Arcane Sniper

The notification window, which only had a few sentences in it, disappeared by itself. Leeha opened his skill window while recalling the name of the skill that did not provide any information.

『Beginner’s Musket Mastery (Passive) (Lv.1)』

Description: You become more familiar with the musket the more you use it. Increases accuracy and reloading speed.

Effect: Additional increase in accuracy 0%, additional increase in loading speed 0%

『Beginner’s Bayonet Charge (Lv.1)』

Description: You can charge by attaching a mana bayonet to a musket. Use it only as a last resort.

Effect: Converts 30% of Musket’s attack power to melee attack for 15 seconds.

Mana Cost: 50

Cooldown: 5 minutes

‘The mastery passive is still in a state where it doesn’t help with anything, and the only active skill provided was bayonet charge?’

Leeha was in a more desperate situation than he initially thought.

He searched for related information on the internet and he found out that in Middle Earth, musketeer is one of the jobs with the smallest number of users.

As Leeha had already noticed, the abysmal accuracy and the snail-paced reload speed were enough to tire the users around the world. And among those with great virtues, most of them gave up.

Who wanted to live like that while playing such a realistic and stylish virtual reality game?

In addition, the difficulty of the game is too high to fight using the power of a single shot. It meant that your HP will eventually be similar to your opponent when you are getting hit while reloading.

‘But what kind of skill is bayonet charge? Suicide commando? Besides, my total mana right now is 50, and the skill consumption is 50, I can’t even use it more than once! By chance, while reading the posts of other musketeers crying on the internet, he also thought that they might have been whining too much. And it’s still a game. In fact, I anticipated that if I had a weak basic attack, I can still manage to adjust using skills. Of course, I did it on the assumption that the worst case scenario happened and I got the Musketeer as my job.

I expected that there would be a skill to increase accuracy to 100%, or to allow me to shoot a gun consecutively, even if the cooldown was a bit long. But this… … .’

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!”

“Nani the fuck?!”

“What, that person?”

“Is that person crazy?”

“No!! This isn’t it!!!”

It’s different from the frustration he had earlier. Now there is really no hope or anything. Leeha could not do anything anymore. He thought that he finally found a new direction for his life after getting out of his miserable day to day life. After the accident, his bright personality that was thrown away finally brightened up again. To make a lot of money!

‘I, like other people, want to earn for my living expenses, and I thought that if I became a ranker, I could even earn money for the surgery! I thought I’d finally shine!’

It was an empty dream. In just a day, my dream to be successful in Middle Earth had been broken.

“It’s been a while since I saw a foreigner who changed into a Musketeer.”

As Leeha screamed and made the users around the class tower uncomfortable, he heard a new voice.

“Oh. Yes?”

“Did you like changing to Musketeer so much?”

The man was laughing so much at someone who was suffering, that it made his face red. However, Leeha did not get angry.

His tone and timing as well as not being able to grasp the atmosphere, the man is obviously not a user.

Above all, it is quite strange that a user can wear a luxurious chain mail made of thin chains in the beginner village.

“What’s going on?”

“He is someone who tests the potential of strangers that had recently changed to a new job.”

“Potential?”

The man who wore a chainmail and with a mustache smiled relaxedly while looking at Leeha who was groaning while breathing.

“Recently, there has been a complaint that the beasts outside the castle have become ferocious. It would be nice if we could come out in person, but the soldiers couldn’t go out of the village as we have not received a subjugation order? So, I am asking strangers who have gained new strength to exterminate them for us.”

“I see.”

“Please don’t refuse! It is also an opportunity to test your newly acquired strength. If you want a reward, I can give you some.”

A window opened in front of Leeha.

It wasn’t just a simple explanation, but it was the first quest he encountered after he entered Middle Earth.

『The ferocious rabbit hunting』

Description: It is said that a ferocious rabbit appeared outside the gateway to Candle Castle.. Try to get rid of grotesque beings that eat crops and animals.

Content: Rabbit leather (0 / 10)

Reward: 10% intimacy for all NPCs in Candle Castle, 15% for Candle Castle Guards, 50 copper

-Do you want to accept?

Leeha weakly pressed Yes. Most of the guards were still standing near the class tower. In fact, it can be seen that it was in order to give the quest the second that users changed into a new job, like Leeha.

‘Ha, failure is failure, there is no reason to reject the quest.’

“Where should I go?”

“You’ll see a gateway outside when you walk a little over there. And like a regular rabbit, the numbers of ferocious rabbits increase rapidly.”

“Okay.. I’ll go and handle it”

“Thank you very much.”

The man in the chain mail nodded and asked Leeha to shake hands. He hugged the musket and ramrod, and held his hand in an awkward posture.

‘Let’s do it. I have no choice but to do it.’

It took 3 months to create another character after deletion.

It’s like saying to quit the game. In fact, Leeha would not hesitate to delete his character if he did not start late, but it is different now.

How could he do that?

‘It’s a gun, and it was my specialty anyway. If I get used to it, it will definitely be worth using.’

Leeha put the musket on his shoulder and stepped forward.

‘Wouldn’t it have been fortunate if I had at least a shoulder strap?’

This also attracted the attention of users moving toward the south gate closest to where the class tower was.

“Wow, what is that? It’s a gun?”

“Ohhh! There is a man who has changed his job to Musketeer.”

“Amazing. Has anyone else done that?”

“I didn’t even know there was a gun. Were you able to try it?”

“No. I threw it while reloading. The crossbow had an accuracy of 85%. Why would I choose a musket?”

Two friends in a party. The voice of the users stabbed like daggers into Leeha’s heart.

‘Who doesn’t know that. I know it too! Crossbow’s range is 30m! They have a 10m difference but the accuracy is the deciding factor!’

50% accuracy at 40m distance and 85% accuracy at 30m distance. The difference in item description between Musket and Crossbow was enough to make users ignore the musket.

The loading speed is also 7 times faster than that of a musket. The difference between 1 shot per minute and 7 shots per minute is huge.

A musket has 1 shot per minute with 233 attack power and a crossbow has 7 shots per minute with 30-60 attack power. Even if a user using the crossbow is really unlucky and misses a single shot, and the rest of the shots all deal the lowest damage, it will still deal 180 damage in total. And if a user using a crossbow with medium luck, can deal 270 damage even when they only deal average damage, they can even deal 300 or more when the maximum damage is reached.

On the contrary, when a musketeer is extremely lucky, he gets a constant attack of 233, but what if the Musketeer is unlucky? 0.

A crossbow that deals 180 to 300 damage per minute and a musket that deals 0 to 233 damage per minute, isn’t the difference between night and day?

In other words, it means to give away the difference in attack power to get an additional range of l0m.

Leeha went to the south gate in a gloomy mood. As he walked a little further along the road past the guards guarding the gate, a green meadow emerged with the hills already filled with people.

“Heavy Strike”

Chwiik-!

Leeha was familiar with the skill that was used as it was taught at the training center, a red afterimage appeared on the tip of the sword and cut the rabbit.

The realism, which is not like a game, is the same in battle.

‘Whether it’s cool or terrible to implement the internal organs. It looks great.’

Cut, stab, kick.

The field is crowded with the spirit of the people and the cry of the rabbit.

It’s been 4 months since Middle Earth opened, but there are still many people in the beginner hunting ground.

‘It’s a problem to pick a job that’s ruined in a game that’s so crowded and worthwhile. I can’t help it though. Complaining now will not improve anything. The only thing left now is to go forward!’

Chwiik, chwiik.

Leeha found his first target, a rabbit eating something on a sloping ground, about 35m away.

‘If I consider the rabbit moving, I should shoot from this distance.’

His hands moved slowly, his heart started to beat instantly as the combat assistance system worked and guided Leeha’s body.

He supported the musket’s butt with his thigh, opened the gunpowder plate and put in a small amount of the packaged black powder from the bag!

‘Uhh, chum!’

He put up a musket, poured the remaining amount of black powder into the muzzle, and picked up a bullet of iron beads and inserted it in the muzzle.

He put his mouth on the muzzle and blew in the wind once, and then he took the ramrod attached to the musket and put it in the muzzle. Kkuuk，Kkuuk.

‘Faster!’

Of course, it didn’t make it faster. After a minute, he finally lifted the musket.

It is said that the shooting itself is based on the combat assistance system, but the stable posture is made by the user. Before shooting, Leeha knelt on one knee and sat down.

With the expectation that the accuracy rate will increase even a little.

‘Shooting a living thing- no, this is not reality.’

The rabbit’s ears were so realistic that it was pricking, and Leeha’s movements changed, but he made up his mind again.

‘This is a game and why do I play this game? Don’t hesitate to shoot an animal.’

Taaang—!

The sound of an artificial explosion rang out loud in the field where only the sound of people’s cheers were heard.

A stimulating and amazing sound, that the users in the vicinity searched for the source of the sound.

Leeha, who put down the musket that released white smoke, looked at the rabbit.

‘Did it hit? Looks like a blood spot… … uh?’

There were bloodstains, but it was not the result of Leeha’s gunshot. Then?

‘Hmm? What? Is it the rabbit’s bloodstain? W-what was it eating just now? Does this make sense?’

Leeha raised his body and opened his eyes, confused.

Only then did he realize the situation. The rabbit was biting a struggling prey. Was it a mole or a rat? And Leeha saw it.

That the carnivorous rabbit is staring at him with red eyes.

“Oh? Ohhhhh!”

The rabbit 35m away. What was the reason the target looked so clear and large in Leeha’s eyes? The answer is simple. Because the target was big.

The rabbit, who was probably bigger than a cat, started running with red eyes.

“Uwaah.”

Reload, reload!

He was fortunate to rely on the combat assistance system, but if it by himself, he would not have been able to pick up gunpowder or paper bags.

Contrary to the panicking Leeha, his body slowly and leisurely took out the black powder and put it in a plate-and the long movements were resumed.

1 minute reload time. The distance is only 35m.

You can walk 35m even if you walk in a handstand for 1 minute. How long would the rabbit take? The monster rabbit whose eyes were red and was eating a mouse?

Kkuiik-!

“Kyak!”

A cat-sized rabbit leaped forward and smashed its hind paws.

The big feet that accurately hit Leeha’s chest that was just closing the gunpowder plate!

Ttok-! The moment his foot touched with the sound, he felt it.

‘D,dad?’

(To be continued…)