Chapter 50
The Next Day.
Carpe logged into the game early in the morning, and the Heavenly Demon greeted him.
- "Oh, you’re here?"
“Yeah, did anything happen while I was gone?”
- "Nope, it was pretty peaceful for once. I just spent the night uploading a new video and laughing about it."
“…You could’ve at least blurred the disgusting parts.”
- "Oh, come on. I can’t be the only one who saw that horror! Anyway, whether it’s gross or not, people will watch. Check the comments—reactions are better than you’d think."
“Really?”
After getting home last night, Carpe had crashed into bed and didn’t get a chance to check.
- "People are especially loving Tina."
“Huh? Tina?”
- "Yeah, read the comments yourself."
Curious, Carpe pulled up the video and scrolled through the comments.
- *"Disappointed in Heavenly Demon. I thought he was a solo player, but now he’s doing party runs."*
- *"This guy must be a noob. The Sea Cave Dungeon doesn’t allow solo entry. You need a party to get the skill pack reward."*
- *"That blonde knight is amazing. Did you see how she dodged the Slater’s tentacles?"*
- *"Her parrying is a work of art. Are all new players this good now? The bar is so high!"*
- *"She’s probably trained in kendo or fencing in real life. No way that’s just a regular player’s moves."*
- *"Damn, Heavenly Demon. Why didn’t you show her face? All we saw was the back of her head."*
- *"Even her back radiates power."*
- *"Also, those squirrels are adorable."*
As the Heavenly Demon had said, the comments were overflowing with interest in Tina. Many viewers had mistaken her for a player since Hanzo had been knocked out early in the video and wasn’t even shown.
“She’s definitely pretty.”
- "That’s an understatement. If we showed her face, your subscriber count would triple in 24 hours, guaranteed."
“Which is exactly why I won’t reveal her.”
Even if Tina wouldn’t see the inevitable negative comments, *he* would. And that would infuriate him.
“If anyone insults her, I’ll get mad.”
- "It’s natural to feel protective of your team, but like I said before, don’t get too attached to NPCs. I’m saying this for your own good."
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
- "Alright, let’s drop this for now. Are we starting the raid?"
“Yep, I’m ready.”
Carpe grinned as he equipped his gauntlets. The fit was perfect, the result of having his handprint taken for a custom design.
- "It’s a bit of a shame that we couldn’t enhance the other parts of your gear, though."
“There’s nothing we can do about that.”
Carpe had initially asked Fergus to enhance all of his gear, but after pouring everything into the gauntlets, Fergus didn’t have enough materials left for anything else. Fergus’s enhancement method was unique—once another blacksmith had worked on an item, Fergus couldn’t enhance it afterward.
‘I plan to head to the capital to restore my family’s honor and gather the necessary materials,’ Fergus had explained. ‘I’ll wait for you there, ready to strengthen your gear once more.’
So, Carpe’s next set of enhancements was on hold until he could visit the capital.
“Man, I wish I’d succeeded with the *Repetition* experiment.”
From the moment he’d entered the enhancement district, Carpe had a plan. In fact, as soon as he heard the word “enhancement,” he thought of trying *Repetition*. What if he could repeat enhancements? If a failure occurred, he could just try again and again until it worked.
It seemed like the perfect fit for the concept of enhancement.
Once Fergus left, Carpe had bought a cheap sword and put his idea to the test.
‘This weapon has already been safely enhanced. Proceeding further may reduce its enhancement level or destroy the item. Would you like to continue?’
‘Yes, please go ahead.’
‘Very well. But don’t blame me if it fails.’
Hoping for failure to test his theory, Carpe eagerly awaited the result.
‘Oops! My hand slipped!’
The smith’s teasing remark was followed by the dreaded system message.
[Enhancement failed. The item’s enhancement level has decreased by 1.]
The instant the failure notice appeared, Carpe shouted *Repetition* in his mind.
Ding.
[You have activated *Repetition*.]
[Skill activation failed. Your skill level is insufficient to repeat “Enhancement.”]
‘Ah…’
And so, the experiment had only been a partial success.
“Sigh. I want to dump all my skill points into *Repetition* and master it, but…”
- "Don’t. There’s no guarantee it’ll work, even if you max out the points."
“That’s the problem.”
Unlike most skills, which maxed out at level 10, *Unlock* and *Repetition* seemed to have no upper limit. According to the Heavenly Demon, the maximum skill level varied from skill to skill—some maxed out at level 1, while others went beyond 30. In the worst case, *Repetition* might drain all of Carpe’s points without unlocking enhancement repetition.
“I’ll just have to rely on the title bonus and be patient.”
Fortunately, thanks to his [First 0-Star Skill] title, *Repetition* automatically leveled up whenever Carpe gained experience, so he wouldn’t be stuck grinding skill points forever.
“I guess my next enhancement will have to wait until I reach the capital.”
- "Just so you know, the capital is a high-level area. You need to be around level 70 to even enter."
“Then I’ll stick with my +12 weapon until then.”
- "Stick with it? Since when did mowing down enemies count as ‘getting by’? Now hurry up, let’s get to that slaughtering. We’re wasting time chatting."
* * *
Twenty minutes east of Luaanas Beach, Carpe arrived at a dense forest.
- "We’re here. This is the Sea Forest."
“These trees are smaller than I expected.”
The Sea Forest was full of trees about half the size of the ginkgo trees you’d see lining city streets, tightly packed together.
“Well, time to test this out.”
Carpe pulled an FB Radar from his inventory. He pressed the button on top, and a system message popped up.
[Scanning for field bosses within a 1-kilometer radius.]
[Scan complete – 1 entity found. Field Boss: Elder Trent.]
[Elder Trent is not currently spawned. Respawn time: 1 hour, 47 minutes.]
“This is really convenient.”
- "This thing is another overpowered cheat. Looks like it’ll be perfect for broadcasting a raid."
Not only did the radar alert him, but it also marked the boss’s location on the minimap with a skull icon. All Carpe had to do was show up when the time was right.
- "Almost two hours, huh?"
“We can hunt some regular mobs and complete the side quests in the meantime.”
Currently, Carpe had two quests related to the Sea Forest:
[Collect Sea Mushrooms (0/20)]
[Defeat Trents (0/30)]
One was a gathering quest, and the other was a straightforward kill quest. Neither seemed particularly difficult.
- "Alright, let’s go. Time to unleash *Fist Demon*!"
“…Can we not call it that?”
- "Why not? You call me *Heavenly Demon*, don’t you? *Fist Demon*! It rolls right off the tongue. Great name."
“I must admit, both Heavenly Demon and Fist Demon are impressive titles. I’m a bit envious, actually.”
“Kyu!”
“Mukhyang agrees as well.”
Carpe groaned.
Fergus had done a fantastic job, but why did he have to name the item *Fist Demon*? There was no escaping the fact that he was now a full-fledged follower of a demonic cult.
- "Good. Henceforth, you are the Guardian Fist Demon of our sect. As the leader, I couldn’t be more pleased."
“You hated being called Heavenly Demon at first, but now you’re enjoying it.”
- "If you can’t avoid it, might as well have fun. Now, go forth and bring glory to our sect!"
Heavenly Demon, Fist Demon, Mukhyang, Radiance…
…The names of the party members were a mess.
It felt more like a martial arts sect than a party of adventurers, though there was one righteous-sounding name mixed in there. Either way, they had practically formed their own little martial arts group.
- "Anyway, who cares what the item is called? Performance is what matters."
“True, but… huh?”
Thud!
Just then, a tree-like creature lumbered into view ahead of Carpe, easily five meters tall. It was a Trent, one of the Sea Forest’s protectors.
“This is a Trent? It looks tough.”
- "Trents are usually slow but have high defense. Their weakness is fire, but these Trents are infused with the sea’s energy, so they resist fire…”
Whack!
Grrroooan—thud!
[You have defeated a Sea Trent.]
[Trent Hunt (1/30)]
“Not tough at all.”
- "…Well, if they can’t even resist, I guess you can just do whatever you want."
“This game is really well-designed.”
Carpe continued toward the skull icon on his minimap.
* * *
Whack!
[You have defeated a Sea Trent.]
[Level Up! You have earned bonus points.]
[You have completed *Trent Hunt*. Report to the Luana Guard for your reward.]
“Leveling feels slower now. I’ve been hunting for an hour and a half, but I’ve only gained two levels.”
- "That’s how it is once you hit level 20. The experience requirement skyrockets. Heh, it’s just the beginning. It’ll get even worse."
“Most games are like that, so it’s no big deal. What’s more frustrating is that my experiments aren’t working.”
Carpe sighed as he looked down at his gauntlets. Though he had turned off the +12 enhancement glow, the weapon was anything but ordinary—it was a planet-buster in terms of power.
“I want to test the item’s options, but everything dies in one hit.”
The second option on *Fist Demon* was that there was a low chance of automatically casting an imbued magic spell during a physical attack. But since every mob he hit instantly died, he had no way to test if the magic activation actually worked.
At least, though, he had learned one thing:
[Currently imbued magic in *Fist Demon*: 3-star skill, *Elemental Arrow*.]
[You cannot imbue a 4-star skill, *Wind Cutter*.]
[Player level is insufficient.]
Apparently, the level of skills he could imbue depended on both his level and the skill’s rank. Yet another reason to grind for levels.
“Kyu kyu!”
“Oh, did you find more? See, I knew I could count on you, Mukhyang.”
Mukhyang ran over to Carpe, carrying a blue mushroom in its mouth.
[You have collected a Sea Mushroom.]
[Sea Mushroom Collection (16/20)]
Mukhyang’s skill, *Gathering Instinct*, had proved invaluable. While Carpe was busy hunting Trents, Mukhyang had been running around the forest, picking mushrooms.
At this rate, they’d finish the gathering quest in about 20 minutes.
“But before that…”
Carpe glanced at his minimap. He was now standing at the exact spot marked by the skull icon.
[Elder Trent will respawn in 3 minutes, 47 seconds.]
Since entering the Sea Forest, Carpe had crossed paths with a few other players, but fortunately, the area around the boss was currently deserted.
It was the perfect setup for a solo raid.
Of course, once the battle began, the noise would likely draw other players, but Carpe had a plan for that as well.
- "Are you really going to fight solo? It’d be easier if you followed the standard raid strategy."
“Yes, I’m doing this alone.”
Initially, the plan had been to use Tina as the tank, Carpe as the damage dealer, and Mukhyang as the support—your typical party setup. But after acquiring *Fist Demon* from Fergus, Carpe decided to change his approach.
No assistance from his summons. A true solo raid.
Why? For one simple reason.
“Solo raids are the ultimate dream of any gamer!”
- "Sometimes, I think you’ve lost your mind. Ugh, fine. Do whatever you want."
The Heavenly Demon had long since learned to let Carpe do his thing. There was no stopping the man when he got into one of his “fun” moods.
As the respawn timer ticked down…
[Elder Trent will spawn shortly.]
A large magic circle appeared on the ground, and from it emerged a towering Trent, easily three times the size of the others.
Grooooaaarrr!
“Here we go!”
Carpe charged at the field boss.
* * *
Thud!
Level 33 Ranger Stephan felt a tremor in the ground and turned in the direction it came from.
It wasn’t far away.
“Looks like that’s where it’s happening this time.”
The only thing in the Sea Forest capable of causing tremors like that was the field boss, Elder Trent.
‘Looks like it’s time to hunt.’
Stephan grinned as he sprinted toward the source of the tremor. When he arrived at the scene, he couldn’t help but chuckle.
‘Hah. A solo raid? Some people just don’t know their place.’
Elder Trent was the first field boss most *Lasse* players encountered. Naturally, there were always players who underestimated it and tried to take it on alone, only to be crushed within moments.
‘He’ll be dead soon enough without me doing anything.’
But why let the boss finish him off when it would be so much more fun to take care of it himself?
Stephan ducked behind a tree, drawing his bow.
‘This is the best part.’
There was nothing quite like the thrill of shooting another player in the back during a raid. The moment the arrow struck, the look of despair that crossed their face was priceless.
It was the reason Stephan had been lurking in the Sea Forest for so long, hunting down unsuspecting players instead of leveling up.
He pulled an arrow from his quiver and aimed for the player’s exposed back. Just as the player charged at Elder Trent, Stephan loosed the arrow.
But before it could fly straight, a sharp clang rang out.
Clang!
A silver sword slashed through the arrow, sending it clattering to the ground.
“What the… When did… Ugh!”
Stephan tried to shout, but no words came out.
The silver sword had pierced his chest.
“Wh-who…”
“No name is worth giving to a coward.”
The sword’s owner, Tina, pulled her blade free, silencing Stephan for good. His body disappeared, leaving behind only a lone bow on the ground.
Mukhyang, perched in a nearby tree, leapt down and snatched the bow, storing it in its inventory.
“This world has truly become a brutal place. It’s disheartening.”
“Kyu?”
“We can’t allow dishonorable people like that to interrupt our lord’s noble battle. Let’s move on, Mukhyang.”
“Kyu kyu!”
Mukhyang activated its *Enlarge* skill, transforming into a creature about the size of a small dog. Tina, now shrunk to her miniature form, climbed onto Mukhyang’s back, a light blush coloring her cheeks.
“Hm. This… this ride is truly exceptional.”
“Kyu?”
“Nothing, never mind. Let’s head that way. I can sense a faint trace of divine energy.”
“Kyu kyu!”
While Carpe battled the field boss alone, Tina and Mukhyang continued their hunt elsewhere in the forest.
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