n

n

nThe first basement level of the dungeon was different from the ground level.

nThere were countless small grounds linked to each other with iron gates, it was like a prison.

nThe gate to the next ground was opened after killing all the monsters in the ground Ian was in, so Ian

nhad fewer variables to consider now.

nMonsters here have 1~2 higher levels than ground level monsters, but Ian could hunt more easily.

n“Good, good, the First Finder effect is the best!”

nIan couldn’t keep his face straight when seeing the EP rising.

nHe hadn’t gotten a single decent item, despite the double probability of getting items, but he didn’t

nreally feel bad about it because he was receiving a huge amount of EP.

nIan fought and fought while he went deeper into the dungeon.

nNext, he found a huge iron gate that looked different from the rest.

n“Bukbuk, it looks like there’s something special in there, right?”

nBuk-?

nIan was about to open the door, but he stopped.

nHe felt that a boss monster was inside.

n‘I must get ready first.’

nIan trusted his instincts.

n‘Ly’s Frenzy skill’s cooldown time is about to end…’

nIan checked on his pets. Then he found that Bukbuk’s Potential had reached 20.

n‘Huh? Why is his Potential already 20?’

nNext, he soon remembered the reason, ‘Right, he ate a mandragora yesterday…’

nHe still felt sad about the mandragora he had lost, but soon he got over it.

nIan decided to bestow a skill on Bukbuk before he went through the door.

n“Bukbuk, come here.”

nBuk-?

nBukbuk crawled to Ian.

nBecause of Ian’s repeated compliment and meatballs, it had become quite obedient.

n‘It would be great if he could get a distraction skill.’

nDistraction skill was a skill that forced all enemies nearby to focus on the user of the skill for a while.

nIt was necessary for tankers.

n‘Bukbuk’s weird sound is also a good distraction, but…’

nBukbuk’s sound didn’t force enemies to be distracted, so sometimes monsters just ignored it no

nmatter how hard it crawled around.

nTherefore, Ian used the Pet Bestowing Skill, hoping for a distraction skill.

n“Pet Bestowing Skill!”

nThe usual white light was sucked into Bukbuk.

nNext, system messages came up.

nIan hadn’t expected much, but he felt anxious at the seemingly useless skill.

nEnlarging Shell

nCategory: Active skill

nRank: Regular

nUsage Limit: can be activated only in the shell

nCooldown Time: 0

nHealth and Defense Force increases by 100%. Unable to move.

nRecognized as ‘lifeless matter’ during the effect.

nUse the skill again to disable Enlarged mode. Its size will then return to normal.

n…

n“…”

nIan read the skill’s information and got disappointed.

nHe had hoped for a distraction skill, but he thought other kinds of normal skill wouldn’t be bad, either.

nThe probability of getting a distraction skill wasn’t high, as there were so many skills.

nPlus, he thought that if Bukbuk got a decent skill, he would be able to use the skill himself with the

nknuckle’s power, so it would raise his own battling power.

nBut this Enlarging skill couldn’t be used by Ian because of physical limits. And, if it was ever activated

non Ian, it would be even a bigger problem.

nIan preferred to fight using speed, avoiding enemies’ attacks instead of getting blows and moving fast

nto attack weak spots. However, the skill would only diminish Ian’s speed.

n“Haa…” Ian sighed, “What is this recognized as lifeless matter… is it something like pretending to be

ndead?”

nWith that skill, Bukbuk wouldn’t die anywhere.

n‘Can’t I delete the skill?’

nOf course, it was impossible.

nThe only way to delete the Enlarging skill was to raise Bukbuk’s Potential again and bestow another

nskill on it.

nIan pondered about it.

n‘Can’t I make use of this Enlarging Shell skill?’

nIan stared at Bukbuk with eager eyes.

nBuk-?

nBukbuk seemed it didn’t know what had happened. It had drained Ian’s will, but he didn’t give up.

nHe wanted to find a way to use Bukbuk in battles.

n“Bukbuk, use the skill you just learned.”

nBukbuk nodded and used the skill.

nBuk-

nBukbuk obeyed him well which made him feel a little better.

n“Hmm…”

nBukbuk’s head went into its shell first.

nNext, it started to get bigger. Now, it was the size of a huge shield.

nIan sighed again and again.

n‘It’s exactly the size of a round shield.’

nBut then, a brilliant idea went through his mind, ‘Wait a second… a shield?!’

nIan’s head started to spin.

n‘Bukbuk will get almost no damage with the Enlarging skill and his Unique Abilities put together… He

nwould make a perfect shield!’

nIan finally found a way to use Bukbuk, therefore, he smiled, ‘The problem is that… the enlarged

nBukbuk is too heavy to carry with one hand… and my weapon is a two-handed knuckle…’

nThose problems were quickly solved.

nIan smiled slyly and went to Bukbuk.

n“Bukbuk.”

nBuk-?

n“What about… a piggyback ride?”

n…

n“Hu, we killed it finally.”

nHerss sat down on the dead body of a huge Ice Ogre and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

n“You’ve done well, Herss. We have met the qualifications to upgrade our base into ‘Hamlet’, right?”

nHerss nodded at Clovan’s question, “Yes, our land’s value is 1000 now.”

nHerss opened the status information of Lotus Base to check.

nLotus Base

nCategory: Territory

nRank: Base (upgrade conditions met)

nSquare Meter: 3582

nPopulation: 175

nBase of Lotus Guild.

nNot safe from monsters. Isolated economically and culturally.

nLand Value: 1007

nPublic Order: 12

nEconomy: 7

nTechnology: 4

nCulture: (not opened yet.)

nDiplomacy: (not opened yet.)

n…

nWhen a guild got a base in Kailan, the land’s rank is the guild’s ‘Base’.

nWhen Public Order and the size of the land, which were the most basic factors of a village, reached a

ncertain amount, the base could be upgraded into ‘Hamlet’ and it could be upgraded every time the

nguild qualified for higher conditions.

nNo land of players had been upgraded beyond Hamlet, so the highest rank of land known so far was

n‘Manor’, which was the next rank coming after Hamlet.

n“Shall we upgrade it now?’

nLotus Guild mobilized all of its members to kill monsters nearby and widen their area of influence. As

na result, it met all the conditions to upgrade their base into the ‘Hamlet’ rank.

n“Base upgrade!”

nHerss upgraded the base immediately and every guild member at the base saw a system message.

nThey were all happy to see it. Then, another message came up.

nClovan burst into laughter when seeing that.

n“Hahaha, Herss, you are the village chief of our Hamlet!”

nKawin also looked at Herss, laughing.

n“The leader of the Hamlet is a village chief. Don’t laugh about it. Anyway, it fits Herss.”

nPiolan agreed, “Our guild master looks a little too mature, haha.”

nHerss shook his head.

nHe had heard that he looked older than his age, but…

n“Hey, Piolan, this leader of Hamlet is too much. I know I look a little older, but it’s not like I’m an old

nman with wrinkles and a beard…”

nHerss was about to get sulky, so Kawin and Piolan hurried to soothe him.

n“Anyway, chief, what should we do to meet the condition for the Manor now?” Clovan spoke with a

nsmile.

nKawin shook his hands, “Hey, stop, or he will be mad!”

nHerss glared at Kawin once and sighed. He gave up.

n“Upgrading into Manor won’t be possible for a while.”

nPiolan asked, “Why?”

n“First, there must be at least one user who qualifies to become the lord of the Manor, but you need the

ntitle of ‘baronet’ in order to become a lord.”

nKawin muttered with surprise, “Haa… you have to do the Empire quest to become baronet… but at

nleast 400,000 Reputation is needed to receive that quest!”

nHerss nodded.

n“Yes. 400,000 Reputation and a level higher than 90 is required to get the Empire quest. There can’t

nbe too many people who can complete that quest. 20, 30 users, at most? And those who already are

nbaronet… there can’t be more than 10.”

nPiolan asked, “400,000 Reputation isn’t easy to get… but to have so little people? Shouldn’t there be

nmore?”

n“Of course, there are more users with 400,000 Reputation. But the Empire quest is very difficult, you

nhave to be at least Lv.95 to try it… and I think there are almost no players who have 400,000

nReputation and are at a level higher than 95.

nNot all high-ranked users had big Reputation.

nRather, users of the highest levels did not have such a high Reputation.

nThere were many ways to raise Reputation, but the main way was to do a lot of quests.

nBut hunting was more efficient in gaining levels than doing quests, so the players with the highest

nlevels didn’t have the highest Reputation.

nClovan, who had been listening, spoke, “Hey, haven’t users like Sailon, the Knight of Brilliance, and

nRemir, the Mage of Red Flame, been doing the Empire quest for a long time? Their levels are really

nhigh as well.”

nHerrs smiled bitterly, “Let’s think of them as an exception.”

nThe users Clovan mentioned were famous users, all in top 5 of each class’s ranking.

nIn each class, there were a few crazy users who had both high levels and high Reputations.

nPiolan nodded, “Well… there are always some exceptions.”

n