough.

“So, what is this so-called price?”

—Of the 120 weapons, about half are relic-grade, and the rest are unique and epic. There are even a few legendary pieces mixed in. Thus, the price I set is 2 million apiece, for a total of 240 million.

“Two million for a piece of scrap? That’s steep.”

—But you’ll be getting 120 weapons all at once. Please also consider my labor in collecting this scrap.

“So with your discount, that would be…”

—168 million.

Yeongwoo understood: this was the real price.

If he wanted, he could haggle down further.

But instead of saving a mere few million, Yeongwoo decided to look further ahead.

“Fine. I’ll pay what you ask. But in exchange—”

—Yes, what is it?

“If you get more scrap in the future, contact me first.”

And he added one more important clause:

“And if these don’t work properly with Sword Mountain, I won’t be paying you a coin.”

—Understood.

At that, Pacha stepped back, and Yeongwoo reached into the crate of junk weapons.

Rustle.

One hundred and twenty scrap weapons.

If they could be registered in the catalog, their effect would be enormous.

For starters, just the collection bonus alone would boost his damage by 120%.

[Collection Bonus: 10]

| +1% damage per registered weapon

Surely, the collection bonus wouldn’t vanish even after being folded into Sword Mountain?

After all, his current catalog count was only 24 weapons.

‘But if all of these register, that number will jump to 144.’

An explosive leap forward.

Yeongwoo stood before the pitch-black crate, a mix of anticipation and unease.

Then, placing his hand on the heap of weapons, he invoked catalog registration.

‘…Register weapons.’

Suddenly, the inside of the crate shone brightly, and twenty weapons were sucked into Yeongwoo’s fingertips.

Shhhhhh!

“Wha—?”

They really were registering.

His catalog count jumped immediately to 44.

[Weapon Catalog]

〔44〕

Then the weapons in the next crate began glowing too.

One after another, the full 120 weapons were being registered.

‘…Unbelievable. So this is how the Chairman’s Hundred-Thousand Sword Mountain was built.’

Well, he was called “the one born of battlefields.”

He must have registered every weapon left behind in all those countless battlefields.

‘But to gather a hundred thousand like this… how many battles must he have fought?’

As Yeongwoo wondered, the last crate shone, pushing his catalog total all the way to 144.

Fwoooosh!

[Weapon Catalog]

〔144〕

And then, the notifications Yeongwoo had been hoping for flooded his vision.

「The third collection bonus has been unlocked!」

「The fourth collection bonus has been unlocked!」

「The fifth collection bonus has been unlocked!」

“…What?”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]