Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 25

Quest In (2)

“Yes, yes. Thank you. Then I’ll visit you next time.”

*Ting!*

The call ended, and Woojin tossed the phone he was holding onto the bed and flopped back.

“Hoo…….”

He quit his part-time job at the convenience store, which he had been doing for quite a while.

Now that he had decided to fully commit to being a professional player, he naturally had to quit his part-time job.

However, he thought he would have to continue working for at least two more weeks until a replacement came in, but fortunately, he got permission from the manager to leave right away.

It seemed that his nephew, who lived nearby, was looking for a part-time job, so they could find someone to work right away.

‘Now I need to start running in earnest.’

Woojin burned with determination as the most worrying part was resolved comfortably.

The time invested in Warlord never betrayed him; conversely, the less time invested, the more exponentially competitiveness decreased.

Now, he was planning to dedicate most of his time to Warlord, except for eating and sleeping.

Of course, he didn’t forget to include moderate exercise.

As with anything else, Warlord was ultimately a battle of stamina.

If he spent all day sitting in front of the access device and ruined his body, it would be more fatal than receiving several death penalties.

He had to build up the physical and mental strength to endure the harsh grind and the resulting play time.

Fortunately, one thing was that he had financial leeway thanks to the money he received as compensation from the game company.

If he didn’t have that money, now that he had quit his convenience store job, he would have been living a frantically tight life just to make a living, without time to develop his character.

However, with only 100 million won [approximately $85,000 USD] in a situation where he had nothing, he couldn’t guarantee his future, and he eventually had to succeed in Warlord in time.

The cramped one-room apartment where Woojin lived was still the same as ever.

Since he didn’t have any income of his own, Woojin thought it wasn’t time to leave this place yet.

“There’s still some time left… should I go in early?”

Woojin checked the time and jumped up from his seat.

* * *

*Flash!*

The first thing Woojin saw when he logged into Warlord was lush bushes and trees.

And when he turned his gaze to the side, he could see the scenery below the mountainside, and a cool breeze blew.

Aeil had climbed Mount Midona, where his destination was located, and had logged out at the entrance of Hard Rock Cave as planned.

And when he resumed access, there were several users at the cave entrance besides Aeil, some reorganizing or resting after hunting, and others looking for party members.

Among those people, there was one familiar face.

“You’re here early?”

“Ah, Aeil-nim. I had something to prepare before entering.”

Alisa greeted him happily.

He didn’t expect her to be here since he had come 10 minutes early for the appointment, but it seemed she had come even earlier to prepare in advance.

And when he looked closely at what she was doing, she had laid out various tools and was boiling something in a small pot.

“What is this?”

“Here, take these. I heard that Hard Rock Cave is especially dark.”

[Potion of Keen Eyesight (Common)]

[When consumed, it brightens the eyes to ensure visibility in dark environments for 30 minutes.]

[This potion is made with excellent quality, increasing its effectiveness.]

Aeil accepted the three potions she threw at him in a daze.

The golden liquid in the transparent bottle shimmered beautifully.

“Did you… perhaps learn alchemy?”

“Yes, I’ve dabbled in various things. Warlord is interesting not only for hunting but also for other content.”

Alisa smiled and stirred the pot.

In Warlord, there were no separate blacksmiths, merchants, or alchemists as selectable jobs.

Regardless of the player’s job, all side content could be enjoyed without exception, including trade, weapon manufacturing, and alchemy, which she was showing now.

Users who mainly played for combat could set up shops, and users who strictly worked as merchants and joined guilds had the same combat jobs and skills as others.

However, the important thing was where the player focused and chose to play.

If you focused on one side, you would inevitably neglect the other side.

That’s why Aeil didn’t even touch the minor side content, including cooking.

As he aimed for the top, it was complacent and extravagant to waste time on other things.

But Alisa didn’t seem to be like that.

“Potion of Keen Eyesight can be made from alchemy rank 2…….”

“Yes, that’s right. I just reached rank 2 recently.”

Aeil admired her inwardly at her words.

At first glance, the number seemed low, but rank 2 was quite a high number among skill levels.

Especially alchemy was famous for being tricky, and no rank 8 users had appeared yet. She must have shut herself in the village after starting and delved into that content for at least a few days.

If she had only dabbled in it little by little while hunting, it would never have been possible to reach rank 2 around level 18.

It was even more so considering that all of Aeil’s life content levels, who had focused on leveling up and hunting, were rank 0.

*Chiik!*

The liquid being heated in the alchemy tool boiled over, and another potion she was making was completed.

Alisa quickly poured the completed liquid into a bottle, and the pure white liquid shimmered inside.

It was impossible to tell what kind of potion it was just by looking at it.

Just as Aeil was about to ask out of curiosity, a man suddenly spoke to him.

“Excuse me, is it just the two of you?”

“Ah, yes. Why do you ask?”

“I was wondering if I could join your party. Is that possible?”

As the man spoke, Aeil quickly scanned him.

Judging from the thick greatsword and heavy armor, he seemed to be a warrior class mainly invested in defense.

There was no suspicious behavior immediately visible, and he just seemed to have a pretty good eye for a user in the beginner area.

Perhaps he roughly scanned Aeil and Alisa’s equipment and saw that they were even taking potions separately with alchemy, so he judged them to be skilled people who were hard to see in this area and was trying to join the party hunt.

“I’m sorry. We’re not looking for party members.”

Of course, Aeil refused his request.

Their purpose was not simply hunting, and they couldn’t include someone they didn’t even know in such a big quest.

If the number of party members increased before facing the first instance dungeon, it would be a little safer, but in these types of games, the real danger was not monsters but people.

As the man reluctantly gave up and turned around, Aeil said to Alisa.

“Shall we go in then?”

* * *

The inside of Hard Rock Cave, a hunting ground with decent efficiency, was full of users hunting here and there in parties.

Instead of being able to hunt faster because of the large number of monsters, the burden also increased, so most users entered with parties of at least three or more.

In comparison, Aeil and Alisa were only two.

However, it was not difficult to break deep into the cave.

Basically, it was thanks to the excellent skills of the two, but also because the dark interior terrain was clearly visible by drinking the Potion of Keen Eyesight, and there was also some leeway since this dungeon was mainly for level 11 monsters.

*Kiiiik!*

*Pook!*

The body of the goblin holding the club was lifted up in a flash.

The guy whose abdomen was pierced by the long sword dropped the item on the floor while drooping, and Aeil pulled the corpse out of the sword and threw it aside with a flick.

As the last guy died like that, eleven goblin corpses were scattered around.

Clearly, it was possible to dismantle the goblin corpses one by one.

But now they were simply breaking through the road to the destination, and it was not worth investing that much time against low-level monsters.

There were two people, so there was no need to waste time.

“Do you need healing?”

“No, I have enough health. There’s no need to use mana already.”

Aeil waved his hand and replied.

He had already come close to half of the cave and continued to clash with goblins, but his health was still over 90 percent.

And that was the same for Alisa.

She knocked down monsters without having to worry about protecting the rear separately, and she didn’t use healing on herself or drink potions.

It meant that both of them didn’t allow the clumsy goblins to attack at all.

A party that had been watching them from behind for a while murmured with blank expressions.

“Wow, what are those people?”

“I… I don’t know. Looking at how they move, it’s not just equipment, so why is someone with that skill here…….”

“I think they’re probably alternate characters [alts]…….”

“Hey!”

Aeil suddenly spoke to them.

Then the party members looked at him with puzzled eyes.

“Why?”

“You’ve been staring at us since earlier… do you have something to say? Or are you perhaps looking for an opportunity to start a PK [Player Kill]…….”

“Yes? No! Absolutely not PK! Oh, what are you talking about.”

The party members who shook their hands hurriedly left the spot.

They knew that if they got into a fight by picking a fight or removing threats in advance, they would most likely die.

As their figures completely disappeared beyond the opposite wall, Aeil made a satisfied expression.

“They’re gone.”

“It’s a little bit of a shame, but the effect was good.”

Alisa chuckled and said.

It was inevitable that they had been hunting in place for several minutes because those people were still watching them in a situation where they were right in front of the entrance to the instance dungeon.

It was common sense that no one else should see them entering an instance dungeon that had not been discovered yet.

Unless they were in the same party, it was never possible to barge in the middle, but they could set up camp inside the entrance or bring in other users, aiming for unknown rewards.

Therefore, Aeil carefully looked around with cautious eyes and took advantage of the absence of people to enter through the narrow gap between the rocks.

It would look like they were running into the wall to other users, but in the eyes of Aeil and Alisa, who had amulets, they could see a barrier that looked like a white curtain and a wide-open dungeon entrance.

[You have entered the instance dungeon ‘Conspirator’s Cave’.]

[The given opportunity is only once, and if you fail to capture it, you will not be given a chance to try again.]

*Hwareureuk!*

The amulets held in Aeil and Alisa’s hands burned simultaneously.

Seeing that they couldn’t enter again, the amulets seemed to be a concept like a one-time use ticket.

The sound of torches burning crackled from the front, and there was a narrow cave passage in front of them.

“Yeah, it really was like that?”

“Hahaha!”

The voices of men with thick voices laughing and talking were heard from the passage.

Then, Aeil and Alisa, who had instantly silenced their presence, hid behind the walls on both sides of the entrance.

There were exactly two people coming.

They pulled their respective weapons, a long sword and a staff, close to their bodies and waited with bated breath for them to come out.