The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 89: Mismatch (Part 1)

A phrase that sounded like [Berserk (?)]—needlessly exaggerated.
As if someone had unlocked a Transcendent Skill.

‘And yet, no clear EXP reward.’

Despite everything, no clear EXP was granted.
It seemed Hidden Quests followed a different reward system from other quests.

Still, the rewards themselves were solid—.

‘Let’s check the title first.’

I began by inspecting the bonus reward: the title .

==<King of the Underworld>==
[Acquisition Condition] – Dominate the Underworld
[Effect 1] – Those exposed to the darkness emanating from the player instinctively feel fear. The success rate of negotiation, intimidation, and persuasion increases by [+250%].
[Effect 2] – Detects nearby light sources. If the brightness falls below 0.2 lux, grants the effect [Blessing of Darkness].

==[Blessing of Darkness]==
The player becomes one with the darkness, reducing all noise while moving by [-99%].

Lux was a unit used to measure brightness.
According to the Alliance’s Archmage:

“When the full moon is out, the surrounding brightness is about 0.25 lux.”

So, 0.2 lux was considered quite dark.
In simple terms, this effect only activated during the dead of night.
That meant the activation condition was a bit strict—.

‘Still, not bad at all.’

When the condition was met, the effect was incredible.
Perfect for stealth, ambushes, or assassination operations.

And the increase in success rate for negotiation, intimidation, and persuasion could be a major asset depending on how it was used.

And this was just the so-called “additional reward.”
The real reward of the Hidden Quest was something else entirely.

‘Ian’s Journal…’

I was dying to know what was written in it.
No reason to delay any longer.
I immediately attempted to access [Ian’s Journal].

◆Error: Cannot access [Ian’s Journal].

But then—an error message?

◆Error: Conflict detected with [Ian’s Journal].
◆Error: Main Quest [Find the Hero!] conflicts with [Ian’s Journal].
◆Access condition for [Ian’s Journal] has been updated: You must first clear the Main Quest [Find the Hero!].

In simple terms:
Unless I completed the Main Quest [Find the Hero!], I couldn’t access [Ian’s Journal].

‘But what would be the point of that?’

Because if you cleared the Main Quest, you wouldn’t need to read the journal.
After all, the goal of the Main Quest was to find Ian.

Once I found him, there’d be no need to read his journal.
If I was curious, I could just ask him directly.

So what was the point of that prerequisite—?

‘…Wait a second.’

A sudden thought flashed through my mind.
I reviewed the earlier error message carefully.

And when I focused on the word “conflict,” a certain question began to form.

‘Ian was trying to entrust everything to me.’

I hadn’t yet heard the reason why.
But it was clear—Ian truly meant to pass everything on to me.

Based on that—
The reward of the Hidden Quest, [Ian’s Journal]—

‘It’s probably a message Ian meant to leave for me.’

Maybe it explained why he tried to entrust everything to me.
Maybe it explained why he regretted killing Serapia.
Or maybe… both.

In other words, Ian had planned for me to read [Ian’s Journal] and make a decision about the future.

But then—

A variable emerged.

‘I didn’t inherit his Regression ability.’

Because of that, Ian also regressed into the past, just like I did.

A mismatch.

That mismatch gave rise to a quest that was never supposed to exist:

The Main Quest, [Find the Hero!].

If Ian had passed the Regression power to me in full, this quest wouldn’t have triggered.
It would have been an impossible quest—
Because Ian was no longer present on the continent.

Or at least, even if the “Ian” still existed, a version without his memories and powers wasn’t truly Ian.

But Ian returned to the past, just like I did.
And due to that anomaly, the [Find the Hero!] quest was generated.

Hence the “conflict.”

[Ian’s Journal] and [Find the Hero!]—
Two quests that were never supposed to coexist were now active simultaneously.

And that could only mean one thing:

‘Ian definitely returned to the past with me.’

There was no longer any doubt.
Ian was back.
He existed somewhere on the continent.

Then why hadn’t he shown himself to me yet?
Two possibilities came to mind.

First: Ian didn’t know I had regressed.

Up until now, that was the only explanation I had.
But now, a second possibility arose.

‘What if he’s hiding on purpose?’

The idea that Ian was deliberately avoiding me.
Sounds absurd, but—

‘The Emperor is looking for Ian.’

According to the info I got from Iratum, the Emperor was searching for Ian.

I didn’t know the reason.
But the fact remained—the Emperor was after Ian.
He wouldn’t be doing that without a good reason.

Therefore:

‘Is Ian deliberately drawing the Emperor’s attention?’

In other words, he might be pulling aggro.

Maybe he was doing that to keep the Emperor from noticing me.
Maybe he was turning this anomaly—our shared regression—into an opportunity.

Even if Ian knew I’d regressed, he might have chosen not to contact me.

Because I still received [Solo Leveling][EX] and [Player’s Will][EX].

The ultimate lifeform Ian once spoke of—
The highest peak of all living beings, which only my [Predation][S+] could reach.

Even without Regression, as long as those two abilities were passed down, Ian might have believed I could still evolve into that being.

So to give me the time I needed to grow, Ian was drawing the Emperor’s attention, hiding my existence, and making it easier for me to move freely.

—That was the second possibility for why Ian hadn’t appeared.

‘Hmm.’

Of course, none of this was certain.
It was all just speculation.
But it was speculation I couldn’t dismiss.

‘I need to keep both possibilities in mind.’

That meant I couldn’t just sit around waiting for Ian.
But actively searching for him might not be smart either.

If Ian was pulling aggro deliberately, then I needed to focus on what I had to do right now.

The things I’d originally planned to do after reuniting with Ian—

Founding the Allied Army, recruiting its heroes, building a force strong enough to stand against the Emperor—

‘I have to do it.’

Now that Ian was keeping the Empire’s attention on himself, I had to act.
And I couldn’t afford to neglect my growth into the ultimate lifeform either.

Ian entrusted that to me.
He believed in me and is fighting the Emperor.

So—

‘First, I’ll establish the Allied Army.’

I had to honor that trust.
I currently had over 120 million gold in my inventory.
More than enough to fund the creation of the Allied Army.

‘The base of operations should be the County of Whitewolf.’

Originally, I’d planned to form the army somewhere else.
But the situation had changed.

The County of Whitewolf was at the northernmost edge of the continent.
Barely habitable. Far from prying eyes.

A perfect place to grow my forces in secret.

‘The only problem is that it’s hard to gather forces in that region.’

Because the population was small.
I had the money to form an army, but not the manpower.

And population… wasn’t something money could easily solve—

◆Territory Quest [Recruit the Recruits!] has arrived.

Fortunately, Baoless had thousands of new recruits I could put to use, no matter how rough they are.

Translatin_Otaku

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