Ning went into the dungeon again and fought his way through it in record time. Since he knew what to expect this time around, there was nothing for him to do other than kill all those that came in front of him.
Even the second time around, there weren't any plants at the end of the dungeon.
Ning was starting to doubt he could ever even find any. However, the third time he entered, he did find the plant.
He quickly defeated the metal boss and walked over to the end where the tree was located at.
Hanging by one of the branches was a golden fruit that glittered so brightly that Ning suspected it was studded with diamonds.
Tae Hi-Ah looked at the fruit from afar with wonder in her eyes. All this time, she was struggling to think of a way to reach that very fruit, but it seemed so far away.
She had been planning to work herself to death if that was all she could do to possibly gain that fruit. In fact, she was very sure that she would die in one of the dungeons with how hurried she was.
That was the main reason why she didn't want to join a guild at all. After all, only the government continued to pay people even past their death, while the guilds would be too greedy to do anything other than a single-time payment to her father who would desperately need funds.
Her little brother was making some money, but it would take him way too long to make anything of value soon enough. While he and her father could possibly live off well, it wouldn't be as well as what she earned.
Ning had no knowledge of her inner feelings, so he didn't think much when he arrived under the tree. He reached for it and without even putting in any effort, the fruit came off the branch.
He looked at the circular fruit that was in the shape of orange but had the outer texture of an apple.
"So this is the fruit responsible for curing Mana poisoning huh?" he thought. The fruit disappeared as he put it into his storage and walked back.
"What? Where did the fruit go?" Tae Hi-Ah asked when she saw that it was gone. Seeing the fruit gone was akin to losing her own sense of self for her.
"Don't worry, I've kept it," Ning said as he pulled the fruit back out and put it back in again.
"You're an Apostle?" Kim Min-Soo asked him with narrowed eyes.
"No, I'm not," Ning said. "I doubt any of your gods would want me to represent them anyway."
Ning started walking back the way he had come from as it was time to leave again. White followed leisurely, looking at the unique place he was in, taking in all the variety that would be hard to find in his own universe.
Once they walked out, Ning turned towards the White Guild's leader. "Do you think we should do it again?" he asked.
"No, we're not doing it agian. Any more and the dungeon will disappear," she said.
"Hm? What do you mean?" he asked curiously.
Kim Min-Soo couldn't help but be suspicious about his question. "How do you not know about dungeon's disappearing?" she asked.
"I'm just ignorant, that's why," Ning said. "Anyway, If we can't go into the dungeon again, then I will take my leave. If you want to contact me then… uhh… just contact her. I don't have a phone on me right now."
Kim Min-Soo quickly had someone record Tae Hi-Ah's phone number. "Now, would you mind having someone take us back to the Department of Dungeon Defense? Our car is there," Ning said.
Kim Min-Soo's eyes looked at him weirdly as it turned towards White. "Are you sure you need us to send you there? You seem to have a faster way," she said.
"Well…" Ning said in an embarrassed manner. "I suppose you're not wrong. See you later then."
Ning snapped his finger, and the space twisted itself around him, White, and his cousin as they were all teleported directly into the DODD's parking lot.
"How did you…?" Tae Hi-Ah's eyes were wide with shock. There were too many things of shock that happened today, but this was probably the one that surprised her the most.
"Which hospital is grandmother in again? We should go there now."
Tae Hi-Ah gave the name and assisted with the direction. With her aid, Ning backed the car out of the parking lot and left the DoDD to go heal her grandmother.
Tae Hi-Ah was still in disbelief and simply couldn't wait for the moment her grandmother's eyes would open again.
It had been so many years after all.
* * * * * *
Kim Min-Soo stared at the empty space with a dumb look on her face. Her words had insinuated that White was fast enough to take them all away. However, she hadn't expected it to be Ning that took them away.
'Was that teleportation?' she thought. She herself could teleport, but it was more of a swap, and it took a long time before she could do it again.
Not only that, it was only her that could teleport using that method. Ning on the other hand had taken all 3 of them with him.
'How could he not be an Apostle?' she thought.
"Miss? Should we proceed with forming a contract?" one man asked from her side.
"…" she gave some deep thought before answering. "No, not right now. We will have to find out more about him."
She turned towards the vice leader and said, "Find everything you can on this person called Ning Ruogong. We need to make sure he's not a Chinese spy, or worse…"
"What's worse than a Chinese spy?" the vice leader asked.
"Someone not from this world," she said. She then turned to look at the man that had asked about the contract. "Prepare an empty room for me. I'm going to need to have a talk with the god."
