Chapter 202: A Secret Deal (3)
At the words that there was a condition, Ian slightly frowned.
“A condition? What kind of condition is required?”
“You need a stat called ‘Magical Beast Affinity’.”
At the name of the stat that he was hearing for the first time, Ian’s two eyes slightly rounded.
“Magical Beast Affinity?”
Iriel nodded her head as she continued her explanation.
“Yes, Magical Beast Affinity. You can just think of it as a stat that plays a similar role as the Affinity stat that normal Summoners have.”
Affinity was a stat that was required in order to capture higher-rank monsters.
There were even cases where with some high-ranked monsters, if your Affinity was too low, it was impossible to even try capturing them.
In Ian’s case, as most of his Familiars were individuals that he had obtained through quests or a special route, he was able to obtain Familiars that were even Legendary-ranks with his comparatively low Affinity up until now.
“I see, so then, in order to obtain that stat, what do I need to do? Do you know how to get it, Iriel?”
Iriel smiled.
“Of course.”
And Iriel began her explanation on ‘Dual Cla.s.ses’.
“Firstly, Ian, you need to become Half-Human, Half-Devil. Once that’s the case, you can obtain something called Dual Cla.s.ses.”
“Dual Cla.s.ses, huh…”
Ian already had somewhat of an understanding on the content related to Dual Cla.s.ses from the patch note that came attached to the new update announcement, but he focused even more and listened intently to Iriel’s words.
“Yes. And if you go to the City of Rage that exists in Zone 100 of the Devildom, there is a Cla.s.s Guild where you can obtain all sorts of cla.s.ses of the Devildom. You just need to obtain the cla.s.s called ‘Devil Summoner’ there.”
“Zone 100 of the Devildom… The City of Rage… Devil Summoner…”
Ian diligently mumbled as he shoved all of the information that came out of Iriel’s mouth into his brain.
As the information that came out on the patch note was incredibly fragmentary, this information that Iriel was pa.s.sing over to him felt even more like the sweetest essence.
‘No matter what, as soon as the large-scale update is finished and the Devildom opens up, I should clear the quest of Yankoun, the Chief Gatekeeper of the Devildom, first. It’s a system where you need the Pure Blood of the Devil first in order for everything to start.’
While Ian was thinking diligently, Iriel’s words continued.
“That ‘Ancient Ill.u.s.trated Book of Magical Beasts’ I gave you will probably be of big help to you, Ian.”
“Thank you.”
While responding, Ian slightly opened the Ill.u.s.trated Book of Magical Beasts. And both of his eyes shone.
‘There is as much of a variety of magical beasts as there are monsters that exist in the human world as well. Once I succeed in cla.s.s-changing, I should read it carefully.’
Iriel once again opened her mouth towards Ian, who was skimming through the ill.u.s.trated book.
“And Ian, it’s time for you to obtain information on the devils now.”
At Iriel’s words, Ian, who remembered that the Beginnings of the Devils Quest was a connected quest, nodded his head.
“Please continue. If it is something that I can do, I will help you.”
“Thank you, Ian.”
As Iriel’s response ended, a new quest window popped up in front of Ian at the same time a quest notification sound rang out.
Ring-.
• The Beginnings of the Devils II (Hidden) (Connected)
Iriel, the administrator of the Forest of Love as well as an exceptional elf Summoner, has put a large amount of faith into you as you have succeeded in restoring the ‘Ancient Ill.u.s.trated Book of Magical Beasts’.
She wants you to sneak into the Devildom and survey their movements.
Infiltrate into the ‘City of Rage’ that is in Zone 100 of the Devildom, and go and meet, ‘Seraphim’, the ‘Half-Devil’ and n.o.blesse-rank devil.
Find out about the movements of the devils through him, and by helping him, you must block the plans of the devils to move into the human world.
Quest Difficulty Level: SS
Quest Requirement: A user that has successfully carried out the ‘Beginnings of the Devils I (Hidden) (Connected’ Quest.
Time Limit: None
Reward:
*This quest cannot be rejected.
Ian, who read through all of the quest content, had a part that he didn’t understand at first sight.
‘What the h.e.l.l? I’m supposed to block the beginnings of the devils, but I have to get the help of a devil that’s even a n.o.blesse-rank?’
However, it seemed that Iriel caught onto Ian’s question, as she immediately explained.
“Seraphim, is a hero of the human world that drank the Pure Blood of the Devil and became a devil by turning into a ‘Half-Human, Half-Devil’ 100 years ago.”
“I see…”
“And it was like this a thousand years ago as well, but not all devils want to invade the human world. Amongst the devils, there is a section of them with destructive tendencies that enjoy invading the human world. We call them ‘destructive devils’.”
Ian wore a puzzled expression.
‘What the h.e.l.l? I thought that devils were no different from monsters that have a fundamentally hostile att.i.tude towards humans just like magical beasts… But is that incorrect?’
Iriel’s words continued.
“Ian, what you must do now is help Seraphim and I and rally together the regular devils that want peace, and then prevent the invasion of the ‘destructive devils’ into the human world.”
At the feeling that he received an incredible mission where he somehow needed to save the human world, Ian wore an extremely shocked expression for a moment.
“This is something tremendous.”
Iriel laughed.
“If you succeed, you basically become a hero that has saved the human world from the destroyers of the Devildom, so it certainly is an amazing task.”
“Ha… Haha…”
Iriel stood face-to-face with Ian, who was laughing awkwardly.
“And if the destructive devils can be completely uprooted through this opportunity, it’s possible that an exchange between the human world and Devildom could form for the first time.”
Ian thought to himself.
‘Is it possible that this quest could change the playing board of all of Kailan?’
An exchange between the human world and the Devildom.
Ian had a hunch that a lot of exciting content would come out somehow from this part.
And it was an incredibly enjoyable fact that he stood right in the middle of the change in this giant game.
“How interesting. I will make sure that I do not disappoint you no matter what, Iriel.”
“Alright, I will trust in you, Ian. If an exchange is to form with the Devildom, we will be able to influence each other incredibly positively. As the Devildom is a body that has a newer civilization than we think.”
“How interesting. Either way, then, will you open up the portal this time as well, Iriel?”
While looking at Ian, who was overflowing with drive to the point it seemed like he was going to move right away for the quest, Iriel shook her head.
“No. Originally, I was going to do that, but it seems that there is some sort of problem in the Devildom right now, Ian.”
“Huh? A problem?”
Iriel nodded her head.
“Yes. The dimensional s.p.a.ce that heads to the Devildom has been completely cut off. Occasionally, situations like this happen.”
Ian, who only then realized himself that the update had not yet been completed, smiled embarra.s.sedly.
“Ah-ha, I see.”
“However, it should most likely be normalized in a couple days not far from now. At most, a couple days? When that day comes, I will contact you through the crystal ball.”
Ian nodded his head as he replied with emphasis.
“Alright, Iriel. I will be waiting.”
* * *
Ian, who had rested thoroughly for a whole day, felt his body overflowing with energy.
“Ugh, I feel a bit under the weather, but still, since I’ve rested, I feel like I’m going to survive now.”
For the first time in a while, Ian moved his feet towards the Pyro Domain.
He decided that it would be best to concentrate on maintenance first at least until the Devildom opened up.
‘Since a whole day has pa.s.sed by, about three days are left until the update day now, but no matter how crazily I behave and work on leveling up within that time, it will be difficult to even level up by 1 level.’
He decided that it would instead be better to sell some miscellaneous items and high-cla.s.s equipment that he had obtained through hunting up until now, and spend some time on the administrative aspects of the domain while resting a bit.
Whiing-.
The vacant lot of the Pyro Domain.
A portal opened up along with a resonant sound, and as Ian appeared in the middle of the square, the gazes of many users turned towards him.
This was because the only users that could open up a portal in the middle of the square were users that were affiliated with the Lotus Guild, and the Lotus Guild was the object of envy to many users.
However, just then, through someone’s outcry, that interest burned up even more.
“Wow! Ian, it’s Ian!”
“Really? That person is Ian?”
“Oh, you’re right! It’s really Ian!”
“Now I see it, it’s the same face that I saw on the screen! He looks completely normal!”
While looking at the users that crowded around him, Ian was slightly taken aback.
‘To say that I look completely normal… I’m confident I’ve lived while rejecting normality.’
Ian had such silly thoughts as he walked towards the Lord’s Castle.
He even shook hands with the fans that latched onto him in order to maintain his popularity in his own way.
“Excuse me, Ian! Where did you obtain this item? It’s overflowing with swagger.”
“Tha, that, well, I don’t really remember myself either…”
“Wow, but Ian, did you make all of your items a completed set? All of them are s.h.i.+ning brightly in the same white colour. This is my first time seeing an item like this…”
“Now that you mention it! This is seriously crazy. I take pride in how I look, but this is my first time seeing a look that has this much swagger. What must you do in order to make this s.h.i.+ne that much? I don’t think this will happen just by rubbing dye on… Do you have to enchant it with effect magic?”
Of course, Ian’s popularity was to the point that it could be arguably ranked within the Korean Kailan server now, but Ian’s equipment played the biggest role as to the reason why their interest was overflowing this much.
This was because as his equipment was already high-quality stuff, the colour and charm was nice, but as he had succeeded in fortifying them up to 5 recently and turned them all into transcendent equipment, all of his equipment shone a white light.
“Ha, haha, everyone, I have some business to take care of, so I have to go now. Sorry!”
Ian, who had narrowly pushed through the throng of people and entered the Lord’s Castle, shook his head.
“I think this is more exhausting than hunting, ha…”
Ian, who returned to the Lord’s Castle, roughly looked over the internal affairs system once.
Either way, since the Lord of the Pyro Domain was Fiolan, it wasn’t like Ian had all of the rights, and in about 20 minutes, he finished all internal affairs that he could do.
‘I should probably pa.s.s on the information about the new content to the guild members now, right?’
Whenever new content appeared, the most important thing was always information.
Since information soon became power and money, and whenever new content appeared, it’s value increased even more.
Ian entered the Lord’s room and summoned the executive members such as Fiolan and Herz.
‘Blocking off the information is important as well. New content has come out several times, but there was never a chance like this where we could dominate the information.’
The Pyro Domain stood in a large section in the middle of the central continent and boasted its splendor.
Thanks to the Pyro Domain, the Lotus Guild was able to grow dazzlingly within a couple of months.
As for the rankings, they still remained in the top 10, but Ian a.s.sumed that the actual strength of the guild could bear comparison to the top 5 guilds.
‘And through the Devildom content this time, we should develop into the dominant 1st place guild. And the information I have will become an amazing foundation in order to do that.’
The fact that the war of the central continent had come to a lull was already something that Ian also heard and knew about.
And at the same time that all of the content of this 3rd large-scale update was consumed, he believed that the last front line of the Luspel Empire would collapse as well.
‘The timing of the large-scale update was truly unbelievable. If Luspel was to have collapsed now, it would have been too early of a timing…’
They still lacked a little power in order to go into the spot of the collapsed Luspel and raise up a new independent nation yet.
‘Before all of the content of this update is consumed, I will make the Lotus Guild have at least 2-3 times the fighting power of the giant guilds.’
Ian clenched his fist tightly with determination.
The fact that there was a difficult goal always became the largest driving force that made Ian move.