Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: 4. That Guy
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Linguistics is one of the skills learned by mages. Of course, they don't specialize in it. To use magic, they had to learn Runes, and Linguistics was merely a foundational skill for that. Most only picked up the lowest level. But Ellie seemed to have at least reached Intermediate Linguistics, as she could decipher the writing on the moonstone, though she hesitated now and then.
"It says something like offering a sacrifice to get treasure, but there's no treasure back here?"
"Only a sleeping werewolf. Looks like that guy got it all wrong on his own."
Sung-hoon's words had a few awkward bits, but not enough to raise suspicion. The sequence of events was crystal clear anyway. Il-woo was the one who'd stabbed her with the dagger, and Sung-hoon was the one who'd saved her.
Ellie seemed about to ask something, her lips moving, but she closed her mouth and bowed her head to Sung-hoon.
"Thank you, Sung-hoon oppa. If it weren't for you, I'd have died pointlessly here."
"No need to thank me. Just did what anyone should. As long as you're safe, that's enough for me."
"No, really, thank you. And... are the other two completely dead?"
"Dong-cheol hyung left behind his items and vanished. Looks like this was A-yeon's first death."
"At least one of them made it. That's a relief."
"Not sure if we'll run into each other again."
The First City was enormous.
No proper measurements were possible, but it was easily the size of a small town, and respawn points were completely random. Sure, if you really wanted to find someone, hanging around the plaza or mission office for a few days might work, but there was no reason to waste that much time on others.
Unless it was a long-term party or an alliance for profit.
"Let's wrap up the mission first. No point lingering here."
"...Okay."
The rewards came separately, and the stat increase was satisfactory. If someone died during a mission, Infamy went up—whether intentional or accidental. Infamy always rose. But it wasn't all bad.
There were perks to high Fame and high Infamy alike. Some classes had stats or skill power limited by these values, but thankfully, Swordsmanship had no such restrictions.
'Good that Wisdom keeps going up steadily.'
Thanks to the consistent Wisdom gains from missions, he didn't need to spend bonus points on it. Satisfied with that, he descended the stairs and spotted Ellie waving from a corner. Sung-hoon headed to the plaza, bought some light snacks from a nearby stall, handed them to her, and sat on a bench.
"I said it once, but really, thank you, Sung-hoon oppa."
"Just what anyone would've done."
"No. I know guys like you are rare. Would anyone really have saved me in that situation?"
"...Honestly? Probably not."
A top-rank mage, unconscious and defenseless.
No witnesses. Killing her for her items would've been a massive gain. Yet Sung-hoon resisted that temptation and saved her.
Of course, he had his own reasons.
"That's why I have to thank you. Guys like you are one in a million."
"E-enough already."
His conscience was poking at him.
"Anyway, I have something to tell you."
"What is it? I'll do anything I can."
For a split second, his imagination veered into improper territory, but he reined it in, flashed a kind smile, and said,
"How about forming a party with me?"
"It's stagnating."
A plain-looking old man who could be anywhere spoke up. His voice carried the wisdom of ages and was pleasant to hear, but everyone listening swallowed hard. This elder was one of the universe's mightiest beings.
Breaking the long silence that followed was a blond delinquent type decked out in cheap accessories.
"Like I said, the motivation was too weak from the start. No wonder it's fizzling out!"
"Too weak? It's a chance for humans to become gods, and you call that weak?"
"Come on, Gramps. You know the most, you're the strongest, but sometimes your brain just doesn't turn right."
"Loki. No more insolence, or I won't forgive you."
BAM!
The six-armed man slammed the table, and the boy called Loki raised both hands, zipping his lips.
"It's fine, Asura. And Loki, since you're saying that, you must have a better solution. Care to share?"
"Tch. Mood's ruined. Once it's gone for me..."
WHOOOM!
Six different energies gathered in Asura's six hands, morphing into varied weapons. Loki gulped and continued,
"...I'm not one to speak up, but I'll make an exception this time. Ha, ha, ha."
"......"
"Sigh. In short, the rewards are too huge. Getting stronger, honing yourself, raising your stature to become a god? Not bad. But the bar's sky-high. Folks, how many do you think can actually reach it?"
No one spoke, so Loki snorted and pressed on.
"There's a saying: If you can't climb the mountain, you don't even look at it. So all but a tiny few just give up. They settle for scraping by. Guys like Asura bro, War God hyung, Martial God uncle—they fight fine on their own."
"Lately, yeah, it feels that way. We approached it too peacefully, too leniently. If you'd left it to me, I'd have turned it into a hellish setup where they devour each other in chaos."
"Satan hyung, that has its own issues. Anyway, it's too peaceful now. No penalties for coasting—who'd bother getting stronger?"
"Loki's right a hundred times over."
Satan, sharp in his suit, agreed, and Loki pumped his fist excitedly.
"So what're we doing?"
"Simple. Give them motivation."
"Motivation?"
"Yeah. How about calculating monthly averages and shipping anyone below it straight to hell?"
"Isn't that too harsh?"
A few heads nodded at the middle-aged man in blue robes and helmet.
"Hear him out first. Go on, Loki."
"Plus, periodic forced missions they can't skip. Slack off, and you die. Can they stay chill with their life ticking down?"
"And?"
"Rank players by stats and skills, publish the list. Let it motivate them."
"Strength shifts with circumstances and mindset. Reducing it to numbers..."
"Just make the damn thing! Stoke some rivalry! Martial God uncle, you gonna pretend you didn't go berserk chasing 'strongest under heaven' back in the martial world?"
The old man called Martial God stroked his long goatee, looking stung, and fell silent. After a pause, the elder at the head smiled.
"Excellent proposal, Loki. As you know, this old fool knows little of such things. But implementing it as-is has issues. Lucifer."
"You called?"
"Two tweaks needed. Can you adjust?"
"No problem."
"Good. First, compare strength and notify players. It'll spark some competition. Second, create periodic missions all players must join."
Lucifer adjusted his glasses.
"Difficulty level?"
"Ideally mild... but coddling in a greenhouse isn't good. Per The Mission's classification, make it S-rank."
"No one will clear it."
Players build karma through missions to raise their stature. They need to start low and climb gradually. An S-rank now would wipe out strong and weak alike.
"Don't worry. I know that much. I'll explain later—just make a suitable S-rank one for now."