Debuff Master

The item Shakiro was handing over to Siegfried was an extremely expensive one. No, it was more appropriate to say that it was an item whose value could not be expressed by numbers.

[Megingjord]

[A magical belt that allows the user to store unlimited weapons.]

[This belt was made to replicate the belt of the God of War Balak in the mythology of the Nürburg Continent’s creation.]

[Type: Armor (Belt)]

[Rating: Mythic]

The item that Shakiro gave him was a ‘Mythic’ rated item. The item rating in BNW was comprised of eight categories: Normal, Magic, Rare, Unique, Legendary, Epic, Mythic, and Universal. Megingjord belonged to the eighth one in the category which was ‘Mythic,’ and its options truly lived up to its Mythic rating as well.

Siegfried was stupefied upon seeing the item’s description.

[Special Options(5)]

[Fast Draw: Allows the user to take out a weapon stored in the belt quickly.]

[Fast Store: Allows the user to store a weapon in the belt quickly.]

The two special options attached to the belt allowed the user to switch their weapons quickly, and this was known as ‘Fast Switching’ in gaming terms. Players who use more than two weapons, or those known as Dual Class players, treated Fast Switching as the bread and butter of their play style.

However, the fast switching option of the Megingjord was just a drop in the bucket when compared to its other options.

[Soulbound: The weapons stored in Megingjord will not drop even if the user dies. The Megingjord will also not drop when the user dies.]

The binding option seemed peculiar here since losing an item, a weapon at that, was something all gamers feared, but the Megingjord didn’t allow that to happen. In fact, the Megingjord itself was soulbound making it impossible to drop upon death, and Siegfried did not have to worry about losing a weapon, which was akin to a gamer’s own limb. The value of this ‘soulbound’ option was probably worth tens of billions of won by itself.

And that wasn’t all…

[Added Mastery: The user will be able to master another weapon aside from their primary weapon. The number of weapons that can be mastered will increase as the user’s level increases.]

[Shared Proficiency: The user’s proficiency with other weapons will increase even if the user trains only one weapon. (Limited to until 80% weapon proficiency)]

The last set of Megingjord’s options gave the user the talent and mastery they didn’t have. On top of that, it also gave Siegfried mastery of a second main weapon in addition to his Blunt Weapon Mastery.

Considering all these, one didn’t have to mention just how much of a cheat the Mythic item was.

‘I might be able to buy a 50-floor building in the middle of Gangnam with just this item alone, but he’s giving this to me…? For free?’?Siegfried thought. He was dumbfounded upon realizing Megingjord’s value.

“A-Are you really giving this to me…?” Siegfried asked.

“Yes, I am,” Shakiro nonchalantly replied.

“Why…?”

“I’ll die and disappear one day,” Shakiro said with a smile, and then he continued, “Everyone will die one day, and that is the same for you. You might be an immortal in the Nürburg Continent, but you will someday die in your own world.”

The world that Shakiro was talking about was the other world the NPC thought of when referring to the hometown of the players. In short, they were referring to the real world outside of the game.

“I can’t bring this with me to the afterlife when I die, so why should I hoard it?” Shakiro said.

“You are correct, but… do I even have the right to receive such a precious item…?” Siegfried was hesitant.

“You don’t…”

“Then, why…”

“That’s because you are the most worthy despite being unworthy. In fact, there’s nobody worthy of being the successor to my title as Weapon Master, which proves just how rare my innate talent is. I’m also certain that there won’t be none like me in the future.”

“I see…”

“That’s why I’m giving that to you since I don’t really have any other options. Of course, I could pass it down to one of my disciples since I do have plenty of them, but they don’t have the skills you possess.”

It seemed that the Weapon Master was giving the Mythic item to Siegfried, not because of his potential but solely because of the perfectly created skills in his possession.

“I don’t have much use for this item anyway since I was born with an aptitude for all weapons. This item just makes it convenient for me to carry around numerous weapons,” Shakiro added.

“Haha…” Siegfried laughed in disbelief.

“So, what do you think? Will you accept my keepsake?”

“Is this a memento…?”

“Won’t it become one if I die someday?”

“I mean… you are not wrong…”

“Let’s go,” Shakiro said after forcing Megingjord into Siegfried’s hands.

“Where are we going?” Siegfried asked.

“To the arena,” Shakiro replied.

***

The main reason why Dondegiri was called the City of Pleasure was that all sorts of vices anyone could possibly imagine could be experienced in this place. Dondegiri was littered with all sorts of adult content such as brothels, opium dens, bars, clubs, gambling houses, etc. Of course, minor players were barred from accessing these adult contents as per the laws of virtual reality games.

One of the most famous adult content in Dondegiri was none other than the arena. The arena was one of the adult contents in BNW that minors couldn’t access, and it was all because the arena in Dondegiri did not simply operate as a dueling place. It was also a place where people could gamble on the fighters.

‘Ugh… it stinks…’?

Siegfried grimaced from the stench while following Shakiro through the arena.

The arena had a hard-to-describe stench. The closest description that could describe it was the mixture of the stench of something decaying, mold, blood, sweat, and tears—maybe not tears, but alcohol, cigarettes, food, cheap perfumes of whores, the disgusting breaths of drunkards, and the smell of sweaty men who haven’t showered for days.

Siegfried felt his head throb after smelling the reviling scent of the arena for the first time in his life.

“Why did you bring me here?” Siegfried asked.

“To train,” Shakiro replied.

“What kind of training can I even do here—” Siegfried asked.

However, Shakiro cut him off and explained, “It will be much more efficient for you to train your proficiency in weapons by fighting humans rather than monsters. How efficient do you think it will be if you train your weapons against monsters when they were created to harm humans?”

“Ah…!”

“It’s going to be tough, so you better prepare yourself.”

“That is something I am looking forward to,” Siegfried replied with a smile.

His smile was a knee-jerk reaction to training with suffering, which would remind anyone of Pavlov’s dog. That was because Siegfried had personally experienced how ‘vicious training’ could blossom into ‘strength,’ thanks to Deus.

***

That evening, Siegfried paid some gold to register himself as a fighter and made his debut at the arena.

Five minutes before the start of the fight…

‘Will this even be effective…?’?Siegfried thought about how joining the arena as a fighter would benefit him.

‘The strongest fighter in the arena is going to be an NPC who is slightly higher leveled than me…’?Siegfried thought after looking around and discovering that there weren’t any potential opponents who could help him train in this place.

In fact, Siegfried bumped into the current champion of this arena on the way to the waiting area, and he managed to gauge the champion’s strength. ‘I think I can beat him up in five minutes… Just what do I stand to gain by fighting against these guys…?’

The champion was Level 65, and Siegfried judged that it wouldn’t be that difficult for him to crush the champion in a fight.

“Wear this,” Shakiro said as he extended something made out of metal over to Siegfried.

“What is this?” Siegfried asked while tilting his head in confusion.

“You will know once you put it on,” Shakiro replied.

“I have no idea how to wear it…” Siegfried muttered, seemingly perplexed.

The reason Siegfried was perplexed was that the thing Shakiro gave him looked like a ‘Skeleton Armor’ made up of metals resembling human bones, and the armor looked like it was not going to protect him from any attacks except for his joints.

“It will latch itself onto you if you place it on your shoulder,” Shakiro said.

“Okay,” Siegfried replied and wore the armor according to Shakiro’s instructions.

Clack! Clack!

The armor moved by itself and covered Siegfried’s entire body. However, there were still open spots all over his body, so his defense could be considered zero.

“Wear this, too,” Shakiro said and handed over a leather armor, a cape, and a dirty-looking bone mask.

“I’m sure you are familiar with blunt weapons, right?” Shakiro asked.

“I am,” Siegfried confidently replied.

“Then, we shall start with a greatsword,” Shakiro said before picking out an average-looking greatsword from the weapon rack and handing it over to Siegfried.

– Now! The newbie of the arena, Weaklingman is about to debut!

Siegfried heard the arena host’s announcement after putting on his equipment.

“Weakling—man…?” Siegfried muttered with a grimace and asked, “Is he talking about me?”

“Do you like it?” Shakiro smiled and said, “You can’t use your real name when fighting at an arena like this. It’s just a nickname so don’t mind it too much.”

“Ah… Alright…”

“Ah, and…”

“Yes?”

“Don’t use any of your skills. Fight with only the basics. Do you understand?”

“Yes...”

“Then, I wish you luck.”

“I will see you later,” Siegfried said with a bow before leaving the waiting area.

“You will realize why your nickname is Weaklingman in a while,” Shakiro said with a mischievous smile while looking at Siegfried’s back.

***

“Ladies and gentlemen! I give you, WEAKLINGMAAAAAN!” the host enthusiastically shouted to announce Siegfried’s entrance to the arena.

Siegfried was surprised the moment he saw his enemy.

[Mickey]

[Type: NPC]

[Race: Mimic]

[Level: 37]

[Title: Scythe of Massacre]

His first enemy was a member of a humanoid race called ‘Mimic,’ and his opponent looked like a crossbreed of a mantis and a human.

However, his opponent’s level surprised Siegfried the most.

‘Can it even withstand a blow or two…?’?

Siegfried was worried for his opponent.

He wasn’t really overconfident nor was he looking down on Mickey, but he sincerely thought that he could crush Mickey with a single Smite.

“Booo! Weaklingman!”

“What’s with that skeleton get up?! Are you trying to show off or something?!”

“Mickey! Go and pull that skeleton’s head off!”

The ignorant spectators—no, gamblers booed Siegfried. 𝒃𝒆𝒅𝙣𝒐𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎

‘Why are you being like this to me…?’?Siegfried thought. Then, he decided to ignore the spectators coolly.

When he was starting to wonder about Shakiro’s motives, a message suddenly popped up in front of him.

[Alert: The Debuff Armor is scanning your opponent’s ability.]

‘Debuff Armor…?’?Siegfried was surprised when he saw the real name of the skeleton armor he was wearing.

[Alert: Scan complete!]

[Alert: The user is going to be nerfed accordingly!]

A confounding message appeared…

‘User? It’s going to nerf me?’?Siegfried thought in surprise.

While Siegfried was distracted by the Debuff Armor, a bunch of sharp objects shot out from the armor and stabbed him all over.

Puk! Puk! Puk!?