Chapter 27 - A Suspicious Old Man's Commission (3)

"Haha... You've done a great job today as well."

The old man's voice cut into Hyun's thoughts.

He mumbled while watching the remnants of the day’s fight.

"It seems like people tried to infiltrate today. I'm relieved you were able to stop them. Well, I've brought a rare item that can be rarely seen."

Haha. The old man so said while laughing unpleasantly.

"But since it's something so rare, I only have one. It saddens me to say this, but I can give this to only one person."

After saying that, the old man took out a bottle.

Inside the bottle, a blue liquid moved.

Every time the liquid moved inside the bottle, a small electric current spread.

Through the system window, Hyun discovered what that liquid was.

[<Weak Heaven's Elixir (Copy)>]

- It has a mysterious power that amplifies your potential if you drink it.

- Since it's a copy, the effect is weak compared to the real one.

- The increase in your potential lasts for 1 hour.

[HP] +20,000

[Mana] Increase the recovery rate of your Mana by 10 times.

Hyun's eyes widened after reading the description.

"Woah, a Heaven's Elixir?"

"Hmm? How did you know what this is...?"

The old man seemed shocked at first but soon came to a conclusion while nodding.

"I guess discovering the name of an item is easy for a user. I was wrong."

Hyun wasn't interested in what the old man was mumbling about.

The effects of Heaven's Elixir were quite noticeable, making it very desirable.

'This was hard to get even in Asra Online...'

Heaven's Elixir.

It was a potion that temporarily increased your HP and Mana.

The word 'weak' in front of the name bothered him a little bit.

He guessed that the old man had made a copy of the original.

That was probably why it was so weak compared to the original Hyun remembered. But it was still quite good.

Especially for someone like Ain, who used a lot of Mana and didn't have a lot of HP, an extra 20,000 points were a lot.

"Ain, I think you should keep this."

"Me?"

"I have «Assimilation», so it doesn't matter."

That's how it was decided that Ain would keep the Heaven's Elixir.

The old man seemed bothered again by how quickly they decided who would keep the reward.

"Ahem... Anyway, that was it for today. The next reward will be something both of you will covet."

* * *

After the attendance check-in was over, Hyun escaped from classes.

He was on his way to see a friend with whom he had gotten closer recently.

He was about to see his former high-school classmate and Korea University student Kim JaeHoon.

At first glance, the two didn't seem to have anything in common, but both had become closer thanks to Asrian.

'I would have never guessed that he was someone aspiring to be a professional gamer...'

SeoHyun truly hadn’t been expecting that.

No one could have guessed it since JaeHoon was a very private person.

From all the people that had come to the reunion that day, only he knew about JaeHoon's aspirations.

"Oh, SeoHyun, are you done for today?"

After exchanging numbers, they began meeting each other frequently whenever they had free time.

"Hey, I'll invite you to dinner."

"Ahem, sounds nice."

SeoHyun couldn't hide a smile.

Thanks to JaeHoon, he had been eating in very nice restaurants recently.

SeoHyun felt like he was taking advantage of him, but he had no reason to refuse an invitation, especially if the other person would pay for it.

After all, people say that the most delicious food is free.

Not only that, but he gave him information about Asrian Online from time to time, so SeoHyun thought that it was a reasonable exchange.

"Was pizza always so thick?"

"That's because it's a Chicago pizza. It's a little bit different from the ones of other franchises."

While in a restaurant, SeoHyun often remained silent until the topic of Asrian came about.

The reason was that this model student rich boy always brought him to expensive restaurants.

He always said that fast food was bad for health.

SeoHyun thought that JaeHoon was probably the only one in their twenties that thought about things like that.

Also, SeoHyun didn't understand what differentiated Chicago Pizza from a regular one except for the fact that it was thicker... But since it was delicious, he kept eating.

SeoHyun was stretching the cheese when JaeHoon talked to him first.

"SeoHyun, thanks a lot. Because of the hidden quest you gave me the other day, I was able to level up ten times in just one day."

JaeHoon was making a huge deal out of the information SeoHyun had given him.

He couldn't hide his joy since, according to him, he had been able to save a lot of time compared to his fellow professional gamers.

From Hyun's point of view, he had just given him information about quests he didn't need anymore, so he felt uncomfortable with him making such a big deal out of it.

"It really was nothing..."

"No, I can't just do nothing after receiving such a gift. I told you that I would repay you, remember? I think that the opportunity has come faster than I thought!"

"Opportunity?"

"Yes, someone has discovered something huge."

SeoHyun thought something interesting would come out of his friend's mouth, so he paid attention.

As if he was about to say a secret, JaeHoon lowered his tone of voice.

"Yesterday, one of our guild's members found a quest... But this one isn't like the other ones."

"Is it a hidden quest?"

"Not really. It's a normal quest, but the rewards are just amazing!"

JaeHoon took out his smartphone and displayed a photo on the screen.

SeoHyun knew that it was a real image taken from Asrian Online.

"It's this quest."

[<Count Allan's Request: Investigate the Suspicious Pillar of Light!>]

- To all of the adventurers in my territory. Yesterday night, and the one before, a suspicious pillar of light appeared on Calafer mountain.

- My magicians detected an evil presence from the pillar. I'll generously reward whichever party discovers why the pillar appeared.

- 10,000 gold, 80,000 experience (In case a party fulfills the quest, the points will be distributed evenly)

- +1 skill point (All party members)

- The investigation could get dangerous, so please be careful.

"It's amazing, right? Especially this one..." Said JaeHoon while pointing to a part of his screen.

"It gives skill points! Everyone from our guild is going crazy because of this reward. If we complete this quest, everyone from the party will get a free skill point. This would be like leveling up..."

'It was this, huh?'

SeoHyun's expression, as he was looking at JaeHoon with curiosity, darkened.

"You probably won't be able to beat this."

SeoHyun mumbled. JaeHoon felt as if cold water had been dropped over him.

SeoHyun, who was looking at JaeHoon's smartphone, smiled bitterly.

'So, this kind of coincidence really does happen. Huh?'

The quest JaeHoon has brought to him was basically asking for someone to interfere with the quest he was doing.

He never thought that the quest his friend had brought to him as a present was something like this.

'What should I do....?'

SeoHyun asked JaeHoon after drinking coke.

"Does anyone else besides your guild know about this quest?"

"I don't think so. After all, quests disappear from the bulletin board once you accept them."

"Then, how many users over level 50 does your professional team have?"

"Hmm... If you join us..."

"How many without me."

"Then… four people, including me."

"Then it would be better if you guys didn't try to complete this quest."

"Why? Is there something dangerous about it?" JaeHoon asked him.

He knew that SeoHyun was an Asra Online veteran. Even small bits of information that they had was of great help for newbies.

After successfully completing a hidden quest thanks to SeoHyun, JaeHoon listened to what his friend said as if they were sacred words.

On the other hand, SeoHyun was concerned about something.

'How should I tell this to him...? If you successfully complete the quest, I'll fail mine, so don't do it...? That sounds wrong...'

Even in Asra Online, the game often gave users quests with opposing objectives.

Every time that happened, they made two users or two groups bite each other and made the game's atmosphere bad.

He didn't want to break his friendship with JaeHoon.

Don't do this quest because you'll mess up my chances of completing the quest. Saying that would make him look like an egotistical person... But telling a lie made him uncomfortable.

"In two days... You'll learn the reason. It's better if you don't do it."

"Should I give up the quest?"

"That would be the best."

"Hmm... Too bad. How should I tell it to the rest of the team?"

"Ugh, I haven't thought that far... First, try your best to convince them. If not, at least save yourself and avoid being killed."

"Die...? You die if you do this quest?"

"Uhm... That… sorry."

"What are you sorry about...?"

"No, it's just that I made a mistake of words..."

"...?"

JaeHoon seemed confused, and SeoHyun scratched his head for a while.

* * *

—At midnight.

Just like the previous day, Hyun and Ain were in the middle of the ruins that were in the Calafer mountain.

That was the third day. They were doing a quest from a suspicious old man that consisted of guarding the ruins entrance for an hour starting from midnight.

The time was almost over, and no one had appeared.

"Ugh... No one is coming..." Said Ain while playing with her hands.

The two of them were spending time sitting on top of a rock and watching the night sky.

What was the old man doing inside the ruin?

An intense pillar of light soared as if it were about to reach space for almost an hour.

Hyun felt like he was watching a fireworks show.

He remembered that during primary school, he went once to see fireworks.

He didn't really remember what kind of festival it was.

Of course, the night sky of Asrian was more fabulous than what he remembered from that night.

On the first day, the light had a white color, but as days passed, it started to become blue.

From time to time, he could feel the electricity from the light beam. It felt and seemed like lightning was falling from the sky.

The quest time ended, and all the lights disappeared.

No one had come.

'It seems like JaeHoon succeeded in convincing his teammates.'

JaeHoon was part of a professional gaming team.

He wondered if a group that only seeks profit would be able to give up on skill points, but it seemed like they had really given up.

If a user gave up on a quest, their prestige and reliability decreased. In some cases, it made receiving other quests harder.

JaeHoon and his team had probably taken a penalty.

'I'm starting to feel sorry.'

But from the start, he had no intention of letting them win.

In order for his plan to be successful, he needed to clear that quest.

'I never pay for dinner, and now I've taken a quest from him. I'm a horrible person.'

Soon, the old man came out from the inside of the ruin.

What the old man gave them as a reward was a very good sword of unique rarity. If he put it in the Auction House, he would probably be able to get at least 5,000 gold.

Did the old man think that they'd lust after an expensive weapon?

Neither Hyun nor Ain used a sword as the main weapon, so they didn't care who got to keep it.

In other words, Hyun received it.

They still hadn't decided how they were going to divide it.

Maybe the sword's existence would be eliminated from Ain's memories.

The old man who had given them the sword with the expectation of seeing them fight was starting to get even more annoyed.

And that's how the third day ended.

* * *

—South Korea's biggest Asrian community.

Users used that place to share information about jobs, skills, and quests, among other things.

That place that many people usually frequented was busier than on most other days.

The reason was a screenshot that a user had just shared.

The post consisted of a quest.

The post soon started to trend and made the entire community astonished.

[<Count Allan's Request: Investigate the Suspicious Light Pillars!>]

- I inform all the adventurers of my territory. I've received a report that said that these past few days, during midnight, a giant light pillar appeared in the middle of the Calafer mountain.

- According to my magicians, that light is very dangerous and could potentially harm the villagers.

Unfortunately, my army is currently in a foreign territory, fulfilling the duty I've ordered them to do.

- That's why I'm turning to the 'users.' I'll reward the party that eliminates the cause of this light very generously.

<Reward: Depends on the contribution of the party>

1st place - 30.000 gold, 500,000 experience (The points will be distributed evenly among party members), +5 skill points to all party members, Sword of the Sun.

2nd place - 15.000 gold, 300.000 experience (The points will be distributed evenly among party members), +3 skill points to all party members, Wind Magic Spell Book.

3rd place - 8.000 gold, 200.000 experience (The points will be distributed evenly among party members), +1 skill point to all party members.

Rest - [Participation %] x 1.000 gold, [Participation %] x 10.000 experience.

<Limit: Level 50>

- This is a very dangerous mission, so all those that haven't awakened are not allowed to participate in it.

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