Chapter 137 - How To Be Perfectly Prepared (1)

"Everyone understands, right? Don't pick a fight with him."

As XL finished talking, everyone's gazes turned to Pias.

"Oof…"

Pias nodded while smiling awkwardly.

Pias had blamed himself for the mistake he'd made before, so he understood XL's words better than anyone.

"Maybe we could rebuild our relationship with Ain through Hyun."

According to the rumors, Hyun was the only one capable of controlling her.

If they saw him somewhere, they had to act very carefully

* * *

The five members of the Shade Guild were training at least three hours per day in the experience dungeon.

Thanks to Ain being there, there wasn't anyone who tried to pick a fight with them.

From time to time, some people recognized Salon or TarrTarr.

Salon was overly kind to those that recognized him, so Hyun had to regulate him.

"Oof… Things are finally starting to look good."

Making the party members better was good.

Hyun had to teach each one except for Ain personally, so he was mentally becoming tired.

"It was hard but worth it."

Louise was the one who changed the most.

Louise, who was the weakest member on the first day, had grown to become an excellent damage dealer.

He was already expecting her to grow a lot the moment she overcame her inner fear.

"Ugh…! I died again!"

It seemed like she'd also gotten used to virtual death.

There was something that worried Hyun, but because the pain felt there was weaker than the proper game, it seemed like she was capable of telling the difference between virtual and real.

If the one who grew the most was Louise, the person who struggled the most was TarrTarr.

If Louise lacked confidence, TarrTarr lacked training.

Since he didn't have time to get used to the new job, it was obvious that he would struggle.

'I guess it's normal for him to have a hard time.'

How strong your job was depended hugely on how good you were at controlling the character.

Even the Priest's healing skill was a non-target one, so depending on how well you used it, the effect varied a lot.

Basically, if you weren't skillful, it was hard to become a ranker, no matter your job.

And the Death Knight was one of the hardest jobs to control in the beginning.

Once again, Hyun solved that issue through «Assimilation».

Due to his forceful teaching method, TarrTarr had grown quite a lot in just four days.

He had grown enough not to bother the rest of the party… but because of Hyun's high standards, not being a bother was already a huge achievement.

'They're both more or less ready.'

While Hyun sighed in relief, Ain approached him.

"Hyun… Recently, you haven't been using «Assimilation» on me."

"That's because you don't necessarily need it…"

There was nothing he had to correct Ain, who was the ace.

Even Salon had improved a lot. Except for a few strange habits and a few mistakes, he didn't need to say much to him.

Ting-!

[You've cleared the Lv. 180 labyrinth!]

[180% bonus experience will be applied to what each person has earned!]

[Level up!]

It had been two weeks since they’d entered the experience dungeon.

Except for Louise, all four of them were covered by light.

Salon exclaimed in surprise while looking at his status window.

"To think that it was possible to level up this fast…"

TarrTarr also agreed.

"Yes… Although we haven't played for that much time, our levels became similar to the top rankers."

"Too bad we can’t show this growth."

What Salon felt more bittersweet about was that he couldn't show others his rank.

Hyun had asked everyone after they entered the Shade Guild to do something.

'Everyone, please pull your names out of the Hall of Fame. Our guild becoming famous could make things more dangerous.'

At first, he didn't like that.

'Is there a need to pull our names out of the Hall of Fame?'

If your name appeared in the Hall of Fame, you not only became famous among users but also among NPCs.

You could meet not only important NPCs but also receive hidden quests more easily.

But more than that, you could feel NPCs looking at you with respect!

Not being able to feel that was like torture for him.

"But isn't it harmful if we have low fame? Wouldn't it be bad if we can't receive the quests everyone else can?"

"It's okay. Ain and I have the title of ‘Heavenly Being’. We can counter it with that."

Salon gave numerous hypothetical cases and tried to turn Hyun's thoughts, but it was no use. It was as if he'd already thought of all the possibilities.

In the end, the only reason left was that Salon wanted to be respected by NPCs, but he was too ashamed to say that out loud.

'Ugh… That's too bad.'

Salon shed bloody tears and followed Hyun's orders.

'To think I can't upload this… That's too bad.'

Salon was at level 157!

If he had put his name in the Hall of Fame, he would have ranked 8th.

'How can these two control their ambitions so much…?'

Salon took a glimpse at both of them.

He saw two users that were higher level than him.

Hyun Lv.159

Ain Lv.159

Surprisingly, at one point, they became the same level. Not only that, but they’d begun leveling up at the same time.

It was obvious that they'd matched their levels on purpose.

TarrTarr's level was 141. Although it may have seemed low, that was already enough to enter the top thousand. Every Shade Guild member was growing at a mind-blowing pace.

'Of course, Hyun is amazing… but I guess I was able to grow this much because of my own actions as well, tight?'

Suddenly, Salon became curious about his contribution rate.

Normal parties used a program that calculated the contribution rate, but that guild's party didn't use one, so there was no way to check it.

'I'll have to calculate it for myself.'

Salon couldn't beat the curiosity and calculated the previous hunt's contribution rates.

'…?!'

He couldn't say anything for a while after he got a shocking result.

It was because the number next to his name was lower than he had expected.

[MVP Hyun] : 52.2% (Main Dealer 2, Commander, Buffer, Strategist, Playmaker)

[Ain] : 28.1% (Main Dealer 1, Playmaker)

[Salon] : 10.7% (Sub Dealer 1)

[Louise] : 6.7% (Sub Dealer 2)

[TarrTarr] : 2.3% (Crowd Control Assist)

The AI's calculations were more precise than a human's.

It took Salon quite a lot of time to read the information in front of him.

No, it didn't take him long to read, but he had a hard time accepting the information.

‘Did the machine break?’

That was the first thought that crossed Salon's mind.

Salon was someone that was more prideful about himself than most people, so for someone like him to face that reality for the first time was a huge shock.

"What happened?"

Hyun nervously looked at Salon.

"Ah, it's the contribution rate calculator."

"Oh, what's this?"

The rest of the party began gathering around Salon.

Soon, everyone focused on the interface in the air.

"Wait. Hyun's contribution rate is double mine…?!"

"2.3%…? This isn't an error, right…?"

"Hmm? Your expressions seem bad. Did something bad happen?"

Only Louise tilted her head in confusion.

Louise also became able to read the numbers after Hyun told her the meaning behind them.

"Oh. This system calculation thing is quite interesting. It seems like I was of help!"

"Yes. After all, your contribution rate isn't low."

"There's someone who did worse than me!"

"Hmm… I would prefer you say that somewhere where TarrTarr isn't around."

After a while, they had to accept reality.

It seemed like everyone calculated their contribution rate by checking out their recordings… but after realizing there wasn't a difference, they couldn't say anything.

"I… Still have a long way to go."

Salon was the one who accepted reality the fastest.

Salon didn't want to lose against anyone except for in PvP.

He would get at least the same contribution rate as Ain—that became his first goal.

"Let's do it one more time! Right now!"

Fire burned in Ain's eyes.

TarrTarr was clenching his fists. It seemed like he felt something after checking the contribution rate.

Hyun smiled after seeing that everyone became more motivated.

Yes, they had to be motivated to grow faster.

Still, it didn't matter how many times they tried, they wouldn't be able to match his contribution rate.

* * *

Whir.

The magic circle shone endlessly.

Hyun didn't hesitate to spend gold.

Although he'd spent more than a hundred thousand dollars, he didn't regret his decision.

He had always managed to do what he'd planned since playing Asra.

He was willing to spend as much gold as necessary to achieve his goal.

If needed, he was even willing to spend money.

How fast the party grew and improved made him feel that it was worth it.

'Synergy is finally starting to come out.'

Ting-!

[The monsters have been set to Lv.200!]

[Defend the core for 20 minutes!]

"Are you a new recruit? That's good! We were lacking some forces!"

While the NPC talked, the group quickly got into their positions.

Seeing them move harmoniously, you couldn't help but wonder if they were really the same group.

"Ain, please recharge me."

"O-okay…!"

[The party has been disbanded!]

They always knew each other's intentions, so there was no need to explain things to Ain.

Fwoosh-! Fwoosh-! Each time Ain's claws hit Hyun, his body became darker.

He didn't need to use the same skills while doing the Awakening Quest because the Support's skills had also evolved.

The «Shadow Shield» could absorb up to 50 thousand damage, and he could recharge up to 150 thousand Demonic Energy.

'I forgot to do it before the dungeon began.'

Hyun clicked his tongue, disappointed, but it wasn't that big of a problem.

His having forgotten to do it earlier wouldn't make that much of a difference.

Paf-!

The moment he used «Assimilation», TarrTarr's body became black.

The Demonic Energy that a Shadow Linker used made the target's body dark.

Whir- Whir-!

The Death Knight’s longsword let out a sad cry.

After he changed jobs, TarrTarr's main weapon went from being a shortsword to a longsword.

「Do you understand? Then try to do it.」

「Yes…!」

All of his skills had changed to the Death Knight's.

At first, he’d struggled because it was too different from a Combo Thief, but thanks to Hyun's teachings, TarrTarr started getting used to it.

[«Shield of Predation» Lv.1(+1)]

- For 1 second, create a shield made of Demonic Energy following the sword's path.

- The shield can absorb all damage lower than the amount of [Demonic Energy] spent.

- Damage higher than the [Demonic Energy] spent will destroy the shield.

- Duration: 10 seconds.

TarrTarr drew a line on the floor from left to right with the sword…

And then he drew another line on the ceiling from right to left.

After he finished drawing a square, a dark, semi-transparent curtain appeared.

He created a 'wall' that blocked the passageway.

「Oh, it improved a lot!」

Hyun smiled, satisfied.

TarrTarr had just spent 6500 Demonic Energy.

It was strong enough to block a skeleton mage's attack.

Since it was a skill created by drawing a line with the sword, there were some cases where a hole appeared in the curtain, but he was able to create a perfect 'wall.'

Smash- Smash-!

A group of skeletons came running but ended up hitting the wall and getting crushed against each other.

It didn't matter how many of those weaklings tried—they wouldn't even be able to scratch the «Shield of Predation».

The wall in the passageway was impassable in the eyes of the weak.

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