Chapter 84

Chapter 84 – The Baheim Tribe (3)

8 .

Thick vines were interconnected between the large trees, and the Elves were walking across the vines at a quick pace . Unlike walking a tightrope, one didn't feel a sense of danger . It felt as if they were children playing jump rope . The sight evoked a feeling of wonder .

The Elves, who had created such a surprising sight, all twitched their ears at the same time as if they had promised to do so beforehand .

The Elves' emerald eyes headed toward a single location like arrows .

Their gazes landed on Hyrkan and the single Elf that was guiding him .

Chu-buhk, chubuhk .

Unlike the Elves traveling across the vines, Hyrkan and the Elf was walking on land . The sound of their steps sounded unusually loud . Their steps stopped under a particular tree .

“Take this . ”

The Elf that had guided Hyrkan suddenly gave him a thick and tough vine . Hyrkan took the vine, and he raised his gaze . His eyes followed the line, and he saw a house at the end of it . The house wasn't made by cutting parts of the tree . The house was made out of already broken parts of tree .

It wasn't tidy, nor was it shabby . Instead, there was a sense of mystique that permeated the house . If one saw it for the first time, the sense of mystique would have made him fall into a trance .

‘This is all bullshit . ’

However, Hyrkan wasn't dazed . The sense of mysticism worked only on someone, who saw this for the first time .

“Climb up . ”

At the Elf's word, Hyrkan started quickly climbing up the vine before the Elf could gesture towards it . He didn't need to use his feet . He used only his arms, and he went up as if he was sprinting a short distance .

The Elf glared at Hyrkan from below . The Elf's gaze was filled with vigilance and hostility . It made the bottom of Hyrkan's feet turn cold . Hyrkan glanced below then he put on a mocking smile .

‘As I suspected, I don't mix well with handsome or pretty people . ’

He was once again awakened to the unpleasant reality, when Hyrkan reached the tree house's floor . The tree house's door was located on the floor . It was a round door, and it had a diameter of around 1 meter . It was a little bit larger than a manhole cover .

Ddok ddok!

Hyrkan knocked on the door over his head as he dangled from the vine . The door opened, and a face could be seen across the dark space .

He had a youthful appearance . If Hyrkan had to guess his age using normal human standards, he would have to put the man in his 30s . However, his beautiful appearance was the most striking one he had seen amongst the Elves . There was a large scar made by a knife above the bridge of his nose, and at the end of the scar, there was another scar that looked as if a tip of an arrow had punctured that location . From afar, it looked as if someone had drawn an exclamation point on his face . Instead of it looking hideous, the scar made him look look more stylish and cool .

‘The exclamation scar . . . So, this guy is Drah . ’

NPC Drah .

He was Baheim tribe's chieftain . Amongst the Elf enthusiasts within Warlord, he was quite popular . He was always within the top 5 of every popularity poll regarding the male Elves of Warlord . Hyrkan always disparaged the poll result, and he considered people who casted the vote to be crazy . He even yell out, 'Do they have nothing better to do?', once .

Hyrkan raised his hand towards the Chieftain Drah . He was asking for a handshake .

However, Chieftain Drah just stared at the hand offered by Hyrkan . 1 second, 2 second, 3 second…… After 10 seconds had passed, Chieftain Drah spoke before he took the hand .

“So you are the person sent by Olf-nim . ”

If it wasn't the Secret Society Ring, chieftain Drah would have kicked Hyrkan to drop him to his death .

Chieftain Drah shook Hyrkan's hand only after saying those word . Only then was Hyrkan allowed to see the inside of Chieftain Drah's house .

‘This is the first time I've come into an Elf's home . I've only seen it through footages . ’

Hyrkan turned his head . He wanted to see his surrounding, and at the same time, he wanted to film everything . Hyrkan looked everywhere .

The most eye-catching part was the ceiling . The ceiling had small holes where water couldn't pass through, but the light and wind could filter through . He let out a sound as he looked at the cloth making up the ceiling .

‘Elf Silk . ’

If used to make a defensive gear, it had pretty good defense and it was light . Moreover, Elf Silk had Attribute Resistance .

Overall, the room was dark . The small room had furnitures made from broken or rotten wood . It was vaguely shaped like furnitures, since the wood wasn't cut from trees .

“Sit . ”

Hyrkan sat in a simple chair . He wouldn't have been surprised if the chair collapsed on itself at any moment .

The story line started immediately .

“Did you bring it?”

“Yes . ”

Hyrkan immediately took out the pouch from a secure location on his body, then he gave it to Chieftain Drah .

[Quest 'Olf's Errand' is complete . ]

“Mmmm!”

After receiving the pouch, Chieftain Drah immediately opened it, and he place the content on the top of his palm .

Soo-roo-roo!

A silver colored liquid that looked like mercury fell on top of Chieftain Drah's palm . After it fell, it immediately started to move as if it was alive . Soon, it looked like a circlet one could wear on one's head .

Hyrkan's eyes shined .

‘It's the Circlet of Purification . ’

Circlet of Purification .

It was from a mystical pond that was able to purify anything . The circlet was made using silver excavated from the bottom of the Pond of Purification .

Once equipped it had the Option of giving immunity towards all abnormal statuses . It had the unlimited ability to dispel the Curse Skills, and the Debuff Skills .

It was an incredible item .

‘I can buy beef with that . No, I can buy a whole cow if I had that item . ’

One could directly acquire the silver from the Pond of Purification to make the, but the Pond of Purification was a special location that had to be found at the same time as a special Boss monster . It was very hard to find the Boss and the location . Moreover, the amount of silver one could excavate was random . One had to be very lucky to have enough to make a Circlet of Purification from the Pond of Purification .

At this point in the game, he could get whatever he wanted in terms of price . It might be worth several more times its weight in gold .

‘I know for sure there is a Circlet of Purification given during the Immoral Prince part of the Quest . ’

Moreover, the current Main Scenario Quest might be the one that gives the Circlet of Purification as a reward .

Hyrkan gulped .

While he was thinking this, Chieftain Drah confirmed it was the Circlet of Purification, then he immediately put it back into the pouch . When the hard circlet touched the pouch, it turned into liquid, and it was sucked back into the pouch .

“Thank you . ”

This was the first time Hyrkan had received a word of thanks from Chieftain Drah .

“It was nothing . ”

“You probably went through a lot of hardship to get here . ”

“I'm on Olf-nim's errand . It is proper for me to go through all of this . ”

When Hyrkan's words ended, Chieftain Drah's expression slightly improved .

‘Is this the end?’

Chieftain Drah wordlessly looked at Hyrkan . His disinterested eyes seemed to say, 'Your work here is done, so why aren't you leaving?'

‘This isn't how it's suppose to play out . ’

Hyrkan hesitated for a moment .

‘Isn’t he suppose to give me the Corrupted Elf Quest? I'm sure of it . ’

This was the reason why the blacksmith Olf had given the Circlet of Purification to the Baheim Elf tribe . An Elf from the Baheim tribe had become drunk on the power of Corruption, and he had betrayed the Baheim tribe . One had to catch the Corrupted Elf, and the power of Corruption had to be purified from the Elf .

Chieftain Drah was supposed to explain this to Hyrkan, then he was suppose to give the Quest to capture the Corrupt Elf to Hyrkan . However, he just kept staring at Hyrkan . Chieftain Drah seemed determined to make Hyrkan the most shameless human .

Eventually Hyrkan opened his mouth .

“Do you perhaps have anything that needs my help? Olf-nim instructed me to help with anything the Baheim tribe needed . That was what he said . ”

Of course, Olf hadn't said those words . The situation was desperate enough that he betrayed Olf .

Chieftain Drah answered Hyrkan's question without putting much thought into his words .

“I'm just thankful you came all the way here for an errand . I don't want to give you a task that is beyond your capability . ”

He got his answer .

‘Shit!’

This was the worst case scenario for Hyrkan .

‘I got caught in the level restriction . ’

He hadn't reached a level where he would be able to carry out the Quest .

Most Main Scenario Quests didn't have a level restriction . It was intended as an invitation for the unqualified people to participate in the Quests .

Still, there had to be a cut-off point .

The first episode of the Corrupt Count was a Main Scenario Quest for the users between level 1-100 . The second episode of the Immoral Prince was for users between level 100-200 . Of course, the third part of the Quest was for users between level 200-300 . The difficulty of the Quests were set with this in mind .

Basically, Hyrkan was progressing through the Immoral Prince part of the Main Scenario Quest right now . The difficulty was set with users over level 100 in mind .

However, Hyrkan's current level was 96 .

‘I knew this day would come . ’

He had been worried about this . This had been a likely scenario . However, he never expected his worries to turn into reality at this juncture . In a way, this happened because Hyrkan was too amazing . He had basically exceeded the game's standard by a significant amount .

‘I guess I have to get to level 100 now?’

There was only one way to resolve this problem .

He had to level up .

‘I have 4 levels to go . I've already somewhat filled my EXP, so I have to raise it only by 3 . 5 level . So it'll probably take me 10 days even if I rush it?’

He had no choice .

If he wanted to quickly progress in his Quest, he had to raise his level . There was no other answers except for this .

The answer was clear . He was annoyed, but he didn't think too long on it .

‘I can reach level 100 here . I have enough consumables . I'll just level up here then I'll receive the Quest . Afterwards, I can go to a castle with a Class Tower for my advancement . Then I'll use all the money I have to get a level 100 Item . ’

After he finished his thoughts, Hyrkan got up from his seat .

“I'll see you again next time . ”

9 .

The moment Whistling saw Hyrkan, he called after him .

“Did everything work out?”

Hyrkan answered in a brusque manner .

“No . ”

“I guess a problem cropped up . Anyways, I saw you were conducting a quest involving the Elves . That's amazing . I never expected the Hahoe Mask to move along a Quest so quickly . I stayed here with a do or die attitude, but I haven’t received a quest yet . ”

Hyrkan discreetly glanced at Whistling . .

“……I know you won't do it, but don't spread any unnecessary information . If this truth became well known, there is no way the other users will leave me alone . ”

Whistling smiled . He had a terrifying smile on his face . Whistling wanted Hyrkan to trust him, and he tried to put that intent behind his smile . However, it caused Hyrkan to feel uneasy .

This time Hyrkan was the one to reply first .

“What about you? Since you've achieved your life's wish, what do you plan on doing next?”

“I'll continue doing all the Quests available to me by the Baheim tribe . I'll increase their affinity towards me one step at a time . I'll work towards finding more quests . My immediate goal is to make a Quest Map . ”

Hyrkan had never seen Whistling with such an expression of anticipation before .

This was something Whistling really wanted to do .

‘So that's the reason why . . . ’

Hyrkan realized how Whistling had become an old hat before Hyrkan returned to the past .

‘This is the reason why he is behind the others . ’

Whistling really enjoyed playing this game . Instead of the Rankings, he put more importance on the fantasy experience that could be given by the game of Warlord .

“All right . I wish you success . ”

Even if he killed hundreds or thousand monsters nearby, Whistling wouldn't be able to level up! . . . . . he decided not to point out such jaded and reality-based words . He firmly closed his mouth .

Moreover, he wouldn't give any warning or advice . Whistling had made a different choice from him, and it wasn't the wrong choice .

“How about you? Can you tell me what you will be doing in the immediate future?”

“I'll be trying to reach level 100 . ”

“Is that so?”

At that moment, Whistling took out gold coins from his pocket, and he handed it to Hyrkan . Hyrkan's expression changed .

‘Oh yes!’

Of course, this was the winnings from their bet . Hyrkan quickly took the coins, and he started to count the coins .

‘Huh?’

Hyrkan's expression crumpled .

“Hey . Isn't this only 10 gold? I thought you were going to give me 100 gold?”

Whistling grinned at those words .

“Thankfully, you aren't asking for 1000 gold . ”

“Since you remember those words, I guess I'll have to collect on the 1000 gold . When are you going to give me the 990 gold?”

“That's the only amount I can give you . ”

Hyrkan's expression hardened .

‘Is he playing with me?’

He was always meticulous with his calculations . The 90 gold wasn't something that could be easily ignored . Also, it was a money that fell out of the sky . With that money, he could purchase a 1 month supply of ramen .

“If you sold the sword equipped on your waist, can't you pay that amount a thousand times over?”

“That's the only gold I have on me . ”

“Then perhap . . . . ”

“I'll work off the rest of the money . What if I do a task that is worth 90 gold? I'll help you level up . ”

Those words . . .

It was such shocking words, since it was words that Hyrkan would never say to someone else . It took him awhile to understand what Whistling was saying . It took him a long time .

“Uh?”

He finally understood what Whistling was getting at .

“So you are going to let me ride the bus?”

Hyrkan was shocked .

He had gone through all kinds of hardship in Warlord, and he had experienced all kinds of wars here . However, this was the most surprise he had felt in Warlord .

10 .

[Your level has increased . ]

[You have earned the title 'Expert' . ]

[You've obtained the title ‘Necromancer’ . ]

[A strong power is roiling within your body . ]

When he leveled up, Hyrkan didn't share a moment of happiness with Whistling, who was nearby . With a stiff expression, Whistling tapped the shocked Hyrkan on the shoulder twice .

“That should be enough, right? I'm going . If there is an opportunity, let's meet up again at a later date . At that time . . . I'll have to receive something from you . ”

With those words, Whistling got ready to log out . Hyrkan tilted his head back in thought as he looked at Whistling .

‘Wow . I hit level 100 in 8 days . I never thought such a feat was possible . ’

With the help of Whistling, Hyrkan was able to focus on his hunt to level up .

During all of this, a level 130+ expert had given up any thoughts about leveling himself, and he wholeheartedly acted as a helper . The result had exceeded Hyrkan's every imagination .

He had done something in 8 days that would have normally taken 10 days . If it took 10 seconds to run 100 meter, he had basically decreased the time to 8 seconds . It was an incredible feat .

He had a weird feeling as he saw the presence of Whistling fading away .

He was cool, obstinate and amazing . He wondered if he could game like that . . . Several feelings coalesced inside his chest .

Those feelings . . .

Koong koong!

Hyrkan pounded his chest with his hand to break it up .

‘That kind of romanticism is a luxury to me . ’

Moreover, Whistling was Don Quixote .

If he could game for pleasure, he would want to play like it like Whistling . Sometimes he wanted to game without any worries or concerns . Moreover, if he wanted to, he could choose not to be like this .

However, Hyrkan had chosen a different path .

‘That isn't what I need . ’

Hyrkan started walking .

11 .

“The child is drunk on the power of Corruption . There is only rage and blind faith left in him . The child is desperately trying to Corrupt our race . It is the duty of our tribe to catch him . ”

Hyrkan nodded his head at Chieftain Drah's words .

“However, our tribe cannot easily leave our territory . Originally, one of our tribe members has to complete this task . However, you have the trust of Olf-nim, and we trust him . This is why we will leave this task to you . ”

[You've obtained the title 'Friend of the Elves' . ]

[You obtained the title 'Member of the Baheim Tribe' . ]

He gained two titles .

The announcement for the title didn't ring in Hyrkan's ears . He was focused on what Chieftain Drah was saying .

“You have to track down the child, and you have to confirm the truth through the child . I hope you will fight against the power of Corruption for the tribe and the Society . ”

[The Quest 'Fallen Elf' has started . ]

After saying this, Chieftain Drah handed him the pouch . It was the pouch Hyrkan had given him in the first place .

“The Circlet of Purification is in there . It is a mystical item that corrects any abnormal statuses . If you bind the child with this item, you will be washing away his Corruption . If the Corruption is washed away, he will tell you the truth . . ”

At this juncture, Hyrkan's expression brightened .

‘Are they perhaps giving me the Circlet of Purification? Is it the Quest Reward? Is this for real?’

His very dim expectation was suddenly about to become reality . It felt like buying a lottery ticket with one's pocket money by chance, and a large sum of money had been won through the lotto . However, this feeling didn't last long .

“You can't lose the Circlet within that pouch . If you lose it, you'll pay a hefty price . ”

Since this hadn't been given to you, don't you dare sell it!

The warning basically held that meaning behind it .

Hyrkan's expression became sullen .

‘I should have guessed . They wouldn't give this item as a Quest Reward at this juncture . It probably has the option blocking users from wearing it . ’

After speaking his words, Chieftain Drah looked at Hyrkan . Hyrkan looked back with a sullen expression . 1 second, 2 second . . . . The silence continued .

It was at that moment he opened his mouth .

“That's it?”

“That's it . ”

“You don't have anything else to say to me?”

“Nope . ”

“You really don't have anything to say to me?”

“Nope . I want you to leave if you don't have any other business with me . ”

At that moment, Hyrkan's expression crumpled .

‘Is this really it? I don't even know the exact location of the Corrupted Elf . At the very least, don't they have to tell me a direction?’

This was an unexpected situation .

‘This is crazy . What kind of game quest is so open ended like this?’

As expected, Hyrkan wasn't compatible with beautiful men or women .