A Chance Encounter with a Ranker
Pelmas quietly shut his mouth and meekly shrank back. The look in Tae-hyun’s eyes was no joke. One more word and it felt like he’d get smacked.
Awooooo—
A wolf’s howl echoed from the distance.
Tae-hyun scanned the area.
He had no idea how strong the Black-Striped Wolves were, but he still didn’t want to get ambushed. Letting your guard down just because the enemy looked weak was idiot behavior.
Isn’t there some way to attack first?
Tae-hyun rummaged through the wagon.
He needed a decent ranged weapon.
“Pelmas. What’s this?”
“……”
“Pelmas?”
“……”
“If you’re keeping your mouth shut because I told you to be quiet, I’m hitting you with a sword instead of a hammer.”
“Haha. You called for me?”
Tae-hyun seriously considered running away.
He had a feel for these things.
If a wealthy, high-status, kind NPC gave you a quest, there was a good chance it would be a warm, comfortable one.
But if some nasty-tempered NPC with nothing to his name gave you a quest, then regardless of the reward, odds were high it would be a miserable one.
And Pelmas was, no matter how you looked at him…
The worst of the worst.
This really is a Legendary Class, right? It definitely is, right?
Pelmas’s entire existence made Tae-hyun ask himself that question.
Tae-hyun shook his head.
Forcing him into a class change and then sending an NPC like this… it felt like karma.
What did I even do to deserve this… Hmm. Okay, I did do a lot.
Just combining all the resentment from the players Tae-hyun had cursed back in Fantasy Online 1 would probably have been enough to create a demon.
“So what is this?”
“Ah, this? It’s a bow. There’s a string here too, so you can just tie it on.”
“What a proud explanation. Do you know how to use a bow?”
“No.”
“...Right.”
With another sigh, Tae-hyun started examining the bow.
It didn’t even have a string attached, so he’d have to start from scratch.
He didn’t have an Archery skill, but he could still shoot it.
And if he combined that with his Luck stat and skills, it should work out reasonably well…
“Wait. Why is this thing so huge?”
“Well, it’s not a human bow. It’s an Orc bow…”
“Even for an Orc bow, this feels way too big.”
Tae-hyun checked the item.
Durability 85/85, Attack Power 60
Deals damage to the user if used for too long.
Strength Requirement 50, Agility Requirement 50.
A beginner Orc blacksmith made this bow after misjudging the size. Because of its size and materials, its destructive power is excellent, but if someone whose build doesn’t fit it uses it for too long, they may be injured.
“...Hm. Right.”
At this point, Tae-hyun didn’t think anything could surprise him anymore.
“First, I’ll cut this part down a little…”
Tae-hyun’s tearful struggle to somehow trim it down and make it fit.
As if rewarding him, a message appeared.
Mechanical Engineering has increased.
Thanks to your Intermediate Blacksmithing skill, the bow does not break easily.
Thanks to your Intermediate Repair skill, the bow does not break easily.
“Divine Foresight.”
Tae-hyun even used Foresight as he cut and repaired the bow.
Durability 75/75, Attack Power 65
Critical Hit Chance 5%.
Certain chance to strike a vital point.
Strength Requirement 35, Agility Requirement 35.
A talented and promising blacksmith adjusted a badly made bow to fit a human user.
Twing—
After stringing it, Tae-hyun plucked the bowstring. It gave off a fairly convincing sound.
My Blacksmithing is Intermediate, around level 6. I won’t get completely outclassed by other blacksmiths.
Among players who had chosen blacksmith-type classes and raised them as dedicated specialists, there were probably some who had already reached Advanced Blacksmithing.
But Tae-hyun had been leveling a wide variety of skills.
Getting Intermediate Blacksmithing up to level 6 was an impressive feat.
Besides, not every blacksmith was a ranker. There were far more low-level blacksmiths than top players.
If I use my Luck and the Avatar of Archisus class skills, I think I could somehow compete with other blacksmiths…
His absurdly high Luck and his Legendary Class.
Those were Tae-hyun’s advantages.
Advantages no other blacksmith could ever match.
Tae-hyun stared into the dark forest.
He couldn’t see anything with his eyes, but thanks to Divine Foresight, he could see things glowing red.
As the red lights drew closer, Tae-hyun immediately nocked an arrow and fired.
Archery has increased.
A critical hit has triggered!
You struck an unseen enemy! Archery has increased additionally.
“Pelmas. Get up!”
“Yes? What is it?”
“What do you think it is? Wolves!”
He still couldn’t see them, but it didn’t look like he’d be able to deal with all of them before they arrived.
If he could do that, Tae-hyun would’ve changed into an archer by now.
Awooooo—
“Aaaah! Tae-hyun! Save me!”
“...I really want to throw you to the wolves.”
An NPC who supposedly served a god was cowering behind Tae-hyun, trembling.
Tae-hyun drew the bow again.
He couldn’t rely on Pelmas, so he had to fight properly himself.
How did she make this look so easy?
Tae-hyun knew his own abilities well.
In one-on-one combat, in close quarters, he had never met anyone whose instincts surpassed his.
He could always read what the other person was about to do and react a step ahead.
But firing a bow and hitting vital points like this was difficult even for him.
This is why I used to play Hanju. Because it had real difficulty to it.
Thinking back on the past, Tae-hyun picked up another arrow.
“Huh?”
“Wh-what is it?”
“Didn’t you say wolves showed up here?”
“I did?”
“Then what the hell is that?”
Tae-hyun pointed at the monster appearing in the distance.
By the light of the campfire beside the wagon, its shape was faintly visible.
It wasn’t a wolf.
It was a knight on horseback.
“No, wait. Looking closer, that’s not even a horse or a knight.”
The horse wasn’t alive—it was a gaunt skeleton.
And where its eyes should have been, blue flames burned.
A ghost horse.
The thing riding it was much the same.
It was a knight, yes, clad in worn and weathered armor and carrying a lance.
But it didn’t look weak in the slightest.
The gear was old and battered, but it radiated a sinister aura.
Oh, damn it.
Tae-hyun understood immediately.
An undead knight riding a ghost horse.
One look was enough to tell him this was a high-level monster.
He had no idea why something like this had appeared here, but…
Undead monsters usually weren’t friendly.
Tae-hyun’s mind started racing, calculating how to fight it.
Can I win at my current level?
“Stop. What are you doing? I told you to kill the wolves, so why are you over there?”
“……?”
A voice called out from the distance.
The one who appeared was a woman.
A woman in a pitch-black robe, holding a long staff in one hand.
Tae-hyun instinctively realized that the equipment she wore was incredibly high-grade gear.
The instinct of a blacksmith who had handled countless rare items back in Fantasy Online 1.
A high-level mage? If she commands undead, then some kind of Necromancer? If she’s this geared, then she’s probably a ranker… and among ranker Necromancers, who was—oh hell!
As the woman came closer, Tae-hyun realized who she was.
There was no way he could forget.
He tended to forget faces often, but…
It’s Lee Se-yeon!!
The Necromancer who had sat at the top of Fantasy Online 1—and in the end, had even beaten Tae-hyun.
And in 2, she had already changed into a Legendary Class.
She was one of the players furthest ahead among the rankers.
Lee Se-yeon gave a small apologetic wave and asked, “That Death Knight didn’t attack you, did it?”
“Ah. No.”
His voice changed naturally, almost on instinct.
Only afterward did Tae-hyun realize why he had instinctively altered it.
Wait a second. What does Lee Se-yeon think of me?
For starters, every other ranker from Fantasy Online 1 hated him.
Which made sense.
He had challenged them all to one-on-one PVPs as a blacksmith and beaten every last one of them.
Thanks to that, the rankers had been ridiculed and mocked to no end.
That was why Tae-hyun was hiding his identity from Fantasy Online 1 while playing now.
If he revealed who he was, sure, he’d become famous in an instant, but at the same time…
Players with grudges against him, players hoping to get famous by beating him… they’d come swarming in droves.
For now, he needed to live quietly.
Good thing I covered my face in 1…
Since Lee Se-yeon had beaten him, maybe she didn’t hold a grudge?
That was what Tae-hyun thought.
“That’s a relief. I saw some wolves around here, so I sent it to clean them up, but it wandered off somewhere weird… You’re a blacksmith, aren’t you?”
Lee Se-yeon pointed at Tae-hyun’s hammer as she asked.
“Ah. Yes.”
“Are you nervous, maybe? I’m a Necromancer, sure, but I don’t attack people who haven’t done anything, so you don’t need to be tense.”
Even among rankers, Lee Se-yeon was known as one of the nicer ones.
She was straightforward, not the type to hold grudges, and even to strangers or low-level players, she tended to be kind.
No wonder she was popular.
Compared to her, Tae-hyun was…
“I’m not nervous at all. Haha!”
“You really look nervous, though… Do you know who I am, maybe? You might’ve seen one of my streams?”
“I’m not really sure who you are.”
“Really? I stream too, you know. If you watch, you’ll see I’m not a bad person.”
“Are you streaming right now?”
“Ah, no. I only stream when I need to. Not right now.”
Streaming all the time only brought trouble.
There were plenty of people eager to take down rankers as prominent as Lee Se-yeon.
“You’re a blacksmith, but you’re traveling alone?”
“Ah. Yes.”
“Is ‘Ah. Yes’ just your verbal tic or something? You keep saying only ‘ah, yes’… Are you uncomfortable?”
“Haha. Not at all. I’m completely comfortable.”
Of course, what Tae-hyun really wanted was for Lee Se-yeon to just leave already, but he kept his expression steady and lied smoothly.
Inside his head, though, there was only one thought spinning around.
Does Lee Se-yeon hold a grudge against me, or not?
“It doesn’t look like your level is super low, so… you’re not in a guild? Even though you’re a blacksmith?”
“I prefer playing alone.”
“Solo? As a blacksmith? That’s impressive. Come to think of it, there was a player like that in Fantasy Online 1 too.”
“……!”
Tae-hyun flinched.
She’s not saying that on purpose, is she?
“That player kind of started a trend, I think, and it carried over into 2. But honestly, I think blacksmith is a class that’s much easier if you join a guild. Ah, I’m not saying you have to. Playing solo is good too. I respect it.”
Tae-hyun felt a faint stir of emotion.
Because of Lee Se-yeon’s attitude.
There weren’t many rankers who would be this kind to some random low-level stranger.
Watching her, Tae-hyun found himself reflecting a little.
Am I living as kindly as that?
That aside, Tae-hyun decided to test the waters a little.
“What do you mean, a player like that in 1?”
“Ah. A player named Kim Tae-hyun. You don’t know him? Well, I guess that makes sense. He was from 1, not 2… There was this player who solo-played as a blacksmith and was really good at PVP.”
“Sounds impressive.”
“He was.”
With a nostalgic look on her face, Lee Se-yeon added, “Though I beat him.”
“Ah. Right.”
“Though I beat him.”
“I heard you the first time.”
“It’s important. Whenever I tell this story, I say it twice.”
“……”
Tae-hyun felt something start to boil inside him.
Yeah, yeah. Good for you!
“It was an incredibly hard-fought win, you know. Honestly, it was almost a match I should’ve lost… Ah, I got sidetracked. Anyway, there was a player like that.”
“Interesting. But in the end, you were the one who won, so I guess you’re not that interested in this Kim Tae-hyun player?”
“No, I’m very interested.”
“……”