A Suddenly Awkward Atmosphere!
A suddenly awkward atmosphere! Indeed, the Demer Order's expedition team sent to prevent the continent's crisis had completely vanished, and only Tae-hyun returned alone, so it was bound to look strange. But Tae-hyun didn't panic. In times like this, confidence is key!
"Ugh, let me tell you how it happened..."
"Such a thing happened!"
You have successfully persuaded the Paladins of the Demer Order.
You have successfully persuaded the Priests of the Demer Order.
Your Speech skill has increased.
Quest successfully completed! Reputation increases significantly.
Holy stat increases.
Your story spreads across the continent. The difficulty of quests related to the Archisus Church decreases.
Tae-hyun didn't lie. He just embellished it a little! In his story, he became a tragic hero who risked his life and sacrificed himself for the members of the other orders.
"Sob... it's so moving..."
"Why are you getting emotional?!"
Watching Lee Da-bi, whose eyes were red and teary, Cain wore an utterly dumbfounded expression. Behind them, whether they bickered or not, Tae-hyun immediately reached out his hand.
"...?"
"Give me the reward!"
"H-Here it is!"
He had talked his head off to scam them, so now it was time to collect! As Tae-hyun passed the temple gates and stepped inside, several players inside gasped in surprise.
"Isn't that Kim Tae-hyun?"
"Yeah, and Cain is next to him... wait, is that Cain? The gear looks right."
"I heard he cleared a Demon Realm quest, is he back already?"
MBS had been heavily advertising the preview as soon as preparations were done. It was one of the two main pillars MBS was pushing with all its might alongside the Prika Arena League! Since almost nothing was known about the Demon Realm, people were naturally watching with great interest. And Tae-hyun just appeared here!
There was no way they wouldn't pay attention.
"What's that on Cain's face? Is he doing that on purpose?"
"What is it? Self-display?"
"Did he use a cursed item from the Demon Realm?"
"Well, there must be all sorts of things in the Demon Realm. If you get tricked by an NPC, that could happen."
Hearing the whispers behind him, Cain's expression turned bitter. He was tricked, but not by a demon NPC—by Tae-hyun!
As word of Tae-hyun's arrival spread, players from other parts of the temple rushed over.
"Whoa! Kim Tae-hyun! Look over here!"
"Tae-hyun hyung! Look over here!"
Watching the noisy players, Cain muttered quietly.
"Why are they all guys?"
"...Shut up."
Tae-hyun suddenly remembered his days in Pan-On 1. Back then, most of his fans were guys too.
And most of the guys who were my fans were a bit weird...
"Tae-hyun hyung looked this way! Whoa! I can die happy now!"
"Then go ahead and die."
"Aaaah! He spoke to me!"
"..."
Tae-hyun flinched at the fanboy's ecstatic reaction to his cold response. This was practically madness!
Why are all the people around me like this?
Tae-hyun wondered shamelessly, completely ignoring his own personality!
While they waited, the Demer priests brought out a box on a red carpet.
"Here it is, Count Kim Tae-hyun. Thank you for your hard work."
You have acquired an item.
— Equipped.
You have acquired an Authority of Archisus.
Archisus's Earring shatters.
Reputation increases significantly.
Holy increases significantly.
The levels of your Archisus class skills increase.
You have acquired the skill <Archisus's Invisible Hand>.
Archisus's Invisible Hand
When using a skill, there is a certain probability that Archisus's Invisible Hand will appear to assist you.
*Current Skill Level: 1 (???)
Tae-hyun tilted his head as he read the message window. Archisus's Invisible Hand was an abstract, difficult-to-understand skill.
What does it mean that an invisible hand appears to help?
Tae-hyun shrugged it off for now. Since it was a passive skill, he would find out when he used other skills.
More importantly, he had to think about something else!
An essence containing the power of the God-Devouring Monster.
⚠️ Eating this will cause death. (Consuming it kills you.)
🎁 Reward: Skill Acquisition
Better use it now, right?
Tae-hyun could die once without penalty. Among his Avatar of Archisus skills, he had Archisus's Grace. It had a terribly long cooldown, but it allowed resurrection without death penalty once! Since the cooldown was long, it was better to use it early. Plus, this was the Demer Temple. Few places were safer than this.
— Consumed.
HP has dropped to 0. You have died.
You have acquired the skill <Authority Plunder>.
Skill <Archisus's Grace> is activated.
You have resurrected.
Constitution increases.
You have acquired the title: One Who Returned from Death.
"Cough!"
"...What are you doing??"
Cain asked, dumbfounded as Tae-hyun suddenly collapsed backward and then sprang right back up. Was he doing some kind of physical comedy routine?
"I died for a second and came back."
"????"
Ignoring Cain's bickering, Tae-hyun focused on checking his new skill.
Authority Plunder
Allows you to acquire the Authorities of other religious orders. You must satisfy certain conditions to acquire an Authority.
The religious orders for which you currently partially satisfy the conditions are: Sadiq Church, Demer Church.
You have acquired the Sadiq Church's Authorities: <Sadiq's Flame> and <Beast Summoning>.
The conditions met are insufficient to acquire the Demer Church's Authority.
"...?"
Tae-hyun paused, puzzled. First, the skill Authority Plunder was much easier to understand than Archisus's Invisible Hand. In short, it was a passive skill that removed class and faction restrictions!
Normally, an Authority of the Demer Order was a secret, ultimate skill that only Paladins or Priests who had joined the order and completed quests for a very long time could obtain. Players who believed in other gods or didn't believe in Demer could never get it. It was a class restriction. But this skill completely ignored those restrictions! It seemed simple, but it was incredibly powerful.
I can't use it immediately, but the potential is massive.
But why the Sadiq Church?
He understood the Demer Church. He helped them a lot, and he just cleared the God-Devouring Monster raid quest for them. Given the difficulty, it made sense he had high contribution points with them. If that partially satisfied the conditions to acquire Demer's Authority, it made sense.
But... why did the Sadiq Church pop up?
Tae-hyun realized: satisfying the conditions didn't just mean helping them and clearing quests!
Plundering is also an option!
You could get close to a church and do their quests, or you could completely antagonize them, fight them, and plunder them! Otherwise, the Sadiq Church being there made no sense.
— Check Sadiq Church conditions.
The currently satisfied conditions for the Sadiq Church are as follows:
✔ Interfering with Sadiq's Revelation
✔ Eliminating Sadiq's Paladin Order
✔ Eliminating Sadiq's Priesthood
✔ Destroying Sadiq's Temple
✔ Slaying Sadiq's Divine Beast
✔ Securing Sadiq's Sacred Ring
✔ Extinguishing Sadiq's Unquenchable Flame
Tae-hyun realized anew: Wow, I really bullied the Sadiq Church a lot!
If bullying had customers, the Sadiq Church would be a VVIP!
Plunder the Authority of Sadiq
You do not need to worship a god to acquire their church's Authority. You have consumed the God-Devouring Monster's Essence and stolen its power. Currently, you are the only one on the continent who can possess the Authorities of multiple gods! The Authority you currently hold is Sadiq's.
Find the Sadiq Church, which has retreated into the shadows since the last battle, and eliminate their high-ranking NPCs.
📍 Targets:
— Antonio, uncle of the King of Atali
— Commander of the Sadiq Church's Knights
— High Priest of the Sadiq Church
🎁 Reward: Sadiq's Authority
Tae-hyun nodded. It was just like clearing quests to get Archisus's Authorities. To get Sadiq's Authorities, he had to clear related quests one by one.
Even if I can't get all of them, I want to secure a few useful ones...
The first thing that came to mind was the curse that sets Luck to 0.
Come to think of it, is Evangeline still chasing the Sadiq Church?
The vampire who was chasing the Sadiq Church just to get her Luck set to 0. Tae-hyun wondered what she was up to.
Let's check the skills first.
Currently, Tae-hyun had acquired 2 of Sadiq's Authority skills. If one of them was the curse that sets Luck to 0, it would be a massive stroke of luck.
My leveling up would be insane...!
He might finally escape that dreadful experience penalty curse! But the world wasn't that easy.
<Sadiq's Flame>
Adds Sadiq's flame attribute to any fire-related skills used.
<Beast Summoning>
Summons Sadiq's demonic beasts using the difference between your Infamy and Reputation stats. Once summoned, a demonic beast cannot be summoned again until it is sent back.
— Cannot be used if Infamy is higher than Reputation.
— Using the skill decreases Reputation and increases Infamy by the amount used.
"..."
No luck-locking curse, but they were decent skills. Sadiq's Flame was the bread and butter of the Sadiq Church. Their tactic was always to apply fire, holy attributes, and all sorts of things to their skills!
The only pity is that I barely have any fire-related skills.
Tae-hyun didn't even have common magic spells like Fireball. Instead, what he could use right now was his blacksmithing! He could use Sadiq's flame when using his blacksmithing skills.
What if he crafted an item using Archisus's Luck and Sadiq's Flame simultaneously? He could craft unique items that conventional blacksmiths could never make!
And it'll be great for Mechanical Engineering too.
As soon as he got the skill, he was already thinking about blowing someone up with a bomb!
In fact, the mechanical engineering blacksmiths influenced by Tae-hyun were currently hiding in an unknown place, preparing a massive terrorist attack. Tae-hyun had absolutely no idea!
On the other hand, the Beast Summoning skill is... a bit perplexing.
In short, when his current Reputation was higher than his Infamy, he could lower his Reputation and raise his Infamy to summon a demonic beast.
For players who joined the Sadiq Church, their Infamy would naturally be higher than their Reputation, since it was an evil-aligned church. Clearing their quests naturally raised Infamy! For them, lowering Infamy and raising Reputation would be extremely hard, so using this skill would require a lot of effort.
But not for Tae-hyun. He had Reputation in spades! (Though his Infamy was also ridiculously high).
Should I have lived a nicer life if I knew this would happen?
Tae-hyun felt a completely useless, belated regret.
— Check stats.
His Infamy was massive, but his Reputation was even more staggering. A difference of nearly 2,000!