Chapter 22. The Third Ancient Knowledge (1)

Two days later, Sanghyuk received a message that the bone whip he wished for had been completed. It was the bone whip personally made by the greatest smith, the ‘Firehammer’ Tokan.

And since this was made from the best material, the Ten Millennia Goldbone, he could look forward to it even more.

Ten Millennia Goldbone Whip [Unique++]

– A special weapon made by the greatest smith using the greatest materials. It looks even more special thanks to the fact that the smith’s abilities were used to the maximum. Also, the value can also increase more since it’s the first of its kind.

[Basic stats] Attack power 150(+30), Critical hit rate +20(+4)%

[Special stats] Critical hit damage + 50(+10%), all stats +10(+2)

[Special effects] 〉It doesn’t snap(A): Durability increases by 20 times.〈, 〉It’s better than spider strings(A): Can latch onto an opponent stronger.〈, 〉Hit me more(B): Can present the greatest bliss towards a being with peculiar preferences.〈

[Bonus effect] (1) Movement speed +5%, (2) Agility +12.

“Wow…….”

The moment he checked the bone whip given to him by Tokan, he subconsciously exclaimed. A unique-grade item, no to be exact, a double plus (++) unique grade Ten Millennia Goldbone Whip had great performance.

A ‘+’ sign on an item grade usually meant that it had a special history or reason for it. In this case, there was one plus from the masterpiece craft bonus from Tokan using more than 100% of his ability, and another plus from the first creation bonus.

One plus meant a 10% addition to item’s basic stats and special stats. In other words, a double plus, like in this case, meant a 20% increase in the bone whip’s basic and special stats. The number within the () brackets were the additional stats.

Not only that, every plus came with a bonus effect.

‘This is almost an e(elite)-unique item.’

Items with an e on the front of its grade had an unbelievably higher stats than the same grade. Elite-grade items could normally be acquired through special quests or raids, and naturally, it wasn’t so common.

“How is it, isn’t it good?”

Tokan asked Sanghyuk with full confidence.

“Yes, It’s really good. Thank you so much for making such an amazing item.”

“Hehe, I made that for two days and two nights. I can claim that it’s better than any other item I made recently.”

A masterpiece by a master artisan such as Tokan was identical to a divine product in the eyes of ordinary artisans. No matter how godly a double plus divine product was, the difference between an ordinary artisan and a master artisan was big, so they could be considered similar.

“And I decided to make the mass-produced bone whips with soft iron. Although not as good as the Ten Millennia Goldbone, it’s a very soft metal so it should suffice for the bone whip. Of course, the price of the bone whip would be expensive one due to the high cost of the soft iron, but special items must be traded at a special price.”

This was exactly like how Sanghyuk knew. In his previous life, the mass-produced bone whips were made of soft iron as well.

“Thank you for your consideration.”

“Nah, it’s a mutual benefit.”

Sanghyuk conversed with Tokan and spoke the words he had prepared. Since he had already made the ring of fate with Tokan, it was very likely that what he was going to say might work.

However, he had to be safe than sorry, so Sanghyuk conversed with Tokan while waiting for the best opportunity.

“……In the end, the most important thing is the power of fire and the power of earth! That’s why we are always near a fire elemental and an earth elemental.”

The words Sanghyuk had been waiting for had finally popped out of Tokan’s mouth.

‘Now!’

“The fire elemental and the earth elemental…… if it’s not so rude to you, do you know of a way I can get close to them?”

“Why, do you want to learn the hammer?”

“Oh, no. Not that much, but I do have an interest in elementals, also called the providence of mother nature.”

“Really? Hmm…… if you want to know about elementals then go to Vaize. Oh, that secretive loner won’t just meet anyone, so I’ll write you a letter of recommendation.

Sudden quest ‘Tokan’s Recommendation Letter’ has been generated.

‘Yes!’

The ‘Seeker’ Vaize. Another reason Sanghyuk had raised his familiarity with Tokan was that he wanted to acquire a letter of recommendation to meet this guy. Of course, it wasn’t only Tokan that could write a letter of recommendation to meet Vaize.

There were around 6 more NPCs who could do the same in Falcon City. However, not all letters of recommendation were the same. Obviously, a letter of recommendation from the legendary-grade NPC Tokan was the highest tier.

“Thank you.”

He had no reason to refuse, so he immediately took a bow. With this recommendation letter, he would have no need to meet Tokan for a while. He would have to manage his familiarity if he didn’t want the ring of fate disappearing, but that wasn’t so hard.

“You want to learn about elementals?”

Tokan’s recommendation letter was indeed very effective. If he acquired a letter of recommendation from another lower-rank NPC, he would have to raise his familiarity all over again.

“Yes.”

Sanghyuk politely nodded his head while he replied.

“Why do you want to learn about them?”

“I have once heard that the most mystic power that makes up this universe is the power of elementals. I wish to learn more about the elementals that appear in many objects and make the world turn.”

This was obviously a line that Sanghyuk had prepared beforehand. Preparing lines before meeting special NPCs like Vaize was a must.

Of course, a model answer like this didn’t work on all NPCs. For some NPCs, one had to adapt to the circumstances. However, this kind of answer worked fine for the ‘Seeker’ Vaize.

“Hmm, from your words, I guess you aren’t someone to boast with your elementalism.”

Vaize closed the book in front of him and stood up from his seat.

“Follow me. I shall tell you what elementals are.”

Vaize pulled out a book from his shelf. When he did, the shelf split in half and a hidden chamber appeared.

‘Vaize’s secret laboratory! Tokan’s letter of recommendation sure is amazing.’

Sanghyuk’s model answer on top of Tokan’s letter of recommendation worked seamlessly, and he could enter the secret laboratory without any chain quests. It was an unfair reality for the other users who would have to go through suffering, but so what? The world was like that…….

Congratulations. You have cleared the sudden quest ‘Tokan’s Recommendation Letter’ and acquired a slight amount of karma.

The sudden quest was done, but that wasn’t important right now.

“Elementalism is one of the things I have researched for a long time……, though, I still have a lot of things I don’t know than I do, but I think I can tell you what elementalism is.”

Along with those words, Vaize gave him a thick book.

You have acquired ‘Foundations on Elementalism’ from the ‘Seeker’ Vaize.

Sanghyuk smiled happily while looking down at the thick book in his hand. Foundations on elementalism, this was the book through which he could acquire the Ancient Knowledge ‘Elementalism’.

Elementalism was the stereotypical nullary Ancient Knowledge.

Nullary Ancient Knowledge was also referred to as the Mastery Knowledge. While other Ancient Knowledge expanded from primary to secondary and tertiary, Mastery Knowledge didn’t expand like so.

Instead, they had proficiency on each skill, and many more things were revealed as the proficiency increased.

The most common Mastery Knowledge was ‘Elementalism’, which Sanghyuk had just acquired, ‘Taming’ and various summoning-class Ancient Knowledge.

“Actually, even I do not know what elementalism exactly is. I have researched and investigated deeply into elementals, but the more I did, the more difficult it was to understand them. I wish you could succeed me and find out what elementals are.”

‘Ol’man, you’re saying things nicely, but you’re going to give the same book to the others, aren’t you?’

Actually, the book of Foundations of Elementalism he got from Vaize was a copy of it. Of course, Sanghyuk wasn’t going to nitpick about this here. Nothing would change even if he did, and he also had some other business with Vaize as well, so it was better to not decrease his familiarity with him.

Sanghyuk put the book inside his bosom and left after greeting him politely.

This was naturally to register the Ancient Knowledge ‘Elementalism’ into his third Soul Hole.

Normally, users with Elementalism were called Elementalists, and the majority of Elementalists preferred Double Souls. The most popular combination out of all of them was to use Elementalism along with a long-range Ancient Knowledge.

However, Sanghyuk had no plans to acquire Ancient Knowledge with long-range skills. Not only that, he wasn’t going to raise the elementals like the other elementalists would do.

To the elementalists, elementals were not only friends and trustworthy companions, but they were also faithful subordinates as well. That was why they made an effort to communicate and interact with them.

Later, the greatest elementalist of all time, the ‘Early Wind’ Maeda would also say that understanding the elemental’s will was the first step of succeeding as an elementalist.

In other words, even if elementals were a type of NPCs with an AI behind them, disdaining was no good, and elementalists had to be considerate of them. However, Sanghyuk was planning to ignore these basics altogether.

The new type of elementalist he thought of…… was beyond revolution; it was a destruction.

To make new rules, one had to start by denying ‘common sense’. However, making new rules was difficult precisely because denying common sense was very risky.

However, the important thing here was that Sanghyuk knew the outcome of this challenge. Since he knew the results, he did not need to fear failure. There were pioneers who stepped on this path before Sanghyuk in his previous life, and as the one who observed them from the closest, he knew precisely what he had to do.

To understand this more correctly, it would require revealing a knowledge unknown to the people of Sanghyuk’s previous life…… and it was that the ‘Burst’ Nar’el, who also contributed to the popularity of card matter along with the ‘Crash’ Choi Sangryul was also a masterpiece made by Sanghyuk.

The ‘Burst’ Nar’el – the pioneer Sanghyuk knew of.

***

The Ancient Knowledge ‘Elementalism’ will be absorbed into the third Soul Hole.

You have ‘1’ empty Soul Hole remaining.

Sanghyuk didn’t delay and immediately learned Elementalism through the book.

Ancient Knowledge ‘Elementalism’ [Beginner-level Elementalism]

: You have acquired the knowledge of the power of elementals, passed down from the ancient times. You can now feel the power of elementals in various objects.

Details: Fragrance of Elementals(C)[Movement speed and attribute resistance increases.], Friend of the Elementals(C)[Magic power and attributed attack power increases.], Care of the Elementals(C)[Magic defense and physical defense increases.]

Proficiency : 0

Summon lowest-rank fire elemental

-Summon a lowest-rank fire elemental that looks like a lizard.

[Proficiency : 0]

Summon lowest-rank water elemental

-Summon a lowest-rank water elemental that looks like a fish.

[Proficiency : 0]

Summon lowest-rank wind elemental

-Summon a lowest-rank wind elemental that looks like a butterfly.

[Proficiency : 0]

Summon lowest-rank earth elemental

-Summon a lowest-rank earth elemental that looks like a boar.

[Proficiency : 0]

Summon lowest-rank wood elemental

-Summon a lowest-rank wood elemental that looks like a stag beetle.

[Proficiency : 0]

Elemental contract (Lowest-grade)

-You can contract with numerous lowest-rank elementals of this world.

[Proficiency : 0]

Sanghyuk nodded his head after looking at the skills. Learning elementalism enabled the user to summon what was known as the five elementals. However, there were numerous elementals in the world of EL. Of course, growth from lowest → low → mid → high → highest was only possible for the first elemental.

The rest either had no rank or could only grow to mid or high rank. Some elementals didn’t even possess a rank.