Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Manner Play (2)
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‘Looks like I should stick to the textbook approach in times like these.’
Rokan glanced over the group with a sly smile. Then he turned his gaze back to his prey.
“Throwing!”
With his Leap Attack sealed off, Rokan’s next move was Throwing. The enemy’s arrows were fast, but the handaxe hurled by Rokan’s overwhelming strength was no slouch either.
Thwack!
The handaxe embedded precisely in the enemy’s head, carving away a huge chunk of its health. But there were things following right on its heels.
Whizz! Whizz! Whizz!
“Whoops, sorry about that. I thought I got there first.”
As expected. The owners of the arrows that swooped in on the same target and stole his experience points smirked as they spouted nonsense. And it kept happening—the next one, and the one after that.
Whenever Rokan targeted something, arrows and spells flew in like lightning to snatch the experience points, as if they were determined to keep him from hunting altogether.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Loot didn’t matter to him. Rokan had more than enough money. But losing experience points like this? He had no idea how long it would take to level up now.
Furious, he hardened his expression and approached them.
Since they hadn’t directly attacked him, he couldn’t claim self-defense. If he laid a hand on them, Rokan would be the one branded a PKer.
And that would give them the perfect opening.
“What are you talking about? Didn’t we already apologize for what happened earlier?”
Knowing this full well, they kept smirking at him with sleazy grins.
“You’re only sniping the prey I’m targeting. There’s plenty of game around here.”
He wanted to just punch them, but he tried talking first. He knew it wouldn’t work, but everything had its order.
But they were consistent. Convinced that as long as they didn’t strike first, Rokan couldn’t touch them, they kept giggling and spewing nonsense.
“Coincidence, right? Co-in-cidence.”
“Coincidence, you say?”
“Of course. Why would we go out of our way to do that?”
Even as Rokan laughed in disbelief, they stuck to their guns. He nodded as if he got it.
“Fine, then. Hunt your hearts out. I don’t want bad blood over something trivial, so I’ll head to another hunting ground.”
He growled his intention to move spots. They’d probably follow, but that was exactly what he wanted.
“Oh, what a coincidence. We were just thinking of switching hunting grounds too.”
“Yeah? Well, I’ll stick around here then.”
“Hmm, now that I think about it, maybe we should hunt here a bit longer.”
It was obvious now. They were here just to mess with him. Confirming that, Rokan flashed a grin.
His opponents bared their teeth in a mocking smile, as if daring him to do something about it.
But that bravado only worked because they didn’t know Rokan. If they knew what happened to everyone who’d acted like this in his past life, they’d never dare.
“Last warning. If you keep following me or stealing my mobs, I’ll take it as a declaration of hostility, no questions asked. Not just you—your pathetic little guild too. So if you don’t have the authority for that, quit screwing around.”
Rokan was firm. His tone and aura had shifted.
He exuded the dignity only someone a cut above could muster, scanning each of them.
“A-Are you picking a fight?!”
Faced with an absolute being’s presence, they flinched but barely squeezed out words. Without a scripted response, they might’ve just run off speechless.
“You’re the ones picking the fight. Point is, I warned you, and you’ll bear the consequences.”
No more talk needed. Rokan turned and headed to another hunting ground. A spot a notch higher than the Forest Lizardmen habitat.
But he had a plan hidden there too.
If he really wanted to shake them, he could’ve gone to a level 90 bandit den crawling with monsters. Few users could hunt there yet, and it was teeming with prey. Rokan could manage, but these clowns? No chance.
Instead, he chose an early level 80 zone they could just barely handle. It looked like a stretch for his level, but in reality, it’d be a boring, one-sided slaughter.
It was like he was luring them to follow.
And they bit.
“Rapid Shot!”
The same thing happened in the new spot. As Rokan leisurely leaped toward his first target, an arrow cut in front of him.
Naturally, it belonged to one of the MP guild members tailing him.
“Oh dear, running into you here again by coincidence… Gah!”
Thwack!
In that instant, a handaxe sprouted from his head. As if he’d seen it coming, Rokan spun and sprang into action.
“Talk’s over.”
No more words.
What more discussion was needed? Rokan executed a Leap Attack, dropping into the midst of the panicking group.
“P-PK?! You’re gonna…!”
“Stop! If you kill us…!”
They hadn’t expected such an immediate response. The MP guild flailed their arms in panic, but Rokan didn’t hesitate.
“Strike!”
He poured more power into his axe, cleaving them in two.
[Critical hit!]
It was the moment his new gear’s power turned on a human, not a monster.
Even if they were higher level than Rokan, it had a 40% crit chance; 30% if equal or lower. They couldn’t keep up.
When the weapon hit, their durability plummeted like it’d shatter. When it grazed armor, it cracked like parched earth. They couldn’t tell if they were fighting a player or a boss monster.
“Y-You! Don’t think you’ll get away with PKing like this!”
But one had his wits about him. Instead of dying quietly, he used an archer’s mobility skill to spit out his prepared line.
Don’t PK without asking.
That seemed to be the frame they wanted to pin on Rokan.
Heh!
Realizing it, Rokan finally smiled with genuine relief.
“Quit yapping and come at me if you’ve got the guts, you punks!”
With a villainous line, he split the last one in half.
[Murderer count has increased.]
[You are a Murderer.]
[If you die as a Murderer, you will lose more experience points.]
[If you die as a Murderer, the drop rate for equipped gear and inventory items increases significantly.]
[To reduce Murderer count, wait a set time or kill evil-aligned beings.]
[Stacking more Murderer count as a Murderer may increase penalties.]
Since it wasn’t self-defense, the system ruled it PK. It marked Rokan as a Murderer, reddening his eyes and applying death penalties.
“What a hassle.”
A real pain. But that was it.
To Rokan, becoming a PKer or Murderer was just that—a minor annoyance. He couldn’t enter cities right now, but early Murderer counts were nothing for him.
Killing high-level monsters dropped it faster, and low-level players barely bumped it up.
Of course, if they kept swarming like moths, it’d get annoying, but he was confident he’d clear it before level 100 no matter what.
“Let’s see how you play this.”
First, he moved hunting grounds again. Away from his usual spots, to the bandit den where level 90 ‘Bandits’ spawned.
No markers set, so he walked, but no monsters nearby could block him, and he knew shortcuts. He crossed zones easily to reach it.
A day or two here would wipe out this Murderer count easily.
But first, something to check.
“Open homepage.”
He’d check Trinsic’s situation and public opinion via the homepage. If he was right, their smear campaign had already started.
“There it is.”
He found it quick. A fresh post climbing views fast—clearly guild members inflating it.
[Condemning the Two-Faced Player Rokan][Author: Piria]
Anyone active in Trinsic has probably heard of Rokan. The player who recently gained fame challenging the PK guild Blood Chaser. Many think he’s some saint protecting the weak. Even our MP guild thought so until recently.
But do you know this? He fought Blood Chaser multiple times, but never actually helped regular players. He just opposed them to steal experience and items from their corpses. He never aided normal or newbie players.
Sure, he’s not obligated to help like our MP guild.
But here’s the thing—we got an anonymous tip that he’s using ‘hack programs’ and pulling bad manner plays.
As proof, here’s a video of him snatching arrows midair, and…
(Details omitted)
When we confronted him about it and requested a talk, he wantonly PKed our guild members. We condemn Rokan as a suspected bad-manner hacker.
Of course, some might be our misunderstanding. Judge the truth for yourselves.
-MP (Manner Play) Guild Master, Piria
“Pfft! Masterpiece.”
Just as expected. Subtle digs were standard, but they slyly edited videos to make him look like a hacker, framed MP as innocently hunting while demanding talk, then butchered. And his eyes turning red as a Murderer? Perfect credibility boost.
The funniest part? Uploading edited vids and saying, ‘You decide the truth.’
“Real pro job. They’ve done this a lot.”
No idea where they learned it, but it was a meticulously laid trap. Whatever Rokan said now, MP’s image of helping newbies would make flipping opinion tough.
They were right. Rokan hadn’t directly helped players, but MP had—assisting hunts, tossing heals and buffs.
But Rokan stayed calm. That image would be the key to his turnaround.
People are harsher on powerless hypocrites than powerful tyrants.