Chapter 3: Forging a Path in Paraville

The issue was the top-tier skills.  

It was due to the difference between main and sub-professions.  

A sub-profession couldn’t be obtained immediately.  

It could only be acquired at level 200.  

In virtual Earth, just like PC Earth, the level cap was 1000.  

This meant a sub-profession, starting at level 200, could only learn skills up to level 800.  

Top-tier skills beyond level 800 couldn’t be learned by a sub-profession.  

Giving up the Guardian Warrior’s top-tier skills just to gain an extra 10% resistance weighed on Kang Juho’s mind.  

“It’s not like the Blacksmith’s top-tier skills are bad…”  

Of course, choosing Blacksmith as the main profession would allow him to learn its top-tier skills instead.  

However, in PC Earth, very few chose Blacksmith as their main profession, and little was known about its top-tier skills.  

Moreover, in virtual Earth, skills had slightly changed, and new top-tier skills had been added, making choosing Blacksmith as the main profession somewhat risky.  

“Fine, it’s just 10%!”  

After much deliberation, Kang Juho made his decision.  

With no limit on resistance, that 10% would make a huge difference later on.  

“Blacksmith isn’t weak in combat either.”  

Among professions often chosen as sub-professions—like Tailor, Bard, or Cook—Blacksmith excelled in combat.  

There were users and NPCs who had made a name for themselves as combat Blacksmiths.  

“Considering endgame items, it’s not a bad choice for a main profession.”  

Even non-Blacksmiths could craft equipment.  

However, not all equipment could be crafted by just anyone.  

High-tier items could only be crafted by Blacksmiths.  

As a main profession, Blacksmiths had a higher crafting success rate and better additional stats, resulting in superior equipment.  

If Blacksmith had been his main profession in PC Earth?  

He would have easily surpassed 20% resistance.  

For crafting endgame equipment, choosing Blacksmith as the main profession didn’t seem like a bad idea.  

Having chosen his profession, Kang Juho continued reading the guidebook.  

“Item ranks are the same.”  

The next section was about items.  

Like PC Earth, virtual Earth’s item ranks were divided into six tiers: Common, Rare, Relic, Hero, Legend, and God.  

Several hours later, after finishing the guidebook, Kang Juho stood up.  

“Ugh.”  

After a quick stretch, he sat back down and entered the guild’s private chat room.  

—Kim Seok-ju: Yo, Juho hyung!  

—Hwang Cheol-ho: Juho’s here! Did you read it all?  

—Kim Ri-na: Guildmaster, welcome!  

The chat room was already bustling.  

Kang Juho began discussing the guidebook with his guildmates.  

—Then I’ll call you five minutes before!  

“Sounds good, see you then.”  

After ending the call with Kim Seok-ju, Kang Juho checked the time.  

“I’ll check the rest and then sleep.”  

Muttering to himself, Kang Juho reopened the Earth guidebook.  

He had discussed base locations with his guildmates.  

Everyone wanted different starting points.  

After a long discussion, they finally decided.  

Their final base would be the mercenary city-state of Falkos.  

The reason for choosing Falkos was simple.  

It had less interference compared to other places.  

Empires, kingdoms, and duchies had kings and nobles.  

No matter how strong a guild was, ignoring the orders of kings and nobles was burdensome.  

But with a base in Falkos?  

They could ignore them without issue.  

There were fewer conflicts, and their influence was weaker to begin with.  

The only problem was that starting in Falkos was impossible.  

A guild headquarters in Falkos was required for migration.  

So, Kang Juho and all guild members decided to start in their preferred locations and meet in Falkos later.

Kang Juho chose to start in the Paraville Kingdom with Kim Seok-ju.  

The reason for choosing Paraville was its high early-game difficulty compared to other nations.  

For one, Paraville had fewer hunting grounds early on.  

And those few hunting grounds were inhabited by monsters like Stone Goblins and Slimes, which were tough for beginners.  

In other words, starting in the high-difficulty Paraville Kingdom meant fewer users and less competition.  

Choosing a good hunting ground based solely on monsters and terrain?  

That would mean competing with countless users.  

Spending time fighting monsters was better than wasting time competing with other users.  

Of course, this was a gamble.  

Users thinking like Kang Juho and Kim Seok-ju would flock to the Paraville Kingdom.  

The key was how many would do so.  

“Once we pass level 20, it’ll be smooth sailing.”  

While planning hunting routes based on the guidebook’s hunting grounds, Kang Juho grinned.  

Kim Seok-ju, who would play with him, had chosen Enchanter as his main profession.  

Enchanters buffed allies and debuffed enemies.  

Blacksmith and Enchanter.  

At first glance, it seemed like a weak and odd combination, but in the Paraville Kingdom, it was a synergistic pairing.  

That was because, at level 20, Blacksmiths learned the passives Hammer Mastery and Stone Handling.  

Enchanters, at level 20, could learn Attribute Enchantment.  

Hammer Mastery increased the attack power of the Blacksmith’s weapon, the hammer, by 10%.  

Stone Handling increased damage dealt to stone by 20%.  

If Attribute Enchantment applied a weakness attribute?  

Hunting Stone Goblins would become much easier.  

“Up to 40, we can hunt like this, and after that, we’ll decide based on gear.”  

Having set the hunting route, Kang Juho closed the guidebook and stood up.  

Leaving the workshop with a smile, he muttered.

“Come on, time, move faster!”  

***

“Did you see that post, hyung?”  

“What’re you talking about?”  

At Kim Byung-sam’s sudden question, Hwang Kyun-hyun responded with a puzzled expression.  

“That the Immortal Corps guys are coming over!”  

“Oh…”  

At Kim Byung-sam’s follow-up, Hwang Kyun-hyun nodded as if he understood, letting out a small exclamation.  

“There’s no motion now, so what makes that guy think he can come over? Seriously, hyung?”  

At Kim Byung-sam’s words, Hwang Kyun-hyun fell silent.  

He could only manage an awkward smile.  

The reason was simple.  

Motion isn’t the issue…  

The ‘guy’ Kim Byung-sam was raging about.  

That guy was truly strong.  

Known as the god of evasion for dodging skills just by reading motions, he was a monster in PK.  

The problem was that Kim Byung-sam’s thinking was wrong.  

Evasion wasn’t the issue with that guy.  

How high are his resistance and defense, anyway?  

The guild master of Immortal Corps, Kang Juho.  

Even if you landed a hit on him, it was a problem.  

His health barely dropped.  

He was someone you couldn’t kill, no matter how much you wanted to.  

“This time, we’ll pay them back!”  

The reason Kim Byung-sam was furious at Immortal Corps was simple.  

The guild Earth, led by Hwang Kyun-hyun and Kim Byung-sam, had been utterly crushed in a guild war against Immortal Corps.  

Despite having more than double the members, they were thoroughly defeated.  

That loss cost them their castle and earned them endless mockery from other users.  

For Kim Byung-sam, who was naturally hot-tempered, his anger toward Immortal Corps was only natural.  

“Yeah, let’s pay them back.”  

Though not as intense as Kim Byung-sam, Hwang Kyun-hyun didn’t view Immortal Corps favorably either.  

Losing the castle had slashed their income by two-thirds.  

As a result, they had to abandon an ongoing business, suffering massive losses.  

“He won’t be as strong as he was in PC.”  

This time, the battlefield wasn’t PC.  

Meaning he wouldn’t have immeasurable resistance and defense.  

They could definitely win.  

***

-Then, hyung we can meet again in an hour?

“Yeah, an hour gives us enough time to do stuff.”  

—Got it. See you later!  

“See you!”  

Kang Juho ended the call with Kim Seok-ju.  

Setting down his phone, he headed to the capsule.  

Inside, he sat in the chair, put on the gloves, and donned the headset.  

Swish!  

The darkness faded, and a menu appeared.  

Having pre-downloaded Earth, Kang Juho stared at the Earth icon, waiting for the time to come.  

Ding!  

When the alarm sounded, he clicked the Earth icon without hesitation.  

Swish!  

Darkness enveloped him.  

But it didn’t last long.  

Swish!  

The darkness lifted, and Kang Juho looked around.  

Dense trees and a temple 10 meters ahead came into view.  

“As expected, it’s crisp.”  

Muttering with a smile, Kang Juho surveyed his surroundings.  

It felt no different from reality.  

Earth wasn’t the first VR game, and despite its late release, having graphical issues would have been unthinkable.  

He moved toward the temple.  

—No character has been created.  

—Please step onto the platform to create a character.  

The moment he arrived at the temple, a deep voice echoed.  

Familiar with the character creation process, Kang Juho stepped onto the platform in the temple’s center.  

Light burst from the platform.  

—Scan complete.  

The deep voice echoed again, and Kang Juho’s character appeared on the opposite platform.  

It wasn’t just the character.  

Swish!  

A keyboard and mouse appeared in midair.  

—Please enter your character name.  

Tap-tap-tap!  

Kang Juho quickly typed his character name and moved the mouse to select his starting nation.  

—Character creation complete.  

After finalizing all settings and confirming, the deep voice echoed once more.  

Kang Juho stepped off the platform.  

Then he stepped back onto it.  

—Connecting.  

Swish!  

The moment he stepped back on, the voice sounded, and the surroundings filled with light.  

Exactly three seconds later, the light faded, revealing a new landscape.  

Kang Juho immediately checked the minimap.  

“Square 1, huh…”  

Confirming his location, he looked around.  

It was quiet.  

And Kim Seok-ju was nowhere to be seen.  

Must’ve been summoned somewhere else.  

The Paraville Kingdom’s starting city, Villeme, had five squares, from Square 1 to Square 5.  

Kim Seok-ju had likely already created his character and logged in.  

Not seeing him meant he was probably summoned to another square.  

They had agreed to meet at Square 3 every hour if they didn’t meet initially.  

Planning to meet in an hour, Kang Juho checked the message window.  

[Welcome to Earth!]  

[Quest ‘Tutorial!’ created.]  

[Quest ‘Open Inventory’ created.]  

[Quest ‘Open Character Window’ created.]  

Several messages appeared, and Kang Juho opened the quest window.  

<Tutorial!>  

Find the guard ‘Kalam’ at the northern gate!  

Quest Reward: Old Iron Sword  

After checking the first quest, Tutorial!, Kang Juho began walking north.  

Swish! Swish! Swish!  

As soon as he started moving, users began spawning one after another.  

Gotta move fast.  

Seeing the users, Kang Juho started running.  

There weren’t as many users as expected, but there were still four other squares.  

Considering the users likely spawned in other squares, it seemed best to reach Kalam quickly and proceed to the next quest.