The 31st Piece Overturns the Game Board

The huge bird swooped by where they stood.

“Is it a griffin?”

“No, it’s just a big bird!”

- Big Bird!

- Where’s Elmo?!

- Imagine waking up to that LOL

- Look at Snowman’s face 🤣🤣🤣

Surprisingly, the bird grazed past them, only grabbing the innocent firewood before crushing it with its talons.

“Damn it! Pull out your sword!”

Karen took a stance to pull out the sword but only hesitated. She looked like a mime doing an act, like someone who was broken.

Almost like something horrible would happen if she pulled out the sword.

“Pull it out! Please, take it out!”

“Karen, we don’t have the time to be doing that! For now, just prepare for its next attack!”

“Urgh… I’ll at least hit it with the sheath for now.”

Seol’s Eyes of Perception activated.

[[Koopa: Shadow Canyon’s Predator]

Rank: Rare

Estimated Level: 15~24

Koopa is a member of a special vulture species that has a considerably unique characteristic compared to the other birds of prey.

Koopa is unique in that it grows differently based on what it devours. And the reason that Koopa ruled the skies of the Shade Canyon is because it has devoured the many strong lifeforms in the Shade Canyon as food.

This powerful vulture suddenly appeared one day in the Shade Canyon, and it slowly grew to stand at the peak of the ecosystem.

It may be a hideous and smelly vulture, but you must be cautious not to get caught by its talons. There haven’t been any rumors of Koopa eating humans, but that could also just be due to Koopa eating every human it has encountered so far.

Basic Skills: [Scratch 2], [Scavenge Food 1], [Weakening Cry 2], [Rock Throw 1], [Steel Body 1]

Unique Skills: [Devour Corpse 1], [Nutrient Frenzy 1]]

Seol was surprised that this vulture which suddenly appeared was one of the apex predators of the massive Shade Canyon, but he was more surprised by its name.

“Koopa? Its name is Koopa?”

Chiiirp!

“It’s coming! We should quickly…”

“No, I think it’s over?”

“...What?”

Chiiirp…

Contrary to what they expected after Koopa’s imposing entrance, it simply disappeared after grabbing the firewood once.

“What? That was boring…”

“It would have been dangerous if it continued to fight us. After all, we can’t fly and canyons are a grave for those without wings. Also, you’re way too confident for someone who can’t pull out their sword.”

“I might not be able to pull out my sword but I can still fight, alright? It is a bit frustrating that I can’t pull it out though.”

“Whatever, hmph. Hey, Snowman! What should we do?”

“...Huh?”

“Should we make a fire again? Or should we go somewhere else since this place is a bit exposed?”

“Let’s go somewhere else. Somewhere with a roof if possible.”

“Canyons are filled with small caves anyway so we can just go inside one. Even if it has a master, it won’t matter once we make it our dinner.”

As Jamad started to lift the luggage, Karen approached Seol.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hm?”

“Is it because you were surprised by the ambush? Should we have woken you up earlier?”

“No, that was fine. I already realized it was coming before it attacked us anyway. I was also a bit ridiculous for trying to sleep peacefully in the Shade Canyon too.”

“Then why are you so out of it?”

“It’s because…” Seol continued his thoughts, “...It’s nothing. I was probably mistaken.”

“What? Are you kidding me?”

“For now, we need to find somewhere to sleep, so let’s talk about this later.”

Seol told Karen that it was a mistake, but he wasn’t mistaken.

There was no way he could be.

‘Koopa… you were alive?’

Kiri, the Falconer, was Seol’s piece who lost his life in the Shade Canyon.

And Shade Canyon was also the place where Koopa, Riki’s faithful summon and vulture, remained on its own without its master.

‘How could this be…’

* * *

This… is quite an old story.

And there is nothing more exhausting than reminiscing about a bad memory that happened over a decade ago.

Chirp… Chirp…

- Snowman, why did you pick a vulture? The party’s getting a penalty to our Spirit because of it.

“I’m sorry, but Koopa is my pet bird.”

- …Never ever pick a summoner-type class again, Snowman. You have to prioritize their performance. Vultures eat a lot but grow slowly. Not only that, they’re violent, insubordinate, and smell. There’s only negative things about them.

“Koopa was pushed out of the nest by his other brothers. If I didn’t save him, he would have died.”

- And I’m asking why you made a bird like that your main force. Just use it and release it for a better one.

“But it listens to me. Koopa’s definitely going to be a huge help later.”

- There are so many good birds for you to choose from, why’d you have to go and pick a vulture of all things… Do you really think Koopa’s going to be helpful on Adventures when its talons are as small as a bug?

The masked man was right.

A falconer was a hunter who used their bird, their summon, as their main power.

A falconer had many other traits such as exceptional skills with the bow and survival knowledge but nothing was as important as the bird they raised.

Each bird had their own unique characteristics as well.

Some birds had strong elemental resistance and some birds could break steel with their beaks.

These types of birds were often beloved by falconers.

However, vultures, unlike the popular birds, were completely ignored by the falconers. The reason being all of the negatives the man listed above.

Seol’s Kiri was a special falconer who chose the unpopular vulture as his bird.

And because of that, the other players called him an eccentric.

This was still back in the time when Snowman was an ordinary player and not recognized as the best amongst them.

As Seol’s Adventures as Kiri continued, Koopa only continued to grow by the day.

Koopa had grown to the point that he felt heavy when he rested on Seol’s right arm.

And it was around then…

Kiri and his party had arrived at the Shade Canyon.

The fourth night, they decided to set up camp and sleep at a suitable place near the edge of the canyon.

[You have died.]

And what greeted them in the morning was the message above.

Even after so much time, players faced the same death that Kiri’s party faced in the Shade Canyon. Despite that, no one still knew why it happened.

- Sleeping in the Shade Canyon results in death.

With nothing but ominous rumors like that left behind, players avoided the Shade Canyon.

* * *

Seol was sure that the bird just now was Koopa and couldn’t believe that Koopa had grown that big.

‘So you were alive, Koopa.’

While Seol was happy to see him, as he was no longer Kiri, he could do nothing more than look at where Koopa swooped by with a longing look.

“What’s wrong?”

Karen, thinking that Seol was acting strangely, jumped right in front of his face and shouted.

“Master!”

“Ah! Yeah, what?”

“Concentrate! We came all the way here, we shouldn’t—”

“Yeah, I was just thinking about something else.”

They found a place to rest for a while and moved toward it.

“Found it. Let’s set up camp here.”

Jamad led the group to a place where they could rest.

Sit.

“Fuu…”

“You’re tired, huh? Let’s take a break.”

Seol let out a sigh after putting his baggage on the ground. Seol, like a habit, was about to light a fire again but put the firewood back into his inventory.

“Are you not going to light a fire?”

“Are you cold?”

“The terrain’s blocking the wind so it’s not that bad, but… is it because you think the bird’s going to return?”

“Yeah, because I’m worried.”

“Worried about what?”

Seol thought Koopa acted strangely.

‘Why did Koopa just leave?’

Back then, Seol and his party were somewhere where it was very advantageous for Koopa to attack them. Even so, he did nothing more than suddenly appear and scare them.

‘Maybe Koopa doesn’t eat humans?’

There was something like that on the information he saw through the Eyes of Perception as well.

Even so, it was pointless since he couldn’t trust the contents. It was written as if it was unsure of the information anyway.

“Why did it show up?”

“It’s probably… probably… the fire? The fire, no?”

“Right?”

“How would a fire even happen in a canyon anyway? I’m pretty sure adventurers and hunters are the most it could be.”

It was common sense to not light a fire in a dangerous area. Even though you would avoid the cold, you would just be inviting the more dangerous monsters toward you.

“Even if it did come because of the fire, its actions after that were a bit strange.”

“You were thinking about that? Seriously, I… My master has so many worries.”

“We should go without a fire tonight then.”

“Doesn’t matter to me. We already brought the warm stones anyway.”

‘Warm stones’ were an essential item for Adventurers in situations like these. It was an incredible item that could help maintain your temperature just by holding onto it.

As Seol held the warm stone, he could feel himself falling asleep. But… perhaps because of what just arose… sleep became a struggle.

Pat.

Karen placed her hand on Seol’s head.

“Sleep well. Nothing will happen.”

“Okay.”

Only after her hand was on his head was Seol able to fall asleep. Their first night at the canyon ended in quite an eventful manner.

* * *

The next day, Seol’s party properly started their investigation of the canyon.

“Why is it so big?” asked Karen.

“We should just be glad that there are large paths we could take. If they were any narrower, we could fall off at any time,” said Jamad.

“I never knew you had such an optimistic side to you, troll.”

“You’re just pessimistic, elf. Karuna was so quiet compared to you.”

As Karen and Jamad continued their conversation, Seol simply led the way.

‘Enemies…’

Karen hopped ahead of Seol and looked in the same direction that Seol did. And there, gray goblins were scouting the area.

“Goblins,” said Karen.

“Yeah,” Seol replied.

It was common to run into goblins on an Adventure. As expected from a monster that often appeared in fantasy settings, they also appeared in various terrains.

Though their strengths varied wildly depending on when and where they showed up, players didn’t worry too much about them.

Krar…

Kraaaar!

The goblins were talking to each other.

“What should we do? Kill them? They look like they’re scouts.”

“I’m thinking about whether we could make a lot of noise or not.”

“Are you worried that the bird will come again?”

“That’s a part of it but I’m also worried about our objective, sensing the noise and hiding deeper.”

“There’s a chance of that too, yeah.”

The World of Eternity didn’t particularly reward players for killing every single monster that they encountered during an Adventure.

You were given additional rewards if you defeated an important enemy or acquired a certain item, but killing every single monster that you saw gave you nothing more than a slight increase in experience points.

‘In the end, it exists to prevent the player from becoming unbeatable.’

If a player could handle all of the enemies on their own, preparation for Adventures becomes meaningless.

If kill-based rewards were high, then players would simply kill everything to get all of the rewards and rapidly accelerate the pace they get stronger. This system existed to prevent that from happening.

“Hm…” Karen glanced at Seol who had a serious look on his face.

“What?” asked Seol, sensing her gaze.

“I just thought you were working hard.”

“Of course, I’d work hard when my life depended on it. Let’s just go around them. Since we don’t have any information, it would be a waste of time to kill them all.”

“Alright!”

Like that, Seol’s party continued throughout the canyon.

They saw various species of monsters while traveling, but because they avoided confrontation they were able to scout a large area.

However, despite their hard work, none of it bore fruit.

And now, it has been five days since they arrived at the canyon.

“Urgh… When are we going to start cooking our food? If it’s because of that big bird, I’ll just…”

“Restrain yourself. I’m hungry too.”

Meals played a larger role in Adventures than one would expect. After all, the biggest joy when doing repetitive, monotonous work was delicious food.

Chiiirp…

All the while, Koopa continued to fly through the sky.

Seol’s party was careful to not catch Koopa’s attention while searching for the traces of the spider.

“Huh? It’s here?”

Karen’s eyes were wide as she grabbed onto Seol’s robe.

“What?”

“The place where we found the goblins. So the path continued along this way, I see.”

“Then this means that we’ve searched half the canyon. Half of it in five days… we might not have enough time.”

“The worst part is that not only did we not find any traces of spiders, we also didn’t even see any spiderwebs.”

“You didn’t need to mention that out loud for us to know.”

“Hm… I wonder what the problem is…”

The party investigated where the goblin scouts stood before.

Karen checked if they had left anything behind and Jamad was trying to surmise in which direction they left.

After a while, it was more disappointing news.

“I didn’t see much? What about you, troll?”

“Not really. Where did they go, though? For goblins, they really didn’t leave any traces.”

“Huh? There’s no way. The only way there wouldn’t be any traces was if they were still here.”

And then, it happened.

[Insight activates.]

[Something has left traces here.]

Seol looked at Karen and Jamad.

“...Over here. Come over here.”

“What, why?”

“I think I found it.”

Jamad and Karen dashed toward Seol.

“What? Really?”

“You found some?”

Instead of telling them, Seol pointed at something with his finger.

“Huh?”

“Oho…”

Both Jamad and Karen smiled after seeing what Seol was pointing at.

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