Chapter 28. Consume (3)

Tokens.

Artifacts.

For a brief moment, Brend thought that it was very tempting, but he soon came to his senses and shook the idea out of his head.

“Don’t you dare try to trick me.”

“What do you mean ‘trick’? We’re doing this to survive.”

“To survive? You want to survive by killing the people who saved our lives?”

Ethan was so frightened he jumped to his feet.

“We’re not killing anyone! Who said we are? Pick a fight with them and we’ll be lying dead on the floor.”

“Then?”

“I’m talking about stealing.”

Brend then began to show interest in his story.

A sly grin crept over Ethan’s face.

“The monsters took all of our stuff and now we’ve got nothing with us. I mean, if we go out there, we’re just gonna die, aren’t we?”

Brend nodded without saying a word.

In that sense, Ethan did have a point. All the artifacts and Tokens he had collected on his way to Section E had been taken away by the Lizardman King. He had nothing to protect himself with.

For now, Kahn and Doyle could help him out of this place, but the tutorial was already reaching the end so they would leave sooner or later. That meant he would have to wander around the forest like this. He would have to stay hidden and wait out until the end of the tutorial or he would fall prey to other monsters. There were no other choices other than that.

“So, let’s just steal enough to survive independently and then we’ll run away.”

“What if we get caught? They’ll kill us.”

“There’s the possibility of death whether we steal or not. But if we do it my way the chances to survive are higher.”

Before he knew it, Brend had already been halfly persuaded by Ethan.

“Then, what about the plan? We can’t just proceed without a plan.”

“Hehe. You didn’t think I came here without a plan, did ya?”

Ethan simpered for a moment and continued talking.

“One of my friends has a Trait called ‘Quick Hands(快手)’.”

“Quick Hands? Like nimble fingers?”

“Yes. It’s amazing what he can pull off with his hands.”

Brend could roughly understand Ethan’s plan. If he had a Trait regarding nimble fingers, he must also have specialized skills according to his Trait.

“So, this friend of yours will steal what we need while others draw their attention, is this the plan?”

“You got the gist of it. So, what do you think?”

“Hmm.”

Brend fell into deep thought calculating the probabilities. He thought about the risks that the plan entailed and the probability of success, and realized that the odds were very low. But from deep inside his mind, greed started to set in. If they did succeed, they could make a killing. And then, the memory of him being humiliated by Kahn and Yeon-woo suddenly reappeared in his mind.

*Gnash*

That alone was enough to motivate him.

“All right. Tell me what you’ve got.”

Brend’s eyes began to emit a vicious glow.

Ethan broke into an evil grin and explained the plans he had designed with his teammates. All throughout his talk, Ethan’s eyes were shining with madness.

* * *

After a long time, Yeon-woo woke up from his meditation.

‘A stronger body does help with relieving the after effects.’

Yeon-woo’s body was not fully capable of coping with the overload yet, so it was better to avoid using multiple skills at once. But luckily, thanks to Reinforced Physique and Bathory’s Vampiric Sword, his body could quickly recover from the damage it suffered.

From the start, if it weren’t for Hargan’s second phase, he wouldn’t have overdone himself.

‘But it was at least a great chance to test my limits.’

A clear understanding of his limits would allow him to execute cool-headed judgment when taking action. From this experience, Yeon-woo clearly realized what Reinforced Physique was capable of, and was able to further establish the possible strategies he could rely on.

After organizing his thoughts, Yeon-woo once again entered Hargan’s Lair along with Kahn and Doyle. It was time to claim the reward for completing the hidden quest.

[Rewards will be provided.]

[You have acquired Hargan’s Crown, Blue Scale Scimitar, ownership of the lair.]

“Now that Cain is here, shall we settle things first?”

Kahn gently clapped his hands as he smacked his lips. The time to distribute the rewards after having a hard time carrying out the quest was the most exciting part of it.

“Doyle and I will take Hargan’s Crown as we promised, okay?”

Kahn glimpsed Yeon-woo as he brought his hands over to Hargan’s Crown.

In fact, Yeon-woo was the highest contributor in Hargan’s raid. Even though they were the ones who had shared the information about this place with him, if Yeon-woo wanted to claim the crown as his share, it would pose a big problem for them. But to his relief, Yeon-woo didn’t seem interested in Hargan’s Crown.

He was nodding his head in assent.

“You can have it.”

Kahn’s complexion visibly brightened.

“Thanks, bro! Huhu. I knew you were a good guy from the get go!”

“Stop joking around.”

“Huhuhu. I know you’re just shy.”

Looking at Kahn’s smirking face, Yeon-woo felt the urge to give him a noogie, but he just let out a chuckle.

Kahn was the kind of person that was just impossible to hate. He was such a strange guy.

“Doyle, go ahead and take it.”

“Got it.”

Doyle grabbed Hargan’s Crown and tightly held onto it. A bright smile spread across his face.

“And about the ownership of the lair and the Blue Scale Scimitar, they’re all yours, Cain.”

That was the deal they had made.

After a nod, Yeon-woo examined the scimitar they had taken from Hargan’s carcass.

[Blue Scale Scimitar]

Classification: Two-handed Weapon

Rating: D+

Description: Hargan’s (Lizardman King) favorite weapon. The weapon is imbued with the fire element. It boasts strong durability, destroying everything that comes into contact with. However, due to its heavy weight, the sword will not budge without extreme muscle strength.

* Majesty of the Lizardman King

By the mere possession of the weapon, the user emits an imperious aura. Has a certain chance of inflicting ‘panic’ on the target. Targets under the effect of panic will receive damage in direct proportion to the duration of the effect.

Maybe because it was used by a big monster like Hargan, the scimitar was almost as big as Yeon-woo. Yeon-woo found even just carrying it around quite cumbersome.

If he only looked at its options, the scimitar seemed to be as good as Hargan’s Crown. It was one of the best artifacts one could get in the tutorial. But Yeon-woo usually used a short dagger as his main weapon. This type of sword did not fit Yeon-woo’s style. In addition, the ownership of the lair was also useless for Yeon-woo.

[Ownership of Hargan’s Lair]

Obtain rights to all objects and resources that exist within the lair.

* List of items in the lair

1. Red Orc’s Helmet

2. Axe of Battlecry

3. Hard Crystal x31

···

Yeon-woo scrutinized the listed items.

Although most of the items had been damaged by Hargan’s Heat Wave, there was still a considerable number of items left in the storage room. Among them, there were quite a few good items, but Khan and Doyle had no qualms about handing them over to Yeon-woo.

Of course, the list also included items used by those who had been captured in the human farm. From a moral standpoint, the correct thing to do would be to give the items back to the original owners. However, the three of them didn’t think of giving them back.

There was an unspoken rule in The Tower and the tutorial. No matter who the original owner of the item might have been, the items belong to the ones who found them.

But Yeon-woo didn’t need these items either.

‘Some of these artifacts might come in handy for now, still, there are plenty of them inside The Tower.’

But at least he found one thing worth taking.

[Carshina’s Dagger]

Classification: One-handed Weapon

Rating: D-

Description: A dagger that had been used by a nameless trainee throughout his life. Made with common materials, but the blade hardened as it retains the passion of the trainee.

* Will of Trainee

Weapon damage will increase along with the user’s weapon proficiency.

Yeon-woo touched ‘Carshina’s Dagger’ and held it in his hand.

The weight and size of the dagger were similar to those he had been wielding so far, so it was quite easy to get used to it.

If there was anything that was missing,

‘The blade is slightly bent.’

But it was all right.

‘The daggers I had were getting really damaged, they are barely usable by now. This will suffice for the remaining of the tutorial.’

He was also fond of the extra option it had.

Yeon-woo put Carshina’s Dagger next to his waist and examined the rest of the list. However, there was nothing useful for Yeon-woo. Even the resources in the lair didn’t have much use.

‘I do need plenty of minerals to make artifacts, but if I can’t store them somewhere else, they will only make my backpack heavier. The materials gathered from monsters are also more expensive.’

Yeon-woo had taken the Tokens that Hargan had collected in advance. Thanks to that, he had now over 200 Tokens in total.

In the end, Yeon-woo had to close the message without much gain.

‘Well, I wasn’t expecting anyway.’

But Yeon-woo wasn’t particularly disappointed. Disappointment only comes after expectation. In fact, Yeon-woo didn’t expect much from the start. His brother mentioned it in his diary after all, that the rewards were quite small compared to the risk and difficulty. The sole reason as for why Yeon-woo had accepted this quest was to collect the Karma and Tokens he lacked.

And then,

‘Even if they are scrap items, with this much quantity, I can still sell them at a high price.’

Doyle then carefully asked Yeon-woo.

“Is there anything wrong, Cain? There wasn’t anything you needed?”

He seemed worried that Yeon-woo might have to leave without making much profit.

Yeon-woo thought that Doyle needed to grow a thicker skin for times like this. Doyle was too soft-hearted. Yeon-woo wondered how did he think he could climb The Tower full of monsters with such a heart. But at the same time, he knew that this was Doyle’s charm.

Yeon-woo smiled and shook his head.

“They are mostly useless. But don’t worry, it won’t be a total loss.”

As Doyle looked at Yeon-woo with a puzzled look, Yeon-woo fixed his eyes onto an empty space and spoke.

“You’ll hurt your neck if you keep watching us like that.”

Doyle turned to the direction Yeon-woo was talking to.

Kahn also looked to the side with a bit of a serious face.

At that moment.

“Well, well, did I get caught already? I wanted to surprise you.”

A portal opened in midair and a figure dropped down.

A man with his hood drawn over his face was giving him a big smirk.

It was the mysterious merchant.

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