The Veteran Player Already Knows

Chapter 14 - Provocation (1)

No matter how I thought about it, it was strange.

Even as she walked out of the dungeon, that thought was deeply rooted in Seo Ah-in’s mind.

‘What just happened a moment ago…’

Her anxiety about fighting Demonic Beasts was not a problem that could be solved by simply ‘working hard’.

How many people had been disappointed that she couldn’t even bring out half of her capabilities in real combat, despite being praised countless times for her unprecedented talent?

Each of those reactions had remained as a scar on her, so she had tried everything she could. Meditation, therapy, special training, special elixirs…

And yet, it was a problem that ultimately remained unsolved.

But being with this man, it had suddenly gotten better.

It was only for a very short time, but she was able to pull out all the moves in a real fight that she could do in practice.

Seo Ah-in narrowed her eyes and glared at Kim Gyu-sik, who was walking ahead.

What kind of magic had he cast?

“Why the sour face?”

“…”

Of course, his way of speaking, which could always get on her nerves with just a few words, was magic in itself.

“Are you reviewing what happened earlier?”

And this perceptiveness of his, as if he always knew what she was thinking, was also like that.

“…You seem to know a suspicious amount of things. Did you also know how much I struggled with combat anxiety?”

“Roughly.”

As expected.

She glared at Kim Gyu-sik with even narrower eyes.

“Then why on earth did you push someone so recklessly……”

“Just because.”

“…What?”

“I just thought it would work, so I tried it. I told you earlier.”

“…”

Ah.

This man, Kim Gyu-sik, was truly fatal.

At least, it was the first time in Seo Ah-in's life that she had met a man she wanted to fatally kill.

“Are you giving me that as a reason now?”

“Well, I know you work hard.”

“You don’t even know how I live, you’re just all talk…”

“You practice swordsmanship in your spare time even when you’re out on a job. You browse for information every night before bed just in case you get a chance to enter the Tower. You wake up early every day to exercise even if you’re tired, and on top of that…”

“…”

Huh.

What is this?

He was a man who always just did his own thing and then went off somewhere, so I thought he had no interest in me.

How did he know all those things?

Kim Gyu-sik, who had been reciting Seo Ah-in’s daily routine without missing a single word, shrugged his shoulders and continued.

“You always work so hard, so I thought it would work and gave it a try. That’s all.”

What kind of ridiculous story was this.

It was a much more rational story that this man had pulled some kind of trick on her.

But.

“…”

Among the people around her, had there ever been a single person.

Had there been even one person who had looked her in the eye and acknowledged her ‘effort’?

People only see what they want to see.

No matter how outstanding her skills were, it was always confined to ‘her talent is excellent’ or ‘her background is good’; no one knew to what extent she pushed herself and devoted herself to training.

No, they weren’t even curious.

Except for the man in front of her who had just pointed that out.

Seo Ah-in kicked the words she was about to use to argue with down her throat and just scratched her cheek.

“…You won’t get anything for complimenting me all of a sudden.”

That was the limit of the harshness she could muster.

***

What do you mean I won’t get anything for a compliment.

[1 Skill Share slot for target ‘Seo Ah-in’ has been opened.]

I got something amazing, didn't I?

“…”

It really opened.

I had planned to open a share slot through various methods on the occasion of giving her a good experience in this dungeon, but.

I just pointed out a part that she would care about based on her character settings, and it opened up in one go.

I already knew this girl was always thirsty for praise, so I gave it a shot.

‘Still, she’s too easy...’

I was a little worried about Seo Ah-in’s gullibility, but it would be better to think about how to use what I had just gained.

The skill share slots of the main characters were all important, but this girl, in particular, had many aspects that would be helpful.

Because.

[ Seo Ah-in ]

[ Mind's Eye Lv.3 ]

[ Reflexes Lv.4 ]

[ Concentration Lv.5 ]

[ Turo Lv. 3 ]

“…”

Look at this insane skill set.

Although the levels were still low, each one was as rare and powerful as their impressive-sounding names.

It was a list on a different level from a certain poor soul whose skills were baking bread and standing in line at the canteen.

Her levels were not high yet because she hadn't properly grown, but if I shared them, some mind-blowing skills would pop out.

‘…But not right now.’

Main characters were guys who had a lot of unique skills.

Among them, most of Seo Ah-in's main skills were ones that showed their true performance when linked with other unique skills.

If I could only share one skill, it would only have half the performance.

‘Of course…’

It wasn’t like there was nothing I could use right away.

[ Do you want to share the ‘Reflexes’ skill? ]

[ Y/N ]

[Skill sharing is complete. Modifications will be made to fit the player’s condition. ]

[ Bullet Time / NPC-Seo Ah-in's Unique Ability ]

[ For a certain period, the speed at which you perceive the surrounding situation is extremely enhanced. ]

Hmm.

Seo Ah-in, who had reached a certain level of growth, used to post ridiculous stats like 100% evasion rate all by herself, and the core ability for that was this.

It was a skill-ification of superhuman reflexes that made it feel as if the surrounding time had stopped.

‘This is a shared skill, so it’ll probably devour a ton of mana…’

If I could activate it along with Observation, there would be no greater cheat, but in my current state, I could barely maintain Observation for a moment even with insane doping.

If I used both at the same time, a few seconds would be my limit.

‘The good thing is.’

I have the Fairy's Core, and I also got the Mandrake roots.

It was the stage where creating an item that would greatly pump up my mana was becoming a reality.

I wouldn’t have to suffer from a mana shortage for long.

‘It’s not like I’m missing out by waiting a little.’

Because there was still something big to gain right away.

[ Stat Points: 2

Skill Points: 3 ]

[Kim Gyu-sik]

[Lv.7] [Guardian Angel Buff Active]

[ Strength: 4

Agility: 4

Durability: 2

Stamina: 4

Mana: 2 -> 4 ]

I invested the stat points into the stable choice of Mana, and then opened the skill window.

This was where the real part began.

‘I’m sure… that was the condition.’

I invested an additional point into the Mastery I had taken before.

You could spend extra points on Mastery-type skills to increase their effects.

And with this, the total points I had invested in the Warrior/Assassin skill trees surely exceeded 8.

It might seem like a trivial fact at a glance, but why it was important was because.

[! Hidden condition met !]

[Skill Upgrade is now possible. Do you want to execute? Y/N]

[ Warrior - < Barbarian's Strength >

Assassin - < Menacing Blow > ]

Something like this existed.

This was the ‘Skill Upgrade’, a feature that only I, who could learn skills from all classes, could maximize.

In the system, when you complete a specific skill tree for each class, the existing skills are integrated to create a new skill.

The ones I just took were a combination that met such conditions.

And the skills created in this way mostly boasted much better performance than the originals.

There was no reason to refuse.

[ Double Pulse / Upgraded Skill: Low-grade ]

[ Two attacks are guaranteed to be critical hits. Critical hits inflict much stronger damage than normal and randomly cause various effects. ]

The two original skills were just a temporary increase in strength and a single power-up, both half-baked effects.

But when those two were combined, something like this popped out.

At least for a low-grade skill, it was an attack skill that was undoubtedly overpowered.

‘Probably…

Among C-grade Climbers, you could count on one hand the number of guys who have a skill of this level.’

Considering that a C-grade was a main force wherever they went, except for the top-tier giant guilds, it was pretty decent.

And in the future, I planned to acquire much more cheat-like skills than this through skill upgrades.

‘It’s not for nothing that a multi-class is considered a cheat…’

As I thought that, sunlight began to aggressively shine before my eyes.

It seemed we had come out of the dungeon in the meantime.

‘It’s completely summer now.’

I didn't like feeling the hot temperature on my skin, but at least the lush green foliage around was nice to look at.

Look, for example, even from those men approaching with grim faces, there's quite a bit of freshness…

“…”

No, how could there be.

Seeing them approach with big strides, the atmosphere was at least not one where they wanted to chat about the weather.

“Hey. You.”

Hmm.

Seeing a grim-looking bald man say that while holding a large axe almost the size of his body, I felt the remaining sentiment of summer completely vanish.

“You just came out from inside there, right?”

You saw it all, so why are you asking?

“Yes. But what about it?”

“We were planning to conquer this dungeon today. Isn’t it a bit rude to just go in and out as you please?”

What is this crazy bastard saying?

Unlike the floors of the Tower, where a specific group could have clear control, dungeons were a format where the Demonic Beasts inside regenerated to match new entrants.

In other words, it didn’t matter who, when, or how someone entered.

For some popular dungeons, guilds would make their own schedules for when they would enter, but for a low-grade and unpopular dungeon like this, it was first-come, first-served.

“…So? Who are you people?”

When I asked that, Seo Ah-in, who was tilting her head behind me, said something.

“I think I’ve seen these people somewhere before…?”

“…!”

And as she said that, the guys behind the bald man all flinched.

“That gorilla-like woman…!”

“To think we’d run into her here of all places…!”

“Who are you calling a gorilla?!”

I sighed and intervened as Seo Ah-in shot back, flaring up.

“Calm down, gorilla.”

“No, I mean, what gori—!”

“So what’s the relationship between you and them, gorilla.”

“…”

Seo Ah-in took a few deep breaths and then answered in a resigned voice.

“They’re probably from a place called the Leopard Guild. Last time, we had a bit of a fight because they were acting ridiculously.”

Ah, so they’re the Leopard guys.

In the game, they were characters who popped up here and there in the early stages to pick fights with the player. It seemed I had run into them in a similar context this time.

As I was coming to that understanding, the bald man’s expression turned even grimmer than before upon hearing Seo Ah-in’s words.

“So you’re the ones who beat up our guys?”

The way he threateningly gripped his axe as he said that clearly showed he wanted to do something rough to us.

“That’s because you guys were in the wrong first…”

I stopped Seo Ah-in, who was about to flare up again, with a gesture.

“If you react to everything with anger like that, even solvable problems won’t be solved.”

“But…”

“Ahem. Watch and learn.”

In times like these, you start with a light greeting.

I opened my mouth to the bald man with a smiling face.

“Now, now, don’t be like that. It seems there was some misunderstanding between us, so let’s talk first.”

“Hmph. Then you should show some sincerity. As a sign of apology, you’ll have to hand over everything you have.”

“But who do you think you’re talking to so informally on our first meeting, you disrespectful bastard.”

“…”

I could feel Seo Ah-in glaring at me from behind, but I ignored it cleanly.

No, no matter what, I can’t stand robbery.

How much is all the stuff I have now worth?

“…Well then.”

The bald man grinned and raised his axe.

“I guess we can consider it mutually agreed upon what will happen to you from now on, right?”

For a guy who looks like that, he talks with some style.

Quite a shame.

“That, in other words.”

That I have to beat the living daylights out of a guy like that now.

“Means you have nothing to say even if you guys get wrecked, right?”

Grinning, I pulled up my status window and looked at it again.

The skills I had just acquired were shining at the edge of my vision.

Well, it was a good opportunity.

If you get something new, you should try it out right away.