As though Ludd"s warnings and advices had never happened, Xeon did not directly pressure Sungmin at all. However, Sungmin wasn"t still completely calm yet. There was nothing to lose by being wary.
It had been 3 months since Sungmin had become an S-rank in the Behengerr mercenary guild. During this time, Sungmin had carried out three missions through Erebrisa. As there was a limit to the missions he could take, he couldn"t do more of them.
When his financial status became satisfactory, Sungmin paid additional fee to Selgerus. Although Sungmin had paid 27 million erre as the reward, he paid more to fill 60 million.
And with the remaining money, he bought spiritual medicine from Erebrisa.
The pill that Sungmin bought was named the Everlasting pill (無窮丹). It was hard to compare to the Lesser and Greater Restoration pills that Xeon had in his possession, but It could be compared to the Holy Spiritual pill he got from winning the Xenavis Colosseum fight. These pills were also dozens of millions of erre in value, so he ended up using all the money he got through those missions.
He had no regrets. Rather than learning additional martial arts, his priority right now was to complete what he had learned. Qi was necessary in that process.
Sungmin felt a bottleneck.
He had plenty of qi in his dantian. Although his qi increased through the Everlasting pill, it was still impossible for him to have a breakthrough sheerly through the quant.i.ty of qi. He would require several times the qi he had in order to forcefully break through, and there was no guarantee that he would be able to break through even after eating the Greater Restoration pill.
Bottleneck.
Whether it was circulating the Purple Cloud Divine Art, or carrying out the moves of the Nine Skies Infinity Spear, or when he was moving according to the steps of the Shadowless Phantom, he felt the presence of an obstacle. It was too high to jump over, and too st.u.r.dy to break through. Although a clear form of growth was given to him when he was training in mount Msh, He was not able to earn those growth supports now that he had left. The growth support he had right now was only his no-cla.s.s and the low-rank martial skeleton. Even adding effort on top of that, his martial arts showed barely any signs of increase.
His Shadowless Phantom was still at 5th success, while the Purple Cloud Divine Art and the Nine Skies Infinity Spear were at 6th success. Even though it had been three months since he left the mountain, there was not much progress. Although he became proficient in his own skills, he had not gained anything beyond that.
He needed the magic armor.
Gaining the magic armor may allow him to break through. A mercenary at the level of 3rd rate had reached the realm of peaks purely through the magic armor. As such, Sungmin longed for the magic armor. If he, who was already a peak-level expert, gets his hand on the magic armor, he may reach the realm of exceeds.
Well, that was what he hoped for.
"It took a longer time than I expected."
Selgerus had become quite tattered after these two months. She was still wearing the dirty ap.r.o.n and large gloves like last time. Sungmin nodded his head towards Selgerus.
"It"s fine. I wasn"t really urgent in getting a weapon."
"It"s because you gave me additional money mid way. That made me take longer time than expected."
Selgerus leaned down while saying that. She picked up the spear that she had put on the ground.
"I haven"t named it."
Said she.
"I don"t have a great naming sense, and I also think it"s somewhat funny to give a weapon a name. After all, all a weapon needs to do is to do what it needs to do."
Sungmin couldn"t focus on her words. His gaze was stolen by the spear that Selgerus had shown him. It was… very fitting to be a weapon, no, it was a very weapon-like weapon and could not be said to be anything else. Well, a spear to be exact.
The length was about 3 meters, and the ramrod straight spear shaft was made of a mysterious glossy metal. The red ta.s.sel was long and abundant, while the shoe of the spear was sharp enough to be used as a weapon of its own.
What charmed Sungmin the most was the sharpened spear head. The double-bladed spearhead was long enough to be used in slas.h.i.+ng moves and not just piercing. Although it had a dark color overall, Sungmin liked it better this way.
(T/N: Traditional Chinese spears have red ta.s.sels at the "neck" of the spear, while there"s a sharp point at the opposite end of the attacking end, making it easier to pierce the ground to make it stand up – named "shoe" in this context.)
He felt that this was designed tactically and not for showing off. Sungmin had not come across many good weapons, much less use them, but the spear Selgerus made was enough to win him over.
"The main metal is mithril."
Selgerus suddenly grabbed the spear with her two hands."
"It"s a metal that has high affinity with mana, that is, qi. Its st.u.r.diness changes according to the qi exerted. Using sword-qi and sword force will be less tolling. And I"ve enchanted self-restoration magic, so if you exert qi, most damage will be repaired on its own.
It would be a different story if the spear was snapped in half, but at that time, bring it to me. I"ll repair it for you."
(T/N: Sword force is a realm above sword-qi. 劍强, I dunno why author is using "sword" here… when it"s supposed to be "spear".)
"I wish to use it for myself…."
"Sure, go ahead."
Selgerus nodded her head. Nevel appeared in front of her. Nevel received the spear from Selgerus and then moved next to Sungmin.
"Here it is."
Sungmin received the spear with both of his hands. The first thing he felt after receiving it was that it was "light". Despite having a length of nearly 3 meters, the spear was still very light. However, it did not feel like it was weak either. He tried swinging the spear on the spot. The shaft of the spear felt as though it was made just for his hands, and it made a good sound whenever he swung it.
"Do you like it?"
Asked Selgerus. Sungmin swung the spear a few more times before nodding his head.
"Yes."
He had never held a weapon of a better quality, so he couldn"t imagine something better. Selgerus laughed at his answer.
"It"s good that you like it. … It"s a spear I created to suit the movements of your spear arts, so it will be easier for you to carry out your martial arts with it. Though, that"s up to you to try it out."
Sungmin tried exerting his qi into the spear. The purple-colored qi wrapped around the spear head. The absorption rate of the qi was much better than the cheap spear he used before. Swoos.h.!.+ His pierce action broke through the air at rapid speeds. Perhaps due to the weight, it was faster than before, but did not lack power in the slightest.
"Thank you."
"You don"t need to thank me. I did what I was offered to do."
Selgerus replied while shrugging her shoulders. Then, she disappeared. Sungmin made a faint smile while looking at the spear in his hands. Sungmin also didn"t think that his naming sense was any good, and didn"t plan to name it.
"It looks like Miss Selgerus has taken a real liking to you."
Spoke Nevel with a smile.
"That spear of yours. The core is made with mithril, while it is coated with black mineral iron. Both of these metals are sensitive to mana, and therefore expensive. You have given her 60 million erre right? Most of it should have gone into the material costs.
"Is that so?"
"Yes. You can practically consider it free if you don’t count the material costs. But for it to have such a degree of perfection… usually Miss Selgerus does not like people on our side.
Sungmin nodded his head while listening to Nevel"s words. A strange level of good will he received from others – he was aware of this. However, it was hard to find out the ident.i.ty of that good will. As such, he had chosen to accept it despite being wary of it.
"Rather than that. Would you like to take your next mission?"
"No, it"s fine for today."
Today, he was planning to go to the mercenary guild. After he started taking missions through Erebrisa, and put his guard on against Xeon, he didn"t really visit the Behengerr mercenary guild that much, but it was about time that he did. A few months later, the black mage"s dungeon would be discovered. There was a need for him to show up on the mercenary guild in order to gather any information.
"Quite the rare face showed up today."
When he entered the mercenary guild, Bern, standing behind the bartender table, spoke to him with a smile. With his appearance, the mercenaries on the first floor became silent.
(T/N: First floor = ground floor.)
Sungmin had become quite a famous person while he did his missions during the past 3 months. The twin-headed troll was slayed by him, and same went for the black minotaur and the lizard king. All of these monsters were above S-rank in power.
"Are you here to become SS-rank?"
Asked Bern as Sungmin approached. Sungmin made a bitter smile and shook his head.
"It"s not like that, but rather than that, I don"t see Mr. Ludd today."
"He"s quite far away due to a mission. Why have you come today?"
"I"ve come to see if there are any missions that may catch my eyes."
"There is."
Bern replieda as though he was expecting it.
"A dungeon was discovered."
"…What?"
Sungmin made a surprised expression at Bern"s words. This was a very sudden matter. Sungmin had memories of his previous life. At this point in time, he had just begun his activities as a mercenary in Behengerr, and albeit faint, he still had memories of this time. However, never had he heard that a dungeon was discovered at this point in time.
"You know, didn"t you catch that ogre chimera 3 months ago?
"…Yes."
Sungmin nodded his head with a rather stiff expression.
"We were suspicious and explored the nearby areas, and finally found a clue after 3 months. Although it"s a dungeon, it seems to be an artificial one and not a naturally-occurring one. Yes. It"s the black mage"s dungeon."
The flow of events had changed.
Sungmin gulped and looked at Bern"s expression. The black mage"s dungeon, "originally", it should have been discovered two to three months after this point in time. However, the flow of events had changed. In his previous life, the ogre chimera was not slain right after it was discovered, but as it was this time, the original flow of events had changed.
"it"s a rather rare case, so we are planning to make an expedition team using the mercenaries belonging to our guild. Although the specific date isn"t set yet… how about it? Would you like to partic.i.p.ate?"
"…What mercenaries have decided to partic.i.p.ate?"
"Xeon. Although not all of the Corona mercenaries are going, The three S-rank and five rank mercenaries have decided to partic.i.p.ate in the expedition."
This had also been changed. In his previous life, Xeon did not partic.i.p.ate in the black mage"s dungeon. To be exact, he couldn"t. At that time, Xeon was doing a mission away from Behengerr with the core members of his group.
"…I will partic.i.p.ate."
Sungmin bit his lower lip but still nodded his head.
Although a variable had occurred, he could not give up on the magic armor.