Matan's Shooter

“Good! If you understand, move on. Can you see that girl over there?”
“Yes.”
A girl wearing a ruffled apron and holding a woven tube basket containing apples.
“If you want to buy an apple, you can buy from that girl. But what if you suddenly grab the girl’s breasts??”
“Hmm? What? What do you mean grab her breasts?” The conversation with the NPC is realistic but why did he make that example?
“At first the girl won’t talk to you, after apologizing she well sell you 3 apples for 10 coppers, when initially you can buy an apple for 3 coppers. But what would happen if keep repeating that behavior? Right, you might notice that you are having difficulties in living at Candle Castle. That’s because traders exchange news quickly and no one will be trading with you.”
Touching her chest will only raise the price of the apple a little.
The thought that the penalty for touching her breast is not a bad deal passed through my head. No, no, that’s a crime.
“If it gets worse, will I get a bounty?”
“Right! It’s good that you understand fast!”
Wouldn’t the reaction of the man clapping probably go into interaction with the NPC? If so, Leeha’s familiarity with the male NPC would have increased.
‘It’s only a tutorial, so what will I get by getting close to the uncle who explains the game system?’
Leeha heard additional explanations after that.
It’s definitely a surprising virtual reality, and it’s an interesting game world, but he was not here to enjoy it. He has to make money and to do that, he must not miss information.
“Next you will be taught on how to survive, go to the training center in the north. Use the compass on your “bag” and you will be able to get there.”
The man nodded as if satisfied with his explanation. And then silence followed.
“Anything more to explain? Please tell me…
“Would you like to hear my story from scratch?”
“No, no.”
He even tried something that others wouldn’t do, but he did not get anything.
‘Is there no special gift? I heard it is hard to get.’
There was a post on an external bulletin board saying that if you listen to the stories of NPCs to the end, they give you a small gift. That’s why he listened carefully, but it doesn’t seem like this NPC gave any. In fact, it is not even clear who will give what.
For Middle Earth, there is no information provided by game companies! Everything has to be explored and discovered by users. The problem is that Goople doesn’t even provide information or basic guidance on jobs. Unexplored areas are not yet recorded, and it is rumored that even now, four months after the release of the game, less than a fifth of the entire world has been explored. The good news is that the maps for the regions that the users have explored are updated. It is not possible to know how big the area of the whole Middle Earth is, so it is just a rough estimate.
‘Among them, there are only few areas where users can go. There were rumors that half of the explored area was discovered by a single person, even when there are a lot people in the community who are just exploring like crazy.’
Leeha stopped after walking a few steps. A thrilling sensation suddenly came to him..
“Haha. To ‘walk’ to the north.”
‘Is this what makes me laugh after all?’ The emotions of Leeha shooting his first shot came to his mind. The joy of moving both legs, a natural joy.
“Yes, move, move!”
Leeha jumped and ran in place.
“Wahahaha. Haha, hahaha.”
The smile did not disappear from Leeha’s face after running again and again. Of course, the only thing people can see is a person wearing beggar’s clothes, that is laughing and running around like a crazy person.
“What’s that.”
“Isn’t he crazy?”
“I used to do that when I was a beginner, but he’s worse.”
“Hey, be careful. If you bumped into someone you might get into a fight.”
However, Leeha was so focused that he did not see and hear the people pointing, shouting and cursing at him.
“Haa, haa. Uwahhh! Breathe too! It’s a game but I’m out of breath. Haa, haa.”
The feeling of being out of breath and exhausting his stamina. Even the snort is real. Leeha looked around while adjusting his breathing. He saw people who are screaming while looking for a party, people trading with other people, and people going somewhere. There were various activities, but he did not see people who are running.
“Well, those people will walk and run when they are not in game.”
It’s amazing, but there aren’t any people who are obsessed with movement even in the game. Leeha adjusted his breathing, no, his breathing gradually cleared without him even realizing it.
“If I stay still, will I recover automatically? Haa.”
He loosened his ankles, keeping the feeling of the joint spinning round and round, and then he ran again.
‘Wahahaha. I can run! I can run!’
From this end to the end of Candle Castle. Leeha ran and ran along the main road, it was like he played the game only to run. When his stamina dropped, he stops and rests and runs again after recovering, and then stops and runs again.
“Haa, really, Haa, amazing.”
Leeha breathed down on his knees. How many times have I been running like this already? I don’t remember. The joy of being able to run again.
“Where am I?”
Leeha, looked around while resting. Medieval European-style houses and pastel-tone roofs were visible, and granite warehouse-like buildings stood out.
He didn’t know where he is, but it didn’t matter to him.
‘Anyway, according to the beginner tutorial, the place I have to visit is the training center in the north. If I can go back to the central fountain from here, I can visit it anytime.’
“Good, let’s give it a go again. Hahaha.”
Leeha ran to the plaza where he can see the central fountain.
A new hologram window appeared in front of his eyes while he was running around and looking for the little lady selling apples while supporting her chin.
“Huh?”
<Achievement: Those who know the joy of running (E+)>
Congratulations! You have consumed 100% of your stamina 10 times in a row. Not a marathoner, right? You who knows the joy of running, please take visit every corner of Middle Earth!
Reward: Agility +3, Stamina +3, Skill – Runners High acquired.
[Skill : Runner’s High learned.]
‘What’s this? Achievement? An achievement? Wasn’t this something you get after doing something special? Can you get achievements this way? When I just started playing?’
However, Leeha could understand by looking at the phrase. “In an emergency, there may be a situation where you run until the stamina runs out once or twice, but to consume 100% stamina 10 times in a row? Such a person would not be common.”
‘Haha, good, good. It’s like this game is made for me, isn’t it?’
There are many people in the central fountain, but how many people have this achievement?
Leeha smiled and opened his skill window in anticipation of what else will come out as a reward for the achievement.
<Beginner Runner’s High(Passive )(Lv.1)>
Description : You can run faster! Automatically activated at 0% of stamina
Effect : Can run without stamina consumption for 5 minutes, running speed increases by 1%
“Hmmm…… Is it good or bad?” Leeha did not know. Of course, as he continued running through the village, he realized that the stamina recovered quickly, but if it wasn’t for his experience, would there be a situation where his stamina is emptied to zero.
‘Well, it would be better than nothing..’
Still, it’s a skill, and it wouldn’t be useless. Leeha opened his bag as he felt excited.
The Inventory window appeared in the air.
However, it did not look like other games that were divided and sorted, he can only see a black space inside the holographic bag and the compass laid in the lower right corner of the bag. It’s ridiculously inconvenient in comparison to games where items are usually arranged from top left.
‘If there are a lot of stuff, I wouldn’t know what’s in the bag.’
Leeha took out the compass and thought that it would be very difficult for players who did not know how to read the compass, specially in the beginner’s village.
‘It doesn’t matter because I learned how to read a compass in the army. Oh, I have whisper Kijeong.’
Leeha, who was walking to the training ground remembered Kijeong.
Considering that there was a discussion in the early stages of development of Middle Earth to eliminate whispers and even the party system in order to increase the reality of the game, it would not be overkill to think that Goople’s obsession for realism as almost morbid.
-Kijeong.
-Oh, hyung, you connected!
The voice of Kijeong was clearly heard, it felt like talking directly to his head.
-What do you think? Is it good?
There was a lot of meaning in the short question.
It wasn’t able to heal his lower body, but he was touched enough to cause him to tear up.
He hadn’t finished the tutorials yet, but Leeha was looking forward to having fun in the game, and with such fun and popular game, being able to make money here is surely true.
-Right. Sorry for getting angry earlier.
-I’ve seen you get angry once or twice? I shouldn’t have surprised you, I shouldn’t have done that. But what’s with your ID? Are you promoting Real Name in the Internet System?
-What about ‘Master K’? What kind of Manhwa protagonist is that?
-Kek, Hyung’s name is like a Manhwa character, so we don’t really have much difference, do we? Anyway, did you choose a class? What’s your first job?
-No. I’m going to the training center now. I haven’t been online for that long.
It was explained in Kijeong’s strategy book.
Currently, the most popular and fun job in Middle Earth is the wizard line.
Is is more difficult than that of tankers and melee classes, but wizards able to used Flight and Blink which makes them viable and popular.
-Okay, then do it quickly! Whisper me again when you changed jobs. I’ll give you something useful.
-What level are you? Where are you?
-Huhu, it’s like the difference between the sky and the ground.it is a secret. Kuk kuk.
Leeha wasn’t pleased , as Kijeong seemed to be laughing at him. He got a little bit irritated.
-Oh, I’ve got an achievement. Keukkeuk.
-Achievement? What achievement? You said you were going to the training center?
-‘Those who know the joy of running’. Do you know what it is? It gave me skills too.
-‘Those who know the joy of running’ What is it? How can a person who hasn’t even changed his job attain a skill-giving achievement
The corner of Leeha’s mouth rose at Kijeong’s surprised voice.
If he knew, Kijeong can get it right away.
-I’ll tell you later.. I have arrived at the training center.
-Huh, okay, hyung, tell me later.
-Kek, okay. I’ll go now. Leeha stopped the whisper.
The letters written on the signboard was the first thing he saw, and they were recognizable. In particular, he can confirm that this is a training center even from the sound from the inside.
“What are you doing there, newbie! Move quickly!”
A middle-aged man wearing an artificial leg screamed and called out.
“Yes!”
“Middle Earth is a battlefield! Do you think someone will wait for you! When a beginner like you is hit, your vision will be turn red! Your vision starts to turn red when your HP decreases to less than 50%. If it goes below 5%, it becomes dark red and it will be difficult to see in front of you.”
“Pick up the sword right now! And hit the target!”
“Yes!”
Leeha remembered his military days. It was a rather radical and hard society, but Leeha was more comfortable with this kind of environment.
Four months is neither long nor short. Middle Earth has been open for four months but in the beginner village, but there were still many “strangers” in the training center. While avoiding the swinging wooden swords of the other newbies, Leeha moved to an empty space.
‘This should be good.’ Lee Ha held the wooden sword in front of the scarecrow.
The feel of an oak tree wrapped around his hand. He swung his wooden sword although it was a little crude.
‘Oh?’
Ttak-! Ttak-!
It was just like swinging a stick, but the body moved automatically. Naturally, within the range possible for human joints.
At the same time, he felt his heart beating.
“Can you feel your heart pounding? No matter how talented you are in battle, if you have the will to live in Middle Earth, the “God of Battle” will guide you!”
‘Oh, this is the battle assistance system.’
How would people who have not used any weapons fight? The answer that Goople came up with was a combat assistance system. When wielding or stabbing with a weapon, it finds the appropriate route and makes the avatar move. The arms will move in a trajectory that will not compromise with the structure of human joints. Naturally, such assistance systems are also applied when shooting a bow. In particular, finding the best route for the weapon, destructive power at the time of hitting, accuracy of aiming, and speed of swinging were automatically adjusted by probability affected by stats, so you can feel the realism and enjoy the game.
Damn, damn!
“But we can fight without the help of the battlefield god!! As long as you have complete belief0 in yourself!”
Suddenly, Leeha lost the feeling of his heartbeat as he hit the scarecrow..
The difference between the combat with and without combat assistance system.
Indeed, when he swung the wooden sword with no force, like in reality, there would be no force. But when he swung it with all his might again.
Ttaak
When using the combat assistance system, more powerful destructive power and repulsion is felt in his grasp.
‘Oho, oho. It’s like this.’
There was a rumor that there is a difference on the probability of dropping items when fighting with the combat assistance system turned off.
Leeha laughed without knowing, he was amazed that he was naturally adapting to Middle Earth.
(To be continued…)