“Let’s hurry.”
Weed did not feel that there was a need to give special treatment to the Sword Master. Friendship declined whenever he ordered Zahab around and points fell slowly the more they were together anyway. It was only right to use up the friendship points he raised and exploit Zahab as much as possible.
Clearing the Penfils Dungeon.
Hunting the great monsters in the Dark Wood Forest.
Completely annihilating the monsters in Geithner Dungeon.
Completing their search for treasure in the Carmel Lair.
These were the accomplishments Weed achieved with Zahab. Of course, Yellowy and Gold Man were always next to him and the Wyverns followed him to the hunting grounds.
“There is the enemy. Fight.”
When Zahab was wielding his sword, Weed could relax and attack as much as he wanted. Grapass boasted a ghastly level of difficulty. When he judged it was dangerous due to the monster’s high levels or attack power, he hid far away and shot with his high elf bow. When he thought he would get by, he fought next to Zahab.
‘He fights really well.’
There was no better method than fighting with a Sword Master. Even though he was Zahab, he was not invincible and suffered injuries.
“Oh dear! There are so many wounds. Let me wrap some bandages around them. I will apply plenty of herbs as well.”
The Master Bandaging skill!
Weed tried his best to slow down the declining friendship through cooking and treatment. The Dark Gamers continued to watch on in astonishment.
‘That stingy bastard…’
‘This is typical conditioning, giving medicine after exploitation.’
‘If I get ensnared, he’s going to bleed me dry.’
Weed chased for the most optimal efficiency. He searched around for boss monsters and led Zahab into dungeons overflowing with monsters.
Zahab could only miss the days of living in Grapass, devoid of human contact. Seo Yoon and Hwaryeong knew Weed’s tendencies and were more accepting.
‘Weed-nim must not get hurt.’
Seo Yoon was not inferior to Zahab and fought the monsters directly. Her Berserker battle potential was active so the monster lairs that Weed was leading them to were the ideal hunting grounds. Hwaryeong danced captivatingly, luring the monsters and causing disarray. But the dance had a lower effect on monsters with minimal human contacts.
The Dark Gamers also got involved and did their part to increase the efficiency of the hunt. The tasks they undertook suited their class and they earned acceptable gains.
‘I can’t help but be envious. Leaving no stone unturned in Grapass with a Sword Master… ’
‘This is such an awesome hunt, my level is going to go up easily here. It’s fortunate he’s allowing us to join in.’
‘Monopolizing all the items and treasures in the dungeon. Ah, there is a reason why Weed is known as the War God.’
The Dark Gamers had to pay a daily hunting tribute to Weed.
“We did a lot of hunting yesterday, I plan to do the same today. I also want to enter a new dungeon today.”
Dowry, cost for food, bandages, herbs, Yellowy’s birthday, repairing weapons and armour, they had to pay it all. Weed was sucking up everything like a flea! And so, together with Zahab, they wandered the whole of Grapass aimlessly hunting and exploring.
“I will leave to roam the continent now. I will not forget the time we have spent together.”
Zahab said his farewell. Friendship was low so Weed could not hold Zahab for much longer.
“It’s sad that you have to leave like this. It would be nice if we could learn more about each other .”
He tried to offer food and simple gifts again but Zahab did not accept them.
“I am exhausted and want to rest for now so let’s keep our farewell short.”
Weed had no choice but to send him off and asked some last minute questions.
“I think it’s tragic that we might not be able to meet again on the continent. Where will you go from here?”
“For now, I shall depart for the Bryce Highlands. I do not know how long I shall stay there for, but if you need to find me search for me there.”
“Yes, I shall do so. Then please take care.”
Zahab was limping on his left leg due to an injury and departed using his sword as a cane. Weed truly regretted this separation.
‘It would be nice to use him again. I am sure we will meet again.’
His level increased twice while hunting with Zahab and his sword mastery reached advanced level 2. This was all thanks to hunting together with a Sword Master. Moonlight sculpting blade also reached intermediate level 9.
Hwaryeong asked Weed.
“Where will you go now?”
She wanted more time to spend comfortably with just the two of them.
“I have to return to Zahab’s house right now.”
He had to report to the old handmaiden in the Rosenheim Kingdom. Grapass was a difficult region to return to so he was going to make sure he saw all Zahab’s sculptures before leaving. Zahab used a special magic bag to store about 80% of all his sculptures but there were still some left.
*****
The contract that the Dark Gamers and Hwaryeong agreed on was to help and protect her while she looked for Weed in the Grapass region. After concluding the contract Hwaryeong told them they could go but no one tried to leave.
“There was no other work and it was a boring period…”
“The world is a dangerous place where anything can happen, we will keep protecting you.”
“I am going to make sure you’re safe till the end. How can I, in good conscience, leave a beautiful lady alone?”
The Dark Gamers made excuses and tried to stay longer. Hunting in Grapass was not bad and they felt that if they stuck around Weed they might gain something.
“Oho, a Sword Master’s storehouse looks like this. There are a lot of sculptures.”
“The quality of the sculptures is extremely high.”
“Huk! Look at how many stats it gives. My Art stat just got created.”
The Dark Gamers received a once in a lifetime opportunity in Zahab’s workshop. Weed carefully observed the sculptures Zahab made with all his being.
“Identify!”
Artistic Value: 871.
Special Option: Increased population growth of deer.
He could read the memories held within the sculpture.
“This is a good piece.”
Weed observed other sculpture.
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.
He could feel the seasons changing during the construction of the sculpture.
There was a video embedded into a special mud sculpture.
A village created from baked mud.
A village established on a highland, people were coming and going restlessly.
A scene never seen in this day and age.
“Which quest video is this?”
The chance that it could be a sculpting related quest was high. Still, there were still a lot of sculpting quests, he did not know if he should do it or not. Even after that, several sculptures showed videos of Zahab’s hidden sculptures around Grapass.
“It will take way too long to find all of these and the monsters are troublesome.”
The sculptures could have been engraved onto a dungeon wall or kept as treasures by monsters.
“More importantly, the sculptures I made are the problem.”
Weed took out the sculptures he made and observed them. The sculpture of ‘Zahab Wielding his Sword’. It was almost a certainty that there was a Sword Master’s secret sword skill hidden within them. If Weed’s guess was right, this sculpture would become a treasure to all swordsman.
But no matter how much he examined it , it was only a well sculpted piece. As he sculpted it personally, he knew the piece extremely well, even reading the tangled memories of the sculptures did not reveal anything special.
“I have to solve the sculpture’s secret.”
While other people would be left bewildered unable to do anything, Weed tried to tackle the serious problem.
“Hm.”
Weed searched every nook and cranny of the sculpture.
“Could it be that I failed to reproduce Zahab’s sword skill perfectly?”
He matched each body size, ratio, and even the angle of the sword’s motions perfectly. It was difficult to portray each complicated motion on the sculpture but, with his many experiences and observational skills, Weed managed it.
He could make sculptures while imagining the product, to fail while actually seeing the subject matter was an impossibility. It would be utterly deplorable if there was a small mistake preventing him from learning Zahab’s sword skill.
“Should I just smash it?”
He was even contemplating extreme methods like using Sculpture Destruction. But he stayed his hand as it was too valuable.
“Solution, there must be a solution somewhere.”
If Zahab showed him the secret sword skill during battle, it would help identifying the skill. But such a thing did not happen and he could only rely on the sculpture to gain enlightenment.
Weed stopped all of his hunting and focused on the sculpture. He thought he might need more sculpting skill so he started making sculptures of the monsters in Grapass and of Hwaryeong to increase his Sculpting Mastery.
He wasted 3 hours with no clear solution in sight. The Dark Gamers and the Sculpture Lifeforms were hunting in separate groups nearby, Hwaryeong was offline as it was night. It was only Weed and Seo Yoon.
“Sword skill. I need to understand the sword skill… I am close to mastering the sculpting skill so I can continue as is. But if I can’t learn it because my sword mastery is low, then I might lose my chance to learn this sword skill.”
While Weed was puzzling his head over it, he heard a noise that sent shivers up his spine.
SHEEK.
The sound of a sword coming out of it’s sheath.
Weed turned around to look and saw it was Seo Yoon holding the sword with a cold expression.
“Wh, what’s up with the sword?”
With no Sculpture Lifeforms around, could it be that Seo Yoon was getting ready to attack?! It was an old misconception but there were times when Seo Yoon was really scary. Her voice, due to lack of speaking for so long, was devoid of intonation and she acted without explaining herself most of the time.
Like right now!
Seo Yoon twirled her sword. She was aiming at the sky rather than Weed. Before they knew it, it was the middle of the night with the moon out already.
Seo Yoon’s sword lit up under the moonlight and scattered. She began to move lightly, swirling her sword in movements that were familiar to Weed.
“The movements from the sculpture!”
CHARARARA.
Seo Yoon softly enacted the sword skill. She followed the sculptures’ motions like a dance. Weed analyzed the sculptures’ movement deeply and emulated them as well, but the flow was halted in between.
But Seo Yoon did not follow the order of the sculptures, she followed the motion of the sculpture lit by the moonlight.
HUWOOONG!
Seo Yoon’s blade scattered an intense light. It was like holding a light sword!
Seo Yoon learned the secret sword skill first. Her body was wrapped in light as if she was under a special blessing. Weed questioned her as soon as it stopped.
“Did you perhaps learned the secret sword skill?”
Nod, nod.
Weed smile exuberantly as he saw Seo Yoon’s head move up and down.
“Great.”
But the pain that was slowly creeping within!
“Hmhm, well, it’s manners for ladies to go first. It’s my turn to learn it now.”
After seeing Seo Yoon’s actions, Weed followed the same movements of the sculptures. With his sword mastery he was able to follow the movements much better. Following the intention of each individual motion, sometimes he put all his weight behind a swing or softly like a gentle wind. Weed felt this was a true sword skill as he emulated the movements.
‘Rather than a specific skill, the sword skill is more like a set of fixed, consecutive movements.’
He was puzzled by how this sword skill would be used in actual battle. Battle situations were completely different when fighting against monsters, flying creatures, shamans, summoners or magicians.
Depending on the skill level, it forms light sculptures in the form of animals or monsters.
Monsters captured by the light, fall under an illusion and cannot move.
If the sword skill is halted, the effect disappears.
Moonlight sculpting skill increases the power of the skill.
Class and other skill traits will have more power at night than in the morning.
It’s effective against monsters of a dark nature.
Weed, with Seo Yoon, went to the place where the Kellkogs appeared.
“Radiant Sword!”
This was not a sword skill that was instantly activated by consuming mana so the exact movements had to be followed.
“Keeeek?”
The Kellkogs threw their spears but the bright light blinded their eyes and their accuracy fell by a large margin .
A short distance away, Weed finished performing the sword skill. He felt ridiculous moving alone rather than fighting the monsters up front, but looking from the outside it was anything but. Weed swung his sword twice, jumped to gather power and performed a downward strike.
As he struck, sparrows made of light appeared. The sparrows circled Weed, then, beating their wings, they flew toward the monsters and exploded.
KABOOOM!
Threads of light split heaven and earth!
Every time Weed flourished his sword, birds of light flew toward the monsters. The Kellkogs became confused under the illusions and spun around trying to catch the birds. As the sword skill fully unfolded, only item drops remained where the monsters were.
It drained over 8,000 of Weed’s mana, but equipping various mana recovery items supplemented some of the drain.
“There was this kind of sword skill.”
Weed’s lips trembled. Till now, it was difficult to contend with monsters that shot arrows at long range. It was very frustrating for him to deal with monsters that attacked from long range and escaped quickly. Even if he took out his high elf bow to attack, it was not enough to attack with just one bow.
“I am going to kill all the monsters!”
*****
Kolderim, the knight of the Kallamore Kingdom!
Hermes guild prepared several contingencies to deal with him. One time, Kolderim led his army and pushed on toward the Sistar Fortress in Haven Kingdom. Of course, it was a battle that the Hermes guild was not part of. Rather, it made it easier for the Hermes guild to utterly crush and seize the regional kingdom.
“Even then the knights Kolderim commands are fearsome. We will continue to invest in military power and annihilate them completely.”
The Hermes guild destroyed the Kallamore Kingdom’s border force and seized 6 castles, 2 fortresses, and 14 villages. After they heard that Kallamore Kingdom’s Kolderim became the supreme commander of the war, Hermes guild split their main force in two.
“A detachment will turn around and occupy the Yorun Fortress, the main force will meet Kolderim’s army here.”
The army Kolderim was leading was composed of the elite forces of the Kallamore Kingdom. It included 7 contingents of knight orders and over 10 thousand cavalrymen. On the Hermes guild’s side, their main forces dug in and laid traps to make it difficult for the horses to move. They brought in massive numbers of magicians, archers and even catapults to disrupt the knights’ charges.
On the day battle erupted between Kolderim of Kallamore Kingdom and the Hermes guild, all of the stations did a live broadcast and all of the players’ interest was focused there. Depending on the outcome of the battle, the territory between Kallamore Kingdom and Haven Kingdom would shift on the Central continent.
With the various traps that the Hermes guild planted on the plain, the confrontation between the two armies was monotonous. In between, the detachment of the Hermes guild’s army penetrated deeply into the interior of the Kallamore Kingdom. Made up of a large number of cavalrymen, a contingent of gryphons, rangers, and magicians, the force was great enough to easily occupy any moderate castle.
Kolderim had to make a difficult choice. He could not leave the main force of Hermes guild alone and chase after the detachment. To do so allowed the enemy to seize Kallamore Kingdom’s third biggest city.
“We are attacking the Haven Kingdom.”
Kallamore Kingdoms great charge! the Hermes guild responded with their magicians and catapults, starting the large scale battle. The fate of the two Kingdoms was hanging in the balance.
*****
Geomchi joined Pale’s party late.
“I hope this won’t needlessly indebt yourself to me.”
“That’s not true. We needed someone to take care of close combat.”
Pale spoke courteously. He briefly stopped in Morata to peruse the stores and receive quests and met Geomchi.
“Did you try hunting in this area?”
“Some people did take me to several places called dungeons.”
Geomchi gave a yawn as if it was nothing but a trifle.
“There was nothing that could give me a good fight.”
“Well, it should be like that. The dungeons near Morata has been wiped clean by paladin order of Freya church, and many players are hunting there as well.”
As a dungeon became well known, many people flocked to it. Even after the experience and good item drop rates declined, the players still went. This caused some difficulty in hunting for decent monsters.
“It’s as you said.”
Surka spoke as she pulled on steel tipped gloves.
“We will provide as much help as we can.”
“Right. Then let’s go.”
Geomchi joined the group and Pale’s party left through Morata’s gate. As they left, the merchants doing business in the Square began to whisper.
“Was that the guy that completely cleaned out the exhausted dungeon?”
“Apparently he attached himself to a party and hunted all the monsters by himself. ”
*****
They arrived at the dungeon and Geomchi lightly stepped forward.
“Ey… the old should die.”
All the monsters that were struck by Geomchi’s sword disappeared in a grey light. Critical hits happened as if they were a regular occurrence and he slashed the weak points that appeared when the monsters attacked like it was a joke.
“With my age, I can’t seem to move as easily as I did when I was younger.”
PAK! WACHANG!
PABABABAK!
Geomchi’s weapon skill was Advanced level 7. It was a state that was impossible to reach by facing only monsters. After Advanced level 5 of a martial artist’s weapon skill, one had to overcome the barrier to their own limits.
Every time Geomchi advanced one level of his weapon skill, he realized the subtle changes to his mastery and chose the most optimal path for his development. This was the reason why his skill developed faster while hunting less than the others.
Pale and his party had to hurry before Geomchi killed off all the monsters.
Surka could pummel a level 350 monster into paste. Zephyr whirled his fishing pole and threw himself in the thickest part of the battle.
But looking at Geomchi, they could only stand in awe.
“It’s annoying to use the sword.”
He picked up the spears and axes the monsters dropped and attacked. Weapon skill allowed any weapon to be used proficiently and maximized the damage. Whatever weapon he handled, there was no hindrance in killing monsters.
Sometimes he looked like a warrior and other times, a soldier from a savage tribe. Seeing Geomchi changing weapons frequently Pale asked a question.
“Are you okay with the difference in handling different weapons?”
Pale asked as he was amazed by what he was seeing. Even with the weapon skill, every weapon had different centers of gravity and their application in battle was vastly different
“Whatever the weapon, battles are fought by personal taste .”
The personal preference of pummeling monsters! Such as the Orcs, the blight of the Yurokina Mountain range, when equipped with glaives they immediately started breaking things for fun, even their armor.
Zephyr asked in disbelief.
“Isn’t the sword suited toward your taste?”
Geomchi lived practicing the sword. He might have practiced other weapons, but he did not reach the state with his sword by catering to other people’s approval. Surely he would admire the way of the sword.
“My greatest preference is not the sword…”
Geomchi stealthily observed the others. It was a story that could negatively affect the emotions of minors and young school children.
“It’s rare for weapons to measure up to the steel pipes and poles I used when I was young.”
“…”
“The sword is a method for one to temper the heart. A great swordsman has a heart that is polished like a mirror and as still as water, whatever may come he will not fear or tremble.”
At the moment, a swarm of monsters flocked towards them from the dungeon passage.
“Humans have invaded.”
“Kill the tall, bulky, and ugly human first.”
“Captain, what do you mean. Is it the old looking guy?”
“Yes.”
“Kekekekel!”
Before the other members of the party could react, Geomchi was running towards the monsters.
“Your death will not be merciful. Hahahaha!”
