Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

“It’s been a while, Ha Leeha.”

“What? Where did you sell your gun?”

“You seem happy. Did you manage to accomplish another quest on your own?”

Bobae, Tale, Kijung, and Hyein directed their friendly greetings towards Leeha.

From just the casual greetings they exchanged, it was evident what each person’s nature was.

“Nice to see you all again. I’ve been dealing with this and that. Hyein, you can stop being a sage and become a fortune teller,” Leeha joked as he returned their greetings.

He was already aware that whispers about the first wave had spread throughout the community.

The rumour that spread the most fervently was precisely about the experience points. The rumour claimed that almost all the users close to ranking in the first wave had levelled up. This fact had quickly reached all gamers.

Consequently, Juma City began to buzz with activity when whispers about the second wave began to spread.

“But in a week, with an 80% probability? Who told you that?”

“Bailephus. It was what the dragon said, so people trusted it.”

“Hmm…… Alexander…”

Whenever Leeha checked people through his friend window, Alexander’s location was invariably near Juma.

Given that he was constantly hunting to maintain his rank 1 position, the fact that he had stopped moving might have seemed strange. But on consideration, he thought that maybe this wasn’t the case.

Could he be preparing something to level up faster considering the current situation?

“Exactly. Juma City is the hottest thing in Middle Earth right now, isn’t it? Not just the top ten, but probably all the top 100 rankers will gather here! I saw Kidd and Luger earlier. They seemed to be deciding on a good location too.”

Kijung was acting like an excited child.

Maybe because he had survived the first wave with plenty of energy left, he seemed more excited about levelling up again rather than worrying about the upcoming second wave.

‘Even after a week, I’ve only had Black Bass on me for ten days…’

If he could find Black Bass, he would have instantly decided to participate in the battle.

But for now, things are chaotic. With his musket and two pistols, it was definite that it would be impossible to fight with his current abilities.

“So, you are attending this time, right?”

“For real? You’re coming too? Okay! That’s a big thank you from our guild.”

“Why are you happy?”

“What? If you cover us, our death rate will drastically decrease, won’t it?”

“Shit! Do you think I’ll necessarily be by your guild?”

“Then? No?”

Kijung tilted his head as if he was saying something obvious.

It was difficult for Leeha to argue. If he had Black Bass, there was a high probability that he would have set his base in a place with a good view of his guild.

“Sorry, but don’t expect me to cover you. I can’t use my gun until then. For now, I’ll just have to fight with my bare hands.”

“Bare hands? Then you’re just…”

Kijung stopped talking and swallowed his saliva. Leeha quickly guessed what he was about to say.

“Useless?”

“No, what do you mean useless! Would I think of you that way?”

“Hehe, whether I’m useful or not… I’ll show you on that day.”

Leeha just smiled.

Without Black Bass, he was curious about how much strength he had left.

“By the way, Kijung. I didn’t come here because of this. I wanted to ask something.”

“What is it?”

Leeha brought up a topic he had suddenly remembered he was going to ask about. He saw Luger and Kidd somewhere in Juma, and checked the system notifications that appeared right before meeting Onix once again.

“I reached 100% in assimilation, what does it mean by ‘adjusting the specific stats’?”

［Assimilation rate adjustment application approved.］

［Assimilation rate change target: Applicant – Ha Leeha］

［Assimilation rate change, current assimilation rate: 100%］

［From now on, you can enjoy sensations in Middle Earth equal to that of reality.］

[Please be careful as inappropriate play can harm the applicant’s body.]

[While the assimilation rate is at 100%, you can adjust each of the specific stats.]

While reading the notice, everyone’s gaze was focused on Leeha.

They looked at him as though they had heard something they never heard before, which made Leeha feel embarrassed.

“Why, why are you looking at me like that? Did I do something wrong?”

“That’s true,-hyung! You’ve never adjusted the assimilation rate before, have you? Can’t believe it!”

“Impossible!”

“Leeha was at a 50% assimilation rate until now?”

“Can’t believe it. He had that kind of movement at just that level?”

“Haha, you were like that without adjusting the details? Even while travelling on the new continent, your assimilation rate was only 50%! I don’t feel like playing the game.”

Kijung, Bobae, Tale, and Hyein intervened one after another.

A moment later, Leeha got to hear about how to adjust the specific stats from them.

In Middle Earth, he finally got to unravel one of the long-standing mysteries he had wondered about.

* *”Character Window!”

Name: Leeha / Race: Human

Job: Musketeer / Level: 211 (3%)

Title: Shadow Assassin / Achievements: 135

HP: 7,830 (5,481)

MP: 2,255

Stats:

Strength 609(+524)

Agility 3,579(+1,292)

Intelligence 326(+275)

Constitution 291(+198)

Mind 125(+115)

Remaining stat points: 0

“So, in its original state, these are the only stats…”

While my level has barely gone up compared to the old times, my stats have substantially increased due to achievements and the Hall of Fame registration.

Yet, what currently matters to Leeha isn’t how much his stats have risen.

“When the synchronization rate is above 60%, you are allowed to finely tune each stat… for example, if I say – ‘Stat Adjustment: Strength’!”

Shooo-

[You have achieved 100% synchronization.] [Strength’s details are broken down into five categories.]

[Before adjustment: Uniform Distribution]

Strength – Pushing Power: 20%

Strength – Pulling Power: 20%

Strength – Gripping Power: 20%

Strength – Kicking Power: 20%

Strength – Instant Burst: 20%

[Please finalize the settings after adjusting your preferred category.]

“I see…”

This means we can adjust each detailed strength based on 100% strength!

At 60% ‘Pushing Power’ is opened, and at 70% ‘Pulling Power’ is opened.

“Concealing such a sweet tip! Damn Middle Earth-!”

Leeha fumed, but in reality, the moderators had not kept anything hidden.

The ‘experts’ who managed to adjust their synchronization rate above 60% had just chosen not to leak any information.

“That being said, there were comments about it in the community. That you could fine-tune each stat. And besides, I was also getting used to my body in Middle Earth.”

What happens if you swing your sword a lot in Middle Earth? Your movement becomes smoother and faster.

It’s not just because you’ve become accustomed to the movements.

If you swung your sword for more than four hours and earned one strength stat point, that point is not distributed uniformly but is allocated to the essential power for swinging the sword.

For instance, the way it was distributed was 50% each to the gripping power and instant burst!

How you swing your sword, whether you drilled for four hours or slashed for four hours, affects the distribution differently.

‘Makes sense…… As expected.’

It was only reasonable that a game as sophisticated as Middle Earth wouldn’t be composed of just five stats.

There’s a distinction between those who thought vaguely that the AI would correct appropriately, and those who strove to uncover this secret.

“The resistance to magic was also hidden within the mind stat, and even constitution has separate elements such as recovery and damage reduction when hit. Is this something akin to endurance? I never expected the ‘constitution’ section to include lung capacity.”

Leeha harbored joyful contemplation looking over the stat system newly opened by his raised synchronization rate.

Yet, most of the things didn’t really need to be touched.

Because what mattered to Leeha at the moment wasn’t constitution, mind, or anything like that.”Stat Adjustment: Agility.”

[You have achieved 100% Agility.]

[Agility stat is divided into five subcategories.]

[Before Adjustment: Equal Distribution]

Agility: Running: 20%

Agility: Reflexes: 20%

Agility: Balance: 20%

Agility: Hand-eye Coordination: 20%

Agility: Kinesthetic Vision: 20%

[Please adjust the subcategories as desired and confirm your settings.]

“I knew it! That kid! It seemed weird that he could run faster than me! He must have been taking advantage of this!”

It was impossible to know Kidd’s exact stats but there was one certainty.

Currently, his agility stat is higher than Kidd’s. Even though Kidd started playing Middle Earth before him and was the first to earn the title of Musketeer, stats are a separate matter.

After collecting achievements and increasing his stats, he still felt like he was always falling behind when running against Kidd.

‘This must have been his secret all along – shoot with your feet.’

After hearing this phrase from Browlis, the sudden increase in Kidd’s speed also made sense. He must have adjusted his subcategories as well.

“Let’s start by increasing Running to 100%.” He adjusted the Running subcategory to 100%. It was possible to test because adjusting each subcategory was not a one-time thing.

‘You can only do this within a town and when you haven’t been in a fight for 20 minutes.’
This was Middle Earth’s measure to prevent sudden changes in the outcome of a battle through the adjustment of stats.

As long as these rules were followed, there were no restrictions on how many times it could be adjusted.

“Alright, then let’s adjust the Running stat to-“

Whooooosh-

“-what- whaaat?!”

Bwoooooshhhh….

“Oooooohhhh!”

Just taking a step was wreaking havoc. His mistake was putting all of the massive 3,500 Agility points into the ‘Running’ subcategory!

“Ahhhh!”

“Is that a tornado?!”

“Something just flew by!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

He was yelling as he ran, but no one could see him, and they could hardly hear him.

With his speed now, it was even hard for him to perceive the world around him.

“Stop, stop, stop!”

Screeeeeee-……!

Only after putting force into both his legs to stop himself was he able to actually come to a halt.

He had run from the right outskirts of Juma City where there were fewer people to test, but unexpectedly his body had already reached the left fence.

“This is like… when I caught that roadrunner.”

Whilst murmuring, his lips were twisted into a broad smile. If investing this much into Running resulted in this, then what would happen to the other subcategories?

“No, wait. The stat says ‘Running’ but does it only apply to actually running?”

He looked around, then crouched down on the ground. Would crawling also be classified as ‘Running’?

He adopted a low crouch.

Even though it provides the best cover, crawling is the slowest mode of travel due to our physical limitations.

“Alright, let’s head to the square- whoooa!”

As soon as he started, he found that his understanding had been completely turned upside down.

Impossible for a human? Maybe, but it was definitely possible in Middle Earth.

As his elbows dug into the floor with each forward movement, it catapulted him swiftly forwards, like a snake slithering at an impossible speed. No snake in Middle Earth could possibly move as fast as him now.

“Wha- What is going on now?!”

“Wh-Who is that? What are they doing?”

“Is that a monster? How- How can he crawl so fast?”

“It’s a bug! A hacker! He’s a hacker!”