Skeleton Master Chapter 031
There was no need to switch to weapons under 80 gold.
At least 130 gold or more...
That's what it would take to feel a difference.
Checking his inventory, he had accumulated quite a bit of gold from selling materials for Slowing Poison and Hallucination Poison.
He had enough money.
Right, time to invest.
He decided to raise his price range.
That's when weapons that caught his interest started appearing.
Oh, this one's good.
[Alex's Longsword]
Attack Power 47
Strength +2
Durability 140/140
Requirement: Health 20
[Instant Sale Price: 145 gold]
It had a health requirement.
But in exchange, it had a strength +2 option and a whopping 47 damage.
It was far better than the Twilight Longsword that Skeleton Warrior 1 was currently using.
Moo-hyeok stared at the price for a moment before sighing and clicking the purchase button.
[Would you like to purchase?]
[Yes/No]
A confirmation prompt.
When he clicked yes, the money was deducted and Alex's Longsword appeared in his inventory.
He browsed through swords again.
Since he needed 5 more...
After investing about 2 hours, he was able to purchase five more swords.
The gold spent was 1,000.
To spend ten million won in a day, no, in just two hours...
Moo-hyeok was amazed.
Still, it's not all bad since it means I've grown this much.
Of course, he had no intention of taking a loss.
He was determined to get his money's worth from the newly purchased weapons.
"Skeleton Summon."
He called his summons and handed them the purchased weapons.
He collected the ones they were using before and put them up on the auction house.
Being decent quality weapons, they should sell for over 200 gold total.
After finishing the arrangements, he got up.
Now, let's fight again.
He shot a bone arrow to lure an idle ogre.
Kwoooooor!
He targeted it using the same method. The ogre's movements slowed and damage accumulated.
It's definitely different.
A relaxed smile spread across Moo-hyeok's face.
Just changing the weapons made such a stark difference. It felt much easier.
And the results were dramatically different too.
All the bone archers survived, and even one sword skeleton remained alive when they dealt with the ogre.
Great!
Indeed, the power of money was magnificent.
"Corpse Disassembly."
This time, one ogre bone dropped.
"Bone Assembly."
The problem was that when the bone assembly failed, his stats decreased.
Frowning, he hunted another ogre, but again only one bone dropped and the bone assembly failed once more.
Damn. MP is empty too.
With no other choice, he sat down in a spot where ogres wouldn't respawn to take a rest. Of course, he didn't just sit idle.
Got to make up for it!
He took out a disposable crafting tool from his inventory and started making a sword.
Clang, clang!
He could feel other users staring but ignored them.
[A sword has been completed.]
It was an average quality sword.
Tsk, about 5 gold maybe.
Considering the cost of the disposable crafting tool, it was fair to say there was almost no profit.
Still, selling it was better than letting it collect dust in his inventory.
After putting it up on the auction house, he got up.
MP is full too.
Moo-hyeok headed out to hunt again.
-
Akran, a Guardian Guild member.
He led the remaining guild members as the person in charge of the level 30 dungeon.
Having finally reached the end of the maze-like dungeon, his expression was already that of a victor raising a victory toast.
"Good work, everyone."
After careful consideration, 150 promising level 30 members had entered the dungeon.
They were players whose skills exceeded their level, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say their growth was the guild's growth.
"It wasn't much work."
"You worked harder than us."
They laughed while complimenting each other.
In this pleasant atmosphere, Akran took a step forward.
"Well then, let's really finish this now."
"Let's do it."
The dungeon exit was visible in the distance.
The distance grew shorter.
At some point.
Light burst from the exit and enveloped them all.
[Dungeon cleared.]
[Rewards will be distributed.]
Orbs dropped in front of each person.
"Ooh..."
"Is this the reward?"
But questioning voices erupted from various places.
"I didn't get anything?"
"Oh, me neither."
"What's going on?"
Akran turned his head at this.
Holding a white orb in his hand.
"What's happening..."
A message appeared at that moment.
[Reward recipient limit exceeded.]
[Calculating individual contributions.]
[Rewards will only be given to the top 99 contributors.]
[The dungeon will disappear.]
When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves near a pavilion.
"Guild Leader?"
Akran wore a dazed expression as he saw the Guild Leader waiting outside the dungeon.
"What's wrong?"
"W-well..."
As Akran's explanation continued, Guild Leader Kim Bada's face quickly hardened.
He hurriedly sent a level 30 guild member to the dungeon.
"The dungeon... is gone."
"Son of a..."
Where should this anger be directed?
At the user who first used the dungeon?
Or at the dungeon itself?
Neither.
He was angry at himself for not knowing about the 100-person limit, and for not even having suspected it.
But he couldn't let this anger linger. He struggled to regain his composure and swallowed his fury.
"Huff..."
Kim Bada closed his eyes briefly before opening them again.
His eyes had already settled into an icy calm.
"How's the dungeon exploration going?"
"We found another one today."
That was some consolation at least.
"Don't let anyone enter. Not even our guild members."
"Understood."
"And we'll put more people into dungeon exploration."
"How many should we add?"
"Five times the current number."
Now that they knew dungeons would disappear, management wasn't the important thing anymore.
Discovery itself had become the priority.
"One more thing."
"Yes, Guild Leader."
"Find out the locations of dungeons that other guilds are managing."
"Ah, understood."
There's something easier than discovering.
It's taking what belongs to others.
-
While hunting ogres and taking breaks, he occasionally checked his messages.
All the materials for crafting Slowing Poison and Hallucination Poison had been sold.
2,200 gold.
Even after spending 1,000 gold on buying a sword, he had already accumulated this much.
Should I buy Illusion stocks?
Currently, Illusion was trading at 2.6 million won per share. But in the future Moo-hyeok remembered, it had definitely exceeded 10 million won.
If you buy stocks and know how to be patient, you'll definitely get more than four times return.
Right, when he convert to cash later, he'll only invest what's left after setting aside six months of living expenses.
Was it because he made plans?
Suddenly, he wondered how much he would receive in premium information fees.
Since it was calculated once a month.
There was still quite a while left.
Well, it'll go by quickly if he stay focused.
He smiled and got up.
It was time to hunt ogres again.
Thud.
He approached an ogre playing in the distance.
But as luck would have it, other users who appeared to be in a party were approaching the ogre Moo-hyeok had targeted.
Since they spotted each other at an awkward distance, Moo-hyeok paused.
Should I look for another one?
Even though Moo-hyeok was certain he had started first, he considered yielding.
It would just be troublesome if they clashed.
But they were approaching the ogre nonchalantly even after noticing Moo-hyeok.
His brow furrowed involuntarily at the sight.
Did they not care from the start?
Moo-hyeok smirked.
Erasing his smile, he stepped forward again.
As the distance closed.
"Looks like that person's going to hunt it?"
"What are you talking about, we saw it first."
"Hey, that's not right. That person was first..."
"Hey, hey. We were watching it first all along."
"Well, we did see it."
"Right. Just relax. Right?"
"Sigh, do whatever you want."
The opposing party was five people.
Two women, three men.
Two of the men were melee, one was an archer.
One woman was a mage.
The remaining one was a priest.
He instantly grasped the party's composition.
"Excuse me, are you trying to hunt that ogre?"
A user who appeared to be melee asked Moo-hyeok.
"Yes."
"Haha, I think we spotted it first though."
"I started first and arrived first."
"Oh my, you're being unreasonable. We clearly saw it first, and you weren't even visible when we started moving."
"I definitely was first..."
"No, we saw it first, I'm telling you."
"......"
"What? Is there a problem?"
The corners of the man's mouth curled up as he asked back, as if looking at an irresistibly amusing toy.
His insides twisted for a moment.
Why was that?
With his old personality, he would have just laughed it off.
He would have nodded, thinking it was better to avoid something so distasteful.
Now he didn't want to do that.
Had he changed?
Was it because he spent over seven years paralyzed?
Was it because he got a new life?
Or was it because this was a game?
he wasn't sure of the reason.
But he couldn't stand it anymore.
So he finally spat it out.
"Get lost, you idiot."
The words that had been bottled up inside.
This was the first time he'd done something like this. But after saying it, he felt incredibly relieved.
On the other hand, the opposing user who failed to grasp the situation stood dazed for a few seconds before finally shouting.
"You crazy bastard!"
Then he drew his sword and closed the distance by kicking off the ground.
His movements were risky but clearly catchable. However, Moo-hyeok deliberately didn't dodge.
He simply raised his skull staff to block the man's sword.
[Attack has been defended.]
[You are now hostile with the 'Outcast' party.]
[Self-defense is established against the 'Outcast' party.]
Messages appeared.
Now then...
From now on, Moo-hyeok's attacks would be considered self-defense.
He swung the skull staff hard, striking the man's side.
The man rolled on the ground, checked his depleted HP, and furrowed his brow.
"This bastard..."
"Hey, you okay?"
"Forget it. His damage is pretty high. Just get ready for battle."
"Ah, right."
By then, Moo-hyeok had already summoned his skeleton.
"What, a skeleton?"
"Hah, what can those weak things even do?"
Moo-hyeok ignored the Outcast party member's words.
Swish, swish.
He applied Slowing Poison, Hallucination Poison, Weakening Paralysis, and Tears of Bleeding to both the bone sword and bone bow.
The Outcast party watched with dumbfounded expressions.
"What's that guy doing?"
"Just shoot him with arrows."
"Okay."
An archer fired an arrow.
Since Moo-hyeok was already prepared, he calmly sent Bone Sword 1 to block it with its shield.
Bone Bow 1, rear attack.
Bone arrows flew toward the priest and mage.
"Shield!"
The mage's protective magic spread out.
But the range was so narrow it seemed barely enough to protect even one person.
As a result, the priest took an arrow to the shoulder while completely defenseless.
The priest's previously unconcerned expression suddenly froze.
[You take 62 damage.]
['Tears of Bleeding' has been applied.]
[HP continuously decreases.]
[HP decreases by (12).]
[HP decreases by (13).]
[HP decreases by (11).]
They hurriedly used a healing spell.
[HP has been restored.]
[HP decreases by (12).]
[HP decreases by (11).]
But the bleeding still wouldn't stop.
"W-what is this!"
"What's wrong?"
At that moment, another arrow flew in.
The priest desperately rolled but was hit again by the successive arrows.
['Hallucination Poison' has been applied.]
[Hallucination does not affect users.]
[You take continuous damage.]
HP continuously dropped from poison and bleeding.
HP was depleted by over 20 percent in an instant.
"H-healing!"
They were now in a situation where they had to continuously use healing magic on themselves.
At this rate, they would run out of MP. They might not be able to use healing magic on their companions fighting at the front.
The priest shouted urgently.
"The arrows are poisoned!"
"Damn it, I'll block for now, you three take care of it."
"Got it."
Finally, the man with the shield ran to the priest.
He blocked the incoming bone arrows.
Target change.
Only then did Moo-hyeok change his target.
He aimed at the man facing off against the bone sword at the front.
Transform.
Moo-hyeok also transformed his staff into a bow.
He nocked an arrow and drew the string.
