Blue Moon Farming and Time Warp

I received my ordered iced coffee and headed to the marketplace board.

It was to pre-purchase enhancement stones that I would need if I acquired sub-gear.

The marketplace window appeared on screen, and I quietly clicked my tongue after checking the market price of enhancement stones.

The price had gone up significantly. At this rate, I had no choice but to grind.

Items, after all, come from dungeons, and enhancement stones naturally accumulate as you run dungeons. The drop rate just sucked.

“Ah, where do enhancement stones drop a lot…?”

“Do you need enhancement stones?”

“Not now, but when I get my sub-gear. The market price has gone up a lot, too… and I’m definitely going to use a ton, so I want to gather them in advance.”

“Then, do you want to go to Blue Moon with me?”

Blue Moon was a dungeon with the lyrical name, “Whispers of the Blue Moon.” The setting was mainly a night with a high, luminous blue full moon, but unlike its fairy-tale name, it was a dungeon that failed to live up to its name, featuring mostly Dullahan and Death Knights. Anyway, did enhancement stones drop in Blue Moon? Blue Moon was a max-level dungeon, but since no useful gear dropped there, it was a dungeon usually just passed through for quests, so I hadn’t been there many times myself.

“Blue Moon drops the most enhancement stones. Trust me.”

“You don’t have to tell me to trust you. I do. I’ll send a party invite.”

“…Yes!”

Han Do-yoon’s somewhat flushed expression puzzled me. Of course, I trust him. If I don’t trust a veteran player more than myself, who would I trust? Besides, Han Do-yoon wasn’t the kind of person to lie to me and then stab me in the back.

“I’ll go in right away.”

“Yes, I’m ready.”

The background of a blue full moon filled the screen, and I clacked on the keyboard, watching the Dullahans burst out of the ground.

“Are you going to aggro?”

“Yes. Oh, hyung, you don’t have to move. It’s not a difficult dungeon anyway.”

‘That’s true.’ I could solo-clear Blue Moon myself. The most annoying thing about Blue Moon was that monsters applied debuffs, and specifically, movement speed reduction debuffs. I was already a slow Berserker, so getting hit with movement speed reduction would easily raise my blood pressure.

Reluctantly hacking away at monsters, I followed PatchNote, then, seeing the countless monsters gathered, I spammed my area-of-effect skills to deal damage. Meaninglessly so. A super armor effect appeared around PatchNote’s character, who held his staff high, and the skill that had once wiped out Transparency and Myth guild members was activated. Watching the spectacular effects explode, I took my hands off the keyboard and applauded. He really was doing everything himself. Impressive in many ways.

(5)

PatchNote led the entire run, so I had nothing to do. I merely followed him, watching him slaughter monsters with overwhelming damage. I continuously marveled internally at the damage effects that seemed to fill the screen. How much would a person have to invest in a game to achieve such damage? I felt like I couldn’t output that much damage even if I emptied all my pockets.

“How did you know that enhancement stones drop in Blue Moon?”

“I heard it from a player who used to mainly sell enhancement stones. I bought some from them, and they said all the miners gathered them in Blue Moon.”

That’s surprising. Item scrolls that increase enhancement chances, for example, are sold in the cash shop. Sometimes they’re given out during events too. However, enhancement stones, which are the main material for upgrading, were surprisingly not sold in the cash shop. You could only buy them with gold from other players or gather them by grinding dungeons.

When I played as SoonToDie, I didn’t need to gather enhancement stones. That account was unexpectedly lucky, hitting +10 in one go. I didn’t feel the need for anything higher, and I didn’t want to risk losing my gear if an enhancement failed.

On the other hand, DontOrderMe was trash, excessively so. Even with the same 확률 as before, it was hard to even get to +1 enhancement. Thanks to that, I dumped all the enhancement stones I had in my storage account, but at best, I only reached +7. Though I did get high-enhanced gear thanks to Han Do-yoon.

“As they say, a thirsty man digs a well…”

It must be because there were people who endlessly grinded for enhancement, either for their own use or to sell for money, that this information became known. It was something I hadn’t known back when I didn’t need enhancement stones. When PatchNote cleared mobs, I stepped forward to pick up items, and a whopping 30% of them were enhancement stones. In any other dungeon, the ratio of enhancement stones would have been less than 10%.

“This really is a gold mine.”

“Right?”

I made a deflated sound, looking at the proudly smiling Han Do-yoon, then erased the smile from my face and concentrated on picking up items. There was so much loot because of the large amount killed at once. It would be nice to have a pet that automatically picks up items at times like this. But since all pets had to be bought with cash, I didn’t bother. Wouldn’t it be a waste if I returned to my SoonToDie account later?

“What, SoonToDie doesn’t have a pet? Why are you picking all that up manually?”

“Because it’s a waste.”

“Why don’t you just abandon the SoonToDie account and raise this one? You couldn’t clear Iskaria with SoonToDie. And you’d have to watch the main quests again, which is annoying.”

“The story with Altania as the protagonist is always fun to watch, no matter how many times.”

“Friend, your favorite character is dead. She won’t appear again!”

‘This bastard…’ I almost let out the curses swirling in my mouth in a fit of pique. I used to curse freely in chat, but face-to-face, it wasn’t easy to curse even as a joke. I felt self-conscious, and if the other person didn’t perceive it as a joke, then it couldn’t be called a joke anymore, could it?

“……”

“Are you perhaps… sulking?”

“……”

“Heyyy, a person can… joke around! I’m sorry! It was my fault! I went too far! I’ll draw Altania for you later!”

I pouted my lips, expressing my displeasure, and Hyerin noona cautiously apologized, watching my reaction. She often drew game NPC characters and uploaded them to fan art boards or her SNS, and Altania was among them. In fact, my friendship with noona began when I accidentally discovered her drawings while searching for Altania online. I had gushed over her Altania drawings.

“With a bright smile.”

“Alright. Alright.”

“Wearing the battle uniform from Episode 7.”

“Customer, do you know how tricky that outfit is to draw?”

“Who are you? Do you know me? Oh, I accidentally joined the wrong guild. I should leave.”

“I’ll do it for you…”

At Hyerin noona’s declaration of defeat, I finally smiled and resumed concentrating on picking up items.

After one dungeon run, I had gathered a total of 21 enhancement stones.

That was as good as running other dungeons four or five times. Pretty profitable, indeed.

“I wish I had a friend to run enhancement stone farming with too! Preferably one who’s sturdy enough to tank well, so I don’t have to heal them separately, and they can survive on their own!”

“…Is that directed at me right now?”

“Who else would it be? Do you think a tank who can survive without heals is common?”

“Are you imitating me right now? Don’t copy me.”

“Doh-n’t kwo-pee meh.”

A hollow laugh involuntarily burst out at their comedic banter.

They played well together.

Leaving the two bickering, PatchNote and I continued to run Blue Moon.

Picking up items one by one was definitely annoying, but since PatchNote was doing all the damage anyway, it was perfect for a pastime.

I didn’t like just sitting there doing nothing.

After ten or so runs of mindlessly picking up items, the Arena cooldown eventually came around.

It wasn’t that there was an actual cooldown, but I just grew tired of dungeons and wanted to go do some PvP.

Indeed, when you get bored, it’s best to switch to something else and then come back.

After telling Han Do-yoon I was going to do some PvP and leaving the party, I immediately headed to the Arena.

I wondered if I’d get a good match. The exact moment I queued for a match, Lee Seyoung, who had been quietly playing, jumped up from her seat and shouted at us.

“Do you know this? The amazing fact that it’s already 4 PM, for no reason! We only played a few games, and wow, it’s already 4 PM!”

“Already?”

“Wow, time flies so fast. I didn’t play many rounds.”

I was dumbfounded by her gamer senses, which defied imagination.

Normally, unlike them, I would have retorted, asking if they hadn’t played enough already, but this time, I also felt like I hadn’t played many rounds.

Feeling foolish, I checked the amount of enhancement stones I had gathered, and quietly closed my inventory at the hundreds of stones.

‘When did I even do all this?’

“Now it’s time to go for a drink! Come on, everyone, stand up! It’s almost time for the PC bang session to end anyway!”

“It’s a shame, can’t we stay just a little longer? Just a little!”

“Haha, probably not? I know why Craftsman-nim is like that.”

At Lee Seyoung’s spirited words, Jung Taewon, who was sitting next to her, waved his hand and said. Wasn’t she just like that because it was afternoon, and she thought the shops would be open? Puzzled, I looked at Jung Taewon, and at his next answer, I quietly started tidying up my computer.

“During the PvP match, the computer shut down because the PC bang time ran out. She was quiet about it, but she was really pissed. Her fists were trembling too.”

“…Why would you say that?! My image!”

“Did you even have one?”

“Oh, well, I guess so!”

Those two also seem to enjoy banter. In the end, everyone, including me, followed Lee Seyoung, shut down their computers, and stood up. Seeing the neatly cleared and stacked dishes in a corner, I wondered if anyone would even have room for alcohol.

“There’s a separate stomach for meals, a separate stomach for dessert, and a separate stomach for alcohol.”

“How can you have three stomachs? Are you some kind of new human, noona?”

“Oh, new human! That sounds kind of cool!”

She even clapped happily at something I’d said in exasperation. Before coming to the PC bang, the question of whether there were any normal people, which I hadn’t asked, came to mind.

No. None exist.

These peculiar and unique party members were so full of personality that I almost felt sorry for anyone who was normal.