Vol 6 Chapter 17

"Huh, that's quite plausible. Why didn't I think of that? Come to think of it, there's no way I'd be the only one to receive this function. Is this the sorrow of an old man with a stiff mind... Ah shit, no. I'm still young at my age! Young, I tell you! Absolutely!"

Unlike Kapros's question about why Caesar didn't immediately try to kill his opponents as they had assumed until now, despite being able to see Kapros's location and that of other unknown individuals, Kion-hyung seemed to be purely saddened by that point alone.

"Hyung."

"Ah, why worry about it? Sure, it's a bit disconcerting that our guess about him going berserk and wanting to kill us on sight was off, but isn't that fortunate for us? I don't know why, but he clearly has some restrictions too. Hehehe, this is exactly the kind of opening we should take advantage of to quickly finish our business."

Restrictions... Was that really it?

Kapros had thought about that too, but he hadn't been sure enough to be certain. Still, if Kion-hyung thought so as well, it seemed safe to assume that there were some kind of restrictions on Caesar's range of action, whatever they might be.

Thinking this way, Kapros felt his anxious nerves calming down a bit. There's no bigger handicap than the enemy being able to know your location while you can't know theirs. If Caesar had some restrictions as they guessed, Kapros needed to quickly resolve his quests in this opening and obtain the same function as Kion-hyung and Caesar.

He had been thinking about finishing the quests quickly before, but now he really felt the urgency.

"Oh, by the way, Kar. Did you know?"

Kion-hyung suddenly spoke as if he had remembered something.

"I was happy about finishing the quest just now, right? But actually, finishing this quest isn't the end of it."

"What?"

Kapros hesitated and asked again at these unexpected words. Kion-hyung sighed deeply and ruffled his hair with his arm resting on the table.

"Sigh. I had a feeling it wouldn't be the end when I finished... From what I've found out so far, quests like the one you're solving now are just for injecting background knowledge and giving us a power upgrade out of kindness, so to speak, for other things we really need to solve. That's what it is."

Other things they really needed to solve...?

"You're surprised too, right? Once you raise your power through those initial quests and learn all about what happened in the past, new quests start appearing for activities in the current chaotic reality. That's exactly what I'm about to do now."

If that was true for Kion-hyung, it would undoubtedly be the same for Caesar.

'Then it would be correct to assume that when I met Caesar in Bistale, he had already finished his quest and was working on a new one.'

Kapros felt that he was realizing many things today that he had overlooked before. However, at the same time, what bothered him most was that even though two people had already finished their quests, his own quest was still far from over.

'I really won't have a moment to rest.'

"Kar. Where do you need to go next?"

Kion-hyung asked an appropriate question at just the right time. Kapros, who had been thinking about his next schedule, opened his map window, checked the point marked in the west, and answered.

"The western desert."

His next task was to visit Ilumine and then return here to meet Kor.

"Desert? You don't mean Bala Monyak, do you?"

"Yeah. Why?"

As Kapros nodded at Kion-hyung, who looked surprised, Kion-hyung suddenly broke into a bright smile and grasped both of Kapros's hands.

"As expected, you and I are destined! That's where I'm headed too! Hahahahaha, this is great, just great."

"You too, hyung?"

"That's what I'm saying. Somehow I wanted to meet you quickly... I guess I knew this would happen."

Kapros ignored Kion-hyung's nonsensical words, but he too was very encouraged by the unexpected companionship.

He had only traveled with Kion-hyung for a few months when he first started MIST as a beginner, and after that, he hadn't seen him since they briefly met and parted in Zagreb. Now that they would be traveling together when they were both no longer beginners, Kapros felt it would be nostalgic and fun.

"Then I'll be in your care for a while, Kar. I'll finally get to see how much your skills have improved, right?"

Kapros responded to Kion-hyung's playful wink and smile by reaching out and grasping his hand firmly.

"Yeah. Me too."

And so, Kapros began his unexpected journey with Kion-hyung.

Fortunately, their destination, Bala Monyak, was close enough that they could reach it in just 5 minutes through the warp magic circle connecting major cities, so there was no need to worry about time. Therefore, instead of departing immediately, they decided to talk more about the things they had missed.

"I heard from that noisy guy Min-hoo, I mean Kran, that you parted ways in the northern big city, but when did you start traveling alone?"

"You heard about that?"

No wonder Kion-hyung wasn't surprised to see Kapros alone at first...

Surprisingly, Kion-hyung and Kran seemed to get along very well. Judging from Kran's previous guess that Kion-hyung had finished his quest based on their communication, and Kion-hyung's mention of hearing about Kapros from Kran, it seemed they were in contact more often than Kapros had thought.

This felt somewhat bittersweet.

"It hasn't been long... about a month."

"Hmm..."

"What about you, hyung? Where's Palton hyung...?"

Come to think of it, Palton-hyung, who Kapros had thought would always be by Kion-hyung's side, wasn't here now.

"You're quick to ask. I split up with that guy after we finished the quest, saying I was going to see you. He's probably still working hard on his quest right now. Hehehe. He'll learn what hardship is without me by his side, that bastard."

Seeing Kion-hyung's genuinely delighted expression as he talked about Palton-hyung's struggles, a faint smile unconsciously appeared on Kapros's face.

"You and Palton hyung seem to get along really well."