Chapter 178

“I know an Outsider. His name is Muhyuk, and after checking, I found out he isn’t participating in this competition.”

“Does that have anything to do with this matter?”

“Of course. That friend is among the top-tier talents among the Outsiders. His non-participation means that other skilled individuals may also not be participating in the competition. If they don’t participate, our intention to find out their skills could be thwarted. Aren’t you all well aware? That darkness is taking hold everywhere. It might be difficult to endure with our strength alone. Through this competition, we must grasp the skills of the Outsiders and promote their growth more quickly through requests……”

“I understand. I think that’s enough.”

“Ahem, right.”

Amur looked around.

“What do you all think of Count Chiron’s opinion?”

“It seems worth looking into.”

“It’s just one person. I think it’s problematic to reverse a decision because of one person.”

Duke Amur knocked on the table at the nobles’ conflicting opinions.

“We will decide by vote. If you think we should investigate properly, vote yes. If not, vote no.”

The voting continued.

“23 votes in favor. 17 votes against.”

In the end, it was decided to properly investigate.

“Let’s meet again in two days.”

They had to spend two full days to accurately grasp the situation. Afterwards, the expressions of the nobles who gathered again were not very good.

“It’s a relief.”

Fortunately, Duke Amur’s one word eased the stiff atmosphere a little.

Although they were nobles belonging to other empires, they were allies in the current situation with a common enemy, so they were like comrades.

Moreover, in Amur’s case, he was a Duke, so no one could treat him carelessly, except for the Emperor of the Empire.

“Thanks to Count Chiron’s opinion, we were able to properly grasp the situation. I think you all know what the problem is. After looking into it, most of the Outsiders who are growing the fastest have not applied to participate.”

“Yes, we have also confirmed.”

“Not being able to measure the growth of the most important ones is a very big problem.”

“How about checking out their hunting instead……”

“Monsters are too simple to measure true combat abilities.”

Count Chiron stepped forward.

“Then how about making the rewards better?”

“I was thinking the same thing. If the rewards were previously only available to the top 3, how about expanding that standard to 8 people and adding 5 new rewards?”

“Certainly, the odds will increase, so it will be interesting.”

“And if we improve the quality of the remaining 5 rewards……”

Everyone nodded.

Duke Amur, who was watching the scene, continued.

“I have thought about the reward for first place.”

“What is it?”

“What the user wants.”

For a moment, the nobles did not understand.

“If it’s what the user wants, what is it……”

“It’s exactly as it sounds.”

They still tilted their heads.

Amur smiled at that.

“The user who achieves first place deserves to obtain one item that they themselves know exactly, and we must open our hidden warehouse to find that item without fail.”

A rather shocking reward was now mentioned from Duke Amur’s mouth.

While heading to the Vir Kingdom after completing a hunting request, Sungminwoo made a request.

“Sparring?”

“Yeah, it’s PVP, but to be honest, I’ve fought PK users, but my skills weren’t that good, right? So I’m trying to improve my senses by sparring with you.”

“So I’m helping you?”

“Ah, yeah. I’ll buy you beef!”

“Deal.”

Muhyuk smiled and drew his sword.

“Should I start alone first?”

“Huh? What about the Skeletons? Summon about 10 of them. I’m not that weak!”

“It’s not because you’re weak.”

“Then?”

“Most of your opponents aren’t summons anyway. As much as you’re alone, the feeling is completely different from monsters, and it’ll be different from a group of PK users.”

“Ah?”

“Come at me.”

“Okay, first, summon.”

Sungminwoo summoned 12 spirits. He definitely felt a bit of pressure trying to deal with them alone, but Muhyuk himself also saw it as a good opportunity to understand the feeling of fighting alone, so he resolved to fight with all his might.

“Leaving party.”

“Okay.”

The moment he disbanded the party, Muhyuk quickly stepped back.

Transformation, Powerful Archery.

After turning the sword into a bow, he placed an arrow on the string. It pierced through the air and was shot with terrifying force, but Sungminwoo lightly blocked the attack by commanding the spirits. At the same time, he advanced the remaining 11 spirits forward, putting pressure on Muhyuk.

Hoo.

Muhyuk retreated, waiting for the spirits to come a little closer. However, the Earth located in front of Sungminwoo did not seem to want to move.

In the meantime, the remaining spirits sufficiently narrowed the distance with Muhyuk, and Muhyuk, who could no longer just retreat, cast Windstorm and fired Multishot.

Bang, Paang!

The approaching spirits were hit by the arrows and pushed back.

He did not forget to shoot an arrow at Sungminwoo.

It might not be a big deal, but he would definitely move to block or avoid one arrow, and Muhyuk had enough ability to exploit that gap.

Wind Step. Transformation, Transformation.

Because he had movement like the wind.

Pabat.

He ran towards Sungminwoo, passing through the spirits. As Earth came forward and waved his hand, the floor cracked and split. The hand that stretched out from there aimed for Muhyuk’s ankle, but he was already aware of the skill and had anticipated it.

Huu!

Holding his breath, he drastically changed direction. At the same time, he swung his sword and cut off Earth’s ankle. It would recover quickly, but it wouldn’t be able to move for a moment.

That was enough.

“Eurachacha!”

Because he was facing Sungminwoo alone.

Kang, Kagagang!

Knuckles and swords collided quickly.

Windstorm. Cross Slash.

The spirits would be approaching from behind.

Quick decision.

Muhyuk really didn’t hold back at all. In the first place, Muhyuk’s stats were higher, so Sungminwoo was barely holding on.

Then, when his HP dropped to the bottom, he raised both hands.

“Surrender, surrender!”

Muhyuk also stopped swinging his sword.

“Ah, what, damn it!”

“Do you know why you lost?”

“No.”

“The spirits went too far away. What are you going to do if they follow me as I lure them?”

“Ah?”

“So the spirits couldn’t follow and it just ended.”

Sungminwoo nodded.

“Okay, understood.”

“Again?”

“Yeah, just refill my HP.”

“Okay.”

The two sat down and crafted Weaponry.

Kang, Kaang!

Around the time one Weaponry was completed.

“My HP is full.”

“Really?”

He continued sparring with Sungminwoo.

Fifth sparring.

Sungminwoo no longer commanded the spirits according to his own tastes.

He created a certain Pattern to respond to Muhyuk’s movements. Because of that, it was Muhyuk who became difficult.

Eventually, as time passed, he declared surrender.

“Keu, Keuhahaha!”

It was Sungminwoo’s wild laughter.

“I finally won.”

“Did you improve a bit?”

“Keukeu, I can throw a punch.”

Muhyuk’s forehead twitched.

“One more time?”

“I accept your challenge.”

“Heoheo……”

Muhyuk smiled and summoned Skeletons.

“Eh? What, why are you summoning?”

“Why?”

“That’s cheating!”

“Hey, hey. Friend. I’m a Necromancer.”

“……”

Sungminwoo had a rather shocking expression, as if he had forgotten that fact. Muhyuk smirked and reverse-summoned some of the summons.

What remained were 15 Armor Knights.

“Is this enough?”

“Deal.”

Once again, they collided with each other with all their might.

In the beginning, a fairly even situation was created, but after continuing the sparring a few times, Sungminwoo began to overwhelm Muhyuk again.

The power of 12 spirits was that great. Moreover, the coordination with Sungminwoo got better and better.

Inevitably, he summoned 7 more Armor Archers and 3 Mages, and only then did a situation continue where they could not guarantee each other’s victory or defeat.

After finishing the sparring, they entered the Vir Kingdom.

At that moment, the quest popped up again.

“It seems to pop up every time we come?”

“Maybe?”

Muhyuk was about to turn it off out of annoyance, but he tilted his head.

[The Forma Continent Strongest Player Competition (Modified) quest has been confirmed.]

The phrase ‘Modified’ caught his eye.

Was there something like this?

Muhyuk tilted his head and checked the contents of the quest.

[The Forma Continent Strongest Player Competition (Modified)]

The nobles who led the Forma Continent Strongest Player Competition changed their minds and further improved the quality of the rewards.

You can acquire experience even in the preliminaries, and it will increase more than 3 times the existing amount when holding a tournament.

In addition, the ranking was expanded to 8 people, and the reward for 1st place has also changed dramatically.

They declared that they would find any item the user wanted.

Muhyuk’s steps stopped.

“Oh, this……”

“Why?”

“What is this?”

It wasn’t the flow he knew.

Of course, many things had changed. The tower and Treasure Dungeon opened faster than before, and Muhyuk took the benefits instead of the user who was supposed to open them.

He had also taken most of the skulls and become abnormally strong. But this was strange no matter how he thought about it.

Was it related to those?

It didn’t seem like the things Muhyuk had taken were related to the Strongest Player Competition.

Muhyuk, who could not know of Count Chiron’s intervention, eventually pondered for a while without resolving his doubts.

“Ah, the quest has changed?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Is it because of this?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s the problem?”

“No, it’s just. I was wondering if I should participate.”

“Really?”

“I’m still thinking about it. They say they’ll give you what you want if you get first place.”

With this level of reward, most of the hidden talents would definitely appear.

Anything.

The weight this phrase gave was more significant than he thought.

There were a few items he really wanted to get.

He would have to think a little more about what to choose.

“Hey, hey. What’s there to think about? Just participate!”

“Huh?”

“Let’s go apply right now!”

In the end, he was dragged by Sungminwoo and stood in line. It made him feel more comfortable and he made up his mind.

Yeah, let’s participate.

He decided to go wild.