Chapter 15: Worthy

─ The player’s name is [Paul]. Isn’t it amazing? To get such a common name. The timing was good. Just then, a player who had pre-registered the name [Paul] and left the account dormant deleted it.

─ The race is [Descendant of the Elven Race Protecting the World Tree], which was newly added two years ago, and he’s a fresh player who’s been playing for about two years now!

The man wearing a bizarre mask was hunting monsters with the most basic bow and arrows that could be obtained anywhere.

Because of the grotesque mask, he wondered if anyone would even think of him as a forest fairy.

It was perfect for being mistaken as an ordinary resident of Utooroo.

The man was carefully drawing his bowstring one shot at a time, and his accuracy was high for his level, which Nicholas found a little strange.

─ Remember, Nick? That player, he was the Korean player who won the 3rd anniversary token event.

At those words, Nicholas stroked his chin and searched his memory.

It had already been two years, so his memory was hazy.

They had planned an event where the first-place winner of the 3rd-anniversary lottery would receive a ‘state-of-the-art token’.

It was an event that both existing and new players could participate in, and he vaguely remembered that the winner at that time was Korean.

“…You’re saying he’s that person?”

─ Do you know, Nick? He’s a real ‘Lucky Guy’!

Noah floated up and circled around Nicholas as it spoke.

─ You can’t even imagine how lucky he is, Nick. Oh my god! Listen, Nick. At first, I thought player Paul was using a bug. I know, it’s ridiculous.

Because bugs can’t be used in Arcana! I mean, it was that surprising. It’s really amazing to see ‘luck’ that surpasses the system’s probability! Look now!

“Why are you so excited? I’ll look since you told me to, but…”

Nicholas couldn’t understand why Noah was so excited.

The player in front of him just looked like any other player.

His weapon and attire were like that, and the monster he was catching was also a low-level area monster.

Was he about level 20?

He might be a little higher than that, but he didn’t seem to be over 50.

But thinking that way, his play was certainly a little strange.

“…There are very few miss notifications?”

Unless you’re an archer who has shot a bow in real life, a person who just picked up a bow in a game can’t have a perfect posture.

Even after getting used to it to some extent, it’s common not to be able to hit a moving target.

Of course, with the help of the system, you could be guaranteed perfect shooting skills with a skill.

But there was a reason why the majority of players didn’t do that.

Because it wasn’t fun.

That’s why at low levels, especially with ranged attacks, it was common for attacks to be judged as misses.

Well, even if elves could receive additional correction when using a bow due to their racial characteristics, it was surprising that while Paul was catching 20 monsters, the miss judgment had only appeared about 5 times.

Can you imagine how much it was, considering that he had to hit each monster with eight shots without missing to catch it?

It was no wonder Nicholas found it strange.

But it wasn’t like Paul was some kind of divine archer.

─ Look more closely. Look at the trajectory of the arrow!

At Noah’s prodding, Nicholas zoomed in on the screen with narrowed eyes.

Looking closely, the arrows that had been deflected by the miss judgment were strangely hitting other monsters behind or next to the targeted monster, making it seem like there were few miss judgments as a result.

The arrows that flew like that luckily hit vital spots.

Sometimes they died instantly, and there were many cases where their actions were restricted and they couldn’t charge at Paul.

In any case, it was a strange sight.

“…Is his luck stat pretty high? But his level seems too low for that.”

Thanks to the realistic setting, arrows that were judged as misses often got stuck in the ground or in trees and didn’t disappear, so in those cases, they could be pulled out and recycled.

Paul, while busy moving his hands, quickly picked up those arrows, put them on his bowstring again, and shot them.

In a way, it was a very frugal hunting method.

─ Player Paul’s luck stat is definitely on the high side for his level. But he was able to play like that even when his luck stat was low.

He’s really lucky! So, as a reward for surprising me, I gave him the title of <Lucky Guy>! …It’s just a shame that the player doesn’t use it.

“For crying out loud, where would he even use that? Noah, please stop making useless titles.”

─ (´；ω；｀)

Pretending not to see Noah’s crying face, Nicholas continued.

“Instead of that, shall we continue talking about the quest? So what’s his exact level? He looks too low to me…”

─ He just reached level 35.

“…Didn’t you say he started playing two years ago? For someone like that, his level is too low. You said he’s Korean, right? Besides, at 35, the level gap with the quest’s recommended level is too big. But you’re saying the conditions were met?”

When Nicholas made a puzzled expression, Noah displayed an emoticon of blinking eyes and said.

─ Player Paul dislikes fighting. That’s why his level is low.

“Oh, Noah. He dislikes fighting? You’re saying that even after seeing that? It’s a contradiction to say someone who is slaughtering low-level monsters dislikes fighting.

Oh no, the regular check-up is just around the corner, has the data been corrupted or something? Did you eat a virus or something?

Noah, I’ve told you time and time again not to eat things like that even if you’re curious. This won’t do. I have to call Didi…”

Whack!

─ Stupid Nick!

Noah rammed its body straight into Nicholas’s head.

─ Don’t talk like I’m infected with a virus! This great Noah is so healthy that I can swallow a mere virus whole, decompose the data, and make a vaccine out of it! Player Paul really dislikes fighting! I can show you two years of data! Data doesn’t lie!

“Then show me that data and talk.”

Nicholas pouted his lips as he rubbed his tingling head.

He was being too long-winded today.

Well, it wasn’t like he couldn’t understand at all.

The quest that Noah had longed for so much since the development stage might finally see the light of day, so he was probably this excited.

Ding-a-ling—.

Noah started its story with a harp performance as if it were a bard.

─ Player Paul prefers traveling to combat. He likes nature, landscapes, and people’s daily lives. He is a walking bard of Arcana.

If he had chosen a job, I would have given him a bard. No, an explorer would also suit him very well. He is also a courier who crosses the continent, and he seems like an ordinary villager.

Ding, ding-a-ling—.

─ He wants to go anywhere on the Arcana Continent on foot. He plays musical instruments and enjoys the atmosphere by making a campfire while walking on the road.

He chats with picky fairies and even befriends goblins by learning Goblinish, which no one else learns because it’s useless.

He’s not even an explorer, but he explores ruins, and while walking on the road, he accompanies people he meets for the first time and sometimes delivers things people want himself!

“…Isn’t that just a fancy way of saying he’s a jack-of-all-trades?”

─ …….

The more Nicholas listened to Noah’s explanation, the more he doubted whether the player in front of him was suitable for the quest.

“I don’t think he could even get to the boss room at that level? Are you sure the conditions were met?”

Nicholas expressed his doubt again, but Noah immediately clarified.

─ Player Paul, unlike other players, doesn’t cling to level downs. Since he’s not afraid of death, he was able to encounter the boss monster over a long period of time.

Noah paused for a moment and said.

─ …Although I had to force-terminate him afterwards because his biological signals suddenly became unstable.

Noah performed an action that would be a shrug for a human.

─ After reconnecting, he began to show a different behavior than before. Listen, Nick.

What does it mean that the player suddenly became interested in leveling up after encountering the boss monster? Just you wait! He will head to that dungeon again!

“Alright, alright, let’s just say that’s the case. He was lucky enough to meet the first condition, but what about the rest?”

─ Oh, Nicholas. Surely you haven’t forgotten, have you? I trust you haven’t forgotten the beginner’s benefit event we’re currently running.

“What about it…”

Nicholas paused mid-sentence as an item suddenly came to mind.

─ Yes! It’s what you just thought of! Player Paul is still a ‘beginner’! A player under level 50 who hasn’t shed the beginner’s tag! So of course he receives that benefit! Thanks to that, the second condition will also be naturally met.

“…We don’t know that. Do you think Lasis would pay attention to a mere player? To a human who hasn’t even achieved a great feat that could shake the world?”

─ We’ll have to wait and see.