The Return of the Legendary All-Master

– Restriction: Complete the quest “Stabilize the Monster Wave and Become a Hero”

– Reward: Reward Enhancement

– Description: Report the fact that the circus troupe had the mark.

‘Ah, I went to the pond, but I didn’t get anything good. Epic was the highest.’

The ‘pond’ in the Märchen Kingdom wasn’t something Jeong-Hoon had discovered first.

Bruce Willis.

He was the first user to visit the pond in the early days of the game.

And he had obtained an Epic consumable from this pond.

He had been quite disappointed to receive only an Epic consumable despite his dazzling performance.

Bruce Willis had informed the early users of this fact, and thanks to that, the pond was neglected by users.

But there was one fact they had overlooked.

‘Mentioning the mark was the final step.’

Jeong-Hoon’s words were the same as saying that the circus troupe in the middle of the Märchen Kingdom was keeping the mark.

Wasn’t it too contrived?

The reason was simple.

This was a test.

The mark wasn’t a treasure of the kingdom, but a device created by New World to qualify for the royal palace quest.

If Bruce Willis had figured out this device and mentioned it, he would have been given a chance to obtain an even better item than an Epic consumable.

“Yes. I was thinking that this mark might be a tool to test people like us, outsiders.”

Jeong-Hoon, who had accepted the quest, immediately hit the nail on the head.

Kaiserk V was momentarily stunned, then burst into hearty laughter and confessed.

“Haha! You’re right. It was indeed a device I intentionally created.”

“As expected…”

“I apologize. We need some verification for those who enter the royal palace.”

Jeong-Hoon glanced at Ragan.

Ragan avoided Jeong-Hoon’s eyes, as if he already knew.

The faces of the rest, except for a few, were filled with shock.

‘It seems like only a few, including Ragan, knew about this.’

He now understood why Ragan had personally come to the stable.

Jeong-Hoon smiled.

“That’s a relief. I thought there might be someone who stole the mark and kept it.”

“What would you have done if there was?”

“I would have gone there immediately and beaten them up to retrieve all the marks.”

It was a remark full of heroism.

Ragan seemed deeply impressed by Jeong-Hoon’s words, his face filled with emotion.

The same was true for the knights.

Some of them even applauded softly.

[Ugh, look at his acting. The stench of his feet is making me nauseous.]

Mukho was still eager to get on people’s nerves.

‘You’re going through a lot… I couldn’t flatter them even with such poor acting.’

Anima consoled Jeong-Hoon with pity.

For some reason, Anima’s consolation felt even worse.

“Hehe, thank you, but there’s no need for that.”

An exclamation mark blinked above Kaiserk V’s head.

[Quest completed.]

[Rewards are enhanced.]

Done.

With this, I can aim for even higher grade items.

* * *

Earth Korea Management Team.

Manager Oh Jin-Soo dropped the coffee he was holding.

“He broke the record…”

At his words, the employees, who had been frozen like broken machines, exclaimed in unison.

“Wow! He’s close to 90%!”

“That’s crazy!”

Entering the Märchen Kingdom royal palace.

Various users from the Korean server had entered the royal palace so far.

And they all left the palace after experiencing the bitterness of the monster wave quest.

This was because no further quests were given after receiving a small reward.

“The highest record was 79%. And he was the only one who visited the ‘pond’ that only the king could enter!”

The pond.

It was known as a pond that only one user had ever visited.

A place where you could get a new item by dropping an item into the pond.

It was like a pond created based on Korean folklore.

However, this pond didn’t receive a very good evaluation.

‘Epic grade consumable.’

Even after showing an amazing performance in the monster wave and achieving a crazy contribution of 79%, it was only an Epic grade consumable.

Moreover, the consumable was a one-time use item that temporarily increased all stats by 1.3 times.

The result was too poor compared to the effort, so it was inevitable that it would receive a bad evaluation.

But the thoughts of Manager Oh Jin-Soo and the management team staff were different.

“That reward was upgraded, right…?”

“It seems like it…?”

“Crazy… To think that even mentioning the origin of the mark was part of the process of getting the reward.”

The fact that the reward was enhanced meant that they could get at least an Epic grade or higher item.

Since the user had only shown shocking scenes so far, he was sure to cause another incident this time as well.

“Huh? But why is there coffee here…?”

“Oh my! Manager! What are you doing spilling coffee here?!”

The staff, who had been distracted by the monitor, finally realized that Oh Jin-Soo had spilled coffee and screamed.

“Ah, I’m sorry…”

Oh Jin-Soo apologized belatedly, but the staff didn’t accept his apology.

“No! Now’s not the time to apologize!”

The problem was that he had spilled it on the table.

They hurriedly brought a mop and cleaned up the coffee-drenched items like the keyboard, mousepad, and books on the table.

* * *

Jeong-Hoon, who had been waiting in the reception room for a while, visited the pond under the guidance of Kaiserk V.

It wasn’t much different from an ordinary pond, but the water inside was shining golden.

“It’s a blessed pond.”

“Blessed?”

“Yes. But of course, to receive that blessing, you need to pay a price.”

“I see.”

This was already a known fact.

The pond wasn’t simply a place to snatch up fortuitous encounters.

‘Equivalent Exchange.’

It was a place for ‘transactions,’ where items of equal value could be exchanged.

‘Why do you think I settled for an Epic-grade consumable? It’s because I would have had to give up something of equal value to get anything better.’

At the time, Bruce Willis didn’t have any items he was willing to part with.

So, he ended up throwing a meaningless Epic item into the pond and getting a consumable item in return.

“Then, take this.”

“What is it?”

Kaiserk V handed Jeong-Hoon a pouch.

Inside the pouch was a small amount of golden powder.

[Golden Powder]

– Type: Consumable

– Grade: Unique

– Sprinkling Golden Powder into the Märchen Pond will increase the maximum exchange reward to Unique grade.

It was a reward for completing the quest.

“This Golden Powder is given to a hero with a contribution rate of 75% or higher, and who is conscientious enough to report the source of the token.”

“…Thank you.”

“I hope you get good results.”

Kaiserk V stepped aside so Jeong-Hoon could focus.

With this, Jeong-Hoon was left alone at the pond.

‘Shall we begin then?’

Jeong-Hoon carefully sprinkled the golden powder from the pouch into the pond.

The water, which had been transparently clear, instantly shimmered with a golden light.

[The reward is enhanced.]

[You can acquire up to a Unique grade item.]

A message appeared, stating that the reward had been enhanced.

The corners of Jeong-Hoon’s mouth lifted.

[What are you going to discard?]

‘I’m curious too.’

Mukho and Anima expressed strong curiosity.

They were wondering what item Jeong-Hoon would offer for the equivalent exchange.

“Shall I throw you in?”

A playful impulse suddenly arose.

Jeong-Hoon seemed ready to cast Mukho aside at any moment.

[Argh! Are you out of your mind?! What are you doing?!]

Mukho was terrified.

“If you make the sacrifice, it’ll give me an item of equal value, right?”

[This is absurd! Am I just another item to you?!]

“Well, you’re a bit different.”

[…Exactly! So if you’re going to do it, do it to that Anima bastard!]

“I can’t do that to Anima.”

Even in his current state, where he couldn’t fully unleash his power, Anima displayed this level of capability.

Considering Anima’s potential when his power was fully restored, he was an indispensable partner for Jeong-Hoon.

‘Heh, he has a good eye, after all.’

[Bullshit. He can’t even tell the difference between shit and miso soup…]

Mukho was visibly sulking.

He might have lost his powers due to a long period of being sealed, but his capabilities were in no way inferior to Anima’s.

“I was just teasing. There’s no way I’d abandon you guys.”

They were his reliable allies who would never betray him.

Jeong-Hoon had already decided what item he would exchange at the pond.

It was a title item lying dormant in the corner of his inventory.

[Recognized by the Instructor]

– Type: Unique Title

– Grade: Rare

– Increases the effect of martial arts-related passive skills by 3%.

– Increases the effect of martial arts-related active skills by 3%.

It was a unique title he had earned by winning a sparring match against Instructor Altio of the Martial Arts Hall.

‘A unique title… If I had used it at the pond, I could have gotten an item of comparable value.’

Bruce Willis later regretted not using the unique title for the equivalent exchange at the pond.

He belatedly realized that regardless of grade, as long as one had a unique title, they could get the best reward from this pond.

The pond could only be entered once, and Bruce had already entered it once this time.

So now it was Jeong-Hoon’s turn.

“I can finally use this.”

Although its grade was low, the unique title was top-tier in terms of rarity.

In a pond that emphasized rarity, there was no better item to offer.

Jeong-Hoon threw the title item into the pond.

The pond turned golden, and an old man suddenly emerged from it.

“Oh! This one has quite a rare item!”

The old man’s face was filled with a bright smile, seemingly pleased with the unique title.

‘When I threw in the item, the old man’s expression was completely sour… He was so grumpy. Well, then they shouldn’t have set the maximum reward as Epic grade.’

The reaction was 180 degrees different from what Bruce Willis had described.

“Yes. I’d like to exchange it for an appropriate item.”

“Hmm, alright. The grade… isn’t quite to my liking, but it’s still a one-of-a-kind item, so I’ll exchange it for something suitable.”

The old man pondered for a moment, then snapped his fingers.

A stream of water shot up from the pond, and an item floated on top of it.

It was an item in the form of a skill book.

===

[Skill Book: Plunder (One-Time Use)]

– Type: Skill Book

– Grade: Unique

– Using the skill book will allow you to acquire ‘Plunder (One-Time Use)’.

===

‘Plunder…? I can’t believe this is appearing here.’

Plunder.

It was an item that Jeong-Hoon had only barely managed to find traces of in his previous life.

And now, that item was right before his eyes.

However, Jeong-Hoon didn’t give in to greed.

The moment greed entered his heart, the old man would sense his emotions and instantly take the position of advantage.

He had to remember that this was, after all, a transaction.

“I offered a unique title, and you’re only giving me a skill book?”

Jeong-Hoon asked with a sullen expression.

The old man scoffed.

“Ha, what a naive youngster. Do you even know what that is?”

“I have a rough idea. Isn’t it a skill that allows you to steal other people’s belongings?”

Plunder.

A skill that allows you to steal items below Unique grade.

It was such an absurdly overpowered skill that it was considered to exist only in theory, not in reality, and was thought to be an item that shouldn’t exist.

“You know it well. But are you trying to say it’s not satisfactory?”

Irritation flashed in the old man’s eyes.

If he understood the value of the skill, even if it was one-time use, he wouldn’t react that way.

‘Damn, this one’s quite clever.’

Especially the martial arts uniform he was wearing.

The old man recognized at a glance that it wasn’t an ordinary uniform.

If someone like him had a unique title, it meant he must have other decent items as well.

A formidable opponent had arrived.

“Yes.”

“Tsk, so what do you want?”

Having made his assessment, the old man changed his attitude and asked what he wanted.

In this equivalent exchange, the old man was the one at a disadvantage.

He wasn’t particularly fond of one-time-use items in the first place.

The fact that they disappeared after one use was a major drawback.

However, that wasn’t the case with unique titles.

They wouldn’t disappear no matter what, and the same title couldn’t be acquired again.

That fact alone made it impossible for the old man to give up on the unique title that had just been offered.

“One is not enough. Give me another Plunder.”

“What…?”