Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Monster's Blood (1)
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1 silver per level. Being here meant they were at least level 100 or above, so at least 1 gold had to be paid.
The average level of those present was just over 120, which meant 1 gold and 20 silver each. Even factoring in the fallen gold exchange rate, that came out to roughly 150,000 won in cash.
Of course, the expensive items they had equipped were worth far more than double that amount, but they were simply being told to pay up as the price for being spared.
If it had been anyone else saying it, they would have called it bullshit and attacked with their blades first. But the opponent was Rokan. Even in his berserk aftereffect state, if he displayed even half the prowess shown in the video, they had to wonder if they could win—which was why, despite finding it absurd, they couldn't act rashly.
Gulp.
The only sound was the gulping of saliva from the tension.
That eerie silence was broken once again by a single person.
"Big brothers, you're not scared, are you? He still has berserk aftereffects! It's all bluff. If you keep acting like this, I'm not coming to the next meetup!"
"Who's scared! I was just about to fight!"
"If I hadn't hesitated at the start, a guy like that would be..."
"Watch closely. I'll take care of him!"
Pushed along by that shrill shout, the guys sprang into action.
However, it seemed their fear hadn't fully vanished, as their movements were ridiculously exaggerated.
'Kids, I get it.'
Watching them struggle to shake off their fear brought a pang of sympathy, along with memories of his own past behavior.
He had acted the same way himself until he got beaten down a few times.
Becoming a pushover for a pretty girl was a man's instinct, after all.
"But if you've made your choice, you have to take responsibility."
Of course, that didn't mean he planned to go easy on them.
There were still 10 minutes left until the aftereffects wore off, but Rokan charged at them without hesitation.
"Berserk."
He activated Berserk without holding back.
[You have reused Berserk in the 2nd aftereffect state.]
[All stats increase 2-fold based on the aftereffect state.]
[After the Berserk duration ends, the aftereffect time will double.]
Since the stat amplification was based on the aftereffect state, it wasn't his usual power. But even that was more than enough to crush them.
"No need to drag it out to 15 minutes."
Why waste time on their good-looking faces? Rokan let out a mad shout as he swept through them.
* * *
"Whew, that was close. Why'd Jallos have to pop out there?"
Just 5 minutes after activating Berserk, Rokan had slaughtered all the surrounding foes and tossed the ringleader Lien into a high-level hunting ground. He returned to the village still in Berserk state.
Since it was ruled as self-defense, his murderer count hadn't risen at all. In fact, he'd come back loaded with all the items they'd dropped.
But the punishment didn't end there.
Even without Rokan lifting a finger, their reputations would have already hit rock bottom—to the point where it was a wonder they hadn't been hauled off immediately.
'Serves you right for not checking properly before messing with the guard squad.'
It was only natural. They'd targeted Rokan, a member of the Crossroad Guard Squad, right in Crossroad territory.
Whether they knew or not, it was treated like assaulting a public official.
That was why guard squad titles held such value. At the very least, in friendly territory, the odds of getting PK'd dropped to near zero.
In his previous life, there had even been plenty who rampaged relying on that guard squad title. Rokan just found it a waste of time.
"Thanks to that, it's gonna take a while, tch!"
In any case, with the aftereffect time doubled, it took a full hour to return to normal.
It wasn't just the duration—the stat penalty was doubled too, dropping him to the point where he couldn't hunt, or even beat a level 100 newbie who'd just arrived in Crossroad.
He had no choice but to kill time restocking at shops and knocking out minor city errand quests.
While he was at it, he casually checked the homepage and his YouTube channel. Sure enough, all hell had broken loose.
"Jackpot."
The homepage was plastered with praise posts, needless to say.
Those who'd been massacred when Rokan raided the Cradle of the Dead had uploaded proof screenshots like trophies. And videos had gone up of his fierce clash with the guards a bit off the battlefield, letting people relive it vividly without even tuning into his live channel.
And his YouTube channel.
Using the homepage feature that The Lord had updated for streamers, he saw that the streamed 'Occupation' footage had auto-uploaded as a replay and was already past 5 million views.
And that was mere dozens of minutes after going live.
At this rate, 10 million was a breeze, and with time, it could easily hit 30 or 40 million.
It still wouldn't touch his 3rd city intro video, which had blown past 100 million to 120 million views, but still.
"It's unreal."
Even without that one, seeing videos racking up tens of millions of views didn't feel real.
Sure, back in the day, any video he uploaded pulled in millions by default. But since they were all brutal and violent, he rarely hit tens of millions like other SSS-rank rankers despite his fame.
Yet now, at a level under 200, million-view videos from others were scarce.
With everything set to ad-only viewing, his settled revenue was already nearing hundreds of millions of won. Streaming donations were closing in on 20 million won too.
Add in the cash from selling gold, and he was well past money worries.
Gold was still pouring in nonstop through his shop this very moment, plus monthly rent from his 2nd city buildings.
Crossroad only lagged behind Ash Town because it 'lacked money'—so yeah, you could imagine Rokan's income.
"What's this?"
As he grinned at the view counts, some recommended videos popped up on the side.
"Gray Town Raid: Beginner Berserker Tips"
Videos recommended as related to his own.
Looked like he'd led other players astray. These were clips of users imitating him and epically failing.
Not just failing—total wipeouts. Utter disasters.
The ones who'd raided enemy villages at least ended it with one death. But those who'd deleted their characters and restarted as berserkers couldn't even hit level 50, let alone 100, flailing around pathetically.
"Doing pointless crap."
There were more such players than expected, sharing their know-how and exploits. But it was all for nothing.
Berserk made it easy to misunderstand, but berserker was a job that demanded peak control.
That's why most players mixed in other classes instead of going pure berserker at their 2nd job change.
They were all spitting out bullshit analyses on what job tree Rokan must've taken.
But Rokan knew. All their so-called analyses were just excuses.
They simply lacked the guts to push berserker all the way.
"It was the same back then."
Human berserkers had apparently surged in number, but he didn't put much stock in it.
Anyone willing to delete their character and blindly follow someone else wasn't destined for greatness anyway.
"Not all bad."
But it wasn't all trivial noise and changes. Users from other 3rd cities, fired up by Rokan's exploits, had started accelerating en masse.
Some were making names for themselves through wars, while others blew off wars entirely and focused solely on getting stronger.
They were sprinting full tilt to catch up to Rokan, who looked 10 or 20 levels ahead.
Reading those updates on each city's boards fired Rokan up even more.
[The Berserk aftereffects have completely disappeared.]
Perfect timing with the aftereffects gone. Rokan moved at once to finish his race quest.
"Oh, you've come! Already done it—impressive as expected! My judgment was spot on!"
He hadn't completed it early while in aftereffects for a simple reason: he couldn't afford to look weak to Harban.
You could tell from how the guy had him running personal errands at first, only now acting chummy. Show weakness to a guy like that, and who knew how he'd flip.
That's why he'd met him in peak condition.
"This advances our research on flesh and bone nicely. Now for the final request. It might be tough... but something tells me you can pull it off. No time limit—come back whenever you've solved it."
[About Blood and Mana] [Quest]
The Kensington Council has commissioned you for their research on death and regeneration. Following the flesh-reviving herb and bone research materials, bring back leads on blood and mana.
-Completion Condition: Monster's Blood 0/44
-Completion Reward: Kensington Council's Letter of Appreciation, 10 gold, massive EXP
The final race quest available in a 3rd city was to collect monster blood.
It seemed simple at first glance, but there was a hidden catch not listed.
'Really suffered over this one.'
It wasn't just any monster blood—it had to be from 'level 150+ monsters.' And from different species each!
In the past, not knowing that had led to pointless level grinding. But now, no need to wander blindly.
Still, knowing didn't make it easy.
To complete the quest, he'd have to roam not just the Golden Lion faction territory, but the Black Dragon Legion's as well.
A single faction only had about 20 species of level 150+ monsters.
So the remaining four races were...
"Damn, this is the real problem."
Orc, troll, goblin, undead.
The player-chosen races.
It might seem simple enough, but in the current situation, it was arguably the highest difficulty.
Because no level 150 users existed yet.
Other cities might have some, but in slow starters like Crossroad and Ash Town? Zero.
If any did, they'd be holing up in some dungeon, secretly grinding levels. The fact that none had shown their faces yet said it all.
"Have to just wait around like this? Damn, maybe raid another village..."
Plus, he had to collect by race.
Better to prowl villages, raid, and kill guards to fill the quota than wait for level 150s per race—but that was impossible too.
There were undead, troll, and orc guards, but no goblin guards in nearby villages.
NPCs had abysmal drop rates for monster blood compared to players, anyway.
Knowing that, Rokan just grumbled without acting on it. For now, he'd tackle what he could.
With a deep sigh, he left Crossroad and started hunting the nearest monsters.