Second World

The lockbox was not the only item highlighted by his monocles. There were two more. These two were not purple, though.

They were two papers among many other papers stacked on the desk. Jack couldn't believe that demons had this much paperwork.

After storing the lockbox, Jack shifted through the papers and separated the two marked papers. He then inspected them.

*

Exploding Bottle (Alchemy recipe, for guild purposes only)

Allow the creation of a guild war tool: Exploding Bottle

Ingredients: 1 empty bottle, 1 fire-element fruit, 1 flash water, 1 dry cloth

*

Hellish Spicy Steak (Cooking recipe)

Cook Hellish Spicy Steak

Ingredients: 1 giant meat, 1 black pepper, 1 fire-element fruit, 1 flame tongue leaf

*

"Another war tool!" Jack exclaimed.

From its name, Jack deduced this war tool was an offensive type. Peniel confirmed it. She said it was a throwable consumable that dealt fire damage in a large area and had a 100% chance of causing Burn status.

'A Molotov cocktail weapon,' Jack thought. Throwable weapons created from alchemy were not a rare thing. Some players carried them as extra weapons, especially melee players who didn't possess ranged capabilities. However, the damage they caused was pitiful. It was only useful when players had low levels. One of these was the Disruptive Bombs Jack used in the past. The bombs were now useless at Jack's level so he didn't use them anymore.

This exploding bottle, on the other hand, was still useful for current mid-level players. Peniel informed that if they used a higher-grade fruit, the resulting exploding bottle could even be effective against high-level players.

"This fire-element fruit, I assume it is the brimstone fruit?" Jack asked.

"Brimstone fruit is a fruit that contains fire and dark elements," Peniel answered. "Some recipes contain interchangeable ingredients. The grade of the resulting product will base on the ingredients used. Sometimes, a new effect can even be added if you use a particular ingredient. For example, if you use brimstone fruit for this exploding bottle, the exploding bottle will be a super rare grade, dealing higher damage. Additionally, it will also deal additional dark damage and had a chance to cause the Curse effect."

"It's better this way," Jack remarked. Otherwise, he would have to keep on coming back to the underworld to harvest more brimstone fruits.

For the Hellish Spicy Steak, Peniel explained that outworlders who ate the food had added fire damage to their attacks. They also received increased fire resistance.

Similar to the Exploding Bottle, the higher the grade of the meat and fruit used, the higher the added damage and resistance. If brimstone fruit was used, the food would also add dark damage and dark resistance.

Since the effect of the recipe was very offense-oriented, Jack decided to give the recipe to the guild instead of Ellie. This recipe would be useful if guild members ate the food before going to war.

Jack didn't find any more useful things. He supposed those three were the only valuable ones.

He didn't bother going back down the stairs. He broke the windows and jumped down from the upper floor.

"Did Your Majesty find what Your Majesty is looking for?" Duke Alfredo asked.

"Yes," Jack answered. He already found what he was looking for in the first building he entered. The one just now was a bonus.

"So, shall we leave now?" Alfredo asked. He was not eager to stay in the underworld for long. The corrupted mana made him uncomfortable.

Jack didn't answer, he was looking up at Ramaun who was still in heated combat with the infernal stormbird. Both of them were wounded.

The stormbird fought in a fury so it went full offense without a care for its safety. As for Ramaun, he lost many clashes in the first few rounds after the stormbird breached the force field due to being unable to focus. But after suffering damage, he was also angry at the stormbird. So, he ignored the intruders down on the ground and fully focused on the stormbird. He also went full offense. As a result, the two's HP went down rapidly.

At this moment, Ramaun had around 40% HP while the stormbird had around 30%.

"Everyone, we can get lots of exp if we kill those two," Jack said.

"Are you serious? Those two are mythical grades and around ten levels above the four of you!" Jonathan protested.

"It's too risky," Alfredo agreed with Jonathan.

"I have another helper," Jack said and summoned Arlcard. If it came to exp, Arlcard wouldn't mind tagging along.

When Arlcard appeared, he frowned because he saw both Jack and Therras who used to be lower level than him were now at the same level as him, at level 70.

"I still don't think we have a good odd," Jonathan said.

"Wait, I call one more person," Jack said and summoned Nerd Bungie. That recruit needed exp points more than the others.

Nerd appeared. The guy was true to his name. He had that look that spelled social awkwardness. To top it off, he wore nerdy glasses. He was short and fully garbed in a classic mage robe of black color complete with the pointy mage hat.

Despite his nerdy appearance, he looked around with eyes that belittled everyone. When his eyes landed on Howard, a brief expression of surprise appeared on his face.

"Hey," Howard greeted him with a smile.

Nerd, however, didn't reply to the greeting. He turned away with a face that unmistakably expressed displeasure. His eyes stopped for a moment on Jack then turned away without saying anything.

"Hey! Aren't you going to salute His Majesty?" Lindsey scolded.

"… Your Majesty," Nerd saluted, but everyone could see that he did it half-heartedly.

"It's okay, we are all friends here. There is no need to be so formal," Jack said.

Nerd didn't give any response. He continued to look away with a sullen expression.

'Hm… I wonder what is wrong with him,' Jack asked in his mind.

Peniel could read Jack's thoughts. She slapped his head and said via their minds. 'You, insensitive brute. That kid is like an open book. Remember that he and Howard were recruited at the same time? Because both are mythical grades, they are sure to know one another. He probably thought of Howard as a rival. But then you recruited Howard as your royal agent. He must have considered that you value Howard more than him. Now that he sees Howard is many levels higher than him, he is obviously unhappy.'

'Oh, now that you mention it… No wonder he was not so enthusiastic when I invited him to be my royal agent,' Jack thought.

Jonathan came to Nerd. "Kid, I don't like your attitude. Just because you are a mythical grade, don't you think the position of a royal agent is something you can look down on!"

"It's okay, Jonathan," Jack said and approached Nerd as well. He then put a hand on Nerd's shoulder. "Nerd. I'm sorry. I didn't consider your feeling when I recruited Howard, but please rest assured I didn't consider you any less than him. Don't worry about your level. I promise you that I will help you catch up."

Nerd looked at Jack with a surprised expression. He didn't expect the king to be so straightforward.

"It's… It's me that should be sorry, Your Majesty. Please forgive me," Nerd said.

"Hehe. You are an honest person who can't hide your feeling. I like that. As I've said, don't worry about it." Jack then addressed everyone, "Okay. Jonathan, Lindsey, Amy, Howard, and Nerd. Your levels are still too low. You all stay on the ground, but don't be too far away so you can still get the exp points when we kill those two up there. Laurent, can you cast a protection spell on them?"

"Yes. I've Group Barrier spell," Laurent answered.

"Good. Cast the spell before we took off. If you five have any protective skill or spell. Don't hesitate to use them. Your job here is to protect yourself. As for the rest of us," Jack was now looking at Arlcard, Alfredo, Laurent, and Therras. "Here is the plan…"