Special Players Management Team.

Team Leader Lee Suk-hoon shouted out despite himself as they watched the situation unfold on the monitor, “Hey! You son of a b*tch!! No!!”

They had continuously worked overtime! Their foxy wives and rabbit-like brats would get angry once again saying that they never came home! Lately, Team Leader Lee Suk-hoon had always been worn out by working overtime, thanks to Player Minhyuk. However, he believed that they would not be forced to work overtime this time around. No, he vehemently denied it!!!

Just then, Team Leader Park suddenly became aggressive as he shouted back, “Boy, did you just call our Player Minhyuk a son of a b*tch? Aren’t you being too harsh, huh?!”

“…?”

“That’s right! You can’t say that to our Player Minhyuk! He did everything with his own power. How can you curse him like that?!”

Even Lee Minhwa added her two cents making Team Leader Lee Suk-hoon gape in astonishment. He thought, ‘Has the Special Players Management Team also been bewitched by him?’

Since when did Minhyuk become ‘our’ Minhyuk?! To be honest, Team Leader Park and Lee Minhwa had both gained affection for Minhyuk without realizing it. After all, they had been watching over him and his progress for a long time now.

In Team Leader Park’s case, his ‘fanatic heart[1]’ had already bloomed after watching Minhyuk’s countless incredible plays and his high playing IQ, just like with this incident. On the other hand, Lee Minhwa respected Minhyuk’s mukbang.

‘I’m going to eat like that someday too!’

Then, Team Leader Lee thought, ‘If you work overtime, we’re also working overtime. Don’t you know that?!’

However, those words just silently echoed in his head. Then, Team Leader Park said, “Even if he had those artifacts, we still don’t know if he would be able to clear the trial.”

Although this was unexpected, they still did not know what would happen, since this trial was set to be extremely hard.

***

Chomp, chomp, chomp!

Bite, bite, bite!

Gulp, gulp, gulp!

Minhyuk immediately made toast and fresh fruit juice after temporarily receiving the sword and armor from Arakhan. After receiving the food, Arakhan began to eat as if he was possessed.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk checked the artifacts’ information.

(Sun God’s Sword)

Rank: Legendary

Requirements: None

Durability: 7,000/7,000

Attack: 691

Special Abilities:

•A 16% increase in STR, AGI and STM.

•Passive Skill: Sun God’s Blazing Flames

•Passive Skill: Sword Explosion

•Active Skill: Sun God’s Authority

•A +50 increase in Defense against Fire-attribute attacks

Description: This is an amazing sword created by the Chief Blacksmith under the Sun God’s command. The sword’s blazing flames could give one damage with just a slight touch.

(Sun God’s Blazing Flames)

Artifact Skill

Level: None

Mana Required: None

Cooldown: None

Effects: There’s a 50% probability of setting the opponent ablaze upon successful attack. The damage incurred by the flames will be 1% of the user’s attack power every two seconds.

(Sword Explosion)

Artifact Skill

Level: None

Mana Required: None

Cooldown: None

Effects: There’s a 15% chance of triggering three consecutive explosions with 200% of the basic attack power upon a successful attack.

As for the Sun God’s Authority, it was a great AOE skill that made use of an explosion to create a ring of blazing hot flames. The radius was ten meters, and it could cut off any access for five straight minutes. Unfortunately, because of Minhyuk’s temporary stat degradation, the skill was currently unavailable to him. After all, the MP requirement was enormous.

Then, there was Phrakan’s Armor.

(Phrakan’s Armor)

Rank: Epic

Requirements: None

Durability: 5,000/5,000

Defense: 314

Special Abilities:

•An 8% increase in STR, AGI and STM.

•Active Skill: Reinforced Steel Armor

•Passive Skill: Absorption

Description: Phrakan was a Viscount vampire. This was a trophy that Arakhan had obtained when he slit Phrakan’s throat after Phrakan had gone on a rampage in a small village and killed indiscriminately.

The skill Reinforced Steel Armor was an active skill, so Minhyuk was also unable to use it. On the other hand, the passive skill, absorption, had a 10% chance of absorbing an enemy’s attack once it hit the armor. Once absorbed, the damage that the wearer had received would immediately be recovered. Even the HP would be recovered to 10% of the damage received.

‘Not bad.’

The artifacts that Arakhan had temporarily let him borrow were quite good. After finishing his preparations, Minhyuk told Arakhan that he would start the trial. Then, the notifications rang.

[The Third Trial has now begun.]

[Successfully hunting the first monster will let you obtain Arakhan’s Sword Mastery. Your previous Sword Mastery will be deleted and replaced once this has been obtained.]

[The first monster is a werewolf.]

[With the influence of the Wishing Stone, you will be able to get ‘Native Chicken’ once you successfully hunt the werewolf.]

‘Native chicken?’

As usual, Minhyuk did not pay much attention to the other rewards. However, his eyes were sharply trained on the words ‘native chicken’. Native chickens were commonly seen in the valleys where families go for vacation. They were usually sold in shabby, yet amiable and comfortable, shops. The shops were usually given the same name, ‘Sky Garden’. Even their menus were the same— native chicken samgyetang, green onion pancakes, buckwheat pancakes, and acorn jellies.

‘Gulp.’

Minhyuk swallowed down the saliva that pooled in his mouth. He used to go to the valley and visit the Sky Garden with his parents when he was younger. After they were seated in a small room and served their food, his father would always tear off a big chicken leg and place it on Minhyuk’s plate. Even the greasy soup was very, very delicious! Minhyuk trembled. His eyes glinted in determination as he vowed to hunt the first monster!

Then, he looked ahead of him. However, strange as it might be, the monster did not appear in front of Minhyuk. After a moment, another notification rang.

[You will now be warped to Torr Village in Eiderr Continent, the place where the werewolf is currently located.]

***

Conir was a little surprised as he thought, ‘He managed to win over Arakhan and made him lend him his sword and armor.’

Minhyuk used his skills to his advantage, creating a favorable situation for himself. It was unexpected, but it worked. However, what Conir was more surprised about was the average abilities and stats of the man.

‘For an ordinary human, his abilities are very remarkable.’

No, they were actually ridiculous. STM, STR, and AGI, all of these stats were well beyond the range of an ordinary human.

Conir might not be aware of it, but Minhyuk was a 120 kilograms giant in reality. The power that he packed was naturally strong. In addition to his strong and large physique, his speed and stamina had been honed after more than three hours of exercise every day.

The Athenae capsule was equipped with a built-in status checker that could monitor the player’s health and status. It was through that built-in function that they were able to make a status corresponding to the player’s physical condition.

However, this trial would still prove to be difficult. This was simply because Minhyuk was only around Level 10 at most, with his current physical condition. In fact, when it came to stats, ordinary people could only show the power of someone at Level 3~4 at best and someone at Level 1~2 at worst. That was why Minhyuk was already considered to be beyond the ordinary human range.

And yet, even if his stats were considerably higher than most ordinary humans, it still did not change the fact that the trial tested the challenger’s personal skills. The person’s control and motor skills in reality would have a great impact on this trial.

This trial would test one’s own skills and not their stats. This was the intention of the Athenae Production members. Could a normal person win against a goblin if they ever encountered one in real life? Inside the game, it would be possible, since the goblins were known to be weak and dimwitted. However, if it was in real life, it would be nigh impossible. After all, a person would be overcome with fear, right? But if the person had impeccable control and amazing skills, it was possible that they would be able to overcome this hurdle! Only players that overcame this trial and gained such a mindset would be able to continue challenging the ‘Pinnacle’.

In fact, this trial was something that Conir had prepared since he thought that it would be entertaining. The place where the werewolf would appear was a place where players of the same level as Minhyuk’s average ability would appear. This could bring about plenty of variables. Minhyuk could choose to request the cooperation of the players around him, or take the last hit after the players had exhausted the werewolf from their hunt. However, the latter was almost impossible.

‘Because werewolves are considered as disasters in the Novice Zone.’

Since they were considered as disasters, it would be nigh impossible for novice players to chip off a huge chunk of their HPs.

***

Eiderr Continent’s Torr Village!

Eiderr Continent was literally the American Server. America was unilaterally agreed to be the number one among the strongest countries in the Athenean world view. They had overwhelming military forces, a staggering number of global rankers, and an even terrifying number of unofficial rankers that had yet to show themselves to the world!

However, there were still novice zones and novice villages in this very same American Server. Among these villages was Torr Village. Players usually hunted rabbits in Torr Village to level up. All of the novice zones inside Athenae were very similar in format. They would only have subtle differences from each other.

One of the men in this novice zone thought, ‘This is the place where my hyung hunted a werewolf.’

The werewolf would occasionally appear in novice villages in the Eiderr Continent. They just appear ‘occasionally’ and would disappear after an hour of their regeneration. The werewolf was a kind of an event monster in the novice zone and in the event of a player’s death, they would usually not incur any penalties. However, the werewolf would drop unique~rare artifacts if they got hunted. The appearance of the werewolf was like a golden opportunity for the novices so none of them ever complained to the Athenae Production Team.

However, the number of people that could hunt the werewolf was close to zero. The average level of players in this zone was usually at Level 4~7. On the other hand, the level of the werewolf was around Level 20. The level of this opponent was too much for the novice players that only had ‘dulled swords’ and ‘rusty armor’ as their weapons.

However, there was one man that had successfully hunted a werewolf by himself. And that man was the ‘Battlefield’s Ghost, Alexander’, the older brother of the player hunting rabbits right now, Player Marvin. The unofficial ranker, Alexander! He used the opportunity given to him after being the sole person to have ever hunted a werewolf and used it to accumulate a huge amount of wealth in Athenae. However, he remained as an unofficial ranker and had always moved about secretly.

Marvin wanted to be like Alexander. He thought, ‘Big bro was born like that.’

Marvin knew that his brother was born a fighter. When Alexander was still a student, he had beaten five other students until they were all black and blue, with just his bare hands alone. But was that the end of it all? No, no one could go against him after he learnt all kinds of martial arts. However, despite trumping over his peers, he was never interested in them for too long. The only thing that piqued his interest was Athenae. Marvin believed that his hyung would definitely be able to win a gold medal if he ever stayed focused in a sport. Marvin, however, was completely different from Alexander. He was timid and had close to no athletic bone in his body.

‘Control isn’t everything in Athenae!’

It would be the same as long as he had a God Class! Marvin believed that he would be able to overcome the gap in his abilities as long as he obtained something like that. So, he continued to hunt rabbits with that dream in mind.

Stab!

“Hwiik!”

Marvin hurriedly took the gold and item that dropped from the rabbit once it died.

‘I don’t need big bro to carry me. I can grow stronger by myself.’

Just as the thought crossed Marvin’s mind…

“R…run…!”

“It’s a werewooooolf…!”

“Uwaaaaaaack!”

“Kill it!!! If we kill that, we will be able to get good items from the drops!!!”

…screams rang loudly in the area. Marvin immediately turned to look at the source of the commotion. There, he saw a werewolf slash and bite the novices with its long claws and sharp teeth, killing them. The werewolves’ main weapons were their swift feet, strong bite, and sharp nails.

‘W…werewolf…?’

Marvin watched as the players rushed towards the werewolf. However, just one swipe of its long, sharp nails was enough to log out six players at once. The werewolf swiftly dashed forward as it ripped open the novices’ necks and slashed their bodies.

“Kggghk! How can we even kill something like that?!”

“Cra…crazy! Run!!!”

The werewolf was quick on its feet as it chased the escaping novice players and bit on their necks. At this moment, Marvin recalled the words of his elder brother, ‘There’s only one way for ordinary players to kill the werewolf. They needed to be brave and someone has to lead them. If dozens of players joined forces, they would be able to hunt werewolves, no matter how many they were.’

Of course, those words did not work for his big brother that hunted the werewolf alone. So, Marvin valiantly rushed forward, despite the fleeing players.

“Gather together!!! We can kill it if we stick together!!! Don’t be afraid!! This is a game at best!!!” Marvin said. However, none of them listened. After all, they were just novices that had still not yet adapted to the vividness of the game that looked strikingly similar to reality.

Marvin jumped in after seeing the werewolf bite the neck of one of the female players. He thought, ‘Big bro has mentioned before that I can kill monsters that are far stronger than myself, as long as I strike their vital point correctly.’

To be honest, Marvin was also very frightened. He was also a novice, after all. However, he had always been compared to his brother.

‘Your brother has always been strong-willed and brilliant, so why are you very timid, Marvin? Ha…’

This was their parents’ sigh!

‘Your brother is good at studying and sports. But what about you, Marvin? What are you good at?’ 

His friends’ ridicule!

Marvin believed that he would not be able to break free from this life if he ran away at this point, so he plucked up his courage and ran towards the werewolf’s neck.

“Uwaaaaaaaah!”

Marvin was able to land a strike on the werewolf, who was biting the female player’s neck, with his sword.

Ping—!

However, the sound that rang loudly was not the sound of a blade cutting through flesh, but the sound of a blade hitting something hard. Marvin’s sword was akin to a stick that had no sharpness in front of the werewolf.

The werewolf, with blood dripping from its mouth, rushed towards Marvin.

“Grrrrrrr!”

Marvin tried to send another attack, but his attempt was swiftly knocked down by a single sweep of the werewolf’s hand. And when the werewolf jumped towards him…

‘I’m…I’m done for…’

But he did not have any regrets. At the very least, he did his best inside the game. At that moment…

Spurt!

…blood gushed out from the werewolf’s chest as it shrieked, “Graaaaaaaaaa!”

Then, a man kicked the werewolf away. Marvin looked at the man in front of him as the werewolf rolled and swiftly got back on its feet.

“Big bro…?”

For a moment, the figure of the man overlapped with the figure of Marvin’s brother. The man was 185 centimeters tall and had a golden proportion that most Westerners did not have. However, the man was different from his brother. His brother had blond hair, but the man in front of him had black hair. The man was also holding a sword with the image of the sun and had beautiful armor.

‘An…an Asian…?’

The man was wearing a white mask, but the mask could not hide the man’s shining, yet pitch-black eyes.

1. 팬심 fan’s heart - the heart and feelings of someone passionate about sports, athletes, players, musicians etc. ☜