Chapter 108 - 20 Questions”(1)

It was almost 1am when I was done hunting the undead monsters the Team No. 4 had herded inside the Tombs of the Dead.

Even though they had watched me hunting dozens or even hundreds of times, the people present still watched me blankly in admiration, with their mouths open wide.

So, I said casually, “Thanks a lot for your hard work today.”

“Oh, you’re welcome.”

“Well, we’re grateful to you for being considerate of us like this.”

When I expressed gratitude to them, the Team No. 4 members, who herded the monsters for me all day long, thanked me instead.

Of course, I knew why they thanked me.

They were deeply touched by my decision to hand over the golden rings, miscellaneous items and even an enhancement stone to them.

Honestly, I didn’t do anything great enough to receive their gratitude.

But it seemed that my action seemed to have impressed them a lot.

Their reaction also showed that Daeyu did not treat them well.

Anyway, the man who managed the four teams herding the monsters for me approached me and opened his mouth.

“Wait a moment, Asirante!”

“Pardon?”

Until yesterday, Sunghan Kim was the chief manager of the teams.

I myself was always suspicious and vigilant to avoid being won over by him.

But contrary to my concern, I could not take a liking for him at all.

Rather, I tried hard to hold back the urge to hit him.

Moreover, when he failed to get any information about me, Kim could not hide his disappointment as time went on even though he tried his best to manage his expression.

In other words, he clearly realized that his likeability trait did not work on me at all which was a big headache for him.

So, I watched Kim’s expressions rather happily deep down.

Of course, I thought he might be faking it, so I continued to be vigilant toward him.

Anyway, it seemed that Daeyu’s management had concluded that Kim’s desperate efforts to win me over had failed, so Kim was replaced yesterday by the man who used to be my support prior to him.

And I responded meekly when he called me.

These days I have been enjoying all kinds of benefits and support from Daeyu every day.

The manager said, “Chairman Suh wants to see you around lunchtime tomorrow.”

“You mean he wants to see me in the real world?”

“Oh, no. Like your previous meeting, he wants to see you at the cafe in the central square of Northwood Castle.”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

As long as he didn’t want to meet me in the real world, I had no problem accepting his request. I had received too many benefits from Daeyu to reject his request to see me within the game.

For example, Chairman Suh created as many as four teams to herd the monsters for me to easily hunt in this top hunting ground, The Tombs of the Dead.

In addition, he gave me 500 million golden rings; a legendary grade set consisting of a ring, earrings, and necklaces; and a precious enhancement stone to enhance the accessories.

I received so much support from Daeyu that it was difficult to simply convert it into money. Of course, I don’t intend to wear the legendary-grade accessories given by Daeyu because they were quite inferior to the Sacred Permanent Snow Spirit accessories that I was currently wearing.

Anyway, I parted with the manager after telling him that I would see the chairman tomorrow.

However, I did not log out immediately like I usually did after moving to the Safety Zone of the Tombs of the Dead.

Instead, I followed the team members who moved first to the Teleport Zone, then said quietly, “Move to Kotum Castle.”

[You have been moved to Kotum Castle.]

As soon as I entered Kotum Castle, I removed the mask I always wore and changed to normal grade the appearance option of the level 300 legendary grade Ronan’s robe set, which I received from my father, just in case of any unexpected situation.

Then, I moved to Kotum Castle’s forge and tried to enhance the Sacred Permanent Snow Spirit necklace, which was still +3 enhancement, compared to the Sacred Permanent Snow Spirit ring and earrings which had already turned to +4 enhancement. Of course, I used the God of Enhancement whose cooldown was back.

Soon, the necklace was upgraded to +4 enhancement, which meant all the Sacred Permanent Snow Spirit accessories were now + 4 enhancement. I felt so proud of them because there was a big difference between +3 enhancement and +4 enhancement.

‘Check item.’

[+4 enhancement Sacred Permanent Snow Spirit necklace (Legendary)

-It was created from Permanent Snow fragments falling from the tallest mountain, Sacred Mt. Rhône Amer.

-When equipping 3 set items, damage to boss monsters increases by 7% and damage received from boss monsters decreases by 7%.

-Effect.

: Damage of all ice-type skills increases by (3%) –> 4%.

: Combat power on snow and ice terrain increases by (3%) –> 4%. (Also applies to artificial snow and ice terrain such as an Ice Field. When fighting on artificial snow and ice terrain on top of natural snow and ice terrain, the effect is doubled)

: Intellect increases by (250) → 300

-Physical defense increased by (150) → 200, magic defense increased to by (300) → 375.

-Durability: 1025000/1025000]

As soon as I checked the improvements in the effects provided by the accessories, I thought that enhancing the accessories to +4 enhancement instead of +3 enhancement, which I originally intended, was a good decision.

Of course, just a 1% increase might look very small, but it was still a considerable addition to my power because my basic capabilities, which I didn’t want to brag about without any reason, were different from others.

Anyway, a message rang when I was determined to enhance the accessories to +5 instead of stopping at +4 enhancement.

[This is the 1am alarm you set.]

As soon as I confirmed the message, I immediately left the auction house because I had an appointment with somebody. Then I moved to the cafe in the central square of Kotum Castle.

It was a cafe that I often used as my base when I moved around Kotum Castle.

Some people were loitering around when I entered the cafe. I noticed someone wearing a robe like me in one corner. I approached that person naturally. And that person also spoke to me naturally.

“Brother, you’re too late,” said my sister.

“Sorry. I had to take care of something before coming here.”

As soon as I sat down on the sofa, I held my sister’s hand and gently opened my mouth.

“Exchange.”

“Why?”

“First, accept my exchange.”

“Okay. Accept exchange.”

She accepted the exchange right away.

So, I uploaded in the exchange window the legendary grade accessories, the accessory enhancement stone as well as the Scorpion King’s necklace and earrings that I had obtained after clearing the ‘Stop the Scorpion King’ quest today.

Of course, I had finished enhancing the Scorpion King’s necklace and earrings to +3 enhancement before I enhanced the +3 Sacred Permanent Snow Spirit necklace to +4 enhancement.

As for the legendary accessories that I received from Daeyu, I had enhanced them only to +1 enhancement because of the generated cooldown.

However, I did not intend to spend my time trying to enhance them to at least +3 enhancement because there were too many items that I had to enhance with God of Enhancement whenever its cooldown was back.

Since I didn’t have to hide it at all, I told my father, brother, sister, and Manager Sok about it without any reservation. When they heard it, all of them agreed with my opinion.

In particular, my father told me not to worry, saying that he had no intention of stopping my growth in the name of Myongjin.

Anyway, I handed over all the items that were useless to me, including 100 million golden rings, to my sister because they would be of great use to Myongjin, not me.

And I decided that it was something I could do for my family and for Myongjin.

My sister initially hesitated to accept them.

“Why are you trying to give them to me? Just sell them so you benefit.”

“Sis, I have already received 500 million golden rings from Daeyu. So, I don’t need them.”

“Wow. Daeyu’s Chairman Suh gave you 500 million golden rings besides these legendary grade items?”

“Yep.”

“Wow, great!”

My sister kept pouring out exclamations upon hearing about Daeyu’s generous gifts.

So, I strongly urged her to accept this exchange.

But she balked at the golden rings, to my surprise.