Jester remained hidden behind the trees as the group of riders rushed past, drawing closer to his position. Or rather... were they heading for the Raid Boss as well?
The man at the front was clearly someone important. His elegant attire alone made that obvious, not to mention the small, crown-like ornament resting on his head. It was not quite a proper crown, but something smaller and more understated.
The moment his gaze settled on the young man, a System window appeared.
"The Eighth Prince of the Valtherion Kingdom, Prince Caelan Valtherion," Jester muttered under his breath.
The prince was an NPC, one of this world's native inhabitants. Unlike monsters, however, only his name and title were displayed. His level was completely hidden, leaving Jester with no way to tell just how powerful the prince really was.
"Why would a prince come all the way out to a forest like this?" Jester frowned. "Hunting?"
The group continued charging forward atop their Dire Wolves. With a quick glance, Jester estimated there were well over twenty knights accompanying the prince.
"From the way they were talking, it was obvious they had come here specifically to hunt this Raid Boss."
As far as he knew, Raid Bosses were highly sought-after targets among players. They spawned at fixed intervals, and their appearance was usually anticipated by several powerful guilds and hunting parties.
The fact that Baboon possessed an Emergency Raid Ticket had nothing to do with the monster's normal spawn schedule. The ticket merely forced the nearest Raid Boss to appear at its location.
Still, there should have already been other groups searching for this monster.
But if even a prince was personally leading the hunt...
Jester changed his mind about leaving.
He quietly circled back, planning to watch the battle from a safe distance and see just how a Raid Boss fight of this scale would unfold.
Jester immediately sprinted after them through the tall grass, his miniature body darting between bushes and trees as he silently followed the group from behind.
The ground shook again and again as deafening explosions echoed through the forest. Even from a distance, Jester could see towering trees collapsing one after another while deep cracks spread across the earth with every violent impact.
He dashed toward a nearby tree and climbed it with surprising speed. Reaching a thick branch near the top, he crouched down and finally gained a clear view of the battle.
The prince fought from the back of his Dire Wolf, firing arrows from a safe distance. Meanwhile, the rest of his soldiers surrounded the monster, trying to pin it down from every direction.
"Where are Baboon and the others?" Jester muttered as he scanned the battlefield. "Well... they're probably already dead. Their levels were only around fifty. A single hit from a Level 95 Raid Boss should've been enough to wipe them out."
There was one thing Jester kept thinking about. Technically, this Raid Boss had appeared because of him.
Sure, the Emergency Raid Ticket had belonged to Baboon, but Jester was the one who activated it.
Which meant…
If this Raid Boss was eventually defeated...
A faint smile slowly spread across his face. He should receive a share of the rewards as well.
The experience points from defeating a Level 95 World Raid Boss would be enormous. And if he was lucky, he might even receive some of the loot despite never joining the fight directly.
Sitting comfortably on the tree branch, Jester casually swung his legs while watching the prince's forces struggle against the monster.
The Abyss Horn Tyrant wielded two gigantic iron pillars. Every swing split the earth apart, sending rocks flying and knocking several soldiers into the air at once.
Even from his distant vantage point, the shockwaves were powerful enough to shake the entire tree. More than once, he nearly lost his balance as the branch lurched beneath him.
A moment later, he opened the game interface and tapped through several menus. Then he enabled the Live Broadcast feature.
He aimed the camera entirely at the battlefield before sending the stream to the official Eternal Legacy Live channel. He deliberately kept his identity hidden, revealing only the location of the Raid Boss.
"The sooner, the better," Jester murmured. "The prince and his men won't last much longer. They'll definitely need more help if they want to take down this Raid Boss."
As he watched the battle unfold, a sudden ache in his stomach made him think of something.
"I'm hungry."
It wasn't his real body outside the game. His actual stomach had already been growling before he logged in, and he had originally planned to head home and cook something.
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This was the hunger of his in-game body.
Just like in the real world, players had a Satiety stat that gradually decreased as they performed various activities. Using skills, fighting monsters, sprinting across long distances, and other physical actions all drained stamina while slowly making their characters hungry.
It was one of the features that made Eternal Legacy so incredibly popular. Players could actually taste food.
Every bite had its own texture, aroma, and flavor, as though they were eating with their real bodies. No one truly understood how the game's technology managed to recreate such lifelike sensations.
Some players even joked that the game had become the most expensive restaurant in the world.
After all, inside Yunatea, the world of Eternal Legacy, they could eat far more than they ever could in real life without feeling physically sick.
In fact, plenty of people logged into the game for that reason alone, traveling across Yunatea just to sample famous local dishes and spending fortunes on food rather than equipment.
He pulled a piece of stale bread from his inventory and held it in one hand.
It was nothing more than a Stale Bread Piece that he had received as a quest reward back when he was still below Level 10. It had been sitting in his inventory ever since, and he had even forgotten when he completed that quest.
Jester casually raised the bread, ready to take a bite, when a notification suddenly appeared in front of him.
[Spend 5 Chaos to upgrade the Stale Bread Piece into a higher-grade item and permanently raise its quality?]
Jester stared at the prompt for a moment.
"Chaos can even be used to upgrade bread? Seriously?"
It only cost 5 Chaos, and he happened to have enough right now. Curiosity quickly got the better of him. Besides, earning Chaos Points didn't seem to be all that difficult, at least so far.
[5 Chaos consumed.]
[The Stale Bread Piece has been successfully upgraded.]
[Item upgraded: Traveler's Wheat Loaf | Rare]
[Description: Each serving restores Satiety and grants +10% Stamina and +5% Agility for 120 seconds.]
"...Huh?"
Jester stared at the notification in disbelief.
"This bread wasn't supposed to have any special effects. It was only meant to restore Satiety."
Yet after spending just 5 Chaos, it had somehow become a Rare-grade item.
The effects were incredible. A 10% Stamina boost? Seriously... 10%? That was absolutely insane. Food with an effect like that would be worth a fortune. And it didn't stop there. It also granted a 5% Agility boost.
This was exactly the kind of food the struggling prince needed. With something like this, defeating the monster would become much easier.
More importantly, the bread itself had completely transformed.
The dry, broken piece of stale bread had become a whole loaf with a beautiful golden crust. It looked fresh, soft, and perfectly baked, as if it had just come out of an oven moments ago. Simply looking at it was enough to make anyone hungry, and the rich, warm aroma drifting into Jester's nose instantly made his mouth water.
Without wasting another second, Jester took a big bite.
The moment the bread melted across his tongue, he closed his eyes.
"Oh, damn! This is so good! So good! Seriously, this is so good!"
He kept repeating the same words over and over with his mouth full, barely caring that he sounded ridiculous. Every few bites, he leaned against the nearby tree while happily chewing, causing the branches above him to shake slightly.
"Oh... looks like more of the prince's knights are dying."
He glanced toward the battlefield before muttering to himself,
"So... is he really going to run away after this and just leave all of his men to die?"
Jester shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Hey, Prince Caelan! Keep it up! You can do it! I'm sure you'll get an amazing reward if you manage to defeat that monster!"
A wide grin spread across his face. He knew the prince couldn't possibly hear him from this distance. He was just cheering him on for fun.
Then… Jester turned toward a distant part of the battlefield.
The moment he saw what was happening there, his expression instantly brightened, and an even wider grin appeared on his face.
A large group of players came charging across the battlefield together.
Unlike Baboon and his group, these players wore polished armor that gleamed under the light. Even at a glance, the difference in equipment quality was obvious. Their gear was on an entirely different level.
"They're Level 100 players. They've finally arrived to clear this raid!"
Jester clenched his fist and shouted excitedly.
"Alright! Let's go!"
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