Ark Volume 01 - Japtem

by Yoo Seong

  That is, if someone was attacked ten times with 10 points of agility, they could generally evade once. On the other hand, if they handled the situation with quick judgement, they’d be able to evade two or three out of ten times.

  ‘This is the same concept for when I’m attacking.’

  By following the enemy’s movements, he maintained an advantageous distance.

  It was a concept drilled into him over and over again when he learned Taekwondo a long time ago.

  Of course, with an advantageous position, it was easier to avoid or counter-attack your opponent.

  In New World, the rules of reality were directly applied.

  It wasn’t a game where you could just recklessly strike once and get hit once.

  It was a big enough benefit to know that.

  Hyun Woo began to exercise in his spare time from that day on.

  Exercise was the best way to hone his reflexes.

  The only exercise Hyun Woo could accomplish without spending any money was the Taekwondo he learned in elementary and middle school.

  When he went into high school, he stopped because of examinations, but he still had the skills of a third-dan. He didn’t remember everything he had learned, but it was still enough to work out by himself.

  As he was cleaning out the mart cellar, he moved his body in the spare moments.

  Afterward, he loosened his stiff body, stretched his legs, and did image training of fighting a bloody struggle with the mice. If he had a new thought, he adapted it in-game against the mice.

  The days passed like this and he regained 30 stat points.

  Even though he still had 50 points less than he’d had from the beginning, now he could fight the mice with his eyes closed.

  There were approximately twenty to thirty mice to face with each quest he received, and now it didn’t even take him 10 minutes to clean them up. Of course, the speed at which he received the quests increased as well.

  ‘My thought was right after all. Ark gets stronger the more I exercise.’

  Afterwards, Hyun Woo tried using his Taekwondo techniques in New World.

  At first, there were a lot of awkward moments, but as he fought the mice he became more accustomed to them. And after a week, he could face two or three mice at once without the use of the dagger.

  Thanks to that, he was able to save on the dagger’s repair costs.

  What a truly deep and complex game!

  He was in the worst situation, but Hyun Woo was getting more and more fascinated with New World.

  « o »

  ‘Damn it, to think that I would actually die on purpose.’

  Ark grumbled to himself in his faraway mind.

  A swarm of mice was pounding on him like crazy.

  On the tenth day after starting to hunt mice, Ark discovered yet another problem.

  Mice only gave 1 EXP. However, those points accumulated and reached 99%. Had the situation been different, he would be grinning from ear to ear, but Ark’s expression was grim.

  There was no way to find the stats he hadn’t regained yet if he leveled up like this.

  Ark was agonized about it, but he decided to pull the trigger.

  It was a way in which he would die on purpose and cut his experience. Every time he died, his experience was cut by 30% and his stats by 6 points. And by killing mice he gained 3% experience per 1 stat point. Overall, by dying once and killing mice to restore his stats, he was able to earn an extra 4 points.

  ‘I won’t lose out on a single point like this!’

  He already invested 10 days into regaining his stats. Thus, it was ridiculous for him to start from a state of disadvantage after all that work. No, he couldn’t accept that to happen. Ark steeled his resolve and let the mice hit him to death.

  Through repetitive mice hunting, he was finally able to regain 70 points in ten days.

  Even so, he wasn’t even a little happy.

  ‘Even if I regain all of my points, I’ll just end up where I started from. Damn it, just you wait and see! I will never forgive those bastards Andel and Bulma, who are caused all this suffering!’

  Ark, who was grinding his teeth, started to show a mad glint in his eyes.

  Thanks to his wish for vengeance against Andel and Bulma, he was able to to stick to the arduous work of restoring his stats.

  Around that time, he was able to obtain new knowledge from the game.

  You have obtained a New Skill.Combat Skill (Beginner, Passive): Art of fighting utilising your fists and feet. Fighting without equipping a weapon will not demonstrate your strength, but your evasion and accuracy will become higher. These additional benefits can be had even when using weapons.

  Bare-handed striking power increased by 10%, accuracy up 3%, evasion up 3%.

  ‘Just like ‘Undying Will’, I see that if you do one thing for long enough, the skills you need will naturally be made.’

  Though they called themselves information sites, they didn’t even have simple information like this. If anything, rather than proper information, there were baseless rumors that just caused confusion among the inexperienced players. Half of it was done as a joke, and the other half was meant to protect their advantageous positions. Those rumours fanned the distrust in Ark’s human form.

  ‘You never know, this could be a scheme unfolded by the other applicants. Those cheap bastards, it’s no good to believe the information sites too much anyways. No, you can’t even trust the other users. You have to find and learn everything by yourself.’

  After the appearance of the skill, he was able to evade the mice’s attacks more when he fought with his bare hands, and it became much more comfortable to move his body. Since he gained the bonuses even when using weapons, it was an absolutely necessary skill.

  Ark was becoming a famous specialty in Harun.

  It was a given that people would be interested in the Ark who started killing only mice like crazy as soon as he entered the game. Furthermore, sometimes he would even let himself die on purpose. Because there was no way they could understand his actions, people started thinking that he had gone slightly bad in the head.

  They must’ve been really curious, but none of them mustered up the courage to approach Ark to ask him. They just mumbled amongst themselves.

  “Just what is he trying to do by killing mice which doesn’t give much experience or money?”

  “There’s no way he’s trying to level up by catching mice, right?”

  “Sure enough, if he’s killed many, he should have already gone up at least 3 levels.”

  “But sometimes he dies, too.”

  “It’s probably that he didn’t know better in the beginning and died and is doing this to regain his stats.”

  Somebody’s words caught people’s attention.

  “There’s a way to restore lost stats?”

  There were still more people who didn’t know than those who did.

  “Yes, in the case of high levels, it takes such a long time to level up so most people regain their stats by the time they level up. But at low levels, leveling up is fast so if you hunt outside, it’s easy to pass to the next level without regaining the stats. That’s why he’s only catching mice.”

  “But that person has already been catching them for more than ten days. Just how many did he lose….”

  “You’re right. Usually after that much one would just give up. He’s awfully determined.”

  However, their talk did not reach Ark’s ears.

  There was no reason to listen to other people because he had a definite goal. And now simply clearing the mice had another meaning other than regaining stats. The fighting senses he had familiarized his body with so far was invaluable if only for the experience.

  “Ah ah, how long has it been since I received such warm help, now I can die without regrets.”

  “Do not say such weak things. You have to live long and healthy.”

  As Ark held the grandma’s hand tightly and said that, the information w
indow appeared.

  You have learned a new skill. Nursing (Beginner, Active): You can give patients hope by restoring their vigor and courage. You give the patient an increase of 20% in vigor and courage by using this.

  Mana use: 10

  When Ark had completed the mouse-catching quest hundreds of times. Hansen sometimes gave him other quests, but they weren’t impressive enough to make his ears perk up.

  “You know granny Johansson, right? That granny might die soon. They say they need to find someone to take care of her for a day. If it’s you, I can trust and leave her to you.”

  “The restaurant is crowded these days, so they need some helping hand. If it’s you, then I can entrust you with the job.”

  For the most part the jobs were small like this. Honestly, he wanted to pass on them, but Hansen only gave quests one at a time.

  Whether he liked it or not, in order to receive the mouse catching quests, he had to complete those job quests as well. However, it was not always a bad thing.

  For one, these quests had better pay. The pay was as much as one silver.

  The repair cost for the rusted sword and leather clothes was 30 copper, and wheat bread cost 5 copper.

  To Ark, 1 silver was not a small sum.

  On top of that, he learned skills as well.

  Well, they were insignificant skills he may or may not have a use for, but there was nothing wrong about expanding his skills. He was at the level where he could catch mice while taking breaks.

  Thanks to the quests, his intimacy with the NPCs of Harun rose a lot.

  Whenever he crossed the streets, NPCs started conversations with him, and the price of wheat bread and repair fees dropped by an enormous amount.

  “S-Sorry to trouble you, but could you buy 100 pieces of wheat bread from me?”

  “I am looking to repair a weapon…”

  In the case of long swords, the repair cost exceeded a silver piece.

  But when Ark gave them his sword, he only paid 70 copper pieces to get it repaired.

  In this valley of beginners, 30 copper was a big sum. So quick, observant users did business with the merchants through Ark. Of course, Ark didn’t offer this service for free.

  The price was 20% of the trade. This was Ark’s proposal.

  “Instead of one silver, you know that there is a 20 copper service fee?”

  “Can’t I give it to you next time? I only have 10 coppers.”

  “No. Come next time.”

  “You’re too much. It’s only 10 coppers.”

  “If it’s stingy, then sir, raise your reputation in Harun village. If you do about one hundred mice-catching quests, then the price should go down some. Well, your level won’t rise though.”

  “I’lI definitely pay you back next time.”

  “I only believe in money.”

  “… Here’s the money.”

  At the sight of the offered 10 coppers, whose existence had been denied again and again, Ark snorted.

  For the second time, he decided not to trust users.

  On the day when Ark first came into New World and acted thoughtlessly, two thousand other applicants started the game at around the same time.

  They were all his rivals. There was no doubt that there had been competitors in Harun.

  ‘There’s a chance Andel and Bulma were candidates. No, I don’t know about Bulma, but Andel definitely is one.’

  Andel had gotten Ark into this mess. If Andel had figured out that Ark was an applicant, then that was the definite choice.The decisive and easiest way to stand on top of all the competition is to push off your opponents.

  And most applicants probably had the same thoughts.

  ‘I, too, will now do the same without hesitation if given the chance.’

  In the end, the game was like reality, a struggle for existence. He’d paid a price to realise his ignorance, but it was a relief that he’d come to know it sooner than later.

  Because he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

  He’d rather believe the NPCs than the competing users.

  There wasn’t even a need to look at the situation.

  After having saved money fiercely, somewhere along the line, he had saved up a large sum of 5 gold in his bag.

  There wasn’t a user who had spent half a month in the village of Harun. It was the first time a user in Harun had saved 5 gold pieces. Because he’d defeated mice with constant perseverance, he had only 1 point left to restore. The problem was that his experience was at 99%…

  ‘Do I have to die one more time?’

  Now, dying wasn’t even a big deal.

  Ark had no intention of giving up on even one point.

  In order to die yet another time, he went looking for Hansen to receive a quest

  “I’ve completed the previous quest you gave me. Please give me another job.”

  But Hansen’s response was strange.

  Hansen looked over Ark with a peculiarly warm light in in his eyes and said the following words.

  “There is no longer any work to give you in this town.”

  “What?”

  Ark was shocked.

  There were no commissions? Doesn’t this mean there wasn’t a way to restore the remaining stat?

  Just like in the past, he was still level 1. But because of his excessive fighting experience, he was confident he could knock out a Wild Dog.

  But one death meant experience was cut by 30%. Because Wild Dogs gave a lot of experience, 30% exp would fill up before he could earn 6 points. In the end, it meant that even if he died fighting the Wild Dogs, he’d still lose out on points.

  ‘I never thought these quests had a limit line.’

  Even if you looked in the forums, there wasn’t anything about the limit of requests in beginning villages. Although he hadn’t counted, Ark had done over three hundred quests so far. Ark had also thought there were unlimited quests. To suddenly say there were no quests…

  ‘Do I have to end it here and start with 1 point missing?’

  It was similar to having something stick out like a sore thumb. If there were a lot of points missing, then he would simply overlook and ignore it. However, giving up with a single point missing didn’t sit right with him.

  At that moment, Hansen suddenly grasped Ark’s hand and opened his mouth.

  “Until now, I have seen a great amount of people in this place, but there has never been anyone who gave as much as you have for the village. I am touched.”

  ‘Well, that’s pretty obvious. Are you nuts? Who would repeat these types of quests over 300 times?’

  Ark was enraged but put a tight clamp on his anger and awkwardly tried to laugh.

  “This place is like my home. If it’s something I can do, of course I have to help out. It hurts my heart that there isn’t anything else I can help with.”

  His intimacy with Hansen was already at its maximum. Though there wasn’t anything that would come of it, there was no need to cut down the intimacy he’d raised.

  This was something he’d felt so far while playing New World. The NPCs talked and acted like real people. It was rumoured, each and every one of the NPCs globally could think independently like real people.

  It was a given that they worked in the day and slept at night. There were even times when they caught sick and didn’t open shop.

  There were cases of them interacting with users and deciding the user needed to learn to speak more politely, which caused the intimacy to drop and their prices to rise.

  “Don’t you think there might be some other kind of job? I want to help so badly I’m going crazy.”

  “No, this is plenty now. You didn’t look over anyone with contempt and worked without rest for this frontier village. You even went as far as to have several near-death experiences. I know it all. You are already a hero in this village. And I, with the feeling that I have nurtured you, venture to call you this. You are a Mouse Hunter!”

  Suddenly, as cheerful music flowed forth
, the information window appeared.

  You have received Harun Village’s Elder Hansen’s title of Mouse Hunter.You are recognized as a specialist at dealing with mice. When facing mice your attack power increases by 30%. When facing mice the chance of critical hits rises by 20%. The chance of evading mouse attacks rises by 20%.

  *The received title increases all stats by a bonus of 1.

  *Fame increases by 50.

  You have learned a new skill.Spirit of the Cat (Beginner, Active): A cat’s roar which, in the eyes of mice, will cause them to tremble in terror. 30 second paralysis. Attack and defense (Fighting Morale) decreases by 20% (Only applies to mice).

  Mana consumption: 80

  In a moment Ark’s downcast face immediately brightened.

  The ability to deal harder blows to mice made him happy, if nothing else. The important thing was the all stats +1! He had received an unimagined bonus. At the same time, he must have received a few experience points because the accumulated 99% experience had disappeared and gained a level.

  Ark hastily opened his status window and confirmed it. Every stat was fixed at 16, and only his intelligence stayed at 15. In the corner, he saw the sparkling 10 points he’d won through leveling up.

  ‘This kind of windfall…!’

  Ark was smiling from ear to ear.

  Now, Ark was no longer behind a stat point, and he was 5 points ahead of other people. This was an enormously difficult achievement.

  Until now, there were almost no known ways to raise stats besides leveling up.

  There were rumours which said if you did some layered quests or were bestowed with a title, stats would increase. However, there was no detailed information available, but Ark, who was still level 1 and in the beginner town, had gained a bonus of 6 points.

  ‘Repeating the mice hunting quests 300 times paid off!’

  He felt a tingly sense of delight. At the same time his hardships immediately melted away. Ark left the information window up for the moment and wondered.

  He was worried about where to distribute the newly attained stats. Because he didn’t yet know what his profession was going to be, he had to be careful with the distribution. In the end, Ark invested all the points in agility, as he’d previously planned.