In fact, I got some doubts about the Salimaru Bandits when I saw the second-stage mission featuring ridiculous bragging.

I suspected the Salimaru Bandits were perhaps simply typical bandits.

In other words, I thought Monte who gave me this quest was mistaken because of their ridiculous bragging.

But when I confirmed Ingrid"s status window, I had no choice but to stop thinking like that.

Honestly, I was more surprised than when I confirmed the +8 necklace with a Phoenix"s sealed heart. Moreover, his main stats were strength and intellect.

So, I really could not figure out his fighting style given his 140 million kills and 3 deaths.

Now, it"s my turn.

“Open status window.”

I also opened my status window, and proudly at that.

Obviously, there was a significant gap between him and me, but I was confident of having a far better status window than his when I reach level 3675.

Of course, it might be a bit difficult for me to reach his strength and agility.

[Name: Lumen, Asirante

Level: 353

Number of kills: 1137, Number of deaths: 0

t.i.tle: Only Closed Beta Max Level Achiever and 4 others.

Health: 1,505,000/ 1,505,000

Mana: 1,097,500/ 1,097,500

Strength: 1320 Agility: 1320 Stamina 8130

Willpower: 4925 Intellect: 10180

Remaining Stat Points: 0

Remaining Skill Points: 0

Traits: IceMan, Mutual Growth, G.o.d of Enhancement.]

After the level 300 only arena quest, I had leveled up another 47 times.

After clearing the recent Scorpion King quest, I received a considerable amount of EXP as a reward for the first place and leveled up another 6 times.

So, I leveled up a total of 53 times.

But there was a lot more I gained. Since the 29 party members who hunted with me in the Scorpion King quest earned 0 for no contribution, I received 300 remaining stat points for my contribution of 6 million points by myself along with a message that I had exceeded the maximum contribution that any individual could make.

So, when I combined that with the 530 remaining stat points I acquired by adding 53 levels, I had gained 830 remaining stat points since the level 300 only quest. Of course, I invested all of them in Intellect.

Moreover, thanks to the level 300 legendary grade Ronan"s robe set I received from my father, my Intellect exceeded 10,000 even though I was only level 353.

Nonetheless, I still lacked a lot compared to Ingrid.

For example, I had only 5 t.i.tles but he had 9.

The most crucial difference was that he was level 3675 while I was only level 353. My level was less than one-tenth of his.

And Ingrid seemed to have noticed that difference.

“Level 353 with this status window?”

He expressed surprise at my level and skills.

I said, “When I reach level 3675, don"t you think I can surpa.s.s your status window? I think I can without any difficulty. Of course, I don"t think I can in some fields such as Strength and Agility. Oh, the number of kills, too. I"m not sure if I can exceed 100 million. But except for that, I think I can clearly beat you. Moreover, such things do not define strength. You can"t win just because you are stronger than me, right?”

[…]

I expressed full confidence while talking to Ingrid. Actually, I was confident enough.

The system also seemed to have recognized my confidence because Ingrid remained silent.

About 3-4 minutes pa.s.sed, but I didn"t disturb Ingrid who was still showing a blank expression.

I just waited silently.

A little later, Ingrid opened his mouth, stiffening his expression, as if he had made up his mind.

[Phew! Good. Maybe you can beat me. Good. I admit it! You have so much that you do not have to feel envious of my bragging. You have won!]

Pop!

As soon as he finished saying that, his shape disappeared with a popping sound.

And at the same time, a message rang.

[You have cleared the 2nd stage to reach the last hideout of the Salimaru Bandits.

– In 10 seconds, you will be moved to the last hideout of the Salimaru Bandits.]

“Gosh…”

I felt a little empty at the message because although I completed the quest, I also felt like I didn"t. In other words, not only the first round of this quest which featured a maze-like format, but also this second round featuring my bragging before Ingrid was really unfamiliar to me.

However, apart from that, my expectations swelled because I have already seen Ingrid"s +8 sealed phoenix heart necklace and his status window.

When I received this quest, there was definitely this particular thing as the reward.

[- Separate reward.

: Everything that can be obtained from the Salimaru Bandits" hideout except for their sign.]

This was a separate reward in addition to the original reward.

So, if I could obtain the +8 necklace with the Phoenix"s sealed heart, I would really hit the jackpot!

The necklace provided an additional 2000 Intellect. However, Mutual Growth did not apply to these extra stats, so I would not get an increase in Stamina or Willpower. Thankfully, the necklace still provided an additional 3000 Strength and 1000 Willpower, else such a big penalty would really break my heart.

But even considering that, I liked the other options too.

I shook my head at that moment because I felt that my body was being sucked somewhere after ten seconds pa.s.sed.

And I face a huge, full, cave, unlike those empty caves I encountered previously.

[67,000,000,000 golden rings.]

[+9 Helm of the Sky Warrior. (Legend)]

[+ 3000 Remaining stat points potion.]

[500,000 coins]

[300 Ancient Cooldown Removal Charms]

[+5 Primal lightning. (Myth]

[Sign of the Salimaru Bandits.]

[Stealing the stars. (Disposable item.)]

[+8 necklace with the sealed heart of a Phoenix. (Myth)]

[Trait: Attention Seeker.]

“….”

I couldn"t open my eyes properly because I was so surprised.

It was as if all the treasures of the world were gathered in this one place.

Yes, it really looked like that.

At that moment, I trembled before I knew it.

Was it because of my pleasure or joy? Of course, I was affected by that, but that wasn"t the whole reason. Rather, I trembled because I had b.u.mped into too much treasure here.

In fact, I didn"t even think about the rewards I would get here.

I just aimed for the Ancient Cooldown Removal Charms and a random box that contained an accessory of the myth grade, as well the 500 million golden rings and 700 remaining stat points offered by Monte as the reward for clearing the quest.

But this treasure here dwarfed all the rewards offered by Monte.

I was about to step forward to delve into the treasure when something flashed through my mind quickly.

It was a scene of some unexpected trap appearing the moment when I b.u.mped into the treasure and raced to it, yelling for joy, after going through all kinds of hards.h.i.+ps.

Of course, I might be worrying too much without any plausible reason.

But I first checked the location of the +8 necklace with the sealed heart of a phoenix was located

And I thought of something to grab together with it when I picked it up.

Of course, the item called +5 Primal Lightning also caught my eye, not to mention the disposable item called Stealing the Stars.

But they were too far away from each other. Moreover, I didn"t know their exact options.

So, I decided to aim for something certain, hoping my considerable worries were groundless.

Anyway, I figured out what I could pick up along with the + 8 necklace with the sealed heart of a phoenix if I used Blink.

Then I took a long deep breath and used it.

“Blink.”

But a message rang immediately.

[You can"t use your skills here.]

“….”

After entering the dungeon called the last hideout of the Salimaru Bandits, I found myself speechless several times because of unexpected situations like this.

So, I waited for nearly 30 minutes, but nothing happened. In the end, I stepped forward carefully after concluding that I had to move.

And as soon as I took a step, a new message rang.

[Congratulations on entering the last hideout of the Salimaru Bandits.

-As a reward for entering the last hideout of the Salimaru Bandits, you will receive the sign of the Salimaru Bandits.]

The sign of the bandits was an essential item for clearing the quest.

So, it was natural that it was given to me.

But I was a bit worried because I thought I would not be given all the rewards.

As I was worried, a message rang.

[As a reward for first entering the last hideout of the Salimaru Bandits, one of the items collected by the Salimaru Bandits who used to stay here will be given to you. ]

Just one item?

But I let out a sigh of relief that I was given even one of them. I wouldn"t be able to sleep if I received nothing other than the bandits" sign because that would be too unfair.

Another message rang when I was thinking hard about which item to choose.

[The item that will be given to you as a reward will be determined at random.]

“…”

Of course, each of the items was just amazing. So much so that if I got even one of them, I would have no other choice but to express immense grat.i.tude for that.

However, there were certainly better or worse items.

Besides, I had set my heart on a certain reward, but regardless of my wishes, a huge roulette with the numbers from 1 to 277 appeared in the air.

And at a glance, I knew that that was the number of treasures that existed here.

The roulette started spinning fast.

Honestly, I didn"t know which reward would be given to which number, so it was rather hard for me to keep my fingers crossed that the roulette would stop at a certain number.

So, I just stared at the roulette blankly.

And roulette stopped at a certain number, which was 101.

After that, something shone brightly from the treasure heap and began to float in the air.