One Man Army 177

A Deal (2)

Sang Hyuk handed over the sunstones after completing the contract. The benefits of the illicit smuggled sunstones was that there was no tax to pay, and Sang Hyuk was able to receive a bit more gold than he had used when buying the stones in the lower lands.

Of course, if one were caught smuggling, their citizenship would be terminated, their property confiscated, and they would be forbidden to enter Goren City ever again. However, Sang Hyuk was not worried about this, because the Vigilantes Leader was closely connected to Black Cat, so there was a very low possibility of Sang Hyuk being punished even if he was discovered.

To say it more clearly, there was a low possibility of the smuggling being discovered. The most dangerous moment for Sang Hyuk would be when he was found on-site while making the hand-off, but it was impossible for him to be caught with the contraband on his person as long as he had the ‘spatial expansion bag.’

The only option left was for the Vigilantes to actively investigate, but the current political climate in Goren City made this impossible.

‘There might be some losses when considering the recall fee, but the intangible benefits are much higher.’

Since the recall price was exceptionally high, even if Sang Hyuk made some profit, he would be taking some losses in the long run. However, Sang Hyuk was not thinking of earning money through smuggling sunstones. His ultimate goal was to start a new business in the Continent of the Sun based on Goren City. Since Sang Hyuk could not bring Gold Mountain from the lower lands to the Continent of the Sun, he had to start everything from scratch. The Continent of the Sun marginalized dimension travelers on principle, so one couldn’t start a business just because they wanted to.

Therefore, Sang Hyuk needed a ‘base.’ Sang Hyuk was planning to make a company based on the Goren City and start several businesses through the firm as he had done so in the lower lands. The important thing was to secure occupancy. There were auction houses in the Continent of the Sun, but they were not connected to the lower lands. Also, one needed to be ‘recognized’ by the Sun People to put up items for bids.

Sang Hyuk would use this auction house despite all these conditions because the auction fee was only five percent. When considering that the auction house of the lower lands took twenty percent, it was virtually free. For many reasons, Sang Hyuk had to carve out his place in Goren City. When Sang Hyuk came out after finishing the transaction, Bacan handed a note to Sang Hyuk with a meaningful smile. It seemed to be the answer to Sang Hyuk’s third spitball.

Sang Hyuk came back to his room and let out a long breath as he sat on the bed.

“It was a successful first step.”

Sang Hyuk congratulated himself and opened the note.

[I’ll contact you when the time comes. I’ll convey messages only through Euphir, so if someone else contacts you, don’t trust the message.]

“Bacan…”

Sang Hyuk knew very well what Bacan wanted. While it had been a faint memory, it became clearer during his conversation with Bacan, and he had been able to strike a perfect hit with that folded note because of it.

‘I will be able to focus on my work for the moment.”

Bacan would not be able to move at the moment. Sang Hyuk remembered that Bacan had shown his greed when the number of dimension travelers increased in Goren City, and the power balance within had started to shake. In Sang Hyuk’s previous life, Bacan’s greed had only been greed, and led to nothing. However, the Main Quest had completely changed after Sang Hyuk’s intervention.

‘I just have to secure the sunstones I promised that I would supply next week. That’s the only way, right?’

While the Gold Mountain Group’s NPCs were purchasing magic stones in bulk at this moment, it would not be enough. Sang Hyuk had not made the contract because of only this option.

‘I can secure the items if there is not enough supply.’

Sang Hyuk trusted his hunting abilities, and he had already found a sweet hunting spot. The Dark Jungle! Sang Hyuk thought he would be able to make up for the insufficient sunstones. While Sang Hyuk would have to hunt hard, he would just have to do it a bit more intensively since he had been planning to do so anyway.

***

Sang Hyuk had marked several hunting points in the Dark Jungle in the Pegasus Marking Book, so he could go to the Dark Jungle with a single recall. Since the Pegasus Marking Book could use recalls over a short distance without any price, Sang Hyuk did not hesitate to use it.

Since Goren City had a large scale magic barrier that restricted all sorts of transportation except for ‘returns’ of the dimension travelers, Sang Hyuk had to use a recall after leaving the city. Since Sang Hyuk already had citizenship, it was not difficult for him to enter the city again.

Sang Hyuk checked his equipment first after arriving at the Dark Jungle with one recall. The protection gear was the Red Whale’s Flame+8 and his weapon, The Blood Wire of the Full Moon+10. His other equipment was fully prepared.

‘All right. Let’s start this.’

Sang Hyuk looked around after finishing the preparations. While the Dark Jungle was as dark as its name, he was comfortable in darkness like this.

‘The goal is Awakened Giant Spiders…’

Sang Hyuk was standing surrounded by multiple spider webs. Giant Spiders lived in a colony in this area, and normally it would be insane to hunt at a place like this. If someone wanted to hunt in a place like this, a scout or assassin player would grab aggro from one or two and the rest of the party used ranged attacks to finish them off.

However, Sang Hyuk was already in the colony, and while his stealth skill was working, he would be discovered if he touched a web.

The level of an awakened Giant Spider was about 140, and Sang Hyuk had come here where there were masses of them for only one reason.

‘I cannot secure enough sunstones by hunting one by one in the normal way. There’s only one way left, and it’s to be the Rabbit and take them all!’

Sang Hyuk had chosen to be the Rabbit, and doing it solo in the Dark Jungle sounded insane on the surface. Others would never think of this, but Sang Hyuk had thought of this method, and he always broke the rules when it suited his purpose.

‘Let’s start this!’

Sang Hyuk removed his stealth skill in the middle of the Giant Spider colony, and blue eyes sparked with rage everywhere. Giant Spiders began to move, and at least ten of them were moving rapidly to take care of a sudden appearance of succulent, juicy prey.

‘That’s not enough.’

However, Sang Hyuk thought the number was a little lacking.

‘Wake up!’

He swung the Blood Wire while he was running as if he was the worst alarm clock in the world. As the wire cut through the webs in a circle, more Giant Spiders woke up from sleep, which had been Sang Hyuk’s intention. Then, tens of Giant Spiders began to move at the same time.

‘Yes, it has to be this much, at least.’

Sang Hyuk smiled in satisfaction and nodded as he saw their movements. While the massive Giant Spiders were surrounding the stopped Sang Hyuk, he looked around as if everything was at peace. There was a simple reason for his composure, and he stuck the two wires he held in both hands into the ground and looked around calmly.

‘A little more…’

Sang Hyuk was calculating the timing, and to be more specific, was waiting for the thirty four giant spiders to come inside the area he had designated in his head. The awakened Giant Spiders were charging unforgivingly towards the intruder.

He did not move an inch while the Giant Spiders were gathering around him at the same time.

‘A little bit more!’

Sang Hyuk was waiting for the perfect timing for maximum effect in this dangerous situation, and the Giant Spider in the very front arrived right at Sang Hyuk and rushed him. He was going to be gobbled up at any moment, and it was then he confirmed that the thirty four Giant Spiders had entered his designated area.

“Disappear!”

Sang Hyuk used the ‘Ritual of the Thunder God: Lightning Formula – From Earth to Sky.’ It was a technique that injected mana into the earth to create lightning that shot from the ground to the sky, and its power increased up to 400 percent according to the accumulated energy. Since Sang Hyuk managed to inject near the maximum, the lighting was very powerful. Since the ‘First Strike’ effect was applied to the lightning, the power was multiplied several times.

With a rolling noise, white lightning sprang up in a radius of 40 meters from Sang Hyuk, and they all swallowed the awakened Giant Spiders. While the spiders were strong, they were unable to endure the sheer power behind Sang Hyuk’s lightning.

As a result, the spiders were all eradicated due to the lightning, all at the same time. There were many items fallen where the spiders had been, and there were also sunstones.

‘Whew, not bad.’

Sang Hyuk complimented himself and picked up the wires that still sparked electricity as they were stuck in the earth. While the current entered Sang Hyuk’s body, he did not suffer any damage. He collected the items after putting away the Blood Wire. Sang Hyuk did not care about his other loot and only wanted to know how many sunstones had dropped.

‘Twelve…it’s not bad to think that twelve fell out of thirty four.’

Sang Hyuk had thought there would be less than ten, and even that number justified to Sang Hyuk’s hunting method, and he would continue to do so.

‘Let’s go to the next point.’

Sang Hyuk opened the Pegasus Marking Book after collecting the drops. Since the Pegasus Marking Book allowed recall prices to be free within a certain area, there was no need to hesitate using recalls as much as Sang Hyuk wanted. He was going to hunt some ‘awakened Dire Wolves’ next.

Edited by Userunfriendly