Chapter 15: Chapter 15

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Chapter 15

[You have arrived at the entrance of the ‘Lv.25 Orc Warrior’s Forest’ dungeon.]

Three people emerged from the portal: two level 15 users and one level 43 user.

A warrior, an archer, and a healer formed the party of three.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just do the quests given at the training center?”

One of the level 15 users asked with a disgruntled expression.

He wanted to skip this time, but he was dragged along by the other two.

“Hey, how long will it take to reach level 30 doing those quests and dungeon runs? When someone’s offering a carry, just accept it.”

He agreed with the instructor giving out measly experience points.

Even after completing the dungeon raid quest, the experience only increased by a mere 12%.

No wonder people said it would take weeks to reach the first job advancement.

“Yeah, Ji-sung is right. It’s much better to run higher-level dungeons.”

The three of them were childhood friends who had been close since elementary school.

And Han Ji-sung was the highest level among them, a level 43 warrior.

As the warrior, Han Ji-sung would sweep away the monsters, so his lower-level friends just had to ride the “bus” (get carried).

It was faster to level up than receiving quests from the instructor.

That’s why users who had already completed their first job advancement would often power-level lower-level users through dungeons, taking all the rewards for themselves.

This was because the northern dungeons required a minimum of three people to proceed.

“But why is this forest so vast?”

“I don’t know. Other dungeons weren’t this wide.”

The portal to the Orc Warrior’s Forest was uniquely surrounded by a dense forest.

“Hmm, then should we look around?”

Yoo Jinho, the level 15 mage, suggested.

The other two tilted their heads at his suggestion.

“Do we have to?”

“It’s different from other dungeons, right? There might be something here.”

“Why waste time? Let’s just clear the dungeon and be done with it.”

“You never know. We have time, so how about we explore for 30 minutes?”

“30 minutes is fine…”

“Okay! Let’s go then!”

In the end, they decided to explore the forest for 30 minutes, following Yoo Jinho’s suggestion.

“What could possibly be here…”

Han Ji-sung grumbled, but his complaints stopped when they discovered a cave.

“See! Doesn’t it smell like something’s definitely here?”

As if to prove it wasn’t an ordinary cave, the inside was bright.

Was there really something here?

“…It does seem like it.”

“Let’s go in.”

Even Park Sungho, who was practically dragged here, actively agreed.

Finally, the three entered the cave.

And inside, they found a portal.

“There it is!”

“Huh? There’s a dungeon here?”

“Hey… it’s Lv.38?”

For a dungeon lurking in the Starting Village, the level was too high.

“Ji-sung, I’m asking you a favor!”

“…You crazy bastard, I’ve never even entered a dungeon this high.”

Even with a high level, it was natural to be scared.

The Poison Crusher was a whopping 13 levels higher than the Lv.25 Orc Warrior.

At that moment, the portal glowed and a user returned.

Usually, if you failed to clear a dungeon, you’d be forcibly logged out and unable to log in for 24 hours.

The fact that he returned unharmed meant he had cleared the dungeon.

“Um… did you clear this place?”

“Yes, why?”

===

[Player Information]

-Nickname: Hoon

-Level: 22

-Class: Martial Artist

===

A level 22 martial artist solo-killed the boss?

And it was the Poison Crusher, 16 levels higher?

“No way…”

Han Ji-sung muttered in a daze.

“Then good luck.”

The user passed by the three and left the forest.

“Ji-sung, this seems doable.”

“Yeah, if a level 22 can clear it, it should be fine for us.”

If a level 22 martial artist could hunt it, the Lv.38 Crusher must be weakened.

Right, this is the Starting Village. It doesn’t make sense for a Lv.38 to be here.

“…Okay, let’s go in!”

Led by Han Ji-sung, Yoo Jinho and Park Sungho bravely headed towards the Poison Crusher.

“Hiss! Huuumaaans!”

The Crusher, having lost its life once to Jeong-Hoon, rushed towards them in a rage as soon as the humans appeared.

“J-Ji-sung! Do something!”

“Crazy! The thing I’m most afraid of is centipedes! Of all things, it had to be a centipede!”

“You’re level 43! You useless bastard!”

“Aaagh!”

They were logged out without putting up much of a fight.

* * *

So those three were the ones who discovered the hidden dungeon.

‘They’ll fail to clear it.’

The Poison Crusher spewed poisonous gas, so it would be easier to defeat with higher-level users.

From what Jeong-Hoon could see, only one of the three had completed their first job advancement.

If they went in like that, they’d probably be forcibly logged out for 24 hours.

[Crusher’s Poisonous Fang]

-Type: Consumable

-Grade: Rare

-Upgrades the Normal Grade of status ailment resistance skills to Rare.

-However, the skill level must be 10.

An item that allows for further strengthening of Poison Resistance.

It’s a rare item that might drop once every 1,000 Poison Crusher kills.

[Poison Resistance]

-Type: Passive

-Level: 5

-Grade: Normal

-Increases resistance to poison. (Poison Resistance)

-Resists health reduction caused by poison.

Currently, Poison Resistance is at level 5.

He wanted to continuously fight the Poison Crusher and raise the level of Poison Resistance to 10, but not only had the Crusher lost its will to fight, but the skill level increase had slowed down as he became accustomed to its poison.

Therefore, he couldn’t use the Crusher’s Poisonous Fang right away.

‘There will be plenty of opportunities to reach level 10.’

It wouldn’t take long anyway.

Jeong-Hoon planned to raise the level of Poison Resistance to 10 in this Starting Village.

And the item that would be the quest material:

[Crusher’s Poison Sac (Unusable)]

-Type: Material

-Grade: Normal

-The poison sac where the Crusher stored its poison.

-Contains potent poison, making it difficult to use.

‘I have to do this no matter what.’

It was the reward for a quest that once heated up the Starting Village.

[Poison Damage]

A crazy skill that has a low chance of inflicting additional poison damage with every attack.

This Poison Sac could be considered the starting item for obtaining that skill.

Of course, he couldn’t start the quest right away.

He had to meet the alchemist belonging to the Starting Village, but he couldn’t just randomly visit and receive the quest.

To obtain that quest, he first had to clear all the quests given by the village NPCs.

‘I’ll also get the things everyone else misses.’

Most users were obsessed with leveling up and progressing through job advancement quests.

And those who completed their first job advancement would move on to the next city.

Naturally, only a very small number of users would meticulously clear all the quests in the Starting Village.

Of course, it wasn’t like no one did it.

Streamers who used New World as broadcast content had once done a challenge to complete all the quests in the Starting Village.

[Wow… the reward is just a single title. ‘Benefactor of Starting Village’ has appeared.]

-As you can see, it’s a title… and the option is just a 1% increase in health and mana. Seriously?

└Kekekeke

└Lololololol

└What a waste of time~ I would’ve advanced and moved on to the next village.

└It’s okay, he’ll make money from that content~

└Let’s not waste our time lol

The village quests that no one attempted anymore due to the meager rewards.

But did they know?

That this was the path to the alchemist of the Starting Village.

[Normal Quest: Ten’s Problem at the General Store]

-Restriction: All New World users

-Reward: 250 Exp

-Description: Ten fell and hurt his back at the general store. So, the store hasn’t been cleaned. Please clean the general store for him!

It offered a mere 250 experience points and asked him to clean the entire general store.

This was Jeong-Hoon’s second visit to the general store.

Cleaning the three-story general store would not be an easy task.

“Oh my! Thank you so much for helping.”

Ten, the store owner, held Jeong-Hoon’s hands and teared up.

‘…’

Jeong-Hoon smiled silently.

The guy who claimed to have hurt his back was doing business just fine?

This quest was clearly designed to make users do the cleaning.

“Then please do it quickly!”

Ten informed him of the location of the cleaning tools and ran off to the counter.

‘Let’s start.’

Since he had to do it anyway, he grabbed a mop with the intention of finishing it quickly.

* * *

As befitting a large general store in the marketplace, many users came and went.

“Hey, isn’t that a user, not an NPC?”

“You’re right. Why are they cleaning there?”

On the first floor of the general store, a user was diligently mopping the floor.

“It’s a quest.”

“A quest?”

The users pointed to Ten at the counter.

A light bulb was flickering above Ten’s head, and the flickering shape was a question mark.

Curious, the novice users touched Ten’s question mark.

“What, 250 experience points? Are you kidding me?”

“Wow, that’s crazy. Cleaning all three floors of this general store for a mere 250?”

The users became furious after checking the quest details.

“Ah, of course, you don’t have to help.”

He offered the quest details, hoping for help, but instead received a mouthful of curses.

Ten was quite annoyed, but he couldn’t afford to lose the customers in front of him, so he maintained a business smile.

“Wow, so that user is working so hard cleaning for just 250 experience points?”

“Maybe they think there’s something else to it?”

“Nah, that was exposed on YouTube a long time ago.”

Any user who had done even a little bit of research would know that the village quests were to be avoided.

“Should we tell them?”

“Don’t be nosy and just leave them be. They look like the type to rush in headfirst without thinking.”

“True… their choice of being a martial artist speaks for itself.”

Even a quick glance at the World Com showed most posts strongly advising against choosing the martial artist class.

Sure, there was one martial artist among the top rankers, but most were from other classes.

It was natural, considering martial artists were considered to be inferior to other classes in close combat, ranged combat, and utility.

But to choose a martial artist over the better classes?

It made him understand a little why this person was so focused on village quests.

“Cleaning complete.”

“Oh my, thank you! Here’s your reward!”

The martial artist finished cleaning all the way up to the third floor and leisurely left.

After that, he started appearing all over the village.

From assisting in the blacksmith’s workshop to delivering goods for the weapon shop, and even working in the kitchen.

“Wow… is he really doing all that?”

“Is he crazy?”

The users were dumbfounded by the martial artist who didn’t shy away from any menial tasks.

* * *

Two weeks.

Jeong-Hoon spent two weeks solely on village quests.

[Level Up!]

[All stats increased by +1.]

[Bonus stat +1 awarded.]

He couldn’t even count how many he had completed.

He had successfully leveled up solely through village quests.

“Thank you so much for resolving our difficulties!”

By completing the final quest from the NPC instructor guarding the entrance of the Swordsmanship Training Center, he was able to finish all the quests in the Starting Village.

[Normal Quest Completed!]

[Obtained ‘[Title] Benefactor of Starting Village’.]

By completing all the village quests, he obtained the title he had aimed for.

The title that users called trash.

Jeong-Hoon checked the title with a satisfied expression.

‘With this, I’ve caught one rabbit.’

Now it was time to catch the remaining rabbit.

The alchemist’s house, located a little distance away from the Starting Village.

It was time to visit that place.

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