3-Star Promotion

A week had passed since the drinking party with Kanisia. During this time, I had been diligently farming lower-grade growth stones in the Clowns' Grave alongside Aquaril. A few times, I got lucky and even obtained mid-grade growth stones that could be used starting from the 3-star (★★★) rank.

'But am I really a subordinate of the Blood Axe King right now?'

Since I had signed the contract, on paper, I was indeed a subordinate of the Blood Axe King. Yet, I hadn't met the Blood Axe King or his fairy even once so far.

Still, I thought I should at least see his face once, so I asked Kanisia about it, but she only replied that there was no need. What kind of messed-up organization operation was this...

'Well, anyway, that guy doesn't have much loyalty anyway.'

After all, Chinnimoni was just a passing place. After growing satisfied enough, I would move to the next city with Kanisia.

"Prince Han. The collection is complete."

"Thank you for your hard work. Then, let's move to the next space."

"Okay."

The porter who had gathered valuable items from the dead monsters approached us and informed us that the item collection was finished. Finishing the collection meant resuming the dungeon exploration. We moved to the next room.

By the way, the items the porters collected from monster corpses were stacked in the Blood Axe King's warehouse. And half the value went to the master who conquered the dungeon, with the other half going into the Blood Axe King's wallet.

'Why the hell do I have to give half when I did all the conquering myself?'

My teeth were grinding at the Blood Axe King's mindset of taking half the profit. I'll see you later, you bastard. When you die, I won't help you, you son of a bitch.

"Ki ki ki!"

"Yeah, I'm glad to see you guys too."

When we moved to the next room, the thief clowns welcomed us. Ghost clowns were flying above the heads of the thief clowns.

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The porters retreated as usual, and Aquaril and I stepped forward.

"Let's go!"

With the shout, I raised my shield and charged at the thief clowns. Unlike usual, Aquaril didn't follow behind me. Instead, she swung her sword in place.

Screech-!

"Ki?"

The crescent moon-shaped white thing from Aquaril's swung sword split the ghost clown's body in half. The ghost clown, who didn't understand what happened to him, tilted his head. And it disappeared into light.

'It's really useful.'

I smiled happily at that sight. Then I swung my sword at the thief clown who appeared from behind.

Originally, the ghost clowns were handled by Kanisia with the [Mana Throw] skill (normal/Lv.7), but now there was no need for that. Aquaril filled the empty spot of Kanisia who couldn't come to the dungeon for work.

Over the past week, Aquaril had leveled up 4 levels and learned the [Sword Qi (Advanced/Lv.2)] skill through [Skill Stones].

It would have cost up to 5 million gold to buy from merchants, but since I bought it through Kanisia, I could get it for half, 2.5 million gold. Kanisia was really a goldmine.

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Anyway, as expected for a swordsman class staple skill, after learning sword qi, our party's power increased significantly.

Without Kanisia's help, we could easily handle the ghost clowns that we couldn't touch before. Now, even without Kanisia, we could easily conquer the Clowns' Dungeon.

After dealing with all the thief clowns who were trying to ambush us from hiding, we advanced in a straight line and soon faced the boss monster of this dungeon, the Bandit Clown.

"Ki i i i i ik!"

With a tearing scream, the Bandit Clown rose from the rocks and showed hostility towards us.

"You always look like a real ugly guy."

I threw a compliment (?) at the Bandit Clown as if meaning "glad to see you". I had seen the real face of the dead Bandit Clown before, and it was really ugly. Full of pimples, the clown bones sticking out, and the skin was rotten.

"Ki i i i ik!"

The Bandit Clown, realizing my compliment, expressed anger and charged at me. The sight of a giant charging was truly frightening, but since I had seen it so many times, it wasn't particularly scary.

"Huhu huh huh."

I charged at the Bandit Clown as well.

*****

After about 30 minutes of intense fighting, only the monsters died. Our opponent couldn't match us who had steadily grown by eating lower-grade growth stones over the past week.

"You worked hard, Aquaril."

"Is this where it ends today?"

"Yeah. I have a promise with Kanisia later."

"....."

When Kanisia's name came up, Aquaril closed her mouth. Her lips were slightly out, as if she didn't like me meeting Kanisia much. The reason was obvious.

'She's still holding that incident in her heart.'

A week ago, Kanisia had put a sleeping pill in Aquaril's drink to have sex with me. Aquaril, who hadn't expected Kanisia to put a sleeping pill in the drink, fell asleep.

Since then, Aquaril has hated Kanisia. Still, she doesn't show it blatantly because I told her it's okay.

At that time, Aquaril cried bitterly and apologized to me. Even though none of the incidents of that day were Aquaril's fault.

Of course, if I think about it that way, it's my fault for not protecting myself, but anyway, Aquaril regretted and regretted her defenseless self that day.

"Prince Han."

At that time, the porter who had completed the item collection approached me and spoke. To him, I said thank you and told him that today's dungeon exploration ends here.

"Really?"

Then the porter's face lit up immediately. Seeing that, I felt a bit sorry.

'Now that I think about it, how many times have I conquered the dungeon today?'

10 times or 11 times?

I didn't remember the exact number. I had been exploring the dungeon from early morning, and after conquering, I took a short break and entered again to resume.

At first, it was hard to conquer the dungeon 3 times a day, but now that I had grown enough, I could conquer the dungeon over 10 times.

Because I repeated the dungeon conquest for growth, the porters had to stay in the dungeon all day with me. No matter how porters they are, digging through monster corpses is quite disgusting and hard work.

"Today, have a drink with your colleagues."

"No. It's fine."

"Ehehe~ I'll refuse. Drink this and buy some delicious things."

"... Thank you, Prince Han."

I forced gold into the hand of the rejecting porter. 1 million gold would be enough to eat well.

After coming out of the dungeon with Aquaril and the porters, a notification window appeared in front of us.

'Huh? Already?'

I was startled when I saw the notification window and checked my status window.

"Master."

While looking at the status window, Aquaril approached me and spoke. She was about to say something.

"Yeah. You reached 40 too?"

"Yeah? Ah, yeah. Then Master...?"

"Yeah. I reached 40 too."

"Congratulations, Master. Thank you for your hard work during this time."

"What are you talking about. And you're the one who worked harder than me."

"No, Master. All I did was throw sword qi from behind. Rather, Master should have faced the monsters in front, so you worked harder."

"Then let's say we both worked hard. Got it?"

"Huhu. Yes, Master."

Winking, Aquaril smiled and nodded.

'I need to promote to 3-star.'

Slightly regretful, but looking at efficiency, promoting to 3-star was better. After parting with the porters, we headed to the temple for promotion.

"Welcome, brother. What brings you here?"

When I passed the temple door, a man in white clothes approached and bowed to us.

Unlike the temple in Indigo where the priest was absent and abandoned, the temple in Chinnimoni had a priest. The priests managed the building well, making it clean.

"To pray to the god who abandoned his own name to watch over the world, and to return the favor and offer tribute for that grace."

"Ooooh...! A faithful brother! Come this way. I'll escort you."

Although he spoke long, in summary, it meant we came to promote. But anyway, since he was talking like praising the god [Nameless God] of this world, the priest was very happy and guided us inside.

"Brother. The god has bestowed his power on weak humans, and because of that, he had to lose his name. For such a god, we..."

"Haha, haha. Yes, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that's right. Yes."

The man was quite talkative, not fitting for the priest job. Throughout guiding us, his mouth never stopped talking about the feats of the Nameless God.

Hey, stop it. I'm an atheist.

"This way. Then, I wish you success in what you desire."

Upon arriving at the god's statue, the priest left blessings and left. Unlike Indigo where only a stone statue was left in the center of the temple, here rooms were divided. It was to make it easy for masters to promote.

"Aquaril."

"Yes, Master."

"I feel like blood is coming out of my ear."

"Huhu. It's fine, Master."

"Sigh... Why is that uncle talking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so much?"

"Huhu."

I closed the door and stood in front of the statue imitating the god's appearance with Aquaril.

"You first."

"Yes, Master."

Aquaril knelt in front of the statue. And began to pray. In the meantime, I took out 10 gold ingots worth 1 million gold from my inventory and placed them in front of the statue.

'Fuck, what kind of god likes money so much?'

To go from 1-star (★) to 2-star (★★), 5 million gold is needed. And to promote from 2-star (★★) to 3-star (★★★), it costs a whopping 10 million gold, double that.

I don't know what kind of bastard the Nameless God is, but he's definitely a bastard who loves money too much.

Anyway, as soon as I placed the gold ingots in front, bright light burst from Aquaril and the gold ingots. It was brighter than when promoting from 1-star to 2-star.

After a while, the light disappeared. The 10 gold ingots placed in front of the statue also disappeared with the light.

'For now, the 500 gems are good. Mid-grade growth stones are good too.'

I nodded while looking at the notification window and did the same, taking out gold ingots in front of the statue and kneeling.

'What should I eat for dinner tonight?'

I prayed (?) to the god.

And...

I also became 3-star (★★★).