A Legendary Class with a Catch
Tae-hyun checked the skill with a pounding heart.
The amount of stats gained as rewards increases.
Stats are distributed randomly.
Stats. Every player wanted them.
The stats you got from leveling up were far too few. Normally, you had to make up the difference through quests or items.
From that perspective, a passive skill that increased the very amount of stats you received was basically a cheat skill.
Tae-hyun was delighted—then abruptly froze.
Wait. Distributed randomly? What the hell does that mean?
Once he thought about it, it wasn't good at all.
A setup where he couldn't put points into the stats he wanted, and they just went up at random!
What is this...?
A wave of pure resentment hit him.
Tae-hyun wasn't the first player to hold a Legendary Class.
Lee Se-yeon had changed into one first, so he already had a rough idea what the skills granted by a Legendary Class were like.
They'd shown up on broadcasts a few times, too.
Lee Se-yeon's Legendary Class-exclusive skills were exactly what you'd expect—flashy, apex-of-necromancer type skills.
Starting with an aura that strengthened undead, then curses that blocked priests' holy magic, and even the summoning of enhanced Death Knights.
And that was just what she'd revealed on broadcast. In reality, she was probably hiding several even more powerful skills.
Lee Se-yeon was a ranker too, after all. Of course she'd keep important information off the air.
But the Avatar of Archisus—despite also being a Legendary Class—had skills that all felt a little... off.
If this was how it was going to be... you should've just accepted my refusal to advance...
It was worse than other Legendary Classes, but to everyone else it was still a Legendary Class, so he couldn't even use that as an excuse.
Yeah. I seriously need to hide the fact that this is a Legendary Class.
It wasn't just that revealing it now would be a hassle. He wanted to hide it even later.
He didn't want to hear people say things like—
"That bastard only wins because of his class!"
Let's look at the next skill.
Evasion rate and critical hit rate increase according to the user's Luck stat.
The experience required to level up increases.
Even now, Tae-hyun's evasion rate and critical hit rate were already terrifying.
Monsters below his level range could barely even deal proper damage to him.
And now they would go even higher depending on his Luck stat.
He couldn't tell exactly how much they would increase, but it was obvious the boost would be enormous.
Huh?
When he read the sentence underneath, Tae-hyun went pale.
The experience required to level up increased according to Luck?
No, wait. Wait just a second...?
Tae-hyun's current Luck stat was 2550.
It was an utterly unmatched number.
So then just how much would the experience needed to level up increase?
This is insane...!
For Tae-hyun, who had planned to level up quickly and make a name for himself as a ranker, it was like a bolt from the blue.
No matter how strong his character was, his actual level would rise at a painfully slow pace.
Ah... seriously...
Scratching at his hair, Tae-hyun sank into thought.
Do I have to do it the way I did back in Fantasy Online 1?
Honestly, it wasn't easy to judge who was truly strong.
People always said this guy was strong, that guy was strong—but who knew the real outcome?
That was why they ranked people by level in the first place.
But once you actually fought, the result was another matter entirely.
If Tae-hyun had gone around saying, "I'm the strongest!" before he started hunting rankers in Fantasy Online 1, no one would have believed him.
In the end, the best method was to show it for real.
In truth, Tae-hyun already had a fast way to build fame right now.
He could simply reveal that he was that Kim Tae-hyun from Fantasy Online 1, then start streaming.
There was only one reason he didn't.
If I do that, they'll all come swarming in for revenge...
People didn't forget grudges easily.
The rankers from Fantasy Online 1 were obviously playing 2 as well.
He'd cut them down back then, so of course they were grinding their teeth over it.
Tch. Guess I really have no choice but to build my character up first. Since leveling is crippled, I'll have to grow mainly through quest rewards.
Even if he hunted rankers the way he had in Fantasy Online 1, a certain level of power was still essential.
At level 26, it was impossible.
No matter how much he could dodge, if the other player was high-level enough, they'd definitely have a few ways to pin down his movement.
And once they stopped him, no amount of Luck would stop it from turning into a one-sided fight.
Yeah. I need to get stronger first.
But Tae-hyun still didn't know why the Avatar of Archisus was a Legendary Class.
A Legendary Class was always worth its title.
"Kim Tae-hyun is back!"
"See? What did I tell you? I said he'd come back!"
Choi Myung-sung let out a triumphant cheer.
They were in the monitoring room, watching Tae-hyun change into a Legendary Class.
The moment Tae-hyun obtained one, Choi Myung-sung had shouted out loud.
That Kim Tae-hyun from Fantasy Online 1 had gotten a Legendary Class.
How could he not be excited to see what he would do next?
But after exchanging a few words, Tae-hyun had simply logged out on the spot.
Choi Myung-sung grabbed the shoulders of the employee who'd said that with both hands.
"Ow ow ow! Team Leader! That hurts!"
"You misheard him."
"Huh?"
"I said you misheard him!"
Reality denial.
For Choi Myung-sung, who had such high expectations for Kim Tae-hyun, the idea of him quitting was completely unimaginable.
And then Kim Tae-hyun returned.
He looked like a man who had given up on life, but who cared? The important part was that he'd come back.
"Team Leader, what should we do?"
"Do what we did with Lee Se-yeon. Don't reveal the class name—just announce that the second Legendary Class has appeared."
"People are going to be dying of curiosity, though."
"Exactly. These days all the rankers are busy promoting themselves."
Personal streams were standard, and they even tried to get on network TV to promote themselves.
In Fantasy Online 2, being highly ranked was practically a guaranteed ticket to success.
That was how popular the game had become.
Lee Se-yeon had been streaming, so even without an official announcement from Fantasy Online, people knew a Legendary Class had appeared.
But Tae-hyun wasn't broadcasting right now.
If the developers made an announcement, people would be stunned.
"Still, people are going to be incredibly curious. Wouldn't it be better to leak a little information?"
"We can't just release information whenever we feel like it. That wouldn't be fair."
"Even so..."
"And this method isn't bad either. Won't people keep talking about it for a while? If we don't reveal it, that alone becomes a topic."
What kind of Legendary Class was it this time?
What sort of person got a Legendary Class?
Why keep it hidden if it's a Legendary Class?
Questions like that would keep people buzzing for a while.
That, too, had value.
And more than that, Choi Myung-sung didn't want to interfere with Kim Tae-hyun.
Just how far will he go?
"Hyung!"
"Ah—jeez, you startled me."
Ji-su came running at Tae-hyun with tears glistening in her eyes.
"Don't quit! If you're going to quit, at least give me your contact info before you go!"
"You're seriously..."
"I'm not quitting."
"Huh?"
"I said I'm not quitting."
"Really?"
"Why would I lie to you about that?"
Ji-su broke into a radiant smile.
Seeing it, Tae-hyun only felt more and more uneasy.
He doesn't actually like guys, does he?
It wasn't that Tae-hyun had any prejudice, exactly, but he liked women, full stop.
And yet the way Ji-su looked at him kept giving the wrong idea.
A pretty kid who looked almost like a girl, eyes shining through tears...
"Hyung. Let's exchange contact info!"
"What?"
"Phone numbers. Phone numbers!"
"..."
When Tae-hyun hesitated, Ji-su awkwardly changed course.
"...Or at least your KaTalk ID..."
"..."
"Why aren't you answering? Do you think I'm gonna do something weird with it?"
"Let's exchange it later. Later."
Tae-hyun hurriedly changed the subject.
Ji-su puffed out his cheeks, but since Tae-hyun seemed uncomfortable, he didn't press any further.
"By the way, while I was gone, did the party members say anything?"
He'd gone off on his own while they were resting after returning to the fortress, so from their perspective it had probably been pretty bewildering.
"I explained it for you. I said something had come up, and they said okay. They were going to clear some other quests first..."
There were plenty of NPCs inside the fortress, so once they'd come in, it made sense to pick up as many quests as possible.
In Fantasy Online, if you only leveled without doing quests, you were bound to grow weak.
Other players were building up stats and skills through quest rewards, so what was the point of leveling alone?
"Yeah? They were calmer than I expected."
"Isn't it because they weren't your original party? It was only temporary. And you saved all of them, too. If they complained after that, wouldn't that be shameless?"
"People don't actually behave that neatly in real life. Besides, I took all the items too. They could've had complaints. Good thing they didn't."
Tae-hyun walked over to the Centurion.
For Choi Ha-jun and Choi Ha-yeong's party, the quest ended once they brought back ten Orc heads, but that wasn't the case for Tae-hyun and Ji-su.
A hardcore-difficulty quest that required them to destroy the Orc tribe's base and kill the chieftain.
Tae-hyun had absolutely no intention of clearing it right now.
Trying to clear it at the moment was practically asking to die.
He planned to sweet-talk the Centurion somehow and cancel the quest.
Canceling a quest usually came with penalties.
Affinity dropped, or Reputation dropped... there were all kinds.
But even canceling could vary wildly depending on how you did it.
Fantasy Online 2 was a virtual world built by a powerful AI.
NPCs were just like real people.
One word could settle a thousand nyang debt.
"Centurion, we've hunted the Orcs here."
"Oh! You! I knew I could count on you. Those weaklings from the other kingdoms can't compare to you at all! Not even close!"
The Centurion laughed heartily.
Tae-hyun watched him, looking for the right moment to speak.
When do I bring it up?
"Centurion, about that. The thing is, these Orcs are tougher than I expected, so..."
"Judging by how cleanly those Orc heads were cut off... truly impressive! Hey! Come over here and take a look at this."
"What is it?"
As the Centurion called over another comrade, Tae-hyun felt a bad premonition.
Don't tell me...
"Isn't this impressive?"
"It is. For an adventurer, that's remarkably clean work."
"Shouldn't we report this to the commander?"
"Good idea!"
"No, Centurion. I mean, cutting off the chieftain's head is a little..."
"If it's you, you can do it! Hahaha!"
The two Centurions turned away without even listening.
Tae-hyun seriously suspected his affinity with them might actually be in the negatives.
Was this really trust? It felt more like they were trying to screw him over.
It was a rare quest triggered by his absurd Luck stat and high affinity.
But trying to cancel it was proving harder than expected.
Tae-hyun braced himself for the affinity loss.
"Hey, Centurion! Get back here and listen when I'm talking to you!"
Ji-su jerked in shock and stared at Tae-hyun.
"W-what are you doing all of a sudden?"
Being rude to NPCs was dangerous.
Losing affinity was the bare minimum; if you were unlucky, you could even be punished.
And this was inside the fortress.
The Centurion had plenty of soldiers under his command.
"It's fine. With my affinity, they won't attack me. He'll probably just get angry, my affinity will drop, and the quest will get canceled."
The Centurion, who had been walking away, turned around and came back toward Tae-hyun.
At the imposing sight, Ji-su swallowed hard.
"Did you just call me hey?"
"Yeah."
"You should've done that from the start!"
"?!"
"For an adventurer like you, I'd be happy to call you a friend! Speak freely!"
"What kind of dogshit system is this?"
Even insults made the Centurion like him more.
And in that moment, Tae-hyun realized something.
There was basically no way for him to lower his affinity now.