Chapter 16 – The Hint (２)

Of course, the difficulty was near-absurd.

Thinking about it, the mission was practically impossible.

For one thing, there was a restriction: no party allowed.

Meaning Gijun had to take down that absurd number of monsters alone.

‘Still, I’m fine.’

Gijun was already a different beast.

Thanks to his first-ever Cash Purchase.

The item options were excellent, too.

Items that boosted fire-element attack power and wind-element attack power by over twenty percent each — weren’t they a fantastic find?

‘The synergy between the two goes beyond the written percentages.’

No one in the world knew better than Gijun how the combination of wind and fire shifted efficiency to a whole different dimension based on how you used it.

There was no denying that taking down the Bloody Goblin boss had been possible because of that same element combination.

So…

‘It’s enough.’

Gijun was confident he could clear every last one of those Achievements.

Plus, he’d snagged an incredible ring for a bargain price.

A ring that recovered 5% of damage dealt as MP.

‘No MP worries for a while.’

All Gijun had to do was burn the Great-Bees to ash with maximum firepower.

Which meant it was time to see the Cash Purchase’s effect with his own eyes.

‘First, one at a time.’

Before the real fight started, he planned to gauge his own strength objectively.

Gijun cast Fireball.

The orb formed in an instant, and he hurled it at the Rapalam Great-Bee.

Crack!

The Fireball exploded against the Great-Bee’s body.

‘It’s different.’

It really was different.

Actually, it was only natural.

After all, this Fireball had a twenty-five percent boost to fire-element attack power.

‘This is just the start.’

The important thing was that this wasn’t all.

He still had one more skill.

Strong Wind.

That one also came with a twenty-three percent wind-element attack power option.

Wind surged.

The moment the two elements combined, the flame erupted into uncontrollable, violent fury.

Whoosh!

Following Strong Wind’s current, the flames spun fiercely, coiling around the creature’s body.

A clear change had taken hold.

Instead of a single explosion, tiny detonations burst forth one after another.

It was a phenomenon growing clearer by the moment — the explosion synergy born from Fire and Wind Element combination.

Kiiieeek!

The creature banked hard, trying to escape the inferno.

Useless.

Gijun had no intention of letting go.

He used Strong Wind to hound it, following its every turn.

Eventually its wings melted, its shell sloughed away, and it crashed to the ground.

Killing that Rapalam Great-Bee took only seconds.

He was stronger than he’d thought.

Even Gijun was surprised.

No party here could drop a Rapalam Great-Bee that fast.

Yet Gijun did it alone.

Hunting faster than a full party.

“What the hell was that?”

“Did you see that?”

“What kind of spell?”

“Looked like Fireball?”

“Bullshit!”

“No, I’m serious…”

Around him, people were glancing over, whispering in shock at the firepower he’d unleashed.

He felt a surge of confidence — he could sweep both the basic Achievements and the Seeker-exclusive ones.

‘Now, then…’

Time to really start.

The Strong Wind still hadn’t died.

Gijun steered that gale, sweeping it across the entire area.

Whooosh!

Flames engulfed a radius of over ten meters in an instant.

The fire swallowed up every Rapalam Great-Bee in that zone at once.

Kyaaak!

Kiiieeeek!

In that moment, the entire swarm turned to stare at Gijun.

He didn’t flinch.

That was exactly what he’d intended.

‘First, ten kills in under a minute.’

This was all to hit that Achievement.

In an instant, the Rapalam Great-Bees surged toward Gijun.

Over a dozen bees the size of small children hurtling at him — a horrifying sight.

But Gijun, unshaken, hurled a fully-charged Fireball into the middle of them.

KWAANG!

The Fireball exploded, igniting another wave of flame.

That fire combined with the lingering blaze, swelling even larger.

Gijun immediately cast Strong Wind again.

The swirling vortex whipped the raging fire into a spinning maelstrom, chewing through every Rapalam Great-Bee that flew toward him.

*

[Achievement Unlocked!]

[All Stats increased by 5!]

[Hunt 10 Rapalam Great-Bees]

-Time Limit: 1 minute

-Reward: All Stats +5

Gijun had finally completed the first Seeker-exclusive Achievement.

The total number of Rapalam Great-Bees he’d killed: thirteen.

He’d taken down three more than the Achievement required.

Switching Items had definitely paid off.

But that wasn’t all.

‘My Level went up in that last Dungeon. And my Mana Handling Proficiency rose, too.’

Right.

The two levels he’d gained in the dungeon and the upgraded Mana Handling Proficiency had both played their part — and played it well.

‘At this rate, I’m guaranteed the basic Achievement.’

Three hundred kills in an hour.

For Gijun right now, that was confirmed to be easier than breathing.

‘No Mana issues, either.’

His current MP consumption efficiency was immaculate.

Even after a full hunting cycle, his Mana pool had barely dipped.

So what he had to do now was simple.

‘Just keep this pace going.’

Five hundred kills in an hour meant eight to nine per minute.

If he tried to time it that precisely, he might never reach the second Seeker-exclusive Achievement.

So the play was to hold this rhythm steady all the way through.

‘Moving on.’

Jun moved again.

Right on cue, a swarm of Lapalam Big Bees faced him.

A conservative count put it at twenty insects or more.

And of course, they turned to ash in an instant.

The Lapalam Big Bees choking every inch of air were nothing but prey to him now.

The Lapalam Hills.

At their heart, a spectacular fire show was unfolding.

Under the endless barrage of flames, the Lapalam Big Bees crumpled to the ground without a chance to fight back.

If this weren’t a game where corpses vanished on their own, the whole cavern would have been filled to the brim with charred bee carcasses by now.

“What the hell is that?”

“What level is that guy?”

“Has to be at least Level 40, right?”

“Then why’s a Level 40 hunting here?”

“Right. So how much Cash Purchase did he drop?”

“My gut says that starts at a billion won.”

“A billion?”

At the sheer, impossible firepower, a flood of speculation about the mysterious mage began.

The firepower display this one mage was putting on was jaw-droppingly absurd.

“Man, I’m jealous.”

“If I had that kind of money…”

“Sigh. Let’s just hunt.”

Most people, feeling a pang of inferiority or outright envy, turned back to their own hunting.

They couldn’t even bring themselves to ask about forming a Party.

After all, what were the odds that someone like that would Party up with them?

And right then, Jun was looking at empty air with a grin.

[Fireball Proficiency has increased.]

He’d just confirmed the message that Fireball had grown another step stronger.

The moment his Fireball Proficiency hit D Grade, another line of text appeared.

[A new option has been added.]

[Fireball]

>Grade: Legendary

>Proficiency: D

Power+20

Mana Explosive Force+30%

The Power increase had gone up by 10, and alongside it, the Mana Explosive Force stat had appeared.

Mana Explosive Force? What’s that?’

word that didn’t exist in reality.

The moment he saw that unfamiliar term, a gleam lit up Gijun’s eyes.

He smelled something.

Something incredibly sweet.

[Mana Explosive Force]

When Mana Explosive Force increases by 1%, magic attack power increases by 1% and skill range increases by 0.3%.

Gijun’s eyes widened as he read that option.

‘Whoa…!’

It wasn’t just magic attack power—the skill’s range increased simultaneously.

This was clearly an incredible ability.

Wasn’t it saying that even while using the same 1st-Circle spell, its range could expand?

And if he combined it with Strong Wind, the power could amplify by leaps and bounds.

‘On top of that, there’s an extra 10 points of power increase…’

Just how massive would the synergy be between those two options—power increase and Mana Explosion Force?

‘This is the best.’

Above all, this was exactly the option Gijun needed right now.

He had to hunt as many Rakram Hornets as possible, as fast as possible.

‘At this rate, there’s no way I won’t make it.’

It was perfect.

Wasn’t this the moment he’d become so strong that even avoiding the Seeker-exclusive Achievement seemed impossible?

After confirming the details of his newly empowered Fireball, Gijun resumed the hunt.

Just then, a swarm of nearly twenty hornets appeared before his eyes.

30%.

That numerical shift was too significant to ignore.

And on top of that, Strong Wind amplified the already strengthened Fireball’s power several times over.

Kwaaaah!

*

‘I finally did it.’

Gijun checked the time.

It had taken roughly 47 minutes to hunt 500 Rakram Hornets.

‘That was incredibly fast.’

He’d beaten the one-hour time limit by a full 13 minutes.

‘This is the best, really.’

Gijun clenched both fists.

It was an achievement he could hardly believe he’d pulled off.

Of course, he’d never doubted he’d succeed in this mission.

But this exceeded his imagination.

Even that 30% alone had brought about such a dramatic change.

Who could have imagined that a mere Fireball would come packed with such incredible options, one after another?

It was clearly something impossible in reality—and even in a game.

Sure, the Flame Seeker class description had said its firepower was stronger than any other mage’s.

Even so, this was truly remarkable.

‘A Legend is a Legend.’

Yeah.

That must be the reason.

Because this was a Legend-grade Fireball, after all.

Even for a Flame Seeker, producing this level of firepower could never be easy.

‘This is it. Yeah. This feeling.’

Gijun was feeling an emotion he’d long forgotten.

That thrill of having something others didn’t.

The same feeling he’d had back in his Academy days, before he learned of his illness.

An emotion he might never have felt again if not for this game.

But from now on, it was a feeling he’d experience endlessly.

Steeling his resolve once more, Gijun opened his status window.

His level had also jumped significantly.

[Name : Jun]

[Class : Flame Seeker]

[Level : 28]

[Strength : 1+20]

[Agility : 1+20]

[Stamina : 1+20]

[Magic Power : 32+40]

Level 28 already.

The leveling speed was very fast.

‘Well, that’s only natural.’

While others huddled in groups of four or five just to barely hunt a single monster, he swept through them alone at a rate of ten per minute.

Now, it was time to move to the next stage.

‘The third exclusive Achievement.’

One Flame Seeker exclusive Achievement still remained.

That Achievement, which only unlocked after completing two exclusive ones.

‘He called it a Quest.’

Not just any Quest, but a Job Quest at that.

Through the first Job Quest, he’d acquired a skill called Strong Wind.

‘Ruf said he’d show me the way forward.’

So what could he possibly gain from the second Quest?

Just thinking about it made his heart race with anticipation.

And now.

Ding! —

A welcome sound rang in his ears.

The badge began to glow.

That badge, the one he’d received from Myeongjun’s Disciple, Ruf.

The light streaming from the badge stretched out toward a single point.

[Please follow the light.]

Gijun watched the message rise in his vision, then followed the light’s pointing direction with his eyes.

‘The Rapalam Mountains, huh.’

The Rapalam Mountains.

The name of the range that appeared after passing through the Rapalam Hills.

The Rapalam Mountains were home to monsters far stronger than those in the Rapalam Hills.

Not just giant bees, but great beast-type monsters swarming the place.

Naturally, the hunting level there was more than ten Levels higher than the Rapalam Hills.

It was a hunting ground where players of at least Level 40 came to hunt.

‘I’m nervous.’

From now on, it was definitely time to stay sharp.

Because from the Level 40 hunting grounds onward, the difficulty shot up dramatically.

And one more thing.

‘Hwarang told me to prepare thoroughly too.’

As if on cue, a message had arrived from Hwarang’s Team Leader Park Yunseok.

He was asking me to make sure I was ready for the next Raid.

‘What the hell is it?’

He couldn’t know yet.

But he could feel it.

That Hwarang’s expectations were growing, bit by bit.

‘Hell, I’ll do it. Why not.’