"But the grain is the same."

"How can it be different?"

Yong-ho and Gusion, who exchanged small talk like that, headed to the arena. The rule that at least one of those visiting the arena must challenge the arena was also applied to those who entered through the front door.

Yong-ho, whose challenge of the arena already became one of his daily routines, did not feel any big burden. All of his subordinate spirits were also relaxed because they had already visited the arena several times.

Only Salami and Bucephalas looked around in surprise.

After taking a seat in the special stand reserved for Gusion, Yong-ho asked, "There are almost no dungeon monsters around here. I wonder if we can move around freely on the 7th floor."

The dungeon monsters that were filling the other floors hardly existed on the 7th floor.

Gusion shook his head when he asked with some expectations.

"The spirits of the arena cannot get out of the arena. The reason there are no dungeon monsters here is probably because of the strong s.p.a.ce-time barriers that make up the arena. Should I say that there is a distortion that is so strong that small distortions disappear naturally? Dungeon monsters are introduced through the distortion created in the dungeon, so if the distortion itself is not generated, there will be no way for them to appear."

"Do you mean that big waves absorb small waves?"

"Sort of."

Their conversation was cut off for a moment after Gusion replied.

During that short moment of less than a few seconds, Gusion, who was sullen all along, tapped the handle of the special seat several times with his fingertips. He then said, "By the way, isn't it too racy?"

"About what?"

Yong-ho looked back at Gusion as if he could not make it, while Catalina, who was sitting next to him, also p.r.i.c.ked her ears and blinked. On the other hand, Kaiwan covered her mouth and giggled, as if she understood what he was talking about.

Gusion said, "Man, I already told you I was on the 39th floor. Then you should have continued to break through the floors up to the 39th floor with a sense of challenge. When you came last time, you went right back. Although the pa.s.sage of time is subtle here, I can find out that our young master is not in a hurry."

"So, are you sad about it?"

When Yong-ho asked mischievously, Gusion turned his head, pretending not to have noticed it.

Since Gusion was originally a red skin, it was hard to tell whether he showed any feelings, but Yong-ho knew the Red Daemon like Gusion well thanks to Eligos and Ophelia. He could immediately discover that Gusion was embarra.s.sed.

In fact, Yong-ho also really wanted to conquer the arena. However, there were some legitimate reasons why he could not get focused on the arena alone.

First, the arena was still useful to Yong-ho.

It wasn't just because of Mammon's mana or clear rewards that he obtained every time he broke through each floor of the arena.

The arena allowed Yong-ho to experience a "desperate struggle."

The fastest way to acc.u.mulate evolution EXP was to experience desperate fighting. It was thanks to the arena that he could repeatedly use the power of evolution so far.

Moreover, the arena allowed him to experience various battles. The arena with a mixture of behemoths, giants, powerful humanoids, etc., was truly a treasure trove of fighting experience for him. He could learn various battle patterns by fighting them and test various tactics and techniques as well.

He could not obtain those skills by blindly outpouring the floor masters with mana only. The reason he smashed Yukrasion on the 25th floor with mana was to find out the maximum value of his newly acquired mana.

The second reason was because of the growth of his subordinate spirits.

The arena as a treasure trove of experience was equally important to them.

That was why Yong-ho allowed them to challenge the arena despite the great danger.

The value of the power of evolution was higher than Yong-ho expected for those spirits whose efficiency of essence absorption was not so good. It was important for Yong-ho to acquire the arena, but the growth of his subordinate spirits was more important. So, he needed to maintain the arena a little longer for them.

'Of course, the arena isn't so easy to occupy even if I make up my mind.'

Given that he easily beat the 25th floor master Yukrasion, he might sound conceited, but he was serious.

The higher the floor, the stronger the arena's defense was. Not only did the floor masters become stronger, but also, it started to damage Yong-ho's power.

Because of the characteristics of the arena where its difficulty level rapidly increased per 10 floors, it was highly likely that Yong-ho could not smash the floor masters with mana alone on the 30th floor and above.

And the battle was not determined only by mana. Yong-ho's actions up to now proved it.

The enemies that he confronted, starting from Foras to the King of Gluttony, were always stronger than him. However, it was Yong-ho who eventually won.

The third and final reason was time.

Time often pa.s.sed faster than expected in the arena where the pa.s.sage of time was different from the outside. For Yong-ho, who had to keep an eye on the ever-changing external situation, staying in the arena where the time was unknown was a significant risk.

Even now, he was constrained by time limits in the case of his summit meeting with the Queen of Fury. He couldn't spend time only in the arena.

When Yong-ho briefly explained his reasons, Gusion became more embarra.s.sed, and Kaiwan bit her lips to hold back her laughter.

'But, I can't delay occupying the arena forever.'

The arena's strength was mighty. Although the threat of the King of Gluttony disappeared, the King of Pride and the King of Envy were still active in the north. Yong-ho could not figure out the intentions of the King of Violence, and the Queen of Fury was not his ally yet.

He thought of investing some more time in the arena for a while after successfully forming an alliance with the Queen of Fury.

"So, you want to obtain the treasure storage on the 8th floor?"

Gusion, who cleared his throat several times as if to hide his embarra.s.sment, changed the subject. Yong-ho gently accepted it.

"Yes, that's my idea for now. My budget problem will be solved at once."

It was a treasure trove of the "King of Greed," allegedly the 'incarnation of possessiveness.'

It was evident that a tremendous amount of treasure was piled up like a mountain.

Gusion nodded slowly and said, "Certainly, given your power, you can open the door."

"Open the door?"

"Well, the one who is guarding the treasure storage on the eighth floor is Richard. Did you hear about him from Aamon?"

[I haven't given him any specific explanation yet.]

[I hope you can brief him on my behalf, Gusion.]

Aamon's answer was heard from the flames of the red lotus that already arose.

Gusion nodded lightly and said, "Leo, the Silent Warrior Richard."

Mammon's 12 Spirits were the legends of the demon world. Not only Catalina and Kaiwan, but even Tigrius focused on Gusion curiously.

"He is strong. He is in the top group of the 12 Spirits. To simply compare physical strength, he is on par with me."

What Gusion said wasn't anything like self-praise. The reason that Gusion's nickname was 'Herculean strength' was because he had the strongest physical ability among the 12 Spirits. When discussing the strongest among them, Gusion was always mentioned without fail.

"He is silent as his nickname suggests. It doesn't mean he can't speak at all, but I've hardly ever heard his voice even though he and I went through all kinds of hards.h.i.+ps together. Anyway, he's reticent and brusque. And as is the case with this kind of guy, he is thoroughly sincere when it comes to his job."

Gusion smiled at the end of his words because he recalled lots of memories related to Richard.

He closed and opened his eyes. Then he pushed away the vague memories of him and looked at the present.

"Richard is the gatekeeper of the treasure storage. So, he doesn't care about anyone if he is qualified to come to the treasure storage. It is only when he faces an unjust intruder that he takes up his weapon."

Gusion gave a short description of Richard, but Yong-ho could size him up roughly.

Gusion continued, "As such, it is unlikely that he has prepared any trial or test for you.

Even when Mammon was alive, he didn't prepare anything like that. So, whether or not you can open the door of the treasure storage will depend on whether you have qualifications."

"Is opening the door itself a test?"

"That's right. It would not be easy for you because you can't open it just with strong mana alone."

Stopping at that point, Gusion got up and urged him.

"You can hear more about Richard from Aamon while going down. You know the rules of the arena, right? At least one member of your group must challenge the arena. Hurry up as you have a long way to go."

Since Gusion kept prodding on him, Yong-ho led his subordinate spirits to the arena located below the stairs. Like Gusion said, he had no time to waste, so one of his subordinate spirits still staying on the lower floors was to challenge the floor master.

When Yong-ho and his subordinate spirits disappeared, only Gusion and Aamon's consciousness were left.

It was Aamon who spoke first, [You are not pus.h.i.+ng him unexpectedly.]

Yong-ho defeated the King of Gluttony. He was closer to the King of Greed than any previous master of the House of Mammon during the past one thousand years. Nevertheless, Gusion did not push Yong-ho hard. He didn't press Yong-ho to conquer the arena as soon as possible.

What Mammon was worried about and the reason why he stopped Gusion from telling the truth about his death to the unqualified...

Gusion let his shoulders droop with a bitter expression.

"It's because so many years have pa.s.sed that I can feel the pa.s.sage of time even in the subtle arena. I haven't forgotten that day, but that doesn't mean I can't stay thirsty for revenge forever."

Aamon quietly burned flames and whispered, [Too much time has pa.s.sed.]

[Too much time...]