Chapter 49: The First Major Update
When I turned off the computer and was cleaning up the club room, Kim Sujin-sensei walked in.
“Everyone done? I brought some snacks, but it’s a shame.”
Sensei said while holding drinks and snacks in her hands.
“We’ll eat them tomorrow.”
“Go ahead. Shall we head back now?”
“Yes.”
We left the club room and headed towards the dorm.
The only sound was the wind brushing against the leaves.
We passed through the quiet Forest High School grounds without hearing a single person’s voice and arrived at the dorm.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Thanks for today.”
We parted ways and entered the boys’ dorm.
“Dowoon, you’re back?”
Su-min greeted me while watching a basketball video.
“Yeah. How’s basketball been lately?”
“Ugh… Since it’s vacation, there aren’t many players. Come to basketball practice often.”
“Sorry. I don’t have time either.”
“I see. Well, what can you do…”
Su-min exchanged a few words and finished his duties.
**
Early in the morning, we gathered in the club room to log into Hero.
[Are we going south now?]
[Yeah. First, we’ll visit somewhere.]
[Where?]
[Let’s go to the Information Guild.]
Leading the party, we visited the Information Guild in Kasa City.
[Welcome.]
[I want to buy information.]
[This way…]
It felt gloomy, probably because it was the Information Guild.
Soundproofing was excellent. After entering, no noise was heard.
[Only one person can enter at a time.]
[I’ll go. Wait here.]
[Okay!]
[Got it.]
Inside the narrow room.
A masked man sat on the chair.
[You want to buy information?]
[Yes, I’m looking for items with fire resistance.]
[Hmm… How much percent?]
[Anything over 5% is fine.]
[Understood. Please wait a moment.]
The employee left through the door at the back and returned after 10 minutes.
[There are 17 publicly listed items with fire resistance of 5% or more. Would you like to review them all? Each one costs a fee.]
[I’d like two easy-to-obtain items.]
The employee checked the documents again and handed over two sheets.
[First, please read this document.]
Name: Cloak of Fire
Fire Resistance: 10%
Description: A cloak made by refining Fire Drake hide. A masterpiece by a master craftsman with high fire resistance.
- Owner: Count Eden
- Location: Eden Castle
I read the document and looked up.
[Count Eden sided with the Pope faction during the Emperor-Pope War. As a result, he suffered heavy financial and military losses.]
[I see.]
[Count Eden needs money. According to the information, Count Eden has opened his warehouse and is selling the treasures he owns.]
In the end, it was that you could buy it by paying money.
After listening to the explanation, I read the second document.
Name: Fire Earring
Fire Resistance: 5%
Description: Said to have been made by an archmage of fire.
- Owner: Viscount Sharan
- Location: Sharan Castle
[Sharan Castle…]
[Yes. It’s the place where the nobleman Lian, who has a connection with Cain-nim, is staying.]
The other party mentioned my name even though I hadn’t revealed it.
[No need to be surprised. This is the Information Guild, after all. Would it be okay to explain about the Fire Earring?]
[Yes, please tell me.]
A smile appeared on the employee’s lips.
Even though he was wearing a mask, I could tell he was smiling just from the shape of his face.
[The Fire Earring is owned by Viscount Sharan.
He is a person who recently sided with the Emperor faction in the war, but he doesn’t suffer as much financially as Count Eden.]
[I see.]
[Currently, Viscount Sharan is pushing Lian-nim as the next Viscount Rion.]
[What does that mean?]
[If Cain-nim requests the Fire Earring as a condition for helping Lian-nim, it would be good.]
Currently, Fersin’s total fire resistance is 69%.
Adding the Cloak of Fire and Fire Earring would make it 84%.
[Thank you for the information. Can I pay the fee here?]
[Yes, but…]
The employee trailed off and tapped the desk with his fingers several times.
[As you know, we are the Information Guild.]
I silently waited.
I didn’t know what his intention was.
[Cain-nim is rumored to be collecting fire resistance items. If you tell me why you’re collecting them, I won’t receive this fee.]
In the end, it was information.
He was asking for information while giving me information about fire resistance items.
Since I knew that information would be discovered by users when the Magic Empire and Land of Scorching Heat are opened.
It wasn’t bad to sell it before that.
More importantly…
I had already collected many fire resistance items.
[It doesn’t match. Give me the Cloak of Fire for free as well.]
[What do you mean… Are you asking me to deliver the Cloak of Fire on your behalf?]
[Yes.]
[Hmm…]
The employee pondered for a while.
It would be difficult for him to decide easily.
He probably couldn’t guess the value of the information I knew.
[If you don’t pay that much, I won’t sell the information.]
I had the money for the information fee, and the Cloak of Fire could be bought by purchasing game currency with cash.
I had quite a bit of cash from selling game currency.
Perhaps because I was being strong.
The employee nodded.
[Understood. I’ll buy the information. The guild will purchase the Cloak of Fire and deliver it.]
[You won’t regret it. With the information I provided, you’ll make even more money than that.]
[I hope so.]
The employee answered.
I told him the information I knew, or rather, one of the hunting methods from the beginner’s guide.
Fire resistance itself doesn’t help much except in specific situations.
But,
There is a hunting method using fire resistance.
First, party member A raises fire resistance to 80% or more.
A draws aggro from a large number of monsters.
The mage uses wide-area fire magic centered on A.
At this time, the mage must be in a safe position so as not to be attacked.
Monsters know they can’t attack the mage, so they attack party member A who drew their initial aggro.
Even if A focuses only on defense, he can defeat a large number of monsters with the mage’s wide-area fire magic.
It’s not easy to use wide-area magic efficiently.
Because party members also take damage from the wide-area magic.
That’s why we discovered this hunting method.
[It’s using the adventurer’s trait of growing by defeating monsters.]
The employee said after listening to the explanation.
[Yes.]
[Information received. I’ll purchase the Cloak of Fire and deliver it as soon as possible.]
[Thank you.]
Even if other users learn the hunting method I mentioned, it won’t be easy to try it.
It’s quite difficult to raise fire resistance to 80%.
Even if made, finding a mage would be even harder.
And both NPCs must be at a similar level to the user.
That way, the user won’t receive experience penalty.
In the end, for ordinary users to use the method I mentioned, the Magic Empire and Land of Scorching Heat must be opened.
We left the Information Guild with the party.
[Are we going south now?]
[Yeah. The first destination is Sharan Territory.]
[I got it! On the way, don’t forget to hunt fire attribute monsters!]
Seolhwa said while leading.
Fire attribute monsters had good synergy with our party.
No reason not to catch them.
The party took a village transport carriage and headed towards Sharan Territory.
Every time we visited the city, we checked quests at the adventurer guild without missing.
[Nothing again…]
Seolhwa said with disappointment.
[There are no strong monsters in the flatlands of the Holy Royal Empire. There are many monsters in Apse Mountain Range. Let’s hunt there.]
[Yeah…]
.
.
Sharan Territory.
[Ah… I’m tired.]
[Transportation carriages are boring. I don’t even want to see them.]
Seolhwa and Elena got out of the carriage and said.
[Let’s meet Lian-nim.]
[Yeah. Because of the Fire Earring item, right?]
[Yes.]
We told the lord’s castle guards that we were looking for Lian-nim, and not long after, Lian-nim came running out.
[Cain-nim!]
[How have you been?]
[You’re alive. That’s really fortunate.]
[It was good luck. More than that…]
I told him the reason for coming here and that I would help Lian-nim reclaim Rion Territory in exchange for the item.
[Really! I’ll tell Viscount Sharan and definitely bring the item. Please come inside first.]
We waited in the guest room guided by Lian-nim, and after a while, Lian-nim entered with a middle-aged man.
[Cain-nim, this is Viscount Sharan, who rules Sharan Territory. Privately, he is my maternal uncle.]
We stood up and greeted with the party.
[It’s an honor to meet you.]
[Hmm… What level are you all?]
[We and our party members are at the level of novice knights.]
Viscount Sharan made a slight frown.
[Among adventurers, you’re quite strong… Still, I don’t know how much help you can be.]
Viscount Sharan said skeptically.
[Uncle. No, Viscount Sharan. Cain-nim and his companions are strong enough.]
[Lian! Adding five novice knights to a territorial war won’t change the result.]
[But…]
I interjected into the conversation between Viscount Sharan and Lian-nim.
[Viscount Sharan. We are not far from reaching 150 levels. Before the territorial war, we can reach intermediate knight level.]
[Hmm…]
The mention of intermediate knight changed Viscount Sharan’s expression a bit.
Five novice knights and five intermediate knights are different tiers of power.
In a war between viscount territories, five intermediate knights would be sufficient help.
[I don’t trust adventurers much.
But…
Since the items you request aren’t particularly expensive items, I’ll gamble on it.]
Viscount Sharan gave a signal, and a maid behind him brought a small box.
I took the box and checked the contents.
Name: Fire Earring
Fire Resistance: 5%
Description: Said to have been made by an archmage of fire.
It matched the item checked at the Information Guild.
[Thank you.]
[No need to thank me. Adventurers grow by killing monsters, right? Come out of Sharan Castle and grow right away.]
[Understood.]
We left the guest room as if being chased out, holding the Fire Earring.
[Uncle, Cain-nim is an outstanding person.]
[When Lian becomes Viscount Rion later, he can easily command five novice knights.]
[But…]
The two’s conversation couldn’t be heard anymore as the guest room door closed.
We left the lord’s castle with the maid’s guidance.
[Cain, Viscount Sharan is too rude.]
As we moved away from the lord’s castle, Seolhwa said.
[He’s the lord, after all…]
In the Hero game world view, the lord’s power is immense.
Rather, it was unusual that Lian-nim, who uses honorifics to us, a wandering mercenary, used polite speech.
[Cain, Seolhwa is right. Let’s grow quickly. The hunting we talked about in the transport carriage is fine, right?]
Elena added that she didn’t like Viscount Sharan’s attitude either.
[Yeah. First…]
I glanced at Sara walking beside Seolhwa.
[Sara needs to reach 150 levels.]
When her name came out, Sara flinched and trembled.
[150 levels is soon! Let’s hurry to Apse Mountain Range and level up!]
Elena, who was still in an excited state because she was angry at the treatment she received from Viscount Sharan.
[Yeah, let’s all hurry. This time, don’t stop by other villages, let’s move directly to Blood Territory.]
[Yeah!]
[Yes!]
Blood Territory is adjacent to Apse Mountain Range.
It was also close to the place we hunted before the Emperor-Pope War.