Chapter 3: <(1). Grand Update -2>

Piiiing-! With a sharp sound, a blue light pierced through the air. Thuk-. Kaaaaa-! An Ogre could not help but scream and fall as an arrow full of cold air hit him directly in the Forehead. Kung-! – You have killed an Ogre. You gained 5,910 Experience Points. Jinsung, no, Ian caught his breath as he slowly approached the dead body. “Good, now I am getting fast enough.” He put his hand on the body, which then turned into a grey light and vanished. – You have obtained 745 Gold from the Ogre. – You have obtained [Ogre’s Tough Leather]. After checking the system message, he opened his inventory. “As soon as I make 100,000 Gold, I’ll get some rest.” The Clik Mountain, the place where Ian was hunting, was full of Ogres. Hence, the users nicknamed the place Ogre’s Farm. The average level of Ogres was about 80. Looking at Ian’s level, who was at Lv. 93, others might think that he would find it easy; unfortunately, that would have been the case only if he were hunting in a party. If you were to play solo in the Clik Mountain, even a high-level player would have trouble. This was because, compared to the other monsters of the same level, Ogres had much greater stamina and destructive power. If you wanted to raise your level, it would be far more efficient to gather a party and go to a high-level hunting ground. However, there was a particular reason why Ian decided to play solo in the Clik Mountain. It was the best place for him to make Gold. The Ogres dropped rare crafting materials that were highly sought after in the market, allowing him to maximize his profits. With each defeated Ogre, he could feel the weight of his decision—riskier, yes, but the potential rewards made it worthwhile. He tightened his grip on his weapon, ready to face the challenge head-on, knowing that every encounter could lead to a significant payday. Kailan had his system to make money. People could buy the Gold in the game using real money. Money and, at the same time, the Gold could be used to buy real money. This system was very. Similar to the one used in real banks, hence, it could be considered that the money that you make is in. Kailard is just as valuable as real money. Now, according to Kailan’s money exchange system, the exchange rate of Gold and real money was about 1:2. Considering that an Ogre gave him about 800 Gold, he could make a total of 1,600 Won. With each Ogre. In an hour, Ian could hunt at least 100 Ogres. So, he was practically doing a part-time job that paid Him about 200,000 Won per hour. Even after buying the capsule, he had to work hard to earn money, as he had to pay back the student. the The loan he took. So, this became a habit of his where he would spend at least an hour earning Gold. Every time he logged in. “Let’s move again…” After finding that there was no Ogre left in the area, he started to move somewhere else. Ian was excited as he could feel the speed of his hunting getting faster thanks to the Dark Composite. Bow, which he had gotten during the Drake Raid last week. [Ian] Lv. 93: 79,954,300 / 98,500,000 (81.2%) Race: Human Class: Archer (Skilled Great Archer) Title: Drake Hunter Reputation: 158,920 (If reputation drops below 0, it becomes Evil Fame.) Strength: 150(+75) Speed: 275(+305) Intelligence: 75(+25) Stamina: 105(+137) Health: 12,420(+5,600) Magic: 3,725(+2,215) Ian checked his statistics window and shook his head. “Huh, I have killed countless Ogres since last week, but it only went up by 6%.” He was talking about EP (Experience Points). After Lv. 90, going up by each level required a huge Amount of effort. “Well, I am not hunting them to increase my level, but this is too stingy., Ian complained. Then he started to look for monsters around him using Hawk-Eye, a special skill of the archer. A moment later, Ian’s eyes brightened. “What!? Since when have we had a Hero Rank monster on Clik Mountain apart from the Ogre King?” By using Hawk Eye, he could only check the location and the rank of the monsters within a certain Range. If he wanted to know which monster it was, he had to go and check personally. ‘A Hero Rank monster can be slightly dangerous for me…’ The Ogre King, which was known as the only Hero Class monster of Clik Mountain, was at Lv. 95. Of course, Ian had hunted it in the past. However, he was never alone. ‘What should I do?’ Ian was carefully thinking about it. After all, it was a rare occasion to find a Hero Rank monster, except for field bosses, who would appear on their designated spots. It was almost guaranteed that a Hero Rank monster that appeared randomly in the field had a higher chance of dropping something. Good. “Let’s go!” If he were to be killed, the EP he needed to level up would be reset, and a week’s effort would be wasted. However, it wasn’t his style to give up a good chance. Ian made sure that all his skills were ready to be used and the cooldown time was over. He then slowly moved towards the Hero Rank monster. A moment later, Ian found the monster. It was a Twin-Headed Ogre, which was three times bigger than an ordinary Ogre. “What! I’ve never seen anything like this!” Looking at the rare monster that he had never seen or heard of, Ian’s fighting spirit was ignited. Then, he calmly took out a few traps and carefully put them in a few ideal spots. After all, they were Expensive expendable items which he had bought to hunt Hero Rank monsters. ‘I never thought I would be using them so quickly.’ He knew that the item had been bought to be used, yet he couldn’t help but feel a little sad. They're top-ranked traps; they cost 50,000 Gold each. “Well. It would all be worth it if I could get my hands on even a single piece of the Ogre Warrior Set…” The cheapest piece of the Ogre Warrior Set, the shoes, were sold at 1,300,000 Gold. Hence, if he could get even a piece of the set, that would be helpful. Once Ian finished planning, he took out his bow and aimed at the Ogre’s head. – [Aiming Weak Spot] skill activated. Target’s weak spots are shown. The accuracy rate is raised by 40%, The fatal blow rate is raised by 37%. 255% of additional damage when attacking weak spots. – [Lethal Poison] skill activated. Movement of the target is slowed by 10% when hitting the mark, and HP is consistently decreased. -Piiiing! The arrow left Ian’s hand. It hit the Ogre’s forehead. The Twin-Headed Ogre wailed in rage, and when He spotted Ian, he started to run toward him. Kuaaa-! Ian’s eyes slightly widened at seeing the monster moving so fast despite its enormous size. “It certainly is different from ordinary Ogres. It’s very fast!” Even the Ogre King was very slow. It was probably part of the nature of Ogres. However, its stamina and attack force were greater than other Ogres since it was a Hero Rank monster. Ian had assumed that the Twin-Headed Ogre would be slow as well, hence, he was slightly confused. Ian used the Continuous Shooting skill to quickly shoot arrows and drag the Ogre toward his trap. Kung-. Kung-. Kung-. As the poison kept adding some damage to the Ogre, its face started to get slightly distorted. Tatat-! Finally, Ian lured the Ogre near the trap. So, he nimbly climbed a tree and drew his bow again. – [Exploding Arrow] skill activated. The arrow explodes 1 second after hitting the target. Additional Damage of 300% of the attack force. The arrow hit the Ogre’s weak spot, which was highlighted in red by the Aiming Weak Spot skill. Even though the accuracy rate was mainly defined by the class characteristic of the archer and his skills. However, Ian’s archery skills were already great on their own. Kuaang-! The arrow embedded in the Ogre’s chest exploded. The monster flinched for a moment. The arrow’s damage had been increased by a total of 20 times: it was a deadly blow, Aiming Weak. Spot skill had been used, and the damage had been amplified because of the explosion. Even a Hero Rank monster would have gotten severe damage. However, that lasted only for a while. The Ogre quickly ran and approached IanIt'sts frighteningly large. The club came down on Ian. Kwang-! With a large sound, the tree Ian had been sitting on collapsed. Luckily, Ian had already left the tree. Looking at the force of the Ogre’s wooden club, cold sweat broke out on his back. “Maybe just one blow is enough to kill me…” Ian swallowed hard. He needed to be a little more careful. While Ian was rolling on the ground to avoid the Ogre’s attack, it finally stepped on Ian’s first trap. Snap-! With a thick sound of metal crushing, the Ogre started to wail. – High Rank slowdown trap activated. The speed of the target has been decreased by 30% for 10 Minutes. Combined with the effect of the Lethal Poison arrow, a 40% slowdown was applied. The Ogre was Slowernow. Ian then drew his bow again. – [Swiftness] skill activated. All movements get 50% quicker for 15 minutes. Piiiing-. Ping-. Ping-. With fast movement refined by the Swiftness skill, Ian fired three arrows consecutively. He then started to run. The Ogre had reached him again. “Hu…” Ian breathed heavily and continued to torment the Ogre from a distance. It looked like Ian was easily playing with the Ogre, however, that was not the case. Ian’s fight with the Twin-Headed Ogre was almost as dangerous as walking on a rope. A single mistake would mean death… The truth was that the Archer, along with the Sorcerer, was known as a class hard to play solo. This is because an archer would be powerless in close-range battles. Chasing it and being chased by it, this was how Ian was fighting the Ogre for a while, until a system. A message appeared in front of his eyes. – 1 minute left of [Swiftness] skill duration time. “Kmm…”, Ian moaned. It would be hard to fight after the skill’s duration time ended. He had to finish the fight in 1 minute. “There’s only one trap left. The knock-off trap…” Ian started to plan. He quickly decided and jumped to make the final move. “Over here, you nasty monster!” Ian provoked the Ogre and repeatedly shot arrows. The Ogre was now free from the slowdown Effect, so it fiercely charged towards him. Then… Snap-! The last trap was activated. – High Rank knock-off trap activated. The target falls unconscious for 5 seconds and becomes Defenseless. The moment the trap was activated, Ian knelt on one knee and got ready. The Ogre was unconscious and standing in an awkward position. In the meantime, Ian was aiming at The Ogre’s weak spot glowed red. – [Fatal Blow Reinforcement] skill activated. Damage is increased by 300% when hitting as a fatal blow. – [Shooting] skill activated. You cannot move for 10 seconds. The attack force is increased by 400%. – [Concentration] skill activated. The attack force is increased in proportion to the time you concentrate on your target with your bow drawn (maximum increase rate: 500%) Ian used all the reinforcement and buff skills he had. “Everything is depending on this one blow!” He was certain that the arrow would bring the Ogre down if it penetrated its weak spot. Or at least it would be in a critical condition. Ian had used the Shooting skill. There was no turning back now. If he failed to hit the target and the Ogre regained its consciousness with HP left, Ian would be killed. Because he would not be able to run for 5 seconds. Ian counted the seconds to bring the efficiency of the Concentration skill to its maximum. He then let go. Wooosh-! The sound pierced through the air, and the Ogre’s knock-off effect ended. Time seemed to slow as the arrow flew toward its target, glinting in the dim light of the mountain. Ian held his breath, heart racing, knowing that this moment would determine his fate. The arrow struck true, embedding itself deep in the Ogre’s neck. The massive creature staggered, letting out a furious roar as it collapsed to the ground, lifeless. A wave of relief washed over Ian, but he knew better than to celebrate just yet. He quickly scanned the surroundings, aware that other Ogres might have heard the commotion. With his heart still pounding, he rushed forward to collect the spoils, determined to make the most of his risky gamble. Every second counted, and in the Clik Mountain, hesitation could mean death. However, before it could move, Ian’s arrow was already right in front of its heart. Thunk-! The arrow with Ian’s desperate power embedded itself in the Ogre’s weak spot, and two more of his Attacks followed, which hit the same spot. -Kung-! The huge body fell and shook the ground. A refreshing system message came up. -You killed the Twin-Headed Ogre. You gained 98,500 EP. “Huu, hu…” After fighting for 30 minutes, Ian had finally killed the Ogre. He was breathing heavily as he was tired after running around for half an hour. “Now, let’s check what items it dropped…” He was even more nervous than the moment when he fired the fatal arrow. Ian then put his hand on the Ogre’s dead body.