Reader - Chapter 55

“Here you go.”

After arriving at the library Soo Hyuk gave his token to the librarian and strided through the entrance. Inside the library, he headed towards a bookshelf while thinking,

‘Will there be more?’

Will there be another coloured book this time?

‘Yellow would be best.’

The shocking passive ‘Troll Blood’. Soo Hyuk looked forward to more yellow books because of that fraudulent skill.

Soo Hyuk started slowly search through the books after reaching the bookshelves. But it seemed he hadn’t fulfilled anymore conditions since there were only white books around him.

‘There’s none. Well, it’s true that I only hunted trolls.’

He had even managed to get the title ‘Enemy of all Trolls’!

‘How long will it take?’

He thought as he pulled out books from a new bookshelf. How much longer would it take for him to read all the books in Matab Library?

‘There’re still a lot of books left…’

The library was huge.

‘But there’s a lot of copies of the same book.’

He was thinking about the books that were in Oren Library. There were copies of the same book in Oren, around 4. However, in Matab, there were around 5 to 10 copies of the same book.

As a result, the bright while lights in the library was rapidly dwindling. At this, it wouldn’t take very long to conquer the entire library.

After choosing 6 books from the bookshelf, Soo Hyuk returned to his reading desk. Then he opened his book. He was full of concentration as he started reading.

* * *

“Hah, I’m going crazy.”,

Yang Joo Hyuk thought as he stared at the monitor.

‘Level 500 already is too fast.’

The player who climbed at an amazing speed from day 1, Hunting King. His current status had recently reached level 500. For some reason, Hunting King hadn’t put his name on the rankings. But what if he suddenly did?

‘It would be a big issue. The number 1 is going to change after all.’

The current no. 1 ranker was level 398. Number 2 was 393. There was a difference of 5 levels, but Hunting King was level 500, with an enormous 102 level difference.

‘Even if he was a tester, this speed is too fast.’

A 102 level difference. His levelling speed was unmatched among other users.

Being a tester, Hunting King had a lot of initial knowledge about Pangea. And using that knowledge, he monopolised all the best hunting areas.

‘What are the other testers even doing.’

Of course, there were also other testers. They were also showing an extremely fast growth, but it felt severely lacking compared to Hunting King.

“Team leader.”

“…?”

Yang Joo Hyuk turned to the person calling him. It was Jang Yool.

“What is it?”

He asked.

“It’s tomorrow.”

“…Tomorrow?”

Yang Joo Hyuk cocked his head in confusion. Was there something important tomorrow?

“Ah!”

He then quickly realised what Jang Yool was talking about.

“Has that much time passed already?”

Time really flew when he was busy.

“Tell me when he completes it.”

“Yes.”

Yang Joo Hyuk turned back around after Jang Yool replied. Then he called Jang Yool once more as he faced his computer.

“Yool-ah”(TL: Casual way of calling first names.)

“Yes?”

“Where is he now?”

“He’s in the library.”

* * *

Ti-li-ling!

The alarm rang inside the exercise room.

Hearing the alarm blare, Soo Hyuk climbed down from his treadmill. His expression was full of energy as he stopped the alarm.

‘It finally came.’

The reason for his joy.

‘The final day of the quest.’

His month-long endeavour was finally coming to an end.

Full of energy, Soo Hyuk ran down to the first floor and raced to his room after quickly taking a shower. Then after briefly checking his phone, he connected to Pangea.

The darkness inside the capsule changed to the scene of the Matab library. Soo Hyuk exited the library and headed to the Tower of Poison while opening his quest window.

[30-Day Endeavour]

You, who lacks poison resistance! Pavian will boost your immunity. Take Pavian’s poison once a day!

[Take Pavian’s special poison: 29 / 30 ]

[Quest Reward: Title – Poison Maestro]

He would gain the title ‘Poison Maestro’ after finishing the quest. He was eager to discover the title’s effects.

‘It would be good, right?’

He didn’t know what the effects would be, but it couldn’t be bad. It had taken an entire month, and more than anything, Pavian himself had given this quest. There was no way that it could be bad.

‘Titles are good but…’

Pavian had also promised him something else. It was magic. Pavian told Soo Hyuk that he would teach him poison magic.

‘Please let it be another quest.’

Of course, just because Pavian said he would teach him didn’t mean he would be able to learn it. This was because Pavian could teach him through skill books.

Because of the special characteristics of Archmage’s Descendant, Soo Hyuk couldn’t learn skills from skill books. While praying that it wouldn’t be a skill book, Soo Hyuk closed the quest window.

A few minutes after, Soo Hyuk arrived at the Tower of Poison and naturally climbed up to the 4th floor. Like usual, the women at the entrance escorted him to Pavian’s room.

Tap! Tap!

“Soo Hyuk-nim is here.”

“Come in!”

At Pavian’s words, the women opened the door and stood to the side. Soo Hyuk entered the room.

“You came.”

Soo Hyuk asked as soon as he entered.

“Is that the last poison?”

As he sat down, he could see a vial on the table mixed full of unfamiliar liquids.

“Hmm, this is the last one.”

Pavian held out the vial as he replied. Soo Hyuk took the vial from Pavian and drained all its contents in one gulp.

‘Oh? It’s quite sweet?’

Soo Hyuk realised as the poison passed down his throat. All the poison so far hadn’t tasted very good. But was it because this one was special? Its sweetness stood out from rest of the poison he had taken so far.

‘But why isn’t there a message yet?’

He wondered as he waited. System message alerting him of various status conditions usually popped up straight away. But this time, the system messages didn’t appear after a few seconds.

“How’s the taste?”

Pavian asked at that moment.

“It’s quite sweet.”

Soo Hyuk replied.

“Really?”

Pavian erupted into a bright smile at his words.

“…?”

Why did Pavian suddenly smile?

“To think that poison was sweet, your resistance has risen quite a bit. It’s a success!”

Pavian shouted when Soo Hyuk was feeling doubtful.

[Quest ’30 Day-Endeavour’ has been completed.

[Title: Poison Maestro has been obtained.]

‘Ah…’

Soo Hyuk realised as he stared at the sudden messages.

‘You have to resist the last poison to succeed.’

This seemed likely as this was originally a quest aimed to raise his poison resistance. If he was still poisoned on the last day, then could it really be called a success?

‘Is he going to teach me poison magic now?’

Soo Hyuk looked away from the system message and asked Pavian.

“Umm…what method will you use to teach me magic?”

This was particularly important. He had to know if he was going to get a skill book or a skill quest.

“Wait a moment.”

Pavian rose from his seat at Soo Hyuk’s words. Then he walked over to the bookshelf on the left.

‘I have to read those as well…’

Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but crave for the books on the bookshelf. It was full of silver shine.

‘Wait a minute.’

Soo Hyuk’s expression hardened as a thought crossed his mind.

‘Why a book…’

Pavian had pulled out a book from the bookshelf.

‘It’s not a skill book.’

Skill books didn’t have the colourful shine unlike normal books. That meant, the book Pavian had pulled out wasn’t a skill book.

‘Then a skill quest? But it’s white.’

The book that Pavian pulled out was white, not yellow.

“Here you go.”

While Soo Hyuk’s mind was in a mess from the unexpected situation, Pavian held out four shining white books to him. Soo Hyuk stared at the books then at Pavian, expecting an explanation.

“When using magic, your own path is very important. That’s why I believe that it’s unhealthy for others to teach you. For me anyway.”

Soo Hyuk sense of crisis was rising as Pavian continued,

“Look at the book and move your mana.”

His sense of crisis was still growing gradually.

“With your talent, you should succeed in one or two tries.”

Seemingly not sensing Soo Hyuk’s discomfort, Pavian continued his instructions.

“You also have no risk of poisoning yourself now. Haha!”

Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

‘What…’

It wasn’t a skill book or a skill quest.

‘Move my mana according to the book?’

How would a user like Soo Hyuk move their mana?

‘Sigh…’

This couldn’t be it. It was a chance to learn magic from the Poison Spire Lord himself. He wasn’t going to let this once-in-a-lifetime chance go to waste.

‘I have to get a quest.’

He had to push Pavian for a skill quest.

“Ah!”

But he has surprised once again when he heard Pavian’s following words.

“I’ve prepared all the materials needed to use poison, so you can come get them whenever you like. You can either come to me or Kale.

“…Materials?”

“Hmm, to cast poison magic, you need many things. If you ever need anything, tell me anytime. I’ve gotten everything there is to get.”

Soo Hyuk gulped in response to Pavian’s words.

‘All the materials used for poison magic?’

His mind, which was set on a skill quest, changed when he considered the weight behind those words.

‘All the materials? Then…’

Soo Hyuk didn’t need to spend any gold into casting poison magic. It was a reward comparable to a skill quest as he would probably save thousands of gold in the future. He would be stupid if he didn’t take advantage of this.

‘If I challenge the Door of Poison…’

If he was given a skill quest, then it would overlap with the skills he gained from opening the Door of Poison. But the situation had changed now.

He wouldn’t be able to learn magic from Pavian, but all the materials were prepared for him. Plus, they would try to acquire any materials that he could need.

‘Doesn’t this also mean that I can complete most of the skill quests at once?’

The skill quests for poison magic likely needed poison materials like the quests for fire magic. Hence, he wouldn’t be able to learn poison magic from Pavian, but he would be able to complete most of the poison skill quests at once.

“If you’re confused about something, then feel free to ask me.”

Soo Hyuk was sucked out of his thoughts when Pavian spoke. Then matching Pavian’s smiling face, he replied,

“Yes!”