"How is one month enough... It should at least take... half a year of training and preparation!"
Dughan let out a cold snort. "Half a year? In half a year, who knows how many more litters of Gnolls will be born. By then, you wouldn't be able to kill those beasts fast enough."
Wayne really wanted to ask, Do I have the right to refuse? But looking at the earnest eyes of the other four people in the room, he knew he had been backed into a corner with no way out.
The problem was that the night he leaned against the net cafe door, those overpowered spells were all cast by the security system. He had only used the strength gained from playing games to land a heavy blow on a Hogger already mangled by magic.
If he proactively left the net cafe to strike at the Gnoll camp, wouldn't he be exposing the truth that he was a weakling?
No, he had to find a way, or else a month from now, he'd have to grease his heels and run to save his skin.
Just as he was about to get up, a person rushed in from outside, eyes red from crying and overcome with emotion—he almost knelt right at Wayne's feet.
"Teacher! Teacher!"
If this were a cute teenage girl, Wayne's heart would have softened. Instead, it was 35-year-old Raymond with snot and tears streaming down his face. Although the arrow wound on his cheek had left a visible scar, it was clear he had received good treatment over the past few days and was fully healed.
With the scars on both cheeks and a head of grey hair, he looked somewhat like the Joker from Gotham City. Jyssetta remarked that it was lucky the arrow didn't hit his tongue, or Raymond would be a mute by now.
Since his reputation in town had been decent to begin with, and despite being revealed as a Warlock, people had come to accept the existence of a practitioner of dark magic among them due to his courageous stand where he nearly lost his life.
"Alright, alright, I'm fine! Watch the shop for me, I'm going to... rest for a bit," Wayne said to Raymond, adopting the tone of a master instructing a disciple. Raymond agreed immediately.
After the last battle, Wayne was like a deity in his heart. He wished he could follow Wayne twenty-four hours a day to observe and learn from his respected teacher how a Peerless Archmage mastered every school of magic.
Dughan prepared to leave as well; he didn't have the money to stay and play games. However, before departing, he told Wayne that something was waiting for him at the blacksmith shop.
Wayne took a few steps but remembered his surplus task—he needed to save up 500 gold to unlock the first two Harry Potter movies. He said to Raymond, "Play while you watch the shop, but you still have to pay."
"As you command!" Raymond shouted respectfully, then hurriedly pulled out eight gold coins and presented them to Wayne.
Wayne slipped back to his room, opened the cellar door, and climbed down. As he approached the vending machine, the screen lit up automatically, sensing his presence.
"Is there anything that can help with combat..."
In the vending machine's shopping list, besides [Net Cafe Equipment] like VR glasses, screens, and ergonomic chairs, a new tab appeared titled [Combat Items]. However, when he clicked into it, everything was locked.
Wayne pressed it several times with no response. "How do I unlock this?"
A line of text appeared on the screen: [Complete a game ending to unlock the purchase of in-game items with gold.]
Complete an ending? That meant he had to slay the Fatalis in Monster Hunter G.
Although he didn't know what kind of items would be unlocked, Wayne calculated that he had a month before the assault on the Gnoll camp. If he worked hard and fought every day, he could probably finish the game in a week, let alone a month.
After all, Monster Hunter G was only the second title in the series. While it was a significant improvement over the first, it was still in the exploratory stage regarding multiplayer combat. Many people back then played it as a single-player game, and the play-through lasted roughly 100 to 120 hours.
But the charm of the series lay in the fact that even after finishing the story, one could constantly collect materials, craft gear with different attributes, master various weapon types, develop new kill patterns, and continuously improve their speed-run times for bosses.
Additionally, he needed to expand his business to complete the 500 gold surplus task. Unlocking the first two Harry Potter movies might provide some new gadgets or combat strength through the viewing experience.
That night, when he picked up the axe to match Hogger's strength, Wayne clearly felt that since his account level jumped from LV1 to LV15, his Strength and Agility had significantly increased. It should be more than enough to deal with ordinary Gnolls.
He still didn't have combat skills, but if he could unlock the items from Monster Hunter and use them in actual combat, his chances of winning would skyrocket.
Thinking of this, Wayne didn't delay another moment and climbed out of the cellar. Passing by the blacksmith shop, he remembered Dughan's words and walked in to see what had been left for him.
His old partner Andrew had gone to eat. The Steely siblings were working up a sweat in the forge. The brother, Kuran, was hammering a nicked dagger on the anvil, while the sister, Corrine, was patching up a pair of torn leather pants with armor plates.
When they saw Wayne walk in, their first reaction was a daze. Their young boss hadn't stepped into the forge for over ten days, spending almost all his time soaked in the net cafe next door.
The clever Corrine was the first to react. She pulled a large, long object wrapped in coarse cloth from behind the counter. Judging by how much effort it took her to lift it, the thing wasn't light.
Corrine handed it to Wayne. "Open it and see."
Wayne unwrapped the cloth, revealing a massive axe polished to a mirror shine!
Kuran stopped his work and asked Wayne, "Remember what this is?"
Wayne recognized it at a glance. "Hogger's axe? But it looks different..."
"My brother reground the blade," Corrine explained. "Andrew refitted it with a new handle better suited for a human's two-handed grip. I wrapped the leather straps on the handle—not only can you grip it tighter, but you can also carry it on your back when you're not using it."
Wayne realized that the blacksmith trio had spent the last few days refashioning this two-handed axe. As he admired it, a long-awaited "ding-dong" sounded in his ear.
An emotionless electronic voice chimed: [Acquired Excellent Gear: Flaying Battleaxe of Strength]
Every Warcraft player knew that equipment quality was divided into seven tiers: Grey for Poor, White for Common, Green for Excellent, Blue for Rare, Purple for Epic, Orange for Legendary, and Gold for Artifact.
Aside from artifacts that existed only in legends, and legendary weapons that required the combined effort of the entire continent and rare luck to forge, owning a piece of Epic gear was a lifelong boast for an adventurer.
Not only did it take immense effort to obtain Epic gear, but these items usually required the skill of top-tier masters beyond the advanced level to use effectively. It was like giving an F1 car to a novice driver who hadn't even mastered the road—the outcome would only be a lack of control.
Soldiers in barracks like Westbrook Garrison or Northshire Abbey were usually issued standard-issue gear of Common quality.
However, Wayne discovered that this version of Azeroth didn't show specific numerical values floating over the gear like the game did. Nevertheless, the existence of magical buffs and enchanting techniques meant that every piece of Excellent quality or higher added corresponding capabilities to the wielder. The higher the quality, the greater the boost.
This Flaying Battleaxe of Strength naturally boosted Strength.
And so, Wayne—who in his inherited memories had swung heavy hammers in the forge to forge many weapons—now had his first piece of special equipment.