Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Laying the Foundations (4)
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“Should I call you Yokai-nim?”
Code name Yokai—real name An Ki-jun—a player in Yang Hye-won’s party.
“Ah, yes……”
“Nice to meet you. I’m K.”
“N-Nice to meet you.”
Today was the day I’d planned to go hunting with Kim Yul and Yokai, just the two of them.
“But what’s with that carriage? Where’d you even get it?”
“Someone I know lent it to me.”
“……You have connections here? The servers linked up just a day ago. How the hell is that possible?”
“If you play your cards right.”
“Huh?”
While Kim Yul and I traded pointless banter, An Ki-jun watched me warily, looking a bit uncomfortable and tense.
I had no intention of dragging out this awkward atmosphere.
So I cut off Kim Yul’s chatter at an appropriate point.
“No need to wait around anymore, right?”
“Yeah, we’re just following you, Hyung. You know it’s all on you if we die, yeah?”
It sounded like he was dumping responsibility on me at first glance, but that wasn’t his real intent.
Despite his beaming smile, Kim Yul was subtly signaling that he was scared.
We were heading into the mission zone with just three people, after all.
‘Well, their side has a decent number of members.’
Including those who hadn’t joined the National Intelligence Service, their party had seven members.
That was back when Nam Gyu had joined, so it might’ve grown since then.
Having always moved in large groups, he must’ve been worried about operating shorthanded.
But this small team was a huge advantage.
“You’ll soon be bowing and crediting it all to my credit instead.”
“Talk’s cheap from a guy with no charm.”
I instantly caught what she meant by that sidelong glance and narrowed eyes.
I shook my head and pulled some potions from my storage.
I’d bought them in bulk before, so I had plenty.
“That do it for you?”
“You’re the best, Hyung.”
“Cut the nonsense and let’s go. You too, Yokai-nim.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Sticking around here would just turn us into a spectacle.
‘Eyes are already gathering.’
Of course they were—with three people dressed oddly and something perched on our heads.
A fair number of them were fellow players like us.
I could feel probing stares sweeping over us, hear the murmurs.
“Three of them?”
“They’ll probably link up at an outpost.”
“What’s with the guy in the middle? No sword or anything……”
To dodge the attention, I led Kim Yul and An Ki-jun straight to the city gates.
The people who’d been sneaking glances and whispering parted to the sides.
When we reached the gates, the guards stationed there stepped aside to clear a path.
“Follow the stairs on the right up to the teleportation magic circle.”
“Yes, thank you.”
The guards treated us quite naturally.
They didn’t seem particularly surprised.
Which made sense, thinking about it.
‘It’s been a day since the servers connected.’
The quick ones had already headed out to hunting grounds.
According to community posts, the outposts open to outsiders were numbers 1, 4, and 5.
‘The other five are still unrevealed.’
Probably high-risk contaminated zones nearby.
For now, only level 3-4 equivalent contaminated zones were open.
And plenty of players had gone hunting there, posting updates.
“Five teams left before you showed up, Hyung. All seven or more, and one had a full ten.”
“Busy bees.”
The proactive ones were hustling.
‘Can’t fall behind.’
I quickened my pace—though it didn’t really speed us up.
“Uh, do we, have to climb this every single time? No other way? They couldn’t install a safety rail or something?”
“Don’t pull! Kim Yul! I said don’t pull!”
The stairs we had to climb jutted right out from a cliff.
Because of that, Kim Yul and An Ki-jun crawled along, scooting inch by inch.
I shook my head at their noisy antics.
“Hurry it up. You planning to live there forever?”
“You’re not scared at all, Hyung? One slip and you’re done!”
Instead of whining, maybe focus on not slipping?
“If you wanna fall that bad, I’ll give you a shove.”
Apparently not, as Kim Yul hugged An Ki-jun tight and shook his head furiously.
“Then shut up and hurry.”
“Yessir.”
For some reason, once Kim Yul clammed up, climbing got a bit smoother.
It didn’t take long to scale the sheer cliff, dozens of meters high.
It was the same spot where I’d arrived with Rashar’s group a few days back.
Instead of the bizarre geometric patterns on the ground, I first checked the view beyond the cliff.
The clear river and endless plains stretching to the horizon asserted their overwhelming presence today as well.
The vista from the dizzying heights remained breathtaking.
‘I’ll be seeing this a lot from now on.’
The thought lifted my mood a touch.
Only after soaking in the scenery filling my vision did I look around.
The ground nearby was covered in intricate runes.
It was the magic circle the resistance used to travel to and from outposts.
Around the large one prepped for mass troop movements were densely packed smaller ones for small groups.
Activate them all, and you could teleport up to two thousand at once.
I’d asked Centler while waiting for Rashar yesterday, so it was reliable info.
And next to the magic circles sat a lone building.
‘That’s it.’
Last time, I’d been too entranced by the view beyond the cliff to notice it.
Confirming Kim Yul and An Ki-jun had made it up, I took the lead.
“Pardon the intrusion.”
Three people were inside.
Like Ahel, they were mages shackled at the neck, wrists, and ankles.
“Can we use the teleportation magic circle?”
His gaze flicked to my head, then dropped.
“……Which outpost number?”
Outposts were zones bordering contaminated areas—the real danger spots where purification happened.
“Outpost 1, Ramolt Mountains.”
Community reports said the monsters there averaged mana in the low 40s.
The other two spots were 20s-30s.
“Please wait a moment.”
As the mage nodded and prepared, Kim Yul and An Ki-jun arrived.
“Now it really feels like a game. That place earlier was like the newbie village, huh?”
“Something like that.”
In the brief chat, the mage finished and called us over.
Stepping onto the pattern, a bright light engulfed my vision, just like when Ahel used spatial magic.
When the glow faded and sight returned.
「Entering contaminated zone.」
We’d arrived at an outpost ringed by tall wooden palisades.
The two experiencing teleportation for the first time flopped to the ground.
But they were too busy gawking at the surroundings to care about falling.
“Wow, pretty legit.”
“Like something out of a movie. Kinda cool.”
As Kim Yul and An Ki-jun exclaimed, I narrowed my eyes at the message windows.
Unlike them, messages kept coming for me.
「Trait Capitalism detected.」
「Recommended mission info provided to support target. Map function activated.」
「Map function synthesized with Mana Detection. Auto-detection starting.」
Once all the messages ended, a new window appeared.
A map marked with stars for recommended missions dotted amid the contaminated zone.
Centered on me, radius about 400 meters.
Red and blue dots, plus specks, moved freely.
No way this was anything but……
‘A radar.’
My lips twitched upward involuntarily.
* * *
A lot had changed since the servers connected.
For Kim Yul, the biggest shift was in mission progression.
‘Used to just drop us right in the mission zone.’
Now, you teleported from safe bases to outposts, then entered the contaminated zone.
It was more hassle than before, but the community agreed this was better.
The benefits were too clear.
‘You can bail mid-hunt.’
If injured bad or it got risky, you could pull out without finishing.
Clearing the mission didn’t matter anymore.
‘Fewer deaths than before.’
Kim Yul had been thrilled when he first saw the news on the community boards.
Though for him now, it wasn’t a huge deal.
“This is nothing. No breaks—push on.”
K, whom he’d known since near the game’s start, was a total freak.
‘I saw hints when he taught me Mana Operation, but……’
Not like this.
Since entering the contaminated zone, K hadn’t rested once.
He slaughtered monsters the size of pigs with rhino horns—slash after slash.
Every swing of his longsword took a head or bisected a body.
At first, Kim Yul chased after him wide-eyed at the kill speed.
His hunts had always been two or three holding a monster while others finished it.
So K mowing down one per swing left him stunned.
But after over an hour of that, even the awe faded.
All he felt was how hard it was to keep up.
“You gonna dawdle forever? Hurry.”
“I…… I can’t, I can’t keep up!”
Finally, Kim Yul plopped down and yelled.
The rising Chaos Value from endless hunting eroded his patience faster than usual.
That broke An Ki-jun too—he gasped ragged breaths and dropped his weapon.
“This is abuse! Cruelty!”
As he started venting the pent-up gripes from the marathon hunt.
“I said we’d hunt together, not throw us in a labor camp……!”
“Shut your mouth.”
K’s eyes chilled as he leveled his longsword at Kim Yul’s throat.
“You here to play?”
The icy tone was icing.
“Think you can just pop a resurrection item and come back if you die? That why you’re yelling in a monster-infested zone?”
For a split second, blue light gleamed in K’s downcast eyes.
Meeting that gaze choked off Kim Yul’s complaints before they could spill.
“N-No, it’s just your pace is too fast……”
“Then go home.”
“……”
“If you’re staying, get up. Now.”
At the cold warning, An Ki-jun snatched up his dropped weapon.
Kim Yul pouted a bit but stood and dusted off.
K sighed deeply in exasperation.
“Seeing you whine this much tells me exactly how you’ve been hunting. Honestly, this pace isn’t even tough.”
“……”
“Proof? You’ve got breath left to yap.”
He tsked, tilting his head as he continued.
“I don’t do it that way. If I hunted like your party—resting every chance—I wouldn’t have this much mana alone.”
“……”
“Today’s goal: 3,000+ per person, two laps of old level 3 zones. Hate my pace? Leave. I’m not begging anyone to stay.”
After the repeated warnings and scolding, Kim Yul mumbled apologetically.
“……Sorry, I whined too much.”
K, staring down at the shorter Kim Yul, shifted his gaze to An Ki-jun.
“You too, Yokai-nim. If it’s too much, go. I owe you one, so I’m helping you farm mana—but dragging whiners along isn’t my hobby.”
At An Ki-jun’s reply, Kim Yul bit the inside of his cheek.