The S-Classes That I Raised Chapter 4

< My Dongsaeng is Weird (2) >

I’ve returned to the past. Shouldn’t it have stopped existing?

‘Is it that things that happened before I returned still affect me?’

Was that why the Caregiver title also changed?

Before checking the title, I examined the remaining stats.

[Level 1

Stamina : 6  Strength : 4  Agility : 5  Mental[1]: 4  Mana: 2]

Mm, this was still the same. Besides Mana, Level 1 and stats that don’t even reach an average of 5, that kind of F-Rank.

Besides Mana, which has dirt slow growth, the stat ranks for Awakened People were determined to be the average stats of the same level.

So there often were instances where the stat rank changed following the amount of growth, but for the most part, if you did well, you could increase directly by two levels, but more than that was impossible.

A kitty doesn’t grow up to be a tiger, after all.

[Skill

Mental Up(E) : the target’s Mental +5%(immediate effect, similar and identical skills cannot be overlaid), Duration time 30min

Agility Up(E) : the target’s Ability +5%(immediate effect, similar and identical skills cannot be overlaid), Duration time 30min]

The basic skills were also same as before. Before, it was Strength instead of Mental but the situation with my Awakening changing is probably why that also changed.

For the basic buff skills, the skill rank is E, one step higher than the very bottom. But it was an easy skill that could go up to D-Rank if you promoted growth well.

'Though I couldn’t raise my rank because Yoohyun kept on hindering me.’

Even if the stats were F, if the skills became D, it was possible to raise the Awakened Person Rank to E. So eeevery so often there were people with F stats who became B-Rank due to their skills. Around one in every 50 million?

There was exactly only one in the whole world who had become Rank by having SS-Rank skills despite having F-Rank stats. A saint who can save you as long as you have breath, Emily Spence. An impressive grandmother[2] who people said must be S-Rank. Though, she couldn’t help clear an S-Rank dungeon, so she stayed an Rank in the end. It’s too dangerous beating an S-Rank dungeon while protecting someone with F-Rank stats.

‘I guess I’ll just barely qualify to be a Hunter this time too.’

In the world, there are a lot of Awakened People. Even normally, it was common, but after half a year when the Awakening Center is created, the world would become one where every single one of your neighbors[3] becomes Awakened. But among those many Awakened People, 999 out of 1000 had F-Rank stats, F-Rank skills. In other words, basically a normal person.

On top of that, growth was impossible for F-Rank skills, so you couldn’t raise your rank.

So, Hunter licenses were issued only if one of your stats and skills were above E-Rank. This was why where were many Awakened People, but only a few Hunters.

‘Then now, the title……’

I unconsciously gulped[4]. Not A, not S, but L. As many as two legendary grade titles.

Though besides that, there wasn’t anything different about the stats.

‘Is ‘Dragon Slayer’ a skill title too?’

Titles were separated into skill titles and stat titles.

Stat titles were, as the name suggests, things that raised stats, and skill titles were things that came with Supplementary Skills.

If it were an L-Grade stat title, it would probably raise my stats to B-Rank even if I did poorly; what a pity.

‘If I had B-Rank stats, Yoohyun wouldn’t excessively try to protect me. Will I have to just anticipate[5] my skills?’

Defensive skill come out, defensive skill come out.

I prayed as I opened the Information Window for the ‘Dragon Slayer’ title.

[Dragon Slayer(L)

The proof of a soldier who has hunted a 1st Rank Dragon Type[6] alone.

Title Supplementary Skills

Poison Resistance(L)

Curse Resistance(L)

Fear Resistance(L)

Lauchtas’ Natural Enemy(SS)]

Already 4 Supplementary Skills, as expected of a Legendary Grade. Usually for initial Supplementary Skills, S-Grade had 2-3, Grade had 2, and below that had 1. And beyond B-Grade, it was possible for titles to grow so the amount might increase.

‘The skills are all related to Lauchtas. Is it that if you take out a fire dragon, you get fire resistance; take out an ice dragon, you get ice resistance?’

Lauchtas was a type of dragon known for poisons and curses.

I could guess the effects of the resistance skills by looking at their names, but I checked anyways.

[Poison Resistance(L) – Complete immunity to poisons less than Legendary Grade]

[Curse Resistance(L) – Complete immunity to curses less than Legendary Grade]

[Fear Resistance(L) – No pressure[7] from lower than Legendary Rank[8]]

They were amazingly great fraud skills. That is, if I were a or-higher-Rank Hunter on the frontlines.

‘Where would I even use these.’

It’s not that there weren’t any dungeons that were primarily poisonous and cursed with barely any physical force, but for the most part, the bases were physical attacks. Even with Lauchtas, if you didn’t follow up the poison and curse immunity with agility or physical defense capabilities, you’d be finely chopped by their claws.

‘On the other hand, if an S-Rank Hunter got these skills, it’d really suit them[9].’

It’s basically casting pearls before swine, oink oink[10].

After heaving a sigh, I checked the last skill, SS-Grade Lauchtas’ Natural Enemy.

[Lauchtas’ Natural Enemy(SS): All skills 2x effect while against Lauchtas and similar types of dragons]

It sucks! It totally sucks!

All the skills I have were immunity and buffs; in front of that huge lizard, even they were doubled, I’d just become its snack! Same for similar types of dragons. Even the weakest 5th Rank Dragon Type has ‘dragon’ in its name, so it wasn’t something an F-Rank should even think about.

‘Shit, what a freaking waste! This, if only an S-Rank got this instead of me! Is there a way to pass this over to Yoohyun?’

Yoohyun, if that guy had his amazingly good skills doubled, he’d be able to seriously beat up the Lauchtas!

“Ah crap, crap[11]-”

It seemed like such a waste I wanted to cry and my stomach twisted. Ah, what a waste!

After lamenting[12] for a long time, I calmed down and peered at the Status Window.

‘At least ‘Perfect Caregiver’ should be usable.’

That’s right, I decided to live quietly anyways. Instead of uselessly crawling into a dungeon, let’s just live giving out growth buffs.

[Perfect Caregiver(L)

Proof of a caregiver who raised a world-class strong person. It is even more perfect because your past ability was +100% of current ability of the person you raised.]

……What?

Wait, what is this title explanation?

The first part was the same as my previous title. Proof of a caregiver who raised a world-class strong person. But ‘Perfect Caregiver’ had an extra part after that.

‘+100% of the current ability of the person you raised’ means… it can’t mean when Yoohyun died and I got double his power? Is it because of that that my title changed to ‘Perfect Caregiver’?

It was the past, but the disappeared future was affecting the present. Thinking that, my mood was weird. Would it be alright? I wasn’t sure if other side effects besides the title would appear.

‘But since it’s a real Legendary Grade, it’s worth it.’

Achieving the qualifications for the title was super hard after all.

In addition to raising a world-class strong person, at least S-Rank, you had to have been twice as strong as that S-Rank in the past.

‘It’s something I got because some trick like returning to the past, but originally it should be something like an SSS-Rank munchkin[13] raising an S-Rank.’

Even if you get a doubling buff after the person you raised dies, it’s not something from the past, so that situation falls short. It might be possible if you raise another S-Rank after that, but is that easy?

I was the only one I knew who was a ‘Caregiver’ that had raised an S-Rank.

Though there might have been other people who were hidden and unseen like I was.

‘Then the skills are…’

What had changed? I lowered my gaze a little and checked the Supplementary Skills.

[My Brat is the Best(L)

Last Repayment(L)

My[14] Kid is This Amazing(SS)

Auspicious Seed-Leaf[15](S)]

The number of skills was 4, like with ‘Dragon Slayer’, but the grades were lower. Two L-Grades and one each of SS-Grade and S-Grade. Of course, by itself, it was impressive, but compared to its fellow L-Grade title, it was a little lesser.

‘But this is a lot more useful for me.’

With a pleased heart, I opened the Information Window starting from ‘My Brat is the Best’. The skill name sucks.

[My Brat is the Best(L) – The growth rate of the target who becomes influenced[16] after hearing the keyword +100%

Duration time: 3 days

Already influenced target can use without keyword

Overlap[17] use for same target is not allowed

Reuse standby time for the same target: 30 days

Keyword: I love you

※Inapplicable while the target is aware of the effect of the keyword

Influence completed targets(1)

Han Yoohyun(S)]

Good. All good, but.

‘That’s crazy, why is the keyword this?’

Before, it was definitely ‘do your best[18]’! Was it because I told Yoohyun I loved him? Because that guy was moved by that?

Shit!

‘How am I supposed to use this!’

Family is one thing and if I’m dealing with a grown woman then it might still be okay but if it’s a man? Or a kid? I might get the silver bracelet trying to raise an Awakened Person who’s a minor!

Even worse, it wasn’t just that I had to go around randomly saying ‘I love you’ to anyone. If the conditions to influence for the skill were the same as before, I have to spend a certain amount of time on the other person. You have to chat with them, listen to their interests, and have an emotional exchange, and then look for an appropriate time to say to the keyword.

Or, in an extreme situation, confessing while saving your life…or something like that.

Confession. That’s right, it would become a confession. Hahaha.

‘……Let’s just use it for Yoohyun.’

It’s a waste but there’s no helping it. Thankfully I just have to say the keyword once for the influencing skill.

……Since it’s once, if there really is someone worth raising, should I pretend I was crazy? Uuugh.

Falling into agony, I opened the Information Window for ‘Last Repayment’.

[Last Repayment(L) – Upon the death of a keyword-influenced target, receive all the skills and abilities of the target with twice the effect

Duration time: 7 days]

It was a higher-ranking skill than my previous skill ‘Last Repayment[19]’. 7 days is quite a long time but it’s still 1-time use so why is it L-Grade.

‘I’m not going to use this.[20]’

Not being able to use it would be better and it was a skill that you couldn’t tell others.

Just think. Who’d welcome a skill where you kill someone and steal their abilities? Rather, they’d feel uncomfortable and the back of their heads would feel itchy[21] when working with you. They would think things like ‘in a dangerous situation, that guy will probably stab me in the back to survive’.

So even before I regressed, I didn’t reveal it to anyone.

Continuing on, I checked the ‘My Kid is This Amazing’ skill. This one’s name also sucks, huh.

[My Kid is this Amazing(SS) – while supporting the keyword-influenced targets with the keyword, in front of 5 or more people[22] who can understand the keyword, both the targets’ abilities and skill effects +number of people%(max 100%)[23]

Duration time: 30 min

Use standby time: 10 days

※Inapplicable when both the target and surrounding people are aware of the effects of the keyword]

Keyword. That freaking keyword.

I thoroughly looked over the Information Window, but there wasn’t another specified keyword. Which meant.

‘This time it’s a public confession?!’

Frick[24], I can’t use this even for Yoohyun!

The skill itself was great. It’s really great. It’ll shoot up to double if you gather around a hundred bystanders.

But why was it a love confession. Did it want me to die of embarrassment?

‘And since the duration time is 30 min, that means I have to be right next to him.’

After calming down and thinking it over, it was skill I couldn’t use properly anyways. The duration time for ‘My Brat’ was 3 days, so I could apply it before he goes into a dungeon, but if I apply ‘My Kid’ right outside of the dungeon, it’ll wear off not just before the boss, but before getting through half the dungeon.

And there’s a limit on the number of people in a dungeon.

‘Whew, this is also a pie in the sky[25].’

I really wanted to give it to someone else. If I passed it onto a pretty buffer or healer with B-Grade or higher stats, it wouldn’t be very repulsive and it’d suit them.

A skill that raises both abilities and skill effects even +10% would be Grade. There were a lot of skills increasing stats, but skills increasing skill effects were rare. The restriction on S-Rank dungeon admission was usually 30 people, so if you cram in as many as possible, it’d be as much as +30%. It’d be super useful before the boss, what a waste.

From ‘Last Repayment’ to this were all skills I couldn’t use, so a sigh escaped my mouth.

‘Only the rank is good, the rest sucks.’

Without much expectations, I checked the last skill, ‘Auspicious Seed-Leaf’.

[Auspicious Seed-Leaf(S) – possible to check an Unawakened Person’s predicted Awakened Rank, aptitude optimized Awakening for keyword-influenced targets

Optimized Awakening use standby time: 30 days]

……Huh? Wait.

‘This is awesome, actually?’

Just being able to check someone’s predicted Awakened Rank was already awesome. I meant I could pick S-Rank and Rank Awakened People in advance. But what was even more awesome was the aptitude optimized Awakening.

In about 3 years, it would be revealed that after Awakening, abilities were changed according to conditions at the time of Awakening. For example, if you Awakened while drowning to death, you’d develop underwater-related skills, and if you Awakened while falling to death, you’d develop flight-related skills. Not only that, if you Awakened while farming, you could develop plant-manipulation skills, and if you Awakened while dealing with a bad customer in the call center, you could develop hypnosis skills.

In my case, I Awakened in a different situation than before, so didn’t a part of my title and skills change?

On top of that, there was also research that showed that Awakening conditions also affected Awakened Rank. There was a theory that even if your highest Awakening Rank aptitude was A, if your Awakening conditions weren’t good, you would Awaken lower than B.

But it’s not easy trying to match your Awakening conditions to your tastes. Obviously so now, and even 5 years later, it was possible to optimize Awakening conditions.

But the ‘Auspicious Seed-Leaf’ skill says it’s possible to optimize Awakenings.

‘Compared to aptitude, the highest rank and the best skills!’

It meant I could pick up one great rookie each month.

Wow, this was really great, it’s impressive even as an L-Grade……

‘……This also uses the keyword?’

Ah, seriously. It’s seriously nasty! Seriously, I, I!

……But I still have to use it. Heukheuk[26].

[1] 정신력: it means mental strength or willpower, but I’m not sure what it’s called in Eng game terms. This is not 'Intelligence’, which is 지능

[2] doesn’t necessarily mean a real grandmother; “grandmother” is also used to refer to old women who are at that age. It’s not meant to sound rude/flippant the way “granny” would be in Eng. This is especially so here since the actual word used is 할머님, which is 할머니(grandmother) + -님(an honorific used to denote respect, like somewhere between -san and -sama in Jpn).

[3] lit. ‘grandfather from the front neighbor’s house and kid from the side neighbor’s house and ajuhssi from the back neighbor’s house’ where ajuhssi (아저씨) is what you call middle-aged men (of if you’re young, then someone a generation older than you I guess – it’s kinda like calling someone ‘mister’ but a lot more prevalent). Like with “grandmother”, “grandfather” doesn’t necessarily mean an actual grandfather – it’s also used to refer to men at that age.

[4] lit. “swallowed dry spit” = to be anxious/“hold one’s breath”. This expression appeared before and I translated it as “with a dry mouth” because it conveys the meaning & is close literally but I couldn’t make it work in this sentence. I guess I could’ve also tl’d as “swallowed with a dry mouth” – that’s a phrase used in Eng, right? Why do I feel like my one (1) fluent language is getting worse…

[5] this part confuses me because it doesn’t really make sense. It would make sense if he said “count on”. The sentence here is ‘스킬에 기대해보는 수밖에 없나’. 기대해 is the conjugated form of 기대하다 (to expect, anticipate); whereas 기대어 is the analogous conjugation of 기대다 (to lean on, count on). Either way, the verb types are different so using 기대해 is slightly wrong and should be 기대를 해, grammatically (according to my dad, whereas my mom says it’s fine). But, I can’t tell how you would mix up 해 with 어 so maybe the author really means ‘anticipate’ here. Idk. I spent like 15 min discussing this w my parents and then decided it’s too much trouble.

[6] ya I finally figured out what 용종 means & it’s not polyp. 용 = dragon (which I already knew), 종 = species (which I finally had the foresight to look up by itself since 용종 kept on giving me polyp in the krn-eng dict)

[7] i.e. coercion/overpowerment

[8] reminder that the word for “rank” and “grade” are the same so I’m just switching between the two. If I’m a little inconsistent with that, well, I don’t actually care.

[9] lit. ‘[they’d] really fly around’ which means it would make them an expert, it would really suit them, it would make them happy

[10] 꿀꿀 = ggool ggool, what pigs say in Krn. And the expression is lit. ‘pearl necklace on a pig’ but it’s based off the same thing as the Eng expression, which is from the Bible. It means ‘something valuable in the hands of someone who doesn’t appreciate or understand it’.

[11] He’s not actually swearing; he’s saying 아이고 (aigo) which is something you say when you’re frustrated/exasperated. It’s kind of like “oh my god” but, like, there’s no god involved so I thought it would be weirder if I used that so I didn’t.

[12] lit. ‘hit the ground’ because back in the old days, if something was unfair or they were angry or despairing, they did that, I guess

[13] yeah, he literally says munchkin transliterated into krn. Idk.

[14] it’s actually “our” but in Eng it makes more sense to say “my”, I’m assuming because Western culture is more individualistic and Krn culture is more collectivist. Yes, I know saying “our kid” also makes sense in Eng, but it doesn’t give the same feeling/connotation as when you say it in Krn, so “my kid” is more suitable. Saying “our kid” in Eng implies that there is a certain “we” that you are referring to whereas in Krn it is more of a general, undefined “we”, if that makes any sense. The ‘my’ in ‘My Brat’ is really “my” though.

[15] from the saying 될성부른 나무는 떡잎부터 알아본다/”An auspicious tree recognizes from a seed-leaf” which means “genius is shown starting from childhood” or “a fine child becomes a fine man”.

[16] also means “to be touched (by)” or “to be moved (by)”

[17] technically the word I tl’d as ‘overlap use’ (중복사용) means the same thing as ‘reuse’ (재사용) but then, the 2 lines would be contradictory, so I used ‘overlap use’ since 중복also can mean ‘overlap’

[18] lit. “have strength” but it’s a really common encouraging phrase, hence the tl being a really common Eng encouraging phrase. I guess “cheer up” also could work, but imho that doesn’t really cover the vast range of situations this is used in.

[19] the word for repayment in the skills are different; for the L-rank skill, it’s 보은 (repayment for kindness), whereas for the previous skill, it’s 보답 (which is just ‘repayment’ in general)

[20] lit. ‘this is sealed’

[21] in Krn, ‘getting stabbed in the back’ is ‘getting hit in the back of the head’. In the next sentence, the lit. tl is, then, ‘…hit me in the back of the head to survive’.

[22] he uses a really uncommon word for this. My dad thinks it’s made up (지성 = intelligence, 체 = body) but the dict says it’s ‘intelligence’ as in ‘extraterrestrial intelligence’ so maybe it does exist. Either way it means the author is really making this technical/complicated.

[23] the author is really doing the most to make this sound complicated but anyways it means ‘if you say the keyword in front of 5 or more ppl & the influenced targets, the skills&stats of the targets goes up by (# of ppl)%’

[24] in this case, he says 시바, which is really close to “fuck” but not quite, hence the ‘fuck’ substitution

[25] lit. “rice cake in the picture”, i.e. ‘pot of gold at the end of a rainbow’, something ridiculously unrealistic & illusory

[26] crying noises

Chapter end