Ranker's Return

[Five Elements Spider Crasul has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

[Your fighting energy stat has increased by 12.]

[The skill proficiency of You and I in One Shot! has increased to C+.]

[The skill proficiency of Magic Power Compression has increased to D.]

[The skill proficiency of Weapons Mastery has increased to B-.]

.

.

.

[The skill proficiency of Magic Power Explosion has increased to E+.]

‘12 points in fighting energy? Good, good.’

Hyeonu enjoyed the constant sound of the notifications. It was a rewarding moment after the battle that lasted one hour.

‘Haven’t a lot of skills risen in proficiency?’

Throughout the hour, he had used all types of skills against the boss monster. Most of his skills had risen in rank. Originally, Hyeonu’s skill rank surged rapidly. It was due to the title effect of First Person to Enter the Imperial Palace that increased proficiency gain by 10%. The effect was added to high-rated skills, and they grew really rapidly. The rank of Magic Power Explosion had already reached E+.

‘The rings and titles also played their part well.’

At this moment, a message appeared again.

[The title 'Ruler of the Spider Mine’ has been created.]

[Ruler of the Spider Mine]

[-A title given to a player who defeats Five Elements Spider Crasul, the boss monster of Mine Spider’s Lair.

Effect: Movement speed is increased by 10%.]

“It gave a title? This is a high-level dungeon?”

It was great. Hyeonu saw the title and smiled widely. He rejoiced.

Movement speed wasn’t marked in the status window, but it was an important effect that anyone who played Arena knew about. At present, Hyeonu had a 40% rise in movement speed due to strengthening his body and the Great Gorge set. The effect of Ruler of the Spider Mine was a 50% increase in movement speed.

Based on the same points in the agility stat, Hyeonu was at least 1.5 times faster than other players. This was a great advantage in PvP as well as hunting.

“Now all I have to do is gain items...”

Hyeonu wanted the finishing touches. He had leveled up, ranked up his skills, and gained a title. The sketch was perfect. Only the final finishing touches were left.

“Please, please!!!” Hyeonu approached the body of Crasul that was gradually disappearing.

One step, two steps...

Every time he took a step, Hyeonu’s heart started to beat faster. By the time he arrived in front of Crasul’s corpse, Hyeonu’s heart was about to burst.

“Nothing...? Nothing? Nothing?!!!”

Once Crasul’s body disappeared, only gold coins and two small eggs remained in a shabby manner.

“Sob.” Hyeonu knelt down without even thinking about picking up the gold eggs. The preceding rewards seemed in vain. At this moment, all the intangible rewards Hyeonu previously gained was worth nothing. The type of reward item that was immediately visible was more important.

Hyeonu was sobbing for a long time when Tang-E approached. Tang-E had picked up the gold and items on behalf of the frustrated Hyeonu.

“Master dude, I picked it up a little while ago. Take it.”

Tang-E was holding a small disc.

“What is this?” Hyeonu asked in a hoarse voice.

“It was under the gold coins.”

“…?!! Give it to me!!!”

Hyeonu took the disc from Tang-E. He immediately checked the information of the disc.

[Crasul’s Curse]

[-A mask containing the grudge of Five Elements Spider Crasul. It feels sinister.

Rating: Unique

Restrictions: Ruler of the Spider Mine

Defense: 350

Effect: All stats + 50, ‘Curse of the Five Elements Spider’ can be used.

Curse of the Five Elements Spider: If the attack succeeds, randomly grants one of five curses to the target. Can be stacked up to five times (burning, freezing, petrification, binding or bleeding).

However, the duration of the status isn’t renewed and it doesn’t apply to players.

Duration: 5 minutes.]

Hyeonu confirmed the identity of the disc and shouted with joy, “Wow!”

It was an item he finally saw after a long time. Moreover, it was a mask item, which was extremely rare. It was unique rated. This was sufficient reward for hunting the five elements spider. Just looking at it made Hyeonu feel full.

‘I didn’t expect to get a mask here. I was going to ask Edchan...’

Fortunately, he obtained it. This eliminated the need to waste time bothering Edchan. There were some types of objects that could be called rare in Arena. They were items like the mask that Hyeonu acquired, gaiters, wristlets, and various tattoos. Since their drop rate was low and they sold in an instant when put on the auction house, there were many players who didn’t know they existed.

That’s why Hyeonu was going to ask Golden Hammer Edchan. If he couldn’t find any, then he would have to make it.

“The options are good. Abnormal states that can be stacked up...”

Hyeonu would cherish this mask for a long time.

***

Tang-E was bored. His master was marveling and admiring something that gave off an ominous smell.

“Sigh, my life. That Master dude has to take it...” Tang-E sighed and sat down. Then something caught Tang-E’s eyes. It was a blue bead and a red bead. “They smell quite delicious?”

Tang-E was troubled by the two beads that he hadn’t handed to his master.

‘Do I have to give these to Master dude? He won’t like it if I don’t give them to him... However, he won’t return them if I give them to him...’

Tang-E’s troubles didn’t last long. Seeing his master squirming in the distance, Tang-E closed his eyes and swallowed the beads. He swallowed the two in a row. Shortly after Tang-E swallowed the beads, a white light exploded from Tang-E’s body.

***

Hyeonu was feeling happy when a message window appeared in front of him.

“What?!! What does this mean?!!”

[Your pet ‘Tang-E’ has taken the Five Elements Spider Crasul’s Essence (Sapphire).]

[Your pet ‘Tang-E’ has taken the Five Elements Spider Crasul’s Essence (Ruby).]

“What? What did you eat? Essence?” Hyeonu was shocked and quickly started to look for Tang-E. Finding Tang-E wasn’t difficult. Light was coming from Tang-E’s entire body.

Hyeonu shook his head when he saw such a Tang-E and pressed a hand against his temple. ‘No matter what he looks like, his greed is huge.’

“Sigh... The essence isn’t pet food, but he ate it... I could’ve sold it or given it to others.”

Hyeonu’s sighing didn’t stop.

‘I hope nothing goes wrong?’

He didn’t stop worrying about Tang-E. Just then, more messages appeared in front of Hyeonu.

[The strength stat has increased by 96 points.]

[The agility stat has increased by 76 points.]

[The physique stat has increased by 87 points.]

[The magic power stat has increased by 256 points.]

[Your pet ‘Tang-E has created a new skill.]

Hyeonu was relieved when he saw the messages that continued to appear. Nothing had gone wrong. Tang-E had successfully absorbed the essences.

‘I didn’t know. There isn’t enough information about pets.’

Thanks to this incident, Hyeonu felt he needed to know more about pets. How many essences could they eat? Was awakening possible only once? How could skills be learned? Could they wear equipment?

‘Tang-E’s status window.’

Hyeonu sighed with relief and opened Tang-E’s status window. He had to know what had changed after the essences were eaten.

[Status Window]

[Name: Tang-E

Level: 104

Species: Marionette Bear (First awakening)

Title: Bung Bung Island’s Heir

Stats: Strength: 583   Agility: 549  Physique: 715  Magic Power: 1,368

The heir of Bung Bung Island. Bear-like physical abilities and high magic power are racial characteristics. He is very affectionate, unlike his prideful tone.

Intimacy: 85

Skills Possessed: Bear’s Momentum, Forest’s Blessing, Magic Power Affinity, Lightning, Giant Transformation, Roar, Ice, Fire.]

“There are two attribute skills like lightning...”

It wasn’t a loss. The stats have also risen by 500. There were two more skills like Lightning.

“So there are three attributes?”

[Fire]

[The fire attribute is emitted from magic power.

Type: Immediately Activated

Rating: Rare

Skill Proficiency: F

Emits up to three streams of fire.

Skill Cooldown Time: 10 seconds.]

[Ice]

[The ice attribute is emitted from magic power.

Type: Immediately Activated

Rating: Rare

Skill Proficiency: F

Emits up to three streams of ice.

Skill Cooldown Time: 10 seconds.]

“A three-disaster bear, Tang-E. Good. A three-disaster bear.” [1]

Tang-E’s new nickname, ‘three-disaster bear’, was given to him by his master. Now there was a lot of light coming from Tang-E. Soon, the light from Tang-E’s body disappeared completely. Tang-E’s appearance was slightly altered. His fur, which had been close to yellow, was now a golden color. There was red fur on both his cheeks like patches of rouge, and the ends of his paws were tinged with blue.

‘Um...’ When Hyeonu saw Tang-E’s altered appearance, he couldn’t speak for a long time. After a while, Hyeonu finally opened his mouth and said, “Isn’t this good? You look much better than before. So cute, Tang-E.”

Hyeonu was very pleased with Tang-E’s change. Tang-E soon opened his eyes. “Master dude, I can now make fire and ice.”

A red light appeared around Tang-E’s left foot. It wasn’t big, but it would show great power if the ranking was increased. Tang-E’s right foot was covered with ice. It was poor compared to Reina’s ice at the Masked Fighting King. However, Tang-E’s magic power was close to 1,400. It would be similarly powerful if his rank were higher.

“Yes, well done.” Hyeonu stroked Tang-E’s head after he took the essence safely. He was angry, but this happened because of how much Tang-E wanted to eat.

***

“Huh? Why is there so much?!”

Hyeonu’s eyelids were lowering. It was 3 o’clock in the morning, and he had been unable to leave his laptop for more than five hours. He had felt very happy when he sent the video of the five elements spider raid to Ellis. The problem came after he checked the mail from Kale. The email that he opened joyfully contained something huge.

“A sponsor proposal? What is this?”

Hyeonu downloaded and opened the enclosed file out of curiosity. It was the prelude to a tragedy.

“500 pages? I have to decide as soon as possible?”

The result was Hyeonu’s current haggard face. His eyes were on the verge of falling shut. No matter how many pages he turned, the end couldn’t be seen. There were still more than 200 pages left.

Hyeonu despaired at the impossible situation. Some people might say that he could do it when he woke up. However, this didn’t fit with Hyeonu’s personality. He shouldn’t have opened it in the first place. Once he started, he had to look to the end. He didn’t know how to give up because of his tenacious personality.

There was just a weakness with this personality. He had to keep running on the highway until it ended. This was despite the fact that he could have rest stops, and the chances appeared frequently.

“I will watch the streams in A-World before looking at the sponsor file again.”

It was unknown who Hyeonu was talking to as he entered the cube.

***

“Who should I look at? It is only for 30 minutes...”

Hyeonu connected to A-World and was troubled by the many available streams. There were many streams to watch including those of Reina, the Mano Guild, Rain, and Red Bull America. At this moment, something caught Hyeonu’s eyes.

[JT Telecom - Being Questioned]

“This is it today.”

After a while, Hyeonu came out of the cube. It had been less than 10 minutes since he entered the cube. Hyeonu’s expression wasn’t very good.

“What? Small fry? Can’t compare?”

Something squirmed inside him that seemed like it would explode at any moment.

“Pro gamer? Son of a bitch, just wait. I will step on all of you.”

Hyeonu’s pride was cracked.

---

[1] Referring to the three disasters of flooding, fire, and wind

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

(2/7) Weekly chapters. No set days.

Official Artwork Page

If there are Korean honorifics you don't understand, please check out my Glossary of Common Korean Terms

Glossary of Common Korean Terms