Chapter 30 Consume (5) (1/2)

High-purity Magic Stones are the base material for crafting higher-grade artifacts. There’s a limited number of buyers, so their price is usually constant. However, despite naming an exorbitant price, the mysterious merchant still purchased the stones. This meant that there must have been a sudden increase in demand for Magic Stones. The number of rankers couldn’t have changed, so it could only lead to one conclusion.

‘The only reason to mass produce higher-grade artifacts. It must be a war.’

During the time when his brother was in The Tower, Arthia had been targeted by numerous clans and rankers due to their rapid growth. Then their enemies formed an alliance, leading Arthia to its downfall.

Now, it had been quite a long time since Arthia had disappeared. Their alliance had petered out, which resulted in confrontations between themselves.

No major antagonism must have taken place yet. If it had, it would have affected the tutorial to some extent. But at least, it was clear that some preparations were happening behind the scenes. This arms race was proof of it.

‘That’s right. They may have made a temporary alliance in order to face a common enemy, but peace will never be everlasting in a world full of wolves.’

Yeon-woo laughed happily at the fact that his prediction was coming true. The more they bite each other, the more vulnerable they’ll become.

But,

‘It’s not the time yet.’

Yeon-woo wasn’t even in The Tower yet.

It would take him a long time to finally bite into their necks. So his plans were still a long way off.

* * *

Kahn and Doyle were astonished at Yeon-woo’s ability to haggle, and at the same time they were so glad that all the troubles were finally over. With Hargan’s Crown in their hands, their efforts seemed to have paid off. They had even gone all the way back to Section B’s waiting room just for this.

And now, it was time to move on to the next stage.

Kahn and Doyle secretly exchanged glances with each other. They were already close enough to understand each other’s feelings without having to talk. The mere glance was enough to exchange their thoughts.

Kahn came forward and asked Yeon-woo.

“What are you going to do now?”

“Do what?”

Yeon-woo turned to look at Kahn while fastening his dagger to his belt.

“I’m talking about your schedule. What’s your plan? You must have collected tons of Tokens by now. Are you gonna go straight to Section F?”

Yeon-woo did not immediately answer Kahn’s questions, instead, he briefly checked the tutorial rankings.

[Tutorial Ranking]

1. Edora (63,101 Points)

2. Phante (57,612 Points)

3. Kahn (55,212 Points)

···

52. Unknown (32,594 Points) (You)

···

‘That was roughly a ten thousand points increase.’

His rank suddenly jumped from 150th to 52nd. The Tokens he earned from the trade must have contributed to this increase. The speed was insanely fast.

‘But still, the gap between me and the first rank… That’s even crazier.’

The Karma points in Phante’s score remained almost unchanged. Thanks to the 5,000 points Kahn earned through Hargan’s Lair quest, Kahn was now only a small distance behind of him.

However, Edora was different. It wasn’t sure if he had places to farm points or if he was so determined to secure his spot, but he had also accumulated more than 6,000 points in this short period of time. However, Yeon-woo didn’t think it was impossible to pull ahead of him.

‘I still have my ace in the hole.’

The guy that dwelled in Section E. The best hidden piece concealed in the tutorial. It was the target Yeon-woo had been aiming for from the very beginning.

‘The time is now.’

The vessel was complete, and he had everything he needed. Yeon-woo was going to part ways with his party and head over there.

Moreover, he had seen the pain his brother had gone through. Yeon-woo had a great distrust towards the concept of teams and clans.

So he shook his head in denial.

“No. I’m not going directly to Section F.”

The Kahn’s complexion visibly brightened.

“Then, do you want to….”

“But I have a business to attend to.”

Kahn had to stop mid sentence.

“A business to attend to?”

“Yes.”

As Kahn was lost for words, Doyle intervened in the conversation.

“Hyung, there’s something we’ve been wanting to ask you. Will you come with us?”

“Come with you?”

“Yes. Until the tutorial is over. No, even after we enter The Tower.”

Looking at Yeon-woo, Doyle’s eyes were glistening.

“In fact, Kahn and I have talked about this a lot. You and us, we really clicked together. And we achieved more than we had expected, right? Maybe if the three of us team up…!”

Doyle poured out a flurry of words in excitement.

However,

“No. I can’t.”

Yeon-woo’s response was emphatic.

Doyle asked discreetly.

“Can I ask you why?”

“As I said, I have something I need to do.”

“If that’s the case, you can still join us later after you take care of it….”

Yeon-woo calmly shook his head.

“In the first place, I’m not really interested in being in a team. I don’t like being tied up.”

“Is that so? Okay.”

Doyle’s shoulders dropped. He was so sad he almost looked like a puppy under the rain. Then Kahn came next to Doyle and patted him on the shoulder.

“We can’t help it. People have different personalities. It’s not like we can force him to stay with us. And things like this are gonna happen more often once we get in The Tower. Anyway, you’re still staying with us until we get out of here, right?”

Yeon-woo nodded.

Kahn gave a big laugh and turned towards the exit.

“Then let’s go back out. People are waiting outside.”

* * *

The northern swamp was very wide. It could take quite a lot of time to get out. There were also a lot of Lizardmen wandering around, so Yeon-woo decided to accompany them only until he got out of the swamp.

The other players were dangling after the three of them. If they were separated from the party here, they were dead men. However, they kept a certain distance from the three. They all had witnessed the scene of Kahn oppressing Brend.

Eventually, the players created a strange sight where they were too terrified to come close to Kahn and Doyle but had no choice but to follow them. Kahn and Doyle were also uncomfortable with their ambiguous attitude.

“What are you going to do now with those people?”

Yeon-woo asked, taking a quick peek at the players behind.

Kahn and Doyle also looked perplexed.

Kahn sighed lightly.

“Well, we can’t do anything about them for now. We’ll have to escort them out of this swamp.”

As a matter of fact, Kahn and Doyle also had a place to go, just like Yeon-woo.