WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Satori
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Healers Are Not Tools ◈
Chapter 13: Jeong Hana Really Is Famous
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“Hana.”
Im Harin had naturally settled in beside Jeong Hana at a two-person gaming station. After watching Hana play for a while, she spoke up.
“What is it?”
Hana’s eyes were still fixed on her monitor, but she answered attentively.
“You could just click Decline on that. Why did you shove it into the corner?”
Harin pointed at a window.
《 ‘ItsColdAsHell’ has invited you to the ‘We'reRichNow’ guild. 》
“Oh, this? The guild invitation?”
“Do you maybe not know how to click the Decline button... Ow!”
As if she’d been waiting for this, Hana raised her left hand. Smack! She slapped Harin on the back.
“There’s barely an age gap between us. You know that, right?”
“But you’re hiding windows away like some granny.”
“I leave it there on purpose. If I click Decline, another invitation comes in.”
“You get invited that often?”
Harin sounded a little doubtful.
“Yeah. High-level healers are hard to find. Just walking around high-level areas gets people curious. They talk to me, send me friend requests, and try to invite me to their guilds.”
“Really? That’s never happened to me.”
“Of course it hasn’t. Damage dealers are a dime a dozen.”
To demonstrate, Hana clicked Decline.
Dun-dun!
《 ‘BigBroOverHere’ has invited you to the ‘CouplesAreOutOfYourLeague’ guild. 》
“See? Plenty of people just fire off invitations at anyone without a guild, hoping to kidnap them.”
“Hmmm...”
Harin stared at Hana’s face, then looked at the game screen.
While Hana explained in a matter-of-fact voice, her fingers never stopped pressing buttons. She kept hunting monsters and deftly gathering the most tempting profession materials.
“I don’t think that’s the only reason, Hana.”
“What do you mean? You just saw it with your own eyes.”
“Isn’t it just because you’re freaking famous?”
Hana stopped hammering on her keyboard.
“No... It’s not like that. I’m really not that famous.”
“You are famous. You’re probably the most famous healer right now. It’s not like there aren’t any streamers playing healers, but you’re the highest level.”
“Well, healers do have a hard time leveling.”
“And even though leveling is hard, you’re the highest level, and you keep showing up on streams as this unexpected guest.”
Harin pointed at Hana’s mountain of friend requests.
“You’ve got so many friend requests coming in that you aren’t even checking them. If that isn’t being famous, what is?”
“I’m telling you... It’s just because there aren’t many healers. You’ve played Darkwatch 2, so you know what it’s like. Not many people play supports or tanks there either.”
“Is that really the same thing?”
“Of course it is. So few people play healers that you stand out if you put in a little effort and play well.”
Harin stared at Hana.
‘Is she being modest, or does she honestly think that?’
The truth was that Jeong Hana really was famous.
She simply believed she was getting attention because she played a healer.
“Anyway, Hana. You know...”
“Know what? What is it?”
Harin cleared her throat loudly, preparing to satisfy a curiosity she’d had for two days.
“You’re kind of weird.”
“Last time, you asked me why I wasn’t dead yet. Are we really that close?”
Hana asked because she genuinely wondered whether they were close enough to joke like that.
“What? No? Wait! That’s not what I meant!”
“I know. I was joking.”
So they were close. Reassessing the distance between them, Hana reached for her drink.
“Anyway, what’s weird?”
“How does your level go up so fast? That’s what’s so weird.”
“Just to be clear, I’m definitely not using cheats or hacks to level.”
“What kind of cheat or hack could even do that? Accusing you of that would just be hating on you for no reason.”
Hana shrugged.
“Then why do you think it’s strange? Maybe I just play a lot.”
“That can’t be all there is to it. Your level is higher than streamers who play all day.”
“Mine? I don’t think it’s that high.”
“No, sometimes you’re even higher than Sky or Daydream. And they play all day.”
Hana thought for a brief moment, then glanced at Harin to gauge her reaction.
“Well... I play twenty-four hours a day too, you know?”
“That’s what I mean. Even if you all play all day, you’re a healer. You’re weak as hell. You can’t kill monsters quickly, but whenever I look, your level is really high. It’s amazing.”
“Oh... So that’s what you were asking? Well, of course.”
Of course.
Harin’s eyes lit up at those words.
“I knew it! You’ve got some secret sauce, don’t you? Right? Tell me too! I can’t spend all day gaming like you!”
Smack! Harin grabbed Hana’s left arm and clung to it.
“Hey, come on... Wait, are we really this close?”
“We are! We are!! Tell me! Please tell me, Hana!”
In truth, Hana and Harin weren’t quite that close.
Their age gap was a little awkward, and since they’d first met because of a request from the landlady, they hadn’t exactly felt an instant bond.
But their hobbies overlapped far too much.
In fact, none of Harin’s friends loved games as seriously as she did, so she desperately needed someone to talk about them with.
“Ha... Fine, I’ll tell you. Just back off a little. Your chest is pressing against me.”
“Want me to press closer?”
“What are you even saying?! Get off!”
Blushing, Hana pressed her palm against Harin’s forehead and pushed her away.
“Anyway... Seriously, what was that? So this is it, right? You’re a student, so you don’t have much time to play. You want to use my method to level up faster.”
“Yes! Exactly! Please tell me! Come on, Hana! All YouTube ever says is, ‘Just do quests,’ or ‘Get a party to kill elite mobs.’ Nothing but that kind of crap.”
Route optimization.
To Hana, it was an obvious concept. But in this world, Lost of Fantasy was a newborn game that hadn’t even been out for a month.
“Of course that’s all they have... Nobody’s reached max level yet.”
For a moment, Harin felt something slightly off about those words, but she didn’t press the point.
“First... Open your quest window.”
“Like this?”
Harin immediately opened the UI, which was ready to burst with more than ten accepted quests.
“Let’s see... Well, you picked the right area. If you’d gone the other way, you’d be swearing your head off.”
“Huh? You get to choose an area?”
“You didn’t know? Some quests send you to another area.”
“Oh... They do? I was just playing while watching streams. You came here, so I thought this was the only place to go. When they gave me the quest, I came straight over.”
Hana gave a wry smile.
“Sometimes... there are two areas with the same recommended level.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because some areas are basically Demon King’s Army territory, and others are Allied Coalition territory.”
“Oh... But why did they split them up?”
“Lore wank, basically... And it’s an open world, right? While filling in the map, they have to make it feel like the two factions are at war. So you end up with places like that.”
As she explained, Hana flicked her index finger.
“You saw the stream earlier, right? You can completely drive the opposing faction out of an area. But what would happen if there were only one area?”
“Wait, if we kill all their NPCs, they can’t accept or turn in quests?”
“Exactly. That’s why there are two. And you need some people going into the other side’s territory for open-world PvP to happen naturally, right? That’s why each faction has villages and quests in enemy territory.”
Harin nodded to show she understood for now.
“Anyway, you picked the right area. The quest routes here are short, so you can finish them quickly, pick up the dungeon quests, and get out.”
As she spoke, Hana pointed at a few quests.
“See the ones I’m pointing at?”
“The mail delivery one... and the one where you turn in herbs?”
“Yeah. Just abandon those. Never do quests like these. Grinding mobs is faster.”
“Huh? Why? They give you money. And equipment too.”
Hana immediately shrugged.
“But the distance is insane. This route is absolute garbage. Do you know you have to travel through at least four areas to finish this?”
“Four? It’s just delivering mail. Why do I have to go so far?”
“You think it ends in the next village, don’t you? Nope. Once you deliver it, you have to stop by a level-thirty area, then a level-twenty area, then head back to the Demon King’s Castle.”
The Demon King’s Castle was the largest central city, where all Demon King’s Army players gathered.
It was a settlement that could easily be called their capital.
“That’s fucking nuts...”
“Have you unlocked all the gargoyle stops?”
“Gargoyles?”
“Open your map.”
Hana leaned far to the left and reached out with her left hand.
“You’re in for a rough time... You haven’t unlocked a single one.”
“Huh? Did I miss something? I’ve been pretty thorough about doing my quests.”
“Before the patch, this was... Never mind. First, do you remember seeing NPCs called Gargoyle Keepers in each village?”
“...Oh! Yeah, I’ve seen them.”
Harin hadn’t really understood what those NPCs did, so she hadn’t bothered talking to them.
“They’re sort of like taxi drivers. But they don’t take you straight to wherever you want. Think of it as a route with stops.”
“Oh...”
“So if you unlock this village, then here, and here... and the outpost in between, you can pay to ride a gargoyle and automatically fly all the way to the Demon King’s Castle.”
“Wait, really? I thought you could only get to the Demon King’s Castle with a Hearthstone.”
“Nope. You can go there on a gargoyle whenever you want. The Hearthstone is just really convenient.”
Surprised, Harin covered her mouth with her left hand.
“So... Anyway, the point is, don’t do delivery quests like these. They take too long, even if you travel by gargoyle.”
“The experience is crap for the time you spend, right?”
“Yeah, exactly. And don’t do this one where you gather and turn in profession materials either. The stuff barely ever drops. You haven’t chosen a profession yet, right?”
“No. There wasn’t a guide or anything, so I haven’t picked one.”
“You need at least a blue tool to gather this stuff properly, you know? But you don’t have one, do you? So, want to pull up about two hundred weeds? You don’t, right?”
“Absolutely not! I’d rather kill two hundred mobs.”
Hana winked at her.
“Get it? Don’t do these. They eat up a stupid amount of time and give you next to no experience, so you’re just losing out. Oh, and here. Here.”
Tap, tap. Hana pointed to several villages.
“There are quests here from a Jadekin with a long beard and an old Jadekin woman. Don’t accept those, either.”
“Why not?”
“They make you do a ton of stuff. It says you get a weapon as the final reward, but even if you equip it, dungeon gear is better. It’s not worth it for you.”
“Oh...”
“And those quests really do only give you a ‘weapon.’ No experience, so you’d be wasting your time.”
Harin nodded eagerly.
“Seriously, though, is there anything you don’t know? You can answer everything I ask.”
“My level’s higher than yours. That’s why I know.”
“Really? Then, Hana, I need to go to this dungeon...”
Harin pointed at a quest that required a dungeon clear.
“Um, you don’t go here anymore, do you?”
“I’m outside the recommended level range, but I need to get a shield with Spirit on it anyway. Let’s go. I’ll put a party together.”
As if it were nothing, Hana deftly began finding a tank and damage dealers in no time.
「pls give me one spot my Combat Power is crazy high」
「Oooh, rogue with 424 Combat Power getting in line」
「Hello, O divine healer! Shield warrior with 411 Combat Power here! Cleared it 3 times!」
「hey we ran together last time, can I get an invite? druid, 411 CP」
‘She says she’s going to a dungeon, and whispers asking for invites flood in like that. And she’s not famous?’
Watching Hana fill all three party slots in an instant, Harin shook her head.
‘You are famous, Hana! Seriously! You’re totally playing innocent! You could get over fifty people together!’
Footnotes:
The original Korean uses a playful stand-in for YouTube.
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