Episode 20
020. It Can’t Be Like This
‘The blueprint created by collecting all the fragments… was this thing’s blueprint.’
The blueprint completed by gathering 10 fragments. It was the blueprint for the dungeon’s core heart. Therefore, golden hands plan changed a little.
‘Destruction can be done anytime. But…’
Golden hands gaze fixed on the Ancient Heart, emitting an unstable red light. His Intuition of Resolve skill was seeing through its internal structure. The intricately tangled Magic circuits, the energy core twisted from overload, and the fine cracks covering it all. It was a dizzying sight, like looking inside a time bomb.
‘It’s a bit wasteful to destroy it just like this? And… what’s this?’
golden hands brow furrowed. At the heart’s core, traces of physical damage that seemed externally inflicted were evident. It was as if someone had deliberately damaged the Ancient Heart to paralyze the dungeon’s functions and cause malfunctions in the golems.
“This is… not a simple breakdown. Someone intentionally broke it. And in a very crude way.”
The essence of ancient magic. Although now just a broken thing on the verge of rampage, its foundation was no different from a superior Magic engine.
An item close to an almost universal power source. Destroying it without even seeing it function fully was a bit regrettable. Moreover, the signs of deliberate sabotage. Seeing that, a rebellious competitive spirit towards that ‘someone’ began to smolder.
‘Ravi said to destroy the Ancient Heart… she didn’t say to destroy a broken Ancient Heart, right? So…’
If he combined his knowledge, skills, and newly acquired abilities, it was possible. Especially in a situation where he had even obtained the original blueprint. It seemed he could restore the red heart back to a blue light.
“A crazy idea? No, it’s worth a try.”
It might be an unnecessary process. But for golden hands , it was an absolutely necessary one. The memory of struggling during the Age of Ruin because there wasn’t a single intact Magic engine blueprint flashed through his mind.
So he couldn’t miss this opportunity. Blueprints alone weren’t enough. The completed product was right before his eyes, so he had to fully take it in. He intended to perfectly understand the blueprint while repairing it.
“Alright, shall we begin?”
Now, simply clearing the quest wasn’t the issue. This was a seed for the coming Age of Ruin. That seed would grow robustly and cast a great shadow in the Age of Ruin.
Without hesitation, golden hands unfolded the top-quality tool set. Precision screwdrivers, Magic tweezers, energy stabilizers—tools he couldn’t have even dreamed of in his past life—shone with a brilliant light.
“Ravi packed it quite frugally, didn’t she.”
Although it was an item received from a quest, he was satisfied. golden hands took a deep breath and placed his hand on the reinforced glass covering the Ancient Heart. The most vulnerable connection point indicated by Intuition of Resolve. He brought the precision screwdriver there and applied force very delicately.
Kree-reek—
With a chilling friction sound, the heavy reinforced glass opened smoothly. The finally revealed Ancient Heart. It threatened golden hands by spewing a more violent red light than before.
[Warning: Ancient Heart has been exposed to the outside.]
[Time until Magic rampage: 10 minutes]
“Ten minutes… that’s tight.”
Cold sweat dripped from golden hands forehead. But his hand didn’t tremble at all. Instead, it began to move more swiftly and precisely than before.
Divine Handicraft.
golden hands hands moved so fast they became a blur, disassembling and reassembling the overloaded circuits one by one. Blue Index was freely edited, providing convenience features like precise zooming and focusing only on necessary parts. Thanks to that, like a skilled surgeon performing complex vascular surgery, every one of his movements was without a hint of hesitation.
Sun’s Right Hand.
In this place without a forge, golden hands right hand itself was a perfect welding tool and smelting instrument. The solar heat blooming from his palm melted and reconnected severed Magic lines, restoring twisted parts to their original form.
Sssizzle—
His hands were occasionally blackened by the Magic discharges that burst forth, but he paid no mind. Instead, golden hands concentration grew even sharper.
[Repair method defies common sense! The system is recording your movements.]
[Due to the effect of ‘Sun’s Right Hand’, divine power imbues the damaged circuits.]
[Magic stabilization circuit is enhanced.]
With tiny sparks, the circuits burning red gradually regained stability and began to emit a blue light.
[Successfully repaired the Magic stabilization circuit.]
[Divine Handicraft proficiency has increased.]
[Due to Precision stat influence, repair success rate increases by 15%.]
“Precision stat… good. Still 5 minutes left.”
A message appeared, but it wasn’t over yet. Checking the time, golden hands moved on to the next task.
The most crucial problem: the twisted energy core. Intuition of Resolve pierced through the core’s internal structure. Dozens of gears were spinning madly in reverse, amplifying Magic unstably.
‘To stop this…’
golden hands picked up the Magic tweezers and precisely gripped one of the most central gears. Then, holding his breath, he began to turn it in the opposite direction with the most minute force. A task demanding extreme precision, where not even a 0.1mm error was allowed.
Kree-gee-geek…!
The gear let out a horrific grinding sound, as if screaming. He instinctively sensed something was wrong.
His fingertips trembled. A slight error. He could see it, but his hand wouldn’t move as he wished. If he applied force just slightly wrong, the entire core would be chain-destroyed, causing a massive explosion.
[Time until Magic rampage: 1 minute]
The time rapidly decreased, as if accelerating due to some mistake golden hands made.
It can’t be like this!
golden hands quickly opened his character detail window.
[Player Details]
[Base Stats]
Strength: 37(+20)
Agility: 27
Stamina: 27(+20)
Magic: 27
[Open Stats]Luck: 22
Precision: 26
Divinity: 26
[Remaining Stat Points: 70]
The 70 remaining stat points accumulated upon reaching level 20. While others would accumulate 40 points for 10 levels, golden hands had accumulated 70 thanks to his Open Stats. He invested 20 of them into the Precision stat.
[Investing 20 remaining stat points into Precision.]
[Precision: 26 → 46]
[Remaining Stat Points: 70 → 50]
As the investment was completed, the trembling in his hand stopped. All of golden hands nerves concentrated on his fingertips. Little time remained. But golden hands didn’t rush. Instead, even more calmly, feeling the gear’s minute resistance, he adjusted his force.
Click—
Finally, the gear found its place with a crisp sound. At that moment, all the gears spinning madly in reverse halted simultaneously.
And after a moment.
With a smooth sound, they began rotating in the correct direction.
Vrrrrr—
The unstable red flickering completely disappeared, and a clear, serene blue light spread from the heart. It was a sharp, icy blue, stable and powerful light, as if holding a blue ocean.
[Successfully repaired the Ancient Heart.]
[Achievement: Reviver of the Ancient Heart]
[First to perfectly repair an ancient power source on the verge of destruction.]
[The system expresses awe at your wondrous technique and boldness.]
[Effect 1. All skill proficiency gain increased by 50%.]
[Effect 2: When crafting, ‘Grand Success’ probability permanently increases by 10%.]
[Effect 3: Understanding of ancient technology greatly increases.]
[Fame increased by 200.]
[Blue Index’s stored blueprint ‘Ancient Heart’ has been perfectly internalized.]
[Ancient Heart’s grade has been upgraded by one tier.]
Stored Blueprints
Sun-Imbued Gear-Walker Golem[Unique]
Perfect Ancient Heart[Legendary]
“Phew…”
As the messages appeared before his eyes, golden hands finally let out the breath he had been holding. His entire body was soaked with sweat. But a satisfied smile was on his face.
“I did it.”
The rewards were quite satisfying as well. The blueprint grade increase was good, but especially the 50% additional skill proficiency gain and 10% increase in Grand Success probability. Skill proficiency was now a cumulative 150%, reaching 200% including crafting proficiency. Also, the Grand Success probability alone neared a cumulative 40%.
“Maybe mastering everything isn’t just a dream?”
golden hands chuckled lightly, briefly savoring the satisfaction of the task’s success, then pulled his weary body back up.
Now, only one thing remained.
Achieving the quest’s original objective.
“I fixed what I fixed… now I just need to break it, right?”
After repairing it with such effort, now he would break it. Like a master potter ruthlessly smashing a beautifully crafted vase. golden hands raised his hammer. As if he still couldn’t be satisfied with just this level.
Crash—
Kwaaa-booom—!
With a tremendous bursting sound, the Ancient Heart shattered into pieces, scattering as blue fragments. The Ancient Heart, repaired not long ago. From within the scattering, destroyed remnants of the Ancient Heart, messages began to rise once more, as if astonished by golden hands bizarre actions.
