Chapter 122: Chapter 122

An exit had been created next to the entrance he had come in through.

Jeong-Hoon exited the gate through that exit.

As he did, the gate lost all its power and vanished.

“Th-the gate disappeared…?”

“That’s real, right?”

The wall was filled with people staring at the scene in a daze.

A moment of silence enveloped them.

“It really disappeared! The Waves are completely over!”

Someone’s shout broke the silence, and a loud cheer erupted.

“Woooooah!”

“Woooooah! He’s a hero! A hero!”

The cheers were incomparable to those of the Irun Tribe.

Even from this distance, it felt like his skull was vibrating.

They waved their hands towards Jeong-Hoon and jumped up and down.

Overwhelmed by the intense cheering, Jeong-Hoon raised his hand in response.

“Woooooah!”

The cheers grew even louder.

[That’s right. That’s how cheers should be.]

‘You’re right.’

Mukho and Anima seemed satisfied with their cheers.

“Hoon! Are you alright?!”

Ragan, who had been on the wall, rushed towards Jeong-Hoon.

Jeong-Hoon smiled faintly and nodded.

“Yes. Fortunately, they weren’t too dangerous.”

“Really…? Judging by the size of the gate, it seemed like some pretty powerful monsters would have come out.”

As Ragan said, the monsters this time were quite strong.

If Jeong-Hoon hadn’t tried to close the Random Gate, the next Wave would have started, and Ilion’s Dark Golems would have poured out.

If that had happened, the royal capital would have undoubtedly suffered significant damage.

“No. I was able to handle them all by myself just fine.”

“Is that so? Anyway, I’m so glad you returned safely.”

“Thank you.”

Treated as a hero by everyone, Jeong-Hoon returned to the palace.

“Ooh! Our hero! Cassandra’s words were 100% accurate once again!”

Kaiserk V reacted the same way.

An exclamation mark was blinking above his head.

[Quest completed.]

Quest complete.

He had perfectly succeeded in the route he entered by achieving an 80% contribution rate.

Jeong-Hoon bowed and humbly replied.

“I was lucky.”

“Lucky…? You don’t need to be so modest.”

Kaiserk V smiled kindly.

If it were something that could be achieved by luck, the gate that had plagued them since their ancestors would have disappeared long ago.

The disappearance of that gate was possible because of the foreigner who had achieved a contribution rate of nearly 90%, because of Jeong-Hoon.

No one would be able to complain about bestowing the treasure of Märchen.

‘…Amazing. I can’t believe he actually succeeded.’

Even Luke had to admit it.

The Random Gate had vanished.

The Waves that had endlessly plagued the kingdom would no longer occur.

Although the royal capital’s military power had been sufficient to defend against them, the accumulated damage was severe beyond words.

The knight he had just spoken to had returned as a cold corpse, and the bright and cheerful mage was suffering from panic disorder due to the trauma of the Waves. There had been many military casualties.

Therefore, Luke also wanted to eliminate those tiresome Waves.

‘The treasure that protects Märchen.’

That’s why he had been even more obsessed with that treasure.

He had wanted it to bring peace to Märchen.

But now that the Waves had truly disappeared.

He thought that the true treasure that protected Märchen might not be the accessory, but this foreigner.

Luke approached Kaiserk V and carefully asked,

“Your Majesty, I’ll go and bring the Guardian of Märchen.”

“Ah, no need. I’ve already taken care of it.”

Kaiserk V had prepared the Guardian of Märchen in advance, in case anyone objected.

The Guardian appeared in Kaiserk V’s hand.

It was an earring shaped like a golden lion roaring in the center, surrounded by wings.

“Ooh… The Guardian of Märchen.”

“To think I’d see it in someone else’s hands…”

“Someone else? It’s for the hero of Märchen.”

Jeong-Hoon’s heart pounded.

‘…That’s the Guardian of Märchen.’

He didn’t know how great an item it was. No one had ever obtained it in his past life.

And now, that item was about to be his.

“Come forward.”

Kaiserk V called Jeong-Hoon.

“Yes.”

Jeong-Hoon stepped forward at his call.

And kneeling on one knee, he carefully received the Guardian of Märchen from the king.

[You have acquired the Guardian of Märchen.]

[You have acquired a Guardian accessory for the first time! 50,000 achievement points have been awarded.]

Success.

The Guardian of Märchen.

===

[Guardian of Märchen]

– Type: Earring

– Grade: Epic

– Special Ability (1): When the earring’s magic power is drawn out, designate one of your Attack Skills to increase its activation probability by 4% for 1 hour. (Cooldown: 12 hours)

– Special Ability (2): When the earring’s magic power is drawn out, increase the wearer’s attack power by 4%. (Cooldown: 12 hours)

– (When the accessory set is collected, the grade increases, and hidden abilities are unlocked.)

===

‘Huh… So it gets stronger when collected as a set.’

‘Attack Skills’ referred to skills that activated additionally when an attack was made.

An additional 4% increase on top of the existing activation probability.

Moreover, the earring would exhibit even greater power when collected as a set.

The grade would also increase.

The rewards didn’t end there.

[You have acquired the [Title] Hero of Märchen.]

He had protected Märchen and even received a title.

Additionally, a rainbow-colored question mark blinked above Kaiserk V’s head.

‘So this is where I can evolve it to Stage 2.’ Jeong-Hoon thought

[Secret Quest: Hero of the Beginner Region (Stage 2)]

– Restriction: Users who have acquired both [Title] Hero of the Beginner Region (Stage 1) and [Title] Hero of Märchen.

– Reward: [Title] Hero of the Beginner Region (Stage 2)

– Description: Upgrade the [Title] Hero of the Beginner Region (Stage 1) to [Title] Hero of the Beginner Region (Stage 2).

The title that had concluded at Stage 1.

Since the beginner region ended with Märchen, acquiring the [Hero of Märchen] title was the evolution condition.

Jeong-Hoon immediately evolved the title.

[You have acquired the [Title] Hero of the Beginner Region (Stage 2) for the first time. 30,000 achievement points have been awarded.]

Success.

With this, the title had evolved once more.

[Hero of the Beginner Region (Stage 2)]

– Type: Evolution Title

– Grade: Epic

– All attack power increased by 3%.

– All skill damage increased by 3.5%.

– Experience gained increased by 2%.

– [Passive: Hero’s Mindset] always active

The attack power, skill damage, and experience gain increases had slightly improved, and a new passive skill had been added.

[Hero’s Mindset]

– Type: Passive

– Permanently increases all stats by 2%. (Detailed stats not displayed)

‘Oh… This is good.’

An additional 2% increase to all stats would become even more valuable as time went on.

* * *

Earth Korea Management Team.

They were staring at the monitor, speechless.

He had quelled the mana storm.

Then he entered the Theme Dungeon alone, which seemed impossible to clear.

They watched, wondering what amazing play he would show this time.

And as Oh Jin-Soo expected, the user cleared the Theme Dungeon alone.

“Wow… This time he overwhelmed them with his sword?”

“He broke through Super Armor like that?”

“His movements are so beautiful…”

The staff were instantly captivated by the user’s swordsmanship.

It was such a perfect and beautiful sword.

He cleared the boss, Ilion, in one fell swoop, not with martial arts or a bow, but with just a sword.

“What the hell does this guy do…?”

They had seen him handle a sword before, but never with such perfection.

Why hadn’t he used such swordsmanship until now?

The problem was not the swordsmanship but the reward.

The user returned to the Irun Tribe and received a Rune from them.

That was the Rune of Extinction!

“Rune of Extinction…?”

“No… What kind of Rune is that?”

“Team Leader, do you know anything about it?”

The staff looked at Oh Jin-Soo.

Oh Jin-Soo nodded.

“Yes… That’s not an ordinary Rune…”

He vaguely remembered hearing about Runes when he first joined the company.

‘Did you know? You can obtain Runes after level 201.’

‘What? What are Runes?’

‘They’re items that enhance equipment when combined with them. You could call them auxiliary items.’

‘Ah.’

‘Runes have different grades, and their abilities differ depending on the alphabet attached to them.’

Rune-A increased attack power.

Rune-B increased defense.

Rune-C increased damage.

New World had classified specific stats with alphabets in this way.

And Runes were graded by color: red for Unique, purple for Epic, blue for Rare, and black for Normal.

‘Ah, I see. So Unique is the best.’

‘Yes. And especially Runes with names… They haven’t appeared yet, but you can consider them a jackpot.’

A Rune with a vivid red color.

It wasn’t just marked with an alphabet; it was a Rune with a proper name.

‘A jackpot…’

Oh Jin-Soo gulped nervously.

At the same time.

Jang Dae-Hwi was on Youtube, reading the comments on his latest video.

– I heard this is the enhancement hotspot?

– Seriously, I’ve had all my enhancements succeed here lol

– I can’t go to other enhancers anymore… I have to go to JH from now on

-JH is his initials, right?

-Seems like it?

Most of the comments were positive, with users satisfied with their enhancement results.

-This is a scam lol

– This is ridiculous! I just wasted my money!

– I should have gone to another enhancer. I trusted him, and he broke half of my items?

– What kind of honey is this? It’s poison. A very potent one at that.

– Even the poison in a pufferfish wouldn’t be this toxic.

And there were also some negative comments, accounting for a little less than 1%.

Jang Dae-Hwi assumed those were intentionally left by other enhancers.

But if he deleted them, they would surely come back and cause a fuss, asking why he deleted them.

‘Let’s just leave them.’

He decided to leave the comments as they were.

More importantly, had Ha-Jin run out of resources?

“Why isn’t he uploading more videos?”

Quite some time had passed since he uploaded the enhancement video, but there were no further broadcasts.

– No more honey?

– It would be weird if it came out every time, but it’s a bit disappointing.

Because of that, there were more and more comments asking why he wasn’t uploading any more videos.

Jang Dae-Hwi was frustrated.

Even if it wasn’t a honey tip, there was so much content he could create just by focusing on enhancements.

Ha-Jin himself wasn’t contacting him, and even when he tried to reach out, he couldn’t get through.

Where was he and what was he doing…?

* * *

Training ground in Märchen Royal Capital

Ha-Jin was diligently rolling around on the training ground.

He had been working so hard that even the shabby armor he was wearing was covered in dust.

“Alright, stop.”

As Caryan shouted for him to stop, Ha-Jin abruptly stopped rolling and got up in a hurry.

[HP recovery is significantly slowed.]

The worn-out armor he was currently wearing.

Identical to the one Caryan was wearing, it was made of a special material that slowed down natural recovery speed.

With his recovery speed slowed, even catching his breath wasn’t easy.

“Huff! Huff!”

“Tired? Feeling like you’re dying? Just go back. It’s comfortable back there, you know?”

Caryan said with an indifferent expression.

‘I can’t go back like this! I need to learn this!’

The day Ha-Jin brought the Dark Lord’s Memoir.

Caryan had tried to coldly dismiss him.

However, seeing his desperate attitude, kneeling on the ground, he decided to give him a chance.

‘Really? Then try to endure my training.’

That’s how the training began.

But not long after it started, Ha-Jin was pushed to his limits several times.

It was just a game, but why was it so exhausting and tiring?

He desperately wanted to use the potions in his inventory.

But if he used a potion, the training would stop immediately.

“Huff! Huff! I-I can do it…!”

He couldn’t give up.

This was something Jeong-Hoon had given him, after all.

He had readily handed over an item of immeasurable value.

If he gave up here, he’d be too ashamed to face Jeong-Hoon in the future.

‘I’d rather die than that.’

Ha-Jin’s dying eyes regained their spark.

“Oh?”

Caryan let out a small exclamation of admiration.

The foreigner in front of him was already at his limit.

His eyes were glazed over, and it seemed like he would collapse if he were nudged even slightly.

But suddenly, his eyes came alive.

‘His willpower is exceptional.’

His body had long since reached its limit.

Yet, he could endure because his mind was barely holding onto his body.

Caryan raised his wooden sword and swung it down towards Ha-Jin’s head.

Ha-Jin raised his wooden sword and activated a Guard skill.

But the Guard was mercilessly broken through, and Caryan’s wooden sword struck Ha-Jin’s head.

“Cough!”

Ha-Jin collapsed on the spot with a scream and fainted.

“You, you pass the first stage. Come find me again when you wake up.”

With those words, Caryan left the training ground.

Jeong-Hoon, who had been watching from a distance, smiled faintly.

‘Hang in there.’

Jeong-Hoon turned his back and left.

[Huh? Aren’t you going to heal him? Are you just going to leave him like that?]

Normally, Jeong-Hoon would have used Healing right away, but he quietly left the training ground.

“Yeah, I’m not.”

The path of the Dark Lord had just begun.

‘Obtaining the Hidden: Dark Lord is entirely up to Ha-Jin’s capabilities.’

——–