The Secret Altar (2)
4.
There were many kinds of jobs in G.o.d Wars where players teamed up and played in different situations.
The price of each job was different depending on the situation.
The widest-ranging priced jobs were for damage dealers and especially for magicians.
Some people said that magicians were just like virtual money.
Their price varied based on their attributes.
If their attributes did not correspond, their value instantly became trash.
On the other hand, their price sharply increased when they corresponded with several conditions.
One example was being able to kill a monster at once with a skill combo. It was known as 'one combo'.
In this case, people did not ask about the magician's price.
They preferred to beg like 'I will give you as much money as you want. Please let me join your party!'
The magicians who could kill a monster with only one combo even played solo.
They were a magician's dream come true.
[ You have killed the orc. ]
What Midas was doing at the moment was living that dream.
It was a dream Midas could never dream about and never happen to him.
“Yay! Feels good!”
Midas was also deeply impressed.
However, it wasn't just a good thing.
[ Your level has risen! ]
The biggest advantage of solo play was that he could monopolize the experience from the monster he killed.
The speed of the leveling was a lot faster than what other players could imagine.
'It feels totally different since my strength and health are supporting me.'
Indeed, Midas's strength and health were higher than normal magicians.
He could also gain enough time when he ran away.
Even if he got attacked while running away, he could handle several attacks.
'Courage definitely comes from items.'
Midas became confident.
“Lucky, if I could throw a ball 160km per second(?), I would dominate the Major Leagues easily.”
And he knew that being confident was very important.
Hoowl!
Lucky agreed with his howl.
“Dude, you know how to raise the mood.”
He divided the stat points into his stats on the stat window.
Then he checked his level.
'Level 16 accomplished.'
Level 16.
It was a result of Midas's effort.
'It's a miracle that I have raised my level this much in two days.'
The result was only possible because he hunted orcs whenever he found them for two days.
'Now, the smell is going to spread and attract hyenas.'
It meant that a rumor about Midas will start spreading in the Stinky Forest.
5.
There were three areas in the Stinky Forest.
One was the Explorer's guild's line.
Another one was an area outside of the barrier.
Lastly there was an area away from hunting fields, which was literally a rest area for players.
Many players always crowded around and recruited their parties in that area.
“Do you know him?”
“Who?”
“That guy.”
“So who are you talking about?”
So many rumors from the Stinky Forest gathered in the rest area.
“One combo man.”
“One combo man?”
“A magician who kills an orc with only one combo.”
The hottest rumor in the Stinky Forest was about a player.
He couldn't help being famous.
It was hard to see a magician who could kill an orc by himself even at once.
“I guess his items are freaking good.”
“I heard his job is an archmage. He even broadcasts live.”
“BJ Archmage? His naming sense is so bad.”
“I heard he has a holy beast too.”
Besides, every rumor about him was different and special.
“I f.u.c.king hate this game because of those wealthy jerks. They have rich parents so they play this game easily when I don't and I suffer this much.”
“Hey, you're one to talk. Do you think having parents who bought you a personal gate capsule is common? Your dad bought you an Audi car for your first car.”
“My friends got Porsches! Anyways I hate this f.u.c.king gotcha game!”
It was a good rumor that players could talk bad about.
“We gotta kill those rich a.s.sholes.”
There was no better gossip than this.
Of course, everyone did not just gossip about him.
“I heard his weapon is legendary.”
“It's the goblin champion's set for sure. I heard he wears the goblin champion's mask.”
“It has to be at least unique. Other than that, nothing makes sense how he can play at his level.”
“So it means if we hunt him, we get at least a unique item.”
“Yea, that's right.”
G.o.d Wars was a game that never ended with just gossip.
6.
There was a feeling when he was sure the ball would perfectly reach the catcher's mitt even before the ball left his hand.
'Ok.'
40 meters, it was a distance where ordinary people wouldn't be able to see the target properly and also where a clear view was difficult due to the surrounding trees.
He felt the same feeling when he was about to shoot a fireball at an orc within that distance.
Therefore, he did not prepare for the next move like running away or hiding in case the fireball missed.
He relaxed and waited.
Bam!
Soon, an explosion sound came out.
[ You have killed the orc. ]
[ You have acquired the t.i.tle 'Fireballer'. ]
[ You have acquired the t.i.tle 'A man who knows how to throw'. ]
When the alerts rang out, Midas grasped his right hand.
It was pleasant news to him.
However, he didn't pick up his fist for celebration because there was something else left.
[ Your level has risen. ]
It was news Midas had sincerely waited for.
[ You have reached level 20. ]
[ The Wardragon has offered you a new chance. ]
When the news sounded, Midas finally picked up his fist above his head.
“I have achieved level 20!”
Woof!
Lucky reacted to his owner's shout and shook his tail.
Midas smiled at Lucky.
“Lucky, we did it!”
Woof!
“I didn't expect that I would achieve level 20 in 4 days!”
Woof!
“Wow, if I played this game like this 5 years ago, I would be able to put the top 10 guilds under my feet.”
Woof!
“Huh? What did you say?”
Woof!
“You agree that this game sucks?”
Midas played a ridiculous skit with Lucky since he was so crazy about the news.
“Now, let's check what kind of cards we……”
Midas stopped looking at the skill card reward for level 20.
'Players.'
Midas had found players around him.
There was nothing weird to see players in hunting fields.
However, it was not normal that 8 players surrounded Midas and started to approach him.
'Hyenas?'
They came for the items Midas had.
It was obvious.
Midas had slaughtered so many orcs for 4 days and other players started to get jealous.
Midas somehow attracted hyenas who desired his items.
Besides, he was outside of the Explorer's line.
'I knew they would come after me.'
Midas also expected this situation.
“Lucky, I will show you today.”
He also prepared precautions for this situation.
“Who the real winner is.”
7.
There were two kinds of PK.
One happened accidentally. It happened often in G.o.d Wars.
The other happened intentionally.
They were completely different.
In the former case, both beat each other up.
However, in the latter case, the player who was attacked mostly ran away.
So, a player who was willing to PK needed to get as close as possible stealthily.
“Puff.”
A level 26 spearman, Yahiko, exhaled quietly behind a tree.
He stealthily took out his head from the tree.
There was nothing.
'He was definitely there.'
Instead, an afterimage of the fight a few minutes ago pa.s.sed through Yahiko's eyes.
'BJ Archmage.'
The afterimage of the fight was from the hottest player, BJ Archmage.
The fight was actually very dull.
It wasn't a thrilling scene when a magician threw a few magic spells from far away at an orc and it got killed right away.
However, that made Yahiko's heart pound.
'By the looks of how he kills an orc at once, his weapon is not going to be normal.'
It was rare that a magician whose level was under 20 made that much damage even with unique grade items.
Yahiko reminded himself of this fact and grasped his spear tightly.
At that moment.
Krr!
An orc sounded from somewhere.
Yahiko bit his lip.
'Is it reset?'
The most important thing while PKing was avoiding catching monsters' attention.
'Please just go.'
Yahiko wished the orc would go away.
Krr!
However, the orc who would never know how Yahiko felt stepped towards him with big strides
Krr!
It kept making sounds like it was letting Yahiko know it was coming towards him.
's.h.i.+t!'
Yahiko started to prepare in case the orc's attention came to him.
Krrrr!
Suddenly, the orc shouted and started rus.h.i.+ng.
'Is it me?'
At the moment Yahiko got scared, it pa.s.sed by him and ran to somewhere else.
He stopped biting his lip when he could see the orc's back.
“Phew.”
He let out a short sigh and then smiled.
'I got lucky.'
8.
“Krrrr!”
An orc was rus.h.i.+ng while shouting.
It was so common to see in the Stinky Forest that no one would care.
Woof!
However, a tiny wolf chasing the orc was not common.
“Krrrrrr…. Phew, acting like an orc is not easy. My throat hurts.”
A player would be speechless if they saw how the orc stopped rus.h.i.+ng and started talking all of a sudden.
“Remove Polymorph.”
As the orc cast the spell, its body started to become ashes and a player came out.
A player wearing a wooden mask and holding a wand, Midas.
'Those freaks who are trying to PK me are all the same.'
Midas transformed into an orc with Polymorph as soon as he found the players.
So, he inversely used the players' psychology.
'They don't want to catch a monster's attention when there is an important target to PK.'
It was a solution where Midas could confidently hunt outside of the line.
“Did you see that, Lucky? The real winner wins without fighting.”
Woof!
'By the way, it's time to leave here.'
However, it also meant he had to leave the Stinky Forest.
They wouldn't be tricked more than three times unless they were idiots.
'Well, I won't come back here again after the secret altar quest.'
Midas didn't leave any regret.
“Lucky. Let's check the skill card reward and then go to the secret altar right away.”
Lucky answered at Midas.
Hooowl!
“What? You think there is a legendary skill?”
Midas was making a joke.
[ Would you like to get the card reward? ]
“Yes.”
It was only a joke until then.