Chapter 30. Shadowline and its Master (1)

Sanguine Knowledge ‘Wyvern Blood’ [unused]

: Allows you to succeed the strong power contained within the wyvern blood. You can overcome your physical limits through wyvern blood and be reborn into a new race.

Effects : Wyvern’s Skin(B)[Increase in physical, magical defense.], Wyvern’s Strength(A)[Strength and agility increases by 1.5 and movement speed increases by 20%.] Wyvern’s Regeneration(B)[HP and MP recovery speed accelerates.]

Bloodline skill : Wyvern’s Roar(A)[Roar loudly to burn your passion. Decreases maximum HP and movement speed for all enemies within 10m radius for 10 minutes and increase your own HP and attack power.>Cooldown time : 20 minutes<]

Bonus effect : All wyvern-type monsters do not attack you first, and you may tame wyverns easily with the appropriate skills.

From a glance, Sanguine Knowledge was a complete one, unlike Ancient Knowledge.

Since it was the succession of a bloodline, it could only be like that. However, Sanguine Knowledge was just as hard to get as legendary-grade items. From how Sanghyuk couldn’t get even one ‘Wyvern Blood’ after numerous tries in his previous life, it could be seen that the drop rate was incredibly low.

‘Wyvern Blood…… it’s definitely not bad. No, in fact, I’ll be hard-pressed to find anything better than this. However, this isn’t something that’s suited to me. I did indeed leave out my last Soul Hole for a Sanguine Knowledge, but the Sanguine Knowledge I want is something else.’

The Sanguine Knowledge that Sanghyuk was aiming for wasn’t something that he could currently acquire.

‘If I absorb the Wyvern Blood, then it might boost me incredibly in the short term, but in the long run, it will be a loss. It’s better to stick to the plan.’

Sanghyuk looked further into the future. This was why he decided to draw the big picture he was drawing without seeking immediate benefits.

‘And I can sell this anyway so I won’t make a loss. In fact, if I put this out right now…… I might really cause an uproar.’

Right now, the users didn’t even know that there was something called the Sanguine Knowledge. However, if Wyvern Blood was revealed right now, the users’ attention would all swing this way.

‘Looks like I should think carefully about how to dispose of this.’

It wasn’t like he needed to sell it immediately so he decided that it would be better to sell it after he organized his thoughts.

Sanghyuk put the Wyvern Blood in the virtual warehouse at the bank and had a look at the emerald ring that he got as a quest reward.

Accessory-type items were relatively rare in EL, so it was an incredible stroke of luck to acquire a complete accessory like this.

Emerald ring [Rare]

– A ring made from the eye of the green wyvern. A mysterious power could be felt from it.

[Basic stats] Agility +20

[Special stats] Poison resistance +40

[Special effect] Detoxify(B) [Cures poison.]

‘Oho, this isn’t so bad.’

Sanghyuk nodded his head in satisfaction and equipped it immediately. These kind of items were better to be used than to be sold.

Other than the ring, the rest were just so-so. Sanghyuk organized all of them and put them up on the commissioned sales store. And since he was there, he bought various cheap craft items.

Having finished organizing, Sanghyuk went his way to the ‘Dusk Pavilion’, the place most users gathered in Falcon City.

The Dusk Pavilion was a very large drinking house. Since EL sold various alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks through PPL (product placement) contracts, the numerous drinks of the world could be tasted in the Dusk Pavilion.

Not only that, a master chef NPC was there and he had no dish that he couldn’t cook, so users could also taste the thousands of dishes across the world.

There were many users that fell in love with the cooking contents. Some of them later went on to become better chefs than the master chef NPC and acquired greater fame than even real life chefs.

Not only that, there were tablet PCs installed in the tables of the pavilion that allowed for ‘internet connection’. This was impossible anywhere else and was only allowed in the Dusk Pavilion.

Delicious food and drinks, as well as internet searches lead to many users flocking to this place, and with that being the case, this place was landmarked as the meet-up place.

“Looking for long-range dealers for sewer dungeon!”

“Looking for a healer and a tanker for Snake Caves entrance.”

“Anyone looking for a melee dagger dealer? I have confidence in my damage!”

……

……

Many users put up speech bubble macros for seeking a party in the Dusk Pavilion. Honestly, shouting it out loud was an annoying thing to do, so everyone put up macros above their heads while they ate or surfed the internet.

Sanghyuk wasn’t here to look for a party, so he sat on an empty seat before ordering some food and looking around the internet. Since he was focused on fighting in Wyvern’s Nest, he didn’t know the current state of the world of EL.

In the end, EL was a world that he had to live with countless other people, so he couldn’t just do everything alone and expect everything to go his way.

He had to do well himself and also had to watch how others were doing.

‘Oho, the first guild to conquer the sewer dungeon is neither Terrícŭlum nor Rising but Redline? Wait, did the future change because of me? I don’t think that’s the case……. But it looks like Harkan’s Iron Shield will go to Red Sun.’

Red Sun was the guild master of Redline and later would become the first generation pro gamer. His abilities were on the okay side, but couldn’t be considered ‘exceptional’.

‘Snake Caves became a mess like I expected and…… huh!?’

Sanghyuk found something while looking at the hot topics on the community forums.

‘Dammit, no matter how I think about it, this is the chain quest that leads to Wyvern’s Nest…… and it’s almost over?’

Unfortunately, the thing Sanghyuk didn’t want seemed that it would happen soon.

‘Hmm, around a week…… and ten days at most. That will be the time Wyvern’s Nest will be revealed.’

Honestly, there wouldn’t be any problem if it was only the users from the quest that came to Wyvern’s Nest. Wyvern’s Nest wasn’t small at all, so he just had to give some room to the other users.

However, places like Wyvern’s Nest where the rewards were quite good to compensate for the difficulty could only be revealed to the community. Especially since highest-ranking users were running out of hunting fields.

‘Looks like I should suck out as much juice as possible within the next week.’

Sanghyuk stood up after looking around the web for half an hour more. He originally had something to do, but it looked like squeezing out the juice from Wyvern’s Nest would take priority.

***

9 days.

In exactly 9 days, the first party of five appeared on the entrance of Wyvern’s Nest. They were making joyous expressions as though they found the new continent.

“Wow, to think there was a hunting field in a place like this…….”

“It’s a high-level hunting field from a glance. I’ll need to use ‘Detect’ skill up close, but those wyverns…… they are definitely strong monsters.”

“As strong as they are, their loot should be good as well. Oh! And now that I think about it, the expensive wyvern skin and teeth and claws are from here? Wait…… doesn’t that mean we’re not the first ones here?’

“Eek? Really? We got through this hellish 22-chain quest…….”

“Urgh, I still get nauseous when I think about it…….”

“We cleared it easily thanks to the guild pushing our backs. The other parties are still stuck in the chain quests. Just which guild was able to come here first?”

They realized an incredibly frightening, yet important fact. However, just as they were coming to a realization, Sanghyuk was climbing down with another set of vines.

‘I don’t need to reveal myself already. Leaving the hunting field is a bit of pity, but I sucked out as much juice as possible, and I need to do some things before I leave the Land of Dusk, so let’s just give it up.

-There’s a user that solos a high-level wyvern monster- wasn’t something that Sanghyuk want rumors about. Of course, he wasn’t planning to hide forever. However, he was planning to stay low in the Land of Dusk and escape it faster than anyone to traverse the wide continent.

Having come back to Falcon City, Sanghyuk released wyvern skins, claws and teeth at a lower price and in larger quantities. Actually, he was releasing his stocks like this starting a few days ago.

The supply for wyvern skins, claws and teeth were very small, so they were sold out as soon as he put them on sale. Sanghyuk had cleared almost all of his stock like this.

‘Once they gather people and hunt for real, the prices will keep dropping.’

After clearing out his items, Sanghyuk started preparing the final and most difficult objective he had to do in the Land of Dusk.

This objective was something even he didn’t have the confidence to succeed in as someone who came to the past. In the first place, this was something that no one could challenge in his previous life so he couldn’t predict the success and failure of this matter.

Sanghyuk first went to look for Tokan, who he had the highest familiarity with and at the same time, a considerable influence on Falcon City. The information Sanghyuk had was limited, so he had to use the NPCs if he wanted more information.

“Hmm…… ‘The Lord of the Footless Horse’, you say…… I don’t know. That’s someone I haven’t heard of before.”

After pondering for a long time, Tokan shook his head. If even Tokan, one of the top three NPCs of Falcon City in terms of influence, didn’t know, Sanghyuk didn’t feel that this was going to be easy.

“Oh! Don’t be disappointed, and go to Vaize. He might know something.”

The ‘Seeker’ Vaize. Sanghyuk was planning to go look for him anyway if Tokan didn’t work out.

“Yes, I shall do that.”

Sanghyuk politely bid goodbye to Tokan and headed to Vaize’s research lab.

Fortunately, Sanghyuk could meet Vaize directly without any letter of introduction thanks to Tokan’s letter of recommendation and the fact that he learned elementalism.

Although not as much as Tokan, Vaize wasn’t an NPC that anyone could meet. Since he was at the center of many important quests, many users tried to meet with Vaize.

Perhaps due to that, when Sanghyuk entered Vaize’s laboratory without doing anything, the users who waited outside the laboratory in wait of Vaize looked at the door that Sanghyuk just entered.

“Wh, what the hell?…… Did that guy just enter without any letter of introduction?”

“Did you see his face? It was a user right?”

“He had a hood on so I didn’t see his face, but I think he is a user.”

“Dammit, I’ve been stuck here for days to get inside…… so annoying.”

“I should ask how he raised his familiarity with Vaize later when he comes out.”

“You’re naïve. Do you think that user will tell you? You’re better off asking in InGamez.”

“But is there really a way to raise familiarity with Vaize? Just getting the letter of introduction was so hard.”

“There’s a rumor that there’s a tier on each letter of introduction, so it’s hard to meet with Vaize with a low-ranked letter of introduction.”

“Dood, that’s such an annoying NPC.”

While users discussed how to meet with Vaize, Sanghyuk was meeting with Vaize alone.

“The Lord of the Footless Horse, you say…….”

“Yes, I wish to meet him.”

“Why are you trying to meet him?”

Vaize looked at Sanghyuk with a very serious gaze.

“I have something I want to prove to him.”

This was the important part. The words he was about to speak here were from virtual sources he had recreated with what little materials he had gathered in his previous life.

If these sources worked, then the situation would go as Sanghyuk wished to, and if it didn’t, then he may as well be kicked out without achieving his objective.

“Prove? Prove what?”

Sanghyuk could read the faint emotions behind Vaize’s expression when he heard that question.

‘This guy, he’s definitely related!’

It was a little funny to battle with wits with an NPC and not a real user, but Sanghyuk felt that this was the time to bet everything.

“The empty seat of the master of the Shadowline. I am planning to prove that I have the qualifications to take that throne.”

The bomb was thrown. What remained now was to wait to see how that bomb exploded.