Gold Dragon's Sinew

Gold Dragon's Sinew. An item forged from the thigh sinew of a Gold Dragon. A dragon's sinew sounds fearsome enough at first hearing, but it took the shape of a bracelet, and a simple one at that. Its effect was the elevation of mental power.

In a moment like this, anyone might wonder whether they really needed a boost to the mind instead of something that raised combat strength. For us, though, nothing mattered more.

Truth be told, if luck hadn't fallen my way in so many forms, drawing out even a little more of my own stats might have done me more good. If I'm thrown into a fight right now, my physical ability is still far too lacking. And with money like this, I couldn't buy an S-rank item fit for Gyeol anyway.

But I already had a Will-o'-the-Wisp and Hermes' Shoes, and by investing Soul Points I had claimed S-rank Agility for myself. There was no need to waste coin on some half-measure of an item. I could only just keep pace with Gyeol as it was, so the sensible thing was to invest in something that would shore up his weakness. From what I'd heard of the market, this was also a piece I could actually get my hands on now.

"I regret to say the sum you presently hold falls short of Gold Dragon's Sinew."

An Sa-hong wore a faintly troubled look. That was no problem. My money wasn't the only money that was mine. Gyeol's money was mine, too.

No — Gyeol's money was Gyeol's. Still, this was Gyeol's item!

"Gyeol, chip in."

"Huh? What?"

"This one's yours."

"Mine?"

Gyeol's face went blank.

"Ah. If the two of you mean to purchase it together... yes. Even after Gold Dragon's Sinew, a small balance will remain."

With a soft shimmer, a silver bracelet took shape upon the desk. A small information window rose above it.

It was a simple chain, nothing gaudy, the sort that sat easily on anyone regardless of gender. Dragon sinew or not, the material wasn't leather. At a glance it was only a metal bracelet.

Hah. To think I'd see the real thing with my own eyes. I had tried to obtain this bracelet later — far too late — and no method I attempted had ever turned it up. Fools who didn't even know how to use an item properly had been forcing it onto themselves, and in those days An Sa-hong had refused to give me, or our guild, so much as an answer.

"You're handing me an item worth two hundred million won?"

"Yeah. Obviously. You need this. It elevates mental power."

Gold Dragon's Sinew also carried a hidden function, one that would be discovered only by chance ten years from now. The instant a lightning-attribute Awakener used it, a hidden attribute opened, blessing buffs followed, and the elevation of mental power doubled. In other words, it was an item made for Han Gyeol and no one else.

To have missed a thing like that. How bitter it had been. Most of the bracelets had flowed into the hands of guilds and Awakeners who treated us as enemies, and they had deliberately kept the item off the market. They couldn't bear the thought of Gyeol growing any stronger.

"I'm stable now."

He seemed to mean the anxiety that had gripped him right after his awakening. That wasn't what this was about. And to my eye, he still wasn't particularly stable.

"...Mm. You'll need it from here on, too."

"Why?"

I couldn't say it was his weakness. Tell him he was perfect in every way except that his mental power was a little lacking, and he would absolutely blow up. You've never even seen it. How would you know?

"We can't move with magic-type or healer-type Hunters yet. Of course we need it."

"Then what about you?"

I stole a glance at An Sa-hong, then tapped Gyeol on the shoulder.

"Hey. Hyung's trying to give you a gift, and you keep playing hard to get?"

"...Do I need this right now?"

"What are you talking about? Of course you—"

Gyeol's face was grave. The brat. He had gone his whole life without anything like this, and the shock of it showed, no matter how carefully I had explained. Right — even back then, every day had been instant ramen and triangle kimbap.

My heart gave a sudden, sore twist.

Gyeol. We're going to make real money from now on. Two hundred million won't mean a thing.

"Gyeol, don't take it as a burden. With this, the fights ahead get a lot easier. It's an investment."

I meant it. Set beside the other S-ranks, the one place our Gyeol was weak was precisely this: mental power. Early on, that weakness had caught at his ankles again and again in the middle of a fight. The moment a mental-attack monster appeared, he was all but guaranteed to go berserk.

My Soulmate skill did grant a partner an elevation of mental power, but it had never been enough to cover him completely. We could have leaned on mage or healer Hunters, yet I was already paired with him, and asking them to pour their mana into Gyeol alone had never been realistic. Higher levels shored the gap to some degree, but it was the flaw that kept hold of him to the very end. After a point, missions involving mental-attack monsters simply stopped coming our way.

Which was why we needed, desperately, the doubled mental elevation carried by this Gold Dragon's Sinew.

Honestly... I was so sorry I couldn't make up for it with my Soulmate. Some soulmate I was.

Gyeol, who had never lived that future, only knitted his brow hard.

"But..."

"But what. Hand over the money. We'll pay."

"...You may find this rude."

An Sa-hong's gaze traveled briefly over our faces. He hesitated.

"To my mind, it would be better to purchase something other than Gold Dragon's Sinew. The price has been set high because the piece came from a dragon, yet in truth it offers nothing beyond the elevation of mental power."

I could read his intent in that apologetic face. He was telling the truth as he knew it. Two kids who looked as if they had only just become Awakeners, fretting over two hundred million — paying it, owing it, scraping it together — and he had guessed at our circumstances and was trying to help.

"With that sum, several lesser items capable of raising attack or defense would, I believe, prove of greater aid in the battles ahead."

An Sa-hong is a far kinder man than I expected.

Before the regression, why had he never once answered when I reached out? He must have had his reasons. Remembering those days, this consideration now was startling.

A soft shimmer. An Sa-hong moved his hand, and several other items rose beside the table.

"These, I should think, are what I can trade at present."

Information windows surfaced with them.

Even so, those two looked decent enough at a glance. Beside them lay other pieces that weren't bad for early Awakeners — exactly right for novices, in fact. But we were beginners who were not beginners.

"To think you can't see what this item is worth. I heard you were the finest merchant in Korea, and yet your eye is more disappointing than I expected."

At that, An Sa-hong's expression hardened a little. It was rude. It would also leave an impression.

I reached out, closed my hand around Gold Dragon's Sinew, and caught Gyeol by the arm. Click — the bracelet wound about his wrist with a clean, cool sound.

"Hah. Look at that sheen. It really suits you."

"..."

Once it was actually on him, he seemed to like it. He stared at his wrist for a long while. It had to be pouring a sense of steadiness into him already.

All right. Time to trigger the blessing.

I offered An Sa-hong's still-stiff face a small smile.

"Gyeol. Can you use a lightning skill?"

"Here?"

"What is it you intend to do?"

An Sa-hong's voice went cold in an instant.

"I mean to show you this item's true worth."

"...Its true worth."

"I'll show you plainly. You won't regret it."

"...Is that so."

"You'll allow it, won't you?"

My nerve had clearly offended him. Just as clearly, curiosity had him by the throat. I didn't know An Sa-hong in any great detail, but he was a man called the finest merchant. If someone stood before him who could see the value in a thing he himself had failed to recognize, could he really let that pass?

"Should I be disappointed, today's dealing will be our first and our last."

His voice was still cold. His face, though, told me the play had already landed. As expected of my second finishing move — the smile of a man who knows something.

"Gyeol. Don't fire the lightning. Just let it run through your hand."

"Let it run?"

"The bracelet. Think of sending it there."

"..."

Gyeol swallowed hard. Once An Sa-hong and I had stepped back, sparks began to leap from his body — crackle, crackle. Tick, tick. The sparks that had been scattering seemed to wheel around him, then snarled themselves into the Gold Dragon's Sinew fastened at his left wrist.

"Impossible."

Disbelief sat plain on An Sa-hong's face, and no wonder. Gyeol's lightning was surging like a golden dragon, wrapping the bracelet and cycling through it. That blazing light filled the shop, and Gyeol's eyes shone with the light of a dungeon aurora, as if to prove that something uncanny was underway.

Right now, a system window bestowing the Gold Dragon's blessing had to be in an uproar before his eyes. It would be brilliant. It would be wondrous. I had heard that the feeling of a blessing closing around the body was a happiness beyond words, and for no good reason my own heart began to pound.

Then came a rush and a hiss. The sparks wound about the bracelet slowly died away. Gyeol's hair, which had stood on end, settled, and the color of his eyes returned to the deep shade that was his.

"What happened just now?"

"You'll see for yourself."

I stepped in close and set a hand on the bracelet.

"I'll take it back for a second."

"Uh... yeah."

Then I laid Gold Dragon's Sinew on the table, where the remnant of An Sa-hong's skill still lingered. A low hum, and the item's abilities rose as they had before — only the information shining there was entirely different.

"Impossible."

An Sa-hong's voice shook as he read the window.

"An item bearing three blessings. I have never heard of such a thing. The power was hidden?"

"Right? There's actually a hint. In the description — the dragon's secret intellect. That's the secret. It means the piece holds blessings."

Of course I knew. I was a regressor. I could say it with my chest out. An Sa-hong, who knew nothing of that, could not hide his astonishment. He only blinked.

"You... you. Forgive me — how is it that you knew the item's secret?"

"Hmm. That would be a trade secret, so it's a little difficult to say..."

"Ah. Yes. Of course. You are entirely correct."

Half beside himself, An Sa-hong looked at Gold Dragon's Sinew again.

"The first blessing. The son beloved of the dragon shall be attended by fortune. That's a straightforward rise in luck as well — a blessing that helps you obtain more of every kind of item."

I began to explain, taking my time.

"And the second. Neither the sun of day nor the moon of night shall do him harm. Wear the item, focus your mind, and you gain the effect of sleep without sleeping. Day and night stop being separate things."

The effect was a strange one. In short, what ought to take eight hours of deep sleep could be settled with a single hour of meditation. Or, even in the middle of moving, if you artificially circulated your energy, you could draw out the same result.

"The third. The lesser thunders shall kiss his feet and render him homage. This is the one I think is truly magnificent. So long as he wears this bracelet, our Gyeol takes no damage at all from lightning-attribute attacks weaker than he is."

The explanation seemed to strike An Sa-hong like a blow.

"Such a... such an item, for only two hundred million..."

"Doesn't make any sense, does it."

We had bought a thing sold cheap by someone who didn't know its true worth. What was there to do about that? All I could do was smile at An Sa-hong.