Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
Pharos Dungeon entrance, Alexandria, Egypt…
There were plenty of places for me to hunt. There was a high-grade dungeon at the Faroe Islands under Werewolf control, and another in Siberia under Sunbin control, but I decided to come here instead. Hell, there was even a dedicated Teleporter connected to the Siberian dungeon in Seoul, but I still came here for one reason only. It was that I had been relying on Sunbin too often these days.
They’d done so much for me the past couple of weeks, especially when they agreed to take my family into their territory. Maybe I was overreacting and being to calculating over what was a simple favor, but I knew for sure that they wouldn’t have offered if they didn’t want something in return from me. They were probably sure that I knew the most about this new world.
“But none of that will matter. My goal since coming back to the past is the same; to get stronger than anyone else.” I wasn’t trying to get stronger to get treated better; that was just a perk that came with being strong. I shouldn’t need to worry about that.
“Right, I shouldn’t worry about it too much; it’s all in goodwill.” I let out my worries and happily looked upon the Pharos dungeon entrance.
“It’s been a month since I last came to a dungeon.” It had taken a month to prepare for the battle against Yung Gong that only lasted a day. My allies needed to cross over to Korea as secretly as possible, which required quite a bit of time.
I entered the dungeon with light footsteps. A powerful dungeon that required strong teamwork was the perfect playground for me.
“It’s been a while, Crocs.” I pulled my spear out as soon as I saw the Mutated Crocs and Giant Crocs by the entrance. “Mana Conversion – Fire. Warrior’s Brave Spirit.”
==[Mana Conversion – Fire Level 2 has been activated.]==
==[Warrior’s Brave Spirit Level 1 has been activated.]==
Mana Conversion would probably be enough against these monsters, but I wanted to hurry and level up Warrior’s Brave Spirit. I decided to not activate Howl of the Wolf because of its longer cooldown.
“Time to play. Judge’s Gavel!” I started off by using Judge’s Gavel on a single Mutated Croc.
—
While Lee Jiwon was busy hunting Crocs in Alexandria, three men had arrived at the Sunbin Guild’s headquarters. One man was Samuel Miller, Daniel Miller’s eldest son and captain of the Shire’s Assault team Two. The others were Samuel’s supporting officers.
“You contacted them beforehand, right?”
“Yes, sir. I already let them know that we’d be arriving today, and they agreed to this meeting,” replied the foreign affairs officer.
“I see. I have noticed that things are quiet here even though they just defeated Cheng Long and Nayuta. They’re not even preparing for a counterattack or anything.”
“Because they know Cheng Long and Nayuta won’t try to escalate to a full-scale war.”
“Cheng Long and Nayuta were properly punished for their trolling; they’re probably too embarrassed to try anything so soon.”
“That makes sense. Let’s go in.” Samuel and his two officers entered the peaceful building and soon met with Song Myungsoo. The three Americans hadn’t expected Song Daechul to come to the meeting in the first place, since their own guild master hadn’t come as well. They were satisfied with just being able to meet with Song Myungsoo.
“How have you been, Vice-master Song?”
“I’ve been well. It’s been a while, Samuel. It’s been three years, hasn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Is your father well?”
“He is, sir, thanks to you.”
The Shire Guild had developed a relationship with the Sunbin Guild a few years back and had maintained it. They had even paid Song Haein fifty million golden rings to bring her over to America and raid a mid-grade dungeon with her.
The Shire Guild cared more about experience than golden rings when it came to the Sunbin Guild. It was obvious the Sunbin Guild was different than other guilds from the start. It wasn’t official, but the Sunbin Guild was known to be the first Guild to successfully raid a low and mid-grade dungeon.
The Shire Guild decided to invest heavily in the Sunbin Guild to learn from the Korean guild. Many members of the American guild believed that this was a wasteful decision, but soon learned that it was the best decision they could have ever made when the Shire Guild quickly became the number one guild in America.
“Now then. What brings you all the way here?” Song Myungsoo asked Samuel.
“We wanted to ask you to help us with one thing.”
“Help you with what?”
“I believe you know of the Spencer Guild.”
“I do. They control Chicago, and they’re your biggest competitors, right?”
“That’s right, sir. They are also one of America’s top five guilds.”
“What about them?”
“We are currently competing with them over a newly discovered high-grade dungeon. The winner of the competition gets the sole rights to that dungeon.”
“Oh ho~” Song Myungsoo whistled in amazement. “But for the Shire Guild to come seeking for help…it must be one powerful dungeon.”
“It is. We poured everything we have in to try to clear it, but we’ve failed three times already.”
“Damn shame…”
Before the Shire Guild sent its people, they had discussed just how much they should reveal to the Sunbin Guild. They decided it was best to reveal everything, and that was what Samuel was doing.
“But from what I know, there isn’t much difference in our guilds’ raiding abilities,” Song Myungsoo said.
Raiding and battle strength in guilds were very different. Raiding required being able to adapt to different dungeon boss monsters’ attack patterns. That included having multiple strong tanks and enough magic DPS, physical DPS, and healers/supporters. The Shire and Sunbin Guilds were actually similar in that aspect.
“Thank you for the compliment. That’s why… we wanted to ask Jiwon Lee for his help.”
“Jiwon…?” Song Myungsoo was taken aback when Samuel said Lee Jiwon’s name. Sunbin had put in a lot of work into obtaining him as an ally, and they weren’t about to let him go when they had just accepted his family into their territory. But Myungsoo also knew that they wouldn’t be able to block the Shire’s advances for very long.
“Yes sir. We would like you to at least contact him for us. If you do, we can take it from there.”
Song Myungsoo chuckled. “I can easily do that for you. I’ll make sure to give him a call so don’t worry about it.”
“Thank you, sir.”
—
==[You have gained a level.]==
“This dungeon really is the best place to hunt.”
Trolls and Crocs really were the most fun to hunt, with their thick hides and high DEF. To put simply, I liked how ‘meaty’ it felt when I cut them down. The biggest difference was that the Trolls back at the Faroe Islands travelled in hordes. By the third floor, more than fifty of them moved together. While that meant I could get more EXP at once, it also meant that I would tire out faster. The Crocs here yielded less EXP but not by a noticeable difference, and I could hunt more during the day.
“Store,” I chanted as I pointed at the Croc Teeth and Croc Hides, storing them in the Infinite Space. At that moment, my Comm Link began to ring. “Is it Mom?” My mother had been calling me the most these days.
I quickly picked up the Comm Link.
“Jiwon, it’s Song Myungsoo.”
“Oh, hello.”
“Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“No, it’s alright. I can talk.”
“Good. Have you heard about the Shire Guild in America?”
“Yes, I know of them.” There was no way I didn’t know about them. That was the number 1 guild in America. They were so famous that even I had heard about them in the past.
“They want to meet with you.”
“Me?””
“That’s right. It’s nothing bad. They just wanted your help with something.”
“Umm…I am in the middle of hunting, though. It hasn’t been a week since I started.”
Just then, I heard another man’s voice through the Comm Link.
“Hello, Mr. Lee. My name is Samuel Miller. I am the captain of the Shire Guild’s Assault team Two. I would just like you to know that since I and my people have come here to ask for your help, we will be waiting for you here. Please, take all the time you need to hunt. We won’t mind.”
“I understand,” I replied and hung up. From what I could hear, it didn’t seem they were in a rush. “I guess I’ll stay for a month since I’m here.”
I raised my spear once more and charged at another Giant Croc.
—
Song Myungsoo and Samuel Miller didn’t know how Lee Jiwon preferred to hunt. To them, a week in a high-grade dungeon was a long time, but neither of them realized that that was too short for Lee Jiwon.
—
Twenty days later…
“Hey mom.” Lee Jiwon picked up his Comm Link when it rang while he rested at one of the Myth Guild’s FOB in the Pharos dungeon.
“Where are you right now?”
“Me? I’m hunting in a dungeon right now.”
“Do you know that the Shire Guild has been waiting for you for twenty days now?”
“The Shire Guild?”
“Yes, them.”
“I know. They said they were okay with waiting and that I should hunt…”
“That was twenty days ago!” Sung Sooyeon was beginning to realize just how well off her own son was these days. She had been receiving quite the royal treatment from Song Haechang, Song Haein, and people from the Myth Guild, the Ravi Guild and the Werewolf Clan. Sung Sooyeon knew that they weren’t doing that for her, but for her son, Lee Jiwon.
On one hand, she was proud that her own son was going around, receiving such kindness from all these great people. On the other hand, she was getting worried as Lee Jiwon was beginning to surround himself with thorns, but was none the wiser. She didn’t get to raise him, but she knew as his mother.
Sung Sooyeon couldn’t help but be careful around him as she had finally met her only son after so many years, but she had to put her foot down about this. She knew that it wasn’t right as a mother to be too careful around her own son, no matter how well off he was.
“Get over here. NOW!”
“O…okay.”
Sung Sooyeon hung up her Comm Link once she heard her son’s answer and turned to smile at the people from the Shire Guild and the Sunbin Guild. “He said he’s on his way.”
“Oh… thank you.”
The people from the Shire, Sunbin, Myth and Ravi Guilds and from the Werewolf Clan stared at Sung Sooyeon, wide-eyed. They had just witnessed a new side to the always confident Lee Jiwon and finally saw the way to hold on to Lee Jiwon.
—
The next morning…
“Hello. My name is Samuel Miller and I’m the captain of the Shire Guild’s Assault team Two.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Lee Jiwon.”
“These two are my officers, who came here to help me.”
“I see. It’s a pleasure to meet you both as well.”
I had invited the three Americans to my new home and we were seated in the living room of my house.
My mother poured us all some tea. “I’ll leave you all to talk.”
“Yes ma’am! Thank you very much!”
I stayed seated, but it was weird to see Samuel bolt up from his seat and bow as my mother left the room.
“So, what’s this about?”
“Oh, right. I would like to first apologize for getting in the way of your hunt.”
“No, it’s alright. It was about time for me to finish up anyway.”
“The Shire Guild has recently discovered a high-grade dungeon. Unfortunately, another guild discovered it the same time we did, and we are currently competing for its ownership.”
“Through its boss monster?”
“That’s right. Whichever guild defeats the dungeon’s boss monster the fastest will gain the dungeon, but both sides have failed three times already. That’s why we came here to meet you; to ask you for your help.”
“Hmm…” A high-grade dungeon boss monster raid was extremely difficult. These boss monsters were so strong that I remember the strongest deities and devas in the past had trouble facing them.
But the Shire Guild had failed to defeat this one three times. That actually made me curious to find out just how strong that boss monster was.
“We will of course reward you sufficiently for your help.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that part. A reward for a high-grade dungeon was going to be nothing to scoff at, especially if it came from the Shire Guild.
