A majestic and magnificent castle laid deep beneath the Dragon King’s Sea. However, it was currently shrouded in a horrible, chilling air. Dozens of sea creatures died for no reason under the hands of an angry Dragon King.

The Dragon King sat on his throne whilst surrounded by the blood of the dead dolphins. Prostrated in front of him was a thin body that was shaking wildly in fear. She was one of the Dragon King’s children, Kiari.

Kiari was one of the rabbitmen. Simply put, she was a rabbit that looked quite similar to Judy from the animation, Zootopia. Despite her harmless appearance, she was not to be underestimated. Kiari was a genius among geniuses. She had studied and mastered all of the defensive formations and tactics that were placed in the Dragon King’s Palace. 

Kiari was born to live for the Dragon King, and the Dragon King alone. She pledged to live and learn for the sake of the Dragon King ever since she was young. She was also proficient in swordsmanship and could easily slaughter enemies with a quick slash of her sword. Kiari had been bestowed the ‘Sea Guardian Sword’ by the Dragon King in the past. It was a sword that had amazing power that allowed her to control water freely. 

This very same powerful Kiari was currently trembling in fear. She thought, ‘H…how can this be...!’

Why did the Dragon King kill these innocent dolphins?! There was no reason at all for their slaughter. Kiari understood the true nature of the Dragon King since she had stayed with him the longest. He was a merciful and kind man. The Dragon King’s Palace would even host festivals every year and all the sea creatures would dance to songs and praise the benevolence of the Dragon King. The Dragon Palace was truly a beautiful sight back then.

However, one day, the Dragon King suddenly changed.

‘It started back then...’ Kiari thought, biting her lips tightly. She knew that it all started back then when he battled against the Great Mage Arfield.

The Great Mage was ranked seventh among the eight Pinnacle Strong Men. Great Mage Arfield was a sinister person who hid curses all over the continent. There were already rumors circulating the continent about his death. However, he suddenly appeared in the Dragon Palace one day. No, it was more fitting to say that he was not the Great Mage anymore. He came to the palace with a new identity, the King of the Dead. Arfield had turned himself into a lich. Arfield suddenly started attacking the Dragon Palace. Nonetheless, the Dragon Palace was not something that anyone could easily topple over.

The Pinnacle Strong Men were all based on the standards of the continent, and Arfield was one of these men. However, the sea creatures were not ranked with these standards. The Dragon King and all of his children fought hard against Arfield. It was a fierce battle that shook the seas.

In this fierce battle, the person that overcame and stood victorious against his opponent was the Dragon King. He had fought with great strength and abilities, eventually defeating Arfield. However, he also suffered grave injuries as a consequence.

That was the moment where it all began. The Dragon King’s body seemed like it was getting weaker every day, while his ferociousness and brutality increased. Even so, he was still the Dragon King.

Kiari wanted to speak up, but she stopped herself and just bit her lips tightly. She was raised by the Dragon King, and in a way, she was indoctrinated to protect and only protect the Dragon King. The children of the Dragon King were beings who were given by Sea God Roves to the Dragon King. 

Roves emphasized to the three of them that the Dragon King was their father and he was the eternal ruler of the seas. Even though Kiari was opposed to what he was currently doing, she could not bring herself to tell him to stop or come to his senses. Also, the body of the Dragon King right now was so frail that he would probably break down with just a simple attack.

Suddenly, a creature came inside in a hurry. He was the Dragon King’s trusted aide, Jiang Bei. Jiang Bei was literally a walking octopus. He said, “Dragon King! I finally found a way to heal Your Majesty's body!”

“Is what you’re saying true?” The Dragon King asked, the corner of his lips curling into a frail smile. However, deep inside, the Dragon King was smiling widely.

“So you finally found ‘that’ huh? Lec?”

This question was directed towards none other than Jiang Bei.

Jiang Bei, no, Lec, looked into his eyes and answered, “Yes.”

Lec’s eyes glinted sharply. However, the figure reflected in Lec’s eyes was none other than Great Mage Arfield! 

Kiari and the rest of the creatures residing in the Dragon Palace might have already been in a panic if they found out that Great Mage Arfield did not die during the battle with the Dragon King. Instead, he had pretended to die while hiding himself inside the Dragon King’s body. In the first place, there was only one reason why he decided to attack the Dragon King’s Palace.

‘The treasure of Roves, the Sea God...!’

Arfield was sure that it was hidden somewhere in the Dragon Palace. He targeted such an item because he knew that Roves’ treasure would definitely carry a tremendous amount of holy power. Such an item was a threat to his existence, so he had to either assimilate or eliminate it. In other words, the Great Mage Arfield wanted to take away the treasure, and use his powers to convert the holy power to black magic which could assist him greatly.

After taking over the Dragon King’s body, Arfield killed plenty of creatures in the Dragon Palace. Using the blood of these creatures, he instructed Lec, his own loyal aide who had turned into Jiang Bei, to continue the search for hints using black magic. Finally, after a long time, Lec had finally found the hint!

“What is it?” The Dragon King, no, Arfield who was pretending to be the Dragon King, asked excitedly.

“It’s Rabbit Liver.”

“Rabbit Liver?”

At his words, the Dragon King’s eyes turned towards Kiari, the only other person in the room. Kiari trembled wildly at the Dragon King’s gaze. 

Two among the Dragon King’s children were rabbitmen, and the remaining one was a turtleman. All three of them carried tremendous strength in their bodies. For the rabbitmen, the source of their strength was hidden in their livers. In the case of the turtleman ‘Radin’, he had a cintamani stone[1] hidden beneath his tough shell. Kiari and the other child, Jevis, both had this so-called liver as well, but they possessed different uses and effects. The problem was that they still did not know how to extract these to get their powers. The only known method was through their death.

Kiari bowed towards the Dragon King and said, “I…it would be my honor to sacrifice myself for the health of the Dragon King...!”

‘There’s nothing that I can do anymore. I just wish I could return to the past!’

At that moment, the aide said, “One moment. It’s unfortunate, but the rabbit’s liver is not Kiari’s liver.”

“Is that so?” The Dragon King said as he removed his intense gaze from Kiari before giving her orders, “Get out, Kiari.”

“...Yes.”

Hop, hop, hop, hop!

Kiari bowed her head down as she hopped her way out of the throne room. Once she was out of the room, Arfield listened intently to what Lec had to say.

“Roves’ treasure is sealed and hidden in Jevis’ liver. However, she had been missing for a few days now.”

‘That is a treasure with a great amount of holy power!’

Arfield grinned so wide that his mouth was almost split in two, realizing that it was just within his reach. Radin, the turtleman, slowly entered the throne room. He was literally walking on two legs! He had two swords strapped on his back, while one of his eyes was covered with a black eye patch. He was also one of Arfield’s underlings in disguise.

“There’s not much time left. The body of this Dragon King will soon crumble. We have to do the soul exchange.” 

“Yes!” Radin answered as he lowered himself and nodded in agreement.

At that moment, Lec said, “But, Great Mage...” 

“What’s the problem?” 

Lec’s voice suddenly turned unusual. It seemed like there was an obstacle in front of them. He said, “I heard that the place where Jevis was last seen was a place where only foreigners can enter.”

“Only foreigners?” Arfield asked, expression turning serious. However, he turned towards Radin and gave him his orders.

“Radin.”

“Yes, Great Mage!”

“Find a way to get those foreigners to obtain that rabbit’s liver and bring it to me!”

“B…but... Will the foreigners hand it over to you once they get it?”

Arfield smiled sinisterly when he heard Radin’s worried voice. He said, “Kill them. If that’s not possible, then use all the gold and silver as an incentive.” 

‘But, what if these two things don't work? It can’t be. At most, I’ll just throw a reward that’s much bigger than the rabbit’s liver.’

“They won’t know about its power unless they eat it.”

Grin━

Great Mage Arfield laughed loudly. He believed that it was such a useless worry.

***

Hyemin'sDaddy and Hyeminnie visited the pet storage to check on Beanie. They could not help but tilt their head at the sight of Beanie playing with the other pets around him. It was a cute sight.

“Oink, oink!”

The cat immediately rolled around as if it received some orders. However, that was not the reason why Hyemin'sDaddy was tilting his head in confusion. He could see that all of the pets within the fence were all shivering and trembling. They looked like they were all scared of something.

“What’s wrong with them? Are all the pets in here sick?” Hyemin’sDaddy asked the clerk of the pet storage facility.

The clerk was taken aback. She quickly approached the fence where Beanie and the shivering pets were. She said, “Oh my! What’s wrong? It wasn’t like this earlier? Huh, where did all the children’s food go?”

The clerk was shocked. She remembered filling up the bowls of all the animals in here, but the bowls were all currently empty! 

“Ah. Are you going to feed a potion to the pet?”

“Yes. Here’s the temporary consent form.”

Hyemin'sDaddy gave the clerk the temporary consent form that he had received from Minhyuk earlier. With this temporary consent form, another player would be given permission to contact other people’s pets as well as feed them potions. When Hyemin'sDaddy handed the potion over, Beanie quickly approached the fence and reached for it. Then…

Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp━

“Oink!” Beanie squealed in admiration.

[You have fed a Pet Conversation.]

[You can now have a heart-to-heart talk with Beanie.]

‘Well then, shall we start?’

From now on, Hyemin'sDaddy would ask Beanie about the kind of artifacts that it liked, whether it was a sword, an armor, a shield, a pair of boots, or even accessories.

‘I’m hungry. Oink!’

Hyemin’sDaddy heard Beanie’s thoughts, confirming the potion’s effects.

‘Can you hear me?’

‘Oink! Where did that sound come from?’

‘It’s me, the one in front of you.’

‘Ah, the handsome uncle! Oink!’

Hyemin'sDaddy felt happy with Beanie’s compliments. So, he gave it some delicious food to eat.

‘Delicious. Oink, oink, oink!’ Beanie said, wagging its tail in delight.

‘Are there any artifacts that you like? You can tell me anything that you want.’

‘Oink? There is! Oink!’ Beanie said. It nodded its head furiously as Hyemin'sDaddy looked at it with anticipation.

Right now, he had good quality materials on his hands. The last thing that he made was the Legendary Frying Pan, but that was something that was only for Minhyuk, so he was quite excited at the thought of making some cool artifacts now.

‘Oink! When making vegetable pancakes, I want that spatula that can flip everything in one go. Oink!’ 

‘...’

Hyemin’sDaddy was confused for a moment. 

‘W…what’s this? It feels like deja vu?’ 

He looked at Beanie blankly as Beanie looked back at him with sparkling eyes.

‘Oink! I also wish to have a helmet, oink!’ 

‘Oh. Helmet!’  Hyemin'sDaddy thought as he nodded.

‘Finally, a decent request...!’

‘It would be good if it can also substitute as a silver pot, oink. So that I can take it off and make ramyeon right on the spot whenever I get hungry, oink...!’ 

Hyemin'sDaddy laughed helplessly, “Ha, hahahaha...”  

Not long after, he sent a whisper to Beanie’s owner, Minhyuk.

[Hyemin'sDaddy: Minhyuk. Beanie wants a spatula that can flip a lot of vegetable pancakes in one go, and a helmet that can also be used as a silver pot to cook ramyeon...]

The Basilisk’s Heart was a material that was equivalent to the Sacred Branch. Even the Twin-headed Ogre’s Blood and the Phoenix’s Feathers were materials that were worth a fortune…

‘Don’t tell me that I have to do something like that again?’

[Minhyuk: As expected of my Beans! Well, you know what. Just make those items!]

Hyemin'sDaddy was speechless. He had hoped that it would not happen again, but it seemed like he had reached that point somehow. Then, he looked at Beanie as he murmured to himself, “More than that, just what kind of absurd chemistry and understanding does this owner and pet have….?”

***

[Hyemin'sDaddy: Minhyuk, I’ve finished making the items.]

After Minhyuk received all of his rewards from Varen, he logged out for around four hours in reality before logging back in again. When he came back inside the game, more than half a day had already passed. He was just in time to receive Hyemin'sDaddy whisper about the completion of Beanie’s items.

Varen had truly bought everything at double the price. Minhyuk’s entire fortune before he sold the artifact had gone to the crafting of Beanie’s items, so it was really fortunate that the value of the legendary artifact was enormous. The price of the artifact was around 400 platinum and with Varen’s double offer, Minhyuk was able to sell it for 800 platinum. Combining with the rest of the items, the total money that Minhyuk had received was 2,321 platinum.

Varen also gave Minhyuk a chance to open his treasure trove, which gave him a chance to get a pair of epic boots.

(Chef’s Nimble Boots)

Rank: Epic

Requirements: 500 DEX, Cooking skill at Master or higher

Durability: 10,000 / 10,000

Defensive Power: 415

Special Effects:

•Attack Speed +13%. 

•Cooking Speed +20%.

•The taste of any dish that you cook will have a 3% increase and will taste better than your previous cooking.

•Buff Effect Volume +20%

Description: This is the Chef’s Nimble Boots. It’s an excellent artifact that can easily make the wearer comfortable once they wear it. It is also an artifact that can’t be bought with any money.

A king was truly a king. Varen had a lot of treasures in his treasure trove. However, the only reason why Minhyuk chose the boots was…

‘My dish will taste 3% better!’

…purely for that reason and that reason alone.

Minhyuk then went to the pet storage facility after receiving Hyemin’sDaddy’s whisper. The moment he entered the facility, he was forced to stop in his tracks. There, he saw Beanie standing in front of him. Beanie had an upside-down silver pot on its head, while it held the lid as a shield with its left hand, and the spatula with its right.

[Beanie is feeling confident.]

“Oink!” Beanie cried out proudly as it stuck out his protruding belly. It seemed like it was making sure to show off its new artifacts to Minhyuk!

“...”

1. magical stone in Hinduism and Buddhism that is said to grant wishes. It is on par with the philosopher’s stone of the Western culture. ☜