The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Novel

Hydro appeared utterly mesmerized by Davey’s capitalistic display.

Then, after everything was settled, Davey, together with Perserque and Illyna, sorted through the looted items, choosing only the immediately useful ones and leaving the rest in the workshop before stepping across dimensions. With the power of Neltarid, even a short trip to Alf Online would accumulate between five to ten Metamorphosis stacks. It was a journey Davey could not afford to miss.

He, along with Perserque and Illyna, arrived at the small field where he had agreed to meet Hydro and Oxygen. The location was not new; Neltarid had, as if anticipating his arrival, directed Davey to this very spot.

Birdsong filled the air, and before long, a large pigeon flew toward Davey and perched on his arm. Unlike the corpulent 'Chicken Pigeon', named for its resemblance to a real-world fat chicken, this pigeon had a leaner appearance and felt somewhat special.

"Is that a homing pigeon?"

"Seems like it."

"That's pretty cool." Illyna's words resonated with Davey, who was further convinced that this gwas truly linked to the divine, given the attention to such details.

At this point, it had becabundantly clear that Neltarid was involved in the creation of Alf Online.

Climbing onto Davey’s shoulder, Perserque curiously asked, "What does it say?"

Davey nodded his head, not answering immediately.

"They're nearby," he finally said after a beat or two of silence.

Eventually, Davey saw a horse-drawn cart approaching from afar, with Hydro taking control of the reins while Oxygen sat beside him.

"Brother! I’m here!"

The boy, who called Davey 'brother', gave quite a surprising response when asked why.

Hydro halted the cart and smoothly got off. He then approached Davey as Oxygen smiled and bowed slightly in greeting.

A short boy wearing glasses was also with them, and he looked up at Davey with wide eyes. "Good gracious... THE... THE Saint ofTionis!"

Davey was already a hot topic, becoming too prominent to be unknown.

"Hey... HEY! What's the Saint of Tionis doing here?!" the boy shouted at Hydro.

But Davey simply chuckled at his antics and extended his hand to him. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Davey O’Rowane."

After reintroducing himself amicably, the boy looked at Davey hesitantly. But then suddenly, he perked up as he had an epiphany. "Ah, I got it! You're kidding right now, aren't you? Filming skind of prank because there are so many people imitating the Saint of Tionis’ looks lately."

"Kid, can you shut up?" Hydro fired back, causing the boy to flinch.

"He’s real."

"Ah... Hello. I'm Grape-Flavored Cat Tower."

"Why would a Cat Tower need to taste like grapes?" Davey asked.

The question made Cat Tower look at Davey with puzzlement. But then his stare turned suspicious, as he said, “What?”

"Don't worry about it. He's just a quirky NPC." Hydro said.

The boy just nodded in response, then proceeded to ask Davey, "So... What's the reason you calledhere? I'm already dead tired from working so much."

"He's got a quest for you. There's no one else we can trust but you," Oxygen spoke from atop the cart, leaning forward.

"Huh? Sis, what are you talking about? I'm only a level ten blacksmith and a level eight biologist."

"What's the max level?"

The boy answered Davey’s question with a skeptical look. "Of course, it's eighty. The big spenders have gone up to level fifty, but their breakthrough quests are a real pain."

Davey nodded at Cat Tower’s reply. Then he took an item from his Pocket Plane and handed it over to the boy.

"Think you can craft this?"

At Davey's inquiry, Cat Tower’s eyes becincredibly wide. "Gaaaah!! The Heart of Goumda!!!" The overwhelmed boy fell to the ground, shouting, "That's the one they say is worth a hundred billion just for finding it!"

It was the heart dropped by an overwhelming raid boss. Often used in the crafting of artifacts, its price was astronomically high. Even so, a hundred billion seemed ridiculous. At least, that was what most would think.

But because a certain prince from an oil kingdom got hooked on the game, these insane figures were actually being thrown around. After all, cash transactions were relatively free-flowing in Alf Online. Sure, it led to money laundering, which was a ridiculous situation, but every laundering attempt was somehow quickly exposed and dealt with. But even if those attempts were not discovered and resolved, it did not really matter to Davey.

Cat Tower continued to be in awe at the mere sight of the Heart of Goumda that had left him nearly out of breath in excitement. After all, an average person could earn hundreds of times what they would make in a lifetof studying, graduating, and working with such an item. It would be strange not to get greedy.

"From now on, you'll be crafting this for me. As you know, I don't have the necessary crafting skills."

Since such skills were not merely about hammering away.

While this world was grounded in reality, there was also an elusive presence of the game's influence, so Davey could not craft even a simple iron sword without the unique power these real-world people possessed.

"But, haha,” Cat Tower laughed, sounding quite nervous. He had grasped the gravity of the situation, so his next words cout in an unsure murmur, “I'm not confident in handling such tremendous materials. And... And normally, I only work with scales, not hearts."

Hearing this, Hydro shouted in a panicked tone, "Hey! What about your blacksmith and biologist skills?"

"It's not like a blacksmith can just bang anything into existence, dumbass!"

As they bickered back and forth, Oxygen asked after sthought, "Hey, Grape."

"Yes, sis?" Grape-Flavored Cat Tower responded swiftly with a tone that was markedly different from the one he used with Hydro, who fumed in response but was ignored.

"What profession is needed to process a heart then?"

"To even start the blacksmithing process, it needs a pre-processing step. We'd need a Biologic Alchemist or a Matter Transmuter for that."

Oxygen seemed to brighten as if someone had crossed her mind.

"Oh! I know! There's a reliable Matter Transmuter in my guild.”

Encouraged by this information, Davey nodded in approval. "Good. Let's hire this person then."

"Alright! I'll contact her right away. She should be logging in around this tfor a break."

Hearing this, Hydro couldn’t help but ask Oxygen in confusion, "Wait, sis. Surely it’s not that crazy chick?"

"Calling people crazy is harsh."

"Why do you bother with that bipolar nutjob anyway?!" Hydro exclaimed, his shock evident in the tone of his voice.

However, Oxygen simply laughed at him cutely, then proceeded to stick her tongue out playfully.

"Davey, it's clear from his reaction that something is up," Illyna quickly deduced.

Perserque thought the same, and she expressed her agreement with a nod of her head.

This led Davey to ask about the person they were about to hire.

"Hey," Davey called out to Cat Tower, who jumped in fright. The boy then approached with apprehension that was obvious in his steps.

"Yes... Yes?!"

"Calm down,” Davey soothed casually, although he kind of doubted it was any helpful. “Who exactly are you talking about?"

"W-well, you see... There's this kinda crazy sis who's good with matter transmuting..."

"Crazy?"

"Well... What should I say... It is a bit like that. Uh, Explaining it is actually tricky. Anyway, that's how it is! But to put it simply, it's like a woman going crazy just by looking at sister Oxygen... Um... How should I put it?” Cat Tower paused, seemingly trying to search for the proper words to make Davey understand. Then, after a round of silence that stretched for a couple of short seconds, he finally explained further, saying, “Well, she looks fine on the outside, but she’s a bit twisted on the inside…”

Davey sighed at the explanation. "Bring her here, no matter who it is. There's a lot to be done anyway."

At Davey’s firm decision, Hydro and Oxygen immediately nodded in understanding.

"But... I noticed that you're quite similar to players like us. People around here usually speak differently. They’re more polite or serious."

"Don't worry about it,” Davey dismissed nonchalantly before diverting the topic of their talk by asking,. “So scales can be processed then?"

"For now. And we need a tailor, of course, if we want to change them into something else, like silk fabric."

"Let’s set that aside in the meantime. Shall we have a look first and see what can be made?"

Davey pulled out the scales and offered them to the boy, who activated the crafting table with trembling hands. Then, still shaking, he got the scales and placed them on the table.

"Woah!" Cat Tower yelled in shock, his mouth agape. "This is insane!!!"

Hydro and Oxygen, who had been bickering moments ago, immediately turned their attention to him at his excited outburst.

"What is it? What happened?"

"Ah, I can't even take a screenshot of this... Really..."

Seeing Cat Tower at a loss, Davey couldn’t stop himself from asking, "Can it be crafted?"

"Ah... Yes, but I can’t do it. To craft this, you need to be level forty at least... And to get a high-quality grade, you need to be higher than that."

The highest crafting level achieved by players so far was rumored to be around fifty. Leveling up was a tough journey indeed. But only by investing would Davey know the significance of the object created by Neltarid's technology and its impact on him.

"Alright,” Davey nodded, seemingly unfazed by Cat Tower’s answer. “So let's start improving your level then while we wait for the transmuter, or whatever she is, to arrive."

To advance their skills, blacksmiths from another world actually needed three things. First one was their relentless grind. The second one was a significant capital. Then the third and final requirement was the success of their quests.

"Improving it? Do you know how much money it would cost to push the level to thirty?"

"How much does it cost?"

"You have no idea how much money the blacksmith profession consumes."

Hydro chuckled at his remark.

"Why are you laughing, you bastard?"

"You… You don’t have any idea how rich he is, do you?"

"Well... Selling just one scale would ridiculously fetch billions, but right now, even if you have the money, you can't simply improve because it's also contingent on the blacksmith quest."

Blacksmith quests were notorious for their difficulty. They were also randomly assigned from tto time, and it was the season known for being extremely challenging. Which was why blacksmith players were currently enduring, chanting to hold on and wait for a good season to come.

Moreover, the reality was that even without raising the level that high, one could still enjoy the gjust fine at level fifteen or even less. Anything beyond was simply excessive grind and expense. But of course, higher levels cwith benefits.

"You may want to wait a month or two before trying. Of course, if you support me, I'll do it..."

"Then let's do it now."

Why waste twhen the obstacles for leveling up were not really obstacles?

Money? Davey would support him. Grind? Davey would make Cat Tower feel like not doing it was akin to dying. What about the quests? Tough monsters? Hard-to-find materials? Such things were meaningless to Davey.

Cat Tower, despite his visible unease over Davey’s resolute response, seemed pleased with the prospect of leveling up.

"Then let's do it. How do we proceed?"

"Let's start with a request."

'Request' was the term used when an NPC issued a quest to a player.

Cat Tower's eyes widened as if he had seen something.

"Do... Do you see the part that says Surtr's technique is the reward? What's Surtr anyway?"

"It’s something great. So just trust it and leave it to me."

After all, Davey had not said it would be free.

"What do I have to do for such an amazing reward?"

"A binding contract."

The end would be set once he becAeonitia 2.0.

"Cat Tower, can't you just help on behalf of sis?"

"Just press it, you bastard."

Cat Tower looked at Davey with a sense of unease, but Hydro and Oxygen had stealthily crept up behind him and pressed the accept button on his behalf.

"Aaack!!! I should have read the contract carefully first!"

Despite Cat Tower's shock and his desire to read the contract first, the request was already accepted and there was nothing else he could do.

"There's no backing out of the request. I'll support you until it's done, so grit your teeth."

Davey’s words heightened Cat Tower’s apprehension that becvisibly undeniable in his expression as he looked at Davey. "I... I'll just leave now."

But then, Perserque wielded a magic whip and struck the air.

Cat Tower flinched. The whip created such a loud noise that it felt as if the air itself was being ripped apart.

"There's a saying among us," Perserque drawled out. "You can cin whenever you like, but..."

"You can't leave when you want to,” Davey finished cheekily. “By the way, you might think you don't have a sense of pain. But it's about tto consider that I'm not just a normal NPC."

After Davey blatantly and brazenly said the words that NPCs should not be saying, Cat Tower turned his head and looked at Hydro with a frightened expression.

Hydro could only give him a bitter smile as he vaguely said, "Ah... I'll explain later, Cat Tower."

Blood seemed to drain from his face as his complexion turned ashen in a heartbeat.

"Bring over that so-called Matter Transmuter too. I have a request for her as well. Let's see..."

Perhaps sof Eva van Hoenheim's techniques could be borrowed. Davey had no worries about the leakage of technology from Tionis to Alf Online. They had to see what impact the skills known to them would make on the players. In the end, what mattered to them was not the skills of Surtr or Eva but the skill level itself. And so they would all strive for a win-win situation.

* * *

"Hmph~"

Maga, who was often misunderstood in relation to her homosexuality, canceled all her schedules and immediately logged into the gupon receiving a call from her old and trustworthy friend, Oxygen.

Her manager made a fuss, but she did not care. How long had it been since their last meeting? To Maga, Oxygen was a precious connection she had since childhood, and she had finally heard from her!

Maga couldn’t care less about anything else at that moment.

She shoved through the crowded players around her, shouting, "Get the hell out of the way! I've lived for this day!"

She then exclaimed energetically, "Ahem, ahem~ My cute Oxygen, Oxygen, Oxygen? Why did you call me? I'll come! Right now! Right now!"

Like a child expecting a present, Maga was delighted as she saw the note from Oxygen,

[Would you like to go on a blind date? He's the warm, handsman you like.]

"Who's asking?! It doesn't matter if it's a man or a woman, ugly or not! Of course, I'll be there!!!"

As she screamed as if her life depended on it, Maga rushed to the location marked on the map.

She did not know why the meeting place was a mid-level dungeon, but it did not matter. There was no reason for Oxygen to lie, and if it was really such a handsperson, Maga was confident she could gush and drool over them.

With that in mind, she excitedly moved forward, answering the call for help from Oxygen, not knowing it was the entrance to hell.