Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The Judicator
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Obtaining a hidden class wasn’t something that happened every day.
Rumor had it that you could acquire one by meeting special conditions at the moment of level-up, but that was all anyone knew.
Hunters who managed to get hidden classes kept their mouths shut to monopolize that power, so there was no way to find out what those conditions were.
Even if you met the conditions, individual differences meant there was no guarantee you’d actually get one.
That was why, up until that very morning, Kang Jin-hyuk hadn’t held out any hope of getting a hidden class himself.
Having a dungeon appear in his house was already a near-miracle. Asking for more would just be greed.
“The way I got it feels so shady that it’s hard to even be happy about it.”
Kang Jin-hyuk let out a small sigh as he examined his status window.
It was a reward gained from killing a person, even if it had been in self-defense.
Sure, becoming a hidden class was a huge gain, but he didn’t feel like jumping for joy.
“For now, let’s check it out properly.”
The first thing he looked at was the new skill that had replaced ‘Heal’ and ‘Cure’.
[Hard Skin]
Tough skin that can block blades and spears.
Current Skill Level: D
[Skill Effect]
Reduces all incoming damage by 20% while the skill is active.
Can be cast on others as well.
Duration: 120 seconds
Cooldown: 30 seconds
[Status Ailment Resistance]
Increases resistance to status ailments such as poison, sleep, and stun.
Current Skill Level: C
[Skill Effect]
Grants 30% resistance to status ailments of rank equal to or below your skill level.
Duration: Always active
After checking the two skills, Kang Jin-hyuk understood what it meant for them to have evolved.
The skill from ‘Heal’ still had a protective effect, and the evolved ‘Cure’ shared the commonality of helping endure status ailments.
They had shifted toward more aggressive, self-focused effects, but their core nature hadn’t changed much.
Of course, ‘Holy Shield’ was the same.
[Defense Charge]
Charge forward like a tank, dominating the terrain.
Current Skill Level: C
[Skill Effect]
Target an enemy within 15m.
Physical defense increases by 10% during the charge.
Cooldown resets if you kill the target.
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Looking at the evolved skills so far, no one could call him a cleric anymore.
Protective skills, a defense-boosting charge, and status resistance on top of that.
Anyone could see it was a perfect tank skill set.
“The most important ones are the holy power-related skills, though…”
Up until now, Kang Jin-hyuk had been using mana as a substitute for holy power, following the trick Lucia had taught him.
Thanks to that, even without being able to handle mana properly, he’d been able to wield aura.
With a trembling heart, Kang Jin-hyuk checked how his hidden skill had changed.
[Fighting Spirit Application – Stage 3]
Allows voluntary use of fighting spirit beyond specific skills.
Current Skill Level: C
[Skill Effect]
Increases physical attack power when using fighting spirit.
Attack speed and defense-ignoring damage increase proportional to MP consumed.
MP consumption increases proportional to time without hitting an enemy.
[Fighting Spirit]
Manifests the will to fight in the form of aura.
Current Skill Level: D
[Skill Effect]
Strengthens body or weapon with the power of fighting spirit.
Damage from fighting spirit cannot be offset by any aura-based skills.
Having checked the skills up to this point, Kang Jin-hyuk breathed a sigh of relief.
With the tension gone, he suddenly wanted to collapse somewhere.
He grabbed a chair, plopped down on it, and sorted through the situation.
After carefully weighing the pros and cons, the conclusion came easily.
“This change is actually a net gain.”
Losing the cleric merits was regrettable, but it wasn’t a big deal for Kang Jin-hyuk.
As someone monopolizing a dungeon, a solo-specialized class fit him better than one popular with other hunters.
“The issue is what these new skills are…”
Kang Jin-hyuk stared intently at the newly appeared skills in his status window.
[Discern]
Reveals the karma burdening your opponent.
Current Skill Level: C
[Skill Effect]
Quantifies and displays the opponent’s accumulated karma as a numerical value.
No cooldown or duration listed, so it was clearly a passive skill.
Unlike the evolved ones, this was one of the brand-new additions.
Kang Jin-hyuk had no idea what effect it actually had.
‘Karma’ was just a term from some famous game character to him.
He had no clue what it meant.
“Karma… retribution…?”
He searched online and found the most plausible definition, but it still felt vague.
To test it himself, Kang Jin-hyuk looked at the mirror in the living room.
Focusing on his reflection, a number appeared above his head.
“64. What kind of value is that?”
Without a baseline, he couldn’t tell if it was high or low.
“Guess I’ll have to look around randomly and get an average.”
Curiosity piqued, but he didn’t feel like heading outside right now.
He’d just been ambushed by some nameless assailant.
With no certainty it was a lone actor, wandering around defenselessly would be too risky.
“Oh, right—there was one more.”
Kang Jin-hyuk checked the other skill he’d momentarily forgotten amid the vague description.
[Judgment]
Grants ability boosts and additional effects against enemies with high karma values.
No Skill Level
[Skill Effect]
Abilities increase proportional to the opponent’s karma value.
200+: 20% increase.
300+: 50% increase.
500+: 100% increase.
Killing enemies with 200+ karma does not grant the ‘Villain’ title and removes murder penalties.
Reading the skill description, Kang Jin-hyuk was at a loss for words for a moment.
Getting stronger was great.
He didn’t know what karma was tied to, but there was no downside.
But that last line was hard to gloss over.
Removing murder penalties might sound good on paper.
However, thinking about why he’d gotten such a skill made Kang Jin-hyuk uneasy.
“Didn’t they say class changes and skills are determined by a person’s usual conduct…?”
Come to think of it, when he’d killed that thug, he’d regretted it but hadn’t hesitated.
“Still, giving me a skill like it expects me to kill more people in the future is too much.”
He’d been a cleric of sorts, and now one second job change had flipped his entire disposition.
Among the evolved and new skills, nothing remained for healing or supporting others.
Skills skewed toward combat, and one to discern others by karma value.
The name of the hidden class Kang Jin-hyuk had obtained was ‘Judicator’.
* * *
The dwarf finished the job in less than half the half-day he’d quoted.
He’d padded the time because enchanting metal wasn’t his strong suit.
But his hands moved faster than expected.
Maybe because it had been a while since he’d handled such precious material.
“Making those eared arrowheads was getting boring anyway—good distraction, eh?”
“…Do you have to say it like that?”
“If it bugs you, don’t take it.”
Every time the dwarf spat out barbs with a smug grin, Lucia’s anger surged past the limits of her patience.
Still, she didn’t plant an arrow between his eyes because she was firmly in the subordinate position.
Having flown here from another dimension along with the dungeon, only this dwarf could craft arrows sturdy enough for her strength.
If he cut off her arrow supply, her bow would be nothing more than an ornate accessory.
‘Endure it. Endure.’
Imagining the sweet treats Kang Jin-hyuk had promised, Lucia barely kept her head from exploding.
Fortunately, before she hit her limit, she spotted Kang Jin-hyuk walking over from afar.
He met her eyes, glanced above her head, and muttered “82” under his breath.
It was barely a whisper, but her sharp ears caught it clearly.
‘What does that mean?’
Her confusion grew stronger when he looked at the dwarf and said “72”.
What on earth did those numbers signify?
While Lucia puzzled over it, Kang Jin-hyuk approached the dwarf outside the smithy.
“Huh? Done already?”
“Yeah, easier than I thought.”
The dwarf picked up the bat leaning nearby and handed it over.
The moment Kang Jin-hyuk gripped the handle, a sharp tingle like static shot through him.
That sensation was proof the enchantment had succeeded.
“You can pre-charge up to three uses. Each charge takes 30 minutes.”
Telling him to test the power himself, the dwarf pointed to the corner beyond.
Kang Jin-hyuk spotted a steel stake embedded there and a goblin tied up to prevent escape, letting out a hollow laugh.
“When did you prepare something like that?”
“Finished early, so I did it for fun.”
The goblin thrashed desperately to flee, but the dwarf’s ropes held firm.
“Seeing it struggle like that makes it kinda pitiful.”
“Want me to let it go?”
“No, you made it special for me—I’ll put it to good use.”
Just as monsters didn’t target people, Kang Jin-hyuk had no intention of being selective with monsters.
“How do I fire the lightning? Say a chant or something?”
“Where’s the time for chants in a fight? Just imagine it in your head.”
Hearing that, Kang Jin-hyuk felt a twinge of disappointment.
‘Chanting would’ve been cooler.’
Thanks to the efficiency-obsessed dwarf ignoring any flair, using the new function was dead simple.
Just picturing lightning made blue sparks crackle at the bat’s tip.
“Hmm.”
Lucia watched the process intently from a few steps away.
Her stare was blatant, but focused on the bat, Kang Jin-hyuk didn’t notice.
“Imagine, huh…”
Kang Jin-hyuk swung the bat in his mind, visualizing unleashing lightning.
Lightning burst from the bat’s end exactly as he’d pictured, streaking toward the goblin.
It charred the goblin to cinders in under a second amid a flash.
Unsated by one goblin, the bolt scattered in brilliant light around the corner.
“Kieeeek!!”
Screams erupted from nearby goblins caught in the blast.
The substantial experience gain meant more than one or two had fallen.
Even goblins farther off shrieked, making the dwarf burst into laughter.
“As expected of orichalcum. Beyond my expectations!”
Kang Jin-hyuk grinned too.
To think he could wield that headache-inducing new monster’s lightning at will.
At this power level, he could handle swarms of trash mobs with ease.
The power was impressive, but what amazed him more was the ‘fuel efficiency’.
Despite unleashing such a flashy skill, his MP hadn’t budged.
“How is it firing lightning without MP cost?”
“MP?”
The dwarf reacted like it was a foreign word, so Kang Jin-hyuk quickly corrected himself.
“I mean mana.”
“That charges itself—no need.”
“It charges on its own?”
Unlike Kang Jin-hyuk, whose eyes nearly popped out in shock, the dwarf looked like it was no big deal.
“Didn’t you know the material you brought had that feature?”
The response was even more shocking.
If it was that incredible, selling it could’ve netted enough to quit hunting altogether.
Realizing that made him feel a pang of regret.
‘Wasted billions just to try some lightning.’
Probably the world’s most expensive weapon, he thought with a hollow chuckle.
And being soulbound, he couldn’t even sell it.
This bat was becoming a bigger burden by the day.
“All done admiring?”
The half-elf nearby spoke in a bored tone, like someone waiting out a movie’s end credits.
The dwarf’s handiwork that Kang Jin-hyuk found amazing seemed trivial to her.
She’d shot down the skill’s original owner with a single arrow, after all.
“If you’re done, spar with me now.”
Kang Jin-hyuk blinked at the hand Lucia extended.
He got what the gesture meant.
But he had no clue what she wanted.
“Need something?”
“You… didn’t forget why you went outside, right?”
Only then did Kang Jin-hyuk realize why he’d felt like he’d forgotten something before entering the dungeon.
‘Crap.’
Too late to realize.
But there was still a way out.
‘Guess I’ll give her that.’
He’d ditched the expensive desserts on the street, but one item remained in his inventory.
Lucia tilted her head at what he handed her.
“What’s this?”
She clearly had no idea what was inside the colorful can.
Even with the contents plainly illustrated on it.
Her world must not have had anything like it.
Or she’d never encountered one.
Kang Jin-hyuk bet on that unfamiliarity.
The gap with the bakery desserts would be bridged by satisfying her curiosity.
He confirmed his gambit worked as Lucia’s face lit up.
She rolled the candy in her mouth for a while before belatedly hiding her excitement.
“Ahem.”
She didn’t want to look happy about food in front of the dwarf, of all people.
Lucia savored the candy with as casual an expression as possible.
“How is it?”
“…Way better than those flashy ones you brought before. Why’d you hold out on something like this?”
Hearing her verdict, Kang Jin-hyuk wore a complicated expression.
Those “flashy” foods were handmade confections he’d carefully selected.
To think cheap 200-won candies beat them.
‘Talk about simple tastes.’
Swallowing words that might earn him an arrow to the forehead, he offered her the can of stick candies.
Lucia took it with a satisfied look and popped another into her mouth.
“Good, good. Most important thing’s settled—on to the next.”
“Next? You want more sweets?”
“No, I’m good on food now.”
Lucia suddenly eyed Kang Jin-hyuk with dead seriousness.
She scanned him up and down like a detective sizing up a suspect, then grew convinced.
The aura that usually swirled around Kang Jin-hyuk.
The holy power that had poured out thickly whenever he used it—gone.
Even handling the bat, what flowed from his hand was plain ‘mana’, not holy power.
“I’ve thought it was off since earlier.”
She bobbed the candy stick between her lips like a cigarette butt.
“What happened out there?”
Her question carried over 50% certainty.
Faced with the sudden interrogation, Kang Jin-hyuk swallowed involuntarily.