The Master of Strength

‘Just how much will I earn this time?’

Myeonghu thought to himself as he made his towards the store. Except for the 60 Bear gallbladders which he had handed in for the quest, his inventory was still full of items.

“The gallbladders cost 10 silvers, so the bear pelts should fetch a pretty penny.”

He did a quick mental calculation and smiled at the results, it was an amount which was incomparable to the last few times he had hunted rabbits or foxes.

“Oh, I’m already here.”

His having been occupied with all the money he would earn, he had only now realised that he had already arrived at his destination.

As he entered the store, Pelun gave him a warm greeting.

“I’m planning to sell all these.”

Myeonghu got down to business right away, as he unloaded all the bear pelts from his inventory.

“Oho, so this time it’s the bears.”

Pelun exclaimed as he grabbed ahold of a pelt.

“Then let’s take a look.”

He methodically began inspecting the skins, sorting them by quality.

Seeing the pelts pile up so high, Myeonghu began to smile, however as time went by and there was only single pile being formed, he couldn’t help but form a nagging suspicion.

‘What is going on?’

Pelun expression while sorting the goods also wasn’t as bright as it has been other times. Regardless of how many he went through, they would always end up in the same pile.

“Hmm…”

Shortly after Pelun had finalized his inspection and sighed, causing the unease in Myeonghu’s heart to grow.

“This time around there isn’t any of Superior quality.”

“Ah…”

Pelun had confirmed his suspicions, but it still didn’t make any sense.

‘How could I not even get a single one out of 150 of them?’

It was completely unlike the last few times with the rabbits and foxes, where the majority of the pelts had been of Superior quality. This time around there had not even been one out of 150.

“You must have struggled quite a lot to catch a bear.”

Pelun told him as he gave him a sympathetic expression. It seemed that Pelun was well aware as to the reason why no Superior quality pelts had showed up this time around.

“Well, it would be strange instead if you were able to hunt a bear without inflicting many wounds on it.”

It was only after Pelun’s last clue that it had finally all come together.

‘So there was such a thing, I can’t believe I had no idea!’

For the rabbits and foxes, he had managed to subdue them with very few strikes. This was completely different from the bears where he would always engage in long and drawn out fights. The more wounds inflicted on the monster, the lower quality pelt that would then drop.

“Then the price…?”

Myeonghu asked, trying to test the waters. Although they weren’t of superior quality, he was still hoping that the price wouldn’t be too low.

“I’m willing to buy them at 20 silvers apiece.”

“…Oh?”

Myeonghu couldn’t help but be stunned as he heard his quote.

“Is it not enough?”

“No, no, you did say 20 silvers each, right?”

“Yes, are you willing to sell all 150?”

Myeonghu quickly nodded back in response and Pelun let out a hearty laugh as he handed over 30 gold coins.

“Please come again!”

After receiving his sum, Myeonghu made his way out of the store, all the while staring at his 30 gold coins. It was far more than he had ever earned hunting rabbits and foxes.

‘I’ll keep hunting those bears.’

Myeonghu seemed to have made a life changing decision as he headed towards the butcher’s shop to unload the rest of his items.

“Hey, it’s you!”

“Yes, I have some items to sell off.”

Myeonghu walked up to the counter and took out all the bear meat and gallbladder which he had left in his inventory.

“You’re looking to sell all this?”

“Yes.”

Following Teren’s question, he could only nod fervently.

“Well I can pay you 6 silvers per gallbladder.”

Considering that it was sold in store for 10 silvers each, it sounded like a fair price.

“As for the meat, just give me a moment.”

Teren then proceeded to inspect and weigh the total amount of meat.

“Okay, how about 9 gold for all of it?”

“…”

He did some quick calculation for derive the price of the meat. The 80 gallbladders at 6 silvers each would net him 4 gold and 80 silvers. Which meant that the total amount of meat would come out to 4 gold and 20 silvers.

‘I didn’t expect to receive so much just for the meat.’

It was definitely more than he had imagined, but he couldn’t remain speechless for too long as Teren was still awaiting his response.

“So I’ll give you a total of 14 gold if you include the gallbladder.”

Myeonghu was even further flabbergasted, and couldn’t help but ask Teren for some clarification.

“Didn’t you just say that you would give me 9 gold for all of it? Why is it now 14 gold…?”

Teren gave Meyong Hu a strange look.

“The meat was 9 gold and the gallbladder was 4 gold and 80 silvers, coming out to 13 gold and 80 silvers. The remaining 20 silvers is simply a tip to a recurring customer.

“Ah…”

As he finally understood where the 14 gold came from, his mind was filled with a single thought.

‘Bear meat is so expensive!’

The cheapest part of the bear was its gallbladder, but of course it still fetched a decent price.

“Are you willing to sell?”

“Absolutely!”

To Teren’s question Myeonghu replied without any hesitation.

“Here you are.”

“Then have a nice day.”

Myeonghu walked out of the butcher’s shop 14 gold richer. He couldn’t help but get a giddy feeling as he thought if the more than 40 gold in his possession.

“With this much money…”

He could finally buy some good equipment which was leagues ahead of anything he was using right now. A smile forming on his face as he imagined himself in dashing armor.

“Good morning.”

“…”

As always Tilto’s silent nod was all he received in response. Myeonghu quickly moved on to examine the shop’s weapons.

<Fire Sword [Magic]>

Restrictions: 100 Strength, 50 Stamina

Physical Attack: 80-90

Fire attribute

-5 Health per second

A sword which has formed a Fire spirit, be careful not to get burnt.

<Passionate Craftsman’s Steel Club [Rare]>

Restrictions: 300 Strength, 100 Stamina

Physical Attack: 250-260

+30 Strength +30 Stamina

A thick steel club, infused with a craftsman’s passion.

<Ranew’s Dagger [Rare]>

Restrictions: 200 Strength, 100 Dexterity, 100 Stamina

Physical Attack: 190-200

+20% Crit Chance, +20% Attack Speed, +20 Dexterity

A light and sharp dagger used by Ranew, a prodigy who became a swordmaster in his 20’s.  

<Greatsword of Arrogance [Rare]>

Restrictions: 400 Strength, 200 Stamina

Physical Attack: 500-550

-10% Attack Speed, +20% Crit Chance

They are all so weak – arrogant man

“Well…”

Despite seeing as couple attractive looking weapons at decent prices, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh. Besides his strength, all his other attributes weren’t high enough to satisfy the restrictions. It was indeed most weapons that would have at least a two stat requirements.

“What should I do now…”

It was a matter of course to invest all of his bonus stats into Strength, in order to take full advantage of that cheat like passive skill; but that didn’t mean that he was willing to completely ignore items as well.

“I’ll just have to keep looking.”

Myeonghu hardened his resolve and returned to sifting through the items on display, confident that he would find at least one weapon which was compatible.

“Are these knuckle braces really all I can use?”

After having searched for quite some time, they were the only items which matched his Stat distribution. Of course there were other weapons such as daggers or even swords, but their quality was inferior to even his current Solid Iron Sword.

“Let’s take a closer look at these knuckle braces”

He was pleasantly surprised by the options they provided, glad to have finally found a weapon he liked.

<Icy Knuckle Braces [Rare]>

Restrictions: 600 Strength

Physical Attack: 550-560

Physical Defense: 200

Ice attribute, 20% chance to stun nearby enemies for 1 second. (The higher the level difference with the enemy, the lower the probability of success.)

Are you ready to scream? – Raberu (Martial arts expert)

“Let’s go with these.”

As Myeonghu brought them to the counter, Tilto was surprised by his choice.

“How much are they?”

“43 gold.”

“…”

He was rendered speechless, unable to answer right away.

“How much did you say?”

“43 gold.”

Myeonghu asked again, hoping to have misheard.

‘They’re good but…’

They were a decent weapon with good options, not to mention that they were the only weapon he could wield with his current stats dilemma.

‘Still, if its 43 gold, that would leave me with a bit less than 2 gold.’

The problem was the price. By buying these Icy Knuckle  Braces, he wouldn’t be left with enough gold to buy the dashing armor he had dreamt of.

‘At the end of the day weapons are most important…’

He had learned this lesson when he had fought with the Solid Iron Sword for the first time, so he gave up on his dreams and handed over the 43 gold.

“Are you even able to wield them?”

Tilto asked curiously as he received the money.

“Yes.”

Myeonghu nodded back confidently.

“…”

Tilto didn’t respond immediately as he seemed deep in thought, before then returning with a question.

“Can you do me a favor?”

“…?”

“I require the claws of a Great Fox King, could you please procure them for me?”

<Tilto’s Craftsmanship 1>

✿Tilto, the number one blacksmith in the village requires the claws of the Great Fox King. Go obtain those claws and return them to Tilto.

Difficulty: E

Quest Reward: ?

Quest Restriction: –

Rejection will result in a slight loss in Intimacy with Tilto.