Chapter 22 Reliable Sun Big Brother

"Do you want to touch it?"

Steeran carefully touched the Summoning Mark and a golden phantom suddenly appeared, startling her into hopping back.

Because she was no longer touching the Summoning Mark, the golden phantom immediately disappeared.

"To think that one could actually see the form of the cooperator,"

She touched the Summoning Mark again and examined the person's face closely.

His build seemed to be male. Why use the word 'seemed'? Because the other party was wearing full armor, his face was not visible, and his sexual characteristics were not obvious.

This armor didn't look particularly valuable, a very common style, with a Riding Spear in his right hand and a large shield in his left hand that seemed very secure.

Above his head, a name was displayed: Madar.

"Never heard of this person," Steeran chose to summon. "Isn't he an adventurer?"

After a brief wait, a flurry of golden light and special effects flashed by, and the golden-armored Madar made a grand entrance!

"Hey!"

He greeted everyone with a generous gesture as soon as he appeared, looking like a warm and cheerful person. Surely such a person wouldn't do something as underhanded as plotting against others.

Of course, this Madar was just an alternate form of Gong Qiying.

The inspiration for this outfit came from the hostile NPC, the people's good friend, Madar, from Dark Souls 2.

After all, Gong Qiying currently had the appearance of an Animated Corpse, so naturally, he couldn't show his true face.

"Hello, my name is Steeran,"

Steeran circled around Gong Qiying, marveling; it turned out that the summoned Assistant would turn into a golden Spiritual Body, which looked quite handsome.

"Are you also an adventurer? Why did you draw a Summoning Mark here?"

Having encountered such a novel existence, she wanted to ask and understand everything clearly.

Gong Qiying hadn't spoken to anyone for a long time and seemed very excited at the moment.

"No, no, I'm not an adventurer. I'm just traveling, improving myself,"

"As for the Summoning Mark, it requires an item called Hook Finger. By drawing the Summoning Mark on the ground with the Hook Finger, it can be seen by those who have used the Summoning Hook Finger Medicine,"

Steeran immediately leaned in and asked, "Where can I obtain the Hook Finger?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she realized it might not be appropriate and quickly added, "I can offer you a reward in exchange for the information,"

Gong Qiying shook his head and said enthusiastically, "No need for a reward. We are all people struggling in the Dungeon, helping each other is basic common sense,"

This time, she really encountered a good person.

Steeran hadn't heard the term "helping each other" from a stranger in a long time. Nowadays, adventurers are afraid that others will get the benefits from the Dungeon before them. It's considered good enough if they don't trick you upon meeting, and it would be very kind of them to even give a bit of guidance.

Her fondness for Gong Qiying increased substantially.

Gong Qiying pointed to a fortress in the distance and said, "Exit from the back door of the fortress, enter the village there, get through a large number of enemies, and at the edge of a cliff in the village, you can find the Hook Finger. Not far from the Hook Finger, you can move into the next area, which seems to be a giant tree hollow."

"Eh," Steeran's eyes widened, "are you saying you've already conquered that disgusting village?"

Gong Qiying nodded noncommittally, which in Steeran's view, was the composure of a strong person.

For a moment, the image of "Madar" rose in her esteem.

Her gaze was fervent, as if she'd spotted a treasure. "Can I ask you to take me to conquer the village? I'll prepare a reward. Just name your price!"

Gong Qiying was expected to ask for a reward, but he simply shook his head and said, "I don't really need a reward. If you want to repay me, just talk to me; it's been quite a while since I've talked to someone, and I'm not so up to date with, cough cough, the news outside."

"Leave it to me, I keep up with the news every day."

Soon after, Gong Qiying and Steeran walked side by side through the swamp, but a closer look would reveal that it was actually Steeran continuously following the other.

In the swamp, Gong Qiying demonstrated exceptional expertise; he often found hidden paths to avoid Monsters and even shortcuts leading straight to the beacon fires, paths that Steeran and her companions had completely missed.

More ingeniously, Gong Qiying seemed to know the perception range of Monsters, managing to avoid their detection at the limit of distance and confidently walk past them, as if entering an uninhabited territory. Steeran looked on in continuous admiration.

"You must have spent quite some time here, huh?"

"Just explored it seriously for a bit."

That's the manner of an expert!

Steeran admired everyone stronger than her, not for their strength, but for their ability to explore the Dungeon, and Gong Qiying had shown skills far surpassing hers.

Steeran admitted to herself that she could never discover those cunningly hidden shortcuts; they were too well hidden.

During their time together, Gong Qiying gradually filled in his information database.

Before, he only knew that nearby was Bed City, a dwelling place for adventurers; now, from Steeran, he learned about the main members of the Bed Family, their respective characteristics, like how Charon is a big dummy, Wild is pretty effeminate, and Sali is a pretty boy in disguise.

These subjective impressions were pretty heavy...

He then learned about the world's power ranking system: lower, middle, upper, king, saint, and legendary. A straightforward classification system; a person could learn unlimited professions in a lifetime, as long as they had talent and time, without restrictions.

Even weapons, items, magic, etc., could be simply and crudely categorized into levels of power. The setting of this world was almost too easy to understand.

Although Steeran was puzzled as to why Gong Qiying would ask such obvious questions, it was just curiosity; his reliability eliminated any doubt that he could be a Monster.

Jokes aside, an unintelligent Monster couldn't possibly learn the human language.

Apart from this basic knowledge, Gong Qiying also learned some currently useless information, like guild gossip about the head of the adventurer's guild.

The top battle force in human society is a magician named Kowade, the Royal Family's Magic Advisor, whose strength has reached legendary status, but who hasn't been seen in public for decades. Some say he's already dead.

The Elf Clan's dwelling place was called Elf Forest, with the ruling Elf Queen also possessing legendary strength. Most Elves love peace and chose to live quietly within their beautiful forest.

Dwarves love residing in the mountains and have a natural talent for forging and brewing, which aligned with the stereotypical outside perspective. They gathered under the Dwarf King's banner, a force not to be underestimated.

The wealth of information acquired today left Gong Qiying quite satisfied, so much so that he felt like belching contentedly.

After a short time, they arrived at the fortress gates.

"To have the gate open so quickly," Steeran's look shifted from respect to awe; this was the first person she'd seen speed through the Poison Swamp so fast!

"Get ready for battle, it's about to start,"