Chapter 235: Chapter 234: The House Centipede Part I
Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
The entrance of the Shire Guild’s Dark Caster Dungeon…
“Let’s see what I can do here,” I said to myself with a smile. I had never looked forward to hunting this much in the past. It was always a ch.o.r.e for me back then, since I always had to hunt with parties against certain types of monsters and for only a few levels at a time. Now, I could hunt anytime and against whatever monster type I wanted. But most of all, I really wanted to keep using my level 7 Mana Conversion and put my 199% EXP boost to good use.
“Mana Conversion – Fire. Warrior’s Brave Spirit. Howl of the Wolf.” I activated my buff skills before I entered the dungeon.
==[Mana Conversion – Fire Level 7 has been activated.
Increase ATT by 190%
Successful attacks have a 70% chance of inflicting Burn.
Increase damage of all Fire-based attacks by 150,000-700,000 points
This skill has no cooldown.]==
==[Warrior’s Brave Spirit Level 2 has been activated.]==
==[Howl of the Wolf has been activated.]==
With just two levels, Mana Conversion had seriously upped my combat abilities even further.
“Let’s do this.” I walked into the dungeon. There were many Shire Guild guards protecting this place, but none of them tried to stop me. They actually welcomed me as if I was one of their family members who had just returned after a long trip away from home.
“Mr. Lee, we’ve been waiting for you! Here, in case you forgot, this map notes all the locations of our FOBs we have set up.”
“Thanks.” I took the map from the guard and entered the dungeon, exuding confidence. I was soon welcomed by a horde of undead monsters on the first floor.
“Alright! Let’s play!” I charged at the horde and swung my spear. My Harrier cut through each monster without any resistance and their bodies burned with red flames. 70% was high enough for my Luck to inflict just about each monster I struck with Burn. It took no more than two strikes to kill one undead monster, thanks to their weakness to Fire and my additional Fire damage.
“I might actually be able to level up faster than I thought,” I said to myself. I knew I was right to go with my gut feeling. I began to hunt once more in high spirits. I was going to need every level I could gain until the advent of the Judge’s Continent. It was what I and my allies decided was best for me to do during our three-day long summit. We had to expect the worst, no matter how strong I was in this world. I no longer knew what was going to happen now, this was all new to me. That was why I formed an alliance; because I was greedy and a coward.
——
Meanwhile, over at the Teleporter Zone in New York City…
“This is the Shire Guild’s territory. Does that mean he’s gone to the Dark Caster dungeon?” Arthur Lucas, the son of Victor Lucas, had come to the States after getting a lock on Lee Jiwon’s recent Teleport.
“You’re a real piece of work, Dad. If you were going to join up with Lee Jiwon, you could have at least told me. That way I could have checked to see if he was worth teaming up with.” Arthur had heard many things about Lee Jiwon, like anyone else in the world, but he also knew that many of the rumors he heard were exaggerated. Arthur was curious as to what sort of person Lee Jiwon was, but had to hold in that curiosity because of his father.
“But if you’re going to cut away from the Kintore and join up with Lee Jiwon, then I may as well find out for myself!” That was why Arthur had broken in to Vault 1 and stolen 10 billion golden rings. He had even brought with him all of the golden rings he had saved up. The more money Arthur had, the stronger he became. Money was quite literally power to him.
==[House Centipede (1/1), (Pa.s.sive)
The House Centipede was a pet insect that once belonged to Antoine Monet, the richest man in the world, who owned 95% of the world’s wealth. All it was ever fed was stocks and money and was the only thing Antoine Monet cared for, other than money. This story does not have a good ending, however, as many held a grudge against Antoine Monet for monopolizing all that wealth.
Antoine Monet had no intention of spreading that wealth to ease his enemies. Instead, he built a great fortress to protect it. Unfortunately for Antoine, that fortress could not protect him as well. Antoine Monet could not find peace in death. All that wealth could not protect him, and so Antoine Monet wished that money and wealth would become the greatest strength in the world. And so, the House Centipede soon followed its master into death, crushed by the boots of the revolutionary soldiers and taking its master’s will with it.
Spend golden rings to increase ATT and MATT depending on the amount spent.
Spend golden rings to increase DEF and MDEF depending on the amount spent.
Spend golden rings to increase skill power, depending on the amount spent.
Spent golden rings become feed for the House Centipede and are non-refundable.]==
{Translator’s Note: While the Korean word for house centipede here and in the t.i.tle is used to call the actual arthropod, it also literally means ‘money bug’ and can be used to describe someone who only lives for money.}
This was Arthur Lucas’s random skill. It was because of this skill that Arthur didn’t fear any of the Seven Monarchs, and even believed that he could take on Lee Jiwon, as long as he had enough money.
“You’re just too shy, Dad. If you earned all this money for me, you should have just given it to me in the first place. You always have to make me go to this extent.” Arthur double-checked that he had 18 billion golden rings in his inventory, and slowly walked out. Arthur knew he would probably never hear the end of it for burning all this money, but he was confident that 18 billion golden rings would be enough to take on Lee Jiwon.
“Don’t you worry your sweet, bald head, Dad. I’ll personally make sure Lee Jiwon is worth teaming up with.” Arthur wanted to knock Lee Jiwon off his high horse. If he did, there was a chance Lee Jiwon would show his true nature.
——
I cut through hordes of undead monsters mechanically, without even feeling the need to use any other skills.
“Judge’s Gavel!” I did keep using this skill and Fissure to get their skill levels up, though.
==[You have gained a level.]==
“I swear I’m such a genius for putting the EXP boost on the Commitment.” I just couldn’t get over how great of an idea it was for something I added because I was running out of time. I was getting three times the EXP from one monster. How great was that? I continued to hunt with high spirits as my level continued to rise.
——
Some distance away from the Dark Caster Dungeon…
“Hmm… he really does hunt for at least a month or two at a time.” It had been ten days since Arthur learned that Lee Jiwon was hunting in this dungeon. It didn’t look like Lee Jiwon wasn’t about to come out anytime soon, Arthur decided to change his plan and go looking for him instead.
“If I do that, Dad will find out where I am, but that just means I’ve got to find him quickly.” The Messenger Guild was considered the richest guild in the world, due to all the money it made running Teleporters around the world. The Shire Guild no doubt maintained a relationship with the Messenger Guild, and knew that Arthur was the heir. Arthur decided to pay the Shire Guild a visit, and the Shire Guild was more than welcoming.
“I’d like to have a chance to hunt at the Dark Caster Dungeon.”
“The Dark Caster Dungeon?” Samuel Miller was the one to greet Arthur for his visit, as they were already acquainted. But Samuel was still surprised that the heir to the world’s richest guild would come all the way here to hunt, instead of using one of the two high-grade dungeons in Australia.
“Yes. My grandfather visited me in my dreams last night and he told me that I had to go hunt in the Dark Caster Dungeon no matter what.” It was obviously a lie, and an amusingly half-a.s.sed one at that.
Samuel knew what sort of person Arthur was. h.e.l.l, half the world knew that Arthur was immature at best and p.r.o.ne to making rash decisions. That immaturity didn’t mean that he was a bad kid; he was just too nice to a fault and meant well, but ended up making the wrong decisions almost all the time. He was the kind of guy to get scammed by a b.u.m.
“Very well. You have our permission. Will you need a guide to get there?”
“No, I’ll be fine.” Arthur rejected Samuel’s offer. Having a guide meant that he couldn’t easily challenge Lee Jiwon to a fight.
Samuel also didn’t press the issue any further. He knew that despite Arthur’s naivety, he was still a powerful deva.
Entry pa.s.s in hand, Arthur left the Shire Guild base and headed straight for the Dark Caster Dungeon.
“I should call the Messenger Guild. He looks like he ran away from home.” After seeing Arthur off, Samuel headed back inside to call Victor Lucas.
——
I had been hunting for several hours straight today, too caught up with how fun it was to kill all these monsters with only a couple of hits each. “Alright. That’s enough for today.”
It had been exactly a month since I entered the dungeon, and I planned to hunt for another month, so I decided to end the hunt for the day and headed for the FOB on the 4th floor. On the way there, I felt the presence of a single person approaching from afar.
“It… feels familiar.” I felt a similar presence before back at the Pharos Dungeon when Kylie van Aga.s.si came to meet me. It could just be someone hunting alone, like I was, but as the presence drew closer, I could tell that this person was searching for me.
“I wonder who it is.” Soon, the person revealed himself as he pa.s.sed by a large boulder. He was a younger-looking man, someone I had never seen before. I racked my brain to see if I knew him from the past, but came up with nothing.
“What brings you all the way here?”
“I’ve come to test you, Lee Jiwon.”
“Me?” I asked, pointing at myself.
“That’s right.”
“Uh…” I was taken aback at how confident he was when this was our first time meeting one another. “Okay. We’ll come back to that. Who are you?”
“I’ll tell you if you pa.s.s the test!” He charged at me without warning and I charged back, not inclined to take whatever he was about to do lying down.
——
The Messenger Guild’s headquarters…
“What was that?”
“Arthur has just entered the Dark Caster Dungeon in the States.”
“Why is he there?” If he was just trying to hunt, he wouldn’t need to go all the way over there. The Messenger Guild had two high-grade dungeons in its territory, and he wouldn’t have to take ten billion golden rings with him just to hunt.
“The Shire Guild said that Arthur told him his grandfather visited him in his dreams that he had to hunt there…”
“That’s obviously not true.” If Arthur was going to keep this up, he was going to have to at least come up with better lies.
“Right. Well… there is currently someone hunting there as well.”
“What? Is that person not of the Shire Guild?”
“No, sir.”
“Then who is it?”
“A month ago, Lee Jiwon used Seoul’s Teleporter to warp over to New York City, and he hasn’t used the NYC Teleporter since then. There is a 99.9% chance Lee Jiwon is still in the Dark Caster Dungeon. From what I hear, it is normal for him to hunt for this long at a time.”
“…” Once again, Victor found himself speechless at his subordinate’s report. He finally figured out why Arthur took ten billion golden rings all the way to the US. “That crazy little s.h.i.t! Of all people! Bring him back right now! No, I’ll go there myself! Get ready!”
“Yes, sir!”
Victor acknowledged how strong Arthur could become through his random skill. He was proud of his son for being able to obtain such a powerful skill, and made it his personal mission to earn as much money as he could, all for the sake of his son.
But Lee Jiwon was dangerous! Ten billion golden rings wasn’t enough to take him on!