Level Up Machine

Chapter 125 Machines and Weapons (2)

“It’s a bayonet.”

“A bayonet?”

Park Cheol-tae tilted his head, unfamiliar with the term. If it’s a gun, it’s a gun; if it’s a sword, it’s a sword. So, what was a bayonet?

The bayonet he knew was a blade attached to a gun in the military, but judging by the shape of the sword drawn on the paper, it didn’t seem like that.

“First of all, Mr. Cheol-tae, your strength is in delivering heavy blows with your greatsword. Actually, it’s better for you to deal damage from the midline with Ms. So-rim rather than defending in the front line. Well, our guild’s front line is weak right now, so there’s no choice, but I didn’t want to give up on your strengths.”

Yeong-sik placed his hand on the greatsword he had extended.

While other guild members were hunting the boss monster, they hadn’t been idle. They had already made all the machines needed for synthesis.

“Synthesis.”

Ding!

[The synthesis of this weapon will consume five A-grade metal cores. Do you wish to proceed with the synthesis?]

Yeong-sik nodded.

If they upgraded further, synthesis using S-grade metal cores would be possible, but right now they lacked the materials anyway.

Buzz!

A blue light emanated from Yeong-sik’s hand and flowed into Park Cheol-tae’s greatsword. A bright halo enveloped the surroundings.

“Ooh?”

A short exclamation escaped Park Cheol-tae’s lips as he gazed at the greatsword, now complete in an instant.

“Mr. Cheol-tae, your downside is that the greatsword itself is so heavy that your swinging speed is too slow. While it can easily shatter most bosses’ armor if it hits, monsters can simply evade your attacks if they react even slightly quickly.”

“…You’re right.”

Park Cheol-tae nodded heavily.

His downside, and one of the reasons he had taken on the front line role.

His attack speed was so slow that monsters rarely got hit by his attacks.

Thus, he had mainly used his greatsword like a shield to block monster attacks, attacking only when other guild members had immobilized the monsters. This combat style didn’t fully utilize his strength, which was ‘powerful attack strength.’

Yeong-sik handed him the greatsword and said,

“This greatsword now has a booster installed, allowing for momentary acceleration. Give it a try.”

“A booster… It’s what you often use.”

Nodding, Park Cheol-tae pressed the button Yeong-sik had indicated and swung the sword.

A fierce flame burst from the strange device attached to the blade, and his greatsword swung with incredible speed.

Whoosh!

“Ugh!”

Park Cheol-tae felt a powerful shock travel through his palm due to the tremendous speed of the greatsword. His face contorted as he nearly lost his grip on the sword.

“It will take some time to get used to it.”

Park Cheol-tae mumbled as he looked down at the greatsword in his hand.

However, once he got used to it, he thought he would be able to deliver sword strikes much faster than ever before.

‘This is a ridiculous piece of equipment.’

The weapon Yeong-sik had modified was beyond what he had imagined.

It was like adding a high-level skill directly to a weapon. And it was the most efficient skill to compensate for his weaknesses.

“What’s this trigger for?”

“If the booster compensates for your weaknesses, this maximizes your strengths. Point the sword at that tree and press the button.”

“Understood.”

Following his words, Park Cheol-tae aimed the greatsword at a large tree and pulled the trigger attached to the hilt.

-BOOM!

“Ugh!”

A fist-sized orb was shot from the cylindrical device between the split greatsword.

He realized what this cylindrical device was.

“Is this… a cannon?”

“It’s like a cannon gun. By using the booster to embed the greatsword into a monster and pulling the trigger, imagine the damage you can inflict.”

“…Huh.”

Park Cheol-tae looked at Yeong-sik with an incredulous expression. Combining a cannon with a sword was a crazy idea. He could only think of it as insanity.

‘But.’

Because it was such an idea, the value of this weapon was incomparable to any other item.

A powerful S-grade item imbued with its own magic and mana?

What were the chances that the magic contained in such an item would match his combat style until now?

But the weapon Yeong-sik had modified was different. This was a weapon designed specifically for ‘Park Cheol-tae.’ It compensated for his weaknesses and maximized his strengths.

‘With this weapon…’

Park Cheol-tae’s eyes gleamed. His current level was 96. He had surpassed the previous level 85 limit and raised the level cap to a higher realm.

He thought that by refining his style with this weapon, he might reach even higher levels. No, even if he couldn’t, just having this weapon meant he already possessed power beyond his level.

“…Thank you so much.”

Park Cheol-tae bowed his head to Yeong-sik, lifting the greatsword. He felt like training immediately to get used to this weapon.

“Now it’s So-rim’s turn.”

“Ah… yes, Mr. Yeong-sik…”

Jeong So-rim nodded shyly and handed her spear to Yeong-sik.

Though she became half-crazy in battle, wildly rampaging, in her daily life, she was so timid that it frustrated those who watched her.

“Ms. So-rim’s strength lies in her ability to accurately strike monsters’ vital points with her rapid attack speed.”

“Th-thank you.”

“But the downside is that Ms. So-rim’s attacks are so weak that even if she hits the vital points of boss monsters, they don’t take much damage and keep moving.”

“Because of this, I’m thinking of installing a device on the spearhead that generates plasma.”

“P-plasma?”

“Yes. Attaching a gun like Mr. Cheol-tae’s would have greater destructive power, but the heavy recoil might disrupt your fast attack style.”

“Oh?”

Jeong So-rim let out a short exclamation as she looked at Yeong-sik, who had a detailed understanding of her attack style.

Even though he hadn’t participated in the battles himself and had only watched them fight, she hadn’t expected him to consider such detailed aspects.

“Ms. So-rim’s strength is her speed, so I didn’t make any major changes. However, this will allow you to focus much more on speed than usual.”

“Th-thank you, Mr. Yeong-sik!”

Jeong So-rim responded energetically with a bright expression as she received the weapon.

“Ah, can I try it out now?”

“Of course.”

“Then…”

Jeong So-rim cautiously stood up and began to swing the spear in the air. Crackle, crackle! The plasma gathered at the spearhead emitted intense heat.

“Oh…”

She let out a short exclamation as she stabbed a nearby tree with the spear. The hard tree was easily pierced and burst into flames as if a fire-type spell had been cast.

Whoosh! Swish!

Her spear strikes began to gain more momentum. A broad smile spread across Jeong So-rim’s face. She had always felt pressured by the fact that her attacks, while fast, lacked power.

Because of this, she had never focused solely on speed when using her spear.

But now, for the first time, she could swing her spear with all her strength.

A spear technique that maximized pure ‘speed’ without considering the weight of the spear.

“Ha, hahaha!”

Jeong So-rim burst into joyous laughter, her mouth twisting into a grin. She felt as if she had thrown off a heavy burden that had been weighing her down.

Her spear moved on its own, vibrating through her entire body.

Whoosh! Swish!

“Yes! This is it! This is what I wanted!”

“Uh… So-rim, calm down a bit…”

Seeing her excitement rising outside of battle, Park Cheol-tae stepped in. Jeong So-rim glared at Park Cheol-tae, who was trying to calm her down, and then thrust her spear at a tree in front of her, shouting.

“Shut up, Park Cheol-tae! You muscle-brained pig! How can you be so clueless? Always! Running away scared at critical moments! And you call yourself a man with balls, you jerk?!”

“Wh-what did you say?”

The guild members were taken aback by the unexpected tirade. Park Cheol-tae approached her with a flushed face.

“S-So-rim, you’re getting too excited…”

“Shut up! I’ve been trying to get your attention for years! What? Now’s not the time? Do you think you’ll get the chance after dying in battle? Huh? Say something, you jerk!”

Jeong So-rim glared at Park Cheol-tae with blazing eyes and swung her spear. Park Cheol-tae hurriedly blocked her attack, wearing a panicked expression.

Suddenly, a fierce battle erupted between the two.

Yeong-sik and the other guild members watched their fight, unsure of how to react. Only Chae-rin seemed entertained by the spectacle, watching with bright eyes.

Caught in the exhilaration of discovering her unique spear technique, it was as if something inside Jeong So-rim had snapped, making her completely lose her senses (though describing her state simply as losing her senses might not fully capture it).

Park Cheol-tae, focused on defense, began to be pushed back by her ferocious attacks.

Her spear strikes were so fast that one might doubt they were from someone other than a top-tier ranker.

In the blink of an eye, her attacks rained down on Park Cheol-tae.

Each strike carried powerful plasma, and Park Cheol-tae desperately blocked her attacks.

“You get all excited during your matches, but why don’t you show me that side? Do you prefer those robots over a woman’s body?”

“Robots? Matches are my…”

“Shut up!”

Jeong So-rim continued her assault with an angry expression.

“Why are they suddenly having a lovers’ quarrel…”

Yeong-sik watched their fight with a headache.

Then, it happened.

A brilliant light began to emanate from her body. The blue light shone brightly before being absorbed back into Jeong So-rim.

“…Huh?”

Jeong So-rim stopped swinging her spear and stared at the air, as if a status window had appeared before her.

A somewhat helpless laugh escaped her lips.

“The level cap… has increased.”