The Forgotten Hymns of Archisus
The guild members had blurted out unnecessary things while doing the quest together in the desert! Lee Se-yeon whispered in a flustered panic.
“...Anyway, you absolutely cannot tell my cousin that I swear. She has no idea I do things like that.”
“I see.” Tae-hyun nodded. It was true that everyone had someone they felt compelled to be polite around. Just like how Kim Tae-san became a mouse in front of a cat whenever Mrs. Jeong Yun-hee was around... For Lee Se-yeon, that cousin of hers must be that person.
“Right. So you want to be the sweet, diligent Lee Se-yeon in front of her, is that it?”
“...It sounds a bit weird when you put it like that, but yeah, basically.”
“Fine. I'll cooperate.” When Tae-hyun readily agreed, Se-yeon brightened up. Though they had their fair share of history, Tae-hyun had been surprisingly cooperative with her lately. Thinking back to the end of Pan-On 1 and the early days of Pan-On 2, this was an unbelievable change!
Come to think of it, they had the large coalitions like the Guild Alliance to thank for this. Because the Guild Alliance and other massive guilds were constantly running amok, solo players like Tae-hyun and Se-yeon had been forced to join forces.
Usually, she despised them as greedy bastards who ruined the fun of the game, but Se-yeon felt a sudden wave of gratitude toward them. From now on, she would curse them out just a little bit less!
Tae-hyun cleared his throat and spoke up in front of Nam Seol-yeon.
“Player Lee Se-yeon is always diligent and highly capable. She is an exemplary, outstanding player who serves as a model for others.”
“Wow... Did Se-yeon make you say that?”
“...!”
Despite her playful question, Nam Seol-yeon was an incredibly kind and gentle person. Tae-hyun tensed up under her overwhelmingly powerful 'good person' aura. He had always been weak against genuinely good people.
I thought she'd be just like Se-yeon since they're cousins, but...
“Tae-hyun, I saw some stat-buffing items down there. I'm going to go buy some.”
“Da-bi.”
“Yes?”
“Don't leave me behind...!”
“...What???” Da-bi was utterly bewildered by this rare display of vulnerability from Tae-hyun.
“I mean... this isn't even a dungeon with a boss monster, is it?”
“I find it incredibly difficult to deal with people like her.”
“But you were talking to her so smoothly just a moment ago.”
“That's only because I was reciting lines I prepared in advance.”
“Well... okay... I'll stay by your side.” Da-bi didn't quite understand, but since Tae-hyun was asking, she decided to stick around. It wasn't like the song buff items were absolutely crucial anyway...
She's such a nice person, though. Why is he so tense?
“Now, singing skills are generally much easier to use if you know how to project your voice in real life. I don't think Player Kim Tae-hyun needs to learn that, so let's just do a quick practice session with Player Lee Da-bi.”
“Th-thank you.”
“Of course, control isn't everything. You also need the skills. Since neither of you is a Bard, you probably barely have any singing-related skills. You should be able to learn a few here in this tower...”
Nam Seol-yeon introduced them to some easy-to-learn and highly practical singing skills, such as Melody of Peace and Song of Encouragement!
“But Bards have different styles, so you need to learn skills that match yours. For you two... the holy hymn style would suit you best.”
Both of them held classes related to the Archisus Church! Naturally, holy songs were the perfect fit.
“Here, take these items. These are holy sheet music sheets. If you use them, you can learn the skills.”
“Thank you. To think we're receiving something like this for free...”
“Don't mention it, you're Se-yeon's friends. Besides, holy sheet music isn't very popular anyway.”
“......”
“......”
Bards rarely chose the path of holy hymns. If they wanted to sing hymns, they could just play a Priest or a Paladin; there was no real reason to do it as a Bard.
Most Bards either focused on songs that fit their personal tastes or prioritized highly popular skills. Skills like Song of Mana were prime examples of popular choices, as they provided MP-related buffs that mages absolutely loved.
Even here, Archisus is unpopular.
[Using item...]
[Using item...]
[Learning skill...]
[Your current Holy stat is extremely high!]
[You are the Avatar of Archisus.]
[Your Singing skill is at the Advanced rank.]
[...]
[The skill has transformed into Holy Hymn of Archisus!]
[Singing skill level has increased!]
[Learning skill...]
[Your current Holy stat is extremely high!]
[You are the Avatar of Archisus.]
[Your Singing skill is at the Advanced rank.]
[...]
[The skill has transformed into Sacred Melody of Archisus!]
Flash! A blinding light erupted the moment they used the sheet music items!
[The classes [Cantor] and [Choirmaster] have been added to the Archisus Church.]
[The professions [Vocalist] and [Hymn Singer] have been added to the Archisus Church.]
[Players can now change classes to these two professions.]
[...]
[A forgotten skill has been added to the Church. Reputation increases.]
[The Church's Reputation has increased!]
[Holy stat has increased!]
“!” Tae-hyun was taken aback by the sudden barrage of system windows. In the process of learning singing skills, he had unearthed the forgotten skills of his Church.
Wait. Was this the actual intention of the quest?
Only then did Tae-hyun grasp the true purpose of the quest. To choose a few skills and raise them to the Master rank! Behind this absurd quest lay the hidden objective of recovering the lost skills of the Church.
Because the Archisus Church had once fallen into ruin, most of its skills and classes had vanished. The corresponding hymns were no exception.
...Wait. Then does that mean the cooking skill wasn't meant to be leveled up through mindless, brute-force cooking either, but by traveling around to learn from NPCs with secret cooking skills?
Tae-hyun had a sudden realization. Ah...! The cooking skill wasn't supposed to be raised through sheer, brute-force labor. He was supposed to travel around, learning from NPCs with secret cooking skills, and piece together the scattered remnants of the lost culinary arts...!
Carbanog says that as long as the result is good, who cares about the process?
In any case, he had found the secret cooking skill and raised it to the Master rank. ...Even if he had completely abandoned all the related sub-skills and just rushed straight to the finish line!
Honestly, the quest design is what's weird.
Tae-hyun grumbled. Honestly, if a quest suddenly demanded you to pick three random skills and raise them to the Master rank, anyone would think, 'Sigh, the Church has finally lost its mind.' Who on earth would think, 'Ah, there must be a profound meaning behind this Church quest'?
Should I actually look around and research for the magic skill...?
If so, the answer would be to meet Galakpad, but Tae-hyun didn't particularly want to see him often. Galakpad was a complete lunatic! Sure, the man was highly capable, but...
“Wow. Does Player Kim Tae-hyun always unlock additional skills like that whenever he obtains a new one?”
“...Cousin. He's just... a very unique case.” Lee Se-yeon scrambled to clear up Nam Seol-yeon's misunderstanding. Normally, things did not work like this!
“Alright, Da-bi. Let's practice our skills. We need to level them up.”
“Yes. I'll look around for other sheet music too, since we need to add more skills to the Church.”
“Let's start right away!”
Tae-hyun and Da-bi celebrated for about ten seconds before immediately diving into skill practice. The tedious grind of leveling up through repetitive skill spamming! Se-yeon watched them blankly. From the perspective of a combat class, such repetitive grinding was incredibly boring. It would be one thing to run dungeons or fight monsters, but this kind of repetition was...
“You should learn too.”
“...Pardon? I'm a Necromancer, though?”
“What does that matter? Singing is meant to bring joy.”
“No, but...” Se-yeon was flustered. Kim Tae-hyun had bizarre tastes, so he learned all sorts of random miscellaneous skills, but Se-yeon was different. She pursued absolute efficiency! However, Nam Seol-yeon was unyielding.
“Now, repeat after me.”
“Well... okay...”
Tae-hyun and Da-bi, who had been practicing diligently, paused. Oh? Lee Se-yeon was practicing singing?
“Should we watch her for a bit before we continue?”
“Shall we?”
The two watched her with wide, innocent eyes! Se-yeon desperately wanted to smack the back of Tae-hyun's head. Why couldn't they just focus on practicing their own skills instead of stopping to watch her...!
Se-yeon let out a sigh of relief. She had somehow managed to sing it!
“Wow. You're actually really good.”
“I know, right? She sings so well.”
They have no idea how stressful this was for me...
She had squeezed out every ounce of her effort to sing just to avoid embarrassing herself in front of them! Thanks to that, she received quite a positive reception. Tae-hyun and Da-bi clapped mindlessly, looking thoroughly impressed.
“Se-yeon is even good at singing. It seems there's nothing she can't do.”
“It's almost unfair how perfect she is.”
“Hearing that from you, Tae-hyun, is a bit...”
“?!”
Wiping away her cold sweat at their trivial banter, Se-yeon slumped down. She felt as exhausted as if she had just cleared a boss raid!
The Composer's Path
Novice bards always sing along, but an outstanding bard creates their own songs. With the help of a fellow priest and a warlock, compose five new songs. The bards of the tower will evaluate the results.
🎁 Reward: ?, ???
“Oh. A quest like this just popped up. What kind of quest is this?”
“Wow. You got this quest? That's wonderful! It's a randomly triggered quest, but it often appears for those who sing well or have natural talent.”
Nam Seol-yeon was absolutely delighted. Although it was a sudden, triggered quest, the rewards for completing it successfully were exceptionally good.
“What kind of rewards does it give?”
“It will probably reward you with sheet music containing skills. It's random, but the better the song you compose, the higher the quality of the sheet music you'll receive.”
“Ooh...!” Tae-hyun was deeply moved.
Huh?
“But it says the three of us have to compose it together...”
“It must be because the three of you are currently in a party. In that case, you'll have to work together.”
“Uh... even doing it alone would be tough right now. Don't we have to make a really good song for this?”
In truth, Tae-hyun didn't have a particularly great talent for composing. He was the type to construct melodies around basic, popular money chords and rely heavily on the lyrics to carry the song. Fortunately, since he possessed all kinds of achievements and titles, he had lyrics to spare. However, since they had to be evaluated by Bard NPCs, he couldn't just recycle old material. He needed to put some thought into it... but neither Da-bi nor Se-yeon were Bards, were they?
“Yes, that's right.”
“But none of the three of us actually know how to write a song...?”
“Then you'll just have to work that much harder.”
Ah...! So that was the secret...!
Carbanog is filled with deep admiration!
Tae-hyun worked incredibly hard. When there was no other way, pushing through with sheer effort was his specialty! Consequently, Se-yeon and Da-bi, who had only come to help, found themselves dragged into practicing singing skills alongside him.
“Let's make the lyrics something relatable and popular that all three of us can agree on.”
“Like what?”
“How about 'The Reason the Auston Kingdom Ruined'?”
Crack, crackle—
Tae-hyun gasped in surprise at the sound, which was completely different from anything they had heard before.
“Wait! Stop! The egg is hatching!”
“What?! Is it hatching because of my singing?!” Se-yeon asked in a panic. Was it because she was the only dark magician while the other two possessed holy attributes?
Of course, that wasn't the case. It was simply time for it to hatch.
Crack!
—?
The baby Red Dragon blinked and looked around. Tae-hyun, who was closest to it, felt like its guardian, just as it had sensed from inside the shell. But who were the other two?