Pursuit of Hidden Powers

A message popped up below his field of view.

It was a chat from the Black Guild master.

Hm, now?

Mu-hyuk pondered for a moment before reaching out. It was a wide open plain with no obstacles anyway, so he could sprint at full speed without much issue.

Hyuk-su's question made Mu-hyuk pause for a moment.

Hmm, what to do.

They were undoubtedly busy searching ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for hidden powers.

We're on decent terms.

And he might need their help with a lot in the future.

Mu-hyuk closed the chat ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠window and focused on running.

Pababat.

How far had he gone?

He began slowing down gradually.

Out of MP.

Forced to rest.

Watching the messages, he started cooking.

His satiety was pretty low too.

He whipped up some soup and devoured it all. By then, all the skeletons had been unsummoned. Now he could summon the warhorses.

But there was nowhere to go right now. He had to spend the day alone, and it was barely past noon.

What to do.

As he pondered, a chat arrived.

*

He glanced at his guildmates again.

"You're really gonna ask?"

"Yeah, we're dying to know too."

"Mu-hyuk wouldn't ask for anything weird."

"Probably?"

"Then let's ask."

"For real?"

"Yeah, stop nagging already!"

"Fine, quit asking. It's getting old."

In the end, Hyuk-su nodded.

"Alright, let's do it."

He reached out and opened the chat window.

Hyuk-su let out a low exclamation at those words.

"Ah...!"

Isn't that the current main episode?

Hidden powers on each continent.

How stupid—why hadn't he thought of that?

No, wait.

Something crucial was missing.

So how do they find those hidden powers?

What method?

Just then, another chat from Mu-hyuk arrived.

At Mu-hyuk's words, Hyuk-su hurriedly stopped the recording.

Hyuk-su ended the chat and looked at his guildmates.

"Ahem."

His friend smacked his shoulder at the fake cough.

"What? Spill it."

The guildmates couldn't hide their curiosity either.

"Guild master, what'd Mu-hyuk say?"

"Tell us already!"

Hyuk-su lowered his voice.

"Okay. First, anyone streaming right now, raise your hand."

A few guildmates raised their hands.

"Recording too."

A few more joined.

"Turn 'em all off."

"Done!"

"Me too!"

"Good. So what Mu-hyuk said is, they're currently..."

A strange tension filled the air.

What did he say?

Anticipation made the room fall deathly silent.

Finally, Hyuk-su spoke.

"...searching for the hidden powers on each continent."

"Gasp...!"

"Ah, hidden powers!"

"Right, it's Main Episode 2 now?"

"Yeah! How stupid we were not to realize."

Everyone was excited at first.

But as time passed, they grasped the situation.

"Wait, guild master."

"Yeah?"

"So how do you find those hidden powers?"

Hyuk-su shrugged.

"No idea."

"Huh...?"

"We only asked what the top rankers are doing right now."

"Ah, true, but..."

"What? Then it's pointless."

Hyuk-su frowned at his disappointed guildmates.

Sorry, guys.

But he couldn't trust them all.

Cold, but reality.

Then his vice-guild master—a 20-year real-life friend—nudged his side.

"Idiot, ask better."

"Ahem, we'll talk later."

"Talk my ass. Look now, idiot."

"No, I have something to say..."

"Bullshit. Sigh, following a guild master like this. If you weren't my friend, I'd smack you."

"..."

Hyuk-su swallowed his frustration.

We'll see later, for real.

Imagining how to surprise him later.

Meanwhile.

Mu-hyuk leisurely took in the scenery atop his warhorse.

Nice.

Still, he pondered what to do next.

Just rest?

Then a thought struck him.

Oh, right. Rewards.

He was curious about the rewards from hunting the boss monster.

Checking his inventory, there was a chest.

Confirming two, he pulled one out.

Open.

The chest opened, and something floated above it.

Mu-hyuk's head tilted instinctively.

What is this?

It had traits like bones from corpse dissection.

But the shape...

This looked like an arrow no matter who saw it.

And the description was odd.

Special conditions, hidden function.

Something was definitely there.

The question was how to use it.

Hm, the other chest first.

He opened another chest.

This time, a high-quality lance emerged.

This one's for enhancing and giving to the cavalry.

Mu-hyuk gripped Helbat's tailbone again, deep in thought. After about ten minutes, his musings shifted direction.

As Armor Archers, and as mounted archers.

Yeah, anyway...

Decision made, he stowed the tailbone, stopped in place, unsummoned the warhorse. Then, powerful skeleton archers appeared.

Tak, tadak?

Unfortunately, he probably wouldn't summon these guys anymore.

"Good work so far."

The mounted archers were just too efficient. He felt bad, but it couldn't be helped.

Armor Archer 1, forward.

He reached toward the one that stepped up.

After recovering those, he extracted bones one by one.

It took considerable time to harvest as many bones as possible to the max.

Armor Archer 2, forward.

He collected everything in turn.

Moments later.

Ragged Armor Archers and Bone Bows.

It didn't sit well.

But staring wouldn't change anything.

Unsummon skeleton archers.

He summoned the mounted archers.

Deulgeudeok, tadak.

Armor Archers and Bone Bows mounted on warhorses.

Just looking made him feel secure.

Their image of ravaging monsters with mobility was still vivid.

If these guys got runes and bone swaps for high stats?

They'd unleash destruction beyond normal archers.

Mounted Archer 1, forward.

He extracted Mounted Archer 1's bones and implanted the ones from Armor Archers.

Maybe because it was the first implant.

The stat boost was huge.

Next, and the next.

As he swapped more, the gains tapered off.

Eventually stabilizing at 0.18.

Still pretty good.

He implanted all bones from Armor Archer 1 into Mounted Archer 1.

Now, runes.

Command authority and strength boost.

Sweek.

He moved to Mounted Archer 2 and implanted runes too. Swapped bones, then to Mounted Archer 3 with the same.

After upgrading all mounted archers' bones, as he was about to unsummon them, a ridiculous thought hit him.

Thinking back, it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was truly unique.

Upon acquiring and summoning the Mounted Archer skill, 25 evolved Armor Archers were already mounted. The remaining 11 were standard Bone Bows.

So what happened to the original Armor Archers' skulls?

What if he extracted those skulls and implanted them into mounted archers?

Ridiculous, but worth checking.

Yeah, just verify.

Unsummon mounted archers, resummon skeleton archers.

He extracted the skull from the shrunken Armor Archer 1.

Gazing at the skull in his hand, he unsummoned the skeleton archers and summoned mounted archers.

Mounted Archer 1, forward.

One stepped to the front.

"No way...?"

A sturdy enhanced Armor Archer was mounted on the warhorse.

It couldn't really work.

Thinking it wouldn't, yet oddly anxious.

As if possessed, Mu-hyuk rushed to Mounted Archer 26 and yanked out its skull.

"Whew..."

Exhaling deeply, he slotted Enhanced Armor Archer 1's skull into the empty spot.

Incredibly, the evolution bar started filling.