-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Lesson 3. This Is Your Pet - 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After learning that the Dokkaebi Bangmangi was an artifact even the beings from the higher dimensions (whatever made them "higher" still didn't quite click for him) admired.
Ban Yu-won wondered how he could maximize this artifact's potential.
So he first neatly organized the Dokkaebi Bangmangi's characteristics.
To start, it floated around freely and could move on its own.
It had its own ego and prioritized protecting its master above all else.
And it was transparent, invisible to the eye.
'This won't cut it.'
The conclusion came quickly.
Of course, he could tell it was an excellent artifact for automatically guarding its master without drawing enemy attention. But in the end, it was just an invisible stick.
He could perhaps nurture its durability as a club by absorbing other concepts, but the lack of versatility was the real issue.
That was it—versatility.
If this stick, which moved freely and even had its own ego, could gain the versatility to adapt to all sorts of situations...
Then maybe he could truly call it omnipotent.
'In other words, I just need to make it freely transform.'
Ban Yu-won searched around him for language concepts related to "change" or "transformation."
Thanks to his immature older sister, who had only recently gotten a taste for slimes—gelatinous liquid monsters—long past her prime, he easily implanted fifty transformation concepts into the Bangmangi.
He tried to add more, but gave up when a message warned that the Dokkaebi Bangmangi couldn't handle concepts that were too deeply profound.
In truth, fifty was already quite a lot, thanks to the perfect compatibility between the Dokkaebi Bangmangi and transformation concepts.
⚔ ARTIFACT STATUS ⚔
Dokkaebi Bangmangi
👻 Demonic Gear: 5.2
📦 Storage: 10
🔄 Transformation: 50 (Blunt Weapon 11, Magic Gun 9, Polearm 5, Chain 3, Axe 3, ...)
🎯 Shooting: 17
After that, things progressed smoothly.
Shields, axes, spears, all sorts of guns, and even various tools for emergencies—everything except the sword he planned to wield himself. He fed every conceivable form's concept into the Dokkaebi Bangmangi.
The major ones alone totaled over thirty, and for the rest, mimicking the shape with a depth of 1 each was enough.
The total didn't exceed the transformation depth of 50, but that was more than sufficient.
He even had about 5 left over.
"Hmm, now this is what you call a Dokkaebi Bangmangi."
Ban Yu-won snapped out of his reminiscing and nodded in satisfaction as he watched the goblins tumbling across the floor under a hail of magic bullets.
"Ammo holding up? Plenty left?"
In response to his check, the Dokkaebi Bangmangi, now back to its original form, energetically twirled its body in the air.
For reference, the "ammo" meant actual bullets. By stealing the storage concept from items like the trunk his grandfather brought, along with safes and bags, he'd enabled the Bangmangi to store a substantial amount of ammunition on its own.
"Alright then, time to harvest."
Ban Yu-won took a deep breath and approached the pile of goblin corpses.
The Bangmangi circled vigilantly around him in preparation for any threats, but with so many goblins already dead and the commotion having been so loud, no new ones were approaching.
"Some are still alive."
"Kik... Keeek...!"
Thanks to implanting the profoundly deep shooting concept stolen from the relic slingshot, the Dokkaebi Bangmangi's marksmanship was incredible. But he couldn't hunt down every goblin that had merely been knocked out by stray shots.
Ban Yu-won personally ended the survivors.
There was surprisingly little shock, even to himself.
What truly surprised him was the golden strings of text emerging from their bodies.
⚙ CONCEPT THEFT ⚙ Stealing Demon 3.4, Life 6.8, Body 3.4, Murder 0.34, and Shooting 0.57 concepts from multiple goblins.
"Oh... Ooh...?"
The Demon, Life, and Body concepts stolen from these goblins were astonishingly double those from the Blind Goblins!
But even more surprising were the Murder and Shooting concepts.
He hadn't gotten those from the previous Blind Goblins.
Shooting made sense—it had nothing to do with Blind Goblins—but Murder? Maybe unlike the Blind Goblins, these ones had killed humans in the past?
Of course, the depths were quite low.
Especially considering he'd hunted seventeen in one go.
'Maybe before, they were too shallow to notice, but since I already knew these concepts from elsewhere, I could extract them now.'
Reminded anew that his ability still had much to research, he organized the stolen concepts.
Murder went entirely to his sword, Shooting to the Dokkaebi Bangmangi.
From seventeen goblins, he'd extracted 3.4 Demon; splitting off the "Demon" part yielded 1.7.
Imparting that fully to the Bangmangi raised its Demonic Gear to 6.
He'd given 1.7, so why less than half the gain? The Bangmangi started with low Demon quantity, and Demonic Gear absorbed less efficiently than other concepts.
But as they say, great oaks from little acorns grow.
With steady nurturing, he could birth an artifact with immense potential and real power!
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 🍀 Life: 21.3 ⚡ Body: 16.3 ✨ Magic Power: 18
In a single skirmish, Ban Yu-won's code had surged dramatically.
To the point where the concepts he'd painstakingly raised overnight with his sister seemed laughable.
Of course, it was thanks to creating a fusion of science (modern firearms) and magic (Magic Power, Demonic Gear) via the Dokkaebi Bangmangi.
But there was one nagging issue: the moment Life hit 20, the absorption efficiency from goblins halved.
'Still, I expected this. In games, low-level monsters give half EXP once you outlevel them.'
But it had come sooner than anticipated.
Thinking he might soon gain no Life EXP from goblins made him a bit anxious.
'No, don't jump to conclusions. I haven't hunted many monsters yet—just Blind Goblins and these archer ones. Plus, even without Life, there are plenty of other concepts to gain.'
Steeling himself, he stole the Bow concept from the scattered bows and the Arrow concept from the arrows, storing them in the Code Core.
No need for bows with guns around, so concepts secured for now.
"Let's keep going? Don't fire the gun unless I'm in real danger."
Whoooosh! The Dokkaebi Bangmangi spun in the air affirmatively.
Of course, he'd secured bulk ammo via Grandfather's connections, but it was finite.
No harm in conserving.
'Maybe I can make more with my ability... later.'
Ban Yu-won sent the Dokkaebi Bangmangi ahead and followed, exploring the dungeon.
The seventeen-goblin ambush must have been an opening event; now, goblins moved in groups of two or three.
Mostly archers, but some wielded crude swords. Spotting such groups, he'd have the Bangmangi prioritize archers, then duel the sword-wielders one-on-one.
It was manageable.
No—beyond that.
"They're weak?"
"Kwek!"
Ban Yu-won dodged the goblin's reckless sword swing, stepped forward, and thrust his blade, piercing its throat in one motion.
A wave of emptiness washed over him.
He'd been tense, recalling the Goblin Warrior boss from the Blind Goblin Cave, but this goblin's swordplay was hardly worth calling a skill.
'Difference between Warrior and regular goblin?'
Yet absorbing its code revealed Swordsmanship 0.05!
Had he not known Swordsmanship, he'd never have gotten it.
Gathering every mote like a squirrel, he absorbed it.
"I could move faster, right?"
Whoooosh!
Ban Yu-won upped his exploration pace.
With the Bangmangi covering the front, no need to fear goblins—his mind and steps lightened.
Five minutes later, he spotted golden strings shimmering on the floor.
'This...?'
Seemingly normal at a glance.
But noticing the strings, he focused—and unnatural discrepancies jumped out amid the surroundings.
Nothing pinpointable, but a dangerous vibe lingered.
Reaching out, the string's end uncoiled and touched his hand.
⚙ CONCEPT THEFT ⚙ Steal Piercing 1 and Trap 1 concepts from the skewer trap?
"Whoa."
Ban Yu-won realized he'd have been skewered human kebab without spotting the strings.
He urgently stole the Trap concept. With Piercing 1 and Trap 1 acquired, the floor flattened.
Skewer and pit gone, back to plain stone.
'Overlooked traps—my mistake. But this turns it around.'
Piercing skewer—Piercing.
He immediately imparted Piercing to his sword.
Trap went to the Code Core for now as he hurried on.
Now he could detect and neutralize threats ahead—no time to dawdle.
⚙ CONCEPT ABSORPTION ⚙ Demon 0.6, Life 1.2, Body 0.6, Murder 0.06, Swordsmanship 0.1, Shooting 0.3 absorbed. Arrow 1.5, Trap 1 absorbed. Demon 1.5, Life 3, Body 1.5, Murder 0.15, Swordsmanship 0.2 absorbed.
Ban Yu-won's dungeon-clearing speed accelerated steadily.
Compared to the Blind Goblin Cave from his practical exam—longer paths, ten times (or more) the monsters—he was progressing faster toward the core!
He'd thought he needed to grow quickly to catch his peers, but if they saw his growth now, they'd be stunned.
Not just from concept theft.
More fundamentally, combat—real battle—was skyrocketing his Swordsmanship and overall combat skills insanely fast.
Repeated life-or-death struggles awakened his potential rapidly, harmonizing with imparted concepts like Swordsmanship.
'Huh, even specks add up. My sword path feels cleaner.'
He attributed it to stolen goblin Swordsmanship, unaware his self-developed depth in the same time surpassed it.
"We're here."
About two hours in, Ban Yu-won reached the boss room.
Even in the weakling-packed Blind Goblin Cave, the boss Goblin Warrior was strong.
So what of this dungeon, greeted by goblin archers from the start?
Tensing up, he reviewed his internal code anew.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 🍀 Life: 35.5 ⚡ Body: 23.8 🛡️ Soul: 322.5 ✨ Magic Power: 26.4 ⚔ Swordsmanship: 12.5 👁 Omniread Eye: 105 👂 Omnihear Ear: 100 💬 Omniloquent Lips: 100
Compared to pre-dungeon, nearly 2.5x growth.
Proof his level was pathetically low, but he chose pure joy in the gains.
'Soul though... no clue.'
Started at 300, endured Principal's glare for +20, then inexplicably +2.5 here.
No way to test it, so leave it be.
"Bangmangi, ready?"
Whoooosh.
Now a large shield, the Dokkaebi Bangmangi spun confidently in the air.
Its core Demonic Gear had grown to 9.9.
Clear the boss, and it'd hit 10.
"Here we go."
Placing his hand on the iron door and pushing, it slowly creaked open.
What goblin would grace him with its flesh and blood this time?
"A human dares invade our village!"
"Charge! Kill! We'll skewer and roast him!"
"Grab him!"
Ban Yu-won froze, tried closing and retreating—but the door, once ajar, swung wide on its own.
No wonder the swarms at entry; casually counting, over a hundred goblins inside.
"Damn it all."
Ban Yu-won muttered, pulled a shield from inventory, blocked his front, and sat down.
"Bangmangi, you're up!"
Maybe my talent's artifact crafting, not combat.
With his wistful self-deprecation, the Dokkaebi Bangmangi unleashed hell once more.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
"No, machine gun's too much. Ammo's precious!"
Problem: too. Many. Goblins.
The Bangmangi dropped five-plus instantly with gunfire, but others clambered over corpses toward him.
Mingling with them would shield from archer fire, he thought, ditching the shield to rise and swing his sword—while racking his brain.
'Way to boost shooting speed and power without machine gun?'
Slicing goblins, dodging attacks, retreating—thoughts raced.
What was it... right!
'Fierce Beast! That's it!'
One concept dormant in the lion-eye-piercing slingshot, now in the Code Core.
Split the savage "Fierce" and merge with "Shoot" for "Fierce Shot."
Urgently, he pulled the Code Core, extracted Fierce Beast whole, injected into the incoming Bangmangi at perfect timing.
Then split savage Fierce from Beast...
⚙ CONCEPT SYNTHESIS ⚙ Fierce 4 and Shooting 18.35 automatically synthesize. Perfect compatibility ignores depth for transcendent fusion: Fierce Shot 20 complete. Perfect concept—cannot be separated.
He'd wondered about splitting Shooting's "Shoot" first, but Fierce Shot already embodied ferocious shooting, so full merge.
Splitting took effort anyway—better this way.
"!!!"
The instant Fierce Shot synthesized successfully.
The mute Dokkaebi Bangmangi spun wildly in the air, venting overwhelming emotion.
Not just emotion.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Unbelievable speed for a rifle form, paired with pinpoint rifle accuracy—fierce barrage dropping over thirty goblins instantly!
"Kuaaaagh!"
"Monster! A metal beast spewing death!"
In that moment, the Dokkaebi Bangmangi evolved from mere formidable foe to a monster facing a hundred goblins at once!