Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter] - Chapter 334

Congratulations to everyone!

The first S-rank achievement holder has appeared in Middle Earth.

[Leeha, Musketeer, Lv. 172, affiliated with the Fubiel Kingdom]

Please continue to work hard, just like other users!

“Huh?”

Middle Earth doesn’t let successful players go unnoticed.

The abnormality must be used to induce people’s attention, and as a result, Leeha’s level, affiliation, and occupation were exposed to all Middle Earth users.

“W-What is this? Why did it suddenly freeze!”

And shortly after, Leeha had to grab his head and endure the buzzing noise.

Dozens of whisper-like effects seemed to speak directly into his skull all at once.

-Uh? Is this Uh? I contacted you because I thought I saw something wrong!

-Hehe, Leeha, what are you up to?

-Could it be… were there S-ranks among the operations we did together?

-Leeha! Leeha! Answer me! Where are you and what are you doing? Your location isn’t showing either!

-Oppa. S-rank.

-Ms. Iha! What is it? What’s happening? S-rank? No, let’s hear about it soon. You didn’t forget our appointment, right? This Saturday!

-What are you doing? What about the whereabouts of Bluebeard? What are you doing there?

-You damn guy, where are you! We must have a one-on-one duel today.

-Amazing! Leeha, sir! S-rank? I offer the elimination of two A+ ranks in exchange for information. How about it?

“Ugh, it’s so noisy, so noisy!”

Leeha had blocked messages from unfamiliar people before.

In other words, the booming voices he was hearing were from people he added as friends or allowed to whisper to him.

Just that alone was enough to overwhelm Leeha’s mind with the simultaneous voices.

“Darn it, can I use this later as an attack? I guess I don’t need any skills for that.”

Leeha quickly went into the options and lowered the volume for all whisper sounds. He responded to each person one by one, saying they would explain when they met or that he was busy now, but would talk soon… Of course, he couldn’t ignore all the whispers.

Especially when there was one piece of information that made Leeha go, “Ah, I should respond to this.” He quickly sent a whisper to Kijeong.

-Kijeong!

-Uh, Hyung! What’s going on? What is it that’s…

-No, no, that’s not important right now. Do you have time this Saturday?

Kijeong’s voice momentarily paused.

What could be more important than an S-rank achievement? Leeha couldn’t ask further about the achievement due to his urgent voice.

-Saturday? Uh… tomorrow?

-Isn’t today already Friday?

-Uh? Play games while logging out! I’m going crazy! The reality is that it’s 10 AM on Friday!

-Ugh, it’s been a few days already.

Leeha covered his head. This can’t be happening. It’s already Friday.

In Middle Earth, one day corresponds to five days in real life. Therefore, he expected that several days would pass while listening to Shinara’s story and completing the Kuznagash assassination quest. But to finish it just one day before the appointment… Leeha couldn’t determine whether he should be happy or sad about it.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Let’s have lunch together tomorrow.”

“Hmm… I do have time, but it’s a bit too much to call it a date with my brother—”

“Stop talking nonsense! That… uh, well, Narasi and Bokbae will also be there.”

Then there was no response. Leeha looked at the sudden silence and checked his whisper settings with Kijeong.

“Did I block him?”

Of course, that wasn’t the case.

“Ugh! Hyung?! Hyung!? Hye—Uh!”

Zzziiiiiing… Leeha covered his head once again and sank down.

“What’s going on, Leeha?”

“Oh, nothing… I’m fine.”

“Could it be that Bluebeard’s mana—”

“No, no, it’s not like that.”

“Hmm. But be careful. That guy is quite skilled in mental attacks.”

Leeha listened to Baileyphus’s concerned words and felt a little admiration for his distant cousin. Bluebeard’s ability to whisper loudly, to the point of being comparable to a mental attack by a fragment of the Demon Lord, was truly remarkable.

“Have you set a date? When did you set it, and why did you tell me a day before! You should have told me earlier!”

“I didn’t realize how time flew, you know. Well, there’s no need to be too nervous. Let’s just have a meal with Narasi comfortably.”

“Comfortable? Comfortable? Hey, hey, I knew this would happen. If I’m not there, you’re in big trouble, really. Hyung, when are you going to log out? I’ll come to your place first.”

“What, what?”

“Since we just finished a city defense, I’ll log out right away and go! I should log out in about five hours in Middle Earth time!”

“Wait, Kijeong!”

Before Leeha could say anything, Kijeong was logged out. Soon, the members of the Star Division also began to scatter, indicating that Kijeong’s words were indeed true.

“But… even so, to do it so abruptly…”

Leeha was surprised by Kijeong’s driving force, but at the same time, he felt relieved. He had pretended to be at ease for Kijeong’s sake, but the one who was more nervous was Leeha himself.

“So, what do you want to do?”

“Well!”

Bahaumut spoke to Leeha, who was overwhelmed with worries about the lunch appointment with Shinara.

“I have a gift for you.”

“Ah! An item! Ugh… I can choose three from Bluebeard’s rares, one from Bahaumut’s rare, and five from Kuznagash’s rare, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Ughh… Can I just enjoy Bahaumut’s rare today? This… it’s not something with time limits, right?”

Leeha didn’t want to make a hasty decision. He wanted to take his time and carefully consider the items. And dragons were more generous than humans when it came to giving gifts.

“I can’t stay long with Kuznagash’s rare, but it should be fine with my rare and Bluebeard’s rare. Shall we go and see?”

“Yes!”

Leeha replied loudly, and Baileyphus, who was standing next to him, smiled happily.

“Lord Bahaumut, I will take my leave now.”

“Oh, sure. You’ve worked hard. Really, you’ve worked hard.”

“No, not at all. Well… Leeha, let’s meet again next time.”

“Yes, Lord Baileyphus.”

The Golden Knight also kindly bid farewell to Leeha and then disappeared.

“Now, let’s tidy up the warehouse a bit, even if it’s simple.”

Now, with only Leeha and Bahaumut remaining, Bahaumut placed his hand on Leeha’s shoulder and cast teleportation in an empty place where there were no dragons or humans around.

Shuk-!

After a moment, Leeha found himself in a different world. It was the treasure warehouse of the Puvier Royal Palace in Fyubiel, filled with scattered gold coins that made it look like a junkyard. The Bahaumut Rare was filled with various items to the point where an exclamation of “This is insane!” involuntarily escaped Leeha’s lips.

“Um, Bahaumut, sir.”

“Hmm?”

“I know it’s a bit late to say this now, but can you increase it to two?”

“Hehe. As expected of our new member. You have a good sense of humor.”

Bahaumut responded to Leeha’s request with a pitiful expression on his face, as if saying “Don’t talk nonsense.”

“Well, now that we’re a family, let’s make it one for capturing Kuznagash and one as a congratulatory gift.”

“Then take your time to enjoy the view.”

Dismissing Leeha’s plea for a measly amount, Bahaumut used teleportation again.

The warehouse itself was meant to be so large, deep, and extensive that it was impossible to walk around.
‘Well, I thought it wouldn’t work, but… It’s a shame.’
Leeha looked at the various treasures scattered like pebbles in the enormous warehouse, savoring the sight.
There were also items for humans, whether it was for polymorphing into humanoid form or for gifting to players.
There were so many that he wasn’t particularly interested.
‘There must be differences in rares and items depending on the dragon level. Bluebeard at Adult level, Kuznagash at Incarnate level, and what was it? Ancient Worm? And of course, the highest-ranking Bahaumut. Naturally, this place must be the most valuable compared to the other two.’
Leeha systematically planned his approach. What should he choose? What item would be the best?
‘I must choose a Legendary-grade item without fail. Heroic-grade would be a loss, Legendary, no, maybe even higher? Is there something beyond Legendary?’
Middle Earth doesn’t disclose information. Players have to discover it among themselves and share it. It wouldn’t be surprising if there was something beyond Legendary that everyone assumed to be the end. Neither Alexander nor Yi Ji-won mentioned anything above Legendary.

However, assuming that such items do not exist just because they were not mentioned is a thought that is typical of novice players in Middle Earth.

‘Those two individuals might have already acquired them and are pretending not to know. Very well, let’s first check the stat allocation and character window!’

How disheartening it would be to obtain a grade higher than legendary but not be able to equip it. Therefore, I decided to assess my remaining stat points and my level.

Name: Ha Leeha/ Race: Human

Occupation: Musketeer/ Level: 172 (81.2%)

Title: Fearless/ Achievements: 104

HP: 4,640 (3,248) / MP: 1,260

Stats: Strength 334 (+249), Agility 2,338 (+1,420), Intelligence 148 (+97)

Vitality 151 (+58), Willpower 45 (+35)

Remaining stat points: 278

“Hmm?”

I had already confirmed my level to be 172.

Middle Earth had made widespread announcements, even displaying notification windows. What caught Ha Leeha’s eyes now was not just the level 172, but something far beyond that.

‘Stats・’

‘Stats… Something seems off with the stat points.’

However, no matter how much I tried to focus my eyes, nothing changed. Is something wrong? Middle Earth had never had a bug issue before. Ha Leeha’s eyes widened, and their mouth fell open.

“No way… Could it be true?”

But no matter how much they blinked their eyes, nothing changed. Wrong? Middle Earth had never experienced any bugs so far. Ha Leeha’s eyes widened, and their mouth fell open, slowly.

‘Could it be? Is it really happening?’

However, this Dragon-related achievement was on a different level of difficulty compared to typical achievements.

Each individual achievement had its own allocated stat points, and the number of points added to the Hall of Fame was doubled.

When combined with the level-up points and the 10-level bonus of 5 points, the numbers fit perfectly.

“Unbelievable… If I mention this to someone else, I might end up being reported to the GM.”

The raised corners of their mouth did not come back down.

While some struggled to earn even a single point… Ha Leeha calculated the maximum limits for each stat category and then closed the character window.

“Very well. Let’s aim for the minimum legendary grade! I’ll start searching according to my stats.”

“Ah!”

The brave step that Ha Leeha took faltered right from the beginning.

“Oh my, what’s this? It took me by surprise!”

It was because Haia’s foot slipped on a round, spherical item.

With so many items around and the floor covered in nothing but gold coins, it was difficult to see it clearly.

“It looks like a ostrich egg… Is it a gem? I don’t need something like this.”

Haia glanced at the item they had stepped on.

It was an oval-shaped object larger than expected. Its exterior shimmered brilliantly, resembling a gem, but it didn’t pique Haia’s interest.

To Haia, who was searching for legendary or even higher-grade items whose existence was uncertain, it was just another treasure among the many items spread out here, with little difference.

“A treasure with little difference. It’s amusing that I can use such an expression.”

Haia lightly nudged the egg with their foot, causing it to roll, and then continued walking towards the pile of equipment.