Chapter 117 - Shadow Linker (1)

'Is it because of «Assimilation»?'

Louise was the first NPC he had used «Assimilation» on.

Because they shared emotions, he’d naturally started to be able to read her thoughts.

The first time he’d met Louise, her emotions were almost non-existent.

As if she were a doll, she’d just held on to him.

The moment he’d «Assimilated» to her on Iluna, he had experienced another sensation.

It didn't take him long to realize that she'd learned about the different types of emotions in those five years.

Maybe the change in Louise's emotions resulted from a very sophisticated type of brain wave control.

But he couldn't accept such a simple explanation.

From NPCs, Asrian was the real world.

Obviously, the way they lived differed from users, who were there to have fun.

'Oof... I better be careful before using «Assimilation» on another NPC.'

After taking a shower and cleaning the sweat on the capsule, Hyun lay down in it again.

[Logging into Asrian.]

Hyun's figure appeared in the guild's private room.

The events of the previous day’s dawn came up in his mind.

—He had created a guild and hidden Louise there.

'I made sure to set everything up perfectly.'

The Shade Guild…

Hyun smiled satisfyingly after looking at how he'd built the private room.

The building was built in a style that looked as if modern architecture had been fused with the architecture of a fantasy world.

Although the architectural style gave it a medieval feel, the material the building was made of was a polished white alloy.

As for the garden that surrounded the residence…

There were different natural sceneries like forests with giant trees and fields, among other things.

—There was even a giant waterfall, so the scale of the residence went beyond an average one.

'How much would a house like this cost in real life...? It would probably be in the millions, right?'

Hyun had spent in total 70,000 gold.

The value of the gold spent was equivalent to almost 50K USD.

It was too big and expensive considering that the guild only had a few members. Despite that, Hyun had purchased a lot of space on purpose.

He still had a lot of gold. And not only that, he had recently been earning a lot of money.

Instead of thinking about money, he wanted to take into consideration possible future members.

'There's nothing bad with having a lot of space in case I want to add more users or NPCs in the future.'

While playing Asra, Hyun had belonged to a guild only for a short period of time.

After that, he’d mostly played solo or with Ain sometimes.

He originally had no plans of making a guild in Asrian, and if he hadn't met Louise, he wouldn't have created one.

Hyun was a different person from back then.

In the past, he hadn’t been afraid of failing some quests.

He had failed a few, but he never became desperate because of that.

But what if someone died because of his mistake? Someone who only had one life…

Then he had to do everything he could.

The guild would allow him to prevent those kinds of situations from happening.

'I don't know when I'll need what, so I better prepare things just in case.'

He saw Louise trembling on a sofa in the lobby when he entered the building.

She was probably more tired than he was.

He covered Louise with a blanket.

'Then it's finally time.'

Hyun silently walked out of the building.

Because he'd been so busy the day before, he hadn't been able to check out the details of his new job.

Shadow Linker.

—That was the name of his new job.

Hyun kind of liked that name.

At least it sounded better than ‘Support’!

It sounded cool, even compared to Ain's Elemental Berserker.

'Now, it would be perfect if the skills were actually good.'

The only thing that worried him was that he'd completed the quest through Louise rather than the Knight Commander.

According to the quest description, the stronger the NPC from which he received recognition, the better.

Louise's level when she’d fully recognized him was at 200.

He still couldn't understand why her level had increased by 100 points, but he was glad about it.

'First, let's check my status window.'

Hyun opened a simplified version of his status window.

Before learning the new skills of his job, he had to check his current status.

[ Hyun (Lv. 102) ]

HP: 6324/6324

Mana: 930/930

Job: Shadow Linker (Hidden)

Tendency: -94 (Abyss)

[Strength: 32] [Agility: 94] [Vitality: 62] [Magical Power: 93] [Empathy: 286]

[«One Second Absorption» Lv.8]

- Increase the defense of a target significantly for one second.

- Generate a «Vision Sword» that equals the damage absorbed.

[«Shield» Lv.0]

- The attacker becomes stunned.

[«Powerless Wave» Lv.2]

- Reduce the defense of nearby opponents by [Empathy]X2 times.

[«Wind Barrier» Lv.0]

- Create a wind wall.

[«Pray» Lv.8]

- Your mind becomes clearer.

- The death penalty becomes 24 hours.

- While receiving damage that can kill you, you become immortal for 3 seconds.

[«Impact Amplification» Lv.3]

- Double the damage that nearby allies deal.

[«Invisible» Lv.2]

- You become invisible for 2 seconds, and all attacks become critical hit damage.

[«Biorhythm Acceleration» Lv.3]

- For 3 seconds, your speed is increased by 250%

[«Angel's Basic Sword Art» Lv.5]

- If you don't attack for 8 seconds, your next attack will become 210% stronger.

And finally, his ultimate attack had gone from level 0 to 1.

As soon as Hyun completed the job ascension, the skill point was automatically used.

That was usually either used to strengthen the ultimate attack or change it for another one.

He had no intentions of changing it in the first place... But the fact that it increased on its own bothered him a little bit.

He decided to take a closer look at the ultimate attack.

[«Assimilation» Lv.1]

- You can assimilate with a target that's within 30 meters. (The target's consent is necessary!)

- 20% of your stats are added to the target’s.

- The main stat is increased by 50% of your [Empathy] stat.

- The level of all the target's normal skills is increased by 1.

- The cooldown time of the target's skill is decreased by 20%.

- The skill effects of the target lose their color.

- While «Assimilating», you can use the Shadow Linker's skills.

Those were the changes.

The distance of Assimilation had gone from 20 meters to 30.

The stat increase rate went from 10% to 20%.

On top of that, there was a new effect that decreased cooldown times by 20%.

—It meant that he could use the same skill more frequently.

'What does it mean that the skills will lose their colors?'

It seemed like a useless effect had been added.

Did that mean that colorful magic would become black and white?

If he «Assimilated» to Ain, her red flames would turn black.

—Just like a shadow.

'At least it's going to look cool.'

Hyun tried to imagine Ain waving black flames around.

The black flames raging were probably going to look very cool.

Although if the effect only made the color change, it wasn't something relevant.

After checking out his stats, it was time to see the new skills.

First, he checked out the most important thing.

—That was if there had been an offensive skill added!

But just as expected, most of the Shadow Linker's skills were either supporting or utility ones.

Maybe it was inevitable since it was a job derived from the Support.

It was understandable that he wasn't able to find an offensive skill.

'No, there's one, actually.'

Just one…

There was an indirect attack skill that was similar to the «Vision Sword».

[«Shadow Shield» Lv.8]

(※ Warning: If you learn this skill, it will be fused with «One Second Absorption»!)

- For 1 second, cover yourself with a dark shield. You can absorb up to [Empathy] X 150 damage.

- Save the absorbed damage as Demonic Energy.

- You can save up to [Empathy] X 500 Demonic Energy.

- You can create a «Sword of Darkness» that equals the amount of Demonic Energy you have saved.

- If you saved up the maximum amount of Demonic Energy, the «Sword of Darkness's» attack range increases significantly!

Just at first glance, it was obvious that «Shadow Shield» was an upgraded version of «One Second Absorption».

Wouldn't it be hard to find two skills with such a similar mechanism?

The reason why it was at level 8 as soon as he’d learned it was probably because it had inherited the level of «One Second Absorption».

If «One Second Absorption» increased your defense, «Shadow Shield» absorbed a certain amount of damage.

With his current Empathy stat, he could absorb up to 43,000 damage.

'Saving the damage received as Demonic Energy...'

The other change was that the 'Vision Sword' had become the 'Sword of Darkness.'

It wasn't just the name that had changed. It had become a lot more convenient.

«One Second Absorption» turned the damage received at once into the «Vision Sword»…

But the «Shadow Shield» used a resource called Demonic Energy. You could save up different sources of damage.

In most situations, the «Sword of Darkness» would be stronger than the «Vision Sword».

'I need to learn this skill.'

A skill that was compatible with «One Second Absorption» and was his only offensive skill!

There was no reason to let it rot.

[You've learned «Shadow Shield»!]

[It has been fused with «One Second Absorption»!]

[The level of «Shadow Shield» has reached 8!]

Just by using five skill points, Hyun was able to have a level 8 «Shadow Shield».

He still had lots of skill points he could use.

Now it was time to learn another skill.

He also had a potion that allowed him to reset his skill points, so he wasn't afraid of learning a skill that wasn't that useful.

'It isn't bad at all,' Hyun said while looking at the available skills.

'I was afraid of receiving a bad skill set since I ascended the job after being recognized by Louise...'

Unexpectedly, the Shadow Linker had a lot of good skills.

Was it because it was related to Darkness?

That word, which represented one of the three great demons, couldn't be taken lightly... so maybe it influenced the available skills.

The thing he was sure about at the moment was that the skills were better than he expected.

While feeling as if he were checking the menu of a buffet, Hyun began looking at the skill list in detail.

* * *

Hyun used an entire day to research his new skills.

—It was to create a build with the best possible synergy. He even used one Reversal of Potential.

The practice area he'd built in the guild's private room was perfect for practicing the new skills.

While he used the skills on the practice dolls, Louise burst into admiration.

"Oh, it looks cool!"

Hyun smiled at Louise's reaction.

Louise reminded him of a very innocent child.

Although she had said her age was fifteen, since she'd lost her memories, maybe her mental age was younger than that.

After deciding on a skillset, he spent the rest of the time talking with Louise.

Before they knew it, 48 hours had passed since Iluna's Quest had ended.

It was time for Ain to reincarnate.

As soon as she logged in, she entered the guild's private room.

"Woah. Hyun, you created all this?"

Ain smiled after seeing the big outdoor practice range.

Checking out the duel arena first was a very typical behavior for Ain.

Normally, in that context, Ain would be the first to mention dueling... But that day was different.

"Ain, do you want to duel?" Hyun asked while making a wicked smile.

"Huh?!"

Surprised, Ain looked at Hyun.

To think that Hyun would be the first one to mention dueling!

It wasn't something that happened frequently.

A smile was drawn on Ain's mouth.

"Really?"

"Yes, come at me."

"Good for me! But what happened?"

"Fufu, I wanted to test out my new skills."

"Hmm? Did you ascend your job? But since it derives from a Support, you probably won't be able to beat me..."

"Anyway, let's duel."

Fu- Hyun smiled on the inside.

Ain was confident as always.

But this time, Hyun was also confident.

He wouldn't have asked her for a duel if he didn't think he could win.

Even if it's a trick... The end justifies the means, right?

'There are no tricks in PvP. It's the fault of the one who falls for it.'

Ain, who had been solely focused on the fact that they were about to duel, didn't notice Hyun's inner thoughts.

The duel started immediately.

Three, Two, One... Even when the countdown ended, Hyun and Ain moved while maintaining a distance.

Tap- Tap-

Both had an Agility stat that surpassed 100!

They could both reduce the distance or back off almost instantly, so they had to be separated by at least five meters from each other to be safe.

The two figures quickly entangled, but they didn't bump into each other easily.

'Did she get better again?'

'As expected, Hyun is different! Although he still can't beat me...'

They were both very familiar with each other’s capabilities.

They also knew that it could get dangerous if they made a mistake.

The air within the duel arena gradually became more heated.

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