Chapter 134 - Experience Dungeon (1)

"Hyun, what happened?!"

"Woah, is this finally the guild's first mission?"

"Wait, I haven't been able to clean up my d-dishes...!"

TarrTarr, who was the most disadvantaged because of the time zone difference, complained a bit, but he didn't seem to care that much.

Louise was playing around on the sofa next to them, so the five members of the Shade Guild were all gathered around in one place.

"Now…"

Hyun smiled, satisfied after seeing all the members sitting on the sofa.

Since everyone except for Louise was concentrated on him, he finally felt he was the leader of the guild.

There was only one reason he'd used his Authority as guildmaster to gather all of the members! It was to prepare for the Count's quest.

"Is there anyone busy on the weekend?"

"Hmm... I'm okay."

"Fufu. Time is what we have the most of. You can order us around as if we’re slaves… as long as you use «Assimilation» on me a few times."

"Yes...? Slave...?"

TarrTarr wanted to say something but stopped.

"There's a quest that's a little bit hard."

"Hmm...? Hyun says that it's hard?"

"Oh, a high-difficulty quest!"

While Salon was getting excited, Hyun shook his head.

"But we won't be able to beat it how we are now."

Ain smiled.

After hearing the word 'won't,' she could more or less see how hard the quest was.

Watching Hyun beat those impossible quests always made her heart beat faster.

"The scale of this quest is quite big... but I don't think it's impossible if we prepare ourselves."

Then it was TarrTarr the one who became the most interested.

A user's skills brought quite a lot of YouTube views, but the bigger the scale of a quest, the more people's attention it grabbed.

The video he had edited about Iluna's Quest had beat all previous records.

"Hey, wake up, you also have to listen."

"Hmm...? What, is it already dinner time?"

Louise, who was sleeping in the corner of the room, woke up.

He was planning to include Louise in the party as well.

Usually, it was impossible to form a party with an NPC, but she could join as a 'helper.'

The only difference was that she wouldn't get experience.

'It isn't going to be easy.'

He understood why Bahmir had laughed at them.

Four people were around level 100 and one was at level 200, but even the level 200 one wasn't that trustworthy.

Who wouldn't laugh if they heard that such a group was going to take over the castle?

It would be something that you normally would need thousands of soldiers to make a success.

But there was something that the Count hadn't taken into consideration…

He already had the entire castle's map and every possible strategy inside his head!

He also knew what outcome the strategies he had inside his head had in Asra Online.

'As long as you do the preparations correctly, it's perfectly possible.'

Hyun's eyes stopped at TarrTarr.

He felt a bit sorry... but TarrTarr was probably the weakest hole in his plan.

Hyun tried to convince him seriously.

"TarrTarr, do you like your current job?"

"Job? It's okay. Why?"

"You're almost at level 100. What job are you planning to change it to?"

"Just like Salon hyeong, I also want to be a sword dancer!"

Hyun grabbed his head.

It seemed like he still hadn't realized his current situation. He had to bring him back to reality.

"What was your battle ranking?"

"I reached master for a short while. Although I haven't gone to the duel arena after resetting my skills."

"Yes. Master... Master isn't bad for a normal person, but it isn't great in our guild. Compared to the rankers, you could say you don't have a talent for PvP."

"Yes...? That's true..."

"But you also aren't good at hunting like Salon. Did you ever pass a thousand combos alone?"

"No...?"

"Then you probably don't have a talent for hunting. The number of people uploading videos doing a thousand combos has recently increased."

"Yes..."

Hyun's words were kind of harsh for TarrTarr since he had a bit of confidence in himself.

The friends he kept in contact with said only good things about him, so it was his first time receiving such harsh remarks.

Salon, who was listening from the side, coughed.

As he saw TarrTarr's confidence decrease, Hyun quickly said something to cheer him up.

"No. I wasn't trying to blame you. Since we are a party, we have to join forces, right? It's just that, right now, it's kind of unbalanced."

And finally…

Hyun said something to TarrTarr, who was starting to get anxious.

"You're lucky because we have a way to overcome your skills and talent simultaneously!"

Hyun knew that TarrTarr had unlocked a hidden job after being recognized by the Count.

Death Knight!

It was a hidden job that was known since Asra Online, but despite it being a hidden job, it wasn't that popular.

After TarrTarr had realized why, he wanted to change his job to a 'Sword Dancer,' rather than the hidden one.

'A ‘Death Knight’ would be perfect for our current party formation!'

The reason why it was so unpopular was that it was quite weak in the 100 ~ 300 level range.

It was weak until it got to control magic, so there was no way it would be a popular job.

But those weak points could easily be overcome with «Assimilation».

'If we leave these bad points aside, this is quite a good job!'

Louise and TarrTarr…

The two with jobs that used Demonic Energy would be the key to making the quest successful.

"So, if you have finished deciding, use this. Of course, I'm not trying to force you... but if you do as I say, you'll be able to reach a position that doesn't lack compared to us."

Hyun took out a book from the inventory.

TarrTarr's eyes shook after realizing what it was.

Reversal of Potential!

He couldn't receive money for editing the video because of the item that reversed his normal skills.

"Now, it's time to make a choice."

'Don't tell me...'

TarrTarr was starting to feel anxious.

Was he offering him it because his debt had been paid off? Once he paid it, he'd be forced to...?

Maybe he had gotten immersed in an infinite debt loop..!

"Fufu, it's a gift. I'm going to let you use this for free."

TarrTarr felt relieved after hearing that he wouldn't have to pay anything for it.

It seemed like he wasn't that harsh after all.

"Well, it's not like it's an expensive item or anything."

"Yes?"

TarrTarr couldn't understand what Hyun said.

"If I remember correctly, it was quite expensive..."

"Don't worry. Its price is going to go down in the future, so you don't need to feel pressured about it."

"???"

Unlike the Soul Replication Elixir, the Reversal of Potential wasn't that valuable.

It dropped very rarely from level 200 quests, And from level 300 quests onwards, you could get it from time to time.

Hyun wasn't planning to sell it anyways, so he had decided to use it on TarrTarr.

"You decided on the job, right? Then try to reach level 100 before the weekend!"

Hyun gave him the Reversal of Potential and patted his shoulder.

That was probably the correct decision for TarrTarr and the guild.

Hyun felt it was the perfect opportunity to pay him back for not having given attention to him, so he was happy.

"Fufu. I know what you're thinking. Don't worry, hyeong will teach you how to control the Death Knight!"

He started explaining the next part of the plan while laughing.

'Should I begin explaining the real plan?'

TarrTarr kept thinking about many different things while touching the Reversal of Potential.

* * *

The weekend came flying.

Just like Hyun wanted, TarrTarr completed the job transfer and re-selected the skills as Hyun told him.

There wasn't anyone among the Shade Guild members who were under level 100.

Not only that, but Louise was at level 200!

'But it isn't enough yet.'

Despite that, Hyun thought they wouldn't be able to complete the Count's quest yet.

'We have to gain at least 50 more levels.'

It was obvious that they needed better specs, but they needed other things as well in order to make it a success.

'Everyone needs to improve overall... but more than that, we must be able to perfectly move as a group!'

He had to become the maestro that conducted everyone during battles.

Everyone except for Ain was lacking in certain aspects, so he was planning to teach them personally.

The first step was to increase Louise's skills so that she wouldn't lack compared to the other members.

'Will it be possible?'

Hyun looked at Louise, who was running happily through the streets at night.

'No. I must make it a success!'

Hyun teleported with the other members.

The scenery was the Magic Country's 'Labyrinth City.'

Although the Magic Country was one of the biggest cities among Heavens’ Forces, it was where the Abyss's players could move most comfortably.

Because it was the city that was the most similar to a modern free-trade society, the Magic Country's NPCs didn't care about Abyss users as long as they remained low-key.

Not only that, but there were almost no clerics, so fooling the guards with the rune was easy. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that most Abyss users moved and acted in the Magic Country.

"We’ve never been here before, right?"

"Right, but I still know everything around here, so you just have to follow me."

"Hyun, you look like a travel guide!"

Hyun walked through the streets of Labyrinth City while hearing Ain’s giggle.

'Although there's too much sand... It's still quite nice scenery.'

The buildings of Labyrinth City, which were made of stone, looked like ancient constructions, but the level of the society didn't lack compared to the modern world.

The city looked rough because, just 500 years prior, the place was a giant labyrinth.

Thousands of magic circles were left behind after adventurers finished exploring the labyrinth.

Those magic circles had become what characterized Labyrinth City.

Just like ancient ruins become a tourist attraction, the magic circles left in Labyrinth City became the city's attraction.

The experience dungeon was one of those.

It was an instant dungeon created by recalling the magic circle's memories.

Users called it 'The Experience Dungeon' for convenience. They were going to one of those.

"So it's here."

When Hyun reached the place, many users were looking for party members.

An NPC who seemed to be the dungeon's administrator was taking entrance fees in front of the dungeon.

Hyun laughed because it reminded him of an attraction in an amusement park.

The entrance fee was almost 500 gold for a party of five!

For an average user, it was a huge amount that would make their hands tremble, but for someone like Hyun, it was like pocket change.

He'd chosen to go to the experience dungeon to level up and improve the party members’ abilities at the same time.

'We must learn to work as a party perfectly before the quest.'

The experience dungeon was based on a virtual battle.

The dungeon just recalled memories from the past.

There wasn't a risk of anyone dying, and they could level up and learn how to work as a group, so there wasn't anywhere better than here.

They could hit three birds with just one stone, so 500 gold felt cheap to Hyun.

"Oh, it's Ain!"

"Really? It's my first time seeing her!"

"I'm your fan! Can you sign this for me?"

Attention became focused on Ain as they walked through the crowd.

Ain was not only famous, but her appearance and atmosphere were also quite unique, so users recognized her almost immediately.

Salon had been worried about how he would act if people recognized him and had prepared an answer, but people didn't easily recognize him because he looked average.

"Aren't you going to give those people an autograph...?"

"..."

Salon couldn't believe how Ain ignored the people that said that they were her fans.

If they were his fans, he would've given them an autograph and even chatted with them for a bit.

But after taking a brief look at Salon, Ain just turned around.

"How strange..."

Anyway, they were able to enter the dungeon without any major incident.

After they followed the NPC, they arrived at a huge place.

It was similar to the 'Awakening Room' they'd entered at level 50. It was a dark place illuminated by magic. In the middle of the hall, there was a huge magic circle.

"It costs 500 gold to activate the magic circle."

After saying that, the labyrinth administrator left.

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