Songs in the Void

ICDS Universe, Earth, South Korea, Yeongdeungpo.

The next day, before breakfast, Tatsuo, who was in his room at Lana's house, had just finished washing up. Unfortunately, he did not think he had the time to do his three Lizard Knight raids before he was expected to show up for breakfast. So, he took out one of the projects he was working on from his [Inventory].

Lying on the floor in front of Tatsuo was the [Lizard Knight Set], a mana stone, and a necklace he crafted using one of the extra pieces of the [Lizard Knight Set] he chose as a reward.

"*Sigh* I really hope this works." Tatsuo muttered as he picked up the mana stone and pressed it on top of the [Lizard Knight Set].

With his mind focused on the task, Tatsuo used his will to guide the process he was about to undertake. And that focus was to extract the Skills and augmentations stored in the [Lizard Knight Set], which were an increase in Strength and Constitution by 10 and the Skill, [Dragon Skin], which invalidated 90% of all incoming damage.

As Tatsuo flared his [Energy], the mana stone under his palm began to glow. Slowly, that glow crept over the surface of the [Lizard Knight Set], eventually enveloping the whole thing.

"Good." Tatsuo muttered quietly. "As long as I keep going like this, I should be able to do it."

At the same time, Sumire and Hwaya, who had also finished washing up, felt a surge of mana coming from somewhere in the house. So, they both exited their rooms, meeting in the hallway shortly afterwards.

"Nee-San, what's going on?" Sumire asked in a worried tone. "and where is Tatsuo-Kun?"

Not replying immediately, Hwaya closed her eyes to feel the source of the mana surge. A moment later, she opened her eyes and looked toward the door to Tatsuo's room.

"I think Tatsuo is the cause of this." Hwaya said solemnly. "But I have no idea what he's doing."

"Then, we should go check on him." Sumire replied in a somewhat panicked tone.

"Calm down, Sumire." Hwaya said, maintaining her calm. "If he's in the middle of something important, we can't disturb him."

"But what if he's in trouble?" Sumire asked, her worry growing by the second.

Hearing that, Hwaya looked at Sumire with a gentle smile.

"You really like him a lot, don't you?" Hwaya asked. "You're so worried about him."

Though Sumire blushed at Hwaya's comment, her expression did not change. Instead, she continued looking at Hwaya with worry.

"Alright, fine." Hwaya said, realizing that her attempt to tease Sumire in order to change the mood had failed. "We'll take a look. But we have to be careful. I wasn't kidding about interrupting him if he's doing something important. That could be really dangerous."

Receiving a nod in reply, Hwaya led Sumire over to Tatsuo's bedroom door. Then, after exchanging glances with Sumire, she nodded before wrapping her fingers around the doorknob.

Slowly, Hwaya opened the door, as to not make any noise. At the same time Sumire took her shield out of her Inventory, just in case there was any danger. However, that ended up being unnecessary.

When Hway opened the door by a crack, a blue light shined out of the opening, surprising both ladies. Despite that, Hwaya continued opening the door slowly. When the two could finally see into the room, they saw Tatsuo, with his hand hovering over a set of equipment that was wrapped by the same blue glow.

"What is he doing?" Sumire asked in a curious tone as she lowered her shield, her worry having been swept away by the sight in front of her.

"I'm not sure." Hwaya replied without taking her eyes away from Tatsuo. "but his mana control is exquisite. It's probably even better than mine. And I was trained in magic before I even became a Dungeon Explorer."

After saying that aloud, Hwaya remembered that Tatsuo said something to her about getting better control of her mana. Something she had dismissed, as she thought she was already peerless when it came to mana control. However, the sight in front of her proved her completely wrong.

A few moments later, the [Lizard Knight Set] under Tatsuo's palm crumbled to dust and the glow that covered it was sucked into the mana stone in his hand. Then, he heard a [Notification] from the [System].

{[Notification]

The [Skill], [Enchanting] has risen in rank from C to C+.}

"*Sigh* I think that means it worked." Tatsuo muttered as he held up the mana stone to eye level. "I just don't know how complete the transfer was."

With that, Tatsuo checked the [Description] of the mana stone using the [System].

{[Mana Stone imbued with [Dragon Skin]

-Using this mana stone during [Enchanting] will bestow the item with the Ability of [Dragon Skin].

-Note: Based on the skill of the Enchanter, the effects of he attributes imbued in the mana stone may increase, decrease, or remain the same during [Enchanting].}

"*Sigh* I lost the bonus stats." Tatsuo muttered in disappointment. "I guess my [Skill] rank is too low to get everything right now. Oh well, I'll just have to work harder to raise the rank."

With that, Tatsuo picked up the necklace in his free hand. However, before he could start the [Enchantment], Hwaya entered the room and interrupted his concentration.

"What in the world was that?" Hwaya asked in a demanding tone. "And what happened to that equipment."

As she asked her second question, Hwaya pointed down at the pile of dust that used to be the [Lizard Knight Set]. At the same time, Sumire also entered the room

"Tatsuo-Kun, are you okay?" Sumire asked in a concerned tone. We could feel the mana fluctuations from everywhere on the second floor. We could have probably felt it on the first floor, too."

Sighing once again, Tatsuo explained what he just did. Although he was annoyed that he had been interrupted, not to mention the tone Hwaya was speaking to him in, Tatsuo knew that he had disturbed them with his experiment. So, he calmed his agitation quickly.

"Really?" Hwaya exclaimed in surprise. "Something like that is possible? I had no idea anyone could do that."

"Wow! Tatsuo-Kun, you're amazing." Sumire said in a dreamy tone while staring at Tatsuo with sparkling eyes.

"Thanks." Tatsuo said with a smile in response to Sumire's praise. Then, he turned his attention to Hwaya and shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent. "Honestly, I don't know if anyone else can do this, since this was the first time I tried it. But I've been using mana stones to add the finishing touches to my own equipment for a while now."

As he said that, Tatsuo flicked his wrist, causing the [Thunderclap Daggers] to appear in his hands. Then, he extended his hand for Hwaya and Sumire to touch them so they could check out their properties.

Since they both trusted Tatsuo, both Sumire and Hwaya touched the bladed knuckle dusters in Tatsuo's hands. And when they saw the Dungeon's description of the weapons, their eyes opened wide in shock.

"I made these with the 15th Floor Master's weapon drops, an Elixir it dropped, and a mana stone I got from the Azure-Winged Magpies." Tatsuo explained. "It took a lot of work, though. I had to smelt the weapons and add the [Thunder Crystals] to the molten metal."

"The 15th Floor, you said?" Hwaya asked as she took her hand off the [Thunderclap Daggers]. But it shouldn't drop anything like the things you just mentioned."

"Well, I'm not from the 2nd Dungeon." Tatsuo replied with a shrug. "So, it's natural that the Floor Masters would be different, right?"

With that, Sumire and Hwaya finally realized that they did not even know which Dungeon Tatsuo was in.

"Then, which Dungeon are you in, Tatsuo-Kun." Sumire asked nervously. "I mean, if you don't wanna tell us, that's fine, too."

Though she did not say anything, Hwaya's gaze was sharp enough to punch a hole in Tatsuo if he was not careful.

"1st." Tatsuo replied casually. "Level 21."

"And you've raided the 20th Floor's Floor Master a lot, haven't you?" Hwaya asked. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to collect the whole set."

"That's right." Tatsuo replied with a nod.

"Wait! Are 1st Dungeon bosses that different from 2nd Dungeon bosses?" Hwaya asked in a dumbfounded tone. "I know a few Explorers that have collected entire Floor Master Sets, but none of them got any skills."

"Did they beat the boss solo?" Tatsuo asked. "Because I had to beat each boss solo, too, to get the entire set."

Hearing that, Hwaya looked at Tatsuo like he was a monster. Sumire, on the other hand, looked at him with her eyes sparkling even brighter than before.

"Anyway, I'm gonna finish my work." Tatsuo said, not wanting to waste any more time.

"Can I watch?" Sumire asked excitedly.

"Sure." Tatsuo replied uncaringly.

With that, Tatsuo once again focused on the mana stone and the necklace with a dragon-shaped pendant. Then, he drew out the properties of the magic stone, mixed it with his own [Energy], and sent it into the necklace, more specifically, the pendant.

Then, with a flash of black, purple-tinted light, the mana stone crumbled into dust while the pendant on the necklace became more life-like. A moment later, the [System] showed Tatsuo the new item [Description].

{[Draconic Defender Necklace – C+]

-Allows the user to activate the [Skill, [Dragon Skin], once a day.

-For five minutes, while [Dragon Skin] is active, the user can negate 90% of incoming damage.

-During the duration of [Dragon Skin], the user's [Agility] is reduced by 10%.}

Seeing the [Draconic Defender Necklace's] description, Tatsuo raised an eyebrow as he was pleasantly surprise by the outcome. Originally, [Dragon Skin] reduced speed, which was the same as [Agility] in the [System], by 50%. So, to see that it only reduced it by 10% after his [Enchanting], he was quite happy.

"So, did it work?" Hwaya asked curiously.

"Yeah, better than I expected." Tatsuo replied with a smile.

"Can I see it?" Hwaya asked curiously.

"Sure." Tatsuo replied as he handed the necklace to Hwaya.

After seeing the description of the necklace, Hwaya clenched her hands around it and held it to her chest.

"Can I have this?" Hwaya asked with puppy dog eyes and a pleading tone.

"Nope." Tatsuo replied bluntly as he held his hand out.

"But this would help me so much." Hwaya replied while turning her body away from Tatsuo. "Please! I'll pay you for it. Just name a price"

"Nope." Tatsuo repeated as he continued holding his hand out.

Seeing how unaffected Tatsuo was by her charm, Hwaya pouted. Then, she looked at Sumire for help. Unfortunately, she looked to the wrong place in this situation.

"Hwaya-Neesan, Tatsuo worked hard to gather the materials for that." Sumire said. "And he had to work really hard to craft that necklace, too. Is it really fair to ask him for it like that?"

"Sumire! Traitor!" Hwaya exclaimed in a tone that made it sound like she had just been stabbed in the heart. "You put misters over sisters. I see how it is!"

Sumire could not help blushing when she heard that. Still, she did not retract er statement or try to get Tatsuo to give the necklace to Hwaya.

In the end, Tatsuo ended up [Blinking] even closer to Hwaya, and hooking his index fingers around the small portion of the necklace that hung from between her fingers. Then, he put it in his [Inventory] without mercy or hesitation.

"NO~~~~~!" Hwaya screamed in a desolate tone. Then, she flung herself at Tatsuo and wrapped her arms around him tightly before starting to shake him violently. "Give it back! Please! As a mage, that item would make me so much safer!"

Unfortunately, Tatsuo was still completely unmoved. Seeing the state of things, Sumire was starting to feel sorry for Hwaya. So, she made a suggestion.

"Tatsuo-Kun, is it possible to make another one for Hwaya-Neesan?" Sumire asked in a gentle tone.

"It's definitely possible." Tatsuo replied calmly, despite being shaken so violently. "but I don't' have enough mana stones for that and the rest of my equipment. So, it's not really possible right now. And since I was going to make one for you, too, I'd have to find two more mana stones and get another [Lizard Knight Set] to make one for her. And that would throw off my climbing pace even further. I already spent more time on the 20th Floor than I wanted to getting the second set."

Hearing that, Sumire completely forgot about what she was asking Tatsuo for. Instead, the fact that he was thinking about giving her something so precious to keep her safe made her look at him with hearts in her eyes.

'That's just my imagination, right?' Tatsuo asked himself when he saw the pink hearts appear in Sumire's pupils. 'I've only ever seen that in anime. But this is real life.'

"I'll provide the mana stones!" Hwaya shouted. "If you make one for me, too, I'll provide the mana stones for both mine and Sumire's equipment. I'll even pay you for mine. So, Please!"

Hearing that, Tatsuo smiled, though he kept it hidden from Hwaya. That statement was exactly what he was waiting for. Even though he got lucky and found eight mana stones in the flock of magpie, that was quite uncommon. So, he had no idea when he would be able to find more. But with Hwaya's resources as an SS-ranker, finding more should not be too difficult.

On a side note, Tatsuo had forgotten that he was an SS-Ranker, too.

"*Sigh* Fine." Tatsuo said in a feigned tone of exasperation. "I'll do it, just stop shaking me. I've still got work to do."

With Tatsuo's agreement, Hwaya stopped shaking him immediately with a wide smile on her face. Then, she released him and stepped back. After that, she turned around and pulled her smartphone from between her breasts.

"Okay, I'll leave you to do what you have to do." Hwaya said as she started skipping towards the door. "I'll get those mana stones. After that, we can discuss the cost for the necklace, okay?"

Not waiting for a reply, Hwaya left the room, the sound of her voice talking to someone about the mana stones echoing down the hallway. That left Tatsuo and Sumire in the guest room to look at each other with odd expressions on their faces.

Eventually, Tatsuo shrugged his shoulders, pulled the modified [Orc Lord Set], modified [Wraith Queen Set], the [Dark Ratman Set], three mana stones, a pair of dragon-shaped dangle earrings, and a ring from his [Inventory]. Then he repeated the process of [Extraction] and [Enchanting]with the three accessories.

In the end, Tatsuo imbued [Orc Lord's War Cry] and Vengeful Spirit's Wail] into the earrings while [Dark Thunder Explosion] was imbued into the ring. Unfortunately, when [Enchanting], he was unable to increase the potency of the Skills. Though, there was no reduction, either. So, Tatsuo was satisfied with his work.

After that, Tatsuo and Sumire headed downstairs to join Hwaya and Lana for a late breakfast. Then, the trio of Tatsuo, Sumire, and Hwaya left the house so that Hwaya could show them around Yeongdeungpo a little before they were supposed to meet with Shin and Yungoong.