Chapter 125: Hunting Expert (7★)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 125: Hunting Expert (7★)
For now, the representative from the Jamsil Sports Complex said he would try to secure the Coins and get back to me.
I slipped a bit of information to this potential jackpot customer, who clearly had a strong intention to trade.
"You'd better give me a definitive answer within three days. After that, it'll be hard to do it for you, even if you have the Coins."
"You mean the five-day period where you can't sell food?"
"Exactly."
"Understood. I'll come back as quickly as possible."
It was fascinating.
To think people would gamble almost their very lives on my words, which had absolutely no supporting evidence.
Though it was only some of them, it wasn't a tiny minority either.
In reality, when it comes to information where you have to risk taking a loss, it's incredibly difficult to take a leap of faith and just give it a shot.
This was especially true in a zombie apocalypse, where the luxury of leeway simply couldn't exist.
Well, in the case of food, even if they bought it at a loss, it wasn't like they couldn't use it at all. So even if they lost a bit, they could just hunt more zombies to make up for the loss.
But something like repairing a Safe Base's outer wall was practically a massive loss.
Of course, if the performance was guaranteed, upgrading it would obviously be beneficial no matter how many Coins it cost. But in a world like this, where Coins equaled food, investing over ten thousand Coins into a base's outer wall instead of food?
Would they have come to invest if I hadn't hinted that a Zombie Rush was coming in three days?
They were probably preparing for it, and that was what I found so fascinating.
My words were gaining power in this world.
There were even people gambling their lives on a single word of mine.
I was a selfish person who only cared about himself, but as long as it didn't harm me, I didn't hold back when it came to taking care of my own people.
It was just that I hadn't officially formed a faction.
Even if they couldn't be called my faction, as long as they were friendly suckers who willingly brought me Coins inside the Safe Base, I could easily give them what they wanted.
So, show me some sincerity first.
After sending him off, I finished up the Residential District.
I blocked off the wide-open sky using the "Safe Base-Exclusive Ceiling" I had finally acquired.
Originally, since it was a studio apartment building, just surrounding it with outer walls naturally enclosed the ceiling as well.
But when I moved over here and enclosed a perfectly fine forest with outer walls, the sky was naturally left wide open.
I had tried to block it off with outer walls before, but it hadn't worked because it required a ceiling. Now, however, it was a perfectly, tightly enclosed structure.
If you asked what was so good about this, first of all, it made perfect soundproofing possible, just like back in the studio apartment building.
Not a single sound would leak out, and sounds from the outside could be completely blocked as well.
Since the area was so incredibly vast and high, most noises were naturally muffled whether inside or out, but there was a clear difference between reducing noise to absolute zero versus letting even a tiny fraction slip through.
It also made us immune to the weather.
When there was no ceiling, rain would fall directly inside, forcing me to use an umbrella just to go out. But now, even if it rained, the ceiling blocked it, so there was no need to get wet within the Residential District.
Of course, if I wanted to feel the rain or snow, I could just adjust the settings to make the ceiling transparent, allowing them to pass through, so that wasn't an issue either.
The same went for sunlight.
If I set it to the window effect, bright sunlight would stream in beautifully. If I wanted to make it feel completely indoors, I could close off the ceiling to make the interior dark.
There wasn't any particular benefit to doing that, so I wouldn't bother setting it up, but having a ceiling was a pretty nice feature nonetheless.
"Whoa. We have a ceiling now."
"It's Studio Apartment Building Ver. 2 now."
"Awesome."
It hadn't rained much lately, but since there were many trees and flowers here, I set the ceiling to let rain pass through for now.
There was no need to block it when the rain could water them naturally.
And it wasn't like I hated getting rained on.
The natural environment was also one of the survival variables in a zombie apocalypse.
Since the way of survival changed depending on whether it rained or not, I didn't dislike rain or snow.
If a typhoon, heavy rain, or a severe thunderstorm came later, I could just temporarily block it off on those days.
The same applied to the other areas.
I blocked off the ceilings of the "Commercial Districts" as well.
There were two more plots of land almost the size of the Residential District, and while I didn't have a clear idea of how to use them yet, I figured I'd find a use for them as my faction grew.
"Now, let's level up Hunting Expert."
Humans feel a sense of coziness in a home.
Nature is nice, but an enclosed space has no unpredictable variables.
Though it was a bit of a spacious home, this perfectly enclosed sweet home brought back the feeling of when I had first made the studio apartment building my Safe Base.
Lying on a sunbed in the yard, I leveled up my Mode.
6 points.
Exactly the amount of points needed to raise Hunting Expert to Level 7.
At Level 6, all damage increased by +3, and at Level 7, the attack path supposedly became visible.
"Oh, this."
Since I had already experienced success with seeing attack trajectories, the addition of the attack path was highly welcome.
If seeing attack trajectories focused on evasion by showing the opponent's path of attack, then the optimal attack path would likely recommend the path for my own attacks.
It was an option I desperately needed.
Of course, I was someone with a fair amount of combat experience.
I had fought many zombies, and I had plenty of experience knowing how to fight them one-on-one, as well as how to survive when outnumbered.
However, that was different from an AI-calculated, optimally efficient combat style.
Even if I fought using my own experience, if there was an attack path that could yield maximum efficiency with minimum Stamina, there was no reason not to use it.
"I'm looking forward to this."
Since I had acquired a new skill, it was only natural to test it out.
Since there were still a little over three days left until the Zombie Rush, I decided to go elsewhere to test it.
"I should wander around nearby and do some farming."
It had been quite a while since I last killed a zombie.
My stockpile of meat was running low, and Lee Mi-sook had also asked me to get some more.
Come to think of it, I needed to fetch some medicine as well.
Since I needed both, and I required 4 points to raise Hunting Expert by one more level during the remaining three days, a perfect quest came to mind.
"Maybe I should clear some Repeat Quests."
I would hunt Level 1, 2, and 3 zombies to gather points, then head to Hanyang University Hospital to raid their medical supplies.
Although I had brought back a truck full of medicine when I first left the university hospital, there should still be supplies left inside the building.
While retrieving them, I could slaughter the zombies inside Hanyang University to get exactly 4 points and restock on meat at the same time.
"Please let it be a Demonic Lair this time."
Since most large buildings that should have been Demonic Lairs were occupied by people, my first thought was, Could it be the same this time?
Since Hanyang University Hospital was right next to Hanyang University, if a faction had occupied it, my plans would go down the drain.
"There better be zombies. If not, I'll just fill the quota with humans."
There were Hidden Repeat Quests, so killing humans was an option, but to get meat, it was definitely better to kill zombies.
Even if I had no qualms about killing people, I didn't really want to slaughter them just to fill a quota like I did with zombies.
As usual, I packed a pistol for self-defense, but I didn't plan on using a gun for this hunt.
To test the optimal attack path, while guns were fine, nothing beat a melee weapon.
Just how much of a difference would it make?
Could it really be more efficient than movements born from my own experience?
To be honest, I was a bit skeptical.
In the first place, when movements stemmed from overwhelming stats, it didn't really matter if they were slightly inefficient.
Say I could kill 100 zombies using 100 Stamina.
Whether I used 200 Stamina or 300 Stamina to kill those 100 zombies...
Ultimately, if I had over 1,000 Stamina, it ceased to be a matter of inefficiency and became a matter of time.
Finishing quickly created a value that transcended mere efficiency.
That was why I had to try it to know for sure.
Just how much would it satisfy me?
"Oppa, if you can find a clean varsity jacket at Hanyang University, could you grab one for me?"
As I was packing my things to leave, Kim Ji-hee made another strange request.
Apparently, it was her latest hobby.
She had already asked me to get her a varsity jacket with the university logo when I went to check out Konkuk University later.
And now she was doing it again.
"Sure."
Farming was always fun, so I agreed and headed out.
With an excited heart, I boarded the tram and headed north.