Chapter 6

Upon arriving at the new dungeon, Jaeha realized there were people inside and stopped his entry. He stood still, waiting for the people to come out of the dungeon. Meanwhile, he turned on the MuTube app and started watching videos.

Flipping through various hunters’ videos, Jaeha found one of a rogue-type hunter with incredibly quick movements and watched it.

[Shadow Walk]

[Rank: Rare]

[Conceals your presence and moves a set distance at high speed.]

[Mechanism: Total Ability × 0.5 (M)]

[Proficiency: 5%]

“Hmm. So it’s Total Ability times 0.5. Total movement distance is 50M, huh. Nice. This’ll be good to use when things get dangerous.”

Muttering to himself, Jaeha checked the other skills as well.

[Stealth]

[Rank: Advanced]

[Conceals your presence and blends into nature. Stealth is dispelled upon attacking or being hit.]

[Mechanism: Total Ability × 1 (S)]

[Proficiency: 10%]

[Shadow Eye]

[Rank: Common]

[See through the darkness.]

[Mechanism: Total Ability × 5 (M)]

[Proficiency: 0%]

‘So S means seconds. Then 100 seconds. Not bad. This’ll be great for hiding my body when things get dangerous.’

Nodding to himself at that thought, a party emerged from the dungeon. The people coming out all wore a specific mark on their chests.

‘With that emblem, they’re from the Eunha Guild. If it’s the Eunha Guild, that’s the 5th-ranked guild in the country—a big one.’

Nodding, Jaeha stepped aside a bit to clear the path, and they glanced him over once before passing by with smirks.

They seemed to be saying something toward him, but he didn’t pay it much mind. A moment later, Jaeha entered the dungeon. Then he looked around his surroundings.

“Hm.”

As he’d known beforehand, it was a dungeon with a cave environment, and the monsters that appeared were insect-type as well.

‘If they’re insect-types, their carapaces are bound to be pretty tough. I’ll need to be careful.’

Thinking that, Jaeha slowly walked deeper inside. Before long, he sensed the presence of monsters further in.

Skitter, skitter—

The dungeon interior was pitch dark, so Jaeha used Shadow Eye. The view up to 500M ahead began to reveal itself in full detail. Scanning the area ahead, Jaeha spotted Ents—the monsters here—quietly digging at the ground.

Ents were monsters with the appearance of giant ants, with tough carapaces, great strength, and large numbers, making this a dungeon that was rarely visited unless hunting as a party. True to the claim of large numbers, there were nearly 25 Ents visible up ahead.

‘Hm. Let’s give it a shot.’

Jaeha readied an arrow and nocked it onto his bow. Then, looking ahead, he let it fly.

Thwack!

The arrow sank about halfway into the Ent’s carapace.

Skitter, skitter—

The Ents turned their bodies toward the direction the attack came from and began charging quickly toward Jaeha. In response, Jaeha loosed another arrow.

Thunk—

He struck the same Ent he’d attacked moments before, and the Ent collapsed.

‘The carapace really is a problem.’

Jaeha used Shadow Walk to move back quickly while firing his bow. However, before long, the Ents caught up to him, and Jaeha furrowed his brow.

Skitter

Skitter—

The Ents lunged at Jaeha, and he swung his bow at the ones that had closed in right before his eyes while pulling his body back. All the while, he kept firing arrows.

“Mana Shot.”

Jaeha used Mana Shot.

Thunk—

Finally, he was able to pierce through the Ents’ carapaces in a single strike. Just then, sensing danger, Jaeha dodged his body and fired an arrow. Then he blocked the attack of an Ent charging at him from the front with his bow.

Crack!

Hearing the sound of his bow shattering, Jaeha pulled his body back. Then he immediately exited the dungeon.

Episode 5

Having escaped the dungeon, Jaeha let out a sigh as he stared at his broken bow.

“It was worth 4,000 won.”

If he’d used Mana Shot from the start to thin their numbers, his weapon wouldn’t have broken.

“This is how you learn, I guess.”

Still, it wasn’t like he’d suffered any major wounds, so it was better to just think of it as experience. Jaeha treated his minor injuries using Half Recovery. After healing all his wounds, Jaeha hailed a taxi to head home, lost in thought.

“I think I need to farm a bunch of skills. Even if I can’t fight up close, I should be prepared for dangerous moments. I should pick up a few skills of that sort too…… And I need to buy a new weapon.”

Lost in thought, Jaeha turned on MuTube and started watching videos. As he skimmed through the recommendations, one video caught his eye.

‘[The Legendary Blacksmith, Ganjiang and Moye].’

Jaeha stared at the video for a moment, considering.

‘Making my own weapon wouldn’t be a bad idea. I could craft something that fits my hand better, and I could try out all sorts of forms.’

Saying that, Jaeha headed home. Once he arrived, he propped the broken bow in a corner and started watching the videos he’d saved.

[Metallurgy Acquired]

[Metallurgy]

[Rank: Ancient]

[Ganjiang and Moye’s Metallurgy]

[Mechanism: Total Ability × 10000]

[Proficiency: 45%]

“Hmm.”

The rank was the same as Divine Physician Hua Tuo’s Secret Art. But the numbers shown in the mechanism were far superior on this one.

Of course, since he didn’t know how it was used, he’d have to try it out. With that thought, Jaeha immediately activated the skill. A hum sounded, and a hammer that looked incredibly sturdy materialized in front of him.

Jaeha stared at it for a moment before grabbing the hammer. Then, a window floated up before him.

[Visualize the item you wish to create.]

Jaeha thought for a moment. If he was going to make something, he wanted it to be top-tier. He checked his status window.

[Na Jaeha]

[Traits: Ranged Dealer]

[LV: 9]

[Total Ability: 100]

[Skills: Power to Me on MuTube, Half Recovery, Divine Physician Hua Tuo’s Secret Art, Bow Mastery, Mana Shot, Marksmanship, Breath Control, Shadow Walk, Stealth, Shadow Eye, Metallurgy]

‘Of course it’s level 9. Such an awkward number.’

As Jaeha input his level, a window appeared.

[Insufficient materials and tools.]

Jaeha let out a sigh as the window appeared.

“Figures.”

After thinking for a moment, he used the skill again. This time, he checked to see what items he could craft.

[‘Shabby Bow’ craftable]

“So I just need to break that down and use it.”

Jaeha dismantled the broken bow and crafted a shabby bow.

[Shabby Bow]

[Rank: Common]

[Attack Power: 15]

“Not bad.”

At least it was a proper item, so he didn’t have to worry about it breaking right away. Besides, he needed something to use immediately, so this was more than enough.

“Materials I can just buy anyway, so that’s fine…… ‘Insufficient tools,’ huh.”

Jaeha dug through the skill for a moment and figured out what “tools” meant.

‘The hammer works, but I’ll need something like a Furnace. I’ll have to find a place. And gather materials too.’

Fortunately, most materials could be bought at the Auction House, so that wasn’t much of a problem. Things like Iron Ingots were easy to get too, so there was nothing to worry about.

“First I need to get the skills I’ll actually use.”

Since he could just rent a Blacksmith Shop if needed, Jaeha slowly started going through the videos he’d bookmarked.

After acquiring a great many skills, Jaeha checked their effects, learned the ones he could use, and discarded the rest as useless.

Not long after he started organizing his skills, Jaeha let out a sigh and muttered.

“Feels like I’ve been watching videos for almost two hours. And all I got was three skills. Still, three skills for that time investment isn’t bad efficiency.”

Muttering to himself, Jaeha began organizing the skills he’d acquired.

[Rapid Fire]

[Rank: Advanced]

[When using a bow or gun, allows fast loading and firing.]

[Proficiency: 100%]

[Triple Shot]

[Rank: Common]

[Fires three arrows simultaneously.]

[Mechanism: Total Ability × 10]

[Proficiency: 100%]

[High-Speed Volley]

[Rank: Rare]

[When activated, allows fast loading and attacking for a set duration.]

[Mechanism: Total Ability × 0.3 (M)]

‘Rapid Fire is a Passive Skill, so it’s always active. High-Speed Volley is a buff-type skill, so I need to keep an eye on it. Still, one use lasts about 30 minutes, so it’s pretty solid.’

He’d wanted to pick up some melee skills too, but proper skills weren’t easy to come by. Most of the hunters posting videos on MuTube were Mage or Warrior types—sword users or blade users.

That meant there were almost no melee skills worth using for Jaeha. Not to mention, finding a sword sturdy enough to work against monsters wasn’t easy either.

‘I’ll deal with the rest later.’

With that thought, Jaeha sorted out what he needed to do first, then immediately called Seungho.

<Yo.>

“Where are you?”

<Me? Home. Why?>

“Didn’t you go to work?”

<Nah. Took a day off.>

“Huh.”

<I’m quitting anyway, so I figured I’d take what time off I can and then leave. Had some drinks too. No hangover, though.>

“Perfect, then. Contact the blacksmith shop that makes hunter weapons for me.”

<What, already putting me to work?>

“You said you’d do it.”

<I figured I could coast through half of this, but that’s looking unlikely.>

“Get in touch with the blacksmith shop and arrange for me to borrow it for a bit.”

<Alright, got it. I’ll let you know once it’s ready.>

“Good.”

After hanging up, Jaeha had already laid out what needed to be done right now, so he immediately moved on to the next task.

* * *

THUD. THUD.

He headed to the building where he’d met the old man before, looking to procure dungeon herbs. The building was closed, and there were no phone numbers or anything posted around it, so all Jaeha could do was pound on the door blindly.

‘Nobody here?’

Deciding to wait a bit, he sat down in front of the building and browsed through elixirs he could make and sell using the Divine Physician Hua Tuo’s Secret Art.

He could make and sell what he’d made before, but those required too many ingredients. Not to mention they used expensive materials like songla.

So an elixir that could be made quickly at a reasonable cost and sold was ideal. As he scanned through the list, Jaeha found some suitable options.

“A stamina tonic, an internal injury remedy, and a wound salve, I guess.”

In terms of sales alone, the stamina tonic was the best. And if it was an item, there was even less to worry about regarding its effects. Thinking that, Jaeha checked the ingredients for each one.

‘Ah, so the rank changes in proportion to the ingredients used.’

Slowly reviewing the entries, Jaeha searched through the needed ingredients thoroughly, then organized the price ranges and sorted out which ones were worth making.

‘The internal injury remedy is expensive and probably won’t sell well anyway, so I’ll skip it. I’ll just make the stamina tonic and the wound salve to sell.’

Once he’d finished organizing things to a reasonable degree, Jaeha stood up. And as he got to his feet, someone approached him.