Chapter 191: Chapter 190: Bring Me Your Best Treasure, Part III
Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
Back at my house in Seoul…
Two weeks had pa.s.sed since I had accepted the quest.
“Was it this late?” I still had another two weeks until the quest ended, but it was around this time that item was registered and yet the Hailing Snowstorm was still in first place. It was also the only item higher than Rank 8, and there weren’t even that many Rank 8 items registered yet. I watched the live report on the rankings on TV. There were way too many people around the quest board at the Store, so I opted to watch from home instead.
==[Bring Me Your Best Treasure! Rankings:
- 1000 points: Hailing Snowstorm (Rank 9) – Olga (D.Nerv)
- 857 points: Brawl (Rank 8) – Krinashwi (Banjarsin)
- 844 points: Infinite Quiver (Rank 8) – Thomas Dylan (Ulster)
- 837 points: Stone Cuira.s.s (Rank 8) – Holmel (No organization)
:
- 761 points: Conqueror’s Glory (Rank 8) – Santiago (Beheira)’
:
:
- 495 points: Breath of Cure (Rank 7) – Angelina (Foam)
- 492: Brave Commander’s Helm (Rank 7) – w.a.n.g Feng (Hong Kao)]==
There were seventeen Rank 8 items, and the rest were Rank 7’s.
“I know that there aren’t many Rank 8’s out there, but seventeen is just too few. It doesn’t make sense that there’s only one Rank 9 up right now.” Even though items of Rank 8 and higher couldn’t just be bought with money, seven Rank 8 items were just too few. This was an individual quest, not a party quest, so there should be more chances for people to register their items.
“All it means is this is an even fiercer battle of wits.” There was no other explanation for that.
“How was it in the past?” I wasn’t able to partic.i.p.ate in my past life, but I had some interest in it because I was curious as to what sort of powerful items were out there. But that was all there was to it. I had just about completely forgotten what items were registered then. There was no use to me remembering them when I wasn’t able to use or have any of them back then. Had I known that I would return to past, I would have memorized all fifty items, but that wasn’t the case.
“Hmm… but doesn’t it seem that these quests prefer relative evaluations a little too much?” The points were all geared towards first place. The same had happened with the Time Attack quest. When I entered the lists, the S Ranks, A Ranks, and B Ranks were all shoved down to D and F Ranks.
“I bet the same will happen with this quest.” Nothing was certain, but something told me that this was going to be the case. “Yeah, I’ll just wait. I’ve got two weeks left anyway. I don’t know when it’ll happen, but I’m sure people will start registering Rank 8 items eventually.”
I decided to just ride the flow for the next couple of weeks, that way I had the highest chance to come out on top. The weaker devas were going to get caught up in the flow as well, and end up registering their treasures even though they won’t be able to protect them. I wasn’t going to stop that flow, and I didn’t know how to. Well, there could be a way to stop it, if I registered all three of my Rank 10 items at once. If I did that, then I could take first place early on and leave a considerable distance between me and my compet.i.tion that no one would try to challenge.
“But…if I do that, it’ll be my loss.” I got up and walked out to my large garden. This was the one place in the house that was my private sanctuary. I took a long walk through the garden for no particular reason. I came to a stop in front of a beautiful flower that I did not know the name to. As I stared at it, I suddenly shouted out, “My greed comes first!”
I had never set out to be a hero, and I wasn’t going to become one now. My greed and my ambition had priority over anyone else. I wanted to reach the end.
The next day…
“Hmm…I think I’ll hunt today.” I was getting bored of watching the rankings that hadn’t changed for a couple of days now.
“The Iceman Dungeon and the Troll Dungeon are the quickest to get to…” I could use Sunbin’s Teleporter nearby to get to Siberia, or just use my Clan Badge to get to the Faroe Islands. “But I should use that instead, to get some hands on experience!”
I took out the Scroll of Predation from my inventory. Just as I had expected, the Roulette Wheel only gave me a Scroll when I didn’t have in one in my inventory. Today seemed like the perfect day to put it to good use.
“Summon: Dungeon Mole.”
-Banana candy?-
“I’ll give you one when we’re done. Predation!”
==[You have consumed your target.
Target: Dungeon Mole
Time applied: 24 hours
Effect 1: Dungeon Teleport (Can be used 3 times a day.)
Effect 2: Dungeon Search (Can be used once a day, one additional use available)]==
“Heh.” This was such a great ability. “Dungeon Teleport: Pharos Dungeon.”
==[You will now be teleported to the Pharos Dungeon.
You will be moved to a random place on the dungeon’s first floor.]==
“Ah, it’s so useful.” I was taken to the Egyptian dungeon in less than a second. “If only I could use it as much as I want…” This ability took away the need to waste time travelling from city to dungeon, and kept my whereabouts hidden from everyone else. If I could gain entrance to as many dungeons as possible, I could travel across the world in less than a second.
“Well, this much is fine. Mana Conversion – Fire. Warrior’s Brave Spirit. Howl of the Wolf.”
==[Mana Conversion – Fire Level 3 has been activated.]==
==[Warrior’s Brave Spirit Level 2 has been activated.]==
==[Howl of the Wolf has been activated.]==
“Alright! Time to play!” I rushed at a Mutated Croc off to the distance and swung my spear. The Croc swung its tail and chomped its maw at me in retaliation. I placed my foot on its body and used it as a springboard to jump over and land on its other side.
“Fissure.” The ground split, damaging the eight Crocs that were standing over there
“Judge’s Gavel.” I rushed in at the horde of Crocs that had lost their footing from the split ground, killing one in an instant and made short work of the other seven.
“Store.” It took me less than two minutes to clear the monsters, and I stored their drops in the Infinite s.p.a.ce like always.
“Oh, that’s right. Now that I think about it, I kind of just left.” I realized I had left home without a word. I took out my Comm Link and called my mother.
“h.e.l.lo?”
“It’s me, mom. I wanted to let you know that I’m not home. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.”
“When did you leave?”
“Just now.”
“Okay. Take care of yourself.”
“It’s only a day. I’ll be fine.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Okay. I will.”
Every time I talked with my mother, the conversation started and ended with worry. She was treating me as if I was still a child, even though there were many who trembled at my name. After I hung up, I decided to call the officer who let me know about the quest and who had stayed by my grandfather’s side for half his life.
“h.e.l.lo?”
“I wanted to let you know that I’m not home right now. If anyone registers a Rank 9 item on the quest board, please let me know.”
“I understand. You have nothing to worry about, young master.”
“Thank you,” I said, before hanging up. “Good. That’s been taken care of.” All I had to do now was hunt as much as I wanted for the rest of the day.
After hunting for almost a full day, Predation was about to expire. “Dungeon Teleport: Bukhan Mountain Dungeon.” The Bukhan Mountain Dungeon was the closest dungeon to my house, and once I warped there, it didn’t take me long to get back home.
“I’m home.”
“Is that all you have to say for staying out all night?”
“Heh. Sorry.”
“Are you going to take the rest of the day off after you eat?”
“Yeah.”
“Then go wash up first.”
I wasn’t really tired since I always hunted all day and I hadn’t really done much. Yesterday was more of a test for the dungeon’s abilities.
After breakfast, I went up to my room to sleep. Before I laid down on my bed, I remembered to summon the Dungeon Mole to feed it another piece of candy.
-Banana candy!-
“Yeah, yeah. Eat up.”
Shaman Ko’s Roulette Wheel appeared again.
==[You have obtained Predation.
You have received a single use Scroll of Predation in your inventory.]==
I decided to spend the next few days hunting at the Sunbin Guild’s Iceman Dungeon.
There was exactly a week left to the ‘Bring Me Your Best Treasure!’ quest now. I was still at the Iceman Dungeon hunting.
“Die!”
The Icemen in front of me could not last long against my attacks, and their st.u.r.dy bodies crumbled into ice cubes after my spear struck them a couple of times. The last Iceman crumbled like broken gla.s.s at my feet. Just then, a message appeared before me.
==[This message has been sent because you have accepted the ‘Bring Me Your Best Treasure!’ quest.]==
==[‘Bring Me Your Best Treasure!’ quest has one week remaining.
You have two days to register your items.
You will not be allowed to register your items two days from now.
You can still check on registered items until the last day of the quest.]==
“Huh? What is that about?” This quest was supposed to be thirty days long, but the system was now telling me that with a full week left to go that I only had two more days to register my items. But the important part here was that the thing I was waiting for hadn’t happened yet.
“Maybe this was the catalyst…” That message could have forced the item’s owner’s hand to register it around this time.
“Hmm… I should head back first.” I put away my spear and quickly left the dungeon. On the way out, I ran into Song Haechang.
“Hey there.”
“Hey,” I said as I shook his hand.
“I see you saw the message too.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Sunbin is waiting for the very last minute possible as well.”
“I suppose you had to. You’ve got many eyes watching you, too.”
“But we’ve only got two days left and our items are going to be revealed for five whole days… there’s no reason to wait anymore, is there?”
“No, there isn’t. That’s why I’m heading out now.” Many of the quest partic.i.p.ants were thinking about registering their items with less than a minute left to the quest. Anyone with common sense would do that, but it would seem that wasn’t what the quest wanted.
“Then I wish you luck in the rankings.”
“I also hope to see Sunbin get good results from this quest.” We had already learned of the items we were planning on registering during that dinner. After that, Sunbin and I seemed to have gotten closer, which was better for me. Sunbin was the greatest shield for my family. The Myth, Ravi, and Shire Guilds, and the Werewolves, may have set up their own liaisons in my house, but the Sunbin Guild was the closest and had the most power out of all of them.
Just as I returned to Seoul, I got a call on my Comm Link.
“Young master! It happened. Two Rank 9 items were registered at the same time!”
“I understand.” It would seem everyone else was of the same mind as me and Song Haechang. If they weren’t going to give up on this quest, then they no longer had a reason to keep their items a secret any longer.
This was the real start of the quest. There were two days left, and I had quite a bit to prepare.