Chapter 28

Reward Time

Whoosh!

As the light faded.

A radiant staff floated before my eyes.

[Congratulations!]

[You have acquired an S-Rank item!]

‘A staff…?’

My heart raced.

The truth is, I don’t really have a main weapon.

Originally, a staff that Necromancers would use was my main weapon.

But after receiving the ‘Myriad skills’ from the Old Man, I could use many weapons.

Sword, spear, bow, shield, staff, and so on…

I had to be able to handle them all.

‘Feels like I’ve become a jack-of-all-trades.’

A jack-of-all-trades.

In fact, Myriad skills itself was another word for jack-of-all-trades.

And the Old Man was the ultimate jack-of-all-trades, wasn’t he?

‘Anyway.’

If it’s a staff.

I’m more likely to use it than sell it.

First of all, it’s a type mainly used by Necromancers.

‘Well, not bad.’

That might be better than selling it.

They say that one S-Rank weapon can change a hunter’s life.

Originally, finding an S-Rank weapon that suits you is like picking a star from the sky.

Swish.

I reached out and grabbed the staff.

Information popped up.

[Item: Staff of the Fire Dragon]

[Rank: S]

[Type: Staff]

[Description: A magic staff imbued with the power of a legendary Red Dragon.]

[Effect 1: Increases Mana by 100.]

[Effect 2: Reduces skill cooldown by 20%.]

[Effect 3: Increases Fire-attribute skill power by 100%.]

“Oh.”

I quickly read the description.

The description and effects were quite simple.

But the content was anything but simple.

‘First, Mana increased by 100.’

The base Mana of a normal hunter is 100.

So it’s almost doubling your Mana.

Mana is like a hunter’s life.

The more, the better.

‘That’s all well and good, but.’

Effect 3 especially caught my eye.

‘This is totally for a magic user, isn’t it?’

And a Fire-attribute mage at that.

Increasing the power by 100% for Fire-attribute skills means.

It’s exactly twice as strong.

‘It might not seem that good for an S-Rank, but.’

I didn’t think so.

This is obviously.

An item that becomes overpowered as the user’s ability increases.

For example.

If you use a D-Rank Fireball, it’s just like firing two Fireballs.

But what if the skill you’re using is an ultimate skill like ‘Hell Fire’ or ‘Meteor Strike’ that only Rankers can barely use?

‘It’s insane.’

I heard that those overpowered wide-area skills usually have very long cooldowns.

Some skills can only be used once a day, while others have a cooldown of about a week.

‘It’s like using those skills one more time with 0 Mana.’

Fire-attribute Rankers would definitely be looking for it with their eyes burning.

‘Not bad, right?’

Although it wasn’t an effect I could use directly.

I inwardly cheered for the good news.

It would sell for a pretty high price.

‘How much would it be worth?’

I took out my smartphone from my pocket.

Then I turned on the ‘Hunter Bulletin Board’ app.

It was the largest hunter community in the country, a site where you could get various information in real time.

[Welcome to the ‘Hunter Bulletin Board’.]

[‘E-Rank Mercenary Accepting Requests’ (Lv.8) has logged in.]

Lalala.

Humming a tune, I quickly wrote a post.

It was in the ‘Free Board’, which had the most traffic.

-Got an S-Rank staff, appraisal please.

-Mana +100, skill cooldown -20%, Fire-attribute power +100%.

Even though I wrote it simply.

Many people commented.

▶Yeah, it’s an attention grab.

▶lol The stats are a bit ambiguous for an S-Rank item. If you’re going to scam, make it more plausible.

▶The ID says it all. He’s an E-Rank mercenary. How can an E-Rank mercenary get an S-Rank item?

▶ikr. Is this your first day seeing this kind of attention grab?

▶Don’t feed the troll.

“These bastards?”

Well.

I understood.

If I posted like this, I wouldn’t believe it either.

I have to upload it again.

“Information disclosure.”

I touched the staff and shouted.

[Visualizing the information of the item, ‘Staff of the Fire Dragon’ (S-Rank).]

Then.

[Item: Staff of the Fire Dragon]

[Rank: S]

[Type: Staff]

[Description: A magic staff imbued with the power of a legendary Red Dragon.]

[Effect 1: Increases Mana by 100.]

[Effect 2: Reduces skill cooldown by 20%.]

[Effect 3: Increases Fire-attribute skill power by 100%.]

The information that was originally only visible to me.

Began to be precisely engraved in the air.

It was the effect of the System that allowed you to show your information to others when you shouted ‘Information Disclosure’.

-Re-uploading.

-Here’s the item information disclosure data.

-I’m uploading a video in case you think it’s a composite.

I re-uploaded it with a video taken with my phone.

How many minutes had passed?

The bulletin board had turned into a sea of fire.

▶Really?

▶What, it was real?

▶Damn, it feels real. Unless you’re someone who’s really good at video effects, this is genuine.

▶Hello, I’m a CG expert. With today’s technology, you can’t edit that precisely. That’s real.

▶Wow, a real S-Rank is amazing.

▶But why are the stats like that?

▶Can’t you see the stats? It’s obviously a jackpot.

A small post on the Free Board.

It quickly became a hot topic and rose to BEST.

It wasn’t just the bulletin board that became noisy.

Reporters who were always looking for hunter-related scoops couldn’t miss this opportunity.

[Unidentified ‘S-Rank Item’ Appears on ‘Hunter Bulletin Board’!]

[S-Rank ‘Staff of the Fire Dragon’ Appears! Are Fire-attribute Rankers Gathering?Parang’s A-Rank Hunter ‘Sohwa’ Lee So-hye, “A Very Attractive Weapon for Fire-attribute Hunters.”]

[The Author of the Post is Currently in Information Disclosure State.]

“Huh?”

This isn’t it.

I was short-sighted.

I didn’t know it would become such a hot topic.

But the good thing is.

The private company ‘Hunter Bulletin Board’ doesn’t arbitrarily disclose member information.

The foundation of why the ‘Hunter Bulletin Board’ was able to retain so many hunters was this ‘trust in security’.

Apart from dealing with many ‘Rankers’ or ‘S-Rank Hunters’ who are sensitive to information.

They also managed the information of low-rank hunters with care.

However.

[A message has arrived.]

[A message has arrived.]

[A message has arrived.]

…….

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Since the ID itself couldn’t be hidden.

My phone kept ringing.

Before it got even more chaotic, I quickly deleted the post.

First of all, selling it is secondary.

I’m not ready to draw wide-area aggro against the world yet.

‘Wait.’

Besides, I don’t necessarily have to sell it, do I?

Come to think of it, Bone Five is also a mage and has the ‘Fireball’ skill.

Wouldn’t it be better to give it to Bone Five?

It’s a bit of a waste to throw away Effect 3 if I use it.

‘No, before that.’

Can Skeletons even equip items?

Actually, I’ve never tried it.

It couldn’t be helped.

First of all, I barely have enough money to live on.

I’m carrying around a crappy staff myself, so why would I take care of some bones?

“……”

[Hunter: Ju Dong-hoon]

[Mana: 10/120]

Before I knew it, 10 Mana had been recharged.

‘Should I check it right away?’

[Using the skill, ‘Awakened Skeleton Summon’ (D-Rank).]

[Using 10 Mana.]

[‘Bone Five’ appears.]

I squeezed out Mana and summoned Bone Five.

Creak!

He appeared, wielding a bone staff.

“Bone Five.”

Creak?

He tilted his head.

I held out the radiant S-Rank staff to him.

Creak!

He readily accepted it.

[‘Bone Five’ equips the ‘Staff of the Fire Dragon’.]

“Wow, it works?”

My eyes widened.

This was really amazing.

Usually, a Necromancer’s Undead can never equip items.

It’s already an unbalanced job.

If that were to happen, it would be a truly hopeless scam job.

Think about it.

An Undead Legion with all members decked out in S-Rank items.

“Wow……”

I couldn’t help but admire it.

Then, unlike other hunters, do I have to get more than 10 items?

“No, it’s not 10.”

From accessories to clothing to weapons, and so on.

There were plenty of ways to get stronger.

“……”

As I thought about it, I became conflicted.

Should I sell my first S-Rank item, or give it to Bone Five?

Seriously.

It was the biggest dilemma of my life.

Clack clack!

It was then that Bone Five clasped the staff, clacking his teeth.

What, are you making a motion that you don’t want to have it taken away?

“No, that’s expensive…… Give it here.”

When I reached out.

He subtly avoided me.

“Is that so?”

Creak.

He drooped his joints gloomily.

It was as if he would be [Squeaking……] if he had a mouth.

“Ha.”

I let out a faint sigh.

“Well, it’s good that even you can use it.”

I don’t have money, but.

It’s not that urgent.

I’ll be able to go to D-Rank or C-Rank Dungeons without any problems now.

Then I can definitely cover my living expenses.

“Just take it.”

Clack clack clack!

He clacked his teeth at a rapid pace.

I feel like I’ve been ripped off.

Actually, this is the right choice.

Later, when Bone Five gets stronger.

Or, if he achieves true awakening like Tae Yangi.

‘I might even be looking for S-Rank items myself.’

[A message has arrived.]

[A message has arrived.]

…….

Just like those people who are still arriving now.

‘Okay, let’s move on from this.’

I turned my gaze back to the corner.

There were still rewards left.

If the Staff of the Fire Dragon was an achievement reward.

Is this one a Dungeon clear reward?

[A reward is arriving!]

[Congratulations!]

[You have acquired the item, ‘Root of Racial Conflict’ (A-Rank).]

[Ding!]

[This item is a job-related item.]

“What is this?”

Job-related?

I grabbed the plant root that had appeared in the air.

[Item: Root of Racial Conflict]

[Rank: A]

[Type: Medium]

[Description: A root that can uncover the secrets of a hidden ruin.]

[Effect 1: Can open the Dungeon, ‘Forest and Rock’.]

[Effect 2: An item bound to the Hunter, ‘Ju Dong-hoon’.]

[Effect 3: This item can only be activated from Hunter Rank C or higher.]

“Huh.”

As expected.

It was another medium.

Suddenly, what Gi So-yul had said came to mind.

-Mediums are also a kind of opportunity. If you dig into them, you’ll get linked quests. And those linked quests keep going up in rank, eventually reaching S-Rank or higher. All the mediums I’ve known so far have been like that.

It was probably another job quest following the previous ‘Traces of the Ancient Desert’.

Honestly.

I felt it instinctively.

This was also related to the other skeletons, like Tae Yangi.

‘What if.’

What if all 10 of my Skeletons were absolute beings from each world?

Wouldn’t that be too much of a scam job?

‘Why on earth.’

It’s good, but.

There was definitely a burden too.

What am I?

I feel like the System is only pushing me……

“……”

After thinking for a while, I shook my head.

Well, why do I need to think so complicatedly?

If a mysterious Transcender knows that I want to get stronger and is pushing me.

If they’re using me.

‘Then I’ll use them too.’

My goal is ‘Ranker’.

I don’t know what other goals I’ll have in the future.

For now, I’m only looking at that one thing.

Until then.

No matter what, I was going to follow along diligently.

“That’s the end of the rewards.”

I cleared the messages that had filled my vision.

I cleared the Dungeon today, and I’ve used up all my Mana.

‘Let’s rest a bit.’

Just in time.

It looked like Gi So-yul was approaching from afar.

I was going to run again from tomorrow.

Diligently.

I was going to do my best to get stronger.