Transcendent Warrior with a Dimensional Shifting Inventory

24

The man was not from Asdel.

He had set out from the Melbeck Citadel, the territory of another guardian, and had arrived here after passing through dangerous areas.

“Please take me to the Asdel Citadel.”

As the man made his earnest request, a message appeared before Minhyuk’s eyes.

＜A messenger from Melbeck seeks your aid. Safely guide him to the Citadel.＞

＜Upon success, you will be rewarded with 10 minutes of return time.＞

＜Current return time: 52 minutes and 33 seconds＞

It was exactly the same as when the princess had first asked Minhyuk for help.

If he escorted the man to the Citadel, he would receive 10 minutes of return time.

It was a generous reward, equivalent to hunting 60 of the 10-second trash mobs.

Furthermore, this place wasn’t that far from the Citadel, so he could quickly complete the task and return to hunting.

But just what kind of reward was this man offering that was worth 10 minutes of return time?

Was he someone as important as the princess?

That couldn’t be it.

There was no way someone of such high status would be carrying out such a dangerous mission.

Perhaps the news he had to deliver to the Asdel Emperor was of great importance.

Well, the reason didn’t really matter.

He just had to finish this quickly and collect his return time.

Groan-

The man groaned.

He was bleeding all over.

If left alone, he seemed likely to die before they even reached the Citadel.

Pop-

Minhyuk opened the cork of a red potion.

Then, he poured it into the man’s mouth.

Sizzle-

The man’s external wounds healed in an instant.

＜You have healed a wounded human.＞

＜As a reward, you have received 10 seconds of return time.＞

＜Current return time: 52 minutes and 43 seconds＞

The man bowed his head to Minhyuk in gratitude.

“You have used such precious medicine to heal me, I am deeply indebted to you!”

“What is this news that you bring?”

The man hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“I do not know myself. The message I am to deliver is not in my mind, but in my bag.”

Before Minhyuk’s eyes appeared information on the contents inside the man’s bag.

＜Scroll sealed with magic＞

-Contains information encrypted with magic.

-A special magical tool is needed to decipher the information.

The man wasn’t lying.

Since the scroll was sealed with magic, even he, a messenger of death, couldn’t know what was written inside.

However, he wanted to tell Minhyuk, his savior, something.

“This is just my hunch, but I think it’s probably something related to dragons.”

“Dragons?”

“There were rumors that a dragon appeared near Melbeck Castle.”

He said that no one had seen the dragon since the time of the Great Flood.

The dragon that had disappeared for 100 years had recently shown itself.

‘A dragon has appeared…’

It was said that the bones of a full-grown dragon were stronger than the metal of the stars.

The appearance of a dragon was slightly interesting to Minhyuk, but it wasn’t very important.

Minhyuk asked the man something else.

“How far is Melbeck from here?”

“Before the Great Flood, we could get there in 5 days on horseback. It’s impossible now because of the monsters.”

5 days on horseback was a much longer distance than from Seoul to Busan.

“Are there any other clans’ territories in between?”

“No, the closest clan’s territory to Melbeck is Asdel.”

He said that there were 12 clan territories in the entire continent.

But if the distance from Asdel to the nearest castle, Melbeck, was that far, then the Lanier continent must be quite large.

In fact, if he went to the Imperial Library, he could see a map of the Lanier continent.

However, it had been out of Minhyuk’s interest so far.

Minhyuk looked at the man’s appearance once again.

Ordinary cowhide armor with steel reinforcements, a longsword made of steel.

It wasn’t very good equipment.

He wondered how he had passed through such a long and dangerous area with such equipment.

Even Minhyuk had a hard time dealing with the monsters that popped out just a little bit outside the clan’s territory.

As if he had read Minhyuk’s expression, the man opened his mouth.

“I was able to come here alive thanks to this.”

He took out a cloth pouch from his arms and showed it to Minhyuk.

A foul smell wafted from the pouch.

“What is that?”

“It’s a scent pouch.”

A scent pouch was literally a pouch that held scents.

However, instead of scents, there was something else inside the man’s scent pouch.

“It contains poop. The poop of a Koodakkang.”

“Koodakkang?”

“There is a great lake near Melbeck. I am the king of that lake.”

Kudal Kang was a very large turtle and the strongest being near the lake.

If you carried his droppings in a leather pouch, the lesser monsters would smell it and run away.

“However, it’s not a perfect safety measure. It’s useless if the monsters see you.”

Although the smell would fool the beasts, the turtle droppings were ineffective if the monsters caught sight of you.

Furthermore, clever creatures like goblins weren’t easily fooled by the smell.

“Forty of us set out together, but I’m the only one who made it here alive.”

However, the turtle droppings had allowed at least one person to reach this place alive.

“That’s why Kudal Kang’s dung is worth several times its weight in 10,000 krone coins.”

At that, Minhyuk showed the man a gold coin.

“Do they use the same coins there?”

“Yes.”

Krone coins were a single currency used throughout the continent of Rania, even before the Cataclysm.

‘I see.’

This was very useful information.

Even if it wasn’t Astel, he could earn gold coins in any of the 12 citadels.

He had asked the man everything he wanted to know.

Minhyuk started walking toward the citadel.

The man followed behind him.

They passed through the grasslands and reached the swamp.

So far, no monsters had attacked them.

That was because Minhyuk had hunted all the lesser monsters in the vicinity not long ago.

Splash, splash-

Minhyuk entered the swamp first, and the man followed.

Swish-

A swamp eel swam quickly across the water’s surface toward the man.

He drew his sword.

He had survived a long and dangerous journey.

He could handle a swamp eel.

But then,

Thwack-

Minhyuk rushed forward and cut down the swamp eel.

Thwack-

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Thwack, thwack-

Minhyuk continued to cut down the swamp eels that attacked the man.

He couldn’t let anyone else kill such valuable prey that could earn him bonus return time.

“Don’t just stand there. Hurry up and cross!”

“Oh, yes!”

Splash, splash-

The man crossed the swamp.

Minhyuk also crossed the swamp, dealing with the attacking giant snakes.

The man looked at Minhyuk with gratitude.

“To think that you would protect a complete stranger like me… You truly are a righteous man! I have nothing to give you right now… No, wait, I do have something!”

The man handed Minhyuk his pouch.

“I’ll give you this. It’s very expensive.”

For Minhyuk, who needed to hunt for monsters, this would only get in the way.

It also smelled bad.

However, since it was more expensive than the same weight in gold, he put it in the refrigerator for now.

“Return.”

BAM-

He moved to the Gosiwon to check what it had turned into.

‘What the heck is this?’

There was an envelope inside.

He took it out and checked it carefully.

＜Feces Pouch＞

The pouch containing turtle feces had turned into a feces pouch.

And inside the envelope were unidentified feces.

It was definitely poop.

‘Gross!’

Minhyuk quickly returned to the swamp, took out the pouch from the refrigerator, and gave it back to the man.

“I don’t need it, so use it when you return to Melbeck later.”

“I understand. Then, could you please tell me your name? I would like to repay your kindness someday.”

Minhyuk uttered three short syllables.

“Michael.”

The man bowed several times to express his gratitude and entered the city gate.

＜You have safely escorted the envoy from Melbeck to the castle.＞

＜As a reward, 10 minutes of Return Time has been credited.＞

＜Current Return Time: 1 hour, 3 minutes, and 50 seconds＞

His Return Time had exceeded 1 hour.

However, it was still far from his goal.

He needed at least 3 to 4 days to escape the Gosiwon and move elsewhere.

Once he secured enough time, he would immediately move to a newly built officetel near a large mart and subway station.

‘If I catch a Teidon, I’ll get 24 hours.’

If he led an expedition to extract the Teidon’s heart, he would earn 24 hours of Return Time.

Since he had a way to kill it, he could succeed very easily if he was lucky.

In addition, the Return Time earned by defeating mid-boss monsters on the way to the expedition would also be substantial.

And he could earn a lot of gold while preparing for the expedition.

‘When do they start preparing for the expedition, anyway?’

However, Minhyuk couldn’t rush the expedition plan just because he was in a hurry.

Until then, he had no choice but to wait while hunting monsters.

‘Even dust can form a mountain.’

Minhyuk went back into the forest to hunt.

***

It had been 10 years since a foreign envoy had visited the Asdel Imperial Palace.

The emperor, the princess, and all the high-ranking officials wore their formal attire for the first time in a long while to greet the envoy.

“You must have suffered on your long journey.”

The sickly emperor tried his best to appear dignified in front of the envoy.

The envoy spoke to the emperor.

“Thanks to Your Majesty, I was able to arrive safely.”

“Thanks to me?”

“Fortunately, I met a righteous man near the Asdel fortress and was able to arrive safely. The favor I received from the people of Asdel is surely a favor from Your Majesty.”

The emperor was pleased by the envoy’s words.

“Can you tell me the name of the person who helped you? I shall reward him handsomely for upholding the honor of Asdel by helping a foreign envoy on my behalf.”

“He is called Michael.”

As soon as the princess heard the name, she spoke to the emperor.

“Your Majesty, that’s him! The red-haired man’s name is Michael!”

She had engraved Minhyuk’s name in her heart after hearing it from General Drake.

The emperor nodded meaningfully after hearing the princess’s words.

Then he opened his mouth to the envoy.

“What news have you brought?”

The envoy took out a scroll from his bag.

A servant received it and gave it to the emperor.

The emperor said to the envoy.

“You have delivered the sealed scroll to me, so your mission is complete. You may rest in Asdel for the time being.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

After the envoy left, the emperor held up the scroll and said to the officials.

“I shall check the contents of this first. You may all return and gather again tomorrow.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The officials dispersed, leaving only the princess in front of the emperor.

“Follow me.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The princess helped the emperor into his wheelchair.

The two of them moved to the center of the inner palace.

There was a room there that only the imperial family could enter.

When they entered the room, there was a round platform about 20 meters in diameter.

The two of them went up on the platform.

The emperor placed his hand on the crystal orb in the center of the platform.

BAM-

Light radiated from the orb.

Rumble-

The platform began to descend into the ground.

The platform was an elevator that could take them underground.

After a long descent, the platform stopped.

And before their eyes, a giant stone altar appeared.

It was the Altar of Gahho.

Various magical tools were placed next to the altar.

Among them was a decryption device that could decipher scrolls.

The emperor handed the scroll to the princess.

“Christina, you do it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The princess placed the scroll on the decryption device.

Then, a blue light enveloped the scroll.

The magical tools here do not need a separate supply of magical power when used.

They operated by receiving magical power from the Altar of Gahho.

BAM-

Glowing letters were inscribed in the air.

It was a message from the Lord of Melbeck to the Emperor of Asdel.

“Oh my…”

But the content was so shocking.

After reading the entire message, the princess exclaimed to the emperor.

“Your Majesty! Please grant me permission to go on an expedition! We don’t have time! We have to bring back the heart of Taydon as soon as possible!”