Chapter 194: The Monarch of Darkness (4)

Immortal and the Monarch of Darkness Quest.

The one that actually obtained the greatest profit from this quest was Canoel.

Since Canoel had obtained the Heroes of the Continent Quest that others suffered to the extreme to get just by placing his spoon on top of the table, that being Hoonie’s quest.

If this was the case, it was to the point that it was not even a loss on his part to spend a fortune and buy Hoonie equipment he needed.

“Keu, Hoonie, will I become like that grandpa that’s in that community video then?”

At Canoel’s words, Hoonie replied.

“Probably, no? A Dragon Tamer, huh, something’s cool about that. Ian hyung, aren’t you jealous?”

As the three people had gotten quite close while doing this quest, they now called each other hyung and dongsaeng[1] as they comfortably spoke with each other.

It was a little strange, but Ian also didn’t hate the two dongsaengs.

On top of that, as Ian insisted that they continue hunting until the first discoverer’s buff of the ‘Steeple of Darkness’ dungeon ended, their Affinity with each other went up even more as they suffered a couple more days together.

“I, well, I’m not really that jealous. I’m already satisfied enough with my hidden class.”

At Ian’s words, Hoonie nodded his head.

“But then again, I don’t know what it is, but you probably have an amazing hidden class. Since if that wasn’t the case, this preposterous development wouldn’t make sense.”

Ian, who additionally wiped out the high-level undead army that was inside the steeple, was now even past lv 170.

He was even a higher level than the Black Magician, a class known for their fast leveling-up speed, who was number 1 in that class’s rankings.

The word preposterous truly made sense when describing this growth speed.

The three people arrived at the Pyro Domain shortly after.

“Whew, it’s my first time at the domain in quite a while. I need to take care of some things at the Lord’s castle after I go sell some random items. What are you two going to do?”

At Ian’s question, Canoel slightly glanced at Hoonie, and Hoonie replied while smirking.

“I’m also going to repair my equipment a little, and then follow this hyung to the northern continent. He’s such a pitiful hyung, so this Monarch of Darkness should help him.”

“Sure…”

Because it was a quest that Ian had already proceeded through, he couldn’t receive the offer to share it, but Hoonie was able to receive the offer to share Canoel’s quest.

As that was the case, the words that he would help weren’t wrong, but it was a case where Hoonie would also receive enough of a profit.

“Anyways, I’ll see you guys later then.”

“Okay!”

And just when Ian was about to turn around, Canoel hesitated as he opened his mouth towards Ian.

“Ian hyung, I’m seriously grateful. Thanks to you, I think I finally know a couple of things now. You’re truly my teacher.”

At those words, Ian smirked.

While being stuck together for almost a week, Ian nagged at Canoel without rest.

‘I seriously thought that I was developing cancer cells while watching this blockhead play.’

In the end, he couldn’t do anything about his physical aspect like his control or reaction speed, but he had developed quite a bit of practical parts.

‘Still, since he at least applies skills like a human being now.’

Ian smiled as he replied.

“Sure, when we meet next time, if you’re still in this state, I’ll expel you, kid.”

“Al, alright…”

At the end of their momentary tussle, Ian, who had parted ways with the two people, moved quickly.

‘Thanks to that, the class-tower quests have been pushed back again, but the things I’ve received were a lot of quests still.’

Firstly he obtained a huge amount of Fame and EXP, and he received a new hidden quest in addition to that.

Just even this much made it a profitable trade, but quite a decent item had even come out of the Legendary Class Item Box.

The name of the item was the ‘Ring of the Spirit King’.

It didn’t raise his Leadership by an outrageous amount like the Earring of Leadership that Canoel received, but it had a decent Leadership stat option attached and most of all, it had a honey-like option attached to it.

‘As it had just a little bit of Leadership considering the fact that it’s a Legendary-rank item, I was disappointed, but I had no idea that such a honey-like option was attached.’

That option was one that reduced the Leadership consumption of a Familiar with maxed Loyalty and Affinity by 15%.

Thanks to that, even with Karceus summoned, Ian could also summon Ly, Bbakbbak and Halli.

If he just leveled up one or two more levels, he felt he could even summon Pin instead of Halli.

“Alright, shall we start moving for our new quest now?”

After getting rid of his random items, Ian, who lastly put the ring he was originally using up into the auction house, left the marketplace.

As expected of a domain with the fastest development and the most people in the central continent, the marketplace of the Pyro Domain was buzzing with tons of people.

In order to proceed with his quest, Ian opened his quest information again and slowly read through it.

“By the way, I need to go to Iriel… But how did you go to the Forest of Love again?”

The Forest of Love was a space that transcended above time and space.

It was a place where the modification ‘different field’ fit best.

Shortly after, after Ian remembered the way to get to the Forest of Love, he let out a deep sigh.

“Ha, I need to go all the way to the Magic Tower of Gripper again.”

In order to go to the Forest of Love, he needed the help of Gripper.

However, just then, Ly, who was following Ian, asked him.

• Owner, before that, why don’t you contact her first?

At Ly’s unexpected words, Ian reflexively asked back.

“Huh? What are you talking about? With what means do I contact Iriel?”

Ly shook his head as he replied.

• Before you came out of the Forest of Love, I remember her giving you a crystal ball of communication to you, owner.

“…!”

Ian, who only then remembered the existence of the crystal ball of communication, clapped his hands as he opened his inventory.

“Oh yeah! I did have that, right?”

• That’s right, owner.

Ian seemed to have found Ly praiseworthy as he diligently petted his back.

“Keu, Ly, you’re incredibly smart.”

At those words, Ly wore a proud expression.

However, it seemed that Kaizar didn’t like that amicable atmosphere, as he spoiled it with a curt voice.

“From what I see, it’s not that Ly’s smart, but you, Lord guy, are an idiot.”

Ian was able to arrive at the Forest of Love easier and faster than he expected.

The crystal ball that Iriel gave him not only had a communication feature but also a feature that allowed it to generate a portal that opened up a path to the Forest of Love.

Ian, who had arrived at the Forest of Love for the first time in a long while, seemed to remember his nightmare(?) as his whole body trembled.

“This place… As expected, it’s an unpleasant place.”

At Ian’s words, Kaizar, who had looked around at the map, nodded his head in agreement.

“Agreed. This is definitely a place that gives off a bad feeling. I think Immortal’s somber steeple was much more tasteful and better instead.”

“…”

Ian, who slightly stared at Kaizar for a moment, sent him a look of sympathy.

‘At least I’ve escaped from being solo now, but is our retainer still forever alone?’

Kaizar was a virgin that had protected his pure love for over a thousand years.

Kaizar had never shared that story with Ian, but even just from his quivering gaze, Ian could guess.

‘Since Kaizar said that he played an active role even a thousand years ago, that means he’s at least a thousand years old…’

Stomp- Stomp-.

The path that lead to Iriel was exactly the same as when he visited the Forest of Love a long time ago, and Kaizar’s expression hardened more and more.

Since to Kaizar, who was an even more ripe(?) forever alone than the past Ian, the Forest of Love was truly a hell-like place.

“Lord guy.”

“What, retainer?”

Kaizar pulled out his sword and pointed to a herd of deer on the other side of the forest that were passing by as he asked.

“Should we hunt a little as we go?”

“…”

“Doesn’t your body itch?”

“Not, not really…”

Ian broke out into a cold sweat as he mumbled to himself.

‘If Kaizar had to do the Fairy Matchmaking Quest that I had to do back then, that fairy dude would have probably had to bid farewell to the world on the spot.’

Ian still remembered the name of that fairy who personally showed him that some people have all the luck.

He wasn’t as bad as Kaizar, but Wisseun was a life senior who had been forever alone for 150 years himself.

‘Wisseun… Is he doing alright? They haven’t broken up, right?’

Even if they had broken up, Iriel would have brought them back together again no matter what.

Since this place was the Forest of Love, where love overflowed.

Excluding one person that was full of a murderous spirit, that is.

“Lord guy, don’t you want to try unicorn meat?”

“Ah, no. I feel like it will taste bad…”

Of course, different from the past, because current Ian was strong, if he wanted to hunt a unicorn, it was possible now.

The unicorns were in the lv 170 range, and Ian had hunted many monsters that were even stronger than them.

However, there was a different issue.

That was Iriel, the NPC of ancient times, whose level Ian couldn’t even estimate.

‘If we mess up here, forget the quest, Iriel might kill us instead. No, if Kaizar and Iriel grab each other by the collar and start fighting, only I, as an innocent bystander, am going to get hurt.’

Ian, who narrowly calmed Kaizar down, moved as quickly as possible and headed to the place that Iriel was at.

The Forest of Love… As expected, it was an incredibly dangerous place.

* * *

For a normal game, there were many cases where the development team couldn’t catch up with the content consumption speed of the users.

Especially in the case of Korean users, who made development teams from all over the world tremble in fear at their game content consumption speed, there was nothing more to even be said.

However, LB Sports, as well as Kailan, were different.

Ever since LB Sports had released Kailan, they had regularly done a large-scale update every six months, but the interesting fact was that new things were constantly being created in a situation where the pre-existing content wasn’t even properly consumed.

While the users were frantically enjoying the extensive content of Kailan, that time came upon them again without a doubt, and the users swelled with anticipation.

Since to have an overflowing amount of content was always a pleasant thing for gamers.

And LB Sports did not fall short of that anticipation.

Exactly two weeks before half a year was over, they sprinkled bait around called ‘The Heroes of the Ancient Continent’ before they revealed the official update schedule today, which was a week before the update.

• Wow, this is insane, I haven’t even gone to the central continent yet, but something new is coming out again?

• Same for me. I thought that I was now barely catching up to the content, but something is coming out again.

• Keu, this is why I love Kailan. There’s seriously no other game where there’s an overflowing amount of things to do even though you’ve played all day besides this game.

• I know, right? My friend ditched fighting completely and is just diving into production classes, but they say that there’s still too much to do.

• Heu, at this rate, it’s to the point that the users will get tired of it instead.

• What do you mean get tired of it, you’re talking high and mighty. You just need to do enough to enjoy it. Unlike other games, you cannot run wild to try and touch on all of the content in this game.

• I agree with the person above. When I played a different game before, I had hit the Master stage of both my combat class and my production class, but in Kailan, I can’t even conceive the thought of doing that.

The title of this large-scale update was the ‘Dimensional War’.

There was a somewhat brief explanation that including the Devildom, gates of several dimensional worlds would open up in order, and through those places, they would fight against the tribes of other dimensional worlds.

The firstly revealed different field was just the ‘Devildom’, and in addition to not specifically mentioning when and how it was going to proceed, it was explained in an incredibly inattentive way, but users were wildly excited.

That was because of none other than a 50-minute teaser video.

Inside of that, there was content about a ‘Dual Class’ that could be additionally obtained in the Devildom for each class inside of it.

Of course, it wasn’t something that was possible for everyone, as it was content that was only available for users that were ‘strong enough to explore the Devildom’, but this did not lack in making many users, who hadn’t been able to obtain a special class up until now, become enthusiastic.

• Wow… What class could that be?

• Which one?

• There was some sort of skill that let some sort of red lightning-like thing down like rain. The class that uses that.

• By the looks of it, I think it’s a class that is compatible with Magicians.

• Keu, it’s exploding with swagger!

• That looks cool to me as well, but I was shocked after seeing the Warrior-class that had five swords floating in the air as they fought. This was truly a visual shock.

• Guys, but I’m a Summoner, but why did it seem like a Summoner didn’t have a related class?

• Really? Now that you mentioned it, that’s true.

• No, it did show up for a moment in the middle. It seems like everybody missed it because it was a little ordinary. I noticed that they just tamed magical beasts that appeared in the Devildom and fought.

• Ah, now that you’ve said it, I remember.

• Tsk, why is LB corp. just discriminating against Summoners again?

• Kekekekekeke, person above, I think that in the beginning of the update, there will be a lot of people asking for Summoners to be upgraded, but when God Ian appears, everyone will become silent.

• Kekeke, I also agree. Keke I feel like Ian will tame something crazy again like a Balrog and appear.

Like that, within the anticipation and speculations of tons of users, the update date started to grow closer and closer.

[1] dongsaeng = what an older person would call a close, younger person