Matan’s Shooter

“I need to hurry.”

Leeha left the academy and unfolded his map.

The forest in the western part of Aelstock was known as the Lightless Forest.

It was the first hunting spot that he had investigated in the community, so he knew its approximate location.

‘But now, I need a more detailed route.’

How long would  it take when one started from the fastest gate of the capital?  And what part of the forest was  the most efficient way to enter and exit?

How far it was.

He could not even waste a second.

‘When I think about it, I wasn’t even able to sell the items of the users that died to the Agonia Oso. Would the weight be okay?’

There were  still equipment and sundries that had  dropped when those people died. He should have dealt with the items while he was with Kijeong, however, they didn’t have time to do that because they were busy moving around.

‘Anyway, I would be picking up about 60 sundries, so the weight should be okay. The 

price of gunpowder is stable, so I hit the jackpot!’

He got a whopping 200 sets.

Leeha smiled and moved forward.

It normally took 2 hours to walk to the Lightless Forest, but thanks to the Runner’s High skill, Leeha could get there in less than an hour if he consumed his stamina constantly.

‘First of all, to the West Gate.’

Leeha moved towards the West Gate  of Aelstock. The only gate he had been through was the South Gate, but there was nothing special about the West Gate .

There were people who went out of the West Gate  to reach the hunting ground and merchants who made transactions with  such people.

“We are looking for a spider and bat party! My name is Eli and I am level 16!”

“Who wants to go to the Orc Village? I’m going to the Sentinel Mountains〜 and depending on the situation, I might go to the Watching Peak! I’m level 80!”

“I need two dealers for the Watching Peak Troll! Only those over level 130 can apply for the party~ We can use scroll and fly right away.”

“Come on! Saber Tiger! Saber Tiger! We need an experienced tanker. Or someone who will go all the way to Picella Village.”

The only difference was that the level of users were  more diverse.

At  the South  Gate , there were  more users who were level 50 or lower, but at  the West Gate , there were also level 80 users looking for a party.

And one of the shouts pricked Leeha’s ears.

‘Watching Peak?’

It was just one of the many shouts. Then he suddenly remembered.

‘Where did I hear that… ah! Ah! Friend Window!’

Ram Hwayeon. Ram Hwajeong!

Ram Sisters’ location, which he checked through the friends list while he was on the way to the capital. It was definitely Watching Peak.

Is it near Aelstock? I guess it wasn’t?

Leeha continued running nonstop.

While running, he scanned the map, but Watching Peak was not visible even in the 

Fibiel Kingdom’s official map. Only at the western end of the map, at the edge of the Sentinel Mountain could  it be seen.

‘Is it a border area? It’s pretty far, isn’t it?’

It was the westernmost part of Aelstock.

There was a small village in the middle of Sentinel Mountain and a fortress just below the Sentinel Mountain. It was  highly likely that it was  one of the places of conflict with monsters or enemy armies.

‘If they are looking for a party in an orc village, is it a monster invasion area?’

In fact, he was not really interested before. No, he was not.

Until he heard Kijeong’s story, Ram Hwajeong and Ram Hwayeon were just a chance encounter, and he never thought much about what would happen after that.

However, he was rather interested now…

Why the hell are they there?

If the trolls appearing on Watching Peak also come in pairs, the level limit would be around 130. If they hunted the orcs that spawn on  shore, it would be around level 80.

The monster level was  low for Ram Hwajeong but absurdly high for Ram Hwayeon.

So why did they go together?

‘Is Hwajeong giving Hwayeon a bus ride?’

It seemed likely. Otherwise, there was absolutely no reason for the sisters to be together there.

If they were in a party, there won’t be any distribution of experience due to the high level gap, and if they were not in a party, even if Ram Hwajeong hunts alone, she won’t get that much of an exp.

Therefore, there was  a high possibility that she only used magic with weak damage and let Hwayeon take the last hit.

‘Like when she froze the Black Angus before. Even when it was encased in ice, Ram Hwayeon only needed to cast fire magic from afar.’

He didn’t know it, but it was incredibly fast.

Isn’t she already level 50? Others would have been unable to reach that level even if they hunted for a whole month.

Anyway, it was a little bit embarrassing. 

However, rather than being envious, Leeha felt his fighting spirit rise.

‘Just wait. I will chase you right away.’

Leeha’s steps became faster.

“Huu, huu, huuu. 45 minutes less.”

As soon as Leeha arrived at the edge of the Lightless Forest, he opened the quest window and checked the time. He hadn’t  even started hunting yet, but he had used more time than he had planned.

There were users who couldn’t  catch bears. In other words, wizards and long-ranged dealers gathered around the edge of the forest caught Leeha’s eyes. He listened to their conversation.

“Haa, I’m not doing well. I can’t hunt.”

“The wizards can only cast when they get close. Dealers should deal as much damage  as possible.”

“However, if you get too close , you can’t cast. I was looking for bats…”

“Archers have it rough too. Spiders are very sensitive. Spiders hide behind their webs… and can’t be attacked.”

“I’m going crazy. I came here after dying while hunting a bear…”

“It’s night now. By the way, spiders weaken during the day, so we can try again at that time. Shall we wait until morning?”

At a glance, there were dozens of campfires chasing the darkness of the night.

Each campfire had a 4 to 5 man party sitting around it, which meant that there were a significant  number of users at the edge of Lightless Forest that had stopped hunting.

‘Hmm, they are party type monsters too.’

The spiders and bats were working together.

Still, although he said that it would be comparatively easy, it appears that Goople does not tolerate a straightforward hunting method.

Especially at night, the spiders were very active, so when long-ranged dealers tried to shoot their bows or throw their daggers, they get disrupted by the webs.

The closer they get, the greater the risk.

However, if they try to cast magic, the vampire bats would not stand still.

The hunting method that was widely recommended in the community was for long-ranged dealers to deal with the vampire bats while wizards burn the spiders with magic.

‘However, it’s a bit difficult at night, isn’t it? Even bats are more aggressive at night.’

Leeha understood the reason why everyone was waiting until morning.

“Are you going to hunt?”

“What? Yes.”

One user caught Leeha going into the forest. He was from one of the groups sitting around the camp. The wizard who was grumbling before.

“Alone?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Amazing. What level are you?”

“25.”

“25? You still won’t be able to solo though. It’s dangerous at night. Your weapon… is a gun? Will you be able to manage?”

“Ah, yes. I’m a little busy. Well then.”

Leeha lightly bowed and went past the user.

“Hey, hey! Party with us and wait until morning!”

Leeha heard the wizard’s cry from behind, but he did not stop.

He couldn’t afford to be in a party.

In a situation where he had to return by the time the sun rises, waiting until morning was  out of the question.

“You can’t go solo in Lightless Forest in the middle of the night…”

The wizard sat quietly and said.

“Leave him be. If he dies , it’s his problem.”

“Kek, true that. It’s getting boring, shall we make a bet on when he will come out? 1 silver, call?”

“Great. I bet he’ll come out in two hours.”

“1 hour for me. 1 silver.”

“Then  I’ll bet on one hour and a half.”

“O-kay. Let’s start the time.”

Leeha heard them talking. Was  it because he was level 25? They are betting on his life?

‘Phew- People are so… mean.’

Leeha shook his head and walked into the forest.

The trees suddenly grew thick.

The already dim moonlight could not pass through the thick cobwebs on the trees, and the forest was like a closed room with lights out.

‘It’s dark. Even if I adapted to the darkness, it will still be difficult to see. I’ll need to light a torch… before proceeding. Reload, counting start.’

Leeha opened his bag in the dark.

The gunpowder could  only be taken using his sense of touch.

5, 6… He didn’t know about the other items unless he looked for them  but, he could take out the gunpowder and iron beads at any time.

‘I have to practice reloading in case it suddenly becomes dark. So that the same thing doesn’t happen twice.’

Ever since his battle with Agonia Oso, Leeha had  been practicing reloading with his eyes closed. It was dark enough when he closed his eyes in the forest right now, so it was perfect for practicing like in real life.

‘After carefully biting the gunpowder bag, open the plate.’

18, 19, 20…

Although his eyes were closed, he could pick up the musket and inspect it with his sense of touch. Moreover, the sensation was better now that the assimilation rate had been raised to 50%.

‘I just have to do it like I practiced.’

29, 30, 31…

Sara-rak,- The amount was measured through the sound of pouring and the weight of the gunpowder bag. 

Stop. 

Leeha quickly held the gun.

‘All the gunpowder left will be poured into the muzzle. Pour it carefully so that it will not get jammed.’

40, 41…

He completed pouring all the gunpowder to the gunpowder plate and muzzle. He quickly opened his bag again and took out the iron beads.

52, 53…

As soon as he felt the cold barrel, his hand went up.

‘It’s like I’m possessed.’

The iron bead went straight into the muzzle.

Then, the musket’s butt was hit hard on the floor to complete the reload.

‘63! Damn, if only I could just shorten it by three seconds then it would be one minute!’

Leeha was regretful but he had no time to regret.

Because he just reloaded with his eyes closed. 

In the dark, he reloaded without looking and he 

finished within 63 seconds.

What if there was light?

‘I could shorten it to at least 50 seconds.’

It was great that he was able to reduce the reloading steps from 6 to 7 to only 5. But as he got more proficient in the 5 step reload, his reload time got shorter.

There might be a reduction in reload time due to his mastery, but Leeha felt a different sensation. 

His body moved quickly on its own.

It was another increase in speed, which was 

different from the clear sensation he felt when his assimilation rate was increased.

‘It’s faster. The movement itself is definitely faster… Is it the effect of agility?’

Leeha opened his character window.

Name: Ha Leeha / Race: Human

Job: Musketeer / Level: 25 (11%)

Title: Fearless  / Achievement: 14

HP： 1630 / MP： 345 

Stats: 

Strength: 40(+25)

Agility: 215 (+115)

Intelligence: 46(+31)

Constitution: 74(+26)

Mind: 27(+17)

Remaining stat points: 27

The sum of his agility already exceeded 200. In simpler terms, it was at a number that can only appear when you add all your stat points to Agility until level 41.

If you consider distributing to agility, constitution, strength, intelligence, etc. by normal ranged dealers, they would need to be well over level 50 to achieve 200 agility.

In other words, the reason that some changes were felt in Leeha’s body was because he had already achieved the stats beyond certain levels.

‘It is probably because of stats that the sensation is different when users reach level 50 and level 100. Leeha carried the loaded musket on his shoulder and lit a torch.

Whaaak-!

A yellow light began to spread in the forest that seemed to cause claustrophobia. “Umm…”

Did I go too deep? I should have lit a torch.” Leeha smiled bitterly.

Spiders came down from above. Two at the same time.

Kiii—-!