A Bargain, Half-Believed
But Kim Tae-hyun saw it differently.
Of course, it wasn’t as if Nekdon or Pelmas inspired confidence.
Who the hell loses an ancient document in a casino?
Not every NPC was reliable. Some of them were complete disasters.
But Nekdon and Pelmas were in a league of their own.
Even so, Tae-hyun intended to bring them along.
They’re the ones who spent all that time searching for Archisus.
McCraney had only inserted herself into the middle of things. Those two would almost certainly know more about Archisus than she did.
If he wanted to obtain secret techniques later or clear related quests, he couldn’t afford to throw them away.
That was Tae-hyun’s thinking, anyway. McCraney didn’t see it that way.
To her, those two were just hopeless wrecks.
“Why should we include them? They won’t be any help even if they come.”
“A god shouldn’t abandon his followers.”
“What are you talking about? From what I’ve seen, religious orders abandon people all the time.”
“...”
McCraney seemed to have a lot of pent-up resentment.
“They’re people who spent a long time searching for Archisus. Doesn’t that mean they know that much more?”
“How much could they possibly—... no. Forget it.”
McCraney gave up.
For now, Kim Tae-hyun was the Avatar of Archisus.
They were going to be working together for a long time. There was no point squabbling over something like this from the very beginning.
It was just that she couldn’t stand the sight of those two idiots. Still, what real trouble could they cause just by existing?
“So, can we work together under those terms? Don’t throw out the idiots outside, don’t meddle too much, and that should do it?”
“Well, for now, I suppose that’s enough.”
“Good.”
McCraney held out her hand. Tae-hyun took it and shook.
You have entered into an alliance with the great merchant McCraney.
Fame has increased by 100.
You may make requests of your ally according to your contribution points.
Demand too much, and it may backfire.
If the alliance is broken, penalties will apply.
So that’s how it works.
Tae-hyun let go, then immediately held out his hand again.
McCraney stared at him as if asking what the hell he was doing.
“What is it?”
“The ancient document. We’re allies, aren’t we? Hand it over.”
“Ah. That ancient document. Of course I’ll give it to you. So, you really do want the Authority of Archisus?”
“Obviously. If I’m going to grow stronger as the Avatar, I need to gather his Authorities, don’t I?”
“You’re this motivated already. Reassuring.”
Hearing that, Tae-hyun felt a flicker of unease.
Why is she being so agreeable?
McCraney did not look like an easy mark. And wasn’t she one of the kingdom’s most successful merchants?
Tae-hyun had been pushing hard because he held the advantageous position, but normally people didn’t just accept that so meekly.
“Right. Right. I’ll fetch the ancient document at once.”
“Wait. No. Hold on.”
“What is it now?”
“Something’s off. You’re being way too nice.”
“We’re allies, aren’t we? What’s so strange about this between allies?”
“You seem like the type who’d still be nasty even to your allies.”
“I suggest you not forget that you’re standing in my building, Avatar. My building, filled with my subordinates.”
“Yeah. That’s more like you.”
“...”
McCraney opened the wall, unlocked a safe, and took out the document.
“You saw through it. Normally, I wouldn’t be this generous just because we’re allies. Want to know why I’m handing it over so easily? Because even if I do nothing, this looks hard enough already.”
“...!”
Tae-hyun took the document, already feeling he had stepped on something unpleasant.
At that moment, the quest window appeared.
To Become the True Avatar of Archisus
To become the true Avatar of Archisus, you must obtain every Authority Archisus can wield.
According to the old records, the ancient Avatar used the Authorities of Archisus.
Follow in that Avatar’s footsteps and seek out the Authorities.
🎁 Reward:Authority of Archisus
Then a map appeared.
An island floating in the sea below Genoma City.
Tae-hyun muttered without thinking.
“An island?”
“Yes. An island. But not just any island.”
“Not just any island?”
“You’ve never heard of Katerand Island?”
Tae-hyun frowned.
He hadn’t heard of it—but it didn’t sound like the kind of place anyone was happy to hear about.
Katerand Island.
It was an island you reached by taking a ship south from the harbor of Genoma City.
It wasn’t especially large, but it was infamous.
Because of the people who lived there.
“The Caterand Pirates are vicious bastards. The kingdom has already sent soldiers after them several times and still failed.”
“The kingdom sent troops and still failed?”
“There were reasons. The island itself is practically a fortress. Even if you make it there by ship, getting ashore is the first problem. And those bastards aren’t pushovers either... the kingdom army underestimated them.”
After the royal suppression force was repelled, no one took the Caterand Pirates lightly anymore.
Everyone avoided confronting them head-on.
And the Authority of Archisus was on that island.
“More precisely, it’s in the underground ruins beneath the island. But the Caterand Pirates won’t just let you walk in.”
“Thanks ever so much for the helpful explanation.”
“I hear the place can’t even be entered without the Avatar. But having the Avatar doesn’t mean you can just stroll in either.”
McCraney spread out the map, pointed to the island, and said,
“As you can see, there’s nowhere easy to land. The whole coastline is sheer rock cliffs. Now do you understand why the kingdom army failed?”
“Yeah, fine. So what can you help with?”
Tae-hyun cut her off, irritation in his voice.
He understood it was hard to reach.
What he wanted to know now was what kind of help she could offer.
“Wait. I forgot to mention something. This isn’t just about you obtaining your Authority. It’s also about persuading me. So mind how you proceed.”
“What? Persuade you how?”
Persuasion? At this point?
What the hell was she talking about now?
Tae-hyun tilted his head.
“About whether you’re truly the Avatar of the god.”
“You’re saying you’re not sure I’m really the Avatar? Then what was all this up till now?”
“I believe it halfway. But I can’t be certain, can I? We only met today. If you want me to truly believe you, then show me proof. If you go there and return with the Authority of the Avatar...”
“Oh, is that how it is?”
Tae-hyun turned around immediately.
He was already sure of one thing.
McCraney was in a desperate position too.
Avatars of gods weren’t exactly falling out of the sky. If Tae-hyun walked away, finding another one would be close to impossible.
Once you had someone’s weakness in hand, you pushed all the way.
Tae-hyun followed that rule to the letter.
“W-wait. Where are you going?”
“To hang out with people who actually trust me. I’ll be spending time with the ones who believe in me. Those idiots outside may be idiots, but at least they don’t doubt I’m the Avatar.”
As Tae-hyun strode for the exit, McCraney sprang to her feet and blocked the door.
Fast enough that it was hard to believe she was an old woman.
“It’s not that I don’t believe—”
“Sure. Sure. You believe halfway. Which means the other half of you doesn’t. Come find me when you believe the rest too. Of course, by then I’ve got no idea where I’ll be.”
“Try thinking from my side! You’re an Avatar found by those fools outside! How am I supposed to trust them completely?”
“...”
There was desperation in McCraney’s voice.
Enough that Tae-hyun almost felt sorry for her.
And honestly, she had a point.
If Pelmas and Nekdon had brought someone to him claiming he was an Avatar, Tae-hyun would’ve been suspicious first too.
“No matter how high your Luck is, until you show me the Authority, I can’t be certain. That’s my principle!”
“Fine. I’ll be generous and understand.”
“You will?”
McCraney let out a sigh of relief.
She’d thought he was about to walk out that instant, so the fact that he was yielding even this much came as a surprise.
“In exchange, I’m getting proper help.”
“If it’s something I can do, I’ll help as much as possible.”
“Good.”
“...?”
Tae-hyun grinned.
The moment she saw that smile, McCraney began to feel suddenly, deeply uneasy.
“Aigoo. Welcome, welcome. McCraney sent you, did she? What business brings you to a place like this...?”
“I’m here to learn tailoring. From beginning to end. Everything there is to learn!”
“Pardon? Tailoring?”
The Guild Master of the tailoring guild in Genoma City looked at Tae-hyun in bafflement.
When the great merchant McCraney had asked him to meet someone, this was not what he’d expected.
“W-well, the guild’s tailoring techniques are secret arts that even professional tailors need a long time to learn and master...”
“Should I go tell McCraney that?”
“...They are secret arts, yes, but for you, Lord Tae-hyun, I will of course teach everything I possibly can! Ha ha!”
In front of money, secret arts and guild rules meant nothing.
Tailoring has increased.
You are receiving a penalty to skill acquisition because you do not possess a tailoring-related class.
You are receiving a penalty to skill use because you do not possess a tailoring-related class.
You are receiving a bonus due to direct instruction from an outstanding tailor.
Fast. This makes it worth asking the favor.
His skills were rising quickly.
Tae-hyun preferred being an all-rounder.
A character who could respond to any situation.
Playing solo sounded simple, but it really wasn’t.
Take dungeons, for instance. Clearing them alone was normally extremely difficult.
What made that possible was this kind of skill variety.
McCraney was a great merchant of Genoma City, and Genoma City was full of production guilds like this one.
Which naturally meant she had connections she could call in.
Clothing Alteration and Accessory Alteration were skills that temporarily enhanced cloth-type gear and things like bracelets.
He probably wouldn’t be able to learn the true secret arts of tailors due to class restrictions, but he intended to pick up every skill that was available to him.
“Who’s that guy?”
“W-why is the tailoring guild master personally escorting him?”
Thanks to that, the players who had joined the tailoring guild and were diligently training there could only stare in disbelief.
Anywhere you went, a Guild Master wasn’t someone just anyone could meet.
That was true even of player-made guilds, but it was all the more true of existing NPC guilds.
The larger and more powerful the guild, the more famous the Guild Master became.
Players who had decided to pursue production classes usually joined the appropriate guild, then within a day came to a painful realization.
Ah. We’re really nothing.
When you had no fame, no levels, and no noteworthy skills, the people inside the guild were rarely kind.
Kindness was something you earned by doing something for the guild—or by having something to offer.
A skill taught directly by the Guild Master?
Unthinkable.
Even getting a conversation with them was still far beyond reach.
And yet this one player had suddenly shown up and was meeting the Guild Master face to face.
“Hey, wait a second!”
“Hold on! How did you get to meet the Guild Master?”
“Huh? Doesn’t that guy look familiar from somewhere?”
“...!”
Walking past them, Tae-hyun flinched.
The video of him fighting the Red Zone Guild had been pretty popular.
Partly because Red Zone had caused so much havoc and made so many enemies, but also because the whole thing had plenty of elements to draw attention.
For a video with so few rankers appearing in it, the view count had been absurdly high.
Naturally, anyone who’d seen it would be curious who Tae-hyun was.
If someone looked at his face and thought, Haven’t I seen him somewhere before?, there was really only one possibility.
They had seen that video.
Damn it. Guess I need to start covering my face.
“Ah! He’s leaving!”
“Grab him!”
“H-how?”
Tae-hyun was moving around with the guards McCraney had attached to him.
They were called guards, but in truth...
They’re watching me.
They were there to make sure Tae-hyun didn’t take what he wanted and then vanish without going after the Authority.
In that respect, McCraney was thorough to the bone.