SFRW-Chapter 30

Ch. 30 Sword God From The Ruined World

“…How on earth did you know about this?”

Choi Cheol-gwan’s gaze was complicated.

His first impression of Seo Do-jun was that he was peculiar.

Unless there was a truly special reason, no Hero would even think of hunting a Giant Black Salmo, yet Seo Do-jun had requested a sword made from its fangs. That alone was peculiar enough.

His second impression was astonishment.

When Seo Do-jun shattered the magic absorption rate of a 5th-grade weapon, Choi Cheol-gwan honestly couldn’t believe it. After Seo Do-jun left, he even meticulously examined the broken weapon, wondering if there had been an issue with it.

But there was nothing wrong.

This proved that Seo Do-jun’s ability to transfer magic into a weapon surpassed that of any other Hero.

Whether it was due to his trait or something else, in this aspect alone, Seo Do-jun was the best in the world.

His third impression was shock and disbelief.

On the evening he entrusted the Giant Black Salmo fangs to Seo Do-jun, he was held back from leaving work because Seo Do-jun presented him with the blood of a Cyclops—an extremely rare material—claiming it was necessary to fuse the two fangs into one.

It was shocking enough that Seo Do-jun had obtained Cyclops blood, something that couldn’t be bought no matter how much money one had, but what truly left Choi Cheol-gwan in disbelief was Seo Do-jun’s precise explanation of the blood’s true value. He had no choice but to stay up all night verifying it.

The result was right before his eyes.

A massive fang, 2.4 meters long, glowing faintly green, shaped like a pointed oval at both ends.

The base was fused, making the middle incredibly thick, while the sharpness of the fang made the ends taper into fine points.

“I’ve made many weapons, but I’ve never seen a material that perfectly fuses two different substances like this. How did you even know about this? There’s no known research on Cyclops blood cells.”

Choi Cheol-gwan was genuinely curious.

If Cyclops’ blood were easy to obtain, he would have researched it extensively, but its rarity made studying its properties nearly impossible.

Ignoring Choi Cheol-gwan’s curiosity, Seo Do-jun picked up the elongated fang, now fused into one.

It wasn’t yet a sword, just raw material, but its length was more than sufficient.

“Thanks to the Cyclops blood you procured, the length is more than enough, as you can see. It’s enough to make a bastard sword or even larger. What size do you want?”

A bastard sword typically ranges from 115 to 140 centimeters.

It would suffice as a one-handed sword, but it wasn’t the length Seo Do-jun wanted.

“How long can you make it at maximum?”

“Maximum? Hmm… It depends on how wide you want the blade, but if we keep the width under 3 centimeters, we could probably reach about 180 centimeters.”

Seo Do-jun nodded, seemingly satisfied with the length, though the width was slightly disappointing.

In the ruined world, Seo Do-jun’s weapon of choice had been a two-handed sword with a very wide blade.

The width was limited by the fang’s natural shape, but the length was acceptable.

“Make it in the basic form of a two-handed sword, but shorten the hilt slightly compared to a standard bastard sword.”

“So you want to wield a two-handed sword with one hand. Given how light the fang is, it shouldn’t be a problem. Understood.”

“If it’s too light, it won’t feel satisfying to swing. Make it 7… No, 5 kilograms.”

In the past, he had wielded swords close to 10 kilograms, but his current body wasn’t trained enough, so he settled for 5 kilograms.

However, Choi Cheol-gwan’s eyes widened at the mention of a 5-kilogram one-handed sword.

“Isn’t that too heavy?”

Even for a Hero, wielding a 5-kilogram sword was incredibly difficult. And it wasn’t just about swinging it once—he’d have to swing it hundreds, maybe thousands of times in battle. Choi Cheol-gwan was worried whether Seo Do-jun could handle such weight.

“It’s fine. Please proceed as I’ve asked. How long will the crafting take?”

“Now that the fusion is done, proper forging will take at least a month.”

“That’s longer than I expected.”

“It can’t be helped. Shaping it won’t take too long, but maximizing the magic absorption rate you want will require more time.”

The Giant Black Salmo’s fang was harder than most steel, so durability wasn’t an issue.

Even if it weren’t, as long as it could properly absorb Seo Do-jun’s magic, it would become harder than anything else in the world, so that wasn’t a concern.

The critical factor was magic absorption rate.

To maximize it, a lengthy process was necessary. A month was only possible if Choi Cheol-gwan postponed all other projects and focused solely on Seo Do-jun’s sword.

“What’s the highest possible magic absorption rate?”

“If we focus solely on that, we might reach 7th grade. Though the weapon itself would only be 3rd or 4th grade.”

In other words, it would be a sword specialized purely for magic absorption.

Despite this, Seo Do-jun frowned, unsatisfied.

“Can’t we increase the magic absorption rate further?”

“With the materials I have now, that’s the limit.”

How much of Seo Do-jun’s magic could a 7th-grade absorption rate handle?

Earth’s weapon grading system was entirely different from the ruined world’s, so Seo Do-jun couldn’t easily predict. Even a 5th-grade weapon had shattered after absorbing only a fraction of his magic. Would 7th grade be enough?

“Is there any material absolutely necessary to increase the magic absorption rate?”

“If we had a Blue Croco’s heart, we could raise the grade further.”

Blue Croco—a monster known among South Korean Heroes as the ‘Blue crocodile’.

A massive alligator-like monster that appeared alongside dimensional rifts, exceeding 20 meters in length.

Though not a Boss Monster, its strength was close to a sub-boss, making it impossible for even ten average A-rank Heroes to defeat easily.

Yet, Heroes still hunted Blue Crocos.

Their magic stones were high-grade, and their hearts, tailbones, teeth, and claws were highly valuable for crafting. Their hide was also incredibly popular, used in bags, belts, shoes, clothing, sofas, car seats, and more.

Rumors even spread that their meat was edible, making them one of the most sought-after monsters with no waste.

Despite their popularity, the biggest issue was that they could only be hunted in one country worldwide.

“Blue Croco…”

Seo Do-jun was familiar with Blue Croco hearts—they were commonly used in the ruined world for crafting.

“Even for you, it won’t be easy to obtain, right?”

In terms of rarity, Cyclops blood was far harder to get, so Choi Cheol-gwan asked just in case. Unfortunately, Seo Do-jun couldn’t answer immediately.

“I reached out to my contacts, but it seems the supply has dried up. Worse, it’ll only get harder to find. Even if we do, the price will be several times higher.”

“Why’s that?”

“The country where Blue Crocos can be hunted decided to close some of the dimensional rifts they can’t manage. Most of those rifts are where Blue Crocos spawn, so they’ll become even rarer. Honestly, Blue Croco hearts are only important to Heroes like you—others don’t value them as much.”

“Closing the rifts?”

“I heard this from an Association official. Brazil admitted they can no longer handle the rifts in the Amazon. It’s a shame since there are unique materials there, but they must have had no choice. Either way, getting a Blue Croco heart will be tough now.”

Seo Do-jun’s brow furrowed at the news that the material he needed most was becoming scarce.

Incompetent fools.

He couldn’t help but curse the Brazilian Hero Association for deciding to close the rifts.

It was the same in the past.

In the ruined world, incompetent fools stubbornly refused help in times of crisis, leading to their downfall.

If their failures had only affected themselves, Seo Do-jun wouldn’t have cared.

The problem was that innocent people suffered because of them.

This was what angered Seo Do-jun most about the world’s destruction—incompetent individuals accelerating doom for the sake of their petty pride.

This Earth was different from the ruined world, but the fact that he was now suffering because of such incompetence infuriated him.

“…Nothing we can do.”

Seo Do-jun suppressed his anger and accepted it.

The Amazon rift closures wouldn’t accelerate Earth’s destruction, so he had no choice but to move on.

“I’ll still ask around. The best scenario is boosting the absorption rate during crafting, but even if we find a heart later, we can still upgrade it. Though the price won’t be cheap.”

Crafting weapons was expensive.

The Giant Black Salmo fangs were obtained by Seo Do-jun himself, but the other materials and labor costs were substantial.

However, money wasn’t an issue, and since this was essential for easier monster hunting, Seo Do-jun had no intention of cutting corners.

After finishing his discussion with Choi Cheol-gwan and leaving the workshop, Seo Do-jun saw Choi Kang-soo with an ice pack on his head.

“…You damn… Gahhh—!”

Seo Do-jun gave him another sharp knuckle to the head before leaving the shop.

***

“Do you like the car?”

At Hyun Joo-yeon’s question, Seo Do-jun glanced at the large white SUV parked outside the café and nodded.

“It’s fine.”

It was spacious, comfortable, and packed with features—more than enough for him.

His grandmother and Eun-young also liked it, so it was a good choice.

“I’m glad.”

Regardless of the brand or price, Hyun Joo-yeon was satisfied that Seo Do-jun liked it.

“What about the media reveal?”

“The Association will handle it.”

His tone turned cold when mentioning the Association.

“Did… Something go wrong?”

Seo Do-jun’s silence confirmed it.

“Did the Association make unreasonable demands? Chairman Na Tae-hwang doesn’t seem the type…”

Hyun Joo-yeon recalled her own S-rank reveal and media exposure.

There were countless interviews, events, and guild meetings—annoying but unavoidable.

Though hectic for months, it reassured the public about South Korea’s safety and significantly boosted her income, so it wasn’t a loss.

“More importantly, accessing rifts has been difficult lately. Any reason?”

“Oh, that’s because of the ongoing rift cleanup operations. The Brazilian Hero Association formally requested Hero reinforcements.”

Rift cleanup operations.

This meant hunting monsters in rifts to keep their numbers below a certain threshold, preventing them from triggering a ‘Break’—a massive monster wave.

Monsters in rifts and gates respawn.

The respawn rate varies based on the rift’s intensity, gate type, and monster grade.

Gates are artificially stabilized monster farms with fixed respawn numbers.

But rifts are unstable spaces where monsters spawn endlessly, making their numbers unpredictable.

The problem is that as monster numbers grow, the chance of a Break increases exponentially.

To stabilize rifts into Gates, Breaks must be avoided at all costs, so the Association forcibly assigns cleanup tasks to top guilds.

Even without such orders, Heroes would hunt in rifts voluntarily, but with many Heroes dispatched overseas, preemptive cleanups were necessary.

“Brazil?”

“Brazil decided to permanently close some of their rifts.”

“Are you going too?”

At Seo Do-jun’s question, Hyun Joo-yeon’s heart skipped a beat.

“…Yes. Why?”

Was he worried about her?

Just as she thought—

“Let’s go together.”

Seo Do-jun’s tone was resolute.

His unwavering determination made her gulp, and soon her cheeks flushed crimson.