Chapter 91: The Overqualified Herb Gatherer >

Flame Tide Wave Sword.

It was a Legendary sword technique that reached the Transcendental Realm.

Being at the Transcendental Realm meant that if a martial artist with decent talent mastered this technique, they could grow to that very level.

Considering that those at the Transcendental Realm were treated as top-tier powerhouses, with very few of them existing on the continent, one could see just how incredible this martial art was.

In the first place, martial arts of this level were rare even within major factions, and it was on par with the combined first and second halves of the Heavenly Fire Holy Law Art that Lee Tae-sung had recently learned.

Of course, the difficulty was so high that it was normally hard to even begin training, but for Tae-sung, who could learn it simply by spending points, it wasn’t an issue at all.

“Heh… I really am.”

Lee Tae-sung walked out of the Guryong Bookstore.

Abeson spoke as if he were annoyed, seeing the corners of Tae-sung’s mouth practically pinned to his ears.

After obtaining the Flame Tide Wave Sword from the Guryong Bookstore, Tae-sung dismissed the workers and moved to leave the shop.

No matter how much he spent real money, the amount being drained in real-time was enormous, and he had no desire to look for anything else.

Having stuck with Tae-sung for quite a while, Abeson knew that a variety of fortuitous encounters followed him to an extent that ordinary people couldn’t even imagine.

Of course, Tae-sung couldn’t just meekly accept that.

“It’s not just luck. You have no idea how hard I work.”

It was true that he had obtained various fortuitous encounters that others hadn’t, but there were more than a few times when he had almost died in the process.

If his skills had been even slightly lacking or if he had made one wrong move, he would have dropped dead instantly.

Even the Guryong Bookstore was a case in point.

If his business in the real world hadn’t been successful and sailing smoothly, he might have just spent money without ever obtaining the sword technique.

Abeson nodded, acknowledging the point.

Tae-sung stepped outside the bookstore.

A long line of people waiting to enter stretched out from the large main gate, and they began whispering when they saw his face.

To be precise, it was because of his expression.

Seeing Tae-sung grinning from ear to ear made it obvious that he had found something good inside.

Since many of the people lined up here were aiming for the dream of a huge fortuitous encounter, it was natural for them to look at him with envy.

There were two places the Flame Emperor had told him to visit through the communication.

One was the Guryong Bookstore in Hyrax, and the other was Jiryong Mountain.

Although Tae-sung had obtained the sword technique in the Guryong Bookstore, Abeson wasn’t particularly happy.

He wanted to communicate with the Flame Emperor again to ask about his son, whether the boy was alive, and share various other stories.

But since all they had gained here was a sword technique, there was no reason for him—a former mage in life—to be pleased.

“No. I’m going to return to Elleun first to reorganize.”

To be precise, he needed to gather Skill Points by doing requests.

He needed 64 Skill Points to learn the Flame Tide Wave Sword, and he was quite short.

Because he had obtained so many good skills, he was lacking points no matter how much he grew.

Abeson wanted to go to Jiryong Mountain quickly, but he didn’t press Tae-sung.

He knew that moving steadily was far more important than rushing.

Tae-sung first visited the Hyrax branch of the Flying Dragon Clan.

Just as he had performed a request for the Dragon Knights on his way here, he planned to see if there was something similar for the trip back.

Upon hearing Tae-sung’s business, the Branch Manager looked through the requests and spoke.

“There just happens to be a transport mission from the Biryong Express returning to Elleun.”

“Oh. Can I participate?”

“Of course, the express company would welcome you with open arms… but it might be difficult to match the request fee for a Special-class Disciple.”

For someone at the level of a Special-class Disciple, the base unit for a request fee started with gold coins.

Just as one didn’t need a cow-butchering knife to kill a chicken, hiring a Special-class Disciple was overkill.

“I don’t mind receiving a lower fee.”

Gold coins weren’t what was important right now.

Since he now had the option of using real money, he only needed to receive proper experience and Skill Points.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Hmph… It’s truly rare for a Special-class Disciple to lower their own price… Fine. Then the express company will have no reason to refuse.”

*ding!*

**[A Quest has been generated]**

**[Quest: Escort the Transport]**

***

The road back to Elleun was comfortable.

They used the roads laid out between cities, which Tae-sung had personally helped maintain along with Kelson not long ago.

Since the monsters and bandits near the roads had been wiped out once, no problems occurred.

Even though the pay was low, it was an easy request—so easy he could have done it for free.

*ding!*

**[You have completed the Quest]**

**[As a reward, you obtain 40 silver coins, 3 Skill Points, and a set amount of Experience Points]**

“Good work.”

Upon arriving at the Flying Dragon Clan, he reported to the Chief Overseer and received his Skill Points and experience.

It wasn’t a large amount, but every bit counted.

After that, Tae-sung carried out requests indiscriminately.

The important thing was finding requests that gave a lot of Skill Points and experience without taking up too much time.

He ran as many of those as possible, sometimes completing more than four or five requests a day.

“If only other Special-class Disciples carried out requests like you do!”

The Chief Overseer vehemently welcomed Tae-sung’s actions.

There were plenty of requests that required high-level talent.

However, because those were difficult and dangerous, Special-class Disciples usually managed their condition and took breaks between jobs.

Consequently, there was often a shortage of people to fulfill the requests, so how could the Chief Overseer not be pleased when Tae-sung moved as if he needed no rest at all?

***

Several days passed.

*ding!*

**[You have completed the Quest]**

**[As a reward, you obtain 4 gold coins, 8 Skill Points, and a large amount of Experience Points]**

**[Level Up!]**

He had just completed another request.

A dispute had broken out between giant entertainment houses, leading to a duel between great warriors, and Tae-sung had participated as a proxy and won.

A Special-class Disciple was ranked at least in the middle tier even among First-class experts.

If Tae-sung gave it his all, he could even hold his own for a while against a martial artist who had reached the Peak Realm.

Thanks to that, none of the missions given to a Special-class Disciple were particularly dangerous.

“Then please let me know if another good request comes in. I’ll be at the Golden Altar of Alchemy.”

“Heh, really. You’re going there again?”

“It’s better than just playing around.”

“Strange, truly strange. Not all Outsiders are like that.”

The Chief Overseer shrugged as if he didn’t understand.

The requests Tae-sung wanted were those that were nearby and could be resolved in a short time.

He didn’t take transport requests that headed far away, as those took at least several days regardless of the reward.

Instead, when there wasn’t a request that felt just right, he was dispatched to the Golden Altar of Alchemy as a herb gatherer.

**[Quest: Herb Gathering]**

**-Description: The Golden Altar of Alchemy is an organization that produces numerous elixirs, secret medicines, and doping potions. Since they always require a massive amount of materials, gather and bring them the herbs they desire.**

**-This is a repeatable Quest.**

This was a repeatable quest offered by the Golden Altar of Alchemy.

Tae-sung had learned the basics of herbalism while following Baek Woon-ho.

He had learned well, but in truth, it was hard to call him a complete herb gatherer based on that alone.

However, the story changed completely when Tae-sung’s other abilities were factored in.

Vision enhanced by mana, senses honed through life-and-death battles, a sixth sense for finding special things, and even the magic spell Hidden Detect.

No matter how experienced a herb gatherer was, they were still ordinary people.

They might be skilled and veteran, but once Tae-sung exerted his full abilities, it was difficult for an ordinary herb gatherer to keep up with him.

“You’ve come!”

“Oh, Elder. To think you’d come all the way out here to meet me…”

“Our best herb gatherer has arrived, so of course I should come out to meet you!”

Elder Miganic had always liked Tae-sung, but his gaze was entirely different now.

It was because Tae-sung had produced incredible results in several herb-gathering requests.

“I’ll be off then.”

“Take it easy, ho ho ho.”

Elder Miganic smiled warmly as he watched Tae-sung depart with a basket on his back.

It was very peculiar for an expert of that caliber to be doing the work of a herb gatherer, but from the perspective of the Golden Altar of Alchemy, it was an excellent situation.

After several days of repeating the herb-gathering grind and taking good requests whenever they popped up…

*ding!*

**[You have acquired a new skill]**

**[Skill: Flame Tide Wave Sword]**

He successfully obtained the new sword technique.

***

*psshhh.*

Tae-sung stood up from the Dream World Capsule.

For the past few days, he had neglected the real world and spent all day inside the game.

Since he was leading a guild and running a business, he had to pay attention to real-world matters as well.

‘Now that I’ve truly felt how efficient and good spending money is, I need to make the business prosper even more.’

The more money, the better.

He had felt that clearly this time.

Leaving his house, Tae-sung went to the factory site where the Lowest Grade Elixirs were being made.

At first, the factory had been empty, but now production was running 24 hours a day, and a security system had been added.

“Ah, you’ve arrived, Guild Leader.”

As soon as Tae-sung reached the factory, a guild employee approached him.

He was one of the former slaves brought over from China.

He wore a gloomy expression as he looked at Tae-sung.

“I’m sorry. Because we are short on security personnel, there were three break-in attempts yesterday, and one intruder even made it into the center of the factory.”

Because Taesung Guild’s elixirs were the talk of the town among other guilds, there were many who were trying to steal them.

If they could somehow copy the elixir manufacturing technology, they could make astronomical profits, so there was no way they would leave it alone.

In contrast, the factory’s security personnel were just ordinary people with some light weaponry, so they couldn’t stop them.

As a result, there were several break-ins every day.

However, Tae-sung’s expression remained nonchalant as he received the report.

“It’s fine. No one was hurt, right?”

“Yes. You told us not to engage recklessly with intruders, Guild Leader…”

“Yes. If they aren’t the type of guys you can easily kick out, just leave them be. You’ll only get hurt fighting them for no reason.”

Since the Taesung Guild’s biggest shortage was manpower, the factory guards were also ordinary civilians.

But many of the intruders were Hunters.

Though it was impossible to tell which guild they belonged to since they wore masks and hats, they weren’t opponents for ordinary guards.

Therefore, Tae-sung had boldly instructed them to give up on security.

It didn’t matter anyway.

No matter how much they broke in, there was no way they could steal the Alchemical Furnace.

Abeson snorted from beside him.

The Alchemical Furnace installed in the factory was a piece of work that Abeson had personally modified.

At that time, while connecting it to the factory’s automation equipment, he had also added several security magic circles.

As a result, unless someone had enough power to destroy the magic circles or the knowledge to understand and bypass them, they didn’t have to worry about it being stolen.

“You’ve done well. In the future, never try to fight an intruder, and if you feel you can’t handle them, just leave them alone.”

“Are you sure…?”

“Yes. You can really do that. Now, get back to work. I’m going to head inside.”

Tae-sung patted the employee’s shoulder and went inside.

The reason he had come today was to see in more detail whether he could expand the Alchemical Furnace or replicate it.

‘Last time he said replication was impossible, but I hope it’s somehow possible to increase the production volume.’

He intended to bring a new Alchemical Furnace from the Dream World eventually, but it would be better if he could utilize the existing factory.

Tae-sung struck a motivational pose toward Abeson.

“I believe in you, Archmage!”

Abeson sighed.

He was a Great Archmage of Flame, not a Great Archmage of Alchemy.

Since it was an entirely different field, he knew the basics, but it was difficult for him to do much once it crossed into applied fields.

Afterward, Abeson racked his brain trying to improve the magic circle, while Tae-sung spent his time going over the newly acquired Flame Tide Wave Sword in his head.

Tae-sung had to be nearby, but since he knew nothing about magic circles, there was no help he could provide.

Instead, he was completely absorbed in his new sword technique.

He hadn’t used it properly yet, but he could feel it was an incredible technique just by unfolding it in his mind.

His hands were practically itching to try it out as soon as possible.

At that moment…

*wee-woo wee-woo wee-woo!*

The sound of sirens erupted from all directions.

An urgent announcement followed immediately.

—Intruder alert!

Intruder alert!

All security personnel, check your assigned zones!

Tae-sung frowned slightly.

He had heard there were several intruders a day, and it seemed there was one right now as well.

Tae-sung slowly stood up, and at that moment, the door to the room containing the Alchemical Furnace burst open.

“!??”

The masked intruder discovered Tae-sung and flinched in surprise.

But that was only for a moment.

“Out of the way. Unless you want to die.”

The masked figure, purposely lowering their voice to remain unidentifiable, drew a short sword from their waist and pointed it at him.