Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Teacher of the Dwarves
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'Huh? Did Joo-hyuk miss this one?'
By the time Hae-jin reached the fourth Trials' Arena, he'd already tried pretty much everything Joo-hyuk had told him about.
But no matter where he looked, he couldn't earn any titles beyond what Joo-hyuk had mentioned.
The reason was simple.
Hae-jin had inherited everything from Joo-hyuk.
And yet, he'd still managed to snag a new title.
'Dwarf's Teacher.'
It seemed like a title you got from giving enlightenment to the dwarf elder.
In truth, this was a title no one could possibly obtain.
Players learned blacksmithing from dwarves, sure—but what lunatic would teach blacksmithing to a dwarf?
Of course, technically speaking, Hae-jin hadn't taught the dwarf elder blacksmithing; he'd just granted him enlightenment.
Still, Hae-jin felt pretty damn good about picking up a title even Joo-hyuk hadn't gotten.
'A title even Joo-hyuk missed... Feels good.'
With that thought, Hae-jin checked the title he'd just acquired: 'Dwarf's Teacher.'
Options: Dwarf race affinity +100%, Dwarf Lord qualification.
Explanation: One who demonstrated blacksmithing skills worthy of being called 'teacher' by the dwarves. All dwarves marvel at your forging techniques, and if you wish, you may challenge for the seat of Dwarf Lord.
"Hmm."
Hae-jin let out a low hum as he eyed the title's details.
It felt awfully vague.
Just two options.
Affinity boost and Dwarf Lord qualification.
No stat increases or anything.
'Well, additive stats don't really matter anyway. Multiplicative ones would be different.'
Titles that boosted stats came in two flavors: 'additive' and 'multiplicative.'
Additive was straightforward—just flat additions—while multiplicative scaled with percentages or multipliers.
But for Hae-jin, additive stats were basically meaningless now.
He'd inherited Joo-hyuk's stats, bloated to the heavens by countless titles and top-tier gear.
Anything short of massive additive boosts wouldn't even register.
The only thing that could make a dent was multiplicative.
'And there's no way Joo-hyuk missed any of those.'
Still, every little bit added up—additive stats would've been nice.
With that in mind, Hae-jin eyed the options on the Dwarf's Teacher title.
'Affinity's pointless too. Gotta be maxed out from one of Joo-hyuk's titles already. Leaves just that one...'
What Hae-jin meant by that was the 'Dwarf Lord qualification' tacked onto the end.
The description said you could compete for the Dwarf Lord seat.
He wondered if that even mattered.
'At best, it lets you use Dwarf Lord-level blacksmith gear...'
Hae-jin had just gotten Dwarf Lord-level forging gear from the elder himself.
Did he really need to go that far?
He'd already forged at Dwarf Lord quality while wearing shabby equipment.
So the Dwarf Lord gear wasn't strictly necessary.
With those thoughts, Hae-jin sorted his gains and checked the watch on his wrist.
"Time to move."
"Pardon?"
The dwarf elder at his side blinked in confusion at Hae-jin's sudden announcement.
Hae-jin turned to him.
"I'm about to clear out the threat to your people."
"Ah! Please do, hero!"
"Sure."
Hae-jin answered the elder and bolted off.
As he did, he gauged the players' progress.
'Wasn't sure if they'd hit phase two, but they're still stuck on phase one.'
Like the third Trials' Arena, the fourth was divided into ten phases.
The early ones felt similar.
Phases scaling up by 1,000 monsters each.
But the fourth differed from the third in one key way.
'The final phase isn't 10,000 like in the third.'
The third's endgame had 10,000 monsters.
Not here.
Up to phase nine's undead legion: 9,000 monsters.
But phase ten?
'The lich plus exactly 666 others.'
666 in total.
Kill that exact number, and you'd clear the fourth Trials' Arena's hidden trial.
Hae-jin had already told his party members all about it.
Even knowing wouldn't make it easy, he'd warned them.
Hae-jin himself could skip ahead and wipe them out, thanks to his inheritance from Joo-hyuk.
But for the others to rack up exactly 666 kills each? No walk in the park.
As Hae-jin headed to the final phase, he recalled when he'd mentioned the hidden trial to the party.
"This hidden trial requires killing exactly 666 monsters."
Hae-jin laid out the fourth Trials' Arena's hidden trial.
Lee Sang reacted first.
"Exactly 666?"
"Yes."
"Is that even doable? What if your kill count's too low? Survival would be impossible, right?"
Lee Sang raised a valid point.
Everyone already knew from Hae-jin what it took to survive the fourth arena.
Just like the third: kill as many monsters as possible without dying.
But there was a twist.
Hae-jin explained to the party.
"No, there's a way to survive with just 666 kills."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"How's that possible?"
Lee Sang couldn't wrap his head around it.
Hae-jin clarified that survival in the fourth wasn't just about raw kill count.
"First off, this arena has point scores beyond monster kills."
"Point scores?"
"Yeah. It's offense-format like before, with ten waves total. Phase one monsters give 1 point each, phase two give 2, and so on."
Lee Sang got it right then.
"Ah! So phase nine or ten monsters are worth 9 or 10 points?"
"Exactly."
"Then skipping early ones and focusing on late-game..."
"Means even low kill counts can clear the hidden trial and survive."
"Hmm, but that's tricky. Don't you need early kills to grow? You said gearing up is key here."
"True, late-game kills drop tons of black magic stones—the currency for gear—so that's fine... but without early gear, late-game farming gets brutal."
"Yeah, we'll need to balance it carefully."
"Pretty much."
Hae-jin knew what Lee Sang meant by 'balance.'
Unlike Hae-jin with Joo-hyuk's gear inheritance, they couldn't brute-force the hidden trial.
They needed minimal early farming for maximal gear, calculated precisely to hit 666 kills and survive.
Without Joo-hyuk's gear, even Hae-jin would've followed the standard gear path.
"If you're aiming for the hidden clear, I'll share the optimal gear route I know."
"Yes!"
After that, Hae-jin told those going for it to follow his gear sequence and hunt accordingly.
Go for the hidden clear if you can, he'd said.
The rewards were always helpful, never a waste.
Then a thought struck him.
'Oh, right—I said I know the next arena from a hidden trial reward...'
He cooked up a fix on the spot.
'Eh, just say I need the first hidden reward to unlock more info. That'll work.'
"Here we are."
Hae-jin, reminiscing about briefing the party on the hidden trial.
He'd ignored the undead and reached the final phase ten zone.
There, he spotted it.
A black-robed figure seated on a throne of bone, far ahead.
'Awaken, lich.'
The fourth Trials' Arena boss, the lich, was programmed to wake when a player entered the final zone.
Thus, the surrounding undead—mixed from prior phases—bowed their heads.
They all activated after the lich.
Moments later, Hae-jin watched.
The lich, head bowed on its throne, hood slowly rising.
Purple light leaked from beneath as the hood lifted.
The player Hae-jin had arrived; the lich awoke.
It glared at him.
Ping!
Eyes flashing.
Then, a system window popped up before Hae-jin's eyes.
[Exposed to 'Lich's Gaze.']
[Debuff! 'Stamina' reduced by '20%'.]
[Passive! 'Tenacity' activated!]
[Debuff ignored.]
One of Joo-hyuk's abilities, 'Holy Power,' nullified debuffs from the lich's glare.
And that wasn't all.
The now-awake lich shrieked at Hae-jin.
[How dare you invade this king's domain. I shall slay you and make you a limb of my undead legion!]
Black energy erupted from the lich, blanketing the entire tenth zone.
It was dark magic power—a debuff on players.
[Exposed to 'Dark Magic Power.']
[Debuff! 'All stats' reduced by '20%'.]
Stamina down 20%. All stats down 20%.
A nasty debuff.
But it didn't matter.
[Passive! 'Holy Power' activated!]
[Debuff ignored.]
Hae-jin wasn't affected at all.
Confirming that, he spoke.
"Pulling out every pathetic trick in the book, huh? Wake your minions already, lich."
At Hae-jin's demand to rouse the tenth zone undead, the lich bellowed in fury.
"So you won't?"
Enraged, the lich slammed its staff into the ground.
The bowing undead around it opened their eyes.
Eyes flashing as they raised their heads.
Ping!
But as they did, black flashes sliced through their bodies.
Heads rose—and bodies cleaved apart, collapsing en masse.
In an instant, the lich's elite final-zone undead legion—its best—were shredded.
The lich faltered in shock.
[Wha... What is this...?]
It saw Hae-jin, twin blades crossed and swung in a single fluid motion.
One move from Hae-jin had wiped out 665 undead, sparing only the lich.
The corpses dissolved into black ash, dropping heaps of black magic stones that piled up on the floor.
Plop plop.
To the stunned lich, Hae-jin slung his twin blades over both shoulders and asked,
"So, what should I do with you now?"