Chapter 91: Rhino

He was quite curious about the rewards the book would give.

‘First of all.’

Soo Hyuk stopped and looked at the orange book for a while, then continued to explore around. There was no need for him to read a book right away, as the library was quite empty.

But now Soo Hyuk had to confirm something, he had to know how many books were there and how many of them that he hadn’t read.

Soo Hyuk continued walking around and suddenly focused on one of the bookshelves.

It grabbed his attention.

‘Blue!’

He saw a blue book on the fourth line. [1]

‘Red!’

Then suddenly he found a red book on the seventh shelf, but that was it.

Soo Hyuk, who soon finished exploring the library, said nothing. He just frowned without a word. The reason behind his sulk was not that the library had only three special books.

‘I think I’ll finish reading them all in a month.’

This was because of the number of new books available for him in the Hadrac Library. In a single month, at most he will need an hour to complete a book and by the end of the month, he could finish them all. He was positive that he could do it; it wasn’t his pride but it was his confidence.

“Do I have to find another place after a month?”

He just wanted to read in peace for at least three months. But a month?

“Should I just re-read the previous books?’

It occurred to him, he could just read the old books.

‘No, if I don’t have a new book, I won’t be able to learn.’ Soo Hyuk shook his head. There was a big difference between the satisfaction of reading a new book and the satisfaction of already completed ones.

If the satisfaction of rereading a book was a 1, then the satisfaction of a new book could be voted as a 10. But it’s not that he would read the completed ones only when he had no book. He would have read all the previous books anyways.

‘Let’s not waste time on this.’

Soo Hyuk stopped his thoughts. He didn’t want to worry about the things that have not yet come out. Then Soo Hyuk checked the time.

‘For now, I’ll read six books.’

He had plenty of time. So, he went to the last shelf and picked a few new books.

He only took out the books he wanted to read, but they were only three. Soo Hyuk, who said he would read six books, brought out only three, but that was because the others were on a different bookshelf.

And so he walked towards those shelves.

As he reached their respective lines, he took out the red book, the blue book, and the orange book.

So, with all six books in his arms, Soo Hyuk sat and kept all the books on the desk. At first, he pulled out the, “The Mercenary King of Hadrac” which sparkled in bright orange.

-The son asked.

-Father, how did you become King of Mercenaries?

-I pondered on my son’s simple question.

-I tried.

-What could be the reason I was able to be King of Mercenaries?

-Wasn’t it because the Ogre’s attack couldn’t even touch me, no matter where the attacks came from?

The orange book “The Mercenary King of Hadrac” ended with a question, with a smile on his face Soo Hyuk closed the book. The bright orange color dimmed and disappeared and instead, a message appeared.

Shaak!

[Special quest ‘The Beauty of Support’ has been created.]

[Wisdom increased +1]

[Wisdom increased +1]

‘The Beauty of Support?’

Seeing the message, Soo Hyuk tilted his head. It was because of the quest’s name. Even though the name was “The Beauty of Support”, he couldn’t guess what kind of mission it would bring.

‘Is it about buffing my strength?’

Like the red book, it was its quest to enhance the stats. Soo Hyuk opened his quest window to confirm.

〈The beauty of Support〉 Hold onto the attacks, increase your endurance!

[Damage received: 0 / 10,000,000]

[Quest rewards: Stats – damage received in a near death situation is zero.]

It was vaporizing.

The moment he saw the quest window, Soo Hyuk was shocked, because the reward was in a mill.

He never thought it would give him a buff…

He considered the orange book’s quest must be about strengthening his buff stats but it was the reward itself.

“If it’s a millstone…” [2]

Soo Hyuk knew well what kind of strength it was.

‘It was the force of water and life itself.’

Though it does increase strength, the mill is basically like a thread linking physical strength and one’s vitality. This was something, not just anyone could have. Only a few great warriors have achieved it. A millstone is greatly desired by the magicians.

“But…”

Soo Hyuk frowned.

‘Million?’

He was frowning looking at the condition of the quest.

“I need to take 10 million damage?’

Even if the reward was the legendary millstone, he needed to complete the quest in order to receive it. But unfortunately, to complete the quest, he had to receive damage and it wasn’t just some damage it was 10 million damage. A whopping 10 million damage just to receive a millstone.

‘Is this even on a standard exchange term?’

How is the damage measured? Would it reduce if he went into a defensive mode? Or maybe not? It was important for Soo Hyuk to know. It was easy getting hit, but the aftermath was difficult.

It was because of the reward.

Furthermore, this much damage could instantly kill him. In other words, he had to receive 10 million damage without dying.

“And someday I’ll be at the end.’

I don’t know when it will be, but the day will ultimately come when it’s over. It wasn’t urgent for him to create his mill right away.

Soo Hyuk, who was analyzing the quest, opened the blue book. The blue book was also related to the Mercenary King of Hadrac.

Suaak!!!

[Special quest “The Legacy of Hadrac” has been created.]

[Wisdom increased +1]

[Wisdom increased +1]

〈Special Quest – Hadrac’s Legacy〉

[Hadrac, the mercenary king, founded Hadrac and gained much wealth and honor. But before his death, he hid all his wealth for fun. Find the place where Hadrac’s wealth is hidden!]

[Quest reward: ???]

‘As expected, this special quest in the Blue Book too was a heritage quest. Besides, just like any other legacy quest, the man behind such a legacy, Hadrac, was crazy.’

Then, Soo Hyuk took out the next book, the red book.

‘What kind of reward will it have?’

Soo Hyuk wondered as he opened the red book. Though the red book increases stats, he was curious about what stats it will increase.

[Special quest “The Sage’s Wisdom” has been created.]

[Wisdom increased +1]

[Wisdom increased +1]

After reading the whole book, Soo Hyuk received a message. His eyes flashed when he checked the message.

‘Wisdom! It was probably as the book’s title suggested “The Sage’s Wisdom.” The last special quest increased my strength but this time it will increase my wisdom.’ Soo Hyuk thought while he confirmed the quest.

〈Special quest – Wisdom of the wise〉

Meet the conditions below! And you’ll receive The Sage’s Wisdom.

[Read the Book: 0 / 100]

[Mana exhausting skill exhibition: 0 / 2000]

Just as he expected!

‘The conditions are quite easy.’

The requirements were also not difficult. He only needed to read 100 books and test 2000 skills, they were quite easy for Soo Hyuk.

‘As long as it doesn’t increase mana.’

Of course, there was one concern. It was what effect that came with the strengthening of the stats. What if his mana increased? It wasn’t that bad but it wasn’t that good either.

‘First, I need to get through this.’

Soo Hyuk closed the quest window as he had no more quests left from this book.

He opened the next book.

‘Good.’

It was good for him that it was a new book, one he’d never read before. And with a gentle smile, Soo Hyuk began to read.

The next morning.

〈The Troubled Underground Waterway〉

In the underground sewers of Hadrac, chimeras suddenly began appearing in the waterways. Ian and Alex made the decision to clean up the underground waterways, but the chimeras were strong and possessed powerful poison. In the end, the expedition resulted in failure, and the most they could achieve was to prevent the chimeras from escaping. Clean the underground waterways of the chimeras and identify their source!

[Chimera Summoning Formation A : 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Formation B : 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Formation C : 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Formation D : 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Formation E : 0 / 1]

[Chimera Summoning Formation F : 0 / 1]

[Chimera: 0 / ??? ]

[Quest reward: S-Rank Promotion, ??? ]

Soo Hyuk, who was heading for the underground waterway, checked his quest window.

‘Are the Magician keeping them in check?’

There were six requirements for completing the quest, including the summoning of a magic circle.

‘Or were they destroyed?’

Should they trap them in the magic circle? Or should it be killed? Soo Hyuk couldn’t know because not many details were given about this quest. [3]

‘How long will it take?’

How long will it take to confirm if it’s trapped or destroyed?

Soo Hyuk, who suddenly turned his steps, had soon reached his destination.

“?”

Soo Hyuk, who arrived at his destination, the underground waterway, paused for a moment.

‘Why were there so many?’

It was because there were so many people at the entrance to the underground waterway.

“You said there would be only three!’

I heard Ian and Alex say. Three people were guarding the entrance to the underground waterway.

‘Kamian said five.’

Even if there was Kamian’s party, it was overkill. The NPC and Kamian’s party should have totaled up to eight people.

But this! There were almost twenty people.

Did they know the time?

Did all these extra people come here because they were informed about their meeting time?

‘..9 o’clock.’

After getting a little closer, Soo Hyuk paused.

‘That robe…’

The reason why Soo Hyuk hesitated since the robe was familiar. These robes were given to wizards belonging to the Tower of Poison. More than half of them were wearing the robes belonging to the Tower.

‘What’s this? This tower should belong to the NPCs. I didn’t think they were players. Even if a few players choose the poison as one of their properties, they aren’t the ones who would travel to the underground waterways. So it was guaranteed that they were NPC for sure.

“Soo Hyuk! there you are!”

Soo Hyuk, who was lost in his thoughts, was startled by Kamian’s shout. However, not only Soo Hyuk but Kamian himself was embarrassed in this situation

Dadadada!

All the NPCs from the Tower of Poison came running towards Soo Hyuk.

“Good morning.”

It wasn’t until they arrived near Soo Hyuk that they stopped moving. They started to greet him.

The old man standing in front of him greeted Soo Hyuk and introduced himself.

“I’m Rhino, the branch manager of the Tower of Poison at Hadrac.”

“Oh, yeah. Hello.”

Soo Hyuk politely greeted Rhino.

“But this is one hell of a job,” the old man vaguely asked me.

Why did Rhino come here?

‘Why does it feel like they were waiting for me?’

It was obvious that he was waiting.

But the question was, why on earth were they?

“I’m here to help you because you said you were going to the underground waterway.”

“Ah, help me?”