Chapter 34: I Told You, I'm Stronger Than You Think (2)
"And if I do...?" Oh Kang-Woo said mockingly.
Mun Yeong-Ho reached for the sword on his waist in anger.
"Yeong-Ho!" Cha Yeon-Joo shouted to Yeong-Ho upon seeing him grab his sword. She glared at him intensely and questioned, "What do you think you're doing?"
Yeong-Ho stayed silent.
"Answer me."
"This newbie dared to be disrespectful to you, Guildmas—"
"So what? Why are you making a big deal out of something that I don't care about?"
"…"
"How he talks to me is my business, so stay out of it, Yeong-Ho."
Yeong-Ho bowed his head while trembling slightly in frustration.
Yeon-Joo sighed and turned to Kang-Woo. "Kang-Woo, don't you provoke Yeong-Ho either. You could be crippled if you face him right now."
"I'll take your word for it." Kang-Woo nodded and looked at Yeong-Ho, who was trembling in rage.
It was understandable why a member of the Red Rose Guild would be angry with Kang-Woo. Just the fact that Yeon-Joo had personally gone and brought Kang-Woo here was probably infuriating enough for Yeong-Ho, but to make matters worse, Kang-Woo talked to Yeon-Joo as if she were his friend.
'Things like this are difficult to make a rational decision on.'
It would be weirder for her guild members to react as calmly as Park Hyun-Woo had done.
'In any case, I guess this isn't a poorly managed guild.'
If they didn't have loyalty toward their guild master, an incident like what had just occurred would not have happened. Kang-Woo's trust in the Red Rose Guild increased after he saw Yeong-Ho's reaction.
"Then let's go take a look at the equipment."
After glancing at Yeong-Ho and seeing that he had his fists clenched and was immersed in his thoughts, Kang-Woo checked out the Epic-grade equipment.
[Equipment Information]
[Equipment Name: Shadow Armor
Grade: Epic
Basic Effect: Physical Defense +40, Magical Defense -10, Movement Speed +10, Health -2.
Special Effect: Allows the wearer to use 'Afterimage,' which momentarily raises their movement speed by 50%. Can only be used once every 24 hours.]
"Hmm."
It was kind of ambiguous as to whether the effects of the armor were good. The increase in physical defense wasn't bad, but the large number of penalties bothered him, especially the decrease in the health stat.
'The special effect is also useless.'
Afterimage could momentarily increase the wearer's speed, but since Kang-Woo had the Authority of Haste, it was kind of useless to him.
'I would prefer it not to have a special effect and for it to have better basic effects instead.'
While looking through more equipment, Kang-woo turned to Yeon-Joo and asked, "Are there any that raises your stats?"
"There isn't any Unique-grade equipment that raises your stats. You can only find those among Legendary-grade equipment, and even then, they're rare."
"Are stat boosts really that good of an effect?" Kang-Woo asked while tilting his head.
He couldn't believe that equipment effects that increased a Player's stats could only be found on equipment of Legendary grade and higher.
'How much does a piece of Legendary equipment cost?'
If getting Unique-grade equipment for cheap would cost him five billion won, then he couldn't even imagine how much it would cost him to get a Legendary-grade one.
"Of course, they are. You already know that the higher your stats become, the harder it becomes to raise them, don't you? That's why no equipment below the Legendary grade raises stats by an absolute value."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Kang-Woo nodded.
He too was currently struggling to raise his Demonic Energy stat after getting it to 50. It could also be because his stats were a lot higher than those of Players of a similar level. However, it was a fact that the higher a stat became, the harder it was to raise it.
'Which means this armor that reduces a stat number is complete garbage.'
Kang-Woo took his eyes off the Shadow Armor.
He asked, "Then what about one with good basic effects and no special effects?"
"Just a sec. I remember seeing a few of those around here…" Yeon-Joo walked around the vault while recommending some equipment. Then she added, "Oh, right. You can only rent three, so choose wisely."
"Okay."
Kang-Woo chose a wrist guard, a necklace, and a black coat that Yeon-Joo had recommended to him. They were all pieces of equipment with good basic effects and no special effects.
[Equipment Information]
[Equipment Name: Blackstone Wrist Guard
Grade: Epic
Basic Effect: Physical Defense +50, Magical Defense +30]
[Equipment Information]
[Equipment Name: Necklace of Mana Protection
Grade: Epic
Basic Effect: Magical Defense +60]
[Equipment Information]
[Equipment Name: Ogre Leather Coat
Grade: Epic
Basic Effect: Physical Defense +80]
After checking out the equipment, Kang-Woo equipped them for a quick test.
'I'm not feeling much of a difference.'
His physical defense had gone up by 130, and his magical defense by 90, but he couldn't feel a huge difference.
'I don't know how much physical and magical defense I have in the first place.'
The two values weren't displayed in his status window, so he couldn't see how big of a difference the equipment had made.
"How much is 130 physical defense?" Kang-Woo asked.
"Oh, it's hard to know that in the beginning." Yeon-Joo nodded as if she had also gone through a similar experience. "130 is about the same as being covered by a 5mm steel plate. If you stab your skin with a paring knife, the knife will crumple."
"I see." Kang-Woo nodded with great interest. "Is the defense applied only where the equipment is worn?"
Normally, it was obvious that the defense would be applied only to the body part that the equipment covered. After all, a person's head wouldn't be protected if they wore a bulletproof vest.
"No, thanks to the mana within the equipment, the effect is applied to your entire body. But in exchange, the equipment effect is reduced by half for wherever the equipment doesn't cover."
"So, if my physical defense gets to 1,000, will a bullet get deflected if I get shot in the eye?"
"I've never tried, but theoretically, yes."
"…No wonder firearms are obsolete now."
A missile would probably be needed to face a Player with purely physical defense equipment.
'The power of equipment is greater than I thought.'
Kang-Woo looked down at his body with surprise after hearing Yeon-Joo's explanation. With such defense, he could conserve more demonic energy than he initially thought.
'This makes me want Unique-grade equipment even more.'
Kang-Woo looked greedily at where the Unique-grade equipment were displayed. Just having a few pieces of Epic-grade equipment gave him such great effects. Unique-grade equipment could only be even more effective for defense.
"Yeon-Joo noona…"
"…What is it now?"
"I don't need the foreign car that we talked about before, so how about you let me rent a piece of Unique-grade equipment instead?"
"…"
"If you trust me, I'll make a return of 1.5 times its price," Kang-Woo said as if he were asking for a loan in a gambling house.
Yeon-Joo sighed deeply like she had gotten a headache.
"I can't give you an answer right this second. I'll have to discuss it with—"
Slam!!!
The same loud slam from before resounded throughout the room again.
Kang-Woo and Yeon-Joo turned their heads toward the source of the sound and found a pale-faced Yeong-Ho trembling in anger.
"D-Did you just call… noona?" Yeong-Ho questioned.
"Yeong-Ho?" Yeon-Joo called out.
"H-How… How dare you!!!" Yeong-Ho raged.
He angrily drew his sword and charged at Kang-Woo.
Boom!!
"Mun Yeong-Ho, what did I just tell you?" Yeon-Joo said to Yeong-Ho in a low voice as she blocked him with her bare hands.
"…"
She was exuding overpowering bloodlust and suffocatingly thick mana.
"Sheathe your sword and fuck off. If you pull this shit one more time, you'll be punished."
"I-I'm sorry," Yeong-Ho apologized.
With a stiff expression, he sheathed his sword and bit his lip in frustration.
"Sigh…?I'm sorry for the trouble. I'll give him a proper warning later," Yeon-Joo said to Kang-Woo.
"No, it's okay," Kang-Woo replied.
"That aside, what kind of Unique-grade equipment do you need? I'll bring it up during the next guild meeting."
"Hmm… Armor that's comfortable to move around in. One with good basic effects if possible."
"Armor, huh?" Yeon-Joo pondered about it.
Having heard their conversation, Yeong-Ho turned to face Kang-Woo and asked, "Did you say that you need armor?"
"Yeah," Kang-Woo answered.
"Then how about we do this? If you beat me in a duel, I'll give you my armor. It's a Unique-grade one with great basic effects."
"Mun Yeong-Ho, I believe I told you to fuck off."
Upon seeing that Yeong-Ho was still trying to pick a fight with Kang-Woo, Yeon-Joo stepped in between them. It seemed like she was really angry; her bloodlust was now much thicker than before.
"No, wait," Kang-Woo interjected.
"…What?" Yeon-Joo uttered.
"I think it's a decent offer."
Yeon-Joo went silent.
Kang-Woo looked at Yeong-Ho's armor with great interest. He was willing to duel Yeong-Ho at any time if it meant that he could get a hold of his Unique-grade armor.
"Are you insane?" Yeon-Joo looked at Kang-Woo with a sharp gaze.
She knew that Kang-Woo was extremely talented. Neither she nor Baek Kang-Hyun had been able to enter a C-rank Gate in just two weeks, yet Kang-Woo had been able to do it, and he was even solo-hunting there. This meant that not only had he awakened an S-rank Trait, but he had also been born with incredible combat talent. Yeon-Joo had seen it for herself at the Internet cafe.
'He'll become as strong as me… No, stronger.'
She was sure that Kang-Woo would become so strong that he could write a new chapter in the history of Korean Players. That's why she wanted to build a good relationship with him, even if it meant her guild suffering a loss financially.
'But it's still too early.'
Nevertheless, this wasn't a matter of whether Kang-Woo had talent. Yeong-Ho was strong and was currently Level 67. He had been able to surpass Level 59, which was referred to as 'the Limit of Effort,' and achieve his Seventh Awakening. Just like how a tiger cub couldn't win against a fully mature hound, someone that had only been a Player for two weeks couldn't possibly win against Yeong-Ho.
'This is crazy,' Yeon-Joo thought.
She had to stop Kang-Woo. He was someone who could become a great asset for her guild in the future. If their relationship went awry due to this incident, her investment in him would completely lose its meaning.
"Don't be stupid, and just go, Yeong-Ho. You too, Kang-Woo. Don't—"
"It's okay," Kang-Woo interrupted Yeon-Joo with a smirk.
Yeon-Joo trembled unconsciously after seeing Kang-Woo's chilling smile.
"This is gonna be fun," Kang-Woo added.
He looked at Yeong-Ho's Unique-grade armor and smacked his lips in anticipation.
'If he's giving it to me, I have no reason to refuse,' Kang-Woo thought.
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