Chapter 34: I Told You, I'm Stronger than You Think (2)

"Too bad, I want to." KangWoo said, making fun of him.

Moon YeongHo reached for the sword on his waist with an anger-filled expression on his face.

"YeongHo!"

Chae YeonJoo shouted to Moon YeongHo after he tried to grab his sword.

She glared at him intensely.

"What are you doing...?"

"..."

"Answer me."

"How dare this damn newbie talk to the guild leader like that."

"You're going to make a fuss out of something I don't mind?"

"..."

"How he talks to me is my business, so stay out of it."

With his body trembling because of rage, he lowered his head.

Chae YeonJoo sighed and looked at KangWoo.

"KangWoo, don't provoke YeongHo. If you face him right now, you could become disabled somewhere."

"I'll remember your advice."

KangWoo nodded and looked at YeongHo, who was trembling because of rage.

It was understandable why a member of the Red Rose Guild would be angry with him.

Just the fact that Chae YeonJoo had brought him should be enough to make them angry, but to make things worse, he talked to her as if she were his friend.

'For most people, in regards to things like this, it's hard to make a rational decision.'

It was weird for someone to react as calmly as Park HyunWoo.

'It doesn't seem to be a poorly operated guild.'

If they didn't have loyalty toward their guild master, something like that wouldn't have happened in the first place.

Seeing Moon YeongHo's reaction increased KangWoo's confidence in the Red Rose Guild.

"Then should I check the equipment first?"

KangWoo took a glimpse at Moon YeongHo, who had his fists clenched and was immersed in thoughts, and then he checked out the epic grade items.

[Item Information]

Item Name: Shadow Armor

Rarity: Epic

Normal Effect: Physical Defense +40, Magic Defense -10, Movement Speed +10, Movement Speed +10, Vitality -2.

Special Effect: You can increase your speed by 50%. You can use it only once every 24 hours.

"Hmm."

The effect was kind of ambiguous.

The increase in physical defense wasn't bad, but it had too many penalties.

He was kind of bothered by the decrease of constitution.

'The special effect is also useless.'

It could increase your speed, but since KangWoo had the Authority of Speed, it was kind of useless to him.

'I would prefer it not to have a special effect and for it to have a better normal effect instead.'

He turned around to Chae YeonJoo and spoke.

"Isn't there something here that increases your stats?"

"There aren't unique items that increase your stats. You can find ones with those characteristics among legendaries."

"Is that really such a great effect?" KangWoo asked while tilting his head.

He couldn't believe that you could find items that increased your stats only in items that were legendaries or higher.

'How much does a legendary cost?'

Getting a unique item for a cheap price would cost him five million USD. Then how much would it cost him to get a legendary?

"Of course. You know that, the more your stat increases, the harder it becomes to increase, right? That's why there aren't many items that increase your stat by a fixed amount."

"Ah, I understand."

KangWoo nodded.

KangWoo struggled to increase his demonic energy stat after reaching 50.

That had probably happened because his current stat was overwhelmingly high compared to a player around the same level as him. But still, it was true that the higher the stat became, the harder it became to increase it.

'Then that means this item, since it cuts your stat by an absolute value, is absolute trash.'

KangWoo took his eyes off the shadow armor.

"Then what about an item with a good normal effect that doesn't have a special one?"

"Wait. I remember seeing a few of those around here."

Chae YeonJoo walked around the vault while picking up a few items.

"Oh, the amount of items you can pick is three, so think carefully."

"Okay."

KangWoo chose a wrist brace, necklace, and a black coat.

They were all items with good normal effects that didn't have a special one.

[Item Information]

Item Name: Blackstone Wrist Brace

Rank: Epic

Normal Effect: Physical Defense +50, Magical Defense +30

[Item Information]

Item Name: Necklace of Mana Protection

Rank: Epic

Normal Effect: Magical Defense +60

[Item Information]

Item Name: Ogre Leather Coat

Rank: Epic

Normal Effect: Physical Defense +80

After checking out the items, KangWoo equipped them for a quick test.

'I'm not feeling a huge difference.'

His physical defense had gone up by 130, and his magical defense by 90, but to be honest, he didn't see a huge difference.

'I'm not sure how much physical and magical defense I have.'

The two stats didn't appear on his status window, so he couldn't see how big of a difference they had made.

"How much is 130 physical defense?"

"Ah, it's hard to know that in the beginning."

Chae YeonJoo nodded as if she had also gone through a similar thing.

"130 is like having five steel plates on top of you. If you poke your skin with a knife, the blade will probably crumple."

"Oh..."

* * *

KangWoo nodded with great interest.

"Is the defense applied only where the equipment is worn?"

Normally, it would be obvious to think that the defense would be applied only to the body part where the equipment was worn.

Your head won't be protected if you wore a bulletproof vest, after all.

"No, thanks to the mana inside the equipment, your entire body is protected. Although the item effect is reduced by half in the rest of the body.

"Then, if you get 1000 physical defense, if you get shot in the eye, will the bullet get deflected away?"

"I've never tried that, but theoretically, yes."

"No wonder guns lost importance..."

You would probably need a missile to face a player with an item that didn't have mana.

'The power of items is greater than I thought.'

KangWoo looked down at his body with surprise after hearing Chae YeonJoo's explanation.

With such defense, he could save up more demonic energy than he initially thought.

'This makes me want a unique item even more.'

KangWoo looked at the unique items with lust.

Just having a few epic items gave such effects, so having unique items would make defending even more effective.

"YeonJoo noona..."

"What do you want?"

"I don't need a car, so how about you lend me a unique item?"

"..."

"If you trust me, I'll make a return of 1.5 times its price."

He was talking as if he were asking for someone to lend him money in a casino.

Chae YeonJoo grabbed her head and sighed.

"I can't confirm it right now. I need to discuss it with other—"

Slam-!!!

The same loud sound that had just spread through the room could be heard again.

KangWoo and Chae YeonJoo turned their heads toward the sound.

There they saw Moon YeongHo, trembling with a pale face.

"Noo... Noona?"

"YeongHo...?"

"H-how... How dare you!!!"

He angrily drew his sword and rushed to KangWoo.

Slam-!!

"What did I tell you before?"

"..."

Chae YeonJoo blocked Moon YeongHo with her bare hands and spoke to him in a low voice.

A suffocating killing intent and mana leaked out of her body.

"Put your sword down and get the fuck out. If you do this one more time, you'll get punished."

"I... I'm sorry."

With a stiff expression, Moon YeongHo put his sword down.

He bit his lip as if he had found the current situation unfair.

"Ha... I'm really sorry. I'll give him a proper warning later on."

"No, it's okay."

"But rather than that, what unique item do you need? I'll talk about it at the next reunion."

"Hmm... Armor comfortable to move in. One with good normal stats if possible."

"Armor..."

Chae YeonJoo fell into thoughts.

Moon YeongHo turned his head to KangWoo.

"You need armor?"

"Yes."

"Then how about this: If you win a match against me, I'll give you mine. It's one with unique rarity and great normal effects."

"Moon YeongHo, I told you to get the fuck away."

After seeing that Moon YeongHo kept trying to pick up a fight with KangWoo, Chae YoonJo stepped forward.

It seemed like she was really angry—her killing intent had gotten a lot thicker than before.

"No, wait."

"What...?"

"I think that it's a good proposal."

"..."

KangWoo looked at Moon YeongHo's armor with great interest.

He was willing to do it if he could get it just by facing him in a match.

"Are you crazy...?"

Chae YeonJoo looked at KangWoo with sharp eyes.

She knew that KangWoo was a really talented person.

Neither she nor Baek KangHyun had been able to enter a C-rank Gate in just two weeks.

But Oh KangWoo, not only had he been able to enter a C-rank gate, but he had solo hunted inside it.

That meant that, not only had he awakened an S-rank attribute, but it also meant that he probably had an incredible talent for fighting. She had been able to check that out in the internet cafe.

'That person is probably going to become as strong as me. No, he will probably become stronger than me.'

She was sure that KangWoo would become someone so strong that he could write a new chapter in Korea's player history.

That's why she wanted to build a good relationship with him.

'But it's still too early.'

This wasn't a matter of whether he had talent or not.

Moon YeongHo was strong.

He was currently level 67. He had been able to surpass the wall of the sixth awakening and been able to reach the seventh one.

Just like a tiger cub couldn't win against a big hunting dog, someone that had become a player two weeks ago couldn't win against Moon YeongHo.

'This is crazy.'

She had to stop KangWoo.

He was someone who could become a great asset.

If the relationship between them went wrong, there was no point in investing so heavily in him.

"Don't say stupid things and return. KangWoo, you also..."

"It's okay."

KangWoo smirked while he interrupted her.

Chae YeonJoo subconsciously trembled after seeing his chilling smile.

"I think it's going to be fun."

KangWoo looked at Moon YeongHo's unique armor and smacked his lips as if it looked appetizing.

'Since he has offered it to me, I'll gladly take it.'