NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7 - A Fixture of the Beginner's Zone (4)
Chapter 7: A Fixture of the Beginner’s Zone (4)
Yeonwol stepped out of the general store, holding the Black Soul Elixir Pill, hesitating before putting it in his mouth.
If someone—especially the game administrators—were watching him, actions that seemed to show knowledge of the future could be extremely dangerous.
‘No, there’s no need to worry about that.’
He glanced around.
On rare occasions, when massive events occurred, the game administrators from headquarters would monitor the game directly.
During such times, something called the “Eye of God” would appear, making it evident to players.
In other words, there was no need to worry about being watched.
There was no hesitation required in utilizing his future knowledge.
Without any further delay, he stuffed the Black Soul Elixir Pills into his mouth.
*Lv: 10 *Combat Power: 10
HP: 290 MP: 245
[Reputation: 29]
[Strength: 48] [Agility: 45]
[Intelligence: 48] [Stamina: 47]
[Life: 48] [Mental Strength: 47]
[Dexterity: 21]
*Unallocated Stats: 45
It was truly the birth of a monstrous character.
Adding up all his stats, his effective level was nearly equivalent to Level 44.
This was without even allocating his unspent stat points.
Moreover, thanks to the critical success in alchemy, his “Dexterity” had increased significantly.
Dexterity was an important stat for most professions.
It was essentially a form of “handiness,” considered indispensable for archers and gunners.
Even melee professions like swordsmen or spearmen, while not strictly reliant on dexterity, found it useful as it affected control difficulty.
On top of that, dexterity greatly influenced critical hit chances and damage.
For production-based professions, it was practically a main stat.
‘I didn’t level up through alchemy, but my stats increased significantly. I’ve gained quite a lot at the expense of some experience points.’
Before a character’s class change, leveling up beyond Level 10 was impossible.
However, special actions by a player couldn’t go unrewarded, so most rewards were converted into stats instead.
Naturally, stats were a much better reward than experience points, which is why Yeonwol considered this a gain.
‘Experience points can be earned anytime, but pure stats are hard to improve.’
However, he couldn’t focus solely on increasing his stats indefinitely.
The limit to how much stats could be raised based on level was clearly defined.
‘My stats are good enough to start hunting in the field now. It’ll be tough, but if I use the Blue Wave Ascension Blade skill effectively and hunt one monster at a time, it should work.’
The lowest-level monsters around Karnell City were in their 70s, turning the area into a graveyard for novice players.
Although leveling up through quests was possible, it was time-consuming and exhausting.
Still, despite having stats sufficient for hunting, Yeonwol had no intention of doing so.
‘There are still many hidden quests in the city.’
Hidden quests were tasks that couldn’t be discovered by ordinary means and required special conditions to trigger.
Their rewards were so excellent that players would obsessively search for them.
Karnell City had many such quests.
Some of these quests even rewarded players with stats.
Frankly, other items or money didn’t interest him much.
Stats!
Only stats mattered!
‘Before changing classes, I may lose some experience points, but as a Level 10 novice, I need to accumulate as many stats as possible.’
He remembered hearing that achieving a stat of 100 in any category as a novice came with a special reward.
Of course, no novice had ever accomplished such a feat in his previous life.
It was merely speculation based on NPC dialogue or cryptic notes in old tomes.
‘Even if it’s speculation, it’s almost certain. Such legends were usually proven true in the future.’
Rising from his seat, he suddenly recalled that his reputation was still increasing.
‘Should I upload the video I recorded this time?’
Honestly, Yeonwol didn’t find the video of him hunting Kaladoro particularly entertaining.
Nine hours of mindless suicide bombing—what about that was enjoyable?
The fight against Khazaram had undeniably drawn attention, but this time, it was different.
Editing the footage nicely might make a difference, but he had no intention of dedicating time to such efforts.
‘Finding an editor is troublesome too. Anyway, my Eltube view count is about reputation, not money.’
He uploaded the unedited video of hunting Kaladoro.
Even if it didn’t get many views, it didn’t matter.
He had no intention of making a career out of being an Eltuber.
“Well then… To start, it has to be that quest.”
Yeonwol thought of the wooden dummy, a staple of virtual reality games.
Every beginner’s starting city had a representative quest.
That was none other than “Hit the Wooden Dummy 100,000 Times with a Wooden Sword.”
The wooden dummy, a signature of fantasy in virtual reality games, had been struck endlessly by countless players.
However, the maximum stat increase from hitting it was capped at 100,000 times.
Exceeding that threshold turned it into pure exercise, which still provided some stat increases but was not time-efficient.
The rewards for the quest were notoriously stingy, making it infamous, but very few players attempted it.
Even combining the strength gained through training and the stats awarded after completing all 100,000 hits only amounted to 4 strength and 3 stamina.
Thus, there were still very few players striking the wooden dummy.
Thwack!
[Hidden Quest ‘Hit the Wooden Dummy 100,000 Times’ Completed!]
[Strength +2, Stamina +1 Increased!]
Yeonwol wiped his sweat and checked his stats.
Including the strength and stamina gained during training, his stats had increased by exactly 7 points.
It was as expected.
‘If I had leveled up even once before doing this, the effects would have been halved.’
In short, it was a quest that had to be completed as a novice before the class change.
“Oh, you’ve completed the wooden dummy training. Your enthusiasm is remarkable, but your outfit seems lacking. As a reward, I’ll give you trainee-exclusive cloth armor!”
[Cloth Armor Acquired!]
Perhaps his rapport with the instructor increased, as he offered another quest, but Yeonwol quickly declined and moved on, knowing the quest wasn’t particularly special.
“My apologies. I’m too busy for requests.”
“Oh, well. It can’t be helped!”
The novice outfit was conspicuous, so he had planned to buy new clothes, but receiving the cloth armor saved him time.
From then on, he accepted and completed multiple quests simultaneously.
“My goodness! Who would have thought such a dreadful den of evil existed beneath the temple? If not for you, it would have been a disaster. I’ll bestow upon you a special blessing.”
[Life +2 Increased!]
Without pause, he moved from one quest to another.
Here, he demonstrated his specialty.
One reason Yeonwol had remained low-leveled in his past life was that he had become a jack-of-all-trades by learning every production skill.
For players who weren’t good at grinding, such an approach was more of a curse.
However, the seemingly disadvantageous skills he had learned in his past life turned out to be highly advantageous in this life.
“You’re quite skilled at peeling potatoes! Surely, you’re a professional. Would you assist me in my cooking?”
[Special Skill ‘Cooking’ Acquired!]
“The way you hammer is extraordinary! Mark my words, you’ll be a master artisan someday!”
[Special Skill ‘Smithing’ Acquired!]
“Wow, you handle monster hides so skillfully. You’d make excellent armor!”
[Special Skill ‘Hide Processing’ Acquired!]
“Your thread-spinning technique is extraordinary!”
[Special Skill ‘Tailoring’ Acquired!]
Yeonwol roamed the city, assisting artisans and learning skills wherever possible.
Every time he acquired a skill, his stats increased, which was incredibly rewarding.
No, it was downright overpowered.
Special skills were notoriously hard to learn but significantly boosted stats upon acquisition!
However, not just anyone could pick up such skills.
Even cooking, the easiest to start with, typically required at least a month to learn, while alchemy often took several months.
Trying to acquire these skills solely for their stat boosts was inefficient.
Yet Yeonwol learned over ten special skills in a single day.
‘I have no intention of becoming a jack-of-all-trades like in my past life, but production skills are efficient for boosting diverse stats.’
He planned to learn the skills and set them aside.
It was all solely for the sake of boosting his stats.
[Dexterity Increased!]
The stat that increased with every production skill learned was ‘Dexterity.’
This stat was directly tied to critical hits.
Some high-ranking players had spent months painstakingly learning production skills just to increase their dexterity.
Yet Yeonwol had raised his dexterity significantly by acquiring an absurd number of special production skills in just one day.
Additionally, he monopolized not only production-related hidden quests but also public hidden quests accessible to anyone.
“You’re the famous problem-solver I’ve heard about. I hear your abilities are extraordinary, especially considering how short a time you’ve been in the Elthera continent.”
“Yeonwol, your name precedes you. They say you handle all sorts of tedious and dirty tasks!”
“Oh my, Mr. Yeonwol, I heard you gave someone advice on their troubles. I might have something for you too…”
“So, you’re that Yeonwol, are you? I’ve heard you have tenacity even greater than a leech. Shall we see if you can survive the Forest of Death as well?”
There was no time to waste.
Even as he hesitated, other players might discover and complete the hidden quests.
Yeonwol moved tirelessly, without rest.
By the time three days had passed in real life—equivalent to about two weeks in the game—Yeonwol had completed his final quest and slumped onto a tree stump.
“Whew…”
Sweat poured down his entire body, but his eyes continuously scanned through his stats.
*Lv.10 *Combat Power: 30
*Class: No Class
HP: 295 MP: 310
[Reputation: 103]
[Strength: 54] [Agility: 53]
[Intelligence: 51] [Stamina: 54]
[Life: 49] [Mental Strength: 53]
[Dexterity: 72]
*Unallocated Stats: 45
I gathered every hidden quest in this city.
Fortunately, there were still many hidden opportunities left because the city had so few novice players.
During the process, Yeonwol even discovered hidden quests he hadn’t known about, thoroughly clearing every event and incident in Karnell City.
In terms of pure stats, he was nearly at Level 56.
Considering the additional effects of his Dexterity stat, such as increased critical hit chance and damage, his effective stats were equivalent to Level 60.
‘But…’
It wasn’t enough.
Even if he invested all 45 of his remaining stat points into Strength, it would only reach 99.
Achieving the goal of pushing a single stat to 100 was impossible.
‘One point short, and there’s nothing more I can do in this city.’
Heading to another city to complete hidden quests wasn’t a bad idea.
The problem was the unnecessary delay it would cause.
‘Maybe I could try Strength training at the nearby training ground… No, wait, I haven’t done that yet.’
Yeonwol suddenly remembered the “Basic Swordsman Proficiency Test.”
It was a test available only to swordsmen who had learned sword-related skills, and completing it granted stat rewards.
He hadn’t considered it because it was a swordsman-class quest, but Yeonwol now possessed swordsmanship skills, qualifying him for the test.
In his past life, he had learned practical swordsmanship out of desperation to survive, so passing the test would be easy.
‘I can’t believe I overlooked this.’
He discarded his sweat-soaked clothes, changed into the cloth armor, and headed out into the streets.
‘What’s going on?’
There were noticeably more rankers on the streets than before.
He could spot users wearing equipment with level restrictions of 150 or higher.
Seeing over ten such players made it impossible for Yeonwol to ignore them.
He quickly realized that his reputation had surpassed 100.
The Khazaram kill video had over a hundred million views, while the Kaladoro video easily surpassed twenty million.
‘Could they have come here after seeing the resurrection rush in the Kaladoro video? I tried to make it hard to spot.’
Still, with such a massive player base, it wasn’t impossible for someone to identify the location based on certain details.
It didn’t matter.
The video hid his face, and he had worn a mask during the Kaladoro resurrection rush to prevent anyone from remembering it.
Now, he was even wearing cloth armor and carrying an alchemist kit in his left hand, while the Blue Wave Blade remained tucked away in his inventory.
He looked exactly like an ordinary alchemist, drawing no attention.
“Hey, you there! Alchemist!”
“…”
Just as he thought that, a high-level user called out to him.
Yeonwol quickly scanned the other’s equipment.
‘Wearing a Level 170 Fire Slit. Haven’t found a weapon suitable for their level yet? Using the Twin Blade with a Level 150 restriction… Maybe money’s tight.’
In short, the person was a mid-tier user over Level 170.
“What is it?”
“Relax, will you? Have you seen a player in novice gear around here? A prodigy. Our Kailak Guild wants to recruit them.”
The Kailak Guild was one of the top five guilds in the Kingdom of Watyrion.
“Haven’t seen anyone like that.”
“Hah, really? Damn it.”
As expected, they didn’t recognize him.
Most other players passing by wouldn’t connect the current Yeonwol with the novice player from two weeks ago.
His sharp, composed demeanor from two weeks ago had been replaced by a studious appearance, complete with glasses.
People rarely paid close attention to the faces of passersby.
Even if they remembered seeing a novice outfit, nobody would recall the exact face.
‘And if someone does, it’d just be a minor nuisance.’
When Yeonwol claimed he hadn’t seen anyone, another player standing behind the high-level user chimed in.
“Why even bother asking a crafter? They’re too scared to fight and just hole up in their workshops all the time.”
Yeonwol glanced at the speaker, who had a sword strapped to their waist.
While sword-wielding classes were common in other games, they were relatively less popular in this one.
The game’s realistic combat made melee classes slightly less appealing compared to other roles.
As a result, there were more crafting classes and support roles like priests.
This led to many melee combatants developing a sense of pride in their role.
‘I’m not like those cowards. I face monsters with a sword!’
In a game with over three billion players—and destined to be played by most of humanity in the future—there were plenty of sword-wielding players.
Even the skilled player in front of him would eventually be overshadowed and outclassed by true experts.
Yeonwol scratched the back of his head.
‘These people I don’t even remember are acting up.’
He didn’t bother responding and ignored them, continuing on his way.
In this game, players could choose to hide their IDs.
Unless they had committed PK or crimes that got them wanted by the kingdom, they could completely conceal their nickname and blend in as NPCs.
It was no wonder rankers found this frustrating.
‘I’ll take the Basic Swordsman Proficiency Test and leave the city quickly.’
While the rankers would eventually give up their search for him, there was no reason to linger unnecessarily.
“Oh, it’s you, Yeonwol! The famous errand-runner of the city!”
When he arrived at the swordsmanship training hall, the instructor recognized him.
Yeonwol had helped him with errands several times.
“Yes, it’s me. I’d like to take the Basic Swordsman Proficiency Test.”
“Hmm? That test is only for those who’ve class-changed to Swordsman.”
The instructor’s expression grew cold.
The rapport he had built by running errands had only improved his reputation as an “errand-runner,” not as a swordsman.
It was no wonder the instructor, who took pride in being a swordsman, was offended by an errand-runner suddenly requesting to take the swordsman test.
“I have swordsmanship skills. Check for yourself.”
“Oh… It’s true. I can sense the aura of someone who has trained with a sword. However, even for a basic test, a swordsman is still a swordsman. You underestimate the path of the sword!”
The instructor scolded him.
“You’re not trying to imitate the player Song Yeon-Ju, are you? She’s the swordsmanship prodigy who passed the basic test at Level 10. This test is meant for players at Level 30 or higher!”
The test was available immediately upon reaching Level 10 after changing to the swordsman class.
However, it wasn’t something just anyone could clear.
The difficulty was so high that players typically had to level up significantly before attempting it.
“Moreover, even if you’ve trained in swordsmanship, you won’t pass unless you’re a true swordsman. This isn’t a test for a novice like you to take lightly.”
The instructor clicked his tongue in disapproval, but Yeonwol remained indifferent, as he had expected this reaction.
The instructor’s words weren’t wrong.
Acquiring the main swordsman skill [Swordsmanship Mastery] was an advantage for Yeonwol, but it still didn’t make him as strong as a true swordsman.
True swordsmen gained specialized skills for every type of sword, boosting sword damage by at least 10% and up to 50% through passive abilities.
Additionally, they started with five active skills to handle various situations, along with one mind technique and one footwork technique, which naturally enhanced their swordsmanship.
All of this, Yeonwol already knew.
“Regardless, isn’t the purpose of the test to let anyone who wants to take it, take it?”
“Well… that’s true, but…”
“Let’s get on with it.”
The instructor grimaced but nodded reluctantly.
As long as Yeonwol possessed swordsmanship skills, the test couldn’t be denied.
‘Damn it. Where did this arrogant novice come from, daring to tread the path of a swordsman?’
Scowling, the instructor begrudgingly grabbed the key card for the test area.
‘Fine. You want to take the swordsman test that badly? Then skip the basic test and go straight to the intermediate one.’
The recommended level for the intermediate test was in the 70s, assuming the swordsman had already gained substantial skill proficiency.
In other words, this novice, who lacked skill proficiency, only had basic swordsmanship skills, and hadn’t even undergone a class change, would be crushed in less than a minute.
‘Arrogant brat. I’ll teach you a lesson.’
Click!
The key unlocked the door, opening the path to the intermediate testing area.
[No Class Yeonwol is entering the Intermediate Swordsmanship Testing Grounds.]