Chapter 38

Level Up Heretic Judge – Chapter 38 (38/227)

Chapter 38: Manners Make the Man (1)

In a park where the chilly morning air had settled, WooJin, with his hoodie up, was panting as he dashed through the space.

While enduring the cold wind during his jog, WooJin hadn’t missed a single day since diving fully into the game and starting his early-morning exercise routine. Today, as always, he began his schedule.

Even though he was still young, he wasn’t as spry as when he could stay up for days on end in his youth, and sitting cooped up playing games would surely ruin his health. This was all to build up some basic stamina.

Of course, it was just enough to maintain his health; he didn’t invest any more effort into exercising than that.

Obviously, being good at physical activity in real life wouldn’t magically make you better at using your body in virtual reality, so there was no point unless he wanted to be an athlete.

Occasionally, you’d find players who believed those baseless rumors and wandered around learning various martial arts.

But all of that was nothing but a monumental waste of time.

Since in a virtual reality game, every player gets system adjustments, so actual physical ability from the real world made no difference.

Maybe there was a slight difference in how one handled bodily movement, but once someone got used to combat and shed their “newbie” label, that small edge became meaningless.

If getting stronger was the goal, it’d be far more helpful to spend the time swinging a sword at monsters in the game instead of learning kendo or something in real life.

“Haa…!”

Having completed his set route, WooJin sat down on a bench.

By his usual standards, he hadn’t run for very long, yet beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

“Really, my stamina has dropped quite a bit compared to before.”

Shaking his head, WooJin clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.

Compared to when he used to hustle between construction sites and loading jobs because he needed money fast, he definitely felt his endurance had decreased.

For months now, aside from his convenience store part-time job, he hadn’t done anything else, nor exercised alongside it—so naturally, this was bound to happen.

“Still, how did people survive back when the fine dust was so severe? Really.”

Sitting idly while gazing at the blue sky, WooJin muttered under his breath.

When he was born, people suffered greatly due to the fine dust. Thinking about how invisible particles floated around, creating hazy skies, was truly horrifying.

Thankfully, we’re living in an age where virtual reality can be conjured up easily. If solutions hadn’t been found by now, people would have to carry masks everywhere they went—or worse, lock themselves indoors out of fear.

“Seriously, just thinking about it makes me mad… Hmm, why am I even thinking about this suddenly?”

Scratching his head, WooJin abruptly stood up.

Checking the wristwatch on his left arm, he realized it was almost time to log into the game.

“Well then… Let’s do five sets of pull-ups and call it a day.”

* * *

Whoosh!

As WooJin entered the connection device, the world restructured and unfolded before Ail’s eyes.

Upon entering the game, Ail stood still for a moment, looking around.

He was among the bustling crowd on the main road.

Yesterday, after finishing a quest and stepping into a safe zone, he logged out, and everything remained exactly as it was without any issues.

The small city of Cambel, located on the Blanche Plateau.

It was the closest city to the underground ruins Ail had explored, but it was tiny—even smaller than a third of Queenze Blonde’s size within Warode.

Still, despite its small scale, it had everything necessary to qualify as a legitimate “city,” and the auction house Ail was heading to was located in the central area.

[You have entered the item trading center of ‘Cambel’.]

– The trading system has been activated.

– Currently, the city of Cambel is under the jurisdiction of the ‘Nightmare’ guild.

– A general fee of 10% and a guild tax rate of 5% will be applied.

As Ail entered the auction house, the system message predictably popped up.

Among the bustling crowd, Ail opened the trading window and checked his listed items.

The high-grade herbs he had put up for auction had all sold at the set prices, earning him a decent amount of cash.

Adding that money together, Ail’s total funds were now 6 gold and 50 silver coins.

Considering he was only level 18 and hadn’t touched any lifestyle content that generated side income, it was an impressive sum.

He was in a comfortable position to buy equipment.

However, Ail didn’t bother giving it a second glance, waving his hand dismissively to close the trading window.

Now wasn’t the time for shopping—it was urgent to reach level 20 first.

The existence of upper-tier skills was a crucial factor that drastically altered a player’s strength, so he needed to focus on lifting the skill cap to use the two purple skill books he had acquired.

‘If these come out well at this point, my future will be bright indeed…’

Thinking about the skill books, Ail couldn’t help but get excited and let his heart race.

In the skill book system ranked from white, crimson, red, purple, black, to gold, these books were at the fourth stage, warranting plenty of anticipation.

Generally, in the early stages where filling slots with normal-tier skills was already tough, lining up high-level rare skills like these meant he was practically halfway to success in character development.

‘All I can do now is pray they turn out well at level 20…’

After briefly closing and reopening his eyes, Ail immediately quickened his pace.

Skill book unlocking was a matter for later; right now, it was time to figure out how to level up efficiently.

The most obvious way to gain experience and level up was hunting.

But rather than simply grinding endlessly, combining quests with hunting was more efficient.

If this were a typical old-school online game, one could just look up a guidebook to find good quests and pick whichever suited them best.

However, in Warode, where most quests disappeared after completion, things weren’t that simple.

The highest-efficiency quests from Sebera were already wrapped up, and currently, Ail had no active quests.

He was familiar with most NPCs and repeatable quests in Cambel, but none of them stood out as particularly useful.

Most standard repeatable quests only offered minor experience points and pocket-change rewards.

‘Guess there’s nothing else…’

After glancing around while walking, Ail resolved and promptly changed direction toward a certain pathway.

Regardless of whether it was Ail or any other player, if there were no immediate quests available, most users headed to the same place.

The adventurers’ guild located in each city.

Ail entered the adventurer guild building, marked by a sleek sign, and was greeted by a lively scene.

Numerous users and NPCs gathered without regard for class distinctions, drinking or chatting about their next adventure.

Being a space open to all adventurers, regardless of affiliation, Ail faced no restrictions upon entering.

Typically, a novice adventurer might approach the counter where guild staff stood, asking questions to get started, but Ail immediately turned his gaze elsewhere.

‘Let’s see…’

On one side of the wall stood a massive request board.

The tall board was filled with numerous flyers for bounty hunts, monster exterminations, personal requests, and more—all sorts of missions provided by the adventurers’ guild.

No matter the location, whether in cities or major outposts, adventurer guilds existed in some form, providing many users with useful opportunities when they couldn’t find suitable quests.

Missions were distributed across various levels and difficulties, and the rewards were generally better than regular repeatable quests, making them worth considering.

‘Let’s see… Is there a decent mission…’

Ail stood before the board, calmly pondering which mission to choose.

Since these were publicly available quests provided by the guild, hitting the jackpot wasn’t likely, but careful selection was still necessary.

Accepting missions that required traveling too far or involved inefficient hunting grounds would result in losses compared to other options.

Moreover, since Ail possessed the unique skill “Sacred Flame,” it was advantageous to select hunting grounds where holy or fire attributes were useful—not just any mission would suffice.

‘This one!’

Spotting a particular mission, Ail quickly snatched the request slip.

Tearing off one of the layered sheets, a message immediately appeared before his eyes.

[Quest Accepted!]

[Defeat the boss monster ‘Thought Lump, Batora.’ (0/1)]

[Reward: 23 Silver 45 Copper Coins]

[Time Limit: 3 Days]

A bounty quest requiring the hunt of Batora, a level 19 field boss monster residing in the Ingol Forest.

Everything about the environment, travel distance, and difficulty level was acceptable.

Additionally, Batora was known to drop fairly useful items.

Satisfied with his choice, Ail turned around to head straight for completing the quest.

But just then, a man who had been watching him carefully approached and spoke.

“Are you also going to hunt Batora?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“That’s great! We’re also going after this guy, and since it’s our first time, we planned to bring one more person along. Come with us! For the record, no one in our party causes trouble.”

The man confidently gestured behind him.

Where he pointed, two companions leaned against the wall, conversing.

Ail quickly scanned them, judging from their gear that none of them seemed like beginners.

Besides, Batora was a boss monster recommended for a minimum three-person party, and attempting it safely with four members on their first try was a pretty wise decision.

It was a reasonable party invitation in many ways.

But Ail shook his head.

“I’m afraid that won’t work out.”

“Hmm… Do you already have a group?”

The man asked regretfully.

If the player already had companions to attempt the challenge, rejecting the offer was natural.

But Ail’s response was entirely different.

“No, I’m going solo.”