Chapter 14. The Second Ancient Knowledge (1)

What was interesting that each equipment that belonged to the Harkan set had a hidden story behind it, which made up an entire story once all the parts were put together.

Originally Harkan was one of the 8 heroes that drove out the ‘Army of Death’ that polluted Mount Puyan and built Falcon City. However, in his fight with the Army of Death, a small ‘Darkness Fragment’ was stuck inside his heart. The problem was that no one knew that the Darkness Fragment was embedded on Harkan’s heart. Even Harkan himself didn’t know.

Eventually, the small Darkness Fragment changed Harkan little by little, and the just, upright Harkan changed into a sneaky dictator.

The corrupted Harkan eventually clashed with the other heroes due to his evil acts. No matter how great he was, he couldn’t go against all the other heroes by himself, so he was naturally driven back. In the end, Harkan was shot through the head by a ‘Golden Heavenly Arrow’ which was shot by another hero, but coincidentally, his corpse fell into the sewers of Falcon City, which was under construction at that time.

This was the reason his equipment could be acquired from the sewer. Not only the 77th Sewer Sanghyuk was in right now, but the public dungeon ‘Falcon Sewer’s also dropped these items as well.

After Falcon Sewers started being cleared, Harkan equipment became famous. And for quite a while, it was called the ‘uniform’ among the users and received lots of love.

Of course, the final boss of the sewers ‘Polluted Harkan’ gave a special set of Harkan equipment set since he was the boss, but those were made for a few special people.

Sanghyuk was thinking of selling all the Harkan equipment before the price dropped due to the increase in supply.

Harkan equipment had average stats and had quite good set effects, so all users really liked this set. However, in Sanghyuk’s view, they were just items that he would pass by.

Sanghyuk’s level increased to 28 in just 10 days.

In Eternal Life, levels increased quite quickly until level 20, and the speed would decrease from level 20 to around 25, before the gates of hell appeared.

At level 30, the 1st ‘Hell zone’ began, and all users thought that level 30s were the true level up hell. However, later, the first user to reach level 40 would realize that level 30 to 40 wasn’t a hell after all after seeing the required karma to level up to 41.

The true hell began at level 40.

Until the second planet was added later, all users suffered quite a lot in that pit of hell.

Although Sanghyuk wasn’t even at the first hell zone yet, his level of 28 was definitely not low.

Although not exact, the users with the highest levels in EL was around 34~36 according to various online forums.

However, the majority of these people were One Soul. There were an extreme minority of Double Souls as well, but they couldn’t be compared to Sanghyuk. He was raising a Quadra Soul, so he was, in fact, raising his level faster than anyone else.

*Pzzzzt!*

A strong electric current shot out from the Merlog’s blue horn. The boss monster, Blue-horned Merlog, of Merlog’s Treasury struggled to its last breath, but that didn’t make any difference to Sanghyuk.

Sanghyuk had long since seen through its pattern, so he avoided its desperate attack just by rolling his body sideways.

*Crackle!*

When the strong electric current hit the floor in vain, Sanghyuk’s sword was swung three times in succession.

*Pa-pa-pah, slash!*

The Blue-horned Merlog had almost zero health anyway, so it couldn’t endure anymore. Its head was separated from its body with three sword slashes and collapsed onto the floor.

You have defeated the Blue-horned Merlog and cleared the Merlog’s Treasury.

Glittering amethyst bracelet, an item that the Merlogs had gathered, has been dropped on the ground.

You have filled the maximum amount of clears by clearing 100 times.

Merlog’s Treasury will disappear.

Sanghyuk cleared the Merlog’s Treasury completely in just 10 days. What was disappointing that there was no all-clear reward since it was a low-rank secret dungeon, but that didn’t matter since he acquired quite a lot of things by clearing it 100 times.

Although the 77th Sewer had around 50 clears left, Sanghyuk planned to sell it once the interest in secret dungeons rose a lot later, for a high price of course.

Everything would be a lot more expensive when there was little supply, so he should be able to get quite a profit if he sold it well.

He had long since fully fitted himself with the entire Harkan equipment set.

Harkan’s Helmet, Armor(top), Armor(bottom), Sword, Shield, Boots, Cape – for a total of 7 pieces.

Once he fully equipped himself, he finally looked like he was a semi-pro. Of course, in Sanghyuk’s eyes, this wasn’t that much different from beginner’s clothes, but at this point in time, there weren’t any better alternatives.

He commissioned all the other items saving a set for himself. Since it would be difficult to sell them for good prices if he uploaded all of them once, he teased the market by uploading one at a time.

Only this way could he sell all of his loot in the most expensive way.

Actually, with EL’s popularity on the rise, there were many contents related to EL not inside it, but outside as well, and among them was a site that traded items.

If he used that website, then he might be able to earn some pretty penny, but Sanghyuk didn’t bother doing that. He still had enough money for his everyday life. Right now, in-game currency, ‘gold’, was more important than real cash.

***

[I declare Eternal Life as the best Dream Network game of all time!]

[The enraging EL has overwhelmed the Dream Network game industry.]

[Five secrets to the popularity of EL, the game expected to take the crown in one month.]

[Real-time ratings of 9.9 from the users! Every user has fallen to the charm of EL!]

…….

…….

EL finally blew it.

Like the articles, EL, just one month after its official launch, dominated all other games in the Dream Network and would stay like that for 15 more years.

“So it’s about time Raonsoft started rowing its boat.”

Muttered Sanghyuk as he read the articles related to EL in various game websites.

“And it’s about time guilds start appearing.”

There wasn’t much information on guilds yet. What was important was that it wasn’t known, it still did exist.

‘Which guild was it again that defeated the sewer boss ‘Polluted Harkan’ again? Was it Terríc?lum? Or was it Shooting Star’s Rising?’

Sanghyuk thought up of a few guilds that were famous at the beginning of EL, but he couldn’t remember who was it that killed Polluted Harkan for the first time.

“Well, that’s not important. I’m going to skip it anyway.”

Going through his mind, Sanghyuk shook his head, since it was meaningless. It wasn’t Sanghyuk’s style to be conscious about something he had already given up on.

“Harkan is just child’s play after all.”

Sanghyuk thought up of the countless dungeons that boasted hellish difficulty as well as their bosses. There were many that he had ridiculous amounts of trouble to kill.

Although Sanghyuk wasn’t active in any of the top-tier guilds, the workshop where he slaved away was akin to a gigantic guild, so there were times when they went on raids on a workshop scale. So he had a lot of experiences with raid as well.

‘Anyway, while they shovel away in the sewers, I should prepare for something else, right?’

Sanghyuk felt that it was about time to get his second Ancient Knowledge. The reason he hadn’t gotten his second Ancient Knowledge until now was that he lacked the requirements to get it.

However, he was now over level 25 and had enough gold. With this, he should be able to get his second Ancient Knowledge.

The second Ancient Knowledge Sanghyuk was planning to get today could be considered the nucleus of the Quadra Soul he was planning.

The same thing that gave the ‘Crash’ Choi Sangryul the title of the strongest in his previous life! Although the one who realized his theory in real life was Choi Sangryul, the one that completed the theory was Sanghyuk himself.

Although he could only give it to someone else since he was crippled in his previous life, it was different now. Sanghyuk was no longer a cripple.

Nor did he have a reason to become one.

In his previous life, Sanghyuk was slaved away in an illegally modified VR capsule without a proper rest and was inflicted with a strange disease called the ‘VR Overindulgence Syndrome’.

This disease had no effect on everyday life, but entering VR would mess up all the senses and would screw up measuring any VRA at all.

Meaning, he was basically ‘crippled’ in virtual reality.

Before Sanghyuk returned to the past, there were no signs of that getting better. In the first place, this syndrome was treated like a new incurable disease, so there was no remedy for it.

The reason Sanghyuk took care of his own body and gave his body proper rest was also that he had already experienced the results of overdriving his body.

Of course, that time, his body was driven to the limits against his will and an additional damage was added from the stress, but in any case, Sanghyuk had no plans to become a cripple yet again.

“There we go!”

Sanghyuk, who was reading the internet through the tablet PC while doing push-ups, stood up.

He had his nutritional, albeit not tasty, meal and had exercised as well. Since he had some sleep just a few hours before, he was in a great condition.

“Very good. Should I go at it again then?”

Sanghyuk looked at the VR capsule in his room with a comfortable smile, since he was in great condition.