Debuff Master

Chapter 559

A radiant white light flashed, and Siegfried felt his feet touch solid ground.

“W-Where am I...?” Siegfried muttered while looking around.

Ding!

A system message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Heaven’s Eye: Guardians Headquarters]

The system message told Siegfried his current location, ahd he looked around to find dozens of airships seemingly under maintenance; the sheer number of airships made him mistake the headquarters of the Guardians as some kind of massive aircraft carrier.

Siegfried looked around some more and saw numerous golems armed with cannons lined around the perimeter of Heaven’s Eye. There were also quite a few people running back and forth doing their duties.

It turned out that the headquarters of the clandestine organization tasked with upholding the safety and peace of this world, the Guardians, was a massive island floating in the sky.

“Hey! Han Tae-Sung!”

Siegfried heard Cheon Woo-Jin’s voice.

“Did you just get here?”

Siegfried narrowed his eyes and said, “You surprised me, you bastard.”

“Hmm?”

“I thought I was getting abducted by aliens or something.”

“Aliens?”

“You know those things the aliens do in the movies? The one where they use light from their UFO to abduct people?”

“...”

“That really scared me. Phew...!”

“I’m pretty sure I told you to meet me on the rooftop.”

“How the hell was I supposed to know this was what you meant?”

“Were you scared? Mr. Scaredy Cat?”

“Scaredy Cat? Is that all you have to say after dragging someone busy all the way here?”

“I’m also busy, you know?”

“I’m busier than you.”

“Don’t make me laugh.”

Siegfried and Cheon Woo-Jin started bickering the moment they met, and this continued for quite a while before they finally moved on to their main agenda.

Cheon Woo-Jin pouted and said, “Forget about that. Allow me to introduce you to this place; this is the headquarters of the Guardians, Heaven’s Eye.”

“What’s with the name? Did you really have to call it that?”

Cheon Woo-Jin pointed to the ground and said, “There’s a Behemoth’s eye under this thing, and that eye can see through everything going on in this world.”

“So?”

“And we placed that eye under this island to keep watch over the continent. Then, we will mobilize our people whenever we find something strange.”

“Wow?”

“That’s why we call this Heaven’s Eye. We fly around this world and keep an eye on it.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, come with me. I have something I want to show you.”

“Sure.”

Siegfried followed behind Cheon Woo-Jin while looking around the Heaven’s Eye.

***

Cheon Woo-Jin led Siegfried through numerous security checkpoints and magic circles before arriving at a room where a censer the size of an adult’s torso was kept.

“Huh? Isn’t that the Fated Censer?” Siegfried said, recognizing the object in a single glance.

“Yeah, that’s the Fated Censer,” Cheon Woo-Jin replied.

The Fragments of Apocalius—the Void Soul and the Ignite Soul—were embedded in the Fated Censer.

“Did you bring it?”

“How could I forget that?”

Siegfried opened his Inventory and took out the Requiem Soul.

“You can go slot it into an empty socket,” Cheon Woo-Jin said.

“Okay.”

Siegfried walked up to the Fated Censer and slotted the Requiem Soul into an empty socket.

Click... Clack!

The sound of metal clicking echoed, and the Fated Censer unleashed a purple light that gradually died out.

Ding!

Then, a message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: You have achieved 60% quest progress! (3/5)]

Siegfried managed to secure three out of the five fragments.

“Great job. I think this one was especially hard, right?” Cheon Woo-Jin asked.

“Don’t even mention it. We would have failed miserably if our ambush against the boss monster hadn\'t worked. We were outnumbered more than ten to one, so how could we have won that war otherwise? It’s not like I’m a Grandmaster, right?”

“I think it would be impossible even if you were a Grandmaster.”

“True. Even a Grandmaster is human, after all.”

“Anyway, great job.”

“What about the Flames of Annihilation?”

“We’re still looking for it.”

“And the location of the other two souls?”

“We’re also looking for them.”

“Tsk... So you\'ve been doing basically nothing?”

“W-What?!” Cheon Woo-Jin exclaimed. Then, he glared at Sigfried and asked, “What do you mean I\'ve been doing basically nothing?”

“Then, what have you been up to? I got two of the souls, while the other was brought by Beowulf, who—by the way, he\'s been looking for the Flames of Annihilation as well.

"How about you? What else have you been doing aside from being a busybody with your hands behind your back?”

“This asshole...”

“Tsk... People like you are the problem. You’re too cunning.”

They started bickering again, and their quarrel lasted for a bit longer than before until they finally moved elsewhere.

“Where are we going this time?”

“Who knows?”

“Hmm?”

“It’s something amazing, so you better look forward to it.”

“What’s with the suspense?”

“You’ll find out when we get there,” Cheon Woo-Jin said with a sly smirk as he led Siegfried somewhere.

***

Cheon Woo-Jin brought Siegfried to a large training facility. There were eight rings in the training facility, and the Guardians were busy training in each of those rings.

“W-What the hell?” Siegfried muttered in shock after seeing their levels.

The Guardians in training were all Level 300.

“Hey, what’s going on here? Why are their levels so high?”

“Hoho!”

“It looks like there are... one hundred of them.”

Having one hundred people above Level 300 was a huge boost to anyone\'s combat prowess. This was enough firepower to even challenge the most powerful nation on the continent, the Marchioni Empire.

“This doesn\'t make any sense at all? How do you have one hundred Masters?”

Siegfried knew of less than ten Masters on the continent. Masters were so rare that the people revered the five Masters by calling them the Five Star Heavens of the continent.

However, the Guardians actually had one hundred people who were Level 300...

This didn\'t make sense at all.

“This is the Homunculus Project.”

“Huh?”

“The Immortal Alchemist, Acheron, had imparted her wisdom unto us and allowed us to create these enhanced humans.”

“E-Enhanced humans?!”

“We used alchemy to change their DNA, allowing them to be stronger and faster.”

“Wow...”

“Iris-nim lent her wisdom to us so she could help us against the Church of Osric.”

“Wow... This is amazing...”

Who could have known that it was possible to create Level 300 people with alchemy? If this weren\'t cheating, then what was cheating, then?

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing,” Siegfried said with a shrug.

“What? Is that all?” Cheon Woo-Jin asked with narrowed eyes. He seemed disappointed by Siegfried\'s reaction.

“What were you expecting? Did you expect me to get all shocked and fall on my butt?”

“...”

“It’s definitely helpful, but it’s just a sand castle.”

“Sandcastle?”

“Yeah, a sandcastle.”

“What do you mean?”

“What’s the point of being Level 300 when this can\'t keep up?” Siegfried said, tapping the side of his head.

“The head?”

“Do you really think that one\'s level is the only factor that decides whether they\'re a Master or not? Masters are the product of many hardships and experiences that had been molded together into a vessel.”

“Hmm...”

“Sure, they have excellent stats, but it’s meaningless if they can’t use those stats properly. I’m sure they\'ll become dull once they start relying too much on their stats.”

“Really?”

“I think a real Master can bring down fifty of them in a matter of seconds,” Siegfried said, sounding confident.

“Then are you saying they are useless?”

“Nope, I didn’t say that,” Siegfried shook his head and replied. Then, he proceeded to explain, “They are extremely useful against weaker opponents, but they will suffer against those on the same level as them.

"Why you ask? It\'s all because they don’t have the skills to back them up. What’s the point of having massive stats when their movement and control won\'t allow them to showcase those stats?”

“Oh?”

“They are strong against the weak and weak against the strong. But they are definitely a formidable force against the weaker members of the Church of Osric.”

“I see...”

“Anyway, it’s a cause for celebration. They will bolster your forces, after all.”

That was the conclusion that Siegfried had drawn regarding Project Homunculus.

“Tsk...” Cheon Woo-Jin clicked his tongue at the lackluster reaction. He sulked after his project was criticized. He wanted to see Siegfried’s eyes pop out from shock, but all he got was harsh feedback.

However, what really made him upset was the fact that Siegfried\'s words were true.

“Is there anything else?”

“N-No, that was it.”

“Then I’m going. See ya,” Siegfried said goodbye and left Heaven’s Eye.

***

Siegfried dedicated himself to administrative work after returning to the Proatine Kingdom. Of course, he did not forget to slaughter his piglets every forty-nine hours and collect their items.

“Is this why they say that farm-raised poultry is better than wild ones? Kekeke!”

Funnily enough, he was treating the Adventurers as if they were livestock. In his eyes, the Adventurers were like the goose that laid golden eggs.

All of a sudden, Siegfried found himself in a dilemma. “Hmm... What should I do? It’s a bit burdensome for me to leave my post...”

He\'d love to go hunt in a high-level hunting ground right now, but couldn\'t do that. After all, he had no idea when the Guardians would find another fragment and ask him to go there to retrieve it. In addition, he had to kill his prisoners every forty-nine hours, and he also had a mountain of documents to go through.

Unfortunately, Siegfried couldn\'t sit still even though he had many things to do.

‘I need to grow stronger...’

Siegfried\'s mind was packed to the brim with just two words: "grow stronger."

He felt like he\'d get sick if he didn\'t obtain any Experience Points in a mere day.

“Kyu! Owner punk! What’s wrong with you? I thought you wanted to rest?” Hamchi asked.

“I can’t call this resting...”

“Kyu?”

“I can only relax once I’ve gotten even stronger.”

“Kyu! That’s an addiction! You need to know when to rest, too!”

“I know, but I can’t help but feel anxious.”

“Kyu?”

“Tsk... I really want to go hunting, but I don’t think I’ll have the time to do so. I wonder if there’s anywhere I can go to obtain Experience Points...”

It was then.

“Why not just relieve your stress at the arena? Kyuu?” Hamchi suggested.

“Oh?” Siegfried raised a brow at the suggestion.

Yes, the arena still existed. He wouldn\'t be able to farm items there, but the arena was still an excellent source of Experience Points. To make it even better, he didn\'t have to invest hours into it, as he could quit whenever he wanted between matches.

On top of that, he could also test out his skills against other Adventurers, and the experience he\'d get from dueling another powerful individual would be invaluable for his growth.

“Let’s go,” Siegfried said, taking the Black Crow Wing Suit hung on the wall with him.

“Kyu! Wait for me, owner punk!” Hamchi cried out, running after him.

The duo left the office and headed straight for the arena.