Achievements.
By themselves, they weren't anything all that special. They were side contents meant to flavor the game with a little more fun for the players. They could be given for even the smallest things like consecutive log-ins for a month or eating a dozen apples continuously. They were merely simple extra challenges that could be seen in almost any game.
But this one was different.
'It gives a whopping six-point bonus to INT!'
Considering that a player would gain three points for a level-up, this essentially meant that Seojin just leveled up twice. More importantly, he acquired this in a starter town, which meant that…
'I can probably squeeze out a lot of useful stuff from here.'
It seemed that even beginner quests could not be taken lightly; achievements aside, he had just gotten a 100x bonus from the default reward.
"Is there anything else you want?"
A polite smile automatically spread across his face. A new yellow exclamation mark appeared above Neraid's head, which meant there was a quest available.
"I'm fine, but I know someone who needs help. I'm sure an adventurer like would be of great use."
"Help, you say?"
"It's Ferguson, he's a blacksmith in the plaza. My friend always looks so down nowadays. Can you check on him for me? He won't tell me much…"
Main Quest!
Ferguson, a blacksmith in Movelon, has a problem that he can't tell anyone about. Help him solve his issue.
Objective: Help Ferguson solve his problem.
Default Reward: 30 Copper, Crude Iron Ore.
It was a quest chain. The reward was shabby, but Seojin knew that was only the "default" reward.
"I'll be right there."
* * *
Seojin opened the community tab and sent Merhen a voice message before starting the next quest.
"Yo, you busy right now?"
There was something he had to check first.
Seojin wanted to have a chat with Merhen if he wasn't too busy, however…
-Gosh, DPSs are dropping like flies! Tanks, we really need a distraction!
He could hear Minhyuk's desperate voice yapping into his microphone. Maybe he was in a raid or something. He could hear a constant barrage of rumbling, banging, and general chaos.
'Maybe I should call him later…'
Seojin debated with himself and was about to hang up.
With the boom and thud and finally a roar resembling a crumbling building, Merhen spoke with a relaxed voice.
-Nice work, guys. We'll proceed to the next room after a ten-minute break!
"You done?"
-Well obviously… oh, Seojin? Is that you? Hold on a sec.
Seojin guessed Merhen was moving away from the site of the quest as the noise grew weaker. It wasn't until it was completely quiet that Merhen spoke again.
"What's up?"
"Lemme ask you something."
-Yeah, what? Don't tell me you've already slain a dragon or something. You're making my heart pound right now, you know.
"Ease off, man. It's nothing like that… I got an achievement. Is it normal to get one in the beginner town?"
"What, was it something like 'First Group' or 'The Acorn Collector'? If that's the case…"
Even the names sounded shabby. Seojin let out a wry laugh. "I wouldn't have told you if that was the case. It was called the 'Perfectionist', six-point bonus for INT."
-…Damn, bro.
Seojin knew instantly from Merhen's surprised sigh.
'It's definitely a rare one. So rare that even this Level 143 hotshot didn't expect it.'
-Where the hell did you get that?
"From Neraid's quest. You know, the leather stuff."
-It doesn't make sense. What did you get him? Tiger skins? No, even that wouldn't suffice… someone already did that, his friend helped him apparently.
"I just gathered squirrel hide and gave it to him. It wasn't normal leather. It was… uh, yeah, surprisingly intact leather."
-That's how you got 'Perfectionist'? No, wait a minute. Surprisingly intact leather means… you killed the squirrels with your bare hands?
His tone of voice alone was enough to express the absurdity of the situation. Seojin smiled.
"Save your surprise for later. So, you don't get 'Perfectionist' from there normally, right?"
-Damn no, obviously…
Merhen simply confirmed what he had already assumed.
There never was any information and no one has ever tried it officially… I heard the achievement was meant to be acquired in both a different place and a different way though.
"How hard is it normally?"
-At least a hundred times harder than catching a squirrel… oh, hold on.
He could hear Merhen bustling around again. Looked like break time was over.
Just as expected…
-Hey, we'll talk about this later… no actually, I'll send you a couple of links, so check it out! And don't reply!
Merhen hung up right before sending him two links.
"Perfectionist" achievement guide
Movelon Beginner's Quest Line
'Huh? It's something everyone has?'
If there was so much information about it, it couldn't possibly be that great right?—Seojin thought as he clicked on the link.
However, his opinion changed after ten minutes.
"Well, seems like it is a big deal."
Seojin understood clearly.
How to earn the 'Perfectionist' achievement differs drastically depending on your level. Please check the previous post if you're below Level 100, and if you are above…
Players up to Level 110 should go to the Heart of the Lava Golem. That solo instance dungeon. There, make sure there's no monster left in the dungeon.
Am I kidding? No way, it took me about a month. Level 110 and above should go to…
Whether a player knew how to achieve it or not didn't matter too much. It was fairly simple but took much time and effort. Grinding levels instead would probably be more time-and-cost-efficient.
Seojin also found out that the method also varied drastically depending on the player's current level.
Not all achievements were like that, but for some achievements, it would be better to obtain them sooner than later.
'I still don't know what they are and how to get them, though…'
If Merhen was that surprised, it'd be safe to assume that majority of players didn't know about it. This meant that Seojin would have to stay in the dark to find all of the achievements.
It could even end up being a waste of time.
'Let's have a look at the quest line first.'
Seojin chose to read about the quests first. He'd obtained 'Perfectionist' by accident during a quest, after all. Seojin opened the link to see a long article.
Startown: Movelon Perfect Walkthrough
Hey, this is Guildmaster Robert from the Guild of The Ironblood Knights.
Today, we're going to briefly talk about the main quests you can do in Movelon. For true newbies, of course, Neraid's quest. You should…
"Well, how kind of him to write down this stuff…"
Seojin skimmed through the page quickly. The names of the main quests, starting points, and rewards were all pretty easy to understand.
Suddenly, he paused and scrolled up again.
'Something… doesn't add up.'
He scrolled back to the beginning of the walkthrough and began to read over it calmly.
Newbies should keep this in mind - you should pass the starter phase as quickly as possible. Push yourself a bit harder in the starter town to achieve at least Level 30.
For example, let's talk about Neraid's quest. You only get a maximum of 200 Silver, even if you bring him tiger hide.
That's a Default Reward once you reach Level 30. It's almost impossible for a newbie to hunt a tiger anyway.
'Yes, this part… why does he want people to speedrun the lower levels? What's with all the emphasis on reaching Level 30?'
He couldn't comment on the latter part since he hadn't gotten that far yet. For Neraid's quest, however, he simply cleared it and received unexpected rewards.
Seojin would never be able to get such a reward if he followed this walkthrough and rushed through all the quests.
'Well, maybe I'm just being sensitive, but…'
It was sketchy. He knew that because he took the time to clear the quest differently and ended up getting a better reward.
'Well, it feels kinda bad to just let it go…'
Robert, the guildmaster of The Ironblood Knights, had a wide variety of walkthroughs, and Seojin had a lot of time.
Seojin raised his eyebrows.
"Let's take a look."
* * *
Today we'll see what we can do in Occam…
We'll go through Goldpeak's…
Nice to see you all. Our target today is the Golden Plain…
Robert had an endless number of guides and walkthroughs, which he had started writing about nine months ago.
He must have been posting quite consistently for him to have kept uploading walkthroughs for nine months.
Naturally, people were grateful, but also suspicious. Why on earth would a top-tier guildmaster release this kind of information?
Seojin quickly found the answer to that one.
I want everyone to enjoy end-game content together. Midgard isn't a single-player game. You can only make it by playing a certain role, and playing it perfectly.
You can be skeptical and not follow my advice all you want. It doesn't matter to me as I don't have any other thoughts on the matter.
If you were right, all of our guild members would have an end-game spec. But as you know, there are a variety of levels within our guild.
I made this guild and gathered people for fun, not profit. I love communicating with other players. Especially when raiding dungeons together.
That's who I am. That's how I've been in previous games, and that's how I'll always be too.
Games are meant to be enjoyed. I enjoy Midgard. That's all.
It was a lengthy explanation, no, a calm statement where he shared his thoughts on the controversy surrounding him.
That was enough. The opinions of most gamers turned sharply, and many players gladly started following his guidance.
Of course, he didn't write anything about key quests, but no one thought they had the right to complain about that. People should be grateful for all the guides he already makes—this was the majority opinion.
However, Seojin didn't agree.
'That's how you created a top-tier guild? With that ordinary class and an average level?'
Robert was only Level 188. Yet his combat power was ranked within the top twenty players. He had beaten players who were dozens of levels above him.
People babbled on about things like skill issues, gear issues, or whatever excuses they wanted to make, but Seojin thought differently.
'Nah, it must be a stat difference. I'm one hundred percent sure. It doesn't make any sense otherwise…'
Seojin was also a top-ranked player once. Therefore, he was well aware of the contradictory nature of the matter. Gear was obtained from quests and hunting. So why couldn't other rankers get the gear that Robert got?
The same could be said about skills. If Robert could do it, other rankers should be able to as well.
It was only natural, Seojin went through the same thing when he played Asgard. The difference between him and the other rankers wasn't that much.
'It's getting more and more suspicious, especially…'
Seojin checked several posts at the same time. All of them were related to the starter towns.
Checking the opening of each article, the corners of Seojin's mouth raised.
"This part bugs me the most."
There's nothing to gain in the starter towns… hurry up and go for Level 30… beyond that is where the game really starts…
He couldn't explain why every guide and walkthrough said the same thing in the beginning.
He didn't think for too long. Seojin decided to do what he always did. .
'Let's go down into the rabbit hole and see what happens.'