His current mana was enough to defeat the floor of the fourth floor with a single strike. Moreover, he had still to test the full capabilities of his physical body which had been reborn after defeating Agares.
However, instead of challenging the fifth floor, Yong-Ho chose to go back for now. The ostensible justification was that he believed it would better to fight the master of the fifth floor after receiving the Brigada jewelry from Burgrim, whereas the actual real reason behind his decision was that he might desire to commit suicide if he had to unleash the power of his desires again.
‘But I’ll still have to take care of it.’
He picked a box of light, with the power of Greed, and received a good looking pair of manacles in the air. They looked like an item for a bare-handed fighter.
‘I’ll give these to Eligor.’
Eligor now possessed strong mana. And recently, he had been honing the Southern Martial Art, taught by Ophelia, which was a bare-handed art, so the manacles were perfect for him.
“Are you already leaving? Why? Don’t you want to try the fifth floor?”
It was the voice of Gusion, who seemed a little sad. But, he couldn’t change Yong-Ho’s mind.
“No, that’s it for today. I’ll come back tomorrow with the Brigada jewelry. Please take care of Kaiwan.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll watch over her. The price of her facing the truth won’t be small, but I’m sure she’ll overcome it.”
It wasn’t just a pretense that Gusion cared about Kaiwan. Yong-Ho sincerely hoped that Kaiwan would overcome her troubles.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Yes, I look forward to it. Young Master.”
Yong-Ho, who was about to turn around after saying farewell, suddenly stopped in his tracks. He asked back unknowingly.
“What?”
“Farewell.”
“No, not that.”
Yong-Ho pressed him for an answer, but Gusion just ignored him. Catalina, who was standing behind him, gave a small smile.
In the end, rather than pressing for an answer, Yong-Ho just lightly chuckled. Instead of asking more questions, he turned around. Unlike the first time, Gusion now felt quite pleased.
‘I’ll keep going.’
For the day when he’ll be able to conquer the Arena.
Yong-Ho stepped forward. The man in the beast mask silently appeared and led Yong-Ho and Catalina out of the arena.
***
The next morning, Yong-Ho overslept. Fatigue, which had come in exchange for the liberation of Greed, was accompanied by an inexplicable dream.
[Master, are you all right?]
[Sometimes you need to forget about everything and take some well earned rest. How about taking the day off for today?]
At Lucia’s worried tone, Yong-Ho breathed out a sigh of relief. Although Lucia was connected to his mind, she was fortunately unable to see his peculiar dream.
“No, it’s okay. I’ve already had quite a good rest. I’ve got a lot of work to get done today.”
As he replied to Lucia, Yong-Ho clenched his fist. The combination of his natural mana and the power of Greed was still very weak.
‘I’ve only just opened the door.’
Instinctively, he understood. And he also seemed to understand what Aamon meant when he had earlier spoken of the Seven Deadly Sins.
‘Only those who possess the power of the Seven Deadly Sins can reign as kings. Only they can rule the world.’
At the moment the Crimson Ogre, Victor, was overwhelmed by the power of Greed, Yong-Ho too was overcome by such power. It was because he had just taken a small glance at the huge iceberg hidden beneath the surface of the water.
Mammon, the King of Greed.
The fact that Yong-Ho himself was the successor of such a great figure had just struck a new chord within him. It had already been a rather long time since he had inherited the House of Mammon, but it was the first time that he had ever felt so strongly about the significance of his existence.
Yong-Ho stood up. After stretching, he washed his face with the water left in his room.
He began the day.
After spending the morning eating and carrying out some personal training, Yong-Ho took Catalina, Eligor and Skull to visit Bugrim’s workshop. Burgrim, who seemed to be much more tired than usual, welcomed Yong-Ho. The dark circles under his eyes seemed to have formed during the night.
<They’ve been well made.>
His complexion looked bad, but he still smiled proudly.
Burgrim quickly put away the chalkboard that he was using to communicate with, placed the newly made jewelry onto a tray and then handed them to Yong-Ho. One of the pieces must have just been finished, as Burgrim had just removed it from the workbench.
“Wow.”
Yong-Ho was amazed. Every single piece of jewelry was beautiful.
The rings, with small embedded green emeralds, looked like a pair. Since the crown was originally gold, the rings too were gold, with a bit of embellishment regarding the embedded jewel, causing them to look elegant and classy.
The bracelet and anklet were also a pair. If the rings pursued a clean elegant style, then the bracelet and anklet looked more stylish. They were covered with scales reminiscent of a dragon.
The necklace, however, was completely made out of Brigada. It was also adorned with a dragon’s head, that looked as if it was about to breath fire.
“You’ve done an amazing job. Your work is really admirable.”
He felt like he should give him a prize for his hard work. Of course, for Burgrim, the best prize would be for Yong-Ho to invoke his evolutionary power, however to do so Burgrim still needed to fill his evolution rate.
Yong-Ho quickly invoked the power of evolution to examine Burgrim’s evolutionary potential. Although it wasn’t really a prize, Yong-Ho gave Burgrim a promise for his next evolution.
“Next time, I’ll strengthen your mana. It’s a promise.”
Just his word was enough. Burgrim knew that Yong-Ho was a man of his word.
Yong-Ho immediately began the distribution of the jewelry. He handed Skull the necklace, and gave Eligor the bracelet. Yong-Ho placed one of the rings on to his right hand.
Now, other than for Ophelia, there was only one left to give.
[Thump, thump.]
[Flutter, flutter.]
Lucia imitated Catalina’s heart. Ignoring Lucia’s antics, Yong-Ho took a deep breath. He smiled awkwardly and then spoke to Catalina.
“Give me your hand.”
Catalina bit her lower lip. Yong-Ho carefully reached out and placed the ring on Catalina’s long slender finger.
[Thump, thump.]
[Thump, thump.]
Lucia continued to make noise to increase the awkwardness of the situation. Catalina’s flapping ears and tail expressed her fervent joy.
After giving her the ring, Yong-Ho quickly turned around and let out a series of coughs, while scratching his face. Come to think of it, it was the first time he had ever given a woman a gift.
“Yesterday, I gave you a rough explanation of the nature of Brigada, didn’t I? So from now on, I’ll be able to empower you, so please accept the power.”
Yong-Ho quickly spoke and then aroused the power of Greed. Light suddenly emanated from the jewelry worn by Catalina, Eligor and Skull.
“Wow!”
Unlike Catalina, who quickly combined the power of Greed with her own mana, since she had already experienced it before, Eligor and Skull struggled while making a series of strange sounds. Skull, however, soon regained his composure and managed to gain control of his mana, albeit with difficulty. However, Eligor did not. He continued to sweat profusely and struggled to control his mana.
‘He still has a long way to go.’
Yesterday, Catalina had successfully controlled her mana, when Yong-Ho first experimented with the Brigada, despite having to wield a much larger amount of mana compared to today.
But, that was inevitable. Unlike Eligor and Skull, Catalina had experienced the pressure of the Dungeon Market’s auction house. Moreover, her talent for mana was even better than Ophelia’s.
“Eligor. Don’t be too upset. Once Ophelia arrives shortly, I’ll provide you with special training.”
Although Yong-Ho tried to cheer him up, Eligor still seemed to be rather dejected.
Yong-Ho smiled and gathered up the power of Greed. After saying farewell to Burgrim, he led his spirits out of the workshop.
And as if she was waiting for that precise moment, Lucia suddenly spoke.
[Master, I’ve recently received a report from the Dungeon Meerkats.]
[They’ve spotted Ophelia in the distance. It seems that she shall be arriving at the dungeon in about ten minutes.]
[Her arrival is about an hour earlier than scheduled, but I don’t think it’s because of anything important going on.]
“Perfect.”
He would be able to give her the anklet and then ask her to train with Eligor.
He could then focus on the arena for the rest of the afternoon.
Only
“Master?”
“Ophelia is here. Shall we all go out and meet her?”
At Yong-Ho’s words, Eligor made a somewhat complicated expression. His face displayed a mixture of both joy and suffering.
Yong-Ho led the spirits to the entrance room of the dungeon.
And Ophelia, as always, provided Yong-Ho with the recent news.
***
“We’re going to need a new dungeon.”
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