Chapter 80 - Don't Come Home Tomorrow (1)

“Come back again. I’ll be staying here for the time being. Ice Spear!”

After casually spitting out some words at the enemy’s leader who didn’t even try to hide his resentment while he was dying, I immediately fired an Ice Spear.

Puck!

Since the enemy leader had already taken many of my attacks, he was killed with that last blow. And my last words to him were also sincere.

In other words, I would stay here for the time being, unlike before when I left to avoid friction. Did I make this decision because of my confidence?

Of course, it was true that I was confident that I could deal with enemies regardless of their number, but I know that it was not luck or coincidence that they could find me so decisively. Maybe they have some special means to track me down, for example, with something like a special trait instead of a normal skill.

After concluding that they could track me down if they wanted to, I decided to steal the show first by looking completely nonchalant and not caring about how many times they would come to find me.

Even though I said this, I hoped deep down that they wouldn’t come back because I wanted to focus on hunting.

When the enemy’s leader died, I looked at the empty surroundings. Of course I couldn’t kill all the enemies because I could not chase those who decisively ran away as fast as they could.

However, for some reason, I thought that I had just fought more enemies than the 700 I had fought recently. Of course, I won like always.

‘Well, based on the outcome of this battle, it seems that it was not a mistake to choose Stamina as the first stat of Mutual Growth.

This was the first time I fought the enemies relying on my health and stamina not only in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Closed Beta of ‘Forgotten Legend’ but also in all other games.

And I felt that they were much more powerful than I thought.

“Ice Field!”

Now, with the most intense of all the battles behind me, I began to attack the long-rooted saplings again using Ice Field because I was too energized to take a break.

That night I logged out in time for dinner, ate and took a quick break.

Just when I tried to access the game again, my phone rang.

My sister’s name Suyoung was displayed on the phone screen.

‘”I’m going home tomorrow. I have no idea why she is calling me now.’

Curious about her call, I answered the phone first.

“Hey, sis, what’s up?”

“Don’t come home tomorrow.”

“…”

She just told me not to come home without any explanation.

Needless to say, my mother was the one who usually welcomed me the most during my weekly visits to my house in Cheongdam-dong, but my sister also welcomed me as much as her.

Moreover, when I lived in a one-room studio after being forced out of the house because I didn’t go back to the prestigious Seoul National University after being discharged from the army, my sister even threatened to shave her hair before my parents to protect me. She liked and greatly supported me, to say the least. Whenever I had even a financial problem, she also sent me some money without letting my parents know about it. In other words she has been my consistent supporter until now.

So, I could not understand why she suddenly told me not to come back home tomorrow.

“Why?”

“It’s nothing special. Got it? Let me end the call because I’m busy.”

Tu- Tu- Tu-

My sister hung up after saying that, as if she was quite busy at the moment. I felt rather embarrassed. Obviously something unusual was going on.

But I just looked down at my cell phone blankly for a while even after she hung up because I knew what she meant by ‘nothing special.’ I felt something happened to her and my family, but she didn’t want to tell me right now, which made me even more curious.

Whenever I had heard it in the past, I would not visit home per my sister’s request, and I also wouldn’t have cared whatsoever. But this time I was different because I I began to think something unusual was gong on. So, I felt the strong urge to go home despite my sister’s unusual request.

“I have to go home by all means tomorrow.”

Of course, I don’t know exactly when I had a change of heart, but come to think of it, that may have caused it.

At the meeting disguised as a business conference of the top leaders of Myongjin, Daesung and Kusan, and that recent meeting hosted by Mirae Group’s Bora Yon, they invariably mentioned one thing, which was the appearance of new rising stars.

They wanted to develop a talent pool to hunt and hire those who were excellent in playing games. Although I don’t want to brag, I was the first one to be picked.

Honestly, I had some expectations that I would be selected because I was extraordinary enough to have the title of the Only Closed Beta Max Level User as well as the traits of Ice Man, Mutual Growth and God of Reinforcement, so much so that I myself was worried about the collapse of balance.

But now I’m far beyond what I expected back then. I’ve grown so fast and achieved so much until now.

At that time, I didn’t expect at all that I would obtain extra stats by drastically dropping levels by using my titles Scarecrow Destroyer and God of Reinforcement. Moreover, I earned the title of Honorable Name by clearing an A-grade quest.

In other words, I could not be more confident now.

So, this kind of confidence definitely affected my decision to visit home despite my sister’s very unusual request.

In other words, I felt so confident that I wanted to know more about my sister’s matter and my family affairs as a whole, so I could help them if I could.

“I should access the game first.”

Instead of asking my dad, brother, or mom about it, I thought that I could go home tomorrow and find out by myself, so I first accessed the game without thinking about it anymore for now.

Then I immediately opened my inventory. In my inventory, there were more valuable items than all those I had gotten combined in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Closed Betas of ‘Forgotten Legend’.

I was already close to possessing 200 million golden rings, but I had items far more valuable than this.

[Inventory list.

-100% Enhancement Success License. (Increase the Enhancement Level of an item regardless of its grade, level and current Enhancement Level.)

-Maximum Skill Level Increase Stone

-Random box with 1 accessory between the precious and legendary grades.

I placed the 100% Enhancement Success License I had obtained from the level 100 only Enhancement Quest in one corner of the inventory to use it later on when the God of Enhancement cooldown for my Ice Emperor’s guardian sword was more than several hundred days.

Likewise, I also placed the Max Skill Level Increase Stone in another corner of the inventory to use it in a situation where I absolutely needed to upgrade one of my skills.

Although it was not as good as the above two, I left the random box which i got from clearing the A-grade quest of ‘Light the Lamp of Hope to the Salte clan’ unopened even though it could give me a Legendary Grade item. But I’ve never opened it because it could give me a Precious Grade item instead.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that a Precious grade item is bad.

The Scorpion King’s ring and earrings that I’m currently wearing are also Precious grade items.

Anyway I had kept putting off opening the box until now.

But now, I strongly felt that I wanted to open it at last.