While making a sculpture, he heard the voices of the chattering merchants from nearby.
“Hermes guild really has a massive army, their fire power leaves your jaw gaping and they are taking over all of Kallamore Kingdom!”
Weed, right at this moment, was using a special wood to sculpt an eagle. He was trying to capture the feeling of life in the eagle, requiring delicate carving to express its exclusivity of the sky and its freedom. While he focused his ears on the conversation of the merchants, his hand was completely tense.
“How long can the Kallamore Kingdom hold out?”
“They can’t. I really didn’t know Hermes guild was hiding such massive strength. Presently the Kallamore Kingdom’s border garrison was completely wiped out. Among 60 thousand people, not many survived.”
Creek!
Weed made a mistake with the carving knife making a long scratch on the side of the sculpture.
“The level 400 powerhouses of Hermes guild went forward, they destroyed and occupied Hosran fort in less than 2 hours. Even the media did not know that Hermes guild’s army was this strong.”
“Do you think they are really that strong?”
“It won’t be an exaggeration to say they have the strongest infantry, even the number that participated in the war… sigh, words just won’t come out. Just hearing the names of the participants you will recognize the rankers, they are lined with strong players.”
“But against Weed-nim?”
“Well… even Weed-nim would have to fold at least once against Hermes guild.”
“Weed-nim is the War God, he already defeated Hermes guild twice.”
Weed just made his sculpture in silence. The sculpture that was created during this confused moment was a downcast bald eagle!
As a famous sculptor, a disappoint piece was created.
Fame decreased by 15.
It was a relief that he was making the sculpture in a corner away from the prying eyes of the merchants.
Vargo Fortress still did not have a tavern so the video of the broadcast could not be seen. But the grand appearance of the Hermes guild could be felt.
The finances necessary to fund the troops to occupy just a castle or a city was enormous. Even for Weed, the monthly income tax was tremendous only after the huge development of Morata. And Haven Kingdom is said to be the yolk of the Central continent and just conquering it whole spoke volumes about their strength.
As Hermes guild became bigger, Weed’s influence could only become smaller. It was a situation where he could no longer roam around the Central continent freely, but to just imagine if Hermes Guild completely conquers the Central continent!
‘It will only be a matter of time till the underdeveloped north, east, west and south will be seized.’
Then Weed would only be able to hunt in isolation. Even now an assassin could come at any moment for him. As Vargo Fortress was filled with players who would side with Weed, the assassin’s activity was limited. But in other regions, they would smell his bounty and cause an uproar.
‘The only thing left for me is the Sculpture Mastery quest and the final secret sculpting legacy! If Hermes guild or other famous guilds become bigger than now, peace will be impossible. Then the only thing I could do is roam the continent, hiding my identity through Sculpture Transformation and changing my appearance often.’
So Weed prepared to leave for a trip. To master the sculpting skill he still needed a bit more time. Retrieving the final secret legacy would be good, but mastering sculpting was becoming a priority so he planned to meet the master sculptor Zahab.
*****
The Red Reed Forest.
At the quest area the queen of fairies Teneidon spoke about, the assassins waited and prepared for an ambush.
As a rule they did not talk aloud but only in whispers.
When do you think Weed will come here?
If you wait he will come.
The assassins deployed themselves in the grass and above the trees. They were used to the boring waits. High level assassins preferred killing stronger people rather than doing normal hunts as it gave them more experience and mastery in skill went up a lot more.
To kill Weed they went ahead to the quest starting area and waited for him.
“They said Weed would come here, right?”
“If we just catch him we can definitely receive a reward from Hermes guild. I am going to change all my equipment and also ask for a skill book.”
“It’s the War God Weed. When he appears we must attack him together.”
“There is no need for honour. When we kill him we will share the reward equally.”
Even bounty hunters, trying to make a fortune through the bounty, were roaming around the Red Reed Forest.
Truthfully there were not many righteous people among the bounty hunters. They usually laughed as they betrayed or deceived their partners without feeling a smidgen of guilt. They knew the cynical nature of the job but for now they decided to join their strength.
“If he just comes…”
“He’s already dead!”
“Kuhuhu, let's receive our bounty and sign up with Hermes guild.”
“Will they accept us?”
“They say Hermes guild accepts anyone if you have the strength.”
“Then we have to get in. Just by signing up we can live in a grand style.”
*****
Lee Hyun logged into the Dark Gamer information board. He was trying to gather information on Grapass, one of the 10 forbidden regions of the continent, which was the place Zahab went.
“Will there be any good information here?”
It had been a long time since he received the quest from the old handmaiden. He expected that more people would have explored the region and more information had built up since then.
But in reality, many players actually challenged the forbidden regions in the early days. As they were level 100 and 200s, he nimbly skipped their stories. Just from skimming them, there were many stories about being completely wiped out by the strong monsters and that they would try again later.
I regret coming here. The morning hunt is okay but at night, it’s really scary.
Adventurer level 351. Came with a party of 7 with similar levels.
There are big larvae in the wasteland.
When you try get close, large worms pop up and try to eat you, so do not go near it.
Adventurer level 369.
The Grapass region is not well known, so we planned a party to level up where we would not be crowded with others. We were 7 Dark Gamer veterans.
The plain where stone piles are, the hunt is doable. At night the evil hands swarm about, so to hunt here you need exceptional senses. If you win, they drop magic seals and jewels.
Adventurer level 382. 7 party members.
It looks like there was still occasional hunting in the Grapass region.
There comes a point in time, after rising to a certain level, where it became crucial to find a new hunting ground. This was especially true for Dark Gamers, where both their personal growth and monster drops were important. So there seemed to be many tries at adventuring in the Grapass region
In the early days the level 100 or 200 players entered the region fearlessly and were cleanly wiped out. Presently, a level 300 could handle the region with some difficulty.
Among the Dark Gamers there were many players who were above level 400, but they did not post information on these boards. At their level, the information on hunting methods or hunting grounds was too important so they did not share much. As it wasn’t difficult to maintain their Dark Gamer Union’s ranking by providing simple quest or dungeon information, it wasn’t a problem for them.
“At level 400… seems it’s manageable at that point.”
In the Grapass region, the magic seals and jewels that could be acquired through monster drops were as expensive as mythril. It was said there were several specialized hunting parties that searched Grapass for these jewels that granted magic.
Saying these specialized hunting parties were the best Dark Gamers and warriors was not an exaggeration. The opportunity to meet them was rare as they only stayed near the area where the monsters frequently appeared.
“There still seems to be no information about the master sculptor Zahab…”
Someone who met Zahab, or even knowing the address of the house he’s living in would be conclusive information! He could then finish the quest easily, but even without such luck it did not feel like finding Zahab would be all that difficult.
“A human staying among monsters in the Grapass region would be quite noticeable. I could ride on a Wyvern’s back and scout out the region… or if the sky is filled with monsters I could change into a crow and search like that.”
Lee Hyun praised himself. Since he accomplished impossible quests from the beginning, he was no longer hesitant or fearful about going to Grapass, one of the 10 forbidden regions.
“It’s closer and much better than sailing to Jigolaths.”
In the face of any adversity, whether the sky fell or the ground collapsed, he had the amazing self-confidence he could survive!