After hearing the news about the guild’s members, Ian also got curious about how they were doing

with the base, “How is the base? How is the clearing of the nearby areas going?”

“It’s so hard. At first, we were so happy at having such a big base. However, with the wider area of the

village’s influence, it’s very hard to raise the Public Order by 1 point just through hunting monsters.”

“I see. I really want to see the base.”

Kawin added, a little sulky, “It would have been a lot easier if you hadn’t reset your character… but

you just had to do that…”

“Just wait a little more, kid. I will recover my former battler power soon.”

Ian really thought so, without a bit of exaggeration.

Ian was Lv. 69 now.

He thought he would be able to fight as well as his former Archer character when he reaches Lv. 80.

With his current speed of hunting, it would be hard to reach Lv. 80 in two weeks, but he would be able

to get closer to that.

Of course, Kawin didn’t buy that, “You’re just bluffing…”

“I’m not bluffing. I will be Lv. 70 soon.”

“?!”

Both Kawin and Harin looked very surprised at hearing this.

“But, it has been only about two weeks since the Arena closed… and you are already Lv. 69?”

Ian shrugged while Kawin shook his head, “Oh, you gain levels by not getting any sleep… that is

more than 1 level per day. That’s crazy!”

Harin concerned said, “Ian… your life will shorten…”

The three talked like that for a while.

But then, Harin recalled something and looked at Ian, “But Ian, can you show me your new friend who

likes my meatballs?”

“Oh, you mean Bukbuk?”

Harin was a little confused at hearing the name Bukbuk.

“What? Bukbuk is his name?”

Ian smiled and replied, “Yes. You will understand why he is Bukbuk when you see him.”

He then put down Bukbuk which had been on his back.

“Bukbuk, come out.” Ian called Bukbuk who stuck its head out from the shell.

Buk-

Harin’s eyes widened at seeing that, “Wow, he is so cute!”

At once, Harin fell for the cute Bukbuk. She knelt in front of it, “Hello, Bukbuk.”

Bukbuk turned its head away from the stranger!

Bukbuk was a chic turtle.

Harin was hurt by Bukbuk’s cold attitude. Disappointed, she asked Ian, “Ian, Bukbuk seems to not like

me much. Why is that?”

As Bukbuk’s owner, Ian knew the answer, “Bukbuk is hungry. That’s the reason, you should give him

something you made. Do you have any meatballs?”

Harin brightened and started to rummage through her inventory, “Wait, I’ve made some while working

to raise my Cooking Proficiency… let’s see…”

Then, Harin took out a yellow meatball that was slightly different from the previous ones.

It looked as if it had been fried once more after being coated with flour.

“Oh, its color has changed!”

“Yes, that’s right. I changed my recipe to make it even more delicious.”

A delicious smell spread from the meatball.

Bukbuk who had already spotted it couldn’t take its eyes off it. Even Ian looked excited.

“Oh…”

“I coated it with flour once more after applying my special sauce and fried it, so it must taste really

good. Its raw meat taste is gone, so you can enjoy it as well.”

Harin introduced her new meatball and knelt down again.

She then gave it to Bukbuk.

Buk-!

As if it had been waiting for it, Bukbuk snatched that immediately.

Bukbuk started to chew it while the three watched with interest.

A while later…

Buk… buk!

With its eyes closed, Bukbuk savored the meatball to the very end. It shook its shell with joy.

Then, it ran to Harin with a happy face while rubbing its head on her.

Buk-Bukbuk!

The chic Bukbuk was nowhere to be seen.

There was only a greedy turtle who wanted the meatball!

“Bukbuk is feeling better now!”

Harin also felt happy about her customer’s enthusiastic reaction. She put her hand on her bag to take

out another meatball.

But then…

Ian stopped her.

“Harin, don’t give him more. It will just spoil him.”

At that moment, Bukbuk glared at Ian so hard as if it would start firing laser beams from its eyes.

However, Ian was determined.

“Give the meatballs to me and I will give one to Bukbuk when he gets hungry.”

Harin nodded, she took out the box of meatballs and handed it to Ian.

“Okay then. I guess you will take good care of Bukbuk.”

What a tragic scene! A box with dozens of meatballs going into Ian’s bag!

Bukbuk could do nothing but to bear it.

The pet almost shed tears at watching this.

Kawin, who had been watching, took pity on Bukbuk and spoke to Ian, “I think he’s about to cry. Why

don’t you give him just one more?”

At this, Bukbuk’s tearful eyes looked at Ian again.

More accurately, at his bag that now contained the meatball box.

However, Ian was firm, “No. One will become two and two will become three.”

As Ian said that, he glanced at Bukbuk, ‘I should coax him a little now.’

Ian moved and sat in front of Bukbuk.

“Bukbuk.”

Buk-!

Bukbuk turned its head away.

It was very mad, just like the time when Ian used it as a shield for the first time.

“Bukbuk, listen to me.”

Bukbuk didn’t reply, but Ian continued to talk.

“Bukbuk, do you know who the most handsome and the coolest turtle in the world is?”

Bukbuk pretended not to hear and stayed still. However, it was already listening to Ian.

“I heard that there is a turtle called Bakbak up on the North Continent and he is the coolest turtle in

the world.”

Bukbuk turned its head a little.

Its face said that it couldn’t believe that.

Ian spoke again with a soothing voice, “I couldn’t stand it when I heard that. As far as I know, no turtle

is as handsome and cool as my Bukbuk.”

Ian’s cool turtle story made even Harin and Kawin focus.

“So, I thought hard about it.”

Gulp-

Within the silence, Bukbuk swallowed hard.

“Maybe you were defeated by that Bakbak because you have eaten too many meatballs and have

become fat.”

Bukbuk was shocked.

It had felt that its shell was feeling a little tight as if it had put on weight.

“That’s why I cannot give you many meatballs, Bukbuk. You understand, right?”

Buk!

Bukbuk hadn’t known that Ian cared about it so much!

Bukbuk looked touched. It rubbed its head on Ian’s hand.

“So, bear it for a while, Bukbuk. I will make you into the most handsome turtle in the universe.”

Kawin and Harin shook their heads at seeing the touching friendship of the two get deeper.

Kawin muttered in a small voice, “That fraudster…”

…

Ian had received enough supplies from Harin. Now, he was moving again on Ly to go over the Forcal

Mountains again.

He couldn’t summon Big Guy because it was too slow, but Ly was enough to move while hunting

monsters that seldom appeared by one or two.

‘But, will Harin’s new meatballs work on the Lava Witch?’

Harin had said that her meatballs might work on capturing monsters.

That made some sense.

Ian had given some to Bukbuk and those meatballs turned out to be irresistible.

However, Ian didn’t know if Lava Witches, who were entirely made of red lava, would like them as

well.

He thought they might not be able to eat food like Big Guy.

“I will be leaving Forcal soon.”

Ian had been hunting all the monsters he saw as he moved through Forcal, now, he was about to

reach Lv. 70.

He would hunt a few Lv. 72 Sandworms that lived on the Scorching Land before entering the

dungeon, and, Bukbuk, who had the lowest level among Ian’s pack, would be able to reach Lv. 70 as

well.

As Ian had thought, the Forcal Mountains soon ended while the Scorching Land appeared.

“Oh, I really don’t want to go there.”

The land was barren. There were cracks on the ground because it was so dry.

The air simmered because of the heat.

‘I am sweating just by seeing the place. If Big Guy didn’t evolve, it would be a little cooler to ride

him…’

Big Guy would have been terrified at hearing that.

When Big Guy was an Ice Golem, the heat was a calamity.

Anyway, Ian got out of the Forcal Mountains and started to walk on the Scorching Land.

Soon he found four, five giant scorpion monsters.

Ian knew them well, they were ‘Sand Scorpions’.

He then thought about it for a moment, ‘Hmm, it would be hard without Big Guy… should I pass

through them or just hunt them?’

Ian still had a long way to go, so he planned to postpone summoning Big Guy as much as he could.

However, he could not hunt multiple Lv. 70 monsters without Big Guy.

Unfortunately, Ian could not ignore the EP bags in front of him.

“Big Guy, summon!” Ian decided to fight in the end.

Kung-

With a huge sound, Big Guy was summoned in the middle of the Scorching Land.

Because of its massive size, the Scorpions focused on it just after it was summoned.

Kiiik-

Therefore, the Scorpions spotted Big Guy and approached quickly Ian.

‘They won’t be a big problem, as long as I am careful about their Poison attack.’

The Scorpions’ Lethal Poison attack was deadly.

Lethal Poison was an upgraded version of the Poison skill that was well known in Kailan. When

affected by it, you would receive additional damage.

When falling in Poisoned mode in Kailan, a user received 1~2 % of maximum Health per second.

However, the Scorpions’ Lethal Poison inflicted damage that was proportional to the maximum Health

and gave 500~1500 additional damage according to the user’s poison resisting ability.

To sum it up, Lethal Poison was as deadly as Poisoned and Bleeding modes combined.

So, even high-level users would be killed in an instant if they lowered their guard.

However, of course, there was still a way to kill them.