The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 47

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

Episode 47

Chapter 47.

Irad Back Alley.

This rather impressive-sounding name wasn’t an official designation.

It was simply called ‘Irad Back Alley’ for convenience, borrowing from the nearby Irad General Store.

There was a story behind how this place first established itself as a prime spot.

‘The first legendary skill in Raven appeared here.’

This was where the first player to obtain a legendary-grade skill had emerged.

Drawing a legendary grade on just the second random draw ticket was such absurd luck that it could have been recorded in history books, and people began flocking here hoping to inherit even a fraction of that fortune.

Naturally, as more people came to draw cards, the probability increased as well.

News spread of those who drew good skills, more people gathered, and again more people succeeded at card drawing.

This virtuous cycle repeated, creating today’s famous spot.

‘It’s really closer to superstition though…’

But that’s human psychology, isn’t it?

People seek out lottery stores with many winning tickets, and restaurants with long lines for good food.

In reality, it’s just that probability increased due to the sheer number of people who visited.

Because of this, some players looked down on such people with disdain, but unfortunately, Dohyun wasn’t one of those cases.

‘Sometimes nothing is as accurate as superstition.’

A man who sought out prime spots more than anyone else – that was Dohyun.

It wasn’t like that from the beginning.

After drawing nothing but crap so many times, he naturally became interested in famous spots.

And the first day he drew cards at a famous spot!

‘I’ll never forget that yellow color until the day I die.’

His first Hero-grade skill card had appeared.

It might have been coincidence, but it was such a huge emotional moment for Dohyun that he started visiting every famous spot from then on.

Thanks to that, he managed to obtain several Hero-grade skills.

‘Those who believe shall be rewarded…’

After finishing his prayer to a god he didn’t even believe in, Dohyun stepped into Irad Back Alley.

The scent of countless card draws stimulated his nostrils.

“Mmm~ This is it. How long has it been since I felt this energy.”

Having received so much luck from the Eye of Truth lately, his mindset had become lax.

So he’d even used a random draw ticket and only pulled a rare skill… This won’t do. He needed to tighten his discipline again.

That was why he’d come all the way to a prime spot just to draw a mere basic skill draw ticket.

“Since when did I become picky about draw tickets? This is all because my spirit became weak.”

He who had been serious about every card draw had become a weak opportunist after encountering the new civilization called the Eye of Truth.

This card draw was a sacred ritual to reclaim his original intentions.

-…Humans really are strange.

“Tsk. What would you know? I need to concentrate now, so be quiet.”

From the perspective of Jihad Black, who was a goblin, it was nonsensical talk, but Dohyun was serious.

And Dohyun had more reasons to be serious.

‘This is also important for me right now…’

For others, similar general skills would appear, but Dohyun was an All Master.

He didn’t know what class skill would appear.

Since skills from various classes would be mixed among just ten cards, he had to hope for the most useful skill possible.

If he was unlucky enough to get an Explorer skill, it would be the worst.

For Dohyun who had the Eye of Truth, nothing would be more useless than that.

‘I still don’t understand why Explorer isn’t classified as a production class.’

Was it because of a few self-defense skills?

Or maybe the buffs were too ambiguous to be called a production class… Anyway, it was always a class Dohyun had to be careful of.

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

Seeing the message window that appeared before his eyes, Dohyun rubbed his hands together while calming his nervous heart.

‘Whew.’

It was something he always did, but it was always a tense moment.

Dohyun calmly composed himself and immediately tore open the card pack, and soon ten cards scattered through the air as if sprinkled.

Even amid the subtle brown-colored spectacle, Dohyun seriously looked them over and reached out his hand.

‘This one!’

It was the third card from the left.

He hadn’t forgotten that when in doubt, number 3 was the golden rule.

Flash!

Brown color covered his vision, followed by a cheerful notification sound.

[You have obtained…]

“Huh? This is?”

Interest flickered in Dohyun’s eyes as he saw the result.

It was a skill that wasn’t on the list of numerous expected skills he’d thought of until the moment of drawing.

But it was also the skill he’d wanted most.

A smile soon formed on Dohyun’s lips as he wore a mysterious expression. Then, as he exited the back alley, Jihad followed behind and asked.

-Is it already over, Master?

“Yeah.”

-Then where are we going now?

The answer to that question was easy.

There was only one thing to do in Raven right now.

“We need to grind.”

Level 24, grinding non-stop until reaching the level to receive graduation quests was the only answer.

* * *

Deep in the Western Forest of Raven.

A place with bumpy terrain and unusually many obstacles that players didn’t bother to use as a hunting ground.

Thanks to that, in this place overflowing with monsters, one player was hunting.

Rustle- Thud!

Kieek! Kek!

[You have defeated a Forest Red Goblin.]

[You have defeated a Giant Spider.]

No, that couldn’t be called hunting.

Rather than hunting, it was massacre.

It was an abnormal structure of 1 versus more than 10, but surprisingly, it was the monsters numbering over ten that were being massacred.

Crack! Smack!

[You have defeated a Giant Centipede.]

Thud!

Kuek!

[You have defeated a Forest Blue Goblin.]

One strike, one kill.

He calmly killed them one by one, and at some point the monsters were backing away.

They instinctively realized they were no match.

[You use Charging Slash.]

[You have defeated a Forest Red Goblin.]

But the approaching death couldn’t be avoided.

They just had to choose between dying while running away or having their heads blown off while bravely charging in.

They had to pick one of the two.

Such a merciless sight that one could feel sympathy for mere monsters.

-Tsk, pitiful creatures…

Indeed, Jihad Black, who was watching this scene in real-time, was feeling something called sympathy.

Jihad had a history of going around turning monsters into undead while searching for creatures to serve as his minions, but he wasn’t this violent.

-How is that thing human in any way? I’m telling you, that’s definitely Satan!

He was doing card farming or whatever, then suddenly got excited and charged into the hunting ground, and he’s been massacring like that for an hour straight now.

He said card farming was some sacred ritual or something…

I’m starting to think that ritual was performed before tearing monsters apart.

-If it’s that demon, there’s definitely a possibility… Hup!

Jihad, who had been grumbling, quickly shut his mouth when his eyes met with the man, Dohyun.

Only after seeing Dohyun coolly look away and focus on hunting again did Jihad let out the breath he’d been holding.

-…He didn’t hear that, right?

His heart was still pounding.

The distance was far so he doubted he could have heard it, but if it was that demon-like master, it seemed possible.

While Dohyun thought he was quite kind to others, to Jihad who only had memories of getting thoroughly beaten, Dohyun was Satan, and Satan was Dohyun.

…Maybe I should back away a bit more just in case?

Swoosh.

It was while he was cautiously increasing the distance bit by bit.

“Jihad. Come here for a moment.”

-Uh, huh? Why… sir?

Did he really hear me?

Jihad broke out in a cold sweat while showing his reluctance. But soon, seeing Dohyun’s frowning expression, he hurriedly ran over.

Only then did Dohyun relax his expression and gestured toward the corpses with his chin.

“Try turning them into undead.”

-Ah, okay.

Like the quick-witted goblin he was, Jihad immediately understood and stretched out both hands.

Then black energy flowed out and entered the corpses.

Starting from the left, one, two, three… the moment it reached a total of three creatures.

Hissss-.

Their pupils turned black, and immediately after, they opened their eyes with a flash.

Crack- Creak-.

The creatures that rose up, forcibly fitting their grotesquely twisted bodies together, looked undeniably undead.

With chilling faces, they looked at Jihad Black and dropped to one knee.

[Guardian Jihad Black has successfully turned a Forest Red Goblin into undead.]

[Guardian Jihad Black has successfully turned a Forest Red Goblin into undead.]

[Guardian Jihad Black has successfully turned a Forest Blue Goblin into undead.]

[Guardian Jihad Black has failed to turn a Giant Spider into undead.]

[Jihad Black’s level is insufficient.]

“About three creatures then.”

-O-originally I could lead legions, but I lost my divine power, master.

“Anyway, three creatures is your current limit, right?”

-…Yeah.

Jihad Black hung his head low, seemingly ashamed of struggling with just three creatures.

He looked like he couldn’t bear to lift his face, but actually Dohyun was quite satisfied.

‘This could be useful later on, right?’

Necromancers usually have their limits released every 10 levels.

There might be help from skills or items, but excluding those, it usually increases like three creatures at level 10, five at level 20, ten at level 30… and so on.

In that regard, turning three creatures into undead at just level 1 was by no means a small number.

‘Only monsters you kill yourself can be turned into undead… but since he’s a guardian, maybe it includes ones I killed too.’

Is this the power of a Hero-grade Named Guardian?

For something called a Hero-grade Named, it was quite impressive despite appearances.

That wasn’t the only unusual thing.

Normally when necromancers turn monsters into undead, they’re reconstructed as skeleton soldiers, but Jihad’s undead maintained relatively intact forms.

‘I wonder if there’s a difference in combat power?’

I haven’t used them in battle yet, so I’m not sure about that.

It was while he was pondering Jihad’s unexpected performance.

[Jihad Black’s mana has been completely depleted.]

[Undead summoning will be cancelled.]

…

[Undead summoning will be cancelled.]

[Undead List]

-Forest Red Goblin Undead × 2

-Forest Blue Goblin Undead × 1

“Huh?”

A cheerful notification and the message that appeared simultaneously.

Dohyun turned his head to the empty spots where the undead had disappeared like smoke.

-Ahem, hmm…

“…”

Then Jihad cleared his throat and avoided eye contact.

Watching Jihad consistently play dumb, Dohyun sighed.

It seems properly controlling undead is difficult right now.

I understand.

He’s only level 1, and those undead were higher level than Jihad.

But if his only skill is creating undead and he can’t even use those undead properly, isn’t he just a parasite?

‘Well… they say raising divine beasts requires a lot of investment.’

That guy is close to being a divine beast if you really think about it, so he’ll do something useful later, won’t he?

For now, I should think of it as an investment and give him a ride.

Of course, I wasn’t planning to have him do absolutely nothing.

“Hey.”

-Huh?

Dohyun made eye contact with the tilting Jihad and gestured to the side with his chin.

“At least pick up the items.”

-…Me?

“Then should I pick them up?”

-You’ve been picking them up just fine until now… Mmph. I should pick them up, master. I love picking up items.

He seemed hurt in his pride as a former Named Boss, but when Dohyun clenched his fist, Jihad changed his tune as if nothing had happened.

[Loyalty has increased by +1.]

His loyalty even went up. With this, his loyalty reached 21 already.

Indeed, fists definitely come before law. It was the moment he felt that immutable principle once again and lowered his fist.

Swoosh.

[Loyalty decreases by -1.]

“…?”

Dohyun doubted his own eyes.

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