Chapter 29

Carpe ventured out of the city and headed towards the Luanas beach.

The target, needless to say, was the Merman!

"Lightning Arrow!"

"Kakakakakak!"

Just like the first time he visited the beach, Carpe quickly caught the Merman.

After about 40 minutes.

Ding.

[You have defeated the Merman.]

[You have obtained the Merman's scales. (20/20)]

"Got them faster than I thought."

-Yeah, scales.

"……Right."

Unfortunately, he couldn't obtain the Essence of the Sea while collecting the Merman's scales.

The Centaur had mentioned that the drop rate was low, so he had expected it, but……

"Is the drop rate really that low?"

-Well, it's too much of a random drop to remember the exact rate…… But, even if it's low, it should drop within about 2 hours.

"Phew. That's too long."

When he checked the remaining connection time for the day, he had about 5 hours left.

"Can I recover the artifact within this time?"

-That's not like you to sound so weak. With your luck, you'll get it soon.

"Right, that's true!"

Yesterday and today.

Without a doubt, these were the two luckiest days of his life.

Two hours? That's a joke. I'll get it in 10 minutes!

"To get the Essence of the Sea, do I have to catch the Merman?"

-Not necessarily. Any marine monster can drop it with a low probability, so just catch as many as you can.

"I'm going."

Carpe set out to hunt again.

* * *

One hour later.

Carpe still hadn't obtained the Essence of the Sea.

"Ah, why isn't it dropping!"

-It's more refreshing because it's not dropping.

Countless monsters turned gray and disappeared, his inventory was full of random drops, and he had leveled up once, but there was one thing.

He still hadn't obtained the Essence of the Sea.

-You seemed like a lucky guy…… But you're just human after all.

"Will I not be able to get it even if I use up all my connection time today?"

-Of course not.

He had prepared to grind for a long time, but being tied up by just one item was frustrating.

"I'll try a bit more, and if it doesn't work, I'll check the auction house."

-The chances of finding it there are even lower.

"Well, that's just the way it is."

Thinking about it, how many games had he struggled for days to get a quest item?

After grinding for just about two hours, it was too much for Carpe to complain.

"I need to calm down and think more calmly. The quest isn't going to run away."

-It sometimes does.

"Huh? What do you mean……"

Just as Carpe was about to ask, a meowing sound came from beside him.

"Meow!"

Mokhyang approached him, acting cute.

"Meow meow!"

"Right, only you think of me…… Wait? Why are your cheeks puffed up like that?"

"Meow!"

Mokhyang's cheeks were puffed up like a squirrel storing food for winter.

When Carpe pressed her puffed cheeks, a blue bead-like object popped out of her mouth with a "meow" sound.

Ding.

[Essence of the Sea]

[Grade: Rare]

[Category: Magic Material]

[A rare magic material found with a low probability on the beach. It contains a faint aura of mana.]

"Wow!"

Carpe picked up the bead and exclaimed in amazement.

[Collection Instinct Lv. 1 – 6-star]

-Grants a 3x3 inventory to the pet.

-Can probabilistically collect items within a 20m radius of the summoner.

-The pet decides which items to prioritize.

-The higher the pet's grade and intelligence, the more valuable items it will prioritize.

*Due to the racial characteristic of the pet with this skill, the highest priority collection target is fixed as 'acorns'.

*The inventory size and collection range increase as the skill level increases.

*Acquisition Limit: Beast-type pet

This was the moment Mokhyang's skill 'Collection Instinct' first activated.

"Wow. This is unbelievable."

-When the owner can't do it, the pet takes care of it. Well done. Mokhyang has really done something.

"Meow!"

"Calling you 'meow meow' makes you angry. But, things turned out this way."

Just when he was feeling frustrated, he obtained the essence in an unexpected way.

The thrill of getting the item directly from a monster!

Thinking about buying a bunch of acorns for Mokhyang when he returned to the city, he petted her.

-'Collection Instinct' is the number one skill that players with beast-type pets want.

Everyone likes easy drops.

But 'Collection Instinct' is a skill that automatically picks up items, making it a blatantly easy drop skill, which is why it became incredibly popular.

-Thanks to this, when a skill card appears on the auction house, it gets snapped up immediately.

"Thank you, my lucky charm. From now on, I'll call you Godhyang."

With that, his business at the beach was done.

Carpe sold all the random drops at the shop in the city and quickly headed back to the cottage.

Creak.

As he entered Geas's cottage, the same fresh lemon scent hit his nose.

Swallowing the saliva that automatically gathered, Carpe spoke to Geas.

"Here, I've brought everything you asked for."

"Oh, excellent. Indeed, you are a worthy successor. It must not have been easy."

"I was lucky."

It wasn't just a polite response; he had really been incredibly lucky.

But Geas seemed to take it as a humble response and nodded with a satisfied smile.

"Then I will immediately start crafting the artifact. It will take about 30 minutes."

"Huh? 30 minutes?"

"The work requires magical refinement, so there's no choice."

Carpe was slightly taken aback.

'In most other games, if you bring the materials, they make it right away. This is oddly realistic.'

-There are sometimes quests like that. In this case, an additional quest will likely appear to keep you busy for those 30 minutes.

As if hearing the Centaur's words, Geas handed him a new quest.

"While I craft the artifact, please check if there are any abnormalities around the pit. It's not far from here."

Ding.

[The Mage King's Relic (2)-2]

[Head to Luana's Pit and check for any suspicious points.]

[Check Luana's Pit (0/1)]

[Defeat Undead Monsters (0/5)]

[Success: Obtain a Fragment of the Purification Orb]

[Failure: Increase in linked quest difficulty]

"Understood."

[You have accepted the quest.]

Carpe accepted the quest without hesitation and headed out of the cottage.

As soon as he stepped outside, a timer window [30:00] appeared before his eyes.

"Oh, I didn't even ask for the location."

Carpe pushed the door to go back into the cottage.

However.

"Huh? Why won't it open?"

The door, which had opened smoothly just a moment ago, wouldn't budge. It felt like it was strongly rejecting his approach, not just being locked.

[Geas is focusing. You cannot enter.]

"Oh, great."

-Check the mini-map. In such cases, the mini-map often shows the location.

"Right, I should have thought of that."

When he opened the mini-map, sure enough, coordinates were marked as the Centaur had said.

It wasn't far, so he could reach it in about 10 minutes even if he walked slowly. Carpe confirmed the coordinates and set off immediately.

"Fire Arrow!"

Crack!

Carpe's magic arrow shattered the skeleton's head.

Just like with the Merman, it was a one-shot kill!

"Undead are easy too."

-This is just the field. The dungeon will likely be different.

It's a dungeon related to the Mythical Mainstream, so the difficulty will undoubtedly skyrocket.

-You can handle it, but don't get complacent.

"I'll keep that in mind."

After about 10 minutes, he arrived at the target location.

It was like the center of a cemetery, with a deep and ominous pit.

"It looks like a supermassive sinkhole. I can't see the bottom."

The term "bottomless pit" fit perfectly.

Just as Carpe was circling the pit and killing the fifth skeleton,

Ding.

[You have completed the investigation. The quest is complete.]

"Huh, that's it? It was incredibly easy."

Just to be sure, he checked the quest window, but it was indeed complete. Carpe shrugged slightly.

"It's just a time-filler."

If he returned to the cottage now, it would take about 30 minutes.

On the way back to the cottage, he hunted a few more skeletons and leveled up again.

Ding.

[Level Up! You have been granted bonus points.]

"This makes me level 14! If I level up one more time, I can unlock a skill pack. Should I level up one more time and learn another skill before entering the dungeon?"

Should he invest some of the stat points he had saved so far?

"How do you think…… What? Why do you look so serious?"

-About the quest you just did.

"Just now? Oh, the time-filler?"

-It felt very contrived. It seemed like a meaningless task.

"Hmm?"

Carpe thought about the Centaur's words and reconsidered the quest.

Indeed, it didn't feel like an important quest.

"Maybe it's just a process of investigating and cleaning up before entering the dungeon. It's not entirely meaningless."

-You could see it that way, but…… Ugh, it still bugs me.

But the quest was already complete, and there was no other route except to return to the cottage.

"Anyway, I need to go back…… Wait, a person?"

On the way back, he spotted a woman.

She had a slightly clumsy and innocent look, a young woman who seemed naive.

She was wearing a tight white dress that showed her figure and a pure white hat with a cross.

And the long golden staff in her hand suggested a particular profession.

"A Priest?"

As if she had heard Carpe mutter, the female Priest spotted him and approached with a smile.

"Um, hello?"

"Ah, yes. Hello."

"I'm hunting Undead monsters. Have you seen any around here?"

"Ah, there are quite a few inside."

Carpe pointed in the direction he had come from, and the female player left with a thank you.

Carpe watched her leave, tilting his head in confusion.

-You sly dog. Pretending not to notice, but you're just a guy. Well, she was beautiful, even to me.

"No, that's not it. It felt off."

-Off? What do you mean off?

"I don't know……"

-Tsk tsk. No need to make excuses, man. It's normal for a guy to react that way. I understand.

"No, really."

-Well, you could at least put some saliva on your lips when you say that. Seriously, you swallowed your saliva a few times while talking to her……. Man, I was embarrassed for you.

"……Saliva?"

At that moment, Carpe realized the source of the discomfort and turned his head sharply. But the Priest was already gone.

"Damn it!"

Carpe started running at full speed.

Not towards the woman, but towards the cottage.

-What, what's going on? Why are you suddenly like this?

"Smell."

-What?

"The source of the discomfort was the smell."

It was a bit of a sad story, but Carpe had been a solo player for most of his life. His life was mostly filled with games.

So he tended to get a bit nervous when talking to women, especially beautiful ones.

But he wasn't so clueless that he would swallow his saliva so obviously in front of a woman!

"Lemon scent."

Her body emitted a scent that made him involuntarily swallow his saliva.

And there was one more thing.

Carpe hadn't immediately noticed the lemon scent because it was mixed with another scent.

"Blood scent! Damn it!"

Carpe arrived at the cottage in an instant and pushed open the door.

"Ugh."

There, in a pool of blood, Geas was struggling.

Seeing this, the Centaur sighed.

-Now I understand.

Why he had to do that meaningless time-filler quest.

The answer was simple.

He really had to fill the time.

To progress the game's scenario!

Ding.

[Scenario Event – Geas's Death has progressed.]

[The attacks of those who do not welcome Arclam's existence have begun.]

The 10-star player who became stronger through luck.