Chapter 69

Chapter 69

The hammer carried Hong Man-gi's will and the power of the spirits residing within him.

'This is the last one!'

He gathered every remaining bit of strength and brought the hammer down for the final strike.

[BOOOOOOOOOOOM!]

Brilliant white light filled the entire cavern, bright enough that no one could keep their eyes open.

"Uwah!"

Startled, Lee Yu-han quickly raised an arm to cover his eyes.

The spirit of Cha Gang-il residing inside Hong Man-gi's shadow reacted the same way.

'A... amazing....'

Then,

as the light slowly faded,

the completed weapon appeared on the anvil.

"Whoa...."

"Oh...."

Sounds of admiration followed.

But then,

"What?"

"Wh... what is that?"

Their admiration turned into confusion.

What lay before them was not a sword.

Not a spear.

Not a hammer.

On the anvil rested a single smooth Chinese chef's knife, black as absolute darkness.

Beside it sat a small brass bowl.

Lee Yu-han was the first to speak in confusion.

"Th... that's... just a kitchen knife and a rice bowl, isn't it? Is this... really right?"

He was not wrong.

The two objects looked far too plain and simple to have been created from legendary materials inside the furnace of an S-rank dungeon.

There was an indescribable strange energy surrounding them.

But judging from appearance alone, they hardly resembled legendary weapons.

"There must be a reason."

Hong Man-gi calmly approached.

A cool glow like moonlight leaked from the edge of the chef's knife.

The brass bowl looked rough from the outside.

Yet when Hong Man-gi looked inside, countless tiny particles of light seemed to dance like stars.

Cha Gang-il's spirit whispered with a trembling voice.

'Th... this is... what I spent my entire life dreaming of....'

His voice carried shock and overwhelming emotion.

Without realizing it, Hong Man-gi reached out and grabbed the knife's handle.

The instant his hand closed around it,

[Hummmmmm.]

The knife released a low cry and settled perfectly into his grip.

Information about the weapon poured into Hong Man-gi's mind like a waterfall.

[Full Moon, Vessel That Holds Souls]

Grade: ???, Growth Type

Type: ???, Form Transformation

[Basic Form]

Cooking Tools, Full Moon Blade / Full Moon Bowl

Absolute Cutting: Sees through the essence of any ingredient touched by the blade, removes unnecessary elements, and draws out the best possible flavor. Purifies and enhances cooking ingredients.

Soul Connection: Food placed inside the bowl connects with the soul of the person who eats it, drawing out their deepest memories and emotions. Enhanced Memory Activation.

Harmony of All Things: Helps any ingredients placed inside the bowl achieve their best possible harmony.

Weapon, Form Transformation: Depending on the user's will and situation, freely transforms into the most suitable weapon form, including sword, spear, bow, shield, and others.

Feature: Transformed weapons inherit part of the Absolute Cutting ability of the Full Moon Blade and the Soul Connection ability of the Full Moon Bowl.

Special Ability, Lunar Eclipse: Temporarily releases the powers of the souls residing within the weapon to unleash a dark strike capable of cutting through everything. After use, the weapon remains locked in its basic form for a certain period.

"Whoa...."

Hong Man-gi could not stop himself from gasping.

Cooking and battle.

Creation and destruction.

Comfort and judgment.

Everything he had experienced, and everything he would experience in the future, had fused into a single divine weapon.

Cha Gang-il's alchemical knowledge and Hong Man-gi's cooking philosophy had met to create a miracle that existed nowhere else in the world.

'Full Moon... a vessel that holds souls....'

The moment Hong Man-gi quietly spoke the weapon's name, the chef's knife in his hand began transforming.

The blade stretched longer.

Its edge formed a beautiful curve.

Soon it became a long black sword.

Soft moonlight still flowed across its blade.

"My god... th... that!"

Lee Yu-han's mouth fell open.

At that moment, Cha Gang-il's spirit emerged from behind Hong Man-gi.

He left Hong Man-gi's shadow and stared at the completed weapon with his own eyes.

Transparent tears flowed down his cheeks.

"It's complete... in the place where I failed... by your hands... finally! Hahaha!"

Cha Gang-il reached out with a trembling hand toward the black sword in Hong Man-gi's grip.

He could not physically touch it.

But when his fingertips passed across the blade, the weapon responded by shining even brighter.

"This... exceeds everything I ever imagined. A vessel that can cut through everything while also containing everything...."

His voice shook.

"You... are a true alchemist. You completed my dream... my final work... so perfectly!"

Cha Gang-il began sobbing.

The weight of failure that had crushed him.

The regret of leaving his dream unfinished.

All of it seemed to pour out as tears of joy.

Hong Man-gi silently accepted his emotions.

Then he raised the completed weapon.

"Hunter Cha Gang-il. I didn't make this alone."

Cha Gang-il looked toward him.

"Your lifelong wish and the hearts of everyone I've met were forged together to create it. The name of this weapon is Full Moon."

"Full Moon...."

Cha Gang-il nodded.

His spirit began glowing brightly.

His body slowly turned transparent.

It was clear the time for his ascension had arrived.

"Full Moon... a good name. Yes. Like the moon lighting up the dark night... please use that weapon to protect this world."

He smiled one last time.

"Thank you, young man. Truly... thank you."

Cha Gang-il became a single stream of light and disappeared toward the heavens.

Then,

[Ding.]

A system message rang out for Hong Man-gi.

[All regrets of the legendary A-rank Hunter, "Iron Alchemist" Cha Gang-il, have been resolved.]

[All of his knowledge, experience, and will are permanently inherited by you.]

[You may now hold the Hidden Class "Gourmet Alchemist" as an additional class.]

'Alchemist....'

Only Hong Man-gi, Lee Yu-han, and the newly born divine weapon Full Moon remained inside the cavern, glowing quietly.

Hong Man-gi quietly looked down at his new weapon, Full Moon.

"Hunter...."

Lee Yu-han, who had watched everything in a daze, called out with a trembling voice.

Only then did Hong Man-gi begin to understand the change that had happened to him.

A massive amount of knowledge and instinct poured into his mind like a waterfall.

It was the essence of alchemy Cha Gang-il had accumulated over an entire lifetime.

The eyes to understand the nature of minerals.

The fingertip sensitivity to perceive the essence of materials.

And a deep understanding of the principles behind dismantling and reconstructing matter itself.

Hong Man-gi recalled the system message.

[You may now hold the Hidden Class "Gourmet Alchemist" as an additional class.]

'What exactly does that mean...?'

He tilted his head once and swiped the system window aside.

[Unique Ability Inherited: Material Reconstruction]

Grade: A, Growth Possible Through Proficiency

Effect: Dismantles the basic structure of a target material and reconstructs it into a new form according to the user's will. Can alter purity, strength, and characteristics, and can fuse multiple materials together.

Conditions: Requires deep understanding of the target and a clear design. Depending on reconstruction difficulty, consumes enormous concentration and mana.

"Hmm... Gourmet... Alchemist... Material Reconstruction...."

Chef and alchemist.

Two paths that seemed completely unrelated.

'I understand this is the inheritance Hunter Cha Gang-il left me, but....'

Hong Man-gi opened and closed his fist.

"I need to test it."

"What? Test what, Hunter?"

"The power I gained."

Hong Man-gi's eyes moved toward the corner of the cavern.

Rock fragments lay scattered there from the earlier battle with the Black Iron Obsidian Hounds.

"Come over here for a second."

Hong Man-gi picked up a fist-sized stone blackened by the heat of the Primordial Furnace.

It looked perfectly ordinary.

Nothing more than another piece of the dungeon.

'Alchemy begins with understanding.'

He closed his eyes and focused on the stone.

Then,

"Huh...?"

The stone's internal structure began unfolding before his mind.

Silicon and oxygen bonds.

Tiny traces of iron and carbon mixed among them as impurities.

Even microscopic cracks formed after long exposure to the mana of the Forge of Chaos.

Everything appeared before him like a detailed blueprint.

'I can see it... all of it!'

It felt similar to the instinct of a chef examining ingredients and seeing through their quality.

'Then... Material Reconstruction?'

"Reconstruct."

The moment Hong Man-gi quietly spoke the word, the stone in his palm began glowing faintly.

He continued imagining.

Burn away every unnecessary impurity.

Recombine only the pure silicon particles.

Shape them into a perfectly round form.

Then,

[Crackle.]

Tiny sparks appeared across the surface of the stone.

Black smoke rose as impurities burned away.

Then the stone softened like melted candy.

It changed shape by itself and slowly compressed into a sphere.

'Amazing.'

When the light disappeared, what remained in Hong Man-gi's palm was a perfectly smooth, flawless black obsidian sphere.

"My god...."

Lee Yu-han approached and carefully touched it.

It was cold like ice, yet smooth like silk.

A perfect form that could never have appeared naturally.

"Hunter... is this... really the same rock from before? It turned into a marble...."

"Yeah. I think I finally understand what kind of power I've inherited."

Hong Man-gi spoke with rising excitement, thrilled by the new possibilities.

"Yu-han."

"Yes, Hunter!"

"Can you give me your weapon for a moment? The old one you used to carry."

Hong Man-gi pointed toward the worn F-rank dagger hanging from Lee Yu-han's waist.

Ever since obtaining the Steel Fist's Stone Gauntlet, Lee Yu-han rarely used it anymore.

It had become little more than a backup weapon.

"My dagger? Why? It's kind of embarrassing to show you something this cheap, haha."

Though confused, Lee Yu-han drew the dagger and handed it over.

The blade was chipped.

Its edge had gone dull.

The weapon carried every trace of the difficult years Lee Yu-han had endured as an F-rank Hunter.

Hong Man-gi took it and awakened his new senses once more.

Then,

'As expected.'

He could see everything inside the dagger.

Cheap, poorly refined iron ore.

Impurities trapped throughout the blade.

Tiny cracks formed through countless battles.

Even dried traces of blood and bodily fluids from low-rank monsters remained in those cracks.

'This thing... is almost closer to scrap metal than a weapon now. But....'

Hong Man-gi also saw the "story" held inside the dagger.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of swings made by Lee Yu-han despite his despair.

The trembling moments when he had forced himself to be brave enough to protect his companions.

Though it was a low-grade weapon, it had been Lee Yu-han's only companion throughout his growth.

'There's no such thing as a material that deserves to be thrown away. Everything has its own value.'

Hong Man-gi's eyes sharpened.