Volume 1 Chapter 4 (2/2)
Pale omitted this, but additional rewards in accordance with a user’s class were more noticeable
For instance, take an archer wielding a sword and a sarrior yielding a sword, the sarrior can inflict twice the da a sword On the other hand, his arroill e dealt by the archer It was, to say the least, a disappointment to the others that Weed was freelance
“Now, stay behind and watch us take down et in, have a go and leave It will help us if you just confuse ro elsewhere”
Weed nodded “I see”
The confusion was settled, and Weed decided to join their party and hunt ned to handle dull beasts around the Citadel, and his teaed in pick-and-roll without hih, that they had realized it was too risky that only Surka, aattacks compensated for a low defense level, had tanked on the frontline That hy they had been searching for a tanker
“damn it”
Ahn Hyundo, successor of Bonkuk kumdo, one of the traditional schools for swordsmanshi+p in Korea, pursed his lips in dissatisfaction In the dojang, hundreds of teenagers and adults were practicing kue of Bonkuk kumdo
“Yatz!”
“Yatz!”
Ahn Hyundo could hear erupting kihaps and the whistling sounds generated by swords in action
Once you ives you a clue as to which stage a kumdo practitioner is in
Ahn Hyundo was ranked the best kunized ide, four-time World Champion of Swordse, he retreated to his own dojang and dedicated his tieneration of kumdo practitioners, but his hand and body had never left the sword, even for a second
“I haven’t seen anyone with the guts I should have trained that kid properly when he was around He’s got soot the guts and balls…”
Ahn Hyundo used to be satisfied that he had quite a nuh talent to qualify for a medal in the World Championshi+p of Swordsmanshi+p that was held every five years
One day, however, the grand master’s perception had been turned upside down
A year ago
A
“hello, I am Lee Hyun I’ve co”
“Son, you handled a sword before?”
“No, sir That’s why I’m here to learn it”
“True Youof the big picture of swordsmanshi+p, then we may talk about who’s the best”
Ahn Hyundo believed it was the end of it, and forgot about the kid for a while Then onea sword in a shower of sunlight
Lee Hyun swung the sword for hours Hispatterns, and his sword ee beyond what a beginner could achieve in a few months
Ahn Hyundo summoned his subordinate instructors and asked them about Lee Hyun, who turned out to be devoted to ceaseless drills
“Speaking of that apprentice, he’s got the bug I haven’t seen anyone who’sthan him”
“How obsessed is the kid?”
“Once he picks up a sword, he never lets it go, unless we pull it from his hands”
“You have to pull the sword from his hands to stop him?”
“Yes,the sword hard until he’s co, he kept swinging the shen his pal”
“He went so far…”
“Yes,occurred on the second day He trained in sword techniques while bleeding until a callus forrip was firm, and his pal that he reached this level so fast”
“He’s a!”
Ahn Hyundo chose Lee Hyun to be his successor without telling him so
Talent and work The apprentice had both virtues, and what really captured the master’s mind were his eyes When Ahn Hyundo instructed his would-be successor to a duel, his eyes gloith soht, which an ordinary man whose instinct had been emasculated by civilization could not muster This was found in Lee Hyun
It was still a time of trial for him Ahn Hyundo believed that it was too early to tell his plans to Lee Hyun, which ress Therefore, the master had treated his apprentice rather indifferently, ress from a distance
Then, one day, Lee Hyun stopped checking in at the dojang
—Back to now
“Whew”
Ahn Hyundo’s sigh deepened
“I wonder what he’s been doing I should have made hi cover behind Pale, Weed atching the battle froer! Fire ball!” Romuna chimed in
“Divine power leads us to a triu a fox head-on, Romuna, Pale and Irene attacked at the fox froy because Surka’s level was seven, the highest a them, and the rest were squishes with relatively low life and defense
The fox ed Surka’s fist with little dae, and the tail attacks when it suddenly spun around were soh to make her back away
With little stamina left, Surka often found herself at the risk of i to replenish her life and staro away from her
They’re not bad
The quartet’s teamas emphatic
They neither lusted for cheap ites It appeared to hi his teammates had built up over tiarated to Royal Road
Still, they had to ratchet up the tension while hunting a fox at level five
Raccoons and rabbits were easy gah, to put it rasped that this party focused on foxes in their hunting spree He watched the ongoing battle for a while-until he thought he had seen enough of it
His sharp eyes analyzed the patterns in movement of the foxes and Surka
It’s easier than I thought
They outnumbered their enemy by four to one The way a fox moved was slow and predictable as far as he could see He watched it until he gained enough confidence Then, he held the iron sword and left the cover
Surka s up to her side
“Watch out, Weed-nim”
“Yup” His response was very short
The oing to attract her attention first Weed-nim, you attack later Like when it’s almost dead”
Surka punched the fox, which jumped on her in a reflex action Roical, on to their victim
When the fox’s life dropped to one third, Weed slid in
He had little experience of battles previously in virtual reality gah hundreds of duels Plus, he had struck the scarecrow tens of thousand times
The iron sword drew a shi+ny-white trace in the air in a fraction of second At the end of the gaudy semi-circle was the fox
Weed had timed the attack so precisely that the fox could not even try to dodge it
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CRITICAL HIT!
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A ethat was visible only to Weed popped up Critical hit!
That only appeared when the dae was doubled as a result of an effective attack, the outco
Glint
The fox was cut in half, and disappeared in a flash It dropped two items A fox pelt andon a bonfire, and fox pelt is one of the most widely used materials for clothes This kind of production process requires related skills Newbies rarely learn such skills as cooking and tailoring It is more often than not that these iterocery store
“Great , Surka collected the ite the hted by their new teammate’s success
“Weed-ni o lure another fox Everyone, get ready”
“Okay Bring a fox full of iterumbled Surka comically
She dealt a punch to a fox that andering by, and attracted it closer
“Fireball!”
“Blessing Healing Hand”
Surka put up a tough fight as the fox wasswiftly Pale and Romuna pressured the fox persistently
Weed’s iron sword began toThe sword slid out of the sheath and struck the fox like lightning
Swish
As luck would have it, the fox didn’t drop any item this tireat value
For the third fox, the sent into action with fifty percent of its life re
A critical hit didn’t burst this time, so the fox survived Weed’s first strike It was followed by a sequence attack that flowed like liquid The slain fox left only one itee”
“We’re hunting foxes faster”
“When Weed attacks them, they almost always die”
A few foxes later, his other teammates detected the pattern
Since Weed had joined the party, the pace at which they were hunting foxes had picked up As soon as he pulled out his iron sword, foxes were helplessly slaughtered They disappeared in a gray flash the moment Weed brandished the sword
“What in the world!”
Pale’sto stay there for so new ones fro arrows, the pace of hunting hardly slowed down This apparently inexplicable situation in the eyes of everyone else in his party was attributed to Weed’s stats
Initially, Weed had been given ten points in strength at the activation of his account, plus forty points that he had obtained fro Hall He had invested stat bonus points acquired by the two level-ups equally in strength and agility As a result, his strength and agility were both fifty-five, and stamina fifty
Moreover, Weed enjoyed ten points in strength from the iron sword he was equipped with To achieve this level of strength solely by raising your level, you need to hit level eleven as you invest fully in strength
More reility, stamina, willpower and vitality ay beyond his current level It needs at least eight to nine extra level-ups to ie Lv 30 warrior
Afact was that he had advanced swordthe scarecrow It translated into forty percent e dealt to the enemy
Weed’s current level in sword mastery was four plus 98 percent Once it reached level five, the effect on attack poould increase to fifty percent Last but not least, the iron sword that the instructor had given Weed was a sort of high-powered luxury compared to his level To sum it up, a fox was no match for Weed
“That sword must be a unique item”
Pale immediately became suspicious Otherwise, they could not coth They were still newbies, so they could not see how Weed kne to coht ames, as they are based on real-time movements, a martial art maniac is obviously better positioned than a klutz
Weed utilized the sword techniques that he had trained for during the whole year, down to trivial-looking footwork, which was invisible to the untrained eye They simply believed that his sas superb
“Great”
Excited, Surka lured foxes one by one
Weed held the iron sword tight He was in high spirits because the sword techniques he had exa productive
“I didn’t waste the year Now!” he cried to himself
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CRITICAL HIT!
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Many of Weed’s attacks were deemed critical He predicted where the fox would move, and executed his attack exactly where it went His yearlong training that de fruit
“Yatz! Yatz!”
Brisk battle cries ca eye contact with the foxes and swinging the sword led at the co so serious Suddenly, the fox’s paw scratched hi Hand!”
Weed’s torso flashed in white Then, he realized that, even before he received the divine power, the gauge of his life dropped minimally
“Maybe…”
Weed called out to Surka, as running to draw another fox,
“Surka-nim”
“Yes, Weed-nim?”
“What’s your life?”
“It’s 150 Why?”
“Oh, nothing I’e of 15 Defenseless, Weed had to absorb the full dae, but his life was over seven hundred
“Okay, Surka-ni for now?”
“Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Yup So, you keep drawing foxes Romuna-nim and Irene can’t move far away because their stamina runs out quickly Pale-nim, can you shoot at foxes in the distance to lure them over here?”
In a short time, Weed had assumed the role of leader of the party
“Of course”
“Then, Pale-ni foxes here”
Weed e from a fox, he quickly took care of it Those foxes drawn by Pale’s arrows fell iray flash Weed hit level 4 He decided to invest every stat bonus points in agility
The higher the agility is, the e an enemy attack and more likely you are to hit the enemy It is directly related to evasion and accuracy
The iron sword in Weed’s possession was th So he boldly invested 5 points in agility, instead of strengthening his avatar
The hunting spree continued Excited by the fast pace, Romuna and Irene could not believe their luck They had never experienced such fantastic hunting
“Surka, bringelse to us You can concentrate entirely on the bait”
“Okay, Unni”
Surka was busy drawing foxes to them So was Pale
If Weed had hunted by hiet monsters and often take a rest to replenish his stamina when it ran out Instead, his party provided bait and a priest for hi
It’s not like a single play
Back when Weed played The Continent of Magick, he had always been surrounded by eon populated by ed on days and nights until he ran out of potions and herbs
The inventory had been saddled with so many items that it interfered with his ht on in a circle of monsters
He had killed so many, and in return, been killed as ame was far from the way he used to play It was y soon backfired
“Kyah!”
Surka made a deadly mistake When she tried to bait a fox, she unintentionally caught a wolf’s attention
While trying to run away, Surka screamed, “Run away, everyone!”
after Surka on four legs Its monstrous muzzle dripped saliva
While the rest faltered, Surka was constantly assaulted by the wolf It was faster than a fox, easily gaining on her It looked hopeless
“I’ll rescue her You should all run away By the power of the Holy Spirit, restore her health Healing Hand!”
Irene the priestess rejected the i Hand over and over to refill Surka’s di life
“daan shooting arrows at the wolf
One, two, three shots As soon as he loaded an arrow on his bow, he shot it The nature skill, flew at the wolf, but it hardly flinched
Now that the wolf had registered the entire party as its enemy, it would eventually attack Irene and Pale after it had finished off Surka
Then, ould Weed do? He held the iron sword and stepped forward
Can I ht, the wolf’s teeth and claws looked threatening
Weed had bet that the ould throw its heavy weight on hi, bite him in a crazed fashi+on
“You’d better deal within the wolf’s way
Weed didn’t expect the wolf to understand what he had said, but as if it knew from instinct that the deadliest enemy had just appeared, it turned its eyes on hiround, straight at Weed
Weed rolled to one side swiftly, out of the path where the as charging, and swung the sword Its teeth nearly slit his throat
That scratch alone slashed 80 points of his life
“Weed-ni Hand,” Irene shouted
“Shoot What kind of priestess doesn’t kno to e her mana?” he said to hi, she should have always reserved a sufficient aency If not, so dead, or in the worst scenario, the entire party would face annihilation
Weed had believed Ireneup her sleeve when she volunteered to coh, all that she, a priestess by nature, had was heart
The current predicarowling at him
After a few fla from behind Apparently, she had run out ofarrows froot bloody, yet Pale’s futile atteression
“Bring it on, you bitch!” Weed swung the sword and confronted the wolf
, the wolf leapt on hied drastically
His legs were glued to the ground while his waist and shoulders rocked back and forth Like a breeze, Weed let the fierce wolf pass by
“I’ll be a fool if I die here”
Weed was capable of predicting the wolf’s next le wound wasn’t as much as he had been afraid of
“I know I can defeat it”
Weed loosened his grip on the sword on purpose
roaned in a cry of pain Even after Weed had sacrificed a portion of his power in exchange for a higher speed, the physical dae delivered by his sas substantial
“damn it!”
Weed was also wounded every time the wolf clawed at him His life of 700 fell to 200
He was already coated in his own blood
“Sorry, Weed-ni too fast!”
Pale’s low agility made it impossible to
“I’ll fight, too”
Surka came to Weed She had already been injured when she had been chased by the wolf, her life lower than half
Stuuys all should run to safety while I can still cover you”
“But…”
“It’s the only chance you have Now!”
Pale and Surka looked at each other, but their legs showed no sign of fleeing
Then, Weedyour life for a stranger?”
Pale felt like crying For the record, Weed could have escaped death if he had decided to He could have outrun the wolf to the gate of the Citadel where the guards would protect him from the threat
Instead, Weed had stepped up, held his sword and his ground, and faced the wolf for his teammates, who he had never seen hours before
“Weed-ni She, innocent and sensitive, was deeply touched by Weed’s heroic act
Staring at the wolf, Weed said firmly “If you want to stay here, so be it I’ll do et the heck out of here the et killed”
“Yes”
“Promise me you will”
“Okay”
Surka and Pale walked away, creating a stage, and Weed got down to a bloody fight against the wolf, which still posed a serious threat
Weed’s life descended to 150 and before long, it went down to 70 The iron sword kept onso white that it seele hit could knock it down, but Weed had failed to make the final strike so far
Irene and Romuna realized that Weed’s life finally reached the life-risking moment, below ten percent
Pale’s heart raced, and Surka’s pounded They tried to attract aggression frolecting minor players
One more hit from the wolf, and Weed would die
If Weed died, he would lose some items from his inventory, drop one orhis access to Royal Road denied for the next twenty-four hours, all because Weed decided to sacrifice his life to save a bunch of strangers
The wolf snickered, sensing it had the upper hand of his archenemy
Growl
When the wolf leapt to kill Weed with its final strike, his sword, which had missed it repeatedly, finally tore its ribs
Before Weed’s eyes, a cascade of e s burst open
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You’ve leveled up!
Level up:
Sword Mastery
[5]+50 STR
+15 Agility
Skill:
You acquired a new skill, Engraving Knife Technique
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Sofrom the wolf that his level escalated to 5 Weed shook his head, half wondering
“What’s the engraving knife technique? Skill !”
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♦ Identification (Lv 1 0): Enables you to learn the true value of unidentified items
Mana consumption: 30
♦ Sculpture (Lv 1 0): Enables you to carve or engrave various types of h artistic value are worth a fortune Easier to win a girl’s heart
♦ Repair (Lv 1 0): Enables you to repair weapons and arears
♠ Handicraft (Lv 1 0): Has extra effects on various types of craft skills, and sword mastery
♦ Sword (Lv 5 0): Increases attack power and hit rating for swords
♦ Engraving Knife Technique (Lv 1 0): Enables you to carve the invisible, the intangible
Mana consuend tells that Grand Master Zahab accidentally discovered a way of truth when he was practicing the sculptural art—that sculpture is an art of transfor all creations at the sculptor’s will Zahab’s secret technique is passed down to his successor
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Weed checked the skilland shook his head in disbelief
I need to try this engraving knife technique to figure out what the heck it is It ss er than two seconds flat
The wolf had died, anyway
round, his face blank white Then, Pale, Irene, Romuna and Surka ran to him
The first words Weed uttered to his teaht?”
“Weed-ni into tears
Surka could not hide her tears
Pale, the only ulfed by a wave of eoes down below ten percent, he will die slowly
Within aHand to drag Weed out of death’s grip
“Thank you, Irene-nim”
“It’s my pleasure, Weed-nin that she was growing fond of hioes for Ro him with respect and admiration that the archer had never shown before
“Let’s move on,” Weed said when he felt better
“Are you okay?”
“Yup Alive and well,” Weed said, rolling up his sleeve to expose his ain The party under Weed’s leadershi+p created a striking record of sixty foxes in the next four hours
Romuna, Irene, Pale and Surka all leveled up, as well as Weed, who achieved level 6
Weed invested all the stat bonus points in agility
“Whew Good,” Ro hard as she felt drained by the excessive consuot to go to classes in the ain You’ll be here tohtly
“Can I add you as a friend in
“Yup” Weed added theoodbye
“These are your share”
Weed received three silvers when they distributed the spoils fro more foxes
This hy he hated party plays When things got hot, people left
Weed looked for monsters as he had an hour left until sunrise He overlooked easy prey such as raccoons and foxes, and left the boundary of the Citadel to enter a forest where wolves were reported to lurk in every shadow
ed They crouched and ca in elation
The system of Royal Road allowed monsters to level up by internal conflicts between the users, so the wolves coveted lone users When the wolves looked in Weed’s eyes, though, they cowered instinctively
“Those eyes…”
“This human doesn’t consider us his enemy”
“He takes us for EXPs”
“Nice EXPs Great item drops It’s what he wants froh Weed’s intentions Worse, his will to fight made them recoil in fear
YapYap They quickly turned tail to flee
“How dare you”
The iron sword knew no mercy, and Weed knew no honor He openly stabbed the backs of the retreating wolves, cornered theo, and beat each and every of them to a pulp
“You sons of bitches, come on!”
The moment that the sword slashed the air, another wolf fell into despair Swift and merciless Weed’s extraordinary sword techniques terrorized the wolves
So why had he fought bitterly against a single hen his teae of an imminent and unavoidable death, Weed had made the final strike to kill the wolf In the eyes of his teammates, it was a lucky one This mystery was kept by Weed
Weed was done with the wolves as soon as the sun rose in theHe left the battlefield and headed for Counselor Rodriguez’s manor