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HELIO SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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Chapter 30
“…How in the world did you know something like this?”
Choi Cheol-gwan's gaze was layered with complexity.
His first impression of Dojun had been odd. Unusual, to say the least.
After all, unless they had a death wish, no hero would even consider hunting a Giant Blackfang Serpent—yet Dojun had not only done so, but brought back its fangs and asked to have them forged into a sword. That alone made him stand out.
The second impression was shock.
When Dojun shattered the mana absorption limit of a grade 5 weapon, Cheol-gwan genuinely couldn't believe it. After Dojun left, he'd thoroughly examined the broken weapon, wondering if perhaps there had been some kind of defect. But the results showed no abnormalities at all.
In other words, Dojun had proven himself capable of channeling mana into weapons better than any other hero. Whether it was his innate trait or something else, in that one area, he was undoubtedly the best in the world.
The third impression was disbelief—bordering on awe.
That very evening, when Dojun dropped off the fangs and stopped him from clocking out early, he handed over a vial of blood, saying it was necessary to fuse the two fangs into one. The blood turned out to be none other than Cyclops blood—a material so rare, even with immense wealth, you could barely dream of acquiring it.
But Dojun hadn’t just brought it—he had accurately described its unique alchemical properties, forcing Cheol-gwan to pull an all-nighter just to verify everything.
The result was right before his eyes now.
A massive, 2.4-meter-long, slightly green-tinted fang—an elliptical shape with pointed ends. Because the roots of the two fangs had been fused together, the middle was thick and sturdy, while the top and bottom tapered off sharply, retaining the fang's natural needle-like ends.
“I’ve forged many weapons in my time, but I’ve never seen a substance that fuses two different materials so seamlessly. How did you know Cyclops blood would do this? There’s barely any research on its cell properties.”
Cheol-gwan was asking sincerely. Even if someone had money, Cyclops blood was notoriously difficult to obtain, which meant it was rarely used for experimentation. And so, even understanding its full potential was a tall order.
But Dojun didn’t answer.
Instead, he stepped forward and picked up the now-fused Giant Blackfang Serpent fang.
It wasn’t a sword yet—just raw material—but the length was more than sufficient. If anything, it was excessive.
“Thanks to the Cyclops blood you brought, the length came out great. It’s easily longer than a bastard sword. What blade length are you thinking?”
A bastard sword typically runs about 115 to 140 centimeters. It could still be wielded one-handed, but that wasn’t quite what Dojun had in mind.
“What’s the longest you can make it?”
“The longest? Hm… It depends on how narrow the blade is. If we keep it within 3 centimeters wide, I think we can push it to around 180 centimeters.”
The narrow width was a bit of a letdown, but Dojun nodded. The length was just right.
Even in the ruined world he came from, the weapon he favored most was a two-handed sword with a very wide blade. This fang’s shape didn’t allow for a wide edge, but at least the length would be familiar.
“Make it in the basic shape of a two-handed sword, but keep the grip slightly shorter than a standard bastard sword’s.”
“You want to swing a two-handed sword with one hand, huh? Well, given how light this fang is, that should be fine. Got it.”
“If it’s too light, it won’t feel satisfying to swing. Set the weight at… 7—no, 5 kilograms.”
Back then, he’d used a sword close to 10 kilograms in weight, but his current body hadn’t been trained enough yet. So Dojun settled for 5.
Even so, hearing that Dojun planned to swing a 5-kilo sword one-handed made Cheol-gwan click his tongue.
“Isn’t that WAY too heavy?”
Even for a hero, 5 kilograms might not sound like much on paper—but in actual combat? Swinging that kind of sword dozens, maybe hundreds or even thousands of times in a fight? It was absurd.
Cheol-gwan couldn’t help but be concerned—could Dojun really handle it?
“It’s fine. Just make it that way. When do you think it’ll be done?”
“I’ve just finished the fusion stage. Proper shaping and forging will take at least a month.”
“That long?”
“There’s no helping it. Shaping it won’t take too long, but increasing the mana absorption rate to the level you want? That takes serious time.”
Giant Blackfang Serpent fangs were harder than most steels—their durability was beyond question.
And even if they weren’t, as long as they could absorb Dojun’s mana properly, the material would become stronger than any metal on Earth. Durability wasn’t even a concern.
What mattered was mana absorption.
To raise that stat on a weapon, a craftsman had to go through countless processes.
Honestly, even getting it done in one month would require Cheol-gwan to drop every other project and focus entirely on Dojun’s sword.
“What’s the highest absorption rate you can get it to?”
“If I put everything into that stat, I could maybe push it to Grade 7. Of course, the weapon itself will only be Grade 3 or 4 overall.”
In other words, it would be a sword that sacrificed everything for mana absorption.
But Dojun frowned slightly, clearly dissatisfied.
“Is there no way to raise it even higher?”
“With the materials I’ve got right now, that’s the absolute limit.”
Grade 7 mana absorption… How much of his mana could a sword like that actually handle?
Earth’s grading system was totally different from the one in the ruined world.
Dojun honestly had no way to gauge how well it would perform. He’d already shattered a Grade 5 weapon by channeling just a fraction of his mana.
So even Grade 7… might not cut it.
“Is there any material that can push the absorption rate even higher?”
“If you had the heart of a Blue Croco, I could raise the weapon's mana absorption even further.”
Blue Croco—better known among Korean heroes as the “Blue Alligator”—is a monster that appeared alongside the Rifts on Earth. It resembles a colossal crocodile, its body length easily exceeding twenty meters.
While it isn’t classified as a boss monster, it’s practically at that level in terms of power. Even a group of over ten A-rank heroes would struggle to take it down.
Despite the danger, heroes actively hunted Blue Crocos.
Why? Simple. They were a goldmine. Their mana stone was high grade, and everything from their hearts to their tailbones, teeth, and claws were sought-after materials for crafting weapons and armor.
Not only that, their hide was prized as a luxury good. It was used in high-end bags, belts, shoes, clothing, sofas—even car seats. It was so in demand, you couldn’t get your hands on it even if you had the money.
And somehow—no one knows where the rumor started—it got out that Blue Croco meat was edible. That sealed the deal: the creature became one of the rare monsters of which absolutely nothing went to waste.
But here’s the catch.
Despite their popularity, the problem was—there was only one country in the entire world where they could actually be hunted.
“...Blue Croco, huh.”
Dojun was already familiar with the monster’s heart. It had been a frequently used material for weapon-making even in the ruined world he came from.
“Even for someone like you, it won’t be easy to get, right?”
Cheol-gwan had asked, though he already guessed the answer.
In terms of rarity, the blood of a Cyclops was even harder to obtain—but still, he had to ask.
Unfortunately, Dojun didn’t respond right away.
“I’ve reached out to a few contacts… but it seems like the supply’s dried up completely. Worse, I hear it’ll only get harder to find. Even if I could get my hands on one, the price would be several times higher than before.”
“What’s the reason?”
“I heard from someone at the Hero Association… Apparently, the country that hosts the Blue Crocos has decided to shut down the Rifts. They admitted they just can’t handle them anymore. And guess what? Most of the zones where Blue Crocos spawn are among the ones getting shut down. So yeah—it’s going to be damn near impossible.”
“Shut them down...?”
“I got the word through someone with ties to the Association. Brazil’s basically throwing in the towel. They admitted they can’t maintain the Rifts in the Amazon anymore. It sucks, because a lot of rare materials came from that region… But if they’re resorting to this, things must be really bad. Anyway, with how things are, getting your hands on a Blue Croco heart won’t be easy.”
Hearing that the one material he needed most was now out of reach made Dojun’s brow furrow.
’Useless fools.’
Dojun couldn’t help cursing out the Brazilian Hero Association for deciding to shut down the Rifts.
It wasn’t the first time.
In the ruined world he came from, it had always been the incompetent fools who clung to their pride, refused help even in times of crisis, and eventually dragged everyone into destruction.
If their idiocy only harmed themselves, Dojun wouldn’t have cared.
But they didn’t just die alone—they dragged innocent people down with them. And it was THAT—the preventable suffering of others—that had enraged Dojun the most during the world's fall.
He had watched the world burn because of arrogant fools hiding behind slivers of pride.
Earth might be different from that ruined world, but the parallels were too similar. And now, because of someone else’s incompetence, he was the one who had to pay the price?
That pissed him off.
“…It is what it is.”
Dojun kept his cool and answered calmly.
It wasn’t like the closure of Amazon Rifts would trigger the world’s end. So he’d have to accept it for now.
“I’ll still put out some feelers, just in case. The best-case scenario is enhancing the mana absorption during the initial crafting. But if you manage to find the heart after the sword’s complete, I can still upgrade it. Just know—it’s not going to be cheap.”
Weapon crafting costs a fortune.
While Dojun had gotten the giant black fang of the Giant Blackfang Serpent on his own, the rest—the forging, the rare components, the enchantments—cost a fortune.
Still, he didn’t care about the cost. He wasn’t broke, and if he wanted to keep slaying monsters with ease, it was a necessary investment.
·
·
·
After wrapping up his conversation with Master Craftsman Choi Cheol-gwan, Dojun stepped out of the workshop.
There, he spotted Choi Gang-su—the same guy who’d been grinding his teeth at Dojun earlier—now sitting with an ice pack on his head.
“…Damn bastard… Ughghgh—!!”
Gang-su started grumbling, but Dojun silenced him with a second flick to the forehead and walked off without a word.
＊ ＊ ＊
"Do you like the car?"
At Hyun Jooyeon’s question, Dojun glanced once at the large, snow-white SUV parked outside the cafe window, then gave a small nod.
"It’s nice."
It was spacious, had a smooth ride, and came loaded with all sorts of convenience features—perfectly suited for Dojun.
His grandmother and Eunyeong had liked it too, so for him, it was a solid choice all around.
"That’s a relief."
Jooyeon smiled.
She didn’t care about the brand or the price—if Dojun liked it, that was enough for her.
"So, how are you handling the public announcement?"
"The Association can deal with it."
His voice turned cold at the mention of them.
"...Did things not go well?"
Dojun didn’t answer—his silence was confirmation enough.
"Did they ask something unreasonable? Chairman Na Taehwang doesn’t seem like the type to do that..."
Jooyeon thought back to when she herself became an S-Rank hero and had gone public.
Interviews with both local and foreign press, government events, guild meetings with massive organizations—it had all been a hassle. But it came with the territory.
For a few months, things had been chaotic, but the nation had felt more secure knowing the country's safety rating had gone up. And her bank account had swelled just as fast as her fame, so really, she hadn’t lost much.
"More than that, it’s been hard getting access to Rifts lately. Is there a reason?"
"Ah, they’re cleaning them out right now. The Brazilian Hero Association formally requested hero support."
Rift cleanup operations.
In other words, it was preemptive hunting—eliminating monsters inside the rift before they could trigger a Break and unleash a monster wave.
Both Rifts and gates could respawn monsters. The rate of respawn varied depending on the strength of the rift, the rank of the gate, and the rank of the monsters.
At least gates were artificially stabilized—basically monster farms—with consistent, predictable respawn rates.
Rift zones, though, were a different beast.
They were unstable and churned out monsters constantly, making it impossible to maintain a steady monster count.
The more monsters that piled up, the more likely the rift would slip into a Break—a critical danger state.
To avoid this, the Hero Association had been forcing top-tier guilds to do regular cleanup runs in the most unstable zones.
Normally, even without being told, most heroes would hunt rifts voluntarily for profit and prestige. But with so many of them being sent overseas lately, the Association had to take precautions and clean out domestic rifts ahead of time.
"Brazil?"
"Yeah. They’ve decided to permanently shut down some of their Rifts."
"Are you going too?"
At Dojun’s question, Jooyeon felt her heart suddenly drop.
"...I am. Why?"
Could it be... was he worried about her?
Just as the thought formed—
"I’m coming with you."
Dojun said it firmly, no room for debate.
His voice was resolute, like he’d already decided he was going no matter what.
Jooyeon gulped dryly, caught off guard by his tone.
She felt her cheeks grow warm before she even realized it.
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HELIO SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
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