Yuhyeon, who had been trying to call Jinsung many times, frowned and muttered, “Oh, why is he not

taking the call? He has to come to classes!”

It was the first day of the semester.

Yuhyeon had been waiting for Jinsung, but he couldn’t wait anymore. He got up while grumbling and

picking his books. His friend Saewon saw that and asked, “Yuhyeon, what’s wrong? Are you waiting

for someone?”

Sewon and Yuhyeon were both freshmen, but Sweon was a year older than Yuhyeon.

“Oh! Hello, Sewon.”

“Hey. I was about to go to the next class. Why are you not going?”

“Jinsung isn’t here. I haven’t been able to contact him for days…”

Sweon smiled, “Hey, don’t worry too much. He must be still sleeping. This week is just to change

courses, so it doesn’t matter much if he is absent.”

Yuhyeon nodded, that was right, “Yes, but… I am worried about Jinsung’s life?”

“What? Worried about his life?”

Yuhyeon shook his head and spoke, “Jinsung could have passed out in his capsule by now. I checked

yesterday and he had been playing for almost 50 hours.”

Sewon was surprised, “Kailan is fun, but… playing for 50 hours straight? Yuhyeon, you sure you

checked right?”

“No, I clearly saw the red 50 hours mark.”

“Ha…”

Virtual games like Kailan that were played by logging in with a capsule could not be played while

doing other things like PC games.

Even if a user fell asleep while playing, he would be automatically logged out by the system.

The system measured the player’s biorhythm and, if the user was sleeping, he would be logged out.

That was enforced by the law for the players’ health.

In conclusion, if Ian’s playing time was 50 hours, it meant that he had been playing nonstop for 50

hours.

“Well, I guess he will take care of himself. I should call him again after classes.”

Sewon looked confused, “Yeah… you have a good reason to be worried.”

They packed their things and talked as they walked to the classroom, “Sewon, have you raised your

level during the vacation?”

Sewon was a late user who started playing after the grand update.

He was a Dark Sorcerer.

“Haha! I played really hard during the summer. I am Lv. 65 now.” Sewon proudly said this while

Yuhyeon was slightly surprised.

‘Oh, he is gaining levels faster than I thought. Is it because he is a Dark Sorcerer?’

The highest level of a Dark Sorcerer player officially known to the community was about Lv. 81. There

were even rumors that there might be a user who was about to reach Lv. 90 among the unknown

users.

However, the highest-level users were all game nerds who spent all their time playing and had great

talents, so Sewon’s Lv. 65 was quite impressive as well.

“Sewon, contact me when you log in in the evening. I will let you join my guild.”

Sewon brightened at hearing this, “Oh, really? But I thought your guild’s level requirement is 70. I

have been hunting hard to reach that level.”

Yuhyeon smiled, “Yes. The required level is 70… but judging from the speed at which you are gaining

levels, I think you will reach it soon. Plus, you are a Dark Sorcerer. That’s a new class so the

members won’t object.”

New class users were rarer than the pre-existing classes, so the other guilds also tended to lower the

level requirement.

There was no reason to not accept a user whose level was only 5 lower.

With Yuhyeon’s permission, Sewon’s face brighten up, “Ha! That’s great, I am finally joining a guild

that has a base!”

Being a member of a guild that owned a base had great benefits.

Users could buy supplies at a much lower price at the base than in other villages and NPCs at the

base would offer many good quests.

Now, most of the guilds’ bases including the Lotus Guild’s were at ‘Hamlet’. Starting from the Hamlet

rank base, guild members could own a house in the base.

Buffs of the housing system also helped you hunting by a lot, so the high ranked guilds with bases got

stronger and stronger.

‘It was with great luck that we got a base during the expedition to the North.’

Yuhyeon talked about Kailan with Sewon. Then, he suddenly got curious about Jinsung’s level.

‘Anyway, what is his level now?’

Jinsung kept all his information closed including his level, so even Yuhyeon didn’t know his exact

level.

‘When I asked him the last time, he was at about Lv. 80…’

Yuhyeon recalled Jinsung slaughtering monsters near the base.

‘As a Guild Master, that’s great, but he needs to rest… why has he been working so hard for weeks?

He needs to take care of his real health…’

Jinsung had always played while staying physically healthy so Yuhyeon couldn’t understand his latest

change.

As Yuhyeon didn’t know about Jinsung’s bet, that was only natural.

…

“Ly, lure them in this direction! Big Guy, stand by and use Abyss Hole to bind them.”

In the deep parts of the North Continent, in a dungeon, Ian had been hunting for 3 days there without

getting out.

He repeatedly cleared all the levels, ending with the lowest. Then, went back to the highest level to kill

all monsters.

The Lava Drake King he had gotten from the guardian of lava at the Scorching Land was great at

inflicting wide-range damage, which was what Ian had always wanted.

Its name was ‘Rake’.

Ian got that from ‘Drake’.

Bukbuk protested because the new friend’s name was so cool compared to his, but it gave up after

Ian gave it a meatball.

“Rake, Breath!”

With that, Rake, who had been waiting for the order in a corner, inhaled deeply.

And…

Breath of Lava, that was a lot like a vortex of lava, swooped on dozens of monsters that were stuck

because of Big Guy’s Abyss Hole.

Kiaaaak-!

The Lv. 90s Snow Gargoyles turned grey and melted.

The Gargoyles’ stats were concentrated on Speed, so their Health was very low.

In addition, they were an Ice type monsters, so they were vulnerable to the Lava Drake’s Breath.

Nevertheless, it was a grand spectacle.

Next, as if ending everything, the Abyss Hole’s charging ended and it exploded with huge sound.

Kwaaaang-!

The hunting the pack was awesome enough to make anyone thrilled.

Ian gave another order, “Ly, get those who are running away.”

Growl- Growl-

Gargoyles were not human-type monsters, but they had quite intelligent AIs, so they tended to run

away quickly when things were bad.

However, Ly quickly chased them and bit the running Gargoyles while Rake chased the Gargoyles

that flew up to get away from Ly.

Usually, a Drake could not fly faster than the small and nimble Gargoyles, but they had little Health left

and they had been Paralyzed by Ian’s Lightening Spheres. Rake could easily catch up with them.

Rake got near a Gargoyle and swung its giant tail.

The Gargoyle was hit by the tail. It then fell to the ground.

Bam-

After receiving the damage from the fall, it turned grey.

With that, a level-up system message that Ian had been eager to see came up.

“Yes!”

Ian cheered, ‘Finally, Lv. 90!’

The level-up itself was meaningful, but the Lv. 90 meant even more.

It was an important level where Ian would be getting special class skills.

‘Please, give me a skill that can help me gaining levels!’

He had 3 levels left until Lv. 93.

Ian knew that today was the first day of the semester.

However, as it was the changing courses week and the class of the professor was still far away, he

had about 10 days left.

Nevertheless, that was not enough time, even if Ian used it to the maximum.

Ian hoped earnestly for skills that could help him hunt faster.

‘I don’t even wish for something as good as Exploding Potential, please, just something helpful…’

Ian had gotten Exploding Potential at Lv. 60, but he thought it was almost as good as the best among

buff skills.

Ian had always focused on Training Skill, so his class skills were focused on Potential. That is why he

could get that great skill at a relatively low level.

Ian waited for his new skills, half worried and half excited. Then, System messages came up.

Ian got curious at seeing the names of the skills.

‘What?’

With those names, he couldn’t really guess the type of skills they were.

Ian opened his skills window to check the information about his new skills.

‘Let’s see the Link skill first…’

[Link]

Category: Active Skill

Skill Level: Lv. 0

Proficiency: 0%

Cooldown Time: 180 minutes

Lasting Time: Until changing entities to link

Usage Limit: Can only be used between user and pets in a 10m range. The Link will not be broken

when they get farther than 10m from each other, but the effect will not be applied during that time.

(Cannot be used on other user or other user’s pets.)

Link two entities and make them share the damage they receive.

The entity who was hit receives 70% of the damage, and the other 30% is given to the Linked entity.

When using the skill for the first time, the two Linked entities’ Health will be balanced.

As its Proficiency rises, cooldown time decreases and the range of the Link gets bigger.