Chapter 50: Rani’s Masterpiece: Huuwoong

“Shall we check AwakenerNet now?”

“Sure!”

[Accepting Production Requests.]

A day had passed since the post went up on AwakenerNet.

By now, they should’ve sent everything in.

Let’s take a look.

[AwakenerNet]

[Unconfirmed Notifications: 259]

‘Hm?’

‘Why so many?’

That can’t be right…

Tilting my head in confusion, I skimmed through them.

“Ugh… why are there so many people just blindly throwing things in?”

I clearly set the condition for materials from floor 61 and above.

What the…

There are even materials from floor 30.

Huh?

This is floor 21 material.

What a mess.

No, I’m not buying any of this.

All rejected.

[Rejected]

[Rejected]

[Rejected]

***

After pressing reject repeatedly, I paused.

“Wait, this one’s from China.”

[Requester: Central Awakened Administration Bureau (China)]

These guys are something else.

They’re actually putting in requests.

Todd said, “Probably some countries or the Chinese top brass roughly guess that Sujangnim is behind this.”

So they should know they won’t be accepted.

Or maybe they don’t.

Either way, rejection.

I was a little biased, but even if not, no way you guys would get in…

‘What is this, a thousand-yuan mart?’

The floor 61 materials are legit, but they want more than double that, and it’s still not enough…

Plus, the other materials are a random mess mixed with high and low-grade magic stones…

“Looks like they emptied out their whole warehouse.”

“Yeah, seriously.”

Nope. Still rejected.

Especially China—automatic dismissal for you guys.

Okay, done sorting.

Let’s check the list.

[Ralph Carter (USA)]

[Arthur Brandt (UK)]

[Lucas Wolf (Germany)]

[James Moore (USA)]

Exactly four.

“Wow, the amounts of materials… all from rankers.”

Of course.

This is how it should be.

There are way too many heartless people out there.

Look how many materials Rani’s gotten.

And get this—

She’s even making things without charging money!

“Well… Sujangnim, double the materials cost way more than the money.”

“Rani, Todd says he wants to fly on a plane.”

“Hm? Great! Bear’s flying!”

Why do you keep saying obvious stuff…

Hmm.

By the way, the USA put in two requests.

James Moore?

Never heard of him before.

Looked him up and found him.

Currently climbing floor 62.

“Wow… the USA actually has two people above floor 61.”

‘Is this the strength of America?’

Anyway, the important thing is materials and quantity.

Let’s see…

“As expected, Ralph Carter’s request is better.”

The top ranks are really different.

Just like Lee Bojun before.

The world number one, Ralph Carter, has a different caliber.

Other rankers barely doubled or went 2.5 times materials.

Ralph?

[Production Request]

[Requester: Ralph Carter (USA)]

[Item requested: Two-handed Axe]

[Main material: 60 Giant Sand Worm Teeth]

Rani’s standards aside, there’s a known general quantity of main materials.

For example, swords require 10 pieces.

Two-handed axes require 15 pieces.

So 60 pieces for a two-handed axe… that’s 4 times the usual amount.

“…”

“He must have thought it over a lot. Sent 3x, then 3.5x, then finally 4x.”

The Giant Sand Worm is a floor 66 monster.

Its quality is already the highest, and the quantity is the largest?

No choice there.

Bid accepted.

Bang bang bang!

Still, just in case, should I show this to Rani?

“Rani, you’ll like this! Want to make it?”

Good.

Request accepted right away.

Rani, here you go.

“Can you start right away?!”

She handed over the materials, eyes shining brightly.

‘Is she really that excited?’

“Of course, naturally.”

“Great!”

“But how long will it take?”

Materials from the 50-floor range usually take about half a day.

If artifact fragments are involved, a week.

So, this time…?

“Hmm… to make it look nice, it’ll take 3 days!”

Three days? That’s reasonable.

“Hey! Rani’s on it!”

I nodded, and she immediately grinned and headed straight for the training grounds.

Now that Rani’s started, “Alright, shall we climb the Tower?”

From that day, we went back into Tower climbing mode.

How?

Woke up in the morning and gathered everyone.

“Rani’s going to make the weapon!”

Okay…

“Have a candy before you go.”

“Thank you!”

“Our Rani.”

“Give her a candy, and she immediately pops it in her mouth and goes straight to hammering at the training grounds.”

What about the others?

[Today’s News.]

Watched some TV for a bit.

They don’t discriminate in content.

From dramas and news to documentaries, variety shows, and movies…

They’re omnivores.

After passing time like that, “Shall we start climbing the Tower soon?”

“Sounds good!”

“Waiting for you.”

Call and they gather immediately.

Then what?

We climb the Tower.

First, split our top-tier workers into two teams.

Arthur / Robin + Woonjang.

Arthur uses sword and shield for stability.

“From floor 61, difficulty changes, so let’s go up to floor 60 first like this.”

“Yeah, going to floor 61 too!”

“Nope, safely.”

The workers say they can handle above floor 61 alone.

But no rush, better to go together safely.

Still, maybe we can clear one floor per day…?

Anyway.

With this setup,

[Chaos Tower Floor 51 Clear!]

[Level Up!]

[Clear Time – 00:41:58]

[New World Record!]

[Additional Reward – Key Fragment of Chaos]

“Yeah! That’s Arthur, our worker Arthur!”

“Yeah! Yeah!”

That’s Arthur’s record.

What about the other team?

[Chaos Tower Floor 52 Clear!]

[Level Up!]

[Clear Time – 00:21:37]

[New World Record!]

[Additional Reward – Key Fragment of Chaos]

Yeah… just insane.

‘Top two combined like this?’

They clear it in a flash.

“If we repeat this for five days, that’s floor 60.”

Climbing the Tower.

Easy.

“Hey, is Bokdeng coming today?”

“Yeah. Should be over soon.”

***

Third day of production.

The final day.

The other workers cleared up to floor 56 of the Chaos Tower.

Normally, I’d be watching TV… but…

Thunk, bang!

“Bokdeng’s hammering happily!”

Today, I was watching Rani work.

‘Why?’

Because once Rani’s done, we’re all going to eat something delicious together.

“Rani, finished making it!”

Kya.

Done.

The finished product was a two-handed axe bigger than Rani herself.

Whoa.

Look at it wobble.

“Have you named it?”

“Yup! Huuwoong!”

Hmm…

No, normally I’d just let it slide, but this one’s curious.

“Rani, why Huuwoong?”

“Because—! When I swing it, it goes Huuwoong! Huuwoong!”

Hmm…

Okay…

I don’t get it.

“Yeah, me neither…”

Right?

Well… since Rani says it’s Huuwoong, that’s that.

I looked at the options—

[Huuwoong]

[A masterpiece crafted by a master at the pinnacle of skill.]

[Uses the power of sand to protect the wielder.]

[On attack, has a chance to create a shockwave that cleaves the earth.]

[Powerful penetration that ignores part of enemy defense.]

[Special skill ‘Sandstorm’ available.]

[Increased earth attribute resistance.]

Oh.

Something changed.

Previously, the first line read: [A masterpiece crafted by a highly skilled artisan.]

Now it says: [A masterpiece crafted by a master at the pinnacle of skill.]

‘What’s going on?’

‘Is the grade about to rise?’

Curious.

First, send the weapon to the waiting customer.

When I asked Rani right after, “Hmm… I have to make more stuff like Huuwoong. But! If I make prettier ones, they can break easily! That means needing a lot more materials!”

Hmm.

‘So even more materials are needed?’

Our customer Ralph gave 4 times the materials.

I thought it would be enough…

More needed?

No way.

Guess I have to take another request.

“How’s that? Not bad, right?”

“Yup! But Rani wants to rest today! She’s tired…”

“Of course. She was just working. No way I’d ask her to make another one right away.”

Rest well today.

Here.

I gave Rani her favorite strawberry candy.

“Todd, did you hear? Let’s take one more request.”

“Great. It’d be good to get as many materials as possible.”

“Right? Shall we post it right now?”

“Um… post it tomorrow.”

‘Tomorrow?’

‘Why?’

“Hehe, you’ll understand when you see tomorrow.”

‘Was it just my imagination?’

I’ve been hearing that sneaky laugh a lot lately.

Still, every time I hear it, something definitely comes through.

Yeah…

Ralph Carter, number one ranker in the USA.

Usually pretty busy…

“When will it be finished?”

Right now, I was just endlessly checking AwakenerNet.

No, wait.

***

I heard the Labor Management Office Head once sent a weapon in just one day…

So I waited.

From day one until now, just waiting.

“But why no news yet?”

Ding!

[The requested item has arrived.]

“Oh… finally!”

Immediately upon receiving the item, a two-handed axe that exuded overwhelming presence—perfect!

Kya!

This is it!

“As expected from the Labor Management Office Head!”

Naturally, the name should be cool, right?

Expecting that, I asked—

“Huuwoong?”

No.

Seriously.

‘How is the weapon’s name Huuwoong?’

Well.

I had a rough idea.

I’ve seen Korean rankers’ weapon names before.

But still, this is next level.

“How many materials did you even give…?”

Of course, the weapon itself was satisfying.

Looking at the options.

The moment I gripped it, I felt it.

“Ah.”

That’s why Korean rankers have no complaints about their weapon names.

They’re just insane.

Feels like I leveled up more than 10 times just by holding it.

“With this…”

The obstacle right before me—the 67th floor—should be easy.

No, maybe even beyond that.

“Now’s not the time for this.”

There are others waiting.

[Management Team Leader, Sam]

They came charging in—

“-Hey, Ralph.”

“I just got the weapon, you know?”

“-Oh! How’s the performance? Is it good? Didn’t waste the materials, right? Did it come through properly?”

Geez. So much talk.

Worrying is their specialty.

“Tell me about it.”

“This is a scam. When we meet later, I’ll show you the options. Even if I sell everything I have, I couldn’t buy this.”

Unbelievable. If it were for sale, I’d definitely buy it.

“-That much?”

“Yeah. Even with the weird name, it’s satisfying.”

“-What’s the name?”

What else.

Huuwoong…

Sigh.

I’ll explain later, but I don’t want to talk about it now.

Instead, I brought up the main point.

“Expect this. Prepare yourself. Tomorrow, we’re smashing floor 67. This is the last party, so everyone, gear up properly.”

Sigh.

I get it.

Soon the number one ranker will be overtaken.

Labor Management Office Head.

The monster who cleared China’s S-class dungeon that everyone gave up on.

Saved India and Egypt.

And just today, set a world record on the Tower.

And on top of that…

“Can even make weapons like this…?”

‘What kind of person is this?’

Seriously.

The world is unfair.

I have no choice but to acknowledge it.

Someday they’ll catch up.

And that day isn’t far off.

But.

I will be the one to open the door to floor 70.

This Ralph Carter will.

***

Another post from the Labor Management Office Head appeared on AwakenerNet.

[Accepting Production Requests.]

Conditions similar to before.

One difference:

[This request will be conducted as a fully transparent auction.]

A public auction???

Rankers will participate… but the competition might not be as fierce as expected?

Loo—Ralph being quiet is suspicious.

“True. If he liked showing off his golden weapons, the news would’ve exploded already.”

“Let the guessing game begin.”

“Most people think alike.”

At the start of the auction, reactions were lukewarm.

At most:

[Lucas Volt (Germany)] – 21 pieces.

[Arthur Brandt (UK)] – 22 pieces.

Tentatively bidding 2x materials, cautious and slow.

[Haha.]

[Ralph not joining says a lot, huh?]

But he must have already received plenty from someone, so it’s a good deal for him, right?

[Ah, if the auction had been fierce, the dopamine rush would’ve been real.]

[The USA shocked, UK overthrown, and so on…]

[Well… materials from floors 50s and 60s are different.]

Lucas isn’t even participating?

Well.

The answer’s obvious.

Disappointing but a bust.

Just as everyone came to this conclusion,

Breaking news exploded worldwide.

[Ralph Carter Clears Chaos Tower Floor 67 for the First Time!]