[Quest 'Find the Token of the Salimaru Bandits.'

-Archaeologist Monte, a descendant of the historic Monte family, accidentally obtained ancient documents in an ancient historic site whose name was unknown. He was so pleased that he immediately immersed himself in interpreting the ancient documents and finally finished interpreting them after thirty years.

Shortly afterward, he published the contents of the old documents.

However, he was immediately called a liar because the ancient documents were filled with unbelievable content.

What they documented was none other than the thefts of the Salimaru Bandit who allegedly stole stars, light, and darkness, and even stole the sun.

No one believed it, but archaeologist Monte did.

He had no choice but to believe it because the contents of the ancient documents were very detailed and systematic. Since he had devoted most of his life to interpreting the documents, the public denying its contents was equivalent to denying his own life.

So, for the past twenty years, Monte searched all kinds of historic sites to prove the existence of the Salimaru Bandits.

And after giving up everything to conduct this exhaustive search, he finally found information about the place where the Salimaru Bandits allegedly hid their last treasure.

After that, Monte wanted something more than anything else. Did he want the last treasure of the Salimaru Bandits?

No, what he wanted was a token that the treasure was made from the trunk of the World Tree, which would be sure evidence that the Salimaru Bandits existed.

He thought that only such a token could prove that he didn't waste his life pursuing illusions.

So Monte, the last descendant of the historic Monte family, bet his everything to find it.

-Reward.

: 450 million golden rings.

: 12,000 coins.

: 700 remaining stat points.

: 1 random box with 1 accessory between the legend and myth grades.

: 300 accessory enhancement stones for enhancing.

: 2 ancient cooldown removal charms. (The cooldown removal will occur after tearing the ancient charm.)

-Separate reward.

: Everything from the Salimaru Bandits' hideout except for their sign.]

"..."

I was speechless at the eye-popping rewards that were beyond any description.

I've never heard about a reward featuring 700 remaining stat points with over 400 million golden rings.

I feel really good about the rewards because of my good memories of having acquired a random box with accessories between precious and legendary grades which provided me with the legendary accessory called the Brave Fighter's Bracelet which I was still wearing to this day.

However, this time, it was a random box with an accessory between the legendary grade and the highest myth grade.

What if I obtained a myth grade accessory?

'I'm going to hit the jackpot, of course.'

There were two myth grade items in Myongjin's possession.

One of them was the Ice Emperor's Guardian Sword which I possessed now.

So, Myongjin had only one myth grade item now.

In other words, myth grade items were too rare.

There were many legendary grade items because they were not unique, so there could be two or more of the same item. But there were no identical myth grade items, which was why they were so precious and rare.. In other words, myth grade items were always unique.

Of course, 12,000 coins and 300 accessory enhancement stones were also a terrific reward.

But excluding that, what astonished me most was the last reward.

In other words, the two spell charms that removed a cooldown.

That meant that I could remove the generated cooldown of God of Enhancement twice.

Of course, when it comes to cooldown, I first thought of skills that are usually immediately associated with it. However, the reward's description did not specifically mention skills.

It clearly stated that the first cooldown removal would occur after one of the two charms was torn.

And God of Enhancement's cooldown certainly belonged to the cooldown category.

Moreover, I had one 100% enhancement success right that I was hoarding in my inventory.

If I combine it with this reward, I can make +1 Ice Emperor's guardian sword +4 enhancement sword right away. Of course, I do not plan to do it right now.

Some people may feel that the ancient cooldown removal charms were the least valuable of the seven reward options, but for me it was the most valuable.

So, I could not help but stare at Chairman Suh blankly since I was speechless at such fantastic rewards.

If I cleared this quest and obtained all these rewards, it would be a serious blow not only to Chairman Suh, but also to the Daeyu Group as a whole.

But I understood why the chairman gave me such an offer. It was because a quest with such large rewards would be never easy to clear.

Daeyu must have challenged that quest dozens, hundreds, or maybe even thousands of times. After repeatedly failing to clear the quest, they must have concluded that it was impossible for anybody to clear it.

Anyway, Chairman Suh slowly opened his mouth, looking at me.

"I really hope Asirante can clear this quest. If you become stronger, so will Daeyu. Don't you think so?"

"I will do my best to meet your expectations."

Contrary to what he said, if I successfully clear this quest, Chairman Suh will bitterly regret having given me this offer. Maybe he might grab my pants and beg me to share the rewards with him.

And I really wanted to make that happen.

"Haha. Very good. Then, shall we go now?"

"Right now?"

"Yeah. Do you need to put it off? You have to meet Monte for your first try. You must meet the NPC called Monte in person."

"Sure. Let's go."

Do I need to prepare something for right now? Nope.

Moreover, Chairman Suh won't give me any accumulated information about this quest that he has kept under his control. Above all, he is a man who wants to see me fail.

So, I followed Chairman Suh from Northwood Castle to Hackkiss Castle.

Tramp, tramp!

We kept moving west past the central square of Hackkiss Castle.

Of course, I didn't follow him blindly without thinking about my possible moves.

I sent a message to Director Insu Sok on the phone even though he was also unlikely to know about this quest.

[Lumen: Can I talk to you, Director Sok?]

[Sok: Sure, Juyoung.]

[Lumen: Do you happen to know of the Salimaru Bandits?]

[Sok: Salimaru Bandits? Well, I've never heard of them. Is there anything unusual?]

[Lumen: No. I will tell you later.]

[Sok: Yes. Okay.]

Director Sok did everything neat and tidy, which was why my father trusted him.

I thought that given his temperament, Director Sok would not sit idle after hearing about the Salimaru Bandits from me. In other words, since he had just heard about them from me, he would be busy searching for information about the Salimaru Bandits now.

Of course, I would have completed the quest before that.

Anyway, as I expected, I would have to challenge this quest without receiving any information about it prior. But I was more enthusiastic about clearing it because of that. I slowly felt I was getting excited about this quest.

Not long after I started walking after Chairman Suh, I arrived in front of an antique building.

"This is Monte's mansion. He is the man who gave me this quest, so he knows how to proceed."

Having heard this, I naturally followed Chairman Suh into the building and approached an old man sitting with his eyes closed in a rocking chair near the window.

"Mr. Monte, I'm here to proceed with the quest."

"Oh my God. You are really persistent and stubborn."

"Hahaha. This time I brought another guy."

"Really?"

When he heard Suh's words, the NPC named Monte opened his eyes slightly and looked at me. And he looked me up and down as if he was evaluating me.

Then, unlike the tepid way he reacted to Chairman Suh, he stood up from the rocking chair with his eyes open wide and approached me.

"Hummm... Looks like you've finally decided to clear this quest since you brought a guy like this. I'm positive this time. If this guy fails too, then probably no one will ever get access to that place again."

Then Monte grabbed my hand and spoke excitedly unlike before.

I had this kind of experience before when I met a certain woman.

It was Kihanna who I met in the Pioneers' City.

Just like this old man, she asked me if I was strong, then gave an A grade quest to me who had just reached level 100, telling me I looked stronger than anybody else.

Chairman Suh's face suddenly stiffened when Monte welcomed me so gladly without hiding his excitement. But I ignored him because I had already received the quest.

"Alright. Let's move fast. As I am growing old, I am getting more impatient."

Ignoring Suh, Monte took my hand and led me to the fountain in the middle of the mansion's garden.

"This right here is the place where the Salimaru Bandits can move to their last hideout. So, I bought this place and built a mansion."

"Oh I see."

I responded to the old man's rather nostalgic reminiscence.

"Okay, hold my hand first because I've absorbed all the information about the Salimaru Bandits into my body."

I couldn't understand what he was talking about.

At that moment a message rang.