Chapter 183
Arkham’s Life Water.
Arkham, once called the guardian of noble life, gathered his own essence to create Arkham’s Life Water.
A peerless elixir known to revive the dead, and said to grant immortality if consumed!
However, Arkham’s Life Water was a treasure among treasures, and the Merchant Association had only ever obtained one in a very long time.
It was practically a family heirloom of the Merchant Association, never sold even at the request of demon lords.
Even if Dagon was the hero who had saved the Merchant Association, it was not something easily given away.
For him to ask for it, giving up even the value of the humans he had taken as collateral, along with his special promotion—
…It was absurd.
Promotion to a special-class merchant was something every merchant dreamed of.
A reward no one in their trade could dare refuse.
Was Arkham’s Life Water truly so necessary that he would throw all of that away?
But there was a problem.
Because even if the chairman wanted to give it, he couldn’t.
“Arkham’s Life Water is not something I can touch…”
-Hand it over.
At that moment.
A great voice echoed through the entire Merchant Association.
“Ah…!”
“Th-this voice, could it be!”
The merchants widened their eyes in an uproar.
They all recognized whose voice it was.
The chairman bowed his head toward the source of the voice.
“I greet the great merchant, Verre.”
The great merchant Verre!
As the name left the chairman’s mouth, the merchants froze.
They held their breath and trembled.
Verre was a legendary figure even among the many demon merchants.
A true power broker who wielded overwhelming influence over all Merchant Associations in the Abyss.
A person whom even demon lords and creators could not treat lightly!
And—
“…Father.”
He was Dagon’s father.
However, Dagon was practically an abandoned child in Verre’s eyes.
The worst among more than ten siblings.
He had no outstanding talent, nor any skills that might be useful to Verre, and so he had been thoroughly ignored.
But now—
“I understand. But Verre-nim, then the special promotion…?”
-A deal. Demote him to the lowest-ranking merchant.
“Pardon? Demotion? Ah, yes. I understand.”
The chairman, who had briefly tilted his head as if he’d misheard, quickly came to his senses.
He could not survive in the Merchant Association if he defied Verre.
If Verre called a pebble gold, then to the merchants, that was the truth.
In fact, Verre was the kind of man who could sell a pebble for the value of gold.
Dagon’s demotion was no different.
In an instant, the atmosphere within the Merchant Association grew solemn.
They had been about to hold a festival for his special promotion, yet now he was being demoted to the lowest-ranking merchant.
“Dagon. Are you really going to make this deal?”
“…Yes. I will.”
Yes. It was a deal.
Dagon nodded.
He felt no regret.
Dagon knew that saving his contractor was worth more than any promotion.
If not for his contractor, he would never have had this opportunity in the first place.
Besides—
He grinned.
Dagon smiled.
His father, Verre.
The fact that Verre had intervened meant he had started paying attention to him.
Dagon knew well how his father treated his children.
Verre would deliberately impose extreme trials on those siblings he deemed useful, then judge them by how they overcame those trials.
He had never done anything of the sort for Dagon.
All Dagon had ever received was indifference.
Verre did not even really consider Dagon his child.
In that case—
‘…I can climb back up.’
For the first time, Verre had taken an interest.
Demotion to the lowest-ranking merchant?
That was nothing compared to his father’s attention.
If anything, it only fueled his fighting spirit.
He would climb back up and prove his worth.
No—he shouldn’t be satisfied with just that.
‘I will become a merchant who surpasses my father.’
Surpass.
All the merchants.
Even the legendary merchant, his father Verre.
Something he could never have imagined before.
Dagon was changing because of his contractor.
By watching his methods and observing his efforts, Dagon was moving in a positive direction.
…Perhaps that was why he had become greedy.
For the first time, he had such a strong desire.
A fierce desire to climb to the very top, surpass even his father Verre, and become the true master of the Merchant Association.
But to do that, he had to save his contractor, Sephiro.
Sephiro didn’t seem to know much about the human body, so it was Dagon’s role to assist him.
He would do everything he could to keep him alive.
“What’s wrong with that guy…”
“He’s smiling even though he was demoted to the lowest-ranking merchant?”
“Has he lost his mind or something?”
The merchants whispered as they watched Dagon.
Dagon, who had thrown away every benefit he’d earned for the sake of Arkham’s Life Water.
Arkham’s Life Water was certainly a treasure among treasures, but there was no guarantee such an opportunity would ever come to Dagon again.
Even so, he did not lose his smile.
He paid no attention to the murmurs around him.
He simply stared at the place where Verre’s voice had resounded, his eyes filled with firm resolve.
—
Ting!
《You have consumed ‘Arkham’s Life Water’.》
《’Arkham’s Life Water’ greatly increases the magic power of the source.》
《The effect is increased by 10% due to the title ‘Elixir Addict’.》
《Magic power increased by 11.》
《Health increased by 11.》
《Magic power regeneration increased by 100%.》
《The magic ‘Super Regenaration’ begins to absorb ‘Arkham’s Life Water’.》
《The grade of ‘Super Regenaration’ has risen two levels from ‘Unique’ to ‘Ancient’!》
《Ancient-grade ‘Super Regenaration’ regenerates even one arm in an instant.》
《Health has been fully restored.》
《The status condition ‘Feeble’ has been removed.》
When he opened his eyes, a long string of messages was floating right in front of him.
“Ugh…”
When had he collapsed?
What was certain was that he had shed so much blood that even Super Regenaration couldn’t keep up.
His body, pushed to the limit, had simply shut down.
“Ar-are you alright?”
Park Chanwoo turned his head to the side.
Dagon was there.
Holding a clear, transparent bottle.
“…Dagon, did you feed me Arkham’s Life Water?”
“Y-yes. I thought you were going to die if I left you like that…”
Huh.
Park Chanwoo was inwardly astonished.
Because he understood very well just how valuable Arkham’s Life Water was.
It was a rare elixir that couldn’t be compared to any of the elixirs he’d consumed so far.
Thanks to it, the grade of Super Regenaration had soared.
Not only that, but his body felt like it was overflowing with energy.
‘The status condition [Feeble] has been removed.’
But the most surprising part was the removal of a status condition.
[Feeble].
A curse that had always left him feeling drained.
He had believed he would never be able to undo all the status conditions that had arisen from regression.
‘…It is possible to remove them.’
It was an amazing discovery.
Granted, Feeble was the lowest-grade among his status conditions, but even so, he now had hope that he could erase them.
‘But it seems I still couldn’t erase [Weakest] and [Frail].’
Arkham’s Life Water was indeed the best of the best, a special-grade elixir, but even so, it had only erased [Feeble].
It could not cleanse [Frail], which made him easily susceptible to diseases and curses, nor [Weakest], which fixed all of his stats at 1.
It was a bit disappointing, but still, this alone was a huge gain.
Perhaps because [Feeble] had been removed, his thoughts were leaning positive.
“…This isn’t something a normal merchant could get his hands on.”
But there was one question.
How had Dagon managed to obtain such a treasure?
Dagon scratched his cheek awkwardly and spoke.
“That’s… I made a deal.”
“A deal?”
“I handed over all the contracts I’d secured during the Third Night to the Merchant Association. And I accepted being demoted to the lowest-ranking merchant in exchange for receiving it.”
“……”
Park Chanwoo was momentarily at a loss for words.
So he was saying he had given up everything just to get Arkham’s Life Water.
Why?
Dagon was a merchant.
Demon merchants never do business at a loss.
Dagon smiled and said,
“Please think of it as an investment.”
“An investment… Are you saying you want me to increase your contract ratio?”
Profit-sharing under an exclusive contract.
Was he asking to increase his share?
But Dagon shook his head.
“No. I’m saying, please take care of me in the future.”
“…That’s too much for a greeting.”
Park Chanwoo let out a small laugh.
Still, thanks to Dagon, he had survived.
If Dagon hadn’t brought Arkham’s Life Water, things would have turned truly dire.
He might really have died.
“Contractor-nim, please don’t push yourself so hard. Sometimes you live like there’s no tomorrow. You have too little self-love, if I had to put it into words…”
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
Normally, he would have denied it, but looking back now, it didn’t seem entirely wrong.
He had been neglecting his own life far too much.
He had kept drawing blood even on the brink of death.
It was reckless and foolish.
…Why had he done that?
‘Was it because of [Feeble]?’
Perhaps now that [Feeble] had been removed, he was finally able to see how reckless he’d been.
It seemed that the status condition that not only drained his energy but also made him take his own life lightly—was [Feeble].
Park Chanwoo shook his head once.
Then he asked another question.
“But how did I drink Arkham’s Life Water?”
He had clearly been unconscious.
He hadn’t been in any state to drink the elixir himself.
Dagon shrugged and replied,
“Pardon? Well… with my mouth.”
“……”
“Wh-why are you looking at me like that? Isn’t kissing only symbolic to humans?”
“……”
—
Thanks to Super Regenaration being raised to Ancient grade, the process of repairing the Golems went much more smoothly.
He had thought it would take a full week, but he finished repairing all the Golems in just three days.
A total of 900 Golems.
The moment he completed the last repair—
Ting!
《You have repaired all the Golems!》
《All the Golems in the laboratory follow you as their master.》
《This is an earth-shattering achievement!》
《The title ‘Golem Master’ has been added.》
《The Level of the following Golems increases by 5.》
《The ‘Understanding of Magic Core’ has increased rapidly.》
《You have mastered ‘Golem Crafting’.》
《You can now craft Golems yourself.》
《Level up!》
《Level up!》
《Level up!》
《Level up!》
《Level up…….》
…….