Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 38

38. Manners Maketh Man (1)

In the chilly dawn air of the park, Woojin, with his hood up, ran through the space, panting.

Braving the cold wind, Woojin was jogging. He had been doing his early morning exercise without fail since he seriously jumped into the game. Today, as always, he was starting his routine.

Even though he was still young, he wasn’t as energetic as he used to be when he could stay up all night for several days. If he just stayed cooped up in his room playing games, it would be perfect for ruining his health, so he did this to build up his basic physical strength.

Of course, he was only building up the basic physical strength to maintain his health, and he didn’t invest any more than that in exercise.

Naturally, being good at exercising in reality wouldn’t mean he would be good at using his body in virtual reality, and it was unnecessary unless he was going to play as an athlete.

Occasionally, players could be found learning various martial arts, believing in ridiculous rumors.

However, those were all futile acts with no gain.

Since all players are compensated by the system in virtual reality games anyway, actual athletic ability in reality made no difference.

There might be a slight difference in the sense of using the body, but that much becomes meaningless once you get used to combat to some extent and get rid of the beginner tag.

If the goal is to get stronger, it would be much more helpful to swing a sword at a monster in the game even once more than learning kendo in reality.

“Hmph… !”

Woojin, who had completed all the routes he had set, sat on a bench.

Based on his original standards, he hadn’t run for that long, but sweat was beading on his forehead.

“My stamina has really deteriorated a lot compared to before.”

Woojin shook his head and clicked his tongue as if dissatisfied.

He definitely felt that his stamina had decreased compared to when he was short on money and worked at construction sites and unloading cargo.

He hadn’t done any other work besides a convenience store part-time job for the past few months, and he hadn’t been exercising separately, so it was natural.

“By the way, I heard that the fine dust was so bad in the past, how did people live?”

Woojin muttered, sitting blankly while looking at the blue sky.

When he was born, people suffered a lot because of fine dust [particulate matter in the air]. Just imagining invisible dust floating around and a hazy sky taking its place was a terrible thing.

It’s a relief that we live in a world where virtual reality can be created in an instant. If a solution hadn’t been found yet, he would have had to bring a mask with him every time he went out, or even be afraid to stay cooped up at home.

“I get angry just thinking about it… um, why did I suddenly think of this?”

Woojin scratched his head and jumped up from his seat.

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

“Then now… let’s do 5 sets of pull-ups and go in.”

* * *

Whoosh!

The world was reconfigured and unfolded before the eyes of Woojin, or rather, Aile, who had entered the access device.

Aile, who entered the game, stood still for a moment and looked around.

A figure among the bustling crowds on the main street.

He had logged out after finishing the quest yesterday and entering the safe zone, and he was standing in the same position without any problems.

Kempel, a small city located in the Blanche Highlands.

It was the closest small city to the underground ruins that Aile had dug into, and it was not even a third the size of Queens Blonde, which was small in Warlord.

Of course, even so, it had everything it needed, so it had the clear title of ‘city’, and the auction house Aile was heading to was located in the center of the city.

[You have entered the item exchange of ‘Kempel’.]

– The exchange system is activated.

– Currently, Kempel City is under the jurisdiction of the ‘Nightmare’ guild.

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

As soon as he entered the auction house, the system message popped up as expected.

Among the bustling people, Aile opened the exchange window and checked his listed items.

All of the superior herbal ingredients he had put up for auction had been sold at the set price, and a considerable amount of money came into Aile’s hands.

Adding up the money he had in his possession, Aile’s total assets were 6 gold and 50 silver.

Considering that his level was only 18 and he hadn’t touched any life content [non-combat activities like crafting or trading] that would generate additional income, it was a considerable amount.

It was a situation where he had enough money to buy decent equipment.

However, Aile didn’t even look at it anymore and waved his hand to close the exchange window.

Now is not the time to shop; it was urgent to level up to 20 first.

The existence of higher-level skills was an important factor that sharply changed a player’s power, so he had to focus on unlocking the skill limit so that he could use the two purple skill books he had obtained.

‘If it comes out well at this point, the future will be really bright…’

As he thought about the skill book, Aile couldn’t calm his pounding heart and was filled with anticipation.

In the skill book system where grades are determined in the order of white, orange, red, purple, black, and gold, it was natural to have high expectations as it was a skill book that occupied the fourth stage.

From the early stages where it was difficult to fill even general-grade skills, if he laid down skills as high as rare-grade skills, the training was already half successful.

‘I have no choice but to pray that it comes out well at level 20…’

Aile closed his eyes tightly for a moment and then opened them, and immediately hurried his steps.

Opening the skill book was a matter for later anyway, and now it was time to think about leveling up quickly.

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

However, rather than simply focusing on hunting, it was better to combine it with quests efficiently.

However, the problem was that it was not easy to find such efficient quests.

In the ordinary online games of the past, if you looked up a strategy guide to see if there were any good quests, they would all be there, and you could just pick and choose the quests you liked.

However, that was not the case at all in Warlord, where most quests disappeared once they were completed.

The most efficient quest that he could receive from Sebera was over, and there were no quests currently related to Aile.

He knew most of the NPCs [Non-player characters] in Kempel and the repetitive quests they gave, but there were no quests among them that were worth noting.

Most of the ordinary repetitive quests gave only trivial experience and pocket money-level rewards.

‘Is that all there is…’

Aile, who was walking around looking around, made up his mind and immediately changed direction and moved to one side street.

Not only Aile, but most users would go to the same place if there were no immediately noticeable quests.

It was the Adventurer’s Guild, which existed in every city.

Aile entered the Adventurer’s Guild building with a neat sign and was greeted by a bustling scene.

Numerous users and NPCs, gathered regardless of their job, were bustling around drinking or talking about their next adventure.

As it was a space prepared for all adventurers, it didn’t matter whether they belonged to a guild or not, and there were no restrictions on Aile entering.

Usually, a beginner who sets foot in the Adventurer’s Guild for the first time would go to the counter where the guild members were standing and start by asking questions, but Aile immediately turned his gaze elsewhere.

‘Let’s see…’

A large quest board was standing on one wall.

Numerous leaflets were stuck on the long bulletin board, including wanted posters for criminals, bounty hunts, monster exterminations, and all sorts of personal requests provided by the Adventurer’s Guild.

Not only in cities but also in most base areas, large and small Adventurer’s Guilds were located, and the quests provided by the guild were a very useful opportunity for many users who had not found a suitable quest.

Quests were distributed according to various level ranges and difficulties, and the rewards were better than ordinary repetitive quests, so there was no need to refuse.

‘Where… is there a quest worth doing…’

Aile also stood in front of it and calmly considered which quest to choose.

As it was a public quest provided by the guild to anyone, it was difficult to aim for a jackpot no matter what he chose, but he still had to think carefully and make a choice.

If he accepted a quest where the location of the quest was too far away or involved an inefficient hunting ground, he would be at a disadvantage compared to other options.

In addition, Aile, who has the exclusive skill ‘Holy Fire’, was advantageous to go to hunting grounds where holy and fire attributes could be used effectively, so he could not combine just any quest.

‘This is it!’

Aile snatched a quest that suddenly caught his eye.

He tore off one quest from several sheets stacked together, and at the same time, the quest list was updated and a message appeared in front of Aile’s eyes.

[You have accepted the quest!]

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

[Bounty: 23 silver 45 copper]

[Time Limit: 3 days]

A bounty quest to hunt Batora, a level 19 field boss monster living in the Ingold Forest.

The environment of the hunting ground, the distance to travel, and the difficulty of the task were all good conditions.

In addition, Batora was quite known for giving useful items.

Aile, satisfied with the selected quest, turned around to go complete the quest right away.

But right then, a man who had been watching him closely from behind called out to Aile.

“Are you going to catch Batora too?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“That’s great! We’re going to catch this guy too, but it’s our first time, so we’re trying to add one more person. Let’s go together! I’ll tell you in advance, there’s no one in our party who will cause trouble.”

The man said confidently and pointed behind him.

In the place he pointed, there were two colleagues leaning against the wall and talking.

Aile quickly scanned them, and all three of them seemed to be not newbies based on their equipment.

In addition, Batora was a boss monster recommended for a minimum of 3-person party, and it was a very wise choice to try it safely with 4 people considering it was their first time.

A party proposal that made sense in many ways.

But Aile shook his head.

“I’m sorry, but that would be difficult.”

“Ah… do you already have a group?”

The man asked, looking disappointed.

If there were colleagues to try to attack together, it was natural to reject the offer.

But Aile’s answer was completely different.

“No, I’m going to catch it alone.”