[ SKILL: "THE COMMANDER'S TOUCH" HAS BEEN ACQUIRED ]
[ SKILL: THE COMMANDER'S TOUCH LV.1 ]
[ ACTIVE SKILL ]
[ NO MANA REQUIRED ]
[ THE ABILITY TO PHYSICALLY CONTROL OBJECTS WITHOUT TOUCHING THEM ]
As soon as he read this description, he remembered a certain scene.
Igris reached out towards the longsword, which was embedded in the floor, far beyond his reach.
- So it was this skill that made the sword move then.
An ability that could move objects at a distance with just his will! Moreover, he didn't even have to expend mana!
If he can move any object he sees as the description says, that would be a hell of a skill.
Additionally, a great advantage was the fact that the skill did not require mana either to launch or to maintain it.
Jin-Woo immediately tried to experiment with the skill on the centipede corpse next to him.
[ SKILL LEVEL IS TOO LOW TO MOVE SUCH A LARGE OBJECT. ]
[ SKILL LEVEL IS TOO LOW TO MOVE SUCH A LARGE OBJECT. ]
If he wanted to move something heavy, his skill level probably had to be much higher.
However, he could still work with something smaller.
Jin-Woo dropped Rasak's Poison Fang on the ground. And he stretched his hand towards the dagger.
The dagger then quickly rose up.
Jin-Woo grabbed the dagger's hilt and looked at it with a look of complete astonishment.
It was really cool.
It seems he was as well prepared as he could be.
When he looked up to confirm, the required time had expired.
[ REMAINING TIME: 0H 0MIN 04SEC ]
When the timer changed from 4 to 3, a new system message appeared in his view.
[ BECAUSE YOU WERE HUNTING IN THE PENALTY ZONE, THE DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF THE NEXT PENALTY QUEST WILL BE INCREASED APPROPRIATELY AND CUSTOMIZED ]
The difficulty level would be higher.
This means that the hunt would be much more difficult and that "Penalty Quest" would once again serve its purpose as a proper one.
But then again, will there be a next time?
Jin-Woo swallowed anxiously.
He preferred not to come back here.
On the other hand, the quest of changing jobs didn't sound appealing either.
Inside the boss's room, hundreds of monsters were waiting for his return.
HP, MP, fatigue, equipment, and even a new skill.
His current condition was much better than when he first set foot in this place, but when he was thinking about returning
there, he couldn't help but feel tense and nervous.
His heart was beating so hard it hurt.
Jin-Woo closed his eyes. He tried to stay calm.
Soon, a familiar mechanical sound echoed in his head.
[ PENALTY QUEST HAS ENDED ]
When Jin-Woo opened his eyes again...
His vision was filled with a sea of knights standing still and simultaneously turning their heads towards him.
Jin-Woo immediately started attacking, cutting down the first knight.
This time, the new dagger cut through their armor like butter, cutting off limbs, cutting deep into their helmets and making serious holes in their chests and bellies.
The new dagger worked quite well.
It was certainly much easier than fighting this horde with bare fists.
But his impression of fighting them earlier still lingered.
The portals had already closed and yet the number of knights did not seem to be decreasing. It was as if knights were constantly appearing from somewhere, replacing the dead ones.
And only now did he notice that his level did not increase at all during this fight, even though he had defeated countless opponents.
If he had not gained any experience in this underground before, he would not have paid attention to this fact.
But when fighting empty armor or Igris, he gained experience for kills and his level increased.
Not now.
The system informed him that he would have limited healing options for leveling up. This message clearly indicated that he was able to gain levels here.
There was no mention of experience points.
Jin-Woo looked around him carefully, looking for any abnormalities, anything strange.
Anything that could lead him to the trail.
Behind the hordes of knights, he saw several mages.
Interestingly, they stood there and didn't attack him once, yet they looked like they were casting some kind of spell the whole time.
Only, the knights are constantly attacking him.
Were the magicians so busy?
Healing knights?
No, that's not it.
Are they maintaining some sort of curse? Or maybe they tried to weaken him with magic?
He didn't sense anything like that.
He didn't think the spell they were casting now required several minutes of incantations.
Unless...
They were summoners!
Knights keep arriving without giving him experience, because they are not normal monsters but summons.
And yet at the very end, they came out of the gates...
Mages!
It was their doing.
Reaching the first mage wasn't difficult.
These summons could hardly be called fast or agile.
He bounced off the shoulder of one of the knights and jumped up, targeting the first magician.
He got through to it without much difficulty and attacked the mostly defenseless monster. Throwing Rasaka's Fang at him.
After his death, the magician silently turned into a wisp of black smoke and disappeared from sight.
[ YOU HAVE DEFEATED A MAGE. ]
Hundreds of knights rushing to attack Jin-Woo fell to the ground at the same time. It was as if they were puppets with their strings cut.
[ SKILL: "DAGGER THROW" HAS BEEN ACQUIRED .]
He also gained another skill.
I guess it couldn't have been better.
It should be all downhill from now.
Killing the knights will do him no good if the mages are alive.
He had to get past the knights and find the mages who were probably somewhere behind the crowds of knights.
But looking for them among the crowds of enemies pressing towards him will be very difficult and time-consuming.
He had to come up with something else.
He cut the neck of one of the knights and stuck his blade into the helmet of the other one and then jumped up, seeing that the knights had managed to surround him again, which was not difficult at all considering their absurd number.
I think he just figured out how to track down the rest of the mages.
He remembered that when he used "Camouflage" at the beginning of the fight, the magicians located him very quickly while quite large and clearly visible eye symbols appeared above their heads.
He could do it again to track them down this time.
Jin-Woo disappeared.
[ MAGE HAS USED SKILL: "DETECTION" ]
[ MAGE HAS USED SKILL: "DETECTION" ]
[ MAGE HAS USED SKILL: "DETECTION" ]
[ MAGE HAS USED SKILL: "DETECTION" ]
[ MAGE HAS USED SKILL: "DETECTION" ]
Ear-hurting mechanical sounds sounded from several directions.
Jin-Woo quickly confirmed the positions of the eye-like symbols.
There were five more magicians in total.
Jin-Woo tracked down the closest magician to him.
The magician hurriedly gathered the knights around him just as Jin-Woo turned to look at him, but….
Rasaka's Poison Fang flew from his left hand in a straight line and stabbed precisely in the middle of the mage's forehead.
Once again, hundreds of knights closest to the dead mage fell to the ground with a loud crash.
He then used his 'Commander's Touch' to retrieve the weapon he had thrown at the enemy.
Jin-Woo extended his left hand towards the dagger, and as if attracted by a magnet, the weapon flew back into his open hand.
Now that he didn't have to worry about recovering his weapon after such a throw, he could choose the most efficient route to his target.
The next second he appeared in front of the next magician and...
Even before the knights could turn towards them, he cut the bastard in half.
[ YOU HAVE DEFEATED A MAGE. ]
The next wave of knights fell again. Thanks to this, not even half of the original number of knights remained.
Additionally, since there were fewer mages, subsequent knights will arrive noticeably slower on the battlefield.
Perhaps sensing danger, the remaining mages gathered in one place. Not only them.
The knights they controlled also gathered around them.
And then all the magicians began to chant a spell together. Their ominous and terrifying voices echoed throughout the boss room and they soon finished casting the spell.
The knights guarding the mages were suddenly pulled into one lump and pressed together as if they were made of clay or plasticine.
And then they were reborn as one large metal slightly distorted golem that immediately started moving towards Jin-Woo
The hunter gasped in pure awe after feeling the overwhelming pressure given off by this gigantic monster.
Every time the giant golem took a step, the ground shook. Jin-Woo ducked and dodged the Golem's fist.
The stone pillar behind Jin-Woo shattered into pieces after the metal big fist hit him.
If he hadn't already figured out what was going on here, he would have racked his brain trying to figure out how to cope
with this monster. But now he didn't have to worry about that.
Like the Golem, he put his hands together and raised them high, ready to strike.
Jin-Woo did not step back, but jumped forward. And then he slid to the floor.
In the blink of an eye, he slipped between the Golem's legs and dashed past him.
While the clumsy Golem hurriedly turned around, Jin-Woo had already appeared in front of the three completely
defenseless magicians, still busy reciting a spell that would probably keep the Golem in check.
The panicked magicians' shoulders trembled.
A vindictive smile appeared on Jin-Woo's face.
Jin-Woo waved his dagger several times.
[ YOU HAVE DEFEATED A MAGE. ]
[ YOU HAVE DEFEATED A MAGE. ]
[ YOU HAVE DEFEATED A MAGE. ]
The golem that was trying to quickly stop Jin-Woo shattered into pieces of armor that were scattered all over the room.
However, Jin-Woo did not let down his guard.
Perhaps there was something else waiting for him.
He remained alert and ready in case another painful surprise awaited him, but then a familiar beeping sounded in his head.
Jin-Woo swallowed.
Perhaps to laugh at his unnecessary worries, the System instead announced the end of the task.
[ ALL MONSTERS HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED. THE QUEST IS OVER. ]
[ YOU WILL BE ABLE TO CHOOSE A JOB BASED ON THE POINTS COLLECTED. ]
Only now could Jin-Woo breathe a sigh of relief.
It was truly a hell of a fight, at least until he understood what it was.
He was glad now, in retrospect, that the stone fell from his hand and Jin-Woo did not manage to escape.
He was unlucky - or maybe he was lucky instead. And that forced him to focus solely on surviving this battle. The end result was an incredible success.
And now it's time to receive his rewards.
Jin-Woo's gaze moved to the timer.
[ 04:29:16 ]
The numbers on the clock were frozen.
He lasted almost four and a half hours.
Just thinking about how many points he had collected and what job class he would get thanks to it, his heart began to tremble with anticipation.
[ THE JOB WILL BE SELECTED AFTER ANALYZING THE PLAYER'S ACTIONS. ]
If his past actions were used as the basis for choosing his class, the chances of ending up with something strange and useless were close to zero.
On the other hand, he was a bit upset that his choice had been taken away from him.
He gave all the points to strength and dexterity. So he will either get a warrior or an assassin. There was still a possibility of becoming a tank due to vitality, but it was the third largest statistic. So, the chances were rather slimmer.
No matter what, the important thing is that he can become stronger thanks to this profession.
[ WHEREVER THE PLAYER GOES, DEATH FOLLOWS ]
[ THE SMELL OF BLOOD FILLS THE AIR, AND THE PLAYER LEAVES A TRAIL OF CORPSES IN HIS WAKE. ]
Okay, those words were a bit macabre.
And soulless.
He killed monsters because that was the job of hunters.
And although he had people on his account, which he was not very happy about, he killed these nine to defend himself, or other innocent hunters who were stuck with them in a given situation.
As he had suspected all along, it seemed that his class would now be set to 'Assassin'.
He would be satisfied with this choice.
[ THE PLAYERS ALSO DESIRES FOR GREAT POWER AND DOES NOT RELY ON THE HELP OF OTHERS. THE PLAYER MAKES HIS OWN WAY IN THIS WORLD. ]
He didn't have any trustworthy companions in the beginning, that's why!
And then Jin-Ho appeared. But he was only D-ranked and had no experience.
However, he could not understand why these points were brought up during the selection of his class.
[ YOUR DESIRE TO BECOME POWERFUL IS STRONG ENOUGH TO CALL FORTH THE WANDERING SPIRITS WITHIN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. AN ARMY OF THE DEATH WILL FOLLOW YOUR EVERY ORDER, SINGLE-HANDEDLY CLEARING THE PATH UPON WHICH YOU WILL WALK. ]
Only now did Jin-Woo realize that something had gone very wrong here.
Army of the Dead?! How?!
Even before he had a chance to object...
The system read the result in its usual dry and humorless voice.
[ YOUR JOB IS "NECROMANCER". ]
- What the fuck?!
Everything was going well, so why did "Necromancer" appear instead of the expected "Assassin"?
Jin-Woo stared at the message in bewilderment. He even rubbed his eyes several times, but nothing changed.
He didn't give any points in intelligence, so why the hell did he get a Necromancer Job?!
Why did he get a job derived from a magician?!
Why the hell?!
How did he come across a rare job class that wasn't even available among countless Mage-class Hunters?!
A dark wizard at the head of the undead army.
In the games, characters with this job class mainly used their spells.
He fought with swords and daggers all the time, and suddenly he got a mage's job?!
Where was the fucking logic here?!
He felt anger and indignation pouring out of him in waves.
Clenching his fists, he moved towards the throne that was the only seat in the room and fell on it, sighing in frustration and looking ahead at the huge battlefield.
He had to calm down.
Anger had never done him any good.
He had to have a cool head and think carefully about what happened.
Sitting as comfortably as he could on the stone throne and crossing his legs, Jin-Woo took a deep breath.
He pulled out a bottle of cold water from his inventory, one of several he had, uncorked it and began to drink greedily.
Once he had emptied it and thrown it onto some pile of armor near him, he started to think.
First he tried to look for the advantages of necromancy.
Probably creating his own army as the system told him. But he didn't want to train such servants!
First of all, there will be a possibility that his stats will become useless!
He opened the satus window and looked at his hard work.
[ STATS ]
[ STRENGTH: 132 ]
[ VITALITY: 91 ]
[ DEXTERITY: 111 ]
[ INTELLIGENCE: 70 ]
[ SENSES: 93 ]
Pursing his lips, Jin-Woo sighed in frustration.
He didn't want to have brainless bags of bones and rotting flesh dragging around under his command!
Why did he need such useless minions!?
[ NOTICE! ]
[ DO YOU ACCEPT YOUR JOB? ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
Oh?
So...
Did he have a choice?
He felt partial relief.
So, in the end, he did have some choice in the matter.
On the other hand, it is possible that the system will also choose for him the second time.
And again something strange and useless.
Or he will have to face a similarly terrible fight again.
To be honest, he didn't really feel like doing it.
But he really didn't want to become a necromancer.
He Refused.
[ NECROMANCER IS A HIDDEN JOB CLASS. DO YOU STILL WANT TO GIVE UP IT? ]
The system obviously didn't want Jin-Woo to give up his job since he asked again.
In fact, why did the system want to assign him something that didn't fit him and was of little use to him when the system wanted to keep him alive, as he had seen many times.
A strong Jin-Woo means that he is more likely to be safer and survive, and therefore the system itself will survive.
Jin-Woo hesitated before rejecting again.
Hidden Job Class?
In fact, there were a few powerful hunters with strangely very rare skills.
There were hunters in the world who could create powerful protective barriers. There were also those who could strengthen their allies without being healers.
The Guild Master of the White Tiger Guild, S-rank Hunter Baek Yun-Ho, is said to be able to transform into a beast.
As far as he knew, any hunter with unique skills had no complaints about his strength and could count on good money.
Did hidden job class mean this type of skill?
He wanted independence and self-sufficiency, it's true.
That's why the system recommended him the Necromancer.
In other words, the Necromancer Class had the potential to be truly powerful.
Every hunter wanted independence and self-sufficiency. But not many actually had it.
That's why hunters, even those of S rank, joined large and powerful guilds.
If he could experience the strength of this profession, he would not hesitate so much.
He looked around the destroyed rooms, thinking all the time.
When his gaze fell on one of the empty robes, the remnants of the annoying mages who summoned the knights, something suddenly flashed in his mind.
Yeah.
If you think about it, these mages used something like Necromancy.
Is this the system's way of showing him the enormous potential of this job?
It was quite clever and made a lot of sense after what was going on here.
He began to carefully analyze the entire battle and the behavior of the summoned knights and mages.
Jin-Woo is perfectly capable of fighting on his own.
These mages weren't.
They hid behind their summons, and when they failed in their mission, the mages were easily killed by him.
But a mage who would be able to fight on his own with the help of such an army.
He would be able to clear B-rank dungeons on their own.
If not higher.
What if...
Jin-Woo is getting stronger.
If there was a possibility that his summons would also become stronger...
This would be really helpful.
Then he wouldn't be alone anymore.
Not completely.
Jin-Woo's heart tightened a little at this thought.
Although he had been really alone for a long time, mocked and despised, then he was getting stronger but hiding in the shadows...
This loneliness bothered him a lot, to be honest.
No friends, no partner.
Family.
Of course, he had his sister, he loved her very much and she was the most important to him.
He also loved his mother very much, but she had been asleep for four years.
And her absence hurt at every step.
Now he found himself starting to silently call Jin-Ho a friend.
As for his non-existent love life.
Well, he's come to terms with that a long time ago.
[ YOU HAVE CHOSEN YOUR JOB CLASS ]