Chapter 29. Middle Orc Kingdom

[You have entered the Middle Orc Kingdom.]

A flash of light filled Kim Do-Joon's vision, and the scenery around him changed in an instant. He found himself in a vast grassland that was covered in low-lying grass and irregularly jutting gray rocks.

In the distance, rocky hills and packs of monsters dotted the horizon.

[Orc Soldier]

Compatibility

- 41%

The green monsters that lumbered around, carrying crude weapons, were known as orcs. They’d wander in a group of dozen or so, sometimes fighting among themselves or engaging other packs in combat.

True to their aggressive temperament, the orcs made quite a racket despite the open space.

“

Kek!

”

“

Kueekk—!

”

Kim Do-Joon quickly took cover behind a large rock and surveyed the area. He was trying to find his first prey in this chaotic grassland.

That one looks good.

He spotted a straggler. As the two packs clashed, one particularly timid orc lingered at the back.

Kim Do-Joon pulled out his Lightning Spear.

[Exigar's Lightning Spear]

Description

- One of the works of the renowned artisan Exigar, known to rival even dwarves in skill. According to the legend, the spear was created in a stormy castle, tempered with the sharpest of lightning. Thanks to the enchantment of Court Wizard Zeraphe, it strikes enemies with lightning upon impact and returns to its wielder.

Rarity

- Epic

Classification

- Javelin

Effects

- Attack Power + 53-101

- Lightning Damage + 2-37

- Automatic Retrieval

[Additional Effect]

- Attacks grant the user the Greater Regeneration effect for 30 seconds.

...

∇View More Options

Exigar's Lightning Spear was Kim Do-Joon’s first Epic item. He almost always matched the potions he carried with the embedded effects.

Blue sparks flew from the spear, crackling with energy. Even though they hit his hands, Kim Do-Joon didn’t feel any pain, likely because the magic was designed to be harmless to the user.

Time to hunt.

Kim Do-Joon focused on his target and waited for the orc to stray as far as possible from its group.

This is my chance!

Kim Do-Joon hurled the spear.

Whoosh!

The spear flew swiftly, striking the orc in the abdomen! Kim Do-Joon clenched his fist in satisfaction. His practice in the training grounds had paid off!

Crackle!

“

Huh?

”

As expected, the spear turned into a bolt of lightning upon impact, but nothing could have prepared him for what happened next. The lightning surged through the orc, striking the orcs behind it as well.

A blinding bolt hit the entire pack, leaving them all twitching and convulsing. Then, all the orcs turned their heads toward Kim Do-Joon at once.

Crap...

Kim Do-Joon gulped, cold sweat trickling down his back.

What kind of weapon is this?! If anything, it’s just an area-of-effect magic! Are all Epic items like this?!

In the meantime, the spear had already returned to his hand. Kim Do-Joon took a step back, clutching it tightly.

Immediately, the orcs charged at him, roaring in fury.

“

Grrooarrr!

”

“

Graaahhh!

”

The two orc packs converged on him like a tidal wave. Although Kim Do-Joon was used to fighting multiple monsters alone, he had never faced such a ferocious horde.

“Damn it!”

Kim Do-Joon quickly sprinted away. The orcs’ rusty, jagged glaives looked more and more menacing as they closed in.

Fortunately, Kim Do-Joon was faster. His speed, boosted to above level forty and enhanced by skills, allowed him to maintain a gap.

Every now and then, he’d throw his spear at his opponents. The weapon turned into a lightning bolt each time, striking the orcs before reappearing in his hand.

He didn’t really have to aim. With so many orcs, he only had to throw it in their general direction to hit his targets.

[You have defeated a monster. You have gained Experience Points(EXP).]

The power of an Epic item was truly impressive! After a few more throws, the orcs began to tumble one by one. The fewer their numbers dropped, the less pressured Kim Do-Joon felt. After about ten more throws, all orcs lay dead on the ground, save for two.

[Logrude]

Compatibility

- 48%

[Karakthu]

Compatibility

- 49%

The two were the leaders of their respective packs. Although not as powerful as a boss monster, named monsters acted as captains, leading their groups."

Graargh!

"

"

Groar!

"

Roaring as fiercely as ever, the two orcs charged at Kim Do-Joon. However, they were much slower now. Their skin was charred and blackened in places, smoking in some parts. They had clearly already sustained considerable damage.

Kim Do-Joon drew an axe with his other hand.

Whoosh!

One orc swung its glaive at Kim Do-Joon, which he deflected with the spear. He then plunged the axe into its shoulder. Meanwhile, the other orc used this opportunity to swing its glaive horizontally, aiming to take out both Kim Do-Joon and the wounded orc. Despite being of the same race, it showed no mercy.

I don’t have time to retrieve the axe.

The moment Kim Do-Joon drove the axe into the orc, he felt the creature’s flesh and muscles tightly grip the axe blade.

Kim Do-Joon let go of his axe without hesitation.

Thwack!

He then swung his spear instead, impaling the orc in the neck!

"

Keugh!

"

The orc’s blood splattered on and drenched Kim Do-Joon.

[You have defeated a monster. You have gained Experience Points(EXP).]

[You have defeated a monster. You have gained Experience Points(EXP).]

At the very least, though, he had killed the orcs safely.

"

Phew

..."

Catching his breath, Kim Do-Joon retrieved his weapons and then inspected the corpses. The low-level orcs had no notable loot, though their glaives could be useful. Although not that valuable, they were made of iron from the dungeon and could fetch a decent price.

The named monsters, however, displayed a few information windows.

They have weapons at least.

[Orc Warrior Logrude's Glaive]

[Orc Warrior Karakthu's Glaive]

Their glaives were slightly different from those of their underlings. The overall shape was similar, but the blades had strange engravings on them, with sticky substances running along the patterns.

Hmm... They’re only Common weapons; they don’t have any special effects besides a bit of extra attack power.

Since Common items didn’t sell well, Kim Do-Joon decided to use them for his copy-paste skill instead. He stored them in his inventory.

Then, another information window popped up.

[Orc Warrior's Hunting Poison Pouch]

Description

- A pouch containing poison used by orc warriors in hunting.

Rarity

- Common

Classification

- Consumable

Effect

- When applied to glaives, the weapons paralyze the target on hit.

Kim Do-Joon’s eyes widened. This had to have been the sticky substance on the blade! Thank god he didn’t engage in close combat with them! He would have been in deep trouble if they managed to injure him.

Kim Do-Joon immediately used his copy-paste skill.

[The item effect has been successfully copy-pasted.]

[The Orc Warrior's Hunting Poison Pouch has been destroyed.]

[The transferred ability will be adjusted according to the recipient’s classification.]

[Additional Effect]

- Skill: Apply Minor Poison. Cooldown of 90 seconds. The newly acquired effect applied poison. Based on the information window about the Pouch, he concluded that it could cause paralysis.

It’s just the Minor version, but it’s still not too shabby.

No matter how weak, gaining a new skill would always be helpful. Moreover, it had a short cooldown, so Kim Do-Joon could probably use this skill frequently.

After copy-pasting the effect of the Orc Warrior's Hunting Poison Pouch, Kim Do-Joon still had four more items left. One named monster had three, and another had two.

So a named monster has around two to three items, huh?

He decided to sell the rest. Up until now, he had solely relied on the occasional dungeon runs for his livelihood, so he considered this to be his lucky day.

It could even be a potential money-making opportunity if he set his mind to it. The copy-paste skill could create limitless business items.

However, building credibility would be a challenge since the additional effects were only visible to Kim Do-Joon. Moreover, bringing too many unique items to the market could attract too much attention. He could not be reckless with Kim So-Eun around.

This Poison Pouch should fetch a good price...

It also occurred to him that the pouch could become a new source of income. Consumable, easy-to-use poisons were always in demand among Hunters.

Besides, procuring these isn’t particularly difficult.

Not only were ordinary orcs only four percent stronger than ghouls, but each group only had one named orc. They weren’t a significant challenge for Kim Do-Joon.

Above all, he had a powerful Epic item, the Lightning Spear. In the past, he’d have struggled to defeat them one by one with his axe.

Even if killing the orcs doesn’t increase my compatibility all that much, they’re still perfect for farming.

Kim Do-Joon gripped his spear and stared into the distance, where another pack of orcs had appeared.

***

For the next two days, Kim Do-Joon relentlessly hunted orc packs. Unlike when he hunted ghouls one by one, the process was much faster with his area-of-effect skill. During this time, his compatibility rate increased by one percent, and through copy-pasting the effects from dropped weapons, his attack power increased by about fifty. Moreover, he’d accumulated a considerable number of Poison Pouches.

Good thing I don’t have to worry about running out because they respawn.

At the same time, seeing the monsters respawn properly, it seemed like he wasn’t in a special labyrinth like the temple. This one appeared to be a farming labyrinth like the Elemental Island.

Still, this place is too huge.

This was the largest labyrinth Kim Do-Joon had discovered so far. The endless plains and rocky mountains seemed to go on and on. Hence, he still hadn’t even found the boss orc yet. Despite having plenty of supplies and stamina left, Kim Do-Joon decided to return for now.

Pop!

Kim Do-Joon used his return skill, his vision changing with a flash.

~

Soon, Kim Do-Joon found himself standing in his shop.

“...”

Noticing Kim Do-Joon’s presence, Siwelin fumbled through a book. She then quickly pulled out and presented a card to him. Written in crooked letters was, "Welcome back."

"

Huh?

Oh yeah, I'm back." Kim Do-Joon responded.

Right. He had Siwelin now. When was the last time someone had welcomed him home? Just by having someone here, the usually cold shop felt warm.

"Your handwriting has improved," Kim Do-Joon said.

— I studies a lot.

"The correct phrasing would be, ‘I studied a lot.’”

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

— Oh

Unlike the pre-written card, Siwelin made a mistake when writing on the spot. Seeing her scratch her head with a pen, Kim Do-Joon smiled. Despite having spent less than a week looking at letters, she had already made significant progress. She was a quick learner.

"I'll be out for a bit," Kim Do-Joon said.

Siwelin gave him a curious look.

"I have something to do outside. It shouldn’t take too long."

— Take cere.

Siwelin waved the card with both hands as she sent him off.

~

Kim Do-Joon headed straight to the capsule room. After making the payment, he immediately entered. Passing by various game icons, he logged into the market.

"

Mmph mmph mmph—!

"

—

Bzzz—!

As soon as he entered, small creatures vigorously greeted him. It was Evi and her partner, Chul-Gap. Seeing their gestures of protest, Kim Do-Joon remembered that he had muted them before he logged out last time.

"Unmute," said Kim Do-Joon.

"

Phew—!

"

Finally able to speak, Evi, the fairy, exhaled deeply and glared at Kim Do-Joon.

"You left us in this state and logged out! Isn't this too much!?"

"My bad," Kim Do-Joon replied.

"‘My... my bad’?!

Ugh!

This is why users are hopeless! They don't know how much we suffer in here!" Evi complained.

Kim Do-Joon just gave her a fed-up look.

"We’re just convenient tools to you, aren’t we?! Don’t you know that we’re the ones who maintain the server, organize the data, and so on?! Yet no one appreciates it..." Evi kept ranting.

Not wanting to listen any longer, Kim Do-Joon shook his head. Chatting with NPCs wasn’t his hobby, so he was always straight to the point.

"Enough of that. Let's get to work.”

"What kind of work?" Evi responded gruffly.

"Put up forty-eight Orc Warrior's Hunting Poison Pouch for sale, and do a search."

[48 Orc Warrior's Hunting Poison Pouch have been listed for sale.]

Since the item was already in the market's database, no additional steps were needed.

"What would you like me to search for?"

Evi’s voice softened a bit at the mention of transactions. After all, she was an NPC primarily designed for trading.

Kim Do-Joon thought about it briefly. Special options were still expensive, and stat runes were not cost-effective at the moment. Hence, he planned to go for Attack Power again.

With the Lightning Spear, I should be fine for a while.

His Epic weapon ensured that he wouldn’t lack Attack Power. In that case, maybe he should focus on his defense stats.

"Search for armor. Oh, and add one more condition.”

"What kind of condition?"

"Search for penalty items."

"What?"

Evi looked at him as if she were looking at a pervert. Nonetheless, she displayed the list without further comment.

Just like last time, Kim Do-Joon's eyes sparkled at the sight of the items, which piled up like a mountain. Like they said, one man's trash was another man's treasure.

He examined them one by one. Eventually, something caught his eye: the seller's information attached to the items.

Hmm?

Penalty items were uncommon, yet there was one seller who had posted a massive number of them.