Beast Breath and Ant Hell
◈ Pet-exclusive skills will appear.
Users before their second job change received skill packs as rewards every five levels, and the same went for familiars.
Pets got one skill pack every ten levels, while the Magic King's homunculi received theirs every fifteen levels.
In other words, Mukhyang had just hit level 30 from the previous battle.
"Whoa, the experience grind is insane. I'm at 60, and she's exactly half?"
Cheonma had repeatedly said that raising familiars was brutally tough in this game, but this felt excessive.
Even with the Drech-style Doll Unification skill boosting experience by 150%, this was the result. Didn't that basically tell other users to skip pets altogether?
-Well, you're a special case. Normal users struggle to even get and raise one pet, but you've got four familiars already. Of course the experience gets split.
"But what about tamers or necromancers? They command multiples too. Do those classes have to grind that hard?"
-Nah. Combat classes with familiars get experience bonuses as a job perk. But their main body is super weak. Even a fully third-jobbed tamer loses one-on-one to a second-job combat class.
No wonder people said familiars were the real body and players were just buff shuttles.
-But that's not you, right? Your main body's broken OP, your familiars are broken OP, and now their leveling speed is faster too? You hearing any alarms going off?
"......What alarms?"
-Pew pew pew! Your conscience exploding. Plus a free DLC of mine bursting too, wanna listen?
"Ahem. Was I a bit conscienceless?"
-'A bit'? If your familiars keep leveling this fast on top of your stats, you planning to solo the top 10 guilds or what?
"With 500 million players, one's bound to be that guy!"
-No such thing, dude! This ain't a free server game!
"Well, stacking some experience gear later should help. Anyway, enough whining."
Carpe picked up Mukhyang's skill pack.
His extra whining was part of the sacred pre-draw ritual.
Proven by eons of gaming history: complaining before pulling skyrocketed jackpot odds.
Not superstition—solid, statistically verified science. And Carpe was a man of science.
-......
"Phew. Been a while since a skill draw. Kinda nervous."
Especially a pet skill pack; last one was after Mukhyang hit 20 in the Elf Village.
Carpe smiled wryly.
"That was the worst."
After grinding Elf Village quests, Mukhyang finally leveled up.
He'd opened the pack with jackpot prayers.
"Still ridiculous thinking back. How'd we even get that?"
Incredibly, it was a 1-1-2-1-1 dud that defied belief.
The 2-star Dig card from then still slept in his inventory.
-Oh yeah, I remember. Monumental first flop. Yeah, can't win 'em all.
"Ugh. Can't happen again!"
Carpe glared at the pack, eyes wide.
He wasn't dreaming of truth-tier like 6-star Giant Growth from his first pull.
Just something usable...
Recalling past failure humbled him; he carefully tore open the pack.
Pop!
Five cards floated up.
Carpe opened them left to right, prayers in his heart.
1-star – Rock Throw
1-star – Fishing
2-star – Fast Run
"Argh! This damn game!"
Flashback to nightmare day, Carpe shuddered.
Can't happen again.
Eyes squeezed shut, he opened the fourth.
Flash!
Silver light burst out.
-Whoa! 6-star!
"Phew. Saved."
Carpe sighed in relief.
3- or 4-stars leading to 6 wouldn't sweat him, but this game always padded with 1s and 2s.
Acquire Limit: Beast-type, Dragon-type familiars
Fires a fire-attribute breath from the mouth. Partially ignores target's defense.
Damage and defense ignore ratio increase with skill level.
"Huh? Breath?"
-Nice pull. Top-tier 6-star. Arguably better than Giant Growth.
"Really?"
-Yeah. Raw power's near 7-star, but restrictions dock it to 6.
Pet-exclusive, but not all pets qualify.
Luckily, Mukhyang did.
"Hyang-ah, jackpot. Good skill."
"Kyuu kyuu kyut!"
"Hyang, outstanding! Truly splendid!"
Carpe pulled Beast Breath, but Tina was happier than Mukhyang.
"Mount skill, Lance Charge, now Breath. No envy for legendary dragon knights. Hyang's amazing."
"Kyuu?"
"Here, acorns I saved. Please accept."
"Kyuuut!!"
Carpe chuckled at their sparkling eyes, checked the last card.
"Maybe a 7-star finale!"
1-star – Nap
-Yeah, no such luck.
"......Yeah, wasn't expecting much."
No hesitation; Carpe chose Beast Breath.
Congratulations. Acquired 6-star Skill Card – Beast Breath.
Familiar 'Mukhyang' meets acquisition conditions. Invest 1 skill point to learn?
"Learn it."
Carpe nodded; the card melted away, notification confirming Mukhyang's acquisition.
"Kuh. Can't quit draws. Starts strong before material grind."
-Thought about it: you could tone down the glee.
"Jealousy's ugly as always. Be happy for your little bro."
-Can be happy if you don't cross lines. But you always do, dude!
Carpe warped to a nearby city, then to his destination.
Kairoha Desert. Sand blanketed to the horizon, true to name.
"One material's here?"
-Yeah. Not exactly here—below. What time is it?
"Time? Uh... 5:43."
-You'll see soon. See that big rock ahead? Head 100m north from it. Entrance there.
"Hmm. Got it."
Cheonma's nav led to... identical sand.
-Good. You're there.
"This it? Nothing here."
-Heh. Gotta look that way. Hidden dungeon. No rush—entrance reveals soon.
And it did.
Shhh...
Sand before Carpe swirled down, vortex sucking it under.
One word came to mind.
"Ant hell?"
-Yup. That's what folks call it. This is one of Jenonia's two great dungeons: Ant Hell Dungeon.
The Magic Kingdom Jenonia boasted two famed dungeons.
First: Red Tower.
Stage dungeon; no level penalties, personal instances for all.
-Second's this ant hell. Like Red Tower, no level penalties.
But key difference.
-Ant Hell's open-field: all users share one space.
"......No level cap, but open dungeon?"
-Yup. Deep as Red Tower, packed with hidden pieces. Guess what's happening below?
Carpe nodded silently.
"Endless high-level PK slaughterfest."
-Bingo. Ant Hell's the hotspot for field PK in RaSe.
Overflowing hidden pieces and experience, no level gate—obvious result.
"Like Wind Cave."
-No controlling guild though. Anyone can enter; surviving's on you.
"Why? Prime hunting ground screams control."
-Complicated reasons... but mainly, too damn big.
Unlike compact Wind Cave, Ant Hell was massive.
Vanguards pushed nonstop, but floors? Unknown.
-No single guild covers it. Needs top 10 guild scale.
"That's weird. Then why not top 10 guilds control it?"
Boundless dungeon. Monster hordes, hidden pieces galore.
Top guilds ignore it?
Carpe knew RPG guild dynamics; baffling.
-That's the fun part. Recall Red Tower vanguard? Eden, with Cheongeom.
-Same here: vanguard's The Sun.
"......Aha."
RaSe's undisputed #1 top guild: The Sun.
Claiming control of their own delve?
Pure challenge to The Sun.
Other top guilds wouldn't risk it.
-The Sun's funny: could control but don't. Most normal of top 10.
Game's a game; enjoy it.
Guild master Gunter embodied that, hating "control" most.
"What? Thought top 10 were all trash. Decent ones exist?"
-'Least bad'. Agree they're better than others.
"Hmm. Anyway, engine core material's in Ant Hell?"
-Yup. And The Sun's eyeing it now.
In short:
-Brace for The Sun clash.
"Sounds fun. For real."
Carpe grinned wide.