Episode 18
018. Public Bounty
“So, the ‘Golden hands’ who killed me yesterday, that son of a… no, anyway! I will definitely find him and take my revenge. But he doesn’t seem to be around Neman Village. He probably passed level 10 and left for another region.”
└ Oh, that sounds plausible!
└ Well, he has two legendary items equipped; there’s no reason to stay in a beginner village.
└ Then how do we find him now? Lepyon map is f***ing huge. There are like 48 kingdoms? Yeah~ good luck.
Even the viewers mocking PK Godt were starting to focus a bit on his words. And around the time the viewer count peaked, he caught his breath and revealed his trump card.
“That’s why, I, PK Godtga, am issuing a public bounty!”
The chat exploded at his words.
└ Wow, he’s insane. A public bounty, lol.
└ How much is the reward?
└ This is gonna be hilarious ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
He raised a finger towards the viewers, starting to hype up the tension.
“To the person who reports Golden Hand current location, I will give 10,000 gold, equivalent to 1 million won! To the person who pins his exact coordinates, I will give 100,000 gold!”
The gamble PK Godt played. The bigger the bet, the better at a time like this. He instinctively knew that the payoff would be huge if he succeeded in his revenge. And his prediction was spot on. The broadcast fell into a frenzy.
└ Wow, insane. 10 million won?
└ I’m only looking for Golden Hand from today.
└ Geumson bro, I’m sorry… Bro, where are you? I’ll keep it to myself!
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Look at Godt’s scale, man.
└ Yeah! This is the Godt I know! This is why I watch your stream!
Even the viewers who had been cheering for golden hand now began to shine their eyes like hunters, turning into predators. Watching the public opinion and chat reverse, PK Godt wore a satisfied smile.
The viewers were mostly Lepione players themselves. Recently, Lepione’s concurrent user numbers were hitting record highs daily. It meant everyone, regardless of age or gender, was logging into Lepione. In that situation, every Lepione user became a potential hunter. golden hands would have nowhere left to hide.
“Hey, golden hands! If you don’t want to quit Lepione, bring back the items I dropped and kneel down to apologize! Or I’ll PK you endlessly until you’re level 1, so crawl on your own. Got it?”
PK Godt’s continued provocation. For PK Godt, it was a situation with nothing to lose. The value of the lost items alone was already over 10 million won. If he recovered the lost items, that alone could cover the bounty. golden hands apology would just be a bonus. If things went according to the scenario he wrote, PK Godt’s stock in the game streaming world would skyrocket.
A clever move with a high probability of success. It was undoubtedly a reversal move that could flip the atmosphere. If only his opponent wasn’t golden hands.
While Repinet and PK Godt’s stream were heating up, golden hand was completely unaware of such a situation. Having experienced the apocalypse, golden hand had no leisure to leisurely browse Lepinet. Just exploring the ancient Cogwheel Dungeon required all his attention.
‘Is this the ancient Cogwheel Dungeon?’
A damp cave revealed as the darkness lifted. A cave of a scale that couldn’t simply be called the basement of a Magic Engineer’s building. The dungeon was akin to a transition to another space. But golden hand wasn’t flustered. He had experienced this hundreds of times already.
However, even golden hand, who had experienced various dungeons, found the cave’s appearance unfamiliar. Pipes and wires of unknown purpose were entangled like snakes on the walls and ceiling, and rusty gears and broken machine parts littered the floor enough to trip over. Moreover, the air was filled with a unique smell—a mix of iron, oil, and unknown vapors rising from the ground.
Kreek— Thud.
Kreek— Thud.
golden hand hadn’t taken many steps when an unpleasant mechanical sound came from the darkness. The moment Geumson adjusted his grip on his hammer in response, he identified them.
[Scrap Collector Golem Lv.22]
[Cogwheel Sentinel Lv.23]
Their levels were lower compared to the trolls he encountered at the Forest Warden’s Nest. But these were not living creatures; they were machines made of cold steel. Ancient golems that felt no pain, no fear, and faithfully obeyed only commands.
‘Indeed… this quest isn’t made with success in mind.’
The golems to face were around level 20. In contrast, the player level allowed to visit here was level 10 or below. Moreover, not one, but two. A hopeless situation you couldn’t win even if you died and came back to life.
At best, it was a quest where you could only see hope if you carefully evaded them, as Ravi said. But even that didn’t look easy.
Kree-ree-reek—!
Thud thud thud thud!
The ancient golems charged, having already spotted golden hand. The nearly 3-meter-tall Scrap Collector Golem swung its sharp claw-arms as it rushed, and the Cogwheel Sentinel fired gears at high speed from its chest.
For a normal player, the game would already be over here. They might be looking at a [You have died.] message. They would be helplessly flustered by this bizarre and unpredictable attack. But everything was clear to golden hand’s eyes.
‘Intuition of Resolve!’
Bright red dots appeared all over the golems’ bodies. From the mana core and power pipes to the head unit housing the central processing unit. Every weakness was laid bare before golden hand eyes.
“This… seems worth trying.”
With a fierce smile, golden hand lunged towards the Cogwheel Sentinel. Evading the fired gears lightly and closing the distance in an instant, golden hand swung the hammer in his hand.
Whoosh!
Crash!
The hammer struck precisely the red dot marked on the Cogwheel Sentinel’s head.
[Successfully struck a weak point.]
[Critical hit confirmed.]
[Cogwheel Sentinel has been destroyed.]
golden hand Strength stat, with item effects included, had already reached 57. He was on a completely different level from a typical level 10 player. Moreover, combined with the Head Hunter effect and the overwhelming attack power of the legendary hammer, the Cogwheel Sentinel couldn’t withstand golden hand single blow.
The Sentinel with its shattered head fell, spraying sparks. Without stopping, golden hand spun his body and aimed for the shoulder joint of the Scrap Collector Golem pouncing from behind.
Crunch!
With its joint shattered and arm torn off, the golem staggered, losing its balance. golden hand didn’t miss the opening and drove his hammer down once more towards its power pipe.
Kwa-ddeuk—!
Pshhhhht!
The pipe crumpled, spewing blue steam, and the golem collapsed powerlessly. golden hand had turned two golems into scrap metal in mere seconds.
‘These are much easier to deal with than trolls.’
Unlike trolls that moved erratically with beastly instinct, golems moved along precise routes. Once you accurately understood their weaknesses and patterns, they were actually easier to fight.
The weakness inherent in being precisely made. A slight misalignment could halt their function.
‘But that’s strange. The core of a golem is self-repair… are these models that can’t do that?’
As long as the core remained intact, golems could essentially self-repair indefinitely. That was their truly terrifying aspect. But these models seemed different. Even if he waited, the golems showed no sign of recovery. Instead, a message appeared.
…
[Level restriction temporarily lifted.]
[Acquire 100% additional experience.]
[Level has increased! Lv. 11]
“This is… easier than I thought.”
The system seemed to judge this dungeon as not a beginner zone. Thanks to that, the level restriction was lifted. Moreover, the experience was double that of the outside.
The ancient Cogwheel Dungeon was no different from an experience event. A smile appeared on golden hand face. A very bright smile.
“I’ll properly enjoy this experience event!”
Contrary to Ravi’s expectations, golden hand boldly began to conquer the dungeon. And at a very fast pace.
Holding his hammer, golden hand headed deeper into the dungeon. Countless golems charged at him along his path, but the results weren’t much different.
With one hammer strike, joints shattered.
Kwa-gwak!
With two, the power source was destroyed.
Poong—
With three, the head was smashed.
Crash!
Wood-deuk—!
The golems collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. He lost count of how many golems he destroyed. He simply destroyed charging golems, and even if they didn’t charge, he rushed forward first to destroy them. Ancient golems exploding one after another wherever he looked. Then, a message suddenly appeared.
[Achievement: Golem Dismantling Expert]
[First to destroy 100 golems using only weak point strikes.]
[The system admires your precise and merciless method of destruction.]
[Effect: All damage dealt to mechanical-type monsters increases by 20%.]
‘Dismantling Expert?’
golden hand smiled wryly at the achieved achievement. It was somewhat ironic for a Magic Engineer, who should be creating and building golems, to achieve an achievement called ‘Golem Dismantling Expert’.
‘Is it… because of the hammer?’
The weapon other players wouldn’t use was the hammer. Players usually used swords, spears, or bows. If not those, then staffs for magic and such. But golden hand used a hammer.
It seemed understandable that the system recognized golden hand as a ‘Golem Dismantling Expert’. But unlike that regret, the effect was very satisfying. A 20% damage increase against mechanical-type monsters. This only fueled golden hand dungeon conquest further.
