Chapter 40
At first, Carpe didn’t know who the person was referring to.
“Hm. I never thought we’d meet again here. Indeed, the ties from past lives are not easily severed.”
“Can’t seem to find suitable party members…”
“This could be fate. If you ever need help, I might be able to assist.”
“Oh, that person looks promising.”
“Here you are, Toushin!”
“No, who’s Toushin? Why are you being so noisy all of a sudden… huh?”
When he turned around, there stood a player dressed in a sleek ninja costume.
It wasn’t until Carpe saw him that memories from the first day of the game flooded back, and he realized that ‘Toushin’ was the term used to refer to himself.
“Oh? The One Piece Boss?”
“My connection with One Piece has already been severed. I wasn’t even the boss to begin with. I’m just passing through, a mere wanderer.”
“How did you recognize me? You look completely different from before.”
He had changed his hair color with an item and even flipped the hood of his robe. There was hardly any trace of the battle with One Piece, yet he was recognized instantly… quite impressive.
“Haha. No matter how much you change your appearance, the underlying aura cannot be hidden. I couldn’t possibly fail to recognize your sharp spirit.”
‘Who is this guy anyway?’
“Don’t ask me. I’m a Cherubim, a whole different league from a mere Heavenly Demon like him. How could I understand such genuine concept player thinking?”
Although it had been a few days since they last met, his speech was still as difficult to follow as ever.
“So, what brings you here? Are you seeking revenge from last time?”
“That’s absurd. Not accepting the rightful outcome is the behavior of a small-minded person. Meeting you again was purely coincidental.”
“Hmm.”
He didn’t feel like an enemy at all. In fact, he seemed genuinely pleased to see him.
Carpe couldn’t understand why he was so happy to see the person who had killed him, but there was an undeniable sense of relief.
“It’s certain that you’ve come here to undertake the Sea Cave quest.”
The person in the ninja costume, Hanjo, brought up the matter directly.
“I’m here for the same reason. How about it? Fighting together seems better than cooperating with others, considering we’ve already synchronized our breathing.”
“Synchronized breathing… it felt more like putting our lives on the line for each other.”
Nevertheless, the proposal itself wasn’t too bad.
“Alright. Let’s do it.”
“Are you sure about this?”
It was both surprising and reassuring that Hanjo wasn’t as bad as the other One Piece members. His willingness to accept defeat cleanly had left quite an impression, and being a concept player was a plus.
‘Only a crazy concept player would attempt something like this without being a hardcore gamer.’
‘Just one problem…’
Up to this point, everything he had said might have been a lie, and he might have approached to sell his information to the Mamonism guild.
The problem was, there was no way to verify this.
“Don’t worry about that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Remember when I explained the guerrilla quest last time? I mentioned that internal whistleblowing related to coins would happen in about a year.”
“Did you?”
Although he brushed past it and didn’t remember it well, he seemed to recall hearing something similar.
“That guy is the whistleblower.”
“What? Really?”
“Yeah. At first, I had my doubts, but after listening to his crazy talk, I’m pretty sure.”
About a year from now.
A top-ranked player would reveal all the wrongdoings of Mamonism one by one.
The evidence was clear, but Mamonism claimed it was fabricated and issued a kill-on-sight order against the whistleblower, leading to a war between the individual and the super guild.
“Eventually, the whistleblower managed to escape, but it was a turning point that exposed the true face of Mamonism.”
“And the guy standing in front of us now is that whistleblower?”
“Yeah. Although I didn’t have much interaction with him, he was famous for his insane skills and even crazier concepts.”
“Hmm. Fascinating.”
“Um, Toushin. Would it be possible for us to team up? I promise to do my best.”
The sight of a future top-ranked player nervously asking to team up with him couldn’t help but make Carpe chuckle.
“Sure. Let’s do it.”
“Really?”
“Instead of wasting time looking for party members, isn’t it better to get this done quickly? Shall we depart immediately?”
“Just wait a moment! I’ll be back after receiving a mission from that girl!”
Hanjo dashed off to the girl, whether he hadn’t received the quest yet or not.
“Let’s see.”
During that brief moment, Carpe opened his status window.
Ding.
[Name: Carpe]
[Level: 17]
[HP: 1210/1210]
[MP: 420/420]
[Strength: 2(+50) Agility: 32(+52)
Stamina: 1(+49) Dexterity: 1(+48)
Magic: 21(+52)]
• Available bonus stat points: 37
Titles (11)
• Three initial, plus ten more
[Behind-the-scenes Lord]
0-star - Heavenly Demon Lord (Irregular)
[Skills]
10-star - Unlock Lv. 17
9-star - Dratsuryu Puppet Technique Lv. 1 (New!)
8-star - Magic Engineering Lv. 1
7-star - Elemental Mastery Lv. 1
3-star - Elemental Arrow Lv. 1
3-star - Striking Lv. 1
[Behind-the-scenes Lord Skills]
0-star - Repetition Lv. 17
• Available bonus skill points: 50
“Wow. Quite flashy.”
-Don’t ever reveal your status window by mistake. You might end up getting skewered.
At the Ruana Pit Dungeon, he had invested about 50 bonus stats in agility and magic, leaving him with 37 stats remaining.
“For now, I’ll keep this and use it as needed.”
The most important thing right now was the skills.
With the effects of [First 10-star Skill] and [First 0-star Skill] titles, he had accumulated a whopping 50 skill points.
It was about three times more than other users.
“Even if I put everything else aside, I have to invest in this.”
Carpe touched the skill labeled ‘New’ in the skill list.
[Dratsuryu Puppet Technique Lv. 1 - 9-star]
[A skill devised by the Mad King Dratsuryu solely to create weapons for himself.]
[Greatly enhances all abilities belonging to the player’s kin.]
• Seven of the Mad King’s puppets can be used.
• Increases all abilities belonging to the player’s kin by 30%.
• Increases experience gain of all abilities belonging to the player’s kin by 30%.
*As the skill level increases, the number of available puppets and skill effects increase.
“Delayed experience buffs like this are a loss the later you invest in them.”
“An excellent choice, my lord.”
-Indeed. Passive buff skills in Lasel are rarely a loss even if you invest them blindly. And if it’s a 9-star skill, there’s no question about it.
[Would you like to invest points to increase the skill level?]
“Yes.”
After investing a total of 9 skill points, the skill level was upgraded to Master, and the information was updated.
[Dratsuryu Puppet Technique Lv. 10 (Master) - 9-star]
[A skill devised by the Mad King Dratsuryu solely to create weapons for himself.]
[Greatly enhances all abilities belonging to the player’s kin.]
• Seven of the Mad King’s puppets can be used.
• Increases all abilities belonging to the player’s kin by 150%.
• Increases experience gain of all abilities belonging to the player’s kin by 150%.
• MP consumption for summoning puppets is halved.
*Only one of the Mad King’s puppets can be operated at a time.
“Wow. This skill is amazing.”
-Insane. Look at that brutal number, even though it’s just a 9-star skill.
A whopping 150% buff.
It was a figure that naturally elicited admiration.
“I should also master Magic Engineering and Elemental Mastery.”
Magic Engineering was a job-specific skill, so it was natural to master it, and Elemental Mastery was a decent passive skill that increased various magic damage.
However, he postponed investing points in the remaining 3-star skills.
“Even if I have plenty of points, it’s a bit much to just invest in 3-star skills.”
-Yeah. Better to wait and see since better skills might come from quest rewards. It’s okay to be patient.
With that, as he finished organizing his skills, Hanjo returned with the quest.
“Preparations are complete.”
“Great. Let’s depart right away then.”
“But before that, let me create the party.”
After Hanjo spoke, an alert appeared before Carpe.
[Tado Toushin has invited you to a party.]
[The party window displays information such as current HP/MP, status ailments, etc., of party members.]
[Class information is displayed as the most basic job.]
‘Basic job?’
-It means you’re shown as a ‘Wizard,’ not a ‘Mage Lord.’ Most hidden classes prefer to stay hidden.
‘I see.’
As Carpe nodded and accepted the party, their respective jobs were displayed as the Heavenly Demon had said.
But…
‘…An Archer?’
Surprisingly, Hanjo’s job was displayed as an Archer, not a Rogue or an Assassin.
‘Wait, isn’t he supposed to be a Ninja?’
-Don’t try to understand the concept players. Just accept it.
“Why is that? Is there a problem?”
“Oh, no. Just a momentary surprise. Let’s go in.”
And so, the peculiar party play between the two users began.
***
“Are you familiar with the Sea Cave Dungeon?”
“No, this is my first time.”
“In that case, allow me to explain briefly.”
Although Carpe, as the Heavenly Demon, didn’t really need an explanation, he listened quietly without rejecting the courtesy.
“The monsters here are upgraded versions of those found along the coast.”
Giant snails with tough shells, mana-infused mermen, carnivorous giant turtles, and so on.
They were essentially copy-paste monsters, resembling beach monsters in appearance, albeit with different names.
“However, unlike the beach, the monsters here are aggressive.”
It was a warning that one could easily be surrounded by monsters if they let their guard down.
“And since this is a dungeon, there may be traps not found in the field… Hmm?”
But what greeted them first wasn’t monsters or traps but something else entirely.
“A treasure chest?”
-Oh, off to a good start.
“Lucky us.”
Upon entering the dungeon, they stumbled upon a treasure chest right away.
The chest was yellow, indicating it was of rare grade.
“It’s locked.”
That meant they needed a rare-grade key or skill to open it.
“Toushin, do you happen to have a key?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Hanjo puffed up his chest proudly and spoke to Carpe.
“Why hide it? I have the skill to open the chest. It’s a 6-star skill that has a 75% chance of opening hero-grade chests.”
Skills like chest unlocking were quite hard to come by in Lase.
Therefore, having a skill like a 6-star chest unlocking skill was considered a valuable asset in any party.
It was only natural for Hanjo to be proud.
“I’ll make a proposal. If you add me as a friend, I’ll give you everything that comes out of the chest…”
“Unlock.”
Click.
At Carpe’s word, the treasure chest swung open wide like a well-cooked clam.
“….”
“Hmm. Scroll of Return, potions, and a bit of gold? Oh, since I opened it, I’ll take them, okay?”
“…What was that just now?”
“I have it too. The chest unlocking skill.”
And it was a 10-star skill that even opened legendary chests with a 100% success rate.
“Now that we’ve collected the chest, shall we continue? Do we go this way?”
“I’ll guide you.”
For some reason, Hanjo’s shoulders seemed a bit droopy as he took the lead.
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