Chapter 13: Crown Game (3)

There was a hoard of items stashed away in the Crimson Crows headquarters. Of course the majority of it was low tier equipment and supplies, but there were still a few useful ones like Ancient Coins and Repair kits.

Woohyuk stepped out of the cave after taking only what was valuable. He now had a tier 7 Bronze Crown above his head.

‘I got lucky this time.’

He had arrived just as they were having a meeting, This made it very convenient for him as he was able to take them all out at once. Also, since he knew he was in a bandit’s lair, he didn’t need to ask himself whether the person before him truly deserved it, and could just go ahead and kill.

‘I should get back soon.’

Although he hadn’t received any special communication from Lee Jaesung, but now he figured that Ma Gwangpil would have already fallen into trouble.

That guy had been making too much noise recently and he was sure to have attracted the attention of some bandits.

Whoohyuk headed back to camp as he whistled a light hearted tune.

‘It’s been a long time since I have handled these kinds of cleaning operations.’

Ever since he had become a Monarch, most of these tasks would have been handled by his subordinates. After all, there were just too many things that required his attention.

Of course that was still the case to a certain extent, but at least for the time being, it would be best if he handled these situations.

It was still a bit early to send Lee Jaesung to kill other humans. It wasn’t a question of ability, but rather if his heart could handle it.

‘Taking care of it myself should be fine.’

By equipping the Berserker’s Plate armor, he was confident even if he were to face off against hundred people.

Due to it’s penalty however, he usually wore a different armor, but he could quickly replace it by keeping it in his Gladiator’s Belt. Of course that kind of replacing only applied for equipment from the same category. There was a large downside however, in that using that function to replace his armor during battle, the system replaced anything that was categorized as an armor, for example his helmet and gloves.

“The captain has arrived, inform Lee Jaesung immediately.”

“Do you even need to send someone? You can just send a message you know.”

“ Oh right...”

His mind occupied with his many future plans, he arrived at the camp.

Woohyuk tossed the corpse of a goat he had been carrying at the feet of his party members. Put that away in the tent, it’ll be tonight’s dinner.”

It was a goat which had recently been hunted by the Crimson Crows, and was still fresh.

“Have you already taken out six leaders?”

Lee Jaesung asked in surprise, to which Woohyuk simply nodded back.

“And the members that followed them...”

“I killed them all.”

Of course saying it like that would lead to confusion, since they had all been bandits with plenty of blood on their hands. Lee Jaesung couldn’t help but sigh upon hearing his response.

“There is no one we can currently trust right now, even within our own camp.”

He was referring to Ma Gwangpil who has secretly been pressuring the other two leaders to ostracize those from Woohyuk’s party, causing the atmosphere at the camp to become rather tense.

“We can just keep to ourselves, no need to worry about the others.”

It was the time to build a strong internal core. To this end, Woohyuk sent Lee Jaesung a message as to how they should proceed.

“Okay, but that Ma Gwangpil is rather late. It’s been quite some time since he left with his party.”

“That guys in trouble for sure..”

“Really? How do you...”

historical

“I just happen to know.”

A vivid recollection of what had happened back then appeared in his mind. Those opportunistic bandits would circle camps, taking hostages and as a result many had been injured or even died.

Woohyuk gathered his party together because he wasn't willing to lose any of his precious members. Now was the time to prepare for the battle between camps.

* * *

“Save me, please...”

A woman in leather armor fell down to the ground and begged for her life. The male adventurers around did seem rather down, because she was quite pretty.

‘Do we really need to kill her? Even if she tried to steal from us, we are still in need of members.’

‘Maybe I’ll be able to convince her to join us.’

She was one of the members that had joined recently , but under false pretenses since she had been caught trying to steal from them. Although she was now captured, many were willing to give her a second chance.

People resort to all kinds of things when their survival is on the line, was the rationale many in the camp were considering.

However Woohyuk appeared and mercilessly ran Grandia through her heart.

Puaak!

“Kuluk”

The woman puked out a large amount of blood as she gave Woohyuk a venomous look. Above her head appeared a two tiered crown along with a red marker.

Ma Gwangpil, who had been watching the ordeal, clicked his tongue in disappointment.

‘Tch.. what a pity.’

He had wanted to prevent Woohyuk from killing her, but lacked any proper justification to do so.

He was in the wrong, keeping her alive simply because she had a pretty face, putting the rest of the camp in danger, so he definitely couldn’t bring it up.

“You were very fast, it hasn’t even been half a day.”

Eve said as she stepped out of the black portal.

She looked around for a bit and then came back to Woohyuk with a puzzled expression.

“Did you not increase your numbers? How bold of you. Well, it isn’t any of my concern. Since you’ve reached the qualification, I have to ask, are you ready to undergo the examination for your promotion?”

“Yes”

Above Woohyuk's head there was a tenth tier Bronze crown.

Eve let out a bright smile as she handed him a map.

“The task is rather simple, you need to carry these crates to the marked area on the map. There isn’t any time limit, but if any crates are lost, you need to return here to pick up a new one.”

The destination was simply an empty clearing on the way to the Central Lake.

The number of crates matched the amount of members in your party, so there wasn’t any need for return trips.

“Got it.”

“Then I’ll wish you good fortune in your battles to come! See you next time!”

As Eve disappeared, Woohyuk instructed every member of his party to pick up a wooden crate and carry it on their backs.

They were all rather heavy, as if they had been filled to the brim with stones, but at least it was manageable enough that everyone was able to carry one.

Even the smallest among them had to bear the burden.

“Are you fine? It’s a bit unreasonable to ask this of you...”

“This is something we have to do.”

Song Anna gave Yoo Kayoung a smile.

Although she appeared small and feeble, her Strength stat was such that she wasn’t inferior to any of the men in the camp.

“Once you are all ready we can get started.”

Woohyuk said as he took the lead. Lee Jaesung who followed right behind him smirked and mentioned.

“I think you’re going in the wrong direction, shouldn’t we be going that way?”

“We can’t simply go like this.”

Although it sounded like a simple transportation mission, it couldn’t be further from the truth.

The path toward the Central Lake was always teeming with adventurers which were in search of items. If they were to encounter a team that were carrying suspicious wooden crates, one could easily imagine the misunderstanding it might cause.

It wouldn’t be a big deal if it were only one or two groups, but there were too many unknowns which could slow them down too much.

‘We need to have a means of transportation.’

Woohyuk had drunk the Elixir of Paradise, was able to tame any creatures within the Primordial forest. As such, he plan was to capture a few of them to act as mules, allowing them to easily complete the quest.

‘I already have one in mind.’

Although they were a bit wild, he kind of liked their personality.

Woohyuk swung his Black Machete as he cleared a path through the bush.

* * *

There were many unique items within the Nebulus World that only a single player could acquire. For example Hidden pieces which were found in secret rooms. Only the very first adventurer to arrive would obtain them. These included the Elixir of Paradise, Ghost Queen Star Serpent, Calm Sea’s Silence, Lilith’s Unholy Chalice and the Vampiric Dagger.

On the other hand, there were titles that were only given to those that were the first to complete certain achievements, like Human Hunter which one obtained from killing ten people or Goblin Slayer from killing one hundred goblins.

Just like those, there was a title for the very first person to achieve a Silver Crown. Of course it wasn’t anything like a hidden class or skill, but obtaining it was still very beneficial this early on.

For that reason, Woohyuk used this method to cut down their travel time.

[Jabber Woks]

They stood on two legs with well developed muscles as well as a long tail to balance themselves. Basically they were dinosaurs. They had small arms in comparison to their legs, sharp claws and horns, as well as bright reptilian eyes.

Due to their large numbers as well as sturdy scales giving them a high defense, Woohyuk chose them as mounts instead of horses.

The process of capturing them was rather simple. He had obtained a Hunter’s Whip at the Crimson Crow’s cave, and simply whipped them all into obedience.

If any animal trainer would have seen it occur they would have been shocked. Usually when taming an animal or monster it was important to first build a connection and foster trust.

Woohyuk however didn’t have any time for all that. He only needed a mount he could control and didn’t want to keep them as pets.

The quickest way to tame them was to first wear them down, before mounting them. Rabbit meat, which was their favorite food, wasn't even needed.

In that way eleven Jabber Woks were subdued and used as mounts.

Since Woohyuk was now considered their owner, he summoned them whenever the need arose. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any of the proper equipment such as reins or a saddle, so the ride was far from comfortable.

On their end, the Jabber Woks were also dissatisfied with their treatment, but didn’t dare cry out due to their fear of Woohyuk.

As the party was about to set off, Son Anna played a Marching Wind Tune, increasing movement speed by 20%.

Her buff could now be applied to only her own party, so it wouldn’t lead to the uncomfortable situation of increasing the speed of one’s own pursuers.

For this reason, even though they had passed by several adventurer groups along the way, there hadn’t been any incidents. Before the other party could even speak up, they had already disappeared from view.

There were still the occasional few that managed to react quickly and fire off some arrows or magic spells, but Woohyuk easily deflected them with his Vampiric dagger.

The same was true for the many roaming Zombies. Yoo Kayoung would even help Woohyuk out with her Fireball spell, and if there were too many Song Anna would chip in by summoning her Sylph wind spirit.

“Anna, that one!”

Yoo Kayoung pointed at a female Zombie approaching in the distance. Sylph was promptly sent out, decapitating the unlucky Zombie as a fountain of tainted black blood spurt out.

“Nice one!”

They only required a single hand to grasp on to the Jabber Woks to steady themselves, so Song Anna was able to be quite proactive with spells. She had a high synergy with her spirits, and was also able to play the flute.

For those reasons, even if she had learned a priestess’ healing skill first, she still had a high chance of changing to apprentice Spirit Summoner or even Poet.

‘She was worth the investment.’

He hadn’t known it would turn out like this, but Woohyuk was now looking forward to Song Anna’s growth upon seeing her perform so well as a Bard.

Perhaps she was even the youngest adventurer to have succeeded in their second class.

“Stop here, we’ve arrived.”

Woohyuk raised his hand and everyone brought their Jabber Woks to a halt as they examined their surroundings.

It was an empty clearing, except for a visible magic circle and a giant Butcher Zombie that was held back by a thick metal chain, restricting its movement to within the magic circle.

“Grrrrr”

The Zombie started swinging its giant Cleaver aggressively upon catching sight of Woohyuk’s party.

In order to successfully place the wooden crates within the magic circle, the Zombie had to be taken care of first.

Woohyuk placed his crate down on the ground and headed towards it.

If one distanced themselves too much from their crate, it would be considered ownerless and if this persisted for 10 minutes it would disappear. Although he was on a clock, he wasn’t too worried.

“Kuaaaak”

As soon as Woohyuk stepped into its aggro range, the Butcher Zombie entered a frenzied state, Smashing down its Cleaver with all its might.

Naturally, the attack didn’t harm a hair on Woohyuk’s head, as he leapt onto the Cleaver’s hilt, using it as a bridge to directly reach the Zombies head.

Swoosh!

The Butcher Zombie’s head was sent flying through the air, as Woohyuk had used two hands to wield the Black Machete and provide enough force. Upon landing back on the ground, he signaled Yoo Kayoung.

Boom!

She in turn sent out a Fireball, bathing the Zombie’s body in flames.

Since no other Zombies appeared, the party proceeded to move the crates within the magic circle.

Shortly after, Eve appeared through her black portal.

“Wow, did you guys use some method of transportation? The other groups only thought of carrying the boxes by hand. Well, if the brain is stupid, the body shall suffer.”

“Are we the first?”

“Indeed, Chun Woohyuk’s party has the fastest completion time. For this reason you shall receive 5 Leadership Skill Points. As a reference, others will only receive a single point upon completion.”

As soon as Eve finished her explanation, a white text appeared before Woohyuk’s eyes.

[Leadership Skills description]

1. Mobility (Lv.1) - Flag Soldier: Movement Speed of allies within a 15 meter radius is increased by 10 %. 3 hours cooldown.

2. Growth (Lv1) - For a duration of 1 hour, a 10% increase in Experience gained by allies within a 100 meter radius. 3 hours cooldown.

3. Luck (Lv.1) - For 1 hour, a 10 % increase in Drop rate from monster for allies within a 100 meter radius. 3 hours cooldown.

4. Barrier (Lv.1) - Creates a semicircular barrier to protect allies within a 1 meter radius. The amount of damage the barrier can absorb depends on the Leader’s Mana . 3 hours cooldown.

5. Stronghold (Lv.1) Plant your flag into the ground. For a duration of 1 hour, 1% increase in all allied Stats by within a 15 meter radius. 3 hour cooldown.

6. Command (Lv.1) Able to assign 10 Bronze Crown to one’s subordinates. (10 man Commander)

7. Negotiation (Lv.1) - Bring into the fold a leader of a group of 10 or less members. (Only possible in the case of mutual agreement.)

8. Call to Arms (Lv.1) - Summon a single Commander and their 10 members to your current location. 6 hour cooldown.

9. Authority (Lv.1) - Give an order to one of your subordinates that they aren’t able to refuse. 6 hour cooldown.

He already knew what to do next, so he clicked the list of skills one by one according to the plan he had set for himself.