The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 135

In the streets teeming with countless people, the sound of craftsmen's hammering spread as if to entice them, and the various weapons displayed in the gathered shops tempted the Players.

The Players are moving around like honeybees moving from flower to flower, searching for the weapons they want.

"What should I say… the atmosphere is much more familiar than I thought."

"Right, it's similar to the markets we used to go to a lot."

Watching them, Lee Hyunseok and Lee Hyunyoung made ambiguous expressions.

"What's that building?"

"I heard that's a place where they gather and sell items from blacksmiths who haven't opened a shop. Ah, I also heard they hold auctions and stuff."

Lee Sieun and Lee Jieun were showing interest in the new atmosphere.

Clap, clap-

At that moment, Lee Shin lightly clapped his hands to focus their attention on him.

"Now, I have things to do too, so from now on, it's free time for about an hour~ Wander around on your own, and when the time comes, gather in front of the World Dungeon on your own."

"What is it?"

"I'm not going to tell you."

"Sigh, of course."

At Lee Shin's words, Lee Hyunyoung muttered with her cheeks slightly puffed out.

She had expected him not to tell her, but what was annoying was annoying.

At that, Lee Shin smiled widely and said.

"Well, just look around and play. Ah, and if there's a secondary weapon you want to buy, you can buy it as you please."

"Yes, Hyung! See you later then!"

As Lee Shin said, shaking his card, Lee Hyunseok, who had evolved into a self-proclaimed weapon otaku, his eyes sparkling, disappeared into the crowd like the wind.

"Shall we go look around too? I heard they have things that assassin-type Players use."

"Yes, I want to see daggers."

Lee Jieun and Lee Sieun, who had been talking for a moment, also disappeared into the crowd on the street.

"Is this why you told us not to choose a weapon as the artifact we wanted yesterday?"

"I guess so."

Lee Shin had only said that because he thought that artifacts showed their true value in assisting combat to be more convenient.

"Besides, when it comes to weapons, the ones made by dwarves are the best, aren't they?"

Even if it was said that he was doubting Crowley's skills, there was nothing to say.

But no matter what, if it was a simple, sturdy, and sharp weapon without various complex functions, it seemed right to choose a dwarf over Crowley.

In fact, he himself had said so and nodded his head.

Eun Yeonwoo, who heard Lee Shin's words, looked at him as if it were a little unexpected.

"I thought you didn't care about such things, Hyung-nim. I haven't seen you wear armor items much either."

"Well, it's true that I don't pay much attention to that side…"

Pfft-

"Still, if I'm going to go all out, I should at least use a good weapon."

Lee Shin said that and recalled the three [Kings] he had fought so far.

Yeonhwa.

Cheon Yuhwa.

Baek Hyunwoo.

When he fought with Yeonhwa and Cheon Yuhwa, it was in the early days, so they couldn't even use their power properly, and it felt more like a spar than a fight, which was disappointing.

When he fought with Baek Hyunwoo, they fought continuously with reckless attacks that ignored stamina and wounds until one of them was exhausted, but it was still not enough to be truly satisfied.

The fangs Lee Shin possessed could not reach them.

So what Lee Shin came up with was a weapon.

The two things Lee Shin had commonly felt in his fights with them were that the difference between the level they had reached and the weapons they possessed was too great.

'If I just get a decent weapon, I can somehow manage the rest.'

A long, drawn-out battle of attrition is this side's specialty, and piercing a person's weakness until they die is also this side's specialty.

Of course, it would be impossible to actually kill them, but that much was enough.

If they really died, this side would also be in a bit of trouble, and for now, the most important part was that they could take all of his full power.

'How should I search the dwarf village to get a good reputation for searching well? It's a dwarf village, after all, so there must be at least one useful thing.'

Well, as a side effect, the relationship between the dwarves and the government might rapidly worsen, but that wasn't a problem for Lee Shin to worry about.

The government and the high-ranking guilds would take care of it.

As Lee Shin was walking down the street, making his future plans, he looked back.

"By the way, are you going to keep following me like that? Yeonwoo went to find your brother."

"I'm planning on following you, ahjussi."

Lee Hyunyoung looked at Lee Shin shamelessly, as if to say 'what's wrong with that,' and smiled widely.

Seeing that smile, it was clear who she was imitating now.

"And I checked on my phone on the way here, and it said there aren't many things that mages need here anyway."

"Still, isn't it good to look around once?"

As Lee Shin said that with the meaning of 'go away,' Lee Hyunyoung chuckled and took out a large box from her inventory.

"I received a lot of things from my masters before we parted, so it's fine."

On the lid of the large box Lee Hyunyoung took out, the words [Mage Set], [Witches' Essential Items], and [Alchemist's Basics] were engraved in their respective handwriting.

Seeing that, Lee Shin was slightly surprised.

He had been thinking of a relationship where they only passed on knowledge, but it seemed they were going to treat her as a proper disciple more than he had thought.

"Huhu, it would be hard to find anything better than these even if I searched the streets."

Lee Hyunyoung's words were correct.

In fact, the items they had given her had a luxury that could not be exuded by simple mass-produced goods, even at a glance.

"Sigh, alright, you win."

In the end, Lee Shin shook his head like that and started walking again, and Lee Hyunyoung, as if boasting, equipped a witch's hat, a mage's staff, and a belt containing various reagents from the box and said as if it were unexpected.

"Oh? Are you just going to go? I thought you were going to ditch me and disappear somewhere."

"I don't particularly have any intention of stopping you. I was just planning on looking around the city while eating snacks anyway."

At that, Lee Hyunyoung nodded her head a few times and trotted up to Lee Shin's side.

"I'm going to eat a hot dog, what about you?"

"Me too! Me too, a hot dog!"

"Alright, then go to that food stall over there and buy them."

"Huh? Me?"

"I'm giving you the money, so you should at least be the one to buy them."

"Cheapskate."

Lee Hyunyoung grumbled like that, but she obediently followed Lee Shin's words, went to the food stall, bought two hot dogs, and handed the one without ketchup to Lee Shin.

And so, the two's journey together began.

Lee Shin wandered around the alleys appropriately, talking with Lee Hyunyoung, and with his other ear, he eavesdropped on the conversations of the people walking on the street.

"Hey, you said you saw a dwarf weapon."

"Yeah, they said it was a failure and didn't want to give it to me, but I begged and begged and bought it. Huhuhu."

"Hey, what's different?"

"Huhuhu, a lightness that's unbelievable for something made of iron! A feeling like cutting through a straw bundle even when cutting a rock! On top of that, the chewy feeling that sticks to your hand is a masterpiece!"

But there were no particularly nutritious conversations.

All they talked about from beginning to end was about weapons.

The only gain was that he had grasped the average level of the Players now and the level of the items they possessed.

As a result of that investigation, he was able to find out a rather surprising fact.

'Why are these guys so weak?'

Their level was much more pathetic than Lee Shin had thought.

Most were LV. 2, and LV. 3s were only seen at a rate of one in ten.

"How strong are you now?"

"Me? I just became LV. 3 and went up to the 3rd circle."

Seeing it directly like this, he could now understand why Cheon Yuhwa had been preparing for the dungeon break so much.

It must have been because the Player average was like this.

Of course, considering the large guilds, there would be Players in the upper LV. 3 range.

If it were an ordinary dungeon break, they would have been enough, but the problem was that LV. 4 monsters would also run rampant in this dungeon break.

But a greater curiosity arose in Lee Shin's mind.

This girl, who was laughing while eating a hot dog with ketchup on her cheek next to him, was the culprit that aroused his curiosity.

'What's with her, she's already surpassed the Player average? Does she not attend classes at school and only study magic?'

"Did you get good grades this time?"

"Huh? Didn't you know? I'm first in my class."

'What is this? It seems she's attending school normally.'

Lee Shin pondered and then asked.

"Did you happen to play Pantheon too?"

"Yes, my friend asked me to, so I played it for a bit. I also did a few part-time jobs with it."

'Is that why?'

Lee Shin thought for a moment but decided to just let it go.

It wasn't bad for Lee Shin if the person he was going to use as a magic slave was good at magic.

As they wandered around the streets appropriately, time passed quickly, and it was time to gather in front of the World Dungeon.

"Wow, there are a lot of people."

"Right."

In front of the World Dungeon, dozens of Player Association employees were checking people's documents with weapons in hand.

Seeing their stern appearance, Lee Hyunyoung, perhaps feeling a little nervous, swallowed her saliva.

But Lee Hyunyoung's worries were resolved quite simply.

"Here you go."

"This is… Ah! I've received the message from above! You can go right in!"

When Lee Shin held out his card, the association employees, as if they had never made a scary face, smiled brightly and cleared the way for the six of them.

Lee Shin thought that power was quite convenient and entered the World Dungeon.

As expected, connections were important.

◎ ◎ ◎

Players are screened by the government to see if they have the ability to enter the World Dungeon, and they are tested once more by the demi-humans inside.

In other words, even if you entered the World Dungeon with the government's approval, it was quite possible to fail the screening of the demi-humans inside.

"Fail. Go out on your own."

"What! What am I lacking to fail! It makes no sense to fail someone after just one handshake!"

And most of those who received a fail protested, running wild with dissatisfaction with the screening.

If a Player was good enough to come in here, they weren't just anybody, and naturally, their pride was bound to be high, so this was a natural backlash.

"Hah…"

He had predicted this to some extent, so he let out a small sigh as if he had expected it and got up from his seat.

And watching the dwarf who was getting up from his seat like that, the Player who had been screened chuckled.

In fact, one of the reasons the Players were running wild like this was that they were looking down on the dwarves.

And for good reason…

"Kid, let me in nicely when I'm asking. This big brother is a busy person."

Unlike everyone's expectations, the dwarves didn't look like short, muscular old men with beards, but like young kids from elementary to middle school.

Pajik-

"This damn bastard…"

"Wh-what…?"

But that was just a story about their appearance.

In the first place, dwarves are a race of craftsmen born with superior strength than humans.

On top of that, their hearts, which endured the hot heat of the furnace and ceaselessly hammered, were fiercer than lava.

"This son of a bitch dares to talk back to me? If you were told to get lost, you should have gotten lost nicely, how dare you???"

The dwarf raised his aura and, without any hesitation, swung his hammer at the flustered Player.

Kwaaang-!

The man, who was hit squarely by the hammer without even having time to dodge, bounced like a golf ball and then crashed into the ground, fainting.

"Tsk, next!"

"Another one today."

"Still, a few teeth is a minor injury."

Simultaneously with the huge crash, the guard dwarves outside the tent dragged the fainted man away.

Watching them, he clicked his tongue softly and returned to his seat.

He kept feeling a sense of doubt, not knowing what he was doing right now, but separate from that, he was not so ignorant as to not know the importance of this work.

So he was even more annoyed.

'Why was I born as the clan master's son and have to be in charge of such a troublesome job… Hah, what's the point of complaining about this.'

While he was calming his rising annoyance with beer.

"Oh, so this is what it looks like here?"

A man with a wide smile came towards him with several people behind him.

(End of Chapter)