Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

“Yes, Tale-hyungnim, take care.”

Highlander Tale said goodbye to Guild Master Hyein and stepped out. Tale was older than Guild Master Hyein, however, even when he was told to be comfortable, Tale remained formal, saying that guild members should not be casual with the Guild Master.

“Huu…”

After Tale left only Sasuke remained, seated next to Hyein.

They were in an abandoned building unused by NPCs that was set for remodelling. It was on a separate location from their guild house.

They were in Fibiel Kingdom’s ghost town.

Naturally, every guild had this kind of a secret base. When a guild war broke out, these kinds of places could be used as a safe house, therefore it was natural that they were kept secret. ‘Byeolcho’ had six of such places.

“He’s an inflexible uncle.”

“That’s true.”

“Is there anyone nearby?”

“There’s no one.”

At Sasuke’s words, Hyein nodded his head. In these kinds of things, he could trust Sasuke 100%.

Dark Ninja Sasuke.

He was level 212 and there weren’t many people who wouldn’t be caught by his detection skills, even among all users in Middle Earth.

“Were you able to check?”

Hyein pulled a chair and sat down.

In an instant, Hyein’s gentle face disappeared.

It was replaced by a frown and sharp eyes.

“Yes. As you said, even though all the items had changed, his body shape and weapon was the same as the one in the picture.”

“Is it him?”

“There’s a high chance. He is level 25, but aside from that, I wasn’t able to check anything else.”

“You were not able to see his stats?”

“I wasn’t able to see his stats. It means that he is not a beginner.”

One of the Dark Ninja’s main skills was to gather information from a target. Ninjas have major skills related with stealth and assassination as well as minor skills related to dectection and investigation.

If Sasuke, a level 212 user, wanted to figure out information about Leeha, who was only level 25, he should have been able to gather any information he wanted, even the color of Leeha’s underwear.

But he wasn’t able to.

“As expected, it was what I thought. What about his achievements?”

“I wasn’t able to see any achievements.”

“Crazy fucker. It’s completely concealed. They must have wanted for him to grow. Did they approach that bastard because they knew that he was Kay’s relative? Did those bitches raise him to get in contact with Kay or put him in our guild in order to get information before stabbing us in the back?”

“I don’t know that.”

“I know. It was a rhetorical question.”

As Sasuke lowered his head, Hyein bit his lips.

“Oh, I saw his title. He is using the title ‘Fearless’.”

“Fearless? What kind of title is that?”

“When I asked around, it was a title that increased attack power. You have to hunt a monster 20 levels higher than you to get it…”

“It appears that those Ramcunts really care about him. Considering the fact that they let him have the last hit.”

Hyein snorted.

The moment he heard Kijeong mention his cousin, he was suspicious of something.

A beginner active in Candle Castle… with Musketeer as a job…

Additionally, the Cryomancer Ram Hwajeong recently appeared at Candle Castle…

And they scouted a Korean.

Hyein thoroughly studied the blurry photo and investigated rumors related to that event. The people in the photo were clearly Ram Hwayeon and Ram Hwajeong, and the user across them was clearly a musketeer.

It was from that time that Hyein was able to see the connection. Hyein knew that there couldn’t be many musketeers in the village for beginners.

‘At the starting point of western users, there were times when several users appeared at the same time, but that was during the early days of the game. Now that the pros and cons of each job have been more or less revealed, there aren’t that many anymore. Moreover, when musketeers appear at Candle Castle, the main starting point of Asians, they appear at the same time… Of the Korean beginners currently active, one of them is that musketeer bastard.’

He went to look because he had his suspicions.

He was a guild master and the 8th place in the Korean rankings, he was busy as it is, but there was a reason why he came to give advice.

It was only a doubt at first.

However, after listening to Sasuke’s words, his suspicions were confirmed.

“It must be those bitches. Ram Hwajeong and Ram Hwayeon must have approached him and are supporting him.”

“I don’t think we can be certain yet.”

“Hey, think about it logically. He was only level 12 a few days ago, and he wasn’t even hunting, he was on his way to the capital. But today, he is already level 25? He’s even wearing Agonia Oso’s items? It would have been impossible without those bitches supporting him.”

“What if he soloed-”

“Sasuke, think about it. Don’t speak bullshit. How can a level 12 solo the Agonia Oso? No, most importantly, you were not able to check his stats and achievements. It should be because they used a scroll to hide it. Can that stupid-looking guy already buy scrolls and does he look like someone who hides information?”

As Hyein frowned, Sasuke closed his mouth..

He sneakily suggested some assumptions but it did not work on Hyein. There was only one thing he could do now.

“Of course not.”

In fact, Leeha was not even aware that there was a scroll like that.

If one simply thought about it. Ram Hwajeong used a scroll that was able to show other people’s information, then it would mean that there is also an item that can do the opposite.

Naturally, all of it had nothing to do with Leeha.

When he added them as friends. Leeha did not even know that Ram Hwajeong used the scroll on him.

“Anyway, if he really caught Agonia Oso with the help of the Ram sisters, it is clear that those cunts and that bastard have joined hands. It was said that the Rambitches appeared on the south of Aelstock to hunt the Agonia Oso until recently.”

This was the only plausible explanation in Hyein’s mind.

“……Those girls should be running away now.

Raise the bounty of those Rambitches, and tell Kay to watch that stupid musketeer. Keep in touch as well.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, regularly use location erasing scrolls to hide your location. Even if my location is revealed, yours shouldn’t. They might get suspicious if both of our locations are hidden.”

“I understand.”

“Let’s go.”

Hyein stood up from his chart and stepped into the magic circle once again. Sasuke stood behind Hyein.

Hyein suddenly stopped after lifting his staff.

He pulled both sides of his lips to correct his expression.

“Hmm. Do I look kind?”

“Yes. You give a kind impression.”

“F*ck. You are good at bullshiting. No, I need to speak only kind words. Hmm. Ah.”

Hyein giggled and laughed, and suddenly looked serious.

“Then, let’s go, Sasuke-ssi.”

Both of them disappeared as soon as Hyein struck his staff on the ground.

—

Kijeong and Leeha came out of the store.

“Here’s the weapon store. You know where all the stores are now, right?”

“Uhm, wait. Let me mark it.”

“You’re too meticulous. Are you going to do that everywhere you go? Just memorize it.”

Kijeong recommended while Leeha took out a map and put a mark on it.

Kijeong was surprised that Leeha had a map worth 5 gold and saw that it was well-made and pretty detailed.

However, this was Leeha’s habit.

Identifying, familiarizing and marking of landmarks are the most fundamental and important skills of a sniper.

The thing that he forgot for a while reappeared in Middle Earth.

‘I think there’s also a marking functionality.’ The map had the ability to mark specific locations and even take notes.

“Okay. Done. Even  when looking through the map, the market street looked very wide, the beginner village looked better in comparison.”

“They are worlds apart in terms of handling items compared to Candle Castle which is cramped. Kek. Let’s go to the academy now.”

“Ah, have you thought about what I told you earlier?”

“The quest?”

“Yes……. Well. I don’t know the best course of action. I have never heard of a quest like that before. After I got to level 100, I went back to the beginner village and took all the available quests, but I didn’t receive that.”

Kijeong tilted his head while walking.

The quest mentioned by Leeha was the ‘Holy Grill Capital Branch’ opening.

Of course, he talked about the benefits of the lunchbox. Anyway, it was not an exaggeration to say that for Leeha, Kijeong is the only person he completely trusted.

Of course, he didn’t talk about the Ram Sisters to Kijeong.

“They probably wouldn’t even sell it. I haven’t even heard of the lunchbox. If there were, I don’t remember. Even if there were people who received such a quest, wouldn’t everyone have eaten it? I would have eaten the lunchbox.”

“As expected.”

Kijeong’s words intensified the temptation he felt.

‘It is like what Kijeong said…… It is obvious from the fact that there is no second branch of Holy Grill in the capital yet… Noone had gotten this quest before, or if they did, the lunchbox was eaten on the way to the capital.’

People did not have to worry about missing out on the chance of getting the invitation for the opening ceremony, which was the reward for completing the quest, or the loss of intimacy, which was the penalty for failure.

‘Isn’t it possible to just don’t return to Candle Castle forever, and find a way to raise your intimacy in the capital by doing quests? That would be easy.’

‘The penalty for failure can be overcome. So, it would be better to eat it!’

‘-is probably what the people who received the quest felt at that time…

So what would happen when you complete it?’

What if Leeha was the first to complete it?

Will there be a second Holy Grill in the capital?

‘Will I change the map? Will it affect the game system?’

While Leeha was confused in his thoughts, Kijeong nodded and spoke.

“It is certain that no one has cleared that quest yet. Look at those stats. I’m level 198 right now, and if I ate it, it would be like I’m already level 202. Do you know how hard it is for someone like me to level up 4 times? I do so much in order to hunt for a week but I have a hard time getting to level 200. No, you probably won’t.”

It was a week in real time.

It is equivalent to 35 days in Middle Earth. As Kijeong said, for someone like him, it was extremely difficult to raise two levels even when hunting nonstop for a whole month in game.

In other words,  the effect of increasing the level 4 times just by eating Golden Eagle Lunchbox is truly enormous.

“It takes that long? Unbelievable.”

“I’m not kidding! If I’m like this, then what about the higher ranked tankers? Right now, if you eat that, you earn more that 100 days of Middle Earth time. Everyone who received it probably ate the lunchbox.”

That can give them a lead on the competition.

For high-level players who search for places that give a higher amount of experience even if it was only 0.1%, the value of gaining additional 4 levels instantly is truly tremendous.

“Hyung, don’t eat it…”

“Huh?”

Kijeong lowered his voice.

“That… How about selling it?”

“What? You’re telling me to sell it, and not to eat it? Ah… Is it because of its efficiency?”

‘He just talked about eating it because of the difficulty of leveling up, and suddenly he wants me to sell it?’ However, Leeha could immediately understand what Kijeong meant.

“Yes. Eating it right now to raise the stats by 4 levels would, honestly, be crazy. However, that is if hyung is already level 200. You said that the quest will fail in one month right? If you fail, the lunchbox might disappear.”

However, even if Leeha was only level 150 he might have had the urge to eat it.

The problem was, eating the lunchbox at Leeha’s current level is like wasting an expensive item.

Kijeong didn’t recommend it.

(To be continued…)