Emperor of Solo Play

Skeletons Hunting Skeletons (1)

The moment Hyrkan acquired the nested egg, he ran towards Bangtz Castle without rest.

‘Quicker, quicker!’

Once he arrived at Bangtz Castle, Hyrkan quickly changed his clothes and headed towards Bangtz Castle’s Subjugation Association. Then, he charged towards Ahimbree’s room.

‘What was that just now?’

‘Didn’t something just go upstairs?’

All the hyenas on standby didn’t even have a chance to try anything.

The reason Hyrkan moved so hurriedly was simple.

‘I have to bail before they get on my tail.’

Ahimbree’s test was at the Lizard Swamp, and Hyrkan passed that test. If the ones who approached Hyrkan before found out, they would surely act. As such, Hyrkan wanted to quickly finish his business with Ahimbree before they sought out to look for the player who received Ahimbree’s quest.

Hyrkan quickly arrived at Ahimbree’s floor, and he then ran to Ahimbree’s room. He slammed open the door, after which he placed the egg he brought on Ahimbree’s desk like he just made a touchdown.

Ahimbree simply watched on with a blank expression. It wasn’t until a while afterwards that he opened his mouth.

“You came faster than I had expected.”

Ahimbree said in a calm voice, at which Hyrkan bowed his head.

“I tried my best.”

Although he answered as such, Hyrkan was gritting his teeth on the inside.

‘Faster than you expected? Even though it took over 20 days?’

Hyrkan headed to the Lizard Swamp as soon as he received Ahimbree’s quest and spent the following 20 days there. Although he spent most of the time leveling up, the time it took to complete Ahimbree’s quest was undoubtedly 20 days.

But Ahimbree said it was faster than he had expected.

‘What a crazy game.’

A concept unimaginable in any other game. That was Warlord.

Hyrkan’s stray thoughts quickly disappeared as he pricked up his ears. He didn’t want to miss a single word Ahimbree would say. He had no other choice. It wasn’t often that one was given a chance to participate in the main scenario quest. In truth, the test this time around wasn’t something Hyrkan could have finished by himself. Even if he found the Dragon Lizard, he didn’t have the ability to deal with it alone.

“First of all, well done.”

“Thank you sir.”

“I do want to ask, do you know what this is?”

As if he could read Hyrkan’s mind, Ahimbree immediately cut to the chase.

“I do not.”

“Corrupted Stone, that’s what I call it.”

‘Oh, that’s what this was?’

Hyrkan finally understood the identity of the stone he brought.

Corrupted Stone!

It was something that played a core role in the Corrupted Count main scenario quest. Although he had heard stories of the Corrupted Stone, this was the first he had actually seen it.

‘To think I’d end up seeing it like this.’

Before he returned to the past, he couldn’t even act as extra in the Corrupted Count or the Immoral Prince main scenario quest. At that time, he was busy leveling up and filming videos.

‘If this goes well…’

Hyrkan was suddenly full of expectations.

The reason he knew about the Corrupted Stone was because it was material for a Chronical Unique, just like the Pursuer of Corruption Necklace he had. Of course, he couldn’t just use it as it is. Hyrkan couldn’t remember the fine details from his hazy memory, but he knew there was a fairly complicated process involved. It was something the current Hyrkan couldn’t do.

In any case, if things went well, a fortune might land on his head. One like the Pursuer of Corruption Necklace.

Or if Ahimbree gave this Corrupted Stone to Hyrkan… it wouldn’t be until later, but he would be able to sell it for an enormous sum.

Gulp!

Hyrkan tensed up slightly. It was as if he bought 100,000 won worth of lottery tickets and was now watching the draw live.

With no way of knowing what Hyrkan was thinking, Ahimbree simply continued.

“Because of this Corrupted Stone, monsters have become drunk on the Corrupted One’s powers and have been causing problems.”

“Then we must find these stones and destroy them.”

Hyrkan answered immediately. He was simply telling Ahimbree to give him another quest so he could find the stones.

“With your strength, it is impossible to destroy this stone. Furthermore, there is an even more important matter at hand. Where did this stone come from? If these stones are not moving by themselves, then who is transporting them? These are the questions we must seek to answer.”

“Then we will need to find the mastermind and punish him. I will do so. Although I may be lacking, I will do my best to punish the evildoer who is hiding in the shadows!”

‘Hurry up and give me the next quest!’

Hyrkan pleaded in his mind. At this…

“Your strength is not enough.”

Ahimbree poured cold water over Hyrkan.

‘What?’

After he did so…

“But you have the potential. What is important to you now is not to fight against them, but to acquire the strength to do so.”

[The Quest, ‘Ahimbree’s Teachings (2)’, starts.]

He immediately threw hot water, a bucket of lava, at Hyrkan.

‘Wow!’

Hyrkan barely managed to hold in his desire to scream out loud.

‘Ahimbree’s Teachings? Skillbook?’

But Hyrkan’s patience…

[You have obtained the title, ‘Ahimbree’s Disciple’.]

“Whooaaa!”

Quickly ran out after hearing the following message. Hyrkan instinctively raised his hands in the air and shouted out. It seemed as if he wanted to hug Ahimbree to show his happiness.

“Mmm?”

Watching Hyrkan’s figure, Ahimbree tilted his head with a stiff expression.

“What does that mean?”

It was then that Hyrkan snapped back to reality and wiped the elated expression off of his face.

“Ah, well…”

It was the birth of another shameful moment in Hyrkan’s Warlord history.

★★★

[Ahimbree’s Teachings (2)]

– Quest Rank: Unique

– Quest Level Range: Above 30

– Quest Content: Go see Ahimbree after achieving level 40.

– Quest Reward: Skillbook, Pursuer of Corruption Ring

[Ahimbree’s Disciple]

– Increases the class-specific stats by 3%.

After reading about the two new alerts, Hyrkan couldn’t help but to tremble in joy.

‘To think I would get the Ahimbree’s Disciple title here?’

The Ahimbree’s Disciple title was something all magicians wanted.

It raised class-specific stats in a percentage.

Along with the Rising Star title, Hyrkan’s stats had a whole 6% increase.

That wasn’t all!

‘So I’m getting another skillbook just by hitting level 40?’

He had a chance to gain a skillbook similar to Madness Helm.

‘I just have to hit level 40.’

Once Hyrkan achieved level 40, everything would be his. Not only would he receive a new Unique magic, he would be able to learn the Golem Summon magic he had wanted to learn originally. In addition, he would have the right to continue to the next main scenario quest!

Then, there was only one thing left to worry about.

Where could the current level 30 Hyrkan hit level 40 in the quickest time possible?

It only took a second for Hyrkan to come up with an answer.

‘Next is the Dead Woods.’

Dead Woods.

It was terrifying woods filled with undead monsters.

★★★

The Lizard Swamp was currently in an uproar. Trees that shot up to the sky were now burning due to flame magic. The whole scene looked like torches lighting up the black swamp, making the swamp give off an eerie aura.

In the middle of the swamp lied a huge lizard that resembled a dragon. Its body had just begun to melt, and one could easily tell that it was the boss of the Lizard Swamp, the Dragon Lizard.

“That’s it!”

A loud voice rang out in the swamp, and as if they had been waiting to hear this voice, multiple voices rang out in response.

“Whew! It’s over!”

“It’s been a while.”

“Well done everyone!”

“We finally got a big one. Good work, everyone!”

Along with these voices, players that had been assigned across the swamp began to make their appearance.

They were a raid-specializing guild that were active around Bangtz Castle, the Apom Guild.

They were a group of players that loved raids, but they couldn’t be called talented in any way. They sought to enjoy raids, Warlord’s core content, rather than to make money off of it. In a way, they were like a college circle.

“Thank you so much. You’re better than the rumors say. We expected at least five of us to die, but all of us made it out alive.”

As soon as the battle ended, the leader of the raid party approached a player and bowed.

“Don’t mention it. Everyone’s skills made it much easier.”

In front of the bowing raid party leader was a man wearing a lustrous, white-scaled armor. It was evident to anyone that was watching that this man was a high-level player, one that didn’t have a reason to participate in a level 40 boss monster raid.

He was a Helper.

More formally, a Raid Helper. Raids were the best part of Warlord. However, their difficulty was also high. One had to gather players, create the strategy for raid, and maintain coordination between all the members of party during raid. Above all, one had to be skilled. Those that wanted to raid but did not have the skills or ability to do so had no choice but to hire others with skills and experience to help them. In Warlord, they were known as Helpers.

They were different from the ones who simply helped lower level players leech and level up. Helpers didn’t hunt boss monsters by themselves. They directed the boss raid and ensured that their customers enjoyed the raids to their fullest.

In any case, when one hired Helpers, the employer generally gave up on making profit. In fact, there were cases where one ended up with a loss. Even so, the demand for skilled helpers was always high. After all, only a small minority were truly skilled at raids.

“Ah, here. Though it may not be much, here’s some gold.”

Once the work was done, good Helpers generally received tips from their employer.

“There’s no need. I’m happy with what we agreed upon beforehand.”

Declining once was also the general practice.

“Take it, really. It’s nothing, just a drink’s worth.”

After such exchange of pleasantries, both parties generally ended their business with a smile.

“Sorry.”

This time, however, the Helper was resolute. The leader of raid party examined the Helper’s expression, from which he could tell that he was unwilling to accept the tip.

The raid party leader picked up on the clue and put the bag of gold back in his pocket.

‘Just like I thought, he’s definitely not an average Helper. He’s too strong. Although the amount we paid wasn’t small, it definitely wouldn’t be enough to hire someone of his level…’

At this moment, the raid party leader once again recalled the suspicion he had before the raid started.

In raids where a Helper was present, a Broker was usually involved. Brokers found out the location of the boss and prepared the Helper in return for a commission fee. With the amount of money exchanged in Warlord, the amount of money a Broker or Helper handled was bigger than an average person might expect.

Of course, how much the employer paid decided how strong a Helper he would get.

In that sense, the Helper in front of the raid party leader was undoubtedly above the amount he paid for. Although a Helper below the amount one paid for sometimes came, a Helper above the amount one paid for was unheard of.

“By the way, as we talked about beforehand, I’ll be taking all the items inside the Dragon Lizard’s lair.”

Furthermore, this time, the Helper insisted on taking the ownership of the items inside the Dragon Lizard’s lair. Such a thing was also unheard of.

“Of course.”

Why would he risk his life for a Dragon Lizard’s lair? Although it was common knowledge that dragon-type monsters’ lairs had expensive crafting materials items, lairs of newly spawned monsters were empty. Dragon-type monsters stored items of the players they killed. It was unlikely for a monster that had recently respawned to have many items.

Even so, this Helper placed such importance on the Dragon Lizard’s lair. It was strange in many ways.

“We will help you look for the lair.”

Of course, it was none of the raid party leader’s business. Considering how cheap the Helper was, he didn’t have any reason to say no.

“It’s fine. I can take care of it by myself.”

With that, the armored Helper turned around and stared into the black swamp.

‘To think I would be able to find a Corrupted Stone in a place like this.’

Just like the raid party leader suspected, this Helper wasn’t one that would participate in a raid of this level.

He was on a completely different level.

One that could participate as a Helper for the Top 30 Guilds.

There was only one reason he was in a place like this.

Black swamp. It was a chance to acquire a Corrupted Stone.

In other words, Corrupted Stones were important enough to make someone of his level take action.

‘A Corrupted Dragon Lizard only appears when someone with Ahimbree’s Test and the Corrupted Count quest is active in the Lizard Swamp for at least one week… who could it be?’

With that, he headed out to find the Dragon Lizard’s lair.

A few minutes afterwards…

“FUCK!”

The scream of a man shook the Lizard Swamp.