Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

“How can I help you?”

“Level up.”

“If it’s leveling up-“

“I’ll surpass. Level 300. I’ll learn. More skills.”

The tears that had been on the verge of falling were now completely gone.

To Ram Hwajung, who was spitting out words one by one, Ram Hwayeon was burning with determination and anger beyond imagination.

“Fine. I’ll support you 150%.”

Ram Hwajung’s growth is also the growth of the Hwahong Guild.

There was no way Ram Hwayeon would refuse this request. Recently, she had been somewhat frustrated as Ram Hwajung had not been trying to level up.

“I’ll contact Jachung immediately. I’ll give you everything you need, from control of hunting grounds to simple mobbing, and item support. What do you need the most?”

“Mana. Make sure I never run out of mana.”

“OK. I’ll try to find a way to inject an unlimited amount of Mana into you Hwajung, no matter what kind of magic, what level of power.”

The common quest’s failure penalty has not yet been revealed.

But the mere fact that they failed was already changing the playing field in Middle Earth.

Thump-!

“Whoa!” “What?!”

They were startled by the sudden opened door. But the person who came in was also surprised to see them.

“Ram Hwayeon?”

“What, you’re not on Middle Earth? I thought you’d definitely be logged in.”

With her round eyes, Ram Hwayeon looked alternately at them and the Middle Earth device.

The current time was 1:20 in the afternoon. They had finished eating and still had about two hours to spare before physical therapy.

And ever since the day she installed Middle Earth, she was always logged in at this time.

“…Well, how can you just barge in like that? I could’ve been sprawled out in an embarrassing position. Did you see that?

However, that was not important to them.

Why did Ram Hwayeon come in at this time? She was practically defenseless except for the brief moment she washed up in the morning!

Surely, always seeing her in a scruffy state is similar, but still, it’s embarrassing.

At their sharp question, Ram Hwayeon’s face flushed slightly.

“No, knocking wouldn’t have made a difference! I was trying to call you once I came in! And you weren’t that hideous-”

“What?”

“No, no… never mind.”

It was interesting what she was trying to say. As they narrowed their gaze and cocked his head, Ram Hwayeon violently waved her hands. The Middle Earth device has a semi-transparent section intended for checking if there’s a person inside.

And through there, Ram Hwayeon had always been checking in on them.

In other words, the embarrassment Ram Hwayeon is feeling now is similar to being caught peeping.

‘Damn, I missed today’s healing point.’

Seeing them peacefully logged into Middle Earth had recently been her pleasure…….

Having them peacefully playing the game next to her while she was doing simple paperwork with a cup of coffee was quite an exciting time for her.

‘They’ll go ballistic if they find out I’ve taken few photos.’

Moreover, because she had a secret that she absolutely couldn’t tell them, Ram Hwayeon’s face turned red.

“Anyway, what are you doing?”

“Just some research. I talked with Kijung too.”

“Did you see the failure penalty?”

“I heard about it from Kijung.”

Ram Hwayeon found their nonchalant reaction curious.

In a time when the entire Middle Earth community is in an uproar, not only was it strange that they weren’t logged into Middle Earth, but it was also odd how laid-back they were after hearing about the failure penalty?

“It’s suspicious how you’re talking about it like you’re just watching a fire from across the river.”

“No. It’s more like I knew that there would be a fire across the river. Ah, sigh…There’s nothing we can do now. With just playing normally, it’s definitely not enough anymore.”

“What are you talking about?”Only then did Ram Hwayeon realize that Leeha was writing something.

On a neatly printed paper on the table, Leeha was busy handwriting something.

The trouble of finding a translator on the small screen of his smartphone as he had to write in English. Ram Hwayeon saw this over Leeha’s shoulder.

And then he was shocked.

“You, you, you-“

“Hey, haven’t you been calling me ‘you’ so far? Isn’t it strange to call me ‘you’?”

“Are, are you serious right now? Leeha, do you know the meaning of this?!”

“I can read.”

Leeha was smiling at Ram Hwayeon’s reaction. The word written at the top of the paper he picked up was simple.

[Middle Earth Synchronization Rule Enhancement Application]

A good item, a cool skill, does not necessarily mean the quality of play changes.

Leeha thought that to do such a thing, it was necessary to change the most fundamental settings.

‘In that way, we can… withstand what’s coming.’

What was once a choice had become a necessity. It was absolutely necessary to survive in Middle Earth.

“Synchronization rule isn’t just beneficial! It’s-“

“It will put more stress on our brains. Even a light blow from a goblin or kobold won’t feel light anymore.”

“Don’t you remember that Toon monster we saw?! If you get caught in its teeth, who knows what will happen?!”

“Umm… that would truly be awful.”

Leeha chuckled as he continued to fill out the paperwork.

There was a lot to write and a lot of confirmation things to submit. Moreover, what Ram Hwayeon was currently ranting about was all he had heard while talking to Kijung.

Kijung: Hyung, do you know why I can hold my rank well?

Leeha: What is it?

Kijung: It really hurts when I get hit. I have no choice but to find a place that doesn’t hurt.

‘He said that without a hint of humor. That Kijung bastard…

That simply meant he was serious.

The measure of pain may exceed Leeha’s imagination. However, he had already prepared for this. Above all, he doesn’t allow his dignity to be more secure.

‘Kidd would do too. His pained expression in the past, he must have increased his fairytale rule considerably.’

Would Luger’s basic statistics remain the same? Not likely.

While Leeha thought he was making a lot of progress, he realized he had been left far behind.

His strength was due to external factors.

Thanks to Blaugrunn and Jellypong, he could show unique strength compared to others.

‘But what about pure physical abilities? I… well, maybe I’ll fit in the middle ranks? I might even get knocked out of the outsiders.’

Even in the moment, Ram Hwayeon was passionately trying to convince Leeha, but none of it was heard by Leeha.

“Sigh…well, if I knew this, I wouldn’t have torn up that paper.”

“Hehe, you get it now?”

A man who follows through once he’s made up his mind, that’s Ha Leeha. Eventually, Ram Hwayeon stopped trying to convince him. No, in some ways, she may have made the choice like a business person.

Give what you can, take what you need to.

“So, how many percent are you going to increase the fairytale rule?”

If it’s impossible to stop him from increasing it, at least make him raise it to the minimum.

Of course, Leeha knew that she was worried about his safety.

That’s why his answer was also uneasy.

“100%”

“What?”

“There’s no point in vaguely raising it to 60%, 70%. I want to implement my perfect sensations now. Only then… can I aim for what comes next.””Quiet! What’s next? Do you know how hard it was to maintain Hwajung’s synchronization rate at 75%, and now you’re going to push for 100%? Haven’t you heard of the death incident in Middle Earth? There’s a reason there’s a synchronization limit!”

Of course, I knew about it. He had talked about it for a long time, warning Leeha about the dangers by citing the Middle Earth death incident as a precedent.

Everyone who regularly played Middle Earth knew about the death of a user who set their synchronization rate to 100%. It happened before Leeha started playing the game, and it was seen as a sudden, unexpected accident.

The user hadn’t died during PvP between users, or while monster hunting.

They were participating in a raid in a lava zone, slipped, and fell right into the magma…

Damage-over-time (DOT) skills, which inflict damage over a certain period of time, have a duration. You can either extinguish the fire using a status abnormality dispel or casting healing or water magic.

But how can you rescue someone who fell directly into the magma in a lava zone?

The pain of being burned, described as among the worst for a human, left the user in such a state of shock that they couldn’t even use a teleportation scroll. In the end, they died because their brain couldn’t bear the excruciating pain anymore.

The Middle Earth developer, Gufl, had to endure severe criticism and was ultimately forced to set a synchronization limit, which remains in place today.

“Ram Hwayeon-ssi.”

“Huh?”

Ram Hwayeon, who had been yelling for a while, is now breaking out in a sweat.

Leeha suddenly feels his heart fluttering. What can he say at this moment to the woman who cares so much about him? He stands up from his seat.

Did Ram Hwayeon think that Leeha was going to scold her? She takes a defensive posture as he suddenly stands up.

Nevertheless, he walks towards her.

“What… what are you doing?… Oh.”

Then he pulls Ram Hwayeon into a warm embrace. Flustered, she leans into him.

“Thank you. Always. And trust me. I won’t let you down.”

Ram Hwayeon was left speechless.

As she clutches awkwardly at the papers in her hand, she slowly, very slowly, eases into the embrace.

What was Ram Hwayeon thinking? It’s hard to say she was completely satisfied.

What fills Leeha’s heart at this moment is mostly the feeling of gratitude. This was the woman who had called him to Hong Kong out of concern for him. She arranged the schedule of the doctor who wanted to treat him and even now she was doing her very best to prevent him from rushing into possible danger.

‘It’s like a mother, but… hmm… it’s not exactly the same, is it?’.

While mostly filled with gratitude, Leeha also feels strange, peculiar emotions that he can’t exactly describe. Whether he recognizes what those are or not isn’t clear. Reality sets in and he suddenly feels embarrassed about his impulsive action. Compelled by discomfort, he quickly lets go of Ram Hwayeon and steps back.

“Well, enough, right?! Um, gratitude… I’ll properly express my gratitude later, okay?”

“What?”

With a hasty tone and flustered manner, Leeha clumsily crafts a poor response, before reclining again in his seat and fiddling with his square pen.

“Well, um, I have to fill in this form, so if there’s nothing else, could you excuse me? If someone watches me, I can’t write on it- properly, that is…”

But when he turns his head to look at Ram Hwayeon, he finds himself thinking that the Fire Mage from Middle Earth must have jumped into reality.

“Do as you please, die or live.”

Ram Hwayeon picked up the papers that had fallen on the floor and leaves the hotel room.

Slam!

The sound of the door closing makes Leeha’s gut flutter nervously.

“……Did I say something wrong?”

Just because his lower body recovered doesn’t mean his romantic skill had improved. After anxiously pacing for a while, Leeha ends up focusing on his documents.

Only after he had scanned and sent all the documents to the Middle Earth headquarters he could log in. As soon as he entered, he was greeted by the hologram notification.

The notification about the punishment for failing the common quest that had caused a commotion in the community was in front of him.