Chapter 98
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: You're Lucky?
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After recruiting Shiranu Mai, a dealer specialized in single-target damage, Han Minguk managed to take down the Void Dragon and clear the dungeon. Naturally, it was a clear within the quest's requirement of 20 tries.
Honestly, it had been a close call. They'd cleared it on exactly the 17th try, after all. Without Shiranu Mai, the quest probably would have failed.
'The reward was a Unique-grade class stone, right?'
The Unique-grade class stone given as the quest reward was said to be far superior to Hyun-ah's current 【Guardian Knight】 class. It was only natural to feel excited.
'A healer class would be ideal...'
Minguk's gaze turned to the golden chest.
His current class was Saint, a B-grade class he'd bought on the first day in this world from that enigmatic guy named Chaos. It was junk you could pick up at auction for two hundred dollars, with no special effects whatsoever.
He mainly used single-target heals, DoT heals, and shields, so he'd never felt inconvenienced by its low grade. He'd even conquered a 【B – 1】 dungeon with just those three skills equipped as a Saint.
But facing a grade-5 monster like the Void Dragon had planted the seed of a thought: skills with even better effects would be nice. Something like Giselle Budsen's AoE shield, for instance.
'Can't equip A-grade skills, though...'
Even if he could equip them, it wouldn't matter. To use A-grade skills, you had to be a grade-5 hero.
For reference, internet info claimed S-grade skill stones required a whopping grade-9 hero. Until then, they were just fancy rocks.
That's why class stones with built-in skills, like Hyun-ah's 【Guardian Knight】, commanded such high prices. Class-exclusive skills had no grade restrictions.
Of course, transferring to an A-grade class required becoming a three-star hero, but still.
The team was still buzzing with post-battle adrenaline, bodies twitching with excitement. Maybe it was her maturity, but Sojeong was the first to calm down and speak to Minguk.
"This is the chest from our first grade-5 monster kill. Why don't you open it yourself, Raid Leader?"
Minguk nodded at Sojeong's suggestion.
He'd been planning to anyway. The quest didn't specify, but just in case not opening it personally caused some glitch where the reward vanished.
As he started toward the reward chest, he suddenly asked Sojeong,
"Any rare class stones among the Void Dragon's drops?"
"Class stones?"
Sojeong tilted her head at the sudden question, then quickly tapped her Hero Pad. Raid records let you browse info logged by countless veteran heroes. In her calm, mature voice, she replied,
"The Void Dragon drops about five class stones. In order of rarity, 'Concentrated Healer' tops the list."
There were rarer ones, but their drop rate was effectively zero, so she skipped them.
"Concentrated Healer, huh..."
The name sounded plain, nothing special. But it was from a grade-5 monster, and it screamed healer. Clenching his fist, Minguk nodded.
"Nice."
That golden chest surely held a Concentrated Healer class stone. It was time for Saint Han Minguk to become Concentrated Healer Han Minguk.
Pumped up, he strode forward. The quest was done; now for the sweet rewards. Two 【Class Stone (A) - Unique Grade】 items. Surely at least one was a healer stone?
Click!
The moment Minguk touched the chest, the sturdy lock sprang open on its own, and the loot chest began revealing its contents.
"Skilled, and even luckier."
Oh Hyun-jung, leader of R’s clan, set down the report. On their first attempt, Team GGW had shockingly conquered the grade 【B – 1】 dungeon, Tower of the Void.
They'd needed 17 tries, but considering it was their first shot at a 【B – 1】 and the core members were all first-year heroes, 17 wasn't a blemish at all.
And Team GGW had notched some meaningful achievements in conquering the Tower of the Void.
'Proves first-year raid leader Han Minguk's skills hold up even in regular raids.'
By clan standing alone, he rivaled the leader of their first-string raid team. No, he deserved even higher regard. Conquering a 【B – 1】 in his first year—who knew how far he'd grow?
By contrast, their first-string raid leader was a hero lacking for a ranker clan's top team.
The team had seen major internal gains too. They'd scored two rare class stones from the loot chest—that's what Hyun-jung meant by "lucky."
【Class Stone (A) - Concentrated Healer】 and 【Class Stone (A) - Blast Sharp Shooter】.
The Concentrated Healer had no class-exclusive skills, but its unique ability boosted healing power when repeatedly casting the same heal on the same target.
Just from the description, it seemed hugely helpful for sustaining allies' HP, and it was genuinely popular among healers.
But Concentrated Healer class stones were ultra-rare, dropping from a handful of grade-5 monsters at minuscule rates. Auction prices were sky-high, and listings rarer than hen's teeth.
Even when they appeared, major clans snapped them up instantly. But compared to the other class stone from GGW's loot chest, even this was nothing.
"Any recent auction listings for Blast Sharp Shooter class stones?"
"None. Hero records show the latest acquisition was over a year ago. That raid team sold it in America."
"No price info from that sale?"
"Nope. It's so rare, transaction data might as well not exist."
Hyun-jung's secretary smiled awkwardly. Hyun-jung chuckled too.
Countless grade-5 monsters had fallen to heroes, yet this A-grade class stone had virtually no acquisition records. And it had landed in the hands of Team GGW, conquerors of their first 【B – 1】 dungeon.
It wasn't god-tier just for rarity. But enter Sharp Mode, its special stance, and things changed.
'Can unleash massive burst damage, right?'
No precise info existed, so even Hyun-jung couldn't say. Still, raid leader Han Minguk didn't seem the type to sell it externally. She knew he prioritized raid team power over cash.
Someone on the team would imprint it, and Hyun-jung already envied them. Her old raid team, Park Dayoung's, hadn't been lucky with items.
And that someone was in Team GGW's meeting room, holding the golden-glowing class stone with an anxious look. Once imprinted, class stones couldn't be removed.
"C-Can I really imprint this?"
Yuna asked again. Third time already. Minguk nodded.
"Sharp Shooter uses bows or guns—ranged weapons. You're the only one in the raid who can use it, right?"
"W-Well, yeah, but..."
Yuna's eyes darted side to side. Strictly speaking, Shin Nayeon could too. But she showed no interest in the Blast Sharp Shooter stone. Its unique effect didn't apply to mana orbs.
"...This thing's expensive."
After agonizing, Yuna asked once more. Searching online after hearing about the A-grade class stone she could use had been a mistake.
【Class Stone (A) - Blast Sharp Shooter】 was insanely pricey due to its rarity and special mode, with U.S. megaclans sending people to buy it outright.
But Minguk thought differently from Yuna. Empowering his raid mates trumped money. They had plenty of cash anyway. Wagging a finger, he said,
"If there's a better class, team members get first dibs. We priced Blast Sharp Shooter like a regular A-grade skill stone anyway, so just pay 30% of that."
"Whoa, for real."
Hyun-ah, beside Yuna, checked the settlement sheet and spoke up. All eyes flicked to it momentarily. But no one complained about handing a pricey class stone to a teammate at a discount. The raid team's trust ran that deep.
Even the Budsen sisters, recent joiners, felt the same. Minguk and the team's performances in the Tower of the Void had left a deep impression; they didn't want to stir trouble.
"So hurry up and imprint it. We need to see that done before other agenda items."
In the end, Yuna imprinted 【Class Stone (A) - Blast Sharp Shooter】 on herself. Moments later, Minguk did the same with Concentrated Healer. A foreign sensation crept into his body, unpleasant but gone in seconds.
"Alright! We lucked out on loot and successfully conquered the 【B – 1】 Tower of the Void. But no plans to tackle an 【A】 dungeon just yet."
Everyone in the meeting room nodded. Just one step apart, but the gap between 【B – 1】 and 【A】 was a dimensional wall.
Simply put, grade-5 monsters appeared only in 【B – 1】. 【A – 9】 dungeons were packed with grade-5s baseline, with bosses at grade-6. Difficulty spiked hard.
Even conquering the Tower of the Void had required deploying Shiranu Mai. Team GGW eyeing 【A】 dungeons was premature.
"For now, we'll tackle Seoul's 【B – 1】 dungeons to boost team specs. Hope we get more Unique class stones like this."
"What about rerunning the Tower of the Void? Blast Sharp Shooter? Sell it if another drops."
"Not a bad idea."
Minguk nodded at Jeong Ye-rin's words. But both question and answer dripped with jest. Hero records called it a one-year appearance.
"We'll also attempt dungeons with five-star special entities. To aim higher, we need Yellow-grade crystals anyway."
Only then could they equip high 【Gear Score】 gear. Four-stars capped at 449—too low even for the lowest A-dungeon drops.
In short, five-stars were the bare minimum for A-dungeon raids.
Team GGW had just two five-star heroes, neither full members: a veteran dealer loaned from R’s second-string, and Shin Nayeon from Memoria.