Team 25A exchanged bewildered glances.
‘Descendant of the Great Sage.’
Originally, Arcadians were friendly toward Hunters who used the same magic system.
The better the magic skills, the more they liked them, and exceptional Mages like Cha Se-hyeon were even treated like nobility.
However, they had never heard of even Cha Se-hyeon receiving a bow like this.
Thud.
Just then, Oh Song-hui gave Kim Song-cheol a light shove from behind.
Unable to resist the strength of the Sword Expert, Kim Song-cheol unintentionally staggered two steps forward.
“I think they’re talking to you, Uncle.”
Oh Song-hui spoke, gesturing with her chin toward the prostrate Arcadians.
They didn’t know what a ‘Descendant of the Great Sage’ was, but Kim Song-cheol was the only one in Team 25A who could possibly fit such a title.
Kim Song-cheol looked back and forth between his teammates and the crowns of the Arcadians’ heads before asking a question.
“Are you. talking to me?”
Then, one of the Arcadians looked up just to confirm Kim Song-cheol’s face and bowed his head again.
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Could you perhaps stand up and speak?”
“Yes, we shall do so.”
At Kim Song-cheol’s word, the four Arcadians stood up abruptly.
Oh Song-hui and Mun Gi-jeong watched the scene with interest, while Ser Gang-jin looked a bit envious of Kim Song-cheol.
“You are aware, right? I’m an inhabitant of Earth, not an Arcadian.”
When Kim Song-cheol spoke, the Arcadians immediately nodded their heads.
“Yes, we are aware.”
“Then how can I be a descendant of that person?”
“We can tell by your Sanggis.”
Sanggis.
It was something inseparable from being an Arcadian.
They were all born with a special sense.
It couldn’t be categorized precisely, but if one had to group it together, it was a sense that detected ‘magical talent.’
“Sanggis.?”
Kim Song-cheol tilted his head upon hearing the word Sanggis.
He knew of Sanggis as well.
Sanggis was commonly used to distinguish between nobles and commoners.
Because of this, there were still many countries in Arcadia where a class system was applied.
“So you don’t mean we’re actually related by blood.I thought there was some secret regarding my birth.”
“No, no. It is certain that the blood of the Great Sage flows within you in some way.”
The Arcadians waved their hands in denial.
Their expressions were serious.
If Kim Song-cheol hadn’t actually been the Descendant of the Great Sage, they might have even been angry.
‘What is this? Is it something religious?’
It was impossible to determine a bloodline through Sanggis.
What it sensed was simply magical talent.
Despite that, the fact that they showed such deep conviction could only be explained by religious reasons.
‘I didn’t think religion was mainstream there. Strange.’
In fact, Arcadia was a term referring to a planet, much like ‘Earth.’
Within it were numerous countries, each with its own culture.
However, since the study of magic held a firm grip on the world, there were few cases where religion gained power.
But when the special sense of Sanggis combined with human nature, the birth of a religion was not impossible.
If someone felt something incomparable to others, it was possible to bestow upon them the title of a descendant of a god.
“Are there many people who follow the Great Sage?”
“In a broad sense, all Arcadians can be said to follow the Great Sage. The Great Sage was the one who established the concepts of magic.”
“And in a narrow sense?”
“They are not many, but not few either.Three countries follow the footsteps of the Great Sage with one heart.”
Not just one country, but three.
He didn’t know how large they were, but it was certainly not a small number.
“Wow, Uncle, if you go to Arcadia, it’ll be amazing. You’ll get the absolute best treatment, won’t you?”
Oh Song-hui said jokingly.
He might not receive the same treatment as the Descendant of the Great Sage in every country, but in any country with a class system, he would be recognized as a high-ranking noble.
That was the norm in Arcadia.
As expected, the Arcadians smiled warmly and spoke to Kim Song-cheol.
“If the Descendant of the Great Sage, who has appeared for the first time in a hundred years, were to visit our Kingdom of Berdien, it would be our honor, not something the Descendant of the Great Sage should feel burdened by. However, if your heart ever moves you in the future, we beg you to please visit us at least once.”
Actually, visiting Arcadia was not entirely impossible.
If one paid a certain number of Points, they could go to Arcadia.
The problem was that the required Points were quite high.
‘The first in a hundred years? I thought there might be a few more. It’ll be a disaster if I go.’
But Kim Song-cheol abandoned the idea of going.
He resolved that even if he did go, he must avoid the Kingdom of Berdien and its surrounding nations.
Since everyone had the sense called ‘Sanggis,’ they would surely bow every time they met him.
He had no hobby for enjoying such fame.
Just thinking about it was burdensome.
“Yes, well. I’ll try to go if I get the chance.”
An expression of polite refusal.
Nevertheless, the Arcadians expressed their gratitude repeatedly.
“Oh, there is one thing we must tell you. It is none other than that we witnessed a large monster on the way here. It was three times the height of a human, and its ferocity seems beyond words.”
The Arcadians spoke with quite worried expressions.
“Ah.”
Kim Song-cheol understood roughly.
That monster must be the boss of this Dungeon.
“If we may ask, do you perhaps intend to slay that monster.?”
They seemed worried that Kim Song-cheol might meet that monster and die.
Kim Song-cheol had shown his skill, but they judged that it wouldn’t reach the level of that monster.
Moreover, in an E-rank Dungeon, one didn’t necessarily have to catch the boss.
If one wanted to avoid it, they could.
“Hmm, I’m not sure.”
Kim Song-cheol scratched his cheek with a lukewarm attitude.
Until just now, he hadn’t even known there was a boss monster.
He hadn’t thought about it.
“If you intend to slay it, would it be alright if we lent our meager strength?”
“You’ll help us?”
“Yes. If you would only allow it, we would consider it an honor.”
“Should we.?”
Kim Song-cheol glanced at his teammates.
The teammates gestured as if to say, why hesitate?
In any case, the system was such that the Hunter who had a decisive influence on killing the monster took most of the Points.
If the Arcadians helped, they could collect Points more easily.
“Then shall we go together?”
“Yes, thank you.”
The Arcadians bowed their heads repeatedly in gratitude, even though they were the ones helping with the hunt.
Thus, Team 25A, which had grown to eight members, began walking across the snowfield together.
***
Before long, wolves appeared as expected.
They were smaller than boars but still larger than the wolves of Earth.
Furthermore, the organized hunting style unique to wolves was quite threatening.
Grrr!!
The pack of wolves surrounded the eight Hunters in an instant.
However, since there were eight of them, the wolves couldn’t form a proper encirclement.
The pack only numbered about fifteen.
They were used to fifteen wolves handling four people, but trying to handle one person for every two wolves seemed to make the proportions off.
“Lightning Spear.”
Kim Song-cheol simply drove a Lightning Spear into a wolf’s maw.
The wolf had no talent for dodging the lightning magic that flew like an arrow.
The wolf’s body was pierced, and it collapsed.
“Oh.”
The Arcadians exclaimed in admiration at the sight.
However, they couldn’t just stand there with their mouths open forever.
There were still monsters before their eyes.
One Arcadian snapped out of it and cast a spell.
“Geryon! Puiron!”
Along with an unintelligible incantation, lightning was fired.
The thread-like lightning electrocuted three wolves in a row but failed to kill them.
Just then, Oh Song-hui jumped in and plunged her sword into the necks of the fallen wolves.
It was the primary duty of a Swordsman to finish off monsters when they were incapacitated.
Her body had reacted the moment she saw the fallen wolves.
“How can you take the Points?”
Then, the Arcadian who had fired the magic rebuked Oh Song-hui, which was unlike his usual self.
“What?”
Oh Song-hui looked back, wondering if she had made a mistake.
But the Arcadian’s following words were unexpected.
“They should be given to the Descendant of the Great Sage.”
She thought he was complaining that she landed the killing blow on a monster he was catching, but he was actually complaining that she hadn’t yielded the killing blow to Kim Song-cheol.
Unimaginable loyalty.
While Oh Song-hui just blinked her eyes.
“Ah, we share Points, so it doesn’t matter.”
Kim Song-cheol made an excuse for her.
“Ahem.”
Despite this, the Arcadian glared at Oh Song-hui as if dissatisfied, but he couldn’t argue further.
He couldn’t find fault with the words of the ‘Descendant of the Great Sage.’
***
After repeating hunting and traveling, Team 25A found a flat, snowless spot and settled down.
It was about time to eat.
The Arcadians ate the rations they had brought, and the Earthlings ate theirs.
Kim Song-cheol was also chewing on an energy bar when he suddenly saw an Arcadian reading a magic book.
His desire for magic was so strong that he didn’t neglect his training even inside the Dungeon.
‘Perhaps.?’
As Kim Song-cheol watched him, an idea occurred to him.
Arcadians were friendly toward Earthlings, but they didn’t teach them magic.
This was because, in a world where magic was extremely advanced, there were various factions with different directions of magical development, and they were often hostile toward each other, leading to a culture of being reluctant to leak magic.
But what if it was the Descendant of the Great Sage?
“Excuse me. Would it be possible to get some spare magic books? We have quite a few magic spells we’re missing.”
Backing himself with his status as the Descendant of the Great Sage, Kim Song-cheol directly challenged that culture.
“Oh, how can this be? Are you saying the Descendant of the Great Sage cannot learn magic due to a lack of magic books? Such a tragic thing.”
The Arcadians’ expressions became like that of a grandmother meeting a grandson who had starved for three days.
“He-here, please take this for now.”
The Arcadian who had been reading a magic book simply handed over the one in his hand.
It was a magic book written in the language of Arcadia, but it could be read perfectly well inside the Dungeon.
The title of the book was ‘3-Magnetic Mall.
It was a 3rd Circle magic, Magnetic Mall.
Usually, an inhabitant of the Republic of Korea would refuse at least once to be polite, but Kim Song-cheol accepted the book as if possessed.
Buying one of these books would cost tens of thousands of Points.
It was a level that could clear dozens of F-rank Gates.
“This is a magic we don’t have on Earth.”
Kim Song-cheol muttered as he already flipped through the pages.
He had subconsciously begun absorbedly reading the magic book.
Then he suddenly came to his senses and lifted his head.
“Is it really okay for me to take this?”
“It is no problem. It is a magic book that has been printed over 300 times. We are sorry we couldn’t give you a better one.”
The Arcadian who gave the magic book shook his head as if it were nothing.
In fact, he seemed happy to be able to give Kim Song-cheol a magic book.
“Once we return to Berdien, I will speak to the other Mages. I will tell them to enter the Dungeons carrying a certain amount of magic books and give them to any Earthlings they meet.”
“Oh.”
The loyalty of the Arcadians far exceeded Kim Song-cheol’s expectations.
Voluntarily donating magic books.
Now, as long as he encountered Arcadians who believed in the Great Sage in the Dungeons, a creative economy where he received magic books was established.
It was an opportunity to obtain various magics for free.
It wasn’t something that came easily.
“Oh, there’s one important thing.”
Kim Song-cheol quickly peeled off the flag of the Republic of Korea from his shoulder and placed it in one of their hands.
“You must give them to someone wearing this flag for the magic books to reach me. If you give them to someone with a different flag, they won’t come to me.”
“Ah, it seems the factions are divided there as well. I will be sure to tell them to check this insignia before delivering them.”
Even if they gave magic books to Hunters from other countries, there was no way they would come to the Republic of Korea.
Each one was worth a lot of Points, and although they used the same magic system, they were in a situation where they didn’t share magic for various reasons.
If a delivery accident happened, it would only benefit other countries.
“Yes, I’m counting on you.”
To manage his fans, Kim Song-cheol shook each of their hands.
Thinking of the magic books that would come flying in one by one, he felt like he wanted to give them a piggyback ride.