Chapter 28
“Is a region opening up?”
“Yeah, you can do unlimited PVP if you go in there. You seem to have good PVP items too, let’s see…”
Ah, no. Maybe I should focus on his regular items first, not PVP. He’ll use those for dungeons and boss fights anyway. Changing his approach, Ji-won corrected his question.
“Have you awakened all your items?”
Regular items can usually be equipped by all character classes, or at least by characters within the same class group. However, once awakened, they transform into class-specific items that enhance particular abilities suited to that character’s class. Since this significantly improves performance, most players commonly awakened their end-game items that they planned to keep until server shutdown.
This system was why former Holy Knight users couldn’t sell their items to other Warrior class players… Ji-won himself had long ago awakened all his Mage items, converting them exclusively for Spirit Master use. Since Kwon-ju said he bought the items as a complete set, they were likely already awakened, but it was still good to check.
“Where do I check for awakening?”
“It will say ‘Awakened Item’ in the detailed item information. Or it might say ‘Holy Knight Exclusive’ at the top.”
“Ah… it says that.”
Just as expected. Thinking about it again, whoever sold complete Holy Knight exclusive items to a complete beginner really had no conscience. No matter how good the items were, that wasn’t right. With a feeling of pity, Ji-won asked Kwon-ju to turn on screen sharing.
“You see ‘Arc Serenity Broadcast’ above your nickname, right? Click that and turn it on.”
“Yes. Can you see it?”
“Yeah, I can see it.”
As Ji-won enlarged the screen Kwon-ju had shared, he saw a familiar character standing gallantly in the center of the screen with a sword at his side—a character he saw every day in the game.
“Now open your inventory.”
“Okay.”
Without resistance, the inventory window opened immediately. Ji-won was a bit surprised—he could tell what items they were just by looking at the small icons. These are all expensive end-game items. Something felt off, so Ji-won made a more specific request.
“Show me each item one by one, starting from the rightmost one. Hover your mouse over them.”
“Starting with the ring?”
“Yes.”
As the mouse touched it, the ring’s detailed information appeared. Below the item name written in gold letters were stat options that were astonishing just to look at. While Ji-won was speechless, not knowing how to react, the cursor moved to the next item. +14 boots with maximum movement speed…
His expression grew more serious with each item he saw. He bought these? These were flawless items with perfect options, all enhanced to +14. Ji-won was so shocked he couldn’t speak, and just stared with an astonished face at each item as they were shown—until the mouse hovered over the weapon.
“…Huh?”
Before he could doubt his eyes, the mouse moved away. As the detailed information window disappeared, Ji-won blinked several times and urgently requested:
“Hey, Kwon-ju. Put the mouse back on the weapon.”
“The weapon?”
Kwon-ju obediently complied. As the mouse paused over the weapon, the window he had glimpsed earlier popped up again, larger this time. It stayed there long enough to remove any doubt, yet Ji-won still felt like a fool for questioning it.
[Evgenia’s Holy Light Sword (+15)]
15? Not 14, but 15?
Abysmal enhancement probability, paired with an all too generous destruction rate. It was so likely to break that almost no players attempted +15 enhancements. How much was the expected cost for a +15 again? The price of an imported car? Even using a +14 to +15 Enhancement Scroll as content was considered extremely brave. Just recently, Do Jung-hoon had his item destroyed during that content and spent all night crying while restoring it back to +14. Swallowing all the excited exclamations about to pour out, Ji-won barely managed to ask:
“How did you… how did you get a +15?”
“Is that high?”
“It’s not just high, it’s the highest possible.”
In a game where having just one +14 item was enough to earn respect… The fact that this perfect, server-best weapon at +15 was in the hands of a newbie who didn’t even know how remarkable it was—that was both shocking and laughable. Not to mention it being a Holy Knight exclusive sword.
The PVP items he showed afterward were equally dazzling. Where did he get all this? Even Ji-won, who had played Arc Serenity for nearly ten years, or Jung-hoon, who invested most of his YouTube earnings into the game, couldn’t dream of specs like these. This wasn’t something you could achieve just by playing for a long time. This was ultra-high-spec gear that could only be obtained through massive cash investment.
Kwon-ju said he bought all these items as a set. There was probably only one player who could have created such Holy Knight items on the Asuka server.
“Kwon-ju, by any chance…”
“Yes?”
“Did you buy these from Holy Light?”
“Ah… yes, I did.”
How did someone who just started think to buy something like this? Ji-won had heard from Do Jung-hoon that since no sales post appeared in the YouTube community, Holy Light probably quit the game without selling his items—but apparently, he had managed to sell them to a complete newbie.
“He’s a distant relative.”
Rumors had often circulated that Holy Light was extraordinarily wealthy. They say rich people have rich relatives, but to think a 21-year-old could have such an abundance of money. With the Holy Knight advantage plus the relative advantage combined, he must have paid several hundred million won.
Ji-won hadn’t seen Kwon-ju’s 1:1 PVP against the Demon King, but now it made sense. Armed with gear like this, he could easily destroy opponents regardless of his low level, even in a direct battle. Just one properly executed skill would be fatal. Looking at it now, Kwon-ju hadn’t been lucky—he just had cheating-tier items with poor control skills.
Ji-won had thought Holy Knight items were cheap, but this was different. After repeatedly examining and admiring the options on each item Kwon-ju’s mouse hovered over, Ji-won spoke.
“…Kwon-ju.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s practice a bit together and then live in the PVP zone.”
His level was much higher than during their previous battles, and most importantly, since they would enter the PVP zone together, they wouldn’t get separated. If he provided support, they could safely collect items and leave. With gear like this, even basic skills would kill most players. Ji-won let out a small laugh.
“I never thought I’d have a gaming friend like this in my life.”
Is he happy about it? With his heart pounding, Kwon-ju listened carefully to the voice in his ear.
“How the hell did he get a +15… Holy Light is amazing.”
Ji-won kept expressing pure admiration. Every time Choi Jae-heon’s name—who had gone abroad—came up, Kwon-ju felt something twist inside him. While he didn’t know for sure, if Holy Light was supposedly the person who spent the most money on Arc Serenity, he must be good at the game if nothing else. Recalling his own control skills from his limited experience, Kwon-ju dropped his hand from the mouse with a serious face.
“With gear like this, we could go to high-level dungeons together right away.”
“…”
“Kwon-ju?”
“Ah, yes.”
Kwon-ju, who had been searching on his phone for Arc Serenity item enhancement methods and wasn’t focusing on the conversation, hastily gave a delayed response.
“Want to practice PVP with me?”
“Is the war this week on today?”
“No, we can practice in the training grounds. Let’s try a 1:1.”
* * *
“Um… try using your main skill once.”
One hour into their 1:1 in the training grounds.
Despite having significantly inferior item performance, Ji-won was still alive, not having died even once. Kwon-ju’s already short attack range combined with predictable attack patterns created the worst possible synergy. Unless someone deliberately underestimated him and moved in close, planning to trade hits without dodging, it seemed like any opponent facing this character with the strongest items would survive.
What good were all those status effect-cleansing items if he couldn’t even dodge in a normal state?
“The skill won’t activate.”
“That’s because it’s on cooldown. See how each skill has a different cooldown time? Hold on, I’ll organize it and send it to you later.”
“I’ll look it up myself. I’m sorry… I can’t do anything with my hands…”
“No, it’s okay. You might not be able to do it.”
It wasn’t a boss fight, and Ji-won wouldn’t suffer if Kwon-ju wasn’t good at PVP. More than anything, Kwon-ju himself must be the most frustrated. Jung-hoon, who was born with fingers worse than toes, also had such poor control at first that he had difficulty even broadcasting. Now he had become quite skilled through continuous practice.
Above all, Kwon-ju’s comment about not being able to do anything with his hands brought back memories from the past. He had difficulty with challenges back then too. Since Kwon-ju had high base health and good items to withstand attacks for a long time, there seemed no need to pressure him.
“Games are meant to be fun. Why play if it stresses you out? Want to stop?”
“…Then I’ll go do something else for a bit.”
“Yeah, sure.”
With that, Kwon-ju left the voice channel and his character disappeared from the arena. Left alone, Ji-won couldn’t resist his curiosity and opened the friend window to check Kwon-ju’s location. Then, seeing that he had gone to browse the market rather than hunt or enter a dungeon, Ji-won quietly closed the window.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
