Max Talent Player

[You have fulfilled the Hidden Piece ‘Gold Turtle’s Collective Spirit.’]

That was a hidden piece just about everyone with knowledge from the future would know of. But the next notice wasn’t.

[You are the first to have discovered the Hidden Piece ‘Gold Turtle’s Collective Spirit’.]

‘The first?’

I was the ‘first’ to discover this hidden piece. Come to think of it, the first discoverer was never revealed. As time went on, someone discovered the hidden piece, and it was used like a kind of public resource.

I saw a yellow ‘!!!’.

‘An exclamation point notice…’

It was an important notice that only I could see. I checked its contents.

[There is a title that can be connected to the first discovery of the Hidden Piece ‘Gold Turtle’s Collective Spirit’.]

[The title that can be connected is ‘First Pioneer’.]

[Will you connect the title ‘First Pioneer’ with the Hidden Piece ‘Gold Turtle’s Collective Spirit’ and trigger the linked scenario?]

I now knew why the Player who satisfied the first discovery of ‘Gold Turtle’s Collective Spirit’ never appeared before.

‘You have to satisfy both conditions together.’

The first discovery, as well as First Pioneer. This situation would only be triggered if you did and had both.

[If you wish to see a detailed explanation, please trigger the ‘detailed explanation’ command.]

I was given an unexpected scenario. Maybe because we were in the ‘beginner period’, the System was thankfully very helpful.

‘Detailed explanation.’

If a Player with the [First Pioneer] title is the first to discover a [Hidden Piece], it is possible to trigger a linked scenario. Linked scenarios can be triggered three times.

• Linked Scenarios Triggered: [0/3]
• Linked Hidden Piece: [Gold Turtle’s Collective Spirit]
• Scenario: Hidden Boss Monster [Poison Gold Turtle] Spawn

I focused on the hidden boss monster, the ‘Poison Gold Turtle’.

That was a monster with a level in the early to mid-30s.

‘If it gets a boss monster stat buff on top of that… It’ll have the strength of at least a level 35 monster.’

In addition, the ‘poison’ attribute Poison Gold Turtle was very tricky to hunt due to its very high physical defense and propensity to spew poison at attackers. Only a Player with high poison resistance could think of hunting one.

‘I…’

I had to make a decision.

‘…will give up on this one.’

I didn’t think about it for too long. Commencing a linked scenario using the ‘First Pioneer’ title was limited to three times.

‘The risk is bigger than the benefit.’

It was true that I had ‘Mandra’s Gloves’, an item with a ‘poison resistance’ that was nearly impossible to get in the beginner levels, but there was no real need to run the risk. I might have taken the gamble if there’d been a lot to gain from killing the Poison Gold Turtle, but that wasn’t the case.

[Will you connect the title ‘First Pioneer’ with the Hidden Piece ‘Gold Turtle’s Collective Spirit’ and commence with the linked scenario?]

‘NO.’

The linked scenario commencement was canceled.

“Whatcha doing?” asked Yeonseo, puzzled by my pause.

“I was just checking something real quick.”

“I heard a notice, too. The drop rate of something and the Coin acquisition is greatly increased, or something like that.” Yeonseo took the initiative to draw the line. “I’m satisfied enough with the good experience I gained from this raid. I won’t be greedy for the Coins. You guys divvy it up amongst yourselves. I learnt a lot from you today, and owe you my life again…”

Like usual, the swordless Yeonseo grinned cutely.

“And I guess this counts as a date.”

I had no idea how this was anything close to a date, but in any case, Yeonseo conceded everything to the rest of us.

“Hyungnim. I came here to help you anyway. I never wanted a reward.”

“…”

I was silent for a moment.

‘What’s important is how many Coins come out of the Random Coin Boxes, if we get any.’

This hadn’t been in my original plan, but we had managed to come this far. Thanks to this successful raid, I would be much closer to getting ‘that thing’ I’d been thinking about. As long as Lady Luck gave me her blessing, I could even get ‘that thing’ right away.

“I’ll also do as you tell me to, oppa,” said Sunhwa.

It looked like Sunhwa, like the other two, didn’t want much. She had complete trust and faith in me, and simply enjoyed doing something with me. She wasn’t greedy for the Coins.

‘For now… let’s get some Coins.’

I didn’t want to completely monopolize the rewards. I wasn’t the only one who had worked hard. All of us had gotten this far together.

‘Of course, I do have priority.’

Since the MVP of this Play was me, I definitely had priority. However, there was no need to be greedier than necessary right now. As long as these turtles yielded an amount that could satisfy me, I would give the others the rest.

‘These guys also need to get rewards to get motivation.’

I would probably keep this party together for the time being. Somehow, I became the party leader. From the viewpoint of a party leader, party members being motivated was incredibly important.

‘It’s only natural you’d have no enthusiasm if you worked to the bone and even worked overtime only to get miniscule rewards.’

Stick and carrot. A leader had to manage the party by utilizing both elements in appropriate measure.

“We’ll be getting Coins starting now.”

I made the baseline crystal clear, a concrete and clearly tangible base.

“I’ll take up to 70k Coins.”

Their eyes grew wide. That was only natural. 70k Coins. When I got big sponsorships from Guardians before, that only added up to 8k Coins. Even killing the level 25 lycanthrope yielded a scant 30 Coins. So for us, 70k Coins was a fortune we could hardly even fathom.

Yeonseo laughed in amusement. There was no malice in her laugh. Her eyes curved into crescents.

“Thanks. I’ll happily accept.”

Her laugh seemed to say ‘70k Coins, there’s no way there’ll be more than that, anyway’. I still couldn’t understand why I could feel strong ‘goodwill’ from her. I had no idea what part of my words would make her feel goodwill towards me.

In any case, I decided to start the Gold Turtle hunt.

“Anyone happen to have a big, blunt weapon?”

“Hm? Hyungnim, I’ve got a [Large Hammer]!”

“Give it to me for a moment.”

The Large Hammer was about the same size as a warhammer. It was indeed a weapon for beginners, but no one used it. It was too heavy, making it nearly impossible to hit monsters.

It was also difficult to swing it properly. But if the opponent was as still as a fencepost, like these turtles, it wasn’t a difficult weapon to use.

‘Alrighty, let’s give it a swing, shall we?’

I swung down the Large Hammer.

* * *

Whumpf–!

The sound the weapon made as it traveled through the air was as hefty as its size. Hyukjin heard notices.

[Gold Turtle has been killed.]

[EXP acquired.]

[241 Coins acquired.]

For a mid-10 level monster, it dropped a huge amount of coins.

Whumpf–!

The hammer landed squarely in the middle of the shell.

Crack–!

A loud impact struck the eardrums, like steel clashing against steel.

Crack–! Crack–! Crack–!

Hyukjin continued to swing the ‘Large Hammer’.

[301 Coins acquired.]

[99 Coins acquired.]

Though all the turtles were around the same level, they dropped a varying amount of Coins.

[119 Coins acquired.]

[167 Coins acquired.]

[222 Coins acquired.]

Yeonseo gulped her drool. “My god…”

Yoohyun simply stared at Hyukjin, his calf-like eyes dazedly blinking. He heard Yeonseo whisper something next to him.

“What… is he?”

Yoohyun didn’t know, either.

“Could… it be that he’s some… I dunno, higher-level class that’s specialized in handling blunt weapons?”

Yoohyun had never thought there would be anyone who could use the ‘Large Hammer’ so well. When it came to strength, Yoohyun thought he wouldn’t lose to anyone, but somehow, he got the feeling he would lose to Hyukjin in an armwrestling match. How in the world could such a slender body produce such strength? The realization that he had become a Player swept through Yoohyun again.

“I think hyungnim’s Strength stat is super high.”

“But he’s also faster than me?”

“Then his Agility must also be higher than yours.”

“How can his Strength be higher than yours and his Agility higher than mine? Even considering he’s a higher level than us…”

“…”

Yoohyun wasn’t sure.

Sunhwa, who had been listening quietly from the side, gave them the correct answer.

“Unnie, mister. Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

TN: Unnie is a familiar term for sister, used by a girl to refer to an older girl.

“…”

“…”

In the eyes of the natural-born tank Kim Sunhwa, Hyukjin’s movements didn’t boil down to just ordinary ‘swinging’.

“If stats could represent technique, they would’ve probably been extremely high.”

Yeonseo agreed. “You’re right. He’s not just wildly swinging the hammer. He’s precisely aiming for the center of the shell and making the impact register fully right now.”

Even for the great Kim Hyukjin, he wasn’t able to kill the Gold Turtles in one hit. He had to attack each one at least four times.

“He’s hitting almost the exact same place at set intervals.”

Set intervals, sending set vibrations through the shell. Hyukjin was stacking them up, amplifying each hit. Before she knew it, Yeonseo was thoroughly observing Hyukjin with the same eyes she had when she was holding her sword.

She knew what his movements were.

“Resonance.”

Resonance, the phenomenon of sharply increased amplitude on a vibrating object. It was an amplification effect that occurred when the frequency of a periodically applied force became close to the intrinsic frequency of the object.

Yeonseo continued speaking as if bewitched. “He’s creating massive shock waves inside the shell in order to maximize the destructive power.”

It didn’t look like he was using a skill, nor did it look like this was a trained movement.

‘He’s doing that… by instinct alone?’

* * *

While I was engrossed in hunting the Gold Turtles, I discovered something.

‘Finally.’

[Random Coin Box acquired.]

‘Please, let it be seven of them.’

There was a higher chance to get them. As long as seven of them dropped, it was enough. As long as I gathered seven, I could trigger a new hidden piece.

[Random Coin Box acquired.]

[Random Coin Box acquired.]

Around two hours passed, after which I had a total of six boxes. There was only one Gold Turtle left. Just one more box, and I would have seven.

‘Please!’

[Gold Turtle has been killed.]

[Random Coin Box acquired.]

‘Seven…! Got ‘em.’

My whole body was drenched in sweat.

‘Finally…’

I was satisfied. Seven Random Coin Boxes had dropped. That meant I had reached my first goal. I paused to take some deep breaths to regulate my ragged breathing and also used a Constitution potion. I took one of the towels in my Inventory out to wipe my sweat. It was almost like I’d taken a shower in sweat.

“Is… your body made of steel or something?” Yeonseo asked. “How can you swing that big thing for two hours straight?”

“I drank a lot of Constitution potions.”

“Even so. Are you really human, dude?”

It wasn’t that I wasn’t exhausted. After swinging a hammer for two hours, my waist and shoulders felt like they were about to break.

‘But it’s alright.’

This feeling of having worked hard, of drawing out my future and reaping rewards in the process, it wasn’t a bad feeling. Every muscle on my body was screaming in exhaustion, but that fatigue wasn’t unpleasant to me.

‘Seven Random Coin Boxes.’

On top of that, I had acquired a whopping 20k Coins already. I was already ⅓ of the way to my goal of 70k Coins. Things were going far more smoothly than expected.

“Hyungnim. Should we destroy the Crystal and leave the gate?”

“No.”

There was still something to do. We had to crack open the Random Boxes. I clicked the ‘Random Coin Boxes’ in my Inventory.

‘Will 50k Coins come out of the Random Coin Boxes?’

I didn’t know. I had to crack them open to find out. They were random, after all.

The first Random Coin Box—

[Open the Random Coin Box?]

[6,400 Coins acquired.]

The second—

[Open the Random Coin Box?]

[1,400 Coins acquired.]

1,400 Coins. With two boxes, I got 7,800 Coins. That added up roughly to 30k Coins, leaving 40k Coins to the goal.

‘Five Random Coin Boxes left.’

Would 40k Coins come out of the boxes? It would have to be an average of 8,000 Coins per box. I had the feeling fewer Coins were coming out than expected.

‘Is my luck kinda bad?’

The third Random Coin Box—

[70 Coins acquired.]

I scowled. 70 Coins? It was the worst of the worst. With this, I became a little more certain of it. I didn’t have very good luck.

The fourth Random Coin Box was decent, at least.

[9,000 Coins acquired.]

In a stroke of shit luck, the fifth was [700 Coins acquired], and the sixth was [2,000 Coins acquired].

As a result, I had about 40k Coins. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like I’d be able to scrape together a surplus I could share with the others. I doubted that 30k Coins would come out of one box.

‘But it’s okay.’

This was the seventh. When I opened the seventh Random Coin Box, a new notice would definitely be announced, as long as it was the same as the past I remembered.

[Open the Random Coin Box?]

‘Please.’

Please be the same as the past, please.

I finally heard the notice I had been waiting for.