Bounty and Burden
Even though his mental strength had been greatly reduced, the power imbued in his body did not lie. From the assured weight in every step to muscles that responded instantly to his will, this sense of omnipotence could only be felt in a game.
“My luck is really good.”
His Luck stat had risen, granting a critical hit bonus, and his health had more than doubled. He no longer felt tired just from walking. It felt as if he had surpassed the peak physical condition of his military days and become a superhuman. As for Wisdom, he honestly had no idea. It had been a stat he discarded in the previous game, and it was known to be useful only for jobs or skills related to magic or special abilities.
“The road is incredibly well paved. A medieval paved road, no less.”
The path to the eastern forest was one-way. Every road showed signs of player intervention, covered in all sorts of graffiti and drawings.
“……This is something only a latecomer like me can experience.”
It left a bitter taste. In the previous game, every place carried the romance of exploration. The veteran he met at the fountain must have felt this emotion with his entire body.
—Back in the beginner days, I survived by drinking fountain water and eating rock-hard bread. That memory still sticks with me.
His words carried a clear sense of excitement. The expression on his face when he handed over the bread had been filled with fulfillment.
“Lucky guy. Meeting a solid newbie like me.”
While savoring the various nationalistic scribbles on the road, he soon reached the entrance of the eastern forest. This place was also swarming with players. Such was the power of a popular game.
“Looking for a tank for a short trip to the wolf zone. Taunt skill required. Four-hour course.”
“Rabbit workshop operating. Need mob-pulling skills. Eighteen hours.”
“Selling low-grade rabbit meat cheap. Two for one copper.”
The atmosphere here was far calmer than at the city gates. Merchants’ carriages and stalls lined both sides of the road in orderly fashion, and players looking to trade did not need to raise their voices. However, there was one problem.
“There are more Chinese players than I expected.”
The people speaking awkward Korean were Chinese players who had created accounts in Korea. He already knew the reason for the influx of Chinese users into this Korean server through Sung-chul.
—The beginner villages in China are completely saturated. Even with eight beginner villages assigned, it’s like this. The powerful guilds are colluding to control everything.
China had been assigned a full eight beginner villages. That meant they could secure eight Eternals. However, considering that most players in those villages would be hostile toward him, he predicted he would need to be strong enough to smash them all alone to even enter. Powerful guilds would monopolize everything around the beginner villages, including the fountain water.
—Quitting because it’s dirty is a story from when you couldn’t make money. Even under all kinds of control, people still make money, so everyone rushes in and causes chaos. Among them, the richer Chinese players hire part-timers and cross into neighboring countries to run workshops.
Among neighboring countries, Korea and Japan were especially popular with Chinese players because they had many users with high purchasing power. Mason’s characteristic hands-off policy toward players remained in place for this game as well.
“Hey, Chinese friend. Let me ask you something.”
“Speak.”
“Do you pay taxes?”
“……”
The illegal resident quietly retreated and disappeared into the crowd. He had heard from Sung-chul how to distinguish between officially registered foreigners and illegal residents.
—Devices registered as genuine have perfect language translation. No matter what you say, it sounds natural.
Communicating with foreign players had never been a problem in the previous game either. Awkward conversations like this were impossible from the start. Yet players could not directly punish them because this was not Korea—it was Liam. From the kingdom’s perspective, they were all foreigners paying the same taxes.
—They can’t leave the area around the beginner village anyway. The moment they stray too far, people will naturally approach and deal with them. It’s best when you run into them in the hunting grounds. The royal family rarely intervenes in disputes that happen in the hunting grounds.
Hunting illegal residents. It sounded quite appealing. If he could destroy the workshops themselves, he could secure not only the funds they generated but also all kinds of exploration supplies. However, they were not opponents to be underestimated just because they could not speak properly. The fact that they continued operating workshops despite the wary eyes of countless Korean players meant the workshops possessed considerable strength of their own.
‘It’s too much for now. The fact that they didn’t seem too wary when I spoke to them suggests they probably hired Korean players.’
Now was the time to grow steadily. After all, the picture he wanted to paint was far too large for a level 1. Finishing his thoughts, he entered the rabbit zone at the entrance of the eastern forest. Thanks to the many players who had passed through, natural trails had formed in the rabbit zone. Among them, players had formed their own territories around particularly large trees and were focused on hunting.
“Hello. We’re doing party hunting.”
“Ah, yes.”
This was what they called “claiming a spot.” Since they had to compete with workshops, securing a good location in the rabbit zone seemed very important.
“Most solo spots should be empty. Try going over there.”
“Thank you.”
Moreover, this player was Korean, so there was no real excuse to pick a fight. He obediently moved in the direction the player pointed, heading deeper in.
“This place is definitely empty.”
The eastern forest was much larger than he had expected. It was certainly on a scale capable of accommodating all the players of a single country.
“At least I won’t have to fight over spots.”
The provocation toward the illegal residents had partly been to account for spot competition, which now felt a little embarrassing. Still, he judged that there were definitely efficient spots. Locations close to the merchants would make inventory disposal and resupply much easier.
“Since I’ve come this far, I might as well level up once.”
Unlike the others, he had not formed a party. There was no reason to in the first place. Since he could gain one unused point per level up, there was even less need.
With the stats he had secured, he could easily surpass level 40. Of course, if he actually fought a level 40, he would be crushed miserably. After all, he had no class and no skills. Moreover, his effective combat stats—Strength, Agility, and Vitality—were only around the level of a level 25 player. Even then, since his stats were not specialized in any one direction and his only equipment was a weapon, it was fair to say he could put up a good fight against someone around level 10 to 15.
A faint rustling sound came from the bushes. He had found a forest rabbit. The moment it met his eyes, it quickly began fleeing backward.
Tatatat!
Whoosh!
Kyeeeeek!
But he was faster. Using Strength 12 and Agility 14 to hunt in the rabbit zone was laughable from the start.
“Well, what can I do? I don’t have a backpack or exploration supplies, so I need to make money first.”
Hunting rabbits was a form of training in its own way. It counted as real combat training, and to sell the rabbit carcasses at a good price, he had to minimize damage to the bodies.
“There’s another one over there.”
Whoosh!
The wooden sword’s attack power combined with the effect of Seven Impact would surely turn the rabbit into a bloody mess. So instead, he used only the wind pressure from the sword to knock it unconscious. It was a technique he had often used in the previous game to preserve weapon durability, and this game also had many places where such small tricks could be useful.
Crack.
Crack.
He lightly snapped the neck of the stunned rabbit to finish it off. With that, the rabbit became precious experience points.
“Low-grade rabbit meat was two for one copper, right?”
From what he had looked up, one copper was worth around 150 won in cash. Therefore, 100 copper equaled one silver, or 15,000 won. And since 100 silver equaled one gold, one gold was worth 1.5 million won.
“They seemed to sell the hides separately. I wonder how much they’ll give.”
At the very least, he did not think the rabbits he had caught would be judged as low-grade. Small animals like rabbits had little blood, so within an hour after death, there would be no major changes to the dermis layer of the hide. Meat might be somewhat affected, but it would not impact the quality of the hide. Therefore, he judged that the best course of action was to catch as many rabbits as possible within the given time.
“For now, let’s gather as many as I can carry.”
The plump rabbits could not fit in his waist pouch.
Tatatat!
Whoosh!
Kyeeek!
Plump, slow rabbits were always welcome.
Kyeeek! Kyeeek!
Occasionally, a rabbit would try to counterattack the moment he charged, and in those cases he would casually offer his forearm to be bitten.
“……”
Even if it damaged his tunic, the rabbit’s bite force could not even leave a tooth mark on his forearm. Thud. He had to grab the rabbit’s head and press down with force for the teeth to even sink in.
Agility +2, Vitality +2, Luck +5
High chance to avoid fatal wounds.
Wound natural recovery speed greatly increased.
Duration: ∞
Thanks to the effect of Life Whisper, minor wounds healed in an instant.
“This buff was definitely a good choice.”
Once he confirmed the wounds had closed, no further testing was needed. He simply continued hunting rabbits. Since he did not know how much he could earn, his plan was simply to gather as many as he could carry.
Kyeeeeek!
Crack.
Kick.
Kyeeek!
Because the rabbits perked up their ears whenever they sensed him, the hunting continued smoothly without interruption.
Crack!
“Whoops, did I twist that one too hard?”
He was starting to reach his limit. He had tied the rabbit carcasses together as tightly as possible using elastic tree branches he found occasionally, but the bundle had grown larger than his upper body, restricting his movement.
Creak.
His footprints sank deep into the soft ground.
Strength did not decrease. On the contrary, he needed to maintain this strength just to bear the weight of the rabbits. However, the other stats were a different story.
Carrying weight exceeded. Stats reduced.
Agility: 5 (14)
Vitality: 13 (14)
Agility had returned to the value it had been when he first created the character, and Vitality had reached a level where it decreased even while standing still. Without the permanent buffs, he would not have been able to handle even half of what he was carrying.
“……Hoo. I should head back soon.”
The rabbit hunt had lasted about an hour. He had gathered over thirty rabbits at a rough estimate. These rabbits were also much larger than real-world rabbits. It was no wonder the merchants had gathered to buy rabbit hides.
Creak. Creak.
“……Did you catch all of that by yourself?”
“Huff. Hah. Yes, I did.”
It was the same man who had first declared his spot. That meant he was almost back.
“Damn. I really took too many.”
The status window kept flickering before his eyes.
“……Ah. I want to put points into Vitality. Huff. Badly.”
Carrying the heavy rabbit carcasses for so long had greatly reduced his Vitality. On top of that, he had sweated so much that his body felt heavier, dropping his Agility all the way to 1. At this level, even a level 1 could land a critical hit. He suddenly found himself missing the fountain water buff that helped with stamina recovery.
“When I get back… huff… I need to buy a water flask first. Hoo. And get the water buff.”
While repeating his complaints, he eventually arrived in front of the merchant carriages gathered at the entrance of the eastern forest.
“W-what is all this?”
“……I’m selling. All of it.”
Thud thud thud.
He dumped the rabbits he had been carrying onto the ground.