The Master of Strength

“Where could he be?”

After arriving at Himise through the portal, he tried to find Walcha, but was unable to locate him.

He decided on looking for him in front of the Chief’s house, where they had first met.

“Not here….”

Despite arriving there, he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

He kept the house entrance in sight as he pulled up his characters page.

Name: Myeonghu
Nationality: Helioka [Empire]
Age: 22 
Class: Berserker
Level: 139
HP: 301450
MP: 420
Strength:15030(+40) Agility: 15 Stamina:17 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 11
Bonus Stats: 0

“I’ll try to find something which suits me.”

With his current stats distribution there naturally weren’t too many items which suited him. But, since he was planning on fixing his lack of Mana in the near future, more options might soon be made available. He couldn’t be sure, so it was worth checking out.

“…”

As he walked into the store Tilto held his usual serious gaze. Myeonghu gave him a curt nod before proceeding to walk around and examine the equipment.

<Thin Steel Armor [Magic]>

Restrictions: Strength 400, Stamina 400

Physical Defense: 450

Health +1000

Armor made of steel, although it’s thin, steel is afterall still steel. 

<Mithril Steel Armor [Magic]>

Restrictions: Strength 600, Dexterity 300

Physical Defense: 400

Magic Defense: 300

Dexterity +50

A light armor built off based on a fusion of mithril and steel, providing excellent Magic Defense.

Hmph!

He had started looking at different armors, but was unable to satisfy all the restrictions for any of them.

“I guess it’s impossible… huh?”

He caught sight of a strange looking armor and walked up to it.

“Are people supposed to wear this?”

Although it had the appearance of an armor, its size and thickness were out of this world. It looked like it was made out of steel, but not for a human’s size.

“It must be really heavy… is it just for decoration?”

He decided to look at the stats.

<Indestructible Leather Armor [Rare]>

Restrictions: None

Physical Defense: 2000

Reduced physical damage by 20%

Strength is reduced by reduced by 50%, if the user’s Strength falls below 3000, Movement Speed drops by 50% and Attack Speed by 40%

Leather made from the skin of the Iron cow, treated to form a material more solid that even steel. It is large and thick, but too heavy, resulting in a failed work which is unusable by humans.

“…”

Myeonghu was left speechless upon reading its characteristics. It was a leather armor which was even superior to steel. He had finally found an armor he could wear, not to mention that it was of great quality and sported awesome properties.

He grabbed hold of it and brought it to the counter.

“…!”

Tilto couldn’t help but be surprised upon seeing me carry it over. He had placed it there as an ornament, not expecting for it to ever be sold as it was simply too heavy.

“Are you fine, isn’t it heavy?”

“It’s okay.”

“Alright then.”

Tilto nodded in response before continuing.

“200 gold.”

Myeonghu handed over the gold and equipped the armor.

“Oh, it’s shrinking.”

It had been overly huge when he carried it over, but after putting it on it actually shrunk to form a snug fit. Naturally it was only the size that was reduced and not its thickness, if anything it had become even more dense.

“A Monstrous Fox would bare tickle….”

His Defense had gone up by a whopping 2000 points. That wasn’t even including the 20% Physical Damage reduction. With his current health pool of over 300,000, it certainly wasn’t wrong of him to claim its attack would only tickle.

“Monstrous Fox, did you say a Monstrous Fox?”

Tilto stared at him expectantly.

“Yeah…”

Myeonghu replied, staring back at him and hoping to catch a reaction.

“Have you fought one before?”

“Yes, I’ve hunted quite a few of them.”

“…”

Tilto didn’t reply right away as if contemplating something.

“Could you do me a favor?”

Hearing his question I could already smell a quest coming up.

“Sure, what is it you need?”

“I’m currently crafting an Item and require the Claws of the Monstrous Fox which are known to be as hard as steel. Can you bring me 30 Steel Claws?”

✿<Tilto’s Craftsmanship 1>

Tilto is crafting an Item and requires the Claws of the Monstrous Fox which are known to be as hard as steel. Go hunt the Monstrous Foxes and return with Steel Claws for Tilto!

[Monstrous Fox’s Steel Claws: 0/30]

Difficulty: D

Quest Reward: ???, Tilto’s Craftsmanship 2

‘What?’

Seeing the Quest I couldn’t help but notice something.

‘It’s different from the last one.’

Even the Quest window appeared slightly different than previously.

‘Could it have something to do with the recent patch?’

He thought the last update that had just come in. He then nodded and confirmed his acceptance of Tilto’s request.

“I’ll help you out.”

[You have accepted the quest.]

After seeing the acceptance message, he went over the quest information once more.

✿<Tilto’s Craftsmanship 1>

Tilto is crafting an Item and requires the Claws of the Monstrous Fox which are known to be as hard as steel. Go hunt the Monstrous Foxes and return with Steel Claws for Tilto!

[Monstrous Fox’s Steel Claws: 0/30]

Difficulty: D

Quest Reward: ???, Tilto’s Craftsmanship 2

Although they don’t mention what the reward is, they are asking for 30 Steel Claws.

These claws would sell for about 140 gold, 30 of them translated in 4200 gold. That was a tremendous sum, so the reward would surely match it.

Although the immediate reward might not always be consistent, it would usually be in line with the degree of difficulty. Also, in this case it was possible for the reward not to be too attractive, because it was part of a chain quest.

“What should I do next?”

He closed the window and tried to figure out his next move. He had come back to Himise to meet up with Walcha and complete the quest which would increase his Mana, but now he suddenly had another worthwhile avenue to pursue.

“I just got a new armor and quest, should I go hunting? No, my items should have sold by now, so let’s go check on the prices.”

In the end he decided on neither. His items up for auction should have been sold, so he was eager to learn just what price they had gone for.

He took out a Teleportation scroll and activated it.

Suaaak!

He was soon engulfed in a bright light and disappeared.

* * * *

Blah bla!

“Buying items in bulk!”

“Buying gold for 10,000 each, up to 500 gold!”

The Auction house was crowded with players as usual. Myeong pushed his way through the throng and arrived at the NPC.

He immediately pulled up the Transaction status window to have a look.

1. Item for Sale: Shoes of Arrogance

 Final bid: 10,600,000 [Sold]

2. Item for Sale: Shoes of Arrogance

Final bid: 10,000,000 [Sold]

3. Item for Sale: Helm of Arrogance

Final bid: 10,500,000 [Sold]

4. Item for Sale: Deathblow Dagger

Final bid: 9,900,000 [Sold]

5. Item for Sale: Malea’s Staff

 Final bid: 12,500,000 [Sold]

6. Item for Sale: Poisonous Crossbow of the Dead

Final bid: 14,500,000 [Sold]

7. Item for Sale: Earthen Bracelet of Patience

Final bid: 11,000,000 [Sold]

8. Item for Sale: Earthen Bracelet of Patience

Final bid: 11,000,000 [Sold]

9. Gold Sale: 25000 [10,000 per gold]

  Remaining Gold: 0

  Sold: 250,000,000 won [Sold Out]

“…”

Myeonghu’s heart rate spike upon seeing the final bids.

“Ha… 90 million.”

The eight Rare items had sold for a total of 90 million.

“Even all my gold was sold resulting in a huge sum of money”

All 25,000 gold had disappeared and if he included the money he had made selling the gold earlier, it came out to a total of 340 millions won. Of course there was still a 5% fee, but that still left him with more than 300 million won in cold hard cash.

After going through all the trades, he closed the window to check on the money section of his inventory.

“… 331.65 million won.”

After confirming the large number he could hardly control his excitement, deciding to immediately transfer a large portion to his real life bank account. He entered the sum of 316,560,000 and hit transfer.

[Unable to complete the transfer due to low rating]

[Please increase your account’s rating or lower the amount]

[With your current rating of 9, the transfer limit is of 500,000 won]

“…?”

He stared blankly at the unexpected messages which popped up one after another following his failed transfer.