The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 8

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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 8

Chapter 8.

Tick!

A pathetic sound that would drain the energy from anyone who heard it.

Hearing that familiar sound for who knows how many times now, Dohyun slowly raised his head.

Kraaaaaaah!!

He saw the draconic abomination roaring with imposing majesty.

However, the bloodied creature no longer emanated the same predatory intimidation as before.

Like a terrified beast howling more fiercely, its roar was utterly desperate.

The bold gestures that had been as casual as swatting mosquitoes had transformed into pleas not to come closer.

-HP [80 : ???]

A mere 80 health points.

[Basic skill ‘Power Strike’ is now available.]

And just in time, Power Strike’s cooldown had returned.

After more than 5 hours of bloody combat, the end of the battle that had seemed invisible was finally approaching.

Did the creature know this too?

Thud! Crash!

Though it might have accepted death, it continued swinging its fists at the approaching Dohyun.

As he drew closer without stopping, the creature’s desperate struggle intensified.

Being bitten by a mosquito once is merely annoying and itchy, but when an immortal mosquito sucks blood tens of thousands of times, that becomes terror.

Clatter. Clang!

Unable to retreat any further yet still stepping backward, loud noises rang from its restraints.

Dohyun’s expression as he watched the creature was cold.

“You’ve endured long enough. Now go.”

Crash!

Tick!

The moment his sword, dropped after calmly dodging the desperate final blow, pierced the creature’s foot.

Groooan…

With a pathetic death rattle, the creature’s massive body collapsed.

Raising a cloud of dust as it departed noisily until the end, countless messages appeared above the fallen creature.

[You have defeated the Bound Draconic Abomination of the Iron Blood.]

[You are the first to defeat a Legendary Named Boss in the tutorial.]

[You have defeated a Legendary Named Boss single-handedly.]

[You have achieved an incredible Achievement.]

[This will be recorded in the Book of Adventures.]

[As a reward…]

…

After confirming all the messages appearing, Dohyun slumped down.

Forget checking rewards or anything else, he wanted to lie down flat.

It had only been fun at the beginning; later he had no time to think due to the concentration required.

“What a truly persistent bastard.”

5 hours and 30 minutes. That was how long it took to hunt the creature.

Though he had expected it to take long, it had taken even more time than anticipated.

This was due to the difficulty being higher than expected.

‘Ten thousand times my ass…’

The moment its HP dropped below 30%, the creature’s pattern changed from simply flailing its arms wildly.

Perhaps annoyed by Dohyun hiding and striking from below its feet, it began stomping frantically and eventually just plopped down on its rear.

At least its arms, which had been relatively free from the restraints, were still tightly bound.

If that hadn’t been the case, even Dohyun wouldn’t have been able to defeat it.

This made Dohyun certain.

‘Nobody else could have defeated this.’

Even his former colleagues wouldn’t have been able to defeat this thing.

He himself wouldn’t have been able to defeat it if his condition hadn’t been as good as today, which said it all.

And that prediction was exactly right.

[You are the first to defeat a Legendary Named Boss in the tutorial.]

The system was proving that fact.

It meant all his colleagues had encountered the creature and been frustrated.

‘They must have cursed up a storm.’

Thinking of what his colleagues who met the creature would have said made him laugh.

Sword Master would probably frown while trying to maintain his taciturn act, and Kukkudakkukku would have fired off a rapid stream of profanity too vulgar to repeat.

Uncle Bora might have laughed it off saying, “Hehe… well, of course, this is what a shitty game sequel should be like.”

‘Or maybe they couldn’t even get this far?’

Basically, that uncle was a product of effort and capital.

The system requiring performance on the unfamiliar stage of the tutorial was disadvantageous to Uncle Bora.

Anyway, he had done it.

What kind of reaction would they show when he revealed this fact later?

‘They’ll probably roll around in envy for days.’

Just as he had reacted whenever they pulled good items or skill cards, they would show similar reactions.

‘Though I don’t know where they are or what they’re doing.’

They should definitely be in the rankings, but even when looking for high rankers, no one who seemed to be them was visible.

Considering they could set their profiles to private, it was possible they were deliberately hiding, but it was still puzzling.

Honestly, would those attention-seekers really set their profiles to private?

Or maybe they weren’t playing Godose?

That thought crossed his mind for a moment, but he quickly shook his head.

These were people who had desperately played a shitty game like Demroc.

Unless they had special circumstances like his military service, there was no way those folks wouldn’t have started Godose.

‘They’re such unique individuals… they’re probably somewhere playing with some weird concept again.’

Like holing up in some mountain playing hermit master.

Chuckling, Dohyun opened the rewards he had closed.

After recovering some fatigue, he was curious about what rewards he would receive.

‘Seeing how flashily they appeared, it won’t be junk.’

Probably some pretty good rewards were given.

He would have gotten at least Hero-grade rewards or higher. The moment he checked the rewards with high expectations.

[You have acquired the title ‘First Slayer’.]

[You have completed the tutorial with an incredible Achievement. Traits matching your play and Achievement will manifest.]

[Trait ‘Weapon Master’ has manifested.]

[Trait ‘Hidden Dragon’ has manifested.]

[Trait ‘Slayer’ has manifested.]

[Trait ‘Hero’ has manifested.]

[Trait ‘Overcome’ has manifested.]

[Conditions have been met.]

[Unique trait ‘Eye of Truth’ manifests.]

“…?”

As if reality had disappeared, Dohyun blinked in a daze.

* * *

Unlike Demroc, Godose had ‘several’ special systems besides skills.

One of them was traits.

Abilities given separately from the 13 fixed skill slots.

Unlike skills which were active abilities, these were passive and were elements that helped with gameplay and combat.

Contrary to concerns about adding such a strange system, people who actually started the game praised it for increasing diversity.

As games mature, each profession inevitably develops what becomes the standard build.

The most efficient and optimal skill tree.

Of course, given Godose’s characteristics, wanting that skill tree didn’t mean you could easily achieve it, but once you reached ranker level, they all ended up being similar.

That’s where traits provided uniqueness.

Even with the same profession, skill trees could change depending on what traits you possessed, and even with identical skill trees, variables would emerge.

This created more elements for psychological warfare and brought diversity to the game.

However, not everyone could obtain the traits they wanted.

There was only one known method for acquiring traits so far.

They manifested appropriately based on your Achievement in the tutorial.

“Crazy…”

Dohyun’s case was the same.

A trait that any user who completed the tutorial would receive.

Yet the reason Dohyun was so shocked was simple.

“…Why are there so many traits?”

Only one trait manifested from the tutorial.

There were no exceptions.

Whether you maxed out Charlie’s favorability or actually lowered it, only one trait would manifest.

However, there were differences in quality and type based on Achievement.

From exploration-type traits like Pathfinder to combat-type traits like Sword Master.

Appropriate traits manifested based on performance shown in the tutorial, and higher-grade traits were granted according to the degree of Achievement.

This was why major guilds tried to scout users who had significantly raised Charlie’s favorability.

It objectively proved superior potential.

When users with high-grade traits grew, it was natural they’d have advantages when reaching the same max level conditions later.

In that regard, Dohyun’s situation could only be called exceptional.

[Weapon Master]

-Grade: Trait

-Effect: Ignores weapon type equipping restrictions.

Can raise proficiency with all weapons and grows rapidly.

[Hidden Dragon]

-Grade: Trait

-Effect: Stat points gained when leveling up increase by 2.

[Slayer]

-Grade: Trait

-Effect: Can check the location and hidden information of monster types for which you’ve earned Slayer titles.

[Hero]

-Grade: Trait

-Effect: The hero’s spirit protects against mental corruption.

[Overcome]

-Grade: Trait

-Effect: Overcomes limits through indomitable spirit.

“…Each trait is high-grade.”

Unlike skills, traits didn’t have separate grades attached, but there were characteristics you could use to make educated guesses.

First, this Weapon Master.

Normally, just obtaining Sword Master was an excellent trait that guilds would recruit you for.

A swordsman with Sword Master would gain proficiency faster and deal stronger damage than other sword-based professions.

It meant you could become a master of one weapon category.

What about Weapon Master?

‘I can produce Sword Master effects with all weapons.’

A trait that allowed handling all weapons to respond to any matchup.

Even if profession-related skills couldn’t be helped, it would excel at creating irregular situations.

And what about Hidden Dragon?

‘The potential is insane.’

A broken trait that could produce the effect of level 140 when reaching max level 100.

It was like getting the effect of several items through raw stats alone.

Considering how people risked their lives for single stat points at higher levels, it was an incredible trait.

Looking at this alone, it could be called a broken trait, but compared to others, it was ambiguous to call it superior.

‘It’s a bit disappointing in terms of utility though.’

While others utilized good traits, Hidden Dragon owners only got stat benefits.

In a way, it was simple and crude.

While its simplicity guaranteed reliable performance, it had somewhat disappointing aspects in the late game when you operated based on traits.

That difference became more pronounced after max level.

That’s why Hidden Dragon’s evaluation wasn’t entirely high, but…

‘Not for me.’

For Dohyun, who hadn’t manifested just one trait, it was merely a meaningless drawback.

He had manifested a whopping six traits.

All of them with powerful abilities too.

Just look at Hero and Slayer, which directly helped in combat.

‘Status ailment immunity.’

Considering how troublesome dark mage curses were in Demroc, ‘Hero’ was a trait he liked.

Nothing was more troublesome than dark mages during guild wars.

‘Slayer’ also had the condition of needing to earn Slayer titles for the same type as the boss you wanted, but once obtained, the effect was certain.

‘I can start with an information advantage.’

Considering how information importance increased with higher-level bosses, it was worth taking to the end.

Traits that would earn respect anywhere just by possessing one.

That ‘Overcome’ trait’s effect was vaguely described which was a bit concerning, but the other traits were so good that it wasn’t particularly disappointing.

Finally, the trait that stood out most among all these traits.

‘Eye of Truth…’

Dohyun gulped and slowly read through the description.

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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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