Chapter 92: Territory Management (3)

The four people, including Harin, took a look around the newly built manor chaotically.

It had become wider and more luxurious, to the point it was incomparable to the 'Village' rank guild building.

Ian went around thoroughly checking the locations of the NPCs here and there in the manor as well as its functions.

And it seemed that process was boring, as Fiolan and Herz said something came up for them in the middle and had disappeared off to somewhere.

Naturally, just Harin and Ian remained in the manor.

And the last place that the two people found was the kitchen of the manor.

The manor's kitchen was still empty.

This was because Jinsung, the Lord, didn't distribute the guild's resources.

Harin questioned with an excited voice.

"Wow, can I really use this place?"

Ian nodded his head as he responded.

"Yeah, I purposely left this place empty so I could set it up after I discussed with you."

If Ian had distributed the guild resources, starting from the NPCs, a lot of different content would have been automatically set up, but unless there was an individual more talented in cooking than Harin, rather than an automatic set-up, Ian thought that it would be more effective if he entrusted the authority to her, which is why he went with that method.

For Harin as well, there would be no better place to raise her Cooking Proficiency if it was a facility like the manor's kitchen.

"Alright, nice! I'll have to move my tools and ingredients over here."

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll toss the manor's kitchen set-up authority to you later."

"Alright! This is exciting!"

Harin wore an expression showing genuine happiness.

This was because, aside from everything else, the bigger the brazier, the more helpful it truly was to try wider variety of dishes.

The more variety of attempts she took, the more recipes she could create, and that was a shortcut to raising her cooking level quickly.

Harin, who entered the kitchen, spoke to Ian.

"Wait for me so I can take a closer look around. That's okay, right?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

As Ian nodded his head, Harin went around, thoroughly looking around here and there, from the kitchen to the restaurant.

During that time, Ian waited for her by using his skills which the cooldown times were over for, such as his Training skill.

And shortly after, Ian and Harin, who had completely finished the manor visit with the kitchen as the last stop, stepped outside together.

Harin asked Ian with a quiet voice.

"Jinsung, what are you going to do now, then? Do you still have any quests left that you need to do?

"No, I've finished all my quests now."

"Then hunting?"

Ian shook his head.

"No, I said I'd go to the 2-player dungeon with Fiolan later."

"Ah, I see. As a matter of fact, I think I remember hearing her say that she was going to go to the 2-player dungeon with you when you returned last time."

Fiolan and Herz were a given, but now, most of the guild members that were over lv 100 had cleared the 2-player dungeon, the Grave of the Forlan Hero, that was discovered in 'Forlan Basin'.

And whenever they had time, they made groups of 2 and went to the dungeon.

It was possible to enter the Grave of the Forlan Hero five times in a day, and the biggest merit of that dungeon was rather than the items that could be obtained, it was the incredibly savoury EXP.

Because of that, it was to the point that it had become a part of the northern continent user's daily task.

However, the difficulty level of the dungeon was so high that there was yet any guild members that had gotten anything above a B-rank, but Fiolan was determined to renew the record once Ian, who was naturally talented in PVE, returned.

"Yeah, based on what I've heard, the EXP-obtaining structure is incredibly advantageous for Summoners as well.

It’s not a method where you gain EXP based on the monsters you hunt in the dungeon, but rather, it’s a method where the EXP comes in like a reward once the dungeon is cleared, so I think I won’t have to divide my EXP with my Familiars.”

“I see.”

Harin, who was planning on going on a date relying on ingredient gathering with Ian, wore a slightly sullen expression.

And as she suddenly turned sullen when she was wearing an incredibly bright expression just a moment ago, Ian was slightly fl.u.s.tered.

‘Why is she suddenly like this? Is there something I forgot?’

Ian carefully thought about whether there was a cooking ingredient that Harin had asked from him which he had forgotten.

This was because he had heard a decent amount of scolding when he had forgotten ingredients that Harin asked from him before as well.

However, he felt there wasn’t any ingredients he had forgotten about.

‘But although it’s not an ingredient, I feel like there’s something I’m forgetting about.’

And just then, there was something that suddenly brushed through his memory.

‘Right! That, ring that I received as a reward for discovering the Forest of Love! I forgot about that!’

He remembered the pain that he received from the Forest of Love every time he saw it whenever he opened his inventory, but as the options were too good, he couldn’t throw them out.

‘Since there’s an option that raises Cla.s.s stats a ton, too, it is perfect for Harin…’

When he first received the ring, because of the burdensome name of wedding rings, Ian wondered who he should ask to wear it.

However, because there weren’t a lot of female users around Ian in the first place, the selection range could only be reduced instantly, and in the end, he thought of Harin.

He felt that if it was kind Harin, she would listen to his request, and he had completely forgotten that he was going to ask her when he met her.

‘She doesn’t look too happy right now… Would it be alright to ask?’

Jinsung momentarily hesitated, but he eventually opened his mouth.

“But, Harin. I have a request.”

Harin, who was in the middle of thinking of ways to persuade Ian and accomplish the northern continent date, was startled by his sudden words.

“Hmm? What kind of request?”

“One second.”

Ian pulled out the wedding rings of the forest from his inventory.

He didn’t forget to check that it was the female ring.

“Uh… Do you think you could wear this by any chance?”

And Harin, who had discovered the ring that was on top of Ian’s hand at the most unexpected time, was incredibly fl.u.s.tered.

‘What, what the h.e.l.l?’

Harin glanced at Jinsung’s expression to check it.

However, his expression showed no change whatsoever.

It just seemed like he was eyeing Harin’s reaction the most.

‘What exactly is this situation supposed to be?’

Jinsung was showing a reaction that made her question whether it was truly possible to be so ignorant even if he was expressing his fond feelings towards her so blatantly.

Which was why this situation was truly unrealistic, and thanks to that, Harin’s head started to become a mess.

‘Is it just a useless item he’s giving me since he just got it? I feel like I’m just giving it a meaning in vain…’

As Harin hesitated, Jinsung’s expression turned sullen.

“If it’s too burdensome, you don’t have to…”

As Jinsung was about to put the ring back in, Harin quickly grabbed it before she even realized.

“N, no! What do you mean burdensome, who said it was.”

Harin, who impulsively took the ring, momentarily wore an awkward expression.

‘Euh, I didn’t take this too suddenly, right?’

And after checking the information of the ring she received, Harin couldn’t help but be surprised once again.

'What, what the h.e.l.l? The options on this is incredibly good! On top of that, its name is wedding ring? By any chance Couple rings?'

Harin had slightly(?) distorted Jinsungs intentions.

In order to check once more, Harin asked him carefully.

“This… Do you have one as well?”

And Jinsung didn’t let her down and pulled out his ring.

“Yeah. Mine’s here.”

As she confirmed that they were couple rings, both Harin’s already red cheeks had flushed even redder.

“Th…anks. I’ll wear it well.”

With a fluttering heart, Harin placed the ring on her finger.

And with a slightly different meaning(?), Ian’s heart was also fluttering.

‘Keu, I’ll finally be able to get rid of my lv 50 ring now!’

As the ring was placed on Ian’s finger as well, a system message popped up for both people at the same time.

The seal lifting requirement of the ‘Wedding Rings of the Forest’ has been met. Elmorff’s blessing will be given. All combat stats will increase by 20%. All cla.s.s stats will increase by 30%. All skills’ cooldown times will be reduced by 1 second. (Not applied to skills with a cooldown time lower than 1 second.) From now on, once every day for each person, you can summon your partner with Elmorff’s abilities.

After checking his increased stats, the corners of Jinsung’s smile hung from his ears. And he felt somewhat weird as well.

‘Since I’m wearing this like a couple ring with Harin, it even feels like I have a girlfriend.’

It wasn’t such a bad feeling.

Meanwhile, Harin, who watched a grinning Jinsung, had a similar, yet slightly different thought from Jinsung.

‘Have I just been troubling my heart in vain up until now? I thought he seriously had no interest in me…’

A slight misunderstanding caused her pretty lips to turn into a smile.

Ian, who had parted from Harin, headed to Forlan Basin with Fiolan in order to go into the dungeon.

“Ian, first of all, it might be hard to clear the first round, so make your goal trying to get as familiar as possible.”

“Yes, well… Understood.”

“That, you watched the dungeon attack video before coming, right?”

Ian nodded his head.

“Yes. I’ve replayed it one or two extra times before coming.”

“Okay, then it will be easier to explain.”

Fiolan, who arrived at the entrance of the dungeon a moment later, began to explain.

“Firstly, the key point of the first phase is to overcome it quickly. It’s not like we get more EXP the more monsters we catch, so we need to overcome it as fast as possible and run to the ‘Sanctum of the Hero’ in the centre.”

It was content that Ian became well-informed of from watching the community, but he listened intently to her words to re-organize his thoughts.

“And once the second phase starts, monster waves from a total of five locations will come flooding in. If the Sanctum of the Hero gets destroyed, you will get kicked out of the dungeon, so protecting the sanctum is the most important.”

“The phase is over once a total of about 200 monsters are caught, right?”

At Ian’s question, Fiolan nodded her head.

“That’s right. And once the monster waves are over, 3 middle-cla.s.s boss monsters called ‘Giant of Hatred’ will appear.

Its Offensive Power isn't that strong, but the biggest one amongst the three has an AoE skill that stuns, so you need to be careful of that. If, by accident, you begin to get caught in a stun link, you will die helplessly."

"Okay, got it."

"Lastly, the 'Forlan Giant', which is the final boss, will appear, and its specialty is that its level of immunity to status conditions is incredibly high and even one attack from it is unbelievable. In return, its movements are incredibly slow, so I think the best method would be for me to deal as much damage as I can if you could grab its attention."

"I see."

"The attack pattern of this monster that you need to be most careful of is when he suddenly stands in place and begins to gather a blue energy on each hand."

Ian nodded his head.

It was a skill that he had seen in the videos.

"You're talking about the monstrously big water cannon-like skill, right?"

"Yes. That one. Last time, Herz blocked it incorrectly and we were kicked out after he received three hits. The speed of the projectile is also incredibly fast, so it won't be easy to avoid or block it as expected."

However, despite her warning, Ian just smirked.

This was because there was something he had planned as soon as he saw that skill through the video.

"Alright, then end of the explanation?"

Fiolan still wore a leery expression, but she nodded her head reluctantly.

"Well, for now?"

"Then, let's go in now. The time limit is 50 minutes, so within how many minutes do you need to clear the dungeon in order to get an S-rank again?"

While looking at Ian, who was thinking of clearing with an S-rank before even entering, Fiolan smirked.

"S-rank? There hasn't been even one party that has succeeded in getting an S-rank for their clear rank. To clear with an S-rank, you need to clear it within 25 minutes, which is about half the original time limit. You'll know if you went into the official homepage's hall of fame, but there isn't even a handful of parties that have succeeded in clearing with an A-rank yet. I think the cutline was 35 minutes for an A-rank?"

At Fiolan's explanation, Ian wore a quizzical expression.

"Huh…? Is it that hard? From what I saw in the video, it didn't seem that hard… What are all the rankers doing?"

Ian had thought that if it was a dungeon that early lv 100 users could enter and clear, then the users in the rankings would have definitely been able to clear with an S-rank.

Fiolan added an elaborated explanation.

"That… One of the reasons why is because its difficulty level is high, but it's also because the top-rankers can't enter here. You can't enter this dungeon if you're over lv 120."

"Ah, that's why…"

"When the strongest players that were in the top 50s first found this place, they were already over lv 120, so they probably couldn't have even tried this dungeon."

Ian, who had finally understood everything, nodded his head.

"Well, then, shall we actually go in now?"

"Okay, you're all set, right?"

"Yep."

Fiolan grinned as she added on.

"Come to think of it, this is the first time you're joining a hunting party since resetting your character, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."

"Summoner, I can expect much, right?"

Ian confidently nodded his head.

He had become so strong that it was incomparable to before he reset.

"Of course."

And as Fiolan, who was the party leader, placed her hand on top of the crystal in front of the dungeon, a short system message popped up in front of both people.

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