Matan’s Shooter

TL: xLordFifth

ED: 

Leeha:  Blaugrun-ssi? Those names just now — Sylphid, the King of Wind Spirits, and Gnoas, the King of Earth Spirits. 

Blaugrun: But Ha Leeha-nim, you didn’t really not know and asked just to test me, right? I’ll assume that’s why you asked.

Leeha: That, that’s right! Of course. Anyway, that’s what I’ll believe.

Leeha quickly covered Blaugrun’s teasing remark and observed the Sea God’s reaction.

‘The Spirit Kings were going to fight Bahamut because he extracted the essence from the purification pool!’

What could be the reason other than that? It was because Bahamut extracted the essence from the ‘purification pool’. The essence of the world is related to the survival of all water spirits, so it was understandable why the Spirit Kings, regardless of Bahamut being the Platinum Dragon, would rise up against him.

“In that case…”

“You will give it to me?”

“He won’t be as irresponsible as Bahamut. Isn’t that right?”

The Sea God showed a mysterious smile.

A hologram window appeared in front of Leeha shortly after.

[New Possibilities for Water Spirits]

Description: “We are water spirits but not perfect ones. Just look at the clan of the waves. We only take the form of spirits in this place, the sea. I want to explore new possibilities. The creatures called ‘fishmen’ were a failed experiment, but they were also one of the possibilities for our water spirits. Show me the potential paths water spirits can take.”

The Sea God Elaim is seeking to explore the evolutionary possibilities of water spirits. Unlike mere fish or aquatic monsters, the defining feature of water spirits is their ability to form societies and possess intelligence underwater! You must find and provide the Sea God with information and possibilities about new existences that have societies and intelligence underwater.

Task: Find evidence of intelligent, societal life underwater and report to the Sea God (Time limit: 3 days)

Reward: Material item ‘Essence of the World’ Failure condition: Time expires

If failed: -25% intimacy with the Sea God Elaim and mermaids

• Do you want to quest?

Leeha quickly read through the quest window. New possibilities? A significant drop in affinity if failed, but nothing else seemed particularly special. He had enough know-how to quickly regain a 25% loss in affinity with NPCs.

However, failing would mean losing the chance to obtain the Essence of the World. That in itself was a severe penalty.

What was critical was that the quest duration was only 3 days.

“I believe much information can be gathered beyond the land, but unfortunately, I cannot move myself. I thought of sending Howard, but he no longer listens to me-”

“As someone who has broken a promise, my relationship with humans is now…”

Leeha momentarily forgot who Howard referred to. However, seeing Drake bow his head immediately, he recalled his name from the national war they had seen.

“Alright, alright. He’s so stubborn, just like his mother. That means the only ‘human’ I can ask for help is you, Ha Leeha. Show the water spirits new possibilities.”

“What, what do you mean?! I don’t quite understand-”

“New life forms. They say there are many new life forms in the Erika Continent.”

It was Drake who rescued a bewildered Leeha.

Leeha combined the description in the quest window with what Drake had said.

“Ah…!”

“I believe you can do it. To open new possibilities for our aquatic kin-“

“Ah, ah, ahahahaha!”

“Huh?!”

It wasn’t just a simple understanding of the quest’s content.

The sight of Leeha’s grin stretching ear to ear left the Sea God and Drake momentarily perplexed.

“Really?! You’re serious right now? You’ll give me the Essence of the World if I just show the possibilities within 3 days?!”

“We won’t be able to have new members of our race for a while… but yes. I promise. Based on what you show us, we can explore new paths for the water spirits.”

“Okay! Okay, got it. 3 days? Haha! It won’t even take that long! I’ll be back within a day. Just wait here!”

Quest accepted immediately!

Leeha, while goofing around, made sure to record the location of the Dragon Palace in his crystal ball. Now he could return here with just a tear of a scroll.

“Blaugrun-ssi! Let’s go!”

“Sigh… As such a partner, I look forward to working with you in the future, Elaim-nim.”

“Haha, you have a lot of work ahead of you, Bronze Dragon.”

Watching Leeha’s playful behavior, Blaugrun bowed to the Sea God and Drake. Leeha was so embarrassed that he had to use the scroll even faster.

Whoosh…!

Moments later, Leeha, having reverted from his mermaid form, and Blaugrun appeared in a place on the New Continent. It was the underground city inhabited by the gorilla Paleo.

“Since this is the closest place – Blaugrun-ssi! Let me out!”

“Wouldn’t it be better for you to learn simple spatial magic yourself? Or maybe teaching you would take even longer…’

“What did you say?”

“Nothing. Let’s move.”

Sigh!

Blaugrun sighed and flicked his finger. Emerging from the underground city onto the plains of the New Continent, Leeha confidently set their direction.

“Heheheh, got it, got it.”

“But how do you plan to solve this? I’ve spent a considerable time here, but I don’t know of any intelligent, societal life underwater. I know the legend of the ocean city ‘Atlantis’, but that’s unverified… This doesn’t seem like a problem you can solve in 3 days.”

Why did you accept so hastily? You should have consulted with me.

That was essentially what Blaugrun wanted to say. But Leeha was confident. He momentarily forgot about the clue of ‘Atlantis’ he had just obtained.

“Hehe… Right. Blaugrun-ssi wouldn’t know.”

“Is there something I don’t know?”

“Of course, of course! It’s not like Blaugrun-ssi knows everything, right?”

Leeha smiled, and Blaugrun puffed his cheeks. Not that he knew everything, but still more than humans – he grumbled like a child.

“So where are we going? Tell me then.”

“Should I tell you, or should I not? Hmm… ‘

“If you keep acting like this-“

“Alright, alright. Hehehe, just watch. Do you know where this is?”

Realizing he could tease a Juvenile class dragon like this, Leeha reveled in the moment, then took out a map from his bag.

Of course, it was a rough map of the New Continent that Leeha had drawn himself. Blaugrun slowly read the handwritten notes Leeha had scribbled.

“[‘Place Where the Carps Live’]?”

“Yes. That’s the place. Was the official name ‘The Lake Where Light Does Not Enter’?”

This was why Leeha could be so confident after fully understanding the quest’s content! An existing peaceful, mild civilization of beings who lived underwater in a society, built villages and were intelligent enough to be distinct from fish and different from underwater monsters.

‘The Golden Carp! The mystical creature ‘Shoer’ and his children, the Carp Paleos!’

Moreover, this was no ordinary approach. Leeha had become friendly with Shoer by talking about mermaids, and Shoer himself had expressed a desire to meet mermaids at least once.

“But carps are freshwater fishes.”

“Among mystical creatures, there are cranes that create fire. Differentiating between freshwater and saltwater is too harsh. That’s a narrow way of thinking. What do you think?”

“…”

Was Blaugrun so upset about being subtly dismissed by Leeha? Trying to get back at him, Blaugrun instead faced Leeha’s counterattack(?). During their journey to the lake, Leeha’s mind was actively working.

The Sea God’s true identity was Elaim, the King of Water Spirits. And he had directly mentioned two other Spirit Kings. No, three, including one previously mentioned.

Ifrit, the King of Fire Spirits, Sylphid, the King of Wind Spirits, and Gnoas, the King of Earth Spirits. When, where, and how could they meet them?

‘And the legendary underwater city Atlantis. If only that could be found-‘

What could be beyond the New Continent, not just between it and the Old Continent, but on the opposite side of the Old Continent? Leeha was organizing these pieces of information and stopped by the lake.

“Alright, let’s complete this quest quickly and get the Essence of the World!  [Mermaid Transformation]!”

“From [Erika Continent – The Lake Where Light Does Not Enter] to suddenly [Dawn Sea – Dragon Palace]. What brought you there and back so quickly?”

Kidd started moving again at that moment. Leeha’s location had changed to The Lake Where Light Does Not Enter about 6 hours ago.

The lake on the New Continent?! Worried that Leeha might be chasing him from there, Kidd was relieved when Leeha’s location switched back to the Dragon Palace.

This meant it was safe to move again as Leeha wasn’t pursuing him.

‘You’re playing the game too, so you can’t keep your friend window open all the time. Naturally, you can’t track my movements 100%…’

Kidd checked his skill window once more for The Three Musketeers: Teleport.

It showed as [Deactivated]. Realistically, Leeha had no immediate way to reach him.

‘Huh. If it were any other player chasing me, I wouldn’t need to worry.’

But the opponent was Ha Leeha.

That fact kept Kidd on edge. Even though there were no immediate skills to reach him, just knowing his location, Ha Leeha could appear out of nowhere with some trick.

Having witnessed countless such plays from Leeha, it was natural for Kidd to be this cautious.

“Puquichi———-!”

“Pukitsu, Pukitsu—!”

“I have no business with you.” Tadaaaa——–!

Creatures that looked like wild dogs but had eight legs. They were too sleek to be spiders, these strange monsters quickly turned to ash.

‘The downside of Middle Earth is that you can’t precisely pinpoint your own location.’

But you can know the locations of your ‘friends.’

In the case of The Three Musketeers, every detail can be confirmed by name. However, one’s own location doesn’t show in the friend window. Without a map, it’s impossible to confirm where you are.

Kidd slightly lifted his hat and surveyed his surroundings. Considering the scenery he was seeing, the disappearance of the Paleos from some point, and the form and level of the monsters that appeared, where could he be?

“But a place like this… There must be possibilities.”

Caw, caw…

As if responding to Kidd’s soliloquy, crows cawed. Kidd looked up at the sky. Crows with four wings, one, then two, increasing in number. It was definitely a place Kidd had never seen while traversing the New Continent. Kidd reopened his friend window and checked Leeha’s location again.

Leeha was still at the Dragon Palace.

“There’s no other choice.”

Kidd suppressed the desire to immediately rush into the barren land before him and retreated again.

Though it seemed like a wasteland, he waited until the soil color changed from what he saw before him.

After about 20 minutes of walking, even the dried-up grass started appearing around him. It was definitely a different place than the ‘burnt charcoal’ soil he had seen from afar.

“Now, then…”

The Three Musketeers are bound to become one team inevitably. A relationship where you can’t hide your location even if you want to. Other users in Kidd’s friend window wouldn’t be able to see his current location. He was under the effect of a location-concealing scroll. But Ha Leeha was different. He could see him.

‘Ha Leeha, all you have to do is log out.’

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