Chapter 30: The Epic Dagger and the Composer’s Jealousy

Being told I could pick anything.

At those words, I examined the items radiating golden flashes.

Left, right, front, backEpic-grade items everywhere.

Truly a mountain of treasures; my eyes were spinning.

What should I choose…

Even so, I gripped my sanity tight and began looking around the items.

Helmets, upper armor, lower armor, cloaks, gauntlets, throwing stars, arm guards, etc.

Looking at the countless parts, I pondered deeply to make a wise decision.

My hunter life could change drastically depending on which item I picked.

SWISH.

I reached out toward a golden greatsword.

Just like in a game, a hologram appeared before my eyes.

The hologram displayed the item’s effects in detail.

Holy crap…

I marveled at the effects of the item I had touched at random.

As expected of an Epic-grade item, the effects were insane.

STEP. STEP.

I wandered between the display stands, touching items here and there.

Every time I reached out, a hologram popped up.

I read them slowly and carefully considered what to pick.

I could only have one of these many items.

If Epic-grade items are this good, how amazing must Legendary or Sacred be?

Suddenly, I thought of the tiers above Epic.

Legendary and Sacreditems that lived up to their names.

How incredible would those be?

Will the day ever come when I obtain something like that?

Honestly, I didn’t think so.

Legendary and Sacred-grade items?

That was just impossible.

No. I never imagined my life would turn out like this either.

I changed my mind.

Just a few months ago, I was a powerless dad.

Forget a billions-won salary and overwhelming strengthI could barely make ends meet.

If someone had shown the me from back then what I am now, I would have told them to stop talking nonsense.

Yeah, I can at least keep a little hope.

That’s why I decided not to give up my desire for Legendary and Sacred items.

Who knows?

Maybe I’ll achieve a great feat and be bestowed a Legendary item.

Or maybe I’ll get lucky in a gate and obtain a Sacred-grade item.

For now, let’s focus on this moment.

I stopped the pleasant daydream and concentrated on what was in front of me.

Epic-grade items emitting a golden aura.

Which one should I take?

My dilemma only deepened.

After wandering around the vault for about twenty minutes.

…Huh?

I discovered a strange item.

It was a dagger.

Necromancers used daggers, right?

Necromancers usually wield daggers or wands.

Of course, swords or staves are fine too, but daggers and wands were the norm.

Equipping those massively boosted a necromancer’s power.

Let’s see…

With that thought, I reached for the dagger.

As before, the item options appeared before my eyes.

[Blood Ghoul’s Blade]

A dagger imbued with the grudge of the blood-eating goblin, the Blood Ghoul.

Poison damage +30%

Bleed damage +30%

Burn damage +30%

“It increases poison, bleed, and burn damage by 30% each?”

I tilted my head at the effects.

Not because it was good or bad.

I simply couldn’t tell whether it was good or bad.

“Oh ho, Blood Ghoul’s Blade. You have unexpectedly good taste in items.”

At that moment, the Silver attack squad leader approached and spoke.

“Is this good?”

“Haha, yes. For a necromancer, it’s the best possible item. Especially for someone like you who uses summons.”

“Really…!?”

“Of course. You know that items equipped by a necromancer also apply to their summons, right?”

“Ah, yes. I’m aware of that.”

I nodded.

Indeed, items worn by a necromancer affect their summons.

That’s why items are incredibly important to necromancers.

“Yes. Because of that trait, Blood Ghoul’s Blade is perfect for necromancers. The more skeletons you have, the more those three additional damage types keep stacking.”

“Is that how it works…?”

“Exactly. Your skeleton soldiers constantly swing bone swords and cause bleedingadd 30% extra damage on top of that. On top of that, the burn and poison damage from your skeleton mages’ elemental magic will also stack.”

I nodded in understanding.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Skeleton soldiers continuously inflict bleed with their bone swords.

If 30% extra damage is added on top?

It would be insanely strong.

The skeleton mages are the same.

I had thought skeleton mages only had the three basic elementsfire, ice, lightning.

But that wasn’t true.

Rarely, some skeleton mages possessed the “venom” attribute and inflicted poison damage.

If venom mages and fire mages both dealt 30% extra damage?

That’s insane.

It was literally a jackpot.

The key was that these additional damages stacked repeatedly.

Meaning the extra damage applied continuously, not just once.

“Squad leader, I’ll take Blood Ghoul’s Blade.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I really like this one.”

“Good, great choice. I also think that’s the best for you. Anyway, congratulations. An Epic-grade itemhonestly, even I, an attack squad leader, am jealous.”

At the Silver squad leader’s words, I smiled.

The dagger emitting a faint golden auraBlood Ghoul’s Blade.

You’re mine now.

This item with its special effects was now mine.

Blood Ghoul’s Blade.

An Epic-grade item radiating golden light.

I took it and returned to the Nova team office.

When I showed it to Cha Jihye and the team members, they were utterly shocked.

First, that I had received an Epic-grade item as a reward.

Second, that I had perfectly picked Blood Ghoul’s Blade out of so many items.

They said my eye for items was incredible.

Their praise filled me with pride.

Because in a one-time chance, I had chosen a truly excellent item.

And so I looked forward to the next gate raid.

Waiting for the day I could use Blood Ghoul’s Blade.

While living like that.

I switched back from hunter to dad.

Because today I had to go to Daphne Entertainment again.

“Hyejiiii unniiie!”

The moment we entered the recording studio, Eunbyeol ran straight to Ahn Hyeji.

Ahn Hyeji opened her arms wide and hugged Eunbyeol.

“Eunbyeooool! Did you do well?”

“Yesss! Unnie, I missed you so much!”

“Unnie missed you too! So, so much!”

Eunbyeol and Ahn Hyeji rubbed cheeks, showing how much they missed each other.

They looked even more like real sisters than last time.

They had exchanged numbers and talked often, yet they were still this excited.

“Father, how have you been?”

“I’ve been well, Hyeji-ssi. You too?”

“Hehe, yes. Father, you look even healthier? Do hunters naturally build muscle that fast?”

“Haha, I guess so. We are superhumans, after all.”

“Wow, so jealous. I wish I had awakened as a hunter too!”

Ahn Hyeji said with a bright laugh.

She was always so cheerful.

After catching up, we began the real work.

“Eunbyeol-ah, did you compose anything this time?”

“Yesss! I did!”

“Oh, really? How many songs this time?”

“Two hundred!”

“…What? Last time it was a hundred, and now two hundred?!”

“Yesss!”

At Eunbyeol’s answer, Ahn Hyeji’s mouth fell wide open.

Her eyes were tremblingshe was genuinely shocked.

Well, she had been shocked with a hundred last time, so two hundred more was naturally mind-blowing.

“Eunbyeol-ah, then can you play them for unnie first?”

“Yesss!”

Eunbyeol started playing the songs she had recorded on her phone one by one.

And every time a song ended, Ahn Hyeji let out endless exclamations.

Saying every melody was amazing and fresh.

“Ha, I might have to listen all night, but still, this is a blessing for Eunbyeol. So many melodiesno chance of running out of ideas.”

“Hehe, is that so?”

“Yep. Anyway, today let’s listen to all of them and narrow down a few together with the ones from last time. We only need one for the launch anyway.”

“Yesss! Got it, unnie!”

Eunbyeol and Ahn Hyeji began listening and selecting like sistersand like fellow composers.

Though Ahn Hyeji was troubled because every song was good, they still managed to pick some.

From the 300 total melodies, they chose a few and decided to select guide vocals to sing them.

“Unnie, can Eunbyeol go to the bathroom real quick?”

“Oh, sure! Should unnie come with you?”

“Nooo! Eunbyeol is big now, I can go alone!”

“But the building is huge; you might get lost.”

When Ahn Hyeji worried, I stood up from the sofa where I had been watching and said.

“Hyeji-ssi, I’ll take her.”

“Will you?”

“Yes. You’ve worked hard; please rest a bit. I’ll be right back.”

“Hehe, thank you! Then please take care of her, Father!”

With Ahn Hyeji’s cheerful shout, Eunbyeol and I stepped into the hallway.

The incredibly wide corridor.

As we chattered and headed to the restroom.

Eunbyeol and I ran into a man.

A man who didn’t particularly like us father and daughter.

“Hello, Mr. Daesu.”

The man we met in the hallway.

None other than Kwak Daesu.

The composer who was competing with our Eunbyeol.

“Hello, mister!”

Following me, Eunbyeol also greeted him.

In contrast, Kwak Daesu only stared at us with a curt expression.

As if he had run into people he didn’t want to see.

Nod.

After glaring at us, Kwak Daesu barely tilted his head.

He probably did it because he couldn’t completely ignore the greeting, but it only made me feel worse.

He acted as if he were above us.

Sigh, even Composer Nam Seungha is kind to us.

I sighed inwardly, then continued toward the restroom with Eunbyeol.

I wanted to snap back at him, but I held it in to avoid causing trouble.

And I didn’t want to do it in front of Eunbyeol.

After passing Kwak Daesu and walking a few more steps.

“You’re Mr. Seo Juwon, right?”

Kwak Daesu’s voice came from behind.

I turned around.

He was staring straight at me.

“Yes. Is something the matter?”

“May I give you a piece of advice?”

“Advice? About what?”

“What else? Advice about composing. Well, you’re not a composer, but mixing words with a five-year-old brat is a bit ridiculous.”

Kwak Daesu sneered.

The snake-eyed man’s smile only sent chills down my spine.

“Go ahead. Let’s hear this amazing advice of yours.”

Even so, I faced Kwak Daesu head-on.

Because I had finally reached the limit of my patience.