Chapter 26

Chapter 26 . Ahimbree (1)

[Hyrkan]

– Level: 20

– Class: Magician

– Title: 5

– Stats: Strength (116) / Stamina (28) / Intelligence (70) / Magic Power (71)

With the death of the Mud Troll, Hyrkan leveled up . After turning off the camera feature, he immediately checked his stats using his watch . Although he should have felt happy watching the numbers richer than before, his face didn’t say so .

Hyrkan didn’t stare at his stats for too long . He turned it off soon after and turned to the Skeleton Warriors that had just finished battling . The Skeleton Warriors were walking around, picking up pieces of their body that had fallen on the ground during a fight, and fitting them inside their bodies . Hyrkan gestured his finger toward himself, the ‘COME HERE!’ type of gesture .

However, the Skeleton Warriors did not react to this gesture . Hyrkan gestured again, this time pointing to the ground near his feet . The Skeleton Warriors stared at Hyrkan .

In the end, Hyrkan raised his voice .

“COME HERE! AROUND ME, NOW!”

Only then did the Skeleton Warriors quickly go near Hyrkan . As soon as they gathered, Hyrkan squatted down and drew five dots on the dirt .

“This is the Mud Troll we just killed . That’s you, that’s you, that’s you, and that’s me . ”

Then, Hyrkan began to draw a line using the dots as a reference .

“Look here . If you approach the enemy from the back like this, obviously he’s going to react and turn around . Then what should the left and right flanks do? Hm? If the enemy turns to the right, the one on the left can attack; if the enemy turns to the left, the one on the right can attack . Move with that in mind!”

Hyrkan explained incessantly like a commander briefing the soldiers on his strategy .

The explanation didn’t end there . Hyrkan jumped up from the ground, then stretched his hands out towards one skeleton’s head .

Whish!

The Skeleton Warrior quickly dodged the attack . Because of Hyrkan’s training, they were always prepared to dodge attacks of all kinds .

Of course, now wasn’t one of those training .

“Oh, you dodged? Fine, that’s good . But why did you jump to dodge before? Do you have wings? Can you turn mid-air? You can’t, so why jump? Are you a frog?”

At Hyrkan’s words, the Skeleton Warriors still stared blankly at Hyrkan .

In truth, what Hyrkan was doing now was a waste of time . The Skeleton Warriors couldn’t understand strategies like this . Their Combat AI allowed them to gain experience only through battles, not through speech . Hyrkan knew this as well .

The reason he was doing so knowing this was as a form of self-reflection . He was explaining to himself . What went wrong and what needed work . Such self-reflections of his were rather long . Rambling on about this and that, Hyrkan graded his battle .

‘There’s just so much to fix . I wouldn’t even give it a 60 out of a 100 . ’

60 out of 100 .

That was all Hyrkan could give to the battle just now .

Of course, Hyrkan wasn’t discouraged from this . He left his self-reflections as self-reflections and moved on .

‘At least, I can praise myself for hitting level 20 12 hours earlier than I thought . ’

He had reached level 20, his top priority goal . Plus, he finished sooner than he expected!

He had created the result .

‘With this, the advertisement’s taken care of . ’

No one would doubt someone who gave results .

At the very least, people would still be judging Hyrkan’s skill . During this pending status time, Hyrkan planned to control his pace .

Although it was important to focus on leveling up, there were many more harvests to be had in Warlord .

‘Alright, let’s head to Bangtz Castle . ’

Now was the time to harvest them .

★★★

When the high walls of Bangtz Castle entered his vision…

“Slot On . ”

Hyrkan changed his items .

His ugly leather clothes and unfashionable magician’s hat turned to the typical fashion of the Subjugation Association’s default clothing .

‘The shit I do because of this…’

In truth, people rarely changed their item slots just for the sake of fashion . The only exception were guild uniforms . In the first place, Slot Change had a cooldown time, and players were limited to just 3 . As such, it was exceedingly inefficient to fill up one slot just for fashion .

Besides, Hyrkan was someone who had little to do with fashion . He would easily believe the word started with P .

However, not even Hyrkan would dare to wear such leather fashion in a place full of people . He may have held it in if it was just the leather pants, but he couldn’t possibly do so with both his leather top and magician’s hat . Even Hyrkan found himself disgusting .

‘Thank god I have a hahoe mask covering my face . Otherwise… uhew . ’

In reality, his fashion helped his views and comments grow . Although most comments made fun of his ridiculous outfit, any comment was a positive sign for him .

After switching his clothes, Hyrkan walked past Bangtz Castle’s wide, open gate .

Immediately after he stepped past the castle gate, a crowd of guild recruiters surrounded Hyrkan .

“Hey, why not join our guild instead of being alone? We provide you with items and hunting support . ”

“I’m surprised you made it this far in that . You won’t be so lucky next time, so why not join our guild? You’re going to die if you walk around alone . ”

“You have to pay to get into our guild, but it’s well worth with the items we’ll provide you with . Come to our guild!”

“No, come to mine!”

It was incredibly annoying . Once Hyrkan snapped his hand out of one, another grabbed his wrist and asked him to join his guild .

Although most players received similar treatment, it was much more intense for Hyrkan .

‘What, do I have ‘pushover’ written on my face? Why does this always happen to me?’

Hyrkan was used to such treatment, but it always left him with an unpleasant feeling .

In VR games, looks and physique were unimportant . Being treated so poorly with that being the case… in a way, it was truly a talent .

In any case, by the time Hyrkan arrived at the Magician Class Tower, his once happy expression had turned sour .

‘If only it were the old me… they would all be in the grave by now . ’

Grumble grumble .

Like chewing gum, Hyrkan kept complaining to himself . The reason he came to the Class Tower was evident .

Free skill!

In Warlord, players received a free Normal-rank skill every 10 levels . In Hyrkan’s case, received the Skeleton Fragment at level 1 and Demon Curse at level 10 . It was the standard necromancer skill tree . Of course, the skill he needed to get at level 20 was decided as well .

Bone Armor .

It was a level 20 skill that required the Skeleton Fragment skill of at least E rank to learn . It was an all-purpose skill that could be used on both himself and his Skeleton Warriors .

Most importantly, it was a necessary skill to learn for his future . Skeleton Fragment at level 1, Bone Armor at level 20, and Skeleton Magician at level 30 . Only after those skills became a certain rank could Golem Summoning be learned at level 40 .

‘I’ll have to buy curse magic through skill books…’

As such, Hyrkan could only obtain curse magic trough skill books .

However, curse magic was widespread to the point a separate class of curse magicians existed . As such, skill books were immensely costly .

‘Tsk . Money is the best alright . ’

Thanks to his recent investments, Hyrkan had to count his food cost in 100 won units . Buying skill books were simply impossible for Hyrkan .

Hyrkan shook his head .

★★★

[You obtained the Bone Armor skill . ]

After getting Bone Armor, Hyrkan immediately headed to Bangtz Castle’s Subjugation Association Branch .

When he arrived, guild recruiters began to irritate Hyrkan as if it was the most natural thing to do .

This time, however, Hyrkan face remained unchanged . He maintained his serious expression until he stepped inside the Subjugation Association Branch .

‘The once in a lifetime opportunity is here . ’

This matter was much more important than the free skill .

‘I have to form a relationship with Ahimbree . ’

It was important to obtain a skill book from Ahimbree, but Hyrkan didn’t want to end their relationship there . He wanted to receive further quests from Ahimbree .

Warlord’s NPCs were passive . Before players asked them directly, NPCs would rarely seek out players for help . If Hyrkan wanted something from Ahimbree, he had to understand what Ahimbree wanted and dig into it . He had to understand the meaning of each and every word he spoke .

It was something Hyrkan wasn’t confident about . Although Hyrkan was one hell of a fighter, he was less than average in the art of conversation . If Warlord were a game like reality and NPCs were shrewd like humans, Hyrkan would have a huge problem on his hands .

‘Alright . ’

After resolving himself, Hyrkan waited for his turn at the Subjugation Association’s counter .

“Would anyone like to join a level 25 Rare quest?”

“We’re looking for a magician to quest with!”

As always, the Subjugation Association had a market-like atmosphere . When his turn came in this disorderly place, Hyrkan spoke to the NPC at the counter .

“I came here on Sir Botan’s recommendation . He told me to show you this letter . ”

The NPC smiled in response .

“Please go up to the 7th floor . ”

The situation progressed in a breeze . As soon as Hyrkan was told to do so, he headed to the staircase to head to the 7th floor . In front of the staircase leading up were NPCs standing guard . Hyrkan showed them Hotan’s recommendation letter, and they immediately made way .

Then, when Hyrkan was about to head up .

“Huh? Why are you blocking me?”

“We need an authentication . ”

“Authentication? Didn’t he just pass by? What authentication?”

“That man is my friend . We’re together . ”

It became loud where Hyrkan passed by . The few players that were tailing Hyrkan were stopped by the NPCs .

As soon as Hyrkan heard their voices, he knit his brows .

‘There are hyenas no matter where you go . ’

It wasn’t a particularly nice sound . If other players seemed to be doing something special, these hyena-like players tailed them and tried to steal it from them . It went without saying that their sound wasn’t pleasant to anyone .

When their plans went awry, these people didn’t hesitate to PK . They were sensitive to the smell of profit, and they didn’t hesitate to turn to violence and ill-mannered play to get their ways .

‘Guys like those are the most dangerous . ’

Leaving behind the Hyenas’ cries, Hyrkan headed up to the 7th floor . A hallway, filled with several doors, appeared in front of him . As he passed by each door, Hyrkan read the words written on the door .

‘Ahimbree!’

Once he found the word he was looking for, he stopped and knocked on the door .

Knock, knock, screech!

As soon as Hyrkan knocked, the door opened, and a 360 square feet office met his gaze .

‘What a mess . ’

In what couldn’t be called a large office, numerous books and documents were littered around the floor . Like Hyrkan described, the room was a total mess, going past the point of just being cramped .

To exaggerate a little, there was only enough space for a single person to pass through, and at the end of that space was a desk and a bearded man seemingly in his mid-40s . The man was staring at Hyrkan, looking past the glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose .

Hyrkan immediately bent down on his waist and introduced himself .

“My name is Hyrkan . ”

‘I can’t believe I’m meeting THE Ahimbree . ’

Ahimbree .

He was someone Hyrkan had only seen in videos . That was how hard it was to see him .

It wasn’t possible to film NPCs in private spaces like the room Hyrkan was currently in . As such, only when Ahimbree made a public appearance could players have the chance to see his face . However, he was an incredible expert incomparable to ordinary players . He rarely came out to the public . Simply put, if he ever came out, he would solve whatever problem he needed to by himself . There was nothing for players to do .

“I heard you’re here on Hotan’s recommendation . ”

When Hyrkan finished his greeting and stood back up, the conversation began .

“Yes . ”

Hyrkan walked up to him and handed him the recommendation letter . After reading the letter, Ahimbree stored it in his desk drawer .

“Looks like you’re quite skilled . I know Hotan’s standards are rather high . ”

“He only favored me a little . ”

“Just because Hotan favored you, there’s no reason for me to do the same, don’t you agree?”

As soon as Ahimbree asked,

“Of course . ”

Hyrkan nodded his head and smoothly continued the conversation .

“If you just give me a chance, I will prove to you my skill and potential . ”

Hyrkan spoke very straightforwardly . If he acted this way in the real world, he would receive suspicious glares first and foremost .

However, to Warlord’s NPCs, such to-the-point straightforwardness worked . Otherwise, one’s data would remain in the NPC’s database for a few hours, then get erased . That’s how difficult it was to establish a relationship with NPCs . Having played Warlord for so long, Hyrkan knew this better than anybody else .

Of course, Hyrkan’s actions worked .

As he stared at Hyrkan, Ahimbree made a devilish smile, one clear enough to be seen through his shaggy beard .

“My standards are incomparably higher compared to Hotan’s . ”

“If I cannot meet your expectations, I can only blame myself . ”

“The smell of a black magician is heavy on you . ”

With that, Ahimbree knocked on his desk two times . Then, a book rose up from the pile of books and flew towards Hyrkan like a butterfly . Hyrkan grabbed the book and examined its cover .

[Madness Helm]

Hyrkan tilted his head .

‘What’s this?’

He had never heard of the name before . It wasn’t anywhere in the list of skills provided by Helgen .

However, Hyrkan didn’t have too much time to ponder .

“That is a present from Hotan . That will be the end of that . ”

[The quest, ‘Ahimbree’s Teachings’, has been completed . ]

“Now begins my talk . I am only looking for one type of people right now, and that is someone to fight against the Power of Corruption . ”

[The quest, ‘Nested Egg’, begins . ]

The successive sound of alerts caused Hyrkan to clench his fist inside his mind .

‘This is what I love about Warlord . It doesn’t throw any underhanded tricks at you . ”

However, Hyrkan’s happiness did not last long .

“You only have one chance . If you can’t pass this test, it will be difficult for you to ever meet me again . By the way, of the ones who have come to see me on Hotan’s recommendations, only 19 have passed my test . ”

‘Huh?’

Ahimbree’s statement meant 19 others had passed the test ahead of him . Also, although 19 had passed his test, at least twice that number should have tried for the test .

‘Damn . ’

There was no way Hyrkan wouldn’t know what this meant .

‘Looks like I’ll be stepping on my tail . ’