Chapter 245: The Secret of the Balrog (2)

The Lord’s office of the Pyro Domain.

Inside of the office, Harin and Fiolan were enjoying a delicious brunch as they chatted.

Because the afternoon battle of the public order team of the Pyro Domain started at about 12 o’clock, it had become a daily routine for the two to always meet at the Lord’s office at around 10:30 and have brunch.

“Unni[1], how is the ‘foie gras’ that I made today? It was my first time making it, so I’m a little worried, but… When I tried a piece earlier, it seemed that it didn’t taste too bad.”

Foie gras was a luxurious dish from France using goose liver, which had a clean taste to it.

In the real world, goose liver was an incredibly expensive ingredient that cost close to 500 thousand to 1 million Won[2] per kilogram.

However, in Kailan, goose liver was incredibly affordable.

Ian, who started at lv 1 with stats that were around what a lv 20 would have, skipped over this, but if it was a normal user, there was the ‘Hunting Ground of the Beginner’ that had to be gone through.

This was because it was an ingredient that ‘Giant Geese’, which appeared there, dropped at a low rate.

The chance of it dropping wasn’t that high, but because there were just so many beginners that hunted the geese, there was an overflowing supply of them, and thanks to that, it was able to become a cheap dish.

The two eyes of Fiolan, who took a bite of the lustrous foie gras, rounded.

“Wow! It’s so delicious!”

It seemed like she was saying the truth, as she stomped her feet repeatedly while she was at a loss, and Harin, who was moved by her extreme reaction, clapped her hands as she also became happy.

“Right? It’s delicious, right?”

“Yeah, I’m telling you, it’s seriously delicious! Our Harin’s cooking skills are seriously improving rapidly day by day.”

“Those aren’t just empty words to make me feel better, right?”

Fiolan cut off another piece with her fork and ate is as she shook her head fiercely.

“I’m being serious! You would know if you ate it as well, no? Why are you especially lacking confidence today?”

At those words, Harin responded with a crestfallen voice.

“Well… This Carwin punk said that it was like the liver that comes with Korean sausages they sell at snack bars on the street…”

Fiolan responded with a dumbfounded expression.

“Exactly what kind of snack bar-level Korean sausage comes served with liver that tastes like this? I want to know as well.”

“I know, right? My point exactly!”

Anyhow, Harin, who regained her confidence thanks to Fiolan, mumbled internally.

‘So, it definitely tastes good, right? I’ll have to buy ingredients in the afternoon later and make it myself in the real world. Since Jinsung said that he was going to eat dinner exactly at 8 o’clock today as well…’

One of Harin’s biggest interests lately was to buy luxurious ingredients in the real world and cook to her heart’s content.

Because the restaurant in the Pyro Domain that she ran was doing incredibly well business-wise, she was obtaining quite a profit.

Due to that, even expensive ingredients weren’t that big of a burden.

Harin, who was excited over the thought of having a luxurious dinner with Jinsung, hummed as she began to eat her portion of the foie gras.

However, just then, the sound of the door opening could be heard from behind the two people.

Creak-.

At that, the two people’s heads automatically turned in that direction.

“What’s this noise, unni? Was there someone that was supposed to come?”

At Harin’s question, Fiolan shook her head.

“No, I don’t think so? Carwin said that he would log in on time at 12 o’clock as well. There shouldn’t be anybody coming.”

And in the corner, where the two people’s gazes remained on, one woman appeared.

“Excuse… Me… Hello.”

Both Harin and Fiolan couldn’t help but wear dumbfounded expressions.

This was because she was someone that the two people were completely seeing for the first time.

Fiolan asked with a stiff expression.

“Yes, hello. But, how did you get here?”

At her question, the woman wore a bashful expression as she answered.

“Are you Fiolan, the Lord of the Pyro Domain?”

Fiolan coolly nodded her head as she replied.

“Yes, why?”

And at her next words, Harin and Fiolan couldn’t help but be even more surprised.

“Ah, so I have come to the right place. As the Lord’s castle was so big, it seems I had wandered a bit. Nice to meet you, I am Levya.”

She was none other than ‘Levya’, the 1st place user of the official Priest-class rankings, who was hidden up until now.

* * *

“Devil Energy goes up by 3 every 10 thousand points, while Devil Energy Activation Rate goes up 0.1% every 1 million points, huh…”

The amount of points that Ian had obtained after finishing his quest was 19,784K points, or in other words, about 19.8 million.

The things that you could exchange these points for were not just all sorts of stats, but items as well, however, in the end, Ian decided to raise his stats.

‘It’s not a good choice to pick a random box that doesn’t even say exactly what kind of items you could be given.’

Ian didn’t really like anything that was outside of his prediction to happen while he was gaming.

Ian, who made up his mind with certainty looked carefully at the system window.

And the stats that you could obtain with that value were each like this.

• Devildom Stats

Devil Energy – Devil Energy 3:10,000 P

Devil Energy Activation Rate – Activation Rate 0.1%:1,000,000 P

Resistance Magic – Resistance Magic 0.1%:2,500,000 P

• General Stats

Combat Stats – All Stats 1:400,000 P

Class Stats – All Stats 1:800,000 P

And of course, Ian began to compare the effectiveness of each of them.

‘Hmm… firstly, assuming that I’ll invest all my points into one thing, should I then raise my Devil Energy by about 6 thousand, my Devil Energy Activation Rate by about 2%, or my Resistance Magic by about 1%?’

The effectiveness of the general stats below it wasn’t that bad either, but still, Ian was thinking of mainly raising the Devildom stats.

‘Since there are a ton of ways to raise my general stats even if isn’t in the Devildom.’

Ian diligently thought about which stat he needed the most right now.

‘No matter which stat I invest in amongst the three, I don’t think I’ll ever regret it, but the one I need the most right now is…!’

Ian eventually decided to invest all of his points and raise his ‘Devil Energy’ stat.

“I will use all of my points and raise my ‘Devil Energy’ stat.”

As he said so, a system message popped up.

• The total amount of points that you, User ‘Ian’, possess is 19,784K. If you use all of your points, you will be able to obtain a total of 5934 Devil Energy, and you will have 4288 points remaining.

• Will you proceed? (Y/N)

Ian nodded his head without hesitation.

“Yes!”

• You have exchanged your points.

• Your ‘Devil Energy’ stat has increased by 5934, turning into a total of ‘22,764’.

Ian, who saw the message, wore a pleased expression.

‘It took at least a couple weeks for me to gather about 3 thousand Devil Energy, that is.’

Considering that, having obtained 6 thousand Devil Energy in a quarter of a day was tremendous.

‘I wanted Devil Energy Activation Rate or Resistance Magic as well, but for now, filling up my Devil Energy in order to be promoted to a Noblesse-rank is first.’

The biggest reason as to why Ian ultimately selected Devil Energy lied here.

This was because, although Ian already had a rank of a ‘High-ranking Devil’, which was a rank that was hard to be promoted to as a Half-Devil, he wanted the next level, which was the ‘Noblesse’-rank, badly.

As he had yet to properly see a Noblesse-rank Devil battle, he had no way of knowing their exact strength, but from looking at the difference in the fighting power of the devils based on their rank, he was able to at least speculate that the Noblesse were truly colossal.

Anyhow, after Ian finished with his point consumption, he closed the combat result window and naturally, the quest followed through behind hit.

Ring-.

• You have successfully cleared the whole hidden assignment.

• Your Fame has increased by an additional 100 thousand.

And Devil King ‘Ricardo’, who had been cleaning up the battleground from afar, approached Ian.

“Ian… You said it was, right?”

At Ricardo’s question, Ian slightly bowed his head as he answered.

“That’s right, Ricardo.”

Ricardo scanned over Ian once before he opened his mouth again.

“A Half-Devil, as well as a High-ranking Devil. To think that I would meet a human, who selected their Devildom class as the ‘Devil Summoner’ on top of that, here.”

With an interested expression, Ricardo stared at Ian as he continued his words.

“But, Ian, why do you have yet to handle a magical beast when you’re a Devil Summoner?”

At that, Ian replied with a sheepish expression.

“It is because it’s still easier to handle Familiars for now. Soon, if I end up taming a magical beast that I like, I am planning on handling one.”

At Ian’s words, Ricardo smirked as he responded.

“Nice, good idea. You cannot become an exceptional Devil Summoner just because you thoughtlessly handle many high-ranking magical beasts.”

It seemed as though Ricardo was liking Ian.

“I am a devil that reveres power, and a king that rules over them as well .”

Ricardo and Ian’s eyes met.

“It is also because you are a ‘Devil Summoner’ who is walking the same path as me, but above all, I like your strength.”

At that, Ian responded with a puzzled expression.

“I am not so strong. Instead, wouldn’t the devils that you, Ricardo, have under you be much stronger than me?”

Ian’s question was obvious.

This was because even amongst the subordinates of Ricardo, who participated in the battle just now, there were several devils that were High-ranking or higher with monster-like power.

At Ian’s question, Ricardo shook his head as he replied.

“I am not talking about such one-dimensional power. I am talking about your potential.”

“Hmm…”

Ian, who momentarily hesitated as he didn’t know what to say, eventually decided to ask about parts that he was curious about before he proceeded with the quest.

‘Firstly, since it seems like his affinity towards me is quite good, I should be able to ask a couple questions at the least.’

Ian opened his mouth.

“But, Ricardo, there’s something I’m curious about, so is it alright if I ask you about them?”

Near the mouth of Ricardo, who wore a pale, poker face from the start to the end, a very light smile formed.

“Sure, what are you curious about?”

Ian immediately responded.

And in some ways, it was a bit of a random question.

“How is your Balrog that strong?”

“Huh?”

Naturally, Ricardo wore a flustered expression, and Ian’s words continued.

“In the middle of the battle just now, I continuously watched the form of the Balrog fighting, but some parts that I couldn’t really understand could be seen a little.”

“What part is that?”

Ian answered.

“The Balrog is a Legendary-rank magical beast. And fundamentally looking at the stats that the Balrog has, it has a similar standard of stats as other normal Legendary-rank Familiars and magical beasts.”

As the Balrog was not Ian’s magical beast, he couldn’t check its detailed stats.

However, after all of the buffs were applied, as it was possible to check the Offensive Power value that was exposed on the outside by simply opening the information window, Ian had kept an eye on them beforehand.

On top of that, a fragment of information on the ‘Balrog’ was written in the Illustrated Book of Magical Beasts that he had received from Iriel before he came to the Devildom, and that had become most crucial instrument as to why Ian developed a curiosity towards the Balrog.

If Ian didn’t normally have a hobby of experimenting and analyzing Familiars and magical beasts, he would have never even developed such a curiosity or anything like it.

Ian slightly glanced at the Balrog that stood still behind the Devil King as he opened his mouth again.

“But your Balrog, Ricardo, has shown abilities so powerful to the point that compared to its stats, it’s strange. I do not understand this part.”

Meanwhile, Ricardo, who heard Ian’s explanation, wore an expression that was once again different from earlier.

If his gaze was just one that seemed like he was looking at Ian like a bit of an interesting toy, you could say he wore a bit of a surprised expression now.

“Oh-ho, so you’re saying you’ve caught onto that, huh?”

Ricardo grinned as he wagged his finger towards the Balrog.

As he did so, the Balrog, which stood behind him, approached Ricardo’s side while letting out a thumping noise, and the corner of Ricardo’s mouth slightly curled upwards.

“That’s right, Ian. Like you said, although the Balrog is a Legendary-rank magical beast, he has a slightly special ability compared to the other Legendary-rank magical beasts.”

Ian pricked his ears as he began to listen to Ricardo’s words.

However, just then, Ricardo suddenly lifted one of his hands as he spread it open.

As he did so, a powerful Devil Energy gushed out from his clutch, and that Devil Energy was sucked into the Balrog as it began to burn a bright red.

Hwa-reu-reuk-.

And the Balrog, which had just been standing still with both of its eyes closed, flashed open his eyes as it suddenly began to roar.

Kyaaooh-!

Ian, who slightly flinched at that, looked back and forth at the Balrog and Ricardo.

And Ian’s gaze became fixated on the red marble that floated above Ricardo’s hand.

“What… Is this?”

Ian waited for Ricardo’s mouth to open up in order to hear an answer to his question.

However, an answer to that burst out from an unexpected place.

“That is… A Devil Spirit Orb!”

And in that spot, Kaka sat on the shoulder of Kaizar wearing a dazed expression.

[1] Unni = what a younger female would call a close, older and/or related female

[2] roughly about $440-$885 USD