Chapter 41
Chapter 41
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Vampiric Aura (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘What, sometimes it takes a while for things to shine.'
There were cases where someone soared from the start, but there were also cases where they didn't.
Plus, due to the nature of the Saintess of Holy Fire's main skill, it was hard for it to shine early on.
'I thought it'd be fortunate just to get a heal skill.'
A major guild on the scale of Zhonghua Guild naturally had healers.
And they wouldn't head out on a large-scale expedition without healers.
Kang Hyun-soo had planned to copy a heal skill from one of Zhonghua Guild's healers if he had spare stacks in his Replica skill.
But then, out of nowhere, he hooked a big one.
Not just any ordinary healer, but the Saintess of Holy Fire, who would later become one of the continent's top ten healers.
'I'll just get her main heal skill.'
There was no need to get greedy for other skills.
The number of Replica skills was limited, after all.
Kang Hyun-soo cast Replica targeting the Saintess of Holy Fire.
[Using unique skill Replica – B-Rank.]
[One stack is consumed.]
[Creating a replica of Immortal Holy Fire – C-Rank.]
[Replica skill Immortal Holy Fire – F-Rank has been created.]
[Replica skills retain 100% of the original's capabilities.]
'Success.'
He'd been really lucky today.
He'd acquired a heal skill in one go.
The exact one he'd wanted: the Saintess of Holy Fire's main heal skill, Immortal Holy Fire.
[Immortal Holy Fire – F-Rank]
- Active skill
- Replica skill.
- Continuously recovers the target's health.
- Continuously heals the target's injuries.
- Immortal Holy Fire persists until canceled by the caster.
- While Immortal Holy Fire is active, the caster's mana is continuously consumed.
- Cooldown: 3 hours
Immortal Holy Fire wasn't a one-shot heal but a persistent DoT heal.
And it was the kind that continuously drained mana throughout its duration.
'That's why it's hard for it to shine early on.'
Even though it was an active skill, the cooldown was too long, which was a major drawback.
But what if the skill rank increased?
The DoT heal amount would skyrocket.
To the point where you'd suspect it could rival spamming heals of the same rank.
The cooldown would keep shortening until it finally allowed continuous casting down to one-second intervals.
'And crucially, it can't be canceled.'
Immortal Holy Fire couldn't be removed by any debuff skill until the caster canceled it.
'It pairs perfectly with Heart of Mana.'
The biggest drawback of Immortal Holy Fire was the continuous mana drain while it was active.
'That's why the Saintess of Holy Fire couldn't become the undisputed number one and stayed at top ten healer on the continent.'
But Kang Hyun-soo had a way to overcome the Saintess of Holy Fire's one weakness.
'Thanks.'
He'd gotten the main skill of the future Sword Sovereign, who would become Zhonghua Guild's guild master, and the main skill of the future Saintess of Holy Fire, who would become its vice guild master.
From Kang Hyun-soo's perspective,
Zhonghua Guild couldn't help but look appealing.
'Now, time to buy that herb field.'
He'd gotten the skill he wanted.
Now it was time to set up his future money farm.
Kang Hyun-soo used the winnings from betting on the Fist Emperor's victory to purchase a Guopi herb field.
'Luckily, the Guopi fields are cheaper than I thought.'
Kang Hyun-soo was able to buy far more Guopi fields than expected.
In fact, Guopi herbs grew well in any soil.
So for Kang Hyun-soo, it was just a matter of buying the cheapest land available and hiring herbalists to grow Guopi.
Since the herb required almost no manual labor, the cost of hiring herbalists was lower than anticipated.
'Nice.'
Thinking of all those fields turning into money made him grin.
'Still a year left.'
He needed to diligently harvest Guopi and stockpile it in warehouses for a year.
It would be useless for the time being.
But in a year, those seemingly worthless herbs would turn into stacks of cash.
And this wasn't just for Kang Hyun-soo's personal gain.
'The damage from the Poison Insect Legion will drop a lot.'
Before his regression, when the Poison Insect Legion first appeared,
The casualties among mid-to-low level players were truly horrific.
The reason was a shortage of antidotes.
Without antidotes, there was no cure.
Of course, the Poison Insect Legion's poison could be neutralized by a healer's detox skill.
'The problem is there are too few healers.'
Even regular armies of nations with multiple healers or massive guilds suffered heavy losses.
Even if healers skipped sleep and meals to spam detox skills, there were too many poisoned victims to handle.
If even national armies and giant guilds were like that,
'The mid-to-low level players in mid-sized guilds or parties took massive hits.'
The sudden appearance of the Poison Insect Legion drastically reduced the numbers of mid-to-low level players.
They tried to buy even million-won antidotes to survive.
But there was no stock.
Nations and giant guilds were sucking up the antidotes like black holes.
In a situation where they had money but couldn't buy antidotes,
Countless mid-to-low level players
'Had no choice but to die helplessly.'
There was another problem.
The mid-to-low level players in national armies and giant guilds who barely survived thanks to detox skills and antidotes had their growth halted.
It was only natural.
If they went hunting again without antidotes and got poisoned by the Poison Insect Legion?
They might really lose their lives this time.
The Poison Insect Legion drastically reduced the numbers of mid-to-low level players, who made up the largest population in the Atlantis Dimension.
Not only that, it severed the growth momentum of the survivors.
'I'll stop it this time.'
Before his regression, Kang Hyun-soo had also wandered on the brink of death from the Poison Insect Legion's poison.
Thanks to belonging to the giant guild Balhae, he barely got an antidote and survived.
'Before regression, it took too long.'
It took a full half year for cheap, mass-producible Guopi to be stably supplied across Atlantis.
In fact, with its strong reproductive power and ability to grow without special care, Guopi could cover the entire Atlantis Dimension in just half a year.
'A year left.'
Even before regression, Guopi with its continental coverage in half a year.
If he prepared a year in advance?
It was entirely possible to reduce the damage from the Poison Insect Legion to zero.
* * *
After a day of rest,
Kang Hyun-soo's party resumed their hamster-wheel routine.
Song Ha-na and the Fist Emperor followed Kang Hyun-soo's forced march without complaint.
They grumbled jokingly now and then.
But Song Ha-na and the Fist Emperor knew better than anyone how much luck they'd grasped.
Traveling with Kang Hyun-soo was exhausting,
But they could grow far faster than other players.
The Atlantis Dimension was ruled by survival of the fittest and domination by the strong.
There were national frameworks,
But security was so poor that even a capital could turn lawless at night.
Especially for players.
The moment they left the city to hunt,
It was like stepping into a world of pure survival of the fittest.
Here, all you could rely on was
Your own strength and your comrades.
And right now,
Kang Hyun-soo's party was experiencing firsthand that this was a world of ruthless survival of the fittest.
"Who gave you permission to hunt here?"
Ten players wearing armor stamped with the Zhonghua Guild mark surrounded Kang Hyun-soo's party and demanded.
"Permission? Why would we need that?"
Kang Hyun-soo tilted his head in confusion.
"What? Foreigners?"
"Which country's language is that?"
"I know. It's Korean, Korean."
"Why are Koreans here?"
At Kang Hyun-soo's words, the Zhonghua Guild players buzzed like a swarm of bees.
Players gained one unregistered passive skill upon entering the Atlantis Dimension.
Automatic translation.
They could speak and write foreign languages and scripts as if they were their own without learning.
The Atlantis Dimension's natives, whether players or civilians, also had automatic translation as a passive.
A system consideration to prevent communication issues wasting time between Earth support forces and locals, like on Earth?
But understanding the meaning in your native language didn't change the words spoken.
"Is my nationality really that important right now?"
Kang Hyun-soo asked with a look of disbelief.
"Of course it is! Luzabenu here is territory controlled by our Zhonghua Guild! The Mightear Kingdom is land permitted only to us Chinese! You've invaded our land! Got it?"
The apparent leader of the Zhonghua Guild party barked at Kang Hyun-soo.
'Crazy bastards.'
Even before regression, Zhonghua Guild caused big and small incidents.
All because of their Chinese supremacy mindset.
'These guys haven't changed even after crossing dimensions?'
They didn't think of banding together with fellow Earthlings but only among themselves as Chinese.
Crucially, the Mightear Kingdom was the Mightear Kingdom's land.
Luzabenu was also territory ruled by a Mightear Kingdom noble.
Kang Hyun-soo's party had entered the Mightear Kingdom through proper immigration procedures.
They had no reason to take that nonsense from someone who wasn't even a Mightear official.
"If you'd been Chinese, I would've warned you lightly, taken a usage fee, and let you go. But since you're Korean, no can do."
Srring.
The Zhonghua Guild party leader drew his weapon.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
As the leader drew his weapon, the party members followed suit.
"What do you plan to do?"
Kang Hyun-soo asked in a voice laced with chilling cold.
"First, empty your pockets. And then."
The Zhonghua Guild party leader's eyes turned to Song Ha-na.
"We'll see what to do with that bitch."
The Zhonghua Guild party leader licked his lips, his lecherous gaze roaming up and down Song Ha-na's body.
"Oh, really?"
A frosty killing intent bloomed in Kang Hyun-soo's eyes.
"Planning to resist? Well, that's not bad either. Been a while since I tasted human blood."
Ttak!
Before the Zhonghua Guild party leader finished speaking, he charged at Kang Hyun-soo.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
The massive sword in the Zhonghua Guild party leader's hand spewed streaks of blue aura as it surged toward Kang Hyun-soo.
Zuak!
With the sound of bone and flesh tearing,
Tuk!
The Zhonghua Guild party leader's right arm, still gripping the massive sword, was severed.
"Aaack!"
The Zhonghua Guild party leader let out a scream of agony.
But it didn't last long.
Seogeok!
Kang Hyun-soo's blood-red aura-clad sword sliced clean through the Zhonghua Guild party leader's neck.
"Th-these guys are insane?"
"We're Zhonghua Guild members!"
"You think you'll get away with this?"
Stunned by the unexpected turn, the Zhonghua Guild players shouted in unison.
But Kang Hyun-soo wasn't fazed in the slightest.
A comrade had died.
Normally, they should charge in immediately to attack Kang Hyun-soo's party.
But instead of attacking, the Zhonghua Guild players raised their voices, emphasizing their guild affiliation.
Kang Hyun-soo knew exactly why.
'A scared dog barks the loudest.'
Kang Hyun-soo wasn't one to back off from the yapping of frightened dogs.
Ttak!
Kang Hyun-soo charged at the Zhonghua Guild players, swinging his blood-red aura-clad sword.