“I adore you, valuable customer. What can I help you with?”
His eyes were fixed on the sole figure standing in the white room.
Like usual, the beautiful red-haired Sitri stood there.
While sitting on a white, antique chair, Sitri greeted Yong-Ho and motioned him to sit. Within moments, a chair appeared behind Yong-Ho.
Yong-Ho was used to it now, so he calmly sat in front of Sitri. Sitri spoke first as usual.
“You’ve become stronger.”
Unlike his horns, the change wasn’t something that can be seen with bare eyes.
Instead of going into details, Yong-Ho just smiled and Sitri responded by slightly opening her eyes. There was a reason behind Yong-Ho’s smile.
Yong-Ho became stronger.
After the fight with Foras, he consumed the distortion, a Land Worm and Jungceros’s spirit. Even though it was a short period, the change was so big that it was safe to say that he was a different person.
It couldn’t be compared to when he first met Sitri. And that big change made Sitri smile every time.
Sitri fixed her posture. Her legs were no longer crossed and even though she was wearing a long dress, Yong-Ho instinctively looked at her legs. Sitri giggles.
“It seems like you recently visited the pub…did things go well with Ophelia?”
The details involved many different things. Yong-Ho placed his elbow on the armrest. He touched his chin and looked at Sitri.
“You already knew.”
He stated the obvious and instead of denying it, she gracefully nodded her head.
“But that’s all I know. What happened afterwards…I can only imagine it.”
Sitri knew that the pub’s female owner used to be Mammon’s spirit in the past.
Yong-Ho recalled the time when Sitri told him that he needed to find a different method of obtaining information.
‘Is it safe to assume that she led me to meet Ophelia?’
Yong-Ho shook his head. It wasn’t because he didn’t like the idea that Sitri controlled him.
Deciding to visit the pub and the timing was decided by Yong-Ho.
Sitri remained calm. He wanted to erase the calm look that was on her face, but it was unnecessary. He stopped touching his chin and spoke.
“It was a great meeting. She’s very talented.”
“It’s because her father was the most talented spirits among the spirits that served under Kaiwan. Red Demons are known to be a faithful race.”
Even though she didn’t mean much by it, there was a word that caught Yong-Ho’s attention.
Instead of playing hard to get, Sitri provided him with information.
“In the demon world, the Red Demons are a popular fighting race. Even though they’re not as talented as dragons, Suras or Archdemons, they grow very quickly. The Red Demons that have reached their limit are extremely strong. The dragons are the strongest in the demon world when it comes to hand-to-hand combat and among them. Ancient Dragons are dragons that have completely developed and the Red Demons are able to take them down. However…this only applies when they’ve grown. A Red Demon that hasn’t grown is weaker than an Orc.”
He couldn’t help but think of Eligor’s face when he heard the last part.
“Red Demons are very talented in hand-to-hand combat. Even if they increase their mana, they rarely use it. They prefer to use that mana to strengthen their body. It’s also very efficient. It’s very rare for a Red Demon, like Ophelia, to be skilled in a psychological type magic. She probably worked very hard to learn it.”
She was very detailed and Yong-Ho naturally agreed with her. It’s because both Eligor and Ophelia’s bodies had better potential than their mana.
‘The race that can even bring down an Ancient Dragon…”
Even though he didn’t know much about the different races in the demon world, the word, dragon, was enough for him to imagine a strong creature in his head.
He became curious. Sitri continued talking without hesitation.
“An example of a Red Demon that reached their limits…in the dungeon shop that I’m a part of, one of the Board of Directors named Orobas is known to be the strongest. He’s known as the ‘Demon Prince’ in the demon world and he possess an enormous amount of physical strength. When it comes to strength alone, no one in the dungeon shop or the demon world is able to take him down.”
Words that excited Yong-Ho kept on flowing out.
Five Board of Directors, enormous physical strength, Demon Prince.
A place higher than the sky and lower than the ground. It felt like Yong-Ho encountered a new type of power that wasn’t a part of this world.
He can become as strong as him. He could even become stronger than Orobas.
“The same applies to demon kings.”
Sitri suddenly spoke. Her long eyelashes softly went down as she blinked her eyes.
“Demon kings also grow. A weak demon king may be similar to a Goblin. But for the strongest demon king…a wave of a hand they can burn the sky and dry out the sea. They can take down not only one, but many Ancient Dragons. They can take down an entire army without any issues. They’ll end up cutting off their heads the moment they look at them.”
The familiar words excited Yong-Ho. Yong-Ho could feel that Sitri was talking while thinking of someone.
“There is a limit to a demon king’s power. But it’s possible to grow. A new wall will be waiting when the old wall is destroyed, but all you have to do is destroy the new wall. As long as the demon king is growing and has the will to grow, there’s no limit. However, if they stop or lose that will…they’ll be trapped within the limit they created for themselves and won’t be able to grow anymore.”
Foras was the Demon King of Coldness.
Was their power only limited to creating coldness? Was it a power that couldn’t be developed further?
Jungceros’s nickname was the Demon King of Control.
Through mind control, he could paralyze his opponent or force them to move a certain way. But, if that’s all his power did, then the nickname was a waste. It could definitely be developed further. It can become a stronger power. But both Foras and Jungceros couldn’t grow anymore. They became still.
The Power of Evolution probably had its limits as well.
He can only use the power on spirits that’s been officially registered, so in some ways, that was the power’s limit.
There could also be a limit to the number of spirits he can use the power on.
But that was just the current limit.
Yong-Ho closed his eyes longer than usual. He then opened them and looked at Sitri, who was looking at Yong-Ho during the entire time.
It was definitely not an ordinary relationship.
It was different from the relationship that a customer and a merchant had.
Sitri wanted Yong-Ho to grow. Even though she didn’t guide him every step of the way, every time they met, she would throw out warnings and advice and it helped him a lot.
But why?
Could it be because there was a really intimate relationship and it wasn’t simply because she was the guardian of the House of Mammon?
Like Ophelia. In the past, out of the twelve spirits that ruled the demon world with Mammon, maybe she was one of Mammon’s…
“No. That’s not it. Like I’ve explained before, I’m just an important figure within the dungeon shop. So that’s all you need to think about when you see me.”
Sitri spoke bluntly as if she read Yong-Ho’s mind and finished it off with a smile.
Yong-Ho felt an invisible wall. And that’s when he understood.
From the beginning, Yong-Ho told himself that he wouldn’t completely trust Sitri.
He did want to depend on her after thinking that maybe she could be a spirit of the House of Mammon.
He didn’t like it. The relationship they had now was more than enough.
“It looks like you brought a lot of items with you. I’m excited to see what kind of items you’ll be purchasing this time.”
Sitri spoke like a merchant and Yong-Ho stated that that was the reason why he visited the Virtual Space.
His meeting with Sitri wasn’t as important.
“There’s a lot of things I would like to purchase.”
“I’ll help you with that today.”
Sitri stood up from her seat and despite of the fact that there wasn’t a bookshelf, she took out several large books. It was physically impossible, but this was the Virtual Space and Sitri was a strong demon.
“Did you want to purchase another spirit? Or weapons? If not those, then items?”
The catalogues left Sitri’s hand and were placed in front of Yong-Ho. Instead of looking at the catalogues, Yong-Ho looked at Sitri and answered.
“All three of them.”
“I guess you’ll be helping me with my performance. Even though I’m not the assigned merchant, I’m glad I put in a lot of effort.”
“Are you still insisting on saying that you’re not the assigned merchant?”
“Because it’s true.”
Yong-Ho just smiled and let it go. He opened the catalogues.
***
Impulse buying usually happens when one visits the market unexpectedly.
Because of that, Yong-Ho made a shopping plan before connecting to the Virtual Space.
First, he needed to purchase three Iron Golems and Skeleton Workers.
He wanted to use the Iron Golems during fights and for helping out around the dungeon. And for the Skeleton Workers, Yong-Ho wanted to use them during fights.
Yong-Ho planned on creating an elite Skeleton group where Skull would be the leader.
Undeads are known to never get tired and can continuously do the same job as long as mana is provided. With that kind of perseverance, they’ll be able to slowly build their Evolution Rate in the training ground.
‘I did decide on evolving them into Death Knights.’
He wanted to create a group of knights.
The best Undead unit that included the Death Knights and Lich.
Of course he still had a long way to go until that happened, but he knew it was worth the investment.
‘With Skull, I’ll start off with six. As for the unit name, Skull Unit should be fine, right? And for the rest of the Skeletons, I think giving them call signs like, Skull Two, Skull Three should be fine.’
Three Iron Golems and five Skeleton Workers.
He decided to purchase those eight spirits and now, he had to purchase various materials and necessities for the dungeon. He also needed to purchase materials for building the basic workshop.
While listening to Sitri’s advice, he purchased the things that were on his list.
However, during the last moment, something unexpected happened. He had a strong desire to impulse buy.
“Rank Four Spirit Catalogue”
Sitri showed the cover with a smile and Yong-Ho realized again that Sitri was a merchant.
“Only look.”
“Are you serious?”
“You know what I mean.”
Would he be able to only look?
Yong-Ho extended out his hand and calculated his remaining budget. He opened to the first page as if he was being tempted by the devil.
***
“I love you, valuable customer. I really, really love you.”
The beautiful Mystical Elf had a soft waist and by recalling Catalina’s face and voluptuous body, he was able to endure it.
He was able to prevent himself from purchasing the strong-looking Troll Warrior by recalling Eligor and Ophelia.
For the Skeleton Knight, he didn’t have the desire to purchase it since he had Skull.
But, there was a spirit that tested Yong-Ho’s strong will to not purchase anything.
“Aw-awesome.’
Nightmare.
It was a horse-shaped spirit that was a higher rank than the Phantom Steed.
It was big and beautiful. Even though it was shaped like a horse, its body and appearance looked intense. Saying that they were the best horse wasn’t an exaggeration.
Its entire body was black, but its mane was white and green flames rose out of its eyes.
‘But I have Salami!’
Salami would soon evolve into an awesome Fire Dragon. That’s why he was able to stop himself.
No. It was impossible.
What if Skull rode Salami after evolving into a Skeleton Knight? Or Catalina could ride him.
Battles happened outside of dungeons as well. Having transportation was important too.
‘This is how much I think about you guys.’
After making up different excuses, Yong-Ho expressed that he wanted to purchase the Nightmare and Sitri replied by displaying the most beautiful smile.
He was really done now.
After making an impulse purchase, Yong-Ho’s time was almost up and instead of saying goodbye, Sitri started talking.
“If you continue becoming stronger…I recommend playing in a bigger pool.”
“Bigger pool?”
Yong-Ho asked without realizing it and Sitri nodded. She took out a flyer from between her breasts and handed it to Yong-Ho.
“Dungeon Market Auction House”
Yong-Ho lifted his head. Sitri gently took a step back.
“The chaos will only become worse. If you survive the chaos and become even stronger…I’ll make sure to serve you next time.”
Only
Sitri gracefully expressed her respect towards Yong-Ho. She finished by displaying the same smile she always had.
“I love you, valuable customer. I look forward to our next meeting.”
The white world was now filled with darkness.
Yong-Ho naturally closed his eyes.
‘Dungeon Market Auction House…’
Why did Sitri call that place a bigger pool?
His thoughts disconnected. When Yong-Ho opened his eyes, he saw Catalina and Eligor’s face.
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