Divine Archer (1)
The hidden class I never expected appeared before me. As the game’s developer, I knew almost every setting there was. But even I wasn’t familiar with the one called Divine Archer. I had never once played as an archer in all my time with the game. And honestly, what kind of developer memorizes every single detail? Besides, I was just a fresh hire who had only recently started working at the company.
Still, this was no time to get lost in thought. I had cleared the conditions for the hidden class. I wasn’t entirely sure why, but I could make an educated guess. It’s probably because of Miroel, who’s been floating around inspecting my room this whole time.
Hadn’t she just told me she would become my master? That was likely the trigger that unlocked Divine Archer.
Anyway, that’s beside the point.
I selected the class without hesitation.
Congratulations! You have changed from Archer to the hidden class Divine Archer!
A new trait has been added for the player!
You have achieved an unexpected class!
The player has been awarded 3,000 points!
The moment I made my choice, a flood of messages poured in. At the same time, Miroel’s eyes widened as she stared at me in astonishment.
“Pardon?” I asked.
“Your power just surged in an instant. What exactly did you do?”
It seemed my class change hadn’t gone unnoticed. Still, I couldn’t exactly tell her the truth. I answered in a calm, composed voice.
“I was simply concealing some of my strength.”
“Hmm. My eyes have never failed me before, but I shall trust you for now. At least this level of power makes you worthy of learning from me.”
Miroel looked me up and down as she spoke. I ignored her scrutiny and quietly opened my status window.
Strength: 16 Agility: 19 Mana: 18
Intelligence: 12 Stamina: 17
Archer Mastery Lv. 2
Whoa. Everything’s changed drastically.
First, the Divine Archer trait had been added. It’s only one-star, which is a shame, but it should be able to grow like High-Speed Movement. No need to be too disappointed. Second, all my stats had increased by two points thanks to the level-up and class change. For level ten, these numbers were exceptionally high. Finally, my Archer Mastery had risen. It had refused to budge no matter how many arrows I’d fired, yet it shot up the moment I changed classes.
This is exactly why class advancement matters.
With that thought, I rose from the bed. Miroel, who had been quietly watching me, tilted her head.
“Master, didn’t you say you would teach me? In that case, we should head to the training grounds.”
“Such a diligent disciple. Very well, let us go at once.”
With those words, we set off for the training area.
I had naturally assumed we would reach the training grounds quickly. The dormitory and training facilities were quite close, after all. Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan.
“Wow! The world has changed so much!”
Miroel was making a huge fuss as she took in the transformed world. She looked exactly like someone who had lived her whole life in the countryside and was seeing the capital for the first time. I felt like I was babysitting a child.
This wouldn’t do. If I let her keep dragging me around, we wouldn’t make it to the training grounds before nightfall.
“Master, rather than this, let us proceed to the training grounds.”
“Now?”
When I spoke quietly, her shoulders slumped and her face fell. Great. Now I look like the bad guy. She looked like a puppy with its tail tucked between its legs.
Sigh. Fine. I’ve grown quite a bit today. A short break shouldn’t hurt.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t rested even once since possessing this body. Taking it easy for once wouldn’t be so bad.
“One hour. No more.”
“Understood!”
Her face brightened instantly as she nodded vigorously. Then she began looking around with sparkling eyes.
“The world really has changed beyond recognition.”
“Has it?”
“Yes. In the era I lived in, things were never this lively. The atmosphere was much heavier.”
That made sense. In her time, the demon race had been running completely wild. Of course they were still causing trouble now, but compared to back then it was practically cute. Unlike then, the Demon God is currently sealed.
While I was recalling the setting, Miroel’s eyes suddenly locked onto something.
“What is that food over there? I’ve never seen anything like it!”
She pointed at a passing cake shop, bombarding me with questions. I gave her a simple explanation.
“It’s a sweet dessert called cake. You can think of it as a type of bread.”
“Heh. Could you buy me some?”
“Pardon?”
Her sudden request caught me off guard. Buying her cake wasn’t a problem. After all, she would be the one training me from now on. But the real reason I was surprised was because she was a spirit.
Can ghosts even eat?
She was literally passing through walls. When I tilted my head in confusion, Miroel placed both hands on her hips with a dignified expression and declared in a haughty voice.
“There is no need for concern. I have my own means of consumption.”
“If Master says so.”
With that, I stepped into the cake shop.
About an hour later, I could only click my tongue inwardly as I watched Miroel.
To think I’d live to see a ghost eating cake.
Cream smeared around her mouth, Miroel chewed happily on the cake. No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t understand the principle behind it. Why is the cake being absorbed into the Bow of the Beginning?
At first, when she told me to trust her, I had no idea what she meant. No matter how legendary a hero she was—one of the five who sealed the Demon God—she was still a ghost. Yet when she had me hold the cake to the bracelet, it was absorbed instantly. Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, the cake appeared in her hands.
I had been worried people might stare, but apparently only I could see her. Everyone around us was only looking at me. No one paid any attention to Miroel.
“If only we had desserts like this in my era, how wonderful it would have been.”
“Now that I think about it, what did people eat in Master’s time?” I asked quietly so only she could hear.
Her face darkened instantly. With lifeless eyes, she muttered.
“Grass.”
“...Pardon?”
“You heard correctly. We elves survived on nothing but grass!”
“No way.”
Elves had an image of being vegetarians, but this was ridiculous. I never imagined they literally ate only grass. Looking at the other elves now, they don’t seem to do that.
When I looked at her with pity, Miroel stuffed more cake into her mouth and grumbled.
“I still don’t understand why we only ate grass! It’s all because of those damned demons!”
Still clearly resentful, she pointed accusingly at the empty air. If I left her like this, we would never make it to training. I wiped the cream from the corner of her mouth.
“More importantly, shall we head to the training grounds now?”
“Y-yes…!”
Her face flushed as she nodded vigorously. And so we finally made our way toward the training area.
After a short while, we arrived at our destination.
“Is this the training ground?”
I nodded instead of answering. I wanted to reply, but Sherry was there. I’d rather not be treated like a weirdo.
As I glanced at Sherry, Miroel—who had been watching from the side—reacted with surprise.
“What talented mage. At that level, she wouldn’t fall far behind even the Five Heroes, would she?”
Well, she did possess talent that didn’t lag far behind the protagonist, so such an assessment was natural. She was simply too anxious right now to display her true power.
At that moment—
Perhaps sensing my gaze, Sherry turned her head in our direction. Her eyes burned with intensity. This could get messy.
Deciding it was best to test my new class, I entered one of the private training rooms.
Sherry von Patrick, who like Baran had a free period, had woken early and trained all day. If she didn’t push herself like this, she would never catch up to Baran and Luden.
While she was practicing her orb control as usual—
“Hmm?”
She felt a gaze on her back. When she turned, there was Baran, staring at her like always. Just what was with that man? Why did he watch her every single day?
He shouldn’t even be able to see.
While question marks floated above her head, Baran entered a private training room as usual. She always wondered—what kind of training did he do in there?
M-maybe I should take a quick look?
She cautiously approached the room he had entered.
The next instant—
KWAaaaaang—!
A sudden explosion erupted from inside the training room. Startled, Sherry rushed over and threw open the door.
“What in the world…”
Her mouth fell open at the sight before her. A massive hole had been blasted through the training room wall.
“What the hell did you do?!”