Chapter 70 – Loot from Joker Hunting(?)

Ending the call with Jong ho, I took a moment to re-organize my thoughts.

I had arrived at Yangpyeong’s association building late at night.

After the battle with Joker, it had already become dusk.

A cloudless greyish blue sky.

It wasn’t quite winter yet, slightly making my breath foggy.

“Shall I get going?”

I casted Warp to the midget’s office.

The Warp skill was very useful, connecting any place the caster has been to.

Other than the fact that you can’t go back and forth with one cast, this skill could be considered one of the best skills.

Jong Ho should have arrived there already.

Even during the call with me, it sounded as though he was getting ready to leave.

Picking up the loot that I got from Joker, I jumped into the warp spell.

****

I always conjure the warp gate in a small storage room next to the bathroom.

The feeling I get as I step through the gate is like this.

It’s that feeling you get when you put your foot out, thinking that there is another step to the stairs you are climbing.

It’s a strange and dizzy feeling that’s hard to describe.

And then my view changes to where I wanted to go.

The midget felt my presence and spoke to Jong Ho.

“Looks like he’s here?”

“Is that the room?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

-click

Jong Ho couldn’t wait and opened the door.

The sight before him wasn’t the same as when I left for Yangpyeong.

Places where my armor didn’t cover my body were covered in terrible scars.

I treated the wounds with the low ranking Heal, but it wasn’t possible to completely recover.

On top of that, the Lich King armor set that was originally black was glowing red as if someone stamped me with a red seal.

Probably due to the blood that spilled out from Joker and the avatars hardening on me.

I already cleaned off most of the blood on my face and body.

However, Jong Ho’s eyes were filled with regret and sadness as he looked at me.

Jong Ho couldn’t meet my eyes.

Covering his eyes with his hands, he spoke quietly.

“Holy shit… You’ve been through a lot.”

“Why? Don’t I look okay?”

“No… You look okay. Very okay. Did you finish tending to your wounds?”

“Yes. There’s no bleeding or pain. But…..”

I pulled the gauntlet off my left hand.

Guess the blood didn’t harden properly, because it was pretty sticky.

The hand came out with a sickening sticky sound.

The thumb was cut off, and the index finger was missing entirely.

On top of that, the back of the hand was dug in like a crater, almost to the point where the bones and muscles were showing. A new bright pink flesh was barely covering it.

When I stabbed the sword in Joker and pushed him away, the hand that was closest must’ve blown off.

Showing my left hand to Jong Ho, I gave an awkward smile.

“Somehow it became like this?”

“…..”

“So what happened to the Status Negation skill I asked for?”

“Don’t worry, Seokgyu just went out to get it.”

“Aha. It’s been only 10 minutes since I asked for it, I guess?”

“Just in case we can’t get it, I told him that money isn’t the issue and instead get a healer who can cast it, so let’s wait for a bit longer.”

“Thanks, hyung.”

“Whew. I can’t look at you. Since there’s hot water here, you should go wash off. While you do that, I’ll go call them.”

“Yes.”

****

“What kind of an office has a shower?”

While grumbling to myself, I cleaned off my body.

The armor that I wore, as well as Joker’s armor and twin swords were taken in.

I wasn’t expecting much from them since Joker had taken my Formless Sword Aura with his body.

The condition of the armor should be its worst state possible especially since it was stabbed and cut through countless times.

However, as if to prove my expectations wrong, the armor didn’t even have a single scratch on it.

Almost as if the armor repaired itself.

I put the armor and the swords in the corner of the shower room.

After changing into the clothes that Jong Ho brought to me, I headed back into the office.

“Are you done cleaning off?”

“Yes. I feel alive now.”

-Yo! Drop the beat. Shake shake~

“Wait a minute.”

To fill the space that Jong Ho left as he went to take the call, the midget asked me.

“Where did you get a severe wound like this?”

“Ah. While I was hunting, I ran out of mana.”

“Oho.. That could’ve been really bad.”

“Yes.. That’s right.”

“No matter how fast your regen in, you have to be careful.”

“Yes, yes.”

After giving half-baked answers, I ended the conversation with the midget.

Jong Ho was continuing to talk on the phone next to me.

“Yes. Yes. You can come up now.”

By listening in for a bit, I could tell that someone had arrived near here.

‘Has Seokgyu already returned?’

My question didn’t last long.

From the hallway, I could hear urgent footsteps.

The door opened, and in came Ho Jin.

Looking at his face, I felt that I had talent for meeting good people.

Jong Ho and Ho Jin. These two should know what the weapon and armor Joker wore do, shouldn’t they.

There was a high chance that these two would also have information on this transparent pearl.

Well, I could find out about the sword and armor by wearing them myself.

What I was really curious about was the pearl that Joker tried to find desperately.

It was obvious that it had something extraordinary about it.

After he came in, I gave him the look before he could talk to me.

And I guess he could read the situation, because he confirmed that the midget and the employees here were present.

Coming near me and sitting on the sofa, Ho Jin spoke.

“Did the hunt go well?”

“Yes. It was clean. A full clear, and I brought back all the loot.”

“Looking at your wounds, I’m guessing that it wasn’t an easy dungeon.”

“Yes. I was surprised that I made it out alive.”

“You’ve suffered a lot.”

“Yes. Now I think I’m ready to receive it with pride.”

“Ah! The ID, right?”

“Yes. Did you bring it with you?”

“Of course!”

Ho Jin pulled out the ID from his inside pocket.

And with a smile that could brighten up the world, he handed it to me.

“Here.”

“I’m glad that I’m able to receive this.”

“Hoho! You’ve accomplished something very big.”

“I only cleared a dungeon. It’s whatever.”

-click

While in the midst of my conversation with Ho Jin was taking place, Seokgyu, who had left to get the Status Negation, had returned.

It looked as though he wasn’t able to get the skill book.

A man was being guided in.

The man looked to be blind.

Even while holding onto Seokgyu’s hand, he was using the other hand to fumble around with the wall.

“Due to today being a market day, there isn’t any items on the market. So I brought someone who can cast it instead.”

“Sorry to call you past midnight. It must be hard on you.”

“Oh. It’s nothing, don’t worry.”

The healer Seokgyu came in together with spoke.

“Who will be the one receiving treatment?”

“Ah! That would be me.”

“How long since the injury?”

“Hm… Around 4 hours ago.”

“As you can tell, I cannot see, so it is difficult for me to revert special injuries. Because of that, I’ll be casting Status Negation to the time before you received the injury. Is that okay?”

“Yes. Doesn’t matter to me.”

“Then…..”

****

Status Negation could be used once every 24 hours.

Matching the long cool down, the effect was satisfying.

Just like how I received treatment from Park Hyun before, my body recovered to its state 4 hours ago.

Noticing how their duty was fulfilled, the midgets and the employees left the office while handing me the keys.

The midget had quite the good sense to have everyone leave with him, noticing that the others still had more to talk about.

The office now only had Jong Ho, Ho Jin and me in it.

I put the weapon and armor that I took from Joker on the table with a clatter.

It was expected that they would be very surprised when they’re explaining the items to me.

But.

“What is this? Armor?”

“Is this what you got from Joker?”

‘Huh? This isn’t what I was expecting?’

They were asking me with eyes that told me they’ve never seen these items before.

“Is this the first time you two are seeing something like this?”

“Yep.”

“Yes.”

“Well, I can find out by wearing these. What about this?”

I put the marble on the table.

Looking at it again from a brightly lit area, it really was a very transparent marble, almost to the point where you couldn’t recognize its shape unless the light reflected off of it.

Both their gazes shifted to the marble.

However, neither of them was talking.

“This as well… Is it the first time you’re seeing this?”

“I think they sell a lot of them at the stationery store.”

“Hoho. I used to fight a lot with this when I was young. The fond memories are coming back to me”

‘No! You people, I didn’t bring this here so you can relive your fond memories!’

“Hyung. You don’t know? And you too, mister?”

Jong Ho flung the marble while speaking.

“It’s just a marble.”

“Same here. It looks just like that, nothing more.”

It appeared that I wouldn’t be getting any information.

I stood up and put on the armor as I explained.

“This is a marble that I took from Joker. He used it when he was about to die… Woah!”

“What? Why are you suddenly doing that?”

“What is this!”

“What’s the matter?”

Wearing the armor, I couldn’t help but be astonished.

It was because of the armor’s ability.

I couldn’t help but stare at my status window blankly for a while.

Level: 301

Exp: [11%]

Class: Magician

Special Trait: Mana does not run out.

Strength: 610+300

Mana: ∞

Dexterity: 10+300

Stamina: 910+300

All damage taken reduced by 40%.

“N-No way.”

Look at this crazy armor.

Not only did it raise all stats by 300, but it also reduced all damage taken by 40%.

It wasn’t as if I was wearing a full armor set, but this was happening all from a single piece of armor.

Even during Fire Shock’s intense flames, this armor survived while everything else was disintegrated into oblivion.

Still, to be this good.

It had the capability of wearing the full Lich King armor set, which included the helm and a full suit of armor.

‘If this armor piece was part of a set, I had to obtain them no matter what.’

If I put this unknown Joker’s armor with Lich King set’s helm, and then add the Lizardman Gauntlet?

It would be 60% physical resistance with 80% magic resistance.

The reason Joker was able to last so long despite putting all his points into strength was probably due to this armor’s amazing capabilities.

Calming down, I spoke.

“Hyung. Mister.”

“What? What’s up?”

“Did the recovery not go as planned?”

“This armor gives 300 points to all stats and has a 40% damage reduction.”

“Hey. This guy is joking around the moment he comes back to life. You goofball!”

“Despite working for the association for 20 years, I never heard of such powerful defensive equipment.”

“It’s hard for me to believe too, but it’s the truth.”

****

Since they didn’t believe till the end, I ended up lending the armor for them to wear.

Only after that did Jong Ho and Ho Jin had their mouths opened in awe.

Due to the expectations from the armor piece set, I excitedly held the twin sword.

But despite holding onto Joker’s twin sword, no stat points rose.

It wasn’t just for me, but the same case for these two sitting next to me.

It was just like when I tried to learn the skill beyond ranking and it didn’t respond.

I asked Jong Ho and Ho Jin to find information regarding the twin sword and marble.

If it’s these two, they should be able to ask around to find something at least similar to these.

I got lucky killing Joker and now I had this armor in my possession.

As I promised myself before when I steeled my resolve, I was going to get stronger to the point where it I can beat luck itself.

I had just barely gone over this mountain called Joker just now.

With this ID that would let me in anywhere and the fly that was bothering me gone, I was going to focus only on hunting.

“From tomorrow on, it’s hunting time!”