Chapter 237: The Night Before the Storm (2)

The gateway of Zone 90 of the Devildom.

Fortunately, the gateway of Zone 90 was a section where he could pass freely with his position as a ‘High-ranking Devil’.

Thanks to that, Ian was able to go straight down all the way to Zone 85.

‘I can feel the difficulty level going up little by little, but it’s still doable.’

While Ian went down to Zone 85, he naturally continued to capture and transmute magical beasts without rest.

Thanks to that, the level of his Magical Beast Alchemy had reached lv 2 in no time.

The speed that his EXP was increasing at was atrocious, but after he changed the rank of the magical beasts that he transmuted to a little bit of a higher rank, his EXP would go up decently again.

‘Although ingredient supply and demand will become much more difficult, that is.’

Ian slightly looked at Bbookbbook, who was dilly-dallying in front of his feet while he diligently ate a meatball.

‘Speaking of which, after I called this one back again… It somewhat feels like an incredibly large amount of things occurred.’

To be honest, not one thing had changed about Ian’s party from the outside.

It wasn’t like the party’s fighting power increased or their destination changed, nor did he obtain a new quest or a new artifact.

However, instead, an incredibly large amount of information was poured into Ian’s mind.

‘Hmm… In order to evolve that punk quickly, do I have to buy all of the sacred herbs available in the auction house and feed them to him?’

Truthfully, the ones with the most power in the Luspel Empire was the Lotus Guild.

And because Ian was the owner of the Lotus Domain, which was the domain with the greatest economic power amongst the Lotus Guild’s domains, it was a situation where Ian couldn’t help but be overflowing with money.

However, there wasn’t much gold that Ian could use on himself.

‘Should I just pull out about 1% of the budget that I had been saving up for the construction of the defensive tower and buy some sacred herbs to give to Bbookbbook…’

He had been investing most of the money that he earned through taxes back into the domain in order to advance it more.

‘Either way, right now, going to the Fortress of the Devil that is supposed to be in Zone 80 is first.’

Ian began to move again in order to do his main quest of the Devildom, which he was in the middle of carrying out.

He was internally dying as he wanted to quickly evolve Bbookbbook as well, but it was because there was truly not much time left now until the due date of the quest.

“Alright, everybody stand up! Let’s quickly move onto the next map.”

At Ian’s command, his Familiars grumbled as they stood up from their spots, and his retainers immediately finished preparing for battle and aligned themselves to stand in line in front of Ian.

“We don’t have much left until we reach Zone 80. When we arrive at the Fortress of the Devil, I’ll let you rest, so let’s keep it up a little longer.”

* * *

The giant domain that was settled firmly in the middle zone of the central continent.

The Pyro Domain had become a famous base to the point that it wasn’t just known by the users that were staying in the central continent, but there was not one person that didn’t know of it if they were a user that played Kailan.

Amongst the reasons for that was because the growth speed of the Pyro Domain was fast, but the biggest reason was because it was a sturdy fortress with a defense building more perfect than any base in the central continent.

The words that it was a ‘safe zone’ to the point that it came close to the giant domain of the empire compared favourably.

Even in the central continent, there were a lot of safe domains that were located in the eastern and western areas, which were locations close to their respective empires, but there wasn’t any place that could really be called a safe zone in the middle area, where it was the heart of the battleground and also where a lot of the most dangerous monsters inhabited.

Only the Pyro Domain indeed could be considered a safe zone.

“Whew, if it wasn’t for the Pyro Domain, it would have been really difficult for me to raise my Explorer proficiency.”

Lilson, who was an Archer in his early lv 100s as well as someone who had a production class called ‘Explorer’, was getting rid of his items at the general merchandise store in the Pyro Domain.

Different from most of the Kailan users, he enjoyed the other content of Kailan rather than fighting, and even amongst that, the thing that he liked most was ‘exploration’.

‘Finding mysterious artifacts in this wide continent, and discovering hidden ancient relics as well as pieces of the past that were unknown is what is truly exciting.’

As that was the case, he was a user that had invested much more into his production class rather than his combat class, and because of that, despite having played Kailan since its early days, he had a low level that was still only in the early lv 100s.

And that level was to the point that his level was incredibly lacking for him to explore the central continent.

However, because he had reached a situation where it was difficult to raise his Explorer proficiency any more in the northern continent, he had no other choice.

In order to not lose his title of being in 1st place in the Explorer proficiency rankings, he had reached a situation where he couldn’t help but go to the central continent even if he would be overdoing it.

‘When I first came to the central continent, I was truly lucky to have met the Lotus Guild members.’

The place he had selected as soon as he, who was like that, arrived at the central continent was the Pyro Domain.

Ditching the western area, he boldly moved to the middle area.

He had thought that rather than the western area, where it was endlessly peaceful, the Pyro Domain, which could be considered right in the middle of a monster field, was more suitable when it came to raising his Explorer proficiency.

And his choice was outstanding.

‘After I entered the public order of the Pyro Domain, I feel like my Explorer proficiency has seriously gone up a lot.’

The public order of the Pyro Domain started to explore the dungeons in the vicinity with the Lord, Fiolan, as the head everyday when it reached a fixed time.

The relics or the explorer EXP he obtained in that process was seriously incredibly terrific.

And Lilson was able to obtain an unexpected relic during the dungeon exploration that happened just that morning.

‘Keu… If I succeed in appraising this thing, I seriously can’t even imagine how much my Explorer EXP will go up.’

Lilson stared at the weighty book that was in his hands with an affectionate gaze.

• Unknown Ancient Record/Relic Rank: Legendary

While playing the game up until now with his pride as 1st place in the Explorer ranking, this was his first time touching an item with a ‘Legendary’ relic rank.

He went into a small inn that was in a corner place of the Pyro Domain, and he placed the ancient record on top of the table.

“Whew, alright. As I’ve even prepared thirty Highest-rank Appraisal Stones… I should be able to succeed in appraising with this much, right?”

The level of Lilson’s ‘Relic Appraising’ skill was a whopping High-rank level 8.

Considering that it was a production class skill level, that was indeed tremendous.

However, despite that, the appraisal of a Legendary-rank relic would not be easy.

After taking a deep breath, Lilson began the appraisal of the record.

“Appraisal!”

• You have failed the appraisal of the ‘Unknown Ancient Record’ relic.

• You have consumed 1 Highest-rank Appraisal Stone. (Remaining Appraisal Stones: 27)

• You have failed the appraisal of the ‘Unknown Ancient Record’ relic.

• You have consumed 1 Highest-rank Appraisal Stone. (Remaining Appraisal Stones: 26)

“Euh…”

Despite the continuous failures, Lilson continued to attempt an appraisal while sweat poured down profusely from his forehead.

And the result of that.

It was only when he didn’t have many appraisal stones left that he was finally able to succeed in the appraisal of the Legendary-rank relic.

Ring-!

• You have succeeded in the appraisal of the ‘Unknown Ancient Record’.

• Your Explorer EXP has increased by 985,740.

• The proficiency EXP of your ‘Relic Appraisal’ skill increased by 191,824.

• The level of your ‘Relic Appraisal’ skill has increased from a High-rank level 8 to a High-rank level 9.

• You are the first to have succeeded in appraising a Legendary-rank relic.

• You have obtained 400 thousand Fame.

While looking at the messages that popped up one after another, Lilson sunk into an overflowing amount of emotions.

‘Keu, this is it! I go through such trouble to dig out a relic for this feeling!’

He felt like the sorrow from always being disregarded in a party as they stated he was no help when hunting was disappearing all at once.

However, just when Lilson was deep into his feelings of being touched, a world message that shone a purple light popped up in front of his eyes.

Ring-.

• User ‘Lilson’ is the first to have succeeded in excavating a Legendary-rank relic.

• The ‘Record of the Devildom War I’ relic, a history book where the dimensional war between the human world and the Devildom a thousand years ago was recorded, has been discovered.

• 10 seconds from now, the history of a thousand years ago will appear in front of your eyes.

• If you wish to skip the video, please close the messages.

Lilson stared blankly at the messages as if he had been possessed by something, and shortly after, his vision grew dark.

* * *

Ian tilted his head after reading the world messages.

‘Hmm…? A record of the Devildom war? What is this?’

Every so often, when a new dungeon was discovered, or if some sort of ancient record was discovered, such messages appeared as world messages.

However, Ian, who always thought that there wasn’t even enough time to hunt, erased those messages whenever he saw them without a tinge of hesitancy.

‘But, this one… I feel like I have to watch it.’

He had even finished hunting just in time, and because information related to the Devildom could be an incredibly important part right now, Ian didn’t erase the messages.

‘Should I watch some videos in addition to while I rest?’

The vision of Ian, who sat down like that, began to darken little by little.

* * *

The first scene that appeared in front of Ian’s eyes was the image of an incredibly beautiful woman, who was holding a red staff that was burning a bright red, and a red dragon, who boasted an imposing figure that was much greater than Karceus’s size.

“Have you awoken, Ranohel?”

The woman with the red staff had a clear and cool voice.

However, somehow, an overpowering presence could be heard from her voice.

“Yes, God of the Sun…”

And surprisingly, the dragon was bowing its head in front of her.

“The fact that the awakening of a God Dragon has occurred at this point… Perhaps it is fate.”

At the words of the woman, who was called the God of the Sun, the red dragon dipped its head again as it responded.

“That’s right. I can feel where I must go, where I am needed, Hellena.”

That woman, who was called ‘Hellena’, spread her hand out forward without a word.

Hwa-reu-reuk-.

As she did so, a giant portal that shone a red light opened up right in front of her.

“Go and come back.”

“Yes, Hellena.”

“I ask that you end this long and endless dimensional war without fail.”

“Understood. I will not disappoint you.”

With that conversation as the end, the red dragon disappeared inside the portal, and the scene turned pitch black again.

And shortly after.

A new scene spread out in front of Ian’s eyes.

Within that scene, one jet black dragon and two people, who radiated a dreary atmosphere, stood.

And surprisingly, one of the two people was someone who even Ian was familiar with.

His name was Immortal.

“Immortal, do you think you will be able to help Lugarix?”

As, amongst the two people, the white-haired man wrapped in a black robe opened his mouth, Immortal respectfully bowed his head.

“No question about it, God of Darkness.”

At Immortal’s response, the man nodded his head as he turned his gaze.

And in that spot, a giant black dragon sat.

“Lugarix, you can do a good job as well, right?”

As expected, the black dragon called ‘Lugarix’, respectfully bowed his head as it responded.

“Of course, Kades. I will not disappoint you.”

This time as well, a giant portal formed behind the two.

And the bodies of both Immortal and Lugarix disappeared into the portal as if they were being sucked in.

Ian, who had watched up to this point without a word, mumbled to himself.

‘Like Kaka said… They must be two of the remaining four God Dragons.’

The scenes that followed up next were similar.

There was a dragon named ‘Norpis’ that appeared along with the God of the Wind, as well as a dragon named ‘Milaika’ that appeared with the God of the Earth.

As these two scenes passed by, a different kind of scene appeared again.

This time, different from the previous ones, a dragon could not be seen anywhere in the scene.

Rather, one person that Ian knew incredibly well was there.

“Oakley has disappointed me, but… I believe that you will not be the case, Kaizar.”

That man was none other than Kaizar.