Chapter 37: (2). The Snowy Mountains of Crupia -3

– You killed the Ice Troll. You gained 1060 EP.

Ian put his hand on the Troll’s dead body to get the items. He then complained as he wiped off sweat

the on his forehead.

“Hu, it is so hard to gain EP.”

He had received about 900 EP when he hunted the Goblin Warrior.

Now, as he had hunted the Ice Troll whose level was more than 10 times higher than the Goblin

Warrior, he only got 1060 EP.

Ian had his reasons to complain.

‘I used to share EP only with Ly. Now that there are four of us to share EP, gaining levels is certainly

hard.’

He had hunted all day as soon as he arrived at the Mountains, but he could only gain one level.

That was the speed of most late Lv. 30s users’ level-up. However, Ian had been gaining level like

crazy. He couldn’t help but feel frustrated.

“Let’s take a rest for a minute and move!”

Ian wanted to look for the next prey right away, however, Big Guy needed to recover his Health and

Ian himself needed to catch his breath.

Next, Ian sat on a rock and looked around and he saw Bukbuk sleeping peacefully.

Ian glared at it, ‘He lives like a king. He gets to doze off and gain the EP we earn…’

Ian shook his head, ‘But he will do his part later if I work hard to raise him…’

Ian tried to comfort himself and ignore the reality.

Whether Bukbuk would do its part in the future, we shall see.

…

Next, Ian continued to hunt.

Except for eating for 30 minutes and sleeping for 5 hours, he never left his capsule.

It had already been a week since he left his home.

However, it was worth it.

All pets, including Bukbuk, reached Lv. 40.

Ian and Ly were Lv. 42, Big Guy was Lv. 43 and Bukbuk was Lv. 40.

‘Let’s see… Big Buy’s Potential must be almost 100 by now?’

Ian opened Big Buy’s information window to check its progress.

And a while later, Ian was surprised.

‘What? What is wrong with this?’

Big Guy’s Potential had already reached 100.

‘Why isn’t it evolving? Shouldn’t it evolve when Potential becomes 100?’

Ian was confused, ‘100 Potential must be one of the required condition to evolve… are there more

conditions other than Potential?’

It was the only possible explanation.

‘Is the level too low? But Ly was only Lv. 20 when he evolved…’

Ian’s first guess was about levels.

Each monster might need different levels to evolve, so the fact that Ly evolved at Lv. 20 didn’t mean

that Big Guy would do so as well.

‘Well, there’s nothing I can do about it, so…’

Ian couldn’t find the answer now, so he stopped thinking about Big Guy’s Potential.

‘Should I use the Training skill on Bukbuk now…’

He hadn’t found out that not all monsters evolved at 100 Potential, so he thought it would be better to

train Bukbuk and bestow a skill on it first.

If Bukbuk received a decent skill, it would be another skill Ian would be able to use with his knuckle’s

Unique Ability so it would be of much help.

After that, he should raise Ly’s Potential again.

Ian turned his head to Bukbuk.

“Bukbuk.”

Buk-?

“Come here.”

Bukbuk-

Bukbuk turned its head away.

It was clearly showing that it wouldn’t obey.

Ian sighed and went to Bukbuk. He used the Training skill on it.

– You used Intermediate Training skill. (Cooldown time: 25 minutes)

– Your pet Bukbuk understands your commands better and learns from them for 10 minutes.

– Repeated Training raises the pet’s Potential.

– Your pet Bukbuk’s current Potential: 2

Potential had risen a little, probably because Ian had been traveling around with it.

Ian threatened the stubborn Bukbuk.

“If you continue to act like this, I won’t give you any meatballs.”

Buk…?

Bukbuk was surprised at Ian’s sudden attack.

Buk- Bukbuk-!

Bukbuk understood what Ian said thanks to the Training skill. It suddenly got sad.

“Bukbuk come here.”

Bukbuk moved fast at Ian’s gesture.

It moved as fast as a soldier who had just joined the army.

“You could have been a good turtle from the beginning, you know.”

Buk.

Ian easily subdued Bukbuk with meatballs. He then started to move.

He had rested, so it was time to resume hunting.

“Big Guy, you see that Ice Troll down there?”

Big Guy slightly nodded. Ian continued to talk, “You go there first to distract it. Then Ly and I will attack

it. Ly, you got it?”

Growl-

“Ly, let’s use Frenzy this time. There are four more Trolls nearby, so if we don’t kill it fast, we might get

killed.”

He gave orders clearly.

Big Guy still had difficulty in understanding complicated orders, but Ly perfectly understood him.

Ian was planning to hunt all 5 Trolls nearby in 15 minutes while Ly was on Frenzy.

Kung- Kung-

Big Guy approached the Troll. It naturally lunged at Big Guy and the battle began.

– You killed the Ice Troll. You gained 1040 EP.

– You killed the Ice Troll. You gained 1076 EP.

…

Ian killed all five Trolls in the planned 15 minutes and prepared to move.

He had killed all the Ice Trolls in the area.

It would take at least 3 hours for them to regenerate.

“Guys, let’s go.”

Ly and Big Guy came to Ian right away.

But one of them was missing.

“Oh, where did Bukbuk go?”

Ian looked around to find it.

However, Bukbuk, which had always been nearby, was nowhere to be seen.

‘System messages would have notified me if he had been attacked or something…’

“Bukbuk~ Where are you~ Come, I will give you meatballs~”

It didn’t seem that Bukbuk had been hurt, but Ian was worried.

Even at the mention of meatballs it failed to make it come, so Ian was right at being worried.

‘Should I dismiss him and summon him again? Where did he go?’

Once dismissing a pet, it was impossible to summon the same pet for 30 minutes.

So, Ian didn’t usually dismiss his pets.

But then, Ian saw the back of a familiar turtle.

“Bukbuk, what are you doing there?”

Ian called it, but Bukbuk ignored him. It continued to do something.

‘What is he doing?’

Ian got close to see. Bukbuk was eating a weird root.

“Bukbuk, I told you not to eat strange things!”

When Ian was about to lift Bukbuk, he received an unexpected system message.

– Your pet Bukbuk ate mandragora.

– Bukbuk’s Potential increased by 10.

– All stats of Bukbuk increased by 5.

“Khuk!”

Ian exclaimed.

“Mandragora!!”

Ian’s eyes met Bukbuk’s.

“And you ate it…”

Ian was feeling down.

Mandragora was a famous elixir.

It had a root that looked like the human body. It was a great treasure that raised all stats by 5, so it

was a rare item that was seldom seen on auction.

If Ian had eaten it, he would have gotten stats worth 5~6 levels.

Ian couldn’t help but feel bad.

‘Ah… it should have been me…’

But he couldn’t blame Bukbuk.

It didn’t eat Ian’s mandragora; it found it and ate it.

At least Bukbuk’s stats and Potential rose, so it was a good thing.

Ian crouched down and stroke Bukbuk’s head.

“Well done, Bukbuk. But next time you find something like that, bring it to me.”

Buk-?

Bukbuk shook its head.

It wouldn’t be Bukbuk if he shared his food.

“I will give you five meatballs when you bring a mandragora to me.”

However, five meatballs were enough to change its mind.

Buk- Bukbuk-!

Bukbuk repeatedly nodded.

‘Maybe Bukbuk’s true power lies in gathering herbs. Or finding things.’

Ian thought about it seriously.

It made sense.

But then, Bukbuk confidently went toward somewhere again.

“Bukbuk, where are you going?”

Ian followed Bukbuk.

He had some expectations.

‘Maybe he found more mandragora.’

About five minutes later,

Bukbuk stopped while Ian’s eyes widened.

‘This… this is-!’

The place he had been looking for so eagerly was finally in front of him.

‘Unknown dungeon!’

Next, a system messages came up.

– You became the first user to find this dungeon.

– You will gain double EP in the dungeon for 5 days.

– Probability of getting items in the dungeon doubles for 5 days.

It was the reason why he had come up to the North Continent.

Ian found a hidden dungeon thanks to Bukbuk. Therefore, he grinned widely.

Next, another system message came up.

– Would you like to register the dungeon? Your Reputation will rise by 500.

“No! Why would I do that?”

– You didn’t register the dungeon. You can register later if you want.

500 Reputation was good, but Ian wasn’t going to share double EP and items.

As soon as he registered the dungeon, players nearby would quickly show up.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

Ian lifted Bukbuk and put it on Ly’s back. Then he stroked it.

“Hahaha! Bukbuk, well done! You are finally doing something worthy!”

Bukbuk got proud of itself so it lifted its chin.

Buk-!

“Well, shall we go in?”

Excited, Ian went toward the dungeon.

He felt good because he would be able to get at least twice the EP he had lost by moving around with

Bukbuk in there.

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