Chapter 176: Enemies on Every Side (1)

The Lotus Domain was considered the hottest place in the northern continent recently.

And even inside there, the biggest pivotal topic was the Lotus Training Ground.

The only training ground amongst the ones in Kailan that had maxed out their facility level, this place was the biggest source of funds for the Lotus Guild.

"Huhu, this is truly interesting information, that is."

An old man with speckled hair petted two baby wolves back and forth in one corner of the Training Ground's office as he wrote something into his notes.

He was none other than Professor Lee Jinook.

"To think that experimentation on the Familiar Breeding System would be this fun."

Lee Jinook continuously resided within the Lotus Training Ground as he managed the Training Ground, and as he constantly butted heads with Familiars, he was able to obtain the 'Familiar Breeding' skill.

And after he obtained the breeding skill, he conducted experiments on that all day.

'Even when Jinsung first offered, I had no idea that it would be this fun, that is.'

Meanwhile, he received the experimental notes on Familiar stats from Ian, and with that as the foundation, he was analyzing how the stats of new individuals that could be obtained through breeding formed.

"Let's see here, the growth rate of Wolf A's Offensive Power is about 3.25, while the growth rate of its Defensive Power is about 1.7."

His note was completely filled with the stats and growth rates of the Familiars based on their levels.

The growth rate was the average of the increased stats whenever a Familiar leveled up.

"You take after your mom's Offensive Power and Reflexes."

Lee Jinook petted the baby wolf as he mumbled.

The content of his words was enough to cause someone who heard him to wear a dumbfounded expression.

"It looks like you take after your dad's Defensive Power, and your personality and Potential are also from your dad, huh?"

Just when Lee Jinook mumbled as he continuously analyzed his notes, the door burst open as someone came in.

And in the quiet room, a pleasant, silvery voice rang out.

"No, Professor, it's not even that their facial features look alike, but to say that they're Defensive Powers are similar. Professor, are you taking after Jinsung as well?"

The heroine of the voice was Harin.

"Huhu, have you come, Harin?"

While looking at Lee Jinook, who even guffawed at her scolding as he didn't tear his eyes away from the note, Harin let out a deep sigh.

"I've come to see you for the first time in a while, and you've become one step more like Jinsung. There's no other game addict."

At Harin's words, Lee Jinook smirked.

"I've still got a long way to go until I can follow Jinsung. I've just started opening my eyes to the enjoyment of game experiment now, Kkul-kkul."

Harin shook her head as she turned her gaze.

And the place that her gaze fell on was the wall where Lee Jinook had jotted down unknown codes and pasted them densely.

"Professor, what are all of these?"

At Harin's question, Lee Jinook put down his pen as he slowly turned his head.

"Huhu, could you call it big data in order to pick the most amazing individual amongst the same type of Familiars?"

At his words, Harin wore a puzzled expression.

"Sorry? What does that mean? Can the same Familiar have different stats?"

As Harin was a Priest and Cook, she obviously couldn't help but have no specialty knowledge on the Summoner class.

Lee Jinook's words continued.

"Just like how each person has different abilities, the Familiars in Kailan also have different stats. The experiment that I'm doing right now, you could call it an experiment to find the most remarkable individual through breeding."

Out of excitement, Lee Jinook began to release all the content that he had experimented on up until now.

"Oh, really?"

At first, Harin also began to listen to his explanation with interest.

However, after not even 5 minutes had passed, she shook her head as she couldn't help but stand up.

'Ha... Professor, it looks like he's really intending on writing a paper with Familiar Breeding.'

In some aspects, Lee Jinook had a more intense tenacity than even Ian.

And his experiments were truly gathering quite a large outcome.

Lee Jinook pulled out a notebook from his drawer as he opened it up.

With flush writing and even numbering, the information in the note were listed.

The stats of Familiars born through breeding certainly receive influence from the stats of the individuals which would be their parents. Amongst the combat abilities of Familiars born through breeding, they will receive two kinds of stats from their parents randomly, and the remaining two kinds of stats will receive influence from the breeding environment. Familiars through breeding will receive their Potential from the male individual at a steady rate.

That was the notebook where the principles of breeding that Lee Jinook discovered were organized into.

However, Harin sharply spun her head away.

"Euh, Professor. It feels as if I'm looking at what's going to be on a midterm test."

Lee Jinook just guffawed.

"Huhu, is that so? You're saying that the things on a midterm test for a cooking class are filled with such interesting content, huh?"

"..."

Harin, who was at a loss for words, just shook her head back and forth, and Lee Jinook mumbled on his own with an excited voice.

"Speaking of which, when is our Jinsung going to visit here? I really want to show him this notebook as soon as possible. He will definitely like it a lot, that is."

Harin wanted to refute by saying that there was no way Jinsung would like that, but she shut her mouth tight.

'I somehow feel like he'll really like it, that is.'

Harin's plan of asking Professor Lee Jinook to try and reduce Jinsung's game playing time even by a little, failed even before she could even start it.

* * *

"Haaa..."

Jinsung, who stretched as he got up from his bed, squinted his eyes after checking the time.

"Euah... Because of an unexpected quest, I used up too much time."

He obviously was unable to even start the additional connected quest of the Test of the Selamus Tribe.

Since even if he was to deduct the other conditions, the level restriction was 200.

Based on Eclipse's words, the difficulty level of the connected quests was decided on the obtained warrior rank, but as Ian had received such a high rank, apparently that was why he had such a nonsensically high-level requirement.

'It may have actually turned out for the better, since even if I could immediately proceed with the quest, I wouldn't have had enough time.'

If the connected quest was to proceed, it would have taken at least a couple more days.

And there was no way that the Kaimon Empire's Allied Forces would wait until Jinsung was finished with his quest.

Jinsung's heart grew urgent.

'It's about time for the Allied Forces to come barging through now...'

It was definite that the Allied Forces' full-scale attack would happen today or tomorrow, and Jinsung wanted to inspect the overall part of the domain's line of defense with his own two eyes before then.

"Sure, well, since a person won't die just because they skip breakfast once."

Jinsung, who was planning on at least eating cereal for a light meal, changed his mind and entered the capsule.

As Jinsung skillfully went and lied down in the capsule, the door of the capsule softly closed.

• Welcome to the world of Kailan.

• Summoner 'Ian', please enjoy your time.

The comments subtly changed every time he logged on.

Jinsung, who suddenly felt that it was cool, smirked as he mumbled to himself.

'Even each NPC has a different AI, so something like this is probably nothing to them.'

Ian, who logged into the game, looked around his surroundings.

The place that Ian had logged into was a campground that was temporarily made.

And a familiar voice that greeted Ian was heard.

"Are you awake now, Lord guy?"

At the familiar voice that he heard from behind him, Ian slightly frowned.

"When are you going to call me Lord, Retainer?"

"Well... Will the day that I call you that even come?"

Ian, who was about to fly off the handle at Kaizar's sarcasm, suddenly became curious of his Loyalty.

'Would it have gone up a little through this quest?'

Ian opened the retainer information window.

And he let out a deep sigh internally.

'It went up, but only by an ant's footstep.'

Kaizar's Loyalty was 10/100.

'Still, this is the first time that it's reached a two-digit number, so should I be satisfied?'

The reason why it had even gotten up this much was probably because he put up a good fight against Eclipse.

"Alright, shall we return to the domain now?"

At Ian's words, Celia and Paulean responded at the same time.

"Yes, Lord!"

Ian began to move quickly while leading his retainers.

He needed to return to the domain even one minute faster and inspect the fortress.

'I wonder what the other guild members are doing right now.'

Without a moment to rest, Ian opened the guild chat window while moving his feet.

• Ian: Everyone, there wasn't much that happened yesterday, right?

• Fiolan: Yes, well. There wasn't much. Speaking of which, Ian, were you just doing a quest all day yesterday? You didn't even attend the evening guild hunt either...

• Ian: Yes. The quest took a little longer than I expected. Speaking of which, is there movement from the Kaimon Empire Army's side yet?

• Kroban: It seems quiet so far. However, they'll attack soon now. They've seized all of the bases at the front besides our domain now.

• Ian: Ah-ha, I see. Everybody who is seeing the guild chat window right now, please tell the guild members who are not logged on to all log in. We must maintain a logged-in state as much as possible for today and tomorrow.

• Carwin: Alright, understood.

• Herz: I also just logged in. Come back to the domain quickly. There are some things that we must discuss.

• Ian: Okay.

Ian, who closed the chat window, checked the map as he headed for the domain within the shortest distance possible.

Because the campground where he logged in at and the Pyro Domain was not that far away from each other, Ian was able to arrive at the domain soon.

However, just then, a suspicious shadow caught Ian's eyes.

'Who is that? How are they able to appear on that side? Are they a guild member?'

The black shadow appeared underneath the steeple of the fortress rampart in the corner and leisurely disappeared off to somewhere.

'There shouldn't be a passageway that way, though...?'

Ian, who personally participated in the construction of the Pyro Domain's fortress, knew of the whole structure of the fortress.

Because that was the case, if it was a normal situation, he knew that there would never be someone that appeared near the steeple.

Ian, who sensed something suspicious, immediately summoned Halli.

"Halli, Summon!"

Grr-!

Ian, who quickly got on Halli, spoke towards Kaizar.

"Kaizar, go inside the domain with Paulean and Celia first."

At Ian's words, Kaizar nodded his head with an unbothered expression.

"Understood. We'll do that."

And before he even heard Kaizar's response, Ian got on Halli and began to run.

"Halli, Blessing of the Wind!"

Ian, who had invoked Halli's Inherent Ability which maximized his Agility, quickly reduced the distance between them and the black shadow.

And the shadow that was headed towards somewhere seemed to have felt that Ian was following them, as they stood tall in that spot.

As he grew closer, the shadow of a man emerged.

'What the hell? Are they an Assassin?'

Beginning with their black uniform and mask, the man, whose whole body was covered in a black light, stood tall while facing Ian.

Tat-.

Ian, who felt that the man had no intentions of running away, got down from Halli's back as he glared at the man.

"You are?"

Ian pulled out the 'Judgment of the Spirit King', which he had obtained as a reward for battling against Eclipse.

While looking at Ian, who let out a threatening spirit that felt as if he would swing his spear around at any moment, the man burst out laughing.

"A Summoner that rides a Hallikan around... You must be that famous 'Ian'."

The man smirked as he spread his hand behind him and pulled out his weapons.

The things that were held in both his hands were large wind and fire wheels, which shone a white light because of the sunlight that reflected off of them.

Ian took one step forward as he opened his mouth again.

"I would like if you responded to the question first."

However, his opponent, who wasn't the least bit intimidated even by Ian's threat, lowered his stance as he stared back at Ian's two eyes.

"Try to find it out through your abilities if you're curious."