< Pretended to Forget (1) >
A small lake spread out in the middle of green plains.
Lake environments were rich in money-making resources, so they tended to be popular, but that was for C-Rank dungeons and higher. D-Rank and lower also did make more money. But underwater combat was too difficult for low rank Hunters to touch.
If you didn’t have related skills, you had to separately prepare equipment or items, so there were cases where people could suffer a loss at any moment instead. Thanks to that, it wasn’t hard to bid on this time’s D-Rank dungeon, too.
“The view’s nice.”
A bright blue sky was reflected on the clear surface like a mirror. Every time the wind blew, the grass gently danced around and ripples trembled rhythmically.
Even before the regression when I was busy looking after my own life, I sometimes felt that the dungeon’s scenery was intriguing. Now when I was overflowing with leisure, I took it a step further and had doubts.
Making something like this, and even resetting it each time, as expected, wouldn’t you have to be about god level to do something like this?
‘Though the system people seemed far from omnipotence.’
Speaking of, today was quiet. Were they busy? Them chattering about nonsense was annoying, but since there wasn’t even a greeting, I was little sad.
‘We would probably be able to speak a bit more properly in a few days.’
Let’s just quickly clear the dungeon and leave. This was the third unauthorized outing. If I got caught[1], it wouldn’t be strange. I shouldn’t drag it out, and quickly finish and return.
I walked up close to the lake. I was using Wall Lizard, so there still wasn’t any change to the lake.
‘The usual monster was fish[2] type, right?’
It was a monster that looked similar to an eel and that could act even outside of water to a certain extent.
The items I was going to use today were the Mana increase earrings and mana potions. It was these two. I had no intention of directly going inside the water.
I sat with my knees touching the lakeside, and lowered my hand into the water.
Sticky poison.
The already strong C-Rank poison had double the effect and then doubled again with Veteran. That terrifying poison slowly spread through the water. The flawlessly clear water started to show a faint gray.
“Somehow my conscience is pricked a little.”
It was inside a dungeon, and the opponents were monsters, and it would reliably reset once the attack ends.
But still, I felt like I was doing something I shouldn’t do. It is illegal to fish using poisonous substances. It is also unallowed to use electric shocks. Nature love, environment protection.
-Kooukkoouk
It wasn’t long before noises similar to a toad’s cry as well as a 3-meter-ish eel burst out of the water.
Splash!
Jump!
The eels jumping out of the water in a row couldn’t even open and close their mouths several times before they died in a row. Near where the poison started, the corpses of eels who couldn’t even struggle and died instantly, floated up.
The effect was really good. It was so good, I felt like I had become an illegal sewer pipe spewing out toxic waste water.
‘If it’s this much, then this should be good, right?’
I took my hand out of the water and waited a bit. Big and small eels ceaselessly burst out and floated up. It wasn’t that big of a lake, but there were quite a lot.
-Keuwouh!
When about more the half the eels died, a blue eel raised its head from the small island in the middle of the lake.
[6th Rank Water Dragon Type – Blue Eel
Current stat rank C
Growth possible stat rank C
Optimized Initial Skills
Water Cannon❨C❩ Acquired
Wave Making Tail❨C❩ Acquired]
It was a dragon type. Though the species was eel. If it was a 6th rank water dragon type with stat C, it was on the higher side among C-Rank monsters. Still, if it was dragon type, rather than the mana stones, the corpse was more expensive. To lure it towards shore, I released Wall Lizard.
-Keureureu
The Blue Eel discovered me. It was raising its head upright when it moved its fins that had long claws and slipped into the water.
“That’s right, come.”
I should give the magic stone to Peace and the skin and bones to Myeongwoo. They were too cheap of materials for an SS-Rank skill, but they should be okay for practice.
-Keureuk
The speed of the vigorously swimming Blue Eel gradually became slower.
-Keureu…
Even the color of the scales turned gray. Ah, oh no. The complexion also wasn’t good at all. In the end, it couldn’t even reach the shore I was on, and.
-Kieek
Burble
…I’ll pray for your soul.
Along with the sound of the Blue Eel dying, it sank into the water. The poison was strong, but I thought it had been neutralized a lot so it would be okay. I thought about using the tentacles to fish it out, but I just left it. It would be a bit much to use something poisoned.
Then, an escape gate appeared at the lakeside.
Now, what kind of title would come out this time?
……Um. The message window wasn’t popping up.
“……Excuse me, people who made the system?”
Was it a lag? I was thinking that it was pretty quiet – did a communication error occur?
[Impressive achievement! With stat F, attack skills less than F, using less than five items, you have successfully attacked an D-Rank dungeon by yourself!]
Oh, finally the achievement window… did pop up, but.
‘It’s no news for a long time again.’
When I waited for a while, a message window appeared again.
[Please choose.
Being Durable(S)
Can’t Be Found(S)
Swift Footed(S)]
Why suddenly choices? I had never heard of being able to choose an achievement award title. Could it be it was slow because this was being prepared?
‘I’m thankful that you gave me choices, but it would be even better if you let me see the explanation windows.’
Still, I could more or less guess, looking at just the title names. They were respectively defense, hiding, agility or instant movement related titles. Were they named simply like that so it would be easy to understand?
‘All three of them are titles that seem like they would be good for my protection.’
I had wanted a double buff for special skills. And for a D-Rank dungeon attack by myself, wasn’t it a bit stingy? This time was also S-Rank. I had thought that it would be around SS-Rank level; it was a disappointment.
Anyways, I had to choose one among the three – which should I pick?
‘An S-Rank defense skill would be good too. But if it was a stat increase, then it would be a loss.’
Of course, it would probably raise it a lot, as an S-Rank title, but with my basic stats as F-Rank, it wasn’t to the point of being meaningful. My earrings’ shield skill would probably be more useful instead.
‘Still, since they’re purposely picked by the system people, unless they’re thinking of putting me in a predicament, I think they’re skill titles.’
If it was an S-Rank defense skill, it would be perfect for a short term fight. But if it went long term, then I would probably just become a hunched turtle. It wasn’t like I had a means of attack or anything, and if I was indoors, even if just my room door was locked, I wouldn’t be able to move an inch.
‘Anyways, except for monsters, there wouldn’t be guys trying to kill me, so hiding or agility would probably be better.’
Swift Footed wouldn’t be teleportation, looking at the name, and it would be a type that gave instant movement or increased movement speed. Hiding was definitely better than that. Just looking at Wall Lizard, just how usefully and well was I using it?
If it was a hiding skill attached to an S-Rank title, it would be A-Rank at minimum. Still, just in case, should I ask?
“The Can’t Be Found title, is it correct that it comes with an A-Rank or higher hiding skill?”
[˙~˙;;;]
Ah, yes. They couldn’t tell me.
“If Swift-Footed is a teleportation skill, please send an emoticon.”
It was quiet. As expected, it wasn’t teleportation. Then I should get hiding.
Of the three titles, I chose Can’t Be Found.
[Can’t Be Found(S)
The F-Rank Hunter that overcame a D-Rank dungeon alone is an expert in hiding?
Hidden Puzzle[3](A)
One More as a Freebie(S)]
It was a title explanation that seemed like they had tried to make it fit the achievement. The other two explanations would probably be similar to this. Hidden Puzzle should be the hiding skill, and what was One More as a Freebie? The name seemed like it was added as a freebie but the rank was S.
‘The other two probably would have been this combination too.’
One more as a freebie as a defense or agility related skill. It was probably something like this.
[Hidden Puzzle(A)
Become a state where it is hard for you to be perceived even if focused on or looked for]
Hidden Puzzle seemed like it wasn’t that my appearance itself disappeared, but that it was hard to be recognized, as a skill similar to Wall Lizard. And One More as a Freebie was.
[One More as a Freebie(S)
Sharing one S-Rank or lower title or skill with 1 opponent while in contact
Standby time for reapplication per each skill 15 days
※Relevant skills exempted]
…Wow, wait. Was this the main thing? It was possible to share skills and titles? Which were the S-Rank and lower ones again?
“They paid attention to me complaining that they were baubles.”
I was a little moved.
Let’s see, first of all, the recently acquired S-Rank titles were Miracle and Veteran. Item doubled and attack skill effect doubled. Oh shit.
If it was going to be like this, I should’ve just chosen the defense skill.
‘It has to be while in contact, so I would probably be able to follow along to a mid rank dungeon at most.’
Since I could use a B-Rank shield skill through the earrings. Hiding was useless in a melee. If it was an A-Rank or higher defense skill, I would be able to follow along to a high rank dungeon too! It was regrettable.
Still, if an S-Rank dungeon burst or something, it could be handled quickly. When the dungeon level of difficulty would start to go up quickly, it wouldn’t be far before I would probably have no choice but to make good use of it.
Besides that, Hidden Puzzle, and two pretty useless assistance skills. And the Seed-Leaf skill.
‘The one the system people were aiming for was probably this Seed-Leaf skill. Since it seemed like they wanted me to raise Hunters.’
Standby time for optimized Awakening use: 30 days. Somehow, I might be able to use it three times per month. Since the Freebie skill standby time was 15 days.
But the problem was that the keyword applied targets were limited; the My Brat skill was L-Rank so it was impossible to share. In the end, it was either I wouldn’t be able to use it, or it would be relevant to people I applied the keyword to. Seeing how the system people purposely stuck in the Freebie skill, it was likely to be the latter.
Then, the remaining problem was the people to share the skills with.
‘I have to keep on hiding the optimized Awakening, so I need people I can trust.’
If this was discovered, it would get really bothersome.
For familiars, there was a demand limited to giant guilds or high rank Hunters. But for optimized Awakening, it was obvious that the Unawakened People in the entire world would crowd around asking me to use it on them.
Truthfully, wouldn’t I be an unscratched lottery ticket?
After Awakened People appeared, anyone would’ve had that kind of thought at least once. But there was a person who could increase the probability of winning and who would scratch the lottery ticket for you? Of course you would want to find them and hand over your lottery ticket.
On top of that, there was even a restriction on the number of times, so it would become a pandemonium that made my head hurt just imagining.
‘If I exclude the high rank Hunters who have to go into dungeon attack every few days, the only immediate one is Myeongwoo.’
There weren’t people I needed to optimally Awaken right away, so I should wait a bit and see.
When I returned home, a parcel had arrived in the meantime. It was a newly bought cell phone.
The one I was using was thrown around when I was kidnapped, so a corner had broken, and above all, the camera performance wasn’t good.
“Now, Peace. Look here. No, don’t come over.”
-Geureureung
If you clung to my leg, I wouldn’t be able to take a photo.
“Chirpie, did you go into the kitchen again?”
-Chirp chirp!
Because I fed it magic stones in the kitchen, it would crawl there at the drop of a hat and chirp.
“Chirpie, come here.”
-Chirp!
“There’s magic stone powder here.”
When I set the bottle with C-Rank magic stone powder on the table, immediately.
Tap tap tap tap
I heard the sound of small footsteps running over. The baby bird that had reached the bottom of the table started to flap and hop.
-Chirp chirp chirp!
Did you like eating that much? I took a photo of Chirpie trying as hard as it could to go up the table. Should I take a video?
-Chirp!
Chirpie, who was jumping for a long time, suddenly stopped. Then it snapped around to the side. That guy’s eyes landed on Peace, who was sitting at my feet.
-Cheep cheep cheep
Whatever it was thinking, Chirpie went toward Peace. And then.
“Oho.”
It started to crawl on top of Peace’s body. Peace looked up at me as if taken aback.
-Kkioong
“Bear with it for a bit.”
That Chirpie wasn’t a complete idiot. It was praiseworthy.
-Chirp!
Finally reaching and standing on top of Peace’s head, Chirpie flapped its small wings and shouted a roar of victory(?). Peace sent a gaze asking me to do something about this irritating tiny thing.
“Just a minute, just a minute.”
Cute. I definitely had to take a photo of this.
-Cheeep, cheeep
After getting on Peace’s head, Chirpie turned its direction toward the table. It spread its two wings wide with what it thought of as solemnity. The distance was a bit much – would it be okay?
-Chiiirp!
With a burst, it jumped! Then,
Bump bump
It landed precariously on the edge of the table and bounced about two times, and then rolled and stopped. Oh, it succeeded.
-Chirp!
“Our Chirpie, you’ve become a little smarter in the meantime.”
It felt like just yesterday when it couldn’t differentiate between the TV and the real thing. Though it really was yesterday. I took a picture of it clinging to the magic stone bottle and cheeping, and broke F-Rank magic stones and gave them to it.
-Cheep!!
Huh, it didn’t eat immediately and complained. This guy’s food demands were gradually getting more severe.
“You’re not going to eat? I’ll take it away?”
-Cheep!!
When I stretched my hand toward the magic stones, it quickly ate all of them up and hugged the magic stone bottle again.
“Peace, look at your little sibling. Like that, it’ll try to swallow it by the bottle.”
-Kkiang
Peace tapped my leg with his front feet as if saying ‘it’s not my business so pick me up instead’. That was your food, punk.
I left Chirpie to film a romance with the magic stone bottle, and picked up Peace and sat on the sofa. I had already downloaded the social media app.
‘It has really been a long time.’
I hadn’t ever done it properly either. I made one following the trend, but I didn’t really have anything to post about so I quit soon. I put the profile photo as the photo of Peace and Chirpie that I had just taken a moment ago. How cute. Then, I put up the photos that I took a long time ago of Peace when he was young, the photo of Chirpie rolling on the table, and the one of Chirpie holding the bottle.
Did I have to put things like tags on them?
‘Hmm, let’s just be laid back about it.’
First, I followed Haeyeon Guild, and then Seseong, Breaker, and Hanshin. I should follow MKC for now, too. And the Hunter Assciation and the market had separate accounts.
While I was looking for those, like that.
2,155 followers
The followers that were 0 had increased in an instant. How was it so fast? The guild accounts had also followed me back in that time. The comments were also continuing to increase.
-Peace!!! It’s noona!!!! ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ[4]
-Ah hella cyuteㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ What is that cotton ballㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-no way this really han yoojins account? theres another monster???[5]
-thought it was sticky rice cake want to put it in my mouth!!!!!!!
-crayz[6]…… look at when Peace was a baby….. take me♡
Mmhm, my kids were quite cute. In order to not receive suspicion for following Riette’s account, I should follow about a hundred more people. It was a bit much to just follow Hunters, so should I find a few famous celebrities? Who was popular these days?
I checked the messages I had gotten as I searched through my memory. More than half were questions asking if it really was me. Among them, one that seemed excited stood out to my eyes.
-Hello!! This is Bak Hayool, who met you last time at the broadcasting station! I apologize for suddenly sending a message like this, but I am truly very pleased to see you! Is Chirpie a new monster you have acquired? It is really so cuteㅠㅜㅠㅠㅠ
Broadcasting station? Bak Hayool? Who was that? As soon as I went to Bak Hayool’s account, I remembered right away.
It was the guy who had optimized skills based on his face.
[1] lit. ‘tail gets stepped on’ from ‘if tail is long it gets stepped on’ which means ‘even if you do bad things without others knowing, eventually, you’ll get caught’
[2] like the ‘abnormal bird’ from several chapters ago, this word also means ‘abnormal fish’. Once again, as there is no eng equivalent for mythical fishes, I’m leaving the tl as ‘fish’
[3] lit. ‘finding hidden image’ but it’s basically a pictorial puzzle where you look for hidden objects in a cramped picture. Was super tempted to tl it as ‘where’s waldo’
[4] i’m sure it’s obvious & I think it’s come up in prev ch but ㅠ is a krn letter and it’s used like this to imply tears the way TT is in eng
[5] these 2 sentences were written w no spaces, which is common in krn bc spaces aren’t as important as they are in eng, so to give a corresponding eng internet writing feel to that, I put it all in lowercase
[6] used a purposeful misspelling of ‘crazy’ but like in a way that if u said it outloud it would probably sound like ‘cwazy’