n

n

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

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

nIt was the first day of the semester.

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

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

nfor someone?”

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

n“Oh! Hello, Sewon.”

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

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

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

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

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

n“What? Worried about his life?”

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

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

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

nchecked right?”

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

n“Ha…”

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

ndoing other things like PC games.

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

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

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

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

nhours.

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

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

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

nlevel during the vacation?”

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

nHe was a Dark Sorcerer.

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

nYuhyeon was slightly surprised.

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

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

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

nusers.

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

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

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

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

nhave been hunting hard to reach that level.”

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

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

nmembers won’t object.”

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

nlevel requirement.

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

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

nthat has a base!”

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

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

nbase would offer many good quests.

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

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

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

nstronger and stronger.

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

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

n‘Anyway, what is his level now?’

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

nlevel.

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

nYuhyeon recalled Jinsung slaughtering monsters near the base.

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

nHe needs to take care of his real health…’

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

nchange.

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

n…

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

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

ngetting out.

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

nall monsters.

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

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

nIts name was ‘Rake’.

nIan got that from ‘Drake’.

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

nIan gave it a meatball.

n“Rake, Breath!”

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

nAnd…

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

nbecause of Big Guy’s Abyss Hole.

nKiaaaak-!

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

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

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

nNevertheless, it was a grand spectacle.

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

nKwaaaang-!

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

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

nGrowl- Growl-

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

naway quickly when things were bad.

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

nthat flew up to get away from Ly.

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

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

nRake got near a Gargoyle and swung its giant tail.

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

nBam-

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

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

n“Yes!”

nIan cheered, ‘Finally, Lv. 90!’

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

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

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

nHe had 3 levels left until Lv. 93.

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

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

nhad about 10 days left.

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

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

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

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

nbuff skills.

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

ncould get that great skill at a relatively low level.

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

nIan got curious at seeing the names of the skills.

n‘What?’

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

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

n‘Let’s see the Link skill first…’

nLink

nCategory: Active Skill

nSkill Level: Lv. 0

nProficiency: 0%

nCooldown Time: 180 minutes

nLasting Time: Until changing entities to link

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

n