The Church of the Sun is the enemy of, not just the Ameri Kingdom, but the entire continent .

That showed just how evil the Church of the Sun is, but, on the other hand, it also could mean that they were just that strong . Strong enough to put the entire continent in danger .

The headquarters of such a group would probably be heavily guarded .

I’ve leveled up a lot and upgraded my equipment, but it was still impossible for me to do alone .

Of course, s.h.i.+one’s father, Harrison, and his forces will help out, but, in order to keep this quiet, we will only be able to use a small number of troops . That is the reason I don’t have much expectations for them .

I needed to gather a few strong individuals to create a team .

‘Who would be good?’

The first person to pop into my mind was the Warrior of Light, Kaicher .

But I shook my head soon after thinking that .

I was doing this secretly, without the Ameri Kingdom or the Athena Temple knowing about it .

The Ares Temple and Athena Temple were well connected, and are said to share information a lot . Kaicher was also not someone who would throw away the Ares Temple for me .

It would be hard to keep this a secret with him helping me out .

‘Sigh, just how many years have I been living in this Royal Roader world? How can I still not have some strong individuals as part of my crew? I’m such an idiot . ’

It is because my skills are still lacking . I need to first show off some type of overwhelming strength in order for strong warriors or magicians to be my friends .

There was nothing I could do about it . I needed time to get stronger .

‘Let’s think about it slowly as I head there . ’

I immediately headed to the Magician’s Tower .

“Please tell me your destination . ”

“The Dwarf Village . ”

“Huh? Where?”

The magician in charge of the portal asked in shock . The Dwarf Village portal was something only people who have the dwarves’ permission can use .

“Please send me to the Dwarf Village . I have their permission . ”

“Ah, I understand . ”

With a flas.h.i.+ng light, I arrived at the Dwarf Village Temple .

The dwarf protecting the portal recognized me .

“You are that human from before . What brings you here?”

I didn’t come here because I needed something from the dwarves . I just needed to pa.s.s by this place to take care of something else .

“To head to the Peria Desert . ”

“I see . Go ahead . ”

Coming to the Dwarf Village made me think of a specific dwarf .

“Where is Goonto?”

“He went Demon Cave hunting . It should be a few days before he returns .

”

I was going to say, ‘Hi,’ since I was here anyways,but I didn’t want to waste time by waiting for a few days .

“Can I borrow a horse?”

“You are a friend of the Dwarves . I will ask the bishop-nim . ”

A horse was prepared for me after a bit of time . It seemed to be a very strong and fast horse .

I quickly headed to the Peria Desert . Once I got to a spot where the horse could not pa.s.s anymore, I walked with my own two feet .

I was able to quickly get there because I had already been there once before .

It really was a magical place . The surrounding was a heated desert that felt like the land of the dead, but, once you take a single step forward, it suddenly turns into a green forest .

It was a small area, but it was so cool that it wouldn’t be wrong to describe it as, ‘heaven . ’ It might seem even more refres.h.i.+ng because it has the desert heat right next to it for comparison .

I opened my bag and took out a Fairy’s Tear .

The quest I got last time was recovering 100 Fairy’s Tears . I only needed 68 more when I left last time .

However, I have hunted a lot of Midnight Black Alligators since then . Even though I hadn’t planned for it, I had collected 123 Fairy’s Tears .

Including the ones from before, that was a total of 160 .

Will there be an extra reward?

I put the Fairy’s Tears into the oasis .

Once I did that, the Perias that were released from the Fairy’s Tears flew up into the sky . Each time one flew up, it thanked me before gently kissing my face .

The Perias’ kisses continued 123 times .

But my magic stat stopped rising after raising 68 points . No matter how many more kisses I got, I did not hear the message about my magic stat rising anymore .

Once all 123 of them kissed me, the Perias started to circle around me .

“Thank you very much . You have been of great help to the Perias . ”

There were so many of them that I didn’t really know which one was talking .

“As promised, we will put our powers together to gift you a guardian spirit . ”

“We pray that your life will be filled with blessings . ”

The Perias circled around me a few more times before floating up to the sky . They were probably heading towards the Peria Mountain .

I wanted to follow them to check it out, but that wasn’t possible .

The Perias were a race that was as covered in a veil as the Drakes . No matter how much friendliness I may have with the fairies, I will still not be welcomed in .

.

‘A guardian spirit . ’

I opened my bag, but it was not there .

‘Where is it?’

The moment I thought about the guardian spirit and questioned its location, a white light appeared in my hand .

Not only that, I could feel the existence of that light . It was a light that only existed for me .

I could even see its information .

[Guardian Spirit]

Spirit Energy: 1,000/1,000

Damage Absorption: 20%

Connection Level: 64%

The Shadow Fox’s Leather Armor also has a 21% damage absorption option . Then I should now have a total of 41% damage absorption .

But this was not the only benefit of a guardian spirit .

‘Fly . ’

Once I thought about it, the guardian spirit read my thoughts and flew up into the sky .

I could see the entire oasis in front of my eyes . This was because I could use the guardian spirit’s eyes like my own .

I could use the guardian spirit to figure out the situation of places I could not see with my own eyes .

Of course, it was impossible to do this at incredibly far distances . I sent the guardian spirit up as high as possible, but it seems like it can’t go more than 30m away from me .

It was because of our connection level . Since our connection level was only at 64%, it could not be very far from me .

But even this will be very helpful for me .

I wonder what my magic stat is at now .

[Kang Hwi Ram, Level 351]

Dexterity: Advanced level 7, 34%

Strength: 340

Agility: 1,558

Stamina: 96

Intuition: 126

Magic: 170

Vitality: 39

Mana: 708

HP: 766

Endurance: 37

Reinforced Toughness: 150

Guard Point: 2,451

Intelli Point: 2,381

My magic had instantly shot up to 170 .

My strength and agility were much higher as well . I did use some bonus points for them, but it was because the options for strength and agility on the Shadow Fox’s Leather Armor were pretty large as well .

With these kind of stats, I will probably have no issues with the restrictions, even if I fortify Goonto’s Twin Blades .

‘Ah, Jewel of Fortification!’

I suddenly recalled the Jewel Alchemy skill . When I received the Flame Fairy’s Breath, my Jewel Alchemy skill shot up significantly .

I believed that it was because my friendliness with the fairies shot up .

My friendliness with the fairies supposedly increased by 160 by rescuing the Peria .

Fairies and Peria may be different, but there are some similarities, so it probably had some effect .

The existence of the guardian spirit probably plays a role too .

I quickly checked my skill .

[Jewel Alchemy: Intermediate Level 7, 9%]

‘Wow! Instantly jumped up to intermediate level 7!’

It is possible to use the Jewels of Fortification once Jewel Alchemy reaches intermediate level 5 .

I just held back because the success rate is low

is low and since it is difficult to find Jewels of Fortification, especially ones with high fortification indexes .

That was why I was waiting to reach intermediate level 7 . At that level, the success rate will be at least 70% .

Now it was time to use my Jewels of Fortification .

I took the Jewels of Fortification out of my bag .

[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 9%]

[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 9%]

……

It would be stupid to use the jewels as they currently are . If you fortify with one that only has a 9% fortification index, your equipment will only strengthen by 9% .

I need to raise the fortification index as much as possible before fortifying, in order to bring out the most of the equipment’s abilities .

I used Jewel Alchemy to combine the Jewels of Fortification .

After spending some time, I was able to turn 9 jewels into three .

Only then did I have Jewels with satisfactory fortification indexes .

[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 18%]

[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 18%]

[Jewel of Fortification: Fortification Index 18%]

This is about the highest fortification index I can create with my Jewel Alchemy skill right now .

I took out Goonto’s Twin Blades .

[Goonto’s Twin Blades: Personalized for Kang Hwi Ram]

This cutla.s.s was made by Goonto, the current greatest blacksmith in the world . Two

blades were created as a pair .

Durability: 231/231

Attack strength: 101

Attack speed: 80

Restrictions: Strength 121, Agility 671, Level 250

*Attack strength is increased by 15% when used by Kang Hwi Ram

*30% chance of adding 230 lightning damage

*11% chance of causing Stun

*Special Skill: Nullify 30% of Enemy Defense (Use 50 MP)

The current stats were already extremely satisfactory . However, it would become much stronger once I use the Jewels of Fortification .

I have two blades . One jewel is required per blade . That means, I need to use two Jewels of Fortification to fortify both blades .

I grabbed one of the blades and put the Jewel of Fortification on top of it . I then pushed down on it with my palm and started to focus . It looked like I was trying to push the jewel into the cutla.s.s .

However, it was very different compared to combining two jewels . It required a significant amount of focus .

It also took a really long time . It took only about 30 minutes to combine nine Jewels of Fortification into three, but it took over an hour to use the Jewel of Fortification on the weapon .

It also took an intense amount of focus to the point that I even wanted to give up in the middle because of the pain .

But I clenched my teeth and persevered . It is not that easy to get a good weapon .

After continuing like that, I finally felt it . It felt like there was

like there was a warm storm brewing in my hand . The fairy’s power was leaving the Jewel of Fortification and started to move .

‘Alright . Now go into the weapon!’

I focused even harder, convincing myself that this was the final hurdle . After about ten more minutes, the fairy’s power slowly started to disappear .

I let out a deep breath .

“Huuuuuuu . ”

I seem to have sweated a lot during the process . The beads of sweat that were on my lips bursted out like a fountain with my breath .

My clothes were damp as well . I was covered in sweat from head to toe .

Maybe that was why, but I felt extremely tired . I wanted to just lay there and take a nap .

But my curiosity for the final product overcame my exhaustion .

‘Did it work properly?’

[Goonto’s Twin Blades +1 Fortification: Personalized for Kang Hwi Ram]

This cutla.s.s was made by Goonto, the current greatest blacksmith in the world . Two

blades were created as a pair .

Durability: 273/273

Attack strength: 119

Attack speed: 80

Restrictions: Strength 138, Agility 790, Level 273

*Attack strength is increased by 15% when used by Kang Hwi Ram

*30% chance of adding 230 lightning damage

*11% chance of causing Stun

*Special Skill: Nullify 30% of Enemy Defense (Use 50 MP)

It seems to have worked properly . Both the durability and attack strength have increased by 18% .

The restrictions regarding strength, agility, and level increased as well . However, they did not increase by 18% . If it remains like this, I should be able to still equip it after fortifying it three levels .

Of course, i need to increase my Jewel Alchemy level to fortify it more than twice right now .

I still needed to fortify the other blade, but I had no desire to do so . I was completed exhausted right now, so how was I supposed to stand the fortification process for over an hour?

‘Let’s take a break first . ’

This was a safe spot anyways . It was right next to the Peria Oasis .

I just laid down where I was sitting .

‘My forces are too weak . Who else can I take with me?’

s.h.i.+one’s father, Harrison, should be able to recruit a large number of soldiers .

However, this was not a battle of numbers . In order to stealthily complete this, we needed a small group to strike quickly and disappear .

But it wasn’t like we could rescue Morris from the underground prison .

It was too early for that .

Just thinking about it was giving me a headache . I had been thinking about this the whole time I was riding the horse over here as well .

I suddenly heard a voice while I was laying there thinking .

“Kang Hwi Ram . Long time no see . ”