Chapter 50: Endurance, Endurance… and More Endurance

Thanks to Two Birds, One Stone, using a basic attack reduced the cooldown of Hammer of Fury by 22 seconds.

The number of Hammer of Fury uses was 5.

Just by using Hammer of Fury alone, that was a cooldown reduction of 110 seconds.

It was still 10 seconds short.

However, considering the attack time and pre-casting, it was practically possible to use it infinitely.

Kang Juho closed the skill window with a satisfied expression.

Then he once again began swinging his hammer at the scarecrow.

[Skill ‘Hammer of Vitality’ proficiency has increased to 3.]

A little later, the proficiency of Hammer of Vitality increased.

Kang Juho stopped his attack again and opened the skill window to check.

<Hammer of Vitality [Passive]>

Proficiency: 3 (0%)

1. 20% chance to recover 1% HP when using a basic attack.
2. Recovers 1% HP upon killing a monster.

Just like before, only the probability had gone up.

“Yeah, even an increase in probability isn’t bad.”

It seemed the recovery amount wouldn’t increase any further.

But that didn’t matter.

If he thought about bosses or elite monsters, an increase in probability wasn’t bad at all.

Kang Juho closed the skill window and attacked the scarecrow again.

[Skill ‘Hammer of Death’ proficiency has increased to 5.]

Before long, Hammer of Death proficiency went up.

When Kang Juho checked the details, he was slightly surprised.

<Hammer of Death [Passive]>

Proficiency: 5 (0%)

1. 50% chance to inflict ‘Unable to Recover HP’ for 3 minutes on the damaged target (Lv. 1–200).
2. 40% chance to inflict ‘Unable to Recover HP’ for 3 minutes on the damaged target (Lv. 201–300).
3. 30% chance to inflict ‘Unable to Recover HP’ for 3 minutes on the damaged target (Lv. 301–400).
4. 20% chance to inflict ‘Unable to Recover HP’ for 3 minutes on the damaged target (Lv. 401–500).

The Level 1–100 and Level 101–200 ranges had been merged.

It was slightly different from what he expected.

“Ah, that’s a shame.”

He had hoped the activation chance would keep going up to 100%, but it didn’t.

With a slightly disappointed look, Kang Juho closed the skill window again and resumed attacking the scarecrow.

***

“Yup, he’s a warrior all right,” murmured Yoo Janghyuk, who was monitoring him.

Kang Juho’s chosen sub-class was Guardian Warrior.

“Looks like he’ll be spending his time on this until tomorrow.”

The Guardian Warrior’s job change quest wasn’t easy.

But it wasn’t particularly hard either—just time-consuming.

Then, a thought crossed Yoo Janghyuk’s mind, and he frowned slightly.

“His proficiency is going to shoot up like crazy at this rate…”

In the training room for the Guardian Warrior’s job change quest, scarecrows were installed.

And Battle Blacksmiths had many passives that increased proficiency with basic attacks.

He worried that the proficiency gap between Kang Juho and normal users would grow too wide.

“Well, it’s proficiency that would’ve gone up naturally through hunting anyway.”

With that thought, Yoo Janghyuk stopped worrying about it.

Even without the scarecrow, Kang Juho was bound to outpace normal players.

“Wonder what Kim Seokju is doing right now?”

Yoo Janghyuk checked in on him.

“Accessory crafting, huh…”

Kim Seokju had changed his sub-class to Artisan and was currently crafting a special-grade accessory.

“Guess he’ll make a hero-grade accessory too.”

In the underground temple of Puren, Kim Seokju had obtained a Broken Magic Orb.

Broken Magic Orbs could be refined into High-Grade Magic Stones, which were needed to make hero-grade necklaces or bracelets.

Until now, his proficiency wasn’t high enough to process it, but soon it would be—and then he’d start making hero-grade accessories.

“How many will he make, I wonder?”

Yoo Janghyuk checked how many hero-grade accessories could be made with the materials Kim Seokju had.

“With the current materials, just two.”

A Broken Magic Orb alone wasn’t enough; many other materials were also needed.

Luckily—or perhaps unluckily—Kim Seokju had enough for only two pieces.

Yoo Janghyuk stopped monitoring him and turned his attention to the Evador Mountains.

The Red Shadows were searching meticulously, and the Mois and Chimeras were still hiding well.

It seemed possible to start the main episode in line with the update.

After that, he checked the Debaru Plains.

Seeing the situation there, he sighed deeply.

Although players were being told that the main episode would start after the update in the Evador Mountains…

It could already be considered to have started.

The orcs of the Debaru Plains were not moving in large numbers simply because their population had increased.

“Sure enough, no one’s actually hunting them properly.”

The orcs were extremely strong.

Even if you gathered a party, you could maybe take down one—but orcs roamed in groups.

That meant multiple parties had to cooperate to take down a single group.

But without being in the same guild or having prior acquaintance, organizing that kind of cooperation would take quite a while.

***

“Done.”

Kang Juho, still swinging at the scarecrow, grinned and delivered a final blow.

Pak!

Then he turned around.

<Job Change – Guardian Warrior 1>

First required trait: Endurance.

Train in the training room by hitting scarecrows for 3 hours.

[Training Time: 3 hours / 3 hours]
[Scarecrow Hits: 2000 / 2000]

[Quest Reward: Job Change Quest – Guardian Warrior 2]

Finally, he had completed the 3 hours.

Now it was time to finish.

Kang Juho walked briskly out of the training room and approached Rojan.

As soon as he arrived, Rojan greeted him.

“Good work.”

[Job Change Quest ‘Guardian Warrior 1’ has been completed.]

“What’s the second trait?”

Kang Juho asked immediately, not waiting.

“The second trait is…” Rojan trailed off with a smirk.

“Endurance.”

[Job Change Quest ‘Guardian Warrior 2’ has been created.]

“Endurance?”

Kang Juho got an ominous feeling.

The first trait had also been Endurance—now the second one too?

“No way…”

Opening the quest window, he checked:

<Job Change – Guardian Warrior 2>

Second required trait: Endurance.

Train in the training room by hitting scarecrows for 3 hours.

[Training Time: 0 min / 3 hours]
[Scarecrow Hits: 0 / 2500]

[Quest Reward: Job Change Quest – Guardian Warrior 3]

It was the same as the first, except the scarecrow hits had increased by 500.

“Good luck,” Rojan said.

Kang Juho turned to him.

“Don’t tell me the third trait is also…”

Rojan smiled slyly.

“I’ll let you know after you pass this test.”

That was enough for Kang Juho to be certain.

“It’s Endurance…”

He didn’t need to be told—he knew.

Heading back to the training room, he thought:

“Fine, I’ll just max out all my proficiencies while I’m at it.”

The first quest had already boosted his proficiencies significantly.

Soon, starting with Hammer of Death, then Hammer of Vitality, they would all keep leveling up.

And it wasn’t just proficiency—

“Will my stats go up again this time?”

From the constant scarecrow attacks, his Strength and Stamina had each gone up by 2 points earlier.

That was exceptionally lucky.

Even 1 point total would be nice this time.

With that in mind, he entered the training room again, walked to the scarecrow, and started swinging.

[Skill ‘Hammer of Death’ proficiency has increased to 6.]

<Hammer of Death [Passive]>

Proficiency: 6 (0%)

1. 50% chance to inflict ‘Unable to Recover HP’ for 3 minutes on the damaged target (Lv. 1–300).
2. 40% chance to inflict ‘Unable to Recover HP’ for 3 minutes on the damaged target (Lv. 301–400).
3. 30% chance to inflict ‘Unable to Recover HP’ for 3 minutes on the damaged target (Lv. 401–500).
4. 20% chance to inflict ‘Unable to Recover HP’ for 3 minutes on the damaged target (Lv. 501–600).

“Yeah, just as I thought.”

Satisfied after checking the changes, Kang Juho swung at the scarecrow again.

A few more hits later—

[Skill ‘Hammer of Vitality’ proficiency has increased to 4.]

(Guild Chat)

-Kim Seokju: So you’re going at it for another 3 hours?

-Kang Juho: No, this time it’s 4 hours.

-Kim Seokju: And that’s not the last one, right?

-Kang Juho: Nope, there’s a fourth.

-Kang Juho: Looks like I’ll be spending all of tomorrow on job quests. Sorry.

-Kim Seokju: It’s fine. I needed time to make the hero accessory anyway. This works out.

Kim Seokju smiled as he typed his reply.

Soon, his crafting proficiency would increase enough to make hero-grade accessories.

-Kim Seokju: Let’s think of tomorrow as a hunting break!

-Kang Juho: Sounds good. I’ll contact you when I’m done. Thanks for understanding.

-Kim Seokju: Sure! Good night!

Kim Seokju ended the conversation and looked at the table.

On it were glittering materials and the tools needed for accessory crafting.

The process was simple—just assemble according to the instructions.

Picking up tweezers with his right hand, he lifted a piece of material with his left and followed the assembly steps floating in the air.

Creak, click, clink.

Ten minutes of focused work later, Kim Seokju grinned—it was the final step.

Using the tweezers, he placed the last piece, a fractured ruby, into the center of the necklace.

A flash of light burst from the necklace, then it vanished.

[You have successfully crafted the Crimson Ruby Necklace.]

It wasn’t a failure—

Opening his inventory, Kim Seokju saw the Crimson Ruby Necklace sitting neatly inside.