Chapter 11 : Dancing with the Skeletons (4)
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nChapter 11 : Dancing with the Skeletons (4).
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nDancing with the Skeletons (4)
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nWoong!
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nWhen An Jaehyun returned to the real world, he was greeted by the V-Gear’s cooling sound.
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nShutting down the system. Please hold.
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nThe alert came after the cooling sound. An Jaehyun spat out the mouthpiece he was biting down on, and he heard the V-Gear unlock with a clunk. An Jaehyun then took off the heavy V-Gear and the thick gloves. He was covered in sweat as he lay on the bed with his running shirt and underwear. It wasn’t simply because of the VR game. His one-room itself was scorching. The indoor temperature was reaching 28.5 degrees Celsius (Editor note: about 83 degrees Fahrenheit), unbefitting of January 3rd.
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nAn Jaehyun swept back his sweat-covered hair with his hands.
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n‘The heating bill’s going to kill me.’
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nIt wasn’t that his heater broke or that he made a mistake. He had raised the temperature intentionally. Playing Warlord for a long time, he found that he could perform best between 27 and 29 degrees. This was important. If his physical body’s condition fell, his in-game condition fell as well. If it remained severe, the Forced Exit System would activate. Normally it would be fine to adjust game play according to the physical body’s condition, but in critical situations and raids, winning or losing depended on how well one could play at their best condition.
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n‘The heating bill’s going to cost several hundred thousand, and if I add the loan interest and monthly game-cost, I’m going to be sucked dry.’
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nWarlord was a money-eating game.
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nIt wasn’t easy to make a living with such a game. An Jaehyun let out a sigh. He hadn’t planned on logging out of the game just yet, but he had a reason for doing so.
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n‘This isn’t the necromancer I knew.’
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nIt was to confirm.
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nHe used his Skeleton Warrior in battle, and the more he did, the more he was disappointed. Eventually, the disappointment turned into a sense of danger. The problem wasn’t just that it didn’t know how to fight.
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nAn Jaehyun wasn’t stupid. He had watched necromancers’ battle videos. On January 1st, after he returned to the past, went to the private loaners, borrowed money, and bought the V-Gear at the Peach Store, he had taken some time to watch various necromancers training. He even researched their training method.
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nHowever, he couldn’t find any information on why his Skeleton Warrior was so stupid.
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nThe Skeleton Warriors in the videos he saw all fought pretty well. They properly defended with the shields they were holding, and they counterattacked with their swords or spears after defending. 10 Skeleton Warriors lined up and advancing looked quite cool.
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n‘Why is my skeleton so **?’
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nAn Jaehyun was the type to face things head-on and learn rather than theorize.
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nBut now wasn’t the time to face anything head-on.
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nIf he really wasn’t feeling it, he had to start over from the beginning. He didn’t have much time. He had to show results within 3 months; otherwise, he would have to waste time paying off his debt at a workshop.
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n‘There’s no other choice.’
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nThere was only one thing he could do, pay money to buy information and training method.
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n‘I’ll have to pay for it.’
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nWarlord made money. It only made sense that important money-making information was expensive.
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nIt wasn’t just expensive. Information that made money or hunting strategies went for millions of wons. It was the same for information on character training. Such a thing didn’t come up on the videos either. Some cream of the crop information was only passed through 1 on 1 lessons. Lessons ranged from as little as 100 thousand wons to several million.
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nInformation may not seem so important, but Warlord wasn’t just a mouse and keyboard game. Any information that allowed one to make money or fix their errors could go for a lifetime.
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nApproaching this information was easy.
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nThere were high-level players that released videos for free. One just had to contact them through the email.
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nHowever, since An Jaehyun didn’t have much money to spare, he hesitated. He never thought he needed to buy information for something as basic as Skeleton Underlings. He wanted to think about it after hitting level 10 in the Training Dungeon, but it seemed that he was too naïve.
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n‘Well, if I’m going to do this…’
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nAn Jaehyun thought of his bank account. He didn’t have much left from everything he had to buy; furthermore, the amount left was what he had to work with for the next 3 months. It wasn’t an easy decision to spend a large sum now, but he knew he had no other choice.
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n‘might as well do it well.’
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n★★★
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nIt had been 11 months since the launch of Warlord. The highest level player was the level 85 player Sulwoo, titled First One. The current Top 100 Level Ranking ranged from level 79 to Sulwoo’s 85.
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nHowever, it wouldn’t be wrong to introduce oneself as a Ranker if one’s level went above 70. If one’s level just went over 60, one could call oneself a top level player. The time they spent in the virtual world was no less than the time they spent in the real world.
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nHelgen. He was a necromancer who had reached level 61 in such an environment. He was most likely the current highest leveled necromancer, and his YouTube channel had over 300,000 subscribers. From his free-video ads and paid-video revenues, he made over ten million won every month.
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nHis side job was coaching. There wasn’t much information about the necromancer class, making his know-hows extremely popular.
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nHis know-how lessons were split into stages, and the lowest of them was a million won. Earning so much for a lesson video may seem like a con, but the demand was high. People who played necromancer weren’t in the right mind in the first place. Plus, he didn’t just send a lesson video. He also gave feedback on any question one might have. He even met some buyers in-game and helped them out. This was big. Some people paid hundreds of thousands of won just to see female VJs act cutesy on stream.
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nAn Jaehyun paid for this reason.
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nBecause of the recent rise in won-to-dollar conversion rate, he paid close to 1.1 million won.
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nHe immediately received a video from Helgen. His video contained various, detailed tips vital for necromancers. An Jaehyun first watched the Skeleton Fragment skill part from the various summoning magic available.
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n– This part is on the Skeleton Fragment skill.
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nIn the video was a man wearing a huge, snakeskin robe. Behind him stood twelve skeletons at attention.
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n– Skeletons have excellent Combat AI. At the same time, they have excellent learning ability.
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n“Excellent my ass.”
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nAn Jaehyun commented while watching the video with a stern, serious expression.
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n– In the beginning, if you summon a Skeleton Warrior and order it to attack, my words may sound like a lie.
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nSnap!
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nAlong with those words, Helgen snapped his finger once. Then, the Skeleton Warriors behind him held their shields up front and held themselves in a defensive stance. Because their boney bodies weren’t big, their bodies were perfectly hidden behind the shields.
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n– The problem is that although they have high intelligence, they have little knowledge. Another problem is that battle itself is a very complicated thing. If someone were to tell you to watch an MMA match and write an essay on all of the moves, you would be hard pressed to do so. It’s the same with skeletons. If you tell them to do something so complicated when they’ve never experienced it, they would never understand how. That’s why there is a Defense Mode and an Attack Mode.
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nAt this part, An Jaehyun let out a realization.
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n‘I see.’
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nThe explanation continued.
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n– It is important to train them in their Defense Mode first. Defense Mode isn’t hard at all. The skeletons just have to use shields to block their opponents’ attacks. It lessens the damage done to the player.
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nAn Jaehyun understood.
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n‘Defense is easy to learn, and if you can defend well, you can more easily read your opponents.’
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nThere was no way a master like An Jaehyun wouldn’t know the importance of defense.
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nEven the brainless Skeleton Warrior should be able to learn how to defend.
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nPlus, once you’re able to defend, you can read the enemy’s next move. Opponents react to how one defends. They might try to pierce directly through the defense, or they might try to bypass it. They might even choose not to attack and wait. Of these 3, the defender only had to deal with 2 of them. If the opponent tried to pierce through the defense, the defender had to endure it. If the opponent tried to bypass the defense, the defender had to stop him from doing so.
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nIf the opponent managed to pierce through, that’s that.
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nBut if the defender managed to hold out successfully, there was a chance for a counterattack. It may not be easy to succeed in counterattacking, but it wasn’t a hard thing to do. It was simple, yet difficult.
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nAs An Jaehyun was thinking this, Helgen began to command his Skeleton Warriors for a demonstration. He showed himself directing his Skeleton Warriors hunt a monster. After they had blocked the monster with their shields, they used the opening to pierce through the monster with their spears. Their form of raising their shields again showed absolute discipline.
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n-Through trial and error in battles, the Skeleton Warriors grow quickly. By the time you get to level 20, they should be able to fight better than most players. Then, you’ll realize what excellent AI they possess.
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nDefend first, attack after.
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nThat was Helgen’s know-how for handling Skeleton Warriors. It wasn’t anything hard once one knew it, but before one heard it, it was hard to understand.
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nHelgen did his money’s worth. He went on to explain the best way to enhance Skeleton Warriors’ Combat AI. What monsters to fight with, what level difference was best, what monsters were best for creating Skeleton Warrior cores, etc. An Jaehyun truly felt his money was well spent.
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n‘He’s good. It’s worth the money.’
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nThere was a reason Helgen was a good necromancer.
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nConsumers didn’t spend money on content they would lose money on. Conversely, if it was worth the money, they didn’t hesitate to splurge.
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n‘Why was someone like this unpopular?’
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nAn Jaehyun was also curious.
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nAt this point, even if not one of the top Rankers, a level 60 necromancer should be famous to a certain degree. But why was a player like this not in An Jaehyun’s memories? If he was at least decent, An Jaehyun should have remembered him.
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nThere were two possibilities.
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nFirst was that he quit Warlord. The second was that he reached a limit.
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n‘Warlord isn’t a game you can quit because you want to. Not unless you run into an unjust problem.’
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nThis was the main point.
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nHelgen’s method wasn’t bad. It was both logical and effective. Defend first, attack after. With this method, he trained his skeletons to be soldiers.
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n‘But this is only effective on small fries.’
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nThere was a huge flaw in this system. Defend first meant one had to give the opponent the first attack. It was fine versus weaker monsters. However, it was a different story for large-type monsters that were above one’s level and even had a fierce spec. There was a high chance the skeletons wouldn’t be able to endure that first hit.
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n‘Rich Lich covered this problem with money.’
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nBy pouring money into the game, Rich Lich raised his Skeleton Warriors’ specs to an unprecedented level. It was something no one else could do.
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nIn other words!
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n‘This is not the way to go.’
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nWith Helgen’s style, he would only remain an ordinary necromancer. It wasn’t the path for An Jaehyun.
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nBut An Jaehyun wasn’t disappointed. In fact, this matter gave him a certain confidence.
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n‘They aren’t stupid.’
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nWhat An Jaehyun was most worried about was that his Skeleton Warrior’s Combat AI was lower than his expectation. Thanks to Helgen, he learned that it wasn’t that Skeleton Warriors lacked intelligence, but that they lacked knowledge.
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nThey were like blank slates, ready to absorb any knowledge.
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n‘Absorb…’
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nAn Jaehyun stood up. He grabbed a mouth full of glucose candy, then put on his V-Gear.
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n‘Let’s do some dancing.’
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n★★★
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nThwack!
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nWith a harsh, resounding sound, the Skeleton Warrior’s head flew off. It was flailing its arms around to regain balance when Hyrkan sent a low kick to its knee.
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nThud!
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nWith another resounding sound, the Skeleton Warrior fell on the ground as Hyrkan yelled towards the Skeleton Warrior.
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n“Get up!”
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nAt his words, the Skeleton Warrior got up and picked his head up before plopping it back on his head.
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nThe skeleton’s eyes, made up of blue flames, were shaped into Xs, making it look rather cute.
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nBut Hyrkan did not laugh looking at its state. He didn’t sneer or scoff at it either. As soon as its eyes returned to normal, Hyrkan sent another punch to its head. This time, the Skeleton Warrior tilted its head to the side, avoiding the punch.
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nThwack!
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nBut when Hyrkan bent his elbow, it met with the Skeleton Warrior’s head. Its head was shaken up, and during the time the Skeleton Warrior stood dazed, Hyrkan swiped his leg at its ankle. The Skeleton Warrior’s body became parallel to the ground before it fell with a thud.
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nRattle rattle!
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nThe sound of bones hitting each other resounded out from its body.
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nHyrkan yelled at such Skeleton Warrior.
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n“If you get hit, don’t just stand there! Move! Be wary and continue dodging!”
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nThe Skeleton Warrior gave no reply; instead, it just stared blankly at Hyrkan.
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nIn reality, this was to be expected. Skeleton Warriors couldn’t attack their master. In other words, Hyrkan’s Skeleton Warrior couldn’t counterattack to any of Hyrkan’s attacks.
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nHyrkan knew this as well. All he wanted was for it to dodge his attacks.
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n‘The defend first, attack second method won’t work in the long-run, when you start fighting proper monsters.’
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nDefend first, attack second did not work.
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nThen?
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n‘Dodge first, attack second is the answer.’
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nThe best way was to evade the first attack. Dodge instead of being hit. Dodging was also a way of defense, but it was totally different from blocking.
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nIf this failed?
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n‘If this fails, I’ll quit the necromancer class and restart as a swordsman. It’s a waste of time and money, but it’s better than throwing away my second chance.’
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nGive up when needed.
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nWhat won’t work will never work.
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nHyrkan swung his fist at the Skeleton Warrior that had stood back up. It was the same attack route as the previous time, and the Skeleton Warrior dodged the punch by tilting its head to the side. Hyrkan then bent his elbow. The Skeleton Warrior bent down, increasing its evasion radius and successfully avoiding Hyrkan’s elbow.
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nWhish!
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nHyrkan immediately swiped his leg at its ankle, but the Skeleton Warrior easily avoided it by lifting its foot.
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nHowever, as soon as Hyrkan’s legs came back around, he swung his other leg around in a huge motion.
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nWhish!
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nThe Skeleton Warrior bent its body back, avoiding the kick.
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nThen.
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nThud!
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nIt fell to the ground. Because it bent back too far, it had lost its balance.
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nWatching this, Hyrkan’s let out a slight smile.
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n‘Not bad.’
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nIt was absorbing everything. The Skeleton Warrior had a surprising advantage as well. Because it was only bones, its joints had much better maneuverability. Even if its joints got dislocated, it could easily restore itself.
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nIt had all the right conditions for evading well. It just had to use its head and utilize its advantages.
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nHyrkan!
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nIt just needed to be around his level.
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nIf it could…
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n‘If there’s ten like me, that’s a real dream-team.’
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nGrin!
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nHyrkan’s slight smile had now turned into a full grin.
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nHyrkan touched his wristwatch and activated its music app. Immediately, music filled his surroundings.
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nIt was one of Michael Jackson’s masterpieces, Billie Jean.
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n“Alright, it’s time to dance.”
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