The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 23

Chapter 23.

[You have acquired ‘Charge Slash’.]

[Charge Slash]

-Grade: Common

-Restriction: Swordsman class

-Description: You can charge once in a desired direction while swinging your sword.

-Effect: Deals 150% of attack power as damage, and movement distance is proportional to movement speed.

The faster the attack speed, the faster it activates.

-Cooldown: 10 seconds

‘Oh!’

Dohyun, who checked the skill information, let out an exclamation of admiration.

Dohyun’s job was one that could use skills from all classes.

As such, skills like magic or archery could have appeared, but luckily a sword-related skill came up.

‘Charge Slash isn’t bad at all.’

No, it wasn’t just “not bad.”

Setting aside that it was a sword-related skill, it was a skill with quite excellent utility even among common skills.

Even if the power itself was unremarkable, due to the skill’s characteristic of slashing while moving, it had endless applications like using it in combos or interrupting enemy skills.

Thanks to its short cooldown, there was virtually no risk, and in urgent situations it could even be used as a movement skill…

‘I actually used it a lot when I played Demroc too.’

For him, who had to make the most of low-grade skills due to his god-forsaken luck, there was no skill quite like Charge Slash.

That skill had now returned to Dohyun’s hands once again.

‘I’m counting on you again.’

Though of course, his expectations were somewhat lower compared to before.

Dohyun chuckled and closed the system window. However, he didn’t close the inventory yet.

Naturally.

[Random Skill Draw Ticket]

‘I still have one shot left.’

In Godseeker, they give something called a Random Skill Draw Ticket every 10 levels.

A draw ticket that randomly gives skills from common grade to legendary grade.

Naturally, Dohyun, who had reached level 10 by clearing the dungeon, had received one too, and had saved it to use in the village without interruption.

[Would you like to use the Random Skill Draw Ticket?]

And now, the time had come to use that draw ticket.

“Yes.”

When he used the draw ticket, ten cards appeared, and soon the Eye of Truth activated, bursting with dazzling light.

Dohyun squeezed his eyes shut against that light and desperately wished inwardly.

‘Golden light, please golden light…’

And when he opened his eyes, Dohyun’s eyes widened at ‘that thing’ that greeted him.

[Connection time limit has ended.]

[Forced logout in 5 seconds.]

‘Cr-crazy…!’

Connection time limit.

A system that exists to prevent ‘death’ from starvation or addiction by forgetting time while absorbed in the all-too-realistic Godseeker.

This had existed even during the Demroc era, so there was nothing surprising about it.

However…

’10 hours have already passed?’

He thought it was quite a generous time limit, but he couldn’t understand how he had used up all that time just graduating from Arde.

He had even cleared the dungeon faster than any other party.

The goblin hunting was closer to a massacre than actual hunting…

‘Ah.’

Then suddenly a memory of the tutorial flashed by.

He remembered the tutorial that had consumed over 6 hours.

And as soon as he remembered, his reason returned, and his situational judgment was quick.

[3…]

[2…]

Time remaining: 2 seconds.

‘Ca-card! I need to draw a card first!’

Dohyun’s eyes quickly scanned the cards.

Looking at the cards emitting various lights befitting a random skill draw ticket, Dohyun’s eyes stopped on one card.

‘This one!’

The moment he drew that card,

Flash-!

Dazzling light burst forth and the skill card’s information appeared,

Ding-.

[Connection time has ended. Forced logout initiated.]

And simultaneously, Dohyun’s vision turned black.

That was Dohyun’s last memory of his first day in Godseeker.

And Shield Master’s party, seeing Dohyun’s empty spot after he suddenly disappeared in a beam of light, froze simultaneously like machines with dead batteries.

“Ah…?”

“Huh?”

Their reactions came several seconds later.

“Wh-what? Did Kaiser log out?”

“No, he was in the middle of drawing skills when suddenly?”

“Wasn’t Kaiser also drawing skills?”

At his startled friends’ reactions, Shield Master checked the party list and shook his head.

The name ‘Kaiser’ had disappeared from the list.

Miganddeok and Yubinkkung, who confirmed this a beat late, muttered in confusion.

“If he left while drawing skills… he probably got disconnected?”

“Seeing that he hasn’t reconnected yet, it seems like his connection time limit ran out.”

“Ah, right. Huh? But why did it end so early?”

“I wonder…? Did he spend a long time on character creation?”

Since they’d been together from level 1, the tutorial was the only answer.

Since they couldn’t imagine he had spent over 6 hours in the tutorial, they just brushed it off as one of those things.

Anyway, Yubinkkung and Miganddeok, having grasped the situation, let out small sighs.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t even say goodbye properly.”

“Right. I wanted to leave a deep impression on him.”

“You probably already did that? It’s not common to find someone who puts the party in danger of total annihilation from the first hunt.”

“Want to fight?”

The two were bickering as usual, but there was clearly a sense of regret somewhere.

And Shield Master felt the same way.

What he had hesitated to say when giving his thanks to Dohyun at the end was ‘whether it would be okay to send a friend request.’

He couldn’t help but feel regret since the connection was cut before he could even bring up the topic while hesitating.

‘No, it’s actually for the better.’

But Shield Master pulled himself together.

Honestly, being human, it was true that he wanted to become friends with the famous Kaiser.

No, setting that aside, Kaiser as a person just shone too brightly.

It was perfectly natural to feel human attraction to such a person, but…

‘Wanting more than this would be greedy.’

He had only received help all this time, so wanting to send a friend request on top of that would be unconscionable.

After all, shouldn’t friends be people who help each other?

He couldn’t see any way his current self could dare offer help to him.

Even if that weren’t the case, it could have led to greed.

He didn’t want to harbor such feelings toward someone who had coolly overlooked his mistake without any restraint or compensation.

‘This is right for now.’

Shield Master, having steeled his resolve, opened his mouth.

“How was today for you guys?”

“Today? It was the best. We met Kaiser hyung and even got 1st place in rankings with him – could it get any better than this?”

“It was so fun. Now I understand why everyone goes crazy over Godseeker.”

The two’s faces were flushed with excitement, as if they had never been fighting at all.

His friends had become just as serious about the game as he was.

Miganddeok was one thing, but he hadn’t expected Yubinkkung to get this absorbed…

Shield Master nodded and casually said,

“That’s great. Then you guys can log in every day, right?”

“Of course. Did you think we wouldn’t play daily? I’m unemployed so I could even do 24 hours.”

“Idiot, there’s a 10-hour limit.”

“Oh, right. Anyway, totally possible.”

“I took a leave of absence too, so I have plenty of time for a few months.”

After hearing both their answers, Shield Master made a satisfied expression, then suddenly spoke in a serious voice.

“Let’s grow quickly.”

At those words, Yubinkkung and Miganddeok hesitated.

Miganddeok, who had been staring intently at Shield Master’s serious eyes, chuckled.

Though there was no particular conversation, it was obvious what he was thinking. Miganddeok shrugged and answered in a deliberately lighter tone.

“Yeah. Let’s grow strong and give Kaiser hyung a ride for once.”

“Right. I feel a bit sorry that we’ve only been receiving help.”

“With that in mind, let’s quickly move to the main continent. I’ll give you guys a ride before I give one to Kaiser hyung.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening.”

In the lightened atmosphere, Shield Master exchanged glances with Miganddeok and smiled slightly.

And within that smile, a bit of anticipation spread.

‘Yeah, someday we’ll meet again.’

Maybe even in the very next city, Raven.

Things would be different after the promised city of Brion, but as they moved up to higher content, there would inevitably be moments when their paths crossed.

Several graduation quests and raids were like that.

So…

‘When that time comes, it will be different from now.’

Looking forward to that moment, Shield Master began walking.

Toward the warp to the main continent.

“Then let’s head to the main continent.”

“Okay. Nobody can stop me until the connection limit ends.”

“Let’s go together~!”

And so Shield Master’s party, standing at the warp, flickered away with brilliant light.

* * *

Meanwhile, at that time, at Dohyun’s house.

His younger sister Hyuna was in a very bad mood right now.

“Hyuna~ If your brother’s there, tell him to come out for a moment, will you?”

“Ah… I’m at an important scene though?”

“Quickly~.”

“Ugh, fine.”

It was a crucial scene as the drama she’d been waiting for since 10 minutes before airtime was reaching its climax, but she had to go call that brother of hers due to her mother Chae Misuk’s request(?).

It was also a mishap that occurred because the kitchen and her brother’s room were the farthest apart.

She wanted to just watch the drama, but if she did that, she’d obviously face Chae Misuk’s back smash along with allowance suspension punishment, so Hyuna wisely chose to listen while being asked nicely.

“Geez, not even answering KakaoTalk, what’s he doing? Still gaming?”

It was already 10 PM, so she wondered if he was still gaming, but knowing that brother of hers, it was more than possible.

His gaming addiction level was no joke.

Her brother was someone who rarely met friends and did nothing but work out and game.

As she entered the room, sure enough, a capsule sitting there alone greeted Hyuna.

“Ugh, of course.”

Hyuna clicked her tongue and shook her head.

‘I should tell him to do it tomorrow.’

If Chae Misuk had urgent business, she would have told her to make him come out immediately.

If she forced him to quit now, he’d come charging at her foaming at the mouth.

She could send a message through the Godseeker app, but… that friendless brother of hers probably hadn’t installed such things from day one.

Either way, Hyuna figured she’d done enough, so Chae Misuk wouldn’t say anything.

Whoosh-.

It was just as Hyuna was turning around to leave the room.

Pshuu-.

“AAAAHHH!!”

“KYAAAH!”

At the sudden deflating sound followed by a shout, Hyuna let out a shrill scream.

As if that wasn’t enough to express her shock, she jumped like a spring and backed away in horror, looking toward where the sound came from.

The source of the sound was the capsule, or more precisely, Dohyun sitting inside the capsule.

“You scared me, you crazy bastard! Why are you suddenly shouting?! I almost had a heart attack!”

Though Hyuna was yelling at the top of her lungs, Dohyun didn’t even pretend to listen.

He just stared blankly into space, muttering.

“Wow, fuck… wow…”

“Wow… that’s exactly how I feel. Stop being weird and come out quickly. Mom’s calling you.”

Hyuna could be heard chattering about something, but it didn’t reach Dohyun’s ears.

It couldn’t be helped.

The color of the skill that had just appeared was flickering in his mind.

“What, can’t you hear me? Hello?”

“…”

Whether Hyuna was waving her hands in front of him or not, Dohyun wasn’t in a state of mind to care about such things.

Suddenly coming out of the capsule, shouting, cursing, then losing his mind?

It definitely didn’t look normal, and Hyuna was a woman who prided herself on honesty.

“Mom, Mom! Brother’s acting weird! I think he finally went crazy from gaming!”

“Hey, what kind of way is that to talk about your brother!”

“No, he’s really acting strange! Shouldn’t we take him to the hospital?”

With Hyuna’s voice and Chae Misuk’s voice fading away, Dohyun was lost in thought with the most serious face in the world.

If Rodin had seen this, the motif for The Thinker would have changed.

‘That dazzling color… if I didn’t see it wrong, it was gold.’

What had thrown Dohyun into such deep contemplation was nothing else.

‘Or not? For gold it seemed a bit light and less blinding, maybe it was yellow… Hmm, no. Wouldn’t that be considered bright?’

Yellow or gold.

This epochal question that divided Hero from Legend was filling his head completely.

Whatever it was, it was certainly a happy dilemma, but this was like the difference between winning 1st or 2nd place in the lottery, so he couldn’t help but think about it.

Especially since he hadn’t had a single Legendary skill in Demroc.

Since this might be the situation where he could get his first Legendary skill in life, he couldn’t stop thinking.

‘Ah, if I had just watched for 1 more second, no, 0.5 seconds… why did it have to shut off right when the light burst out.’

The chain of thoughts could only stop after listening to Chae Misuk’s nagging, who had been dragged to the room by Hyuna’s insistence.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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