Chapter 50
by lion“Phew…”
The brilliant yet gently warming white light lingered and then disappeared, and Jun-sang, with a slight sense of regret, checked his rewards. It felt like yesterday when he had regained consciousness on the cliff and started that nightmare-like tutorial, but he was already level 16.
Jun-sang first checked the reward box for the cooperative quest.
Congratulations!
Skill Card ‘Bloodbath (R)’ acquired.
: Skill cards can be equipped in card slots to use their abilities.
– You already own this card. Would you like to retry? (Y/n) _
[Click here for detailed card information.]
“Hmm…”
It was a Rare card… but it was a duplicate, which was a bit awkward. However, just retrying felt like throwing away a rare card that he had just received, which was a bit wasteful. It might not be possible now, but card trading might become available later, right? Jun-sang pondered for a moment, then decided to keep it for now and opened the next box.
Card Information
Name: Thick-skinned
Level: 1Lv
Experience: 0
Grade: Uncommon
Category: Skill
Growth: Normal (Medium)
Attribute: None
Effect: 1. Mental attack resistance increased by 20%
2. Complete immunity to provocation, slander, etc.
Cost: 15
Seed: 2 slots
A skill came out again, but… the name itself was subtle. Increased resistance to mental attacks was somewhat useful, but complete immunity to provocation and slander… didn’t it sound like a skill that assumed he would be insulted?
“Tsk…”
Jun-sang clicked his tongue and this time opened the reward box for the solo quest.
Card Information
Name: Gentle Breeze
Level: 1Lv
Experience: 0
Grade: Uncommon
Category: Summon
Growth: Normal (Medium)
Attribute: Wind
Effect: Summons 1 wind spirit.
Cost: 15
Seed: 2 slots
“Gentle Breeze?”
It seemed like a bountiful day for cards in many ways. Jun-sang equipped Gentle Breeze instead of Will-o’-the-Wisp and tried to summon.
“Open Gentle Breeze.”
Then, the air in the room began to shake and move. To compare it to a fan, it felt like a light breeze, stronger than a faint puff of air. However, it felt like it lacked the power to create something like the wind blades often seen in novels. The only immediate uses that came to mind were pushing away something like the poisonous mist he saw in the swamp before, or silently alerting him to his surroundings since it was invisible. Since Will-o’-the-Wisp came out and then Gentle Breeze, he wondered if collecting them would create a combo like the wolves, but for now, it seemed difficult to expect much use.
Jun-sang opened the last remaining solo quest reward box.
Congratulations!
Skill Card ‘Bloodbath’ acquired.
: Skill cards can be equipped in card slots to use their abilities.
– You already own this card. Would you like to retry? (Y/n) _
[Click here for detailed card information.]
“…”
If it were another card, he might keep it for the possibility of a combo through duplication, but for a Common-grade Bloodbath, there was no need to hesitate. He immediately pressed Y to retry, and a new card appeared.
Congratulations!
Special Card ‘Insight’ acquired.
: Acquiring special cards allows you to unlock sealed special abilities.
– Special ability ‘Insight’ is unlocked.
– Insight is the ability to quickly recognize valuable items.
– Your Insight level is 1.
Jun-sang, as a test, laid out the items he had acquired from this quest, which were stored in his inventory, in the room. Then, items like seeds and staffs began to emit a faint light. A unique point was that unlike staffs or ordinary seeds, the large, black seeds from the mid-bosses and bosses emitted a black light.
“Not bad.”
Even just this kind of display would be a great help when progressing through quests quickly like this time. He didn’t know if seeds inside monster heads would also be displayed, but if that were possible, he wouldn’t even need to break open every corpse to check.
Having opened all the additional reward boxes for both solo and cooperative quests, Jun-sang now opened the last remaining Triple S-rank additional reward box. Again, something poured out.
Card Information
Name: Frenzy
Level: 1Lv
Experience: 0
Grade: Rare
Category: Skill
Growth: Normal (Large)
Attribute: None
Effect: Activates an enhanced frenzy state.
Cost: 20
Seed: 3 slots
“Oh…”
This was his first Rare card, excluding Bloodbath. Jun-sang first checked the details of the enhanced frenzy state.
Enhanced Frenzy: Awakens the blind destructive instinct flowing in one’s blood.
– Base duration: 1 minute
– Attack power increased by 60%, armor effect reduced by 40%
– All types of damage taken reduced by 10%.
Attack power increased, and penalties decreased. Additionally, there was a 10% reduction in all types of damage taken. This meant that if he took an attack that would normally deal 100 damage, it would unconditionally be reduced to 90. This might not seem like a significant effect, but this small amount could be the difference between instant death and barely clinging to life. If he could somehow avoid instant death, there were plenty of ways to recover, whether through regeneration, life steal, or healing potions.
He nodded in satisfaction when a new message suddenly arrived.
Congratulations!
: Combo cards can be combined.
– Currently combinable combo cards are as follows:
1. Yanthunsen’s Bloodlord [View Details]
– If you wish to combine the combo card, press the corresponding number, and if you do not wish to combine, press n (1/n) _
“Hmm?”
The name of the combo card sounded familiar. Come to think of it, wasn’t the original name of the Berserker combo ‘Yanthunsen’s Berserker’? Jun-sang quickly checked the detailed information.
Yanthunsen’s Bloodlord
– The berserkers of the North flaunt their existence through blind attacks that defy death. The Bloodlord is a powerful great warrior revered by these berserkers.
[Combination Details]
Frenzy, Bloodbath, Bloodbath, Bloodbath
(All four must be Rare grade or higher)
– Effect:
- Additional attack power increased by 150%. Additional fear inducement chance increased by 40%.
- All equipped armor removed.
- Cooldown of all physical attack skills reduced by 60%.
- Regeneration rate increased by 10% when covered in blood or bodily fluids.
“This is…”
Jun-sang thought that if he had retried when he first got Bloodbath (R), he wouldn’t have obtained this combo, and he carefully checked the effects. Additional attack power and fear inducement chance increased, skill cooldown further reduced, and an additional 10% regeneration rate when covered in blood or bodily fluids. It was truly a combo card befitting the name “Bloodlord.” Jun-sang silently proceeded with the combination of the new combo card.
Then, another message arrived.
Congratulations!
: You have successfully combined ‘Yanthunsen’s Bloodlord’ for the first time!
– In praise of your feat, the title ‘First Bloodlord’ is bestowed upon you.
[Click here for detailed title information.]
Jun-sang immediately checked the title effect.
[First Bloodlord]
: A title bestowed upon the first person to successfully combine the Bloodlord combo.
– Effect: Additional regeneration rate increased by 10%
– Titles are automatically applied upon acquisition.
“Oh…”
Jun-sang nodded, showing his satisfaction. With the 15% regeneration rate from Bloodbath (SR), plus the 7% and 5% seeds, and finally the title effect, his base regeneration rate was close to 37%. Additionally, if he was covered in blood or bodily fluids, an extra 10% regeneration rate was added, bringing his total regeneration rate to a whopping 47%.
Jun-sang then checked the second reward from the SSS-grade reward box.
Congratulations!
Special Card ‘Discernment’ acquired.
: Acquiring special cards allows you to unlock sealed special abilities.
– Special ability ‘Discernment’ is unlocked.
– Discernment is the ability to quickly recognize an opponent’s abilities.
– Your Discernment level is 1.
“Good.”
This was also a good reward. The ability to quickly recognize an opponent’s abilities was especially helpful for longevity. Until now, the only way to check how strong an enemy was was to directly clash with them, which was actually very dangerous. If Jun-sang hadn’t been strengthened by these various additional rewards, even multiple lives wouldn’t have been enough.
Jun-sang now opened the last random card.
Congratulations!
Skill Card ‘Bite’ acquired.
: Skill cards can be equipped in card slots to use their abilities.
– You already own this card. Would you like to retry? (Y/n) _
[Click here for detailed card information.]
“Tsk…”
Since Bite was also a card he already had an extra of, Jun-sang immediately pressed retry.
Card Information
Name: Stealth
Level: 1Lv
Experience: 0
Grade: Common
Category: Skill
Growth: Precocity (Small)
Attribute: None
Effect: Hides your body from enemy sight. (Immobile when active)
Cost: 10
Seed: 1 slot
“…”
This skill seemed somewhat useful for avoiding troublesome enemies or before a surprise attack.
After checking all the rewards, Jun-sang began to examine the items. The first thing he checked were the rings he had obtained from the boss, all of which were rings that increased HP by 5% and had one seed slot each.
“Too many rings.”
He already had four gold rings, plus a copper ring and a cat’s eye ring, making it six rings in total, which felt a bit cumbersome. Jun-sang put three rings on each hand, then checked the staff.
Item Information
Name: Staff of Lightning
Level Limit: 10
Type: Weapon
Grade: Uncommon
Attack Power: 4-13
Effect: 10% cooldown reduction when using lightning magic
Seed: 2 slots
Description: A staff used by the Chimera Sorcerer.
The ability to reduce the cooldown of lightning magic was not bad, but for Jun-sang, who couldn’t use magic, it was just a pie in the sky. Jun-sang took out a cabinet from his inventory and stored the staff, then checked the seeds he had obtained from the boss and mid-bosses. He placed the large, black seed, which was bigger than normal, on his phone and performed an item check, and the information was immediately displayed.
Item Information
Name: Dark Seed
Level Limit: Unknown
Type: Seed
Grade: Unknown
Effect: Unknown
Description: A seed from the Chimera Sorcerer’s body.
“Hmm?”
Despite being a seed, there was no description of equipping or detaching it, and the level limit, grade, and effect were all unknown. He found it strange as this had never happened before, and a warning window appeared above the item information.
[WARNING!]
This is a dark seed refined by evil methods.
Anyone who uses this seed will be subject to severe sanctions.
All Dark Seeds in your possession will be automatically retrieved in 10 seconds. [Time remaining: 10 seconds]
“This is…”
Jun-sang realized that this “Dark Seed” was something unusual. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be retrieved so abruptly. Just in case, he quickly put the four Dark Seeds into his pocket, then into the cabinet where he stored his loot, and then into his inventory. However, when he took them out after 10 seconds, his pocket was empty.
“Hmm…”
Jun-sang fell into thought for a moment. If the purpose was to retrieve the Dark Seeds from the beginning, it would have been stated in the quest. But there was no mention of it in the quest, and then a warning suddenly appeared with the retrieval when he performed an item check. Wouldn’t it have been better to retrieve them upon acquisition instead? Various questions came to mind, but for now, there was no way to know the inside story. Aside from being curious, he felt like his rewards had been stolen.
“Tsk…”
Jun-sang clicked his tongue and this time took out the small box he had obtained from the dungeon. He unlatched the hook-shaped clasp and opened the box, revealing a gold bracelet that appeared to be inlaid with silver.
“…”
He wondered if this too would be forcibly retrieved like the Dark Seeds, but he couldn’t not check, so he performed an item check.
Item Information
Name: Portable Magic Interface
Level Limit: 10
Type: Bracelet
Grade: Rare
Effect: Quest assistance.
Seed: None
Description: A magical device that allows messages and information previously delivered via mobile phone to be directly linked to and viewed on the user’s body.
“This is…”
When trying to complete quests quickly like this time, checking information or messages on a mobile phone was quite cumbersome, and he had already been looking for a smart device like goggles that connected to a phone. Jun-sang put the bracelet on his wrist. It felt quite loose, making him wonder if it would be even more cumbersome, but the bracelet vibrated lightly, shrank in size, and wrapped snugly around his wrist, seemingly not moving, but then its appearance faded away.
“…”
And, as the bracelet’s appearance vanished from his sight, various interfaces, as if he were looking at a game screen, appeared in Jun-sang’s vision. A minimap was located in the upper right corner, and his currently equipped card slots were lined up at the bottom. Additionally, to the left and right of the card slots, currently available special functions were listed.
As he stared at the image that appeared before his eyes as if enchanted, a transparent message suddenly appeared in his left field of vision.
Congratulations!
: Portable Magic Interface successfully installed.
If you do not wish to use this interface, you can select uninstall from the settings menu below.
All interface operations can be done by thought alone, and the interface can be automatically hidden when not in combat.
Would you like to use the auto-hide function? (Y/n) _
When Jun-sang mentally selected Y, the interfaces that had been visible in his sight immediately disappeared. Jun-sang, who had been testing the interface that appeared before his eyes as if enchanted, suddenly opened his phone. But perhaps because it had served its purpose, he could no longer find any quest or card information on the phone. Jun-sang thought for a moment, then turned off his phone and put it in the cabinet with his loot.
After checking all the loot and rewards, Jun-sang put the cabinet into his inventory and rested. Given past precedents, he felt a little relieved, thinking there wouldn’t be any quests for a while.
And the next day.
Jun-sang left the guesthouse and slowly walked south along the coastal road. The sea was covered with low clouds, creating a bleak atmosphere, and the strong, salty wind quickly made his body sticky. It was a somewhat forlorn walk, with no hint of romance. He was seriously considering whether it would be better to travel by car when… something strange suddenly caught Jun-sang’s eye.
“…”
A couple was walking along the beach. He couldn’t understand why they would enjoy walking on the beach in such cold wind, but up to this point, there was nothing particularly strange. What was strange was the faint black light emanating from the man’s head.
“…”
Thinking he might have seen something wrong, Jun-sang rubbed his eyes. The salty water got into his eyes, making him tear up, but despite that, the strange sight in front of Jun-sang remained unchanged.
“What on earth is this…”
It was similar to the feeling he got when looking at a Dark Seed with his Insight ability. But this was the real world, not a quest location. Jun-sang, tilting his head in confusion, suddenly saw an interface pop up in front of him and a message appear in his left field of vision. The first thing he saw was this message:
[You meet the conditions for a special mission activation.]
What on earth did this mean? But before he could resolve that question, a new message appeared.
Retrieve the Dark Seed.
: This evil dark seed is an object that should not exist in this world. Sanction the user and retrieve the Dark Seed.
[This quest is a solo quest.]