āIs that all, old man?ā Even though he really wanted to beat the old man up, he knew that this task was achievable. Furthermore, even though he wasnāt that acquainted with the old man yet, he knew that this was probably just one of the old manās many devious ideas.
āHeh, not bad. Youāve managed to guess something. Heh heh, I want you to kill the big one too, after killing one hundred bulls. Of course, you canāt take any damage.ā
Ding! Announcement: You have accepted the hidden questās additional conditions for the first stage. You have to kill the Barbaric Bull King after killing one hundred Barbaric Bulls, and judging by your response, you have to complete the quest without taking any damage.
Damned old man!
Blue Maple still chose to accept these conditions even though he was displeased. Giving up at a time like this wasnāt how he did things.
āI accept.ā
āTsk, am I not just adding some extra requirements? You sound like you want to beat me up. You have to respect your elders. You will become stronger after killing these small bulls, so the smaller bulls toward the end wonāt threaten you much. Furthermore, you will probably pick up some useful items, so the big bull wonāt be a problem for you when the time comes.ā
Blue Maple continued listening to the old manās words, who was lively and emotional. He strongly suspected that a person was playing this NPC. The gameās introduction did mention that humans would play several important NPCs, and he believed this old man was one of them.
He thought about what the old man said, and he knew that the old man was right. Blue Maple was crossing many levels to kill those monsters, so raising his level wouldnāt be a problem when the time came. Furthermore, he would probably find some useful equipment along the way, and he would have a high chance of finding equipment with ranks higher than his current level. He just didnāt know what the Barbaric Bull Kingās rank was...
Blue Maple would still do his best not to be damaged even if the old man didnāt mention it, becauseā¦ he had forgotten to purchase healing vials and other consumables. He only had the small HP vials that he had from the beginning. The thought hadnāt occurred to him, and neither had he used any HP vials when he was having a great time killing monsters back at the Newbie Village, so he had completely forgotten about them. By the time he realized his mistake, he had already slaughtered the bull, and been thinking about what he would do if he did take any damage.
āHey, can you tell me where the big bull is when the time comes?ā
āIāll only tell you where the big one is once youāve finished the first part. Of course, if you canāt, heh hehā¦ā
āTch.ā Blue Maple grumbled under his breath. The system notice rang in his ear once the old man finished his sentence.
Ding! Announcement: You have continued accepting the questās additional conditions. Your hidden questās first stage has been raised to Rank SSS! This difficulty is the highest possible rank for your current strength. Please be careful!
This will really beā¦ troublesome.
If somebody else was in his shoes, that person wouldnāt be calling this quest ātroublesomeā. Instead, that person would probably be cursing and shouting at the top of their lungs. Only somebody with Blue Mapleās personality, and also a rookie, would describe this situation so casually.
Blue Maple was about to prepare himself to kill another bull when something suddenly came to mind.
I didnāt use my skill in that fight, did I? Blue Maple suddenly thought about his skill.
Indeed, Blue Maple hadnāt used his skill. He was too focused during the fight, and he had completely forgotten about his skill. Blue Maple didnāt know how to describe himself; it felt like he was fated to be a rookie for his entire life.
I think I can use my skill by channeling it with a thought, he thought to himself.
He didnāt have to say anything to use his skill. Otherwise, Thieves would be a useless class, because Thieves couldnāt possibly call out someoneās name when they were backstabbing someone before actually making the killer move.
Of course, there were still people who would shout their skill when using it because they needed the momentum and the energy. However, Blue Maple would never do that with his cold personality.
--------
Blue Maple became like a bullfighter, and struggled as he continued killing bull after bull. He emerged unscathed after every kill, but he came close during every fight.
Three hours later, Blue Maple managed to level up and also found some equipment as he reached bull number eighty-seven. He had taken so long because of his fitness problems, and he had taken multiple rests in between. He took roughly three to four minutes to kill a single bull in the beginning, but he only needed a little more than one minute at this point. Furthermore, he even took on two bulls at the same time on several occasions, and those times were truly thrilling.
Blue Maple didnāt want to fight two bulls at once, and it only happened because he provoked another bull when he was fighting oneā¦ so he had no choice. Blue Maple could still handle the fighting, but he was still a newbie with regards to the gameās other mechanics.
Blue Maple reached Level 10, but his speed was basically unchanged, and he was still very slow. That left him very confused, but he continued killing monsters humbly because he knew that his confusion was probably because of some other part of the game that he didnāt know anything about.
He had to admit that adding all his attribute points to Strength was necessary. If he hadnāt done that, he wouldnāt have become so much faster at killing monsters.
Blue Maple glanced at the notice that said that he had just risen to Level 10, and he knew that he couldnāt level up by killing the remaining bulls. The bulls dropped plenty of equipment, but they were either not suitable for his class, or their ranks were too high. Players could change their class after Level 10, so magic items and equipment would also drop.
There were only three items that Blue Maple could use, but he wouldnāt have found so many pieces of equipment if he hadnāt killed these bulls, who were so many ranks above him. There was a much lower chance of dropping an item now, not to mention suitable ones.
Thereforeā¦
āHey, you should be able to hear me, old man, canāt you?ā
Indeed, the old manās annoying voice rang out just as Blue Maple had predicted. āHeh, are you giving up before killing all the bulls?ā
āTell me the big bullās location.ā Blue Mapleās words and tone were still so simple.
āWhy are you so impatient, young man? You just have to kill a few more small bulls. Canāt you just deal with them with a few attacks?ā
āThereās no point,ā Blue Maple replied plainly. Killing those remaining bulls no longer had any meaning for Blue Maple. He couldnāt level up, and his chances of finding items were also low, so he would rather conserve his energy and his current condition to kill the Boss directly.
Furthermore, from Blue Mapleās perspective, since this was a game that resembled reality and a human was playing this NPC, the NPC shouldnāt be so rigid as to require him to kill one hundred bulls before killing the Boss.
āFine. Youths nowadays,ā the old man replied in an exasperated voice. āContinue at your two oāclock, and youāll find the big bull three hundred meters in that direction.ā The old man added another sentence rather wickedly, āHey, kid, Donāt think that Iāll be there to take care of your dead body.ā
āTch.ā Blue Maple clicked his tongue in displeasure as he strolled toward where the big bull was located.
Even though the Foggy Grasslands were relatively flat, there was a lot of mist around, so he definitely couldnāt see anything at three hundred meters. He had to get closer to see anything, while the electronic map displayed his destination after the old manās prompt. Therefore, he didnāt have to worry about walking in the wrong direction.
Blue Maple was careful to avoid normal Barbaric Bulls as he moved because he didnāt want to provoke them into a fight, rather than him being afraid of those bulls. The most important thing was to avoid wasting strength and energy. Blue Maple was a rookie, and he couldnāt predict how long he needed to fight, so he would be in big trouble if his attributes started declining halfway through the fight.
------
Blue Maple finally found his questās final target, the Barbaric Bull King.
===
[Barbaric Bull King] (Rank 20 Boss)
Attack: 112-127
Defense: 87-98
Magic Defense: 54-63
HP: 10,000
Skill: Crazed Charge
Introduction: One of the leaders of the wild animals living in the Foggy Grasslands. It is very aggressive, and its skill is stronger than usual. Be careful.
===
Thatās problematic, Blue Maple thought to himself when he saw the Barbaric Bull Kingās attributes.
The Barbaric Bull Kingās attack speed had to be much faster than those normal bulls with its attributes and rank, while its enhanced skill had to be quicker too. Blue Mapleās movement speed hadnāt improved, so there was almost no way he could dodge the Bossā skill.
Blue Mapleās only advantage was that he had become very familiar with certain techniques for dealing with Barbaric Bulls after killing so many of them. His evasion techniques were better than in the beginning, but the most he had to do was force himself to plug the gap. He should have no problem dodging normal attacks, but he knew he had no chance of dodging Charge. It didnāt matter how quick his reactions were because his movement speed couldnāt catch up at all.
Blue Mapleās only chance was for him to master something novel. He had to master one of the gameās special techniques, the art of prediction!
However, mastering such a technique within such a short period of time was impossible. Prediction required a lot of gaming experience and innate talent to learn. Without even talking about innate talent, Blue Maple already had a dire lack of gaming experience. He had only played this game for a few hours.
Even though Blue Maple couldnāt possibly master the art of prediction, he should have no problem predicting the Barbaric Bull King. The reason was because he had killed so many bulls before this, and he noticed that every bull would pause for about half a second before using their skill, which was the time needed for normal humans to react. Furthermore, bulls couldnāt change their direction when they were using Charge, so the skill was probably the easiest to dodge.
In the beginning, Blue Maple didnāt know if the bulls could change their direction after using Charge, and only confirmed the fact after killing so many bulls. Furthermore, he had wasted so much time and effort because he foolishly imagined that bulls could change directions after using Charge. The reason why Blue Maple had discovered the fact so late in the game was because he didnāt know that skills had activation times. Every skill, except for instant skills, took time to channel. Some were short, some were long, depending on the skill.
Blue Mapleās Cold Light Slash was considered an instant skill, because it was attached to a normal attack, so there wasnāt any channeling time. However, the light from his skill would glow on his sword, and it would start shining conspicuously.
Blue Maple guessed that the Barbaric Bull Kingās skill probably had a lower channeling time, but the fastest it could go was probably 0.2 seconds, probably half of a normal bullās channeling time. He reasoned that not just from his experience, but through common sense. However, Blue Maple believed that he had enough time to react even if the Bossā channeling time was only 0.1 seconds, because he just happened to possess an extraordinarily quick reaction speed.
What he was worried about would be the normal attacks, which had become faster, and which he also couldnāt predict. Everything came down to the same reality, his reflexes would be useless no matter how quick they were if his body couldnāt keep up. But... he could possibly resolve that problem some other way...
Blue Maple stared at the Boss in front of him, and a strange thought occurred to him. I wonder if I can eat this bull after killing it. This bull should be considered truly wild, and there should be very few of these things around...
Wait, this thought isā¦
Blue Maple quickly tossed that thought aside as he focused on his quest.