Return of the Irregular Appraiser
Chapter 19

[Translator – Angel Dust]

[Proofreader – Prototype]

Chapter 19: Aura Stone (6)

Outskirts of downtown Yangjae in Seoul. Fairly large Salvation-affiliated institutional buildings situated in sparsely populated areas.

When I arrived at the appointment, I was greeted by the head of the first Division 1 of the Appraisal Department 2.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Yang Wonho, the team leader of Division 1 of Appraisal Department 2. You can just call me Team Leader 1.”

“I’m Kim Woogil.”

A clean-cut man with a height that made me, who stands at 181 centimetres, look up. Just by seeing his flawless 2:8 parted hairstyle and immaculate attire, one can guess what his personality might be like.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. Let’s head this way.”

Following the guidance of Team Leader 1, we moved to a new building.

While on the way, all the lights of the other buildings we passed were off, but here and there, the lights were brightly lit.

“Is it because of me that you haven’t gotten off work yet?”

“Haha, no. Our regular quitting time is 2 a.m.”

“…Pardon?”

“Hahaha, just kidding. Was it not fun?”

Somehow, he feels similar to Park Man-deuk. Maybe it’s just his mood?

Click.

As he presents his ID card, the entrance opens.

“Is it okay for outsiders to come in?”

“Well… Normally, I’m supposed to report to the higher-ups. But it’s fine.”

“…Is it really okay?”

“I’m fine with it, but the chief probably won’t be. If there’s trouble.”

Feels like something’s a bit off. Sometimes when you meet various people, there are those who excel at their work but seem a bit off sometimes.

“You don’t have to worry about meeting other people. Under the special instructions of the chief, our Appraisal Department 2 team members are all holed up inside.”

“…You don’t need to go that far.”

“Haha, no. Come this way.”

Taking the elevator and passing through the complex corridors, we entered a room where the appraisers were clearly visible through a large glass window.

“This is the appraisal room frequently used by our team.”

Several large machines are visible through the glass window. Team 1 leader beams with pride as he shows them to me.

“They’re all state-of-the-art… well, not all, but still, they’re all incredibly expensive equipment.”

“Yeah, they look impressive.”

Here is where the unbridgeable gap between Salvation’s appraisers and those of private appraisers emerges.

Expensive equipment that private appraisers couldn’t even dream of. Some of these products are only distributed within Salvation, so private appraisers can’t buy them even if they have the money.

“But can you really show me this?”

“You shouldn’t, but you can.”

Can or can’t…?

It feels like they’re going too far, to the point where it seems like they’re trying to use me as an appraiser for the day and then bury me somewhere.

“Do you think we’re going too far?”

Does this person also have insight? Or has he learned to read minds?

“But yes, we are going too far. What can we do? They’re controlling us from above, so we have to push back too.”

Team Leader 1 pours out words that weren’t even asked, as if venting his frustration.

“Let’s go in.”

I felt like it would drag on if I stayed silent, so I interrupted.

“That’s right.”

Click.

This time, he presents his fingerprint, and the door opens.

Aura Stones contained in transparent capsules. When I discreetly sense their mana, it seems like these capsules are blocking the mana waves emitted by the Aura Stones.

“Shall I open it?”

“Sure.”

As Team Leader 1 pressed the buttons on the machine, with the sound of wind, the lid of the glass container opened.

Then, he handed the Aura Stone to me.

“If Aura Stones are left outside for too long, anomalies occur, so they need to be periodically placed in mana wave blocking devices.”

‘Are they aware of mana wave issues?’

Well, in the past, there were news reports about mana wave issues.

“Especially this stone, its purity is high, so if left out for more than three hours, anomalies occur even to other hunters nearby, so it needs to be put back here before that. But since there are other Aura Stones, you don’t have to worry about time.”

“Okay.”

There is sufficient mana. Over the past week, I’ve almost torn apart the book [Mana Wavelength and Substances] by repeatedly reading it.

There was help from insight, but in order to reduce the consumption of mana, I tried to understand the contents of the book without using insight, how much I racked my brain over it.

It would have been great if I could decipher the entire book and obtain the legacy of Cartia, but unfortunately, there was still too much left, so it seemed like it would take more time.

‘It’s quite large.’

Compared to the Aura Stone I received last time, it’s dozens of times bigger.

The yellow hue is also much darker compared to that Aura Stone, and the mana waves felt are shorter and higher in frequency.

Hmmmmm–

Certainly, it’s distinctly different from the mana waves that living organisms or ordinary artifacts have.

‘I understand why Salvation couldn’t analyze Aura Stones. I also understand why their true value was revealed three years later.’

Waves spreading out in a very complex cycle. With current technology, it would be nearly impossible to interpret these waves of the Aura Stone.

They only discovered through experiments that special mana waves resonate with awakened individuals’ mana waves, enhancing their abilities.

It’s impossible to accurately calculate, so we can’t use it.

‘Even so, if only there had been enough time, we would have known about the existence of side effects.’

As Park Man-deuk said, the reluctance to allow leakage to other countries from above resulted in the disaster at the time being presented without sufficient experimentation.

[Insight Activated.]

As my understanding of mana wavelengths increased, I began to see yellow waves spreading out in a spherical shape like ripples.

Now that I can see it, reading it is many times easier.

‘I’m going to need a hunter to get an accurate reading.’

“How… should I assist? Or would you like to do the appraisal on your own? I heard you said you might be able to do it to some extent…”

I’ve almost read all the waves of the Aura Stone. Now, all I need to do is confirm resonance with enhancement abilities.

“Is there a hunter with enhancement abilities?”

“Oh! Shall I call one?”

“Yes.”

“Just wait a moment, please.”

He briefly stepped out of the appraisal room to make a call. The sound was completely blocked, so I couldn’t hear it.

I briefly considered testing if the soundproof wall could be penetrated by the Hyper-Sensory Cyclone but refrained. Gotta save mana.

“He’s coming down soon.”

After hanging up and returning, Team Leader 1 said.

“Yes. I’ll examine this further.”

[Insight Activated.]

[Aura Stone]

A mineral made of meteorite soil with special mana waves. The purer the meteorite soil, the stronger the waves, and it appears as a deep yellow color. It has the characteristic of resonating with specific mana wave frequencies.

∥5,670MHz

“At 5,670MHz (Mana-Hertz), and the Aura Stone I saw at home was 5,510MHz, so I roughly know in which frequency band it’s distributed.’

While I was analyzing the Aura Stone, Park Man-deuk and a hunter with short hair came down.

“Sorry for being late. I had to take care of some business.”

“It’s okay. But is this person okay?”

A hunter with a manly face. Wearing tight-fitting clothes, his muscular body looked even more prominent.

“Oh, this hunter is fine. He’s not the type to go around flapping his mouth carelessly.”

“I’m Jang Deoksu.”

His deep voice flows smoothly. Just by saying his name and keeping his mouth shut like a lock, it adds to the trust in Park Man-deuk’s words.

“I’m thinking of conducting an experiment, is that okay?”

“Sure.”

Jang Deoksu answers, and the other two nodded.

“Let’s go to a more spacious area. Preferably somewhere sturdy.”

“Aren’t we… going to do the appraisal? Shouldn’t we analyze the Aura Stone first and then conduct the experiment?”

Team Leader 1 asks with a puzzled expression.

“Well… we’ve analyzed it to some extent.”

“…Really?”

Team Leader 1’s face, which had been consistently casual, changed dramatically for the first time.

Park Man-deuk also looked slightly surprised, and Jang Deoksu… remained expressionless as ever.

Although Team Leader 1 and Park Man-deuk openly showed unease, they still moved to the training ground following my words.

Creak…

A training ground about the size of 20 square metres. There’s nothing much inside.

“These walls are made of special material, so unless it’s someone of S-rank hunter level or above, they won’t break.”

“What’s the rank of this hunter?”

“B-rank.”

Jang Deoksu answered.

“Oh, B-rank… Um, alright. Shall we try out your abilities?”

“Just a moment. Are you really okay with this?”

Park Man-deuk asks with a worried expression.

“I’m fine, so let’s worry about you two first and step back first.”

At my words, the two hesitantly step back and press themselves against the wall.

“Then I’ll use my abilities.”

“Okay.”

Jang Deoksu’s muscular body starts to swell gradually.

‘Oh…’

[Insight Activated.]

The flow of mana within his body becomes clear. It’s a completely different method from how I usually handle mana.

He concentrates mana in various parts of his body, causing them to interact and amplify some of his physical abilities.

At the same time, the mana waves are also amplified, increasing the intensity of the waves.

‘So this is how enhancement ability users manipulate mana.’

In terms of explosiveness, this method certainly seems effective. But, it seemed like a waste of mana.

But that’s not important right now. First, I carefully observed the mana waves emitted by the Aura Stone and the mana waves emitted by Jang Deoksu.

‘As expected, as soon as Jang Deoksu’s mana waves touch the mana waves of the Aura Stone, they fluctuate.’

As they get closer to the Aura Stone, the waves become stronger, stimulating the points of mana amplification that Jang Deoksu has created inside his body.

As a result, Jang Deoksu’s enhanced physical abilities naturally amplify.

“Shall we continue?”

Jang Deoksu asks me while still enhancing his physical abilities.

“Yes. Try to push your abilities to the maximum you can.”

“Got it.”

His tightly fitting clothes, thanks to their strong elasticity, stretch to fit his body perfectly.

In an instant, Jang Deoksu’s physique increased by about 30%, and his blood circulation speed greatly accelerated.

“How does it feel? How much stronger do you feel compared to your usual abilities?”

“I feel like I’ve become about 1.5 times stronger.”

“Would you like to try hitting the wall? Is that okay?”

When I asked Park Man-deuk, he looked at Team Leader 1.

“Well… if it’s 1.5 times, it’s still slightly below the level of an A-rank hunter, so it’s fine.”

At Team Leader 1’s words, Jang Deoksu nodded and forcefully struck the wall.

Kuuwoong!!

Although I felt the vibration in the air, the wall remained intact. Jang Deoksu, with a bitter expression, stepped back.

“Well… there’s still no abnormality in your body, right?”

“Yes.”

Still not feeling it? Jang Deoksu says there’s nothing wrong, but I can see it. The resonance of those waves is very slightly off.

‘It’s not resonating perfectly. That’s why it ultimately breaks.’

Seeing it firsthand made it even clearer.

‘Will it work properly…?’

Wave interference. It’s something from ancient texts. I had only tried it a couple of times at home, but this was the first time I had done it in a real situation like this.

But to clearly show the appraisal result, it’s worth a try.

I injected mana into the mana core inside the Aura Stone.

Wooong!!

At the same time, the Aura Stone glowed intensely.

“…Urgh!!”

Jang Deoksu winced in pain.

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“The Aura Stone has started shining more brightly!”

The two of them quickly noticed the sudden change and frantically rolled their eyes to assess the situation.

I slowly injected mana into the mana core, interfering with the waves while observing Jang Deoksu.

As resonance began to occur, a subtle distortion emerged. Accelerating it quickly, Jang Deoksu’s eyes flushed red, and thick fur rapidly grew on his arms as he let out a roar like a beast.

“Arrrggghhhh…!”

Jang Deoksu roared as if he had become a beast. His body also transformed like that of a beast, exhaling hot breath and rolling his eyes.

‘Is there a hormonal imbalance when surpassing the limits of the human body? I know there was a hunter with physical transformation abilities among the S-rank hunters in Korea.’

Knowledge in this field is still too lacking. Although using insight might bring some understanding of the truth, there’s no spare mana to analyze it right now.

Furthermore…

Thud!

Clutching his head, Jang Deoksu, who had been screaming in agony, slammed the ground with his thickened arms like a gorilla.

The destructive power is distinctly different from before.

“Ah, fuck… the wavelengths are resonating, making it difficult to control the interference…!”

Thump! Thump! Thump!!!

A curse escaped from Park Man-deuk’s mouth. It’s understandable.

It was said that only an S-rank hunter could break such a place. With this level of power, could it rival the destructive power of an A-rank top hunter?

“Aaarghhh!”

After pounding his chest several times, Jang Deoksu turned his head to look in their direction.

“Be careful, Mr. Woogil!”

Team Leader 1 exclaimed in surprise.

“Emergency bell! We need to press the emergency bell! Quickly!”

Park Man-deuk, sensing Jang Deoksu’s intention, rushed to find the emergency bell on the opposite side.

Thud…!

Jang Deoksu’s fist, propelled by the ground, flew towards me.

At the same time, I surrounded the Aura Stone with mana, completely blocking the mana waves.

Hmmmmm…

The glowing yellow light of the Aura Stone disappeared.

Thud.

With the sudden disappearance of the resonance phenomenon, Jang Deoksu’s body returned to its original state, and his weakened fist fell into my grasp.

“Eh…?”

Team Leader 1’s voice sounded deflated.

Park Man-deuk, who was about to press the emergency bell, froze with his finger in front of the button, his face pale with shock.

‘Phew… That was close.’

I did not reveal my true feelings at all and spoke with a calm expression while supporting Jang Deoksu.

“Appraisal is over.”

[Translator – Angel Dust]

[Proofreader – Prototype]

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