Chapter 170: The Summoner of the Central Continent (3)


    At Kaizar’s words, Ian looked at the elder with a renewed gaze.


    ‘If they had survived after fighting Kaizar, does that mean that they are at least the same level?’


    Either way, it was clear that they were a fearsome person, and Ian checked the cooldown times of his skills so they could start fighting immediately.


    However, different from Ian who was careful, Kaizar approached the elder with long strides and spoke to him.


    “Long time, no see, old man.”


    And the elder, who slightly nced at Kaizar, frowned as he opened his mouth.


    ? You scoundrel, speak properly. Am I alive right now? I’m dead. I wouldn’t be a ghost if I didn’t die by your hands ten years ago.


    While looking at him grumble, Kaizar smirked.


    “Ah, is that how it works?”


    While the two spoke, Ian approached the two until he was right in front of them, and the gaze of the elder turned towards Ian.


    ? Who is this child? Did you take in a disciple? Ah, that probably isn’t it. That is, since you wouldn’t have taken in a Summoner as a disciple.


    Kaizar, who burst outughing, replied shortly.


    “He’s the Lord guy that I serve.”


    Ian protested with a quiet voice.


    “Could you just call me Lord instead?”


    “Don’t want to. You’re too weak to do that.”


    “…”


    Kaizar pointed to the elder as he opened his mouth again.


    “Once you be as strong as that senile old man, I’ll consider it.”


    “Ahem…”


    Ian’s gaze turned towards the elder, and he met the two eyes of the elder, who was also naturally looking at him.


    Ian opened his mouth towards the elder.


    “What’s your name, mister?”


    ? Who you calling mister? I am the Guardian of the Smus Tribe, Eclipse. Speaking of which, for you to be the Lord with Kaizar as a retainer. To think such thing was possible. Even if I don’t know how you talked that ignorant guy into it, you’re quite skilled.


    “…”


    Eclipse shot out words without rest like rapid-fire.


    The words ‘you just need to pay tribute one Legendary-rank item’ were on the tip of his tongue, but he barely swallowed them back before opening his mouth.


    “It just happened… But, then are you also a Summoner, mister?”


    Eclipse suddenly burst out as he replied.


    ? I’m telling you, it’s not mister! Call me Eclipse! It is my honorable name.


    Ian sighed as he spoke.


    “Ah, understood, Eclipse. Just answer me.”


    ? That’s right, I’m a Summoner. However, I’m also a valiant Warrior as well.


    At Eclipse’s words, Ian wore a puzzled expression.


    ‘What the hell? Is he saying that dual-ssing is possible?’


    The moment that Ian, who wore an interested expression, was about to ask something, Kaizar opened his mouth first.


    “Eclipse, what do you think?”


    ? About what?


    “I’m asking if it is our Lord guy, do you think that he has the right to face the Test of Smus.”


    It was obvious, but Ian, who didn’t understand what he was talking about, stared back and forth at the two people with a dumbfounded expression, and shortly after, Eclipse’s mouth slowly opened.


    ? Hmm, certainly…


    The words of Eclipse, who had thoroughly looked up and down at Ian, continued.


    ? He’ll certainly be better than an ignorant guy like you. He’s not satisfying, but it’s worth giving him a chance if his standards are like this.


    Kaizar was grinning, and with an expression showing that he didn’t know the reason, Ian asked Paulean, who stood next to him.


    “Paulean, do you understand what they’re talking about?”


    However, there was no way that Paulean would know.


    “No, I have no idea.”


    However, just then, a quest notification window suddenly popped up in front of Ian’s eyes.


    Ring-.


    ? Test of the Smus Tribe (Hidden, connected quest)


    Many neutral tribes existed in the ancient central continent.


    Even amongst them, the Smus, a tribe that showed incredible power that was in the top, were exterminated after fighting against the giant, god-like people, who were infected with the Curse of the Immortal, and just their leader remained through the underground altar.


    Eclipse, the Guardian of the Smus Tribe, has discovered the potential to regain the glory of Smus and the glory of Summoners within you.


    He is nning on testing you.


    If you pass all of his tests, you can obtain the power of the Smus Tribe, which had been buried in the sand of the central continent.


    Quest Difficulty Level: SS


    Quest Condition


    A Summoner User that has obtained over a fixed amount of Specialty Points in the central continent.


    Time Limit: None.


    Reward: A Skill Book Containing the Vision of Smus (Random)


    The Spirit King’s Judgment Item (Random Weapon)


    Ian thoroughly read through the quest window.


    However, truthfully, even just from the part on the very first line that read that it was a hidden, connected quest, Ian had already made up his mind.


    ‘Just from reading that, I have no idea what the reward even is, But surely it must be something incredibly good, right?’


    Eclipse slowly opened his mouth towards Ian.


    ? Summoner from the eastern continent, will you ept the Test of Smus?


    His voice and way of speaking were heavier than any other time before, to the point it was hard to adjust to.


    Ian immediately nodded his head as he replied.


    “Hmm, I’ll give it a try, I guess.”


    * * *


    “Goddammit, what exactly am I supposed to do in order to beat that monster dude?”


    Hoonie, who talked big to Kaizar and stormed out of the Pyro Domain, was running through nearby dungeons as he diligently hunted.


    ‘However, it’s going to be difficult to go up even 1 level like this… The EXP that I got while participating in the siege warfare with Ian was truly like honey.’


    Just yesterday.


    Hoonie had seeded in collecting all of dark energy that was within the crown of Holdream that Kaizar had into a wooden tag.


    And in order to obtain freedom, he challenged Kaizar.


    However, the result was an overwhelming loss to the point it was embarrassing to mention.


    Hoonie tried to forcibly destroy the contract by using the 100 thousand Fame that he had been saving as his trump card, but there was no way that would have worked.


    That was because, from the beginning, the destruction of the master and servant contract was only possible along with the 100 thousand Fame if Kaizar wanted it.


    Bam, who was next to Hoonie, spoke to him.


    ? The only way is to obtain the Power of the Immortal entirely, Hoonie. You cannot beat Kaizar with a normal method.


    At Bam’s words, Hoonie nodded his head.


    However, it wasn’t like he could proceed with the Immortal quest right away anyways.


    Since the three days that Kaizar gave him were too short to even start the Immortal quest.


    It was because of that he resorted to randomly hunting like this.


    “Once the Pyro Domain is safe, I should get Ian involved and get him to do the Immortal quest with me.”


    Bam nodded his head in agreement.


    ? Yeah, that’s a good idea. If Lord Ian helps, it will probably be much easier to even sessfullyplete the quest.


    “But will mean Ian actually help…”


    However, just then, one boy caught the gaze of Hoonie, who was grumbling while he spoke with Bam.


    It was a Summoner and a red drake, and they were struggling with a Sand Scorpion that looked to be about lv 130.


    Hoonie, who became interested, slowly approached him.


    “What is he doing? Why exactly is a lv 100-ish Summoner in the middle of the central continent like that?”


    Even by roughly looking from far away, he had poor control andbat abilities.


    Of course, as the only Summoner he had been constantly seeing recently was Ian, Hoonie’s standards were high.


    However, the fact that the Summoner in front of him was weird was also not wrong.


    Bam tilted his head.


    ? I’m not sure… Anyhow, that drake looks simr to the drake Lord Ian has. It’s just a little smaller, that is.


    Meanwhile, the boy of question, who the two people were watching, was none other than Canoel.


    “Yongyong, I think we’ll have to attack the tail first!”


    Grr-!


    “I’ll try and properly block the attack from the front!”


    Canoel was fighting desperately against the giant scorpion with every ounce in him to the point he had no idea that Hoonie had gotten so close that he was right behind him.


    However, shortly after discovering something, Hoonie’s eyes rounded.


    “That, that’s!”


    Bam asked with a puzzled expression.


    ? What’s wrong, Hoonie?


    “Bam, do you see that belt by any chance?”


    At that, Bam’s gaze turned towards the belt that Canoel had equipped.


    ? …!


    “That’s it, right? That’s the Pledge of the Monarch of Darkness, for sure!”


    The Pledge of the Monarch of Darkness was one of the necessary items required for Hoonie to proceed in the Immortal Quest.


    ‘I have no idea why someone like him has that equipped on when he’s not even a ck Magician, but…’


    Hoonie pulled out the staff hanging on his back without hesitation as he charged towards the scorpion.


    At that, Bam, who was taken aback, asked out of surprise.


    ? What are you doing, Hoonie!


    Hoonie cast his ck magic as he shouted.


    “We need to save that guy first before we can ask, no?”


    * * *


    Whoong-


    Thu-thud- Keu-keu-keung-!


    Along with a low resonance and a loud fricative sound, the boulder in the back of the wide-open space moved to the side as a new space appeared.


    Eclipse walked slowly as he entered the space.


    ? Come in here, Ian.


    “Sure.”


    Ian, who followed behind Eclipse without much thought, couldn’t help but be flustered shortly after.


    Ring-.


    This was because, along with a notification sound, a truly unexpected system message had popped up.


    ? You have entered the first territory of the Smus Test’s Gateway.


    ? This is a space Familiars cannot be handled.


    ? All Familiars that are summoned have been withdrawn.


    ? The abilities of all equipment have been incapacitated.


    ? All possessed skills have been sealed.


    ? Only the equipment and skills given within the gateway of the Smus Test’s Gateway may be used.


    It was truly an outrageous penalty where all of his hands and feet were tied together.


    Even if the other parts were set aside, the penalty of not being able to summon his Familiars was incredibly critical to Ian.


    ‘No, what are they expecting a Summoner to do without their Familiars?’


    Ian stared at Eclipse with a flustered expression.


    “What… Is this?”


    At Ian’s question, which was full of a lot of different meanings, Eclipse smirked as he replied.


    ? What do you mean ‘what is this’? It’s exactly as you saw just now. Our Smus Tribe only acknowledges one as a true warrior when they know how to make their way through a difficult hurdle even without the help of any equipment or Familiars.


    “What the hell…”


    Ian, who opened his skill window and item window with a dumbfounded expression, couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh.


    All of his skills were sealed, and all of the stats of his items were reced with 0.


    Eclipse opened his mouth.


    “No, setting aside the other parts, what are you expecting a Summoner to do without a Familiar?”


    Eclipse grinned as he continued his words.


    ? That is something that depends on your abilities. For your information, I’m also a Summoner, but I passed the whole test with all of these penalties.


    Eclipse, who finished speaking, walked out through the back side of the space.


    Ian barely held back the slur of swear words that were about to pop out of his mouth as he suppressed his anger.


    ‘No, that was only possible for you, since you’re an NPC that the developers made!’


    And as soon as he left, a blue curtain that was about 20 metres in diameter formed with the ce that Ian was standing as its centre.


    ‘Is it simr method to when we had to go through the Dimensional Magic Tower to meet Gripper?’


    Ian, whose state was no different from apletely naked body, slowly rxed and began to prepare to fight the opponents that would appear soon.


    However, just then, another system message popped up.


    ? You may select one weapon to use for this gateway.


    Amongst the messages that he had seen after entering this flustering space, it was the first positive message that had appeared.


    However, in the next moment, Ian’s expression, which had brightened, couldn’t help but turn into a frown again.


    ? Different kinds of weapons are inside each box, and until you select one, you will not know the content of them.


    Along with the message, five ck boxes appeared in front of Ian.


    ‘How could there be such a cruel system like this?’


    Internally, his stomach hurt, but as there was no other method. Ian slowly ced his hand on one of the boxes.