MAX 13

It was a little after 8:00 PM when Han Jiho turned on his computer.

As soon as he logged into the game, a whisper flew in from 1Jiho as if they had been waiting. It wasn’t Chaehyun.

While sending a reply, he opened his friends list and saw that 1Jiho, JunkCollectionMaster, and WrigglingDdorak were online. They were currently in a party clearing daily quests.

On the other hand, Chaehyun…

[27] Argonite – cogus2: Offline

[100] Shadow Dancer – cogus: Offline

He was still offline.

“…”

Han Jiho rolled his eyes and checked the time.

The current time was 8:14 PM. Even though it was the evening time Chaehyun had suggested they play together, for some reason, he had yet to log in.

‘He’s the one who asked to play together…’

Tap, tap. Han Jiho lightly tapped the mouse with his finger, recalling the promise made at dawn with Chaehyun, then let out a short sigh and closed the friends list.

It was an unexpected situation. Well, he figured things like this could happen, but for some reason, he didn’t feel very good. He didn’t know the reason himself. He just felt unpleasant.

‘He didn’t forget, did he?’

Something might have come up suddenly. Or a dinner appointment could have been made unexpectedly.

Han Jiho toyed with the WASD keys on the keyboard out of habit while denying those thoughts. Chaehyun didn’t seem like the type of person to forget a promise. Even though it had only been a few days since they met, it was because of the attitude Chaehyun had shown thus far.

‘He’ll probably log in later.’

Thinking that, he shook off his thoughts about Chaehyun. Meanwhile, the chat window was being flooded with messages sent by 1Jiho.

[Whisper] 1Jiho: 98-nim, wanna do weekly quests together?

[Whisper] 1Jiho: You haven’t tried this yet, right?

[Whisper] 1Jiho: I’m doing it right now with Junk-hyung and Ddorak-noona!

[Whisper] 1Jiho: If you come, I’ll carry you lolol

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: Ah, yes, thanks! Hahaha

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: Send a party invite go go!

[Whisper] 1Jiho: Good good

[Whisper] 1Jiho: Sent the invite lolol

Han Jiho accepted the party invitation sent by 1Jiho.

has joined the party.

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: Hi hi 98-nim

[Party] HanJiHo98: Hello lol

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: Oh

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: Hello~~~~

[Party] 1Jiho: We’re almost finished

[Party] 1Jiho: Please wait just a moment haha

[Party] HanJiHo98: Okay haha

[Party] HanJiHo98: Ah, but are you guys doing it again just because of me? ㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: It’s fine, it’s fine

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: This season’s weekly drops armor, so the more you run it, the better lol

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: But only f*cking trash drops, damn it

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: Lolol

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: That’s true

[Party] 1Jiho: Lolol 98-nim, what armor are you using?

[Party] HanJiHo98: Hold on a second

At 1Jiho’s question, Han Jiho opened the character window to check his armor. Echo of Eternity‘s armor consisted of five pieces: Helmet, Cape, Gloves, Belt, and Boots.

The armor he was currently wearing was: Faded Radiance Helmet, Worn-out Life Cape, Dirty Wanderer’s Gloves, Recycled Combat Belt, and Dirty Wanderer’s Boots.

Looking at the character’s appearance alone, he looked no different from a beggar wandering through space. Since he had simply swapped to whatever item had higher stats every time he acquired one, his item levels were a mess, let alone having any set effects.

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: If you press Alt and click the item, you can send the item info to the chat~~~

[Party] HanJiHo98: Ah, thank you haha

Han Jiho clicked the item info to enter the chat just as Ddorak had taught him.

[Party] HanJiHo98: [Faded Radiance Helmet], [Worn-out Life Cape], [Dirty Wanderer’s Gloves], [Recycled Combat Belt], [Dirty Wanderer’s Boots]

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: Oh..

[Party] 1Jiho: Whoa..

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: It’s a total disaster…

[Party] 1Jiho: Lolololol

[Party] HanJiHo98: Lolol

[Party] HanJiHo98: ㅠㅠㅠ sob sob

[Party] 1Jiho: Don’t worry, we can just farm them lolol

[Party] 1Jiho: We’ll help you gear up together lolol

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: Heeya

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: This is the ‘New-Goo’ I’ve only dreamed of…!

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: What’s ‘New-Goo’?

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: Newbie Grooming.

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: Seriously, you shorten everything.

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: That’s ‘Byeol-Da-Jul’ (Shortening everything for real).

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: ;;;

[Party] HanJiHo98: Lolol thank you, I’ll work hard

[Party] 1Jiho: Yep yep

[Party] 1Jiho: We’re done now, so just take the warp over lolol

[Party] HanJiHo98: Okay haha

Han Jiho immediately took the warp.

They were gathered in front of a massive yet dilapidated building on the outskirts of the hub city, Prime Nexus.

And in front of it stood a female character who appeared to be an NPC; looking at her, she seemed to be the NPC who handed out the weekly quests.

As he approached, JunkCollectionMaster, who had been sitting on the ground, welcomed Han Jiho with a floppy dance, and WrigglingDdorak and 1Jiho started breakdancing next to him. Han Jiho, who hadn’t memorized all the hotkeys yet, just stood among them awkwardly laughing, “Hahaha.”

Taking advantage of the gap while the party members were having a chaotic dance party, Han Jiho quickly went and received the quest from the NPC, Rian Belloc.

This weekly quest, called ‘Fragments of the Sanctuary,’ aimed to collect and restore ancient armor fragments scattered throughout Ionix, the ruined zone of the Sanctuary. If one collected 100 fragments and completed the quest, they were guaranteed to obtain one random Legendary-grade class-specific armor piece.

Furthermore, since one could continue collecting and restoring fragments to randomly obtain armor up to Rare grade even after completing the quest, it was an attractive quest where, as JunkCollectionMaster said, the more you ran it, the better armor you could get.

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: Did you get the quest?

[Party] HanJiHo98: Yes haha

[Party] HanJiHo98: Let’s go go go

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: Good

[Party] 1Jiho: Go go go go

[Party] 1Jiho: Ah, right

[Party] 1Jiho: There’s a big level gap between 98-nim and us

[Party] 1Jiho: So the mobs hurt like hell, follow us carefully

[Party] HanJiHo98: Gasp, okay haha

1Jiho, who had suddenly stood up from his b-boying, began to lead the way.

Han Jiho checked his friends list once more while following behind. However, Chaehyun was still offline.

Whether the promise to carry him wasn’t a bluff, 1Jiho broke through the quest at an amazing speed. Han Jiho was frantic just trying to follow behind and pick up the armor fragments scattered on the floor.

Also, thanks to the system where monster levels are adjusted according to the players’ average level during party play, the monsters were currently set to Level 81. For Han Jiho, who had just hit Level 28, it was a dizzying situation where he would be incapacitated immediately if he took even one wrong hit.

Because of that, WrigglingDdorak and JunkCollectionMaster were guarding his sides firmly like bodyguards, and thanks to them, Han Jiho was able to collect fragments safely without needing to fire a single shot.

But despite that.

“Ugh…”

It hurt, it hurt way too much.

Han Jiho looked at the monitor, which had turned red, and quickly activated a healing skill. He had only been grazed by a monster’s attack, yet more than half his health had vanished. If it hadn’t been for Ddorak and JunkCollectionMaster, he would have already been a corpse waiting to respawn.

Just then, a message from 1Jiho appeared in chat. Han Jiho checked the number of armor fragments he had collected so far. The number shown in his inventory was 97.

[Party] HanJiHo98: I only need to get 3 more

[Party] 1Jiho: Ah, then fill up 100 and follow me through the warp lol

[Party] 1Jiho: I’ll go ahead and clear things out lolol

[Party] HanJiHo98: Okay, thanks haha

After leaving the chat message, 1Jiho dashed forward and disappeared, leaving Han Jiho, Ddorak, and JunkCollectionMaster behind. The surrounding area was piled high with dropped items and ancient armor fragments left behind by 1Jiho.

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: Let’s go slowly lol

[Party] WrigglingDdorak: Yup, eat everything you see before we go~~

[Party] HanJiHo98: Okay haha

It was while they were wandering around the map picking up armor fragments and items. A notification that EchoThief had logged in appeared in the chat window.

This time, too, it wasn’t Chaehyun.