Chapter 5

* * * * *
Puck!
“Billion!”
With a dull thud, Ming Hu flew off into the sky with a grunt.
-Currrrrrr!
A brown bear roared as it flew through the air and raced toward Ming Hu as he fell to the ground. Ming Hu sighed as he watched the bear run toward him.
Puck!
The brown bear’s body slammed into the ground and Ming Hu flew off again.
“What are you counting…
Ming Hu thought as he flew through the sky. Two attacks had reduced his 1450 health to 500. More than half of his health had been blown away in two attacks.
‘It was a trick. You’ll never be able to catch a bear at level 8!
Ming Hu knew he was no match for the bear, but he had the stats, he had a decent weapon, and most importantly, the rabbit massacre had bolstered his confidence, so he charged right at it, just in case.
-Currrrrrrr!
But it was literally an object.
“Let’s run.
Ming Hu thought to himself, let’s run away. He couldn’t experience his first death here in such a ridiculous way.
Boom!
-Currrrrrrr!
Ming Hu immediately got up from the ground and ran quickly to the other side. The bear roared loudly at Ming Hu’s sudden escape, and then returned to his den.
“…phew”
Ming Hu breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the bear stroll away without chasing him.
“First. I need to catch a fox and level up.”
In order to catch the bear, I had to level up. With that thought in mind, Myung-Hoo restored his health and started walking towards the fox colony.
Jumbled
“Are we there yet?”
He hadn’t walked far when he realized that he had arrived at the fox colony and began to see foxes. Ming Hu took one look at himself in front of him and decided that the first fox that moved would be his first kill.
JERBUCK!
-Kaeeng!
Approaching the fox, Ming Hu quickly swung his sword. The sword struck the fox, and the fox let out a cry and closed the distance between it and Ming Hu. Then it let out a low cry and lunged at Ming Hu.
Smack!
Ming Hu was unable to dodge the fox’s unexpected claws and was struck by the attack. However, it didn’t take much damage, and Ming Hu felt that he could safely capture the fox, so he flashed his hard iron sword upward and cast a skill.
“Down!”
With great speed, the hard iron sword flew toward the fox. The fox allowed the hard iron sword to strike, and fell to the ground in a heap.
“…?”
Ming Hu stared at the solid iron sword, watching the fox die so easily. Even with his skill, he hadn’t expected to die in two blows.
“I guess weapons must be good after all…”
Realizing the importance of the equipment, Ming Hu rummaged through the fox’s carcass for items and turned his attention to his surroundings. There were five foxes scurrying around.
“Down!”
Ming Hu raised his sword and brought it down on the nearest fox. The fox cried out like the first fox when it was slashed and closed the distance before lunging at him with a clawing attack.
“Where”
Ming Hu took a step backward, dodging the fox’s claw attack, and then swung his sword again to attack the fox.
-Bam!
The fox made a noise and fell backwards again. Unlike the first fox, this one didn’t fall down in two.
“Huh?”
Ming Hu was a little puzzled by the fox’s behavior. However, this was often the case when hunting rabbits, so Ming Hu struck again with his sword.
-Bam!
This time, however, the fox didn’t go down. Of course, even the same fox doesn’t have the same stamina. But there is something called range. Considering that the first fox, even the one with the lowest health, died in two shots, even the highest health fox had to die in three shots.
-Crack!
But as the fox lunged at him again, he stopped wondering and swung his sword again, and so it went back and forth until he struck for the sixth time.
Shake!
[Level Up!]
The fox collapsed with the level-up message. Ming Hu shook his head at the fox’s demise, and rummaged through its carcass.
-You have mastered the Great Fox Tail.
-You have acquired a large fox skin.
It wasn’t until I picked up the item that I realized it was actually quite a bit bigger than the first fox.
Sigh
Ming Hu looked at the four remaining foxes. Three of the four were about the same size as the first fox, and the fourth was quite large, like the one that had just died.
“Three common foxes and one big fox.”
Jumbled
Ming Hu muttered something to himself and walked over to a common fox, which he could handle quickly, and swung his sword at it.
-Bam!
The fox stepped back as soon as it was slashed. But Ming Hu, who had seen earlier that the fox would move away from him when attacked, moved forward and swung his sword once more.
Shake!
Predictably, the fox retreated, but was slashed by a second sword and fell. Ming Hu picked up the item the fox dropped and moved on to the next fox, attacking it.
[Level Up!]
-You have mastered the Great Fox Tail.
-You’ve mastered the art of the fox.
After continuing to hunt the fox, Ming Hu picked up the item dropped by the level-up message and stopped hunting. He then opened the character window.
Name: Ming Hu
Nationality : Helioca [Empire]
Age: 22 Occupation: Warrior
Level: 11
Life: 1650
Mana: 420
Strength : 45 (+5) Dexterity : 12 Constitution : 15 Intelligence : 10 Wisdom : 11
Bonus stats: 91
After starting the fox hunt and leveling up three times, I went from 8 to 11, and my Agility, Stamina, and Wisdom stats increased slightly from the hunt.
“Hmmm, I need to sneak a shot of this one.”
Ming Hu looked at the bonus stats and muttered to himself. If he used all the bonus stats, it would make his hunt easier. But there was one thing you couldn’t take lightly: stats. I didn’t want to be a character who was neither an Edger nor an Edger.
“If you’re a warrior, you have strength and stamina… I can’t just raise it, so I want…”
The stats were basic information, and Ming Hu knew it. The most important stats for a warrior were Strength and Stamina, but they couldn’t be raised indiscriminately. This is because being a warrior is not just about increasing your strength and stamina, even though they are the most important.
In some cases, wisdom was needed to move up the ranks. If you don’t have enough wisdom, you may not be able to advance to a higher class.
“But first… let’s increase the power.”
His level was still 11. It was very low. It didn’t seem like it would matter if he invested all of his current bonus stats in strength. He still had a lot of leveling up to do before he could move to a higher class. That meant I had a lot of bonus stats to earn, and if I didn’t have enough for a higher class, I could make up for it.
“Let’s go!”
With that in mind, Ming Hu invested all 91 bonus stats into power.
Name: Ming Hu
Nationality : Helioca [Empire]
Age: 22 Occupation: Warrior
Level: 11
Life: 3470
Mana: 420
Strength : 136(+5) Dexterity : 12 Constitution : 15 Intelligence : 10 Wisdom : 11
After investing all of his bonus stats and closing the character window, Ming Hu opened his inventory.
“That’s a lot of people.”
His inventory was filled with various miscellaneous items, including fox tails, fox meat, and big fox tails.
“I’m going to have to clean this up.”
Deciding it was time to empty his inventory once and for all, Ming Hu closed it and walked toward the village.
“How much is it going to cost…”
It wasn’t as much as the rabbit, but it was still a lot of items. Plus, the fox’s items were higher level than the rabbit’s, so they would cost more per item.
“I’ll stop by the guild and get some gear.”
As he leveled up, there would be skills he could learn. Moreover, Ming Hu realized the importance of equipment, and as soon as he had enough money to buy it, he would be able to fantasize about getting it.
* * * * *
When Ming Hu arrived in town, he headed straight to the shop. He wanted to sell the sundries he’d gotten from the fox.
“Oh, you’re here.”
“Hello.”
As you entered the shop, Fern greeted you as if she had been waiting for you. Ming Hu greeted Fern with a simple bow and walked over to him, pulling out an item from his inventory.
“I’m trying to sell some of these.”
“Ho ho, let’s see, fox’s tail, leather. Heh heh last time it was a rabbit, now a fox…heh!”
Then Fern looked at Ming Hu with a surprised expression.
“Isn’t this the tail and hide of a big fox, hehe!”
Fern’s mouth curled into a smile as he spoke in surprise.
“I was just about to ask for the tail and skin of a big fox when I realized I didn’t need it, great!”
To Ming Hu, it was the same fox pelt and tail. The only difference was the size, but Fern disagreed and began categorizing them with a wide smile on her face.
“Looks like we have a lot of goodies!”
Ming Hu smiled as Fern finished sorting. More of the better items meant they would sell for more money. While Ming Hu was smiling, Fern looked at the sorted items, did some calculations, and then spoke.
“That’s 1 gold, 92 silver, and 40 bronze.”
Ming Hu took the bag of money from Fern with a dubious look on his face. Despite having fewer items than the rabbit, he got more than double the price. Besides, he still had fox meat and a large piece of fox meat in his inventory.
gulp
“Goodbye!”
Ming Hu swallowed hard and headed out the door to the butcher shop. He was looking forward to seeing what kind of price he could get for the meat.
“There it is!”
Ming Hu was about to leave the shop when he heard Fern call out to him, and he stopped in his tracks to look at her.
“Can you do me a favor?”
“Which…?”
“If you’re going to go fox hunting again, could you get me some pelts from the great fox?”
-Tyring!
<Great Fox Skin
We don't know what's going on, but Fern needs the skin of the Great Fox. Get the pelt of the king of foxes, the Great Fox, and bring it to Fern!
Difficulty Level: F
Quest rewards: increased friendship with Fern, gold rewards based on hide status.
Declining a quest may cause a small drop in your affinity with Fernn.