novelraw Chapter 65 : Chapter 65
Chapter 65 : Chapter 65
Chapter 65 : Overcharge
“Don't you think you forgot something?”
Upgrade scolded Sal while looking significantly at his hand.
Sal made a pitiful face, but she shook her head firmly.
“You can't improve your skills if you don't practice. Even if you have the Mythos Crafter ability that can control everything with Essence, you should know how to do it with your hands too. Try practicing controlling tools with Essence. I'll help you from the side.”
Sal sighed in resignation and began to flow Essence into the Epic rank gloves Upgrade had made for him.
Over the past few weeks, he had tried to use the gloves like Upgrade several times, but maintaining it was so difficult that his work speed slowed down significantly.
After failing several times, Sal's heart began to beat faster.
He was afraid he would ruin the sword because of a technique he couldn't control.
As that anxiety overlapped with Upgrade's expectation, the gloves continued to fail to activate.
But before Sal could say anything, Upgrade spoke softly first.
“Actually, it's a bit of a relief that you're not good at everything. It's fortunate that as an educator, I still have things left to teach you.”
She stood next to Sal and raised her own hand.
“You're thinking only with your head right now. Essence is something that needs negotiation. Especially when crafting, it's incredibly picky. You have to refine and tune it gently.”
Sal nodded quietly.
Because he felt the exact same way.
Upgrade pointed to Sal's gloves.
“Those gloves can withstand ridiculous intensity. Overcharge, Supercharge… whatever you call it, it's aggressive. So pour your Essence into those gloves. Don't meekly ask for permission to use it, just hit it with Essence and bury it. Then, control the flow of your Essence as if pulling the reins. Understand?”
Sal just stared at Upgrade blankly.
It was more absurd than any explanation he had ever heard, but strangely enough, it seemed to make sense.
Upgrade pointed to the gloves again and gestured toward the sword.
“If you understand, show me.”
Sal nodded and raised both hands.
Since he had prepared a separate Core for Essence, he had nothing to lose by trying Upgrade's method.
He roughly shoved Essence into the gloves, and immediately felt strong resistance from them.
Instinctively, he wanted to retreat, but as instructed, he pushed the Essence forward.
Just when he was sure the gloves were about to break, they finally activated completely and synchronized with his uniform.
As the Core inside the uniform activated, warmth spread from Sal's collar.
Black circuits spread like lightning from his shirt to the gloves.
Upgrade's voice came from beside him.
“Push until it transforms, then pull the reins.”
Sal didn't answer.
He was concentrating all his nerves on suppressing the gloves.
Instincts screamed from his whole body to retreat, but Sal trusted Upgrade and sent the Essence flowing stronger.
The result was immediate.
His entire upper body transformed like mechanical armor, and both arms were covered in metal plates.
The most surprising thing was that his fingers turned into mechanical claws.
“Pull the reins!”
Upgrade's warning snapped Sal back to his senses.
Sal immediately controlled the Essence flow, maintaining only the minimum amount to keep the transformation.
At that moment, a harmonious sensation wrapped around his whole body, as if he were wrapped in a blanket of Essence.
Sal wanted to touch the sword so badly his fingertips tingled, and instinctively, he felt certain he could control every part of the armor.
As he imagined his hand becoming a blade while holding up his left hand, a blade popped out from the back of his hand, surprising Sal.
Upgrade's laughter pulled him back to reality, and Sal hurriedly deactivated the blade.
Looking at where she stood, Upgrade was admiring his new appearance with sparkling eyes.
“Look at this, it's art.”
Not knowing how much longer he could maintain this state, Sal focused on his work rather than talking more with Upgrade.
The first thing he did was connect himself to the Essence Core on the table.
Through this, he secured the necessary margin to maintain the mechanical arms and was able to fully use the Mythos Crafter ability as well.
Sal felt an urge to redesign the tentacle part of the guard for some reason.
The ones he made initially were crude, and he thought that was purely due to his lack of design experience.
But now he had mechanical arms and his confidence was growing.
It was simply an aesthetic modification, but it was a good opportunity to test the new arms.
Upgrade raised an eyebrow and turned to the side to watch Sal work.
Essence dwelled in each of Sal's fingers, and those fingers began to sculpt, scraping over the metal like precise needles.
Sal himself couldn't explain how this was possible, but the image in his head was being implemented accurately through his fingertips.
What was initially just a crudely shaped creature now transformed into a small, living octopus.
Not only did elaborate suckers appear on each tentacle, but Sal's eyes began to suggest ways to further enhance the details.
Before he could even ponder whether to insert Runes or not, his fingers were already skillfully engraving them.
Completed Runes the size of Sal's fingernails were carved in rows on the octopus tentacles, giving the sword an even more vivid feeling.
After refining the tentacles for about 10 minutes, Sal moved on to the head part.
He knew that was where the Core was, so he knew he had to be careful.
But thanks to his fingers moving as if they already knew what to do and the Mythos Crafter ability, Sal was able to finish the work without much thought.
Everything felt dazzlingly efficient.
There was no doubt or hesitation.
Just precise execution.
As the guard and handle parts were finished, precision was added, and Sal wanted to touch up other decorative elements as well.
Since modifications at this stage were merely to improve appearance, he refined the sword without hesitation.
Some Runes were adjusted more precisely, and the Mythos Crafter ability reminded him of suggestions he had previously ignored.
Thanks to the widened blade, Sal intuitively engraved a few additional Runes.
For 30 minutes, his fingers moved ceaselessly over the sword, and Upgrade, watching the entire process, was nodding with a pleased smile.
Just as Sal was about to move his hand back to the sword's guard, Upgrade cleared her throat.
“I know you're enjoying it, but now it's time to infuse Essence and finish it.”
At those words, Sal gave a bitter smile.
There was a risk of endlessly tweaking it if he kept touching it, so he accepted Upgrade's advice and carefully took his hands off the sword.
Checking the Essence Core quickly, he was surprised to see that more than a quarter of the Core had already been consumed.
Moving his mechanized fingers slightly, Sal began to infuse his Essence into the sword.
It was a completely different experience from when he made the sniper rifle.
Thanks to refining most parts himself, he was already strongly attuned to the sword, and the sword willingly absorbed the Essence.
Sal controlled the flow of Essence in detail using the needle-like sensation at his fingertips, and for areas where it permeated unevenly, he rubbed them with his hands to make the Essence soak in.
From the tip of the blade to the handle, guard, and pommel, Essence flowed in without issue, and the part that coveted Essence the most was none other than the small octopus.
The octopus consumed nearly 10% of the Core's Essence.
Sal continued to inject the remaining Essence until he reached the point where no more Essence was accepted.
At that moment, the sword began to shine brightly, and a sensation similar to when he completed the sniper rifle previously came over him.
Sal tried to find problems just in case, but the Mythos Crafter ability was telling him the sword was complete.
Sal quietly took a step back and simultaneously deactivated the suit transformation and the Mythos Crafter ability.
“Is that it?”
Upgrade walked around the table and asked, standing in front of the sword.
Sal nodded.
“Yes! That's it.”
The two watched silently as the sword vibrated and emitted Essence.
After a while, as the light slowly faded, Upgrade whistled.
“It's completely different from the sword in the blueprint?”
Sal laughed awkwardly and stepped forward to look into the sword.
“Ah… I changed it a bit while working with the gloves on. I think I got too immersed and went off plan as I worked. The Mythos Crafter ability worked on its own… and there are things I attached a bit excessively.”
Upgrade looked at the sword with a frown.
“Crafting quality is important, but if you over-design, the Runes might clash and not work at all. Are you going to Appraise it now? Or later? It still looks like Rare rank to me.”
Sal deliberated whether to leave so as not to be late for class or finish the Appraisal first.
On one hand, he felt slightly disappointed at the fact that despite putting in this much effort, the result was just so-so.
But after hesitating for a moment, Sal eventually reached out and lifted the sword.
“Still, shall we check it once….”
At that moment, Upgrade gasped in surprise.
The tentacles of the octopus wrapping around Sal's fist began to move.
The blade, which initially looked ordinary, suddenly turned a shining silver, and Sal quickly activated his eyes to begin the Appraisal.
And the moment he faced the secret of the sword, his eyes went wide.
Name: Sword of Gluttony
Origin: Portal Relic (Reconstructed)
Condition: Brand New (Reworked)
Rank: Rare (High)
Size: Total Length 45 inches | Blade Length 36 inches | Blade Width: 1 inch | Blade Thickness 1/4 inch
Material: Refined Mythos Crafter Essence | Enhanced Core | Reforged Hellfire Titanium
Attributes:
● Absolute Counter: Unconditionally counters melee attacks
● Overcharge: Increases weapon rank and abilities for a certain period
● Arc Strike: Fires medium to long-range projectile attacks
● Synchronization: User can freely control the trajectory of attacks
Abilities: Absolute Counter | Overcharge | Arc Strike | Synchronization
Power Source: Enhanced Core
Evolution Potential: None
Quality: Excellent
Durability: 100%
Estimated Value: $50,000.00 - $85,000.00
“What is this?”
Upgrade took a step back from Sal and asked, wary of the moving octopus.
Sal had never seen a weapon like this before.
He tried to explain as best as he understood.
“It has an attribute called Overcharge, so the real ability will reveal itself only when a certain amount of Essence or more is supplied.”
Sal said, looking down at the octopus tentacles climbing up his forearm.
When the sword was held in his hand, everything felt strangely natural.
Even the speed at which it sucked Essence wasn't burdensome.
“The long-range projectile attack is still there but… it seems everything changes depending on the Essence input amount. Like these gloves!”
Sal looked closely and burst into awkward laughter.
“I thought I put in defense Runes, but it seems I made something completely different with one of the skill threads I used every night.”
When Upgrade looked at him with a puzzled expression, Sal turned the sword to show the Rune shining with white light.
“Now this sword has Rust's ability. Absolute Counter.”
Upgrade narrowed her eyes and stared piercingly at the blade.
“Overcharge, long-range Essence attack, and even Absolute Counter…? Yeah, I judged wrong. This is absolutely not Rare rank.”
Sal nodded too.
“Right now, it's about low Epic rank. But it will change depending on the situation.”
“What does that mean?”
Sal didn't answer immediately and pushed more Essence into the sword.
Then the blade slowly turned black, and the octopus tentacles climbed up his arm to his shoulder, transforming into a metal sleeve protecting one entire arm.
When he tried bending his elbow, the flexibility remained the same.
The white Rune on the blade had turned into a lightning-like yellow light.
“Now it's high Epic rank. The abilities have become much stronger too.”
Upgrade swallowed her breath as she watched the sword's transformation.
When Sal cut off the Essence completely, the sword returned to its original dull form.
The tentacles also hardened, clinging tightly to the sword's guard as if they had always been a sculpture.
Upgrade picked up an engraver and handed it to Sal.
“Sign it right now.”
Sal smiled, took it, and carved ‘Mythos’ into the empty space on the blade.
Upgrade watched over his shoulder and tapped his back when the work was finished.
“This is entirely my credit. I taught you how to use your gloves.”
Grinning broadly, she added.
“I'll consider your thanks received.”