Choi Sung-gu's eyes grew wide.
'Da fuq? Are you for real?'
The thing that came out of Hyukjin's Inventory wasn't an item from the System.
'A fire extinguisher?'
The thing in Hyukjin's hand was definitely a fire extinguisher. It was a convenient spraying type of extinguisher. Sung-gu had seen it before in Internet advertisements. It was purported to extinguish fires much more effectively than regular extinguishers, or something like that.
"Eh?"
But what surprised Sung-gu even more was that not just Hyukjin, but also Sunhwa, pulled out fire extinguishers. And she was even dual wielding them!
Sung-gu was stunned.
"Hey! How come I'm the only one who doesn't have one?!"
Looking at them now, these two had clearly prepared this in advance. They had planned this together.
Szzzzzzzzz–!
With the spraying sound, the blazing flames on the Flame Horse's body were quickly being extinguished.
Neeeeeeeigh!
The Flame Horse galloped about, emitting a piercing noise that was either a scream or a whinny—it was impossible to tell.
"Why am I the only one left out?!"
Choi Sung-gu muttered to himself, wondering if he should go and pee on it, at least, while backing off a little. He did complain that they were leaving him out, but in any case, the key members of the raid right now were Hyukjin and Sunhwa. They both had one in each hand. A total of four fire extinguishers were fully performing their roles.
'The places where that horse walked always went up in flames, but now…'
Those flames became incredibly annoying traps. But now, they were getting put out. The flames were almost completely gone.
'Should've used the fire extinguishers sooner, then.' Or wait. 'If they'd used them at the beginning, it probably wouldn't have worked.'
He wasn't exactly sure, but it seemed to Sung-gu that this Hyukjin fellow used the fire extinguishers at the right time and chance, aiming for the timing where the item(?) that was the fire extinguisher could shine the brightest.
'Looks like the flames are pretty much extinguished.'
He was almost fascinated by the sight of Hyukjin clinging onto the rampaging horse without falling off. Did he learn horseback riding somewhere? It couldn't be that he was staying on with his leg strength alone.
Sung-gu stealthily approached.
[Using the skill Fatal Flames.]
Having gotten close, Sung-gu enveloped his fist in flames and struck the Flame Horse's side.
Pow!
A loud impact rang out. At the same time, Hyukjin pulled his sword out of the Flame Horse's neck.
Fwish!
And then, his sword drew a big arc.
The Flame Horse's head was cut off. It fell onto the ground with a plop.
[Flame Horse has been killed.]
[EXP acquired.]
[22 Coins acquired.]
Hyukjin jumped off the collapsing horse's back, then shot Sung-gu a grin.
"You backed off and returned with very good timing."
Sung-gu's fist had landed with perfect timing. Thanks to that, Hyukjin was able to cut off the monster's head with a little more ease.
"Hmph. I'm in a really bad mood right now, so don't talk to me."
State: Happy / Excited / Having Fun
"Like seriously, why'd you guys leave me out? I'm good at using fire extinguishers too. Shwa, shwa. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a fireman."
Hyukjin was so dumbfounded he had to laugh. Even though Sung-gu was complaining, he seemed to be happy to have finally killed the Flame Horse that had stymied his progress.
"Oppa, an item dropped!" Sunhwa said excitedly.
"An item?"
Hyukjin examined the item. Its name was 'Essence of Flame'.
'Eh?'
It was already strange enough that there was suddenly a 'Flame Horse' here, but that Flame Horse dropped an 'Essence of Flame'.
'An Essence of Flame drops from a frickin' Flame Horse?'
Essence of Flame wasn't a beginner period item. There was a place in the Philippines famous for dropping Essence of Flames, the 'White Beach Dungeon' on Boracay Island.
'To clear that dungeon, you need at least ten level 50 Players.'
Meaning, this really wasn't an item that should show up in the beginner period, at least.
'So why? Why'd it show up here?'
Hyukjin bent to pick up the 'Essence of Flame' that was giving off a yellow light.
[Essence of Flame]
An awakening material that awakens one's fire attribute magic power. When ingested by a Player with fire affinity, all their fire attribute abilities will increase.
Level requirement: 20
Ingestion condition: Must have a contract with a special Guardian
After reading the item description, Hyukjin was sure of it.
'The Shot Table Dungeon is a dungeon made by the Giant of the Sunset to awaken Choi Sung-gu.'
The original level requirement of the 'Essence of Flame' was 40. It varied depending on the grade of the essence, but it was normally around 40.
'The level requirement is 20, plus there's an ingestion condition that usually isn't there.'
This item didn't normally have an extra ingestion condition. If a Player without fire affinity ingested it, their other abilities would be weakened as a side effect. In other words, only people with the appropriate constitution should consume the 'Essence of Flame', and it wasn't that great of an item for people like Hyukjin who didn't have an affinity to a specific attribute.
Hyukjin recalled the notices he had heard earlier.
[The 'Giant of the Sunset' is invoking their innate power.]
[You cannot examine 'Choi Sung-gu' with Eye of Perception.]
The Giant of the Sunset was blatantly aiding a Player here. This was a place he had prepared and given to Choi Sung-gu.
'If I were to eat this thing here…'
I would 100% become the Giant of the Sunset's enemy. That was not a desirable development.
"What's that item you just got?" asked Sung-gu.
"Essence of Flame. When eaten by a Player with a constitution that matches the fire attribute, this awakening material will enhance their fire abilities."
"Huh? I'm exactly that, a Player suited to the flame attribute."
His 'huhuhu'-ing made him look like he was gleefully saying 'that thing's mine!'
Hyukjin said, "I think this could fetch an incredibly high price if it were sold later. What do you think about splitting the earnings?"
"…" Sung-gu flinched. "R-R-Right, it can be sold, huh."
That was what was fair. It was only one item and couldn't be split. Hyukjin continued to examine Sung-gu. It didn't seem like he was hearing anything special from the Guardians, particularly from the Giant of the Sunset.
'In the past, Choi Sung-gu cleared this place alone.'
There was a high chance he'd absorbed the Essence of Flame here.
'The fact there's a Flame Horse at the 2nd Gateway means there might be even stronger foes at the later gateways.'
If that was true, it was possible Sung-gu, who had the Giant of the Sunset's direct protection, would need to play a prominent role.
"But I think it would be best if you were to eat this now, Sung-gu."
Beaming from ear to ear, Sung-gu took the item. Despite taking it with a whoop of 'Yas, it's mine!', he wasn't actually able to ingest it. He was all smiles on the outside, but was apparently feeling a great deal of pressure on the inside.
"Wait. Um. I should really eat this?"
He looked like he would gulp it down right away just moments ago, but was hesitating now that he had to take the plunge.
"I think you're the Player with the highest fire affinity."
"I should really eat it?"
"Yes."
Sung-gu stopped short of eating it several times, hesitating. Everyone had worked hard together, so it was only right to share the reward, no?
"But.. why give it to me? You could eat it too, Hyukjin. To be honest, you're the one who had the biggest influence on this raid."
Hyukjin thought for a moment. The Giant of the Sunset was sure to be watching at this very moment.
"Take a look at the item description."
"Name, Essence of Flame. An awakening material that…"
He read out the description.
Ingestion condition: Must have the protection of the 'Giant of the Sunset'
"…It requires the protection of the Giant of the Sunset."
Hyukjin almost laughed out of speechlessness.
'The description changed from when I had it?'
When Hyukjin had it, it definitely said 'Must have a contract with a special Guardian', but when the ownership changed to Sung-gu, the description explicitly said 'Must have the protection of the Giant of the Sunset'.
'I'm sure of it now.'
This place was a dungeon belonging to Choi Sung-gu, made for Choi Sung-gu, and made because of Choi Sung-gu. The 'Giant of the Sunset' had used his power to make that happen. The Guardian had probably invested an astoundingly huge amount of Coins. Very rarely, there were Guardians like this—Guardians crazy about a Player, ones that poured everything they had on us Players who were called their avatars or incarnations.
'If I had eaten it, I would've had a seizure.'
Hyukjin would have suffered a pretty big side effect, since he hadn't satisfied the actual condition.
"I have never heard the name 'Giant of the Sunset'."
"Really? I hear it every day."
"Then that must mean you have been chosen by that Guardian. Don't get hung up on what that means and just ingest the item for now."
Sung-gu scratched his head, clearly bothered by his conscience.
Hyukjin smiled. "Please don't let it bother you too much. If you really feel that way, let's do it like this. We'll have dibs on the next reward that comes out. Of course, I'm not saying we'll get it no matter what. We'll still need to discuss it first. That's enough, right?"
Only then did Sung-gu nod. "That'll make me feel a bit better. I'll eat this then, alright?"
Hyukjin nodded, feeling satisfied too. This place was a training center made by the 'Giant of the Sunset' to awaken Choi Sung-gu by investing a ton of Coins. There was no knowing what kind of wonderful goodies might be hidden inside.
Hyukjin's words just now spoken were addressed to the Giant of the Sunset rather than Sung-gu. Since he had said this well in advance, he had a justification now.
'And Sung-gu himself said he would concede ownership.'
The Giant of the Sunset had no grounds to protest anymore. With a small investment of around five minutes, Hyukjin had secured definite justification.
[The 'Whispering Devil' is enjoying your Playing.]
Sung-gu ingested the Essence of Flame. Other than a brief moment where his body was covered in flames, there was no obvious, visible change. Our group moved onwards, finding a 'portal' at one side of the grassland. It was a magic circle, like a gate that would teleport us to a different place.
We were able to reach the next gateway through the portal.
[Entering the '3rd Gateway' within the 'Shot Table Dungeon'.]
[You have entered the 'Ravine of Fire'.]
Some distance away, I could see a valley. It was exactly as its name suggested—a ravine where fire flowed instead of water. It almost looked like a river of lava.
The air was blistering hot. Sweat began to bead on my forehead.
'It's hot.'
It wasn't just a normal level of hot. It was hot. The ravine flowing with fire was exuding a great deal of 'heat energy'.
The gap between the ravine stretched about seven meters. We had to cross that, but there was no bridge to be seen. Meaning, we had to go through the flames.
Sunhwa tugged my arm. "Oppa, the portal's disappearing."
[Satisfy the clear condition for the 3rd Gateway, the 'Ravine of Fire'.]
[If you do not satisfy the clear condition, you cannot leave.]
My brows furrowed.
'Clear?'
We were given a System quest.
[Cross the Ravine of Fire]
On the other side of the Ravine of Fire is a land of riches and wealth. It is known that there is 'Kuntan' there. Please cross the Ravine of Fire.
Sung-gu's expression turned serious. "I think I can cross it, but…"
Naturally. He was a Player—one who would later be called the Flame Lord—with an affinity to fire, had just ingested an 'Essence of Flame', and was under the protection of the 'Giant of the Sunset' who had undoubtedly designed this dungeon.
"I have a feeling. I can definitely cross that."
Of course he could. I didn't contradict him. After all, I had already judged that this 'Ravine of Fire' was something created to allow Sung-gu to absorb that 'heat energy' to begin with.
"Do you think you two can cross it?" Sung-gu asked.
"Not sure."
It wouldn't be easy. The ravine had a width of seven meters and a depth of approximately seventy centimetres. If Sunhwa and I went in unprepared, we would certainly die.
'The Giant of the Sunset… doesn't want there to be any survivors other than Choi Sung-gu.'
This place was made for Sung-gu, and Sung-gu alone.
'With this degree of difficulty, I think it's the highest difficulty a beginner grade dungeon can go…'
No matter how many more Coins were put in, the difficulty couldn't be raised any higher.
'In other words, this is the stretch of the dungeon with the highest difficulty.'
How they would go through this highest difficulty stretch was the issue at hand. And fortunately, I knew the method to resolve this issue.
But just then, Sung-gu said something I hadn't expected.
"Ah, but you know…"
____