Ian, unaware of what was going at the imperial palace, was working hard deep under the Scorching
Land.
‘s.h.i.+t! What am I even doing here?'
The cliff was very sharp.
He was hanging on the cliff where a pool of lava was right under him. He was digging for something
with a pickax.
‘When does this crazy gathering quest end?'
After the Capturing Polluted Monsters quest, the next quest Ian received was quite satisfactory.
It was about killing 100 polluted monsters.
‘The reward was small, but I had to hunt anyway, so it was fine.'
However, every related quest he had to do after that was a gathering quest. Ian had to go around in
the dungeon and gather herbs and minerals.
‘I hate this kind of quest the most!'
He hated gathering quests which required searching and gathering all kinds of ingredients.
Not only he wouldn't get any EP, but he also couldn't raise his skills' Proficiency, additionally, he
couldn't even get money!
Of course, the way Ian will feel at the end of the quest will depend on the reward. However, as it was
a series of quests, he didn't know what he would get when all the quests were completed. This
irritated him even more.
‘If he gives me something useless, I will shatter that guardian of lava!'
Ian had already spent too much time.
He had been working on the quests without doing gaining a single level for almost 24 hours.
He had worked for that long, so he had to get to the end.
Ding-
– You succeeded on getting Root of Red Moss.
– Quest: Gathering Roots of Red Moss (35/35)
– You have fulfilled the requirements necessary to finish the quest.
Ian sighed at seeing the message when he finished gathering.
‘Please… tell me this is the end…'
Ian climbed up the cliff and headed back to the Source of Lava.
‘It is the end, right? It has to be… it has to be…'
Ian kept muttering like that. He then went to h.e.l.lyan and handed him the ingredient items with shaky
hands.
“Here, I've brought them…”
His voice was weak unlike when he had first started doing quests for h.e.l.lyan.
The monster smiled at seeing that.
– You have done well. Wait for a while.
h.e.l.lyan disappeared into the lava with Ian's items again. Ian plopped down on the ground.
‘Ha… the same pattern again.'
That red fire creature would come out again and give him another d.a.m.n gathering quest.
Ian sighed heavily, “Hu…”
Ian started to even seriously consider giving up the series of quests if he received another gathering
quest.
‘It's fine for me if there are more quests. Just not gathering quests, please…'
Ian closed his eyes.
Then, he started to pray earnestly even though he didn't believe in any religion.
‘G.o.d, Buddha, Allah… please listen to my prayer just for once… it's not like I always ask you
something from you…'
This was an earnest prayer from the humble gamer Ian!
His prayer was answered, the lava fell in front of him started to rage.
Kwaaaa!
The sound was huge as if the dungeon was collapsing. Ian panicked, “What-what?!”
Then, he despaired, ‘I don't want to be the first Kailan user to be killed by a collapsing dungeon…'
Ian considered logging out.
Then, the vibration started to fade.
In front of Ian's eyes, the lava that flowed like a waterfall disappeared and a still lake of lava
appeared.
Ian stared at that blankly.
‘Is it over?'
A lot has certainly changed.
It was still hot but the Source of Lava, which used to be a little grim, had become brighter. The
blackish lava that flowed here and there turned red again.
The quiet lake of lava shook and h.e.l.lyan, the huge guardian of lava, appeared.
– Thank you for fulfilling my requests, Ian.
“That… was nothing.”
Ian answered and carefully asked, “But is purifying the Source of Lava over?”
h.e.l.lyan nodded.
– Yes. All because you have labored more than I expected.
Ian couldn't understand. He asked back, “I worked more than you expected?”
‘I did only what he told me to do…'
Ian looked confused. At this, h.e.l.lyan smiled.
– As I said earlier, there is a giant core of lava at the bottom of this lava lake.
Ian didn't say anything and listened to h.e.l.lyan.
– The ingredients I have asked you to gather were necessary to make Purifying Water that purifies the
core of lava.
h.e.l.lyan looked at the bubbling lava and continued.
– I was given exactly 24 hours to purify the core. Originally, I just had to make one bottle of Purifying
Water to purify the lava.
Ian's face started to distort as he listened.
However, h.e.l.lyan didn't notice that. He just spoke again.
– But as you so worked hard on gathering, I could make five bottles of Purifying Water. I will be able to
purify the core of lava, that is regularly polluted, 5 times.
Ian's legs turned to jelly. He sat down.
‘Ah… the quest had a time limit…'
According to h.e.l.lyan, he only needed to do the quest enough to make one bottle of Purifying Water.
He felt it was unfair. He almost cried.
‘No wonder he made me gather the same ingredients multiple times…'
Ian had worked very hard in order to finish the series of quests as fast as possible.
He didn't work hard to help h.e.l.lyan.
‘I should have been hunting in the intervals instead of only gathering…'
If he had done that, he would have filled at least 40~50% of the EP progress bar.
However, Ian couldn't yell at h.e.l.lyan for deceiving him.
He had worked hard to get Friends.h.i.+p with the NPC. He couldn't blow that away just before he got his
reward.
Plus, strictly speaking, h.e.l.lyan hadn't fooled Ian.
He just didn't tell him everything.
h.e.l.lyan, unaware of Ian's feelings, looked very happy.
– Haha! Thanks to you, the Source of Lava will be fine for a while. That is so relieving.
Ian muttered quietly, ‘Then, give me my reward now.'
As if he heard Ian, h.e.l.lyan spoke again,
– You have done so well. This is my gift to you.
A system message announced the end of the series of quests.
Ding-
– You have finished the series of quests at the Source of Lava. Clear Rank: SSS
– You gained 12935000 EP.
– You have leveled-up. You have reached Lv. 71.
He gained enough EP to reach Lv. 71 and fill the EP bar by 50%!
Ian had spent almost two days, but the reward was worth it.
Ian had completed all the quests starting with the capturing quest till the maximum possible, so the
clear rank was a triple S.
However, Ian didn't look very happy.
‘If I had hunted between quests, I would have gained another level?'
Ian regretted and shook with anger. Then, another message came up.
– You have obtained the Binding Stone of Lava.
‘Hmm… what is the Binding Stone of Lava?'
Ian asked h.e.l.lyan, “What is this, h.e.l.lyan?”
h.e.l.lyan smiled and replied.
– He is one of the guardians that protect the core of lava. I am supposed to give you a different one as
the reward. However, since you have done so much for me, I am giving you the one I cherish the
most.
‘Guardian?!'
Ian opened his inventory with excitement.
He checked the Binding Stone and the monster's information window appeared.
[Lava Drake King]
Level: 80
Type: Drake
Rank: Hero
Character: Brave
Evolution Impossible
Attack Force: 1975
Defense Force: 975
Speed: 527
Intelligence: 609
Health: 23537/23537
Magic: 9750/9750
Unique Abilities
– receive 30% less damage from Fire attacks.
– Attacks with a Fire Breath and inflict damage of 593% of its Attack Force. (Cooldown time: 30
minutes)
[Breath of Lava]
When using basic attacks, Breath of Lava is activated with a 30% probability.
When it is activated, the Drake breathes fire and inflicts damage of 175% of its Attack Force to
enemies in the front side. (Fired in a 4m cone-shaped range.)
The king of Lava Drakes that was born in hot lava.
Specialized in Fire type attacks and has a powerful Attack Force.
…
Ian read the monster's information and was thrilled.
‘A Hero rank monster! Its Attack Force is nearly 2000!'
Its Attack Force was 1975.
It had fire Breath that most drakes had, additionally, the pa.s.sive skill called the Breath of Lava was a
wide-range attacking skill that Ian needed the most.
The ‘Evolution Impossible' part was a little disappointing, but it wasn't a big deal.
No user had even seen a Legend rank monster, so right now Hero rank was the highest rank.
Ian would be asking for too much if he wanted the Evolution Possible option.
‘It has limits because of the Evolution Impossible option… but as I need to raise my level urgently, this
pet is a perfect fit for me.'
Ian wanted to enter into a bond with it and use it immediately, but his Leaders.h.i.+p wasn't enough.
‘I should go straight to the village, buy every item that raises Leaders.h.i.+p and wear them.'
If that didn't work, Ian was going to release his Clofia.
Of course, he thought he would be able to get the necessary Leaders.h.i.+p by spending some money.
His guilt of doing something that was only good for h.e.l.lyan vanished.
‘Even if I had worked on capturing Lava Witch during the time I spent on gathering, I couldn't have
gotten something better than this Drake.'
By hunting with this Lava Drake King, Ian would be able to get high EP as well.
Ian grinned and thanked h.e.l.lyan as if he had never blamed him.
“Thank you, h.e.l.lyan. I will use the Drake well.”
– No. I should thank you for returning the Source of Lava to normal. I hope that child will help you.
Ian said goodbye to h.e.l.lyan and hurried to use a Returning Magic Scroll to return to the village.
Ian just wanted to use the Drake as soon as possible.
While Ian was smiling happily while watching the Lava Drake King.
Another owner of a Lava Drake, Kanoel, was gaining levels with his ‘avatar'.
“Drava, Breath!”
Kaooooo!
The Red Drake, Drava, fired a red breath!
‘I have named him so well.'
Kanoel was very satisfied with his own naming sense.
The name Drava had a ‘deep' meaning.
Kanoel had taken one syllable each from lava and dragon.
Kanoel's naming sense was as ‘good' as Ian's.
Drava fired a breath and five Peragons turned grey and died.
Drava was proud of himself. It was then triumphantly breathing hot breath.
It wasn't the only one who felt good, “Kahahahah! How does that feel, you idiots!”
Kanoel laughed like a madman as he slaughtered Peragons of Narhan Swamp that had troubled him
a few days ago.
It was so delightful!
Drava was beyond compare with the Asiatic Black Bear that had kept kicking the air and Kanoel loved
it.
“Drava, well done!”
The Friends.h.i.+p between Kanoel and Drava was almost to the Max.
Kanoel had been hard on the Bear, but he just loved Drava.
Actually, as Peragons were Lv. 26 Regular Rank monsters, it was only natural they were easy preys
to Drava who was a Unique rank Drake, but Kanoel was satisfied with his level-up speed and the
result of the battles that he couldn't realize that.
“Huhu, Narhan Swamp is too easy now. Right, Drava?”
Krrrrr-!
The master and the pet got along well.
‘Hmm… it's time to move to a different hunting ground.'
Kanoel had been sweeping across Narhan Swamp for 3 days. He had gained six levels and he was
Lv. 30 now. He also had gotten the t.i.tle of Peragon Slaughterer.
Drava, who had been Lv. 32, was now Lv. 36.
Now, Kanoel's confidence alone could reach the sky.
‘The Goblins' Campsite would be a fitting hunting ground for me.'
He smiled while thinking of going to a hunting ground where he would have never imagined of going if
he didn't have Drava.
“Drava, let's go to Somur Canyon!”
Kanoel dismissed Drava and teleported to the village using a Returning Magic Scroll.
With Drava, the ‘best' drake in Kailan, Kanoel feared nothing.
