novelOnwards to Seorak Mountain Dungeon, Part II
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Translator - - Editor - -
Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
Five people were gathered at the Han Dong building at Yeoiudo, leisurely watching a video.
"Whoa! He's pretty energetic. Did you see him split the thing's skull in half just like that?"
"It looks like he's playing around with that smilodon."
"Don't you think he has to be almost as strong as the master to be that good?"
"Hey, bitch! Don't go around comparing him with the master like that!" the Gnosis Guild's analyst, Lim Gina, yelled at Jay after quietly listening to everyone talk.
"Oh, fine. You always get so mad whenever someone talks about the master."
"That's because everything you do insults the master!" The two women continued to hurl insults at one another.
"That's enough! You're both too loud. What hole did this guy crawl out from? His AGI and STR have to be at least higher than a smilodon's. It's not easy to kill one with only normal attacks, and he didn't use a single skill. Our melee specialist Han Yongsuk would have a hard time with one." The man called Alpha stopped the women's bickering and addressed the group.
"See? I told you it was a good idea to follow that guy, " said Jay, the red-headed clairvoyant.
"I get it. I apologize for disregarding your advice. I just thought that since your Clairvoyance skill had limited use, it was best to save it for someone else."
"Hmph! I get to decide that! It's my Random Skill, not yours. Tsk!" Jay replied to Alpha, still indignant, but no one else seemed to give her any more attention.
"It seems he's travelling somewhere, not hunting. It looks like he's heading to Gangwon Province."
"Yes, you're right." The other four nodded in agreement at Alpha's insight.
"Do you think he's heading towards the Seorak Mountain dungeon?"
"He has to be, right?"
"But the Yong Gong Guild is there at the dungeon right now to defeat the dungeon boss, aren't they? The party had the Yong Gong Guild master's son and five others, right?"
"Yeah. They started with eight, but ran into the twin-horned griffon boss and a few elite griffons. That's why only six are in the dungeon."
"Can their raid even succeed?"
"I don't know...I'd say about 50/50? They might, if they're lucky. They'll all die if they're not. Well, no. The odds they could actually succeed are about 60/40."
"Where would they be by now?"
"Six people in a four-floor dungeon... I doubt they've made it to the fourth floor yet. I suspect they're midway through the third floor." Lim Gina answered everyone's questions as if she was watching the party's every move.
"Is he heading to the dungeon because he knows the guild is there?"
"I don't know. I can't make assumptions based off what I don't know. This is the first time I've ever seen that guy." Clairvoyance couldn't be used to see what went on inside a dungeon. Everything she said was based on her own analysis, but no one questioned any of her assumptions.
Alpha also nodded his agreement with Lim Gina's claims.
"Someone that strong appears just when the Yong Gong Guild carries out a secret raid on the Seorak Mountain dungeon..."
"This'll be fun."
"Tsk! Fun, my ass. My head's about to explode with all this crap going on."
"Let's make a decision now. Those in favor of increasing our surveillance on him?"
The two who first encountered the man in the video, Han Yongsuk and Jay, raised their hands. Alpha, who just asked for the votes, raised his hand as well.
"Good. The decision is made. We will increase our surveillance and find more about that person."
"I can't include him in my Clairvoyance. We need to take someone off the list."
"Let's take out Pan Gitaeg." Pan Gitaeg was the guild master of the Ojin Guild.
"Are you sure? He's still the guild master of one of Korea's strongest guilds."
"It's fine. He's the type to only look out for himself and those around him. He's a frog in a well. Take him off the list; it's not like we could get much information out of him, either."
"Alright. If the master says so, then I guess I should."
"Get more background information on him, first."
"Damn it! Looks like we're going to get busy just because some weird guy decided to make an appearance now. It's such a pain to make a new file on someone."
The Gnosis Guild gathered every single piece of information they could on anyone they came across, and had it all neatly filed away. They later sold that information to anyone that needed it at high prices. They also used that information for their benefit whenever they could.
The guild made quite a lot of profit from it, and some of their highest paying customers included Song Daechul, Song Haein, and Song Haechang.
The rest of the group left Lim Gina to her grumblings and all went their separate ways to get started on their duties.
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I met more smilodons on the road to Gapyeong, but I was able to take them out pretty easily. When I completely crossed through smilodon territory, I no longer saw any other devas around.
"I better be careful starting from here." I had finally entered the vicinity of Gapyeong, meaning that I had also entered griffon territory.
Griffons did not travel alone. They moved together in flocks called crowns, and I had to be careful. I had to be extra careful that I did not run into a twin-horned griffon. That was one boss I couldn't take on alone.
It must have been because of what I knew about griffons, but my trip to Chuncheon seemed to be easier than the trip from Namyangju to Gapyeong. Maybe it was because there were no other monsters here besides griffons.
Off in the distance, I heard a whoosh of wind cutting through air, as something flew in my direction at high speed. I quickly dropped down on my stomach and held my breath. Soon, I saw a crown of seventeen griffons fly over me. They must have not seen me, as they continued flying off into the distance.
"Seventeen of them...it's going to be tricky." Griffons aren't as clever as harpies; griffons don't run away even when they're outmatched. They fight until they die.
"It's still better to avoid them. There's no way I can deal with aerial monsters right now." The only way I could attack griffons was if they landed. I could wait for that timing to attack them, but that took way too long. I wouldn't be able to pummel them like I wanted to.
Once they disappeared from view, I got up and carefully continued on my way to Chuncheon. The sun had completely set by the time I arrived. I saw an abandoned building that seemed to be in decent shape, and went inside.
"I'll set camp here for the night and set out once more in the morning." Griffons were active both day and night. They were more dangerous at night, as they relied less on their vision and more on their other senses.
"At least I have my experiences of my past life to help me get through this." I spent the night in the abandoned building in Chuncheon. It was uncomfortable and I didn't have any blankets or anything, but there was nothing I could do. I took out a piece of bread and a drink to have a small dinner, and forced myself to sleep.
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I woke up early the next morning.
"Alright! Let's make it to Inje by the end of the day." The total distance I had to cross was about forty-five kilometers. I could make it in thirty minutes if I sprinted at full speed all the way, but I had to take it slow to avoid the griffons. The Seorak Mountain dungeon would be right there, if I could just make it to Inje.
If I could safely make it to Inje, that would make my whole trip about 80% complete.
"It's also the second day of the Selfish Prick skill." To be honest, I was more focused on the skill than the trip to the dungeon, all day yesterday. If the wheel landed on a 3 today as well, it meant that my Luck Boost really did work on skills. There was a very slim chance that I would get a 3 for a second time in a row otherwise...
"I learned the skill yesterday at eleven in the morning, so I should have three hours left. Ugh...why am I so nervous?" I shivered once more before setting out for Inje.
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I consistently checked the sky to make sure there weren't any swarms of griffons flying over me, but thanks to all of the abandoned buildings, I was able to safely move from cover to cover. I finally got out of Chuncheon and slowly continued on to Inje. The closer I got to Seorak Mountain, the more griffons I saw.
I looked down at my watch. It was 10:55 AM.
"It's almost eleven. I should get to somewhere safe." I crawled under a giant outcropping to hide from the griffons overhead.
"Open Skill Menu!"
[Skill Menu
Unassigned Skill Points: 0
Passive Skills: 2
Unrivaled (1/1) (First Unrivaled)
Selfish Prick (1/1) (Stupid Selfish Prick)
Active skills: None]
I checked the cooltime counter on the Selfish Prick skill.
Stupid Selfish Prick Roulette Wheel cooltime: 1 minute, 33 seconds remaining. ]
"Ugh...I'm so nervous." Three extra points a day. Three! That was 0. 3 levels a day!
"They're going to add up to so much. Gah..." I shivered just thinking about it.
[Day Two. Shaman Ko's Stupid Selfish Prick Roulette Wheel will now appear. ]
The same roulette as yesterday suddenly appeared before me. There was only one section numbered 3. In all aspects, it was foolish to even expect the wheel to land on the 3.
"Hooo...calm yourself. I haven't eaten my golden goose yet. It might even be a diamond goose instead."
I was more nervous now than I was yesterday. The more I told myself to calm down, the more I trembled. I raised my shaky hand and placed it over the roulette wheel.
[Shaman Kos Stupid Selfish Prick Roulette Wheel will now turn. ]
The roulette wheel rapidly spun. I clasped my hands together and eagerly watched the wheel spin.
"3! 3! 3! Please, 3!" I had never wanted anything in my life to happen more.
Statistically, the average number of Stat points I could get in 100 days was 26 points. But if the wheel stopped on 3 every day, I could get 300 Stat points in those 100 days. A thousand days meant three thousand points. I could really become stupid, like the skill said.
The wheel began to slow down. My back was dripping with cold sweat.
"Please!" The 3 seemed farther away than it did when the roulette slowed down yesterday.
"No! Give me the 3!" The wheel crawled to a snail's pace, barely moving each section over, until...
"AH! Erk!" I quickly shut my mouth closed when I unconsciously shouted out. My eyes were even watery with tears.
[Day Two. You will receive Shaman Ko's Roulette gift.
You have received three Stat points.
Total points: 6
The next roulette wheel will appear in 24 hours. ]
I stared at the message screen that appeared before my eyes.
I had a 1/100 chance to win, but I did it again. That was a 1/10, 000 probability!
Of course, there was also that chance that the Luck Boost had nothing to do with it, and I just got super lucky on my own. But somehow, I knew that it was because of the boost.
I still had no definitive proof, but I felt that I was going to get three Stat points a day, every day.
"I'm getting stronger by the day. Everyone else is going to be stuck grinding and grinding just to raise another level, but now, I don't have to. I'm actually going to get stronger by doing nothing."
I headed for the Seorak Mountain dungeon, feeling like I had the world at my fingertips. I felt that I couldn't possibly have the misfortune of running into the twin-horned griffon...
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