Chapter 8: Preparation for the First Raid(1)

As I returned to the Lunarite capital, forgotten memories surfaced.

Around this time, a few items had been discontinued.

Due to the overwhelming number of useless items, the developers had removed some less-used items in an update.

One of these items was the Red Orc Warrior’s Ring, which increased strength by 5 but also increased received damage by 5%.

It had a peculiar option attached: The wearer is always in a low health state.

In reality, the character’s health wouldn’t actually decrease, but the character’s status would be forcibly fixed at a low-health state.

At the time, this option had no practical use.

The drop rate wasn’t high, the strength boost was insignificant, and the special option had no effect at the time, so no one paid much attention to it.

That’s how it was back then.

However, when the level cap was lifted and higher-tier jobs were introduced, the value of this item skyrocketed.

This was due to skills possessed by the Barbarian and Berserker classes, both of which had passives that grew stronger as their health decreased.

These passives, which increased damage and speed as health declined, synergized perfectly with the Red Orc Warrior’s Ring.

Both classes could fully utilize their powerful passives without any penalties by equipping this item.

Word spread quickly, and the already-discontinued item became highly sought after, with all available stock in the market being bought out.

With this in mind, I accessed the auction house.

I quickly searched for the Red Orc Warrior’s Ring and checked the listings.

The current price was 2 gold per ring, quite expensive.

But I bought it anyway.

Knowing the future, I understood that the item’s value would skyrocket.

Although not exactly the same, it would be a highly useful item in many situations.

Of course, the item wasn’t without its drawbacks.

When fighting certain boss monsters, it could actually become a liability.

If the character’s health was low and entered the low-health state, some bosses would trigger their special execution skill.

If executed, the boss would gain a 10-second invincibility buff, and the executed character couldn’t be revived by any means.

My thoughts were racing.

By securing this discontinued item ahead of time, I’d be able to make a fortune in gold in the future.

This meant I could freely change my class route later on.

I had enough resources and had acquired an item that couldn’t be bought, even with money.

If I chose Barbarian or Berserker in the next episode, I’d be able to show off overwhelming DPS.

But that was a future event.

Shaking my head, I focused on the current situation.

I had leveled up, so it was time to upgrade my gear.

I didn’t need new armor.

For now, I’d just wear some store-bought gear and focus on getting a better weapon.

The best option for my current level was the Highlander of Moonlit Pass.

This rare item series dropped from a popular hunting ground, Moonlit Pass, and was good enough to use until near max level.

The auction house price was 70 gold.

After selling the loot from hunting bandits, I could afford it.

As soon as I purchased the item, my mailbox lit up.

Highlander of Moonlit Pass
Attack Power +150
Level Requirement: 15
When attacking demonic monsters, Attack Power +20
A weapon that has been bathed in the sacred moonlight of Moonlit Pass.

Only the elites of the Lunarite Empire can obtain this weapon, making it highly valuable.

Those who remember the past say the Moonlit Pass series was a design flaw.

I couldn’t agree more.

The items from the Moonlit Pass series performed better than equipment designed for level 20 players.

Because of that, it was being traded at a high price.

But wasn’t this far too expensive?

I unsheathed my newly equipped sword and gave it a slight swing.

A soft moonlight gently scattered in all directions.

As a rare item, its effects were flashy. Naturally, it drew attention.

It was a weapon worth more than 100,000 won (about $100) in real cash for a single blade. It was no surprise that it caught people’s eyes.

Since only the first chapter of the episode had been released, players hadn’t ventured beyond this place, the Lunarite capital.

As a result, the area was packed with people. Even in this new body, I still disliked crowded places.

I hurriedly left the area.

While walking along a wide street, I came to a stop. A flowerbed, unfamiliar yet familiar, caught my eye.

This was the place where a hidden quest started. It was triggered by picking up a small note hidden in the flowerbed, but only one person could receive the quest every hour.

At that time, many people would line up and wait for their turn.

‘Has the information not been released yet?’

It was entirely possible.

With the gaming industry’s rapid development, security systems had also evolved.

Ordinary players probably couldn’t extract the game’s data.

I approached the flowerbed and searched around, soon finding the small note.

Had no one else discovered this quest yet?

I glanced around, but no one seemed to be paying attention to the note in my hand.

The quest had already begun. I skimmed through the note, recalling faint memories.

“I’ll be waiting at the southern gate of Lunarite Capital.”

The handwriting was elegant and delicate.

Following the note’s directions, I headed to the southern gate of the capital, where I found a female NPC wandering nearby.

Her name was Lynn, a sorrowful woman waiting for her lover.

I approached her and handed her the note. Lynn responded immediately.

“T-That’s…?”

“I found this at the flowerbed. It’s yours, right?”

“Yes… yes, it’s the note I gave to Vincent. Thank you.”

That was the end of the first quest. But if I spoke to her again, Lynn would ask the player for help—just like now.

“Do you need help?”

“Oh, adventurer… yes, I need help. No matter how long I wait, Vincent never shows up.”

If this were the time when I still used a keyboard and mouse, two choices would have appeared on the screen.

[Find Vincent] [Refuse]

To proceed with the quest chain, I obviously had to find Vincent.

“I’ll help you find him.”

In this world, where computer science had developed to an abnormal degree, NPCs were programmed to respond naturally to the player’s voice.

“Really? Thank you so much!”

Upon accepting the quest, brief information appeared before me.

But, as expected of a hidden quest, the information was too vague. Ideally, I should go to Vincent’s house to gather more information.

But was there really a need for that?

Knowing the entire quest line and its rewards, I already knew exactly where Vincent was. There was no need to waste time and effort following the scripted path.

I quickly exited the capital and headed straight for the Red Orc Colony, a hunting ground for players between levels 15 and 20.

Since it was a popular hunting ground, there were many players around, but it felt a bit less crowded than the lower-level areas.

Perhaps the increased difficulty of the game was the reason.

“We need a DPS for one session!”

“Looking for a healer to play until morning!”

“Magician! We need a magician! There’s a spot in our hunting ground!”

Voices seeking party members echoed from all around.

But my goal wasn’t hunting. I was here to complete the quest for the massive amount of experience it promised.

As soon as I set foot in the Red Orc Colony, the quest title in the quest progress window started to change rapidly.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound effects of multiple quests being completed at once rang out as an enormous amount of experience points poured in.

Even though the world had changed, Deron was still Deron. The system that allowed you to skip quest lines and still receive all the previous rewards was still intact.

There’s a famous story about this system.

In the early days of Deron Online, there was a quest that couldn’t be completed due to a bug. The developers, too lazy to fix it, decided to hide the quest step and place another quest line in front of it, adding a new system.

They created a system where, even if you skipped a quest and moved on to the next step, you’d still receive all the rewards from the skipped quests in one go.

My character’s level shot up in an instant, from level 15 to level 17.

The sudden leveling-up effect drew the attention of those around me.

It was natural for them to be surprised. I had leveled up out of nowhere without doing anything.

Ignoring the stares, I walked past the people. My goal was not hunting but the quest. To move on to the next step, I needed to head to the barracks at the center of the colony and open the door to the storage room below.

I crossed the colony and made my way into the barracks.

Since many parties were hunting, there were no respawned monsters around.

I would be able to complete the quest without any interference.

The large storage room inside the barracks was already open.

Usually, the storage room would only open after defeating an elite monster that respawned here, but it had already been killed, leaving the storage room accessible.

Inside the storage room, I found an NPC bound by ropes.

Because it was a quest-specific NPC, it had a buff that prevented other players from interacting with it.

However, since I was in the middle of the quest, it was a different story.

I unsheathed my sword and cut the ropes, and Vincent immediately stood up.

“Thank you! I thought I was going to die.”

“Lynn sent me. Come with me.”

“R-Really? Is Lynn still waiting at that spot?”

The NPC’s storyline wasn’t particularly important to me. My goal was the experience points.

Without further conversation, I began to move, and Vincent followed behind me.

In about 20 seconds, an event would trigger to block Vincent’s escape.

The map’s respawn cycle would reset, summoning a massive wave of monsters along with additional elite monsters.

Of course, there was a trick to this part as well.

Normally, it would be impossible to escape the colony in 20 seconds, but by using a large thicket behind the colony, it was possible to escape in just 10 seconds.

It was a kind of shortcut.

I led Vincent deeper into the colony.

We soon arrived at a dead-end area where a large thicket was growing.

I pushed my body into the thicket, and as expected, I passed through without any issues.

Together with Vincent, I escaped the colony. Behind us, the battle cries of the Red Orcs erupted, and loud bells rang out from all directions.

The event to block our escape had begun.

Of course, the ones fending off the monster wave were not me but the other players hunting in the area.

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