Chapter 37 – Chapter 5: Entry #4
Since Chris was responsible for the work with the lizardmen, In-gong was given his first period of free time since entering this world.
‘I should use this opportunity to train harder.’
There was nothing for In-gong to do right now, so he just had to become stronger.
In-gong had a fairly realistic personality.
He didn’t know if he had entered a game world or a world similar to a game. So, what was important?
The reason why he entered this world? Survey the people in this world? Explore the world similar to playing a game?
It was all wrong. The most important thing was to survive.
If he died, then everything else would be for nothing. He couldn’t do anything unless he lived.
Fortunately, In-gong’s method for survival was pretty simple:
Become strong.
The strong wouldn’t die easily. If he got stronger, his position would be reinforced. There was a lot of work he had to do.
In-gong had built up tremendous merits in the battle against the Red Lightning tribe. Due to the merits, In-gong would be able to put his hand on more strength.
There were different means to become strong and In-gong wanted to be stronger than everyone else.
‘I need to make a plan.’
Until now, he had become stronger in a fairly random manner. He learnt many things but he didn’t feel like an all-rounder.
‘The basic things are Aura and Beast Authority.’
In-gong confirmed his course. It was due to the S rank Divine Beast Authority but also Earth Quaker. An S rank martial art and S rank hand weapon meeting each other was almost like destiny.
‘My hidden card is Telekinesis.’
Although Telekinesis was still weak, he had a clear image of how to use it. Instead of directly attacking the enemy, he was going to use Telekinesis for other purposes.
‘Unfortunately, magic will have to become secondary.’
Among the skills learnt, magic was the most numerous. The problem was that they were all level one.
‘Even having many low level spells is enough to become a magician.’
He would just have a little bit of recovery magic and secondary magic. The magic could be sometimes used to strike the enemy.
That should be enough. Even though In-gong was a protagonist, it was better to concentrate on a few abilities in the early stages.
‘There is Earth Quaker.’
In-gong looked around and after confirming there was no one in the tent, he activated the inventory. Earth Quaker was at the top of the inventory that contained dozens of objects.
‘Does it have a built-in ability?’
With S rank armour and weapons, special things were often built into them.
The mighty sword that Locke used had a built-in ‘Warrior’s Field’ that bombarded a wide range with Aura. When he played Zephyr, he liked picking Dragon Slayer and Dying Sleep which had ‘Dragon Strike’ and ‘Curse of Death’ built-in.
He had never found Earth Quaker in Knight Saga, so he didn’t know what type of special weapon it was. However, there was a possibility it would have a built-in technology.
‘Controlling the special skill… Earth Quaker can overcome a completely different level or ability.’
In-gong nodded quietly and closed his inventory window. He would have started practicing straight away but he had one more thing to think about.
‘Returning to the Demon King’s Palace.’
The fight against the Red Lightning tribe was, in a way, simple. He just had to fight the Red Lightning tribe. It was a simple battle without any compromises.
However, the Demon King’s Palace was different.
‘There are three factions in the Demon King’s Castle.’
In-gong placed a cup of water, a dagger and a kettle on the table.
The cup of water represented the eldest son of the Demon King, 1st Prince Baikal Ragnaros.
The dagger was the second and worst prince, 2nd Prince Zephyr Ragnaros.
The kettle was the 4th Princess Anastasia Nekrion.
Baikal and Zephyr were brothers but they each led different factions. In a historical drama, it would be a fight between the elder son, with a legitimate claim, and the powerful second son. However, it had been somewhat different in Knight Saga.
The order of birth had been meaningless in the war to become the Demon King’s successor. It was a structure where a pile of accomplishments were built and those who were more capable would stand at the top.
Baikal and Zephyr had been equally capable. While they received the support of their mother’s family, they had been proud that they had been able to stand alone above the other princes and princesses.
Dragon blood – they were draconians that inherited the blood of a great dragon species.
They had been the strongest among the families of the five queens.
‘Of the two, I prefer Baikal.’
To distinguish between the two of them, Baikal was a dove and Zephyr was a hawk. Since he was the oldest son, Baikal had treated the other children of the Demon King as siblings rather than enemies. When he played Zephyr, the warm Baikal would host the tea parties that other children of the Demon King participated in.
Baikal had been relatively safe until Year 516 when the lycanthrope subjugation occurred. After that day, Zephyr’s nature was exposed and the relationship between the brothers became the worst. Baikal had picked up his sword and maintained a moderate stance.
‘He would have been great if only the draconians weren’t enemies with the gandharva.’
One of the reasons why Shutra’s clan, the gandharva, was small was due to the clash with the draconians.
The gandharva had been reduced by more than half, thus making them mortal enemies.
‘I have to keep my distance from Zephyr.’
There was nothing good about getting close to him. Of the three factions, Zephyr had the second largest but that only lasted until the Day of Massacre. None of the Demon King’s children under Zephyr survived.
‘Anastasia… I don’t know. Would it be better to just keep a distance?’
The 4th Princess Anastasia Nekrion.
Her mother, the 2nd Queen Titania Nekrion was queen of the nighthags. (Nighthags/nightmares: a collective word for creatures that appear in dreams e.g. incubus and succubus)
Among the three major human desires, the nighthags were extremely involved in sexual desire while sleeping.
A gifted seductress – Anastasia was talented in enslavement and had many devoted servants under her. He wasn’t sure when, but at some point in Knight Saga, Silvan and Felicia had joined her faction.
‘If I manage to take Felicia and Silvan… there might be some friction.’
No, perhaps she would try to take In-gong from Chris.
‘I have to maintain my spirit.’
She was a succubus; an innate seducer and enslaver. He wondered if he could hold out if she decided to seriously acquire him.
‘Next are the Demon King’s bastard children.’
In addition to the five queens, there were more than 10 concubines. Although Wang Geon of the Goryeo Dynasty had used this system to control his enemies, the concubines of the Demon King differed by species.
There were roughly 20 of them. Unlike the legitimate children of the Demon King, they didn’t deserve to be called the successor of the Demon King. Therefore, they usually played support or management roles under the children of the Demon King.
The faces and names of the bastards In-gong encountered while playing Zephyr came to his head. There were those who truly adored Zephyr and those who In-gong liked. Yet, he had to get rid of all of them. It was a forced event, so In-gong had to curse every time he played it.
The dryad druid, Daphne.
The blood vampire knight, Silas.
The high elf archer, Selene.
‘Let’s see if I can gain as many of them as possible.’
Of course, he was currently Shutra, so he needed to accumulate more achievements to acquire them.
‘Anyway, this visit will be a scouting mission.’
In fact, he was apprehensive about what type of situation Shutra would be in. He didn’t have any information about Shutra’s situation in the Demon King’s Palace.
He didn’t know if there were any servants or maids in his home. No, was there even anyone to take care of Shutra?
‘This is like my debut in the Demon King’s Palace.’
He had quite a few merits, so his treatment would obviously improve. Additionally, perhaps the children of the Demon King and their followers would start paying attention to Shutra.
‘It’s okay, I’m not alone.’
He had Caitlin and Chris as strong allies and Felicia was likely to help him.
‘Okay, then shall I start training?’
In-gong cleared away the troublesome thoughts and took a deep breath. He started to earnestly train in Beast Authority.
&
The next morning.
Felicia headed to the ruins with some dark elves, stating that she would investigate a little bit before leaving. Meanwhile, Chris headed to the swamp for negotiations with the lizardmen.
Due to this, only In-gong, Vandal and Caitlin remained at the base.
Caitlin came to In-gong’s tent early in the morning.
“Today, I will start the special training. Are you ready?”
Unlike her normal appearance, she was wearing really thick clothes.
“I am ready.”
As In-gong replied confidently, Carack leaned towards Caitlin and said,
“Please do something. He does something else at night. It is his growing period, so I am worried about him not sleeping enough.”
He was more like In-gong’s nanny than his knight. ‘Doing something else at night.’ He didn’t know what he would say if Caitlin misunderstood.
However, there was no need to worry. Caitlin stared at In-gong before nodding toward Carack.
“Don’t worry. Starting from today, I will make sure he gets a good night’s sleep.”
Her expression said that she would force him if she had to.
Caitlin’s words weren’t a lie. The training wasn’t a joke and she made sure that In-gong didn’t train separately at night.
And on the 11th day of Caitlin’s training:
[The level of Beast Authority has risen.]
[The level of Aura has risen.]
Beast Authority and Aura had both become level five.
The moment that In-gong heard those words, Caitlin looked at him differently. She looked In-gong up and down and said.
“You learn really fast. This is…”
Caitlin, with a slightly clouded expression, looked around before whispering in In-gong’s ears,
“Should I introduce you to Divine Beast Authority?”
The fact that In-gong was learning Divine Beast Authority was a secret.
In-gong’s expression brightened as he exclaimed,
“Really?”
“Yes, I think it would be good to introduce you to Divine Beast Authority now. I am honestly really surprised. This is the first time I’ve seen someone learn so quickly.”
Although In-gong’s Aura level was too low to enter Divine Beast Authority, he had the minimum requirements necessary for the training course.
‘Hehe, the protagonist body.’
Of course, it was also thanks to investing some skill points in Aura. Otherwise, In-gong wouldn’t have qualified so quickly even with Protagonist Body.
Caitlin looked around again and said,
“Divine Beast Authority is an evolutionary version of Beast Authority. Now, I will teach you a new aura management method.”
Caitlin said in a sitting posture with In-gong and extended both hands forward. This had already happened a few times, so In-gong grabbed Caitlin’s hands naturally.
“I’ll start.”
Caitlin closed her eyes and a dark blue aura formed around her hands. The white aura produced from In-gong’s body started to circulate along with Caitlin’s aura.
At first, it seemed like Beast Authority.
However, In-gong could feel the difference in the depth.
Aura.
It was life force. Once it reached the ultimate state, it became the power of the soul.
In-gong had yet to reach the end of Aura. However, he roughly knew what the power of the soul was:
Conquest.
The brute power of subjugation.
It allowed him to feel a little piece of it. It was the first time In-gong felt true aura since beginning aura training.
One minute, two minutes, maybe a few hours or days – he didn’t know how much time passed.
As time flew passed, In-gong awakened naturally.
He could see Caitlin sitting in the darkness with her eyes closed.
[You have learnt Divine Beast Authority Lv1.]
[The level of Beast Authority has risen.]
[The level of Aura has risen.]
His understanding of aura itself had risen; he had crossed a wall.
And the last one…
Crossing the wall was an achievement.
[Your level has risen.]
A white light surrounded In-gong’s body.
