141. Eternal Jewel Master
As soon as I finished talking, I walked towards where the skill books were.
The skill books" ranking were low for a Lich King"s drop.
However, there was a skill book in that pile that we desperately needed right now.
It was a skill that we"ve never seen or heard of back on Earth.
Jong Ho stared at me, unable to hold back his curiosity.
“Did any good skill books drop?”
“Yes.”
“Oh? Offensive spells? Shields? Perhaps a skill beyond ranking?”
“No, it"s not that good. It"s recovery. However, it"s not something specifically for us.”
“Huh? Who"s going to use it?”
“Over there, on the ones guarding the place outside.”
“Hm? That doesn"t make sense? You can"t use recovery spells on monsters. It doesn"t affect them.”
“Not on monsters, summoned creatures. It looks like a healing spell for summoned creatures dropped.”
“Is it a summoner cla.s.s skill? As I said before, I don"t know that much about the summoner cla.s.s.”
“Yes. Thankfully it"s not cla.s.s restricted. It looks like as long as you have the mana, any cla.s.s can use it.”
“Do you think that it would be effective?”
“Think about it. The Devil Avatars and King Suwoo have grown to their limits already. This includes both their health and their offensive abilities.”
“Of course, they"ve reached level 200.”
“Right. However, the skill that they"re learning is only level 1. I guess what I"m trying to say is that it will help a little. But we shouldn"t expect much. I guess it"s like trying to fill a ma.s.sive pool using a bucket.”
“As expected from you, but what if the skill recovers as much as the amount of mana I have?”
“What?”
“That"s why I was smirking before.”
Without any hesitation, I put the skill book on my chest.
The skill book made a sound as if it was burning away before being absorbed into my chest.
The skill was obtained and the skill window had a new skill called Full Heal.
This was a skill that only healed summoned creatures, not Awakened, and its ability was healing as much as the amount of mana the caster had.
This meant that if someone like me who has infinite mana casts it, the summoned creatures would never run out of health.
The one thing that disappointed me was that it needed to be channeled.
Thanks to the dual casting pa.s.sive, I can cast up to 3 spells at once. This meant that I had to invest one of the three slots.
Similar to my mana shield, that is.
However, this wasn"t an issue for us.
While we left the Gate for 6 hours at a time, if I healed them once in between that time, the summoned creatures would have no problem defending this place.
After absorbing the skill book, I spoke to Jong Ho.
“Hyung-nim, grab one of the two swords left.”
“Yup.”
“And then enhance it.”
“Enhance?”
“Yes. Just grab it to bind it to you. And all you have to do is put it next to the sword you"re going to use.”
“Attributes of weapons will naturally be absorbed into the Pijan"s Lightning Sword.”
“But what if the Lightning Sword"s attribute gets transferred to another sword?”
“That won"t happen. Attributes only move from weaker weapons to stronger weapons. All the swords that I"ve seen had lower attributes than the Lightning Sword.”
“Is that so…..? What about the other sword?”
“I"ll just pick up random equipment and we"ll be applying jewels on them. So hyung-nim should focus on enhancing them.”
“Okay, I got it.”
“Karin, what do you want to do now?”
“Hm….. Just watch, goblins can"t use jewels. Kel….. I"m going to make a meal for my family!”
“Oh. That"s great.”
“Kerurururu.”
“Man, I"ve burned through the night oil…..”
“Min-Cheol, how did you succeed twice before?”
“I"m wondering the same thing. I didn"t know it was that bad…..”
“In the middle of it, I felt like killing something.”
“Me too…..”
“Keruk? Are you guys done? Hurry up and eat the steak.”
“It"ll be a gloomy dinner.”
There were countless jewels that dropped from the Lich King.
We spent two hours applying them on various artifacts.
However, the results were pathetic at best.
We did not gain anything of worth.
A lot of jewels that boosted magic energy dropped, but none of them succeeded in enhancing the gear.
Instead, it destroyed the gears.
Perhaps it has to do with how the demonic realm has a lower drop rate than Earth?
Also, the success rate of using the jewels were incredibly low.
The Eye of Insight showed that it had a 10% chance of succeeding, just like the jewels we obtained on Earth.
However, it felt like the success rate was 0.0001%.
The only thing we gained from taking down the Lich King was the Lightning Sword and one skill book.
It felt like we should collect the jewels from now on and use it when we return to Earth.
I asked Karin who was viciously tearing into the steak.
“Karin.”
“Keruru?”
“This is something that just occurred to me…..”
“What is it?”
“Can"t we just go through the Gate back to Earth? Kind of like how we"d go back home after a long day"s work?”
“Kel…..”
“Now that I think about it, that"s right. This Gate is connected to Yangpyeong.”
“I know, right? Why are we two dudes and a monster eating shabby food like this?”
“You can"t do that!”
“Why? The monsters seem to go through just fine?”
“Look at the number of monsters, aren"t there a lot?”
“Of course, this is the demonic realm after all…..”
“Not all of them are heading for Earth.”
“There is a low chance that you can fall off the path.”
“What do you mean "fall off"? Are you saying that we can fall into another dimension?”
“You can get trapped in the cracks in the dimensions. It"s not the overworld, afterworld, Earth, or demonic realm. You can get isolated in another dimension.”
“Why are you only telling us this now? What if we entered it without a thought?”
“Kel…..”
“So you"re telling me that the only way we can return is to kill the demon king?”
“That"s right. If it was any other human, I would have told them to go through it….. However, I can"t let the two of you do that.”
“I understand.”
“I was hoping for something good to drop. Now I"m frustrated.”
“Oh well, we can"t help it. I guess we"ll have to stake our hopes on Belkoseu.”
“You said that you"ll visit him in a few days?”
“Yes. Karin remembers his magical signature, so it should not be that difficult to meet up with him.”
“That"s right. I remember! Belkoseu"s magical signature!”
“Min-Cheol, are you sure about this?”
“Yes….. I"m as positive as when hyung-nim charged Berdan. We won"t be able to defeat him with magical energy, but I"m sure that we can bring him to his knees using Awakened attacks.”
“You don"t have to worry about a thing. If something goes wrong, you can run away.”
“Even so…..”
“For now, let us rest near the Gate. We"ll leave tomorrow.”
“Got it.”
“Ah. And since we need guidance from Karin, follow me partway.”
“What. Are you planning to go alone?”
“Yes. I think that would be for the best.”
“It"s easier for a single person to escape rather than two or three. And we can only use Status Denial once every 24 hours.”
“Hm…..”
“Chances. I"m betting on better chances like you always talked about. You understand, right?”
“Yeah, do as you see fit. So I just need to stay near here with Karin, right?”
“Yes, that"s right.”
“Keruu…. Human, he is not your average monsters. If it gets dangerous, escape immediately.”
“Got it.”
I had hoped that we would speed up on growing stronger after defeating the Lich King, but the results were less than satisfactory.
With the Gate as the anchor, we continued to hunt.
The area covered wasn"t large, but there were plenty of monsters about.
The effect of Full Heal that I"ve obtained was far greater than what I had expected.
An aura appeared around the creatures I"ve summoned, rapidly healing them.
As expected, it did not heal the monsters.
It only worked on the creatures that I"ve summoned.
If I get used to using this spell, I should be able to lessen my worries about holding the Gate.
And if it becomes so, I should be able to hunt further away from the Gate.
Instead of just staying tethered near the Gate, I should be able to visit all the good locations in the demonic realm for farming monsters with the guidance of Karin.
With the Devil Avatars and King Suwoo confidently holding their ground, it should be possible.
“What about the Warp cooldown?”
“Haven"t used it in the last two days. It"s good to go.”
“Haven"t forgotten anything?”
“Telling me that you love me?”
“Get bent. And don"t get hurt. Take the Warp right away if you sense anything that"s off.”
“Love you too.”
“Get outta here. Go.”
“Human….. I"ll be waiting with Jong Ho. Please come back safe. Lov…..”
“Stop! Go ahead and ration the steak. I"ll be back before the watch on Jong Ho"s wrist points 12, okay?”
“Kerut. I got it.”
I ran towards the direction that Karin pointed me towards.
At the end should be Belkoseu.
Thankfully, both Ladin and Jamon were far away from here.
However, despite the ma.s.sive distance, with their speeds it shouldn"t take that long for them to get here.
That"s why it was important for my fight with Belkoseu to be as short as possible and equally decisive in victory.
In the plains where not a single rock could be found stood Belkoseu.
As if he had been waiting for me, he turned to face me, holding his ground.
I walked towards where he was.
“Kuhu. Humans are amusing creatures. To think that you"d come on your own volition to your own death.”
“You saw, right? Karin. He keeps his promises, even if it kills him. It seems I"m becoming like him.”
“What is the reason behind your confidence to be able to come? Do you think that your different types of attacks can take me down?”
“Yep. It seemed to me that the chances were high.”
“You"re a reckless fool.”
“I hear that a lot. Shall we start then? Don"t worry about the demon king. He"s quite far away.”
“Hm….”
Belkoseu hesitated for a bit.
It seemed that he was thinking about something.
I was a bit taken back by what he said next.
“What is it that you want?”
“For what reason is it that you take down monsters such as I is what I ask.”
“That"s simple. If we don"t kill you, our homeworld gets destroyed.”
“You"re not trying to become the demon king that rules the demonic realm? You do not wish to rule over all the monsters?”
“Not really interested. I"m just tired of seeing you monsters invading Earth.”
“Now, enough pointless chatter. Let"s begin.”
“Wait. Let me make an offer.”
“Oh? Trying to trade when you"re nothing but a monster? Let me hear you out.”
“You definitely said that you have no interest in being the demon king, right?”
“Yep.”
“You just want monsters to stop invading the human realm.”
“Yep. You"re a lot smarter than I thought.”
“If that"s the case……”
Belkoseu began to make an offer that I didn"t even consider.
To think that a deal between a monster and a human would form.
It was a shocking development, but it felt as though I could use him.
Since I did not have a 100% guarantee that I could defeat him, this offer had me intrigued as well.
Is this how I would get another friend in the demonic realm?