< Q&A (2) >
Water Droplet: I apologize. Those guys don’t seem like it but their abilities are good.
Tree: It’s water that’s past staying still for a while, to starting to rot. Water change doesn’t happen at all here, you know~.[1]
Water Droplet: The second reason is, it is a beginner-use auxiliary system to a certain point.
Honey: Beginner-use?
Water Droplet: Yes. The people in Honey’s world are like that. Take for instance, an ability to fly appearing one day. How would you realize that? Would there be anybody who would be like ‘ah, I should try flying!’?
That was so. Who knew if you were a young kid, but if normal adults attempted to fly by themselves, they would be sent to a psychiatric hospital.
Water Droplet: That is why the thing applied that seemed the most suitable for Honey’s world is exactly those status windows. A game-like system with rectangular windows that show levels, abilities, skill, and even rewards.
Tree: But since it’s beginner-use to a certain extent, it’s not far until it disappears.
Water Droplet: The adjustment level will be examined and in roughly 10 years, give or take, it will gradually go away. Sequentially, starting from the windows of the people who have already Awakened.
Honey: Do you have to take them away? If the status windows disappear, afterwards, it will be difficult for Awakened People to realize they have Awakened.
It was convenient in various ways having a system.
Water Droplet: Please do not worry about that. They have not adjusted enough right now, so people cannot feel their own abilities. And even if they felt it, they would be confused about if it was real or just a delusion.
Tree: Even now, if you’re about S-Rank, you can slightly sense others’ abilities. Once the system disappears, that sensation will become stronger. Among them, sensitive people will probably be able to sense even Unawakened People’s abilities. That’s why Honey’s Seed-Leaf skill rank is on the lower side, compared to the current usefulness.
At any rate, I had been wondering if it wasn’t too good to be an S-Rank. When the ability to check expected Awakening status windows became common, it would only leave the optimized Awakening effect once per month, so it was exactly S-Rank level.
Tree: Also, the beginner system may be a comfortable guide, but it’s a restriction that draws limits too.
Water Droplet: It is similar to only being able to move within the system in a game, unlike reality. I suppose it feels convenient right now that ranks and skills appear clearly. But if it is determined like that, it becomes harder to escape.
Tree: F-Rank Awakened People can never become S-Ranks. Since, in the view of the system, the amount of growth for an F-Rank is determined. No matter how much you try, B-Rank is the limit. On top of that, initially, the system has a safeguard too, so it’s hard to grow at all as a skill-stat both F, outside of exceptional cases.
Water Droplet: Since people keep on changing. There is nothing determined. Of course stats, but skills too.
Tree: And, we and the system aren’t accurate either. Especially lately, our accuracy has fallen a little because of Honey.
…Because of me?
Newcomer: That is true! Can’t you please decrease the frequency of use for the Seed-Leaf-skill? Just even 20% is fine. I think I will die from overwork!(ㅠ◇ㅠ)
Tree: Each time you use the Seed-Leaf skill on a new person, we have to examine them and put in the expected rank and skills. Our side’s time is regulated appropriately, but still it’s a little hard. The time we can use in a day isn’t infinite.
Honey: …I apologize.
I didn’t know they were actually doing it manually in real time.
Honey: I will decrease it to about half.
Water Droplet: Please do. If the accuracy falls too much, it would be difficult for Honey too.
That was obvious. I couldn’t wrestle with a wrong skill.
Honey: Can’t you possibly add the skill names intuitively?
Water Droplet: It is possible for new skills, but it is hard for skills whose information has already been saved. We can only touch a few of them. And, it is incredibly rare for skills to have never shown up before.
Tree: Truthfully, there’s hardly any.
Hardly any, they said. New skills being rare when the number of current Awakened People wasn’t that much, meant that there were other worlds, as expected.
Like the place where the Gold Forge’s past owner lived.
Honey: Speaking of, it seems like solely the explanation for the Gold Forge’s Owner skill is detailed. On top of that, you gave items too.
Tree: Ohh, that was the previous skill holder using his power. A cost was needed, and he sacrificed himself. For the future of others.
Water Droplet: He was a good ahjussi. As all the outstanding blacksmiths were, he was good at cooking too.
Tree: I miss him. Good people really do leave quickly.
The thing called cost seemed to be a type where you had to give your life, no matter how I looked at it. Seeing how it was sent as an item, it should have been thanks to a characteristic of the skill, too.
Tree: We can’t explain in detail, but it’s a really rare case. It’s impossible with a mediocre ability.
Water Droplet: And it was 1-time only so the next skill holder would be normal.
Myeongwoo lucked out[2].
Water Droplet: For us too, something like detailedly writing down skill explanations is possible, but like I said earlier, this is the first time the Perfect Caregiver title came out. There is no information.
Tree: Just the Caregiver is also an incredibly rare title compared to rank.
Newcomer: That is true, this was my first time seeing the Caregiver title too!
Caregiver was? That was a surpise.
Honey: Isn’t it just from being an S-Rank Awakened Person’s guardian?
S-Ranks were rare, but it wasn’t a small number, and there were a lot of cases where the parents had survived. So I had thought that there were a few other people with the Caregiver title who were just not revealing it like me.
Tree: It’s a little different. To explain, we have to tell you about high rank Awakened People. It’s okay right?
Water Droplet: Yeah. Since it would be good for Honey to know the information too.
Tree: You can only receive the Caregiver title if you are regarded as a caregiver by a born S-Rank Awakened Person instead of an ordinary S-Rank Awakened Person.
Honey: Born?
Tree: If you use the Seed-Leaf skill, the expected Awakened stat rank comes up, right? That’s S. Not A or A~S. Among the Awakened People right now, there’s exactly five… there are three who met Honey?
The two I had checked were Yoohyun and Riette. The remaining one was probably Sung Hyunjae. Then did that mean that all the other S-Ranks I had met thus far were all expected stat rank A~S?
Water Droplet: Truthfully, the abilities people are born with are not equal, right? Even in Honey’s world, before Awakened People appeared, there were a lot people who alone stood out. Expected stat rank S are kind of irregular even among those amazingly endowed people. In the view of the system, rank S is the relevant world’s main species’ threshold. For skills, there are a lot of abilities that go past the body, so SS-Rank and higher can come out, but it is not so for stats. It is not impossible to break past the limit through effort, but of course it is difficult, and it takes a long time. At the least, in units of ten years.
The highest for stats was definitely S-Rank. So, even 5 years later, there weren’t any SS-Rank Hunters.
Water Droplet: And expected Awakening stat ranks are, to a certain extent, the ranks of a novice who has just Awakened and has the possibility of growth left. Even looking at just the Seed-Leaf skill, it is optimized Awakening, not maximum amount or threshold Awakening, right? So being at the level of being between A and S is that species’ maximum Awakening stat rank.
Tree: In other words, born S-Ranks are outside of the standard. Honey’s is on the side of having a large population, so there are already five, but usually it’s just two to three per generation. This minority outside of the standard, how should I say it, can’t mix well with their own kind.
Water Droplet: A~S-Ranks also tend to look down on people with low abilities. But in extreme cases, S-Ranks could get to the level of not even treating them as the same kind. At the same time, their own kind, especially normal people, instinctively regard the S-Ranks as unpleasant. Somehow they feel cowed and it is a little uncomfortable to talk with them – it is about that level, but that small difference is quiet large.
Tree: It’s hard to properly play the role of parent if you’re cowed by a young kid.
As I read the words on the window, I remembered when I was young. Yoohyun was cute. I didn’t think I had ever felt him unpleasant.
Tree: So the Caregiver title doesn’t come out much. And, that title holders’ lifespans are usually short.
Honey: Sorry?
Water Droplet: It is just that the probability of being killed is high. They are cases where people could not touch the S-Rank, so instead the family was targeted. Disposition-wise, there are a lot of tyrant types. It is a relief that Honey’s world is stable in that regard.
Tyrants, they said. It didn’t seem like there was much of a difference from the other guild leaders. Not just Yoohyun, but I couldn’t feel any weird points from the other two.
Honey: You said that I met three born S-Ranks, but I did not really feel that they were different. I do have Fear Resistance, but their attitudes themselves all seem fine.
I didn’t need to say anything about Yoohyun, and Riette was also past being friendly to excessively clinging. Though it seemed like it was largely due to the Dragon Slayer title for Riette, even Sung Hyunjae, who didn’t have anything like that, was nice.
Tree: That’s because it’s Honey.
Water Droplet: Your stats are low so you are not threatening, but your special skills are high. Combat-aptitude high rank Awakened People like that kind of thing. If you are S-Rank, you can directly feel that, so they like it even more. Besides Honey, there is one other person like that.
Yoo Myeongwoo? Or were they talking about the saint-nim? Then again, the saint-nim was popular among the high rank Hunters. She was something like the doyenne of the Hunter community.
Tree: Just imagining it, it’s really cute. I also □□□□□□□□□□□□ those past guys. Ah, oops. Sorry.
Water Droplet: Newcomer, thanks for the quick handling.
Newcomer: You are welcome!
Were those □ for blocking excessive information? Though it was a different atmosphere from Deer and Wolf.
Tree: Our stories are useless information, though. I just thought of past things.
Water Droplet: There’s not much left now, so be careful. Still, Honey, please be careful of high rank Awakened People. They may fundamentally have goodwill toward Honey, but the difference in strength is so large that the goodwill could become violence. Generally, there are a lot of selfish and self-centered aspects, so it is even more dangerous. We want Honey to safely gather S-Ranks.
Tree: That’s right. Safety is the best. It’s okay if it takes a bit of a long time. About 5 years? Originally, there was enough room for about 10 years, but as you know, 5 years disappeared.
Water Droplet: Anyways, it would have been hard to find a different method within the time, so even if it decreased 5 years, please do not mind.
Honey: Yes.
If it was 5 years, then it was sufficiently enough time. When Peace grew soon, it would be three, and one more baby monster was planned to arrive. And I thought I would bring over from Seseong, too. And if I put in Riette and her brother and the Breaker Guild Leader, it was already eight, and if Kim Sunghan also safely grew, then it would be nine.
Even if I was relaxed about it, wouldn’t I gather all of them in two to three years?
Honey: Are monsters also included in the 50?
Just in case, I asked them. If it was limited to humans, it could get a little harder.
Water Droplet: As long as the keyword is applied, there is no problem.
Then it was easy. I was relieved of a big worry for now.
Tree: Is there anything you’re curious of outside of that?
Hm, what was there?
I more or less knew the reason why they showed interest in me, which bothered me the most. I didn’t hear in detail, but they said I only had to fill up with 50 S-Ranks. And I got enough information about the system. About skills, Awakened People… ah, dungeons.
Honey: Are the dungeon formation laws the same as they were originally? I am doing the related investigations.
Newcomer: They are the same! Only the speed became faster. Sometimes 5-years-later dungeons come out, but we are working to handle them immediately!
Then I only needed to make up for the speed.
Honey: Would it be difficult for me to hear information about monsters or dungeons?
Tree: The relevancy is too big, so it’s dangerous. Some day, you’ll be able to know, even if you don’t want to.
Water Droplet: That is right. Honey will be able to know it all in the end. In due time.
……I mean, it didn’t matter even if I didn’t know. The meaningful words were completely making me uneasy.
Besides this, there really wasn’t anything else, right? Even if I asked about those people, it probably wouldn’t be allowed. They had already been blocked with □. It seemed like I had found out more or less everything I needed to know.
Honey: I have one last thing. Could I possibly tell my younger sibling about the system? That guy is completely uneasy and I would like having one person to reveal it to. We happened to have come into the dungeon together, and it would be even better if you would sent a message window to my sibling.
If he got a message from the system, he would probably easily believe me.
Tree: To your sibling? Wait, wait. It’s dangerous for the information to spread, so not a lot…… if it’s at the level of saying you’re helping us, then it’s okay. When you send a signal, we’ll send the promised message. Simply something like ‘sstm’?
Honey: Yes, please take care of it.
It would be good if I could pacify that Yoohyun with this.
Newcomer: As expected, you think a lot about your younger sibling! Brothers and sisters[3] who get along well, are really great˘▽˘
No, he was a younger brother, though.
Deer: My love!! Don’t just take care of your sibling and call me unni!♡ε♡
Wolf: I’m oppa!!
Newcomer: The two of you really have no conscience. Oppa is correct for me!
……What were these people saying.
Honey: I am a man.
The chat window was silent for a moment. Then.
Water Droplet: Ohyeahohyeahohyeah!!!!! I won! Newcomer, bring over the saw! To cut off Deer bastard’s antler! Whooo!!
Excuse me, it seems like your character changed a little.
Water Droplet: The weight on my chest I had for a thousand years is all disappearing![4]
If they had a weight for a thousand years, then it was enough for them to change.
Newcomer: Will you really cut it?
Water Droplet: If you staked it, then it has to be cut! What did Wolf stake? Why is it quiet? Did both of them run away? Ah, I apologize, Honey. Of course you are a man. I thought you were so. I apologize for the bet as well. Those guys kept on insisting so I lost my temper.
Honey: It is alright.
Tree: If you don’t have any other questions, should we send you back? For us, it would be fine if you hung out for longer.
Honey: Yes. Hasn’t a lot of time passed?
Tree: Probably?
What do you mean, probably? Several days couldn’t have passed or something, right? If it did, then there would be a huge commotion. Even now, it was a little uneasy.
Newcomer: It has not been long! I am not sure, but it would be about 30 minutes at best?
…More time had passed than I had thought.
Honey: Is it possible to shorten the time, or something?
Newcomer: It is a state where we are connected, so it is difficult. Should we send you right away?
Honey: Yes.
Still, if it was about 30 minutes, then it should be okay. Now, I could explain about the system too.
The lights that were forming the chat window and the keyboard dispersed again, and the surrounding darkness turned blurry. Then, the scenery in front of my eyes changed back.
To a large field.
There was definitely a thick forest between the seashore, but it had all disappeared. I could clearly see the sea.
‘Did… all of it burn?’
The ashes scattering around on the wind was ominous.
-Keuhang!
Just then, I suddenly heard the cry of a ferocious beast. When I reflectively turned around, a magic beast that was bigger than a lion, with red and gold fur mixed together, dashed to me. I unconsciously stepped back and used the Seed-Leaf Skill.
[2nd Rank Unicorn subtype[5] – Horned Flame Lion(Adolescent) Peace
Current stat rank B
Growth possible stat rank A~S
Optimized Initial Skills
Flame Breath(S) Achieve after growth
Blaze Run(A) Achieve after growth
Giant Fire(A) Achieve after growth
Flame Resistance(A) Acquired
※No growth without an adult’s help]
……It was Peace?
[1] what this whole part is referring to metaphorically is when an organization doesn’t change up its members so it declines, sort of like the eng ‘bringing in fresh/new blood’. Esp ‘water change’ is used metaphorically to refer to changing the members/execs of an institution on a relatively large scale. I didn’t know how to put that in eng without completely changing it in order to make sense, so I’m putting the explanation in the footnote.
[2] back in the olden(?) times, ppl would form a 계, which is a group where the members chip in a certain amt of money and then they takes turns with one person taking the gathered money each time they meet up. It being your turn is called 계 타다 and that’s the expression used here. It’s used metaphorically to mean you (suddenly) got a lot of money, or depending on context, that you got lucky, since if it’s your turn to take the money, it’s a lucky thing.
[3] this is a word for ‘siblings’ but specifically ‘brother and sister from the same family’, which is why yj is surprised in the next sent, bc it’s implying one of them is a woman.
[4] from the idiom ’10-year old indigestion is going down’ which is similar to eng ‘a weight is being lifted off one’s shoulders/chest’, but here they changed it to a thousand years
[5] there was no change in the krn but i’m using ‘subtype’ here from now on, instead of ‘subspecies’ since i’ve been calling everything else ‘type’