Chapter 220 – Kelat Auction House (3)

The second day.

Yeon-woo went to visit the Martial King because he had something to request from him for his plans. The Martial King, who had been busy chasing after the Bow God, looked unusually stiff.

Their tracking had ended in failure again. Since the damage their tribe received was pretty large now, they had to use all the cards they had.

But he lifted a corner of his mouth, like he was fine.

“Our little disciple-nim changes day by day. I heard you made something fun?”

Even though the group had agreed to keep things related to the Philosopher’s Stone under wraps, the Martial King knew the truth.

The Martial King was able to feel that Yeon-woo was definitely different, and he nodded in amusement.

Yeon-woo had grown a lot compared to last time.

“Thanks to you, I was able to create it comfortably.”

Psh. The Martial King scoffed and waved his hand.

“You say insincere things so easily. You’re becoming more shameless as time goes on, hm?”

“It’s all thanks to my teacher.”

“And you’re good at flapping your gums. But it’s nice to see that you seem alive now.”

The Martial King continued with a smirk.

“When I first saw you, you were just fierce, like a wolf starved for 5 months. But you finally seem like a person now. Hm?”

For a moment, Yeon-woo was speechless. He felt like he knew why the Martial King was saying that. When they first met, Yeon-woo was filled with thoughts about revenge.

But now, it was different.

He was stronger, but he wasn’t only sharp around the edges. It was probably because a lot of things had filled his empty heart.

Sesha, Brahm, Galliard. Phante and Edora. And the Martial King. Now, he had a lot of people around him, and he experienced mental growth by becoming close to them.

Maybe it was because he was more ‘relaxed’ now.

If he hadn’t met them, he might’ve been putting his all into climbing the Tower.

“Well, growing is good, whether it’s external or internal. If you focus too much on one thing, you’ll eventually fall. You’ve been so focused on external growth, so I was worried, but it’s a relief.”

The Martial King nodded with a smile. His eyes showed that he was proud of Yeon-woo.

Yeon-woo also felt pride arising from somewhere in his heart. It was the first time the Martial King complimented him like this.

“But be careful, and even more careful. There are too many things that you possess right now. Even if you’re currently doing well, it’s only human to be shaken up someday. A person’s mind is surprisingly weak. Be wary of things outside the body. (身外之物) [TN: A four character idiom to be careful of things that aren’t inside your body.] You’ll be fine as long as you don’t forget this.”

身外之物. Things outside your body. It meant not to be hung up and changed by things that weren’t ‘yourself.’ The most important thing was ‘you,’ or in other words, your mind.

“I’ll be careful.”

“Alright. Good.”

The Martial King’s smile turned deeper. Yeon-woo was doing much better than he thought as his third disciple, although their meeting had been coincidental.

Actually, the Martial King didn’t have plans to take in any more disciples. His first disciple walked a road of destruction after being too greedy, and his second disciple turned away from the world because it was too hard to understand the Martial King’s teaching.

The Martial King had only been successful his entire life—becoming the king of the tribe from when he was born and living a life full of accomplishments. So the Martial King was hesitant to take in more disciples after both of them failed.

But the third disciple that he found by chance was doing well on his own.

The Martial King hoped that this child, at the very least, would safely walk his path. At first, he accepted Yeon-woo in hopes of him fulfilling the wishes of the tribe, but now he was truly cheering him on.

“Then, that’s it for the nagging today.”

The Martial King quickly changed the subject in case Yeon-woo caught on to what he was thinking. He would be embarrassed if Yeon-woo read his mind. And obviously, Phante would endlessly tease him.

“Why did you come here? It seems like you have something to ask.”

“It’s not like your student only comes when he wants something from his teacher.”

“Really? So you’re saying you don’t need my help, right?”

“But it would be impolite of the student to reject his teacher’s help.”

“That mouth of yours. So what is it?”

The Martial King asked with a smirk.

Yeon-woo nodded his head.

“I’d like to have a Skin Mask.”

“A Skin Mask?”

The Martial King widened his eyes, wondering what Yeon-woo was up to now. The Skin Mask was something that wasn’t that well known in the tribe. It was something that almost no one from outside the tribe knew about.

But the Martial King spoke like it was nothing.

“Talk to the Head Elder and take some. And from now on, you don’t have to come to me for things like this.”

It was Yeon-woo’s turn to be surprised.

“Wasn’t the Skin Mask something rare and precious?”

“So? Do I seem small-minded enough not to lend my disciple even a single one?”

“You aren’t?”

“Hey, watch your mouth. I’ll take back what I said.”

“Never mind. Thank you.”

Yeon-woo quickly bowed and left in case the Martial King changed his mind.

The Martial King grinned as he watched Yeon-woo leave.

“He’s even joking with me now, huh? He grew a lot. He grew.”

***

The first thing that Yeon-woo was going to attempt was leaking a fake formula for the Philosopher’s Stone so the Tower would be thrown into a state of chaos.

Yeon-woo and Brahm were successful in making a fake Emerald Tablet after 4 days.

Although it was fake, because it had to trick countless players, it wasn’t that different from the original.

No, it was actually more informative than the Emerald Tablet that Yeon-woo first received. He had given specific details about several points, and even mixed in the real formula into some places of it as well. It was at a level that if it was really experimented with, it seemed achievable.

However, that was it.

It was only at the level of potentially seeing the results. It was a level that was too lacking to be called the Philosopher’s Stone. It was created so that nobody would be able to find out the information that wasn’t included.

And Yeon-woo split this into 4 parts.

“You’re going to release this in order, right?”

Brahm observed the split Emerald Tablet and burst out laughing, which was unlike him. Then, his smile turned cold.

“Everyone will go crazy.”

The Red Dragon would be especially more rushed. But Brahm knew that the other Large Clans and high rankers wouldn’t be too different either.

The desire for an organ with unlimited magical power was intense—for the Summer Queen and for all players.

Brahm wanted to see Walpurgisnacht in ashes as soon as possible.

His eyes shone violently.

“Then, let’s begin.”

***

Yeon-woo took off his mask and put on his Skin Mask. A very thin layer covered his skin. The plant that was made to stick without falling off from the user’s face made him uncomfortable.

“Is this good?”

“This part is out.”

Yeon-woo looked back at Phante. Phante fixed the parts that were awkward on his face and brought a mirror over.

“How is it? You can’t tell, huh?”

Yeon-woo nodded seeing himself reflected in the mirror. Inside of it, there was an extremely ordinary-looking person.

Looking here and there, he carefully examined it. It was more interesting the more he looked at it. He had really become someone different.

While he was at it, Yeon-woo carefully brought his magic into the deepest parts of him as much as he could, and changed his overall aura into something else. With the Philosopher’s Stone, his control of magic power was unmatched.

After he suppressed his magic power, he really seemed like someone else. An ordinary and weak-looking person. It was a common face, so no one would remember it either.

“Then I’ll be back.”

“See you later on the 21st floor.”

“Be careful.”

Yeon-woo put his duffel bag on his back and left the village.

While Yeon-woo searched for the Kelat Auction House, Phante and Edora were going to do what he asked them to, along with Brahm and Galliard, on the 21st floor.

It was to gather the pieces of Agares’s demonic energy that was spread all over the stage and throw it into De Roy Lake to create a lower level demon. It was going to be used to cure Sesha.

[Hehehehe. So is the strategy to dominate the world of the villains coming next?]

Shanon giggled, amused.

‘Villains?’

[Am I wrong?]

‘Villains, you say. Well, you’re not wrong.’

Yeon-woo grinned. In fact, Shanon was correct, since he was planning on pushing the Tower over the edge of confusion.

He wasn’t aiming just for Walpurgisnacht. He was after the Tower itself.

Yeon-woo wet his lips with his red tongue. His eyes flashed coldly, like the eyes of a predator that had seen its prey.

***

Unlike indoor markets, the Kelat Auction House was a market that was open to all players.

However, despite having the name ‘Auction House,’ it was a large scale operation that dealt with over tens of thousands of items every day.

The reason was simple.

It was because this was an official location that was approved by the Bureau. Guardians were always here in case things happened, and all the items were examined closely, so no one had to worry about being scammed.

And if requested, the identity of the person who provided the artifact would be kept a secret. It was an easy place to take care of items found coincidentally.

When the Large Clans needed a large stock of some items or were looking for things secretly, this was the place to do it.

As if to prove that fact, the Kelat Auction House was bustling with tons of people, like usual.

Thanks to that, Yeon-woo wasn’t looked at twice, and he was able to naturally blend in with the crowd.

All he had were loose clothes and a duffel bag on his back. His stiff face was one of a newbie seller.

[Wow! This place is always boisterous when I’m here. Why are there so many people? It’s not even a special day.]

Shanon laughed loudly, happy to be around a lot of people after a long while. Hanryeong didn’t say much, but he seemed to be traveling down memory lane.

There weren’t many who didn’t visit the Kelat Auction House.

Yeon-woo was a rare case, not having come here once.

The Auction House was made up of many buildings. On a large plot of land, it was divided into 9 sections, and within those sections, there were also divisions.

There was the center building where the actual auctions took place, stalls in the streets, and even places where you could deal with other players.

Of those, the place Yeon-woo was heading for was the dealing section.

Most people who wanted to sell something came here. There were two ways to deal. Consigning it or selling it.

The former method was to pay a fee and put it up for auction, receiving as much as it was sold for, and the latter was just selling it at the price the Auction House set.

Most people who were confident in their item chose the former, and people who needed quick cash chose the latter.

Yeon-woo passed the labor market where players were standing with all kinds of weapons.

The floors that they could reach were in front of the players so that they could be used as mercenaries anytime. One of the items that Kelat Auction House dealt were mercenaries.

‘It should be somewhere here.’

Remembering the map of the section that was in the diary, Yeon-woo looked around.

There wasn’t just one dealing area. If so, there wouldn’t be competition between the merchants.

The Bureau only managed the Kelat Auction House, and the actual deals were done by professional merchants.

The mysterious merchants, one of whom Yeon-woo had met in the Tutorial, were another group of beings in the Tower that weren’t players or Guardians. They came and went from various worlds and dimensions, bringing with them all kinds of items.

Of them, there was someone specific Yeon-woo was looking for. No, to be exact, it was a group.

Like how players were connected by clans, the mysterious merchants were made up of unions.

Specifically, the group that Yeon-woo was looking for was the ‘West Wind.’

It was where his brother had frequently made deals.

Their dealing method was efficient, and they were one of the top 5 largest unions.

‘If I sell something here, it’ll be sold easily. And the rumors will spread fast.’

With those thoughts, he opened the door to a building called, ‘West Wind Union Dealing Area.’

“Thank you for choosing us. We love you. Fool, I mean customer, I hope you choose to use Merchant A next time too.”

He heard a voice as soon as he entered. A merchant with a robe who seemed to have just finished a deal was smiling brightly at him.

But for some reason, the voice was familiar.

Yeon-woo’s eyes widened after realizing who it was.

‘That guy is…..?’