Chapter 97: Gray Temple (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 97: Gray Temple (1)
The 'Gray Temple' located on the 3rd floor.
At its entrance stood priests who managed the temple, tasked with helping players with their first class advancement.
One could call it the most popular 'class advancement agency' in the Tower.
Most players came here to receive their first class advancement quest from a priest, then roamed other parts of the Tower to complete it.
In other words, most visited this place not for the temple's labyrinth itself, but simply to meet a priest.
However,
Once you stepped inside the temple, the story changed completely.
For trapped deep within the labyrinth was one of the most horrific monsters of the Greek era.
A place boasting an atrocious difficulty that had wiped out raid teams over twenty times.
[Medusa's Lair]
This was the very labyrinth that the Ssaulabi Guild and Jinhyuk had decided to conquer.
Right then,
Vrooooom!
A brilliant white flash poured down from the sky along with a dazzling light.
A teleportation spell had been cast.
"Whew. We've arrived."
A magic-class player announced their arrival at the destination.
"Thank you. We made it here comfortably thanks to you," Jinhyuk expressed his gratitude briefly.
He was being sincere.
If they had traveled normally, it would have taken a full twelve hours of walking, but they had crossed that distance in just a few seconds.
Looking at it this way, it was somewhat understandable why players chose to study magic professionally and advance to magic classes.
Of course, that didn't mean he had any intention of becoming a mage himself.
'I can just copy skills anyway.'
Since he could fuse any skill—even with its higher-tier versions—there was no reason to go out of his way to learn magic through a first class advancement.
He could just copy a skill from the mage standing right in front of him.
However, upon checking the copy conditions, Jinhyuk couldn't help but let out a low groan.
[Copy Condition: A man who is 160 cm tall and weighs 107 kg, suffering from severe hair loss, has been single his entire life for 38 years. The only thing that ever welcomes him home after work is a single female goldfish in his fish tank. Find him a lifelong partner. Upon success, you can copy one of his unique abilities or skills.]
Gulp.
Jinhyuk swallowed hard.
"..."
In an instant, several candidates flashed through his mind, but none of them were even close to being a suitable option.
'It would be easier to go slice off a Balrog's head.'
Or maybe surviving a direct hit from a Dragon's Breath with his bare body would be easier.
Without a doubt, this was the most brutally difficult copy condition he had ever encountered.
Jinhyuk pinched the bridge of his nose.
If he set him up with Yu Yeon-hwa... he would make enemies out of Yu Cheon-yeong and everyone under his command.
And that wasn't all.
He might get hit by an uppercut from Yu Yeon-hwa herself.
A cold sweat ran down Jinhyuk's spine as he recalled her monstrous strength, which could take down an Armored Gorilla in a single blow.
Teresa had a personality that made it hard for her to say no, so she might actually accept, but he felt like he would be plagued by guilt for the rest of his life.
As for Alice... let's not even go there. There was no need to risk his life just to get a single skill.
Some things were simply impossible.
'Let's give up on this one.'
Jinhyuk cleanly abandoned the idea.
Just then,
"You've arrived."
Kim Gi-tae and about a dozen men and women, having sensed the teleportation, approached them.
Every single one of them possessed well-refined mana.
They were the players of the Ssaulabi Guild's 2nd Raid Team.
'As expected, Ssaulabi really grit their teeth and prepared properly this time.'
Ssaulabi possessed a total of eleven raid teams.
Among them, mobilizing either the 1st or 2nd Raid Team—which could be considered their main forces—was quite unprecedented.
After all, these players were far from disposable pawns to be used once and thrown away.
"Haha. It's an honor to meet you, Player Kang Jinhyuk. I am Lee Young-kwon, the raid leader of the 2nd Raid Team."
A tall man with brown hair approached.
Judging by the rectangular shield slung across his back and the heavy-looking axe, he seemed to handle both tanking and dealing damage.
Jinhyuk's eyes narrowed.
Lee Young-kwon...
He had heard that name before.
'Ah, he's the guy who was on TV when I was eating gopchang with Alice.'
A player who had recently made quite a name for himself in the 5th floor's 'Gladiator Arena'.
Although winning the championship and gaining 'freedom' was reserved for the rankers of world-class guilds, Lee Young-kwon had still climbed to the very top of the seeds.
He possessed skills that didn't back down even against powerful enemies, and leadership abilities that saved many through calm, rapid situational judgment in team battles.
Having previously been the raid leader of the 5th Raid Team, Lee Young-kwon had leaped straight to the position of raid leader for a main raid team.
And this raid would be the first test of his abilities in this new role.
"I'm Kang Jinhyuk. Nice to meet you."
"No, the pleasure is all ours. Personally, I watch every single one of your ViewTube videos without fail, Player Kang Jinhyuk."
Lee Young-kwon smiled brightly, his face slightly flushed with excitement.
At that, the other players behind him scrambled to speak to him.
"I'm Ha Yeon-su, the sub-dealer. This labyrinth was really tough, but just having you with us, Player Kang Jinhyuk, makes me feel so reassured."
"With Player Kang Jinhyuk here, a labyrinth like this is nothing. It'll be a breeze."
"I-I'm the raid's main healer. Would it be okay if we took a picture together? When I told my friends that Kang Jinhyuk was coming to this raid, none of them believed me..."
"Ahem! Actually, could I get one too...?"
"Can I link arms with you for the photo?"
The atmosphere was like meeting a favorite celebrity.
Everyone was trying their best to exchange even a single word with Jinhyuk. Some even tried to add him as a friend or asked for his personal number.
'This is like a fan meeting.'
Jinhyuk wore a troubled expression at the overwhelming attention.
He had expected the main raid team of Korea's second-ranked guild to be bursting with pride, but it seemed they were more than willing to throw that pride away to build a connection with a top-tier ranker.
Right then, Kim Gi-tae chimed in.
"Although Lee Young-kwon is the nominal raid leader, we will grant all decision-making authority to you, Player Kang Jinhyuk. You are also free to take all the byproducts obtained inside. We ask for only one thing: please ensure the success of this raid."
In short, they were offering him everything just to have the Ssaulabi Guild's name attached to the successful conquest of this labyrinth.
And they weren't even asking for sole credit—just a spot next to the name 'Kang Jinhyuk'.
It meant that raising the guild's reputation was more important to them than pride or immediate profit.
After all, the weight of being the second-ranked guild in Korea was by no means light.
'I was planning to stab them in the back beautifully if they got greedy.'
But when they knew their place this well, the story changed.
"Understood. Let's go with those terms," Jinhyuk nodded.
"Then, we will enter the labyrinth as soon as preparations are complete. Player Kang Jinhyuk, if you have anything you need to take care of, please finish it up now."
"Roughly how long will it take?"
"About thirty minutes."
Thirty minutes.
That was more than enough time.
* * *
His other purpose for coming here: his first class advancement.
Inside the stone structures deep within the temple, he spotted priests clad in white robes.
Jinhyuk walked over quickly.
"Welcome, stranger. Yours is a face I have not seen here before."
An elderly-looking priest spoke.
"I'm here for my first class advancement. I heard I can receive the related quest here."
"If that is your reason, you have come to the right place. To grow stronger, one must take up a class suited to them. Let me ask: what path do you seek? If it is swordsmanship, then a Swordsman. If magic, a Mage. If you wish to protect your comrades, a Tanker or Healer would be suitable."
The priest lightly snapped his fingers.
With that,
[The list of classes is revealed.]
An incredibly long list appeared.
'The lore and scale of this world really are insanely massive.'
The number of classes existing in the Tower of Trials was truly countless.
What the priest had just mentioned were merely the most common examples; beyond those, one could choose from a wide variety of classes, including unpopular ones and hidden classes.
Of course, certain conditions had to be met first.
However,
"Hmm. There are only boring classes here."
Jinhyuk muttered, looking bored.
Swordsman, Mage, Healer, Archer, and so on.
He had already played them all on his alt accounts, or fought against players and monsters with those classes so many times he was sick of it.
This meant he knew exactly how their unique abilities and skills worked, as well as all their strengths and weaknesses.
'Climbing the Tower is all well and good.'
Conquering the 50th floor, where the future of humanity hung in the balance—its importance went without saying.
But on par with that, or perhaps even more important, was the thrill and fun of it.
'If everything is the same, nothing is more boring than that.'
The DNA of a thoroughly jaded veteran player craved even a tiny bit of new stimulation.
Something to make him feel interested in this world once again.
In that sense, Jinhyuk wanted to choose a new class.
"Sort by least popular."
As he spoke the command, the list sorted in reverse order.
These were classes unsuitable for combat or extremely difficult to level up.
Naturally, they were unpopular among players, and thus, the classes listed here were practically obsolete.
'Hmm...'
Jinhyuk stroked his chin.
He had to find something that suited his taste among these.
'Except for two, they're all art-related.'
Painter or Novelist wasn't bad, but they required too much time to grow.
A beautiful painting or a masterpiece novel that would go down in history.
Of course, those were wonderful.
But what was the point of spending ten years to complete one? Humanity would probably go extinct or the Tower would be conquered before then.
For the same reason, being a Fisherman who fished for time didn't suit his taste either.
And Sculptor... he didn't want to choose that for various reasons.
He had a feeling some legendary sculptor from another dimension might show up.
His deliberation didn't last long.
"Barrierist. I'll go with this."
Jinhyuk made his decision.
"A-A Barrierist as your first class? Are you serious?"
The priest asked again, utterly shocked.
Until now, there had been countless players clinging to him to ask about the conditions for hidden class quests.
But this was the first time a player had requested an unpopular class.
Naturally, the priest found it baffling.
However, Jinhyuk nodded once more with absolute certainty.
"Yes. An unpopular and tricky class to handle. That's exactly what I want."
The field of barriers was incredibly complex, but that was only for ordinary people.
'For me, who has already mastered the Ancient Runic Language and High Elven, it's just enough to spark a bit of my competitive spirit.'
Above all, while teasing Cheon Yu-seong with swordsmanship was fun, teasing him with barriers would be even more entertaining.
'That guy is quite knowledgeable about barriers too.'
Yes.
That was the biggest reason.
"...Understood. The choice is yours, after all."
The priest reluctantly handed over a black scroll.
It was a scroll containing the requirements to advance to a Barrierist.
But just as Jinhyuk received the scroll,
Murmurs!
Suddenly, a loud commotion erupted from the temple entrance.
The violent clashing of mana was unmistakably a battle of nerves. And between quite powerful opponents, at that.
'What is it?'
Jinhyuk turned his head.
There, alongside the Ssaulabi Guild, stood another group of people.