The Skill Maker

Kim Yoo-Na has a complicated look.

“Did you happen to become like that because…”

“…It’s not like that.”

‘Just how messed up do I look? I cleaned myself up before coming here.’

Hyun-Soo took out the package that contained the potion and pushed it towards Kim Yoo-Na.

Kim Yoo-Na accepted it with trembling hands.

“The duration will be a lot longer than before. The minimum dose is the same as before, so it’s better to divide it.”

How often Hye-Na takes the potion was up to Kim Yoo-Na. She’ll probably feed it to her based on the hospital’s schedule.

“And the effects are really good, so it’s better to feed her a moderate amount so that no one gets suspicious.”

Doctors will most likely get suspicious if someone as sick as Kim Hye-Na suddenly recovered as fast as a normal person would.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure it doesn’t trouble you.”

She hesitated as she kept on touching the shopping bag.

And moments later, she spoke. Her voice cracked a bit towards the end.

“Hyun-Soo, thank you so much. It seems like I’m always indebted to you.”

He was in the same position anyways.

Between the help she was providing him and the help she was receiving for Hye-Na, it was obvious which side meant more to her.

Rattle.

Kim Yoo-Na looked like she was in a hurry because she quickly said her good-bye and stood up from her seat.

As her chair was pushed back, he heard a small sound.

‘It was worth it.’

Her face showed just how happy she was. It was worth staying up for two days and trying to create a new recipe.

These days, there are people that take what’s theirs and not offer anything in return despite of the other person putting in all of their time and effort.

There’s even a saying that they’re paid with their pa.s.sion.

However, in many ways, Kim Yoo-Na had a lot more than Hyun-Soo, but she didn’t take any of his help for granted.

In that sense, he was lucky.

“I just saw Yoo-Na leave. Did you fight with her or something?”

A hunter that Hyun-Soo spoke to not long ago sat in the same chair that Yoo-Na sat in and asked.

His name was something like David.

“No way. It’s nothing like that.”

After Hyun-Soo pa.s.sed the test, David talked to him pretty often.

Before, he wouldn’t say a word and just ignored him.

David…

“I know what’s going on, you know. After Yoo-Na, Marcus has the authority to say what’s on his mind out of all of us. But since we base it on skills, after you showed your skills last time, we decided not to care about what he thinks.”

Said it without any hesitation.

The fact that he wasn’t hesitating at all was the problem.

“Out of all the times that I’ve hunted with Yoo-Na, there were only two instances where I’ve seen her expression change so often. The situation with her sister and when you came in.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. How did her expression change?”

“You think she’s been maintaining the same expression? Oh, that’s more surprising actually.”

Hyun-Soo felt a bit annoyed by the fact that David was misunderstanding Hyun-Soo’s reply.

“Forget about Yoo-Na’s expression. What’s wrong with yours? Did something happen?”

“Do I really look that weird?”

This was the third time he was hearing it, so he rubbed his cheeks with his hands.

He stayed up for two days, but it wasn’t like he wasn’t sleeping during those two days.

Even though it was only for five hours, he slept and ate the frozen rice ball cakes.

‘There’s no way it would be that noticeable.’

Hyun-Soo felt suspicious, so he kept on rubbing his cheeks.

“Yeah, your eyes look like a panda’s and the color of your face looks bluish. I’m sure a homeless person that’s been homeless for 10 years looks better than you.”

Hyun-Soo couldn’t say anything after hearing his blunt answer.

Did I really look that bad…?

“Well, if that’s not the case, then it’s fine. It’s just a feeling that I had. Since hunters are humans, they have off days too. Anyways, if you’re done eating, come with me to the Center Room.”

“Why?”

“You have nothing to do. Come and watch me. I’m bored to death since I’m training by myself.”

“That’s not true. I have a lot to do.”

Since Skill Creation was now an A rank, he had to research to see how recovery skills should be made and he wanted to give himself a break since he only got five hours of sleep.

Hyun-Soo told David that he was busy, but…

“You should come to the Center Room and see how the other hunters use their skills. You can’t start being lazy already just because you pa.s.sed the test!”

Hyun-Soo ended up being dragged by David.

He wasn’t wrong.

They pursue a small group of elite hunters.

On top of that, since people command the skills, it’s difficult for a skill to be used with the same amount of power and form every time. Because of that, it was important to see the member’s skills as much as possible.

They naturally pursued that kind of lifestyle.

Hyun-Soo had to live that kind of lifestyle as well.

Because of that.

Emotionally, he didn’t want to go, but when thinking rationally, David’s persuasion got to him.

And so.

Hyun-Soo was somewhat forced to go to the Center room and arrived not long after.

“Oh, someone’s here.”

David walked in after opening the door and spoke in a surprised tone.

“Ismael! You were here too?”

“Yeah and you’re here with the rookie. Are you guys going to spar or something?”

“No, I brought him here as a witness for the historical moment that’s about to happen. It’ll be a big leap forward for humankind, but it’ll be a small step for me.”

“You still haven’t given up?”

A frown appeared on Ismael’s face because of David’s random reply.

“Even if you were the one that was able to mix two elements, it’s impossible to do that now. Working on your main skill will be more helpful when advancing.”

Tsk, tsk.

Ismael clicked his tongue.

“Well, how do you know that? You won’t know until you try!”

“Having two types of power without the use of a scroll is amazing, so just stop there. How many years has it been already? Don’t give the rookie weird ideas by wasting your energy on useless things.”

“It’s fine if you don’t want to encourage me, but don’t talk bad about it.”

“How many years have you wasted with that courage of yours? Whew…fine, fine. I’ll just get frustrated from watching, so I’ll be leaving first.”

David had a smile on his face, but Ismael kept on sighing.

Hyun-Soo quietly watched the two argue from the entrance.

He understood what was going on.

‘So…David is trying to evolve his skill, right?’

Maybe not evolve, but David was trying to improve his skill.

‘I heard that’s a difficult thing to do.’

He remembered the time when Kim Yoo-Na suggested him to use his skill by condensing his energy instead of using a weapon that consumed his energy.

Hyun-Soo listened to her suggestion and was able to successfully develop his skill.

Of course he was only able to succeed because of the hardcore training.

And.

‘Kim Yoo-Na was extremely surprised. She said it was almost impossible, but I succeeded.’

What did she say during that time?

“Honestly, a lot of hunters tried to develop their skills, but end up failing. The more you’re used to the skill, the more skilled you are at it and that strength becomes stronger, but in a way, the hunter is only able to use that skill in that one way.”

Right.

A lot of hunters tried, but ended up failing.

There were some that succeeded, but there were more that failed.

That’s why when she saw Hyun-Soo evolve his skill into a new one, she gave him high points for his potential.

‘It was more like evolving the skill rather than developing it to be honest.’

Kim Yoo-Na didn’t know and only knew that Hyun-Soo achieved something difficult.

The level of evolving a skill and improving it are different.

Ismael waved at Hyun-Soo as well and after he left, the Center Room became quiet.

David smiled in embarra.s.sment and waved his hand.

“You understand what I mean when I told you that I was bored of doing it by myself, right?”

Nod, nod.

Even if he didn’t explain in detail, it was enough to understand just from the short conversation he had with Ismael.

“They all encouraged me at first, but they must’ve lost hope since several years have pa.s.sed. They recommended that I give up because they felt bad for me.”

“I see.”

To them, it was probably an impossible task.

“The other guys have seen it plenty of times, but it’s your first time seeing it, right? That’s why you should quietly watch and get rid of this boredom.”

In short, Hyun-Soo was there to help David with his boredom.

David brought out a heavy fan.

He dragged out several of them and turned on all of them at once.

Swoosh.

The blades started spinning slowly and as they made mechanical sounds, they created a strong wind.

David didn’t stand in front of the wind.

Instead, he stood behind the fans.

There was nothing in front of the fans.

‘What is he trying to do?’

Hyun-Soo looked at David with a confused expression.

In order to avoid the strong wind, they went on the opposite side of where the fan was facing and sat on a chair that was placed in the corner.

“Watch carefully!”

David glanced over at Hyun-Soo and breathed in deeply.

Their shoulders started shaking.

And small flames appeared around him.

The small fires moved amongst themselves violently and started getting bigger.

The fires looked like a long stick and then turned into a large arrow, making it look like a lance.

‘So it’s true.’

The fire skill was definitely different from the low-ranked hunters since they were only able to form a fireball with their skill that was as big as a fist!

There was a reason why Ismael said that focusing on the main skill will be more helpful.

If an A ranked hunter was able to form a shape that big, then the power was probably that much powerful.

However, David looked like he wasn’t going to use his skill anytime soon.

Fwoosh.

The large fire arrow went up in flames and broken down everything that was around it.

‘What is he trying to do exactly?’

Hyun-Soo didn’t have any idea as to what David was trying to do with that large fire arrow and the wind created by the fan.

And then.

David raised his hand.

The fire arrow kept on burning and then the fire dug into the wind that the fan was creating.

Swoosh.

“Ahhh!”

As the fire arrow dug into the wind, the fire started spitting in different directions.

It looked as if it wanted to change its shape and moments later, the fire started burning up as if it was going to devour the wind.

At the same time, Hyun-Soo saw a faint plum-colored wave emitting out of David.

The color of the wave was purple and it was also plum, but it didn’t really give off a good feeling.

While Hyun-Soo squinted his eyes took look at the odd sight.

‘…It turned off?’

It turned off like a candle as it made a swoosh sound and it disappeared within the wind without a trace.

Hyun-Soo was puzzled so he looked at David.

The plum wave that he saw from David completely disappeared.

What was that just now?

“Oh, looks like I failed again. I had a good feeling about this one too.”

David turned around and his forehead was covered in sweat.

‘I thought he was just standing there since I’m only able to see his back.’

During that short time, it seemed like he put in a lot of effort, but Hyun-Soo was unfamiliar with that type of effort.

Plop!

Gulp, gulp!

With shaky legs, David grabbed some water and as he sat on the floor, he all the water at once.

“I feel a lot better. Whew, but did you see it? It was only for a moment, but it slightly changed from the arrow shape, right?”

End.