Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“A humanoid monster!”
“I heard that a humanoid monster will drop equipment! Come on. Let’s kill it before someone else comes!”
“Holy sh*t! What level is this monster? Why is it so hard to beat?”
“I can’t hold on any longer!”
…
At a leveling spot just fairly outside the Abandoned Mining Area, a newbie group of four Warrior Players saw Mohai, a bandit goon, and they rushed towards him with the immense anticipation of getting some equipment after the kill.
When Mohai leveled up from Level 5 to Level 7, his HP increased by 200 points, his Attack by 8 points, his Physical Defense by 3 points, and his Magical Defense by a point. With these increased stats, he could easily fight four of them at once and come out unscathed.
However, he intentionally lost half of his HP as he slowly ground the players’ HP down before a sudden strike which killed all four of the Warrior players at once.
Killing a player gives me 10 XP. Level 4 difficulty multi-kill bonus only gives me an extra 30 XP. The drop in XP is huge!
After killing another four players, Mohai gained 70 XP, which was a lot less than his initial expectation.
When the player’s level was higher than the monster, the player would also relatively gain less XP, but it was much worse for the monster.
I guess I’ll have to work harder.
Mohai finally realized that using a monster to level up the template was not an easy task. In his past life, the low-level monsters which he encountered that successfully leveled up their templates became extremely difficult to deal with. No wonder they were known as ‘variant monsters’ by the players.
However, it was just a matter of time for Mohai.
After that, players kept discovering a wandering humanoid monster in the intercross area between the Abandoned Mining Area and the Monolith Stronghold.
Every single one of them excitedly jumped on him and hoped for equipment after the kill, but they were all killed by this humanoid monster without any exceptions.
Since he had to kill a lot of players, Mohai was not picky with his targets. Whether it was a newbie group or not, as long as their numbers remained low, he would pretend to be lost and wander over, waiting for the players to jump on him.
The number of players who died at his hands increased, but there were more players swarming over to the Abandoned Mining Area, so Mohai did not worry about having a shortage of targets.
“A variant monster has appeared in the Abandoned Mining Area!”
Gradually, as more and more players died there, the news about a variant monster appearing in the Abandoned Mining Area started to circulate around Guggenheim.
The bandit leader was a Level 10 Elite monster, and the Monolith Stronghold had more than one bandit leader whilst there were plenty more bandit goons.
Among the players that Mohai killed, some of them had killed a group of bandit goons before. Bandit goons usually appeared in pairs, yet the players who could kill common bandit goons were somehow wiped out by Mohai. Factoring in Mohai’s displayed HP, Attack, and Defense stats, the players easily related him to a variant monster.
Variant monsters appeared in many other games. Most of them looked the same as common monsters but had better stats and attributes besides being harder to fight, but there was also a chance for a better equipment drop.
In the early stage of the game, players had unusually high demands for equipment. A Level 7 variant monster might drop a Level 10 Excellent equipment.
After officially settling down with one’s occupation at Level 10, having an Excellent equipment would boost one by leaps and bounds.
Guggenheim was filled with elite players, many of who were eager to have a go.
The Abandoned Mining Area was originally a decent leveling spot, so even if the players did not meet the variant monster, they would not lose anything by going there.
However, while insightful players started to get prepared, Mohai killed another group of players and finally reached Level 8.
Activity log:
Leveled up to Level 8
[Acquired skill]: Smarter Than Others
[Acquired skill]: Fury
AI Level increased to “self-thinking”
…
Unlike player level-ups, a bandit goon that leveled up would get a notification from the system, but Mohai’s activity log should have the related records.
After he leveled up, he immediately opened his activity log.
Level 8 was indeed a crucial level. The two-level jump before this did not even grant him a single skill, yet when he reached Level 8, he obtained two at once.
[Smarter Than Others]: Increase Speed by 30%, Dodging Rate by 30%, and Defense by 30%. Duration: 20 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.
[Fury]: Increase Attack by 25 points, Attack Speed by 20%, Critical Rate by 20%, and Damage Received by 25%. Duration: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
At the same time, the [Slash] skill also got a power-up and its damage increased from 30 points to 50 points.
Other than acquiring skills and powering up the existing ones, Mohai glanced at his attributes and still did not find any, but his HP surged from 600 to 1,000 and his Attack grew to 32 – 66, his Physical Defense to 35, and his Magical Defense to 8.
It was safe to say that his basic stats surged and he officially joined the rank of variant monster.
The most concerning point was the AI level going up. Self-thinking meant that he could start moving freely without too much concern!
…
“Found it! It’s there!”
It took Mohai a little over an hour to level up from Level 7 to Level 8. More and more Level 3 players were thronging the place. After the news about a variant monster got out, many people started to search the Abandoned Mining Area.
More than a dozen players came to the area this time. Mohai had a glimpse at the number and wisely chose not to tangle up with them. He activated Smarter Than Others and ran away.
“It really is a variant monster! It even knows how to flee!”
The players who came after him could do nothing but watch him vanish from their sight.
Everything was progressing according to plan. Mohai picked up an ore as he ran away from the Abandoned Mining Area. He collected five ores and went back to the bandit leader’s hideout at the Monolith Stronghold.
“Did No. 6 get killed by the Adventurers?” The bandit leader raised a surprised brow when he saw only Mohai return.
“Yes.” Mohai nodded dully which was the standard action for a mindless NPC.
“Fine. At least, you made it back. Give me the ores.” The bandit leader did not express much interest. Compared to a goon, he was more concerned about the ores.
Mohai stepped up and handed over five ores that he took out from his bag. The bandit leader took the ores and squinted at them.
“Where did you collect these? Is there a lot more?”
The bandit leader picked up a black ore. It was a black iron ore that was a different color than regular iron ore.
Compared to iron ore, collecting black iron ore in the Abandoned Mining Area was relatively more difficult.
However, Mohai remembered the location of the ore depot at the Abandoned Mining Area. Especially because they had not been swarmed by players, he simply circled around the place and found a number of black iron ores and decided only to bring one back to the leader.
“Plenty. There’re around 30 to 40,” Mohai answered briefly.
“30 to 40?! No. 1, 2, 3, 4, all of you, follow No. 5 and collect black iron ores at the Abandoned Mining Area!” The bandit leader’s eyes shone as he cried out in excitement and raised his hand to point at his men.
“Yes, leader!” the five bandit goons answered in one voice.
The bandit leader was going all out in this attempt. He only had a total of six goons, and now with No.6 dead, he sent all the remaining goons out, leaving him alone in the hideout.
‘The five of them can bring back 30 black iron ores. Leveling up the Reincarnation Pool requires 40. Even if their luck runs out, I can gather enough black iron ores in two round trips. As for the Magical Spring Water, I just happen to know where it is…Hmm! If I level up the Reincarnation Pool to Level 2, those bandit leaders around the area will no longer be my match!’
The bandit leader’s thoughts were great, but he never would have thought that among his men, there was a super mole who was digging a bigger hole for him to jump in.
…
The number of players was increasing. 18 players were killing monsters, leveling up at the intercrossing leveling spot between the Monolith Stronghold and the Abandoned Mining Area.
“Five bandit goons!”
“The Monolith Stronghold is really a hideout for bandits! But the levels of the wild wolves around there are too high. Otherwise, we can simply rush in and kill the bandits!”
The 18 players were from four different groups and one of the wealthy players said loudly to encourage his party, “If a single party can’t take on the bandit leader, why don’t all of us team up? We will share the loot. As for those who don’t get a fair share, I’ll compensate with my own money, so it won’t be a losing deal!”
“Sure!”
The humanoid monster was a juicy piece of meat. No single party could take on five bandit goons at once, hence when the Warrior player came up with the suggestion, it won the agreements of the other players.
Every player in the parties was on Level 3 and no tactics were needed just for a few bandit goons. Therefore, the four parties selected their target and dashed towards the bandit goons.
“18 players! These four bandit goons are dead meat!”
The five bandit goons were obviously Mohai and the other bandit goons. The super mole Mohai was bringing his ‘comrades’ towards the players and not the black iron ore depot.
As part of his plan, he had to send the bandit goons to die.
When the players entered the aggro radius, the four bandit goons switched their attention. Without caring that they were outnumbered, they raised their iron swords and charged towards the players.
Mohai abandoned the four of them and ran away.
“One of them is fleeing!” said one of the players in shock.
“Stop causing a fuss! Surf the forums of the game community if you have the time! The community said the monsters have different personalities and the Timid ones will run when they are outnumbered! Since one of them has fled, our parties can take one goon each!”
“Charge!”
A party of four players ganged up on a single bandit goon. Even though these players were not as good as TemperedSteel and the other two, due to the advantage of their numbers, the four bandit goons did not inflict a single point of damage on the players and were killed one by one.
Mohai did not leave just yet. He was hiding behind a rock and watching all four of the bandit goons get killed before he turned around to the black iron ore depot of the Abandoned Mining Area.
He did not meet any players along the way. Mohai was in deep thought at the black iron ore depot. After he was done with his preparation, he kept away some black iron ores and collected five more before he headed back to the hideout at the Monolith Stronghold.
“Where are the others?” The bandit leader was stunned when he saw that only Mohai returned.
“We ran into some Adventurers when we came back. They were all killed,” answered Mohai flatly.
“They were all killed? Those damned Adventurers!” shouted the bandit leader. He did not know that four of his men had actually died because of this mole.
After receiving the five black ores from Mohai, the bandit leader toned down his anger.
A total of six black iron ores…Those Adventurers will only get stronger. If I don’t collect all the required black iron ores, it will only get harder from here!
This bandit leader was unlike the other mook around him who cared only about enjoying life. In Lady Isabelle’s words, he was The Enlightened One, so he was naturally smarter than the others and would be the pillar of resistance against those cursed Adventurers!
Since he discovered the black iron depot this early on, it would be a great opportunity for him to rise. He could not waste this opportunity even if it would cost him a one-time use of [Free Action].