New Hobby
ACT 3 New Hobby
Pa pa pa pa! Pa pa pa pa!
Dust rose in the endlessly stretching wilderness. Crossing the wilderness at a tremendous speed was a lizard kicking up dust! It was Radun transformed into Radunma. Of course, riding on its back was Ark, Lariette and Buksil.
“How long do we have left?”
Ark checked the map and answered Lariette’s question.
“We’ve gone about 1/3rd of the way. We should arrive in a day.”
“That’s awesome. It took a fortnight when we were going to the Forest of Life…..”
“It’s all thanks to this guy.”
Ark patted Radun’s neck with a proud look. Lariette also sent an admiring look to Radun.
“But I never imagined that your snake could change. He can store items and also change into a mount. Dedric and Razak…..are also uncommon. I’ve seen a lot of people summon but this is the first time I’ve seen such pets. Where did you get them?”
“How many times do I have to say it? This body is not a normal summon. I’m a nobleman! And what do you think I am? A bonus gift that can be given away? Those remarks are species discrimination!”
Dedric lost his temper and pulled Lariette’s hair.
“Yayayaya, sorry, I’m sorry.”
“Shut up, humans are just……”
Dedric shouted in a rough voice. However, Lariette just poke her fingers into Dedric’s stomach and laughed.
“I said I was sorry. This child, don’t be upset. I’ll be careful next time.”
“Ugh, ugh, ugh! W-where are you touching? Don’t, don’t touch there! They are sensitive areas. That tickles! Ugh, ugh!”
“Then tell me you’re not angry. Or do you want me to continue tickling you?”
“This is really…..ugh, ugh understood. I understand!”
“Hohoho, thank you.”
“Huk huk huk…..there is no respect for adults these days.”
Dedric crumpled and gasped for a short time. But although he complained, his face seemed strangely satisfied. In fact, this was the part that surprised Ark lately. In the past, Lariette would hesitate whenever Dedric spoke meanly. However, Dedric had been training her in tactics for a fortnight. Now Lariette didn’t even lift an eyebrow at Dedric’s harsh tone. No, sometimes she dealt with his pet better than Ark. And he realised why Lariette dealt so well with his summons.
“My parents used to raise many pets at home. Ark-nim’s summons are similar to those pets.”
“Pets?”
“Yes, Dedric resembles a Chihuahua and Razak doesn’t speak so he resembles a Siberian Husky. And Radun looks like a chameleon.”
Luxurious names of animals worth millions of won emerged from her mouth. Ark never had a pet so it was incomprehensible to him why people would raise one. Of course owning a pet would be useful. He heard that it soothed loneliness and helped children talk. However, he couldn’t comprehend spending a few million won on one and then wasting money buying pet food for it. Besides once they were tired of them, they would discard it like old handbags. Humans were indeed despicable. Oh, his thoughts were wandering.
At any rate, it wasn’t a problem he would think too deeply about.
‘Well, Lariette-nim isn’t such a person……’
Then, he sensed some movement as they passed a group of trees.
“Radun, stop.”
Ssak ssak, ssak ssak ssak ssak!
Radun stopped moving and breathed harshly. Razak was transformed while Dedric was in his bat form, but Radun had to carry Ark, Lariette and Buksil and became completely exhausted.
“Dedric, take a look at that copse of trees. I think I see some Tuntun?”
Ark immediately commanded Dedric once they stopped. Dedric checked out the thicket and flew back in amazement.
“Whoa! That’s amazing. How did you see them amongst all of that?”
“It’s money.”
Ark replied with a wide grin.
If they wound back the time a little bit…..a few days ago, Ark though he had finally complete the quest.
In wasn’t necessary to say, but dealing with the sense of loss after all his expectations wasn’t easy. But Ark had found a clue so he was positive he would solve it soon.
Magaro had written in his diary that the ‘phenomenon happened a long time ago in the Netherworld.’ Didn’t that mean there would be more people who knew about what occurred in the laboratory? And Beseutyu was an expert in the history of the Netherworld. It must’ve been a great global event that happened all across the Netherworld. There had to be a record associated with it. So Ark was determined to hurry back to the valley village. His mind became really impatient to solve the quest. He couldn’t afford to be distracted from completing the quest. However, this was different.
Of course Ark was impatient. He wanted to return to the village as quickly and avoid combat if possible. But if he saw a monster with a high probability of dropping the best items then it was different.
“Radun, let’s take a break here. Buksil, wait here while Lariette will come with me.”
Ark got off Radun and approached the thicket. While he called it a wilderness, it wasn’t simple an empty plain. In some copses, there were many monsters that lived together. Ark discovered that monsters called Tuntun were gathered in those thickets.
Puswi-! Puswi-!
They were huge boar like monsters with sharp fangs and a blackened snout. The Tuntun wandered the wilderness in groups and possessed enormous attack and stamina.
“Huhuhu, I’ve found some good guys.”
Ark mumbled as he confirmed the Tuntun and drooled. It was challenging to hunt the Tuntun but they gave a lot of experience. In addition, the fangs dropped by the Tuntun were items that the Baran clan liked a lot. It was possible to exchange 3~4 fans for the ‘Umma’s Sap,’ which was equivalent to an advanced recovery item. They would be worth 20 gold in middle earth. The quality of the leather and meat was also better than other monsters.
“Discovering 6 Tuntun at the same time is lucky.”
“Are we using the same tactics we used last time?”
Lariette asked in a manner that showed she was accustomed to battle.
“Yes, me and Razak will enter from the front and strike first. Lariette-nim and Dedric help out from behind.”
“What buffs?”
“Well…..6 of them won’t be a burden so go with set of three offensive buffs.”
Ark thought for a moment and replied. Ark and Lariette had already become used to playing in a party. After training with Ark, Dedric and Razak, her skill proficiency and level had steadily risen. Lariette had changed professions at level 150 and now her Innocence Knight skills rose every time she levelled up. She was now level 180 and had achieved all the buffing skills previously shown by Alan. Ark had access to a large variety of buffs depending on the situation.
“You should organize your buffs and have a system for them.”
Ark suggested to Lariette.
An Innocence Knight was a similar profession to Holy Knight. The biggest advantage of a Holy Knight was that its buffs could be stacked up 3 times. The characteristics of the party would be determined by how they utilized the buffs. Stacking defense buffs would make a party strong in an endurance battle while stacking magic amplifiers would create a party strong in magic combat. An Innocence Knight was an all-rounder profession with almost all types of buffs. Then shouldn’t they be properly utilized?
Ark tested various kinds of buffs and the ones associated with them for research. He divided them into 3 types, offensive, defensive and average. After Ark’s command, Lariette immediately used the offensive type buffs.
“The great warrior’s soul……Hero’s Spirit, Warrior’s Concentration, Storm Breathing!”
Hero’s Spirit increased damage by 10%! Warrior’s Concentration increased the probability of a critical hit by 20%! Meanwhile, Storm Breathing increased the attack speed of his weapon by 10%! When armed with those 3 buffs, his abilities quickly rose.
‘Well, I would rather use Dark Lamp but……’
Ark looked down at the Dark Lamp hanging on his waist. It was an item that gave him the 40% dark attribute bonus during the day! At first he fell for its charm and used it recklessly. It consumed 10 magic ingredients but he didn’t think it was that important since he gathered a lot. But when continuously used, it was a surprisingly expensive burden. In addition, he became so familiar with Dark Lamp that battles become more difficult if he didn’t use it.
‘This is not good. The addiction is hard to break.’