Bounty Hunter
Ark didn't have much knowledge about the Giran region yet. Even when he spread out the map and looked at it, it was almost completely covered in black fog. He had first co to Giran through the Grey Ridge shortcut, and after that he had lived holed up in the blind auction house. Then, the event quest had started right afterwards, so he had no ti to hunt. That's why he stopped by a General Store before leaving Giran to buy so maps. In the case of large cities like Giran, if you bought a map with the geography and information about nearby hunting grounds, new info would be added automatically.
Based on that information, there was a diversity in hunting grounds around Giran. There were forest, plains, swamp, and mountain regions, and depending on the region, the monsters that appeared varied vastly and ranged from level 50-100 as well. This was a perfect place for low leveled players to level up after leaving Jackson Territory.
'Let's see. The Old Forest where the Silver Arrow thief gang is...'
When he checked the map, it was marked as a level 60-80 area.
'It's a reasonable level.'
Ark was currently level 78. He felt it was a bit easy, since he had hunted monsters stronger than him until now, but since his goals were information collection and bounty hunting anyway, the easier it was, the better.
Ark moved to his destination along the road. When he travelled on a paved road, an additional effect of 20% movent speed was added. Therefore, he could minimize travel ti. Thanks to that, Ark reached his destination in just 30 minutes.
Trees of enormous width were packed closely in the Old Forest, where the Silver Arrow thief gang was hiding.
"It's at...! Fresh... human at!"
When he entered the forest, three Trolls appeared as if they had been waiting,. Ark's eyes flashed.
'This is good. I wanted to try out the Deadly Poison skill before I encounter the thief gang.'
"Grrrrrr, DIE!"
Claaang!
Shrieking, a Troll swung its club. But, being in the early level 70s, the Troll was already no match for Ark.
"Dedric, Skull. Buy so ti."
"Huhuhu, playing with such a slow fellow is no problem."
Clack clack clack!
Dedric and Skull replied confidently as they attacked the Troll. With that opening, Ark dodged the club with light footwork and fell back. Then he fed Snake the ingredients he had confird as poisonous, having gathered them since entering the forest. A short while afterwards, light blue fluid flowed out of Snake's fangs. It was venom made with the Deadly Poison Production skill.
Swish, ka-chink!
When he spread the venom on the blade, the blade's surface turned blue with an eerie sound effect.
You have applied Neurotoxin (Beginner) to Lancel's Sword.
If the enemy is hit with an attack, the nerves of the struck region will be paralyzed for 5 seconds (5 uses).
"Dedric, Skull. Distract the other guys now!"
Having applied the poison, Ark flexed his muscles before flying out like an arrow.
The Troll swung its club with a roar. However, Ark had faced the irregular attacks of Shadows at Jackson not long ago. He could dodge the incomparably slow Troll's attack with his eyes closed. Ark twisted his head to dodge the club as he stabbed horizontally with his sword. A Counter Attack burst out in that instant as the Troll swayed to one side.
- The Troll's left leg has been paralyzed by Neurotoxin!
Paralyzed in one leg, the Troll retreated while limping very pitifully. But Ark wasn't one to spare a monster because it was pitiful. He imdiately ramd his sword into the Troll's other leg. Then, when he let loose a sidekick as he dodged the club, the Troll with both legs paralyzed flailed both its arms before falling over. It was in a perfectly defenseless state!
Double Critical Chance activated.
"Dark Blade!"
After taking imnse damage with a brilliant flash of light, the Troll disappeared.
It was the sa for the two remaining Trolls. The Troll's arm would droop limply if he struck it with his sword. Occasionally, the spinal nerves were paralyzed when he dealt a critical hit to the body.
Of course, the activation rate wasn't 100%. Perhaps because it was Beginner Deadly Poison, the success rate was roughly 20%. The rate was slightly higher than succeeding a kick with high difficulty.
But there was a point that Ark hadn't thought of. In the case of kicks, large monsters like Trolls almost never got status hexes. But the poison activated at a pretty high rate even when facing large monsters. In addition, it wasn't random like a kick; a specific status condition could be dealt by choice.
This had a considerable effect. Ark took down three Trolls in just 2 minutes.
"Isn't this surprisingly useful?"
In battle, even a single second couldn't be ignored. Especially when in a crisis, the few seconds it took to drink a potion could decide victory or defeat. So if the enemy could be paralyzed for 5 seconds at a 20% chance, there was nothing more to say. Moreover, an enemy could be paralyzed for a maximum of 15 seconds since it could be used five tis.
'I've always got the ingredients on hand, especially since I don't use poisonous ingredients that often. In other words, I can use this whenever I need it!'
Having thought that far, Ark completely forgot the likes of the frost attribute sword. Unlike a sword that he would simply sell off after using it when he got a better item, he could make use of a skill for a long ti once he learned it. If it was a useful skill, then it could be better than a Rare item and wasn't bad at all.
'This skill might even be more useful than the Rare sword!'
Humming, Ark scraped up all the poisonous ingredients around and tested them one by one. However, because it was still a Beginner skill, he could only make venom from ingredients with weak poison. Most of the effects were just so-so, but there a few useful ones.
Hesitation Poison, which reduced the enemy's movents by 30% for 5 seconds, Acid Poison, which dealt 30 damage every 10 seconds for one minute, and Vulnerability Poison, which reduced the enemy's defense by 20% for 10 seconds. It was hard to expect absolute effects, but it was more or less fine to use them as support.
However, it wasn't a skill he should recklessly overuse, because the effect didn't apply the sa way to every monster. For example, it had a low activation rate on large monsters and the duration was slightly shorter as well. But the Thorny Plant Poison that caused Bleeding actually raised activation rate and lengthened duration. Whereas, if he used Acid Poison on a monster with the acid attribute, it would heal rather than damage.
'In other words, it ans I have to determine the monster's attribute well before using it!'
He would study the monster and attack it with a more effective poison. The skill suited Ark's fighting style.
If there was one drawback, it was that it had poor cost to product ratio. There was a limit to ingredients, and there were tis when poisonous herbs were needed to use Survival Cooking. He couldn't just make them all into poison. In addition, poison had a usage limit, unlike kicks. Once the poison was applied, the usage count would decrease whether it was blocked or wasted.
'But that too is up to . There isn't a skill that matches 100%. To expect sothing like that is just being greedy.'
No technique is perfect. For balance, of course they all had their own weaknesses. Using that properly was the player's skill!
"Okay, Snake. I like it. You did well."
Hiss hiss!
As Ark grinned for a change, the color returned to Snake's face. Then Dedric grumbled with a very displeased expression. "Tsk, tsk, tsk!"
"What? Do you have a complaint?"
"No, I don't! What complaint would I have towards the distinguished Snake when all I have is a talent for flying? I'll just quietly do so recon, jeez." Dedric sharply turned his head as he flapped away.
At that sight, Ark held back a wry smile. Dedric pretended not to be, but he really was very jealous.
As Ark's party andered through the forest while quarreling, at so point the monster spawns suddenly beca sparse. Ark knew what such a change ant from experience. He had entered a boundary where the monster domain had changed. But this ti, it wasn't just a simple monster. It was probably the Silver Arrow thief gang's turf.
'Co to think of it, this is the first ti I'll be facing a human.'
Not humanoid monsters, but real humans. Since this was a realistic virtual reality, the feeling shouldn't be different, though once he thought of it like that, he started to feel pretty uncomfortable. Actually, there was really no reason for him to be uneasy since he had already killed Leo and Andel before.
'A thief gang isn't much different from monsters anyways.'
Ark was thinking like that and moving forward when he thought he heard a sharp whistle. A crimson light burst out before his eyes. Looking down, he saw a thick arrow quivering in his shoulder.
- You have been ambushed. 200 damage. Your shoulder has been wounded, so attack speed will be decreased by 10%.
"Hehehe, we've got good luck today. A guest has crawled in with his own legs."
"It's been tough 'cause we haven't had profit for a while, we're grateful for this guest."
"Then we should entertain him."
"Kekeke, though of course, it's our way of entertaining."
'Dang... is this the Silver Arrow thief gang?' Ark glanced around himself with shocked eyes.
The tree branches were so dense that he couldn't see the sky. He heard the voices of the thieves from sowhere up there. And not just from one place, but all around... they were already in place.
He'd gotten so caught up in testing the Deadly Poison skill that he beca careless.
'Even so, to think they would go as far as to lie in ambush...'
No, it was natural if he thought about it with common sense. His opponents were a thief gang in na, so there was no way they wouldn't guard the area around their hideout. But Ark hadn't thought that far since he had only thought of them as monsters. In any case, Ark wasn't particularly worried even though the situation wasn't that good.
'The Silver Arrow thief gang's difficulty was F. Their average level is probably only in the 70s. If it's only that level, there's no need to worry much.'
"Dedric, second tree on the right!"
"Okay!"
As Ark pointed to one tree, Dedric answered excitedly as he flew off. Then, with a "bam" sound, one of the thieves scread as he tumbled off the tree.
"Aack, wh-what the hell? This bat is--?"
"Shut up, I am a noble of the Netherworld, Dedric-nim!"
"Plan A! Skull, let's go!"
Ark ran at the thief with Skull. But just as he was about to swing his sword, four arrows shot at him from all directions. Ark hastily turned his sword, but even with reflexes trained through Taekwondo, it was impossible to parry four arrows in an instant.
"Argh!"
An arrow lodged into his abdon and leg yet again.
Hexed with 'Bleeding' and then 'Reduced Movent Speed,' while Ark was staggering, the thief that had fallen off hurriedly scrambled up the tree.
"That bastard, isn't he commanding monsters?"
"Don't be caught off guard. Seeing as he's holding on even after being hit by arrows, he's not an easy one."
"Let's get rid of that bat first!"
"Concentrate attack on the bat!"
"Dedric, dodge! Plan D!"
"Ah, alright! Ack, what the hell is this?"
At Ark's voice, Dedric hurriedly soared into the sky. But before he could fly even a few ters, he got caught in sothing and flapped. He had been caught by the crude trap of the entangled, dense branches above Ark's head.
"Kikikik, idiot. How embarrassing."
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The thieves laughed as they launched their arrows. Caught in the tree branches and rendered unable to move, Dedric was hit by three or four arrows in an instant and fell into critical condition. Flying creatures were vulnerable to ranged attacks like arrows, so he took 30% additional damage.
"Dammit, unsummon Dedric!"
Ark barely prevented Dedric from being force recalled by unsummoning him. But then the situation beca even more difficult. All the attacks that had headed towards Dedric were concentrated on Ark. Lacking a ranged attack skill, there was nothing Ark could do since they were shooting arrows from atop the trees. Ark rolled on the ground as he blocked and dodged the arrows flying at him crazily from all over the place.
However, it was impossible to avoid all the arrows. He took one hit from every three to four shots, and his situation only worsened because he was hexed with Slow or Bleeding whenever he got hit.
The thieves even acted cunningly.
"I'm next!"
Hearing sound from behind him, he quickly turned around, and an arrow lodged into his back.
"The idiot looked back. Kikik."
"What kind of dickhead would point out where each and every arrow would fly from?"
"Hey, this ti I'll attack. Try and block this!"
"Shut up!"
'Do you think I'd fall for that one a second ti?'... was what he thought, but when he didn't even turn his head, this ti an arrow really did co flying in. After taking a few attacks like that, red-hot anger surged in him.
Who would have even thought of it? That he would take attacks while being teased by thief NPCs.
'Argh, th-these bastards...'
Ark ground his teeth. But no amount of grinding his teeth would improve the situation.
Ark struck a tree with Dark Blade in rage. He was trying to shake a thief loose from the tree. But being a few ters in diater, the tree didn't even budge.
'Damn it, the hell am I supposed to do?'
He also tried to climb up a tree, but even that wasn't easy because of the thieves' arrow attacks. He only ended up getting hit stupidly by a few arrows before retreating.
Of course, Skull was no help at all. There was no way Skull, who rolled along the ground, could crawl up a tree that even Ark couldn't climb. It also couldn't take the arrows cutting through the air in Ark's stead. In the end, there was no difference whether Skull was there or not. Maybe for that reason, the thieves paid no attention to Skull. While Ark and Skull ran around in confusion like that, his Health was cut down bit by bit and he fell into critical condition.
'No, I can't die against these guys!'
Urgency filled Ark's face.
His opponents weren't ordinary monsters. If he died at the hands of the thief NPCs, there was a 60% chance that he would drop an equipnt item.
'I'm angry, but surviving is the first priority!'
"Unsummon Skull!"
Ark returned Skull back to the Netherworld and began to flee.
"You think we'd lose a fish that's already caught?"
The thieves were really not to be taken lightly. They used the vines hanging everywhere in the forest to move from branch to branch like Tarzan as they shot arrows.
Ark slipped between the trees while dodging the arrows, but in the end he took yet another arrow to his knee and collapsed.
"Got him!"
"Finish it!"
'Arghh, dammit... Am I really going to die from level 70 thieves?'
Ark was grinding his teeth while watching the bandits approach when he suddenly spotted a familiar object on the branch the thieves were moving towards. It was a brown object that looked like a rugby ball hanging upside down on the tree branch. Ark knew what that object was.
They were honeybees that inhabited the forests of New World, a Red Bee beehive.
In his beginner days of struggling in the Argus Mountains, there was a ti when he almost died after finding out that a top-level ingredient, honey, could be acquired from the Red Bee beehive and recklessly rushed in.
'Good, with this it's all or nothing!'
"Summon Skull! In the end, I can only depend on you!"
Ark grabbed Skull and threw him with all his strength. Skull flew out in a straight line and hit the beehive. Afterwards, the beehive shook greatly and then Red Bees began to pour out in droves. Buzzing with aggressive cries, when the Red Bees poured out, the thieves' faces blanched.
"Shit, Red Bees!"
"R-run away! It's the end if you get caught!"
"Aaaaah!"
As the Red Bees rushed in, the thieves scread as they fled in all directions. One of them was attacked by the Red Bees and fell to the ground. Then the Red Bees sward in like clouds and lowered his Health to the bottom in an instant.
In the anti, Ark sent Skull back to the Netherworld and ran into the forest. Belatedly discovering Ark, the Red Bees sward towards him.
Ark had fallen into critical condition, so the Indomitable skill series and Adrenaline effects were activated. Thanks to that, his movent speed had increased dramatically, but he couldn't lose the Red Bees completely. The buzzing sound closed in on him until it was right behind him.
'It was sowhere around here, wasn't it...?'
Ark tore through the forest like crazy. After a few minutes had passed like that, the forest suddenly disappeared and an expansive lake appeared. It was a lake he had discovered not long after entering the Old Forest.
'Alright, found it!'
Ark imdiately jumped into the lake.
"Whew ...!"
The Red Bees milled around above the surface for 10 minutes before leaving. If there hadn't been a lake nearby and if he hadn't had the rmaid Scale, he would have died without a squeak.
Firstly, Ark recovered his Health while making and eating food.
"Dammit! That hurt, IT FRICKIN HURT! Those bastards! I won't forgive them!" Resummoned, Dedric flew about in rage.
Ark felt the sa way.
Thinking about the battle just now, he suddenly recalled an unpleasant mory from when he was young. It was right when he'd entered elentary school. Ark had been a very withdrawn child. And at that age, there was always a brat who bullied such kids. There were punks like that in Ark's class, too.
The brats harassed Ark whenever they could. Most of it was just hiding his shoes or eating his lunch, but there was one joke that made him mad even when he thought of it now.
It was a joke where 3-4 kids would steal his bag and pass it around, taunting him to take it back. If he ran towards one kid it would be passed to another kid, and if he ran to get it once more it would again be passed... Soone who hadn't experienced it wouldn't know the feeling.
He had felt exactly that way when he was getting toyed with by the thief NPCs. A truly incomparably dirty feeling!
'Those bastards... I'll annihilate them no matter what it takes!'
Ark ground his teeth tightly with terrifying eyes. At that sight, Dedric and Skull got scared and shrank away.
"Hiik, w-what's wrong? I did what you told to do, Master!"
Cla-clack, clack clack clack!
"I know, don't throw a fit and be quiet!"
When Ark yelled at them, Dedric and Skull slinked away carefully and flattened themselves in a corner.
He raised his temper at the Familiars, but Ark knew it wasn't their fault. He wasn't generous enough to defend soone else's mistake, but he also wasn't as narrow-minded as to bla others for his mistakes. He only had himself to bla for the insufferable humiliation from this battle.
'I've got no excuse.'
Actually, Ark had been a little conceited all this ti. After changing his profession, Ark had always fought enemies with higher levels than him. 5-10 levels was the usual, and sotis he even hunted monsters 20 levels higher than him. In addition, he took down boss monsters that he shouldn't have been able to even touch at his level. Moreover, he got 1st in contribution in the event quest at level 70.
While doing all the things he wanted to do, Ark had forgotten the most important thing.
It was nothing new, but in New World, level wasn't everything.
The competence of the player controlling the character was more important than the level. The reason why Ark had grown faster than others was because he had realized that early on and had refined and polished himself without rest, and because he didn't neglect putting effort into making use of realizations from real life in the ga. But at so point, he began to neglect that effort. It wasn't that he didn't work hard to exercise. Like before, he was still working out for two hours every day to the extent of getting muscle pains. The problem was that he had neglected finding out how he could apply the results of the exercise to Ark. He had also neglected research on ways to learn or use new skills. Satisfied with his current self, he hadn't improved.
'I was too easy-going. Because the monsters I've fought up until now have been easy, I thought it would stay that way. But is a ga. I can't fight the sa monsters forever.'
There was an absolute, immutable law in all gas.
The higher your level went, the harder the battles would beco.
If you leveled up, of course you would beco that much more powerful. But the monsters you'd have to face at a high level were even stronger. In addition, they would gain various characteristics, making them even trickier to face. In other words, as your level grew, you needed more precise control and a greater understanding of the ga. Of course, it didn't matter if he was satisfied with the monsters he was hunting now, but...
'If I'm to make money with the ga, I'll always need to be ahead of the others.'
Ark was playing the ga to join Global Exos and to make a living. Others invested money in order to play New World, but Ark had to do the opposite, make money off it.
Wasn't it obvious that he had to be one step ahead of everyone?
If the majority of players sold their level 30 items after reaching level 40, of course they wouldn't make any money. You had to sell a level 45 item at the very least to make money. And to do that, you'd have to take down stronger monsters before other people did and finish quests of a higher level.
'I was out of my mind. For , the ga is my job. It's not bad to enjoy the ga, but I can't lose sight of my objective because of that enjoynt. If I'm to do better than others, I have to do more and work harder. I can't just play the ga for fun.'
Ark clenched his teeth.
'What's important right now isn't the quest or leveling up. My level right now is 78. I'm not level 40. So I have to bring my skills up to match my level 78 character. That is what I have to do right now. Alright, this is actually good. There's no need to think of anything else. My only goal right now is the thief gang!'
The thief gang was no longer simply part of acquiring a clue for a quest. It was a mountain he had to overco in order to get stronger.
The thief gang went beyond their level and were of a higher difficulty than other monsters. It was natural. The AI that applied to every monster was matched to the monster's intelligence level. But the bandits were human, so of course they would have higher intelligence than regular monsters, and their level of cooperation was also high. But with his Familiars, Ark was in fact no different from a party. If the difference between them and the thief gang had been this great, then the problem was teamwork!
'The most pressing thing is how I use my Familiars.'
The Familiars were now a part of Ark. Looking at the ratio in battle, if Ark was 60%, then the Familiars occupied 40%. In other words, the abilities of the Familiars beca Ark's strength in battle; in order to face enemies that used cooperative play like the thief gang, they absolutely needed to level up their teamwork.
'There's a limit to the simple operations we've used until now. We'll use this chance to reinforce the operations a little so that we can deal with more complicated situations.'
It had been A, B, C, and D until now. They had only used four plans. Of course they were as effective as they were simple, but if the number of monsters increased and the situation beca more complex, it limited their maneuverability.
'We need an operation that's a bit more thodical and mutually beneficial.'
Ark's strong point was that he could imdiately imrse himself in thought.
However, the only operations Ark knew were the ones he had experienced in FPS (First Person Shooter) or RTS (Real-ti Strategy) gas. After struggling and racking his brains for a long ti to think of a plan, he found a way. It was the battle professional who had been sent to South Arica to train SWAT, JusticeMan.
Hadn't he already seen how powerful JusticeMan's tactics had been in Jackson?
Finishing his thoughts there, Ark imdiately logged out and called JusticeMan.
"Strategy? What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"I really need it. Do you have anything that could help?"
"Well... I do have sothing. But the textbook I have is too high level. It's only got things that are hard to understand even for people who ca back from the army."
"Isn't there a textbook for learning the basics?"
"Ah, I do have one. I don't know if it'll help, but I'll send it to you."
Just like when he first made the plans, his training opponents were the slow Trolls. Ark used Dedric to lure out Trolls one at a ti to try out various operations.
"Plan A-4!"
When Ark gave the command, the Familiars attacked the Troll sufficiently while luring it to the back. After luring the Troll to a remote place like that, they switched to A-1 and Dedric and Skull split to the left and right as they besieged the Troll. When they did so, the Troll floundered, unable to decide on who to attack. Since the attacks weren't focused they were also easy to dodge. In addition, since they were all on different sides, one out of the three was always able to deal a Backstab.
A-2 was a series of attacks where they would strike and back off instantaneously. This was for when the enemy was strong; it helped preserve Health. Also, A-3 was a useful operation when facing a quick monster, where all three of them attacked at once. When Snake's Deadly Poison skill was thrown in properly on top of that, the effect was multiplied.
Like that, Ark used all the A operations to hunt the monsters in the area. And once they reached a level of familiarity with it, he trained them on the B operations.
Of course, the general training went on in Spartan style.
"Skull, you were a few seconds slow in changing operations this ti. Food punishnt!"
"Kekeke, I knew it. Well yeah, could a skull without a brain even morize them properly anyways?"
"Dedric, don't act up. Food punishnt for you, too!"
"EHH? W-why ?"
"Didn't I tell you? From now on, it's shared responsibility."
"Ridiculous, this is violence!"
"I told you, right? I like violence."
Ark opened the Familiars' mouths and cramd in food. There were a lot of new ingredients because they had never been to the Old Forest before. This was actually JusticeMan's suggestion. When establishing teamwork, wasn't it best to brand them with shared responsibility?
A specialist was indeed different. Thanks to him, the two Familiars put their heads together and whispered whenever they could even when Ark didn't say anything. They didn't want to be hit by a bolt out of the blue because of the other guy. It was a bit oppressive, but it seed that the Familiars had finally begun to think in terms of the 'all for one, one for all' idea. In any case, through training and punishnt, the Familiars' combat ability increased rapidly once again.
Also, the increase in punishnts led directly to the rise in the proficiency of Survival Cooking. And then—!
"Yuck, wha-what is this? It tastes hella bad!"
The food you have made with Survival Cooking is 'Appetite Killing Stew.'
It slls and looks fine, but it tastes so awful that when eaten, it will cause trauma. It will make the eater lose their appetite and they won't even want to look at food, no matter how fragrant, for a while. Perfect dieting effect!
The taster will beco unable to eat any kind of food for 2 hours. If they force themselves to eat, they will vomit and lose the effects of previously eaten food instead.
The mont when Bat crawled out of the pot and threw up, the skill finally leveled up.
Through much experience, Survival Cooking rank has gone up.
Survival Cooking (Advanced, Passive) : You used various ingredients scattered in nature to make countless new foods. Thanks to your limitless spirit of inquiry and appetite for cooking, you have finally beco a Survival Cooking expert.
You can now draw out 100% of the hidden effects in ingredients. Also, the expiration date, additional effects, and the penalties have risen greatly.
As an Advanced bonus, you can make the special dish 'dley.'
*dley: Makes a new dish, a 'dley,' by mixing 2 kinds of dishes together. The dley dish will mix the characteristics of the two dishes and increase the additional effect, or may even nullify the penalty. Sotis, a completely different form of additional effect that is impossible with normal dishes will form at random.
However, food made with dley will not be saved as a new recipe. If there are dishes in your bag that are taking up space but are too regretful to eat or throw away, daringly making them into dleys wouldn't be bad either...
Survival Cooking, indeed!
Ark hadn't only made food with good effects this whole ti. Since there was a limit to the kinds of ingredients, sotis there were tis when he made dishes that he knew would have penalty effects out of necessity to raise his proficiency, and he had to throw away those dishes while holding back tears. One wouldn't know how wasteful it was to have to waste perfectly good ingredients to make trashy food.
'But now I can recycle the trashy food by making them into dleys!'
Ark imdiately pulled out his useless dishes and tried making dleys. After putting two dishes in the pot and activating the skill, a new dish was soon made with a bubbling sound effect.
You have made a dley.
Soup of Horrifying Taste Tea Tasting Like Stead Rags = Essence of Fury
Possessing a taste that is hard to even describe, the person who eats this will experience extre fury.
Fury 50, shouting volu will grow louder by 100%.
Since dleys had random effects, he could find out the effect as soon as he made it, unlike Survival Cooking.
'Fury?'
Like the Spiritual Power that Ark used when calling out his Familiars, Fury was a value that warrior professions consud when using a special skill. Moreover, there was no knowing why the shouting volu increase effect had been made. In other words, it was an effect that Ark didn't really need. However, Ark was quite satisfied with the result.
'Soup of Horrifying Taste has a damage dealing effect. And Tea Tasting Like Stead Rags is a food that actually consus Mana. It's not bad since useful food was made from mixing two dishes I would have had to toss anyways. And even if I make a dley, Survival Cooking proficiency rises. Even if a bad dish cos out, it's better than just throwing away food.'
After that, Ark experinted with this and that.
Foods made with dley had random added effects. Even though the sa result was still made at a high rate when he mixed food with the sa formula, occasionally an entirely different dish was made as well. Though well, it didn't make much difference anyways...
Since it was a hard-won technique, he attempted using it with great enthusiasm, but he didn't make any really decent foods. For the most part, there were a lot of effects that gave off the... vague feeling that they were useful sowhere, or maybe not, like the Essence of Fury.
'Well, it should be fine if I think about the purpose of these foods slowly. Since I've halved the foods I've been carrying around 'cause they were a sha to throw away and I've gotten so space in my bag, let's pack them for now.'
If possible, he wanted to test it out a little more, but Ark currently didn't have the breadth of mind. He could take his pot and use it at any ti. But there was an appropriate ti for training and that was now.
'It's my turn now.'
Ark had no thoughts of being satisfied with just the fact that his Familiars' combat ability had risen. Even if the importance of the Familiars had increased, it was still only 40%. The other 60% was Ark's share. Even if the Familiars got stronger, it wouldn't make sense if Ark didn't grow.
'Thanks to the training I did in the sea, the skills I learned in the beginning have mostly reached their peak. However, I can't use the new skills I've learned properly yet. The success rate of Parry and Counter's chain skill, Riposte, is especially too low. If I'm to face ranged attacks, I have to make these two skills completely mine.'
After thinking that, Ark sealed all his other skills. He only concentrated on activating Riposte by chaining Parry and Counter Attack. Of course, it was easier said than done. There was no proficiency to Riposte; it was a technique that had to be activated with the gar's ability alone. In order to activate Riposte, he had to grasp the almost montary timing between Parry and Counter Attack. It wasn't easy even if he got into position and aid for just that mont. It also wasn't easy to activate it successfully with a risky position in a battle situation that constantly changed. Rather, he often ended up taking a hit from getting the 3 second paralyzation penalty upon failing to activate Riposte.
"It was a ss this ti. I was only able to succeed with it twice!"
When that happened, Ark ate food. Naturally, he had to use new dishes for the growth of the Familiars, so he made and ate a dish that tasted awful from the ones already registered in his recipes. Ark was stern with others, but also equally stern with himself.
Dedric and Skull stared at him with horrified eyes.
"What a brutal master... he's scary, scary. Let's not be impudent with him anymore."
Clack clack clack.
Like that, the Silmido-level, extre training went on for five, long days.
[T/N: A special military group called Unit 684 underwent hellish training for over three years on Silmido island for an infiltration mission into North Korea. This is the sa island that was used for the mbership training in Moonlight Sculptor.]
20 hours of training a day without going to a village even once!
As a result, Ark and the Familiars ca to look completely like beggars. It was such a difficult ti but it was definitely effective. The Familiars morized all the operations up to D-4, and their fellowship had beco stronger as well. That wasn't all-- Ark dragged the activation rate of Riposte up to 80%.
"Alright, now it's ti for revenge."
"Huhuhu, I've been waiting, Master."
Clack clack clack!
Hiss hiss hiss!
With only evil left in them now, Ark and the Familiars' eyes glead with bloodthirst.
* * *
"Oho, it's a guest!"
"Huh? Isn't that fellow the one who ran away a while back?"
"He was alive?"
"Kekekeuk, he's braver than he looks, seeing as he's throwing away his life."
"Then I oughta put an arrow in his head, as he wishes. 'Cause custor satisfaction is our motto."
Once he crossed the boundary into their turf again, the bandits mocked him.
Soon afterwards, arrows began to pour from the tree tops.
"Dedric, Skull. Plan D-1."
"I know."
Dedric and Skull quickly went out in all directions. Unlike D, where they blindly fled, D-1 was an operation where they determined the location of the bandits and moved into blind spots, using rocks or trees as shields. Ark, however, exposed himself and blocked the arrows with the Parry skill ingrained in his body. After buying a few minutes or so of ti, Ark whipped his body around and began to run away.
"Plan A-1!"
"Okay! Skull, co here!"
When Ark shouted, Dedric picked up Skull and cut through the forest.
"Eh? Those bastards are running away again?"
"Catch them! If we lose them again, it'll be a disgrace to the Silver Arrows!"
The thieves yelled as they pursued on vines. When so ti had passed like that, there was a crashing noise as the bandits who had been quickly narrowing the gap suddenly yelled while falling to the ground.
That was exactly what Ark was aiming for. Having found out that they moved from branch to branch, Ark had sliced the branches in the area beforehand. As a result, the branches broke as soon as the bandits jumped on top of them.
"Now, Snake!"
Hiss hiss hiss!
Craaash!
Snake opened its mouth wide. In that mont, an enormous number of leaves spewed from its mouth. As the leaves flew out in all directions, it was as if the forest was enveloped in a fog of leaves. It was yet another plan that Ark had prepared for just this mont. He had filled Snake's belly up with leaves in advance for an attack that used Snake's attribute of throwing up items!
"Urgh, w-what's this?"
"Damn, where are they?"
With their vision blocked by the leaves that were pouring out like a rain shower, the bandits fell into confusion. That was when Ark and the Familiars leapt into the swirling leaves.
"Plan A-3!"
"Uhahaha, you bastards! Have a taste of this!"
At Ark's shout, Dedric soared into the sky. Then he drew a steep arc as he plunged down like a lightning bolt. Struck on the top of his head, a thief hurriedly raised his bow. In that mont, Skull sprang up from a pile of leaves as it tore into the thief's thigh. The bandit scread as he staggered and the arrow went astray. That was the only attack the thief could attempt. Afterwards, Ark ran in and cramd successive critical hits on him, and the thief fell over without even a chance to shout.
"Snake, Neurotoxin!"
After destroying one of the thieves in an instant, Ark fed Snake an herb. Venom imdiately pooled on Snake's fangs.
Ark applied the Neurotoxin on his sword and went around all over the place, striking the arms of the bandits. The arms of three or four thieves beca paralyzed and went limp. Once three or four thieves beca unable to shoot arrows like that, it all fell into Ark's pace from there.
"Th-these bastards...!"
The rogues moaned as they faltered.
A few of them urgently tried to go back up into the trees, but Ark wasn't one to stand by and watch. He imdiately unfurled operation C-3, and Dedric flew around in all directions as he stepped on the heads of the thieves. Skull also clamped onto their ankles and dragged them down. When they fell from the trees again, what was waiting for them was Ark's sharp, blue sword.
"You would've played with oh so well!"
Po-po-pow!
Stabbed in the back, the thieves undoubtedly took Backstab damage and staggered. In the end, they gave up on escaping up the trees and pulled out their daggers. Seeing their flashing blades, a chilly smile spread on Ark's lips.
"You're going to try facing with blades? I'm thankful."
Ark imdiately dove in between the 3 rogues. Daggers were swung in every direction. But who was Ark? A strong, level 78 person who had trained his body day and night with Taekwondo.
Ark had been chased away by the thieves because of their arrow attacks. But if it was simple hack and slash close combat, Ark wouldn't bat an eye even if he were surrounded by monsters over level 100, much less the likes of level 70 thieves...
Moreover, his opponents were human NPCs. It would be easier to predict their attacks with muscle movents than to try and do so with strange-looking monsters.
'Ti to strike!'
If a bandit raised his blade, Ark's body would react more swiftly than expected. He would slip past the blade at an angle and unleash a front snap kick. Then he shot forward as he went right up to his retreating opponent, and unfurled a knee kick and sword strike in rapid succession. Since he was pressed tightly to his opponent, the others couldn't easily swing their swords at him. This was a weakness ford within them because they were clever humans and not ignorant monsters.
Po-po-po-pow!
The three thieves went exploding off in all directions.
"Hiik!"
At that sight, the remaining thief let loose a choked scream. Seeing as he was wearing a stylish hat, unlike the other rogues, it seed he was the boss of the thief gang. Perhaps because he thought he couldn't face Ark with a dagger after seeing him fight, the thief quickly pulled out his bow. Then he shot an arrow with practiced hands. As befitting of the boss, he must have used a special skill because the arrow was enveloped in black energy. However, Ark didn't even budge and stood right in its way, glaring at the arrow.
Then, the mont when the Arrow was about to lodge itself in Ark's neck--!
'Now!'
Ark's hand moved like a flash. He parried the arrow as if flinging it away with the tip of his sword, then fiercely stabbed with a chained movent.
The technique had beco as fast and delicate as to parry away an arrow zipping in almost within the ti it took to mark a decimal point and unleash a Counter Attack! He had practiced Riposte for five days to the extent of getting blisters on his hands for this mont. The arrow was an attack, so he had judged that he would be able to parry it and deal a counter. Lacking a way to deal with a ranged attack, this was the desperate asure Ark had cooked up.
The effect t his expectations. With the sound of tal, the arrow bounced off and lodged itself in the thief boss' face.
"Arrgghhh, how, how could such a thing...!"
The thief clutched his face and swung his dagger all over the place, but Ark wasn't one to get hit by such a blind blade. Ark, Dedric, and Skull soon ran in at him, and the bastard quickly turned into a cold corpse.
"Urrgggh, y-you bastard...!"
When the boss collapsed, he dropped a silver bow. Ark picked it up and a ssage window opened.
- You have killed the boss of the Silver Arrow thief gang.
If you take the evidence to the Giran Guard, you can claim your reward.
Within five days, he had finally taken care of the first bountied criminals.
"Uhahaha, how was that! This Dedric-nim's skills!" Dedric leapt around as if he had annihilated the thief gang all on his own.
"Snake, skill change. Item Storage"
It was ti to rake it in. Having annihilated the thief gang, Ark went around the area as he started packing away the items. Compared to normal monsters, the bandits dropped a considerable amount of japtem. Unlike monsters that only dropped things like leather or clubs, there were quite a few daggers or clothing equipnt items. That wasn't all— since they were thieves in na, all sorts of items erged when he rooted through their hideout. The dishes and lanterns the thieves had used, and even the miscellaneous items they had gathered through thievery... Of course, there were only shoddy things that wouldn't make much money since they weren't high leveled thieves, but money was money. Ark even threw all the leftover food that the bandits had eaten into his bag.
'This is more savory than I thought.'
After sweeping up every little copper the thieves had owned like that, Ark imdiately moved to his next destination. His next objective was the Grey Axe Gang, which was said to have appeared in the area around Rodellin Village.
Unlike the Silver Arrow thief gang, it was composed of warrior professions. However, they were just as tricky to face. He had always thought of a party with various professions like Warriors, Archers, and Magicians in it to be ideal, but a Warrior party where everyone was ard with shields and axes was also stronger than he expected.
"Chop him up!"
With their shields in front of them, the Warriors surrounded Ark and swung their axes. They were also 5 levels higher than the Silver Arrow thief gang, putting them at 75. And it was no easy matter to take down even one of them because they had trendous defense. However, Ark broke through the siege with Riposte and used the operation he had practiced with his Familiars to strike and back out as they took care of the Warriors one at a ti. When he downed the last Warrior, his level went up.
- You have leveled up.
He had leveled up within five days.
'Now I know why people didn't go for the thief gang bountied criminals.'
Annihilating a thief gang was three to four tis harder than catching monsters of the sa level. It was due to the cleverness of the human NPCs and because they were ard with profession skills and equipnt. They didn't give any extra EXP despite that, so there was no reason to hunt a thief gang with such difficulty. There were plenty of bountied criminals besides the thief gangs anyway.
But Ark shook his head. 'My ability to adapt to circumstances will grow the more I fight tricky opponents. Like how I hadn't even thought of returning an arrow with Riposte a while back, and since I also don't know when I'll have to fight a human NPC next, I have to gain experience with this opportunity.'
"Now, shall I see what you've got?"
Ark swept up all the items that were lying around in the campsite of the Grey Axe Gang. After shaking down two thief gangs like that, Snake's belly filled all the way up. He wouldn't make much even if he sold it all, but the fun of packing away the abundant japtem that poured from the thief gangs was quite pleasurable.
Of course, it was tough to expect much of a quest reward or a jackpot item, but for steadily making money, he felt that the profit was better than going through a hunting ground.
Ah! He almost forgot to ntion it, but right when the rascals who had bullied Ark when he was in elentary school rose to 4th grade, they were beaten up by Ark. Ark had been learning Taekwondo for 2 years. His personality of repaying his suffering many tis over hadn't changed at all from back then.
* * *
"Oh, did you take care of these guys? I haven't seen you before, so you must be a newcor? Good work, I'll rember your face from now on since you took care of two of them. Ah, this is the promised bounty. I ask that you work for Giran's peace in the future as well."
-You took down a bountied criminal and received a reward.
For completing the task successfully, your Giran contribution has increased by 15.
You have completed your first bounty hunt and your Hunter Rank has been elevated to E.
When he turned in the evidence to the Giran Guard, he received 25 Gold and his contribution and Hunter Rank went up as an additional reward. He thought there wasn't much aning besides the bounty, but it did feel good to have sothing rise. Also, he caught wanted criminals and received a bounty. This simple work was surprisingly quite fun.
"I didn't get information about the quest, but... well, it doesn't matter. I'll get it eventually. Let's just sweep through the thief gangs and get experience for a while. It's unexpectedly fun and seems profitable, too."
Ark pulled off two more wanted sheets from the ssage board.
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