Chapter 26

“Phew…” How should I put it… Jun-sang realized clearly through this quest that his level was higher than average. The monsters he had encountered this time were, no matter how he thought about it, too weak to be his opponents. The monster leader losing consciousness from a single Shoulder Charge? Even considering that a solo quest might have a lower difficulty than other quests, it was still supposedly a boss, so who would have known it would fall so easily?

Jun-sang wiped his blood and mud-caked military boots, changed his clothes, and quickly washed himself before finally checking the rewards he had obtained. First, upon opening the Additional Reward Box, a new card appeared.

Card Information

• Name: Timber Wolf
• Level: 1Lv
• Experience: 0
• Grade: Common
• Category: Summon
• Growth: Early Maturity (Small)
• Attribute: None
• Effect: Summons 1 gray wolf.
• Cost: 10
• Seed: 1 slot

“…” A gray wolf… It felt like a similar type of summon as the Crimson Wolf, with the same grade. Having received a lot of help from the Crimson Wolf during previous quests, Jun-sang, without much thought, tried to equip the card into one of the remaining empty slots. However, a message appeared when he tried to equip the card.

Warning!

• Card slots can only hold cards with a total cost equal to your level x 10.
• The total cost of currently equipped cards is ‘110’.
• Summon Card ‘Timber Wolf’ failed to equip.

“Huh?” Jun-sang frowned. A problem he hadn’t considered suddenly popped up. After a moment of thought, he wondered if this was a restriction for balancing purposes. Since both class and ability types were determined by cards, even a low-level player could wield great power by equipping many powerful cards. Therefore, it was likely that a Cost system was implemented to limit card equipping. He checked and found that Crimson Wolf, Spirit of the Mighty Bear, and Blood-Soaked (R) each occupied 20 Cost. All of them were cards that Jun-sang found difficult to give up. After a moment of deliberation, Jun-sang decided to alternate between Will-o’-the-Wisp and Timber Wolf depending on the situation. Of course, he only needed to level up once more, and then Timber Wolf could also be equipped in a card slot, so he just had to bear with it until then.

As Jun-sang was about to close the card slot, he noticed Crimson Wolf and Blood-Soaked (R) shimmering, just like Two-Hit Combo had done previously.

Congratulations! Your summon ‘Crimson Wolf’ has leveled up. : When a card levels up, various effects are added.

• The attack power of the summoned ‘Crimson Wolf’ increases.
• The detection range of the summoned ‘Crimson Wolf’ widens.

“Oh…” Attack power aside, the increased detection range was simply a bonus. Jun-sang also checked the level-up message for Blood-Soaked (R).

Congratulations! Your skill card ‘Blood-Soaked (R)’ has leveled up. : When a card levels up, various effects are added.

• Life drain effect increases by 1% when ‘Blood-Soaked (R)’ is equipped.
• Regeneration rate increases by 1% when ‘Blood-Soaked (R)’ is equipped.

While both life drain and regeneration rate were very important options, it was a little disappointing that the fluctuation was only 1 percent.

“Come to think of it…” In the Growth section, Blood-Soaked was listed as “Late Bloomer.” Perhaps that was why its initial growth rate was small. After confirming the card level-ups, Jun-sang checked the seed he had obtained from the leader monster.

Item Information

• Name: Life Seed
• Level Restriction: 10 ** Type: Seed
• Grade: Common
• Effect: Life Enhancement +5%
• Description: A seed that awakens the wearer’s vitality.
• Can be equipped to items or cards with Seed slots to enhance their abilities.
• A special ability ‘Separate’ is required to detach an equipped seed.
• [Click here to equip this seed to an item or card.]

“Hmm…” This had the same option as the Ring of Life, one of the three rings Jun-sang wore. Jun-sang finished organizing his rewards and spoils by equipping the newly obtained seed to the ‘Spirit of the Mighty Bear’ card. Or rather, he was about to finish when he remembered the shimmering stones and gold pieces he had obtained from the monsters. Jun-sang took the gold pieces and stones out of the leather pouch he had kept separately in a corner of the spoils box and lay on the floor, holding them up to the fluorescent light. Even setting aside the stones, it was difficult for Jun-sang to confirm whether the Go-stone shaped gold pieces were real gold.

Jun-sang, after fiddling with the stones and gold pieces between his fingers for a moment, thought about getting them verified but decided against it. He still had enough funds for now, so rather than rushing to dispose of them, he decided to hold onto them for a bit longer. Especially with gold or gems, there was a high possibility of various complications if mishandled.

Jun-sang decided to examine the newly acquired Timber Wolf. First, he manipulated the card slots to create two new commands, like ‘Berserker’ or ‘Mad Dog.’ The newly created commands were ‘Wolf-Fire’ and ‘Twin-Wolves.’ After the command combinations were set, Jun-sang quietly opened his mouth.

“Twin-Wolves.” Then, Will-o’-the-Wisp was unequipped from the card slot, and Timber Wolf took its place. Once the card was equipped, Jun-sang spoke again.

“Open Timber Wolf.” As the summon command activated, a large gray wolf appeared before Jun-sang’s eyes. Jun-sang watched the summoned Timber Wolf for a moment, then also summoned the red wolf.

“Open Crimson Wolf.” Looking at the two summoned wolves, he could definitely see the difference. Not just the fur color, but Crimson Wolf had a body about half a head larger. As Crimson Wolf appeared, Timber Wolf immediately tucked its tail and lowered its head, and Crimson Wolf placed one paw on its shoulder, as if a king bestowing a title upon a knight.

“Hmph.” Seeing them seriously determining their superiority like that, Jun-sang somehow let out a chuckle. He checked the time and realized it was already dawn. Jun-sang unsummoned the two wolves, then lay down to sleep without even covering himself with a blanket. Fortunately, no more quests activated that day.

And… the next morning dawned. Jun-sang, having overslept a bit, yawned widely and left his house for his usual mountain run. It was clear that he had fought a life-and-death struggle, even if the opponents were easy, and even though physical fatigue had mostly recovered during sleep thanks to his regeneration ability, mental fatigue had not yet fully recovered. It was true that he felt like just resting at home today, but… a body, especially muscles, atrophied the more it rested. For someone like Jun-sang, who fought bare-handed, laziness was truly poison. When he thought about it, the reason he could solve this quest easily was precisely because he had dedicated himself to training day and night after the tutorial.

He slowly jogged towards the mountain entrance… when he suddenly heard a sound indicating a message had arrived on his phone, which he kept in his pocket.

“Tch…” He had just been through all that trouble yesterday, and now another quest today? Jun-sang clicked his tongue and opened his phone, his face hardening once more. And no wonder… the message that had just arrived wasn’t a quest notification.

Hey Jun-sang, It’s Seong-jin. I apologize for suddenly showing up yesterday. Actually… my father would like to meet you. I know it’s a bother, but could you please make some time? I’ll be waiting for your reply.

“…” Jun-sang frowned. He was annoyed by the persistence of someone who kept pushing an issue he had already refused, and the tone, which seemed to implicitly assume he wouldn’t refuse, also bothered him. Moreover… who was this person that he could just summon people like that? He also disliked the behavior of acquiring someone’s personal information without permission and sending messages in this manner.

Jun-sang decided to simply ignore the message. No, to prevent being hooked like he was just a moment ago, he decided to completely block the number as spam and started his mountain run as usual. Thus, another day passed, and then two more.

Jun-sang was on his usual mountain run when he noticed an elderly man in sportswear, accompanied by several burly men, watching him intently. Although in sportswear, they didn’t look like people who were out to exercise. Just in case, he looked closer… and saw that some of the men who had come with Seong-jin before were among them. Jun-sang felt that engaging them would only cause trouble, so he quickly tried to go elsewhere, but two men in sportswear blocked his path.

“Could you spare a moment?” Jun-sang caught sight of other people on the mountain, who were out for exercise, glancing at them.

“What if I don’t want to?”

“…” The men frowned at Jun-sang’s reply but showed no other reaction. Instead, a somewhat gruff voice came from behind Jun-sang.

“Just as I heard, your personality is anything but ordinary.”

“…” Jun-sang turned his head to look. The elderly man extended a hand towards Jun-sang and said, “I’m Seong-jin’s father.”

“…” Jun-sang didn’t take his hand and merely stared at the man who had introduced himself as Seong-jin’s father. Then, the faces of the men standing around him, as if guarding him, turned grim.

“How dare you! Do you know who this person is?”

To that, Jun-sang quietly replied, “Aren’t you Seong-jin’s father?”

“…” The men made bewildered expressions at Jun-sang’s reply, and the man himself chuckled heartily. “Haha… you’re right. Right now, I’m just Kim Seong-jin’s father, not Assemblyman Kim Jong-kyung.”

“…” Assemblyman, huh… While acting magnanimous, Kim Jong-kyung was subtly informing Jun-sang of his position. Jun-sang looked on indifferently, showing no particular interest, but Kim Jong-kyung continued to smile and said, “I have no intention of interrupting your exercise. I just wanted to talk with you for a moment…”

To that, Jun-sang replied, “I have a condition.”

Kim Jong-kyung immediately replied, with an expression that said, “Just as I thought.” “What is it? Speak quickly.”

“I’m training right now. If you don’t interfere with my training, there’s no reason not to talk.”

“What…”

“I’m going to run now. If you have something to say, do so while running beside me.”

“…” With that, Jun-sang began to run up the mountain like the wind. Then, he heard Kim Jong-kyung’s angry shout from behind.

“Catch him!”