- You have been hit by a critical blow from a Gnoll’s arrow! 250 damage. Movement speed reduced for 30 seconds.
After gaining 100 skill points, the skill Eyes of the Cat has leveled up to Intermediate.
Eyes of the Cat (Intermediate, Active): Eyes of the Cat has leveled up to Intermediate, you can grasp more information and weak points concerning the opponent.
As an Intermediate bonus, if you seize a golden opportunity, you can deal a double critical effect. For 3 minutes
+Life Detection
+Double Critical Chance. Mana Consumption : 70
- You have landed critical hit with two times the Double Critical Chance. As a co-op bonus with Skull, 30% additional damage has been added.
- Familiar Hatred-bearing Bat has been forcefully recalled to the Netherworld. You have received 50% of the Familiar’s Health as damage.
how useful they useful and helpful his Familiars had been until they were gone.
Bat’s scouting ability, and the ability to distract the enemies attention when there were several monsters around, in addition to the co-op bonus of the Familiars. Ark hadn't largely realized these effects. But now that they were gone, hunting was twice as hard. It also took a lot of time, so just defeating one Bengal Tiger consumed 3~4 minutes. Since it took double the time it took when he'd cleared them in 1~2 minutes, he actually felt his experience wasn’t increasing.
But the truly puzzling thing was something else.
‘Damn, why does hunting feel this boring now?’
Ark hunted without rest. When a monster appeared, he just took it down with his sword the way his body was familiar with. He picked up items and foraged food ingredients. Then he summoned Netherworld's Egg in his spare time and made it absorb food. Since there wasn't a anything different from before, it wasn’t exciting.
'I'm gonna go crazy.'
Ark let out a frustrating sigh.
Similar to NPCs, Familiars also had the ability to think for themselves.
Skull and Bat’s reactions changed depending on Ark’s attitude. For Skull, it was a Familiar with absolute obedience towards Ark, so its reaction didn’t change significantly. However, for Bat, if Ark just pushed him around straight up with a heavy hand, it would sulk and there were times when it wouldn’t talk for a while, and when a battle broke out, it would run away.
But then when he humored it a little, it soon honeyed him as if it would lick his boot. Sometimes it even pointed out things that Ark hadn’t thought of.
‘Why are NPCs so picky with their preferences?’
At first, he didn’t like that he had to pay attention to each and every one of those points. Moreover, since it consumed Mana when a fight broke out, his usage of skill was limited. So sometimes, there were times when he wondered if he really needed to summon his Familiars.
But it seemed Ark had become adapted to it before realized.
After his father passed away, he was too busy making a living so he’d never hung out with friends. That same nature applied even in New World. Moreover, because his experience in the beginning was nothing but betrayal, he was stained with a deep-rooted mistrust of users and he’d come to avoid users.
However, Ark was also human.
He’d gotten used to living alone, but it wasn’t enjoyable. Even in New World, he’d sometimes felt loneliness while struggling and hunting for a few days in a dark forest. At some point, he stopped feeling lonely, which was after he had his Familiars around.
At the very least, it was evident that Skull, who showed absolute loyalty, and even Bat who constantly grumbled were on Ark’s side.
Their existence that moved for Ark without desiring any price in return.
They were existences Ark hadn’t been able to find in reality or the game.
It was just that he hadn’t felt it until now, but to Ark, the Familiars already weren’t simply characters, but comrades he could trust.
‘24 hours… is long time.’
For the first time since starting the game, time felt long to him.
‘Now I won’t let the Familiars get forcefully recalled a second time.’
Ark thought earnestly of his Familiars at last.
“Damn it!”
- The loyalty of the Familiars, who felt the sincere affection of their summoner, has increased by 1 each. Affection stat has increased by 1.
‘Looks like it was probably influenced by the newly formed Affection stat.’
Ark roughly understood the situation.
The Affection stat he’d earned from succeeding the miracle of Nursing!
Until now, Ark had no idea what the stat was used for. It didn’t help at all when he raised his intimacy with the village NPCs. But he had unexpectedly learned its purpose.
That wasn’t all. The proficiency of Survival Cooking went up by 1 each when a new type of dish was create, so it rose by 4.
Food made for other had to have meaning. Since he cooked it to show his apology and gratitude towards his Familiars, bonus proficiency had been applied.
‘Attitude applies directly to the game.’
This simple fact, which he had forgotten for a long time, hit home anew.
“Huhuhu. Master. Looks like you’ve finally realized our value.”
After being a little friendly with it, Bat soon became impudent. But Ark, who missed it for 24 hours, indulgently let it slide.
“That aside, there’s something I want to say before we start battle again.”
“What is it?”
“I thought about it carefully, but I think we've fought with too much of a rule-of-thumb all this while. Which brought upon a problem the last time we fought against the Gnolls. So from now onwards, there’s a need to refine our collaboration. It is to increase our survival rate as well.”
"Refining our collaboration? What do you mean, Master?"
"So what I'm saying is we need to hypothesize several situations and plot our strategy beforehand. In battle, I can't afford to assess the situation and provide commands from one to ten, since there’s no time.”
This was the conclusion Ark had came up with after brooding over it for 24 hours.
Ark planned strategies with several patterns oriented to situations beforehand. Then in battle, even if he didn’t issue each and every command, Bat and Skull would be able to judge the situation in their own and move.
It was a method inspired by an online FPS game.
[T/N: First Person Shooter]
Character Name
Ark
Race
Human
Alignment
Good +50
Fame
480
Level
45
Profession
Dark Walker
Title
Cat Knight, Caretaker
Health
905
Mana
480 (+110)
Spiritual Power
100
Strength
146
Agility
186 (+17)
Stamina
156
Wisdom
25
Intelligence
91
Luck
36
Flexibility
10
Art of Communication
5
Affection
11
Special Stat: Knowledge of Ancient Relics
20
Equipment Effects
Black Bear Mouse Leather Armor: Agility +2, Cold Resistance +20
Crystal Golem’s Helmet: Mana +100
*You can bring out the true abilities from all types of tools.
If he recalled the scene of the six cabbage leaves that he adored flapping as they fluttered away, he felt like he was about to go crazy.
[T/N: The cabbage leaves are referring to won bills, and there are six of them because in Korea, there’s a bill for 10,000 won. Therefore, there are 6 bills for 60,000 won.]
“Yes, I am.”
“For a stranger to come find our village... I cannot fathom how long it has been.”
Ark thought of something polite to say and got to the point right away.
“I will sell all of this.”
The store owner glanced at the items and said shortly, “Alright. I’ll give you 10 gold for all of it.”
“What?” Ark doubted his ears.
“Did you say 10 gold?”
“Yes, he was a warrior more valiant than anyone.”
Galen let out a sigh.
“In any case, after what had happened, the residents left the village one by one. They can’t be blamed. They witnessed a horrible swarm of snakes, and even their leader Lancel died, so they must have lost the courage to go on. Although it’s a village we established with hard work, it was not more precious than their lives. I’ve endured and came this far, but I was thinking that any longer would be too much.”
“Will it do if I clear out the Gnolls’ cave for you?”
“I’ve said this earlier, but I can’t give many rewards.”
“I know. Since it’s something where I have to put my life on the line, it would be a lie to say I don’t want any reward, but I never help to hope for a large reward. It’s fine if you just give me your whole-hearted sincerity.”
Ark insinuated the meaning of asking for the maximum of what could be given.
A Gnoll was a monster good to hunt at his current level.
Since it was mostly a party monster, he received a lot of experience from them too. If he was going to hunt it anyways, of course it was better to get a quest and hunt it.
This was exactly what it meant to kill two birds with one stone.
Galen, who had no reason to know this kind of intention, spoke with a deeply moved expression,
“Thank you. Then let’s do this. If you defeat Gnolls inside the cave and bring me their leather, I’ll pay 20 silver for each one. And if by any possibility you defeat all the Gnolls in the cave and bring peace to the village, I give you another 10 gold as compensation to your success. Of course, it’s probably not enough of a reward compared to the danger, but that’s the most I can do.”
“How many Gnolls are there?”
“We don’t know well either. However, we think there are probably about one hundred.”
‘20 silvers for each one! One hundred of them is 20 gold!’
Ark vaguely heard the sound of jingling coins in his ear. It was definitely not an ample compensation, but it wasn’t that small a reward either. Level 40 monster leather normally sold for about 5 silvers in stores. But Galen had offered 4 times that price. Given it was a mountain village quest, it was a preposterous offer.
‘If you add the success compensation 10 gold on top of that, it’s not a small amount of money!’
“I’m sorry, but I can’t give you compensation concerning the snakes. Can I entrust it to you nevertheless?”
“Do not worry and entrust it to me. It’s certain I was guided to this place in order to do this job.”
Ark clasped Galen’s hands firmly as he replied with an expression brimming with confidence.
With a simultaneous thu-thu-thump a quest window popped up.
Pioneer Village Lancel’s Misfortune
You have discovered a pioneer village still unknown to the world at the end of your long journey.
As a village made after several years of effort by pioneers who followed the admired the mercenary leader Lancel, it was named ‘Lancel’ after the name of their leader. They wished for Lancel to flourish as a relay point between Jackson and commercial cities.
But as a group of Gnolls lead numerous snakes and settled in a nearby cave, all their efforts had gone to waste. The residents put their lives on the line and organized a punitive expedition. However, the village’s hero, Lancel, was the sole sacrifice.
Most of the despairing villagers have left the villages, and now only total desolation is left in the village. Nevertheless, Galen wants to somehow save the village, so he has requested you to subjugate the Gnolls. Galen has promised a bounty of 20 silvers per Gnoll leather, and a 10 gold compensation for your successful subjugation. You must defeat the Gnolls and save Lancel Village from despair.
Difficulty: C