Chapter 16

“Arang.”

“Huh? You’re here!”

While I was busy trying out various skills and getting the hang of them, Pinkubelly showed up.

“Did you get home okay?”

“Yeah, I got home fine. What about you, Arang?”

“Well, as soon as Pinkubelly left, I jumped right into Leore. So, should we start recruiting for the party now?”

The 60th-level dungeon [Underground Cave] is Leore’s first dungeon and drops level 70 equipment. Unlike other RPGs, in Leore, you don’t play to level up your character but to level up your gear.

The first place you need to go for farming, as soon as you hit the max level of 60, is the [Underground Cave].

It’s a 4-player dungeon, and the recommended setup is 1 Tank, 2 DPS, and 1 Healer. Of course, it’s not mandatory to have exactly 4 players. You can have fewer or more, but if you have fewer, the dungeon will take longer to clear, and if you don’t clear it within a certain time, the dungeon will go berserk, making the boss so strong that clearing becomes impossible.

On the other hand, if you bring too many people, the number of items that drop remains the same, so the farming time just increases.

That’s why most people stick to the recommended 4-player setup in Leore.

Right now, our party only has a DPS Sword Master and a Healer White Mage. We still need one more Tank and one more DPS.

“Who should we recruit?”

There are many job classes like Swordsman, Warrior, Martial Artist, Archer, Assassin, Wizard, etc. And from there, you can specialize into various advanced classes.

“Since Arang is a melee DPS, it would be better to have a ranged DPS.”

“That’s true. So, let’s only allow ranged classes to join… Next, we need a Tank.”

There aren’t many Tank classes, and not many people play them.

In most RPGs, the number of Tank players is low, but in Leore, it’s especially scarce. Since it’s a virtual world game, you have to face monsters and bosses right in front of you, and the fear that comes with tanking is said to be overwhelming.

I can totally understand that.

I still remember how creepy it was the first time I saw the aggro of the Field Boss, the Spider Queen.

At least we don’t have to worry about recruiting a Healer since we have Pinkubelly.

===

“No one’s coming.”

It’s been 30 minutes since we posted the recruitment, but no one has applied.

Since it’s the first max-level dungeon, there are plenty of people doing it, but the problem is probably that the party recruitment title says [Blind Run].

“Not many people do Blind Runs at this stage.”

Pinkubelly is right. Usually, people avoid Blind Runs because they take too much time.

To explain, a Blind Run means going in without looking at any guides and figuring out the mechanics as you go.

The issue is that most Korean players don’t like doing Blind Runs. They usually watch strategy videos on Ryutube, familiarize themselves with the mechanics, and then join Try Parties.

But I want to experience every dungeon and raid in this virtual world game, Leore, with my own eyes and body for the first time.

If I watch the Ryutube guides beforehand, the excitement and thrill of seeing something for the first time just disappears.

“If this keeps up, it’s going to be a problem… Hmm…”

We still have a long way to go before reaching the final raid, and if each dungeon takes this long to recruit for, it’s definitely going to be an issue.

Then I guess we’ll have to resort to some tricks.

We need to find someone who, like Pinkubelly, has plenty of time and is willing to join my Blind Run.

Usually, even in Blind Runs, some experienced players join. They come just to watch the Blind Runners struggle. They know the mechanics and strategies but won’t say anything until the Blind Runners ask for help.

Let’s just find someone who can stick with us until we finish farming for the raid.

I told Pinkubelly what I was thinking.

“Arang, do you know anyone?”

“Yeah, there’s this streamer and Ryutuber named Kang Hangeul.”

“Ah, the guy who came for that interview last time?”

“Yeah. He said he was grateful for the interview and told me to call him if I ever needed help. Let’s call him here and make him the Tank. I saw that he’s also max level.”

“But isn’t he really busy?”

“Let’s just try contacting him first.”

Plus, since he’s famous, maybe he can bring a DPS along too.

I sent a whisper to Kang Hangeul, who I became friends with during the interview.

===

Kang Hangeul is one of the most famous streamers and Ryutubers in Leore. Already well-known, Kang Hangeul became even more famous after interviewing Arang.

Recently, he’s been going around Field Bosses, taking on challenges created because of Arang.

Other Field Bosses have been cleared with Healers, and people have managed to clear them by squeezing in time, but the solo clear of the Orc Chieftain still hasn’t been achieved.

Today, after finishing a raid and about to go hunt the Orc Chieftain, Kang Hangeul suddenly heard a whisper notification.

*Ding.*

“Huh? A whisper?”

Kang Hangeul is so famous that he gets countless whispers from viewers and strangers, so he usually has all notifications turned off.

But he has notifications set for important people, so he quickly opened the chat window to check.

“Huh? Why is she contacting me all of a sudden?”

– Who is it?

– Another forced Ryutube angle.

– Stop talking nonsense and let’s go for the Orc Chieftain.

– Time to get my neck snapped again.

– You’re running away now?

– Don’t talk nonsense.

“No, no, hold on.”

Kang Hangeul quickly skimmed the content of the whisper from Arang, who hadn’t contacted him since the interview. The message was about needing a Tank slave.

“Everyone, the Orc Chieftain attempt is postponed indefinitely.”

– Scared?

– Running away now?

– Breaking promises to viewers?

[Thank you for the 10,000 won donation, ㅇㅇ.]

– Running away? Running away? Running away? Running away? Running away? Running away?

– Just throwing away viewer promises.

“Arang said she hit max level and wants to run a dungeon together.”

– Arang? That middle school girl Arang?

– For real?

– Dude, we gotta go right now, what are you doing?

– Tell her to hurry up! Let’s find people.

“I just sent a message saying we’ll go right now. We’re heading to the [Underground Cave].”

– Wow, but how did that middle school girl even manage to take down a Field Boss when she’s not even max level?

– Level scaling, so max level doesn’t matter.

– No, the fact that she did it despite not being familiar with the game is what’s important.

– Who even thinks of taking down the Orc Chieftain at that level? LOL.

===

Kang Hangeul rushed to the entrance of the [Underground Cave] as fast as he could and found Arang waving her hand energetically at him.

“You got here really quickly!”

“I rushed right over. Oh, and I’m live right now, is that okay? I’ve got the screen covered for now.”

“It’s fine. If I didn’t want you to stream while we run the dungeons, I wouldn’t have called you in the first place. Oh, this is my best friend and Healer, Pinkubelly.”

“Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Pinkubelly, the White Mage.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kang Hangeul, the Berserker.”

“Kang Hangeul, you read that we’re doing a Blind Run, right?”

“Yeah, I read it. What kind of Tank are you looking for?”

“Let’s go with whatever Tank Pinkubelly prefers.”

“I’m confident in my healing, so any Tank Kang Hangeul wants is fine with me.”

“Are you sure? My Tanks are max level, but their gear is really basic, and their skills aren’t exactly top-tier.”

Arang laughed at Kang Hangeul’s words.

“Come on, we’ve got a total newbie here, so no worries. Oh, and we need one more DPS. Do you know anyone who’s got time?”

“I’ll ask around my guild.”

– There’s someone here!!!

– It’s so dark, Hangeul, is this hell?

– Save me!!! Let me see too!!!

– Show me the middle school girl!!!

– Aaaah!

“Um… Is it okay if I turn on the stream now?”

“Sure! Pinkubelly, you okay with that?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Then…”

“Oh, before that, Pinkubelly said she’s starting a Ryutube channel too, so maybe you can give her some tips later.”

“I can definitely help with that. Alright, I’ll turn it on.”

Kang Hangeul fiddled with the menu, and a semi-transparent circular camera appeared above his head.

Arang immediately went to where the camera was pointing and waved.

“Hi, everyone!”

– LOLOLOL

– OMG LOL

– Is she really 15?

– Is this game rated for 15+?

– Those tiny hands took down the Orc Chieftain’s head?

– So cute

– LOL

– OMG LOL

– OMG LOL

– Wait, if our guild leader is the Tank, does that mean we can’t see Arang?

– OMG

– OMG LOL

“Arang is a regular person. Everyone, be careful with the chat.”

– OK OK

– Don’t worry

– LOL

===

A DPS from Kang Hangeul’s guild, a Wizard-type class specializing in fire and lightning, the [Sorcerer], joined.

A hastily assembled 4-player party.

First, Kang Hangeul. Instead of his main class, [Berserker], he decided to go with his secondary Tank class. Among main Tanks, it has the best DPS but is hard to manage health with—the [Great Swordsman].

Melee DPS Arang. The most balanced Swordsman class—[Sword Master].

Ranged DPS Mozzawaper. The pure DPS among Wizards—[Sorcerer].

Healer Pinkubelly. The Healer-focused class among Healers—[White Mage].

With this party, we entered the [Underground Cave].

“Let’s do our best!”

Arang was the first to enter the dungeon, jumping around and pulling out her weapon.

– Oh, the Tashim Sword… So jealous.

– So that’s how it drops.

– LOL, a newbie who just hit max level with a god-tier sword.

– Isn’t the drop rate higher if you solo?

– Could be, LOL.

“Let’s go!”

Kang Hangeul ran forward, carrying a greatsword as tall as he was.

Not long after, dungeon mobs appeared. Four giant rats, each at least 1 meter tall, with glowing red eyes. Kang Hangeul used the Tank-exclusive skill Roar to grab their aggro.

As soon as the aggro was secured, Arang started stacking her [Chain Attack] and 10 stacks of Tashim Sword.

Using [Pentagon], she attacked one rat, stacking 5 hits, and then seamlessly chained Sword Master skills with perfect timing, maintaining the [Chain Attack] buff without a single break.

Kang Hangeul was startled by the sudden spike in aggro.

Even though his Tanking skills aren’t top-tier, he thought he was good at managing aggro, but one rat’s aggro suddenly went haywire.

“Watch out!”

Kang Hangeul shouted as the rat lunged at Arang.

*Clang!*

The sound of parrying echoed, and Arang killed the rat in one go.

– Insane.

– A Sword Master stealing aggro from a Great Swordsman?

– I’ve seen Sorcerers steal aggro, but a Sword Master? LOL.

– Isn’t it more likely that the guild leader messed up? LOL.

– That’s more plausible, LOL.

– Streamer, open the DPS meter.