Ian liked grinding.
‘Grinding would never betray me.’
Different from reality, in games, how much effort you gave was digitized and appeared as stats.
This was the reason why Ian loved games.
‘Just because I study English in reality for two hours doesn’t mean that my English skill increases by two hours worth, no? Even if it did increase, there’s no way to check it.’
However, in Kailan, if he hunted, the thing called ‘EXP’ was digitized and increased, and if he used a skill, the figure called ‘Proficiency’ increased.
How rational of a system was this?
But that didn’t mean that Ian’s style was to idiotically grind without thinking.
Since the saying, ‘Grinding that cannot pull the greatest efficiency is not true grinding’, was the same as Ian’s game motto.
‘Instead of raising the skill proficiency of a useless skill or fortifying an item with poor efficiency, I’d rather shovel the air.’
That’s why Ian always researched and researched again.
Digging into the weak point of the system that others cannot find and obtaining the greatest profit, as well as the pleasure in finding a faster path than other users and growing were the driving forces of why Ian gamed.
If in the case that there was a course called ‘Kailan’ amongst the courses in school, he would have had more than enough passion to reach 1st place within the whole school.
However, unfortunately, there was no such course in reality.
As that was the case, the grade that was printed on Ian’s report card was incredibly terrible.
Ian’s credit average of one semester was a whopping 0.55 out of a perfect score of 4.5 points.
Surprisingly, it was a standard that was lower than the eyesight of a grandpa who was heading into his eighties.
‘It’s okay, since the professor said that he would save me from academic probation.’
Remembering his grade, which was so low that it wouldn’t be weird if he didn’t only just receive academic probation but expulsion if it wasn’t for Professor Lee Jinook, Ian shook his head violently in order to dismiss such distracting thoughts.
“Whew, on that note, should I just catch four more and rest?”
The Familiars that heard Ian’s mumbling began to move even more passionately.
“Guys, owner guy said that if we just catch four more, he’ll rest.”
Kku-ruk- Kku-ruk-!
“Halli, what are you doing over there? Don’t dawdle over there and move quickly!”
And the retainers, who also got a hint of the situation, were no different.
Even Celia, who was endlessly passive in battle normally, suddenly turned aggressive.
“Kaizar, where is there time to rest right now? Move quickly. Paulean, you also come here!”
And through the tearful efforts of the party, Ian was quickly able to reach his goal.
• You have succeeded in capturing Low-rank Magical Beast ‘Beager’.
• The Class Proficiency of dual class ‘Devil Summoner – Magical Beast Transmuter’ has increased by 0.15%.
• You have succeeded in capturing Low-rank Magical Beast ‘Shyupulee’.
• The Class Proficiency of dual class ‘Devil Summoner – Magical Beast Transmuter’ has increased by 0.15%.
“Whew, great work, everyone, we’ll have a short break now!”
As soon as Ian said those words, all of his Familiars plopped down on the spot.
“Huff, huff… Finally, a break!”
And as soon as Bbakbbak collapsed on the spot, the retainers quickly approached him and sat down leaning against Bbakbbak’s giant shell.
“As expected, Bbakbbak is the best.”
“Bbakbbak, we’ll be borrowing a bit of your shell.”
After looking at that scene for a moment, Ian smirked before he opened the magical beast information window.
Ian’s Magical Beast Alchemy grind began again.
Until he used up all of the ingredients he had caught, he wasn’t planning on standing up from his spot.
• You have successfully completed ‘Magical Beast Alchemy’!
• The Proficiency of ‘Magical Beast Alchemy’ has increased by 1.0%.
• Alchemy Rank: C+
• You have successfully completed ‘Magical Beast Alchemy’!
• The Proficiency of ‘Magical Beast Alchemy’ has increased by 1.2%.
• Alchemy Rank: B-
• You have failed at ‘Magical Beast Alchemy’.
• The Affinity of the main ingredient, the ‘Beager’, has decreased by 5.
• The sub-ingredient, the ‘Shyupulee’, has been extinguished.
A rank of B+ came out at once for Ian’s first Magical Beast Alchemy, but alchemy didn’t always go that well.
‘It’s probably because I had a probability calibration as it was my first try at alchemy.’
After the dozens of tries he attempted after that, the number of times that Ian had succeeded in transmutation with a rank B or higher and received a High-rank Magical Beast was a total of 5 times.
Still, because the higher his Proficiency, the higher his success frequency was getting, Ian’s grinding was gaining more momentum.
‘I wonder what my Proficiency is at now…’
Ian opened his skill window and checked the Proficiency of his Magical Beast Alchemy skill.
• Magical Beast Alchemy: Lv 0 (Proficiency – 73.3%)
‘Alright, if I just grind a little harder until tomorrow morning now, I think I should be able to reach lv 1.’
However, just then, Kaizar approached Ian’s side, who was being satisfied while grinding.
“Lord guy.”
“Why do you call me, retainer guy.”
Because he had gathered quite a lot of Affinity with Kaizar and even his Loyalty was over 50 before Ian had realized, he had been confronting Kaizar openly.
“Where is it that we’re going to right now, though?”
“Huh?”
“We’re continuously going deeper into the Devildom. As there’s no destination, the retainers are curious.”
“Hmm…”
“By any chance, are you thinking of continuously grinding and returning to the laboratory again?”
The current place that Ian’s party was located in was Zone 103 of the Devildom.
As they were moving while basically capturing or hunting all of the magical beasts that were seen, the speed that the party was moving at was incredibly slow.
However, even if that was the case, as they were moving to a lower number zone little by little, Kaizar had asked.
“While continuously hunting like this, we’re going to move to the City of Rage.”
At Ian’s unexpected words, Kaizar asked back immediately.
“The City of Rage?”
Ian nodded his head as he replied.
“Yeah, there’s a new family member that we need to bring from over there.”
The retainers, including Kaizar, couldn’t go into the City of Rage.
As that was the case, they had absolutely no idea as to what happened inside there.
Of course, there was no way that they would know about the part on the case with ‘Yankoun’.
“New family member? Are you going to obtain a new magical beast or Familiar?”
At that, Ian just smirked without any response.
‘Keu-keu, this Kaizar guy is now going to have a master…’
Kaizar’s level also increased by an incredible amount compared to when Ian first let him in as a retainer.
It was to the point that currently, Kaizar’s level was even over 280.
Of course, compared to Ian, who hadn’t quite yet hit lv 200, it was a colossal level, but compared to Yankoun, it could be considered the standard of a child.
‘I’m anticipating the two’s meeting.’
Ian grinned as he continued his Magical Beast Alchemy grind, while Kaizar, after he shrugged his shoulders once, returned to Bbakbbak’s side.
Even while Ian was grinding, he constantly thought about his future plans.
‘Now that my Summoning is over Master Level 4… And since I’ve also succeeded in obtaining a dual class, I feel like it’s time for me to visit Iriel.’
Ian had not been able to proceed with the hidden quest, the ‘Shadow of the Evil Dragon Khalifa’, which he received from Iriel a long time ago.
This was because the condition to proceed in the quest was for him to have a Master level 3 in Summoning.
‘Whew, it’s even been over half a year since I’ve received the quest, but to only be able to do it now…’
If it was anybody else, more than enough time had passed for the quest to have been forgotten, but there was no way that meticulous Ian would have forgotten something as incredible as a hidden quest.
Once the quest that Ian received from Seraphim was completed, he was planning on doing the Evil Dragon Khalifa quest before he proceeded with the next connected quest.
‘It is probably an incredibly important quest, for sure. Perhaps, it could be related to Karceus’s awakening.’
Even now, Karceus was an incredibly powerful Legendary-rank dragon.
However, once he was awakened, it was certain that he would become a Mythological-rank.
‘Keu… A Mythological-rank, huh. It’s a rank that I have yet to even see. Even just thinking about it puts butterflies in my stomach.’
Ian’s assignments were piled up like a mountain to the point that it was not weird with normal users as the standard to be overloaded, but he was slowly resolving them and moving on one by one.
Like that, a day in the Devildom passed by quickly today as well.
* * *
Hoonie and Canoel were able to pierce through to Zone 100 within a comparably faster time.
There was the fact that their abilities were exceptional, but that reason wasn’t all of it.
The biggest reason was the fact that the two people had killed the chief gatekeeper of Zone 110.
Because of that, tons of people poured in at once, and as hundreds of people moved towards Zone 100 at the same time, they were much faster than when a couple of rankers pierced through individually.
And in front of the eyes of the two people, who arrived at Zone 100, there was the giant castle of the City of Rage.
“Keu, it looks like that’s the City of Rage, hyung.”
At Hoonie’s words, Canoel nodded his head with a pleased expression as he replied.
“It seems so. Are we also finally able to enjoy the full-scale content of the Devildom now?”
With deeply moved expressions, the two people began to walk quickly towards the City of Rage.
“Hoonie, you said that we needed to do the public order quest in order to go into the City of Rage, right?”
Hoonie nodded his head.
“Yeah, that’s right. Someone had uploaded the attack to the community. Was it Ceilron of the Titan Guild? The Blazing Knight or whatever.”
Normally, the user that first discovers content doesn’t release the attack or information on it immediately into the community.
However, after a period of time passes, it was normal for someone in accordance with a guild to upload the attack before someone else did.
This was because that was a big help to the image of the guild, and if the view count of the attack went up, there was a reward in accordance with the official community.
As that was the case, as soon as Ceilron heard that the chief gatekeeper of Zone 110 was killed, he had quickly uploaded the attack in the name of his guild.
Canoel asked with a worried expression.
“I also read through all of the attack that was uploaded, but don’t you think that it will be a little difficult to do it with just the strength of us two? I heard that even the Titan Guild proceeded with a full party…”
Hoonie nodded his head.
“I also saw that. But it seems that the Titan Guild full party cleared the quest quite leisurely in comparison… I think that even if we just gather about 5-10 more people, it will be possible to clear.”
Canoel rubbed his chin as he mumbled.
“Hmm, do we have to at least whisper to the people who fought the chief gatekeeper of Zone 110 with us?”
Just then, while the two people were contemplating about the public order quest, a message popped up in front of Hoonie’s eyes.
Ring-.
• Ceilron: Hello, this is ‘Kanjihoonie’, correct?
Hoonie couldn’t help but be startled out of his wits.
“What the hell, this guy! Speak of the devil…!”
Meanwhile, Canoel, who couldn’t see the message, answered with a perplexed expression.
“What are you suddenly talking about, Hoonie?”
And before Hoonie even sent a response message, another message arrived from Ceilron.
• Ceilron: I believe that you would have arrived near the City of Rage now… We will help you with the public order quest. What do you think?
* * *
Ian, who had arrived at the City of Rage, immediately stopped by Seraphim’s and checked on the news about Yankoun.
“Seraphim, I’ve returned after obtaining a dual class.”
“Ooh, you’ve arrived sooner than I expected.”
“What happened to Yankoun? Has he been released from the Tower of Punishment?”
At Ian’s words, Seraphim nodded his head as he replied.
“Of course. I immediately took action.”
“Thank you.”
“Not at all. To be honest, rather than my strength, it was mostly thanks to you. You had already solved all of the problems that were crimes of Yankoun, so how hard could it have been to release him?”
Ian slightly bowed his head.
“Either way, thank you for your hard work. Then, I will go and meet Yankoun. Where is he right now?”
“Please do. Yankoun is probably staying at the giant inn that’s in front of the east gate of the City of Rage. He is probably waiting for you.”
“Understood!”
The corners of Ian’s mouth curled upwards.
‘Keu! Am I finally obtaining a High-rank Devil… No, a soon-to-be Noblesse subordinate with stellar specs now?’
Ian turned around and began to walk with a broad grin, and towards his backside, Seraphim added on.
“You now have 18 days left!”
At Seraphim’s random and groundless words, Ian momentarily stopped his footsteps.
“Sorry?”
“I’m talking about you having to meet Ricardo and handing him my letter. I’m saying that you need to do it within 18 days from now on.”
Ian smiled as he nodded his head.
This was because he had been thinking about it.
“Ah… Of course! After I meet with Yankoun, I’m going to head off immediately, so do not worry.”
With those words as the end, Ian left Seraphim’s house quickly, and he headed towards the inn that Yankoun was apparently staying at.
‘Let’s see here…. He said that it was the biggest inn from the front of the east gate, right?’
Because that place was located in an area that was not far from Seraphim’s house, Ian was able to arrive soon.
Creak-!
‘Let’s see here… Do I just need to ask the owner of the pub where Yankoun’s room is?’
Ian entered the pub and looked around.
This was because, as the pub was quite large, he couldn’t even really see the location of the counter.
“Hmm…”
However, just then, a husky voice could be heard from behind Ian.
“Have you returned, Ian?”
Ian reflexively turned his head.
And the owner of that voice that was incredibly familiar was also ‘him’, who Ian had been looking for.
