Chapter 428
Apart from strength, stamina, intelligence, and agility, special stats could be opened by clearing specific quests or acquiring a t.i.tle, position or cla.s.s. In addition, it wasn’t possible to put points into special stats, so they were very difficult to increase.
But Grid was different. Every time Grid created items with a certain rating, ‘all stats’ increased. There was also the various t.i.tles that increased his stats such as Apostle of Justice, Kingdom"s Hero, and First Duke. He even had items. The Holy Light Crown increased his intelligence by 300 and his dignity by 200, while the Great Lord"s Sword gave him 150 dignity, insight, and leaders.h.i.+p.
The result? At present, Grid had 2,000 dignity, 1,000 charm, and 300 leaders.h.i.+p.
This wasn’t the end. There was even the Pagma’s Descendant cla.s.s effect of ‘easily acknowledged.’ NPCs, especially NPCs with the proper perspective, had no choice but to instinctively look up at Grid. They were able to sense that he was a ‘great person’ simply by meeting Grid’s eyes.
Grid’s presence was overwhelming. This was one of the reasons Lauel often stated that ‘Grid is a qualified king.’
However...
Now, take off their equipment? No matter how great the person, it was an absurd command that couldn’t be easily accepted. They had to take off their equipment? It might be different if their affinity was high, but the 50 NPCs didn’t follow Grid’s unreasonable command.
In this confused atmosphere, Grid put on the Ruler’s Cloak and ordered again.
"Take it off. If you want to win the war, believe in me.”
“...!”
Grid was just repeating himself. However, Grid’s voice rang out through the castle. There was a heavy weight in his voice that caused the listeners to feel a thrill. This was the effect of the pa.s.sive skill attached to the Ruler’s Cloak, Ruler’s Voice.
“...I understand.”
Grid’s words contained a mysterious power. For some reason, everything that Grid said seemed to be a reality. The 50 NPCs felt an infinite trust in Grid and started taking off their equipment.
Grid observed them with the Great Lord"s Sword.
‘The fastest and most obvious means of making them stronger is item enhancement.’
At first, he thought about strengthening the equipment of the 50 NPCs. But the economic spending was too big. He couldn’t rule out the possibility that these NPCs were ‘disposable,’ so he had to avoid excessive investment. In the first place, he didn’t have a lot of enhancement stones. In order to prepare for the National Compet.i.tion, he had enhanced the recently produced Triple Layers.
Thus, Grid came up with two possible methods. The first was to utilize the Legendary Blacksmith’s Appraisal skill. He planned to strengthen the NPCs by finding hidden features in their items. But the result wasn’t good.
‘Is it all a failure?’
Grid appraised the items of all 50 NPCs, but none of them had a hidden feature. One method was discarded. Grid was disappointed, but he didn’t judge it to be hopeless yet. There was another way to strengthen the NPCs. This method was to utilized the Character Observation skill attached to the Great Lord"s Sword.
For example, in this way.
Name: Tron.
Level: 300
Cla.s.s: Heavy Armor Knight
Strength: 1,610 Stamina: 1,300
Agility: 500 Intelligence: 105
Possessed Skills: Piercing, Charging, Three People Provocation, s.h.i.+eld Throw, Steel Skin, Intermediate Spear Mastery Lv. 3, and Intermediate s.h.i.+eld Mastery Lv. 5.
Unique Skills: Increased Attack Power (Pa.s.sive), Rotation Cut, and Advanced Sword Mastery Lv. 5.
Name: Cary
Level: 300
Cla.s.s: Armored Sword Knight
Strength: 1,500 Stamina: 600
Agility: 1,415 Intelligence: 80
Possessed Skills: Increase Aura Attack Power, Three Stage Cutting, Ascending Slash, Intermediate Sword Mastery Lv. 8.
Unique skills: Multi Shot, Quick Shot, Advanced Bow Mastery Lv. 6.
“Tron.”
“Yes!”
"Throw away the spear. Take Cary’s sword and use it. Cary, give him the sword and take up a bow.”
“Huh? Ah... Yes! I understand!”
Everyone in the world had particular apt.i.tude and skills. However, when living in society, it was inevitable that they would face a situation where they had to compromise, taking up a job that wasn’t suited to their apt.i.tude or skills. It was the same for NPCs. Some of them were wasting their talents due to their own circ.u.mstances, or they weren’t aware of their apt.i.tude.
Grid realized it when watching the soldiers and knights of Reidan.
“How did he...?"
“He noticed my skills at first glance?”
“There were no vacancies in the light armored knights, so I suffered from acquiring s.h.i.+eld skills that I’m not interested in."
“...Thanks to Grid, I’m able to use what I’m interested in."
[Affinity with Tron has risen by 20.]
[Affinity with Cary has risen by 20.]
[Affinity with Faiba has risen by 20...]
...
...
The affinity of the NPCs towards Grid started to climb. It was grat.i.tude for Grid identifying their apt.i.tudes and redistributing their items and roles. The amazed NPCs couldn’t tear their gaze away from Grid. It was the same with the Korean representatives.
‘How is this possible?’
‘Grid constantly shows things that are beyond common sense.’
‘He’s top cla.s.s. Different from normal players.’
As the Korean representatives and NPCs were feeling admiration. Grid was observing the rest of the NPCs when he suddenly made a strange smile.
“I found someone interesting.”
Grid’s sharp eyes were fixed on a NPC called ‘Lucky’ standing among the magicians. Lucky was the only one among 50 NPCs to have a special stat, and it was the good luck stat. It was a stat that even Grid failed to have, despite his 14 stats. Well, it was a stat that Grid would probably never get.
“You will use this weapon.”
“...?”
Grid handed something over to Lucky, causing all eyes to widen. They couldn’t understand the current situation. Grid seemed like he was playing around. It was natural. The new weapon that Grid gave to the ‘magician’ Lucky was a flail.
“Why... why are you giving me farming equipment...?”
He liked magic, but had no interest in farming. Why was he being given a farming tool in this situation?
‘Is he indirectly saying that I am useless?’
Lucky was confused. His chest heart at the thought of his presence being denied.
“Take it.”
As an awkward silence flowed, Grid moved away from Lucky and pointed to another NPC.
"Swan, follow me for a while.”
Grid was smiling strangely again. The anxious Swan was brought to a tent.
***
『 What is he doing? 』
『 I can’t understand Grid’s behavior. 』
The commentators for the National Compet.i.tion were confused. It was difficult for them to understand why Grid had the 50 NPCs take off all the items and they swapped equipment around.
-He’s changing the role of the NPCs?
-It’s too absurd and stupid to interpret it as something deep.
-Why did he give a magician a farming tool?;;;
-I can’t understand it...
As the chaos among the viewers increased, some keen experts speculated.
『 I just remembered. Grid’s current sword looks similar to the Lord’s Sword. The Lord’s Sword can only be received from the king or emperor, and it’s capable of showing detailed information of the desired character. 』
『 In other words, Grid is confirming the abilities of the NPCs and giving them roles and items more suitable to them... 』
『 Unfortunately, we can’t be sure about this. The Lord’s Sword is a rare item without a lot of information about it, and Grid’s sword has some differences. 』
『 Anyway, one thing is for certain, the act of giving a magician a farming tool is a joke. 』
『 Haha... Ah, as we are speaking, the battle between South Korea and the US is about to start. 』
20 minutes of preparation time ended. Now the first match of the siege event started.
***
The US team.
The US representatives and NPCs, led by Zibal and Lauel, left the castle. Zibal gazed at the Anterava Forest in front of him before turning his attention to the wall. The blacksmith Panmir was at the walls.
"Panmir, I will ask you one last time. Is everything okay with the NPCs’ equipment?"
"How many times have you asked already? According to my research, they are armed with level 300 rare items and there’s no problem with the durability.”
"Okay, from now on, concentrate on making siege weapons.”
"I already know, so stop telling me.”
The 1st ranked blacksmith, Panmir. He learned the techniques of the dwarven blacksmiths. As a result, he could create a variety of items including ego items, magic weapons, and siege weapons. Panmir was confident that he was better than Grid.
"Grid, please reach here. Then I will trample on you."
Grid luckily found a legendary cla.s.s and became the best blacksmith without any effort. Panmir’s sense of hostility towards him was incalculable. Panmir started making the siege weapons, while Zibal looked at Skull. Skull led eight NPCs and was going to head to the point where Lauel predicted Grid would appear.
“Will Grid really appear here?”
"It’s 100% certain.”
"Hrmm... You must have a reason to be so sure. Well, I will believe in your brain for now. But there’s one problem. Do we really need this many people to tie up Grid’s feet? Even Skull...”
Lauel looked at Skull’s unit and reminded Zibal.
"If Grid uses Blackening, he’s stronger than Kraugel before Super Sensitivity is used.”
"To that extent? Even so, the duration is only approximately three minutes.”
"We need Skull and eight third advancement cla.s.ses to hold on for those three minutes.”
"...”
He was frankly unable to understand. Zibal was 2nd in the rankings, but he would find it hard to face Skull and so many third advancement cla.s.ses. However, he couldn’t deny Lauel’s opinion.
"Okay, I understand. Then I will move.”
Zibal disappeared into the forest.