Ranker's Return

Chapter 714

It had been a week since John Blake arrived in Alfore. In the meantime, there had been many changes in Alfore. The large guilds that wanted to insert a spoon into the main scenario, even belatedly, appeared and the vitality wasn’t lacking compared to a city.

Many rankers gathered, but there was no conflict. The hunting grounds outside Alfore were too attractive to fight among themselves. There were so many demons and demonic creatures that all rankers could hunt. It was a waste of power to fight each other. It would even use up potions. It was even more problematic if they died and were forced to log out. Their combat effectiveness would decrease.

This was why Alfore was a type of peace zone.

“Ah, how boring.” Hyeonu came back after hunting for over 10 hours and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere of Alfore. After returning to Alfore with New World, Hyeonu spent most of his time hunting. It was because there was nothing to do. Hyeonu focused on using his skills while hunting. He decided that this was better than just hunting.

‘I still have to work seriously on the proficiency.’

It was a task called grinding skills. In particular, it was more prevalent these days. In the past, the level up speed wasn’t that fast, so there was no need to increase skill proficiency separately. These days, there were many good items that could be used at low levels, so the level up speed was faster than necessary. It could be known just by looking at Jamie Moore. The skill proficiency was very low compared to his rapidly rising level.

Of course, it was a problem that didn’t matter to Hyeonu. Hyeonu hunted alone. Naturally, the number of times he fought was special compared to the players who hunted in a party. Therefore, the speed at which his skill proficiency increased was very fast.

The reason why Hyeonu was working on his skill proficiency now was because he could afford it. Hyeonu didn’t have much time to devote himself to hunting without any quests. He was always overflowing with quests.

‘It is something I can’t try without the gauntlets.’

In fact, it was unthinkable for other rankers except Hyeonu to work on skill proficiency right now. For them, it was a pity to use the magic power recovery potions. They needed to save magic power as much as possible while hunting. They were able to refill potions, but the demand was so high that not everyone could get the amount they wanted.

‘Ah, that’s right!’ Hyeonu, who was lying on the city walls, raised his body. It was because he thought of something to do.

‘I didn’t get the rewards.’

The quest to bring John Blake to Alfore. He hadn’t received the rewards yet.

‘I can’t miss the experience gained.’

He was reluctant to meet the emperor, but he had no choice. He had to be paid for his work. Unpaid labor was impossible.

‘I should go while I still remember.’

Hyeonu moved to the place where the emperor was staying with confidence. This time, he had something to believe in.

‘John Blake will be there.’

There was no need to worry about a private meeting with the emperor.

Hyeonu’s footsteps became faster.

***

[Another Blow to the Back of the Head has been cleared.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[39,243 imperial contributions have been acquired.]

Hyeonu couldn’t help smiling when he saw the message window announcing that the quest was cleared.

‘Um... This is a situation I didn’t expect.’

The three men in front of him made Hyeonu’s heart uncomfortable. The emperor, as well as John Blake and Lebron, sat in chairs and looked at Hyeonu.

“I think I came at the wrong timing. The three of you should have a good time...” Hyeonu attempted to quickly leave his seat. He was uneasy for some reason. He didn’t think he could be with the three of them.

“Where are you going?”

“Shouldn’t you say the reason for why you came?”

Lebron and John Blake stopped Hyeonu as he attempted to escape.

“It is good that you came. I heard something from Duke Blake and I wanted to confirm it with the marquis.”

Additionally, the emperor stepped in.

“What do you want to confirm?” Hyeonu replied to the emperor in a careful manner.

“I heard that your magic power contains life. I want to check it with both eyes.”

The emperor was curious about Hyeonu’s magic spirit. He had dismissed it when Duke Blake first said he created the concept of magic spirit. However, he was very surprised when he heard that Hyeonu created an ego with his magic spirit. Instilling an ego was the same as invoking life.

‘The marquis’ magic spirit... it was that bear.’

The emperor remembered when he saw Hyeonu’s magic spirit. The bears that went with Hyeonu were exactly the same and were only different in color.

“Are you referring to... the magic spirit?”

Hyeonu was flustered by the emperor’s sudden reference to the magic spirit, but he soon created it. It wasn’t a difficult thing. Hyeonu created the magic spirit and a purple bear appeared in the air. The purple bear gave people the feeling of shining eyes.

“Master dude, it has been a while.” The purple bear, Gom-E, had just separated from Hyeonu only 30 minutes ago, but he still said something absurd.

“It has been a while? It has been less than 30 minutes since I ate so much meat with you and Tang-E. It is a time when I can see meat if you throw up because it isn’t digested yet...” Hyeonu shot back at Gom-E with an absurd expression.

He forgot he was in front of the emperor.

“30 minutes? The digestion has already ended in that time, stupid Master dude. Don’t you know its over when I chew on it? Hmph!”

Gom-E teased Hyeonu.

“Who do you resemble? Sigh...” Hyeonu sighed at Gom-E’s attitude. As the days passed, he was resembling Tang-E even more. No, it seemed to be worse.

‘The first time was immature... now it is mature.’

Unlike Hyeonu’s sigh, John Blake’s expression was very bright as he looked at Gom-E and Hyeonu.

“Didn’t I say you would be surprised, Your Majesty?”

John Blake alternated looking between the emperor and Lebron, who didn’t believe his words. The two of them said they couldn’t believe it when John Blake explained about Gom-E. However, there were no absolutes.

“If it is so intelligent... it is to the point where it is okay to call it another self.”

Lebron, in particular, was shocked. As he adapted to the increased magic power, he focused on supplementing his already existing skills. Therefore, he almost dismissed the magic spirit learned from John Blake. Now that he saw Hyeonu’s magic spirit, which was like a living entity, he felt the need to rethink the potential of the magic spirit.

“Magic spirit... you made something ridiculous, Duke,” the emperor spoke to John Blake.

“It is the marquis who made the magic spirit really great, Your Majesty. The magic spirit I made wasn’t like that.” John Blake shook his head.

“By the way... Marquis. Recently, adventurers have been running around like the soles of their feet are on fire. Is it evidence that things are proceeding according to plan?”

“Recently, the nobles have been appearing more frequently. The ranks of the demons and demonic creatures have also increased, so I think the demon kings will appear sooner or later.”

The demon nobles, who initially didn’t reveal themselves, now appeared on their own. Therefore, the rankers were very happy. It was because there were so many boss monsters dropping high quality items.

‘I was informed that an epic item was obtained a few days ago.’

Hyeonu remembered hearing the news of a demon viscount being killed and an epic item being obtained.

“If you can’t wait... I will move myself. If we attack one or two cities, they will quickly make an appearance,” Hyeonu spoke with confidence.

It was impossible to fool the emperor. He shouldn’t do anything that could be caught.

“I can wait this much. There is something interesting.”

The emperor didn’t respond to Hyeonu’s words. He just nodded. The emperor’s interest had already focused elsewhere.

‘I am really going to do that...’

“If there is nothing else to say, you can go.”

The emperor made a gesture that meant that Hyeonu should go out. Hyeonu bowed his head without talking nonsense and quickly exited.

‘Nothing special happened today.’

He just liked that the interview ended quickly.

***

Hyeonu exited the place and even Lebron and John Blake disappeared. The emperor remained alone and tapped his finger on the armrest of the throne.

“Magic spirit... magic spirit...

The emperor’s mind was filled with the purple bear shown by Hyeonu. It was a bear that really resembled the Marionette Bear that he had seen a few times. It was so lively that it was hard to believe that it was a magic spirit made of magic power.

The emperor’s fingers stopped moving. At the same time, the seven-colored rainbow magic power poured from the emperor’s fingers. The color was bright enough to fill the great hall.

Over time, the rainbow-colored light gradually increased. To be exact, it gathered at one place. It became a small bead at the emperor’s fingertips. The bead, which was the size of a thumbnail, absorbed the light around it and gradually grew in size. The bead grew from the size of a child's fist to the size of an adult’s head. Now it didn’t only change in size, but changed its appearance little by little.

The round bead gradually twisted in all directions. Soon, the bead stopped changing. The form of the magic spirit was complete.

"Hmm... It is made like this.”

The emperor saw the completed magic spirit and smiled with satisfaction. It went as smoothly as he expected. The emperor listened to the words he heard from John Blake and instilled a strong willpower into the form of the magic spirit he made. The magic spirit started to shine again, but it was only for a very short time.

The light was quickly absorbed by the magic spirit and disappeared. After a while, the perfectly completed magic spirit opened his eyes. They were big, round eyes.

“Your name...’ The emperor continued to speak softly to the magic spirit. “Tung-E. Your name is Tung-E.”

The emperor gave a name to the magic spirit and he blinked. Then he rushed towards the emperor and opened his mouth, “Master!!!”

The emperor’s magic spirit had a voice that was like a small child’s.

“Yes, I am your master.”

The emperor hugged Tung-E directly.

“Master, Master, Master...” Tung-E called out to the emperor a few times. The emperor stroked Tung-E’s head, his eyes curved with pleasure.

‘Mine ended up being like this.’

The emperor’s magic spirit, Tung-E, was the image of a young Marionette Bear. It was a rainbow-colored bear like Tang-E with a cute smile and small size.