Chapter 266   – The Hoarder (6)

Charon looked flustered. Most people didn’t deny the help of a Guardian.

However, Yeon-woo just scoffed because he knew what kind of being Charon was.

‘If you’re tricked by Charon, you’ll be on the highway to failure.’

Charon was definitely helpful. After arriving at the land beyond the River of Souls, the hint that Charon gave you could decrease the amount of time you spent.

‘But most of them are general hints, and the rare information is expensive.’

He wasn’t called a boatsman for nothing.

He excused himself by saying that he needed to be paid for offering information—something a Guardian shouldn’t be doing, but…..

‘Bulls***.’

Yeon-woo didn’t need any help from Charon since he had the book of cheats, the diary.

Charon tried to convince Yeon-woo, but seeing Yeon-woo’s cold eyes, he just turned around with a sigh.

“Look here.”

Yeon-woo stopped Charon. Charon looked back with sparkling eyes. He was planning on accepting it if Yeon-woo tried to bargain.

“I want some information.”

“Ahem! Of course. It’s not easy to cross the River of Souls in the given time limit. Then give me a price. Cash is fine, and items are good too. I’ll give you a priceless hint that’s equal to what…..”

“What are you talking about? It’s only obvious that a Guardian should give information needed to clear the stage.”

Charon wrinkled his nose. It was quite threatening.

“That’s not allowed. Giving something without receiving isn’t fair.”

“Really? Oh well.”

Yeon-woo nodded. Then, he opened the system window and quietly adjusted something.

“But what are you doing?”

“Reporting to the Bureau.”

“W, What?”

“From what I know, the Bureau is in charge of protecting the stage and supporting the players so they can focus on clearing the stage. I heard that advice is also a part of that, so I’m asking because there’s a price for it.”

“W, Wait!”

Charon frantically stretched his hand out to grab Yeon-woo’s.

Yeon-woo looked at him with narrowed eyes. Sweat was beading on Charon’s head, unbefitting of an ogre.

“What?”

“W, What do you want?”

Yeon-woo touched the system with his other hand, turning away from Charon.

“I just want to check.”

“I, If there’s anything you want, just ask! I’ll tell you!”

Yeon-woo smirked and dropped his hand.

Guardians shouldn’t accept money from players and give them information in return. They were beings that were bound to the system. Brokering unfair deals with players was severely punishable.

However, this meant that it was alright if he gave the same information regardless of the amount of money he received.

He had no reason to be scolded by the system if he treated all players fairly.

‘So technically, it’s a scam.’

The hint that Charon gave was the same regardless of how much you paid. However, he just twisted his words to make players think that he gave them as much as they paid.

Arthia had almost been ripped off by Charon as well.

‘Although they didn’t, thanks to Jeong-woo’s Draconic Eyes.’

Yeon-woo didn’t listen to what others said anyway, so he was able to make Charon bend to him.

Charon glared at Yeon-woo and sighed.

“I heard people talking about you, Hoarder, but I never would’ve imagined that you would threaten a Guardian. Even though I’m like this, I’m a High Guardian.”

“If a High Guardian used the loophole in the system, that’s a greater problem. Well, I guess the punishment that follows will be as great as that too.”

“…..You don’t lose a single argument. But let me off for this one thing. After the thing with Laplace, everyone’s being careful these days.”

Yeon-woo didn’t miss what Charon said. Laplace of Myo. They said that his qualification as Guardian had been taken after he did something he shouldn’t have. Lupi of Hai had asked Yeon-woo what Laplace discussed with him.

He had been curious what happened to Laplace after that, but he didn’t look into it.

“Ahem! Anyways…..”

“I won’t tell the other players. I have no reason to either.”

“Oh. Thank…..!”

“Of course, you have to hand over all the information you can.”

Charon’s face crumpled as he shook his head. What Yvlke said in passing as he left the Bureau was right. He needed to be careful of the Hoarder. He had said that you would be on the losing side if you weren’t.

Still, Charon liked players like this.

The smarter a player was, the longer they would live, and the more floors they would climb. The Tower wasn’t somewhere you would succeed just because you were strong or just because you knew a lot.

You had to have abilities, strategies, and correct judgement. All three of those had to be developed. Players like that gave Guardians a vicarious sense of satisfaction.

Yeon-woo was like that. That was the reason why Yvlke liked Yeon-woo. Of course, Charon stilled like money the best.

“Mm. Well, there are two ways you can cross the river.”

Charon made a “V” with his hand and folded his middle finger.

“The first one is to just swim past it. Guys who are confident in their magic power attempt this. But I don’t suggest it.”

Yeon-woo nodded. He knew that there were some people who jumped into the River of Souls fearlessly.

‘They become a part of the river.’

There were souls that weren’t able to move to the Beyond living in the River of Souls. It was obvious what kind of reaction they would have when they saw a living person.

“I see. As expected, you already know what’ll happen.”

Charon chuckled and folded his forefinger down.

“The other one is to make a boat. Of course, you may be wondering how you’re supposed to make that in the time limit you have. If you bring the necessary materials, I can make it for you for a small fee and…..”

“No.”

“…..I’d like it if you remember that I’m a Guardian.”

Charon complained as he put his hands in his pockets. It was an attitude different from the polite Guardians so far.

Aside from that, Charon spoke of some hints that he would need on the way to the 30th floor. He was heeding Yeon-woo’s condition to tell him everything he could.

However, Yeon-woo’s eyes didn’t change. He clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘I already knew all that.’

He had wondered if there was something his brother missed, but it seemed like there was nothing of the sort. Just when he was about to turn around—

“Also.”

“…..?”

“I suggest that you don’t go too deep into the opposite side of the island.”

“Are you talking about the Cannibal Monster Humans?”

Cannibal Monster Humans. They were monsters that lived on this Island of Souls. To be exact, they were this place’s natives.

Charon grinned.

“Seeing as you know the Cannibal Monster Humans, I suppose you know about the information of this island. Anyways, that’s all I can tell you. Even telling you this is a bit too much.”

“Alright.”

Yeon-woo silently nodded his head.

Charon chuckled.

“Then I wish you luck. Oh, if you need a boat, call me anytime through the system…..”

Yeon-woo lifted his hand towards the status window.

“Okay, okay. Guys aren’t popular with the girls if they’re picky like you.”

Charon pouted and quietly disappeared into a green portal.

Yeon-woo lightly treaded not to the shore but to the opposite of that, towards the island.

‘So I need materials for the boat first, hm?’

The River of Souls was acidic and poisonous, so it was hard to float most boats on it. However, the boats that you commissioned Charon to make would differ greatly by the amount you paid. Also, he asked for so many things…..people didn’t say that listening to Charon led to failure for nothing.

Still, you can’t not make a boat. You had to have superior materials to drop the price a little.

Most of them were deeper inside of the island. And of course, it definitely wasn’t easy to get them.

Thinking of the type and amount of materials he needed, he was about to enter the forest when someone called out for him from behind.

“Wait!”

There were two people who stopped Yeon-woo. One was a giant, and the other was a depressed-looking muscular figure. Of them, the giant spoke up.

“You’re the Hoarder, right?”

Yeon-woo silently nodded.

“I’m Hector, and this is Ibrahimovic.”

“And?”

“Mm? You don’t know us?”

“……?”

He spoke like it was obvious that Yeon-woo should know them.

However, Yeon-woo narrowed his eyes, and Hector looked flabbergasted. When he realized that Yeon-woo really didn’t know him, fury flooded his face.

“I’m the 92nd Captain of the Fantasy Regiment. This guy here is the co-captain.”

Yeon-woo had heard of the Fantasy Regiment.

After the Cheonghwado fell and the Red Dragon had internal struggles, the Eight Large Clans had been shaken.

There were still eight clans that were far more outstanding than the others, but there was a slight change in the hierarchy.

Allforone.

The White Dragon.

The Black Dragon.

The Elohim.

The Devil Army.

The Blood Land.

The Sea of Time.

The Daud Brethren.

The White Dragon and the Black Dragon had taken the Cheonghwado’s empty spot.

And although these two clans were from one large clan, they were still as powerful as other large clans.

It was especially shocking that the leader of the White Dragon, the Spring Queen, Waltz, had defeated the 3 Consuls of the Elohim at the same time.

But because the shaking of the Tower was quite strong, there were new emerging forces that threatened the authority of these clans.

The Fantasy Regiment was one of them.

They consisted of 108 small clans and teams and swept through the lower and middle floors. For the past year, they had been climbing the hierarchy at a rapid pace.

They had recently become well-reputed, so most ordinary clans and some rankers were wary of them.

However, this was Yeon-woo’s first time meeting them because he spent a while training inside the One-horned tribe’s village.

He didn’t care much about them.

Yeon-woo was after the Eight Large Clans, not a bunch of small fry who went around proudly saying that they would catch up to them.

Obviously, his reaction would be apathetic.

Hector growled, not satisfied with Yeon-woo’s reaction, but he didn’t think of picking a fight with him.

The abilities of the Hoarder became well-known in the war between the Red Dragon and the One-horned tribe. Of course, Hector thought most of it was just rumors because he was the Martial King’s disciple, but the Hoarder was not someone he could take lightly.

He had already received a report from his subordinates on the 26th floor of what Yeon-woo had done.

There was no need for them to clash here.

Hector began to speak again, barely calming himself down.

“You probably heard from Charon just now. You need a lot of materials and money to make a boat. Let’s work together.”

Ibrahimovic, with his dark circles, added onto the sentence.

“We heard that the Hoarder always does solo playing without the Cheongram siblings. However, even you won’t be able to gather all the materials in the allotted time, so let’s……”

“It’s fine.”

Yeon-woo shook his hand in the air as a sign of refusal. Technically, these two were right.

You needed to be strong to gather all the materials, and even if you could, it would take too much time.

It was inefficient.

Also, the price to create it wasn’t to be underestimated, so it was good to gather as many people as possible to pay for it.

However, Yeon-woo had no reason to be held up by money since he was being sponsored by By the Table, and he was confident in gathering the materials himself. If he needed more manpower, he could make his Monster Portents do it.

There was no need to work together with them.

‘They’re also oppressive.’

There were about 500 people on the island. They weren’t all part of the Fantasy Regiment.

They were probably forcing the other players to work for them under the impression of ‘working together.’

‘They’ll just leave the exhausting work to others. Also, if they have control, it’ll be easy for them to absorb them into the Regiment. So this is how they grew their clan.’

He could feel the island with his senses. Most of the players were unhappy, but they weren’t able to speak up about it. There was an oppressive air blowing around.

Yeon-woo had no reason to be used by them, so he denied their offer. He was about to go back into the forest because their conversation was over, but…..

“You son of a b****! I’m talking to you, but you’re not even listen…..!”

Hector was about to grab Yeon-woo’s shoulder with a grimace, feeling offended by Yeon-woo’s attitude, when—

Crunch!

“Keackkkk!”

His right arm broke like a piece of straw and shot up in the air along with his shoulder.