A Heroic Class for a Slave
“Yeah! Who else fits it better than me? Who else has worked this hard by your side?”
“All right, all right. I’ll give it to you, so quit whining.”
“B-but what class is it?”
“A Heroic class.”
“?!?!?!”
Cain’s eyes went even wider.
His fingertips trembled violently.
“Here.”
Kim Tae-hyun is attempting to bestow an Archisus Church-related class upon you.
The moment you accept, your current class will be changed to that class, and it cannot be reversed.
You should choose your class change carefully.
The class Kim Tae-hyun is attempting to bestow upon you will change into [Slave of Archisus].
Several related skills will become unusable.
You will gain additional skills appropriate to your current level.
Strength will increase.
Constitution will increase.
Reputation will increase.
Divinity will increase.
“...Huh?”
For a moment, Cain thought he must have read it wrong.
The class name looked strange.
“What? Slave? I read that wrong, right?”
But the status window was merciless.
Slave of Archisus — A vanguard who sincerely believes in and follows Archisus. With unwavering faith and an iron body, he takes the attacks of heretics upon himself.
Class Change Requirements
— Must have believed in and followed Archisus for a long time.
— Strength 250 or higher, Constitution 250 or higher.
— Must receive Archisus’s permission.
The HP and defense of the Slave of Archisus are heavily affected by the Divinity stat.
“......”
“Nice, right? I thought it was perfect for you.”
“Let’s both die, you bastard!”
Cain surged up in outrage and tried to put a hand on his sword.
If you betray Archisus, your Divinity stat will suffer a massive drop.
Various curses may be inflicted upon you.
“I never said I was betraying Archisus! I just want to smack this bastard around a little! What kind of god is this uptight? Can’t a believer beat up another believer once in a while?!”
After seeing the message window, Cain shouted in pure injustice.
He’d figured Tae-hyun held an important position in Archisus, sure—but it had never occurred to him that Tae-hyun might as well be Archisus himself.
“Did you really think you and I stood on equal footing?”
“Shut up! At this point, I’d rather take the penalty... Give me back my Warrior of Red Blood, you bastard! It was only a Rare class, but it was a damn good one!”
“Wow. The nerve on this guy. You begged for something good, so I gave you something good. Did you even properly check the class?”
“Urk......”
At Tae-hyun’s words, Cain opened the status window again.
To be fair, he had flown off the handle the moment he saw the word slave.
Raises defense in proportion to the Divinity stat.
If Archisus is nearby, defense increases even further.
Grants bonus attack power when facing enemies who do not believe in Archisus.
Lowers HP to 25% and grants temporary invincibility.
During that time, all abilities receive buffs.
Etc., etc......
The hand that had been shaking with rage gradually stilled.
If you only looked at the class name, it sounded worse than Warrior of Red Blood, but the skill lineup was vastly better.
There was a reason it was a Heroic class!
Losing access to the exclusive Warrior of Red Blood skills was painful, but the newly gained skills more than made up for it.
Enough to ignore the penalty of having to level all those skill proficiencies again.
“Ahem. It’s... not bad.”
“What?”
Tae-hyun’s voice dropped a notch.
Cain instantly shrank back.
“N-no, I mean. It’s not bad... it’s good.”
“So I give you a great class, get cursed out for it, and you think one little sentence makes us even? Hm?”
“It’s only because the class name is like that......”
Cain’s voice got smaller and smaller.
Creeeeak—
The exercise machine, pulled all the way to its limit, let out an irritating groan.
“Whew.”
Tae-hyun rose from his seat with a deep sigh.
“Feels like my body’s gotten a little dull...?”
He hadn’t had any breathing room lately, not with one quest after another.
After reviving the Archisus Church, ordering a few buildings to be constructed in his territory, and announcing the auction, Tae-hyun was finally taking a short break in the real world.
Things are going well. Reviving the Archisus Church turned out even better than I expected. If I can just handle the auction properly and rake in the gold, I should be able to get the territory through its early stage somehow.
That was how he’d managed to find this little window to breathe.
The skills themselves were simple, but powerful.
A skill that let him revive immediately upon death with no penalty.
When everyone else only had one life to carry around, Tae-hyun effectively had two.
In any case, the revival of the Archisus Church had been a success.
At least for now.
The hard part started here.
He had to deal with pressure from the other churches, grow the church’s influence, and manage the territory at the same time.
Compared to other classes, the difficulty was several times higher.
“......”
Glare!
Fresh out of the shower, Tae-hyun’s eyes met Kim Tae-san’s.
Wearing a sleeveless undershirt and shorts, Kim Tae-san tightened his grip around the ice pop in his hand the moment he saw Tae-hyun.
Crush!
“Haha. Dad. Does the ice cream taste bad? If it does, why not just stop eating it instead of squeezing it like that...?”
“You think you’ve won now, don’t you? Huh?!”
“Yes. I do think I’ve won.”
Tae-hyun never gave ground in an exchange of words.
“Just you wait. It’s not over yet! Do you think there are only one or two people in Bardo City grinding their teeth and waiting to kill you?”
“Well, there’ve always been more than one or two people grinding their teeth and waiting to kill me... More importantly, Dad, wasn’t it a little cheap of you to spread the rumor that I played Fantasy Online 1? Didn’t expect that from a man who always talks about honor and fairness...”
“What are you talking about?”
Huh?
Kim Tae-san wasn’t the sort of person who could hide things well.
But right now, his expression looked genuinely baffled.
Wait. It wasn’t Dad? Uncle Sung-gyu wouldn’t do something like that without Dad’s permission either. Then who was it?
Tae-hyun tilted his head.
Had the rumor simply spread on its own?
“Just wait and see. You announced you’re holding an auction in your territory, right? You really think that’s going to end well?”
“Haha. Are you coming too, Dad?”
“W-what are you talking about? I’m not going.”
“Even if you don’t come in person, I have a feeling some of your friends might......”
Tae-hyun’s eyes sharpened.
Kim Tae-san felt sweat break out across his back.
“They’re not going. What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Well, we’ll see when the time comes.”
“Even if it’s not me, there are plenty of people who hate you. You think that auction’s going to end nicely?”
“I’ve got a plan, Dad.”
Crackle!
The two father and son locked eyes, their gazes colliding in midair.
Dad definitely seems like he’s got something in mind too.
Tae-hyun recalled Kim Tae-san’s attitude.
That was the attitude of a man waiting on something.
Did he clear some good quest or something?
Bzzzz— Bzzzz—
His phone vibrated.
It was Jeong Su-hyeok, his junior.
“Sunbae-nim! Have you been well?!”
“Yeah, I’ve been fine. How about you?”
After acquiring Apostle of Archisus and receiving his class quest, Jeong Su-hyeok had headed off alone to the Uruk Region.
“I’m doing my very best!”
“...That doesn’t mean it’s going well, does it?”
“No, sir! It does not!”
“Something to be proud of.”
“I saw that you founded the church! Congratulations!”
“You could’ve just sent that as a whisper......”
“I thought it’d be better to say it directly!”
“Fine. Thanks. Now tell me what’s going on with you.”
Tae-hyun was curious how far Su-hyeok had gotten with his quest.
In a way, it was relevant to Tae-hyun too.
Spreading the faith of Archisus was one thing, but the fact that the area was the Uruk Region made it even more important.
That was the very place where the base of Kazak, the Orc chieftain Tae-hyun had beheaded, was located.
There was no way Kazak’s father, the Great Chieftain Karag, wasn’t grinding his teeth in rage.
Raising the influence of the Archisus Church around that region would be nice, but more than that, Tae-hyun wanted information.
How prepared were the Orcs there to fight?
It wouldn’t be strange if a large-scale quest kicked off soon, yet everything had stayed quiet—which only made him more uneasy.
“Well, the thing is......”
Jeong Su-hyeok had set out for the Uruk Region brimming with confidence.
In the past, he would have been scared, or anxious about what lay ahead.
But now things were different.
He had grown a lot by traveling with Tae-hyun and learning from him.
To be honest, after watching Tae-hyun do what he did, Su-hyeok felt like most enemies weren’t all that frightening anymore.
Of course, that didn’t mean he intended to go alone.
A mage traveling solo was just walking prey.
And the Uruk Region wasn’t some easy place either.
Even players who weren’t mages usually moved around in parties there.
“Anyone heading to Uruk? I’m a mage......”
“Not going to Uruk.”
“Are you maybe going to Uruk? If so, I could come along too... I’m a mage! I’ve got plenty of useful skills!”
“Uruk? Who the heck goes there?”
Things started going wrong right from the beginning.
But Jeong Su-hyeok didn’t give up.
He was the kind of stubborn man who had raised his magic skills to Advanced purely by training them alone.
In the end, he managed to find one party that was headed to Uruk.
“A mage? We’re going to Uruk—wouldn’t a mage be useful?”
“Yeah, true. Huh? I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before......”
They were Choi Ha-jun and Choi Ha-yeong, the sibling players from the Demer Order.
They greeted Su-hyeok warmly the moment they recognized him.
“Ah, you’re the mage who was traveling with Kim Tae-hyun.”
“Really? Then why are you alone?”
“I’ve got some circumstances... I’m doing a class quest......”
“Oh, I see. Well, if you were traveling with Kim Tae-hyun, then your skills are guaranteed. Want to come with us?”
“Yes!”
Delighted that things were going more smoothly than expected, Jeong Su-hyeok quickly accepted the party invitation.
“But... the party size......”
Su-hyeok tilted his head.
Other than Choi Ha-jun and Choi Ha-yeong, he couldn’t see any other players.
Everyone else looked like NPCs.
And from their appearance, they seemed to belong to the Demer Order.
Pious holy knights and priests.
“Is this a quest from the Demer Order?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Choi Ha-yeong answered readily.
“A quest came up to raise the Demer Order’s influence in the Uruk Region. We received support NPCs from the order, so they’re traveling with us.”
“......!”
Jeong Su-hyeok shut his mouth.
If they find out, I’m doomed!
“Then what quest are you going to Uruk for?”
“H-hahaha... Mine is a quest to find NPCs over there and learn class skills from them.”
If a dog spends three years in a village school, it’ll recite poetry.
If a man spends three months under Kim Tae-hyun, he’ll learn how to scam.
Jeong Su-hyeok, who normally lived far away from lies, found one slipping out of him almost instinctively.
“That works out well. We’d feel safer with one more mage.”
“Th-thank you.”
Already tormented by his guilty conscience, Jeong Su-hyeok climbed into the Demer Order carriage.