The Forum-Shattering Hints
Shwick—! Shwick—! Wind blades sliced through the air in graceful arcs. Hanbit allocated his stat points—everything except Vitality—and kept spamming the skill every time the wind filled back up.
Watching the spectacle in a daze, Yeonwoo finally realized something toward the end.
All three stats, despite their different natures, influenced the skill.
“This is really an all-stat skill?”
“Vitality aside, yeah. Spirit power works like that. It's a different beast from other skills.”
Chirp—! The little bird listening in chirped in agreement.
-Why is this.
- Cute.
- If all spirit skills are all-stat, that's broken AF, right?
- Spirit mages in tears.
The spirit's response carried real weight. Hanbit reached out and gently stroked the bird.
“We're borrowing the spirits' power. You need a well-rounded foundation to even qualify.”
“Still, requiring three different stats? Isn't that a huge barrier?”
“Think of it as the bare minimum. If you can't win the spirits' favor, it doesn't matter anyway.”
-Kid's got wisdom beyond his years.
- Baby spirit (5,000 years old)
- Pump Intelligence to get smart enough for a compromise?
- OK, all-in on Int.
- Faster to swap heads.
Playful reactions aside, spirit power was notoriously tricky to wield perfectly.
At least the game quantified what you'd normally have to sense intuitively. Pretty user-friendly, all things considered.
“So you're going full spirit mage from here? Other skills won't scale as well.”
“Depends on how you use 'em. Efficiency matters less than how you use them.”
Everyone had preferred skills, sure. But right now, this was just the starting line.
Situations demanding skill combos would pop up plenty. And he'd definitely keep leaning on spirits a lot.
This should do it.
Finished distributing stats, Hanbit had gathered all the data he needed. He flicked his fingers and pulled up his info window.
[Black Dragon-Lv.16]
[Title: None]
Strength: 20 | Agility: 20 | Intelligence: 20 | Vitality: 7
Remaining Stat Points: 0
“Ha.”
Yeonwoo let out a sigh, staring blankly.
“What now?”
“Check this out.”
He opened his own character info.
[Roper-Lv.25]
[Title: Forest Explorer]
Strength: 23 | Agility: 6 | Intelligence: 5 | Vitality: 11
Hanbit glanced at the screen, then shot back with a puzzled look.
“...What the hell happened to you?”
“You got way too many stat points. I'm the normal one here.”
Yeonwoo sounded utterly baffled. Hanbit double-checked the window.
[Roper-Lv.25]
[Title: Forest Explorer]
Strength: 23 | Agility: 6 | Intelligence: 5 | Vitality: 11
Hanbit's total stats: 67. Yeonwoo's: 45.
Considering the level gap and playtime, the difference was absurd.
“This is normal? You slacking or what?”
“I only skipped the story stuff! Comparing me to you after just a few days? That's insane!”
-Poor Roper ;;
- Fr, this is normal.
- Free server or what?
- Story pushes give like 15 stat points?
- Up to 17 if you're cracked.
Yeonwoo's genuinely aggrieved face made teasing feel kinda mean. He sighed again and eyed Hanbit's stats.
Then, as if struck by a thought, he asked,
“But seriously, Vitality at that level? From experience, one monster hit can delete you.”
One reason RP was brutal: no visible health bars. Not for characters, not even monsters.
That's why plenty of players dumped points into Vitality for safer play—or so he'd heard. For average players, anyway.
“If it doesn't hit, problem solved.”
“...Huh?”
-LMAOOOOO
- The swagger.
- Everyone's got a plan 'til they eat dirt.
- Fr, gotta get oneshot to learn.
The cocky line drew mocking laughs from viewers.
Dodge the hits, and you're golden. Simple logic, but not everyone could pull it off.
Hanbit, who'd honed it over endless life-or-death cycles, wasn't “everyone.”
He closed his info window and faced the camera.
“That's the stream for today.”
“Heading out already?”
-What? Why?
- Butthurt?
- Sorry lol.
Viewers flipped to whiny mode at the logout news. Always good for a laugh.
“Gotta clock in. Main story tomorrow—tune in tonight.”
Click. Hanbit hit logout, yanked off his headset.
“Whew.”
He swept back his sweat-matted hair and headed to the living room. Mom was asleep, so he showered quietly.
Bzzz—
Back in his room, his phone buzzed.
「Bro, sending all today's donations and prize money. Total: 31,392,000 won. App maintenance, so ~30 mins.」
“The hell?”
Their 50/50 donation split was still on. No way he'd get blinded by the cash.
He opened the chat.
「Kang Hanbit: Cut the crap, split donations 50/50.」
「Juyeonwoo: Nah, you deserve it all. Same as prize money.」
「Kang Hanbit: Wouldn't have this shot without you. We earned it together. No more. Crashing.」
Thud. Phone facedown on the desk. He flopped onto bed, listening to the buzzes... but sleep wouldn't come.
“Ah.”
Remembering something, he sat up. Booted the PC, pulled up his chair, keyboard at the ready.
“Gotta deliver.”
The promised hints on hidden skills. After seeing the payout, half-assing it wasn't an option. Ten million expectations hung in the balance.
“...Where to post?”
Asking Yeonwoo was best, but the phone was still buzzing. Hanbit gave up clean and hit the RPG forums.
“Login and anon boards both, huh.”
Verified accounts for signed posts, anon for throwaways. Yeonwoo's vid was anon.
“Lemme see...”
Grabbed his headset, punched in the login screen's ID number. Instant verification—signup done.
“One by one it is.”
New post button. He unpacked hints in his planned order.
But it barely lasted 10 minutes.
“Damn, this is tough.”
Experience and knowledge? Plenty. Problem was writing it out coherently.
“Gotta make it digestible.”
Readers were average players—newbies. Time to distill his brain-dump into something intuitive.
Tap-tap-tap—
Fired up, Hanbit's fingers flew. It wrapped hours later.
***
Next morning. Up early, Hanbit stretched.
“Nngh.”
Game movement was mental, but fatigue piled up. Focus amplified it. Or maybe just the late night.
“When'd this guy crash?”
Phone in hand, he checked Yeonwoo's chat. Ten-plus messages since his last reply.
Good—he'd gone with Hanbit's call.
“20 million...”
Unreal number. A bit over half, looks like. Stubborn to the end—made him chuckle.
Bzzz—!
Staring at the amount, phone vibrated. Yeonwoo calling.
“This early?”
Morning calls felt off. Puzzled, he answered.
“What's up so ea—”
(Did you really write this?)
The frantic voice cut him off. Total confusion.
“What're you on about?”
(Your RPG post! You wrote it, right?)
The intensity was weird. Hanbit fired up his PC, dove into the forums.
Top of the page: thousands of comment alerts.
“...?”
Puzzled, he clicked through to his post.
<It's Black Dragon.>
Promised hints, as agreed. Broke it down simple: swordsmanship, sparring, spirits. Reference away.
1. Swordsmanship
Baldor's first trial is all stance and mindset. Swing your sword at least 50,000 times before grabbing the quest.
2. Sparring
Baldor telegraphs attacks with tiny tells right before. Basics: read eyes, hands, feet, waist shifts. Here's 15 base moves, 21 combos, 26 advanced. Player POV for easy gets.
1) Right overhead slash: Eyes front, right wrist to 1 o'clock (2cm shift), left foot to 7 o'clock (1.5cm), waist twists ~10° right from center seam...
Hanbit's labor-of-love post was looong. But readers? Utter chaos.
-Wtf is this....
-Hint (Advanced Theory)
-Prof, pacing's off.
-How tf do I even?
-Read those tells?
-Need 20 years dynamic vision.
└20? Lol no.
└Rebirth faster.
-Mind breaking.
-OK printing.
└Head'll explode.
-Vid too plz;
└Teacher got no mercy?
(This isn't a hint—it's a full攻略!)
Even amid the frenzy, Yeonwoo thought it was too much info. Hanbit skimmed comments and sighed.
“Tons saying it's too hard, huh.”
(“Too hard” like what?)
“You follow this to the letter?”
(Well...)
Yeonwoo's voice trailed off. He'd been glued to reactions, now rereading the post.
Moments later, baffled tone.
(Dude, how the hell do I even do this?)