The Taming Master

Chapter 69: Result of the Bet (2)

TL: Haku

Editor: Hungry Panda

As the call cannot be picked up, please leave a voice recording in the system…

Beep- Beep- .

After attempting multiple calls with his cellphone, Yoohyun frowned as he mumbled .

“No, why does this dude not pick up his phone . Isn’t he supposed to come to school?”

On the first day of classes, Yoohyun, who sat in the department room waiting for Jinsung to go to class together, eventually couldn’t wait for Jinsung any longer and stood up .

As he gathered his major’s books while mumbling, Sewon, a classmate in the same program who watched him do so, asked him .

“Yoohyun, what’s wrong? Are you waiting for someone?”

Sewon was a classmate, but as he entered school late, he was a hyung[1] that was a year older than Yoohyun .

“Ah, hyung . You came?”

“Yeah, I just arrived, so I was on my way to class . Why are you here, though, and not going?”

“Jinsung hasn’t come yet . For a couple of days now, I haven’t even been able to get in proper contact with this dude either…”

At his words, Sewon smirked .

“Aye, don’t worry too much . He must have slept in . And truthfully, since this week is the course switching period, it doesn’t matter if he attends or not, right?”

Yoohyun nodded his head .

This was because his words were correct .

“That’s true, but I’m just worried about whether Jinsung is dead or alive…”

“What? Why dead or alive?”

Yoohyun shook his head as he spoke .

“Jinsung could possibly have passed out inside the capsule right now . I checked yesterday or so, and he had been logged in for almost 50 hours . ”

Sewon’s voice expressed his fluster .

“Kailran is fun, but to be logged in for 50 hours straight, Yoohyun, are you sure you just saw it incorrectly?”

“No, I saw it clearly . The 50 hours that was written in red . ”

“Huh…”

In the case of a VR game like Kailran where they needed to log on through the capsule to play, it wasn’t a system like a PC game, where they could log in and do other things .

In fact, if they fell asleep inside of the capsule while they were gaming, it was set up so that they would automatically be logged out .

If it decided that they were asleep after measuring the user’s biorhythms, it automatically logged them out .

This was a part that was established by the law for the users’ health .

To conclude, the fact that 50 hours was written as the time logged on for meant that Ian had truly played the game for 50 hours without rest .

“Whatever, he can take care of himself . I’ll just have to try contacting him again later after classes are over . ”

Sewon had on a sour expression .

“Al, alright . It makes sense for you to worry . ”

The two talked about this and that together as they packed their bags and walked to the lecture room .

“Hyung, but did you level up a lot during the break? How is it?”

Sewon was a latecomer user that started Kailran after the new update .

And his class was Black Magician .

“Haha, I worked diligently during the break . My current level is… it’s probably at 65?”

While looking at Sewon, who spoke proudly, Yoohyun wore a slightly surprised expression again .

‘Whoa, this hyung is unexpectedly a fast leveler . As expected, is it because he’s a Black Magician?’

Currently, in the community, the highest level Black Magician that’s officially known was in a situation where they were a little over lv 80 . And there was a lot of talk going around that there could possibly be an unknown user that was almost at lv 90 .

However, truthfully, because the users in the highest level range were truly gamers that only gamed like crazy and were also individuals that had an extraordinary gift towards games, Sewon having reached lv 65 was amazing enough .

“Hyung, when you log on later this evening, let me know . I’ll recruit you into the guild . ”

At Yoohyun’s words, Sewon was delighted .

“Whoa, really? But isn’t your guild’s level requirement 70? That’s why I was hunting diligently to hit lv 70 . ”

At those words, Yoohyun smirked .

“That’s right . The requirement is lv 70, but based on you leveling-up speed, I feel like you’ll be able to hit lv 70 soon enough, and since your class is Black Magician, one of the new classes, there probably won’t be a guildmate that will really object . ”

As the resources of the new classes was rarer in comparison to the already existing classes, the other guilds also relaxed the level requirement a little to accept them .

There was no reason not to accept him just because he lacked 5 levels .

At Yoohyun’s compliance, Sewon’s expression brightened .

“Keu, alright . I’m finally able to join a guild with a base now as well!”

There were a lot more benefits that could be received if they became a member of a guild that possessed a base than imagined .

This was because, fundamentally, they could purchase several consumables at a much cheaper price at the base their guild possessed in comparison to other villages, and the NPCs of the base offered a lot of high-quality quests as well .

Currently, the rank of the bases of most guilds, including the Lotus guild’s, was at ‘Village’, and starting from this rank, guild members could have a house of their own in the base .

The buffs that could be received through the Housing System were quite helpful when hunting, and the position of the top-ranking guilds that obtained a base couldn’t help but get better .

‘We were definitely lucky that we obtained a base from the northern expedition . ’

Yoohyun, who talked about stuff relating to Kailran with Sewon, suddenly became curious of Jinsung’s level .

‘Speaking of which, what level would this dude have hit by now?’

As Jinsung went around with all of his information, including his level, always on private, even Yoohyun didn’t know his exact level .

‘I think the last time he told me when I asked was around lv 80…’

Yoohyun remembered Jinsung, who just ended up putting up a post near the base and wiped the monsters nearby .

‘It’s good in the guild village’s case, but he should take it easy . Why is he going so hard ever since the past couple of weeks? By looking at it from the long run, he should be taking care of his health while doing so…’

As Jinsung, even if he gamed, always planned and took care of his health while gaming, Yoohyun couldn’t understand his current playing style .

Until Yoohyun found out about Jinsung’s bet, that was an obvious question .

@

“Ly, lure them over here! Ddukdae, you wait to use Abyss Hole and tie them down . ”

Deep in some dungeon in the northern continent, Ian had hunted for a whopping three days straight in here without leaving .

Once Ian completely cleared the dungeon all the way to the lowest floor, he repeated the process of going back up to the highest floor and wiping the monsters battue-style, having already done so numerous times .

The Lava Drake King that Ian received from the Guardian of Lava in the Scorching Land was doing more than enough to cover the AoE damage dealing that Ian always lacked .

The Lava Drake’s name was ‘Lake’ .

It was a name that used the last three letters of Drake[2] .

It seemed that Bbookbbook thought that only the new friend’s name was cool as he constantly complained, but there was also the sad story that he shut his mouth due to the Drug Meatball Ian gave him .

“Lake, Breath!”

Along with Ian’s exclamation, ‘Lake’, the Lava Drake King, who was waiting in the corner for a command, inhaled deeply .

Hwaaaak-!

The Ruler of Lava, which was reminiscent of a lava vortex, passed by a dozen or so monsters that were tied down by Ddukdae’s Abyss Hole .

Kaeeek-!

An amazing scene appeared as the Snow Gargoyles, which were a whopping early-lv 90 monster, turned into a grey light all at the same time and disappeared as if they were melting .

Because the gargoyles were monsters whose stats were focused mainly on Agility, their Vitality itself was incredibly low .

On top of that, because they were ice-type monsters, they couldn’t help but be weak to the fire Breath of a Lava Drake .

However, despite that, the scene that was happening was definitely worthy of gaping mouths .

And as if it was stamping a period where the Breath passed by, Abyss Hole, which was done charging, exploded as it let out a boom .

Baaang-!

It was a battue-style hunting scene that exuded an unbelievable amount of pleasure, making anyone watching feel exhilarated .

And Ian’s commands continued .

“Ly, catch the ones that are running away . ”

Grr- Grrr- .

The gargoyles weren’t humanoid monsters, but because they were a part of the group with an exceptional AI, there were a lot of cases where they fled if they felt it was unfavourable .

However, Ly quickly pursued them and bit the escaping gargoyles apart .

Kwak- .

And for the gargoyles that flew up into the air to a place where Ly couldn’t reach them, Lake chased them down .

Normally, Lake wouldn’t have been able to fly faster than the small and agile gargoyles, but on top of the gargoyle not having much Vitality left, the paralysis effect from Ian’s Current Proliferation still remained, so Lake was able to catch them easily enough .

And Lake, who reached within the gargoyle’s proximity, swing his large tail .

Puck- .

Along with the dull sound of impact, the gargoyle, who was properly hit with Lake’s tail, plunged to the ground helplessly .

Bang- .

And along with the damage due to the fall, it turned into a grey light just like that .

Along with that, the level-up message that Ian waited for popped up .

You have leveled up . You have reached lv 90 .

“Alright!”

Ian cheered .

‘Finally, lv 90!’

There was significance alone in having leveled up, but there was a bigger significance for lv 90 .

As lv 90 was the important level where class special skills could be gained .

‘Please, a skill that would be more helpful in leveling up needs to appear…’

It was a situation where he only had 3 levels left until lv 93 .

Ian also knew that today was already the first day of classes . However, if he included all the time he could from the course switching period and until the day of the head of the department’s class, he still had about ten days to spare .

However, even if he used all of the ten days to the limit, it was a short amount of time that could never be considered sufficient .

Ian was desperate for a new skill that would be able to help with his hunting speed even a little .

‘I don’t even expect a skill as good as Potential Explosion, so please just a skill that will help…!’

Even though the Potential Explosion skill was one that he received at lv 60, from Ian’s perspective, it was good enough to be seen as almost the best-ranked skill amongst buff-type skills .

As Ian developed his character always using his Training skill as his focal point for everything, he was able to gain that kind of high-class skill at a low level in comparison because the focus of all his class skills were set to Potential .

And a system message letting him know that he obtained class special skills rang out in front of Ian’s eyes as he was waiting for the skills he gained with half worry, half anticipation .

You have obtained the ‘Assimilation’ skill .You have obtained the ‘Link’ skill .

And at the skills’ names that popped up, Ian wore a puzzled expression .

‘What?’

This was because he couldn’t really guess what kind of skills they were just based on the skills’ names .

Ian opened the skill window and checked the information of the newly obtained skills .

‘Shall we look at the Link skill first?’

Link

Classification – Active Skill

Skill Level – lv 0

Proficiency – 0%

Cooldown Time – 180 minutes

Duration – Continued until target of Link is changed

Conditions for Use – It is only possible between the user or between Familiars that are within 10 metres of each other, and even though the distance between goes over 10 metres after applying Link, Link isn’t removed, but its effect will not apply during that time .

(Cannot be applied to other users or the Familiars of other users . )

Links two individuals and makes them share the damage they receive .

70% of the damage received will be received by the individual who directly received the damage, and the leftover 30% will be shared with the individual that is also Linked .

The first time Link is casted, the Health of the two Linked individuals will be adjusted to be the same ratio .

*The higher the Proficiency, the shorter the Cooldown Time and the bigger the range for Link’s possibility .

[1] hyung = what a younger male calls a close, older male

[2] Drake in Korean = Deu-Lae-ee-keu, so Ian has taken the last three letters in Korean, ‘Lae-ee-keu’, and has made that his familiar’s name . However, to make it easier, I’ve chosen to just spell it as ‘Lake’ . Plus, Lake sounds cooler than Lae-ee-keu or Rake o3o