Chapter 68 – Dark Elven City

Sungjin opened his eyes. The ceiling came into view.

‘Uh…’

He was just going to close his eyes for a moment, but he had overslept. Sungjin quickly stood up to look out the window. The sun was high up in the sky of the Black Market.

“Operator, how much time do I have left until the Raid?”

[1 hour 21 minutes 21 seconds remaining]

It wasn’t too late. He could still have breakfast and prepare for the raid. Sungjin first allocated his stats.

“Allocate 2000 to Strength, 2000 to Dexterity, 1000 to Endurance, 1000 to Magic Power, and 2153 to Mind Power.”

[Applied.]

“Show me my stats.”

Title: Adjudicator

HP: 61120 MP: 68800

Strength 9674 8412 (+1262)

Dexterity 10457 9093 (+1364)

Endurance 6112 5315 (+797)

Magic Power 3587 3119 (+468)

Mind Power 6880 5983 (+897)

Unallocated Points: 0

Sungjin saw the status window for the first time in a while. His growth was coming along well. Despite receiving only half of the Master Hunter Passive, his Dexterity was still over 10,000.

His stats were high enough to assassinate any ordinary Hunter with ease. The only problem was making sure not to become overconfident and underestimate his opponents.

Especially since the skills attached to equipments become more important than the status themselves. In order to maintain this level of overwhelming superiority, Sungjin needs to collect Coins diligently.

Once Status allocation was done, Sungjin stood up and picked up the information sheet on his way down to the dining area.

“Dalupin, please make me…Abalone rice porridge for breakfast.”

“Understood.”

Once the breakfast was ordered, he sat down at the nearest table. Cain came by and wagged his tail. While Sungjin was greeting Cain, Soldamyr came to greet him as well.

“Have you slept well, Master?”

Sungjin motioned for Soldamyr to come closer.

“Come here for a sec. We need to discuss about our plans for the next chapter.”

Soldamyr came closer upon request. Sungjin asked

“I think we need to beat the Raid faster than ever before… Is there a good method?”

Soldamyr tilted his head and asked

“Faster?”

Yes. We’re fast now, but even faster.”

Soldamyr stroked his chin. Since he didn’t have an opportunity to experience jumping dimensions, he didn’t understand why Sungjin was chasing for an earlier clear time.

Sungjin took out the three ‘Trollseeker Marble’ from within as he explained.

“I want to be able to clear the boss and hidden boss in the shortest time possible and then intervene in other raids.”

Soldamyr picked up one of the marbles.

“Ohh…”

Even without the help of the Operator’s status window, he seemed to know the effects of the Marble. It was as expected of Kutan’s best Mage. Sungjin picked up the ‘Information Sheet’ and had a look at it.

Information pertaining to Rudala – Dark Elven City

Boss Monster – ‘Mayan Priestess’ Kerenis

Time limit: 1 hour 30 minutes.

“Time available for this raid is only 1 hour and 30 minutes. Even if we can defeat the boss and the hidden boss within 30 minutes, it only leaves 20 minutes per realm. If you consider the time it takes to find and kill the trolls, it’s a fairly tight schedule, don’t you think?”

Soldamyr replied

“Can’t you just mow down the enemies as you have done thus far?”

“I could, and I have been until now. But now I want to minimize the time as much as possible. Even for me, I can’t help but use up time when dealing with normal mobs.

Soldamyr listened to Sungjin silently. Sungjin continued.

“And considering the effort that goes into killing normal mobs, it’s an inefficient use of time in terms of contribution points. Trying to fight multiple enemies without the help of item actives and spells take too long. But at the same time, those things should be saved for when I face Bosses, Secret bosses, or Trolls in other Dimensions. Right?”

Soldamyr nodded. Even if Sungjin had a monster of an advantage over the other hunters, trying to ‘sweep’ normal mobs without any help of items or spells would take a little bit of time.

“So in the end, I want to figure out a way for us to move the most efficient way possible. Understood?”

“Hmm…”

Soldamyr stroked his beard. Sungjin gazed down as he continued.

“And… as you saw in the last raid… If I kill all the mobs, I cause unintentional collateral damage. Since I will end up monopolizing all the resources.”

Soldamyr raised his eyebrows. His behavior seems to suggest ‘but you were fine doing so until now’. Sungjin felt obliged to say

“The reason why I monopolized all the points until now is because I had to grow strong enough to be able to make a difference. And to be fair, hunters who can’t make it to the top 0.01%…”

Sungjin swallowed before he continued.

“…don’t have enough proof of future potential. So I monopolized all the points knowing it would give heavy disadvantages to everyone else on my team… but this point forward I want to consider the big picture and help the hunters.”

Sungjin rolled the marbles on the table as he continued.

“Since I obtained a brand new income mechanism, I no longer have the need to monopolize everything. It would be more beneficial to spend that time hunting trolls instead.”

Soldamyr nodded again. He was a being of extraordinary intelligence and did not need additional information to understand.

“So, is there any way we could speed up the chapter clear time without causing problems for others?”

At his question, Soldamyr responded

“What about… assassinating the boss?”

“Assassinate? How?”

Soldamyr began chanting an incantation without further explanation.

“Walk the dark no matter the light, Shadow Walk”

A dark ‘light’ source appeared on his hand and shortly after Cain vanished.

“Hmm?”

While Sungjin was surprised, Soldamyr explained

“It is a black magic which can hide the presence of creatures in shadows. If you can reach a shadow within 5 seconds, you can maintain invisibility indefinitely. Otherwise, the spell effect wears off”

As he was speaking, Cain reemerged from invisibility. 5 seconds must have passed.

“If you use this as you move about… you could probably reach the boss without having to fight even once. If you do so, you’ll shorten the time needed to finish the raids without affecting everyone else’s contribution levels, am I right?”

Sungjin nodded. As long as it was not ‘kill x number to summon’ type boss, he would be able to pull off the assassination. And luckily the next boss ‘Priestess Kerenis’ was the ‘wait at a certain location’ type boss.

“But in order to do that… you would need to cast the magic from the very start.”

“If you don’t use any other spells, you can maintain the invisibility for up to 30 minutes.”

Sungjin nodded, but stopped and said

“But I can’t use this method every chapter. It’s too much of a loss of my power since it means that you won’t be able to assist me in battles much at all.”

Soldamyr lowered his head at Sungjin’s subtle praise.

“Then… if you visit the spell shop, you can find a higher rank magic called ‘Invisibility’. Because it is white magic, I am unable to cast it but… With your level of Mana, you should be able to use it without problem.”

“Hmm…”

Sungjin nodded and looked out the door towards the ‘Black Market’ in the distance.

Last time before he died, he had been to each of the five types of magic shop in order to sell Spell Scrolls. Sungjin looked towards the general direction of the Spell shop as he said

“Yes… until now I didn’t have any spare Coins to buy myself Spell Books outside of ones dropped by the bosses but… Now I should have surplus of coins, so it is a good time to start investing in Spells as well. I’ll make sure to visit the spell shop after the next raid. Please give me advice on what spells would benefit me most when we get there.”

Soldamyr gathered his hands and bowed as he answered.

“Understood, my Master.”

Having his master be interested in his area of expertise must have pleased him. The moment the conversation with Soldamyr was over…

“Excuse me sir…”

Dalupin asked. Sungjin turned to look at him. He was waiting a few steps away with a steaming bowl held on top of the tray he was holding onto. It was the Abalone rice porridge he had ordered.

“I know you are busy coming up with strategies but… if you wait too long, the porridge will lose its warmth and flavor…”

Dalupin carefully explained.

“Ah, please serve it now.”

Sungjin quickly accepted the dish.

“Thank you Dalupin. I’ll enjoy it.”

Dalupin bowed once and then returned to his spot. Sungjin picked up a spoonful of porridge and took a bite.

Perfectly sticky rice, scattered green onion and carrots, and the small shrimps of the porridge worked harmoniously to enhance the flavor. However, the main ingredient of Abalone rice porridge is obviously the Abalone slices.

‘Plenty of Abalone’

Dalupin always diligently accommodated Sungjin’s taste in food. The feeling of Abalone hidden within the rice gave it a pleasant chewing experience.

“Mmm~”

Sungjin mindlessly spooned away at the food. Meanwhile, the cube suddenly made an announcement.

[“Ra – Golden egg shook once]

It was a strange announcement. Sungjin put down the spoon he was holding and reread the announcement.

‘Ra…?’

Now that he thought of it, it was an item he had received from the previous raid. The hidden piece Golden egg. Sungjin paused his meal to ask the Operator

“Operator, let me see the egg.”

The Golden egg emerged from the Cube. Sungjin checked the egg as he picked up the spoon again.

‘…I don’t see any visible changes…?”

Sungjin held it up with his left hand. The Operator displayed the information window.

Rajen – Golden Egg

Heroic Egg

Passive Skill

Tremor of Beginning(II) – Will Tremble twice a day

The being sleeping within

Has not yet decided to be patrician.

‘I feel like something has changed from before…’

But it didn’t seem useful yet, so Sungjin checked the egg over one more time and then returned it back into the cube. There wasn’t much time left before the Raid starts. He resumed shoveling food into his mouth.

*

Inside the dark cave, white magical sources of light floated around. The orbs of light illuminated the gray structures of the city which were built vertically up into the cavern walls, where the buildings were constructed in steps like the arrangement of pinecone seeds.

Among those many buildings,

“KIIIii~”

An eerie screech reverberated in the air. The place Sungjin arrived was the underground Dark Elven City. The Operator gave an announcement.

[Welcome. This place is called the Rudala – Dark Elven City.]

[It is one of the smaller cities built by the Dark Elves.]

[But please be careful. A closed off community like this]

[tends to harbor ill will against outsiders.]

Sungjin tilted his head left and right to stretch himself out.

‘Finish both bosses in 30 minutes and spend 20 minutes per realm for trolls.’

Sungjin was pressed for time like never before. He breathed in deeply to prepare himself.

One good part was that he already knew where the hidden boss is hiding. Even with ‘Adjudicator’ equipped, he would be able to find both of the hidden elements in no time.

Sungjin took a moment to reminisce about the past. This was the first chapter he had come across the hidden boss at that time.

‘And… I almost died there.’

Sungjin couldn’t help but grin. He pulled out both of his swords.

‘Let’s see how much things changed… I can’t wait.’

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