Chapter 40 – Performance Test (3)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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[Name: Granfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo]

[Class: Demon Hunter]

[Level: 226]

[Stats]

Strength: 33 / Agility: 35 / Magic Power: 126 / Luck: 3

[Available Points: 50]

Strength and agility raised as rewards for the physical training quest.

Let’s calculate the figures…….

Are they roughly 10~20 levels ahead of the same level?

‘To think the gap is this much from repeat quests.’

I realize it again.

Class Quests are amazing enough to make a fuss about.

Of course, what increased through the physical training quest were strength and agility.

It probably won’t have an immediate, major impact on me who mainly uses magic.

However, I gained a new realization.

The Demon Hunter class, which was a class that had nothing outstanding in the past.

Its new nurturing method……!

Actually, there is no need to grandly call it a nurturing method.

Since I was the only Demon Hunter.

I muttered while lying flat on the floor.

“……It is lonely.”

Lonely my foot.

It’s one thing to feel pitiful laying on the floor drenched in sweat.

Anyone listening would think there’s some deep story behind it.

Anyway.

As I said, having nothing outstanding.

Can also mean having no weaknesses depending on how you do it.

Of course, it will be a difficult path.

Limited stat points.

Distributing those points as an investment was definitely inefficient.

For example, simple.

Even if a Mage lineage class increases their strength…….

‘They just can’t utilize that strength.’

Because Mage lineage classes did not have skills influenced by strength.

In that sense, looking back at it, Demon Hunter was an absurd class.

‘To not have a single plausible combat skill!’

Natural Enemy and Exorcism Ritual.

Only class-unique skills that are effective solely against demons.

There probably wouldn’t be another class this faithful to its concept.

Because of that, there was no established method for stat investment either.

“However, it doesn’t matter.”

Even without skills, I had magic.

That is the reason I put all points into magic power until now.

On top of that, I even witnessed a new possibility.

‘……Lionheart Knights.’

Exactly, the three knights.

Harkon.

Jesica.

Enoch.

I’m referring to the energy swaying on their swords.

‘Sword force.’

The name wasn’t certain yet.

Because I hadn’t asked the parties involved directly.

However, magic that starts from search, interference, and manifestation too.

Wasn’t something I learned by asking someone.

It’s just that this brain.

Granfel’s brilliant talent.

Realized it as soon as he saw it.

‘The important thing isn’t something like a name.’

Yes, the important thing is.

Only whether I can handle that ‘sword force’ thing or not.

Since I directly witnessed the power of sword force.

‘Jesica, Enoch. It was to the point of turning the level gap between the two and the skeletons pale.’

Someone might see it as greed.

But that’s a remark made without knowing the situation on this side.

Even if just to not sink.

I must do my best and struggle!

Including the strength and agility raised by training quests.

The rewards to be acquired through class quests.

Only by utilizing every single one of them a hundred percent.

Will I be able to support this heavy pride.

So the schedule for the time being has been confirmed.

─Prove your abilities. (In Progress)

●Persuade a majority of the Chief Mages. (3/20)

While performing the Mage Tower’s quest.

‘I should drop by the Yusra Kingdom.’

Confirm information about sword force with Harkon.

If sword force can be acquired, even training for it.

……Damn it, I’m already tired.

However, joy comes after hardship.

I checked the quest window again.

[Class Quest: Quickening]

The prologue has risen and the signal fire has blossomed.

The last Demon Hunter.

Brighten the world covered in evil.

─Train your weakened physical body. (Repeat)

─Investigate the Great Evil of the Yusra Islands. (Success)

─Stop the resurrection of the Seven Deadly Sins, Greed. (Success)

……Yes!

Let’s endure it, even if just to consider the class quest rewards.

Because rewards as enormous as the stats might be waiting for me.

But goddamn it.

For this spotless integrity body and mind.

There was no greed for quest rewards either.

“To grab the sword again, physical strength must be built.”

Out of the quest contents, only a single line is visible.

─Train your weakened physical body. (Repeat)

Drip, drip

I started doing push-ups once again.

Tremble

Looking at my trembling forearms, I thought.

‘To not even be able to sleep as I wish. Oh, my life.’

I am this pitiful.

*

If there’s a profession drawing the limelight in the mass media recently.

That is unmistakably Player Paparazzi.

Plparazzi for short.

“Ah, I’m telling you, just trust me. Who am I?”

Yoo An-jun was quite a successful Plparazzi.

A single photo of his is millions of won.

Videos go up to tens of millions of won at most.

The reason his recordings received good treatment was simple.

“I will rescue humiliating photos you won’t see anywhere else for you.”

Humiliating photos of Players capturing a split second.

Because no matter which Player it was, they couldn’t avoid Yoo An-jun’s angle.

It meant that even rankers were no exception.

Without even beating around the bush, Player rank #8, Dmitri.

He too had suffered from humiliating articles thanks to Yoo An-jun.

[Exclusive] Dmitri, a beginner when it comes to dating?

The photo attached to that article was exactly Yoo An-jun’s work.

A hotel lounge rented out entirely.

It was a photo capturing the appearance of Dmitri getting rejected after proposing while kneeling.

Not only Dmitri’s expression, but even the flustered reaction of his counterpart clearly.

-Ugh lol got dumped lol

-The interview content for this is even funnier lol

-He apparently proposed to get married after dating for a week lol

-He’s a pure romantic unlike how he looks fr lol

Thanks to that, Dmitri had jumped and skipped in rage.

That he didn’t know who it was, but he’d kill them if caught!

Of course, Yoo An-jun didn’t get caught, so that’s why he can be staking out at the Mage Tower like this today too.

Yoo An-jun recalled today’s photographic subject.

“As long as I can just hook him……!”

Even for a big catch, there’s no big catch like this.

What Yoo An-jun is aiming for today is none other than Lee Ho-yeol.

Yes, this was a massive catch bigger than Dmitri.

Lee Ho-yeol, who is he?

The Player whose stock price is rising the highest recently!

Above all, his strides make no sense.

Started revealing his presence in the Count Ascura raid.

Defeating not just two named monsters in the Yusra Islands, but a whopping level 650 monster.

Slain the Great Evil, the Seven Deadly Sins Greed.

‘Strictly speaking, it’s an achievement of the Lionheart Knights but.’

Since Lee Ho-yeol was practically the one who led the Lionheart Knights. Plus, above all, Lee Ho-yeol had star quality.

Unhesitating way of talking.

Costume that makes it hard to tell if it’s a concept or genuine.

Above all, unbelievable skill utilization.

There is a reason for Lee Ho-yeol’s popularity.

However, Yoo An-jun knew.

‘The higher you fly, the more it hurts when you fall.’

Flawless.

That near-perfect image will actually become a boomerang and return.

There wouldn’t even be a need for a majorly humiliating photo.

Just taking a lightly faltering photo.

Will be enough to leave a scratch on that noble image.

“Originally, fantasies are meant to be broken slowly.”

In that sense, the Mage Tower was the optimal location.

Above all, look at those knee-buckling stairs.

Appearing and disappearing.

Yoo An-jun shuddered.

“Let’s just salvage exactly one cut.”

Lee Ho-yeol.

According to rumors, he received a quest from the Senior Mage of the Mage Tower.

I don’t know when it’ll be, but if I wait, I’ll be able to capture his appearance.

It was then, when Yoo An-jun was hiding his cannon camera and staking out.

The Players gathered around the portal began to murmur.

“……It’s Lee Ho-yeol!”

“Hey, don’t make a fuss. Want to get on his bad side?”

“Be polite. Don’t whisper either.”

They were understandable reactions.

Because for the majority of Players, there would be nothing good about incurring the hatred of Lee Ho-yeol.

Why, imagine encountering that Lee Ho-yeol in a rift while on his bad side.

‘Well, it’s none of my business.’

Of course, that story only applies to Players whose goal is rifts and monster hunting.

So Yoo An-jun slyly took out his camera and zoomed in.

‘Now, shall we take a picture.’

Yoo An-jun smacking his lips.

However, for his face to stiffen.

Did not take long.

Tick

……How can a person be like that?

Yoo An-jun’s mouth even fell open in absurdity.

No matter how much he zoomed in, there wasn’t an inch of wavering.

‘Humiliation? This is a pictorial shoot?!’

Normal shooting.

Continuous shooting.

There should be at least one shot caught.

What in the world is going on?

Even while advancing on the dizzying stairs just looking at them.

Far from humiliation, there was no dishevelment in his expression and posture.

That appearance is like a swan floating peacefully on a lake.

Shake, shake

Yoo An-jun shook his head.

‘No!’

Lee Ho-yeol pictorial?

Such photos are already overflowing!

To put it harshly, even if you just enter NetTube, it’s full of videos uploaded by guys claiming to be Lee Ho-yeol fans.

What’s needed is solely a moment of humiliation.

‘If I shoot from a bit closer…….’

I might be able to salvage it.

At least a photo of his pores or something.

Drawn by the Plparazzi instinct, Yoo An-jun.

It was the moment he took a few steps forward.

“Hey, stop right there.”

A voice full of murderous intent was heard.

“You there, holding the camera. Let’s talk for a moment.”

Turning his head, a massive lump of muscles was there.

Dmitri was there.

He smiled brightly.

“We know each other, right? We met at the hotel lobby.”

In an instant, a line coming to mind.

I’ll kill whoever it is if caught.

Crack!

Seeing Dmitri loosening his fists, Yoo An-jun realized.

‘How am I supposed to hook a swan with a fishing rod……!’

That I, who was acting up, was truly someone who didn’t know his own place.

Smash!

*

Sizzle

News popping up on the parchment.

-The magic tool, [Sage’s Pastime] has been carried out.

Chief Mage of the Healing School, Bellier Yusia snorted.

The Chief Mages finally laid their hands on a magic tool.

‘Are they not afraid of the backlash?’

The magic tool requested by ‘some’ Chief Mages.

[Sage’s Pastime].

That was a kind of puzzle.

The moment it combines with magic.

A puzzle that becomes a conundrum.

The moment the magics of the Chief Mages reside in it.

It will become a conundrum of a level incomparable to the locking mechanism of the Crystal Hall.

‘Even if Marcelo raises an objection, they have nothing to say, right? Of course, because they know Marcelo’s personality. They’re probably being unreasonably stubborn like this.’

By standard of Chief Mages.

Even if they hung onto it all day, to solve [Sage’s Pastime].

It would take at least a dozen days.

The thoughts of those idiots were glaringly obvious.

While the adventurer, Lee Ho-yeol, is hanging onto the puzzle.

Their thought is to nitpick all sorts of things.

‘It’s obvious without seeing it.’

If he can’t solve it, they’ll make a fuss about not solving it.

When he solves it, they’ll make a fuss saying it took longer than thought.

Whatever fault they catch, they’ll throw a tantrum.

Of course, it was none of Bellier’s business.

“Well. Wouldn’t it be better to just quietly watch?”

Bellier.

Because she had no desire to prove the qualifications of the adventurer, Lee Ho-yeol.

The reason was simple.

Skilled Mage of the Healing School, Klee.

It was thanks to confirming the truth with that child once again.

-……Yes, that’s right. It was him!

Hearing Lee Ho-yeol’s physical description and attire.

Klee seemed happy.

-I see. He was the adventurer that Senior Mage Marcelo recommended as a joint researcher! What a relief……! I thought I made a huge mistake……!

A good child, Klee.

She seemed to have had a lot of worries in her own way.

But does she know?

“That’s a separate story from seeing through the Tower Master’s illusion.”

Naturally.

The illusion magic manifested by the Tower Master, even Bellier herself.

No, even the great Marcelo wouldn’t be able to see through it.

‘So I cannot believe you yet.’

So the adventurer, Lee Ho-yeol.

The desire to keep him by her side and observe him grew bigger.

That is the instinct as a Mage of the Mage Tower.

‘One could say it’s a pure desire for exploration of the unknown.’

Because since long ago, one must put their heart and soul into exploration.

Bellier picked up a voluminous quill pen.

Then she calmly wrote down on the parchment.

It was an acknowledgment of Marcelo’s decision.

It was content stating she would recognize Lee Ho-yeol’s qualification for joint research.

‘……It’s late.’

For a reply to come back regarding that.

Was a moment later.

Is something the matter?

For Bellier to have doubts was momentary.

Sizzle

Letters began to pop up on the parchment.

The content was something Bellier had not expected at all.

-2 votes remaining until achieving a majority.

……Wait a minute.

Only 2 votes left?

Flustered, Bellier swept up her drooping green hair.

She folded those white fingers.

“Up until yesterday it was 3 people. And me…….”

The other Chief Mages surely wouldn’t have cast a vote of approval.

Is there no reason to do so?

Bellier, even she wouldn’t have cast a vote of approval rashly if not for Klee’s story.

Summing it up like that, it was 4 votes.

If so, where did the remaining 4 votes come from?

Bellier muttered in disbelief.

“Could it be…….”

Suddenly, [Sage’s Pastime] came to mind.

The magic tool that ‘some’ Chief Mages supposedly carried out.

Bellier checked the names of those ‘some’ on the parchment.

“……Curtain, Dorothy, Maia, Vex!”

Those few were exactly four people.

What that sound meant was simple.

Bellier continued speaking in a trembling voice.

“He saw through Sage’s Pastime in this short time……!!”

.

.

.

[Sage’s Pastime] sprawling on the desk.

There was nothing difficult about it.

Just as seen.

Because I just had to explore the magic and solve it with reverse magic.

─Prove your abilities. (In Progress)

●Persuade a majority of the Chief Mages. (8/20)

Yes, if it’s at this level, I can finish it quickly.

If I’m at it, finish anything quickly.

And grasp the sword with a much lighter heart, wouldn’t it be better.

I scribbled my impression about it on the parchment.

‘Is it because I’m tired. I was a bit prickly.’

Why, also putting in a little apology for yesterday’s matter.

-If it was a proof process and not a childish trick, I will gladly welcome it.