Chapter 3 - Teuresec’s Horn that signals Victory

The festival took place near the statues, the squares, and the Tower of Light.

Newbie elemental shamans were running around dragging their contracted Dirt men, Fiery Pebbles, Wind spirits, and Water spirits.

“The water spirits are performing right now. Anybody who wants to be doused with refres.h.i.+ng water please come and join us.”

“Musicians who can only be found in Morata are performing! They will start in 10 minutes.”

The streets were filled with musicians and dancers performing together.

The Merchants’ businesses were thriving, and even the players that came back from their hunt opened stalls and were selling their j.a.ptem.

Hwaryeong and Bellot chewed on sweet gra.s.s as they toured the festival.

They could have become very popular if they performed together as a dancer and a bard, but they did not.

They wanted to play and relax instead, after working for a long time.

“This is really beautiful.”

“Eunnee, It looks really good on you.”

( Eunnee- Its a formal way when a female calls another older female sister. Regardless of blood relation.)

They were fired up about shopping.

It wasn’t just Hwaryeong and Bellot but other players too, as they traveled around the market square they were fired up buying things.

“Those are some cute furry shoes!”

“Weed makes a lot of cute shoes. Why didn’t you buy it from him earlier?”

“I didn’t want to be seen as a shopping addict.”

"....."

Hwaryeong’s house is 120 square meters. Her master bedroom was extremely large and gathered in it were a lot of shoes.

“Eunnee, If Weed told you not to buy shoes will you stop buying it?”

Hwaryeong’s face turned white.

She wouldn’t be happy if she was to only wear sandals and sneakers for the rest of her life.

“I’ll….do what Weed wants.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Instead I can buy purses!”

"......"

==============================

“The night view is quite pretty isn’t it?”

“Try eating this for me. I just bought this.”

“You eat it first. I’ll feed it to you.”

Pale and Maylon were sitting on a rock near the Tower of Light.

They were doing lovey-dovey stuff while enjoying Morata’s night view!

There were crowds of other couples sitting together around them as well.

In Morata this area has the best atmosphere, and a good view so it is visited by many couples.

It was an area where singles could not possibly enter.

There were a few hundred pairs of couples sitting on the rocks under the moonlight.

A sculptor, who clearly did not have a girlfriend, was among them. Sculpting a large chicken from memory.

“The wind is making me cold.”

There were couples that could have went back to the city, but they were the type of couples that would still bare the cold.

Then the man will ask.

“Would you like to share my cloak?”

The couples shared their cloaks and the cozy atmosphere together.

There were many cases where couples would go hunting and adventuring together.

“Old man, by doing this don’t you feel like we’ve gotten younger?”

“Ahem! Well, It’s okay.”

It wasn’t an unusual sight to see old couples being intimate as well.

In Royal Road, people were able to feel as if they were young again and fully enjoyed the experience.

==============================

“We sell anything. We are willing to trade. Come over and check out our specialities from the sea. You may even find some items leading to quest or items needed for your quest. Looking is free! There are many precious things and by browsing through it for long periods of time you might even get to earn some money. Mapan’s store is now open and ready for business!”

Mapan traded with the mermaids and received special products from the sea such as corals, seaweeds, pearls, and glimmering fish scales that he was selling now.

Since Mapan has been selling in Morata from the beginning he had a lot of regular customers.

“Excuse me, Is it possible for you to cut the price a little?”

Female players who wanted the pretty sparkling pearls tried to get deals.

However Mapan shook his head and did not give them any chance to lower the price.

“No, I can not. It is because of the low supply.”

Even then he slily glanced at them and said, “I’ll lower it down by two gold.”

“Kyaaaah. Thank you!”

The female players who bought the items asked, “when will you be selling again?”

“Right now I’m not so sure. But please stop by, we handle anything from protective equipments to weapons.”

“Can I register you as a friend?”

“Of course.”

Mapan thought these were the best moments for him. This was the time to build friends.h.i.+p with other players.

From beginners to high level players, extensively meeting with others. Even as the Merchant profession, it was rare to meet so many people.

The money that Mapan earned was continually invested into his trade and shops.

==============================

“Hey, do you have a party?”

Zephyr was constantly asked this by women.

He was in a square where a lot of lonely women sat and gathered together.

Zephyr told them sadly.

“I… have a party.”

“If you have time later. My name is Elaine…”

“I am sorry. I have someone waiting for me.”

Still, Zephyr was having a good time at the festival of Morata. The streets were full, it was bustling due to the festival! But Yurin, who he liked, was not there with him.

She had cold-heartedly refused to visit and was traveling around the world using Picture Teleportation.

At the cost of his pride, Zephyr pulled up the whisper window and contacted her first.

- When will you be back?

- There’s still a lot of sightseeing to do.

- Do you have time tomorrow?

- I’m hanging out with two of my friends tomorrow.

- How about the day after?

- Sorry, I will be busy drawing.

- Will I be able to see you this week?

- I can’t promise you as I’m busy...when I have the time I’ll tell you.

After that he didn’t hear anything from her.

Obviously, Yurin used her Picture Teleportation to travel the Northern towns, but also after that she went to Rosenheim Kingdom, Brent Kingdom, Central Continent's biggest cities and towns, and drew in Tiananmen Square’s making friends doing easy requests. If Zephyr saw the requests he would have scoffed at it.

The quests involved getting Kobold’s toy figures or getting poisonous serpent teeth.

But with a level difference of 20, she gave the requests to other people.

Even if he was to do something great, they couldn’t share with each other what mattered the most.

“Ahhh, without Yurin here the festival feels boring.”

Zephyr watched as the crowd dissolved into the festival.

Having given his heart away to Yurin, his feelings had grown so large that he easily became embarra.s.sed and it made him tremble.

==============================

“Huck huck(sobbing), will she not be coming back?”

There was one more person who fell head over heels over her.

The artist who hung many paintings, Petrov!

Reflection of an elf in the creek(stream or river).

Evil spirits scouring the land.

The view of the stars in the night.

A Young crazy orc.

Petrov expressed these magnificent and mysterious landscapes by using warm colors.

They were all either Masterpieces or Magnum Opus works!

He made his paintings with colorful expression which clearly showed an unique story that would make other painters jealous.

When Petrov showed his drawings to Yurin.

“How did you draw the elf in the stream?”

“When I was invited to go to the elf village, there was an elf girl who asked me to draw a picture of her.”

Yurin admired the painting of the elves that were running around freely between the trees.

Petrov was very familiar with the Elf and Fairy tribes. When he visited villages, he painted and gave some away, and the others he kept for himself as his own collection.

“The night view with the stars is very pretty. I have never thought to draw something like this before.

“As a child while I looked at the stars, I dreamt about moving them into the canvas. It would be very hard to just think about moving it, but when I painted it I had a really fun time.”

There are a total of 10 paintings in the Stellar Night Views series, they were pieces of art that express the exotic night.

The stars high up in the sky even had expressions. As the stars grouped together into constellation they even expressed themselves as monsters.

There were many different star images like the boy who looks at the stars, the women, the priest, and the magician.

An young boy looking up while working at the rice field, a young boy who climbed a tree on a hill that look down towards the ground and a young man who was fixing something in the stable looked up towards the sky for a brief moment. The girl who woke up early at dawn to make rice for her family looked out the window, and the swordsman who was training in the castle was tired and laid on the ground looking up towards the sky.

When expressing a thief, he was sitting on a person’s home wall and looking up towards the sky!

Petrov’s small work of art were not negligent, it had composition, volume, and it also stood out.

Until this point Yurin’s atmosphere was bright and cheerful.

“I have drawn a lot so please take your time looking at them.”

“Do you have more?”

“That’s correct. I haven’t even showed you one third of my work.”

Petrov couldn’t stop himself from talking every time Yurin admired his work.

Everytime he heard her voice praising him, he felt like he was flying away into the clouds!

He even talked about the art that has not even been released, but he did not think it was a waste.

-Art stat has increased by 21 for appreciating a Magnum Opus painting.

-Your art skill and proficiency has risen.

-Wisdom and Knowledge status has risen by 2.

Whenever Yurin listened to him talking about different things a lot of her art stats increased.

For Petrov it wasn’t just the drawings he drew, he also obtained them through requests and had a large amount of art collected, his ill.u.s.tration skill level was to the point of being over two level higher.

“This picture has quite a good feeling to it. Did you make it with purchased paint, or did you make it yourself?”

“I have things that I made, and I also have things that I have purchased at the art store. I have also made homemade paint that are still kept fresh, and the color is still maintained for a longer period of time. But because you need to do it a lot I don’t recommend it for you miss.”

As Yurin looked at the pictures, she started to want to go to the land of high Seas.

“You have quite a skill in art, it’s pretty good.”

“These are my drawings. There are a lot of things that I drew like the elves, spirits, and the people and You are the first one to see them.”

“How were you able to get to their place?”

“There are pictures drawn about spirits. I used picture teleportation to travel there. At first, they avoided me because I was human, but now whenever they see me, they ask to be drawn.”

Using the picture teleportation by traveling through dimension, he was able to do quests and act as intermediaries.

He tried to keep as much secrets as possible, but Petrov told Yurin without any restriction.

“I thought only sculptures were able to get it so I didn’t know that painting could also get Magnum Opus. This is my first time ever knowing about this.”

“In art, painters and sculptors are often compared to each other. Even though there are a special connection to one another when sculpting, but in drawing you can capture everything. In this piece it includes a majestic sunrise, an aesthetic of odd colors, and you will be able to draw nature pictures of magnificent beauty. Nothing is impossible in art.“

Yurin was curious and asked him a question.

“You have done many great works but Petrov, I have not ever heard your name at the painter guild.”

In Weed’s case it wasn’t just in the Sculptor guild, but if you were a player in Royal Road you knew about them.

But no one had heard of Petrov’s name before.

Even if he did not do many quests, if one had excellent command over painting normally majority of their work will become famous.

“When I was offered quests, I did not like the rowdiness so I did not give my name. When I finished the quest as an anonymous my picture’s fame will become relatively low, if I normally gave my name Petrov, it would be known throughout the Versailles Continent.”

Petrov was hiding in Jeongnyeong and he was the most outstanding painter.

[T/N: Jeongnyeong: Spirit world(Castle inside a painting)]

His extraordinary work was only known by the nymphs, and his works were equally outstanding.

“The painting is such a waste, are you going to continue painting under a different name?”

Petrov laughed and was embarra.s.sed.

“There are a couple plain ones that are left.”

“Which one is it?”

“Well… the paintings become the best in the world. It’s a burden to become famous. My goal right now is to show the strength of an artist at this time.”

“Then what do you think of the Sculptor Weed of the High Seas? Sculptor Weed is already making sculpting famous right now.”

Petrov did not know that Yurin was Weed’s little sister and he truthfully replied.

“I have never seen Weed as a compet.i.tor. Drawing is so much better than sculpting. He seems to think that he is getting all the respect right now, but if I were to make my presence known right now to the world, he would be humiliated.”

After that Petrov was not able to meet Yurin again.

On one side of St. George's Castle’s wall Yurin left a graffiti.

Petrov is an idiot. A dog.

==============================

Even during the festival in Morata Weed did not play around.

“During the festival it’s a must to do food business.”

Foods made for special occasion sold well and it was also a good way to increase the skill proficiency.

It won’t matter even if he overcharges them!

Cooking skill is intermediate level 8! He had about 4.3% left for it become level 9.

“I need to quickly raise my cooking skill to advanced.”

Even when hunting, people made and ate three meals a day diligently.

Cooking is regularly utilized and is very useful, not only will his skill proficiency increases, but his food will taste good and it also increased stats.

Sewing, forging, fis.h.i.+ng, sculpting, fencing(sword skill), herbal medicine, bandages.

There were many areas he had encompa.s.sed.

If one were to acquire advanced cooking skill, the intimacy with soldiers and the local people(NPC) would be easier to obtain.

What’s amazing was he would be able to make a tasty soup from two anchovies and three pieces of seafood.

When Weed was returning from Jigolaths, he caught squids and anchovies and made it into fish sauce, thanks to the food that he had fermented, he was able to complete various dishes.

Sooner or later he had to raise to advanced in cooking skill.

“Fresh seafood house. If there is anyone who wants a taste of the sea, please come this way.”

Weed only cooked the fish and other seafood because it was easily perishable.

There aren’t really that many Morata player that go fis.h.i.+ng to the remote seaside, this allowed him to properly sell different variety of seafood.

“Please get in line for whale, tuna, and sharks because it will be gone soon. If all three of these fishes is gone, please do not worry. There are other menu like the giant squid slice that are ready.”

Weed was able to make spectacular moves with his sword and slice the flesh of the whale.

The ability to focus on cooking, and the talent to concentrate on cutting them with the sword into sas.h.i.+mi.

“I should make it thin. That way, it would look like there is a lot....and I can make more money!”

Even when Weed was boiling spicy stew pot, there was a difference in Weed’s cooking compared with others.

If other cooks were cooking in the same pot, they would make about eight servings, while Weed can make ten servings!

Once again, he used plenty of inexpensive vegetable and accurately distributing bones, head, and tails

He did not waste anything even dis.h.i.+ng out the last cold serving, made him popular.

Since the hunting trip at the Lair of Litvart where he cooked food for the soldiers, set him apart, by dis.h.i.+ng out 20 servings by the time it takes other cooks to do 10 servings.

“This looks amazing. Will you cook and make shark sas.h.i.+mi?”

“What does it taste like? Will it rise our stats by a lot?”

The mere rumors of Weed, who appeared several times on TV, made customers gather around him like clouds!

“If both of us eat it together it’ll taste amazing.”

“Shhh, I am cutting up large squid tentacles right now.”

All of Weed’s cooking at the High Seas were posted on the internet through video, and pictures were edited for the players to stimulate their appet.i.tes. It made people want to try eating them.

Weed was able to exploit them more easily.

“How will I be able to cook something this good?”

When young newbie cooks asked questions, Weed gathered them around and answered while cooking spicy fish soup.

“Use fresh ingredients and clean water, and be conscious of your seasoning that you make yourself.”

The people who ate sas.h.i.+mi loved the taste so they ate it quickly, and since there were a lot of people that wanted more, scorched rice and stew broth were offered as extra service!

If they drink just the soup, their mouth became scalded, then they would drink fruit liquor, with no other choice, they would order sas.h.i.+mi.

This was the 2nd and 3rd time where Weed slily outdone them!

“As you usually drink crab soup, it includes baby clam soup! For your information there are less toxin in this puffer fish. There is a chance that if you eat it you could die, it’s only being sold to people who have resistance to poison and high health, we are not responsible for your actions.”

When Weed’s intermediate cooking skill is level 8. He was able to sell high quality cooking. A vast amount of menu of seafood cooking!

It’s not because of the guest, it was because of his return from Jigolaths in catching fish.

Triling.

-Cooking Skill has reached intermediate level 9. You will be able to draw out deep flavors.

“Finally, I reached level 9.”Weed's cooking tent was always full with no available seats. The festival restaurants were always busy and crowded.

While simmering the soup, he also made sculptures in the brief moments he had in between.

If you have something interesting to watch while you're having your meal, there is a feeling that it will taste even better!

While cooking, he collected the leftover sh.e.l.ls and used them to make a large crab sculpture.

“I would like three servings please!”

“Would they be mixing the food for us as well?”

Making menus relevant to the sculptures became popular!

Crab soup with crab chowder, with some gratings from its sh.e.l.l, together with fried rice, made the perfect one course meal.

Spreading around that irresistible aroma that made everyone wait in the long line.

“There quite a bit of Adventurers now.”

Players of Royal Road all saw the advertis.e.m.e.nts on the bulletin board, and widely known Adventurers have joined in as well.

Many Adventurers came to explore the Northern continent. These players had deep pockets and would spend so much money eating and enjoying the cooking of the famous player.

"There are still many dungeons that the players didn't know about in the northern continent. We are many parties gathered together and have collected considerable amount of information."

"......"

Adventurer’s offered themselves up to Weed.

"Do you want to go together and explore Pareubek Valley? I like hunting and my top priority at the moment is to use the weapons from the warriors in the high seas."

"From your time in the High Seas, have you heard about Count Valdez's tomb? Right now only formidable warriors can face the equally formidable monsters coming out from that den. The emerging monsters' levels average is 400. We know that Weed-nim's strength can handle this, but when combined with ours, it will raise our success chance even more."

Weed's video of his legendary expeditions were broadcasted in the Internet and were seen by millions viewers.

The broadcasts became famous and gave plentiful proceeds every time, there were so many skillful Adventurers that he would decline the proposal without hesitation, he saw the potential harm it would cause.

Even for Weed, there weren’t many bad offers from joining others. There were other players that had the ability to come to the Northern continents adventures and those with the experiences too. It was also a good place to make parties, there were plenty of hunting and exploration.

They tried to seduce Weed by proposing to give him warrior gear.

“Adventuring can be dangerous so I don’t trust it.”

There were also reputable parties asking him. They said that the hunting will become pretty fast with Weed and even he wanted to join with them.

However right now Weed’s situation was not that good.

It was because of the quest a.s.sociated to the Immortal legion.

Adventurers and warriors were sniffing around with outstretched hand due to temptation of the food.

There were two people who heard that Weed came back and quickly rushed towards him.

Mandal and his wife.

He gave the 1 copper request, to whom Weed made the dolls as a remembrance of the life of the young girl and many interested parties arrived from everywhere to look to at them.

“Weed you are back.”

Mandal grabbed Weed’s hand.

Weed saw the furry gloved hand grabbing him and saw a bright smiling face.

He enthusiastically smiled back.

Of course, this is because he had already noticed Mandal the warrior running over wearing sparkling mithril boots.

“You haven’t forgotten."

Not only were mithril boots hard to come by, in order to improve agility enough to make it, the blacksmith must be really skillful. Making weapons would have been simpler, as not even a general would have found it easy to get his hands on mithril boots.

It was an expensive and rare item.

Weed carefully asked him.

“What did you think of my work.”

Weed had put all his efforts into fulfilling Mandal’s request to make the dolls. For other quests, it would have been okay if he failed and just tried again, but this time he could not do that, so he put all his attention into making it.

Mandal gave him a thumbs up.

“It was the best. It exceeded my expectations even though it was only a 1 copper request. I really did not know you would put this much effort into it. My wife also....really liked it as well.”

His wife Delphina slightly bowed her head in greeting.

“Wow!”

“Those people requested the sculpture.”

The customers that had lined up waiting for the art center door to open already knew about the story.

The Lord of Morata made the sculptures for the sake of a couple!

People were doubtful whether this was a scam or not, but parties came forward themselves.

“If it were someone else, they would have been crazy for money, but you only asked 1 copper and made a Magnum Opus art piece?”

“But I am not handing over owners.h.i.+p of it.” (Weed)

“Regardless….If it was me I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

“If you think about it our city is really nice. It even cares about the newbies.”

“If you look at the shacks and all the other things, this really seems like a good place.”

Weed did not personally get the ball rolling.

“I tried really hard, but despite my efforts I was not skilled enough so I apologize.”

“That is not true, we are really thankful”

“Still I apologize for making you come all the way here.”

Truthfully, Weed did that with other things in mind.

Normally once the sculpture job is done he just need to send it to them!

But since Versailles Continent is huge, you never know when you can meet someone again.

In addition to making the surroundings of the artwork perfect, in order to receive the request fee, he needed to make them come.

Delphi brightly smiled and talked. She is a very kind and gracious woman.

“Since we came to Morata a lot of good things have happened. Take a look at this.”

Delphi handed him a small quail looking egg.

Weed received it and checked it out.

“Identify.”

Fairy’s egg: Durability 10/10

An easily breakable egg.

A possibility that a fairy gave this to someone once in its life.

If you keep it warm for a duration of time a baby fairy is born from the egg.

The fairy’s gender is fixed to a female.

Although fairies have a higher nature affinity than elves, they also have an immature side.

Acknowledging the first thing they see as their parent, who can name them. The baby fairy will follow the parent’s words only for the first 6 months as the fairy grows very fast.

Depending on the environment of the village and surroundings, there will be differences in growth.

Based on these differences in its appearance, personality and ability changes its future.

Restrictions:

-The egg must not break.

-If you give the baby fairy too much stress, it may decide to return back to the land of the fairies.

-If an evil fairy is born, notoriety will extremely increase.

Since the mysterious fairy fountain was installed at the castle, fairies flew around every night.

Mandal and Delphina had become friendly with them by giving gifts and food and received the egg in turn.

Weed gave the egg back carefully.

“It’s a very difficult thing to get, congratulations.”

The number of players that had obtained fairy’s eggs were even below 20.

Weed couldn’t just ask them to give this item to him for their request.

To the Mandal and Delphina couple, the fairy will of course not feel like their real child. However, as they take care of the fairy, if their wounds could heal even a little bit, it would be good.

They will be able to decide the problem at hands Amongst themselves, in reality even if they are not its birth parent, they can adopt it and raise it as their own.

Mandal took out money from his pocket.

“Here is the 1 Copper as per the commission.”

For a split second Weed’s face turned blue to the point of wanting to beat up Torido.

“Thank you. I have received your request fee.”

Weed hand trembled as he accepted the 1 copper.

A rule to watch as he received the money. The promised amount of money that he asked for and he could not ask for more money because there were too many watching eyes.

However, for Mandal this was not the only reward.

“Weed I’ve got an item you could use. This is really worth two small castles, please accept it.”

A legendary horn that announces victory, The Teuresec’s Horn.

An Item that belongs to a knight Teuresec.

The horn is used when commanding an army.

When the sound of the horn is heard the moral of the soldiers will increase.

Among the knights, the former knight Teuresec blew this horn and, with the soldiers on his side, traveled to many places in the Versailles Continent leading his warriors to victory.

Requirements: Leaders.h.i.+p 850

Cla.s.s: Knight.

Minimum Level 400.

Can lead more than 300 warriors during battle

Option: It draws out the hidden strength of the warriors.

Can use Healing Hand three times on soldiers

Fame +600.

receive a bonus when Razing a city.

Soldiers will receive a strong will to fight the enemies while it make the enemies lose their will to fight.

Increase the experience points gained by the warriors at the time of victory.

Demoralization of the enemies.

When the horn is used by the lord instead of a knight the effect increases by 20%.

Weed gulped.

It was an item that knights and n.o.bles were searching for with eyes ablaze.

It was so rare that on the item trading website, people even tried selling fakes--that famous item!

To call to attention, to educate the soldiers to a higher standard, it was to the point where people feigned hearing someone calling out their.

“What do you see me as….I didn’t come and seek for such a reward.”

Mandal said with his earnest tone, if he didn’t give him something in return it would have been as if he didn’t have any manners. It seemed evident to him that he might have seen Mandal having a bit of doubt so he slightly refused.

“I couldn’t think of anyone else but Weed to have this. Please accept this.”

“Huh, oh dear me. I couldn’t just refuse them…”

Weed gave him an awkward frowning face as he stretched out his hand towards him.

Mandal understood what it meant, so he gave the horn to him with palms up.

Triling!

- You have acquired the Teurseuc’s Horn announcing victory.

Weed’s mouth smiled widely as he talked.

“When the fairy is born...I shall make her some clothes.”

He received a precious treasured horn, so he wanted to make her clothes, it doesn’t cost much to make a pair of baby clothes.

It’s a necessity to be more friendly and close with players like Mandal!

“It’s seems like you are a generous thief with loose ends. It’s true what people say that you should not judge a person just by their looks….! Not only did he have a rough face, he was vicious to the core.”

Having emotionally received the reward, more than anything, he couldn’t help but be proud.

He was as happy as a warrior who had trained his swordsmans.h.i.+p skill and killed the monster he couldn’t before.

When they looked up, Pale who was eating the food at the restaurant, with Maylon, Hwaryeong, and other party members, saw a new side to Weed.

The stares that the others gave him made Weed’s facial expression contort with satisfaction.

==============================

Hermes Guild headquarters.

“The application for the Agolta region is over.”

“After applying for the occupation at Anaborasmaul we are checking the damage on the buildings.”

Hermes Guild recent performance of taking over by force the Haven Kingdom.

Everyone knew that they were strong, Hermes Guild was extremely strong beyond imagination. If one were to compare their level throughout the Versailles Continent, Hermes Guild will be at the top among the rare few who are up there.

New powerhouses above level 400 appeared one after, another leading trained knights and soldiers into magic battles, defeating the armies of other lords and n.o.bles and then putting their flags on the conquered territories.

Hermes Guild’s sphere of influence was increasing daily, as their symbolic yellow flags went across the other kingdoms conquering them.

“I’d like to apply to join Hermes Guild, are there any requirements?”

“Would we as the whole guild be able to switch the whole thing around??”

Thousands of really strong players with levels of at least 200 were attracted to Hermes Guild and knocked on their door every day.

In Haven kingdom, at the branches in the castles and cities there were long lines of players who wanted to apply for members.h.i.+p from early in the morning. Well armored mercenaries, anti-magicians, and other medium sized guilds were the only things that could keep the anti-Hermes guild coalition away.

The Hermes Guild and the anti-Hermes guild coalition were the two major forces in the Haven Kingdoms and through war, both of their forces became stronger.

The thousands of scattered guilds reorganized and split their strength into either side but whenever the Anti-Hermes guild coalition would send out their armies their warriors would have a series of victories!

Due to the repeated defeats despite the late deployment of more troops and high level players, at this moment the state of Hermes Guild’s honour had a major collapse.

Now the final divisions were taking place before them.

“We do not have long until we annex the Haven Kingdom.”

Raphael and the governing body of the guild had a constant meeting.

The warriors would check the situation every hour and respond immediately. Though Bard Ray was the real leader of Hermes Guild, he did not want others to know yet. He could have at least served as a warrior but he was bent on hunting.

“What about Frieg province? The player called Gusweneb who shows us a lot of hate on the high seas is its lord, right?”

“They refused to surrender. They said they would not recognise the jurisdiction of the Hermes Guild.”

“And the nearest troops are?”

“A group of journalist and 2 legions a day away from Teperon.”

“Wipe them out. Show them the meaning of fear, tell the Warriors that we will not accept surrender.”

If a lord surrendered to the Hermes Guild they would be undamaged, if they did not surrender they would be completely trampled. They would destroy everything on their land and the revived players in the Haven Kingdom would be kicked out.

They would show by example on why they should surrender by swinging a weapon called fear. Players were trapped by the strength of the Hermes Guild.

“Now only the capital needs to be captured.”

The king, his royal family and the elite were all in the capital.

Hermes Guild’s warriors needs to crush Haven Kingdoms by their own hands. But they did not have to worry about the cost of the life and death struggle.

It was something the warriors prepared long in advance, and the balance of strength was tipped towards Hermes Guild.

In Haven Kingdom, Hermes Guilds warriors had demonstrated their force.

This time it was not due to the warrior in United Supremacy that made it happen, but it was all planned out from the beginning.

When the Hermes guild rose as the biggest force in the Haven Kingdom, Raphael felt nervous.

Inside the Kingdom, there were many forces that did not acknowledge the power of Hermes Guild.

In Central Continent, compared to Hermes, there were other prestigious guild no less in size furiously guarded.

Also the fund for the base dropped to the ground and inside the guilds, the core players were also exhausted. Hermes Guild who were not properly put together needed to give duties to their members.

Of the guilds that manipulated and held them together from the darkness, half of them were Hermes Guild included in the founding of the Union.

The two competing forces were endlessly racing with each other to create a foundation in Haven Kingdom by recruiting players.

They had to give up some territories when the Anti-Hermes Coalition was founded, but it did not cause any visible damage.

In the darkness they joined the guilds and the players, those who had hostility towards the internal affairs of the Hermes guilds were gathered up and divided.

Currently, the fights took place in the Haven’s Kingdom were according to Hermes Guild's plan

"As you can see… Once we have full control of Haven Kingdom, we will have to do the coronation ceremony. How are the preparations for that?"

"Everything is going smoothly. We will occupy the city in three days."

Raphael was thinking Haven Kingdom was already his.

Half of Hermes guild already decided on the union.

The guilds who knew about the plot were absorbed into submission, and they accepted those who had a special agreement in secret.

To take control of the capital, the union of the guild would fight one large scale battle and destroy them.

If Hermes Guild showed their difference of strength then the Union would surely be torn down.

As Hermes Guild nurture and follow this scenario, they had enormous power and influence.

They have secured vast amount of territory that other prestigious guilds could not follow, they even made warrior troops.

“But Weed is in the High Seas...are we going to leave him standing?”

One of the governing member suggested this.

The current Hermes guild strength and influence was the greatest. In every part of Royal Road they were scared or envious of Hermes guild.

Every time they had their own story to talk about.

-Weed broke away?

-That’s pretty useful. But it might not be good for Weed.

Even when Hermes Guild had not barred their teeth at Weed, comparatively it was not an objective to considered now. Right now their level was not worth mentioning.

Still the Hermes Guild’s honor has been damaged, and the parties had taken great offense to it.

“We can not leave Weed like this. He could get really big and it’s best to stamp him out.”

“As Hermes, we need to show the people that we can easily kill Weed.”

Everyone who were in the top bra.s.s had something to say.

Drinpelt and his fleet were originally from the sea.

There were less players who went to sea, even when they were on land they had a lot of disadvantage on land and when fighting they took a lot of damages.

The powerful Hermes Guild sent ground troops for revenge against Weed to capture him. But at that time they went off sh.o.r.e.

They couldn’t show off their strength properly and lost in which it shook up Hermes Guild’s pride.

“We need to catch Weed.”

“We need to show everyone in Versailles Continent that he is not an hero or the G.o.d of War with undeniable proof.”

The core leaders group decided to accept Raphael’s decision.

Bard Ray didn’t tell the others about his personal grudge against Weed.

Bard Ray had sent Drinpelt and Griffith to kill Weed, the fact that he hated Weed was apparent!

Raphael walked around the conference room.

“Then who should we send?”

After occupying Haven Kingdom with other Kingdom’s elite guild’s warriors they need to continue, but now, only a fixed amount of warriors remained.

Unlike in Jigolaths, they could send more than enough troops as they needed to catch Weed.

“How about Polon?”

Compared to the knights, Drinpelt were not as strong. Also the private knights were there as well. The Knight of Crema.

Polon was a knight, this time he was a significant contribution in combat power as a warrior.

“I guess Polon and his band of knights should be good.”

“That’s a good idea. Currently the area they are occupying is inside our sphere of influence so there should not be any more life and death struggles.”

“It will happen between sieges when we hit the capital, even if they escape the knights will move heaven and earth to catch them so problems will not arise.”

Nevertheless, the core group still wanted more reinforcements.

“This time if we make any mistake we will be in trouble.”

“We might be able to create an opponent equal to Weed.”

“If there was the battlemages wouldn’t Polon be able to do it safely?”

“Then they would be strong enough to even smash the castle and catch Weed.”

Polon and his division thought it was definite, but they had reinforcement ready just in case he escaped.

This was because he left a memorable impression from the extreme battle in Jigolaths.

“Polon and his knights plus seven battlemages….”

He ordered 200 knights and seven battlemages with 130 deputy magicians.

For these warriors, catching Weed was easy.

In addition to Polon’s division that he commanded, he could also take one thousand rangers with him.

“It seems a bit overkill….but it would be best to rather handle it perfectly. It is to show the power of Hermes.”

Raphael ordered Polon and the battle mages to take care of Weed.

“According to the information, Weed will be going to do the quest of the Immortal legion. It’s best not to let him be successful on his quest and become the buzz again.”

After Raphael ordered Polon to handle this situation.

“Is it alright if I kill him?”

“The goal is to completely destroy him. If he had any colleagues destroy them, do anything you can to disturb him.”

Polon had also thought about fighting against Weed before.

They were waiting for such orders as they were biding their times for an opportunity to strongly pursue.

“Sure. I’ll take care of it cleanly.”

Polon got his knight’s and rangers ready, and as soon as the battle mages joined, they left.

They arrived late to Jigolaths and its terrain was a huge disadvantage. And no one thought that the geographical location would be used against them both in the land and sea.

So right now they went undercover first to collect information on Weed’s arrival while hunting.

==============================

Morata’s night festival was not yet over.

Lights were kept on in the brisk night and the market was still open.

Weed made specialty seafood soup using leftovers for his party.

“You guys eat a lot. Also this is liquor was made from Jigolaths.”

In general, he took out liquors that they could not tell the difference in prices.

Plenty of those ribs used came out for Bollard and Terbet.

Even if they didn’t eat for two days, their stats would still temporarily increase by 20 and his cooking this amazingly brought up 30 more.

However, above all the flavor they had made to be able to gulp it down.

Surka naively asked.

“You really are not selling this? I can really eat this?”

“Yea. I purposely just cooked it so eat a lot.”

The words that Weed said made him look like an elder brother!

He did not predict to get the horn, if it was now and if he read it last year he would still be extremely happy.

“Thank you, I shall eat well.”

It initially started with Surka then Pale, Mapan, Zephyr, Hwaryeong, Irene, Romuna, and finished on the air with Maylon tearing through the ribs.

Seo Yoon also ate ribs on the corner of the table with forks and knife.

If they were the Geomchi’s they probably couldn’t keep their imagine of dignity.

They would break apart three ribs for each to eat and still wait for more to eat.

Weed had a firm belief that he would not give any free ribs!

“He should be soon talking about it….”

“Would he say to pay for the ribs? But if the taste and nutrition is this, there should be a lot of guest that would want to eat it?”

There were no need to create more troublesome work.

But for Weed, he just continued to grill the Korean Barbeque.

“This is for the colleagues that stayed with me to this point.”

He didn’t even imagine that they would come to the High Seas in Jigolaths. It was for all the faith and caring they given him at the High Seas, so this was what he was doing in return. So back in Morata he purchased seasoning to give better spice for the ribs.

“What kind of difficult favor is he gonna ask…”

“What do you think is happening right now?”

They knew that there was no way Weed would give away free food, so it made them more uneasy when he kept on cooking the Korean Barbeque.

==============================

Geomchi’s were practising by the seash.o.r.e. They swung their swords towards the waves, and ran up and down the beach through the waves with heavy rocks on their back.

“Hey! Look at those muscles.”

Females players yelled as they pa.s.sed by.

In Royal Road, the people who knew the name of Geomchi that were at the resort, listened to them on training their own body shape.

“Our fame is not so bad.”

“Today is the last day to exercise, at night lets go to the bar and order ten times the amount of fruit juice to drink.”

“Yep!”

Trainees were spurred on to start training for their Vitality.

Even when doing hunting, it was to the point of them being ignorant enough to it.

However during the former struggle at the sea, it was much more difficult to fight the sea monsters.

Triling!

Taking lesson through extreme ways to train the body throughout the ancient ways by yourselves. It will allow physical growth through training.

Difficulty level: Profession training quest.

Compensation: For 200 days interning in accordance will grow one’s former combat skill and stats

Quest restriction: quest Limited to Martial artists.

Whenever the Geomchi’s saw monsters, without even caring about the level they fought, they repeatedly won or lost. Their hidden growth was a.s.sociated to martial arts.

“With my physical fitness...there a chance to be strong. From today on there is gonna be special training.”

Since that day Geomchi’s plunged into training.

Even similarly fighting the sea monsters, the trainee and the instructors nearly did identical quest.

The Geomchi ordered his trainee.

“You need to eat the barely in two days. Provided that you don’t die.”

Even the full training was extravagant.

“When the sun rises do a light two laps dragging logs on the beach, and wear a weights to do 400 sword swings.”

“Do you think that should be enough for the morning? For the master Geomchi’s it might look a bit too lazy. so adding breaking the rocks with the bare hands 500 times would be good as well.”

“How about we climb that wall with only our left hand and right foot? If we fall from the wall and hit the floor Resilience will probably also improve.”

A stream of innovative ideas were created!

No matter how fast morning training went, it was already noon by the time it was finished, and afterwards more training continued.

“Let’s also fight off hunger. I’ll use Willpower to overcome this d.a.m.n hunger”

The instructors and pract.i.tioners carried two swords in each hand and when a big wave came, used all their Strength to swing their swords.

It was like the waves shattered into many pieces and splas.h.i.+ng fresh cold water upside down!

The training that seemed to have no end, used up a lot of strength but it gave a cool sense of accomplishment.

Their task was not over until they collapsed at night one by one when their vitality fell from being exhausted.

“The body is like gum. The more you chew it, the stronger it gets. We’ve been too weak.”

Geomchi3 gathered the pract.i.tioners and scolded them. He also wore heavy armor and even carried a rock on his back and ran across the sand.

Training for 200 days like this regardless of day and night, it was unthinkable training!

They felt like they were going to die from their hearts bursting.

‘Run. I am running. I can do it.’

Making the body run made it difficult for the body.

Limit!

It was not a physical fight, but an internal one.

Since the quest appeared, they have been doing extreme practice it has made their body sensitive. It was to the point where they could feel their muscles screaming in distress.

I can give up now.

You’re good. That’s pretty cool. We can take a rest now.

Take a sweet rest.

Actually a voice could be heard ringing out every time they underwent the training.

They understood it was temptation, but it was to the point where everything became difficult and painful, and now they would rather worry about it actually being the case.

However the Geomchi’s ignored these thoughts and kept running.

“I cannot stop here. Sa-hyungs are running. There are priests to cure us, so I cannot quit running first.”

The man’s pride would not let him quit, so he had to keep running.

In reality there were many things to consider.

Bone and muscles, nerve damage and breaking of the nerves! Reckless exercise implied that it was impossible.

Even if you sleep one night it doesn’t mean the broken bones will heal.

Even if the amount of training increases, the body cannot handle it and a permanent loss of function in the body can occur.

But in Royal Road it was possible.

Just suck up on the pain and keep taking another step.

They kept believing as if the society is white in this world and they kept running forward.

-You have overcome your limits Strength had increased by 2.

Sometimes there were unimportant messages window that showed up.

It was not just the flesh, but also to train the mind. Every time they saw it, they felt happy.

“Training and dying are fun experience. Guys, lets roll!”

Geomichi’s not only did physical training but mental training was also conducted.

Training intensity gradually became harsher each day.

There were times when they were overworked and died, but they did not decrease the amount of training.

Geomchi’s were training at sunny Ipia Island and other different islands!

Today finally, their training was complete.

Mud were plastered on Geomchi’s face as they gathered around.

“For today’s death penalty what would we be doing?”

Their bodybuilding training has increased their strength, vitality, and agility.

Their minimum sword skill level was at Advanced level three, there were also some that were level 5.

But to master the fencing skills, they did basic training and worked hard to gain it.

Geomchi asked as he wildly swung his sword.

“I’m fed up with looking at the sea. Since we have achieved everything here so why not leave.”

“Should we go back to the continent?”

“That should be good too.”

After completing the training the Geomchi took four days as they went on a vacation.

On the beach they showed off their muscles, enjoyed sunbathing, and drank orange juice. In the bar they drank fruit drinks and relaxed.

In some case there were some that were close to women.

“By any chance do you have any parties?”

Geomchi’s gave off a mooney look when asked this.

If anyone were to hear what they were saying in such situation!

At a time like this they have learned from Zephyr.

They could never tell them that there were 500 more of them.

“No. The three guys are here now.”

“It seems we match well with each other would you like to go with me to go to the beach?”

“It would be an honor...if you would go.”

It was really good for them to rest, and they had the chance to talk to girls.

Even though the recreation was short, when they were registered as friends there were times when they were able to meet again.

In the sea they were able to hang out with professional female divers.

“I heard that Ipia’s is pretty famous.”

“Hahaha, is that so?”

“Would you like to eat it with Seaweed soup?”

Women divers at the High Seas has exceptional skills in cooking seafood. However tourist enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere, but for born fighters it did not match with them. They went around island of Ipia and finally decided to return back to the continent.

“Let’s go back to the continent.”

Not just masters but the trainees too, they wanted to explore areas where there were a lot of monsters. They went around Ipia’s island and they finally wanted to return to the continent.

“Should we go catch a kraken for the final?”

Players who supposedly hunt monsters usually first ask and answer.

Level, major attacks, habits, warriors product, and was able to get many things smartly.

However for the Geomchi’s they didn’t have much to say.

“Will it taste good?”

“Well, It’s just for commemoration.”

Large sea monsters.

The whole group decided to fight, catch it, and eat the Kraken.

Without the support of magician and priestess they went after the kraken.

“If we cook it would it taste good?”

“Brothers, I even brought some spices from the island.”