The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 74

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

Episode 74

Chapter 74.

Lyre Grand Temple.

A prestigious institution that served the ancient god Lyre and produced the greatest high priests and paladins in history.

A divine temple that even the ambitious empire dared not touch when it came to Brion.

Though called a temple, the Lyre Grand Temple was essentially a faction that held its own place in Abtartel.

True to its name, even the interior was no joke.

-Wow… Owner, what is all this? Why is it so huge?

-Liza…

The moment Jihad and Eliza stepped inside, they were so amazed their jaws nearly dropped.

It was a corridor that overwhelmed anyone who saw it to that degree.

A scene that looked as if a master craftsman whose name was etched in history had painstakingly created it with unwavering faith, stitch by stitch.

Every decoration looked like a work of art.

Whether it was the walls or ceiling, everything radiated such holiness that even Dohyun couldn’t help but admire it.

‘This is incredible.’

He had heard about it, but seeing it in person doubled the impact.

Somehow, as he visited cities step by step, the sights seemed to become richer. Well, this is probably why it didn’t just remain a game but devoured the world.

“This is the place. Please have your conversation.”

“The Caretaker is waiting inside.”

After walking and sightseeing for a few minutes.

When they reached an entrance, the priests bowed their heads and stepped back.

It was definitely a more ornate door than the others.

Creak.

As he opened it without hesitation and entered, his gaze was drawn in.

The interior had such sacred decor that he could feel divine power he hadn’t even noticed in the holy city.

And before he could even appreciate that holiness, a heavy killing intent struck him.

“Are you the one who brought ‘that thing’?”

The owner of the cold voice was a young knight.

He was a blonde man standing behind what appeared to be the Caretaker – a wrinkled old man with a long white beard – and his aura was extraordinary.

His emotionless voice seemed lukewarm because of his chillingly sinister expression.

But what drew Dohyun’s attention more was something else.

[Count Jerdick]

‘…Red?’

The nameplate floating above the blonde man’s head.

Its color was red.

‘Why does an NPC have a colored nameplate? Is it because he’s from a knight order?’

NPCs like merchants, alchemists, and other production-class NPCs or residents didn’t have colored nameplates.

The color of nameplates could be seen as a kind of combat power indicator.

Thinking about it, this was indeed the first time he had properly encountered a knight while playing Godose.

‘Red color…’

Whether it was level or combat power, a large gap meant red, and the lower it was, the more colorless it became.

That deep shade of red meant the person was at least significantly higher level than Dohyun.

‘…Owner.’

‘Liza…’

Jihad, true to his nature as a Guardian with strong-weak-weak-strong characteristics, was the first to read the atmosphere and cautiously signaled.

At the same reaction as when they met Gamillion, Dohyun nodded.

‘So it’s true that knights are that strong.’

When discussing Godose’s strongest, most people mentioned the top 10 guilds including Demroc, and players of similar caliber.

But if you asked who was truly the strongest in Godose?

That would be none other than the NPCs.

Unlike users who had only been around for a year and six months, the residents of Abtartel had built their power and strength over long years.

It was natural for them to be strong. No, they had to be strong.

‘If NPCs were weaker than users, there’d be no balance.’

Users were immortal to begin with.

If they decided to cause chaos in a city, it would be pandemonium, but if there was no power to control that?

Godose would probably have become a completely different game.

Therefore, NPCs like knights, mages, and mercenary groups possessed relatively stronger power than the users residing in their cities.

Among them, those called the Seven Strongest were said to be so powerful that users couldn’t do anything against them.

‘They even slay dragons…’

They were like the sword masters from fantasy novels or the ten greatest masters from martial arts stories.

Even without reaching the level of the Seven Strongest, anyone who was a ‘knight’ boasted tremendous martial prowess.

It was only downgraded significantly due to the tutorial nature.

Ordinary knights could slice through orcs like cutting radishes, and renowned knight order commanders could single-handedly slaughter raid bosses…

‘Owner…’

‘Right.’

The smile disappeared from Dohyun’s face.

It was his habit when he concentrated.

He didn’t know how strong Brion’s knights were, but Dohyun was confident in his own specs, so he had no intention of just taking a beating if it came to that.

When a somewhat strange atmosphere was forming.

“Enough.”

A heavy voice was heard.

It was a middle-aged man standing further back, leaning against the wall behind the blonde knight.

His nameplate reading ‘Taksinel’ was also red.

“He is a guest, show proper courtesy.”

“…I apologize.”

Then, as if by magic, the blonde knight suppressed his killing intent.

What took its place was remorse.

“…It was not my intention. Please forgive me.”

His manner of speaking was a bit tactless, but there was definitely remorse in it.

When Dohyun frowned at this, the old man sitting in front smiled kindly and apologized on his behalf.

“Hehe, I’m sorry. Count Jerdick didn’t mean it either. What you brought is rather sensitive to him… Please understand.”

“Yes.”

Not knowing what it was about but hearing it wasn’t intentional, Dohyun sat down and accepted it appropriately.

For him, progressing the Quest was the priority.

Fortunately, they seemed to want the same thing as Dohyun, so they quickly moved to the main topic.

“We don’t know who you are or what you do. We only sense that you are a stranger.”

“…”

“But that doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you brought this.”

Saying this, he took out a handkerchief from his chest and picked up ‘that thing’ contained in a small box.

A substance that looked like solidified black liquid.

That was all, but strangely, the thing wrapped in the handkerchief looked very ominous.

“Do you know what this is?”

“…I don’t know.”

Dohyun answered honestly.

To get Quests from NPCs, it was good to pretend to know to some extent, but you also had to know when to play dumb.

Acting knowledgeable when you had no clue like now would be a loss.

Fortunately, the Caretaker didn’t seem to expect an answer, as he continued without much concern.

“Hehe, I see. It’s classified, so I can’t tell you the details, but eliminating this could be called our temple’s destiny.”

“Ah, yes.”

“By any chance, where did you find this?”

It was a bit uncomfortable that he wouldn’t reveal the identity of that thing in the end, but Dohyun didn’t mind much.

This was thanks to frequently experiencing such secret-filled Quests in Demroc.

Considering there were those who gave Quests without even revealing their identity, this was relatively mild.

“I found it in the Foul-Smelling Rock Forest. It was embedded in the rock.”

“…In the rock, you say?”

“Yes. It was buried together with blood, so it would have been difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.”

Still, he didn’t forget to appeal to them inwardly.

Shouldn’t he at least appeal that not just anyone could find it to make it more effective?

However, the power of that appeal exceeded his expectations.

“…You discovered this thing buried in rock together with blood? Are you perhaps a cleric?”

“No.”

“Then did you use some kind of equipment…”

“I just happened to see it luckily while passing by.”

“Huh.”

Caretaker Gildeti let out a hollow laugh as if genuinely amazed and expressed admiration.

“You’re not a cleric, and you had no equipment, yet you found it… I can see you’re telling the truth since I don’t sense any divine power.”

“What about magic…”

“Stop. You know as well, don’t you? If that were the case, the Caretaker couldn’t have failed to notice.”

At Taksinel’s firm words, Jerdic stepped back.

He was right.

If Gildeti couldn’t detect magic, then no priest or saint in the world would be able to tell.

He held an absolute position when it came to magic detection.

But that made it all the more difficult to believe.

“Don’t be too hard on him, Sir Taksinel. I understand that it’s hard to accept. In that sense… are you perhaps an explorer?”

“I’m not an explorer, but I do have some ability in that area.”

“Oh, I see. ‘Some ability’… You’re being modest, hehe.”

Gildeti seemed convinced for some reason.

The way he looked at Dohyun changed. Just when Dohyun was puzzled by the feeling that he was looking at a master of some field.

“You easily found what even high-ranking priests can barely discover after painstakingly conducting search operations with renowned explorers, yet you call it ‘some ability.’ Hehe, you jest too much.”

“…?”

“If our priests heard that story, they would feel ashamed of themselves.”

“…??”

Dohyun grabbed his increasingly confused head at the incomprehensible talk.

‘Wait, so…’

Let me organize this.

So this Quest item called ‘Ominous Aura’ is actually a very difficult clue that not just anyone can find?

So difficult that one needs to possess both excellent divine power and search abilities to barely find it.

‘And I solved it with just the Eye of Truth.’

Looking at it this way, it makes sense.

In short, the Eye of Truth did what the Eye of Truth does. That crazy overpowered trait that throws balance to the dogs displayed its broken nature again.

‘I thought it was nothing special since it was just rare grade…’

Turns out it was a big catch.

In cases like this, it’s only rare grade at first, but as you progress through linked Quests, that grade tends to inflate.

‘At this level, it’s at least rare+… maybe it could even reach Hero grade?’

By the time of the final linked Quest, it would probably rise to Hero grade with high probability.

Who would have thought that a Quest item he had no expectations for would bring such a big catch.

Dohyun’s eyes lit up with rising anticipation. He was so eager for the words that would follow. As if responding to that anticipation, Gildeti quickly got to the point.

“How fortunate. We were just running low on materials needed to process this… might I ask a small favor of you?”

As soon as those words ended, a cheerful notification sound rang out.

[You have cleared the Quest ‘Ominous Aura’.]

[Gildeti’s favorability increases.]

[Due to the effect of the title ‘Max Favorability from the Start?’, favorability increases more significantly.]

[Linked Quest ‘Material Search’ has been created.]

[Material Search]

-Grade: Rare

-Description: The Laire Grand Temple currently lacks materials needed to process the ominous aura. Let’s obtain the materials ‘Gildeti’ wants for smooth processing.

-Concentrated Orc Blood (0 / 5)

-10-year-old Trafilka Root (0 / 1)

-Red Sacred Herb (0 / 3)

-Quest Success: Gildeti’s favorability increase, Low-grade Skill Draw Ticket, linked Quest ‘Processing Stage’ created.

-Quest Failure: Linked Quest impossible.

‘Good, there really are more linked Quests.’

The reward this time is even a Low-grade Skill Draw Ticket.

Considering it was a Quest obtained for free, it was a sweet reward.

However, if there was a flaw, it was that it was a typical grinding Quest.

Normally he would have complained about such tedious content, but for Dohyun now, even that was exciting.

‘Will I finally be able to find herbs this time?’

It was time to more definitively confirm the effects of the Eye of Truth.

Even aside from that, for Dohyun who had to hunt orcs anyway because of the main Quest, it was killing two birds with one stone.

“Yes, understood. I’ll obtain them right away…”

“…Wait a moment.”

Just as Dohyun, whose body was itching to head to the field immediately, was about to get up to leave.

Suddenly, Gildeti’s face changed as he erased his benevolent smile.

As if he had discovered something unusual, his gaze meeting Dohyun’s with strange eyes gradually became clearer.

A peculiar sensation as if he was looking inside.

“Why suddenly…”

“…You’re not an ordinary noble, are you? Well, even just considering your search ability, you’re not ordinary… Huh, to think such a person would come.”

“Pardon?”

Gildeti, who had been rambling incomprehensibly, straightened his back and corrected his posture.

Then he spoke in a low voice that had become much more serious.

“You were a valedictorian.”

“…Hmm?”

“God gives trials to his disciples. If you’re someone who passed through the trials of the first city, Raven, with the most excellent grades… I can trust you.”

[The title ‘Valedictorian’ reacts.]

[Hidden conditions are met.]

[Linked Quest ‘Material Search’ transforms into ‘…’.]

‘…What?’

Dohyun was dazed by the sudden situation.

Before he could grasp the situation, Gildeti continued speaking.

“For that, I must tell you this first. The identity of what you brought… aren’t you curious?”

“Ah…”

Dohyun was momentarily stunned and couldn’t answer properly.

But Dohyun’s answer wasn’t necessary.

He was just continuing to speak as if reciting predetermined lines.

“The most ominous aura in Abtartel, footprints of terror, the worst and most vicious existence, underground horror…”

“…”

“This thing called by various names is a trace of ‘that thing.’ We call ‘that thing’ by this name.”

Having said that much, Gildeti stopped without immediately continuing.

Dohyun could glimpse Jerdic clenching his fists behind them. Meanwhile, Gildeti, who had taken a breath, spoke in a low voice.

“The Abyss.”

“…!”

Dohyun’s eyes widened at the familiar word.

It was the moment when The Abyss was mentioned—that terrifying existence that had nearly brought Abtartel to ruin.

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