Chapter 77: Choices

Cheongnok Ore.  

It was definitely the same material as the weapons held by the two statues.  

I swung the pickaxe a few more times, prying off some of the ore, then immediately checked the information.  

[Cheonjeoseok ]

[Type: Ore]

[Grade: SS]

[Description: The edge and floor of the sky. An unknown ore that forms the strata and foundation of the Tower.]  

Cheonjeoseok.  

It was an ore I had never seen before.  

And above all,  “SS grade?”  

SS grade, huh.  

Even Adamantium, which is currently the rarest and most expensive ore in the Hunter World, is only an S-grade ore.  

I had always thought Adamantium, as an S-grade ore, was the strongest among ores.  

But here was an ore that surpassed Adamantium’s grade.  

Judging just from the item description, I couldn’t guess what power this ore might contain, but an SS-grade ore?  

No doubt it must possess incredible power.  

‘If I manage to repair the weapons and there’s ore left…!’  

If I could repair the two giants’ weapons and still have ore remaining—  

No, if I could obtain the mining rights here—  

Then, wouldn’t it be possible to continuously mine SS-grade ore?  

As soon as the thought crossed my mind I said to the team, “Good! Keep mining!”  

“Yes.” Mining 1 and Mining 2 swung their pickaxes in earnest.  

“Phew!”  

I dropped the pickaxe from my hands.  

It wasn’t because I didn’t want to continue.  

In fact, since I had engraved two Rune Scripts on the pickaxe, it was starting to strain under the pressure.  

Besides, my role wasn’t mining—it was crafting.  

Now that I had the materials, I had to get straight to work on crafting.  

So, I left the mining to the mining team.  

“Production Team, let’s go!”  

“Yes.”  

With six assistants from the production team, I headed toward the two statues, holding the freshly mined SS-grade Cheonjeoseok in my hand.  

I stood proudly before the two statues.  

“Which one of you would like to receive repairs first?”  

At my question, the two statues answered simultaneously. 

“Of course.”  

“Of course.”  

“It’s me.”  

“It’s me.”   

Then they glared at each other.  

I had assumed they had decided beforehand, but it seemed they both naturally thought they should go first without even discussing it.  

“Decide quickly. We’ll start right away.”  

I urged them once more.  

“Obviously, it should be me first, isn’t that right?”  

“What nonsense is that?”  

“It is said that the King of a Hundred Weapons is the spear, so shouldn’t my spear take priority for repairs?”  

“Hah, how foolish. Don’t you know the sword is the King of Ten Thousand Weapons?”  

“We’re not going to play number games! Whether King of a Hundred or King of Ten Thousand, those numbers just mean many!”  

“Well, it’s still only the King of a Hundred Weapons, right? Look here, my sword is the King of Ten Thousand Weapons, so you’d need a hundred spears to catch up to my one sword.”  

“Whether King of a Hundred or Ten Thousand, it’s the wielder who matters! Also, the claim that the sword is the King of Ten Thousand Weapons is just an exaggerated boast born out of envy for the spear’s nickname!”  

“I see. King of a Hundred Weapons.”  

“This is outrageous!”  

The usually silent two statues had started arguing.  

King of a Hundred Weapons, King of Ten Thousand Weapons.  

To me, it sounded like just wordplay, but they seemed genuinely serious.  

“A soldier wielding a sword on the battlefield cannot defeat a spear-wielding soldier, don’t you know that?”  

“That’s just a difference in individual skill. Do you have proof otherwise?”  

“That’s exactly what I said earlier!”  

“Is that so? King of a Hundred Weapons.”  

“This is outrageous!”  

I tried to stop them, but their quarrel was surprisingly interesting.  

Sword first, or spear first.  

Even having made both weapons myself, I found it hard to decide.  

In terms of popularity, swords were far more common, but since ancient times, the spear was the fundamental weapon of soldiers.  

During wars, the sword was only a secondary weapon.  

Though, speaking of war, once the bow appeared, the dominance of both sword and spear greatly diminished.  

“This won’t do! Today, I shall prove that my spear is the King of a Hundred Million Weapons!”  

“Hah, King of a Hundred Million Weapons? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard after eons of time. Fine. I’ll take up the King of Ten Thousand Weapons and settle the ranks today.”  

The two statues faced each other.  

The sword and spear raised high toward one another.  

Watching their antics with interest, I suddenly snapped back to reality.  

“Wait!”  

If these two statues fought—  

It would certainly be entertaining, but the Combat 1 and 2 hanging at their waists might get hurt in the chaos.  

Their size was massive, so if things got serious, even I and my assistants could get injured.  

Just imagine if one of those statues fell over?  

The moment it crushed anything beneath, the insurance I had prepared would be gone without a trace.  

Furthermore-  

‘If it breaks more, the repair will really be difficult!’  

The weapons they held—the sword and spear—  

Both were already in terrible shape.  

If they clashed and fought, the damage would easily double or triple.  

One of the weapons might even be completely shattered mid-fight.  

So, I had to prevent any fighting.  

“You’re not planning on fighting, are you?”  

“Of course, I need to settle the ranks with the one who doesn’t know this topic!”  

“You there, challenger, do not interfere! This is between us two…”  

“If you keep clashing with those damaged weapons, they’ll break instantly, and then you won’t be able to get repaired. Do you really want to be challenged with nothing but handles left on your weapons?”  

“Uh…”  

“Ahem.”  

Fortunately, the two statues relaxed their grip on their weapons.  

But their eyes were still sharp and fierce.  

If they couldn’t use their weapons, they’d resort to fists to settle their ranks no matter what.  

At that moment, I stepped in decisively.  

“This isn’t a fight between you two. It’s a matter I should decide.”  

“What?”  

“What did you say?”  

“I’m the one repairing the weapons, so it only makes sense that I decide the repair order, right?”  

“Ahem.”  

“That makes sense.”  

I poured some oil on the fire.  

“And actually, it looks like repairing these weapons will require a lot of Cheonjeoseok. I don’t even know how much is left in the deposit.”  

“Is that so…?”  

“There should be Cheonjeoseok deposits all around here…”  

“Well, the weapons should be a bit bigger. Honestly, if this keeps up, the second weapon might not be fully repaired. It’s a bit tricky.”  

“W-what do you mean?”  

“Exactly that. If the amount of Cheonjeoseok is insufficient, one of the repairs might be difficult.”  

Upon hearing that they started saying:   

“Of course, mine should be first!”  

“What nonsense! Without my sword, how could we properly fend off enemies?”  

“The spear is the true weapon of a Gatekeeper! You must hold the spear to be a genuine Gatekeeper!”  

“Don’t be ridiculous!”  

“Who’s the one being ridiculous now?”  

The tone of the argument shifted.  

Their bickering turned into begging me to decide.  

“Hmm, this is a dilemma. Which one should I repair first…”  

That gave me an idea.  

“Ah, ahem. Come to think of it, watching your subordinates dangling like that must be unsettling. Since you promised repairs, let me give the subordinates back to you.”  

“Oh, thank you.”  

“Hey! I’ve already let mine down. Actions speak louder than words.”  

I turned their physical battle into tributes to me.  

The first tribute was the lowering of Combat1 and 2 from their waists.  

“Master, thank you.”  

“Thank you.”  

“You two go rest over there.”  

“Yes.”  

That saved both of them.  

But it wasn’t enough yet.  

Each had let go of one of my assistants, so the situation was balanced.  

To truly win their favor, I had to offer more.  

“I’ll grant you the special right to enter the Tower! With this, after passing our test, you won’t need to come all the way here—you can enter the Tower from anywhere!”  

“I’ll give the exit right! With this, you can leave the Tower anytime. If you use this wisely, you can escape in life-threatening emergencies!”  

“Oh!”  

Useful rewards arrived.  

No, more than useful—definitely valuable.  

But come to think of it, these rights could only be used after entering the Tower.  

Since I had no particular intention of entering the Tower myself, I wondered if these rights were really necessary.  

Sensing my ambiguous reaction, the statues pressed their faces closer and began to make additional offers.  

“I shall grant you the Gatekeeper’s Blessing!”  

“What’s that blessing?”  

“Gatekeeper’s Blessing. I will grant ‘Sturdy Life.’ With it, you can survive a powerful attack once.”  

“Oh?”  

Gatekeeper’s Blessing, Sturdy Life.  

A pretty good blessing.  

I’m safely hammering away at home, but I never know when a Gate Break might suddenly occur right outside my door.  

In such a case, that extra life would be very tempting.  

However, as soon as one Gatekeeper mentioned blessings the other one said,  “I will grant a blessing as well! ‘Gatekeeper’s Protection’ will shield you from enemy attacks in urgent situations!”  

“Ohhh.”  

The other Gatekeeper also spoke of blessings.  

Very promising.  

Besides that, they also offered to give parts of their bodies, or their summoning rights.  

Various proposals poured out.  

But nothing conclusive came from their offers.  

Of course, having guarded this gate together their whole lives, there would be few distinctions between them.  

Then, for the first time, a proposal that revealed their difference surfaced.  

“Also! I will train your subordinate! No, I will even take them as my disciple!”  

“Likewise!”  

“Hmm, to whom will you teach spear techniques?”  

“Well, that would be…!”  

“Ahem? Challenger, among your subordinates, you may have someone who handles the sword, but none who handles the spear, right?”  

“Hmm, that’s true.”  

My assistants were basically not combat types.  

Only two were made for combat.  

Combat 1 and 2.  

Of those, No.1 used a sword, and No.2 used a bow.  

From experience, the assistants’ learning ability was above average.  

If Combat 1 became that Gatekeeper’s disciple and learned combat,  I figured it could become much stronger than it is now.  

“Very well. Then, let’s repair the sword first.”  

“Damn! How can this be…”  

“Don’t worry. We’re mining hard, so as soon as we have enough materials, the spear will be repaired immediately.”  

“Also make a subordinate who wields the spear! Once my spear is repaired, I will take that subordinate as my disciple!”  

“Thank you.”  

With this, the repair order was settled.  

Apparently, knowing their weapon would be repaired first put the left statue in a pretty good mood as it cautiously lowered its massive sword with a chuckle.  

I climbed atop that giant sword and placed the freshly mined Cheonjeoseok down.  

[Using Repair Skill.]  

I began the repair in earnest.