Chapter 35: The Perfect Hunt

[You have successfully hunted the Bookworm Mongoose.]

[You have successfully solo-killed the Bookworm Mongoose.]

[You have successfully hunted the boss monster without taking any damage.]

[Achievement unlocked: ‘Solo-killed Bookworm Mongoose’.]

[Achievement unlocked: ‘Lich? It’s Nothing Special’.]

[Experience gained.]

[Level up.]

[Quest completed: ‘Double Kill’.]

[Quest rewards have been granted.]

[Level up.]

Levan nodded with satisfaction as the reward messages flooded his screen.

‘Not bad.’

He was pleased.

Thanks to the Mirror Ring, he managed to clear this boss raid without taking a single hit.

Levan then tried to loot the corpse of the fallen mongoose.

[You have obtained the Bookworm’s Bookmark.]

That was all he got.

After finishing the raid, Levan headed toward the exit that opened upon defeating the boss.

A flash!

A bright light exploded before his eyes.

Levan stepped through the exit and emerged behind the library.

‘Too easy.’

Hunting the mongoose was easier than he expected.

It made sense since, despite the mongoose being a lich-type monster with powerful skills, its core was that of a mage—meaning it had low health and weak defenses.

Having escaped the dungeon, Levan checked his remaining playtime.

[Remaining time: 00:21:57.]

Just over twenty minutes left.

Not quite enough time for another hunt.

So, to make good use of the remaining time, he decided to review the loot he had acquired.

Levan summoned all the info on what he gained from killing the mongoose.

- Rubik’s Epic Cube (1)

- Rubik’s Skill Cube Shards (3)

- Rubik’s Treasure Cube Shards (4)

[‘Solo-killed Bookworm Mongoose’]

- Condition: Obtainable by solo-killing the boss monster, Bookworm Mongoose.

- Effect: +5 to the highest current stat.

[‘Lich? It’s Nothing Special’]

- Condition: Obtainable upon first hunting a lich monster.

- Effect: +5 to the highest current stat.

That’s why he couldn’t quit solo raids.

Benefits he hadn’t known about before poured out after every boss monster.

Levan easily gained 10 points in Strength this time as well.

‘So sweet. At this rate, I’ll get diabetes.’

By now, it felt almost disappointing not to receive them.

Levan invested all his bonus stats from the two recent level-ups into Strength.

Then, he checked the information on the sole piece of loot: the Bookworm’s Bookmark.

[Bookworm’s Bookmark]

- Grade: Rare, Boss.

- Restriction: Mage only.

- Effect:

Intelligence +20, Magic Power +300.

#Memorize available.

[#Memorize]

- Effect: Allows pre-storing one magic skill into the bookmark for instant use.

- Cooldown: Usable once per target.

“Huh?”

Levan’s eyes went wide when he checked the bookmark’s options.

Honestly, the other stats weren’t very useful to him.

Intelligence and Magic Power were hardly valuable for a War Mage in the first place.

But the built-in skill ‘Memorize’ was different.

‘Memorize? This is amazing!’

Memorize was a type of stored magic that allowed mages to pre-cast spells, enabling instant casting whenever needed.

So, if he could pre-cast even a single spell, Levan would have much more leeway in battle.

‘Since it’s mage-only, this means I could use Hold twice in a row or Energy Bolt twice consecutively…!’

The mere thought was thrilling. There was only one drawback.

‘But this doesn’t seem like an accessory, just a held item.’

He couldn’t wear it on his body.

In other words, to use the skill stored in the bookmark, he had to be holding it in his hand.

‘Well, that’s something I can figure out later. For now, it’s just time to gamble on the cubes.’

Levan started cracking open the new Epic Cube he got from completing the Double Kill quest.

Crunch, crunch—

[You have successfully solved Rubik’s Epic Cube.]

[An Epic Quest has appeared.]

Flash!

[The Curse of the Lich]

- Grade: Epic, Special, Unique.

- Condition: Fulfill the Bookworm Mongoose’s request.

- Rewards: Rubik’s Epic Cube, Rubik’s Skill Cube Shards, Rubik’s Treasure Cube Shards.

A new quest popped up before his eyes.

But when Levan read the quest details, he froze instantly.

[All playtime has been used up.]

[Game will now exit.]

Flash!

At that moment, with his playtime over, Levan was forcibly logged out of the game.

---

Screech—

The capsule door opened, and a howl of frustration came from inside.

“Aaaaargh! Damn it!”

Cursing and yelling.

That was Seongwoo, not Levan.

Seongwoo twisted on the bed installed inside the capsule, shouting loudly.

Then, suddenly, he jumped up and let out a deep sigh.

“Ha… no matter how I look at it, it feels like Rubik purposely made this a pain in the ass.”

Both Epic Cubes and Growth Cubes were made by Rubik.

And since Rubik was always watching over Levan, it wasn’t impossible.

That just made it more frustrating.

The situation had already happened, and Seongwoo had no power to suppress it—it was truly unavoidable.

He decided not to fight this inevitability.

Getting upset would only stress him out.

But being frustrated was inevitable.

‘Might as well order some chicken.’

When things were like this, nothing beat good food.

For example, fried stuff.

And among fried foods, the absolute king was chicken.

Stepping out of the capsule, Seongwoo opened a delivery app on his phone.

He ordered a half-and-half chicken from his regular spot, then immediately turned on his computer to access the Warload official website.

‘What’s new today…?’

A day was 24 hours.

Seongwoo spent eight hours playing Warload, eight hours sleeping, and the remaining eight hours gathering information for the game.

Of course, minimal daily tasks like banking or eating were all squeezed into that time.

But even then, those activities never lasted more than one or two hours combined.

Because Seongwoo was fully devoted to Warload.

Among his daily routines was checking the official site’s Today’s Hot Pick.

His eyes shifted to the Today’s Hot Pick section.

The most eye-catching post was, unsurprisingly, the #1 ranked article.

The Hot Picks ranked the top 10 posts daily, updating every 24 hours.

Being featured on Hot Pick was prime real estate—it appeared on the main banner of the official site, so content creators lived for this exposure.

Seongwoo’s gaze landed on the title of the #1 post.

“A Crazy Item Appeared in the Auction House?”

The title was surprisingly plain.

Yet, it held the top spot, so he couldn’t help but click it.

‘What could it be?’

Curiosity piqued, Seongwoo clicked without hesitation.

---

[A Crazy Item Appeared in the Auction House]

Author: Jabak Bear

Likes: 8,984

Content:

I have a hobby of browsing expensive items in the auction house when I’m bored, and today I found a crazy accessory, so I’m posting it here lol.

It might already be sold by now, but I took a screenshot, so here it is.

---

The content was simple.

But the picture attached to the post looked strangely familiar.

That item was none other than...

“Huh? What the hell is this doing here?”

[Amtosrin’s Symbiotic Pendant]

It was Amtosrin’s Symbiotic Pendant.

No doubt about it.

The pendant shown in the #1 Hot Pick post had exactly the same options as the one Seongwoo owned.

But that wasn’t the only surprise.

Seongwoo was shocked not only that the Symbiotic Pendant was up for auction, but more so by its listed price.

“How much is this...?”

One, two, three, four, five...

Nine digits.

The auction price was 1 billion gold.

Seongwoo, startled, sat down abruptly from his standing position.

Muttering to himself as if seeing a mirage:

“1... billion...?”

One billion gold.

He wasn’t mistaken.

The Symbiotic Pendant was anonymously listed for a whopping 1 billion gold.

And it was a buy-it-now price, not bidding.

‘One billion... one billion...’

The number echoed in his mouth.

The minimum currency in Warload was Silver.

100 Silver = 1 Gold.

And the general exchange rate between Gold and Korean Won was roughly 10:1.

So, 10 Gold equaled about 1 Won.

That meant 1 billion Gold was equivalent to roughly 100 million Won.

An absolutely staggering sum.

Seongwoo almost had a heart attack and immediately opened the fridge to gulp some cold water.

“Ughh!”

The water helped him breathe easier.

Taking a deep breath, he finally sat down and started to think clearly again.

‘100 million Won is a sum no amount of allowance from my parents, New Year’s money, Warload earnings, or capsule sales could ever match. Yet, I have an item worth that much right now?’

Was this how it felt to win the lottery?

Once he calmed down and understood the value of 100 million, Seongwoo nearly had another heart attack.

But the human body was tougher than expected.

When the shock faded, he finally activated the happiness circuits he had implanted in his brain.

‘Damn, 100 million...’

A flood of thoughts came to mind.

With 100 million, he could finally confess to his parents about taking a leave of absence to game and get their forgiveness.

No, more than forgiveness—his parents might even bring him fruit and let him comfortably play Warload.

‘Knowing my mom, she’d probably pack side dishes and actively support me.’

For about twenty minutes, Seongwoo indulged in all sorts of pink-colored daydreams about what he could do with 100 million.

Then, suddenly, he realized he was overlooking an important fact.

Standing up from his seat, he muttered.

‘Wait a second. Didn’t they say Amtosrin was the very first boss mob to appear on the server?’

He clearly remembered.

Players had flocked to Herum because of the first Amtosrin footage uploaded on Wartube.

Upon hearing that, Seongwoo had rushed to kill the fully evolved Amtosrin first before anyone else could claim it.

The Symbiotic Pendant he now wore was a reward from that kill.

Moreover, the Symbiotic Pendant was a boss unique item, dropping only from Amtosrin.

‘Then what’s going on?’

A sudden, intense sense of dissonance hit Seongwoo’s frontal lobe.

‘Could it be that I’m not the first?’

No.

Because Seongwoo had even acquired the achievement for killing the first Amtosrin.

So it was even more puzzling.

‘Something feels really off...’

Seeing is believing.

In cases like this, it was better to investigate directly.

After all, he had time until his next login.

Feeling the oddity keenly, Seongwoo sat at his computer and started gathering information based on his suspicions.