Volume 4, Chapter 8: "Weed's Hunt"
Short Summary
Near the Britten Alliance's Fort Odin, Weed arrives at the Basra Dungeon. He had heard from Mapan that Hwaryeong is currently hunting within it, and makes his way down to the dungeon's 3rd floor where he comes across Sollon's hunting party. Despite Sollon's obvious jealousy, Weed is allowed to join as Hwaryeong's friend and begins moving along with the party through the dungeon. Weed also notices how popular Hwaryeong is with the group, which she explains that it's because her Dancer class is high in the Charisma and Appearance stats.
After hours of hunting, Sollon and his followers log off Royal Road, but Weed stays behind to continue hunting. He prepares himself for combat, but upon cooking a shrimp dish, he soon realizes that Hwaryeong, and Zephyr who was also in Sollon's group, didn't log out of the game. Weed forms a new party with the two of them, and prepares their equipment to begin their hunt. He then summons Van Hawk as their 4th member as the 4-man party makes their way down to the Basra Dungeon's 4th floor.
Despite Hwaryeong and Zephyr's initial concern that their group is going to die with so few people, their anxiety is silenced when they witness the high-leveled Van Hawk easily deal with the first group of thief monsters; proving to them that Weed isn't an ordinary player. Weed and company then go about fighting any monster in their path, which exhausts Hwaryeong and Zephyr due to all the intense fighting. During a repair break, Hwaryeong asks how Weed can go about fighting like this, which he explains that it's because he sees everything as food that will make him stronger. To Hwaryeong and Zephyr's horror, they see that Weed and Van Hawk are already set to continue fighting.
Realizing that Weed is some sort of beast, Hwaryeong and Zephyr are forced to continue onward fighting intense battles against more of the dungeon's thief monsters. It reaches a point where Zephyr takes a fatal blow, and will eventually die off since there's no legitimate healer in the group. However, Weed saves his life with simple bandages since his first aid Intermediate skill has reached a high enough level to even save people from death without the need of a healer class. The revelation disappoints Zephyr knowing that he's still unable to escape Weed.
After some more hunting, the bags of Weed's party fills up with loot to the point of needing to sell the items off at a nearby village. However, Weed states that they will return to the Basra Dungeon right after, which frightens Hwaryeong and Zephyr knowing that their suffering hasn't ended.
Characters
Items
- Duke's Helmet (Vintich's item)
- 500 Sea Flowers (cooking shrimp material)
- Angel Shrimp From Heaven (dish cooked by Weed)
- Necklace of the Death Knight
- First Aid Bandages (saves Zephyr's life)
Stats and Skills
- Weed
- Sword Grind skill (reaches Intermediate stage, and leveled up to 4)
- Armor Polish skill
- Cooking Intermediate skill
- Summon Van Hawk
- Sword Mastery Intermediate skill
- Engraving Knife Technique Intermediate skill
- Repair Intermediate skill
- First Aid Intermediate skill (leveled up to 9)
- Van Hawk
- Power of Darkness
- Deadly Blade
- Hwaryeong
- Charming Dance
- Deadly Dance
- Zephyr
- Fishing Rod Swing
- Fishing Rod Feint
Trivia
- At the entrance of the Basra Dungeon, Weed is offered to join a group led by Vintich from the Mavros Guild. However, Weed rejects, and enters the dungeon himself.
- The Basra Dungeon is made up of 4 floors, which contains humanoid Thief Monsters that will steal items away from players if they die.
- The reason Weed is going to the Basra Dungeon is because he was told by Mapan that Hwaryeong is there currently hunting with a group. Weed makes his way down to the dungeon's 3rd floor where he reunites with Hwaryeong. Sollon is left jealous that Hwaryeong is friendly with someone, but allows Weed to join the group when he years that Weed is no threat since he's just a sculptor.
- Hwaryeong explains a bit about her Dancer class. The reason she's so popular with other players is because of her high Charisma and Appearance stats.
- Sollon's group decides to log out after 12 hours of hunting. However, Weed stays behind to continue hunting in the Basra Dungeon.
- Weed's Sword Sharpening skill is said to have reached level 4 of the Intermediate stage. Using it on his current sword raises attack power by 14%. He also uses Armor Polish on his current armor, which increases defense by 16%, and increases dodge chance by 2%.
- Hwaryeong and Zephyr are revealed to have not logged off Royal Road like Sollon's group. He cooks them all a shrimp dish he calls the Angel Shrimp From Heaven, which provide them a well-fed buff. The well-fed buff provides +400 health, +400 mana, +20 Vitality, and +15 Art. He sells the shrimp dish to Hwaryeong for 1 gold.
- Weed forms a new party with Hwaryeong and Zephyr to hunt in the Basra Dungeon.
- He uses this chance to prepare their equipment before beginning the hunt. It's said that polishing and sharpening equipment provides slight increases to his blacksmithing, cooking, and tailoring skills as well.
- Hwaryeong and Zephyr remain worried that their 3-man-team isn't enough to hunt. However, Weed summons Van Hawk to be their fourth member. Van Hawk is said to now be level 290.
- Weed's party make their way down to the dungeon's 4th floor.
- Van Hawk quiets Hwaryeong and Zephyr's worries by easily disposing of the first Thief Monster group on the 4th Floor. Weed orders his summon to not kill them outright so that the players can get in the last second kill for more experience, which Van Hawk accepts.
- The Series of Strikes mechanic is explained here where one can save a series of successful attacks to make a combo attack. However, Weed chooses not to use it since he views using fixed techniques as a restraint.
- Weed, Hwaryeong and Zephyr go through intense fighting against the Thief Monsters to the point of exhaustion. Weed explains to Hwaryeong that the reason he can continue on like this is because he views everything around him as food to power him up.
- Weed explains to Hwaryeong and Zephyr that he found out one can better raise their Endurance stat if they fight at extremely low health.
- Through more intense fighting, Zephyr takes a fatal hit that will eventually kill him off due to there being no healers in the group. However, Weed manages to save him with simple bandages since his First Aid skill is revealed to be as high as Intermediate: level 9.
- Weed's party hunts until their bags are filled with items, hwich excites Hwaryeong and Zephyr since they realize that they can finally escape the monster that is Weed. However, Weed adds that they will simply return to hunting in the dungeon once they've sold all their items at a nearby village.