The Rabbit God's Blessing

"Understood," Tae-hyun said, then turned to Lee Da-bi. "Da-bi, do you have any carrots?"

"We have Erangs Kingdom carrots, Auston Kingdom carrots, Atali Kingdom carrots, Valley Special carrots, and Demonic Carrots. Which one do you need?"

"..."

"D-Demonic Carrots."

The world was vast, and it was full of weirdos. There were actually players gutsy enough to go all the way to the Demon Realm just to farm!

I have a feeling they're members of the Power Warrior Guild.

If it was bizarre, it was Power Warrior; if it was Power Warrior, it was bizarre.

Tae-hyun placed the Demonic Carrot down and began to pray with absolute sincerity.

Flash!

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Wow! That was going to be incredibly useful, wasn't it?

Unless they used a special method, the demons of the Demon Realm and the angels of the Heavenly Realm could not cross over to the continent. However, Sky Island was different. As long as there was proper prayer and faith, angels could visit at any time.

It wouldn't do to have a Sky Island with no angels in sight. Let's bring forth an angel with a sacred prayer!

"!"

Tae-hyun was surprised. Praying actually had a chance to summon an angel? Then...

To be honest, they scare me too.

Their visuals were honestly closer to some other monstrous race than angels!

Come to think of it, Carbanog, what does your angel look like?

...

That sounded like it would be incredibly weak in its own way...

Tae-hyun wore a dubious expression. A flying rabbit? Honestly, it didn't sound like it would be very strong.

What a dangerous place.

If the Sadiq Order had been here, the Sadiq angels would have grabbed the back of their necks in frustration!

Ah. Wait, is that why the temples were shut down?

"Angel" was a nice word, but looking at the Archisus Battle Angels gave you the real answer. Angels weren't necessarily good!

From the perspective of the Sky Island residents, angels who knew what they might do were probably no different from the Garuda Kingdom.

Even the angels of the Phytos Church would probably roam around like their paladins, shouting, "If you do not believe in Lord Phytos, the hammer shall punish you!"...

The Phytos Church had clearly done something worthy of a one-week ban... no, a permanent ban.

What about the Archisus Church? Well, actually...

Phytos Church banned, other churches banned -> Oh? The Archisus Church is left? -> The Archisus Church is the most dangerous, so let's ban them in advance!

Very logical.

...I really can't deny that...

Regardless, the quest rewards were quite tempting. Even if he didn't know exactly what the items were, they had to be summoning-related. If so, they were highly likely to be related to summoning angels!

The Archisus Battle Angels, despite their appearance, had undeniable abilities. If there was an item that could summon them, he absolutely wanted to obtain it.

All the other church temples were shut down, but Carbanog's temple remains. It doesn't matter which angel it is, having Carbanog by my side is a stroke of luck.

It was a stroke of luck that Carbanog, whom even the Sky Island residents didn't care about, was here!

Unlike other gods, a Carbanog angel would surely not draw any unwanted attention.

Besides, with the chaos from the Garuda Kingdom's raid right now...

"We've drawn way too much aggro," Choi Sang-yun said.

The party had just fought three battles in a row.

An ambush by Garuda warriors!

High reputation, infamy, and the Archisus Church—the perfect trifecta to make him a high-risk target!

Unlike other players, Tae-hyun drew massive aggro after just a few fights. While others dealt with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ordinary Garuda warriors, Tae-hyun's party was facing elite assassination squads of high-ranking Garuda warriors!

As a result, the battles were bound to be long and fierce.

"Let's rest in a town until the aggro dies down. If we keep wandering around, we're going to get targeted and absolutely pulverized."

"Yeah. That's probably for the best."

Tae-hyun agreed, which was rare for him.

Normally, he would have said, "What? High-level mobs keep spawning? We should be thanking them!" but the situation was different now.

There were simply too many Garuda warriors on the field. The more they cut down, the more they swarmed, wasting too much time!

In that case, taking a short break wasn't a bad idea.

"Ah! Then can I do what I want to do?"

"Are you crazy? Of course you have to do the quests in town. Raise your affinity."

"..."

Cain, who had hoped to rest, slumped at the scolding.

But Tae-hyun wasn't wrong. While staying in a town, the basic rule of thumb was to get close to the villagers through various quests!

"If we're going to raise it, a city would be better," Lee Da-bi suggested.

"True, that makes sense."

"Wow. How can they extort so much in taxes?!" Lee Da-bi was appalled.

Every time she saw large guilds, their ability to shake people down was astonishing!

If Power Warrior tried that, everyone would leave the guild immediately!

Actually, Power Warrior could afford to do that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠too. But Lee Da-bi was someone who still held onto her original intentions.

Instead of 'If you don't like it, quit, we have plenty of people anyway,' Power Warrior's rule was 'No, don't quit even if you don't like it, the guild will collapse without you!'

"It's pure audacity. But this city is just that valuable."

A city's power came from its facilities and privileges. Magic towers, blacksmiths, and various special buildings...

If you wanted to use these buildings, you had to pay the tax and enter, even if it felt unfair!

The greatest advantage of `[City Name]` was the Reverse Waterfall in the center of the city!

Just looking at the various artworks displayed around it granted an immense buff.

"It's like the Valley," Lee Da-bi remarked.

"It's different from there, but..."

The `[Waterfall]` in the Valley was filled with all kinds of artworks, making it one of the Valley's buff zones.

...But those artworks were things Tae-hyun had plundered from all over Pan-On! It was quite different from this natural beauty.

"There are a lot of crafting classes here."

"Naturally, since the buff is so strong. They probably want to get their money's worth ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠after paying the tax."

It was a spectacular sight to see hundreds of players moving back and forth near the massive waterfall.

"Was there no Archisus temple here either?"

"I asked as soon as we entered, but it's been closed for a long time."

"Ugh..."

The party groaned. Closed everywhere they went!

"Alright. Let's split up and do general quests. Everyone has different specialties."

"Yes!"

Tae-hyun was an all-rounder, Choi Sang-yun was swordplay-related, Lee Da-bi was merchant-related, Yu Ji-su was archer-related, Jeong Su-hyeok was magic-related, and Cain was chore-related...

"?"

"What?"

"Uh, no. I... I'm good at shield techniques too. If I go to the Shield Guild and help..."

Tae-hyun shook his head and spoke seriously.

"Cain. You're... better at chores than shields."

"..."

"Even if you go to the Shield Guild and get a shield skill quest, you'll only get average results. But what if you go to the Architects Guild and get a construction quest? You'll be incredibly successful."

Depending on how quickly and how well you cleared the same quest, the rewards would vary. This was especially true for general quests.

And Cain was practically a human bulldozer!

"You can do it. Got it?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

Hearing it, it sounded like a compliment, so Cain nodded. Since it sounded like praise, he would take it...

"Alright! Everyone, move!"

The party scattered in all directions. Tae-hyun also prepared `[his fishing rod]` to look for a decent quest.

"...What are you doing here?"

"Whoa, you startled me!"

...Until he ran into a familiar face!

In front of the waterfall, Tae-hyun was dumbfounded to see Chairman Yoo sitting there in a novice set.

"Why are you wearing that?"

"...I've gotten quite famous now. If I wear expensive gear, all sorts of annoying people cling to me."

"Ah..."

Tae-hyun smiled warmly. To think the Pan-On novice Chairman Yoo had grown this much!

Of course, that smile looked highly offensive to Chairman Yoo.

"Why are you smiling so foolishly?"

"Haha. It's nothing."

Tae-hyun sat down next to Chairman Yoo. Knowing that Chairman Yoo had arrived here first, he might be of some help.

"So, did you get any good quests?"

"What, were you looking for quests in the city?" Chairman Yoo looked at Tae-hyun with surprise.

Tae-hyun was basically someone who held a legendary class and cleared legendary quests. His time wasn't so free that he would wander around a city looking for general quests.

"Even I have times when I need to work on affinity in towns."

"You have so many towns of your own, what do you mean... And I'm not doing quests. I'm just here because this waterfall is such a famous spot."

"Hmm. `[Cast]`."

Splash, splash, splash!

In an instant, rare fish swarmed and hooked themselves onto the fishing rod one after another.

The surrounding fishermen were shocked.

"M-My goodness! What is that?!"

"No, what kind of fishing rod did you use? Please tell me the secret!"

"Master! Master! Please teach me just once..."

Chairman Yoo glared at Tae-hyun.

What an obnoxious punk...!

"Do you understand? Fishing is about enjoying the process rather than being obsessed with the results..."

Chairman Yoo gave a grand lecture, but Tae-hyun kept staring intently at Chairman Yoo's fishing rod.

Hmm. He's extremely obsessed with the results.

Fishermen supposedly enjoyed the process, but Chairman Yoo was also a gamer. If you play a game, you have to win!

"Did you release the fish you caught earlier because of that?"

"...In any case, one must not interfere with another's fishing like that. As long as you understand."

"Since you've benefited from my presence, let me ask you something."

"..."

Chairman Yoo was amazed by Tae-hyun.

What a shameless, thick-skinned punk...!

He had always been like this, but Tae-hyun was a bit different now.

Chairman Yoo realized. Tae-hyun had learned and grown a lot while running Team KL.

...Of course, he seemed to have learned a lot of strange things...

"I told you, I don't know much about this city."

"Elder. If you were still the fishing-obsessed elder of the past, I would have believed you... but not anymore. Why did you really come here?"