“Chiiik, I-I’m angry…!”

The brawny, muscular Orc collapsed as it trembled. At the same time, the chain mail the Orc had been wearing dropped. It was a pretty awesome-looking armor, but it wasn’t an item he could use— it was the proof that he got after defeating the Orc Thief Gang.

“Phew, the thief gang this time took quite a lot of time.”

Ark opened his stats window as he collected the proof.

Character Name

Ark

Race

Human

Alignment

Good +150

Fame

1,335

Level

85

Profession

Dark Walker

Title

Cat Knight, Caretaker of All, Jackson’s Hero

Health

1,695

Mana

1,295 (+100)

Spiritual Power

100

Strength

212 (+5)

Agility

252 (+17)

Stamina

322

Wisdom

31

Intelligence

250

Luck

42

Flexibility

21

Art of Communication

23

Affection

40 (+10)

Special Stat: Knowledge of Ancient Relics

53

Equipment Effects

Black Bear Mouse Leather Armor: Agility 2, Frost Resistance +20

Cat Paws: Attack Speed +10%, Agility +15, Critical Hit Rate +10%

Crystal Golem’s Head: Mana +100

Norad Boots: Movement Speed +10%, Evasion +5%

Adelaine’s Necklace: Defense +40, Affection +10

Resurrecting Spirit: Strength +5, Mana Recovery +5%

* All abilities will increase by 30% in the dark.

* You have the ability to hide in the darkness (15 minutes duration. Cancelled when you get into combat).

* Resistance Fear, Darkness, Blind, and Seduction spells is increased by 50%.

* You can bring out the true abilities from all types of tools.

“The level up speed is more or less okay…”

It had already been 2 weeks since he started bounty hunting. Since he spent five days training the Familiars when he first started, he had only invested 9 days into hunting. He had level up from 78 to 85, a total of 7 levels.

He had raised his level 10 times in just three days thanks to the event quest, but that was a special circumstance. It was impossible to level up even once a day with normal hunting, and for a level 80 character, it was hard to level up once in 2 days. It was because the monsters that showed up were much stronger, so it would take longer to fight and recover. One also had to return to the village after a certain amount of hunting. There was equipment repair, food procurement, and clearing the bag filled with japtem to take care of. And depending on one’s profession, an Archer needed to restock their arrows, and a Magician had to get the reagents used in magic.

Town – Hunting Ground – Town – Hunting Ground. This was the basic formula in all games. As a result, the time lost moving and reorganizing in the village was considerable. The higher the level you were and the the hunting ground was from town, the more of an obstacle it became to leveling up.

However, this formula didn’t apply to Ark. That was because after becoming a scrub, Sid was dragged in as his exclusive merchant.

Sid acted faithfully, as per the contract. He kept all the items Ark had scraped up, like a warehouse, then he took them to Giran when his bags were completely full to exchange them for items necessary for hunting or Gold. In exchange, Sid got 10% of the sale sum, but since it wasn’t money that came out of Ark’s pocket, it wasn’t a loss for him.

The terms were close to slavery, but Sid had no choice.

Anyway thanks to that Ark was able to hunt for 9 days and during that time he fought an average of 2 bandit groups a day.

In 9 days he wiped out 18 bandit groups. Then, it got to the point where word about Ark spread around the bandits, and they avoided him.

‘Tsk, if the Orc bandits didn’t run away, too, it would’ve been done an hour ago…’

Once the bandits run it gets really hard to find them again.

But in it’s own way there were benefits.

The bandits would run away and then lay an ambush for Ark, who had to fight them back using all of his skills. Due to this, many of his skills rose very quickly in proficiency.

Passive Skill

Sword-Hand Combat (Intermediate: 252/300) Sword mastery and hand to hand combat have been refined to increase overall attack power.

Survival Cooking (Advanced: 332/500) Unknown dishes can be created from ingredients obtained in nature.

Indomitable Will (Intermediate: 134/300) Attack power, recovery capabilities and critical rate increase near death.

Indomitable Body (Intermediate: 127/300) Defense, critical evasion, and recovery capability increase near death.

Foraging (Intermediate: 255/300) Ingredients can be gathered from nature.

Ingredient Identification (Intermediate: 264/300) Ingredient effects can be identified.

Horse Riding (Beginner: 3/100) The higher the level, the more skillfully horses can be handled.

Adrenaline (Beginner: 27/100) Reaction rate increases and fear state is released near death.

Counter Attack (Beginner: 88/100) Counterattack enemy attack with a critical strike.

Parry (Beginner 58/100) Block half of the weapon damage from enemy attack.

Active Skills

Nursing (Intermediate:234/300 Gives patients hope energy and courage. Mana cost:10

Spirit of the Cat (Advanced: 374/500) Mice and small monsters tremble in fear and receive a decrease in their attack, movement speed, and defence. Mana Cost: 120

Eyes of the Cat (intermediate: (203/300) Use sharp eyes to identify enemies. Mana cost:50

Magic Restoration (Intermediate: 239/300) restore an item to it’s original form. Mana Cost:10

Profession Skills

Dark Blade (Intermediate: 120/300) Assimilate attack with darkness and strike the enemy. Mana Cost: 100

Blade Storm (Beginner: 10/100) Sword shards create a vortex and tear apart the enemy. Mana Cost: 400

Summon Demon (Intermediate: 125/300) Summon up to three kinds of demon familiars. Spirit Power Cost: 100

Now, all of the skills he learned in the beginning had reached intermediate level.

The job skills, Dark Blade and Summon Demon, had even greater effects when they reached Intermediate Level.

Dark Blade critical hit damage went up from 150% to 180%, Summon Demon was reduced from 1 mana every second to 1 mana per 2 seconds. Additionally, there was the Resurrecting Magic Ring which increased mana regen.

Because of this, he could use his skills as he pleased even when he had his familiars out. And his Sword-Hand Combat which he used the most, but had the slowest growth rate, reached advanced level.

Ark wasn’t the only one to improve. Learning new strategies gave him a new excuse to feed the summons food. Therefore the summons now reached level 40.

‘Not bad!’

After Ark had verified the information he wore a satisfied smile.

Actually, he had still not gotten the clue or information for the quest, which was the reason he was hunting robbers. However, it wasn’t that big of a deal. As long as he kept hunting robbers he would eventually acquire the clue.

Ark peacefully thought about it. Even if he worried about it, the clue would not come any faster. The most important thing right now is to level up and raise his skills. And he was having fun hunting bounties one by one.

“Well, first let’s reorganize and continue hunting, shall we?”

“Oh, are you done now?”

When he walked out of the forest, Sid welcomed him.

After Ark passed him the items he got from the thief group and sat in front of the campfire, a message appeared.

– You have arrived at a campground.

50% faster health and mana regeneration. 50% decrease in the possibility of a monster attack.

This was a skill from Sid’s job, a skill from being a trader called the ‘campsite’ effect.

Once the thief group was spotted, there was nothing for Sid to do. Therefore, Sid would find a safe place and make a camp while waiting for Ark. But Sid wasn’t just playing around.

“You didn’t find the information you needed this time either?”

Sid asked without stopping his work.

Sid was salvaging items one by one with his merchant skill called ‘Item Decomposition’ while waiting for Ark.

He tanned the hide and then cut the leather. As for the equipment items, he cut the connecting parts and sorted them according to their type of material.

Although this takes a lot of time, when battle breaks out, Sid had nothing to do. Also, he would get more money this way than if he just sold them as is.

‘Yeah, still… this is taking longer than I thought it would”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Actually Sid how much debt have you paid so far?”

“I’ve paid 50 gold.”

“You’ve paid a lot so far.”

“Yes, my Japtem Selling Skill increased, so I’m now making a 15% profit. And when I have time, I made clothes, so my tailoring skill also rose. Maybe because of that, whenever I go to Giran the clothes I make sell.”

…Well, at least he hadn’t created a incur a bigger debt.

The hobbit merchant, Sid, was travelling the continent to trade not long ago. But now, he was sewing until his hands blistered, and dismantling items just to earn a few more coppers and silvers. It was a scene you couldn’t watch without tears.

However, Sid was quite a positive-minded user.

“It was hard to even pay the interest, but I am now also able to repay the debt, I can see the hope. It’s all thanks to Ark-nim.”

Sid, who was sitting on a tree trunk, was swinging and stamping on it with a satisfied expression.

‘Well, it’s all good if you are satisfied…’

“But where are we heading to next?”

“There’s a group of Kobold Rogues nearby. We should go there first.”

“I hope there’s a lot of material to make useful dyes.”

“There will be, since it’s a higher leveled forest compared to here.”

“Wow! That means we can create better clothes.” After saying this, Sid went back to sewing and started humming to himself.

“Now that our Health has been filled, let’s start moving.”

“Okay, right after I dismantle this last item.”

Dedric glanced at Sid with eyes filled with pity. Even before, the two weren’t on good terms. Dedric, who says detestable things to anybody except Ark, would call Sid a beggar midget. So whenever they had time, they were arguing each other. But even so, Dedric couldn’t help but pity Sid in this state.

“Really, I can’t see past my tears.”

It was then, while Dedric was shaking his head left and right., heavy footsteps suddenly approached and the nearby bushes shook.

“Dedric!” Ark shouted as he stood and jumped up.

Dedric quickly flew up into the air and looked around.

“It’s from 3 o’clock. Master, two Trolls!”

Ark, who checked the direction, went through the forest with Skull. The two Trolls showed up about 10 meters away. However, they weren’t approaching the campsite.

“Grrrrr, human… it’s humans… Let’s eat them!”

The person the Trolls were chasing while showing their teeth was a bobbed haired girl. A shoe was missing on one of her foot, and her clothes were torn here and there, as though she had been wandering the forest. The girl was full of wound, ran between the trees quickly.

‘She seems like a NPC, but… why in this forest?’

Boom!

Then, the club swung by the Troll hit a tree.

The girl, who was trying to hide behind a tree, fell due to the surprise. She was shaking like a leaf while holding her ankle she seemed to have sprained because of the surprise. As though her figure looked appetizing, the Troll raised its club while licking its lip.

“…!”

The girl covered her pale and terrified face with her two hands.

And at the moment, the club had been dropped…!

Booo-boooom!

With violent sounds, the Troll was pushed back a few steps

The girl lifted her head with a surprised expression.

A young man with a large back and black hair flowing in the wind was standing in front of her.

It was none other than the ‘Warrior of Justice,’ Ark!

Ark turned his head slightly and revealed a gentle smile.

“There’s no need to worry anymore. Stay back. I’ll be done with it right away, and I will be right back.”

Ah-ah, what a splendid phrase it was!

If it was a user, he wouldn’t have spared a glance, but Ark was always kind to NPCs. Of course that kind behavior was deliberate for the rewards that may come along afterwards.

“Come here, you Trolls harassing such a frail girl!”

Ark rushed toward the Trolls while saying such a cliched speech.

“Don’t bother me… Grrr!”

The Troll was angry at Ark for raining on his parade, and swung his club. However, Dedric came down like a thunderbolt on the Troll’s mug, and the Troll staggered and stepped back. Then, came the continuous critical strikes from Ark. Skull bit the staggering Troll’s ankle, and it fell like an old tree.

Taking not even a moment to catch his breath, the double critical chance triggered.

“Take this, Dark Blade!”

“Kwaaaaack!” The Troll shrieked and disappeared.

After taking care of one, the rest was no problem.

Under the combine assault of Dedric, Skull, and Ark from the 3 directions, they fell in panic and started to run away in rush. But after getting hit on the head with Skull thrown by Ark, it fell down.

Ark went over to the girl after grabbing the loot dropped from the Troll.

“Are you okay?”

The girl nodded with eyes filled with uneasiness.

Then, Ark vacantly stared the girl.

Since he rescued her there should be some reward, like a quest, so he waited for her to speak. But she just stared blankly at Ark.

‘What? There’s nothing?’

At that moment, the girl stood shakily, then fell down wrinkling her forehead.

Ark sighed after staring the girl a while.

Apparently, there was nothing to gain from the beggar like girl. However, Ark didn’t have such cold heart to leave an injured girl alone.

“Anyway, for now let’s go to my camp, it’s just close by.”

When Ark offered his shoulder, the girl blushed while relying on him.

“Ark! Huh? Who is that girl…?”

“She was being chased by a Troll.”

“Is that so?”

Sid, who was gazing at the girl while examining her, the girl suddenly flinched and stared back with an idiotic expression on her face. Although she was dirty, the girl was considerably pretty.

She looked like she was around 15 years old, yet Sid, who was a Hobbit, had to look up to her while bending his neck back completely because of how tall she was.

Ark had asked the girl to sit down and used the Nursing skill on her ankle. Nursing was not healing. Thus, it wasn’t fully healed but the swelling had greatly decreased.

When the girl nodded as an expression of thanks, Sid uselessly made a surprised expression. Then after searching in his bag, he took out a pair of leather shoes off.

“Looks like you don’t have shoes. This isn’t much, but please put them. Hehehe, Ark-nim, I’ll be taking this off from my pay so please don’t worry.”

“I don’t care that much but…”

“Oh, by the way, are you hungry?”

When the girl touched her belly, the witty Sid quickly handed her something to eat. Ark started to open his mouth after taking a moment to look at Sid strangely.

“Why were you wandering around at such place like this? Shouldn’t there be a village nearby?”

At that moment, the girl who stopped nibbling at her food and suddenly burst into tears.

Sid became perplexed, then shouted. “Ark-nim, she’s surprised because you asked her as if you were interrogating her!”

“Ah? What have I…”

“Apologize to her right now!”

Ark was confused by Sid’s behavior which changed dramatically after the appearance of the girl. The girl wiped away her tears, and wrote something on the ground with a tree branch.

– Help me!

* * *

“So… some bandits kidnapped your father and you barely escaped?”

The girl nodded her head in response to Ark’s question.

The girl’s name was Sarah. If Sarah didn’t say anything to Ark when he rescued her, it was because she was mute. And once she found her a little of her composure back in the campsite, she explained her situation by writing on the ground with a tree branch.

Her father’s job was Cartographer, and he was making maps of various regions while travelling the continent. And when he heard there was an undiscovered ruin nearby Giran, he went there to investigate. However, a rogue group had already settled on that territory.

As a Cartographer, he had a lot of techniques to avoid monsters thanks to his job’s characteristic of often travelling to dangerous regions. However, he couldn’t get away from the rogues’ tracking. Eventually, her father got caught by the rogues after he hid her, and the girl was heading to Giran in order to find help.

“Wahhhh, so that’s what happened. And then there were the Trolls…” Sid nodded his head with tears in his eyes.

– I’m begging you, please help me. It’s been four days since he got caught.

“Of course we must help! Right, Ark-nim?” Sid suddenly turned his head and looked at Ark.

Ark asked after looking at Sarah for a moment. “Where is the location?”

Then, Sarah scribbled on the ground again.

‘The Brown Rock Zone… It’s on the borderline of Giran region.’

Ark immediately opened the information window and checked the information on registered wanted criminals.

‘As I thought, there’s no information about the rogue group in the Brown Rock Zone’

Ark took all the wanted lists that were in Giran’s billboard. But he still had no clue regarding his quest although he had already clear 70% of the area. And the left ones were not said to be found near the Brown Rock Zone. Then, there’s only one answer : there was a rogue group other than the ones registered as wanted.

‘Right, how did I not think of this earlier? What I’m looking for is a rogue group related to a quest. I didn’t even think if they would be wanted or not.’

Ark finally understood his thinking process was wrong. The wanted rogue group will disappear if a user cleaned it up. There will be another rogue group created, but the new rogue group will be different from the annihilated rogue group. Maybe the rogue group Ark have been cleaning up were probably new rogue groups.

But the Heartsoul Bead had been stolen over a year ago.

‘In the New World, I can’t get clues from NPC without causal relationship. It means the rogue group who stole the Heartsoul Bead existed for over a year. Yet, they weren’t registered as wanted is because they didn’t have had any activity from them.’

It was a simple story when he thought about it.

There’s no way a rogue group that could be cleaned up by a headhunter at any time would hold a clue regarding a quest. It means Ark was cleaning up unrelated rogue groups almost for two days.

‘Maybe this is an opportunity. A hidden rogue group… there’s a high possibility. And more, no matter the form, it’s clearly a quest since it’s an NPC’s request. If it’s a wandering traveler, I can hardly expect a big reward, but there’s no reason to refuse.’

It was when Ark was diligently running his brain.

Since Ark did not respond for a while, Sid said with an angry voice. “Ark-nim, there’s no way you’ll ignore it, right?”