Chapter 35: Crupia Snow Mountain (1)

TL: Haku

Editor: Hungry Panda

Malona, the only town near the northern continent.

Just before the new update, this town where only flies flew, it was becoming alive.

This was because of the many expeditions that gathered in order to explore the northern continent that opened recently.

The central square in the town of Malona was crowded with people that were looking for parties.

“We’re looking for a tanker willing to go on a Gargoyle steeple expedition! Only Knights that are over lv 80, please message us!”

“We’re gathering up attackers willing to go on the Mammoth raid! We have about 10 users that are over lv 90 and we’ll head out immediately once we have two Priests and three long-ranged dealers!”

Ian, who arrived at Malona town through the gate, was surprised when he saw all the people.

‘They did say that there were more and more expeditions being dispatched for the exploration of the northern continent… d.a.m.n, there’s a lot of people.’

However, as Ian had no interest in parties, he headed towards Crupia Snow Mountain shortly after.

Also, there was no one here that would be willing to party a low-level like Ian.

‘I hope there’s not a lot of people on the snow mountain…’

If Crupia Snow Mountain was as crowded with people as Malona was, then a big setback would have developed in his plans.

Ian summoned Ly.

Grr-!

Ian, who petted Ly’s mane once, got on top of his back nimbly.

As Crupia Snow Mountain was quite a distance, he needed to ride Ly in order to save as much time as he could.

‘And if it’s here, then I probably won’t draw as much attention.’

Amongst the high-level users, there were a lot that had an artifact that had a Familiar sealed to it that they could ride.

This was because an artifact with a Familiar that could only be ridden and didn’t have high fighting power sealed to it was an expensive product but it was cheaper than an artifact with a combat-based Familiar.

On top of that, there were a lot of cases where users, who went on the Mammoth raid that were top-level attackers, were boarded on extraordinary Familiars.

Because of that, he didn’t stand out too much when he rode Ly in the northern continent.

“Ly, let’s go! That way!”

Ian, who had now gotten a lot more used to riding Ly, was able to keep his balance securely on top of Ly’s back.

And because of that, Ly was able to run faster than before.

Had it been 30 minutes since they started moving?

Ian was finally able to arrive at Crupia Snow Mountain.

And just like Ian was hoping for, Crupia Snow Mountain was empty with n.o.body there.

‘What the h.e.l.l? Why is there no one here? I only see a couple of parties?’

Ian, who thought there would be quite a lot of users exploring no matter where he went as it was a hot new continent, was slightly taken aback.

However, different from Ian’s a.s.sumption, Crupia Snow Mountain was not a place that people would have interest in.

This was because the users that were partic.i.p.ating in the northern expedition were users that were over lv 80.

A user that would find worth in coming to Crupia Snow Mountain had to be a user that was looking for a hunting ground ranging from lv 50-60 but there were already a lot of hunting grounds within that level range spread around.

On top of that, Crupia Snow Mountain was incredibly cold and at the fault that it hadn’t been long since it was opened, unknown monsters were also a variable in hunting.

There was no reason to put up with the risk of leaving the good hunting grounds in the warm, southern regions and coming all the way over here.

However, Ian was not trying to do such normal hunting.

‘It’s a little dangerous but in the case I find a new dungeon, there’s nothing as satisfying as that EXP…’

To the user who was the very first to discover an instant dungeon, they received a bonus that increased their EXP and item earning rate by double for 5 days.

Ian had come all the way up to the new continent on purpose to aim for that.

Of course, other normal users knew of this truth.

However, in the case they overdid it and died even once, they would receive a huge penalty where they would be degraded 1 level and restricted from logging in for 24 hours, so they were just not taking the risk.

The few parties that were seen on the snow mountain from time to time were the limited number of users that were different like Ian.

“Well, it’s better for me.”

Ian began to look for a location that was good for fighting.

Eventually, he ended up in a deep location where there was absolutely no one.

Ian, who found a spot that seemed alright, summoned Ddukdae.

“Ddukdae, Summon!”

Along with Ian’s command, Ddukdae let out a white light as he was summoned.

‘Euh.. But do I have to summon Bbookbbook as well?’

He contemplated this part a little.

He was absolutely sure that Bbookbbook would be of no help in fighting and would just take some of the EXP.

‘But he does have the option where evolution is possible and I can’t just give up a rare monster that hasn’t been known until now.’

If it was a monster that he had set his heart on raising, evolving and using in the future eventually, he felt it would be better if he leveled it up together.

‘That’s right. Would there be that big of a difference whether we divide the EXP by 3 or by 4? We can just hunt that much more. If he really has no use, then I’ll just use him as a monster decoy.’

The method where you just fill up EXP by grinding.

Ian, who had cleaned up his thoughts, lastly summoned Bbookbbook.

“Bbookbbook, Summon!”

Bbook-!

‘Why is it that this one always lets out a weird sound every time he’s summoned?’

As soon as Bbookbbook was summoned, he began to look around. And as soon as he found Ian, he crawled over.

“What?”

Bbook- Bbookbbook-.

Ian met eyes with Bbookbbook.

And shortly after, he was able to find out what he wanted.

“Ha, wait a second.”

The thing Ian pulled out was a meatball.

‘It was a good thing I met Harin and got a good amount.’

He had asked Harin on the spot for the meatb.a.l.l.s that Ly and Bbookbbook liked and had even asked for extras.

Thanks to that, he had an incredible amount of meatb.a.l.l.s.

Ian gave Ly a meatball as well.

It seemed because Ddukdae was a golem, he wasn’t able to consume food.

As if Bbookbbook was in a good mood after eating the meatball, he ran around and crawled towards Ddukdae.

It seemed he was glad to see a friend that was from where he originally lived.

Ian, who saw Bbookbbook run around and crawl between Ddukdae’s feet, smirked.

“Ddukdae, put him on your shoulders.”

Deu-reu-reuk-.

At Ian’s words, Ddukdae placed Bbookbbook on top of his shoulders and slightly glanced at him. Laughter flowed from Ian, who watched that image.

‘That Bbookbbook is pretty cute. I wonder what he’ll become when he evolves.’

And Ian remembered one more thing he had to do before he officially started hunting.

‘Ly’s Potential probably reached 20 now, right?’

He was planning on granting a skill to Ly with the Familiar Skill Grant he learned when he reached lv 30.

‘Shall we check the skill information once more?’

As he didn’t have any use for it since now, he couldn’t remember the exact skill information.

Before Ian used the skill, he decided to read it over again.

– Familiar Skill Grant

Cla.s.sification – Active Skill

Skill Level – Lv 0

Proficiency – 0%

Cooldown Time – 24 hours

One random skill will be granted to a Familiar.

Every time Skill Grant is casted, the targeted Familiar will consume 20 Potential, and in the case that Skill Grant is casted on a Familiar that was already granted with a skill, the existing granted skill will be transformed into the new skill.

*The higher the level and the proficiency of Skill Grant, the higher the chance of the Familiar obtaining a high-cla.s.s skill.

‘Ha, now that I look at it, I needed to have raised the proficiency of this skill, too…’

Ian reprimanded himself for slacking.

As soon as he gained the skills, his mind was occupied because Rukin and his party approached him, so he made a fatal error(?) in reading the skill information roughly.

‘But how am I supposed to raise the proficiency for this? Hm… Will it work if I catch a monster that has some Potential every day and use Skill Grant on it before setting it free?’

Because he couldn’t waste the Potential of his main monsters thoughtlessly, the most logical method was to catch new monsters with Potential and use Skill Grant in order to raise its proficiency.

‘As it’s easy to find a monster that has Potential with the Expert t.i.tle…’

If he caught a monster that had a name s.h.i.+ning in gold light among Wolves or Golems that had the Expert t.i.tle, interestingly enough, they already had about 20 Potential.

Ian, who set up a plan, called Ly over.

Firstly, he needed to use Skill Grant on Ly.

“Ly, come over here.”

Grr- Grr-.

Ian, who petted Ly’s head once, invoked the skill.

“Skill Grant!”

Then a white light lodged into his body and disappeared in an instant.

Along with that, the information of the skill that Ly obtained popped up.

– Berserk

Cla.s.sification – Active Skill

Skill Rank – Rare

Cooldown Time – 3 hours

For 15 minutes, your Offensive Power and Agility will increase by 30%, while your Defensive Power decreases by 30%.

*While in Berserk mode, if critical damage is dealt to the opponent, your Offensive Power additionally increases 30% for 5 seconds.

Quite a good skill was created.

It was simply a skill that had the option to maximize Ly’s fighting style.

‘The cooldown time is long compared to the duration of the skill, but this is a skill that could be used for a while. That’s a relief.’

It was truly a relief that a useless skill didn’t come up.

It was a skill that was created by consuming 20 Potential, so if a useless skill came up, that meant that other Familiars’ skill creation or evolution would be delayed that much.

Ian petted Ly’s mane as he opened his mouth.

“Ly, you need to use this skill when I tell you to, alright?”

Ly, who now understood Ian’s commands perfectly, nodded his head.

Grr- Grr-

And along with that, he remembered the option of the knuckle that he purchased before coming.

‘If the inherent effect of the knuckle pops up, Berserk could be invoked onto me, as well. This is really good?’

Only now, he was curious as to how the skill’s cooldown time would be invoked.

He wished that when it was invoked through the item, he could invoke it indefinitely without a cooldown time, but he knew very well that there would not be such situations where the balance would collapse in such a way.

Ian, who finished making a decision related to the Berserk skill, looked up to Ddukdae, who was standing still.

‘I can use the Training skill on Ddukdae now.’

Ian decided to use the Training skill on Ddukdae, whose Potential had reached 70.

He slightly wished to fill up Bbookbbook’s Potential and let him at least learn one skill. but Ddukdae’s evolution was first.

When Ly had evolved, how stronger he had gotten!

“Well, now it’s time to hunt!”

Ian, who roughly organized his plans, equipped the knuckle he purchased one hour ago from the auction and smirked.

It was now time to hunt.

It was Ian, who enjoyed hunting time to just level up without any thought as much as the time he experimented and a.n.a.lyzed.