One-Man Siege (1)

Anyone who's ever played an online RPG has fantasized about it at least once. What class should you pick to build the strongest, best character? How should you allocate your stats? Which skill tree should you follow? What items should you gear up with? All those wild ideas.

I'd done it plenty myself. In fact, few players had brainstormed as obsessively as I had.

A holy knight on a shield tree. Slap on a legendary shield with absorption options, and it'd be insane.

A full-intelligence mage on the fire magic tree. Toss in occasional ice arrow shots mid-cast, and nothing could stand against you solo.

Coming up with combos no one else would ever dream of was one of the few joys for a shut-in solo player like me.

Take the "DoT damage strength mage" that briefly trended on Taitonic a while back—I'd sketched that out a full year earlier.

Like that, there were characters in my imagination that hadn't appeared in Taitonic yet but definitely existed in my head.

The thief class, fragile with low HP and defense, weak against tanks or multi-target fights. A build for a thief who could never die and go on a one-man rampage!

"What? A Mana Shield thief?"

"Yeah. The abandoned skill 'Mana Shield'. Max it out on a thief."

We'd been chatting in the party window, but before I knew it, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we were at a convenience store table outside my place, cracking open beers. Dawn was breaking, signaling the end of a long night, and the streets were still quiet—no commuters yet.

"Full intelligence for magic defense and spare MP. Max the common skill Shield to 5 stars to unlock the advanced skill Mana Shield. You'd trade pitiful attack power for insane survivability with stealth, but the Holy Sword is such a cheat weapon, it'd cover that easy."

"Right. And with the Holy Sword already equipped, your gear is overkill. Skill level-ups, even titan summons? Way beyond what I sketched out back then!"

"I thought you were talking nonsense, but... it kinda makes sense."

"See? Tempting, right? Once you have the Holy Sword, you'll be enemy number one for every player. No partying for you. Might as well ditch guilds too—no worrying about backstabbers."

"Probably. You've always been a solo player anyway..."

"So if you're stuck solo forever, nothing beats this tree. It hit me out of nowhere—an old idea that fits perfectly. Nail this setup, and the class that wields the Holy Sword best won't be a knight or magic swordsman. It'll be a thief!"

Even top thieves couldn't detect 5-star stealth without a maxed detection skill. And even if they did, the speed gap made catching one hellish. They'd wait for you to break stealth to attack, or luck into an AoE or prediction hit to force it off.

The standard thief hunt: abnormal status before they bolt post-stealth-break, or burst them down fast.

But maxing stealth on a thief already bad for parties? That screamed "PK solo only, no hunting."

Now add 5-star Shield and Mana Shield to the mix?

If I pulled off this "Mana Shield thief," it'd go down as Taitonic's most original trash character ever.

"Even with decent gear, it'd still suck... but assume Rune Paytona plus legendary armor and accessories everywhere. Whoa, this could work. Picturing it, the math checks out. Untouchable—you'd rampage solo forever!"

"Right? Genius, huh? The killer perk: Mana Shield counters thief weaknesses like stuns and knockbacks. Magic debuffs aren't covered, but full int pumps magic resist anyway. No more fearing debuffs, and theoretically, you never die in PvP!"

Mana Shield was mostly a mage skill, so to explain, I pulled up a screenshot from someone who'd maxed it.

"See? Damage reduction jumps from 40% at 1-star to 60% at 5. That's like 2.5x effective HP. Imagine 8-star. Plus physical debuff immunity—even if MP bottoms out, HP's still there. Pop mana pots and 8-star stealth away. Untouchable, right?"

"Yeah. HP boost is nice, but physical immunity is god-tier. Who'd ever think thief + Mana Shield? You've always been a glitch-hunter; I admit it."

Mages who cared about balance often maxed the common Shield to 5 stars—it was efficient defense for self, party, or even thin air. That unlocked Mana Shield, and plenty learned it.

Mages had top DPS but glass-cannon fragility. One combo from melee spelled doom in 1v1 or big PvP. Some picked it to dodge that.

But most stopped at 1-star for occasional PvP use. Few invested heavily—especially not to 5 stars. Across Taitonic, barely double digits had.

Issues: MP drained instead of HP, so you ran dry fast. Worse, healers couldn't touch you since HP didn't budge. Labeled a "trash skill" with no rez value.

"Mana Shield trash? Hell no! No trash skills in Taitonic. Once they see me use it, instant re-evaluation. Proof I'm more than lucky!"

Crunch! Beer ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠can crumpled in my fist—booze or excitement, who knows.

"Jihwan. Fine, it sounds good. But gear? Your plan needs god-tier everything, not just the sword. Enemies wrap in legendaries—what's a sword alone gonna do?"

"Hahaha! Spot on. That kept me up last night. But I cleared it this dawn. Them in legendaries? Perfect! Heh heh heh."

"What? You mean that 'full throttle' PK talk earlier?"

He clocked it quick—my dawn was titan specs and PK.

Yep. PK with the titan to gear up the rest.

"Exactly! Backstabs for loot. Summon in a crowd, bag hundreds easy."

"Dude!! You're insane! You'll die! If your ID leaks, real-world beatdown—I'm serious! You got no clue how Taitonic works? No way! Don't!"

Classic Hyunjung. He gauged the fallout instantly. And... he genuinely cared. A real friend.

"Chill! I thought it through. No random PK—gotta have cause!"

"PK's PK. Titan ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠PK? Spam hate. Can't cherry-pick murderers in 4 minutes—they'll scatter. How many you gonna get?"

"No murderer filter... but I can target Taeseong only."

"What? How just Taeseong? Wait, you don't mean...?"

4 minutes max users to hit my gear goal. Two ways: raid big field bosses like Phoenix, Hydra, Spirit Kings. Or...

Siege warfare.

"Tomorrow's siege Sunday, right? Right before it ends, I'll summon in their midst. Declare war on Taeseong—official siege participant!"

Sooner than planned, but tomorrow it started. Full war with Taeseong!

* * *

After Hyunjung bailed for sleep, I logged back in to prep for tomorrow's siege. Worried booze would block via capsule bio-scan, but I was under limit.

Taitonic sieges: second Sunday monthly, 6 PM. Accessible to all.

But staggered across ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠castles, so fierce strategy and manpower games.

Taeseong held 5; low odds of Darius at Bernstein even if I went there.

First, auction house search. Stock check?

Even quiet Ibashu Castle's exchange buzzed. Stealth let me browse safe.

Searched 'Mana Stone'.

Thousands listed. Stock dropped: mana > refined > shining.

Sweet! Shining mana stones aren't jacked up. No demand yet—obvious.

As expected.

Mana Stone: Hot trade for alchemy/magic crafting. Farmed from mobs or fields only—consumable.

Refined Mana Stone: Player/NPC processed. Labor/time hiked price multifold.

Shining Mana Stone... jackpot. Low drop, premium name, but no current use. High-level crafters barely touched refined; alchemy lagged.

Mana flew off shelves, refined sporadic, shining? Zero buyers—except speculative traders!

Nice. Pricey, but no supply worries till endgame. Underrated—price manipulation potential? Check later.

No users yet, but few cheap listings. Snagged 4.

4-minute summon = ~100k won/min cash value.

Steep... but after riding the titan? Worth every penny!

Lately's spending drained my gold hoard to under 10k.

No sweat. Planned to sell unique necklace from gacha, but fresh bait now.

"Whoa! Weapons are weapons alright! Look at those prices!"