Dungeon Predator (WN)
Chapter 42: Money, Money, Money

Kang Oh checked his character info on the way to the Mage's Tower.

[Lv100 Kang Oh]

Class: Demonic Swordsman

Disposition: Darkness

Title: Master of the Demon Sword / Spider Queen Killer / Black Rat Killer / King of the Lavero Jungle / Lightning Hunter

Fame: 2,512

HP&MP: 1,512 / 1,021

Stamina: 200

[Main Stats]

Physical: 321 (+310)

Mental: 196 (+185)

Magic: 114 (+104)

Sense: 392 (+101)

Unallocated Points: 6

[Side Stats]

Indomitable: 95 / Tenacity: 75 / Evasion: 132 / Charm: 41 / Dignity: 33

If other users could see his character info, then they'd be shocked at how high his stats were for his level.

A normal level 100 user would receive 297 stat points.

However, Kang Oh's Physical stat alone was over 300, and his Sense stat, which he'd put all his points into, was almost at 400 as well.

Also, Magic and Mental combined was 310.

He had more than 1,000 stats combined.

This was the result of all the stats he'd gained from Baramut and Bercy, the Baramut armor set, the Demon Sword Ubist, as well as the stats stolen from Darkness Strike.

He was a monster in terms of stats!

'But I'm still not there yet!'

Kang Oh wanted to become even stronger. Because if he did, he would make even more money!

Ever since he'd decided to play Arth for a living, he'd only had one goal.

To turn his life around!

He'd recently decided upon something that would help him do that.

A building!

If you want to turn your life around, you’ve got to have a building or two.

'A landlord, huh...'

A landlord that lorded over their tenants and made sure they got their monthly rent!

His heart pounded at the thought, and he felt happy just thinking about it.

"Heh."

Kang Oh smiled like a madman and strode forward.

He had arrived in front of the nine story giant Mage's Tower.

* * *

Kang Oh met Grano at the 2nd floor cafe of the Mage's Tower.

"You got them all already?"

Grano looked extremely surprised.

Kang Oh removed the 200 Agath Crystals and the Agath Leader Crystals from his inventory and piled them onto the table.

Grano opened a subspace.

A subspace was akin to an inventory that Mages used.

Grano pushed all of the Agath Crystals into his subspace.

"I should be able to finish the device with all of this," Grano said excitedly.

"Then we're going to the Bariton Desert together."

"Of course."

Grano nodded his head.

[Quest complete.]

"When are we going?" Kang Oh asked.

He wanted to go as soon as possible.

"The rain-making device should take me about 1 week at best or 2 weeks at worst to complete. You see, I need to process these crystals to use them."

Grano couldn't go to the Bariton Desert right away.

Since he needed to first process the crystals and then actually create the rain-making device!

Kang Oh retrieved Caraco's Lightning Crystal from his inventory.

"Do you need this too?"

Grano examined the crystal and looked at him in astonishment. Caraco's crystal was much larger than the Agath's or the Agath Leader's crystal.

"Could I take a closer look at it?"

"Here you go."

Kang Oh passed him the crystal and Grano examined it meticulously.

"It's not an Agath Crystal. However, it's effects are similar, but also much greater."

"I got it from the giant monster, Caraco, that resided within the Kaistan Canyon."

Kang Oh provided a brief explanation of how he obtained the item.

"With this... I can make an even more powerful device!"

"So you're saying you need it, right?"

"Indeed."

"How much will you buy it for?"

"200 gold!" Grano said.

The Agath Leader Crystal was worth 20 gold, yet Grano was willing to buy Caraco's crystal for 10 times that.

His offer had surprised him, but he wanted to see if he could get any more out of him, so he raised the price.

"How about 300 gold?"

"You have a deal," Grano replied immediately.

Kang Oh was barely able to contain his happiness. He tried to get more out of Grano, but...

"How about 500..."

Grano extracted three gold bars from his subspace and placed them onto the table.

"Let's go with 300 gold. After all, this isn't the last time we'll be seeing each other," Grano said.

"Alright."

Kang Oh grabbed the three gold bars.

Grano too placed Caraco's crystal into his subspace.

"Then, I'll get going to finish my device."

Once they concluded their business, Grano went to leave.

"Ah, please wait a moment," Kang Oh stopped him.

"I don't know when you'll be finished, and I can't just sit here waiting for you."

Wasting time was the worst!

"Hmm. That's true. Then how would you like me to contact you?"

"There's a ghost-possessed mansion on Blue Cross Street. Please leave a message in the mailbox there when you're done."

The ghost-possessed mansion on Blue Cross street was Eder's home.

"I understand."

"Then let's see each other again soon."

"Indeed."

Once Grano left, Kang Oh went down to the 1st floor and headed for the area where they sold grimoires.

There was a male mage on duty at the help desk.

Kang Oh handed him the Judgment's Lightning grimoire.

"Please appraise this and sell it on consignment."

Kang Oh said only what was necessary.

"A moment please."

The man's glasses emanated a blue light.

That light went over the grimoire like a scanner.

This scanning magic provided the user with various information on the scanned object.

"It's a never before seen lightning spell!"

The mage raised his voice.

"So how much is it worth?" Kang Oh asked.

"You said you'd like to sell it on consignment, yes? The Tower will buy it from you immediately. We will pay you 1,000 gold for it. In exchange, we won't take a commission fee."

1,000 gold!

The sides of his mouth twitched.

"I assume you're sure of its value?"

"Of course. Because it's the first time we've seen this lightning spell, we've valued it at the same price as the most expensive lightning grimoire we sell here," the mage said.

Back when he'd come to sell Bercy's grimoire, he'd taken a look at the various grimoires they sold here.

He definitely remembered seeing a lightning grimoire worth 1,000 gold.

"I'll sell it to the magic tower."

"You made the right choice."

The mage opened the safe on one side of the help desk and passed him ten gold bars.

"Heh."

Kang Oh laughed automatically. He'd made 1,300 gold already!

'As I thought, you have to do everything yourself.'

If Kang Oh had taken down Caraco with a party, then the loot would have been divided among the party members.

Then, Kang Oh wouldn't have profited much.

But because he’d dealt with everything himself, he was able to make 1,300 gold. If he exchanged this sum for cash, then with the 2% commission fee, it would come out to 12.7 million won ($12,700 USD).

Moreover!

This wasn't the end.

'I still have the most expensive piece.'

Caracuni's Golden Spear!

A precious spear with a tip shaped like a lightning bolt and a shaft that glimmered in gold. How much would this even be worth?

It was time to find out.

* * *

There were two main ways for users to sell goods.

They either sold it themselves or put them up at the auction house.

If they wanted to sell their goods themselves, then they wouldn't have to pay a commission fee, but they'd have to do all the hard work themselves. On the other hand, the auction house took 10% of the bid price as a commission.

Kang Oh didn't want to waste his precious time to sell an item.

Thus, he came to the auction house closest to the magic tower, the Thomson Auction House.

The auction house was built like a cafe.

There were dozens of tables and comfy sofas, and on the other side, they sold drinks, desserts, and simple food.

A green square metal device was attached to the ceiling like a chandelier.

It was a device that allowed users to access the in-game auction.

In other words, users couldn't access the auction feature in a place without one of these devices.

Kang Oh claimed one of the secluded cafe tables and sat on one of the sofas.

"Auction."

The auction interface appeared.

This interface was divided into two categories: auction or sale.

'Let's start small first.'

Kang Oh picked sale and placed the A-rank boots he'd received from Caraco on sale.

'Rather than an immediate bid, the auction will have a time limit of three days. The starting bid will be 50 gold.'

He moved his fingers a few times along the interface and registered the boots as an auction item.

'Let's leave the armor for now.'

He didn't register Caraco's A-rank armor. Kang Oh left it to be fodder for Gluttony.

"Now then."

Kang Oh rubbed his hands and fiddled with the auction interface once more.

'Choose the Caracuni's Golden Spear. No immediate bid. The auction will last a week. The starting bid is 2,000 gold.'

Auction registration complete!

"I have nothing else to sell..."

Kang Oh returned to the starting screen and picked sale.

He saw the search window, and all the items were separated into categories.

Kang Oh selected the whole list and organized auctioned items based on price.

He witnessed prices that made his eyes spin.

As well as the amazing items that corresponded to said price!

Kang Oh perused a few auctioned items.

'There're already items up that require you to be over level 200.'

Items that required the player to be over level 200.

Which meant that the best rankers had surpassed level 200.

It wasn't just equipment; the auction house also boasted mysterious materials that sold for an exorbitant price.

'They say that craftsman-type users go crazy when they see such good materials. It seems to be true.'

However, there wasn't anything here that was more valuable than adamantium.

What if a huge quantity of adamantium were put up for auction? It would probably be the most expensive auction in history.

That's just how valuable adamantium was. It wasn't called the world's toughest metal for nothing!

'I should go check to see if the adamantium's still there.'

Kang Oh closed the auction interface and stood up from the sofa.

* * *

Kang Oh arrived at the arena underneath the Holiseum.

"Brother!"

"Little brother!" Burkan greeted Kang Oh.

"Have you been well?"

"Well, yeah. The demon sword's gone and Master Valan hasn't shown up."

"Who exactly is Valan?" Kang Oh asked.

"Hmm. It's a long explanation. In the past, he was called Gladiator Lavan."

"Lavan... The legendary masked gladiator."

There was someone before Burkan, the Invincible Gladiator, who dominated the gladiator circle before him; that was none other than Lavan.

Because he always wore a mask, he was known as the Masked Gladiator.

[You have learned new facts about Valan. If the Historical Association were to know of this, they would reevaluate Valan.]

"Yeah, the Masked Gladiator, Lavan. And he's a good man too," Burkan said.

"But you don't want to see him?" Kang Oh asked impishly.

"Of course I don't. He's such a good person that he's always getting caught up in the problems of others."

"Now I understand. I really don't want to meet him either."

Kang Oh had no intention of getting caught up in other people's issues.

"Master Valan will want to see you though," Burkan said, smiling.

"I could meet him, as long as I don't get involved in anything annoying."

"But if you meet him, you'll probably get involved in all sorts of annoying things."

He was essentially saying, 'If you meet him, you'll get caught up in annoying tasks'.

"Ahem. Let's stop talking about that. Let's go take a look at the adamantium."

They say 'be careful what you wish for', so Kang Oh didn't want to talk about Valan any longer.

"Did you find Bower?" Burkan asked.

In order to mine the adamantium gemstone, he needed a master miner. Someone like Bower!

"Not yet. Have you heard any news regarding him?"

"I heard he's somewhere in the Phamas Mountains to mine some mysterious metal. But there's a chance that he's not there anymore," Burkan said.

[You have found a lead for the quest, 'Find the Master Miner Bower', so the quest has been updated.]

"The Phamas Mountains…”

The Phamas Mountains, which were also known as the continent's back, was an area only the best rankers could go to.

It was an area inhabited by such powerful and dangerous monsters that it required both skill and stats to survive it.

"It's too vast. It'd be faster to find a needle in a haystack."

The Phamas Mountains were extensive. In the real world, it was akin to the Rocky Mountains or the Andes!

"Well, you're not wrong."

Burkan and Kang Oh talked about this and that while they went down the underground cave.

Once Kang Oh saw the adamantium gemstone, he rubbed his cheek against it and stroked it with both hands.

Ah, my little boy!

'I have to mine this ASAP.'

He felt heated after seeing such mysterious materials being sold at such a high price.

"Are there any other master miners aside from Bower?"

He could live without Bower if there was another alternative. There was no reason to focus entirely on Bower. It didn't matter, so long as they were a master miner.

"I'm sure there are, but I don't know any," Burkan said.

"Hoo. I wish a master miner just plopped out of the sky right now."

"It doesn't matter where you get them from, just hurry up and bring one."

Valan had left Burkan in charge of the demon sword and the adamantium gemstone.

Thus, the Invincible Gladiator, Burkan, was forced to stay here and watch over them.

However, if Kang Oh were to take the adamantium gemstone, then he would be free.

"I understand. I'll get going now."

"Alright. Make sure you bring a miner with you next time."

Kang Oh embraced the adamantium gemstone one last time and left the Holiseum.

He walked through one of Altein's packed streets.

'I wonder how long it'll take for Grano to finish his device.'

Kang Oh had some time before he had to leave for the Bariton Desert.

There were two activities worth investing his time into.

One was looking for a hidden dungeon.

The second was to find Eder a new body.

Kang Oh obviously wanted to find a hidden dungeon. After all, the more opportunities to make money the better.

However, it would be better to acquire a new body for Eder when looking at the long term.

As it stood, Eder was so useless right now!

"I should find him a new body."

Ultimately, Kang Oh decided to find Eder a new body. All the better to continue working him like a horse!

Kang Oh thought about all that he knew regarding undead monsters.

'A Lich is out of the question.'

Eder had stated that he needed a Lich's body to use his powerful Necromancy skills.

However, Liches were Archmages who dreamt of immortality and had voluntarily become undead, so they were incredibly powerful.

Even one of the well-known Liches, Marein, was a boss monster that was above level 300.

Which meant that Liches couldn't be defeated by players yet. Thus, it was completely out of the question.

Kang Oh also excluded any monsters that were either stronger or way too weak.

'A level 150 boss monster sounds about right...'

He felt like a light bulb had lit up in his head.

"Right, there's that guy!"

There was someone out there that fit the bill.