Did You Two Get a Different Quest?
“Huh? You two got a different quest?”
“Wow. Is it because this is the Salz Kingdom? Lucky.”
Not having the faintest idea what was going through Tae-hyun’s head, the others envied him.
At a glance, it really did look like a special quest.
Besides, they hadn’t heard the details of what Tae-hyun had actually been told.
Lucky, my ass.
Tae-hyun scratched his head.
This wasn’t a quest two people could realistically clear.
Still, it was awkward to reject it outright.
If he turned it down on the spot, their affinity would obviously drop.
How do I play this…?
Even if he failed the quest, if he could at least show he’d made an effort, the affinity loss would be smaller.
“Let’s get moving first,” Choi Ha-jun said.
Now that they’d received a quest to hunt Orcs, there was no reason to keep standing around here.
“Sounds good. Before we go, anyone want to leave their equipment with me?”
The thoroughness of a man who never let a chance to raise a skill level slip by.
At Tae-hyun’s words, people looked at one another.
“Are you sure he’s good?”
“Well, the soldiers seem to like him… so he must be decent.”
“Here you go.”
If they could get a buff before a fight, there was no reason to refuse.
“I’ll pass.”
“Ah. Me too.”
Choi Ha-jun and Choi Ha-yeong declined.
Before forming the party to come here, they had already entrusted their gear to the blacksmith and tailor at the temple.
No matter how skilled Tae-hyun was, levels were levels. Surely he couldn’t be better than the temple craftsmen.
Clang, clang, clang—
Tae-hyun’s hands moved over the equipment with practiced ease.
His motions were so natural that even onlookers found themselves impressed.
Just judging by the movement of his hands, he looked like someone who had mastered the blacksmithing skill.
The experience he’d built up from digging into blacksmithing all the way back in Fantasy Online 1 hadn’t gone anywhere.
Sharpening succeeds with astonishing probability! Skill level increased!
Blacksmithing has increased.
Permanent Luck has been bestowed upon the equipment.
“Huh?”
The window that popped up made Tae-hyun flinch.
No, wait. Why is this showing up here?
Sharpening was supposed to be a skill that gave temporary buffs before battle.
One of the few blacksmith skills useful in actual party combat.
But this…
The effect was way too good.
“W-what’s wrong?”
“You didn’t break the gear, did you?”
“Did my gear break?!”
The warrior who had handed over his equipment, Ted, looked at Tae-hyun in alarm.
He’d trusted a stranger with his gear. If the performance had actually dropped, nothing could be more ridiculous.
Shouldn’t have trusted him. Not some guy I just met…
“No. It’s not broken.”
Tae-hyun handed the armor back.
Ted accepted it, then opened the status window with obvious suspicion.
“!!!!!!”
Total durability increased.
There was the temporary stat boost, of course, but…
Permanent Luck had also been added.
“Wh-what is this?”
“What? Did it get ruined?”
“No! Look at the equipment stats!”
The friend who had come with him glanced at the window and his eyes widened.
“M-me too, please!”
“Me too!”
In an instant, they all became aggressive about it.
Choi Ha-jun and Choi Ha-yeong stared at the scene in disbelief.
I thought he was a Rogue??
What kind of class was he, exactly, to have a skill like that?
Isn’t he actually a blacksmith?
No, if he were, he would’ve just said so. Why lie about something that’d be exposed the second combat started?
True…
While the two whispered to each other, the party members crowded closer.
A chance to improve equipment for free.
“Is this the Sharpening skill?”
One of the party members seemed to know a little about blacksmith skills.
But the others immediately piled on.
“Idiot. You think Sharpening gives an effect like this? This is obviously a class-exclusive skill. How can you ask something like that? You think he’s just gonna tell us for free?”
In a heartbeat, he went from “this guy” to “sir.”
Ted, whose equipment had just gotten stronger for free, was grinning from ear to ear.
But Tae-hyun felt a pang in his chest.
Damn it… if I’d known it had an effect like this, I should’ve charged them something…
It was his selfish nature: when he did something he was genuinely good at for other people for free, it stung.
The moment had already passed, so he had no choice but to settle for raising his Blacksmithing skill.
Later, maybe he’d be able to charge for this kind of thing.
Polishing succeeded.
Polishing succeeded.
Sharpening succeeds with astonishing probability! Skill level increased!
“Huh? It didn’t work for me…”
“Mine procced!”
The party members had no idea how Tae-hyun’s skill worked, so they were baffled.
“It doesn’t happen every time. There’s just a certain chance for it to trigger.”
“……!”
“C-could you do ours again later when the buff runs out?”
“We’ll see.”
The two who had gathered the party—Choi Ha-jun and Choi Ha-yeong—were instantly shoved to the sidelines.
When had these people stopped worshipping the holy knight-priest combo and started acting like this?
Ha-jun felt something surge up inside him.
What a bunch of shameless people!
“So that’s what the skill did all along?!”
“No. I didn’t know either. I think the effect triggered because the skill leveled up while I was working on the soldiers’ gear.”
“Ahhh…!”
Tae-hyun and Ji-su whispered as they moved with the rest of the party.
The eyes of Choi Ha-yeong’s party members sparkled so brightly it was almost burdensome.
A chance to have your equipment upgraded by a skilled blacksmith didn’t come around often.
“Chwik, chwik! Humans! Humans!”
“Chwik, catch them!”
In the distance, Orcs appeared on top of a hill.
“Orcs!”
“Everyone, gather around me.”
Before battle began, the one who always shone brightest was the priest.
At Choi Ha-yeong’s words, the party members hurried over in a cluster.
Tae-hyun wasn’t in the party, but he still shoved Ji-su gently forward.
— Prayer of Earth!
A faint light brushed over the party members and vanished.
A buff that raised their overall stats.
As promised, Choi Ha-yeong cast the buff not just on the party members, but on Ji-su and Tae-hyun as well.
“I’ll take the front! Jun-hyeon, prepare your magic!”
Choi Ha-jun ran forward with his shield raised.
Holy knights ranked near the top among classes when it came to defense.
With a priest supporting him and a shield in hand, he looked genuinely solid and dependable.
The party’s mage, Jun-hyeon, began preparing a spell.
His level seemed relatively low, so it was taking some time.
Still, once it was ready, its power would be on a level other classes couldn’t compare to.
The toughest holy knight stood in front with priestly support, taking the brunt of the monsters’ attacks.
Behind him stood classes like warriors, attacking the monsters and blocking anything that slipped through.
At the very rear stood the low-defense classes like priests and mages.
They were the most important and the easiest to kill, so they were protected.
It was, in every way, a textbook party-hunting formation.
Tae-hyun gave a low whistle.
The people here seemed to have done party play at least a few times in Fantasy Online 2.
They were moving pretty well.
“You stay here.”
“Huh? O-okay… what about you, Hyung?”
“I’m more of a solo-fighter type.”
“Wh-what are you doing?!”
Choi Ha-jun had his shield set, watching the Orcs rushing down the hill.
Then someone sprinted right out past him.
It was Tae-hyun.
“What are you doing? If you’re a Rogue and you fight like that, you’ll die instantly! Get back here right now!”
Just because someone was a Rogue didn’t mean they could dodge every attack.
No matter how fast they moved or how many evasion skills they used, if there were enough monsters, they’d get surrounded in no time.
And after that came death.
There was a time-honored saying in Fantasy Online:
That was why, even in party play like this, Rogues usually stayed behind the holy knight or warrior.
They waited for an opening, then dove in and burst down a target.
That was the normal way to play a Rogue.
But—
“Chwik, human! Die, chwik!”
Evasion succeeded.
Evasion succeeded.
Evasion succeeded.
Evasion succeeded.
Attacks came crashing in like a wave.
There had to be twenty or thirty Orcs on that hill at the very least.
And all of them were swinging at Tae-hyun.
“???”
As the party members below stared in shock, Tae-hyun activated a skill.
Lucky Strike!
Heads.
Attack power doubled for 15 seconds.
Skill cooldown removed.
Lucky Strike!
Heads.
Attack power increased to 4x for 15 seconds.
Skill cooldown removed.
Lucky Strike!
Tails.
Urging!
The failed luck roll is rerolled with Urging.
Heads.
Attack power increased to 8x for 15 seconds.
Lucky Strike skill level increased.
It was practically the complete combo package of luck-related skills.
And linked together like that, the effect was terrifying.
Once he finished stacking the buffs, Tae-hyun charged.
No matter how many Orcs there were, to Tae-hyun—once the strongest player in Fantasy Online 1—they were slow as crawling slugs.
Critical hit triggered.
Critical hit triggered.
Critical hit triggered.
Every time he swung his blade, an Orc burst apart on the spot.
It was slaughter. Plain and simple.
“Wh-what the hell? Isn’t he around our level?”
Ha-jun and the others, who had been waiting below in tense silence, were dumbfounded.
Judging from his gear and appearance, they’d assumed he was low-level—definitely below 50.
But seeing him butcher Orcs like this, he looked more like level 70 or 80.
And he wasn’t even using skills—just basic attacks.
Man. It’d be nice if I had an AoE attack.
Thinking that, Tae-hyun slipped past another Orc strike.
He was confident he could take a hit if he had to, but relying entirely on Luck wasn’t smart.
Luck had a way of stabbing you in the back when you least expected it.
If, through some astronomically unlucky fluke, he actually got hit, his life would be in immediate danger.
The remaining Orcs are terrified.
The Orcs flee.
Stat activated: Terror.
It was one of those extra stats that showed up.
Stats were always good to have, no matter what kind they were.
And Terror, in particular, would be useful later against boss monsters.
Some bosses had fear-based attacks that froze you in place.
If your Terror stat was high, you could endure that.
“Wait a second! Weren’t you around our level?”
Once the fight was over, Choi Ha-yeong ran over and demanded an answer.
Instead of replying directly, Tae-hyun looked at Ji-su and asked,
“Did I ever tell them my level?”
“Nope.”
“There you have it.”
Technically, he wasn’t wrong.
Tae-hyun had never once said what level he was.
“No, but… then why did you ask us for help?”
“I’m confident I won’t get hit. But she’s a bit squishy.”
Tae-hyun pointed at Ji-su.
Ji-su immediately lowered her head.
In other words: dead weight.
Ah. So that’s it…
Choi Ha-yeong revised her understanding.
Tae-hyun and Ji-su probably weren’t around the same level at all.
Tae-hyun was a higher-level Rogue, but a Rogue had a hard time dragging around and leveling a weaker player.
A holy knight could take hits for someone, and a priest could heal them.
A Rogue could do neither.
So that’s why he asked for help. And that blacksmith skill must just be because he has a high skill level.
She reached that conclusion all on her own.
It was the only explanation that made sense.
“Hmm. In that case, I think you should join the party. If you keep hunting everything by yourself, we won’t get any experience.”