Chapter 141: The Third Explorer (5)

Immediately afterward, I headed to the guild house with Ludia. In the hall, I met Shuna for the first time in quite a long time.

"Ah, Crown Prince-nim, Ludia! H-Hello!"

"Hello, Miss Shuna."

"You can just call me Shuna. You don't have to be so formal! C-Can I also say Shin-nim?"

"You want me to stop being formal, but you want to address me so respectfully!?"

Shuna was hard to understand. However, since she was cute, it was pleasant talking to her. She was more cute, rather than beautiful.. She looked good with Ludia, who exuded a more noble and mature aura.

"Then, Shuna."

"Yes, Shin-nim! Kyaa, I called him by his name!"

I was surprised by how happy she was, but I didn't say anything as my instincts were warning me to not question it. More specifically, I had a feeling that Ludia might kill Shuna.

"You must have been surprised because the guild house suddenly moved. Can we still get to the Residential Area?"

"Yes! We can go to the First Dungeon's Residential Area just like before! Also..."

"Also?"

Shuna stretched her arms out to the side and shouted.

"We can also go to the Second, Third, and Fourth Dungeon's Residential Areas!"

"... What?"

"Ah, of course, it's only the Residential Areas, not the dungeons themselves."

I was confused for a moment but I soon understood. I knew this place's affiliation changed to Beyond, but I didn't think it would let me go other dungeons' Residential Areas. Eh? Hold on, does that mean...

An absurd thought crossed my mind, and I was then shocked that it wasn't as absurd as I initially thought.

"Did this guild... transcend the First Dungeon?"

"What does that mean, Shin-nim?"

"... It means we might get some new members, Shuna."

Shuna clapped in response, but Ludia didn't look so happy.

"My dream of a newlywed's home..."

"I can hear you. And that's not it."

To be honest, I wanted to explore Beyond's Residential Area, but it was more important to confirm whether my conjecture was right. I pulled up my friend list and immediately took action.

As a result, in less than 20 minutes, a few people gathered at our guild house.

"Ooh, is this the first present my son is giving me!?"

"No, father. This is my mansion. I won't be giving it to you, so stop dreaming."

"Amazing. I can really enter..."

"Wow, this is Shin-nim's mansion? How cool!"

"Kang Shin, how did you climb the dungeon to be able to afford a mansion like this?"

"It's nice now that we're all here!"

Marianne's Garden became noisy. Shuna became flustered seeing them for the first time and hid behind my back, while Ludia linked her arm with mine and frowned.

"As you guys know, this is my friend Ludia. The pretty, pink haired girl is Shuna, Ludia's friend. They're both guild members."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Hwaya Mastiford."

"He... Hello!"

Shuna easily fell for Hwaya's charm and sociability. With Hwaya serving as the mediator, the awkwardness quickly disappeared and Shuna learned to talk with others. However, Ludia seemed unhappy for some reason and continued to stay by my side.

Of course, there was a reason I called them over. It was impossible before, but it was possible now. It was to create a guild that transcended the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Dungeons. Since they all wanted to join a guild, things went smoothly. Other than me, only Hwaya owned a residence. Since she adamantly said she wanted to join my guild, there was no problem whatsoever.

It felt like it was just yesterday that she said she wanted to make her own organization, but now she was acknowledging me as the guild master. It was the same for Sumire, who happily joined my guild. That said, a lot had changed since the first time the communication channel opened.

Of course, I had changed a lot too. Although I thought it wasn't necessary to form a group, after partying with Hwaya a couple times, I had changed my mind. I had created the guild on my own accord and invited others since I became a Beyond explorer, but even if it was Hwaya standing in my position, I would have happily joined her guild.

The biggest reason I refused her offer back then was that I couldn't trust her. Half a year had passed since then, and things were a bit different. I trusted Hwaya and I trusted Sumire. It was the same for Walker, who was tied by a contract. We were stronger together, and as dungeon explorers, we could trust each other. The guild would only bind us together more.

[Guild 'Revival' became D rank! When challenging Event Dungeons or Event Raids, when 5 or more guild members are present, all guild members' abilities will be increased by 5%!]

[Guild members: Kang Shin (Guild Master, First - Gold & Beyond), Kang Yungoong (First - Gold), Su Ye-Eun (First - Gold), Palludia Gren Ehuir (First - Silver), Shuna Aren Lihita (First - Silver), Hwaya Eleni Mastiford (Second - Gold), Minami Violet Sumire (Second - Gold), Edward Walker (Third - Gold). Total: 8]

Now, it was more like a guild. Seeing the list of guild members, I smiled. Walker had also broken through the 50th floor. With this, couldn't we be called elites? Plus, I liked their our abilities increased when 5 or more of us were together. Event Dungeons and Event Raids were on Earth as well. Together, our chance of survival would increase. I wish Loretta would have told me about this sooner!

"Ooh, when my vitality hits zero, is this where I'll come back to?"

"How nice. Shin, you'll prepare a room for me next to yours, right...? Huhu."

"Ah, I call the other side!"

"Hmph, I'm going to live in Shin's room!"

"As the guild master, I'm claiming an entire hallway to myself, so stop dreaming."

Ignoring the girls' complaints, I assigned them their rooms. When I did, keys were given to them, binding the rooms to them entirely. It was the feature of a guild house. Since the mansion had over 100 rooms, giving private rooms to the guild members wouldn't have any problems.

"Oi, Kang Shin. What's that?"

"What, it's just a Giant Iron Boar and a Flame Drake."

"You're using those precious things as decorations...? You're as amazing as always."

While everyone was focused on the inside of the mansion, Walker was looking at the garden. The Giant Iron Boar was now 7, 8 meters, making it awkward to even call it 'giant.' The Flame Drake corpse was also shrinking. It wasn't that mana was leaving the corpses. Now that I could better detect mana, I could clearly feel it. They were being compressed.

I didn't know what they were working so hard for even as corpses. I just knew that Marianne's Garden wasn't a normal space. Since it looked like they were making themselves more expensive, I decided to just let them be.

"Alright, there's something we need to do first."

Although everyone looked like they wanted to explore the mansion more, I gathered them together.

"We need to find out what's outside."

"Monsters?"

"Monsters can't appear in the Residential Area. But since Ludia said she felt a strange presence, there might be something else."

"Don't scare me."

Hwaya grabbed onto my sleeve as she said that. Thinking back to the time she was scared by the spiders, it seemed she was rather weak hearted. Ludia looked mad when she saw Hwaya, but she soon calmed down. You've improved, Ludia!

However, feeling my body getting heavier, I looked back. Ye-Eun and Shuna were also grabbing onto me. I smiled at them kindly and spoke.

"All of you, get off of me."

We left the garden. It was truly dark. Because of the thick fog, we couldn't see far ahead either. However, when we walked forward, the fog disappeared.

"Do you want to split up?"

"Yeah, let's split into two teams. Contact us periodically or if you find anything."

I went to the right with Minami, Ludia, and Walker. I dispersed my mana as far as I could to increase my detection range, when Minami asked me.

"Shin-nim, you just expanded your aura outward, right?"

"Yeah. By dispersing my mana, I can expand my senses."

"Wow, amazing... If it's okay, can you teach me how?"

"Sure. We're both guild members, so I can teach you later."

"Thank you! Ah, and you don't have to be formal! You can call me Sumire too."

"O-Okay."

Now that I thought about it, I had not talked to Minami, or rather, Sumire, much. When we met in Yeungdeungpo to clear the Event Dungeon, she seemed impressed by my strength and continued to address me with 'nim' in respect.

I had seen sparkling eyes like hers often. The martial artists, who respected father, often had such eyes. Considering her strength and attitude towards martial arts, she might be a martial artist herself.

"I heard you learned martial arts from Yungoon ajusshi, but you're stronger than him now, right?"

"No, I'm a step behind father in terms of the depth in martial arts, but overall... I should be stronger."

"I knew it...!"

Burdensome. Sumire's sparkling eyes and Ludia hugging my arm like she wanted to break it were burdensome!

Wait, hold on.

"Walker, did you feel that?'

"I did. It looks like a barrier of some sort."

I expanded my senses, but they were cut off like they collided into something. I dispersed my mana in all directions, checking where my senses were cut off and how far they could reach. The fog in the area my senses reached also disappeared. The ground revealed a stone floor, while a huge wall stood in the distance. Beyond it, I saw a medieval castle similar to my own mansion. After that, my mana was cut off completely.

"Amazing...! You're really amazing, Shin-nim!"

"Huhu."

Sumire complimented me and Ludia got happy in my place. I didn't know why.

"What do you think that is? A new dungeon?"

"There are Event Dungeons in Residential Areas too."

"I don't know. I feel like that's..."

Sumire and Ludia thought the castle could be an Event Dungeon. However, after observing the outline of the castle walls, Walker proposed.

"Oi, Kang Shin. Isn't that a mansion like yours?"

Almost as if to prove that his conjecture was right, a voice rang in my ear. It was the voice of a beautiful, young man. I realized after I heard the voice. It was coming from Beyond's communication channel!

[Go back, Third Explorer. I have no intention of dealing with you.]

[You are... Excuse me. I just came here, so I was exploring the Residential Area with my companions.]

Perhaps interested in what I said, he became silent for a moment. Just when I thought he no longer wanted to talk, his voice rang out again.

[... A guild master, I see. I was once also interested in such childish games. In any case, go back. What you desire isn't here. Go west. You'll find some treasures there.]

[Thank you for telling me. We'll be off then.]

[Wait. You must have been acknowledged by an administrative guild master.... Who is it?]

[It's Fairy Garden's master, Loretta.]

[... Is that so...]

His silence continued. I sensed something from his silence. Could it be that he is...?

[She is... No.]

With that, I was certain.

[No, it's nothing. Second Explorer is also listening. It's fine, go back.]

Feeling strange, I turned back. He was my senior as he entered Beyond before me. Although he sounded young, he must have lived for much longer than me. Perhaps, he was Loretta's...

"I can't understand why I'm feeling so weird..."

"What's wrong? Did you use your mana too much? Are you okay?"

"Shin-nim?"

"N-No, I'm fine. Let's go. That was another explorer's house. He said there's something to the west, so let's go there."

"Okay!"

"How kind of him to tell us."

Sumire, Ludia, and Walker followed after me. I still felt weird. Loretta must have known, right? Then why didn't she tell me about it? No, it was probably me that was weird. There was no doubt about it. Whether Loretta's first love was here or not, it had nothing to do with me.

After 5 minutes, we got a report from the team that went the other way that they found something.