Chapter 157: Chapter 157

“It’s been so long since I’ve been beaten like this.”

The old man yearned for his youth.

If he were a bit younger, instead of groaning pathetically, he would have pulverized the young man in front of him.

“Ha… You really hit like a brute.”

“I wouldn’t get it if I didn’t, would I?”

“That’s true, but… Oh my… My whole body aches…”

“Let me heal you.”

[Using Advanced Healing.]

Jeong-hoon used Advanced Healing on the old man to treat him.

The old man’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What? You can use healing?”

“Yes.”

“… Don’t tell me you were healing yourself every time I hit you?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Jeong-hoon grinned.

When using healing on others, a light of divine power bursts forth, but when used on oneself, the divine power circulates within the body and is not expressed externally.

So unless he showed it like this, there was no way for the old man to know he was using healing.

“You cheater! You damn brat!”

It was such an unfair fight.

How could he win if the opponent healed every time he was hit?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Jeong-hoon looked at him with an incredulous expression.

“You’re using a sword, but it’s okay for you to restrict me from using one?”

“I’m a warrior.”

“I’m also a warrior, as well as a martial artist.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! You’re not a warrior, you’re a martial artist!”

“Excuse me? What about the swordsmanship I displayed?”

“… This kid?”

Impudent brat.

How dare he talk back to an elder like that!

“Anyway, a win is a win.”

“A win with cheating isn’t a win!”

“Are you going to keep being petty? Or do you want to try again? Let’s fight fair and square, barehanded.”

The Underworld King’s Fist Technique was still at the 5th Form.

If he continued to unleash the 6th, 7th, and subsequent forms, victory would belong to Jeong-hoon.

The old man, sensing that Jeong-hoon’s fist technique was extraordinary, shook his head.

“Forget it. It’s ridiculous for me to go all out against a child.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Ahem, anyway, you used tricks in the last test, so this fight is a draw.”

“A draw?”

“Yes. I’ll give you the Rune, but I definitely didn’t lose. Understand?”

In short, he wanted to preserve his pride.

Jeong-hoon readily nodded.

“Yes. If you hand over the Rune, let’s call it a draw.”

What he needed was the rune.

Not pride.

“Good!”

Satisfied with Jeong-hoon’s answer, an exclamation mark blinked above the old man’s head.

[Quest Completed.]

Completing the quest, he pulled out a necklace from his pocket.

‘Come to think of it, I didn’t use the power of the rune at all.’

The old man hadn’t used the necklace even though he had it.

Despite his pride, he had intended to hand over the rune from the beginning.

That’s probably why he surrendered so easily, even though he could have struggled a bit more.

“Is that it?”

“Yes. It was my most treasured possession.”

The old man held out the necklace to Jeong-hoon.

An rune that was originally meant for James Marcus.

This time, it was Jeong-hoon who would take it.

===

[Immortal Bond: Oath of Combat]

– Type: Rune

– Grade: Legendary

– Special Ability (1): Configurable

– Special Ability (2): Configurable

– Remaining Enhancements: 10

===

Immortal Bond: Oath of Combat.

An rune that boasted outstanding performance, to the point that James Marcus always wore it.

The advantage of this rune was that the special abilities it possessed could be configured directly, and the fact that the options could be reset at any time made it a cheat-like rune.

“I’ll put it to good use. Thank you.”

“Go ahead. Oh, but how are you going to enhance it?”

The old man grinned.

Legendary grade runes had 10 enhancement attempts.

To enhance an rune, it had to be used as a material for the enhancement process, and for Legendary grade, using another Legendary grade rune as material resulted in a high success rate.

If a lower grade rune was used, 10 Unique grade runes would be needed for a single attempt to reach a 50% success rate.

‘If it fails, it’s all over.’

Failure would not only consume the material rune but also deduct one enhancement attempt.

Considering the increase in stats upon success, not a single attempt could be wasted.

“Why? Are you going to give me some materials?”

“Of course! But only if you pass the test I give you. I’ll give you one Unique grade rune.”

Just one Unique grade rune.

He didn’t want to invest time just to get one.

“It’s okay.”

“Huh…? Are you saying you’re going to give up on a Unique grade rune?”

The old man was momentarily taken aback when Jeong-hoon refused, even though he was pondering what kind of test to give him to mess with him.

“Yes. There are other ways to enhance it, even without the rune.”

“Other ways to enhance? Do such things exist?”

“Yes.”

There were ways to enhance runes.

It’s just that the cost was too high.

“Well, this is… I was hoping to make you work a little harder.”

The old man’s face was filled with disappointment.

An exclamation mark flickered above the old man’s head once more.

‘Hmm? But he already received his reward?’

Was there another reward?

[Additional reward granted.]

[You have acquired an Ancient Rune (Legendary).]

An Ancient Rune?

And it’s even Legendary grade.

===

[Ancient Rune]

– Type: Rune

– Grade: Legendary

– Special Ability (1): X

– Special Ability (2): X

A Rune that has lost its abilities. It seems it can be used as a material.

===

Giving away an rune material for free?

Jeong-hoon was dumbfounded by the sudden additional reward.

The old man chuckled.

“Since it seems you won’t be coming back, I’ll give this to you as a gift.”

“…You had a Legendary, so why did you offer a Unique?”

“Tsk tsk, you only know one thing and not the other. Wouldn’t it feel better to be offered a Unique and then receive a Legendary instead?”

Jeong-hoon let out a hollow laugh at the old man’s sophistry disguised as sound logic.

Still, it felt good to receive it for free.

He could save some gold.

Jeong-hoon asked, just in case.

“Do you happen to have one more?”

“What?”

“Well, I thought it would feel even better to receive two after being given one.”

“…That’s also true. But the problem is, I don’t have any more.”

“I see. I’ll be on my way then.”

“Heartless brat. Hurry up and go.”

The old man snapped his fingers.

A portal appeared in front of Jeong-hoon.

It was a portal leading out of the pottery.

“I’ll put it to good use. Thank you.”

Jeong-hoon bowed politely and stepped through the portal.

Left alone, the old man burst into hearty laughter, recalling Jeong-hoon’s bold attitude.

“Hahaha, what an interesting fellow.”

It had been so long since he had laughed like this.

Obsessed with the sword, he had neglected his family, and only after losing them in the war did he realize how futile it all was.

Left alone, he was on the verge of madness, and only by turning his back on the world and entering this rocky mountain, called the Heart of the Warrior, alone, and abandoning everything, was he able to barely maintain his sanity.

But there was one thing he couldn’t let go of.

It was the ‘Immortal Bond: Oath of Combat’.

A precious necklace passed down to him by his father, who was the Knight King, when he was young.

That necklace was the work of Horus, who was called the ‘Immortal’.

Even though he had abandoned his name, his family, his honor, and everything else, he couldn’t abandon the necklace.

So, he came up with a clever plan.

If he couldn’t discard it, couldn’t he just pass it on to someone worthy?

With that thought, he connected his soul to the pottery and endured for over 300 years.

‘It was worth the wait.’

He had completed his task by handing over the rune.

Now it was time to go back.

The old man quietly closed his eyes.

And soon after, his body vanished without a trace.

* * *

Idenharc.

Finding Jordan wasn’t difficult.

He was a celebrity in Idenharc, known as the Interpreter who discovered the Evolution Stone.

“Are you Jordan?”

When James Marcus spoke to Jordan, the surrounding users were shocked.

“Gasp?!”

“It’s James Marcus?”

“What’s he doing here?”

The news that the world-famous top star had appeared in Idenharc spread like wildfire through Welcomm.

“Hmm? Why have I come here?”

He adjusted his old monocle and tilted his head.

“I’d like you to interpret this.”

James Marcus presented the hint.

Although he had come on Raoul’s recommendation, he couldn’t hide his skepticism.

A mere level 35 Interpreter?

It was natural since Idenharc was a beginner zone, but he couldn’t help but doubt whether such a low-level NPC could interpret the hint.

“Ah, the Heart of the Warrior? I think I know where this is.”

“You do?!”

James Marcus’s eyes widened.

“Yes. No one uses that expression anymore, so it’s understandable if you don’t know.”

Jordan muttered softly and nodded.

James Marcus asked in an urgent voice,

“Where is that place?!”

“Do you happen to know the City of Warriors? You should know it at your level.”

“I do.”

Of course, he did.

James Marcus had headed to the City of Warriors when he was level 201.

“Then go find the rocky mountain there. They say the rock resembles a heart, so it was called the Heart of the Warrior.”

Jordan took out some well-preserved documents and began searching diligently for something.

Soon, he found a document and showed it to James Marcus.

[What is the Heart of the Warrior?]

It was a document containing information about the rocky mountain in the City of Warriors.

The document was written in unrecognizable hieroglyphs, but thanks to New World’s system, it was automatically translated into James Marcus’s native language, allowing him to read it.

“…So it was the rocky mountain.”

According to the document, the hint pointed to the rocky mountain in the City of Warriors.

“I don’t know why you’re looking for it, but is this answer sufficient?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

James Marcus hurriedly headed towards the City of Warriors.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jeong-hoon left the rocky mountain and visited the Exchange.

It was a place accessible only after entering a village for those above level 201, a provision made by New World.

‘Here, I can buy Achievement Points with gold.’

This place wasn’t for converting gold into cash, but rather into something called ‘VIP Coins’.

1 VIP Coin per 1 gold.

Considering the selling price of items, it wasn’t a cheap exchange rate.

Nevertheless, there were more users utilizing the Exchange than one might expect.

This was because rune enhancement was possible with VIP Coins, even without doing quests.

[Yeah~ I’m not doing rune enhancement quests.]

– I’ll just solve it with money. I’ll do all 10 enhancements with money, lol~

└ You got that much money? hahaha

└ Wow hahaha You’re going to spend over 100 million won on something you could do with a bit of time investment?

└ Are you crazy? hahahahaha 1 or 2 enhancements with coins is understandable, but 10 times is too much of a sucker move….

Rune enhancement was the process of maxing out the rune one intended to use.

While some progressed enhancements through quests, others existed who poured in an exorbitant amount of cash to speed up the process.

However, the amount needed to fully enhance an Rune was about 100 million won for Rare grade.

For Epic, it was 300 million, and for Unique, around 1 billion won was needed to aim for full enhancement.

Rare Runes were mostly used as materials, so most people used Epic or Unique to raise their specs, requiring 300 million to 1 billion won.

Thus, Rune enhancement was so expensive that most people thought it was better to receive an Rune of the same grade through quests and enhance it that way.

‘But I can’t do that with a Legendary.’

Apart from the old man, there were no NPCs who gave out Legendary Runes as materials.

So he had to use coins to fully enhance it.

“I’m glad I received 1 million gold.”

The 1 million gold he won from the bet with Jae-hyuk.

Jeong-hoon exchanged 450,000 gold for 450,000 VIP Coins.

Then he opened the Coin Shop next to the Exchange.

The Coin Shop had several categories, but Jeong-hoon skipped them all and opened the Runes section.

[Runes]

– Ancient Rune (Rare): 1,000 VIP Coins

– Ancient Rune (Epic): 3,000 VIP Coins

– Ancient Rune (Unique): 10,000 VIP Coins

– Ancient Rune (Legendary): 50,000 VIP Coins

The prices were all exorbitant.

Especially the Legendary Rune, which cost 50,000 coins each.

Since he needed to enhance it 10 times, it meant he had to invest a whopping 500 million won.

Of course, thanks to receiving one from the old man, he could save 50 million won.

‘Considering the abilities of a Legendary Rune, it’s not that expensive.’

Jeong-hoon purchased 9 of the Runes.

———-