Chapter 171

The old man frowned and closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
Sigh
Opening his eyes, the old man turned around and looked at the man who was still on one knee with his head bowed.
“What’s your name?”
In response to the old man’s question, Sana opened his mouth to answer, keeping his head bowed.
“It’s a three-star, it’s called Phkan.”
“Three stars…”
The old man, stunned by Phcan’s words, thought for a moment, then opened his mouth to speak.
“There’s a man who took Earl Lawton out. Find out who he is, you can do this, can’t you?”
“Yes, Master.”
In response to the old man’s question, Pkan opened his mouth to speak, as if it were obvious. At his answer, the old man looked away from him with an impassive gaze and looked at Lampatz’s body, then raised his staff and pointed at Lampatz’s corpse.
Siaak
At the same time, Lampatz’s body turned to dust and began to disperse. When Lampatz’s body was neatly gone, the old man turned back to Phkan and spoke.
“Reporting is what you do.”
Siaak
With those words, the old man disappeared into the light again.
Sigh
Once the old man was out of sight, Pkan rose to his bent knees, glanced briefly at the spot where Lampatz’s body had been, now gone, then turned and began to walk away.
“I never thought I’d use this.”
Stepping out of the cave, Phkan muttered to himself as he pulled a fist-sized black orb from his arm, dropped it to the ground, and infused it with mana.
Sarrrrr
Then the black beads melted and absorbed into the floor. At the same time, black footprints began to appear on the floor.
Jumbled
Phkan began to follow the footsteps.
* * * * *
“I’ve heard all the stories. I almost lost a dear friend. Thank you.”
[You have completed the quest].
[Helioca’s merit also rose by 20 million].
“…!
As Alkan finished speaking, a message appeared. He had earned 20 million Merit for this quest. Ming Hu quickly opened his character window and checked his achievements.
Nationality : Helioca [Empire]
Age: 22 Occupation: Blood Knight/Strong Smith
Reputation: 676000 Achievements: 28277770
Level: 257
Vitality: 15453050
Mana: 85020
Blood power: 7664
Strength : 766430 [76643(+7200)] Dexterity : 2585 Stamina : 2507(+500)
Wits: 2000 Wisdom: 2001
Dexterity: 337
“2827!
At his current merit level, he could purchase 2,827 elixirs from the treasure trove.
“No, thank you, then.”
Ming Hu smiled and spoke to Alkan, then walked out of the office and began walking toward the imperial treasure room.
Siaak
Soon afterward, Ming Hu arrived at the treasure room and followed the wizard’s instructions to open the door and descend into the basement. Once underground, Ming Hu entered the Guitar Warehouse and entered the room with the elixirs. Once inside the room, Ming Hu approached the display of Agility Elixirs and opened his inventory to begin purchasing them. The amount of elixirs he needed to purchase was large.
[I can’t buy it due to lack of publicity].
“Living is work.”
Ming Hu, who had been mindlessly purchasing elixirs like a machine, muttered to himself as he put them down when prompted, then smiled wryly when he saw the stack of Agility Elixirs in his inventory.
“Writing is work.”
Buying was work, but taking the purchased elixir was also work. Ming Hu began to take the elixirs as casually as he had purchased them.
.
.
.
[You have taken the Elixir of Agility. You permanently gain 10 Dexterity].
[You have taken the Elixir of Agility. You permanently gain 10 Dexterity].
[You have taken the Elixir of Agility. You permanently gain 10 Dexterity].
“Done…”
After taking all the elixirs, Ming Hu smiled broadly and opened his character window.
Nationality : Helioca [Empire]
Age: 22 Occupation: Blood Knight/Strong Smith
Reputation: 676000 Merit: 7770
Level: 257
Vitality: 15453050
Mana: 85020
Blood power: 7664
Strength : 766430 [76643(+7200)] Dexterity : 30855 Stamina : 2507(+500)
Wits: 2000 Wisdom: 2001
Dexterity: 337
From over 20 million and close to 30 million, the public profile dipped below 10,000, but that’s not the point.
“Thirty thousand!”
Agility, which was barely above 2500, was now over 30,000. Of course, this was still very low compared to his strength, but that was due to his abnormally high strength, not his low agility.
“I’ve still got a lot left, but when this runs out. I’ll be over 60,000.”
The problem was that Agility still had a lot of elixirs left. Not just Agility Elixirs, but also Stamina Elixirs, Intellect Elixirs, and Wisdom Elixirs.
“Let’s go.”
Ming Hu smiled at the elixirs on display, then turned and left the room, walking toward the forge.
“Mr. Nerfai, is there anything I need to make?”
Arriving at the forge, Ming Hu approached Nerfai to receive the quest.
“Oh, are you here? Of course I am.”
Nerfai trailed off, glanced around, and then continued in a quieter voice.
“Is the job done?”
“Yes.”
Nerfai looked relieved at Myung Hu’s answer.
“Good, then I can leave you in peace. The Black Knights’ equipment has been damaged beyond repair, so I’d like you to forge 50 Iron Shields, 50 Iron Longswords, and 50 Iron Daggers.”
As he finished speaking, the quest appeared, and after checking the reward, Ming Hu nodded with a satisfied expression.
“I see.”
[You have accepted the quest].
Ming Hu immediately returned to his workbench and began crafting the equipment needed to complete the quest.
* * * * *
Boom!
[You have succeeded in crafting the Iron Shield].
Four days after completing the quest on the ride, Ming Hu was still crafting items in the forge.
-Golden: Minghuya.
Myung-hoo had been working on an item for a while when he heard Min-hyung whisper to him, so he put down his hammer and whispered back.
-GoldenStep: Why?
-Goldenstein: Can you afford to be a meritocrat?
At Minhyung’s unexpected question, Ming Hu tilted his head and thought.
“…I don’t think he’s ever going to need a public profile.
Minhyung was a merchant. While a normal merchant would buy merit points for hunting and quests, Min Hyung was a merchant who focused on his business to make a living. When Minhyung asked if he had any merit points, Ming Hu was curious and whispered in his ear.
-Gold to Chung-Seok: How much? What’s with the sudden increase in merit? Are you hunting?
-Gold Crystal: 30,000! Sell it to me when you can afford it. I’m not hunting, but there’s an item I really need to buy right now.
-Goldstone to: item?
-Golden: Yeah, there’s something I’ve been meaning to buy for a while, but it’s definitely going to be gone after the exchange update. I’ve saved enough money to buy it, can you sell it to me?
At Minhyung’s question, Minghu opened his character window to see how much merit he had accumulated so far. He could sell enough for 30,000.
-Gold to Jungseok: Come to the front of the exchange.
-GoldenStone : Thank you, I’m on my way!
At Minhyung’s whisper, Minghu disengaged the valve and began walking out of the forge toward the exchange.
-Goldstone: Where are you? You’ve arrived!
A whisper flew to Minhyung as he arrived at the exchange.
-Gold to Jung-Seok: Are we there yet?
-Gold: Of course! Are you on your way?
-Gold to JungSeok: Uh, I think I’ll be there in about 3 minutes.
-Goldstein: 3 minutes… Welcome!
‘What’s with the item? Make people wonder’
Myung-hoo shook his head and whispered back at Min-hyung, who looked excited.
-Gold to Jungkook: Hey, what are you so excited about?
-Goldilocks: Are you excited? Cackle.
I was walking with Minhyung, whispering to him.
Puck!
I felt something touch my back and a message appeared.
[You have been attacked by NPC ‘John’].
[Enter hostilities with NPC ‘John’].
[Killing hostile NPCs in a preemptive strike will not increase your criminal level].
[Reduces death penalty by 50% if killed by a preemptive strike].
“…?”
Seeing the message, Ming Hu frowned and quickly moved forward and turned around. Turning around, Ming Hu could see John, an ordinary-looking man holding a sharp purple glowing dagger. John looked very puzzled and looked back and forth between Ming Hu and the dagger in his hand. Ming Hu stared at John, checking his life force.
‘3000?
Ming Hu looked at John with a slightly surprised expression as he realized that his health was higher than he thought. John stared at Ming Hu in bewilderment, and then, with a look of disbelief on his face, he quickly began to run away.
-Gold to Jung-Seok: Hey, hold on a second. It’s going to take me a little longer to get there.
Myung-Hoo whispered to Min-Hyung and began to chase after the NPC John who had attacked him.