The Gravekeeper's Last Gift
“Ah.”
Checking the alert window, Carpe grasped the situation.
A scenario event.
This scene before his eyes was an indispensable event required for the scenario to progress.
“Huff, huff, successor.”
The graveyard keeper NPC named Geas was one destined to die once Carpe undertook the ‘Magic King’s Relic’ quest.
As Carpe approached the fallen Geas, the man laboriously opened his mouth.
“Cough, cough. They’ve caught on to our presence. Take this.”
Geas weakly reached into his bosom. In his emerging hand were a small shard of an orb and a single talisman.
“Th-this is the last thing I can give you... Please, carry on Arkram’s will...”
Thud.
The arm Geas had been straining to hold up slumped to the ground.
And soon, his body was dyed gray and vanished.
Ding.
◈ A fragment of the purification artifact shattered by the intruders’ assault. It holds a faint purifying power.
◈ Use Restriction: Magical Fist Lord
◈ The key to obtaining the Magic King’s Relic. Those without qualification cannot use it.
The moment he acquired the two items, the quest updated once more.
Magic King’s Relic (2)-3
A force hostile to Arkram has launched an assault. Recover the relic before they destroy it.
📍 Quest Success: Acquire Magic King’s Relic, Proceed to Linked Quest
📍 Quest Failure: Mainstream Cancelled, Arkram-Related Quests Vanish, Death = Quest Failure
“...”
Carpe quietly stowed the two items in his inventory and stood. His expression had hardened slightly.
—Just out of an old lady’s worry, but this is a game. It’s just an NPC dying. Don’t overimmerse.
“Yeah? Duh, of course. It’s just some event in the game story, right?”
They’d only exchanged a couple of very brief conversations, twice at most.
It was ridiculous even to mention overimmersion.
So.
“How dare they target my relic?”
His current anger was simply righteous fury toward the scoundrels eyeing something that belonged to him.
That’s what Carpe told himself.
Exiting the cabin, Carpe sprinted at full speed back to the pit.
“Right here.”
Spotting the boot prints right in front of the pit, Carpe smirked. They hadn’t been there when he’d first scouted the area.
“Was wondering how to get in, but they’ve marked the entrance nice and obvious.”
Should he just jump in like this?
Unable to bring himself to do it, Carpe tentatively dipped one foot into the pit, and an alert popped up.
Event Dungeon Ruana’s Pit discovered.
Dungeon Rank: ???
Entry Restriction:Magical Fist Lord
Event-exclusive dungeon. Fail the quest if not cleared within 2 hours. Converts to normal dungeon upon clear.
Enter?
Good thing he hadn’t jumped in blindly.
Carpe nodded as he thought that.
“Enter.”
The instant he approved entry, a 2-hour timer appeared in the corner of his vision.
Whoosh.
His whole body felt like it was being sucked in, and when he came to, he was already inside a dark cave.
Ding.
Space filled with death’s energy. Dark, Demonic, Undead attribute monsters greatly empowered.
Vision restricted by unknown energy. Stats greatly reduced.
The storm of debuffs hit the moment he entered the dungeon. Carpe nearly spat a curse reflexively, but just before that, a faint light began emanating from his body.
Faint purifying power activated.
Vision partially restored. Stats slightly recovered.
The soft light enveloping Carpe lit up the dungeon interior like a torch. “Vision partially restored” probably referred to this.
—You read the quest window earlier, but dying even once ends this quest for good. No slacking.
“Of course.”
Carpe summoned Mukhyang from the shadows and opened his status window.
He needed to check how much his stats had dropped, first off.
Ding.
Name: Carpe | Level: 14
HP: 1010/1010 | MP: 285/285
Bonus Stats: 69 | Bonus Skill Points: 39
Patron Spirit: 0★ Cheonma Jijon (Irregular)
Skills: 10★ Unlock Lv.14 (etc.) | Patron Skill: 0★ Repeat Lv.14
Titles: 10 (Three Firsts + 9 others)
“Dropped quite a bit.”
With title effects and such, all his stats had been over 40 before. Now they were in the 30s.
Calculating quickly, every stat had dropped exactly by 7.
“Heavy penalty. Maybe invest some bonus stats.”
He hadn’t bothered distributing extra stats so far since he’d been mowing down everything regardless, but this dungeon looked anything but ordinary.
—Not a bad idea. No point hoarding forever.
In RaSe, once distributed, stats usually couldn’t be reset, so allocation demanded utmost caution.
One wrong gut call, and you’d end up with a trash build in a heartbeat.
Of course, with the ultimate strategy guide at his side, Carpe didn’t have that worry.
—Mage builds typically fall into three trees.
First, Artillery type.
Pure firepower focus, all-in on burst damage.
—Most popular and powerful tree. Easy to stat too. Dump Strength, Vitality, Agility. All-in on Magic and Dexterity, 3:1 ratio.
“Dexterity? Why that?”
—Even the strongest spell’s useless if it misses. Dexterity affects accuracy.
“Aha.”
The second type was Balanced.
—Usually for non-standard mages like magic swordsmen. That’s you.
Of course, he could go Artillery with Magical Fist Lord. It’d unleash firepower no other mage class could touch.
But Cheonma judged Carpe’s physical prowess too valuable to waste on that.
—To maximize your combat sense, Balanced is best. Magic to Dexterity 2:1... Nah, do I even need to explain?
“Huh? You were going great, then what?”
—No matter how much I yap, you’ll do whatever you want. Enjoyment gamer punk.
“...What do you take me for.”
Carpe prioritized fun, sure, but he wasn’t reckless enough to screw with something as critical as stats.
—Whatever. Just dump ’em wherever. As long as you don’t go full Vitality mage, items can cover it.
“O! Full Vitality mage?”
—...I’ll kill you. Curse you dead!
For now, they settled on allocating after testing the dungeon mobs, and Carpe advanced slowly.
“But, hyung.”
—Yeah?
“You said three mage types earlier? What’s the last one?”
—My specialized tree, but you don’t need to know. Not something you can just pick.
“Eh? You were a mage, hyung?”
—Didn’t I say?
“Nope.”
Come to think of it, he knew Cheonma had regressed, but nothing about his past life or RaSe playstyle.
—...I’ll tell you sometime. Dungeon first. Hurry.
Pressing on, he soon encountered his first monster.
Clack. Clack.
A skeleton—the same kind he’d seen endlessly outside the pit—rattled toward him.
Unlike outside, though, it wielded a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.
Reinforced Skeleton
Its name floated above in red.
“Red, huh.”
In RaSe, monster names changed color based on level gap with the player.
White for close levels, red if they outleveled you, gray if underleveled.
Meaning this Reinforced Skeleton was significantly higher level than Carpe.
“Fire Arrow!”
He cast a spell for probing.
Though no monster had ever survived even one of his “probes” before, so “probe” was a stretch.
Boom!
“Huh?”
—Oh ho.
And now, for the first time, a monster had withstood Carpe’s probe.
No—surpassed it...
“It blocked it?”
Incredibly, the Reinforced Skeleton had raised its shield and blocked the spell.
—It can block. Fire Arrow ain’t Hellfire.
“True.”
He cast again, but it blocked identically.
Might as well go melee. Carpe charged the skeleton.
But.
“Ugh?!”
An arrow suddenly flew from behind the skeleton, halting his advance.
Twisting aside to dodge, Carpe glanced behind it.
Reinforced Skeleton Archer
Another skull had appeared, bow trained on him.
“Whoa. They combo too?”
—Nice balance. Tank and DPS. Kyaa, mythic monster Carpe raid! Go bones!
“Whose side are you on, hyung?”
Cheonma was right—it was a solid combo.
Spells blocked by shield, melee blocked by arrows.
“To break this... Nah, no need to overthink. Hyung, RaSe have part destruction?”
—Part what?
“Destroying body parts or gear. Like horns or weapons. Drops weapons, so probably parts too.”
—You abbreviate everything. Anyway, yes. But not everything—specific parts or gear only.
“Shield?”
—Obviously.
“Okay.”
Figuring out combos was fun in its way, but time was gold right now.
Why waste it wondering what that priest who entered first was up to?
“When the body’s weak, the mind suffers.”
—Isn’t it the opposite?
“Same logic: weak DPS means you need strategy.”
DPS crush.
In RPGs, nothing beat overwhelming with raw damage.
“Invest 10 stats in Magic.”
Magic +10
“Fire Arrow!”
BOOM!!
A far louder explosion than before. The skeleton blocked with its shield again, but it was visibly tattered.
“10 more in Magic.”
Magic +10
“Fire Arrow!”
BOOM!!!
The empowered Fire Arrow finally shattered the skeleton’s shield.
No expression on a skeleton, but Carpe could feel their panic.
Cheonma sighed.
—...The dungeon designer would clutch their neck seeing this. Didn’t pull all-nighters for this.
“Not my problem! Fire Arrow!”
After that, it was one-sided.
Shieldless tank skeleton burned away in two shots. Without its pillar, the archer’s aim faltered.
Accuracy plummeted, naturally!
“Hah!”
Closing the gap, Carpe drew his sword from inventory and swung.
The archer, unable to shoot properly, fell without real resistance.
Ding.
The moment of Repeat had arrived again.
The 10-Star Player's Lucky Draw