Post by Wing on Nov 15, 2014 9:47:33 GMT
Chapter 1: Plains of Despair
A weird stranger is crying and jumping on the streets while the pedestrians avoid him. Predictably, it’s Weed- who is lamenting over the fact that his precious Ice Dragon sculpture was left behind when he had teleported out of Mora. It’s a cruel callous world, after all.
Weed walks to the Church of Freya and shocks Ron Alves with his craziness- who thought he knew said man quite well. He then returns the Crown which he had taken from Tori, the servant of the Lich King Bar Khan and for that, receives:
+1200 fame
+31 familiarity with the Order of Freya
The Church of Freya gains a 2,200 increase in influence, meaning the Church of Freya now has a total of 4612 influence.
Weed’s level rises by 9 and he procures 30 health potions and holy water vials. Apparently, health potions are extremely expensive- but also extremely useful when in a pinch, seeing as you can use it almost instantly. Weed also receives a Wyvern Leather Belt, which gives +7% to engraving and some small +10 to +30 bonuses to agility, attractiveness, strength and reputation. Weed is slightly disappointed. Due to the lack of engravers, the price of the belt would be only about $10, whereas the value of the Crown would be unimaginable. He also receives a guarantee of free treatment and free teleportation gates at any Freya chapel.
The Head Priest tells of rumours of Necromancer activity in the Plains of Despair and asks Weed to investigate and slay the Necromancers under the refuge of the Dark Elves. Weed accepts the B Rank quest and is advised to go to the Rosenheim Kingdom for more information and to pick up the supporting units for the quest. The priest then comments that the Plains of Despair are almost off the map, with only its edges explored and the rest almost completely unknown.
Weed PM’s Mapan, and when meeting up with him, he finds Mapan with a stunning lady, who is introduced to be Hwaryeong, a Dancer (like the Bard class, except where singing is replaced by dancing). Hwaryeong dances and sends any monsters they encounter in a stupor and then hides in Mapan’s carriage. Hwaryeong expresses surprise at how Weed is an engraver- while Mapan whispers that the name of the dance that Hwaryeong performed to stupefy the monsters is named the “bubibubi”… also known as the “Korean Strip Dance”. The group then heads off to Liberty City.
Meanwhile, in town, NPCs have started talking about an adventurer named Weed, who retrieved Freya’s Crown- the lost relic of the Freya Church- and how he exterminated the Vampire clan serving under the Lich King, Bar Khan. Soon, the word spreads across the entire continent and its cities.
At home, Lee Hyun receives an invite to the Dark gamers Union, a place where people get paid for mercenary services, game info, items etc for Royal Road- Hyun completely ignores the email and puts some of his unneeded items onto the game-item auction site: the Death Knight loot, Vampire loot and the Holy Gloves obtained from the Freya’s Cup quest.
After Weed falls asleep, comments appear on the auction site, exclaiming that the legendary, Triple Diamond Rated (Weed received this title from the sale of the Continent of Magic avatar) Weed, has started selling Royal road items. However, the posters start getting disheartened, after finding out that the only items that were on sale were some Death Knight and Vampire equipment. A few express surprise at the Rose-Engraved Gloves- which are extremely rare because of the fact that they are only distributed among the Paladins of the Order of Freya. The information slowly spreads across the net, as people talk about how Weed of Continent of Magic has started playing Royal Road, how Weed had Freya’s Paladin gear on auction, how there was fewer than a hundred people in the Order of Freya. Some people are disappointed, commenting that Weed from CoM had seemed like a legendary figure, accomplishing impossible deeds, single-handedly clearing high-level dungeons and raid bosses; of how Weed was always alone. And now he’s reduced to taking orders from the Freya Church. They then discuss how he used to be a lonely figure of absolute awe and veneration, and how he has now reduced from a symbol to simply a good player.
Suddenly, someone appears. He claims that he had heard something important while logging off. After being flamed for posting something irrelevant, the poster mentions that the NPCs of the continent have started talking about how a man named Weed had battled the Vampires of Bar Khan’s Undying Legion and retrieved one of Freya’s sacred artefacts. At first, people are distrustful, pointing out that Bar Khan is one of the strongest forces in Royal Road at the moment and that the average vampire level is two-hundred and seventy and Tori, the head of the Vampire Clan, is four-hundred.
However, the anonymous poster is proved right as the evidence of Weed’s deeds are right in front of them as the Vampire items and the Rose-Engraved Gloves. The unanimous profanity is: “Holy shit!”
Lee Hyun wakes up after four hours of sleep and heads to the morning market. It’s critical for his sister to receive good nutrition and he bargains for fresh vegetables and meat. After going home, he is reminded by his sister to study for his GED (which he thinks is a complete waste of time. He would rather study the geography and history of Royal Road than that of the real world). Afterwards, he checks his auction site and finds out that he has a whopping number of 140,000 bids on the gloves, for a total of two-hundred and thirty dollars. Apparently, the people who bid on it, only bid one more won than the previous. This was to post comments, which ranged from people wanting to be like Weed, to congratulations, to people just doing it because everyone else was.
Chapter 2: Jack of All Trades
Pale and his party are being constantly nagged by their parents. At first, they had only bothered them about college and their degrees, but now, their parents were trying to get Pale and co. to buy them weapons and help them hunt in Royal Road. Despite their annoying parents, they had finally reached level two-hundred. They hear all the NPCs talking about how Weed slew the vampires and liberated Mora, and how the King is looking to talk to Weed. They congratulate Weed.
Meanwhile, the Geomchis have risen from massacring innocent little critters to exterminating undead in the crypts of Lavias, living on a diet of barley bread. Funnily enough, they are more afraid dying due to hunger because of not enough money to buy barley bread than dying from a monster’s hit. After learning of how great Weed is, they all aspire to be famous and fight monsters that ‘drop one gold!’
Weed reaches Liberty City, a commercially developed city known for its many crafting guilds. He disposes of all the loot that he had gotten from the Northern continent, earning 5,600 gold, and then heads to the Blacksmith Guild. The first thing that Weed notices is the thirty blacksmith players in the guild sitting around a table while complaining about how being a blacksmith sucks. A blacksmith had spent the whole day hammering while his friend raided a Kobold cave. One wonders why he chose this boring job in the first place. Another blacksmith had made weapons for more than 10 days, only to have them be equivalent to weapons that Kobolds dropped. There is talk of Thor, the drawven blacksmith with the high smithing level of Intermediate 5. The blacksmiths wonder at how long that would have taken him and are green with envy.
Weed heads to the second floor of the guild. After talking to the Guild Master and fixing a shield that required an Intermediate level to repair (which had been a test), he learns the blacksmithing skill. Gaining the skill allows Weed to decrease the level required to equip items by 2% per level in blacksmithing. After buying a hammer, grinding wheel and portable forge, Weed takes the ore that he had stockpiled from the Lair of Litvart and starts smithing.
The first sword he makes is a sword:
Restriction: Lvl 15
Durability: 70/70
Attack +6
Power +5
More importantly, Weed’s skill in blacksmithing increases by 36%. After selling it for 70 silver and marvelling at the amount of money blacksmithing gives, he continues to smith. At level 2 he could make weapons with improves damage. At level 3, the armour created increases and armour made with bronze and copper are given additional properties. At level 4 mastery, all weapons Weed creates gives out more damage and also requires less strength to wield. At level 5, armour becomes lighter and Weed gains the ability to craft boots. At level 6, both attack and defence of his created item increases. After continuing for a whole 10 days and nights, Weed finally exhausts all the ore he has in his inventory. Due to Weed’s dexterity level, which was currently Intermediate 8, the items that Weed creates were two times more durable, with better effects than normal smithed items.
After achieving level 6 Blacksmith Mastery, Weed goes to the Fishing Guild Master- purchasing a fishing rod along the way. The Guild Master asks whether Weed wants to become a fishing legend or if he simply wants to make memorable catches. Surprising the Guild Master, Weed dryly replies, “I’m hungry, I want to learn so that I can eat fish”. The Guild Master laughs and hands over some special bait and passes on the Fishing skill. “Make me some fish soup, sometime” Weed acquires 30 pieces of bait and goes to the Tailoring guild. However, Weed is conflicted. In his mind, learning the skill is like learning how to create ‘junk’. This is because of memories of being exploited as a child labourer. He even remembers how he had gotten sick on time and hadn’t received any compensation. Weed deliberates, but eventually decides to learn to sew, easily passing the Tailoring test of attaching buttons. After buying some scissors and some fabric, weed sits outside and begins to sew. Soon, Weed achieves reaches level 2 in Tailoring mastery and people begin to take notice of him. They are curious as they have never seen a craftsmen working before but when they look at Weed’s clothes, the crowd comments that they were simple and without patterns. After raising the Tailoring skill to 4, Weed takes out the premium deerskin that he had gotten for returning the Mora villagers to their natural state. Deerskin is a second tier Tailoring item, that gives Magical Resistance and enhanced Agility. Although deerskin should be used by Intermediate level Tailors for the best effect, Weed decides that the EXP that would be given to the skill mastery would be worth more than the money wasted.
Weed creates a Deer Tunic:
Restriction: Lvl 15
Durability: 40/40
Defence: +13
Additional: Gives Monks a 2% boost to Agility
This raises his Tailoring skill to level 5. The spectators comment that the clothes look good and they wonder if sewing skills are supposed to rise that fast. Weed sontinues to create items, using up all two-hundred of the deerskin and raising his mastery to level 9- achievable only because of his superior materials.
Chapter 3: Prismatic Clothing Auctions
Liberty City is a great beginner town with a lot of cheap advantages. However, the normally sleepy atmosphere of this town has been broken by a congregation of users, gathered around a man offering to repair items to max, make leather and cloth attire, craft bronze armour and also offering to cook ninety-two different dishes, with the cheapest food offering a rise of +150 in Strength. Although many of the n00bs rush to Weed, the older and more experience warn them that Weed is just a scammer. It’s common sense that it would be impossible for anyone to have such skill in Tailoring, Cooking and Repairing at the same time. After being called scum and a fraud, Weed gets annoyed at the ignorant idiots and summons the Death Knight. This shuts up the sceptics and they decide that someone with a high enough level to command the Death Knight wouldn’t bother with scamming n00bs for their money. The first customer comes up, cautiously offering 30 copper for cooking a piece of meat. Immediately after tasting Weed’s cooking, he empties his entire backpack, asking him to cook all the meat that he has. Soon, a huge line has formed, with people asking Weed to register as their friend. After finding out that his username is Weed, people are confused and shocked. “Huh?...No way…”
The name of ‘Weed’ in Royal Road has a complicated meaning. Multiple users can choose their name to be Weed, meaning that a character named ‘Weed’ could have been created even before Lee Hyun created his avatar. However, each name has a unique code so even when trying to private message (PM) a person that has the same name as another person, the code will guide the PM to the correct person. After finding out that he’s Weed, he gets mobbed by users, who ask if he’s the Weed from Continent of Magic or whether he was the one who performed the quest for the Order of Freya. Weed tells them that he is not from CoM and others point out that it would be absurd of someone to own a Death Knight while being employed by a church.
Weed continues to repair, cook and craft items. Weed finds out that he can enhance his crafted items with his engraving skill.
Impure Steel Boots:
Durability: 35/35
Defense +6
Agility +2
This item is transformed into Steel Fox Treads after Weed engraves a nine-tailed fox onto the boots.
Steel Fox Treads:
Durability: 38/38
Defence +7
Agility +2
Strength +1
Stamina +1
Weed is surprised. Info on sculpting is very rare, never mind sculpting combined with other crafting classes. The effect of sculpting on the other crafting classes is likened to the impact of mathematics in science.
Weed’s items are made straight from the ingredients, charging only ½ the price of buying the items from stores, because of this, news of his generosity drew flocks of people to the nearby cities. Soon, Weed’s blacksmithing skill reached Intermediate, allowing him to learn Sword Grind, which enhances weapon damage and Polish Armour, which can sometimes dazzle the enemy, while also increases defence. On reaching Intermediate, Weed gains;
+5 to all stats
+50 Reputation
+3 Art
Shortly afterwards, Weed’s sewing skill hits level 10, turning into Intermediate and granting Weed the following skills and stat gains:
Ironing: Increases defence of garments
Hand washing: Gives a random defence bonuses and options. Excessive hand washing may damage the item.
+5 to all stats
+50 Reputation
+70 Art
Weed then announces that he is going to have an auction to end his services because of ‘personal reasons”, before logging out. The crowning event of the auction would be his sale of the items created from the Prismatic Cloth. Many speculate about the identity of the Prismatic Cloth. Someone accesses Royal Road’s Information Site and discovers:
Sovereign Prismatic Cloth (President of the Rainbow)
Durability: 5.5.
An ultimate sewing material, items made from this gives seven different characteristics, blunts ranged enemy attacks and offers great defence.
Top tier sewing material, Intermediate Sewing skills are required.
Additional: Grants seven randomly generated attributes.
The news soon spreads like wildfire. Three days later, on the promised day of the auction. The city is filled to the brim with people, from hopeful individuals to guild representative intent on purchasing some items for their guild. Mapan is the one who hosts the auction, since Weed doesn’t want anyone to link his face to that of the Princess Knight’s
Chapter 4: Engraving Master Darone
The Bensa River is one of the most famous locations in Royal Road. In addition to its popularity with fishermen, its scenic views combined with its ideal picnic location make it an extremely popular spot for couples. However, the couples who ignorantly visit the river during the monsoon season are usually treated to flash flooding and death by drowning.
Example:
Man: Aww..this is so beautiful, look at the river and the sky
Woman: I love you!
Man: I love you too!
Woman: …Hey, isn’t that water getting a little too high? Shouldn’t we probably go before-
River: *flash floods*
Weed is now fishing alongside the bank of a river, where he had already fished for a weed. He is now contemplating the difference between fishing and professions like blacksmithing and sewing. Furthermore, although it's slightly affected by dexterity and bait, fishing depends on personal skill. A player has to predict where the fish swims in the river, waiting patiently for the fish to bite. Weed decides to make a statue to accelerate the process, PMing Mapan who is extremely happy about the prestige and fame he had received from the auction, to transport a large stone over. While Weed is waiting for Mapan to transfer the stone, he observes the other fisherman, most of which only fish as a hobby, rather than doing it for stats and food, like he is. He overhears that there are specific areas where fish are present, like places with plants, clear water or turbulent water, places where algae is concentrated, places of a specific temperature, etc. causing him to finally realizing why he hasn’t been catching any decent fish. The stone he had ordered arrives and weed, who is inspired by a mermaid story, decides to carve a mermaid. The other anglers curiously watch as Weed carves the mermaid statue once again based off of Seoyun. The statue has an artistic value of 450 and has the ability of preventing floods in the river for the next 10 years- to the dismay and anger of all of the fishermen who enjoyed watching all the lovey-dovey couples getting washed away. Weed is forced to destroy the statue which reduces his reputation by 3, increasing his sculpting skill by 0.2% and convert’s ½ of his art stats to agility/dexterity for the rest of the day, His art stat, which was over 900, is promptly converted, allowing him to fish so fast that his hands are a blur.
The Geomchis are decimating the population of one of the southern forests of Rosenheim kingdom. Due to the lack of vendors, they can only resort to “cooking” the deer and bird meat they catch. It tastes so ghastly that most of the trainees are fantasizing about the “good old days” of barley bread. They meet a child, who pleads with them to rescue his parents from giants, a C difficulty quest. Despite having never accepted a quest before, Geomchi accepts this one, to the surprise of some of the trainees. “It should be natural to help those in need,” he says. The enthusiasm of the group is slightly dampened once they discover the footprints of the giant, which are 3 meters in diameter. However, they continue to the giant’s cave, swarming the giant like ants and eventually killing it. They all go up 2 levels, receive an increase in familiarity with villagers, gain 26 reputation and each received a better sword.
Weed has finally reached 97.6% of Beginner level 9 after long struggles. He is fishing motionlessly next to a good-looking young man named Zephyr who he had befriended while fishing. The stillness is first broken by Zephyr, who pulls his rod, excitedly announcing that he has a big catch, which turns out to be an old boot. Weed reaches Intermediate when he pulls up a 45 cm Carp, obtaining:
+25 water affinity
+2000 life, increased effect when cooking fish
The ability to catch special fish
+50% effects of fish bait
+3 to all stats
+50 Reputation
+30 Endurance
+30 Intelligence
+30 Wisdom
Weed leaves, to the disappointment of Zephyr, and heads to a store, buttering up the manager in order to sell the sculptures he had made while fishing. After buying the statues for 245 gold, the shopkeeper mentions that there is a highly skilled Engraving Master named Darone.
chapter 5: Shape shifting Sculptor
Guided by the information that the shopkeeper gave him, Weed goes to Darone workshop in the town of Rega. Eager to learn one of the five techniques of the Five Engraving Masters (Zahab and the Emperor being two of them), Weed enters the workshop, where he comes upon Darone carving a sculpture of a woman. Darone looks up, correctly identifying Weed as an engraver, and offers to teach Weed a special skill. Although Weed enthusiastically accepts, Darone tells Weed that he will not give the skill to anybody, requiring Weed to finish a quest first. Weed is offered a quest that requires him to observe the behaviours of five different creatures to such an extent that he would be able to perfectly predict and mimic the actions of the five. Although Weed is mortified and shocked, he accepts the quest, choosing the rabbit as his first animal.
Feeling miserable, Weed begins to imitate the rabbit, crouching over and eating grass which, thanks to his herb-gathering skill is not as bad as it seems. Weed attempts to bunny hop and follow the movements of the rabbit- which zig-zagged and ran with short bursts in random directions. “Why the hell are rabbits so fast?” After observing and mimicking rabbits for a whole day, he is only 35% of the way through the observation of rabbits. Now, he is acquainted enough with rabbits to go right up to them without scaring them. Five days pass, with Weed’s progress exceeding 80%, he is now at the point where he can predict what the rabbit will do. When he reaches 100%, Weed then goes to observe deer. At first he tries to run after the deer, but then realising that deer are quadruped beats, he gets down on all fours and tries to follow the deer.
Hwaryeong and Mapan have been going around trading, and have recently arrived in Rega in order to build up relationships with the NPCs and therefore make more profit when trading. They talk about how Weed and how he defeated the Vampires and rescued Freya’s Paladins. When the enter rega, they notice a large group of people congregating near the hunting grounds, curious, they see something strange. There is a fox running through the field, while a person following it, actions perfectly mimicking the foxes! A girl among the crowd says that that person had mimicked rabbits, deer, goblins and now a fox. Mapan and Hwaryeong recognise Weed with horror before backing away slowly, embarrassed.
Weed is currently travelling to a horse farm on the outskirts of the city. After a day, Weed reached 12% process. Frustrated by his progress, he eventually realises that he must eat vegetables in order to fully understand the horse. Weed reaches 100% and gains a new skill:
Movement Skill: Quadruped Run (Running with all four limbs)
Allows an increase of 60% to speed and requires the player to pay a certain amount of health and mana to use. Reduces the stamina consumption rate when running against the wind by 30%, and increases speed when running with the wind by 20%. Furthermore, when running in mountain terrain, plains, or grasslands, the speed of the user is increased by 80%.
Weed’s stamina also increases by 5 and his agility increases by 10.
Weed goes back to Darone, where he is shocked to find that Darone is working on another statue almost exactly the same as the woman statue that Darone created the last time. Weed doesn’t understand, there is a severe penalty for creating the same work over and over again. Weed tells Darone that he now understands the natures of those four animals as the Master Engraver had requested. Darone gives him another quest: carve the animals that he had mimicked. Weed begins to confidently carve a rabbit sculpture and realizes that something is different straight away. There are subtle difference in the ways that the ears, feet, tail are carved, discovering that the sculpture of a rabbit was different to rabbits he had carved in the past.
Weed finishes carving all five of the creatures he observed, creating a masterpiece with an artistic value of 460 and the option of increasing health and mana regeneration by 6% during the day, increased affinity towards animals,
15% rise in resistance to fire,
+25 leadership bonus
+10 intellect increase
+10 increase in movement speed.
Weed now understands that masterpieces can be small, even though all his masterpieces so far have been large. He has now passed Darone’s test. Suddenly, Darone starts to cough blood and tells Weed that he will be dying soon. Another quest is given:
Darone wants to finish an order of three hundred sculptures before he dies.
This quest gives a two fold increase in sculpting experience gain during the period of the quest.
It’s a good opportunity for Weed, since his Sculpting mastery is almost at Intermediate 7. Carving day and night, Weed finishes the 300 sculptures. When he finishes, he gains:
Sculpture Shape Shifting: A technique created by Engraving Master Darone. Can change the caster’s body into the statue’s form.
Limitations: Can only be casted on sculptures made by those who fully understand the object of the carving.
Skill Requirements: 2000 Mana and 500 Art
Notice!: Even if transformed into another race, all stats are scaled to your level. If you transform into the body of a large creature, you will consume more stamina and require more strength.
Sculpture Comprehension 1 (0%): Allows you to create even higher quality works of sculptures you know. As skill level goes up, additional effect of Sculptural Shapeshifiting will be added.
Beginner: Adds 10% to the effect of transformation. Can only change into earthbound races
Intermediate: Adds 20% to effect of transformation. Can now change into flying creatures. However, you must learn how to fly first.
Advanced: Adds 30% to the effect of transformation. Can transform into colossal creatures.
Weed is satisfied with the skill, although he remarks that even if he transformed into something strong like a dragon, he would still be nowhere near the strength of an actual dragon. Darone coughs up blood again, and with his dying breath, asks Weed to forge his way forward as an engraver and master his skills. Darone rambles about how he had wished to finish the sculpture of the woman he loved and how the Legendary Emperor had managed to unify the entire continent. Weed remembers how he thought he had been scammed when he first took the engraving job, and now decides that being a moonlight sculptor is a good class after all. After talking about how engravers forsook fame and fortune to pursue dreams like carving the moonlight, Darone dies, with his last words being “Oh, Elrien.” Weed sculpts a statue in the memory of Darone, creating a Masterpiece with an Artistic value of 2300.
+50% life regeneration.
+40% magic resistance,
+45 increase in vitality and +10 to all stats,
This is Weed’s second ‘true’ masterpiece.
Trring! Engraving Mastery rises to Intermediate 8!
Trring! Dexterity rises to Intermediate 9!
Trring! Sculpture Comprehension rises to Beginnner 4!
+1200 Fame
+79 Art
+3 Endurance
+5 Leadership
All stats rise by 1.
Chapter 6: Siege of Ohdein Castle
It’s been a while since Weed fought monsters and experienced the thrill of battle, actually, he hasn’t levelled at all since the completion of the Church of Freya’s quest. Pale and co. has reached an average level of 190 and Hwaryeong is level 210 while Mapan is level 160.
The Geomchis have been PMing Weed frequently, in order to find out the monsters that drop the most delicious food. The top five of the Geomchis have gotten so attuned to fighting the wolves in the forest that they can perfectly predict all of the wolves’ movements, dealing critical hits and coming out of a fight unscathed.
At the Ohdein fort, the Oasis and Balkan Guilds have joined up to assault the Prosperous Empire Guild that currently controls Fort Ohdein. Although the Balkan Guild has attacked the fort unsuccessfully many times, they have now joined up with the mercenary guild, Oasis. The sheer amount of lucrative rewards gained by participating (and winning) caused many users to flock to both sides. The fort is buzzing with activity with more parties arriving, corps being dispatched- especially seeing that is Prosperous Empire lost, they’d lose everything. The Masked Butterfly mercenaries, who were attracted by the rewards, gather near the fort, nervously talking about the fierce siege. They can also see wizards that are flying- a skill that can only be learnt once you are at a very high level.
Because the Prosperous Empire guild controls a gold mine and is in need of manpower, they commission a 10 gold per enemy head reward, leading tons of people to join. The battle begins, with the Balkan guild’s army marching forward and clashing with the elite Iron Cross Knights that defend the fort. The Iron Knights retreat after a short skirmish, as the tidal wave of tens of thousands storm the fort, to be intercepted by the spells of wizards and archers. It was like throwing pebbles into the ocean. The wizards are countered in return by the spirits, golems and assassins who infiltrate the fort.
The Battle for Fort Ohdein truly begins now, with NPCs and users trying to swarm up the walls with ropes and ladders, with ballista and catapults causing severe damage onto the Balkan army. After four hours, with the fort walls on the brink of being overrun by the Balkans. But they had had to sacrifice more than 1/3 of their men to do that.
At that moment, the mercenaries and Weed attack. It is amazing how real the battle is, Weed thinks, compared to the large-scale wars broadcasted on TV, or the clan wars in CoM. Weed slaughters several opponents easily, thanks to having over 9000 health and had used the ironing and sharpening skill to enhance his weapon and armour. Not to mention his Sculpting Blade, which could bypass the defence stats of the enemy’s armour.
Mercenaries receive compensation according to the request. Rarely, fame or titles can be granted. With 42 comrades with an average level of 250, they manage to easily cut a swath through the enemy’s front lines. Because of Weed’s threat level, many try to jump him, but due to their much lower levels, they are almost cut down immediately. The battle rages on all day, with blood running in streams. In the end, victory goes to the Empire Guild, thanks to the thick walls of Ohdein fort- and of course, the Masked Butterfly mercenaries and Weed, who instantly became legend in those lands.
The Geomchis are fighting in the mountains and valleys on the southern tip of Rosenheim. They have just reached an average level of 180, catching up to Weed quickly since the only thing they have been doing is fighting all day long. Unknown to them, they are being watched closely. By whom? By the four Player-Killers that had attempted to kill Weed and Mapan. Although it’s been nearly four months since, they are nearly the same levels due to the fact that they prefer to kill people than grind monsters. All though the number of martial artists number up to five-hundred and five, they split into small hunting parties of five. The four PKers jump one of the groups, which turn out to be Geomchi and his four best disciples. They are dispatched of easily and it turns out that the Geomchis have learnt a new technique!m
The technique consists of first pinpointing the direction of the enemy attack and calculating the amount of power behind it, then, the user diverts the power, changing the flow of the attack and causing it to miss.
After a day, the 4 Pkers reunite, still shocked at the fact that they were so completely destroyed the day before. They contact the Jamaican Guild, receiving 300 people as backup and they assault Geomchi and his group again. Seeing their melee forces getting annihilated, the PK group concentrates on magical attacks, pulling back all their forces to far range. After being consecutively assaulted by ranged attacks many of the martial artists have lost their lives.
“This is the first crisis we’ve had since we died from lack of barley bread!” Geomchi cries and then orders all the martial artists to pull back into the woods. There are only 260 martial artists left and all of them have less that ½ of their life left. The disciples try to convince Geomchi to flee while they stay behind and hold the enemy back. Claiming that they are real men, Geomchi stays with the disciples and fight the attackers. Because the PKers have priests and they don’t, the Geomchi’s are all eventually killed.
Coming out of his capsule and thinking about his loss, Geomchi considers the limitations of swordsmanship. Going up to the blackboard, he writes the names of the four Pkers:
Gran, Halma, Slender, Rewi, Jamaica Guid
“The dojo will get revenge!”
The PKers are excitedly anticipating the rewards they will get from looting the 505 martial artists. Although most of them enough the taste of killing, it is the allure of the trophies that actually makes them PKers. A person can grind for days and days for equipment when a PKer can easily take it off him. Happy, they examine the loot inventory- only to find a sword which urgently needed repair, a cape, a bag and millions and millions of barley breads.
Chapter 7: Dungeon Hunting
Lee Hyun is watching Wan and Sinhye Min (the most well known game-show hostess on the KMC Media channels). Hyun prefers KMC over CTS since they have a more friendly and less rigid approach with discussing news on Royal Road.
“Finally, in the Kingdom of Haben, the user level of 370 has been broken by the player Ray Bard!”
KMC shows a clip of Ray, covered from head to toe in black armour, battling a Barbarian Warrior. The barbarian takes a swing at the Black Knight, which he easily avoids. According to KMC, most of Ray’s skills are unknown, though he is the leader of Hermes Guild.
When the show starts to discuss minor news, Weed’s mind wanders off, thinking about the amount of money you recieve for selling the highest level avatar in Royal Road. Out of more than 100 million users of Royal Road do it for recreational and non-gaming related fun. For example, many families go to visit the Bensa River, enjoying luxury food and nice items (despite of their level being lower than 50) by buying virtual cash and items with real money. Furthermore, many people now spend their vacations in Royal Road given the ease of accessing the resort and the things that are a lot more expensive in real life. On top of all of this, there is also the value of expensive items and strong characters. Considering all of these factors, the value of the character with the highest level would be astronomical.
Ray will never sell his character, though, seeing as it would be stupid to sell it so early in the game. Unlike the aged Continent of Magic, Royal Road will easily hold the top position for at least another ten years. Therefore, by owning the best character, you can make an incredible amount of wealth.
Sinhye Min speaks, “Hey Wan, someone in Royal Road has reached the Intermediate level in Tailoring, Cooking and Blacksmithing! I didn’t believe it at first because of how hard it is to reach Intermediate in any skill, much less three”
Weed muses that blacksmithing and tailoring had been easy to level up, but then remembers that he has his high dexterity level to help him level twice as fast.
“Has this player been interviewed yet?”
“He hasn’t. In fact, we obtained this information quite some time ago, and only because that person was selling clothing made from Prismatic Cloth.”
The image on the screen shifts to a thriving medieval town with many temples and pagodas, hoses with large gardens, and 2-3 story buildings. Underneath a coliseum, carriages and people are moving, shop owners and customers haggle for the prices of items. In the wide open space a user is offering clothes shining brilliantly with seven different kinds of colours, while the bids skyrocket.
Lee Hyun thinks that he lucky that he got Mapan to sell the items.
Wan and Sinhye comment that the auction has become more exciting and the screen swings back to Mapan. Mapan yells out the qualities of the clothes:
Rare Rainbow Tunic:
Durability: 110/110
Defence +55
Tunic made from Prismatic Cloth
This garment has high artistic quality, helping prevent attacks from monsters.
Requirements: Level 150
Strength +80
Agility +80
Additional: Damage from projectiles, such as slings and arrows are reduced by 85%
Durability will not decrease from flame magic.
20% chance to block mind magic (geongyeokgye magic)
Reduces the chance of a critically hit
100 increase in reputation
20 increase in Elegance
15 increase in Art
10 increase in Agility
The clothing was popular not only because of its absurdly high durability compared to normal cloth armour, but also because it has seven unique properties, whereas there are usually only 2-3 different properties for the average armour. The hostess promises to interview this ‘mysterious user’.
Lee Hyun decides that it is wearisome to be famous. Although you can sell your items for a higher price when you are well-known, it gets annoying when you have to team up with people ad when you go hunting in parties.
“-and the Prosperous Empire Guild has subdued the combined forces of the Balkan and Oasis Guilds!” says Wan.
As a result of the war, Fort Ohdein has raised taxes by 70% in order to help with the post war recovery. One of the announcers is slight depressed about the tax increase but the other one points out that this is unavoidable, and typical behaviour of a guild.
The screen then shifts to a recording of Fort Ohdein from a birds eye view, which was most likely being filmed by a flying wizard. Weed turns off the television and gets into his capsule, connecting with Royal Road and appearing in Fort Ohdein.
He goes to the market square, where many people are talking about Ray Bard’s reaching of the level 370. They talk of how people are gushing to Haben to meet Ray and how he stands at the pinnacle of all of the Royal Road broadcasts, with each one of his videos earning millions of downloads. In addition to people talking about Ray, there are also many people looking for dungeon parties and similar things.
Weed had levelled twice during the battle for Fort Ohdein, he is now Lvl 230 because the EXP gain for killing people is much higher than killing a monster of the same level. He distributes the 10 stat points he gained and then goes to the grocery to buy food ingredients, herbs and bandage materials in bulk.
Jareteuui, the Red Herb: 2 silver
Helps with healing wounds
Ceylon, the Blue Herb: 4 silver
Helps restore mana
Weed buys 200 of each item for a cheap price because the mercenaries got a tax break.
A Wizard named Solon is fighting one of the NPC Bandit groups near Ohdein. Because his party consists of mostly archers and mages, they manage to wipe out most of them before the bandits can get close.
It turns out, Hwaryeong and Zephyr are in the party. Hwaryeong slows down all the left over thieves with her Seductive Dance while Zephyr uses Iron Swing and Lure with his fishing rod. After the fight, Solon praises Hwaryeong, “Although I have seen thousands of beautiful butterflies, the one in front of me right now is the best of all,” making a pun with her name.
Solon asks Hwaryeong to join his guild, Maboro, which she refuses. The Maboro guild had helped the Prosperous Empire guild during the siege of Fort Ohdein, earning them exclusive hunting rights in the Basara Caverns. Hwaryeong replies by brushing of the hunting venue as ‘boring’ and then claiming that the real reason why Solon wanted her to join was because of her appearance. The reason why she had split from Mapan was so she could eventually level up more and make her way to Ohdein for the hunting opportunities.
Solon’s group attacks another group of NPCs. The party relies on heavy ranged damage, before mopping up with Zephyr, Hwaryeong and Despite that, Solon takes long breaks after each battle and gifts most of the loot to her because she is ‘cute’, despite the silent complaints of the other party members. Although Hwaryeong was getting about 4% exp per group, she is worried that her Dancing skills aren’t up to par, since she only really has to dance once per party.
While heading for the Basra Caverns, Weed receives several offers to party up, but rejects them all. The Basra Caverns are inhabited by an average of 120-200 monsters, with four underground floors, the monsters increase in power the further and deeper you go. The most frightening thing about the Caverns is the nature of the enemies. Unlike most creatures, such as the undead and beasts, the NPCs in the Caverns will steal all of your equipment upon death.
Weed enters the entrance of the 3rd floor and considers the party members. Unfortunately, Mapan is too busy because of his significant rise in fame after the Prismatic cloth auctions and has even been able to hire assistants. Weed spies Hwaryeong inside the cave while she is fighting the bandits. He waits for her to finish and then goes up to her to greet her. Solon immediately jumps to conclusions- Weed must be another infatuated boyfriend. He finds out that Weed is merely a friend of Hwaryeong’s and is relieved. Weed joins the party but is extremely bored, since Solon has set him aside because of his class. After 12 in-game hours, Solon’s party disbands.
“Let’s start”
He pulls out his sword and grinding stone, sharpening his sword and increasing weapon damage by 14% because of his intermediate level 4 in sharpening. He also polishes his armor, increasing the defence by 16% and chance of evading and fleeing increasing by 2%.
He then cooks a shrimp dish. The ingredients that he had bought in Forty Ohdein had been surprisingly cheap compared to Rosenheim, since it has fewer taxes. Weed completes hi shrimp dish and notices both Zephyr and Hwaryeong staring at him with a ravenous expression. Weed charges them both one gold for the dish and they eagerly accept. As they eat they each gain:
+400 Health Points
+400 Mana Points
+20 Stamina
+15 Art
After, Weed creates and asks them both to join his party. When they join, Weed immediately sharpens, repairs, polishes and irons their armour, leaving Hwaryeong and Zephyr with their mouths hanging open. Zephyr reckons they need at least three more people, but Weed disagrees and summons the Death Knight. Because of the Death Knight’s 20% experience leech, the Death Knight is now approaching 290.
There aren’t that many people on the fourth floor because most of the monsters there are around there are level 240.
While they wander around the bottom floor, Hwaryeong and Zephyr berate Weed for his attempt to fight without any sort of HP replenisher class. Suddenly, there is pre-emptive strike from the enemy. Thieves.
The Death Knight reacts immediately, casting Dark Speculation- which increases attack and defence- and while wielding the Death Blade, he attacks the closest thief. The energy around the blade slices through the thief which causes the enemy to shred into a million tiny pieces.
Hwaryeong and Zeohyr watch in wonder. ‘Is this the power of a level 290 monster?’
“How the hell did Weed manage to tame something like that?’
Weed is also pleasantly surprised. The Death Knight haden’t played a significant role in the fighting of the Vampires in Mora. Weed realises that the Death Knight is strongest when fighting against living things, not undead like the Vampires.
Weed commands the Death Knight to not perform any killing blows, so that the party can finish them off easily. As Weed attacks, he realises the difference between one who doesn’t know swordplay and one that does, is like the difference between heaven and earth. Unlike the other players who aren’t trained in swordsmanship, Weed’s training practically gives him wings, allowing him to soar above obstacles in his path. With his training, Lee Hyun has learned about the freedom of the sword, the breathing techniques, how to control his body, control his life, etc.
A message pops up, asking Weed whther or not he wants to learn a skill. The skill allows Weed to performs crits when attacking the weak spots of the opponent.
Weed rejects the skill, seeing as he is able to see the weak points of an enemy without computer assisted help. Hwaryeong soon tires herself out with many uses of the ‘bubibubi”. As a Fisherman, Zephyr has very good endurance and defends Hwaryeong.
As soon as this group of thieves are finished, Weed moves on to another group of enemies.
They take a short break and Hwaryeong asks Weed if he always trains like this.
“Yes”
“Do you ever feel scared when you fight?” -Because it is in the human nature freeze or run when confronted with danger.
“I’ve seen scarier monsters around” Weed replies.
Behind his back, both Zephyr and Hwaryeong agree that weed is a ‘monster’ seeing as he has reached Intermediate Level in five skills. In other parties, it is normal for the leader of a party to be a Warrior or another class with high Charisma and Leadership, which would slightly affect the combat of the party members.
They continue to hunting endlessly, only taking time to repair the loot to avoid breaking the loot and losing money.
After 16 hours of continuous combat, Zephyr gains a serious injury. Hwaryeong rounds on Weed. “You demand too much! Don’t you see, we’re human beings- we feel tired!” She looks at the fisherman, who is on the verge of death, and thinks, ‘Dammit, that lucky bastard, he gets to have a day of rest! Who’s going to save me from the grasp of this devil?’
Zephyr, while lying on the ground, says, “It’s fine Hwaryeong, Weed. Don’t worry yourself about it, I don’t blame you.” *weakly laughs* “Just leave me be and continue on! There are no priests or other healers here, so I’m going to die anyway”
Because Zephyr was slashed in the stomach, he’s suffering from a gut wound, causing his life to fall extremely fast, leaving Zephyr with only 23% life remaining. If there are no healers, Zephyr will definitely die. The fisherman prepares to get out of his capsule with the intention to relax, but then Weed pulls out his bandages and says “I’ll heal you”
“Haha! Very funny…”
“Apply Bandages!”
*You have rolled the bandages around him lightning fast*
-The wound has stopped bleeding
-The injury has stabilized
-Life is being restored, current life: 26%
-Life is being restored, current life: 29%
“Gahk-” Zephyr’s eyes pop out, choking in his surprise. He reels back from Weed in fear and asks him, “Hey...Weed? How high is your bandage skill?...”
“Oh, Intermediate level 9, Why?”
Weed has always hunted without healers, causing his bandage skill to level up ridiculously. Because of his insane amount of vitality, the daggers that the thieves use barely hurt him.
After a whopping 29 hours of straight hunting, the party’s inventory had become so filled that it was impossible to store anything else. Relieved, Zephyr and Hwaryeong remark how that it had been one of the hardest and worst experiences ever.
“I’ll go to the village to sell the loot. Let’s meet again soon to finish up.”, Weed says.
They are shocked into silence.
Chapter 8: The Dark Gamers’ Union
Lee Hyun is poring over his maths textbook, studying. He ridicules the uselessness of learning complex calculations seeing as most computers and calculators can do it themselves. He considers ignoring the GED for a moment, but then banishes the- he had already paid the money for it.
His sister decides to assist him, “Ok, look at it this way, brother. How much money would you get if you deposit XXX won for 12 months, with 5.39% interest?”
Before she can even blink, Lee Hyun has figured it out. “3,700,505 Won! Although you originally have XXX Won, you would have had to pay the tax on the interest. When you sign up for tax breaks, you can save....”
So, after converting all of the math problems into money related problems, Hyun does extremely well on the math. Weed then studies continuously for 3 days, until finally, the day of the GED test comes. Before he takes the test, he stops by the hospital to visit his grandma, where she tells him that, she doesn’t care how many times he has to retake the test to pass, as long as he does.
Weed travels to Korea University, one of the most prestigious in South Korea. The test-takers are split up into groups of 30, and then the tests begin. Hyun manages to pretty easily pass most of the parts of the test- until he is completely baffled by one section.
To be specific? Morals
The test paper reads:
‘You have found a wallet full of money on the ground. What do you do?’
1. Ignore it
2. Pick up the wallet and ask around for the owner
3. Take the wallet and go
4. Check the identification in the wallet and contact the owner
5. What wallet?
Lee Hyun is on the verge of tearing his hair out over the problem. “Dammit! What’s the answer? Why do they make things so ambiguous? Hmm... Let me use process of elimination. Well...I’m sure it would be wrong to leave the wallet there...”
After the exam finishes, the test-takers mill about and most of them discuss Royal Road. Hyun hears a mention of the Dark gamers’ Union, a union of gamers that earn profit off gaming, and finds out that to his surprise, many people think that being a Dark Gamer is enviable, instead of embarrassing like he originally thought.
Hyun is driven to a Dark Gamer initiation meeting inside what appears to be a converted warehouse with a table and several capsules.
The organiser introduces the newcomers to the Dark Gamers’ Union.
Hundreds of thousands of people make their living by selling items from Royal Road, mostly concentrated in India, China and Southeast Asia. Royal Road breaks the language barrier between countries and gamers with an automatic language translator developed by Unicorn Inc - the company that made Royal Road, which allows people of different languages communicate with each other without problems. As a result of all of these people selling items, the Dark Gamers Union was created, in order to organize this selling. The first thing that the Union did was to set up a place where people could buy and sell their information. The more valuable the information is, the more it can sell for.
After the introductory speech finished, two people sign up. Hyun is approached by a curious veteran, who asks Hyun if he wants to join. Hyun tells the man that he refuses to join because he doesn’t want to owe others for the information and have to disclose his identity. The veteran accepts Hyun’s decision, saying that everyone has their own circumstances. The veteran gives Hyun a password anyways:
Username: kj9008
Password: 165008
The veteran tells Lee Hyun that the accounts can access C-Level information. Hyun asks the veteran for the motive behind his giving of the account and is told that they all follow the 1st rule of the Dark Gamers: To never trust anybody, and the 2nd rule: Only give as much as you receive.
Thinking about this, Hyun joins the Union and then returns home, logging back onto Royal Road.
Chapter 9: The Mausoleum of the King
When the free hunting rights given by the Prosperous Emperor guild finally ends, Weed emerges from the Basra Caverns with a level of 259. Since the rights have worn out, the Guild is now charging a hefty fee for the right of entry- plus claims over any rare items found while hunting. This causes outrage and the guild’s influence drops, but many players also join Prosperous Emperor, seeing as members can hunt in the Caverns for free.
Weed parts with Hwaryeong and Zephyr, visiting the nearest Freya Chapel. He shows the ring that he had received from the Head Priest and asks to use the teleportation gate. In addition, a Priest blesses him, giving him a buff in +26% armour, +30% recovery rate, additional power against evil, increased strength, and improved fitness. Weed receives this buff for free, since he pretty much single-handedly promoted the Church’s influence to the sway it has now.
After travelling a distance that normally takes a month by foot, Weed appears in front of a fountain and to the sounds players selling items, gathering party members and joining parties.
Weed is approaches by Pale, Irene, Surka and Romune, who, after greeting him, asks for the taste of Weed’s cooking.
“What level are you?” Pale asks Weed, while eating.
“259”
The group is abruptly surrounded by Rosenheim soldiers. The spectators brush the group off as law-breakers. One of Weed’s friends ask if Weed has PKed anyone recently. Weed struggles for a reply. He didn’t think that he had killed anyone…had he committed homicide?
A soldier speaks, “Are you an engraver?”
“Yes”
“The King of Rosenheim would like to meet with you”
The onlookers are amazed and the news spreads like wildfire- after all, it is the first time the King of Rosenheim Kingdom has ever summoned a player. Weed considers his options and decides to go with the soldiers, ignoring the demands of a King for no apparent reason is probably a bad thing to do. However, before following the soldier, Weed asks if he may stop at the Temple of Freya before meeting with the King. The soldier must agree, as matters of State and Religion must be kept separate and have no right to interfere with one another and Weed is escorted to the Temple.
Weed goes up one of the senior priests and asks for information about the Plains of Despair.
“The Plains is a harsh land, roamed by Orcs, Dark Elves and monsters; the humans barely survive. Recently, the Necromancers, led by Bar-Khan, the Undying Lord, have gathered in the Plains of Despair, away from prying eyes.”
Weed is given a B-level quest and considers the weight. When he asks for the amount of people that the Church can spare to assist him, he is shocked to find out that he will only receive 50 Priests and Paladins. A small handful compared to the 300 Paladins and 100 Priests when he was completing the Moravian Vampire Quest. The Priest explains that all of the other paladins and priests are on missionary activities at this time, and are too busy to help Weed out. The Priest then tells Weed that the teleportation device to the Plains of Despair is ready to go at any time. Weed leave, troubled and now stuck in a deep hole.
Weed goes on with the soldiers to see the King, followed by a huge crowd of curious players. While walking through the halls, Weed examines the pieces of art in the castle, with each piece increasing his art stat by 1-2. His art stats rise by 30 when he finally finishes walking through the halls, and then he meets the King, an old, pale looking man. After asking if Weed is the engraver, and having Weed answer that he is, the King starts to speak, but coughs up blood instead. The knights and servants rush to the assistance of their King, but the King holds up a hand to stop them, and enquires as to whether Weed is a Moonlight Engraver or not. . After Weed admits that he is, the King declares that Weed must know about Zahab, to the surprise of the King’s attendants- matters concerning Zahab were strictly a no-go territory, especially since the Royal Knights disposing of the people who talk about him. The King tells his attendants that everybody inside the room already knows about Zahab and it will do no good hiding things.
The King of Rosenheim talks about his life, and how he had done his best to ensure a reign of peace both inside and outside his country, and defeated the Kingdom of Brent. He tells of his achievements, which all come to an end one day, five years ago, when he fell off his horse and broke his leg. Afterwards, the King state deteriorates each day, and now he has finally decided that a new home is needed; a place to relax his tired body; a tomb worthy of a King.
Weed has received a quest!
The Mausoleum of the King:
In the Rosenheim Kingdom, each generation of rulers have commissioned a tomb for themselves before they died. To follow the tradition of his ancestors, the King has commissioned a famous engraver to build his grave. If the finished tomb does not live up to the majesty of the King, you will fail the quest and receive several punishments.
You can hire workmen to build the tomb.
To cover the costs of construction, you will be given 100,000 gold.
Difficulty: Rank B
Reward: If successful, at least 2,000 reputation and familiarity with the Royal Family. Depending on the results of the finished work, you may gain more reputation.
Failure: Failure will provoke the wrath of the King. Furthermore, you will receive a sharp drop in reputation.
Weed’s reputation with the Freya order exceeds a whopping 4,600 thousand and there are many benefits: free treatment from priests, the ability to hire paladins and priests, ease of travelling across other countries, and even an increased chance of discovering quests.
Having reputation with the Royal Family is even more useful than that.
With the increase in familiarity, a person can receive weapons and armour from the Royal Treasury. With 2000 reputation, it is even possible to receive a rare weapon. Weed considers his options and accepts the quest, since it's an offer that he couldn’t refuse, also because rejecting a quest from somebody like the King would mean getting penalized severely. As Weed walks out of the palace, he is deep in thought about how to make a magnificent and gigantic mausoleum. He considers the idea of using rough stones and rock pillars, but immediately tosses it out, judging that something so simple would definitely anger the king.
In order to build the tomb, however, he would need more money than he currently has. Although receiving a rare weapon may make up for the money loss, he can only get the rewards after completing the quest.
How shall he make a mausoleum fit for a King?
A weird stranger is crying and jumping on the streets while the pedestrians avoid him. Predictably, it’s Weed- who is lamenting over the fact that his precious Ice Dragon sculpture was left behind when he had teleported out of Mora. It’s a cruel callous world, after all.
Weed walks to the Church of Freya and shocks Ron Alves with his craziness- who thought he knew said man quite well. He then returns the Crown which he had taken from Tori, the servant of the Lich King Bar Khan and for that, receives:
+1200 fame
+31 familiarity with the Order of Freya
The Church of Freya gains a 2,200 increase in influence, meaning the Church of Freya now has a total of 4612 influence.
Weed’s level rises by 9 and he procures 30 health potions and holy water vials. Apparently, health potions are extremely expensive- but also extremely useful when in a pinch, seeing as you can use it almost instantly. Weed also receives a Wyvern Leather Belt, which gives +7% to engraving and some small +10 to +30 bonuses to agility, attractiveness, strength and reputation. Weed is slightly disappointed. Due to the lack of engravers, the price of the belt would be only about $10, whereas the value of the Crown would be unimaginable. He also receives a guarantee of free treatment and free teleportation gates at any Freya chapel.
The Head Priest tells of rumours of Necromancer activity in the Plains of Despair and asks Weed to investigate and slay the Necromancers under the refuge of the Dark Elves. Weed accepts the B Rank quest and is advised to go to the Rosenheim Kingdom for more information and to pick up the supporting units for the quest. The priest then comments that the Plains of Despair are almost off the map, with only its edges explored and the rest almost completely unknown.
Weed PM’s Mapan, and when meeting up with him, he finds Mapan with a stunning lady, who is introduced to be Hwaryeong, a Dancer (like the Bard class, except where singing is replaced by dancing). Hwaryeong dances and sends any monsters they encounter in a stupor and then hides in Mapan’s carriage. Hwaryeong expresses surprise at how Weed is an engraver- while Mapan whispers that the name of the dance that Hwaryeong performed to stupefy the monsters is named the “bubibubi”… also known as the “Korean Strip Dance”. The group then heads off to Liberty City.
Meanwhile, in town, NPCs have started talking about an adventurer named Weed, who retrieved Freya’s Crown- the lost relic of the Freya Church- and how he exterminated the Vampire clan serving under the Lich King, Bar Khan. Soon, the word spreads across the entire continent and its cities.
At home, Lee Hyun receives an invite to the Dark gamers Union, a place where people get paid for mercenary services, game info, items etc for Royal Road- Hyun completely ignores the email and puts some of his unneeded items onto the game-item auction site: the Death Knight loot, Vampire loot and the Holy Gloves obtained from the Freya’s Cup quest.
After Weed falls asleep, comments appear on the auction site, exclaiming that the legendary, Triple Diamond Rated (Weed received this title from the sale of the Continent of Magic avatar) Weed, has started selling Royal road items. However, the posters start getting disheartened, after finding out that the only items that were on sale were some Death Knight and Vampire equipment. A few express surprise at the Rose-Engraved Gloves- which are extremely rare because of the fact that they are only distributed among the Paladins of the Order of Freya. The information slowly spreads across the net, as people talk about how Weed of Continent of Magic has started playing Royal Road, how Weed had Freya’s Paladin gear on auction, how there was fewer than a hundred people in the Order of Freya. Some people are disappointed, commenting that Weed from CoM had seemed like a legendary figure, accomplishing impossible deeds, single-handedly clearing high-level dungeons and raid bosses; of how Weed was always alone. And now he’s reduced to taking orders from the Freya Church. They then discuss how he used to be a lonely figure of absolute awe and veneration, and how he has now reduced from a symbol to simply a good player.
Suddenly, someone appears. He claims that he had heard something important while logging off. After being flamed for posting something irrelevant, the poster mentions that the NPCs of the continent have started talking about how a man named Weed had battled the Vampires of Bar Khan’s Undying Legion and retrieved one of Freya’s sacred artefacts. At first, people are distrustful, pointing out that Bar Khan is one of the strongest forces in Royal Road at the moment and that the average vampire level is two-hundred and seventy and Tori, the head of the Vampire Clan, is four-hundred.
However, the anonymous poster is proved right as the evidence of Weed’s deeds are right in front of them as the Vampire items and the Rose-Engraved Gloves. The unanimous profanity is: “Holy shit!”
Lee Hyun wakes up after four hours of sleep and heads to the morning market. It’s critical for his sister to receive good nutrition and he bargains for fresh vegetables and meat. After going home, he is reminded by his sister to study for his GED (which he thinks is a complete waste of time. He would rather study the geography and history of Royal Road than that of the real world). Afterwards, he checks his auction site and finds out that he has a whopping number of 140,000 bids on the gloves, for a total of two-hundred and thirty dollars. Apparently, the people who bid on it, only bid one more won than the previous. This was to post comments, which ranged from people wanting to be like Weed, to congratulations, to people just doing it because everyone else was.
Chapter 2: Jack of All Trades
Pale and his party are being constantly nagged by their parents. At first, they had only bothered them about college and their degrees, but now, their parents were trying to get Pale and co. to buy them weapons and help them hunt in Royal Road. Despite their annoying parents, they had finally reached level two-hundred. They hear all the NPCs talking about how Weed slew the vampires and liberated Mora, and how the King is looking to talk to Weed. They congratulate Weed.
Meanwhile, the Geomchis have risen from massacring innocent little critters to exterminating undead in the crypts of Lavias, living on a diet of barley bread. Funnily enough, they are more afraid dying due to hunger because of not enough money to buy barley bread than dying from a monster’s hit. After learning of how great Weed is, they all aspire to be famous and fight monsters that ‘drop one gold!’
Weed reaches Liberty City, a commercially developed city known for its many crafting guilds. He disposes of all the loot that he had gotten from the Northern continent, earning 5,600 gold, and then heads to the Blacksmith Guild. The first thing that Weed notices is the thirty blacksmith players in the guild sitting around a table while complaining about how being a blacksmith sucks. A blacksmith had spent the whole day hammering while his friend raided a Kobold cave. One wonders why he chose this boring job in the first place. Another blacksmith had made weapons for more than 10 days, only to have them be equivalent to weapons that Kobolds dropped. There is talk of Thor, the drawven blacksmith with the high smithing level of Intermediate 5. The blacksmiths wonder at how long that would have taken him and are green with envy.
Weed heads to the second floor of the guild. After talking to the Guild Master and fixing a shield that required an Intermediate level to repair (which had been a test), he learns the blacksmithing skill. Gaining the skill allows Weed to decrease the level required to equip items by 2% per level in blacksmithing. After buying a hammer, grinding wheel and portable forge, Weed takes the ore that he had stockpiled from the Lair of Litvart and starts smithing.
The first sword he makes is a sword:
Restriction: Lvl 15
Durability: 70/70
Attack +6
Power +5
More importantly, Weed’s skill in blacksmithing increases by 36%. After selling it for 70 silver and marvelling at the amount of money blacksmithing gives, he continues to smith. At level 2 he could make weapons with improves damage. At level 3, the armour created increases and armour made with bronze and copper are given additional properties. At level 4 mastery, all weapons Weed creates gives out more damage and also requires less strength to wield. At level 5, armour becomes lighter and Weed gains the ability to craft boots. At level 6, both attack and defence of his created item increases. After continuing for a whole 10 days and nights, Weed finally exhausts all the ore he has in his inventory. Due to Weed’s dexterity level, which was currently Intermediate 8, the items that Weed creates were two times more durable, with better effects than normal smithed items.
After achieving level 6 Blacksmith Mastery, Weed goes to the Fishing Guild Master- purchasing a fishing rod along the way. The Guild Master asks whether Weed wants to become a fishing legend or if he simply wants to make memorable catches. Surprising the Guild Master, Weed dryly replies, “I’m hungry, I want to learn so that I can eat fish”. The Guild Master laughs and hands over some special bait and passes on the Fishing skill. “Make me some fish soup, sometime” Weed acquires 30 pieces of bait and goes to the Tailoring guild. However, Weed is conflicted. In his mind, learning the skill is like learning how to create ‘junk’. This is because of memories of being exploited as a child labourer. He even remembers how he had gotten sick on time and hadn’t received any compensation. Weed deliberates, but eventually decides to learn to sew, easily passing the Tailoring test of attaching buttons. After buying some scissors and some fabric, weed sits outside and begins to sew. Soon, Weed achieves reaches level 2 in Tailoring mastery and people begin to take notice of him. They are curious as they have never seen a craftsmen working before but when they look at Weed’s clothes, the crowd comments that they were simple and without patterns. After raising the Tailoring skill to 4, Weed takes out the premium deerskin that he had gotten for returning the Mora villagers to their natural state. Deerskin is a second tier Tailoring item, that gives Magical Resistance and enhanced Agility. Although deerskin should be used by Intermediate level Tailors for the best effect, Weed decides that the EXP that would be given to the skill mastery would be worth more than the money wasted.
Weed creates a Deer Tunic:
Restriction: Lvl 15
Durability: 40/40
Defence: +13
Additional: Gives Monks a 2% boost to Agility
This raises his Tailoring skill to level 5. The spectators comment that the clothes look good and they wonder if sewing skills are supposed to rise that fast. Weed sontinues to create items, using up all two-hundred of the deerskin and raising his mastery to level 9- achievable only because of his superior materials.
Chapter 3: Prismatic Clothing Auctions
Liberty City is a great beginner town with a lot of cheap advantages. However, the normally sleepy atmosphere of this town has been broken by a congregation of users, gathered around a man offering to repair items to max, make leather and cloth attire, craft bronze armour and also offering to cook ninety-two different dishes, with the cheapest food offering a rise of +150 in Strength. Although many of the n00bs rush to Weed, the older and more experience warn them that Weed is just a scammer. It’s common sense that it would be impossible for anyone to have such skill in Tailoring, Cooking and Repairing at the same time. After being called scum and a fraud, Weed gets annoyed at the ignorant idiots and summons the Death Knight. This shuts up the sceptics and they decide that someone with a high enough level to command the Death Knight wouldn’t bother with scamming n00bs for their money. The first customer comes up, cautiously offering 30 copper for cooking a piece of meat. Immediately after tasting Weed’s cooking, he empties his entire backpack, asking him to cook all the meat that he has. Soon, a huge line has formed, with people asking Weed to register as their friend. After finding out that his username is Weed, people are confused and shocked. “Huh?...No way…”
The name of ‘Weed’ in Royal Road has a complicated meaning. Multiple users can choose their name to be Weed, meaning that a character named ‘Weed’ could have been created even before Lee Hyun created his avatar. However, each name has a unique code so even when trying to private message (PM) a person that has the same name as another person, the code will guide the PM to the correct person. After finding out that he’s Weed, he gets mobbed by users, who ask if he’s the Weed from Continent of Magic or whether he was the one who performed the quest for the Order of Freya. Weed tells them that he is not from CoM and others point out that it would be absurd of someone to own a Death Knight while being employed by a church.
Weed continues to repair, cook and craft items. Weed finds out that he can enhance his crafted items with his engraving skill.
Impure Steel Boots:
Durability: 35/35
Defense +6
Agility +2
This item is transformed into Steel Fox Treads after Weed engraves a nine-tailed fox onto the boots.
Steel Fox Treads:
Durability: 38/38
Defence +7
Agility +2
Strength +1
Stamina +1
Weed is surprised. Info on sculpting is very rare, never mind sculpting combined with other crafting classes. The effect of sculpting on the other crafting classes is likened to the impact of mathematics in science.
Weed’s items are made straight from the ingredients, charging only ½ the price of buying the items from stores, because of this, news of his generosity drew flocks of people to the nearby cities. Soon, Weed’s blacksmithing skill reached Intermediate, allowing him to learn Sword Grind, which enhances weapon damage and Polish Armour, which can sometimes dazzle the enemy, while also increases defence. On reaching Intermediate, Weed gains;
+5 to all stats
+50 Reputation
+3 Art
Shortly afterwards, Weed’s sewing skill hits level 10, turning into Intermediate and granting Weed the following skills and stat gains:
Ironing: Increases defence of garments
Hand washing: Gives a random defence bonuses and options. Excessive hand washing may damage the item.
+5 to all stats
+50 Reputation
+70 Art
Weed then announces that he is going to have an auction to end his services because of ‘personal reasons”, before logging out. The crowning event of the auction would be his sale of the items created from the Prismatic Cloth. Many speculate about the identity of the Prismatic Cloth. Someone accesses Royal Road’s Information Site and discovers:
Sovereign Prismatic Cloth (President of the Rainbow)
Durability: 5.5.
An ultimate sewing material, items made from this gives seven different characteristics, blunts ranged enemy attacks and offers great defence.
Top tier sewing material, Intermediate Sewing skills are required.
Additional: Grants seven randomly generated attributes.
The news soon spreads like wildfire. Three days later, on the promised day of the auction. The city is filled to the brim with people, from hopeful individuals to guild representative intent on purchasing some items for their guild. Mapan is the one who hosts the auction, since Weed doesn’t want anyone to link his face to that of the Princess Knight’s
Chapter 4: Engraving Master Darone
The Bensa River is one of the most famous locations in Royal Road. In addition to its popularity with fishermen, its scenic views combined with its ideal picnic location make it an extremely popular spot for couples. However, the couples who ignorantly visit the river during the monsoon season are usually treated to flash flooding and death by drowning.
Example:
Man: Aww..this is so beautiful, look at the river and the sky
Woman: I love you!
Man: I love you too!
Woman: …Hey, isn’t that water getting a little too high? Shouldn’t we probably go before-
River: *flash floods*
Weed is now fishing alongside the bank of a river, where he had already fished for a weed. He is now contemplating the difference between fishing and professions like blacksmithing and sewing. Furthermore, although it's slightly affected by dexterity and bait, fishing depends on personal skill. A player has to predict where the fish swims in the river, waiting patiently for the fish to bite. Weed decides to make a statue to accelerate the process, PMing Mapan who is extremely happy about the prestige and fame he had received from the auction, to transport a large stone over. While Weed is waiting for Mapan to transfer the stone, he observes the other fisherman, most of which only fish as a hobby, rather than doing it for stats and food, like he is. He overhears that there are specific areas where fish are present, like places with plants, clear water or turbulent water, places where algae is concentrated, places of a specific temperature, etc. causing him to finally realizing why he hasn’t been catching any decent fish. The stone he had ordered arrives and weed, who is inspired by a mermaid story, decides to carve a mermaid. The other anglers curiously watch as Weed carves the mermaid statue once again based off of Seoyun. The statue has an artistic value of 450 and has the ability of preventing floods in the river for the next 10 years- to the dismay and anger of all of the fishermen who enjoyed watching all the lovey-dovey couples getting washed away. Weed is forced to destroy the statue which reduces his reputation by 3, increasing his sculpting skill by 0.2% and convert’s ½ of his art stats to agility/dexterity for the rest of the day, His art stat, which was over 900, is promptly converted, allowing him to fish so fast that his hands are a blur.
The Geomchis are decimating the population of one of the southern forests of Rosenheim kingdom. Due to the lack of vendors, they can only resort to “cooking” the deer and bird meat they catch. It tastes so ghastly that most of the trainees are fantasizing about the “good old days” of barley bread. They meet a child, who pleads with them to rescue his parents from giants, a C difficulty quest. Despite having never accepted a quest before, Geomchi accepts this one, to the surprise of some of the trainees. “It should be natural to help those in need,” he says. The enthusiasm of the group is slightly dampened once they discover the footprints of the giant, which are 3 meters in diameter. However, they continue to the giant’s cave, swarming the giant like ants and eventually killing it. They all go up 2 levels, receive an increase in familiarity with villagers, gain 26 reputation and each received a better sword.
Weed has finally reached 97.6% of Beginner level 9 after long struggles. He is fishing motionlessly next to a good-looking young man named Zephyr who he had befriended while fishing. The stillness is first broken by Zephyr, who pulls his rod, excitedly announcing that he has a big catch, which turns out to be an old boot. Weed reaches Intermediate when he pulls up a 45 cm Carp, obtaining:
+25 water affinity
+2000 life, increased effect when cooking fish
The ability to catch special fish
+50% effects of fish bait
+3 to all stats
+50 Reputation
+30 Endurance
+30 Intelligence
+30 Wisdom
Weed leaves, to the disappointment of Zephyr, and heads to a store, buttering up the manager in order to sell the sculptures he had made while fishing. After buying the statues for 245 gold, the shopkeeper mentions that there is a highly skilled Engraving Master named Darone.
chapter 5: Shape shifting Sculptor
Guided by the information that the shopkeeper gave him, Weed goes to Darone workshop in the town of Rega. Eager to learn one of the five techniques of the Five Engraving Masters (Zahab and the Emperor being two of them), Weed enters the workshop, where he comes upon Darone carving a sculpture of a woman. Darone looks up, correctly identifying Weed as an engraver, and offers to teach Weed a special skill. Although Weed enthusiastically accepts, Darone tells Weed that he will not give the skill to anybody, requiring Weed to finish a quest first. Weed is offered a quest that requires him to observe the behaviours of five different creatures to such an extent that he would be able to perfectly predict and mimic the actions of the five. Although Weed is mortified and shocked, he accepts the quest, choosing the rabbit as his first animal.
Feeling miserable, Weed begins to imitate the rabbit, crouching over and eating grass which, thanks to his herb-gathering skill is not as bad as it seems. Weed attempts to bunny hop and follow the movements of the rabbit- which zig-zagged and ran with short bursts in random directions. “Why the hell are rabbits so fast?” After observing and mimicking rabbits for a whole day, he is only 35% of the way through the observation of rabbits. Now, he is acquainted enough with rabbits to go right up to them without scaring them. Five days pass, with Weed’s progress exceeding 80%, he is now at the point where he can predict what the rabbit will do. When he reaches 100%, Weed then goes to observe deer. At first he tries to run after the deer, but then realising that deer are quadruped beats, he gets down on all fours and tries to follow the deer.
Hwaryeong and Mapan have been going around trading, and have recently arrived in Rega in order to build up relationships with the NPCs and therefore make more profit when trading. They talk about how Weed and how he defeated the Vampires and rescued Freya’s Paladins. When the enter rega, they notice a large group of people congregating near the hunting grounds, curious, they see something strange. There is a fox running through the field, while a person following it, actions perfectly mimicking the foxes! A girl among the crowd says that that person had mimicked rabbits, deer, goblins and now a fox. Mapan and Hwaryeong recognise Weed with horror before backing away slowly, embarrassed.
Weed is currently travelling to a horse farm on the outskirts of the city. After a day, Weed reached 12% process. Frustrated by his progress, he eventually realises that he must eat vegetables in order to fully understand the horse. Weed reaches 100% and gains a new skill:
Movement Skill: Quadruped Run (Running with all four limbs)
Allows an increase of 60% to speed and requires the player to pay a certain amount of health and mana to use. Reduces the stamina consumption rate when running against the wind by 30%, and increases speed when running with the wind by 20%. Furthermore, when running in mountain terrain, plains, or grasslands, the speed of the user is increased by 80%.
Weed’s stamina also increases by 5 and his agility increases by 10.
Weed goes back to Darone, where he is shocked to find that Darone is working on another statue almost exactly the same as the woman statue that Darone created the last time. Weed doesn’t understand, there is a severe penalty for creating the same work over and over again. Weed tells Darone that he now understands the natures of those four animals as the Master Engraver had requested. Darone gives him another quest: carve the animals that he had mimicked. Weed begins to confidently carve a rabbit sculpture and realizes that something is different straight away. There are subtle difference in the ways that the ears, feet, tail are carved, discovering that the sculpture of a rabbit was different to rabbits he had carved in the past.
Weed finishes carving all five of the creatures he observed, creating a masterpiece with an artistic value of 460 and the option of increasing health and mana regeneration by 6% during the day, increased affinity towards animals,
15% rise in resistance to fire,
+25 leadership bonus
+10 intellect increase
+10 increase in movement speed.
Weed now understands that masterpieces can be small, even though all his masterpieces so far have been large. He has now passed Darone’s test. Suddenly, Darone starts to cough blood and tells Weed that he will be dying soon. Another quest is given:
Darone wants to finish an order of three hundred sculptures before he dies.
This quest gives a two fold increase in sculpting experience gain during the period of the quest.
It’s a good opportunity for Weed, since his Sculpting mastery is almost at Intermediate 7. Carving day and night, Weed finishes the 300 sculptures. When he finishes, he gains:
Sculpture Shape Shifting: A technique created by Engraving Master Darone. Can change the caster’s body into the statue’s form.
Limitations: Can only be casted on sculptures made by those who fully understand the object of the carving.
Skill Requirements: 2000 Mana and 500 Art
Notice!: Even if transformed into another race, all stats are scaled to your level. If you transform into the body of a large creature, you will consume more stamina and require more strength.
Sculpture Comprehension 1 (0%): Allows you to create even higher quality works of sculptures you know. As skill level goes up, additional effect of Sculptural Shapeshifiting will be added.
Beginner: Adds 10% to the effect of transformation. Can only change into earthbound races
Intermediate: Adds 20% to effect of transformation. Can now change into flying creatures. However, you must learn how to fly first.
Advanced: Adds 30% to the effect of transformation. Can transform into colossal creatures.
Weed is satisfied with the skill, although he remarks that even if he transformed into something strong like a dragon, he would still be nowhere near the strength of an actual dragon. Darone coughs up blood again, and with his dying breath, asks Weed to forge his way forward as an engraver and master his skills. Darone rambles about how he had wished to finish the sculpture of the woman he loved and how the Legendary Emperor had managed to unify the entire continent. Weed remembers how he thought he had been scammed when he first took the engraving job, and now decides that being a moonlight sculptor is a good class after all. After talking about how engravers forsook fame and fortune to pursue dreams like carving the moonlight, Darone dies, with his last words being “Oh, Elrien.” Weed sculpts a statue in the memory of Darone, creating a Masterpiece with an Artistic value of 2300.
+50% life regeneration.
+40% magic resistance,
+45 increase in vitality and +10 to all stats,
This is Weed’s second ‘true’ masterpiece.
Trring! Engraving Mastery rises to Intermediate 8!
Trring! Dexterity rises to Intermediate 9!
Trring! Sculpture Comprehension rises to Beginnner 4!
+1200 Fame
+79 Art
+3 Endurance
+5 Leadership
All stats rise by 1.
Chapter 6: Siege of Ohdein Castle
It’s been a while since Weed fought monsters and experienced the thrill of battle, actually, he hasn’t levelled at all since the completion of the Church of Freya’s quest. Pale and co. has reached an average level of 190 and Hwaryeong is level 210 while Mapan is level 160.
The Geomchis have been PMing Weed frequently, in order to find out the monsters that drop the most delicious food. The top five of the Geomchis have gotten so attuned to fighting the wolves in the forest that they can perfectly predict all of the wolves’ movements, dealing critical hits and coming out of a fight unscathed.
At the Ohdein fort, the Oasis and Balkan Guilds have joined up to assault the Prosperous Empire Guild that currently controls Fort Ohdein. Although the Balkan Guild has attacked the fort unsuccessfully many times, they have now joined up with the mercenary guild, Oasis. The sheer amount of lucrative rewards gained by participating (and winning) caused many users to flock to both sides. The fort is buzzing with activity with more parties arriving, corps being dispatched- especially seeing that is Prosperous Empire lost, they’d lose everything. The Masked Butterfly mercenaries, who were attracted by the rewards, gather near the fort, nervously talking about the fierce siege. They can also see wizards that are flying- a skill that can only be learnt once you are at a very high level.
Because the Prosperous Empire guild controls a gold mine and is in need of manpower, they commission a 10 gold per enemy head reward, leading tons of people to join. The battle begins, with the Balkan guild’s army marching forward and clashing with the elite Iron Cross Knights that defend the fort. The Iron Knights retreat after a short skirmish, as the tidal wave of tens of thousands storm the fort, to be intercepted by the spells of wizards and archers. It was like throwing pebbles into the ocean. The wizards are countered in return by the spirits, golems and assassins who infiltrate the fort.
The Battle for Fort Ohdein truly begins now, with NPCs and users trying to swarm up the walls with ropes and ladders, with ballista and catapults causing severe damage onto the Balkan army. After four hours, with the fort walls on the brink of being overrun by the Balkans. But they had had to sacrifice more than 1/3 of their men to do that.
At that moment, the mercenaries and Weed attack. It is amazing how real the battle is, Weed thinks, compared to the large-scale wars broadcasted on TV, or the clan wars in CoM. Weed slaughters several opponents easily, thanks to having over 9000 health and had used the ironing and sharpening skill to enhance his weapon and armour. Not to mention his Sculpting Blade, which could bypass the defence stats of the enemy’s armour.
Mercenaries receive compensation according to the request. Rarely, fame or titles can be granted. With 42 comrades with an average level of 250, they manage to easily cut a swath through the enemy’s front lines. Because of Weed’s threat level, many try to jump him, but due to their much lower levels, they are almost cut down immediately. The battle rages on all day, with blood running in streams. In the end, victory goes to the Empire Guild, thanks to the thick walls of Ohdein fort- and of course, the Masked Butterfly mercenaries and Weed, who instantly became legend in those lands.
The Geomchis are fighting in the mountains and valleys on the southern tip of Rosenheim. They have just reached an average level of 180, catching up to Weed quickly since the only thing they have been doing is fighting all day long. Unknown to them, they are being watched closely. By whom? By the four Player-Killers that had attempted to kill Weed and Mapan. Although it’s been nearly four months since, they are nearly the same levels due to the fact that they prefer to kill people than grind monsters. All though the number of martial artists number up to five-hundred and five, they split into small hunting parties of five. The four PKers jump one of the groups, which turn out to be Geomchi and his four best disciples. They are dispatched of easily and it turns out that the Geomchis have learnt a new technique!m
The technique consists of first pinpointing the direction of the enemy attack and calculating the amount of power behind it, then, the user diverts the power, changing the flow of the attack and causing it to miss.
After a day, the 4 Pkers reunite, still shocked at the fact that they were so completely destroyed the day before. They contact the Jamaican Guild, receiving 300 people as backup and they assault Geomchi and his group again. Seeing their melee forces getting annihilated, the PK group concentrates on magical attacks, pulling back all their forces to far range. After being consecutively assaulted by ranged attacks many of the martial artists have lost their lives.
“This is the first crisis we’ve had since we died from lack of barley bread!” Geomchi cries and then orders all the martial artists to pull back into the woods. There are only 260 martial artists left and all of them have less that ½ of their life left. The disciples try to convince Geomchi to flee while they stay behind and hold the enemy back. Claiming that they are real men, Geomchi stays with the disciples and fight the attackers. Because the PKers have priests and they don’t, the Geomchi’s are all eventually killed.
Coming out of his capsule and thinking about his loss, Geomchi considers the limitations of swordsmanship. Going up to the blackboard, he writes the names of the four Pkers:
Gran, Halma, Slender, Rewi, Jamaica Guid
“The dojo will get revenge!”
The PKers are excitedly anticipating the rewards they will get from looting the 505 martial artists. Although most of them enough the taste of killing, it is the allure of the trophies that actually makes them PKers. A person can grind for days and days for equipment when a PKer can easily take it off him. Happy, they examine the loot inventory- only to find a sword which urgently needed repair, a cape, a bag and millions and millions of barley breads.
Chapter 7: Dungeon Hunting
Lee Hyun is watching Wan and Sinhye Min (the most well known game-show hostess on the KMC Media channels). Hyun prefers KMC over CTS since they have a more friendly and less rigid approach with discussing news on Royal Road.
“Finally, in the Kingdom of Haben, the user level of 370 has been broken by the player Ray Bard!”
KMC shows a clip of Ray, covered from head to toe in black armour, battling a Barbarian Warrior. The barbarian takes a swing at the Black Knight, which he easily avoids. According to KMC, most of Ray’s skills are unknown, though he is the leader of Hermes Guild.
When the show starts to discuss minor news, Weed’s mind wanders off, thinking about the amount of money you recieve for selling the highest level avatar in Royal Road. Out of more than 100 million users of Royal Road do it for recreational and non-gaming related fun. For example, many families go to visit the Bensa River, enjoying luxury food and nice items (despite of their level being lower than 50) by buying virtual cash and items with real money. Furthermore, many people now spend their vacations in Royal Road given the ease of accessing the resort and the things that are a lot more expensive in real life. On top of all of this, there is also the value of expensive items and strong characters. Considering all of these factors, the value of the character with the highest level would be astronomical.
Ray will never sell his character, though, seeing as it would be stupid to sell it so early in the game. Unlike the aged Continent of Magic, Royal Road will easily hold the top position for at least another ten years. Therefore, by owning the best character, you can make an incredible amount of wealth.
Sinhye Min speaks, “Hey Wan, someone in Royal Road has reached the Intermediate level in Tailoring, Cooking and Blacksmithing! I didn’t believe it at first because of how hard it is to reach Intermediate in any skill, much less three”
Weed muses that blacksmithing and tailoring had been easy to level up, but then remembers that he has his high dexterity level to help him level twice as fast.
“Has this player been interviewed yet?”
“He hasn’t. In fact, we obtained this information quite some time ago, and only because that person was selling clothing made from Prismatic Cloth.”
The image on the screen shifts to a thriving medieval town with many temples and pagodas, hoses with large gardens, and 2-3 story buildings. Underneath a coliseum, carriages and people are moving, shop owners and customers haggle for the prices of items. In the wide open space a user is offering clothes shining brilliantly with seven different kinds of colours, while the bids skyrocket.
Lee Hyun thinks that he lucky that he got Mapan to sell the items.
Wan and Sinhye comment that the auction has become more exciting and the screen swings back to Mapan. Mapan yells out the qualities of the clothes:
Rare Rainbow Tunic:
Durability: 110/110
Defence +55
Tunic made from Prismatic Cloth
This garment has high artistic quality, helping prevent attacks from monsters.
Requirements: Level 150
Strength +80
Agility +80
Additional: Damage from projectiles, such as slings and arrows are reduced by 85%
Durability will not decrease from flame magic.
20% chance to block mind magic (geongyeokgye magic)
Reduces the chance of a critically hit
100 increase in reputation
20 increase in Elegance
15 increase in Art
10 increase in Agility
The clothing was popular not only because of its absurdly high durability compared to normal cloth armour, but also because it has seven unique properties, whereas there are usually only 2-3 different properties for the average armour. The hostess promises to interview this ‘mysterious user’.
Lee Hyun decides that it is wearisome to be famous. Although you can sell your items for a higher price when you are well-known, it gets annoying when you have to team up with people ad when you go hunting in parties.
“-and the Prosperous Empire Guild has subdued the combined forces of the Balkan and Oasis Guilds!” says Wan.
As a result of the war, Fort Ohdein has raised taxes by 70% in order to help with the post war recovery. One of the announcers is slight depressed about the tax increase but the other one points out that this is unavoidable, and typical behaviour of a guild.
The screen then shifts to a recording of Fort Ohdein from a birds eye view, which was most likely being filmed by a flying wizard. Weed turns off the television and gets into his capsule, connecting with Royal Road and appearing in Fort Ohdein.
He goes to the market square, where many people are talking about Ray Bard’s reaching of the level 370. They talk of how people are gushing to Haben to meet Ray and how he stands at the pinnacle of all of the Royal Road broadcasts, with each one of his videos earning millions of downloads. In addition to people talking about Ray, there are also many people looking for dungeon parties and similar things.
Weed had levelled twice during the battle for Fort Ohdein, he is now Lvl 230 because the EXP gain for killing people is much higher than killing a monster of the same level. He distributes the 10 stat points he gained and then goes to the grocery to buy food ingredients, herbs and bandage materials in bulk.
Jareteuui, the Red Herb: 2 silver
Helps with healing wounds
Ceylon, the Blue Herb: 4 silver
Helps restore mana
Weed buys 200 of each item for a cheap price because the mercenaries got a tax break.
A Wizard named Solon is fighting one of the NPC Bandit groups near Ohdein. Because his party consists of mostly archers and mages, they manage to wipe out most of them before the bandits can get close.
It turns out, Hwaryeong and Zephyr are in the party. Hwaryeong slows down all the left over thieves with her Seductive Dance while Zephyr uses Iron Swing and Lure with his fishing rod. After the fight, Solon praises Hwaryeong, “Although I have seen thousands of beautiful butterflies, the one in front of me right now is the best of all,” making a pun with her name.
Solon asks Hwaryeong to join his guild, Maboro, which she refuses. The Maboro guild had helped the Prosperous Empire guild during the siege of Fort Ohdein, earning them exclusive hunting rights in the Basara Caverns. Hwaryeong replies by brushing of the hunting venue as ‘boring’ and then claiming that the real reason why Solon wanted her to join was because of her appearance. The reason why she had split from Mapan was so she could eventually level up more and make her way to Ohdein for the hunting opportunities.
Solon’s group attacks another group of NPCs. The party relies on heavy ranged damage, before mopping up with Zephyr, Hwaryeong and Despite that, Solon takes long breaks after each battle and gifts most of the loot to her because she is ‘cute’, despite the silent complaints of the other party members. Although Hwaryeong was getting about 4% exp per group, she is worried that her Dancing skills aren’t up to par, since she only really has to dance once per party.
While heading for the Basra Caverns, Weed receives several offers to party up, but rejects them all. The Basra Caverns are inhabited by an average of 120-200 monsters, with four underground floors, the monsters increase in power the further and deeper you go. The most frightening thing about the Caverns is the nature of the enemies. Unlike most creatures, such as the undead and beasts, the NPCs in the Caverns will steal all of your equipment upon death.
Weed enters the entrance of the 3rd floor and considers the party members. Unfortunately, Mapan is too busy because of his significant rise in fame after the Prismatic cloth auctions and has even been able to hire assistants. Weed spies Hwaryeong inside the cave while she is fighting the bandits. He waits for her to finish and then goes up to her to greet her. Solon immediately jumps to conclusions- Weed must be another infatuated boyfriend. He finds out that Weed is merely a friend of Hwaryeong’s and is relieved. Weed joins the party but is extremely bored, since Solon has set him aside because of his class. After 12 in-game hours, Solon’s party disbands.
“Let’s start”
He pulls out his sword and grinding stone, sharpening his sword and increasing weapon damage by 14% because of his intermediate level 4 in sharpening. He also polishes his armor, increasing the defence by 16% and chance of evading and fleeing increasing by 2%.
He then cooks a shrimp dish. The ingredients that he had bought in Forty Ohdein had been surprisingly cheap compared to Rosenheim, since it has fewer taxes. Weed completes hi shrimp dish and notices both Zephyr and Hwaryeong staring at him with a ravenous expression. Weed charges them both one gold for the dish and they eagerly accept. As they eat they each gain:
+400 Health Points
+400 Mana Points
+20 Stamina
+15 Art
After, Weed creates and asks them both to join his party. When they join, Weed immediately sharpens, repairs, polishes and irons their armour, leaving Hwaryeong and Zephyr with their mouths hanging open. Zephyr reckons they need at least three more people, but Weed disagrees and summons the Death Knight. Because of the Death Knight’s 20% experience leech, the Death Knight is now approaching 290.
There aren’t that many people on the fourth floor because most of the monsters there are around there are level 240.
While they wander around the bottom floor, Hwaryeong and Zephyr berate Weed for his attempt to fight without any sort of HP replenisher class. Suddenly, there is pre-emptive strike from the enemy. Thieves.
The Death Knight reacts immediately, casting Dark Speculation- which increases attack and defence- and while wielding the Death Blade, he attacks the closest thief. The energy around the blade slices through the thief which causes the enemy to shred into a million tiny pieces.
Hwaryeong and Zeohyr watch in wonder. ‘Is this the power of a level 290 monster?’
“How the hell did Weed manage to tame something like that?’
Weed is also pleasantly surprised. The Death Knight haden’t played a significant role in the fighting of the Vampires in Mora. Weed realises that the Death Knight is strongest when fighting against living things, not undead like the Vampires.
Weed commands the Death Knight to not perform any killing blows, so that the party can finish them off easily. As Weed attacks, he realises the difference between one who doesn’t know swordplay and one that does, is like the difference between heaven and earth. Unlike the other players who aren’t trained in swordsmanship, Weed’s training practically gives him wings, allowing him to soar above obstacles in his path. With his training, Lee Hyun has learned about the freedom of the sword, the breathing techniques, how to control his body, control his life, etc.
A message pops up, asking Weed whther or not he wants to learn a skill. The skill allows Weed to performs crits when attacking the weak spots of the opponent.
Weed rejects the skill, seeing as he is able to see the weak points of an enemy without computer assisted help. Hwaryeong soon tires herself out with many uses of the ‘bubibubi”. As a Fisherman, Zephyr has very good endurance and defends Hwaryeong.
As soon as this group of thieves are finished, Weed moves on to another group of enemies.
They take a short break and Hwaryeong asks Weed if he always trains like this.
“Yes”
“Do you ever feel scared when you fight?” -Because it is in the human nature freeze or run when confronted with danger.
“I’ve seen scarier monsters around” Weed replies.
Behind his back, both Zephyr and Hwaryeong agree that weed is a ‘monster’ seeing as he has reached Intermediate Level in five skills. In other parties, it is normal for the leader of a party to be a Warrior or another class with high Charisma and Leadership, which would slightly affect the combat of the party members.
They continue to hunting endlessly, only taking time to repair the loot to avoid breaking the loot and losing money.
After 16 hours of continuous combat, Zephyr gains a serious injury. Hwaryeong rounds on Weed. “You demand too much! Don’t you see, we’re human beings- we feel tired!” She looks at the fisherman, who is on the verge of death, and thinks, ‘Dammit, that lucky bastard, he gets to have a day of rest! Who’s going to save me from the grasp of this devil?’
Zephyr, while lying on the ground, says, “It’s fine Hwaryeong, Weed. Don’t worry yourself about it, I don’t blame you.” *weakly laughs* “Just leave me be and continue on! There are no priests or other healers here, so I’m going to die anyway”
Because Zephyr was slashed in the stomach, he’s suffering from a gut wound, causing his life to fall extremely fast, leaving Zephyr with only 23% life remaining. If there are no healers, Zephyr will definitely die. The fisherman prepares to get out of his capsule with the intention to relax, but then Weed pulls out his bandages and says “I’ll heal you”
“Haha! Very funny…”
“Apply Bandages!”
*You have rolled the bandages around him lightning fast*
-The wound has stopped bleeding
-The injury has stabilized
-Life is being restored, current life: 26%
-Life is being restored, current life: 29%
“Gahk-” Zephyr’s eyes pop out, choking in his surprise. He reels back from Weed in fear and asks him, “Hey...Weed? How high is your bandage skill?...”
“Oh, Intermediate level 9, Why?”
Weed has always hunted without healers, causing his bandage skill to level up ridiculously. Because of his insane amount of vitality, the daggers that the thieves use barely hurt him.
After a whopping 29 hours of straight hunting, the party’s inventory had become so filled that it was impossible to store anything else. Relieved, Zephyr and Hwaryeong remark how that it had been one of the hardest and worst experiences ever.
“I’ll go to the village to sell the loot. Let’s meet again soon to finish up.”, Weed says.
They are shocked into silence.
Chapter 8: The Dark Gamers’ Union
Lee Hyun is poring over his maths textbook, studying. He ridicules the uselessness of learning complex calculations seeing as most computers and calculators can do it themselves. He considers ignoring the GED for a moment, but then banishes the- he had already paid the money for it.
His sister decides to assist him, “Ok, look at it this way, brother. How much money would you get if you deposit XXX won for 12 months, with 5.39% interest?”
Before she can even blink, Lee Hyun has figured it out. “3,700,505 Won! Although you originally have XXX Won, you would have had to pay the tax on the interest. When you sign up for tax breaks, you can save....”
So, after converting all of the math problems into money related problems, Hyun does extremely well on the math. Weed then studies continuously for 3 days, until finally, the day of the GED test comes. Before he takes the test, he stops by the hospital to visit his grandma, where she tells him that, she doesn’t care how many times he has to retake the test to pass, as long as he does.
Weed travels to Korea University, one of the most prestigious in South Korea. The test-takers are split up into groups of 30, and then the tests begin. Hyun manages to pretty easily pass most of the parts of the test- until he is completely baffled by one section.
To be specific? Morals
The test paper reads:
‘You have found a wallet full of money on the ground. What do you do?’
1. Ignore it
2. Pick up the wallet and ask around for the owner
3. Take the wallet and go
4. Check the identification in the wallet and contact the owner
5. What wallet?
Lee Hyun is on the verge of tearing his hair out over the problem. “Dammit! What’s the answer? Why do they make things so ambiguous? Hmm... Let me use process of elimination. Well...I’m sure it would be wrong to leave the wallet there...”
After the exam finishes, the test-takers mill about and most of them discuss Royal Road. Hyun hears a mention of the Dark gamers’ Union, a union of gamers that earn profit off gaming, and finds out that to his surprise, many people think that being a Dark Gamer is enviable, instead of embarrassing like he originally thought.
Hyun is driven to a Dark Gamer initiation meeting inside what appears to be a converted warehouse with a table and several capsules.
The organiser introduces the newcomers to the Dark Gamers’ Union.
Hundreds of thousands of people make their living by selling items from Royal Road, mostly concentrated in India, China and Southeast Asia. Royal Road breaks the language barrier between countries and gamers with an automatic language translator developed by Unicorn Inc - the company that made Royal Road, which allows people of different languages communicate with each other without problems. As a result of all of these people selling items, the Dark Gamers Union was created, in order to organize this selling. The first thing that the Union did was to set up a place where people could buy and sell their information. The more valuable the information is, the more it can sell for.
After the introductory speech finished, two people sign up. Hyun is approached by a curious veteran, who asks Hyun if he wants to join. Hyun tells the man that he refuses to join because he doesn’t want to owe others for the information and have to disclose his identity. The veteran accepts Hyun’s decision, saying that everyone has their own circumstances. The veteran gives Hyun a password anyways:
Username: kj9008
Password: 165008
The veteran tells Lee Hyun that the accounts can access C-Level information. Hyun asks the veteran for the motive behind his giving of the account and is told that they all follow the 1st rule of the Dark Gamers: To never trust anybody, and the 2nd rule: Only give as much as you receive.
Thinking about this, Hyun joins the Union and then returns home, logging back onto Royal Road.
Chapter 9: The Mausoleum of the King
When the free hunting rights given by the Prosperous Emperor guild finally ends, Weed emerges from the Basra Caverns with a level of 259. Since the rights have worn out, the Guild is now charging a hefty fee for the right of entry- plus claims over any rare items found while hunting. This causes outrage and the guild’s influence drops, but many players also join Prosperous Emperor, seeing as members can hunt in the Caverns for free.
Weed parts with Hwaryeong and Zephyr, visiting the nearest Freya Chapel. He shows the ring that he had received from the Head Priest and asks to use the teleportation gate. In addition, a Priest blesses him, giving him a buff in +26% armour, +30% recovery rate, additional power against evil, increased strength, and improved fitness. Weed receives this buff for free, since he pretty much single-handedly promoted the Church’s influence to the sway it has now.
After travelling a distance that normally takes a month by foot, Weed appears in front of a fountain and to the sounds players selling items, gathering party members and joining parties.
Weed is approaches by Pale, Irene, Surka and Romune, who, after greeting him, asks for the taste of Weed’s cooking.
“What level are you?” Pale asks Weed, while eating.
“259”
The group is abruptly surrounded by Rosenheim soldiers. The spectators brush the group off as law-breakers. One of Weed’s friends ask if Weed has PKed anyone recently. Weed struggles for a reply. He didn’t think that he had killed anyone…had he committed homicide?
A soldier speaks, “Are you an engraver?”
“Yes”
“The King of Rosenheim would like to meet with you”
The onlookers are amazed and the news spreads like wildfire- after all, it is the first time the King of Rosenheim Kingdom has ever summoned a player. Weed considers his options and decides to go with the soldiers, ignoring the demands of a King for no apparent reason is probably a bad thing to do. However, before following the soldier, Weed asks if he may stop at the Temple of Freya before meeting with the King. The soldier must agree, as matters of State and Religion must be kept separate and have no right to interfere with one another and Weed is escorted to the Temple.
Weed goes up one of the senior priests and asks for information about the Plains of Despair.
“The Plains is a harsh land, roamed by Orcs, Dark Elves and monsters; the humans barely survive. Recently, the Necromancers, led by Bar-Khan, the Undying Lord, have gathered in the Plains of Despair, away from prying eyes.”
Weed is given a B-level quest and considers the weight. When he asks for the amount of people that the Church can spare to assist him, he is shocked to find out that he will only receive 50 Priests and Paladins. A small handful compared to the 300 Paladins and 100 Priests when he was completing the Moravian Vampire Quest. The Priest explains that all of the other paladins and priests are on missionary activities at this time, and are too busy to help Weed out. The Priest then tells Weed that the teleportation device to the Plains of Despair is ready to go at any time. Weed leave, troubled and now stuck in a deep hole.
Weed goes on with the soldiers to see the King, followed by a huge crowd of curious players. While walking through the halls, Weed examines the pieces of art in the castle, with each piece increasing his art stat by 1-2. His art stats rise by 30 when he finally finishes walking through the halls, and then he meets the King, an old, pale looking man. After asking if Weed is the engraver, and having Weed answer that he is, the King starts to speak, but coughs up blood instead. The knights and servants rush to the assistance of their King, but the King holds up a hand to stop them, and enquires as to whether Weed is a Moonlight Engraver or not. . After Weed admits that he is, the King declares that Weed must know about Zahab, to the surprise of the King’s attendants- matters concerning Zahab were strictly a no-go territory, especially since the Royal Knights disposing of the people who talk about him. The King tells his attendants that everybody inside the room already knows about Zahab and it will do no good hiding things.
The King of Rosenheim talks about his life, and how he had done his best to ensure a reign of peace both inside and outside his country, and defeated the Kingdom of Brent. He tells of his achievements, which all come to an end one day, five years ago, when he fell off his horse and broke his leg. Afterwards, the King state deteriorates each day, and now he has finally decided that a new home is needed; a place to relax his tired body; a tomb worthy of a King.
Weed has received a quest!
The Mausoleum of the King:
In the Rosenheim Kingdom, each generation of rulers have commissioned a tomb for themselves before they died. To follow the tradition of his ancestors, the King has commissioned a famous engraver to build his grave. If the finished tomb does not live up to the majesty of the King, you will fail the quest and receive several punishments.
You can hire workmen to build the tomb.
To cover the costs of construction, you will be given 100,000 gold.
Difficulty: Rank B
Reward: If successful, at least 2,000 reputation and familiarity with the Royal Family. Depending on the results of the finished work, you may gain more reputation.
Failure: Failure will provoke the wrath of the King. Furthermore, you will receive a sharp drop in reputation.
Weed’s reputation with the Freya order exceeds a whopping 4,600 thousand and there are many benefits: free treatment from priests, the ability to hire paladins and priests, ease of travelling across other countries, and even an increased chance of discovering quests.
Having reputation with the Royal Family is even more useful than that.
With the increase in familiarity, a person can receive weapons and armour from the Royal Treasury. With 2000 reputation, it is even possible to receive a rare weapon. Weed considers his options and accepts the quest, since it's an offer that he couldn’t refuse, also because rejecting a quest from somebody like the King would mean getting penalized severely. As Weed walks out of the palace, he is deep in thought about how to make a magnificent and gigantic mausoleum. He considers the idea of using rough stones and rock pillars, but immediately tosses it out, judging that something so simple would definitely anger the king.
In order to build the tomb, however, he would need more money than he currently has. Although receiving a rare weapon may make up for the money loss, he can only get the rewards after completing the quest.
How shall he make a mausoleum fit for a King?