Tomb Raider King

Chapter 91: The future seems to have changed a bit? (3)

Translator: miraclerifle

Huh, but the rope's condition......?

The rope inside the room was huffing as if it was extremely angry. But it didn't seem to have been restored.

[Rope from Heaven (C-Grade:General-grade - Consumable Artifact)]

- Remaining Uses (2/100) (1000)

How could it be when its durability was a mess like this?

However, the rope was moving around extremely energetically even with its durability so low.

Forget being weak, it had bound and bit(?) Yoo Jaeha who put his hand on its body. It was causing all sorts of messes.

And because of that...

“Please do something about this thing! I can't restore it because it won't stand still!”

Yoo Jaeha who was grinding his teeth clenched the rope. The rope then started to flail like a captured snake and screamed in anger.

[#&$#&!]

Don't touch my body! Don’t touch it!

The rope that was being held down by Yoo Jaeha landed a strong punch to Jaeha’s cheek.

Pow!

Yoo Jaeha ended up screaming and falling on his butt.

“Why that damn thing!”

Yoo Jaeha was whining and asking why it was acting this way to someone who was trying to restore it and Ju-Heon called the rope back.

“Come here.”

The rope that was growling toward Yoo Jaeha instantly wrapped around Ju-Heon's arm.

Maybe it was because of the incident with Rockefeller, but it didn't seem to want to be touched by anyone other than Ju-Heon.

‘It is a very unique situation.’

This was very weird.

Artifacts hated humans and there were no artifacts that were friendly to humans.

‘It is guaranteed to be the devil’s ploy if they seem nice.’

That was the reason Ju-Heon did not open his heart to artifacts.

Even possession-type artifacts created a contracted relationship based on both sides benefiting from the deal. The other reason would be if the person's Affinity was extremely high.

Either way, you couldn’t expect the image of a loyal dog and its master from an artifact.

‘You’d be better off expecting that from a cockroach.’

But here was an artifact that listened to him well.

‘But this punk should have been restored by number 1 many times already.’

Why was it suddenly rejecting being restored?

Ju-Heon thought for a moment before asking with a serious expression.

"Did you sexually harass it or something?”

"Does that make any sense? Does it?!”

‘Then why?’

Ju-Heon had that thought for a moment before tilting his head in confusion. For some reason, the aura he felt coming from the rope seemed a bit odd.

“......?”

Now he was certain. The rope’s aura was different than usual. A message popped up as if to answer his question.

[The rope that has achieved its goal is scheming to change.]

[Goal: Go against dominance for master]

[The rope's body is starting to change.]

The rope’s body flashed as soon as he saw that message.

Oh Seung Woo ran over in shock after seeing the bright light from outside.

"W, what is going on?! Hyung-nim!”

“Hey, restorer! What the hell did you do?!”

“What? I didn't do anything!”

Another bright light that was so bright they couldn't open their eyes flashed once Yoo Jaeha started to shout as well.

“Ahhh!”

“My eyes!”

The bright light continued for a few seconds.

And after a while... The painful light slowly disappeared. Ju-Heon saw an unfamiliar sight once he opened his closed eyes.

‘!’

The rope that had been moving looked different now. The typical dirt-colored and old rope had changed to a silver rope!

[Versatile Silver Rope from Heaven (B-Grade:Rare-Grade - Possession Artifact)]

- Fatigue Level: 0%

[The rope has changed into a Possession-type artifact.]

[The artifact’s specialties have increased.]

The rope that had been a consumable artifact had changed to a possession-type artifact!

Ju-Heon couldn't help but question his eyes after seeing that.

‘Artifacts are capable of upgrading?’

No. Ju-Heon had never heard about that. An artifact’s rank could change? Furthermore, it could go from consumable to possession-type?

Why would the numerous artifact users not have done it if it was possible?! They would have upgraded all the low-grade artifacts!

Not only that... If upgrading was possible, Ju-Heon would have upgraded the C-Grade healing-type artifact he got from Chairman Kwon to a SS-Grade Divine-Grade artifact.

That was why Ju-Heon who learned something new became serious.

Is it something rare like tolerance?

Or...

‘Maybe nobody knew the methods behind upgrading artifacts.’

Ju-Heon suddenly got the chills. Had it said it upgraded because it achieved its goal?

It was at that moment.

[It is a master-less artifact.]

[Therefore, you are able to initiate a contra......no, it has already initiated a contract on its own.]

[The Versatile Silver Rope from Heaven's master: Human Seo Ju-Heon]

‘This little punk.

It initiated a contract on its own.’

However, the rope that had turned into a possession-type artifact rubbed its body on Ju-Heon as if it was happy. Ju-Heon was also happy as it would be less annoying to use it now.

Another message then appeared.

[A risk will activate after using the artifact as it is now a possession-type artifact.]

[The Versatile Rope Artifact’s risk is, ‘a strong desire to praise.’]

Ju-Heon scoffed after seeing that message.

‘Would you look at that.’

He was shocked but it was fine. It wasn’t much for being a risk.

In fact, it was nothing compared to the risks for other possession-type artifacts he used a lot such as the Code of Hammurabi and the Herb of Eternal Youth.

And possession-type artifacts that had low chances of being stolen were things all artifact users wanted.

Another message popped up.

[You have received the title of < Artifact Trainer > and your Fit with all artifacts has increased.]

[You are now able to draw out 90% of an artifact’s abilities.]

Ju-Heon was amazed after seeing those messages.

‘An increase in Fit is extremely good.’

Fit (talent) was one of three ways to use artifacts.

It was similar to how Yoo Jaeha's Fit with art-type artifacts were high.

‘People can at max draw out 70% of an artifact’s abilities.’

Monarch-Grade users could draw out 90% but they could never get past 100%.

However, people with high Fit could not only draw out an artifact's abilities more efficiently, they could also discover new abilities as well.

In simple terms, they were able to draw out an artifact's hidden abilities at times.

One example of this would be how Yoo Jaeha was able to create pearls with the Venus’s Clam artifact.

But his Fit was not limited to a specific type like Yoo Jaeha's art-type artifacts but for all artifacts.

‘This is not bad.’

Furthermore, Fit was an issue of talent so it wasn’t something that could be raised with effort.

That was why Ju-Heon smiled while looking at this unexpectedly useful rope artifact.

‘I can put it in my list of first-rate artifacts now.’

All artifact users would gather as many artifacts as possible and determine their abilities to create their set of first-rate artifacts.

He also felt like he should thank the Rockefeller family who ended up helping the rope meet its goal.

‘They’re helping me a lot even though they said I don’t deserve to be sponsored.’

However, the disappointing thing was the rope’s grade.

‘It’s abilities are nice but B-Grade is still pretty low.’

It was better than C-Grade but it was rare to go up against Expert-Grade or Monarch-Grade users with a Rare-Grade artifact.

‘I'll run into them once the higher ranking tombs start to come out....’

There was still one of the Four Emperors he needed to be wary of from China.

But the high ranking majesties right underneath the Four Emperors were dangerous as well. Yoo Jaeha was one of the difficult majesties to handle but those other bastards were pretty versed in battle.

It could be called, ‘named buff.’ As artifacts were created based on existences in human memory, the artifacts of individuals who are famous world wide would give buffs to its users, but what about this rope?

That was why Ju-Heon seriously asked a question.

“Hey number 1.”

“Yes sir.”

“Are you able to fortify artifacts?”

Yoo Jaeha was shocked.

“......Are you trying to make me work as a blacksmith too now?”

Well, that was true.

‘But based on this artifact, I should be able to upgrade other artifacts too......’

He just didn't know how to do it.

It happened at that moment.

[Artifacts can grow stronger.]

A message popped up as if it was giving Ju-Heon a hint.

“Artifacts cannot be developed.”

“That is why there is a need to quickly monopolize the high-grade artifacts.”

“Low-grade artifacts are trash even if they have useful abilities.”

Pandora was having an emergency meeting.

It was because the core artifact Pandora's system had given them new information after the gathering of artifact users.

There had been a total of 521 tombs in the world until now. Most were medium or small tombs with most artifacts being B-Grade or lower.

“Seven large tombs that are different from the others will start to appear.”

“Different?”

“Yes sir. They seem to be different from other tombs in both size and cruelty. The Tomb Appearances will be close to 9,373km² in size.”

They showed a map so that it was easier to explain.

The 9,373km² was about the size of South Korea.

Pandora members who saw that dropped their jaws in shock.

“Then are you saying an entire state in the US could end up being affected by a Tomb Appearance?”

The tombs until now had only been the size of a village at most.

But what?

“The Tomb Appearance area is the size of a small country......!”

“Of course, there was the Great Tomb Appearance that affected the entire world a few months ago, but......!”

It was better than back then but this was serious even if you considered the Great Tomb Appearance to be an outlier.

However, the researchers were saying that wasn't the important thing.

“According to the prophet Nostradamus, we must clear those seven tombs even if they are dangerous.”

“What? Why?!”

“He said that the people who conquer those tombs will change the world.”

The people's gazes changed after hearing that.

It was because they knew what that symbolized.

“Are you saying extremely precious artifacts are going to come out?”

“That is possible.”

The Pandora members and soldiers started to whisper.

“Pandora must excavate those tombs first!”

“That's right, we have to do it before the Russian or Chinese excavation teams get there!”

“The civilians might try their luck and try to go in as well...... That would be bad.”

However, the people reporting shook their heads.

“No. There are others we need to be wary of as well.”

"What?”

They started a slideshow instead of responding.

It showed the people who attended the party.

“This is the record of the < dangerous users > that the Pandora system artifact detected at the party. It ranks the top 50 people.”

< Danger ranking > base: Number of artifacts, artifacts’ abilities, Overall assessment of Tomb Exploration Ability

[Talent for Conquest, Kwon Tae Joon (~58 y/o)]

Number of artifacts in possession: 21

[Talent for Strategy, Julian Miller (~25 y/o)]

Number of artifacts in possession: 19

[Talent for Destitution, Irene Holten (~20 y/o)]

Number of artifacts in possession: 1

[Talent for Seduction, Elena Mecken]

Number of artifacts in possession: 14

[Talent for the Arts, Austin Rockefeller (~28 y/o)]

Number of artifacts in possession: 20

[Talent for Hunting, Alicia Ruiz (~25 y/o)]

Number of artifacts in possession: 18

...

[Talent for Wealth, Edward (~62 y/o)]

Number of artifacts in possession: 17

[Talent for Stocks, Lu Guanghui (~35 y/o)]

Number of artifacts in possession: 9

[Talent for Restoration, Jean Richard (~59 y/o)]

Number of artifacts in possession: 6

[Talent for Fraud, Yoo Jaeha (~24 y/o)]

Number of artifacts in possession: 5

... [Talent for Chemistry, Murata Shinichi (~42 y/o)]

Number of artifacts in possession: 3

...

[Talent for Gluttony ...]

The Pandora members were shocked looking at this list.

The people who were or had been a part of Pandora made sense. But there were so many people who had rejected joining Pandora or of civilian origins!

“These people will become the central figures in Tomb Exploration from here on.”

They were also the future Experts and Majesties. However, these people who had no way of knowing that started to grind their teeth in competition.

It was an obvious reaction. They had been upset lately because all artifacts they found were either D-Grade or C-Grade.

‘At least 10 people die even in a tomb with a D-Grade artifact.’

They were not superhumans even when using artifacts. The traps and tests killed a lot of people.

“Of these people, the ones who are not part of Pandora are the biggest issues.”

“They are all people who can conquer tombs.”

“Then there are high chances that these bastards will conquer the seven tombs.”

They started to whisper to each other and suggested that they quickly start forming excavation teams.

“We must hurry!”

“Hurry up and look for new members! Let our nations work together!”

It was at that moment.

The researchers who were presenting urgently shouted.

“P, please wait a moment! We are not done yet!”

“What, what is it?”

"Well, these people are problems, but......”

“What?”

They peeked around before continuing to speak.

“There was someone we did not put on there because the value was overwhelming......there is actually someone hidden above that first place person.”

“What?”

“That person is the one the Pandora system artifact warned us the most about. It said he was so dangerous he could excavate tombs on his own......!”

People who heard that started to scoff.

“Are you crazy? How can anybody excavate a tomb on their own?”

“Who the hell is it?”

The real first place person's name soon popped up on the screen.

[Talent for Plunder, Seo Ju-Heon (~22 y/o)]

[Number of artifacts in possession: 50]