At the entrance to t.i.tan Valley.

Goonto suddenly stopped walking. He then looked through his magic bag and casually asked.

"Hey! Kang Hwi Ram! Did you get any loot?"

Loot.

I guess I could call the Spirits of an Elemental loot. I also managed to get a good number of Demon Cave scrolls, including a Gold Scroll.

However, in Goonto's point of view, I didn't get any loot.

"There was no time to do so."

"Keke. I did manage to get some."

"Really? When?"

"That last room with the Peria Mountains map. Did you not see all of those wooden crates in there?"

I remembered. Inside that large secret room were tens of large wooden crates. However, I didn't have the time to pack any of them away, nor even take a look at what was inside.

But Goonto seemed to have grabbed some. He took out three wooden crates out of his magic bag.

"When did you manage to grab it?"

"I had some time while you and the human magician were taking care of the Desert Ants. Why waste my time doing nothing when I couldn't even help?"

It was not just Goonto. Each of the five dwarves who were inside the secret room had taken 3 wooden crates each.

They really are a unique race. It was a dire situation where we could have all died, but they had no sense of anxiety.

But, if you think about it, that was a wise decision. They used the time they had to take what they could.

"But what is inside?"

"We have not checked yet. I hope there are some useful things inside."

The other dwarves were curious as well. They all gathered around Goonto to watch.

Once Goonto used some strength, the sealed lid of the wooden crate easily opened.

Goonto sighed as soon as he looked inside.

"WTF! What is this?"

The Other dwarves were the same way.

"d.a.m.n it. Why did they store all this c.r.a.p?"

I started to smile.

Black, red, blue, yellow, there were all sorts of different colored scrolls. However, they were all the same type of scroll.

[Demon Cave Scroll]

If you think about it, it made sense. The Church of the Sun went around the continent opening demon caves to cause chaos in the world.

For such an organization, Demon Cave scrolls were the most important item.

On the other hand, it was completely useless to the dwarves. They probably had ways to use it if they wanted to do so, but it was not something they cared much for.

He could only be depressed after bringing back three crates of such items.

But it was different for me. Unlike the dwarves, I could put those Demon Cave scrolls to great use.

In addition, the wooden crates were very large. Each crate had approximately 200 Demon Cave scrolls inside.

Since the five of them each brought 3 crates with them, there should be around 3,000 Demon Cave scrolls total.

"Hey, Goonto! Should I buy that off of you?"
"You want to buy these? Where are you going to use it?"
"Don't worry about that. What do you think? I will buy all fifteen crates from you."

Goonto and the four other dwarves started to get excited.

"What will you give me in return? Can you fortify my sword once more?"

'You scammers! How dare you try to get your weapons fortified for these scrolls.'

However, deals were all about haggling.

"If you bring me some Jewels of Luck or Chaos Jewels, I will fortify your weapon before anybody else's."

"Oh, really? Then great. They are all yours."

Goonto took out the rest of the crates and handed them to me.

The other dwarves took out their crates as well.

Thankfully, I had multiple magic bags on me. Each bag was capable of fitting ten crates.

"Then head back to the village first. I will return to the Dwarf Village after taking care of some business."
"Where do you plan to go with those?"
"Do humans not have any problems carrying such dirty items around?"

Of course, there could be issues. I could be arrested as a supporter of the Church of the Sun.

But I didn't need to worry about it that much since my fame was extremely high and even the king had deemed me as a trustworthy person.

Which meant that they had no reason to doubt my character.

"I'll take care of it. Just don't go around yapping about how I have them and go wait for me in the village. Don't do anything stupid if you want your weapons fortified later."

"Ah, I understand."

There really was no better condition for the dwarves than fortifying their weapons.

The dwarves left first.

'Then shall I head out as well? I didn't expect to get such a good item.'

Dwarf village.

'Ah, so hard!'

I put down the fortified solar blade. The dwarf that had been anxiously waiting next to me quickly grabbed the blade.

"Oh, amazing! You really are a great friend."

The dwarves actually had a pretty cute side to them. The way they treated their weapons made them look like children.

'Is it really that exciting?'

Then another dwarf came in. This time, it was a b.a.s.t.a.r.d sword.

"Mine too please. Will this be enough for compensation?"

The dwarf brought 7 jewels of fortification and 30 Jewels of Luck.

This was already the eighth weapon I've fortified like this. I was exhausted after each one and had to rest for a long time.

However, it was much better than before. I could fortify up to three weapons a day now.

However, I could not continue to get delayed like this. This was already my third day in the Dwarf Village.

I also didn't have a reason to agree to all of the dwarves' requests.

"No more."

"Is this not enough compensation? Didn't you fortify Habachu's weapon for the same amount?"

"It is more about who came first. My original plan was to leave after fortifying just eight weapons."

The dwarf's face turned into a frown.

"How can you do that?"

'How? Because I can. It is my decision whether I fortify weapons or not.'

"I am too tired to do anymore. I also have somewhere I need to quickly go. If you really want it, wait a few months. I will fortify exactly 10 more weapons when I get back."

The dwarf's expression brightened once again at that statement.

"How long do I have to wait?"

Even I didn't know the answer to that.

I didn't have enough information about the Peria Mountains. Kang Sung Ho was fervently looking up information, but so far he has only found the term, 'Peria Mountains,' without any more relevant information.

"I won't know until I get there. Two months if I'm fast, a couple years if it takes longer than I expect."

"Where are you going?"

"Peria Mountains."

"……Ah!"

The dwarf nodded his head as if he understood.

"Then please include me in the ten when you get back."

'Why do I need to give you special treatment? You seem to not know this, but everything in life is a battle.'

I was going to use this opportunity to teach that to him while making sure to get a good reward for giving him the lesson.

I already had enough Jewels of Fortification and Jewels of Luck, so I was going to ask for something else.

"I will fortify the weapons of the dwarves who give me the most Chaos Jewels, no matter who it is. The minimum number of Chaos Jewels will be 5."

In other words, it was an auction. If the dwarves really were obsessed with fortifying their weapons, I should be able to gain quite a number of Chaos Jewels.

"d.a.m.n it, you greedy humans."

You'd think dwarves were not greedy after hearing him say such a thing.

"Anyway, I need to head out now. Any later and I will need to wait until tomorrow morning."

I got up and headed to the horse Goonto had prepared for me.

Goonto, who happened to be nearby, noticed me and quickly ran over.

"Kang Hwi Ram, do you happen to know anything about this?"

Goonto took a small jewel out of his bag to show me.

I was used to this jewel. I had 14 of them.

[Spirit of an Elemental]

But what was he asking about? He should have gotten the message about the sync rate the moment he got one of them. Then he would have used Spirit Energy as well.

"You didn't get the message about the sync rate?"

"Sync rate? What is that?"

Dwarves were not a race that were used to joking around. They definitely would not joke around a human like me.

But he had no reason to lie to me, so he probably really had no idea.

"Then you probably don't know about Spirit Energy either."

"I heard about it, but I don't know what it is. Do you?"

To tell him or not to tell him. (PR: That is the question.)

I didn't know what to do.

But after thinking about it for a bit, I thought it would be better to reveal it rather than to hide it from Goonto.

I was able to use Spirit Energy while Goonto was not able to do so. That meant there was only one reason for it. My friendliness with the fairies was high while Goonto's was low.

There may be a different reason for it, but it was a question of what I would lose and what I would gain.

There was nothing I would lose by telling him about it. However, I could earn Goonto and the dwarves' trust if I tell him.

I needed to say the right things though.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

As I stood there silently without speaking, Goonto urged me to speak.

"I'm debating whether I should tell this to you or not. It is something that I may need to keep a secret."

Goonto's eyes got a bit bigger.

"A secret?"

"But since the dwarves are now my friend, I feel a deeper bond with the dwarves than my fellow humans. That is why I will only tell this to you, so don't tell anybody else."

Goonto's eyes started to sparkle.

I was a special existence among humans. At least Goonto and the other dwarves saw me in that light.

Since it was a secret that someone like me was willing to tell him, he probably expected it to be something very important.

"You can use Spirit Energy if you successfully sync with the Spirit of an Elemental. By using Spirit Energy, I am able to raise a single stat of my choice by the amount of Spirit Energy I have. Didn't you see my battle in the Church of the Sun headquarters?"

I was being very specific about Spirits of an Elemental and Spirit Energy. I also made sure to include the fact that you needed a high friendliness level with the fairies to use it.

Goonto silently nodded his head.

"Then I cannot use it because I have 0 friendliness with the fairies."

"It'll change if you study Jewel Alchemy. Jewels are filled with the fairies' powers, so it will naturally increase your friendliness with them."

"Anyways, that is useless for me."

I expected it to be this way. That was why I had no problem explaining to Goonto about Spirit Energy.

"But thank you. I'm sure it was not easy to share such a secret."

"We are friends. Just consider it a gift."

I smiled brightly.

Once I did that, Goonto handed the Spirit of an Elemental in his hand to me.

"Then I will give this to you as a gift as well."

'Oh, really? This is an unexpected gift. It may be a single-use item, but I can put it to good use when the time calls for it.'

"You won't' regret it? This is more precious than you think."

"It is still something I cannot use. Since you can use it, it is only right to gift it to you as a friend."

"Then thank you. I won't reject your gift. Then I am off to Peria Mountain now."

"It will be dangerous. Do you need someone to go with you?"

Goonto, as well as the majority of the dwarves, were much stronger than me. However, they will not be able to defeat the Desert Ants of the Peria Desert.

It was something I needed to do on my own.

"Thanks, but it's okay. Just this horse you lent me is enough."

"Then be careful."

I got on the horse and waved to Goonto before riding toward Peria Desert.

Peria Oasis.

It always felt interesting whenever I came here. Comfort? Safety? I didn't know what it was, but it felt like I was at the most relaxing resting place in the world.

It is probably because the feeling of being the only person here was strong. Thanks to the Desert Ants in Peria Desert, almost n.o.body could get to this spot.

In other words, not only the Peria Oasis, but everything around this area was kind of reserved just for me.

Some Peria souls may be hiding around, but it didn't matter since I couldn't sense them.

My fatigue was completely gone once I took a nap.

'Then shall I get started?'

I opened my bag and took out all of the, 'Spirits of an Elemental,' from my bag.

I didn't know if this would work, but I had to stop by here to get to the Peria Mountains, so I was giving it a go since I was here anyways. There was a chance that it would work.

I dunk the Spirits of an Elemental into the Peria Oasis.

As soon as I did that, something started to happen. There was a large vibration in the oasis and a fog-like substance from inside the Spirit of an Elemental rose up to the sky.

'It really does work!'

I looked toward this fog-like mysterious object with satisfaction. This was probably the real Spirit of an Elemental that found its way out of the jewel.

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Translator : Miraclerifle

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