Chapter 78

Chapter 78: Star of the Absolute (3)

TL: Yoni

Edited: emptycube

“Talk . ”

He hated when people beat around the bush .

As Muyoung coldly replied, Bug gulped down his saliva .

“Then, I will get to the point . Please join our party . ”

“The reason is?”

“Isn’t it better to fight with five people than alone? Currently, one spot is vacant . ”

Muyoung thought over what happened a few hours ago .

Bug and his other 3 comrades were stirring up the arena .

It wasn’t five people but still that was enough .

Their coordination was enough to call them veteran explorers and they also had the fighting power to back it up .

At the very least, they had 5 years of experience .

On top of that, all four people seemed to have a distinct class .

They should be able to easily clear the 5th floor and go to the floor below .

“You probably don’t see me as a human . ”

“You are different from other monsters . And even Alice said okay . ”

“Alice?”

“Ah, she’s one of my party members . She is a master at detecting danger . She even has as support ability that allows her to recognize an opponent’s habits or their fighting power . ”

It was a dangerous to just tell someone your companion’s abilities .

It was a gamble since he was exposing a part of his power .

It just showed how badly he wanted to recruit him .

“The reason is?”

“Oloness, we don’t have the confidence we will win when we face him . ”

“You can just forfeit, can’t you?”

“See… We can’t forfeit or lose even once . ”

He replied very cautiously .

Right away, Muyoung knew what Bug was talking about .

“They are aiming for Solomon’s Hall of Fame . ”

They were trying to break a record and earn a reward .

They were thinking the same thing as Muyoung .

However, there was a limited number of people who could leave a record on Solomon’s Hall of Fame .

‘It’s better to do it alone . ”

If he was to join these four, it might be possible to overthrow Oloness . They were strong enough .

However, if Muyoung joined them, Oloness would forfeit again and wait for his chance .

Since he felt awkward coordinating with others and as the conditions of the arena kept changing, he couldn’t say how long they would be comrades for .

“I refuse . ”

“Please, think about one more time . You are really strong but Oloness is stronger . ”

Bug said it with certainty .

It seemed like the girl called Alice had compared Muyoung and Oloness’s fighting power .

‘Is she a recruiter type class?’

Occasionally, there were special recruiters who could see how strong a person was .

Fighting power was literally referring to the power Muyoung could produce using his stats and skills .

Even after realizing and awakening his purity, he was still weak compared to Oloness .

However, he never thought he would lose .

‘Fighting power isn’t everything . ’

A fight was made up of continuous minuscule judgements .

Even a small mistake could produce critical results .

One’s experience was the same or perhaps even more important than one’s fighting power .

Experience allowed you to reduce the number of mistakes to a minimum and understand your opponent .

And Muyoung could be called experience itself .

Few thousands or tens of thousands of fights were enough to make simply comparing stats invalid .

“I will not lose . ”

“…Ha, I understand . It doesn’t seem like I can change your mind alone . I won’t ask you to fight as my comrade anymore . ”

Bug led out a big breath .

Muyoung joining them was like gaining a warrior who could do the work of a hundred men .

Although his other comrades opposed, Bug already knew .

That fighting power wasn’t everything and that Muyoung was much stronger than what others thought .

When he first met him, he disregarded him as he was a dokkaebi but after witnessing all his fights, his thoughts about him changed .

He was strong .

He was a truly strong individual who continuously got strong as he fought .

His goal was to recruit him no matter what but he had failed .

Bug turned his gaze and looked down .

“Then could you lend us the dwarf for a moment instead? We will pay a price . As you can see, our equipment have become tattered . ”

“20,000 onz . ”

“What?”

“Per person, if you pay 20,000 onz, I will let him fix it . ”

“That’s too expensive . Wasn’t the price of that dwarf 50,000 onz?”

Muyoung shook his head .

“Kalmooh isn’t a slave but an expert blacksmith . If he concentrated and fixed the equipment, the stats of the equipment also increase . It was a benefit only the ones who gained his favor can enjoy . ”

It meant Muyoung was willing to share this benefit .

Kalmooh was moved by the fact Muyoung said he wasn’t a slave and on the other hand, Bug couldn’t help but be surprised for a moment .

It was especially rare to find an expert blacksmith . They were normally part of huge guilds and only high ranks were able to use them .

If they could even momentarily borrow an expert that great, the price wasn’t a problem .

On top of that, Bug thought that he could buy even a bit of Muyoung’s favor through this deal .

Gulp!

“Please wait for a moment . I will come back after discussing the matter with my comrades . ”

Bug hastily ran out the door .

Muyoung pondered as he watched him leave .

‘Just in time . ”

He lacked onz to buy the items Kalmooh needed .

80,000 onz was enough capital .

‘It could be used as a trump card when keeping Oloness in check . ’

There was another reason for lending Kalmooh to them .

To keep Oloness in check and if it was those four, they would fight well against Oloness and he was planning on collecting data from this .

“Are you really okay with this? You might be fighting with them . ”

“I don’t mind . Do your best . ”

Muyoung was calm .

If those four were monsters, no matter how much he needed the onz, he wouldn’t have lent them this kind of help .

However, all four of them were human .

And when fighting against humans, there was no one who could catch up to Muyoung .

* * *

Thump!

They were the messages that appeared at the same time he finished off the wood golem .

15 wins 0 draw 0 loss .

It was Muyoung’s current record and due to this, there was a bounty .

‘Oloness is 500,000 onz . Even though our records are similar, it just shows how great Oloness’s influence is . ’

He was also famous on the 4th floor .

It was because he had already competed in this arena a few times .

From what he heard, it seemed like this was his 7th .

There was no one who knew why he continued to participate in this arena .

He received a reward as he continued his thoughts .

About 700,000 onz .

This was the amount he earned after five rounds .

Unlike the 5th floor, the monsters on the 4th floor were more assertive .

If the goal of the monsters on the 5th floor was to survive, the goal of the monsters on this floor was to escape .

However, the escape ticket was a large sum, a staggering 1,000,000 onz .

So obviously everyone lacked onz and perhaps it was because of this that another facility besides the arena existed .

It was the ‘market’ .

At the market, everyone was a customer and a merchant .

A place where people could purchase and sell items by setting them out and bargaining .

Muyoung was walking around this place .

“Silver-light cross ring . 100,000 onz . ”

“Sooty battle boots . Selling for 200,000 onz . ”

Unexpectedly, there was a constant supply of new items .

People took items from the opponents they killed and sold them like this .

The size of the arena exceeded his imagination and hundreds of monsters died every day .

That was why so many items were on the market .

And Muyoung didn’t miss a day to roam around the place to see if there was anything he needed .

‘Normally, they are things that aren’t worth buying . ’

Almost 9 of out 10 items weren’t in good condition . They were mostly worn or rusted .

What was more, these items were expensive .

Monsters knew this as well but they were never willing to cut the price .

Most monsters didn’t understand the economy very well and even if they knew it wasn’t going to sell they were still firm on the price .

However, Muyoung had the blacksmith Kalmooh .

A treasure that returned equipment to their original state and with a low chance to increase their efficiency .

‘The fact that both good and bad items are the same price meant that as long as a person has a good eye, they could profit . ’

It was so .

Monsters had very little understanding of the economy .

They sold good equipment and the bad equipment at the same price .

Those who didn’t know would probably get ripped-off but Muyoung had a skill that could show the details of any item .

‘Eye of the Sky . ’

A skill that allowed him to use all the knowledge inside the Sky Library!

There was an endless use for Eye of the Sky which had become a C rank .

Like now .

Name: Old earring

Rank: F

Classification: Equippable type

Effect: An earring so old that its abilities have changed . Be careful when putting it on as you can get tetanus .

** Secret Name: Contempt for the Weak (A++)

** Secret Effect: Extorts vitality from a wounded opponent .

It was possible to look at its secret name and effect .

What was more, he was even able to know the original rank .

‘A rank item that’s also unique!’

Muyoung’s pupils widened for a moment .

A rank items that were identified as unique were almost nonexistent .

There were up to 3 ‘+’s which indicated rare, unique and epic respectively and would display strong abilities relative to their rank .

These were things normal recruiters couldn’t see with their skills .

It was possible for the Eye of the Sky skill that Muyoung possessed as it was a skill that contained all knowledge .

Though even this would have been impossible if its rank was low but the timing was just too good .

“I want to buy this earring . How much is it?”

“Sheeck, It is, 200,000 onz . ”

An orc spoke without even looking at Muyoung .

There was no one in front of the stall .

Who would buy an old earring like this for 200,000 onz?

Even the orc probably thought that there was no way Muyoung would purchase such an item .

If he really bought it, it would mean he was crazy .

And Muyoung became the crazy guy .

“I will purchase it . ”

“Sheeck . 200,000 onz . I won’t reduce the price . ”

Muyoung shrugged his shoulders and took out a piece of paper .

The orc nodded as Muyoung wrote a number on top of a paper made out of special material .

Muyoung slowly held the earring .

“Contempt for the Weak . I got a good item . ’

If it was old, he just needed to repair it .

He never thought he could earn such an item at a place like this .

It was an earring he really liked after coming to this place for a few days .

As Muyoung turned his body and started to leave, the orc tapped his belly and smiled .

“He’s a tool, a tool . Sheeck . ”

Rumors about Muyoung quickly spread .

A tool who buys anything expensive!

Many laughed at him for buying strange items whenever he earned onz .

However, Muyoung didn’t care .

Muyoung wasn’t the type to be swayed by such rumors and unlike their remarks, Muyoung was certainly gaining benefit .

‘Kneeguard of Fresh Blood, Sly god’s Sword, and Contempt for the Weak . ’

Among them, he chose three .

No matter how great the secret names and the effects were, there were quite a few that originally didn’t have good stats .

So, the good equipment that Muyoung could put on and use were only these three .

But, that was enough .

Just with these three, Muyoung was able to gain quite a bit of strength .

‘I shouldn’t have been given time . ’

Even inside the arena, Muyoung was quickly getting stronger .

On top of that, even his equipment were developing gradually .

If Oloness decided to fight him on the 5th floor, he would have had much higher chance of winning .

However, he gave Muyoung time and that would act as a critical factor .

Oloness’s chance of winning was slowly and continuously getting smaller .

On the other hand, Muyoung was steadily eating up everything from the bottom .