If I were to talk about the conclusion first, then Kim Ye-Ri, the kid that Kim Hyun-Sung brought, and Sun Hee-Young, the woman that I brought, both joined Kim Hyun-Sung’s party. Even though Kim Hyun-Sung was the only person that had the authority to decide who joined party seven, some of the members of the administration team gave a skeptical look because we didn’t do enough consulting with them prior to this. Basically, this was done arbitrarily. The biggest reason why Kim Hyun-Sung was seen in a negative light was that he only had one year of experience. Besides that, they were shocked when they saw our results, but as expected, the gramps didn’t bother expressing that.

Sun Hee-Young’s recruitment was something that many guilds and clans wanted so it wasn’t unreasonable for them to remain quiet.

‘We even recruited her at a really cheap price.’

She said that she wasn’t going to join any guilds or clans, but when the news about her joining the Blue Guild started to spread, it was obvious that the guild’s stock prices were going to increase.

Kim Hyun-Sung’s party was already receiving attention, but we were now the center of attention in the free city of Lindel. Even though I didn’t know the history behind the people that were summoned here, I was certain that a rookie party shouldn’t receive this much attention.

“Hyung-nim! It’s time to eat,” Park Deok-Gu said.

“Got it,” I answered.

When I was focusing on my experiment in my room, Park Deok-Gu lightly knocked on the door and entered the room. Recently, our party started eating three meals together. It was not only to become closer to Sun Hee-Young and Kim Ye-Ri, who were the new members of the party, but it was also to discuss the overall situation and our plans for the future.

Unlike us four, who were close together, the two sort of kept their distance from us. Surprisingly, it seemed like Jung Ha-Yan and Sun Hee-Young were getting along, but it was obvious that they weren’t that close. Kim Ye-Ri was very shy, so I haven’t talked to her even once.

‘She catches onto things quickly.’

I wasn’t sure if she used magic or was good at smelling out the person in power, but the way she stuck to Kim Hyun-Sung’s side was a sight to see. I knew that it was going to take some time to get close to her, but it was frustrating how things weren’t improving.

While I was organizing the many thoughts in my head, Park Deok-Gu started talking. “More than that, what exactly are you experimenting with every time?”

“A lot of things. It’s difficult for me to be specific since I’ve been working on many things at once,” I answered.

“Can’t you tell us one of them? I’m going crazy because I’m really curious. You’re in your room experimenting every day, so isn’t it about time that you told us?” he asked.

“Well…”

“Hey, don’t be like that and tell us one,” Park Deok-Gu said.

“The potion that I’ve been working on recently touches one’s emotions…” I started.

“Is that possible?” he asked.

“It’s only a theory. Honestly, it’s almost impossible. I think it’s possible to touch one of the basic needs that a person has, but…” I said.

“For example?” he asked, interrupting me.

“Emotions like sexual desire, sleep, and appetite, but to be exact, I’m not touching the emotions themselves. It’s just simply making one feel drowsy or making one’s body feel exhausted…” I explained.

“No way…you shouldn’t be touching those emotions anyway, right?” he asked.

“That’s why humans are amusing because humans are animals that believe that the emotions that they are feeling are their own. For example, let’s just say that I created a potion that relaxed the muscle and made the body comfortable. When I add a magical element to it, humans will feel that their body is listless because the brain interprets the body’s signal at will,” I explained.

“Ohhh…”

“It’s the same for other cases like adding heat to the body or making the heart beat a bit faster. Just a little bit of touch can cause a person to feel easily excited or easily annoyed,” I said.

“That sounds a bit scary for some reason…” Park Deok-Gu commented.

“If one’s intelligence is low, then it’ll have a better effect. If not…”

“If not?” he asked.

“Then someone whose mentality is a bit unstable,” I answered.

“Ugh…”

I guess he felt a bit flustered when I told him that a potion could control one’s emotion because he looked a bit scared. I was having fun recently, but it wasn’t ready to be used yet. There had to be a dramatic situation to justify its use and I needed a variety of ingredients, so I couldn’t fully use the potion yet. Actually, it was nothing more than a prototype of the potion that I really wanted to make, but I couldn’t say that it was totally useless.

“I’m joking,” I said.

“Huh?”

“I said I was joking. There’s no way that something like that will actually work,” I explained.

“Jeez, hyung-nim!”

“I was just imagining it because every experiment starts with the imagination. It means that ideas are important,” I said.

“Oh! Then is it possible to bring silly ideas to life?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“If the situation is right,” I answered.

“You mean like a love potion?” he asked.

“That’s just an extension of what I told you earlier,” I replied.

“Then, what about a potion that increases one’s stats? Or a potion that turns a person invisible? Or,” he said, giving suggestions.

“...”

“A potion that turns the person into a monster. Is that possible?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

I wasn’t sure if he was asking because he knew something or if he was asking for the sake of it, but the potions that he mentioned were ones that I was researching. When I looked at him with a slightly surprised expression, the way he was pouring out ideas with a smile was a sight to see. Among his ideas, there were things that I didn’t even think about, so it was to the point that I was seeing him in a different light.

‘Is this bastard an idiot or a genius?’

I was not sure when it was going to happen, but I had a feeling that he was going to give me an idea that I had never thought about. It was nothing more than giving interesting ideas and had nothing to do with theories, but some of the things that he said hit the nail, so I couldn’t help but memorize what he said.

When I slowly walked down the guild house’s basement, I saw the party members gathered together there.

“Oppa, you’re here,” Jung Ha-Yan said, greeting me.

“Mr. Ki-Young.”

“Please have a seat.”

Jung Ha-Yan was looking at me happily and as expected, Sun Hee-Young was quietly sitting in front of the table with a neat look. Kim Hyun-Sung greeted me with a nod and Kim Ye-Ri, who was the youngest, seemed like she was still wary of me.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

When I took my seat, Jung Ha-Yan immediately brought me food and Sun Hee-Young poured water and quietly handed it to me. It was interesting how Sun Hee-Young’s nature didn’t change and it was shocking how she was still maintaining her ideal volunteer nature. It was probably possible because she took my advice about accepting her actions as volunteer work, but I thought that maybe her ideal volunteer nature no longer suited her. Instead, her job changed.

[Dark Priest - Epic Rank]

Her original job, Priest of the Sun, changed to Dark Priest. I thought that maybe the situation back then influenced it, but after looking at her stats a few times, I noticed that her stats didn’t change at all. As always, she was still able to use holy magic and even Kim Hyun-Sung was pretty surprised by her stats.

Of course, Jung Ha-Yan’s stats also caught my attention since she had been focusing on her training. Her magic stat increased to 40 points and for Kim Hyun-Sung, our lovely regressor, no other explanation was needed. Actually, Park Deok-Gu’s growth was a bit slow. Even though his endurance stats were increasing, the growth speed of his strength and stamina were a bit slow. The main problem was that his agility stat barely grew at all. He seemed like he was frustrated with himself, but I knew his feelings very well because I was in the same position as him when I noticed that my stats had become stagnant.

When everyone sat down, Kim Hyun-Sung started talking. “Let’s eat.”

“Enjoy,” Park Deok-Gu said.

“Enjoy your food,” Kim Hyun-Sung said. He was the leader of the party so it was only natural to show respect and after nodding lightly, we started eating in the quiet atmosphere. I could hear small conversations here and there. Everyone was talking about different things.

It was while we were spending time talking when Kim Hyun-Sung quietly opened his mouth. “I have something to tell all of you.”

Of course, everyone stayed quiet.

“Yes?”

“I received an offer from the guild’s sub guild master this morning,” he said.

“What kind of offer?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“It’s a dungeon capture. It seems like the parties from the other large guilds nearby will also participate, not just us. I would like to hear your opinions,” he said.

It was a slightly unexpected situation, but I knew that we had to go hunt or to a dungeon sooner or later since our party was composed of a bunch of rookies that arrived here recently and we needed to grow as fast as possible. If all six of the members, including Kim Ye-Ri, went then our party would look somewhat legit, so the timing wasn’t so bad.

What was a bit surprising was that parties from other guilds would also participate. I thought we were going into a dungeon that only the regressor knew about and that we would be able to experience something great that only he knew about. It was natural for me to think that there wasn’t a reason for the other uninvited guests to be there.

“Can you tell us the details regarding the dungeon?” I asked.

I couldn’t help but ask and when I did, Kim Hyun-Sung explained with a small smile. “Of course. I haven’t heard the details yet, but supposedly, a mid-sized party discovered a new dungeon in the area near the tutorial dungeon.”

“But that’s…”

“The problem is the party members. Since it is a dungeon that has recently been discovered by a party that was formed by people from different guilds and clans instead of a party that was formed by a single guild, the question of which guild the dungeon should belong to is unclear,” Kim Hyun-Sung explained.

‘Oh…’

I somewhat had an idea of what was going on.

“They’re not going to participate in the dungeon capture?” I asked.

“They’re not going to. The survey result showed that the dungeon is at least an average-ranked dungeon and maybe a rare-ranked at most, so they don’t think that it’s worth it. Although I am sure that they will receive a reward within the guild and that they are going to take their own share once the dungeon capture is complete,” he said.

“Rather than doing it themselves…”

“The guilds and clans decided to invest in their own parties that are still growing,” Kim Hyun-Sung said.

Simply put, a friendly party was created with the members from different guilds and they coincidentally found a rare-ranked dungeon, but they felt that the dungeon rank was too low for the party to enter themselves. Rather than going in there and capturing it themselves, they thought that it would be best to pass it onto the parties that needed experience right now.

‘They must have a good relationship.’

It was a bit interesting to see them share the dungeon instead of fighting over who was going to own it, but I guess for them, it was good news since each of the guilds would receive rewards and a share of the dungeon once it was successfully captured. Seeing as how they weren’t fighting over the rare-ranked dungeon, I guess they were ranked pretty high within society. If they were obsessed with gold or items, then they wouldn’t have yielded the dungeon in the first place.

“One party from the Blue Guild, one party from the Red Mercenary Guild, one party from the Devil’s Guild, and lastly, one party from the Black Swan Guild will be participating in the dungeon capture. Even though it’s only a rare-ranked dungeon, the size of the dungeon is a bit large, so they’re saying that there will be a problem with all the parties moving together. I think after we capture the dungeon, we’ll mostly split the items based on the level of contribution…” Kim Hyun-Sung explained.

“Based on the level of contribution?” I asked.

“Yes, but the goal of this dungeon isn't items or goods. It’s experience,” he said.

I somewhat had an idea about Kim Hyun-Sung’s plan. Although his explanation was long, there was only one goal.

‘The growth of the party.’

Of course, there wasn’t a reason to reject it. After all, our regressor had decided that it was the right direction.

‘Thanks, Hyun-Sung.’

It was about time for everyone to ride on the regressor bus.[1]

1. to ride a bus usually means to get carried ☜