Chapter 135

Ming Hu frowned.
“Did you warp…”
He hadn’t expected to be forced to warp back to the village. Ming Hu recalled what he had seen before he was warped.
“Obviously… trapped.”
Inside the cages were humans. He was not mistaken.
“Are they all stuck in the blue dots like that?”
That was definitely where the blue dot was pointing. He hadn’t been to the other blue dots, so he wasn’t sure, but he suspected that the humans and orcs and other races were trapped there, just as he had seen them.
“But… what is this emptiness…”
Ming Hu shook his head at the sudden feeling of emptiness. It felt like he’d left something behind. It was then.
[Rich Karotte has died].
“Oh.”
Realizing what he had left behind in the message, Ming Hu opened the Pet window. After opening the pet window and checking the respawn time, Ming Hu was unable to say anything.
“Over 10 hours?
It took over 10 hours for Karot to revive. Ming Hu wondered if something was wrong, so he opened the pet window to check Karot’s level.
“It’s 100, so… right.
Karot was level 100. With a base respawn time of 30 minutes and the time required to respawn increasing with each level, 5 minutes per level up to 50 and 7 minutes from 51 to 100, it would take over 10 hours.
“Hmm.”
Ming Hu grunted and closed the pet window. He opened his inventory, looked at the Invasion Plan (Wan), and began walking toward the frontier headquarters.
“I stopped by and thought. I need to learn a skill.”
Soon afterward, Ming Hu arrived in front of the frontier headquarters and went inside. As expected, the frontier headquarters was deserted. Ming Hu immediately approached the NPC, spoke to him, and entered the General Manager’s office.
“Welcome.”
Upon entering the director’s office, Mihad greeted Ming Hu with a broad smile. Ming Hu got straight to the point.
“Yes, we’ve reduced the number of ogres you were talking about.”
“Ah! Thank you.”
[You have completed the quest].
[Mihad’s recognition].
A completion message appeared, along with a message that he had been recognized. Ming Hu thought to himself, “I’ve been recognized.
“What will this do?
Cannon’s recognition gave him 10% extra merit for crafting quests or returning crafted items to the Warehouse. Mihad’s recognition must have had some effect.
“We’ll figure it out later… what are we going to give them as a reward?
Ming Hu decided to wait to see what effect Mihad’s recognition would have, and looked to Mihad in anticipation of the quest reward.
“…?”
But time passed and Mihad said nothing. Ming Hu saw the expression on his face and thought.
“Are you thinking about compensation?
Mihad’s expression showed that he was thinking about something.
“Anything you want to say?”
“Oh. That’s…”
At Minghu’s words, Mihad paused for a moment, then opened his mouth to speak.
“I’m sorry. I have one additional favor to ask.”
“…?”
Ming Hu looked puzzled at the words. Seeing Minghu’s expression, Mihad continued.
“As you know, there will be a lynching soon. We sent out scouts to do some preliminary research before the lynching, but most of the soldiers who went out didn’t return. Not dead, according to the scouts who did return… They’re imprisoned. And it’s not just the scouts – people who are said to be missing are also being held there.”
“Oh, is that them?
Ming Hu remembered the humans in the cages.
“We need you to save the people in the cages before the lynching begins.”
After Mihad finished speaking, a quest appeared.
<Saving a caged human
The soldiers who scouted into the ogre city for preliminary research and the humans who were reported missing are currently imprisoned within the city. Rescue the imprisoned humans before the slaughter begins!
[number rescued: 0 / ???]
Time remaining: 7 days
Difficulty Level: A
Quest Reward: Saves X Helioca Merit 5000
'5,000 per person. There weren't just one or two blue dots…'
Seeing the reward, Ming Hu calculated for a moment, then quickly opened his mouth to speak.
"I see."
[You have accepted the quest].
After accepting the quest, Ming Hu looked at Mihad. Mihad smiled broadly at Ming Hu and said, "I'm glad you accepted the quest.
"Thank you. Could you please hold on a moment?"
With that, Mihad walked to his seat, rummaged through his desk, and emerged with a cane.
"It's a staff imprinted with warp magic, and you can use it to warp those who are imprisoned."
[You have acquired a warp staff].
Ming Hu received the warp staff and immediately placed it in his inventory. He then looked to Mihad, expecting the reward for the quest he had just completed.
But Mihad, who was smiling broadly, said nothing after handing over the staff. Silence settled over the room, and Mihad looked at Ming Hu with a puzzled expression. At this point, Ming Hu sensed something was wrong.
"You can't be…
Feeling odd, Ming Hu looked at Mihad for a moment as a thought occurred to him. Mihad remained unresponsive, which convinced Ming Hu that he was right.
'Recognition. Reward.
Apparently, Mihad's recognition was the reward.
"I thought I was going to get a certificate of merit.
Expecting to receive some sort of recognition, Ming Hu opened his inventory with a dejected look on his face and pulled out his second purpose for coming here, the Invasion Plan (Wan), and handed it to Mihad, who was still staring at him.
"Here you go."
"…?"
Mihad took the Invasion Plan (Wan) from Ming Hu with a puzzled look on his face.
[handed over the invasion plan (complete)].
"The ogres had it."
"Huh!"
At Minghu's next words, Mihad quickly opened the Invasion Plan and began to read it, his expression hardening as he read.
"I can't believe they're doing this."
Mihad muttered to himself as he finished reading the Invasion Plan (Wan) and looked at Ming Hu.
"Thank you so much. If it wasn't for you, we would have been in quite a bit of trouble."
[Helioca's notoriety increased by 150,000].
A message popped up with Mihad's words.
"No, I'll see you later."
Ming Hu realized from Mihad's reaction that merit was the end of the reward, so he left the General Manager's office and exited the building. Once outside, Ming Hu opened his inventory to check the information on the warp staff.

Imprinted with warp magic. Hold the staff over the target to be warped and strike the ground twice with the tip of the staff to warp the target.
“Wow. That’s so simple.”
I was wondering how to warp, but it was really simple. Furthermore, according to the item’s information, it didn’t use his mana to warp and didn’t seem to have a cooldown. After confirming the method, Ming Hu closed his inventory and started walking towards the warp gate.
“What skills might be…”
When I switched to Blood Knight, I only had three skills to learn, but now I’m over 30 levels higher than I was then. I was excited to see what new skills I could learn.
“But what about him?”
Ming Hu remembered the red ogre. Immune to physical attacks, there was nothing he could do if Karot was dead as he was now.
“The magic ball skill is useless…”
Ming Hu’s magical offense is terrible, so it would be useless for him to learn magical offense skills. Ming Hu frowned. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with an answer.
“Where are you going?”
Arriving at the warp gate some time later, Ming Hu looked at the wizard NPC talking to him and thought, “I’m not sure what to do.
‘All you can do is make Karot look like something else.
There was nothing he could do about it. Ming Hu turned to the wizard, determined to increase Karot’s health and defense.
“Go to Nexus.”
* * * * *
After arriving at the Nexus, Ming Hu walked straight to the Guild District, where the Warriors Guild was located. After arriving in the Guild District, Ming Hu found the Warriors’ Guild building and entered.
“How can I help you?”
“I’d like to see a skillbook for Blood Knight that I can learn from.”
[Skillbook: Bloody Space].
[Skillbook: Dominate]
[Skillbook: Blood Puddle].
“That’s three more.
Once again, there were only three skills to learn. Ming Hu bought all three and learned the skills immediately.
-Skill: You have mastered Blood Space.
-Skill: You have mastered Domination.
-You have mastered Skill: Blood Puddle.
After acquiring the skill, Ming Hu opened the Skills window to view the skill.
<Blood Space
Level: 1
Proficiencia : 0
Creates a bloody space for 1 minute, reducing the movement and attack speed of enemies that enter the space.
Effect: -30% Movement Speed, -40% Attack Speed
Blood Cost: 10
Cooldown: 5 minutes
"That's fine"
After checking the skill's description, Ming Hu nodded and muttered to himself. It seemed like it would be good for catching monsters with fast movement speeds, such as Arang. Ming Hu continued to check the skill's information.
<Ruling
Level: 1
Proficiencia : 0
Expend blood and mana to control the mind of the target you touch. However, if the caster fails, their relationship with the target deteriorates.
Effect: You can command the target you successfully dominate for up to 5 minutes.
Blood Cost: 20
Mana Cost: 1000
Cooldown: 10 minutes
After checking the skill information, Ming Hu shook his head and muttered to himself.
"Are you temporarily creating a pet?"
From the description, it looked like it was a skill that turned the dominated target into a pet for up to 5 minutes.
"Well, that's not an offense skill."
Ming Hu needed an offensive skill. He'd learned three skills, but Blood Space and Dominate weren't offensive skills. Ming Hu muttered as he opened Blood Pool's skill information.
"This should be an attack skill."
<Puddle of Blood
Level: 1
Proficiencia : 0
Drains blood to create a pool of blood around you, dealing damage over time to enemies who enter the pool.
Effect: Blood Pool Duration 3 minutes, Physical Attack Damage X 10% per 1 second
Blood Cost: 25
Cooldown: 5 minutes
"Hmm."
Ming Hu couldn't help but let out an exclamation of admiration when he saw the information about Blood Puddle's skill. He couldn't tell how big the puddle was, but it was clear that it was a skill that would be incredibly efficient for him. Ming Hu muttered to himself as he looked at the skill information for Blood Puddle.
"I'll die if you come in."