Was that a weak point?
The glint must have been the scarecrow’s weak spot, triggering a critical hit. Soohyuk swung at the armpit again.
Thwack!
But with the glint gone, no critical hit triggered this time.
Does it have to be glowing?
It seemed the spot wasn’t inherently a weak point—only when it was glowing.
Agility, huh.
As he kept swinging, Soohyuk thought to himself. In Pangea, you could gain bonus stats through leveling up, but also through actions. His agility had risen because of the critical hit.
If only it was stamina.
For Soohyuk, agility was a useless stat.
Agility increased physical defense and critical hit damage, but for Soohyuk, whose main goal wasn’t hunting, it was a useless stat. It would’ve been much better if stamina, which improved satiety efficiency, had increased instead. He felt a pang of regret.
Thwack!
[Training Scarecrow has been destroyed.]
At that moment, a message appeared, and the training scarecrow began to collapse. Soohyuk moved to the next scarecrow and swung his sword.
Thwack!
[Training Scarecrow has been destroyed.]
It didn’t take long to destroy the second scarecrow. Unlike the first, the second didn’t have any glowing weak points.
Having destroyed two scarecrows and met the quest conditions, Soohyuk put his sword in his inventory and approached the training instructor to complete the quest.
“I destroyed them.”
[Quest ‘Destroy the Scarecrows!’ has been completed.]
[You have received the quest reward.]
As he spoke, the quest completed. Soohyuk opened his inventory. The quest reward—2 gold and a new piece of armor—had appeared.
“Good job,” the instructor said.
Soohyuk, who was looking at the armor, closed his inventory when the instructor spoke and focused on him.
“Now it’s time to try real hunting. Catch five rabbits and bring back three rabbit hides. You’ll find rabbits outside the village.”
Rabbit Hunt
Having learned basic attack methods through the training scarecrows, the instructor wants you to hunt rabbits and bring back their hides. Hunt rabbits and collect their hides!
[Rabbits: 0/5]
[Rabbit Hides: 0/3]
Quest Reward: Crude Leather Armor Shoes
This was no longer about hitting stationary scarecrows—it was time to hunt moving rabbits.
“Understood.”
[Quest ‘Rabbit Hunt’ has been accepted.]
Soohyuk accepted the quest, said goodbye to the instructor, and left the training center. The rabbits, as the instructor said, were outside the village.
Why’d the gold suddenly stop?
As he walked toward the village outskirts, Soohyuk thought to himself. The reward for the ‘Rabbit Hunt’ quest was only shoes—no gold.
Are they done giving gold now?
Was it possible that quests wouldn’t reward gold anymore?
That’d be a problem.
He needed 50 gold to buy a library pass, and with the cost of food to maintain satiety while reading, gold was essential.
Guess I’ll have to earn it through hunting?
Of course, he didn’t have to rely solely on quest rewards. He could earn gold through hunting.
Sigh.
Finishing his thoughts, Soohyuk sighed inwardly and checked his inventory for the reward from destroying the scarecrows—a crude leather armor top.
He examined it.
Crude Leather Armor Top [Normal]
Restrictions: None
Physical Defense: 50
As expected.
Confirming the item’s stats, Soohyuk nodded as if he’d anticipated it. The crude leather armor top was a normal-grade item, the lowest of the six item tiers.
Still better than wearing nothing.
Soohyuk equipped the armor. It wasn’t great, but it was better than going without. Shortly after equipping it, he exited the village.
“Hey! I hit that one first!”
“Sorry, it just jumped out.”
The village outskirts were already packed. Countless users roamed, hunting rabbits. The problem was there were more users than rabbits.
This’ll take forever.
When a single rabbit spawned, five or six users rushed it. Catching five rabbits in this chaos wouldn’t be easy—it’d take a while.
Gotta move somewhere else.
Soohyuk decided to relocate. Competing with so many users here wasn’t worth it. It’d be better to go somewhere less crowded, even if it was farther. His decision paid off.
The farther he got from the village, the fewer users there were, and the more rabbits appeared. Soon, there were fewer users than rabbits, and Soohyuk stopped moving.
To maintain satiety, his satiety, he finished eating the hard bread he’d been munching on and drew his sword.
That one.
Approaching the nearest rabbit, he swung his sword.
Thwack!
As expected from a training sword, it didn’t cut. The rabbit fell with a dull thud, as if hit by a club.
Feels kinda bad.
Looking at the trembling rabbit, Soohyuk thought to himself.
Too realistic graphics can be a problem.
Great graphics weren’t always a good thing. But it was just a game. Having hunted countless rabbits in other virtual reality games, Soohyuk swung again at the quivering rabbit.
Thwack!
The rabbit fell again, and with his next attack, it stopped moving. At that moment, Soohyuk saw a window indicating a dropped item.
Oh, a hide!
The dropped item was a rabbit hide, needed for the quest. Soohyuk pressed the collect button, smiled at the hide in his inventory, closed it, and moved to find the next rabbit.
After catching the fifth rabbit, a message appeared.
[Level Up!]
Soohyuk leveled up. First, he collected the dropped item. After catching five rabbits, he had four hides.
How much would one sell for?
With one hide left after completing the quest, Soohyuk wondered how much it’d fetch. He closed his inventory and opened his character window.
Level: 2
Experience: 0%
Health: 60/60
Mana: 0
Satiety: 65%
Strength: 10
Agility: 11
Stamina: 10
Wisdom: 10
Bonus Stats: 5
He needed to allocate his bonus stats.
Stamina’s the way to go, right?
For Soohyuk, stamina was the most important stat. After a moment’s thought, he put all five bonus stats into stamina, closed the character window, and started walking back to the village.
“Hey! Stop stealing!”
“I hit it first!”
The village entrance was still crowded, with users bickering over the limited rabbits. Soohyuk passed them and headed to the training center.
“I caught them,” he said to the instructor upon arriving.
“Where are the rabbit hides?”
At the instructor’s question, Soohyuk frowned in confusion and opened his inventory. He’d thought it would auto-complete, but it seemed he had to hand over the hides manually.
“Here they are.”
Soohyuk pulled out three rabbit hides and handed them to the instructor, who took them as if it were routine and placed them behind him.
[Quest ‘Rabbit Hunt’ has been completed.]
A message appeared.
Why no reward message?
Unlike before, no reward acquisition message appeared. Puzzled, Soohyuk checked his inventory.
Where is it?
The quest reward was supposed to be shoes, but his inventory was unchanged from when he’d handed over the hides. Was it because there was no reward message?
Just then, the instructor spoke.
“Here.”
He held out his hand. Soohyuk, startled while checking his inventory, saw the shoes in the instructor’s hand—the crude leather armor shoes, the quest reward.
“You might find it surprising, but until now, rewards were auto-acquired for new players’ convenience. From now on, you’ll need to collect rewards directly from the NPC giving the quest.”
Soohyuk understood why there was no reward message. The auto-acquisition was a courtesy for new players.
“Got it.”
The instructor wasn’t done.
“It also means your relationship with the NPC matters. Depending on the relationship, the stated reward can improve or worsen.”
Quest rewards weren’t fixed. They could vary based on the relationship with the quest-giving NPC—potentially better or worse.
“Thanks for explaining,” Soohyuk said.
The instructor, who’d shown no emotion until now, smiled.
“You understand quickly.”
He nodded, pleased with Soohyuk’s understanding, and took back his hand.
What?
Soohyuk, about to take the shoes, was startled as the instructor withdrew his hand, then extended it again.
Sword?
It wasn’t shoes in the instructor’s hand now. It was a sword, far sharper than the training sword.
“Take it.”
Seeing Soohyuk’s confusion, the instructor spoke. Soohyuk, still puzzled, took the sword.
[You have acquired the Instructor’s Gift Sword.]
A message appeared.
Because of the thanks?
The quest reward was supposed to be shoes, but it seemed his gratitude had altered the reward.