Volume 3 Chapter 9

By Spiriter - 11:21 PM

Chapter 9: The Great Sculpture

T/L by Grisia
Re-P/R by 1stSlug 2014
Vampires patrolled the area at regular intervals. That was a little bit unfortunate.


Weed was resting near a statue.

Bird of the main nut.

He ate the dish made from the Avian eggs and fruits of heaven.

Weed could take on a vampire by himself, and the Death Knight could fight one solo as well.

“Kyaah!”

“Van Hawk, you traitor!” screamed the vampire that Van Hawk was battling.

“I only follow the commands of the Master.”

The fierce battle was resolved after he parried a few times and Weed killed the two vampires.

Weed sat back down without having to say anything.

“Dispel Curse.”

Alveron’s mission was to wait at the statue for the vampires and use the spells in order.

“Divine Light, please dispel the restraints on their freedom from the power that is distorting their form.”

Light came down from the sky and covered the statue. The blackened surface of the statue melted away, like washing off ink. Inside the statues were paladins wearing the pattern of the Freya church.

“Die, Vampires!”

The paladins saw him wielding the sword of light as well as the presence of Alveron.

“I do not feel the slightest evil spirit coming from you. Are you from the church?”

“Oh, brother paladin! We have come to rescue everyone. Come with us and soon the suffering will be over.”

Alveron and the paladins broke out into a melodramatic scene.

The paladins returned to the cave and ate as if they were possessed. They began to beg Weed for food.

Weed put the food in a small bowl. After they ate, the paladins had an apologetic face as they held out the bowl.

“Thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome. There is still some left, so eat some more.”

The paladins handed their bowl to Weed.

Their share of food was placed in the bowl. Then he gave it to the paladins.

The paladins gulped to swallow their saliva. Hunger was the best seasoning of all.

They had never had food that tasted better than Weed’s.

This was all thanks to having Intermediate handicraft and intermediate cooking skills!

They created a subtle taste and enticing smell.

“How can we eat while Weed starves? I cannot.”

“This food is given to us by the Goddess. There is no way that I could eat it all by myself.”

Weed did not lie at all. In fact, eating just a little bit of high level cooking was enough to fill the satiety level.

He deliberately gave their share of food in small bowls. The paladins could not even begin to imagine the lethal and sophisticated meaning of such an act and continued to accept the bowl with gratitude. They would accept the bowl and words of gratitude would be spoken while they ate.

Alveron was using Meditation and Weed took out a carving knife.

*Crunch* The sound of sculpting.

As the paladins ate, they watched Weed work with his hands to create a beautiful sculpture.

It was the shape of a paladin fighting evil.

“You are very talented. It’s very beautiful.”

“It’s my hobby,” he replied.

The Order of the Goddess Freya was about beauty and abundance. For that reason, Weed’s intimacy level with the church’s paladins was very high to begin with.

Sculptors! A profession about loving art and beauty.

Chef! Delicious food was a symbol of abundance.

Weed was not acknowledged by other people, but the paladins from the church would respect him.

“Everybody let us pray.”

After hunting and eating food, Weed bowed his head forwards and prayed to the Goddess Freya.

“Thank you for the abundance of food and for giving us your blessing. Please continue to protect the peace of the continent from evil…”

Alveron was raised with the habit of praying.

Praying increased the intimacy of priests and paladins.

Like the soldiers of the Rosenheim Kingdom, the paladins were everywhere.

A total of 159 paladins and 38 priests were turned to stone. But wherever there was a stone paladin, there were certainly vampire guards.

“First of all, there is a need to increase our united strength,” Weed persuaded the paladins with such logic.

The Morata Province was overflowing with many wolves and evil monsters. They could hunt thousands of monsters in Morata.

But sometimes they rescued rebellious paladins.

“Now is not the time to do this! We should be searching for our brothers who are suffering instead of doing this!”

Occasionally the paladins would take their swords and tried to assault the village. Such a fearless attitude towards evil was becoming of a knight.

True Blood Vampire Clan!

To the paladins, they were most certainly the enemy.

Weed desperately blocked them. If he let them back into the village now, what were the chances that they would become victim to the vampires again?

“They should still be alive and we must remain hopeful. But if any of us should be defeated, then we shall forever suffer the ridicule of the vampire and what do you expect will happen to your brothers as a result?”

Weed persuaded the paladins while hunting.

It was frustrating, but the paladins had to agree with Weed.

He needed money. In Royal Road, he could trade in-game currency for real life cash.

You can obtain good equipment to sell, since there was no one else in Morata.

To trade items that anyone could bid on.

It was not easy to come to this region, so who would find these items?

He did not know if he could complete the quest on his own.

So, the conclusion was to increase their power. Yet he did not forget about the effects of sculptures.

“Don’t use wood. Stone is a good material to increase the proficiency of the skill.”

Weed was trying to find a suitably sized stone. However, in the snow-covered mountains, it was not easy to find the right stones. Moreover, since he had to remain still in order to sculpt and the harsh cold wind could make him sick. A lot of time was needed in order to make a sculpture.

“A bunch of rocks. Would it be possible to make a sculpture using that?”

Weed was deeply immersed with what to do about the sculpture.

“It doesn’t have to be rock. Any other hard object would be nice…”

Weed looked across the village and the mountains.

A snow covered world.

The ground was covered in blocks of ice.

“Ice! A sculpture made of ice!”

A sculpture made of ice would be the best material to use. It could be simply cut and it was readily available. It was perfect in the cold north since it wouldn’t melt.

Since then, Weed and the paladins took a break in order to cut ice. With his carving knife, he made large chunks of ice.

Soon he started cutting into it to make a sculpture.

Weed and the brave paladins fought against the vampires.

Their presence was carved into the Morata Province.

Weed began to think of ideas for the theme of the statue. Of course, the model was still Seoyoon. Weed had no other choice since he had never seen anyone prettier.

He had learned that art stats and the sculpture mastery skill increased depending on the meaning behind the sculptures.

Typically, in a town or a castle, a sculpture of a large object was more beneficial than a sculpture of a woman.

In the world, there existed countless masterpieces of woman and the most difficult sculpture to make was a beautiful woman.

The statue in Baran Village was able to make subtle smiles on people’s faces but such a thing would create a strange atmosphere in Morata Province and thus required something else.

A cold appearance.

It was made with an ice cold exterior. The face was the same as when Weed had saw Seoyoon.

He tried to replicate the first sculpture he had made.

It was almost complete, but it felt strange, ‘Is it because of the materials?’

Because it was made of ice, it felt vulnerable and weak.

‘If it doesn’t work and a failed product emerges…’

Weed strongly opposed the idea of failure.

Failure!

Failure was a painful aspect for a sculptor. A renowned sculptor would receive a large drop in fame.

Because a sculptor had to have passion to create a work made it even more difficult.

‘Should I give up?’

If he gave up now, he would slightly damage his fame.

It would become an unforgettable abandoned piece.

Weed used all his powers of observation in order to depict Seoyoon in the sculpture.

‘A strong, cold feeling…Murderer! Yes, lively eyes filled with hate and distrust of other people.’

As he remembered he continued to carve.

Weed began to change the clothing of Seoyoon’s sculpture to armor.

Full plate armor!

On the sculpture was a steel plate that covered the whole body, giving it an intense look. The model for the armor was based on the ones that the paladins were wearing.

One would worry that it would look awkward, but the armor suited Seoyoon too well.

Finally, Weed tried to calmly carve the eyes in order to complete the piece.

‘Do not pay attention to what the window says. I will complete the eyes and it will not become a failure.’

An unbelievable coldness.

The allure of a brutal murderer.

Weed could feel the emotions of the sculpture in her eyes.

However, the eyes in the statue seemed to be their own. It’s clear and innocent eyes.

‘The materials. This happened because of the materials. Stupid Weed! Had to make it out of ice instead of disposing it,’ Weed sighed.

When the statue was completed, it was sometime past noon. The sun reflected and shone brightly.

The sun’s rays systematically fell onto the beauty.

The beauty was shining in numerous brilliant colors. It seemed as if the light would wrapped around the nearby people.

The light changed the statue.

*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
Statue Completed: The Ice Beauty (Masterpiece):

In the cold and desolate lands of the north. The feelings of the people and the earth allowed this statue of beauty to be born. Unlucky travelers that fall into difficulties and troubles will visit this small oasis. Here the travelers could receive sweet rest. An unbelievably high degree of perfection and beauty! An artist created a beauty with a mysterious atmosphere out of ice. A work deserving of praise.

Artistic Value: 750

Special Effects:
Health and Mana regeneration increased by 17% during the day.
Special resistance against ice-based magic.
+40% Resistance to the cold.
3% Chance to reflect an enemy attack.
30+ Charisma stat.

These effects do not stack with other statues.

Number of Masterpieces Created: 1
————————————————————————————————

*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
Level Up: Sculpture Mastery (Intermediate Lv: 5 | 0%):

Sculpting is more delicate and detailed.

Level Up: Handicraft (Intermediate Lv: 7 | 0%):

The ability to use hand tools has increased by an additional 5% and various other skills will be affected by the skill.

Fame has risen by 320 points (+320 FAME)
Art has risen by 45 point (+45 ART)
Endurance has risen by 4 points (+4 END
Perseverance has risen by 3 point (+3 PER)
Luck has risen by 40 points (+40 LUC)
————————————————————————————————

*Trembling*

The paladins had caught a cold. As did Weed!

After having stood around in the desolate land, they did not return to the cave until night. The temperature dropped. The level of the ice and snow in the Morata Province increased and the winds picked up in intensity.

The polar climates have lower temperatures and strong winds.

Snow and pieces of ice fell from the dark blizzards and ice storms.

The numerous pieces of ice that fell created a beautiful landscape when paired up next to the sky.

This occurrence was one of the four mysterious wonders of the northern continent.

Royal Road had created a fantastic environment and many people that visit it were amazed more than any movie that was ever made.

The snow covered ground in the north stretches almost endlessly.

Snow and ice would sweep over the ground in snowstorms.

However, only a small number of people have visited it!

Many usually taste death in the middle of the snow during a blizzard. Their hands and feet would stiffen and the cold would permeate into their bodies until they were frozen solid.

Weed enjoyed the pain since it increased his endurance stat, even if it’s not what people usually would want to do.

The body would freeze immediately and be left out like a frozen shell and left to die miserably.

Every year, the northern lands were subject to over 30 snowstorms and blizzards. Weed wanted to call it a curse of God. The frigid that cold cut deep into his skin!

At night, the temperature fell and it became even colder. Outside the cave was a giant snowstorm. Ice fell dangerously in the middle of the night and they were forced to stop their hunting. Most of the paladins suffered from a cold.

“Ohh, if I knew that this would have happened then I would have learned the sewing skill…”

Weed was trembling from the cold inside the cave but he had no regrets.

They had built up a lot of loot. From hunting in the surrounding area, they managed to collect a lot. Among them items was wolf leather, which could be made into thick clothing to overcome the cold if one had sewing skills.

But Weed did not have such skills and was ultimately forced to fight the cold on his own.

*Crackle*

The bonfire was burning.

They had looted wood from the mountains during the day so that at night they could have a fire going. However, the cold air from the entrance of the cave let in a disastrous amount of air. They weren’t going to die, but they were freezing.

“Ah-choo!”

Even with a cold, Weed managed to survive.

The cooking skill was useful. Eating hot stew managed to raise the resistance against cold and warmed the body.

When the ice and wind died down Weed and the paladins went outside of the cave once more.

The sculpture of the beauty was still standing even after the storm. The sculpture had fought a tough battle against nature.

It was damaged but not completely broken.

*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
The Ice Beauty blessing is now in effect.
————————————————————————————————

Thanks to it, they were able to resist the cold better. But it was weakened to only a 20% cold resistance.

Weed took the carving knife and walked over to the Ice Beauty.

‘Will this work?’

“Repair!”

He removed the extra pieces of ice on the sculpture and packed ice into other minor spots. Wherever it was broken, he attached new pieces of ice. Soon, it came back to its original appearance.

“So it can also repair statues...”

Weed had learned another piece of information. Info about classes was not made public and most professions had to make their own decisions to figure out more definite information.

‘Perhaps… maybe it might be possible here!’ Weed scratched his head as he thought.

Weed logged out.

Lee Hyun browsed through the websites. He was mainly looking for legends of the Arctic or monsters that live in cold climates.

He was looking for information.

Making sculptures raised the skill up well.

Copying the shape of a monster was not difficult. But that was not much of an achievement.

‘I can’t keep making sculptures of monsters. Now they don’t even give me 2% skill mastery.’

Sculpture mastery and Handicraft skills required an additional 20% proficiency requirement each level.

Therefore it was very difficult to increase the level of the skills.

Intermediate skills were not that different from the beginner level, but now it required a certain level of inspiration. The skill would not increase from simply making sculptures of the things around him.

The advanced stage required 50% more training than the intermediate stage for production skills.

Looking beyond their capabilities, production classes were far more difficult than a combat based class.

‘I should make something big to get more artistic value. It will probably raise the skill up a lot too…’

Then Lee Hyun accessed a site that was associated with the Continent of Magic.

Dragons were classified as the ultimate monster of a fantasy continent. Lee Hyun had hunted quite a few dragons in the Continent of Magic.

Powerful, vibrant magical attacks. Incredible breath attack and colossal defense.

He had reached the highest level in the Continent of Magic, he had needed to use a few tricks or he would never have dared to go up against a dragon.

Of those dragons there was the Ice Dragon!

A dragon with a size of over 150 meters and it was capable of a powerful ice breath.

He remembered the time he had hunted one.

“The tail…yeah and then attach the head later. So I have to start from the feet and move up the body.”

Weed reconnected and started to collect chunks of ice.

Because it was immediately after a snowstorm, there was plenty of ice around. The ice piled around was larger than the average house. Walking around in the snow, people would have ice piled up to their chest.

“I would have died if there was nowhere to hide from the snowstorm!”

Frozen by the cold or struck dead by a chunks of ice! In the storm, death would come from one of the two. The only city in the north was in the vicinity of a large mountain. If it was unable to prevent snow in the mountains, then the village would not exist. But the northern town was frightening.

“In the past, the strongest military power of the northern kingdom was forced to be stronger or else they would not have been able to live in such an environment.”

Weed picked up chunks of ice from the surrounding area. He made a rough outline and then piled ice on top. The blocks of ice began to be stacked in layers on top of each other.

“A little bit at a time…”

Weed and the paladins had come back from hunting the wolves.

The blocks of ice that were stacked in a pile were now firmly solidified. There was no need for individual blocks but to connect all of them.

Weed had the paladins create a huge mountain of ice. A chunk of ice large enough to be a mountain!

The pile of ice was several stories tall and kept rising higher.

*Hwiyiiiing – kureureureung!*

The snowstorm had come again.

Ice stacked on top of the giant pile of ice.

Weed kept piling up the snow for two more ice storms and soon there was a mountain made of ice.

The will of humans and the power of Nature!

The two had worked together to achieve the impossible.

“From here on out, it’s my turn.” Weed said as he pulled out the Zahab carving knife.

Ice sculpting.

He had created the Ice Beauty with his hands and suffered through the process.

It was a piece that required fine detail. If he put as much detail into a sculpture of this size, then it would take a year to finish and he did not have that kind of time.

Weed cut drastically and added ice sometimes.

The sculpture gradually began to unfold.

It was now possible to sculpt.

A bonus of the Intermediate Sculpture mastery was the supposed special effects to carving.
Weed had to pay attention as to not fall from the mountain of ice. He connected a piece of rope to the top. Very much like rock climbing.

*Tak tak tak!*

Pieces and chunks of ice were being cut off by the knife and fell down. They would fall to the ground and shatter. Weed looked down from above to see the bottom of the sculpture.

“Ohhh…”

To fall to his death.

This fear was suppressed while he worked on the sculpting. However, hanging from a high place in the freezing cold was no joke. Strong winds would blow and the rope that he was hanging on would shift and he could not move.

Weed finished his first goal for the sculpture which was the torso. The central part of it was the giant torso that was the size of a mountain. The circumference of the torso was more than an extraordinary 100 meters long.

Now it was time for the tail and the legs.

The legs were deformed to be very small. However they were thick enough to hold up a mountain of ice.

Small, thick legs.

A long tail lay hanging from the torso. The length of the tail itself was tens of meters.

The last part was the head. It protruded boldly from the body with a long neck, with its mouth spread wide, and its face glancing over from the side.

Its mouth resembled that of a crocodile.

Long whiskers extended from its face.

Its eyes were fierce and full of power.

The moment Weed finished the sculpture, it was engulfed in light.

*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
Statue Completed: The Ice Dragon (Masterpiece):

Artistic passion and great success often impress young people, but sometimes they are impressed by the things that they are not aware of. A success made through the power of nature!  In the northern region lives the pure-hearted dragon that detests evil. The dragon acts as a saint that keeps the order of the land.

Artistic value: 2500

Special Effects:
+30% Health and Mana recovery speed during the day.
+70% Resistance to the cold
+40% Magic resistance
+35% Maximum health

These effects do not stack with other statues.

Blessing of the Dragon has activated!

The Dragon’s Intimidation degrades the status of all monsters in the area around the Ice Dragon.
Monsters cannot come near the Ice Dragon.

Effect does not overlap with other sculptures.

Number of Grand Sculptures made: 1
Number of Masterpieces Created: 2

Ice Dragon has been added to the Wonders of the North.
If, in the future, Ice Dragon is given life then Weed will be given ownership of Ice Dragon and it will be loyal to Weed.

All stats have increased by 1 for having made a grand sculpture.
————————————————————————————————

*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
Level Up: Sculpture Mastery (Intermediate Lv: 6 | 0%):

Sculpting is more delicate and detailed.

Level Up: Handicraft (Intermediate Lv: 8 | 0%):

The ability to use hand tools has increased by an additional 5% and various areas will be affected by the skill.

Fame has risen by 850 points (+850 FAME)
Art has risen by 64 point (+64 ART)
Endurance has risen by 49 points (+49 END)
Perseverance has risen by 16 point (+16 PER)
All Stats have risen by 12 points (+12 ALL STATS)
————————————————————————————————

He did not imagine that he would be able to use chunks of ice to make a monster.
The Ice Dragon Statue.

In comparison to the actual thing, Ice Dragon looked perfectly the same.

Using ice as the material for the Ice Dragon was the best answer.

Daring to use materials that other structures would never dream of. That made it a work of art.

Health and mana regeneration increased by 30%. That meant that the rate of hunting would last 30% longer. The increased resistance to the cold reduced the biggest obstacle in the north which would also help.

Resistance to magic and increase in maximum health.

The increase in stats.

This, along with his combat abilities made their chances of survival increase greatly.
If Alveron or the paladins die, then the quest would be over so Weed had to support them.

While Weed went around hunting and rescuing paladins. As did Death Knight Van Hawk.

“I will never approve of someone such as you!”

The paladins explicit complaints towards the Death Knight were revealed. It was too much for the followers of the faith to accept Van Hawk, who had been a servant of Barkhan.

Weed went to the Death Knight side to sort out the problem.

“You mean the Death Knight? This is the reason for his purpose.”

Weed beat up the Death Knight. After dying pathetically in front of the paladins, he was reverse summoned. A while after the Death Knight died, the Red Necklace of Life would turn crimson again and could be summoned once more.

“Bloodhounds.”

“We can do this.”

The paladins went upon the task of taking down the monsters.

‘Really strong’

Weed nodded.

When he hunted in the Rosenheim Kingdom, he lead the recruits using his bow and sword against the goblins as well as using traps.

But to the paladins, they could neglect those things. Their attacks were based on divine power and crushed the bones of the monsters.

Weed brandished his sword against the undead to collect experience. 20% of the experience was given to the Death Knight, but compared to hunting in Lavias he was able to collect much better experience here.

Hunting was much safer and sustainable with Alveron’s assistance. In a few months, Weed managed to get the paladins to around level 220 and others became equal to the True Blood Vampires with levels over 270. It was a performance worth tears. If it had not been for the Ice Dragon Statue, then it would have taken more time. One or two paladins may have ended up dead.

“Now let us begin to save the rest of our brothers.”

*****

The 500 Dojang practitioners Geomchi’s.

The practitioners all chose similar type classes. Training their bodies, the sword was the first thing they learned in the game. They were noobs at everything else.

“It’s strange that eating bread fills the satiety level.”

“Drinking water also relieves thirst.”

“When I say status window, an impossible floating window appears!”

Such were the practitioners!

Several Geomchi’s had entered the game and ate the starting bread and were now going hungry.
Geomdulchi masked his face as he watched them.

“How is it that none of you have any bread left!”

“Do we hope for a miracle?”

“…”

They could no longer receive barley bread and the Geomchi’s were now suffering from hunger. The Geomchi’s were starving and waiting to die, but they could only hit the scarecrow. And then Pale came.

“Please buy me some bread.”

“Thank you!”

The Geomchi’s closed their eyes as they begged.

“We are not the type of people to be begging others for help. However since Weed is my disciple, isn’t it only natural that I should accept his help?”

The job was not what they had expected, but Pale and Surka accepted it nonetheless.

500 powerful men.

They instantly lost all backbone as they rushed Pale to go buy bread looking with their scary hungry eyes, so he went and bought 50 thousand barley bread.

For the 50 thousand barley bread, the price of single barley bread was 3 copper so with 1 silver he could buy 33 pieces and 1 gold could buy 3,300 pieces of bread.

Romuna, Surka, and Irene had grown up with so much money that they had never witnessed such pitiful people such as the 500 Geomchi’s.

Anyways, through a trial and error, the Geomchi’s finished beating the scarecrows in the training center.

4 weeks!

They really did not sleep for 4 weeks, and finished hitting the scarecrow.

505 people that were like Weed.

‘Ohh, I’m so tired...’

Honestly, if they had done it alone they would not have completed it.

Along with Geomchi, many of the trainees and instructors were tired and wanted to hurry and stop the training.

But Geomchi had declared that they would not leave until they passed the beginner’s training center.

If a single person did not pass, then the remaining 504 would have to wait for that one person.

“Such horror…”

If they remained behind then their conscience could not bear it! They were too afraid to take a rest. The practitioners were hitting the scarecrow like madmen.

“1697239!”

“1697240!”

“1697241!”

After Geomchi had finished the beginner’s training center, Geomchi reported the number of the other successful Geomchi’s. Aside from Geomchi, the instructors and one trainee had finished their training and were waiting for the remaining 499.

*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
Agility has risen by 1 point (+1 AGI)
————————————————————————————————

Finally, the last part of the training center was finished.

“Master, the training is finished.”

“Good effort.”

“It was very difficult.”

All of the Geomchi’s got together in a group. They had waited together to pass the beginner training center. The Instructor approached with a heart-warming smile. Then he took out some swords one by one.

“This is given to those that have completed the beginner training center. It is yours to take.”

“I know. Thank you.”

Geomchi thanked the instructor as he inspected his sword.

Their usernames were based on a single pattern.

Their names were in the initial order of the dojang!

His name followed the order as well.

The instructor smiled warmly.

“Do you have any questions? By the way, at this beginner training center, you are the 522nd person to…”

“I do not. I do not need any help. Thank you.”

He had heard the 504 other practitioners approached by the instructor to say the same thing. It was like they were unable to get the instructor’s voice out of their ears.

The Geomchi’s had been waiting for the rest of them to finish up.

However, now the instructor said something a little different.

“Since such a large number of you have passed this training center, it could only mean that good things will happen to this kingdom. I look forward to the day that you become valiant knights.”

“Yea, whatever. I don’t care. See you later.”

The Geomchi’s left the training center.

The game was finally beginning, but they were still noobs.

“Well, we need to get a job so let’s go to the guild.”

“Master, can we all come?”

“I don’t see any reason to not come! Is there?”

“As befitting of the Master.”

“Master, it is exciting that we will get inspected for a class.”

All of the 505 Geomchi’s strode around the streets.

They were all dressed the same and moved in unison.

“Who the hell are these people?”

“Are they holding a performance?”

“Look at that. They’re all holding the same sword.”

“Hey, they’re the guys from the training center!”

“Are they?”

“You mean those strange people…”

The Geomchi’s had already become a little famous but they did not care. They stood there, engulfed in the joy of the game for the very first time, the excitement, as they went to the guild.

After a while, one by one, the Geomchi’s came out of the guild smiling.

“Catch a fox?”

“Collect 300 fox leathers…”

“So it isn’t to catch a fox, but to collect fox leathers.”

“For a formal student of a dojang for more than two years? That is too easy.”

“Ha, ha, ha, foxes!” The practitioners laughed loudly.

More Geomchi’s laughed.

“Kkeolkkeolkkeol! They’re thinking too little of us.”

“Master, I do not think we have to do this alone. We can work together to collect the leather.”

“No Geomchi2. When you hunt you can earn experience for your level. Also, this is our first quest. Don’t you want to see what you are able to do?”

“Yes, indeed. Let us go catch some foxes.”

“Ha, I did not expect that I would first use my sword against a fox!”

“It is an honor for the fox.”

The people that were listening to the Geomchi’s conversation thought they were ridiculous. They seemed to be coming from a completely different world.

“Do you have any idea how strong a fox is?”

“They look like beginners without a job…”

“I couldn’t even catch a raccoon.”

The low levels ignored the Geomchi’s even more. They were unable to even think of hunting foxes. At their levels it was difficult to even hunt raccoons or rabbits.

“Once they die, they should come to their senses.”

“I don’t think that there were any guild quests in progress to hunt fox pelts. Once the sun rises, they’ll be in town trying to buy the pelts.”

“I bet that there’s going to be a stack of corpses in front of the castle.”

In the midst of the commotion, Pale and Surka could be seen at a distance.

“It’s so pitiful.”

“Yea, it’s too sad.”

“Poor foxes…”


“…”

They knew something about Weed and the practitioners that others did not know so Pale and the girls had a feeling about what was going to happen.

They had built up their base stats. However, to the other users it seemed that they were going to die…

“Oh! We should get going.”

“Let’s see how this goes.”

Geomchi and the practitioners went out the east gate.

The basic monsters such as foxes, rabbits, raccoon, and porcupines were outside playing around.

They were excellent at jumping and hunting noobs.

The fox was one of the monsters that stood out the most.

“Whoa, ah!”

“Let’s go!”

The Geomchi’s stampeded out into the field.

The fox was lying down with its tail in front sleeping. Unfortunately it was run down by a sword. This was the fox’s first fight against a sword and it just had to be a large number of swords wielding Geomchis!

With a fluid motion to avoid the attacks, he gently stabbed the sword towards the fox’s empty abdomen.
*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
FATAL CRITICAL HIT!
————————————————————————————————

The fox turned gray and died.

“What, why was it so easy?”

Geomchi muttered aloud. The rest of them that had watched the monster’s chest saw that it was true.

“Who killed a fox?”

“The fox must have been hurt. So it must have died right on the spot.”

“It doesn’t make sense that it would die so fast, look for traps. It doesn’t look right.”

“I don’t think so! I think we’re mistaken.”

“Is that right?”

However, then another fox came.

The practitioners dodge its silly attacks and attacked in response with their sword.

*Peobeobeok!*

Only one or two hits!

With their stats and skills, the 50% sword mastery boost, the damage they were doing was high.

“Oh, this is fun!”

“Yea, but why is the fox so weak?”

The Geomchi’s brutally killed any of the foxes they caught.

From squirrels to foxes, rabbits and raccoons; they killed them all. In the end, by nightfall, the higher level wolves came out!

The wolves were tough as they revealed their sharp protruding teeth.

The practitioners had secured the castle of Serabourg and wiped out all the mobs. The crowd could only open their mouths in shock at the sight of them.

“Unbelievable!”

“How do they do that…!”

Pale could only nod as a result.

“Well…”

“Yea, really.”

“I think I’m scared.”

“Irene, why is that?”

“It’s like seeing more than 500 people like Weed…”

“…”

For the mobs of rabbits and wolves, that was without a doubt an era of suffering.

The practitioners were carried away from the feeling of freely wielding a sword and using it to directly hit a monster.

Then a certain wolf that seldom shows itself appeared.

*Awoooo!*

The Silver Wolf’s roar.

Its silver fur was gently flowing in the wind.

It legs were elegantly outstretched and it boasted sturdy thighs.

Then Geomchi spoke up.

“It looks like we catch something nice.”

“Master, this one has better stuff.”

“Is that so? It gives better items?”

“That’s right!”

Geomchi charged.

*Kaeaeaeng!*

The wolves left the world with one scream at a time.

The Geomchi’s led a frenzy of slaughter in front the Citadel of Serabourg.

Sword mastery and rewards!

Experience!

Items!

Even the practitioners that had only been using the sword for a couple years became devoted.

Their soul no longer felt stifled.

They could unleash their sword skills here.

Kill monsters, get experience and level, eat better food.

For the practitioners it was good to be strong.

The reason was simple.

‘The spirit is the body!’

They did not want to be weak. They wanted to fight strong monsters.

Get good items. Get more money.

The fact that the rabbits and wolves dropped copper was fantastic since it mean that they could buy barley bread and they would not starve.

They could not stop since it was not enough!

“Keuhahahaha!”

“I will kill you!”

The crowd that had been watching them were excited at first, but as it dragged on they began to tremble in fear for their futures...

*****

Thanks to Alveron and the higher level paladins, they were able to deal with 4 to 5 vampires at once. These were usually the vampires guarded the statues.

The paladin forces only attacked a few times during the day.

That way, they were able to rescue over 30 paladins. He was able to further enhance his cooking skills by feeding the ever increasing number of paladins, but there was an issue. The problem wasn’t the cooking but the ingredients!

So they had to start hunting for food. Dozens of paladins went to look for a good hunting ground for food ingredients, after which they needed to repair their armor. But during all of this hunting and repairing, he had been neglecting to raise his sculptor skills.

Other than his outstanding combat skills, he needed more time than other people to get stronger because he needed to improve Handicraft.

So he needed to raise his sculpting and various other skills as much as possible. Even if he had good combat capability, Weed had the hidden advantage of being a support class.

The best thing he could do was to support the paladins in the upcoming battles.

‘It’s fortunate. Other than one factor, there is no time limit…’

The quest to recover Fargo’s crown and rescue the petrified paladins had no particular time limit. Perhaps because the person that received the quest would have no time to hunt, and because of food.

There were over dozens of paladins that you had to feed. You had to watch over the amount of food left after each fight until the quest was complete; however Weed was always travelling with his seasonings and cooking skills.

To him, all the things in the forest and mountains were suitable for the cooking skill.

A wide variety of materials.

Meat from monsters could be good materials for soup, along with nuts and herbs.

He was familiar with how his geography played a part in his life.

A full-time job!

This was the place to exercise the power of the skills he had learned.

The number of paladins continued to increase, as did the number of people crowding the cave.

The effectiveness of the Ice Dragon Statue was becoming more apparent.

The larger the number of paladins, the more evident the effect the statue was having on the group.

It was always better to have more people.

Weed led as many paladins as possible to defeat the monsters.

*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
Leadership has risen by 3 points (+3 LDR)
Charisma has risen by 2 points (+2 CHR)
————————————————————————————————


Leading the paladins had increased his leadership and charisma by a fearsome amount so far.

His stats were increasing even faster than his level, but he didn’t complain in the slightest. He thought of it as a sort of investment in raising his stats.

The cooking skill was also growing very quickly.

Using the miscellaneous things from the mountain, he struggled with experimentation to develop new dishes while conserving ingredients. Thanks to this, he was able to create a new recipes of porridge using grass and bark. It tasted fine because of Weed’s cooking skills.

‘It has come to a good fruition.’

He had used leftover ingredients to make the dish. In the midst of mixing it together, a shocking thing happened.

A secret of the cooking skill! Weed managed to solve one of them. In fact, the secret was very simple and wasn’t very secret, but it worked.

Praying together to the Goddess Freya increased the intimacy to the church…

*Ting*
————————————————————————————————
New Stat: Faith
————————————————————————————————


In return for the praise and devotion to God, special abilities will be granted by God.

Weed created a stat that was usually exclusive to priests and paladins.

Faith was known to influence the magical powers of the gods. However since Weed could not use divine magic, it was a totally useless stat.

“Open Stats Window”
————————————————————————————————
Character Name:
Weed
Alignment:
Neutral
Profession:
Legendary Moonlight Sculptor
Title:
None
Level:
205
Fame:
3845
————————————————————————————————
Health:
7760
Mana:
6471
Strength:
465 (+118)
Agility:
405 (+38)
Vitality:
134 (+38)
Wisdom:
136 (+38)
Intelligence:
154 (+48)
Fighting Spirit:
323 (+38)
Endurance:
162 (+38)
Perseverance:
379 (+38)
Art:
714 (+118)
Charisma:
133 (+38)
Leadership:
368 (+38)
Luck:
91 (+38)
Faith:
1 (+388)
Offence:
1069
Defense:
133
————————————————————————————————
Magic Resistance:

Fire:
10%
Water:
10%
Earth:
20%
Black magic:
65%
————————————————————————————————

Weed’s stats really were abnormal.

While hunting, he intentionally gave up experience in order to increase his stats. He had a larger diversity of stats and more stat points for a character of the same level. It did not take a genius to figure out that he had increased his fighting spirit and perseverance stats to over 300 by spilling his own blood.

However, that was not all.

He had reached intermediate in several skills, gaining bonus stats from them as well and from the various different types of equipment that changed various stats. Because of that, his strength, agility, and perseverance stats were higher than normal. The Faith stat had also just been created. His job was that of the moonlight sculptor; he had intermediate sword mastery, intermediate cooking, and intermediate sculpting mastery that added to his stats!

He was wearing the Rose Engraved Gloves, Agatha’s Holy Sword, and the Ring of the High Priest as well as the addition of status effects. Therefore his Faith stat was one of his highest stats being almost 400 points!

In terms of stat points it was enough to overwhelm an ordinary paladin. Of course, most of his items had effects on them.

If a stat did not exist, then it would not affect the character at all. However now that the Faith stat had been created, Weed was now being granted effects from the stat.

‘No matter how I look at it, the stat is useless. However one day…there might some use for it in the future.’

Unexpectedly, after the Faith stat had been created, the look in the paladins and priests eyes towards Weed had changed. They now followed his command immediately and even expressed admiration sometimes.

“Leader, we initially had doubts about your leadership, but from now on we shall follow your command.”

“You are a companion of the church!”

“The power of our faith shall guide us!”

Because of Weed’s high Faith, the paladins now acted differently.

NPC paladins were usually given the stat at level five and increased depending on their level.

Because they were a skilled swords class they needed to evenly distribute stats into endurance, strength, and agility. Since they were a class related to magic, they had to put points into wisdom and knowledge. Since they were followed the faith of God, their faith stat was around 200 to 300.

But Weed’s faith stat in respect to the paladins was nearly 400 thanks to his equipped items.

Needless to say, the priest over time usually had more. But after hunting with the paladins he cooked food and repairing equipment for them during the break otherwise they would be able to hunt.

They were extremely addicted to his food.

As time passed, soon Weed and the paladins were standing near the village with the giant black castle in front of them.

Alveron removed the curse from the last of the paladins that were still trapped.

“Divine light please free the power of restraints that are twisted here.”

The light came down and dispelled the curse on the statue.

“Under the command of the High Priest we have come to rescue you.”

At this point, the paladins kneeled in front of Weed to be informed of the situation.

“The church is here to recover Fargo’s crown and be rid of the True Blood Vampire Clan that threatens the peace of the village.”

“From here on, I would like to follow the noble commander’s commands.”

The paladins were keen to follow Weed’s commands thanks to the increase in his leadership and faith stats.

By then, he had completely secured the village.

A total of 159 paladins and 38 priests.

A grand total of 199 people including Weed and Alveron.

The tremendous giant black castle felt overwhelming standing near it. Bards would undoubtedly sing tales of its horror.

Ravens ominously circled the building and the paladins trembled.

“A total of 5 floors huh...” Weed counted as he looked up the at the castle.

The makeshift windows had curtains covering them and were barricaded with wood on the outsides.

“Okay. I’ll take on that challenge.”

Weed led the priests and paladins into the castle.

*Kureureureung!*

He simultaneously pushed both of the doors open at once.

“…”

Weed took a step back quietly.

“Let us advance! In the name of the goddess we will take out the True Blood Vampires and liberate the Province of Morata!”

“Woowaah!” the paladins and priests roared behind him.

Weed and the paladins entered inside the building and then the door slammed shut by itself. As if nothing had ever happened.

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61 comments

  1. i love this web novel so much. I have read many others like mushoku tensei, re:monster tate no yuusha, gun to oga, master of monster and many more but this one is definitely one of my top three, maybe even my most favourit one

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. try zhan long and coiling dragon they are way better than this one imo

      Delete
    2. not a web novel you know...

      it's a published work that's only available in book form except here where it's translated. why do you think it's impossible to find the raws online or the author only allowing us to translate up to volume 20.....

      Delete
    3. Mfw anon claims zhan long is better than lms. Anon pls.

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    4. What's this "gun to oga"? Never heard of it, and googling doesn't give any results?

      Delete
    5. Pretty sure they're talking about "Gun-Ota ga Mahou Sekai ni Tensei shitara, Gendai Heiki de Guntai Harem wo Tsukucchaimashita!?"

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    6. Comparing a masterpiece as LMS to a quite average Zhan Long. Now I've finally seen it all...

      Coiling Dragon ain't too shabby though, definitely up there as one of the better works, but I have to agree with Gama Sennin, LMS is a top 3, and my personal #1.

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    7. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    8. Excuse me?! What do u mean "a quite average Zhan Long"? Please re-read it by all means, may u understand that it was by no mean, average. Even if u thought of it so, u should keep it to urself, dont go around spreading that it was "average" by ur poor judgement. :)
      I like LMS very much. This is, indeed one of the top novel. Zhan Long may not be as good as this, but I believe it's worthy of being rated as "above average". ^^
      Although, for my case, I like Zhan Long just as much as I like LMS. I recommend Emperor of Solo Play (Wuxiaworld) for those who will appreciate it. xD

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    9. HAHAHA did that comment really say that ZHAN LONG is better than LMS lmfao

      Delete
  2. "For the mobs of rabbits and wolves, that was without a doubt an era of suffering."

    Those were dark days. Even now, my grandfather's eyes dim, his lips clenched tightly at the reminder of those times....

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    Replies
    1. Yes the Geimchi army has slaughtered many inocent animals... but it was in order to buy barley bread, can anyone blame them?!

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    2. i laughed great time
      and still cant stop myself from laughing when i think about it XD
      hahaha

      Delete
  3. Does the author not understand how ice and snow work or what magic is there happening for the ice to just appear from snowstorms?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Keep in mind that they're in a cave at a mountainside, heavy snowstorms and intense winds would make ice and snow fall down the mountain even in reality.

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    2. you're right Maukka89, i have the same question like u. how much ice in the cave, which can create a giant statue of ice dragon more than 100 meters length?

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    3. You guys have absolutely NO idea how much ice and snow can build up in a matter of hours, in the north do you?

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    4. recently got 100cm in massachusettes. It accumulates, trust me.

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    5. recently got 100cm in massachusettes. It accumulates, trust me.

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    6. It is not the matter of "how much the snow there is". Rather, how could snow turn into ice in such a very short amount of time. In case you didn't know, snow and ice have a different crystal structure. Dude, it is a very slow process, it could takes hundreds of years (http://www.iceandclimate.nbi.ku.dk/research/drill_analysing/cutting_and_analysing_ice_cores/analysing_gasses/firn_zone/). And please do not compare it to the ice versus snow formation in the sky, it is a completely different story.

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    7. why does this thread exist? ITS A FICTIONAL STORY!!!! also it takes place in a video game so real life doesn't really apply in the slightest

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    8. Because real life logic totally applies in a book where a volume ago the mc was nonchalantly killing dullahans and undead on a floating island

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    9. WAIT A SECOND! so you mean this Light Novel is not based on real facts? WHAAAAT!?

      Delete
    10. Simple when a snowball is made page it tighter and tighter and it turns in to an ice ball et2c about 2mins for a basketball sized one

      Delete
    11. Simple when a snowball is made page it tighter and tighter and it turns in to an ice ball et2c about 2mins for a basketball sized one

      Delete
  4. best lines in this chapter
    “Yea, whatever. I don’t care. See you later.”
    “It’s like seeing more than 500 people like Weed…”

    enjoyed reading the chap thx for the translation

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  5. Honestly, I feel bad to fox, rabbit, racoon, and even wolf. They could go extinct in no time...xD

    ReplyDelete
  6. So, I always enjoy seeing Weed create a new masterpiece, but creating two in a row in the same location seems like a waste. The Ice Beauty doesn't really matter with the Ice Dragon over-shadowing her :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What are you suggesting? That the Dragon should never have been created?

      It's called practice.

      Delete
    2. It's also a friggin' Dragon.

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    3. Not to mention it's a dragon.

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  7. this novel jumps around too much and weed created his 1st masterpiece and no reaction from him and the paladins? what the heck when he created the fine sculpture everyone was so amazed and even him too. the author isnt very consistent

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yea I was very surprised. I'm beginning to think the translator made a mistake and they were actually 2 Grand sculptures, not Masterpieces. When the Dragon sculpture was finished, it said "Grand: 1, Masterpieces: 2", but he never made a Grand before, just a Fine.

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    2. Pretty sure Grand is a separate variable; if it's large enough it's Grand, so you can have a Grand-Fine or a Grand-Masterpiece.

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    3. Grand is a measure of size. Peanut galleries are a waste of space.

      Delete
  8. The birth of so many weeds (Geomchi's)

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  9. Poor creatures... They can't leisurely play anymore while the 505 roam the place

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  10. can't stop laughing all this for barley bread imagine their reaction once they taste weeds cooking. awesome chapter thank you to all those people who made effort in getting these chapters online so all of us can enjoy.

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  11. this guy is making his own army.... if he made a guild the 505 from the dojo would join + the hundreds of NPC he will gain geezus! just take over the world already~!~~~~!!~~~!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is what I've been thinking. All the dojo practitioners who are highly skilled in sword fighting and all the NPCs he influenced. Not to mention not regular NPCs, some decanus (that will probably be on higher rank soon) that has soldiers under their commands and Paladins that are over 200.

      That's a friggin strong army. Can't hide my excitement.

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    2. Plus he can bring statues to life (dragons lots of dragonsXD) and he has van hawk

      Delete
    3. Plus he can bring statues to life (dragons lots of dragonsXD) and he has van hawk

      Delete
  12. I don't think this was what Weed meant by "game".

    ReplyDelete
  13. " “It’s like seeing more than 500 people like Weed…”

    “…”

    For the mobs of rabbits and wolves, that was without a doubt an era of suffering. "

    Hahahaha! oh man i can't stop, this LN is so fucking great!

    ReplyDelete
  14. So Da'i (or something) the shaman girl is Weed's dream girl,but he still makes a sculpture based on Seoyoon because she is more pretty? Da fuk!?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Seoyoon? its the most beautiful girl he can think of? i thought he fell inlove with dein? dafuq?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seoyoon is beautiful, he loves Dain.
      Or to put it in perspective, "Angelina Jolie is beautiful, and I love my wife."

      Delete
  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  17. Is anyone else confused by the stats? Especially boosts from equipment. The extra (+350) is coming from equipment but the boosts to other stats from equipment doesn't seem to be displayed with the (+) format. The general (+38) also confuses me a little, (+20) comes from being a Moonlight Sculptor but what about the other (+18)?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The occasional (+2) or (+1) from levelling his skills a tier up.

      Delete
  18. I feel scared for the enemy.

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  19. The ice dragon was inspired by the Ice Dragons in How to Train Your Dragon 2. Loved that movie.

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  20. Weed enjoyed the pain since it increased his endurance stat, even if it’s not what people usually would want to do.

    -Weed suddenly becoming an M.

    XD

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  21. The quality of the translation in this chapter dropped a lot compared to other chapters. You can even tell that the formatting is different. Hope this isn't consistent.

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