Chapter 288: Dragon's Land - 2
Ian asked Karceus.
'Karceus, you don't have any memories of your past life, right?'
At this question from Ian, Karceus bend his head and answered after contemplating for a while.
"That is certainly true, my memories are being lost. But I seem to have the basic knowledge I need as I'm a dragon."
And at these words, Ian nodded his head and asked once again,
"So do you know what kind of a place this Dragon's Altar is?"
Karceus replied,
"I know. The Dragon's Altar is..."
Karceus stopped for a moment and then spoke again,
"A place where dragons like me can present a special sacrifice to the Dragon God and gain new powers. If a non-dragon being places a sacrifice for the Dragon God, the god will present one wish to them and I seem to know why the Cintamani is at such a place."
"Huh...?"
Karceus chuckled looking at the strange face that Ian made.
"Maybe a certain someone gave the Dragon God the Cintamani as a sacrifice in exchange for something. Maybe that someone isn't a dragon, and the Cintamani is a special item that can't be granted to anyone other than a dragon."
Ian turned his head around.
The words of Karceus wasn't so hard to understand.
However, Kaka ho was listening to the conversation between these two had a very dark expression.
"If Karceus words are indeed right then... it will be very difficult for us, Master."
"Huh?"
"If Cintamani was sacrificed to the Dragon God, then it will be hidden somewhere deep inside the Dragon's Altar. To find it you will have to sneak around... and finding treasures in such deep places... have their own share of risk associated."
Karceus nodded his head.
"Kaka is right master. There is a chance of losing your life."
Ian frowned and asked,
"Is there no other way? To ask the Dragon god to borrow it..."
Kaka spoke sarcastically,
"Don't spew nonsense master. The moment Bbookbbook uses the Cintamani, it will disappear... how do you plan on borrowing it by then?"
"The borrowed money is usually used you know..."
"You plan on paying it back?"
"..."
Ian was lost in thoughts for a moment, and Kaka's words went on.
"Now we have two choices master."
"Two?"
"Yes."
"What are they? Go on."
Kaka who was in front of Ian's eyes continued to speak.
"First, you give up on the Cintamani, then leave the Cintamani; take the Soldiers of the Earth and head back. Maybe it will give us a victory in the Dimensional War. There isn't only one Cintamani in the whole universe, so we wait for the next opportunity."
"Hmm... the second?"
Kaka's words immediately followed.
"Secondly, the obvious, letting go of your life while taking the Cintamani. It is hard to succeed in this option; and even if you manage to get it, you'll buy the wrath of the Dragon God."
"So what if I get the wrath of the Dragon God?"
This time it was Karceus who spoke,
"I'll tell you about this part."
Kaka and Ian both turned their gazes in the direction of Karceus; he started to speak,
"The Dragon's Altar is guarded by four guardians that the Dragon God specifically sends. Maybe, they will follow their master."
"Guardian?"
"Yes. They appear like dragons, and each possesses a power which is equal to a dragon. I don't know about their intelligence, but If I speak about the power, each one of it is stronger than me, and they didn't even reach their limit."
"Keu..."
Ian had a moment of conflict.
This was because it would be a terrible idea to deal with the guardians who are much more powerful than Karceus.
There could be a chance if both Kaizer and Yankun both were with Ian, but they weren't in the current situation.
This was because he hadn't taken Yankun and Kaizer when entering the Test of Gateway, and without bringing his trails Ian immediately moved to the Land of Dragon's from the magic circle in Hwangseong.
'What should I do, should I just give up...?'
At that time, Karceus opened his mouth once again.
"But don't worry about that part."
"Um...? Why so?"
At that brief question from Ian, Karceus looked at Bbookbbook and answered.
"If you don't get the Cinamani, then you'll be dead meat, but if you do manage to successfully acquire the Cintamani... Then Bbookbbook will become a true Abyss Dragon."
"Huh...?"
Ian looked at Bbook, Bbookbbook also turned his head and looked at Ian.
"Bbook?"
And Karceus words continued.
"Abyss Dragon... they are not normal dragons. It can be said that they possess all the powers... of the dragons, and if an Abyss Dragon is added to the fight, then we can manage the four guardians of the Dragon God."
Ian looked at Bbookbbook with longing eyes.
'Since Bbookbbook is a legendary... if it becomes a true Abyss Dragon, then it will become a myth class.'
The word 'myth class' was enough to stir Ian's heart.
'Yes, since there is a tremendous gap between a hero class and a legendary class; having a myth class would be on a whole different level.'
And so far Ian's choice had been settled.
And now he wanted to evolve Bbookbbook much more quickly.
Ian looked at Karceus and asked,
"But Karceus, the guardians, aren't they the beings who will possess the powers of the Dragon God?"
Both Kaka and Karceus looked at Ian with an absurd expression.
And Kaka spoke,
"Master, the existence of God can't get involved with the creature of this world."
"Why?"
"If they had such enormous power to get involved in the worldly affairs... all the balance of the dimensional worlds would have been a mess. And if God's involvement was possible, my master wouldn't be having such a hard time."
"You mean?"
"The five God who rules the dimensions wouldn't have let the invasion begin on the Dimension world. With their power, they would be able to stop the invasion very easily. But if they chose to interfere, then the devils also won't stay still. All hell will break loose."
"Hm... That is true."
Ian who managed to understand the situation nodded his head to Kaka and confirmed the decision—Kaka once again asked Ian.
"What are you going to do Master?"
Ian smiled and answered,
"Don't you already know the answer?"
Karceus laughed and touched the sword.
He liked to deal with different kinds of weapons each time when he was polymorphed into a humanoid.
"This is why I like you master. Going head-on against a powerful enemy, this makes my heart race."
At these words from Karceus—Kaka spoke sarcastically,
"But I thought you hated hunting with our master."
Karceus answered immediately,
"No! the thing I hate is going against the same ones. Its always fun to meet new and powerful enemies to battle. It is just that... simple is boring."
Looking at the restless Karceus—Ian tapped the back of his neck and spoke in a low tone,
"Well... should we get a glimpse of the Cintamani?"
Ian shook his hands and then looked at the map.
It was the time to find the route to sneak into the Dragon's Altar.
* * *
Na Ji-chan, who was in the monitoring room had monitored the game for 3 days and was preparing a report on balance.
When he wasn't ordered to do a night shift, he stayed back from the second day.
The reason for that wasn't his devotion to the given task.
It was because monitoring the game was so much fun.
"This so nice but can't I do anything else?"
Na Ji-chan was needed to create a balance report, so he was needed to monitor al least ten rankers evenly.
But for the past ten hours, his eyes had been stuck on a monitor that was showing Ian.
"Oho, those idiots. Those QA team were stupid to approach Ian..."
From the moment that Ian had killed the five demons, until the moment Ian had arrived at the Dragon's Altar, he didn't miss a single moment.
And when Ian managed to enter the Dragon's Land, Na Ji-chan had felt much more excited.
"What now? Is this crazy bas*ard going to enter the Dragon's Altar?"
The original plan of the planning team was to put a few human users along with the Asmodians into the Maurya Empire.
And the quest related to the Cintamani was going to be a different chapter.
It was supposed to be an exclusive quest for a summoner to make an Abyss Dragon after achieving the Cintamani, it wasn't a quest that was supposed to be cleared that soon.
According to the Kailan scenario; once the true Abyss Dragon made its appearance, the Dimensional war would come to an end.
Na Ji-chan who was chewing the salted dry squid, grinned.
"Can Ian really be able to get the Cintamani? Then the planning team will get a real beating."
The war between the humans and the Asmodians—it was a scenario that was needed to go on for at least half-year.
If the true Abyss Dragon decided to make an appearance by then, Ian would bring the end of the war.
All the staff of the planning and development team at the LB didn't know that they were going to give up on their homes for a month.
Na Ji-chan was like a third party waiting for the situation that would come.
But then his phone rang.
A message from Kim Yee-hwan had come.
[Kim Daeri: Wrote the report well? How's the balance?]
Na Ji-chan laughed at the message that he saw.
[Na Ji-chan: Balanced. The planning team put a lot of effort to make this balance.]
Immediately the reply for the message had come.
[Kim Daeri: oh... that was obvious, isn't it? Is the current plan alright?]
Na Ji-chan bent his head and sent a reply.
[Na Ji-chan: If Ian can get assassinated, I think the balance will come back immediately. Till then, real balance will come to an end.]
[Kim Daeri: ...]
Another message didn't come from Kim Daeri.
And Na Ji-chan's eyes went back to the monitor.
'It is not that the game balance has been lost, he is just one crazy bas*ard.'
The report had been completed on the first day itself.
It had become meaningless to keep Ian included in the balance reports.
If Ian was the only one strong enough, and the Asmodians were much stronger, then maybe now would be the time for the human users to fold their games.
That was why Na Ji-chan had time to watch Ian's game for the past days.
Shhk-
Na Ji-chan took out a bag of potato chips and started to munch on them and spoke in a low whisper,
"I still feel like this is going to get much more interesting... just one variable maker is needed for the planning team to have some fun."
Without any nervousness about the other members of the planning team hearing it, Na Ji-chan went back to focusing on Ian's video.