IDWGT 2

Chapter 2

I happened to find out that the person who sold the 300 million-won Soul-grade Gigantes was a user who had joined the same “Damo” as me.

Damo is short for “Dark Gamer Meeting,” and within *Legend World* alone, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of them.

Anyway, because I was in the same Damo as the user who had obtained the 300 million-won Soul-grade Gigantes, I learned a few facts that weren’t disclosed to regular users. Things like the route through which he obtained the Gigantes, and his playstyle.

He had risen to become a star among dark gamers, including our Damo, with just that one Gigantes.

Many dark gamers would probably try to imitate his play.

But I had no intention of doing so. I prided myself on having quite a bit of know-how built up on my own side, after all.

Though I’d never once hit the jackpot…

It had already been two days since that incident that gave me dreams of a big score.

And today, I finally sold the Wings of the Ferocious.

Fortunately, I was able to dispose of it for 12,000 gold, a bit more than expected. I’d sold it for 2,000 gold more.

2,000 gold is 200,000 won, and that was a very large sum of money for me at present.

After the deal was finalized, I hurriedly converted it to cash, paid off my debts, and extended my account period, which had about four days left, by another month.

After doing so, exactly 193,700 won remained.

It was an amount that was barely enough to live on for a month, but it was far better than nothing.

When I logged back into *Legend World*, the first thing I did was check my character status.

“Status window check!”

Character: Yak

Level: 131

Class: Mad Berserker

Race: Human

Title: Warrior of Madness

Affiliation: None

Cryde Royal Contribution: 4,200

Reputation: 1,020

HP: 13,350/13,350

MP: 650/650

Strength: 371 (+130)

Agility: 161 (+50)

Vitality: 251 (+20)

Wisdom: 26

Intelligence: 1

Bonus Points: 0

Next, I checked my equipped items.

**Devourer’s Malevolence**

A greatsword carved from the bone of the Ice Ogre, ruler of the northern ice mountains. Due to its nature, a chill aura lingers on the blade’s surface.

Category: Greatsword

Grade: Unique

Attack Power: 1,230

Durability: 1,309/5,600

Options: Strength +100, Attack Speed -20%

On hit, additional cold-attribute damage +50% at regular intervals

Magic Resistance to cold attribute +20%

Additional damage on critical hit +100%

Can use the ‘Warrior of Madness’ title, which has an option of Attack Power +20.

Equip Restriction: Strength 200 or higher

**Descan**

The heirloom of the now-fallen noble Descan family. This armor, passed down to the Descan family’s benefactor, boasts a simplicity unfitting for nobility and high defensive power.

Category: Armor

Grade: Rare

Defense: 250

Durability: 1,877/6,300

Options: HP Recovery Speed +30%

10% chance to evade physical strikes

10% chance to reflect physical impact

Equip Restriction: Only the Descan family’s benefactor may equip (Non-transferable)

**Dark Helm**

A helmet dropped by Skeleton Warriors at a certain probability. It looks old and shabby, but is very light and sturdy.

Category: Helmet

Grade: Magic

Defense: 110

Durability: 890/2,700

Options: Vitality +20

Increased vision in darkness

Magic Resistance to dark attribute +20%

Equip Restriction: None

**Greaves of the Deposed Emperor**

The boots worn by the knight Pa-hwang, who was once a Royal Knight. The resentment of his betrayal by his comrades lingers strongly within them.

Category: Boots

Grade: Rare

Defense: 140

Durability: 999/3,900

Options: Strength +30, Agility +50, Movement Speed +10%, Evasion Rate +30%

-20 HP per minute when equipped

Can use the skill ‘Fighting Spirit Explosion’ once per hour

Equip Restriction: Knight class cannot equip

I checked the durability of the items I was wearing and let out a small sigh.

The number of items I currently had equipped was four in total.

Considering that the minimum number of items regular users equip is seven or more, that was only about half that number.

From that perspective, my condition wasn’t very good. Especially considering that I was a dark gamer.

A dark gamer must never neglect investment in the items they equip. If a soldier going to the battlefield had shabby equipment, that soldier’s chances of surviving the war would drop accordingly.

This *Legend World* was a battlefield for all dark gamers, including me, and to raise the chances of survival even a little, equipping good gear was essential.

However, I couldn’t do that. It was because of the characteristics of my class.

Mad Berserker.

When a Mad Berserker advances to a 2nd-tier class, they gain Strength +50, Agility +50, Vitality +50, and are given one passive skill and six active skills.

And these skills, just like the class name Mad Berserker, were mostly attack-oriented skills, but their style was a bit bizarre. The reason why could be seen by looking at the skills I had.

[Greatsword Mastery (Passive Skill Lv. 9)

You can handle greatswords freely as if they were your own body. When you have this skill, attack speed increases by 20% when using a greatsword, and you receive a penalty when using other weapons.]

[Brand of Fresh Blood (Active Skill Lv. 5)

Using your own blood as a sacrifice, you explode your latent potential.

For 5 minutes, Attack Speed +30%, Movement Speed +20%, -100 HP per minute, and when attacked by an enemy, you receive double damage.

MP Cost: 100

Cooldown: 10 minutes]

[Mad Explosion (Active Skill Lv. 3)

Using the aura of a Mad Berserker created as a price for life, you send forth a tangible sword that slashes enemies and simultaneously explodes them, inflicting double damage.

When using the skill, 3% of HP is consumed, and the Mad Berserker’s aura damages the durability of equipped items.

Cooldown: 25 seconds]

[Berserker Wind (Active Skill Lv. 3)

Using the aura of a Mad Berserker created as a price for life, you imbue it into your greatsword and fire a storm. This storm blows enemies away and simultaneously slows their movement by up to 20% for 10 seconds.

When using the skill, 2% of HP is consumed, and the Mad Berserker’s aura damages the durability of equipped items.

Cooldown: 20 seconds]

[Mad Tornado (Active Skill Lv. 3)

Creates a tornado above an enemy’s head, dealing powerful damage and simultaneously launching them into the air for 3 seconds at a certain probability. When using the skill, 4% of HP is consumed, and the Mad Berserker’s aura damages the durability of equipped items.

Cooldown: 30 seconds]

[Mad Cross (Active Skill Lv. 2)

Concentrating all the aura of a Mad Berserker created as a price for life into your weapon, amplifying attack power by up to 200%.

When using the skill, 20% of HP is consumed, and the Mad Berserker’s aura applies a great shock to the weapon, causing severe damage.

Cooldown: 2 minutes]

[Mad Berserker (Active Skill Lv. 1)

By causing the aura of a Mad Berserker to go berserk, you can move your body freely regardless of any wounds, curses, or abnormal conditions, and you can use other skills regardless of HP.

However, when using the skill, HP and MP drop to one-tenth, and simultaneously inflict critical damage to equipped items, and using additional skills also damages equipment. Furthermore, during the skill’s duration, HP and MP recovery is impossible.

Cooldown: 2 hours]

As such, most of my class skills were things that ruined equipment once used, so every time I used a skill, I took a hit as well.

For this reason, wearing accessories with relatively low durability was out of the question, and because of that, I had no choice but to focus my investments on the few items I wore.

The items I wore were quite high-grade, and especially their durability was uniformly high, making them very sturdy.

But even so, the tremendous repair costs that piled up every time I hunted…

That amount was about 30 percent of the money I earned from a single hunt, so it was beyond words.

Damn repair costs.

I was keenly feeling that being a hidden class wasn’t all good, ever since I obtained this Mad Berserker class.

“Should I just hunt like crazy for the first time in a while?”

Organizing these thoughts, I headed to the blacksmith first. This was because, after checking my items, their overall durability had dropped considerably.

‘Haah, they’ll be massively broken again this time.’

The place I sought out was a blacksmith located east of Talant Castle. This place, tucked away in a remote spot, was very shabby compared to blacksmiths located in other castles.

But after looking around here and there, I found that this place was the best in terms of skill.

Perhaps quite a few users besides me knew that fact, because despite being a place with very few visitors, it was crowded with many users.

“I should have gone somewhere else.”

Seeing the long line, it seemed I’d have to wait about an hour before it was my turn.

I briefly considered going somewhere else, but in the end, I joined the long line. It was obvious what other places would be like without even looking.

After about 30 minutes, fortunately, my turn came.

“Please repair these.”

“Hold on!”

It was when I was about to unequip all the items I was wearing and hand them to the blacksmith.

Someone stopped me from doing so.

Wondering what was going on, I slightly turned my head and saw an old man standing there, someone I’d seen a few times before.

‘What’s going on with the old man who usually doesn’t say a word and just dozes off all day inside the blacksmith’s?’

There was always a good reason when NPCs did something they didn’t normally do, and the old man was highly likely to be such a case.

What was certain was that this was a completely unexpected situation.

“Let me introduce myself first. I am called Pants.”

“Pants?”

“Yes. You’ve probably heard of it.”

At the old man’s words, I tilted my head for a moment at the name that seemed familiar, then soon recalled it and was startled. It was a name I had seen while completing the royal alchemist Teddy’s ‘Secret of the Giant Golem’ quest.

In *Legend World*, users and NPCs are normally indistinguishable, but when an NPC reveals their name, it is designed to be revealed above their head only to that specific person.

Thanks to that, I could confirm the name Pants clearly floating above the old man’s head.

Anyway, Teddy…

“W-what is this.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Some bad memories came to mind.”

At some point, my hand was grabbing Pants by the collar. It was because of the name Teddy that I had done so without realizing it.

However, since there was nothing good about getting on an NPC’s bad side, I let go and apologized politely. At my apology, Pants made a peculiar expression and continued speaking.

“Teddy and I are close. I heard a lot about you from Teddy. That you’re very skilled in tracking… Eek!”

For a moment, I almost grabbed Pants by the collar again. But this time, Pants had dodged in advance, so my attempt ended in failure. How regrettable.

Perhaps reading my expression, Pants cleared his throat for no reason.

“I can tell without even looking what you went through with that cranky old man. So, would you please calm down and listen to what I have to say?”

I delayed my answer for a moment and looked at Pants. How should I put it, there was a kind of earnestness visible within his calm expression.

In any case, it seemed clear that he wanted something from me.

‘So it’s a quest.’

It roughly seemed to be a follow-up quest to the Secret of the Giant Golem quest. And one connected to a hidden quest, at that.

If so, the reward would surely be considerable. But…

‘This somehow feels unpleasant?’

The royal alchemist NPC Teddy was on my mind. Hadn’t I already been burned by him once? Since it was a quest somehow related to him, I couldn’t help but be cautious.

Surely he wouldn’t screw me over twice in a row, but there was no harm in being careful.

“I really wish you would help me. I beg of you like this.”

As I hesitated, Pants spoke to me again.

Only then did I nod, and Pants began his story.