Chapter 54: Meeting (1)

I could advise my family like that because I was a family member, not a saint. I’m not even an equalist crying for equality. However, the Kahwa Guild or Sungchang Guild are not my family. Naturally, the standard I apply to them must be different.

“Huhhhhh.” I laughed like a villain and opened my mouth quietly, “Okay. Like they say, a nobleman can wait more than ten years to take revenge.”

Of course, it’s too trifling for me to get revenge for the rip-off. However, it is true that I really felt bad about it, so I didn’t forget about getting revenge later.

Now I moved further inside.

“Ice Field!”

Crunch!

Swamp monster? Not yet. But I used the Ice Field because I didn’t want to plod my way through the muddy swamp. Of course, firing Ice Field brought about some results.

The traps created by the swamp monsters exploded due to the widely spread Ice Field.

When I stepped inside a little more, the monsters finally appeared, namely the swamp monsters as mentioned by the Kahwa Guild member who sold the shabby boots to me forcibly.

“Kuuuuuuh!”

“Kaaaau!”

Swamp monsters greeted me nicely. I also opened my mouth to answer their welcome, “Ice Field.”

Crunch!

Soon the land of ice spread toward the swamp monsters.

**

“Pouring Hailstones!”

Following the heels of the Ice Field, I used ‘Pouring Hailstones’ this time.

And I fired other skills at the advancing swamp monsters, breaking through the two obstacles.

“Multiple Ice arrow, Ice Ball, Ice Bolt.”

Puk! Puk! Puk!

Of course, I had one more skill, namely Ice Blast, a perfect match for the Ice Field.

However, I didn’t use it because I didn’t have to fight the monsters while destroying the Ice Field that I deliberately spread to avoid the muddy swamp. Besides, I could hunt them even without using Ice Blast.

At the same time, the benefits of keeping the Ice Field were better than I thought because the swamp monster’s body itself was nothing but the swamp itself. However, the swamp monster and swamp were separated by the Ice Field.

Pop! Pop!

“Kueeek!”

“Kuuuk!”

The bodies of the swamp monsters were broken apart every time the Pouring Hailstones, Multiple Ice Arrows, Ice Balls, and Ice Bolts hit them.

And the swamp monsters, which maintained their tough life force by absorbing swamps like leeches, died because they could not absorb the swamp blocked by the Ice Field.

Of course, if my Ice Field had been weak, I would have forcibly broken them with other skills to nip their attack in the bud. In fact, some of the monsters attacked the Ice Field itself instead of me. But my Ice Field was sturdy enough to beat their attack.

Hunting was fun here. Besides, I didn’t come here with a calculated plan. I came here because I could hunt freely on an unpopular hunting ground, but I was really satisfied with the fact that this place fitted my capabilities, contrary to my expectations.

Sometimes a message that doubled my joy rang.

[You have leveled up.]

“Huhhhhh.” I laughed, not just smiling this time, because I felt as if somebody was encouraging me to work harder. So, I moved forward with a smile to cheer up as much as I was encouraged.

“Ice Field!”

Every time the cooldown time was back, I used the Ice Field everywhere even though there were no swamp monsters because my feet were precious.

Two days later I made the final attack against several swamp monsters that barely survived the Pouring Hailstones on the Ice Field which had been separated from the swamp.

“Multiple Ice Arrow, Ice Ball, Ice Bolt.”

Pop! Pop!

“Kuuek!”

“Kuuuk!”

[You have leveled up.]

It was a message that always made me feel good whenever I heard it. There was another message, which was actually the alarm sound.

[It’s 1:00 AM.]

“Whew! I’ve managed to level up by one! Check status bar.”

[Name: lumen

Level: 174

Kills: 11, Deaths: 0

Title: The only closed beta max level achiever and 3 others.

Health: 988,000(now) / 988,000(max)

Mana: 785,500(now) / 785,500(max)

Strength: 870 Agility: 870 Stamina: 4,700

Willpower: 2755 Intellectual Power: 4867

Remaining Stat Points: 180

Remaining Skill Points: 0

Traits: Iceman, Mutual Growth, God of Enhancement]

Thanks to the 3+ Scorpion King’s ring and earrings, Strength increased by 40, Agility by 40, and Intellectual Power by 80. And all the stat points increased by 20 since I equipped the two items.

Until then, the increase didn’t seem big. When I wore it like this, it looked really big.

Aside from others, my Intellectual Power increased by 100.

“By the way, I climbed to Level 156 by winning the Scorpion King quest. So did my level go up as much as 18 for two days?”

It was about 9 levels per day. I was satisfied with the level up. If I stuck with this performance, I could achieve Level 200 in about three days, even if my EXP went up with my rising level.

“Oh, am I wrong??”

Tomorrow I’m going home as usual. And I was told beforehand that there was a company executive meeting and a party at the hotel in the evening, so I should attend it. I was told to come back home a little early to be dressed up for the meeting.

Anyway, I invested all 180 stats in Intellectual Power, smiling at the Intellectual Power figure that reached 5,000. And I turned back because I needed to go to sleep for a happy gaming session.

“Ice Field.”

Of course, I used Ice Field on the way back, using all the available skills, “Pouring Hailstones, Ice Arrow, Ice Ball, Ice Bolt.”

I spammed other ice-type skills at the swamp monsters that sometimes charged at me.

When I approached the Safety Zone near the muddy swamp, I took off the +3 Cydin’s boots and changed into the shabby boots I bought here.

Tramp, tramp.

“Wow, you came back here right on time today, too,” said the man who forcibly sold me the boots for 70,000 golden rings. Like he did yesterday, he pretended to recognize me.

“Yeah, because it’s past 1 AM.”

“Anyway, did you find the boots quite useful?”

“Well, kind of.”

It was a ridiculous question. However, I didn’t intend to fight with him, so I just replied casually. For now, I was satisfied with the muddy swamp, along with the ant caves and the desert scorpion forest. So I had no intention of giving it up yet.

“It was worth every penny, right?”

I just smiled at his pun, moved to the side, and shouted, “Log out.”

The next day I got up early as usual, had a quick breakfast with cereal, and accessed the game right away. For a little over 4 hours, I hunted like crazy and eventually went up 2 levels and logged out because I decided to have lunch at home today. So I washed and left my one-room studio quickly. Of course, I did not forget to pick up the 3G VR adapter, which I prepared in advance.

In the past, I was afraid that my family members might catch me playing the game, or more precisely Revival Legend because they could be disappointed in me. But it was the opposite now. So I took the 3G VR adapter to play the game even briefly before attending the executive meeting in the evening.

As always, I took a city bus first and got off near my house, then took a taxi to my house in Chongdamdong, south of the Han River, Seoul. Then I went into the house with my mom who had been waiting for me outside. I had dinner with my family.

Of course, after eating, my dad and brother moved first as if they were busy, reminding me of the business meeting in the evening.

It’s dessert time.

“By the way, why isn’t Mirae Group’s Chairman attending this meeting?” I asked.

As for the top five business groups of South Korea, they were Mirae, Daesung, Myongjin, Kusan, and Daeyu. But my father didn’t mention Mirae and Daeyu despite the fact that Mirae was the unrivalled No. 1 business group for years. Daeyu lagged behind the others. Nonetheless, Mirae Group’s Chairman would not attend the meeting.