Solo Leveling: Ragnarok - Chapter 178
Chapter 178
[Phew, that’s enough to relieve me.]
“….”
Suho was dumbfounded as he looked at Arsha’s relieved expression.
“Is this a nest or a prison cell?”
[Actually, if you think about the fact that a dragon will be born from that egg, this might not be enough.]
Arsha was still feeling reluctant about Kamish’s egg.
[The dragon race is already an apex predator from the moment it is born, especially a red dragon’s hatchling, which breathes fire from the moment it is born, although you may not know that because you are a human.]
[So what! Our young liege was able to fly when he was just an infant!]
[….]
At Beru’s words, Arsha had no choice but to keep her mouth shut. Come to think of it, Suho here wasn’t normal either. No, in a way, he was the most sinister of them all.
‘How did I end up living in such a horrible place…’
Arsha chewed her lip and sighed at the harsh circumstances in which she was placed.
Suho asked Arsha. “How do you know about the dragon race?”
[gathering information is my specialty.]
Certainly, her ability was to create a multitude of bodies specialized in intelligence gathering. In fact, even at this moment, her worker bees are traveling all over the country looking for villains.
“So do you know how to hatch a dragon’s egg?”
[I’ve heard that dragon tribes periodically baptized them in magic in order to make them hatch.]
“A magic baptism? What’s that?”
[To put it simply, it’s a constant stream of magic. This egg is too small to be called a dragon clan’s egg. Perhaps their parents died early and they didn’t receive a magic baptism, so they didn’t manage to grow up normally.]
Arsha’s guess was quite accurate. Kamish’s egg was the smallest of the eggs found by Cha Hae-In in the Tomb of Dragons. Suho’s expression hardened slightly at that. “Does that mean this egg may not hatch?”
[I’m not sure exactly.]
“Well, if it’s a baptism of magic. . .”
Hearing Arsha’s explanation, Suho thought for a moment. “Does that mean no one other than its parents is able to give them mana?”
[I’m not sure, although it wouldn’t hurt to try.]
“Then that means I can do it.”
[What?]
Suho smirked and pressed his palm to the surface of Kamish’s egg in the nest. Then he slowly pulled up the essence of mana in his body and began to push it into the egg little by little.
Shuwaaaa!!
[Oh my god, how can a human being do this!?!?!]
Seeing the delicate magic control ability, Arsha was amazed once more. Considering that Suho is human, this was indeed a great ability. It’s as natural for demons to use magic as breathing, but humans have only been using magic for two years. However, Suho has awakened for an even less period than that….
[I told you that our young liege was already a child prodigy from the time he was an infant.]
[….]
It was Beru who shrugged his shoulders from the sidelines. She was so used to Beru’s arm flailing, so Arsha tried not to force herself to look in his direction and instead went to tell Suho about her concerns.
[Suho, while I think you are capable of doing such a feat, I don’t think you might be able to make it hatch.]
“Why is that?” Suho asked, continuing to infuse magic into Kamish’s eggs.
[Dragons are inherently a race with tremendous magical power, so they are constantly fed enormous amounts of mana of their parent dragons until the eggs hatch.]
That’s why the baptism of magic was also called a “Mana Shower.” Even if the egg doesn’t take in all of that enormous magic power, it continues to inject it into an overflow of magic.
[I know that Suho nim is a great person, but no matter how much magic power you pour into the egg until you exhaust it, it’s just the blood of a bird’s foot compared to the magic power of the dragon race… huh?]
As she spoke, Arsha felt something strange. Somehow, the magic power that Suho poured into Kamish’s egg… seemed never ending. And at some point, Suho put something in his mouth and kept drinking.
Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.
[Item: Use the Intermediate Mana Potion.]
[Item: Use the Intermediate Mana Potion.]
[Item: Use the Intermediate Mana Potion.]
….
“Don’t worry, I have plenty of mana.” There was a confident smile on Suho’s lips as he was constantly drinking magic potions. A well-founded confidence too as his gaze stood on his status window, constantly going up and down in real time.
[MP : 358/6,410]
[MP : 1,410/6,410]
[MP : 431/6,410]
[MP : 2,160/6,410]
….
“Even if I’m not a dragon, I can use mana all day long as I have gold.”
[Oh my gosh…]
Arsha opened her mouth in amazement at the sight. It’s a Mana Shower! Suho’s mana was infinitely baptizing the egg of Kamish!
[Kekeke oh my young liege…]
[….]
Beru was ready to blabber on his accomplishments again. Meanwhile Arsha wished someone could explain to her why Beru was the most excited even when Suho, the person in question, was silent as a rock.
Shuaaaa~~
After some time, Suho nodded at the sight of Kamish’s egg, which was absorbing his magic power so endlessly. “I guess in the future I will have to earn a handful of gold on the side.” Considering that if he wanted to use magic to the level of the dragon race, he would have to build up on quite a lot of potions.
***
Lim Do-Gyun, a “former” university administrative assistant, for some reason, had been doing a similar job since he became a hunter. The only thing that has changed was that the professor, who had always given him tricky and difficult tasks to work with, was now the boss named ‘Sung Suho’.
“Alright, let’s see…”
For the first time in a long time, Lim Do-Gyun took out the tablet PC he used when he used to work in the school’s teaching room and started writing in his journal.
“The conditions of the dungeons that Suho wants . . .”
Dungeons where the Demon Factories are likely to be hidden.
(Where demon-type monsters appear?)
(Rumors about Stardust, or about missing people?)
2) Dungeons where you can earn a lot of gold.
(What? You mean a place where you can get expensive materials?)
Brainstorming took place in Lim Do-Gyun’s head as he jotted down a lot of thoughts. His eyes and ears continued to do everything he could to find dungeons worthy of all those conditions. First of all, he went through his connections.
“Hello? Father, this is your number right? If you’re not busy, I have something to ask you.” He called his father, whom he still had a strained relationship with.
“Oh, hello? This is CEO Yoo Jin-Ho’s secretary’s office, right? CEO Yoo Jin-Ho told me to ask here if I need anything. Yes, all I need is information…” He called the secretary of that great, wonderful big company.
“Oh! Vice-guildmaster Baek Miho? I’m Lim Do-Gyun, Vice-Guildmaster of the Woojin Guild! If it’s possible could you maybe share some information about the dungeons….”
He usually tended to be quite fearful in a lot of things, but as a former teaching assistant, his skills excelled in public spaces quite a lot. In less than an hour, they were able to find dungeons that met all the requirements Suho had asked for.
“Suho– I mean Guildmaster! I’ve listed the dungeons I’ve found and posted them here! I’ve prioritized them according to my own criteria, so I think you can tackle them in this order!”
[Kiek. Since when has this coward been so capable?]
“Haha…” Even Beru was surprised, making Do-Gyun feel cathartic, but still riding on pure momentum, he proudly conveyed his demands to Suho. “So, does this mean I don’t have to go into the dungeon this time with you?”
“What? No, you still have to go in.”
“….”
Lim Do-Gyun became sullen in an instant.
***
Thus, Suho’s guild began to go around the dungeons found by Lim Do-Gyun and attack the Demon Factories one by one. The money was plenty. A huge amount of money from the sale of all the dungeon resources mined in Busan was deposited into the guild’s account. Suho used the money to buy the dungeons that Lim Do-Gyun found without hesitation, and immediately began to attack them. Having already teamed up in Busan, the shadow soldiers led by Suho thoroughly defeated the dungeons at a truly remarkable speed.
[Leveled up!]
[Leveled up!]
….
The speed of leveling up wasn’t bad either. Suho did a good job of starting a guild since it’s a lot easier to get dungeons as one instead of simply freelancing.
He also didn’t just level up by going around the dungeon. The expensive materials obtained from the beasts they killed were sold in the shop window to earn gold. Mainly for the potions, but in order to speed up the battle, he also bought a defensive item from the store and wore it.
[Item: Senior Knight’s Breastplate]
[Difficulty of obtaining: B]
[Type: Armor]
[Physical damage reduction + 7%
(If your strength is less than 80, your movements will be slow.)]
[Item: Helmet of a Senior Knight]
[Difficulty of obtaining: B]
[Type: Armor]
[Physical Damage Reduction +6%
(If your strength is less than 80, your movements will be slow.)]
In the meantime, due to the lack of strength stats, he also bought items that he had only coveted in the store. The higher the defense, the lower the price of the potion is and the faster the battle tends to be.
‘Somehow, it looks like it’s becoming more and more of a full-fledged tank.’ Suho was a little dumbfounded by his own way of fighting. He was supposed to be a necromancer through and through considering his shadow summoning abilities, and yet here he was acting more like a tanker than a summoner.
Just then, the shadow soldiers followed the rest of the demons that he hadn’t finished dealing with yet, and started destroying them.
“…should I say I’m a ‘Necrotanker’?” Suho grinned and continued to attack the dungeons.
Finally, he actually discovered a Demon Factory. Unfortunately, they were an ordinary(?) Demon Factory, so they didn’t get any information about the Foreign Religion. Instead, he was able to obtain the Demon Stones that had been stored there as the material for the Stardust, which made it into Beru’s mouth once again and Suho went back to the Shadow Dungeon and started to drink the potions.
The cycle repeats as more mana is infused into Kamish’s egg until all of a sudden…
[Suho.]
Arsha, the Queen Bee, spoke to Suho with a serious expression.
[I think my worker bees have found something.]