Warrior Rock (2) - Class
The strange light of the patterns reached its peak.
The rock shaped like a bunch of grapes split open.
From the gap, a gigantic hand burst out.
Thud!
Rock fragments flew in every direction.
The stone shattered apart, and a massive body emerged from within.
A massive body.
Muscles like rock.
And a beast’s eyes.
It was nothing like a goblin.
Grrrrowl!
With a rough, heavy breath, the first orc appeared.
Then, almost at once.
Thud-!
As stone splintered outward, other hands burst free.
Smaller hands than the first.
Then, one after another, two even smaller orcs revealed themselves.
While the orcs were breaking free of the rock, Dohyun’s group arrived before the Warrior Rock.
Heok-o tilted his head as he flapped his wings, looking fascinated.
“Dragon, that’s a yokai I’ve never seen before.”
Well, of course.
Even to Heok-o, it seemed like some bizarre mutant yokai he had never encountered before.
Dohyun, breathing hard, looked over the three beings that had been born.
I’ve gotten a rare one.
Ordinary orcs were only about as large as two goblins lined up side by side.
But this one was different.
It was the size of what looked like three goblins stacked together just to match him.
A special breed.
A giant, well-built orc, roughly one and a half times the size of a normal snub-nosed orc.
The thing was the first to emerge and look at Dohyun.
The moment their eyes met, it beat its chest with both hands and bared its fangs.
“Kheung! I was born. Master. Where do I go to fight?”
At that booming cry, the goblins who had followed Dohyun stumbled back.
It was the pressure of a warrior.
“Dragon, that one has the same color as the underlings, but it’s different.”
Yes, because it’s a warrior. A warrior orc is no different from a weapon made to tear humans apart and kill them.
“Caw.”
“Dragon, have you fought humans with those underlings?”
Well. Do I need to answer that?
At the uncertain reply, Heok-o laughed as if amused.
Dohyun left him to it and compared the orc’s angular muscle and massive frame with the bodies from his memory.
It’s bigger.
It was far larger and sturdier than the orcs he remembered.
That was clearly the result of blood.
And it wasn’t only this one that was different.
The orc race itself had become stronger.
Dohyun glanced at it with a detached expression, then made a gesture.
At once, dozens of goblins swarmed over and carried over a stone.
A hard stone club made with the Transformation Platform.
It was heavy enough that dozens of goblins had to cling to it just to lift it.
Good. Let’s see if that big orc can lift the stone pillar.
He had made several clubs, but after seeing the huge orc, he felt like bringing this one out.
“Orc, lift.”
Without hesitation, the orc hoisted the gigantic pillar.
Whoosh-!
Then it swung it.
The sound of air being torn apart burst out.
The orc swung the massive club as lightly as if it were a wooden stick.
Bang-!
The moment the club struck the ground.
The floor shook violently.
The goblins who had brought the club and those watching lost their balance on the trembling ground and fell over.
Heok-o, still beating his wings, marveled.
“Wow... that could probably beat a lower yokai, huh?”
It should.
With that thought, as natural as breathing, Dohyun chose the first named monster.
Your name is Geoung.
He named it for being big, like a bear.
“Geoung... Geoung... Geoung...”
The orc muttered its own name a few times, then said,
“Master, me Geoung, Geoung!”
It pounded its chest again, looking pleased.
Its voice was innocent despite its vicious face.
Its thoughts seemed simple.
A warrior only has to do its job properly.
It didn’t need complicated thoughts. A warrior only had to fulfill its role.
When the goblins saw it receiving Dohyun’s name, their eyes shone.
In their gazes was the hope that maybe they, too, could earn names.
Dohyun paid that look no mind.
He was already thinking of the next move.
Warriors are tanks. They need infantry to support them if you want efficiency.
Orcs weren’t something that could be mass-produced the way goblins were.
I’ll have to open the road for soldiers.
It was something that would have to be done eventually anyway.
After confirming the orc’s combat strength at the Warrior Rock, Dohyun waited for the Dungeon energy to fill again.
Over those three days, Geoung roamed the outskirts of the Dungeon, adjusting to the new strength in its body, while the goblins restored nearly all traces of the battle.
The Dungeon energy had built up enough.
He intended to create a newly opened facility.
Going into the construction window, he chose to build a structure.
Training Ground
It’s time to make the goblins work.
“Kiek!”
A goblin reacted with a strangely stiff posture.
Ignoring the oddity of it entirely, Dohyun used his will to set the goblins to work.
First, clear the open ground.
As he continued leveling up the burrow, thousands of goblins had gathered in the Dungeon before he knew it.
With stone shovels and hammers in hand, they moved in perfect coordination under Dohyun’s commands.
Seeing the restored numbers, Dohyun’s eyes narrowed.
As the Burrow’s level rose past twenty, production exploded even further.
Once production accelerated, it never slowed again.
By now, one production facility was spitting out a hundred goblins a day.
Even if a thousand died, they could be replaced in a day.
As expected... goblins have to become military power.
War was, in the end, production capacity.
If the numbers didn’t support you, even the strongest individuals couldn’t hold out for long.
The goblins’ momentum looked like it could shove over a mountain, and an open lot of nearly three hundred pyeong was carved out in just two days.
Once the site was ready, an instruction window appeared.
Please fill the Training Ground with its required materials.
He had goblins bring out the training tools they had been making little by little: dummies, swords, sabers, spears, and the like.
Move them.
He ordered them to transfer the various practice tools according to his will.
[Stone scarecrows have been installed.]
[Stone scarecrow training has been added to practice.]
[Weapons have been registered.]
[Weapon training has been added to practice.]
...
[Training Ground completion has increased.]
[Physical training efficiency has increased.]
[Weapon training efficiency has increased.]
They’re only stone training tools, but they’re enough for now.
They were all made from the durable stones Dohyun had selected from the Transformation Platform.
[The Training Ground has been completed.]
[Items in the Training Ground can be restored with Dungeon energy.]
As he listened to the brief explanation, he opened the window.
Training Ground
Registered Class: Martial
Nothing registered yet.
It was still just an empty shell.
“Dragon, ready.”
Heok-o, holding a jade slip, approached him.
Good. Begin.
The material to fill it had already been prepared.
Heok-o began reciting terms within the training area, terms Dohyun could hear but not understand.
“To temper the body, one must perform the Nine Forms along with the opposite-hand and opposite-foot cycles of the Core Heart Method that brings together spiritual energy into a single core... ”
He could hear the words.
But he understood none of it.
Heok-o said it was the act of verbally explaining the principles of martial arts and the specific methods by which they were learned.
[You have obtained enough information about the class.]
[Martial Artist (11%)]
-Yeontongbaekgwon
As expected. Just as I thought.
As anticipated, the class had begun to take shape.
Dohyun did not understand the content.
Instead, he was building the class by borrowing Heok-o’s understanding.
That was possible entirely because of the facility.
Heok-o said he would not reveal everything he knew, but he would disclose anything related to martial arts that had been obtained.
The martial arts and various pieces of information from the cultivator family that had entered the Dungeon were enough to glean through the jade slips.
One, two, three...
As the oral transmission of each martial art continued, the creation of the Martial Artist class began to accelerate.
A single Martial Artist class required many different martial arts.
Once five or more martial arts had been registered, the window appeared.
[The Martial Artist class has been registered in the Training Ground.]
Dohyun’s eyes gleamed with certainty.
Good.
“The principles of martiality are...”
Of course, Heok-o was still talking.
Only after another full day had passed did the transmission finally end.
He no longer filled in any more martial arts for the Martial Artist class.
“Caw-”
“Dragon, to be blunt, those are just mediocre human martial arts. They sacrifice too much of their lifespan just to grow stronger.”
Heok-o’s words did not reach Dohyun as he read the explanation.
Martial Artist
Description: A combat class created to learn martial arts and transcend humanity.
Martial Arts: Samwonjingong, Yeontongbaekgwon, Samwon Sword Art, Buta Spear Art...
-Warning: An elixir appropriate to each training method is required.
Interesting.
Though Dohyun was still clumsy with jade slips and couldn’t properly read the information yet,
he had not expected so much knowledge to be packed into such a small storage medium.
I’ll need to dig deeper into the technology of this world.
“Dragon, hurry up and try the thing you said.”
Heok-o stared at the Training Ground with eyes full of curiosity.
He had become interested after hearing Dohyun’s explanation of the class.
Right. Let’s do it.
Dohyun called the goblins over.
Now that he had prepared the class, he needed someone to receive the Martial Artist class.
The goblins crowded into the Training Ground.
When they saw the open lot they had worked on now filled with all kinds of training equipment,
their faces filled with a look of Could it be?
Looking at the goblins who had all gathered, Dohyun spoke.
What do you think of the defense battle that just took place?
“Kieeek...”
“Kik...”
Only a few days had passed since the battle ended.
All the corpses had been cleared away, but the atmosphere had not disappeared with them.
Even the goblins who had survived the fight,
and the new goblins who had heard exaggerated stories of their elders,
all had their spirit dampened.
A third of them had died.
They were goblins who had fought from the very beginning.
The goblin faces darkened.
Fear, dread, and loyalty to the Dungeon.
All sorts of emotions surfaced.
I’ll give you strength.
At Dohyun’s words, light entered the goblins’ many different eyes.
Strength.
Power they had longed for more than anything, yet had never once possessed.
But.
Dohyun did not deceive them.
There was one line.
-A penalty exists in which lifespan decreases when taking the elixir.
No matter what martial art was learned,
the Martial Artist’s training was based on elixirs.
You can die from strength, or your lifespan can be shortened.
The goblins fell silent for a moment.
“Geoung! Want get strong.”
Get back.
He drove away the one butting in and looked at the goblins.
He watched to see whether any would step forward on their own.
Then.
One goblin moved.
That one...
Its whole body was covered in wounds, and what looked like splints had been strapped to its arms and legs.
Goblins were a green-skinned race with excellent recovery.
Even so, that one had suffered wounds beyond the limits of its healing.
But its eyes did not waver.
Tap-
With a hand that showed no hesitation, it beat its own chest.
So, you want to become a Martial Artist? Your lifespan will be reduced, and unlike other goblins, you’ll live and die on the battlefield.
Even after Dohyun spoke, the goblin met his eyes without wavering.
“Dragon, I like this underling’s eyes.”
Heok-o looked at the goblin and said it.
For now, it was only a pawn to be used.
But what they needed right now was exactly that kind of existence.
Given a little more time, they could secure the methods of the cultivators as well.
Then other class trees would open too.
But until then, they needed power that could be used immediately.
Martial Artist.
It was a class with extremely fast growth.
A good class for filling the time while the Dungeon was weak.
Good. I’ll grant you the class. Choose your own weapon.
Dohyun took out the elixir he had prepared in advance.
It was the size of a pea, and the smell alone was enough to make one gag.
It was a basic all-purpose training pill for martial artists, no different from poison.
Dohyun handed it to the goblin before him and activated the Training Ground’s function.
[The (temporary) Martial Artist class will be granted.]
The method was to grant the class temporarily and accumulate proficiency until the class was obtained.
After being given the class for a moment, the goblin grimaced as though it had a headache.
Knowledge had flowed into it.
The elixir was placed in the goblin’s palm.
Then it swallowed.
Tremble, tremble...
Its whole body shook faintly.
In pain, it spread its trembling legs shoulder-width apart.
It lowered its hips until its butt nearly touched the ground, and crossed both arms as if pointing to heaven and earth.
It inhaled and exhaled in a count of two to three.
It breathed only from the abdomen.
It was the posture for entering martial arts.
According to Heok-o, weak-willed humans often fainted before they could even endure that stance.
But the goblin before him was different.
Its golden eyes flashed as it endured to the end.
And at last, it gathered the minimum amount of proficiency.
[The Martial Artist class has been granted.]
Satisfaction flickered in Dohyun’s eyes.
Congratulations. Dungeon Goblin Martial Artist.
Snap-!
Its whole body was soaked with pain and sweat, but it beat its chest and moved as if saluting.
When the other goblins saw that, they all stepped forward at once.
Kiek!
Kiiik!
One.
Then another.
Before long, a long line had formed in front of the Training Ground.
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