Max Talent Player

‘If someone who was already specialized in the wind element were to use this… someone like Jo Sunghyun…’

That effect would be indescribable, like making a genius to trump all geniuses. Just as I was thinking that, I saw something. Something was sticking out of Sunghyun’s back.

“You… what’s that?”

When I looked closer, I realized what ‘that’ was.

‘A candle.’

Specifically—

‘A Bluelight Candle.’

It was called a ‘Bluelight Candle’. Like the name suggested, the candle was burning with a blue flame.

‘When the light is extinguished, a new field will be opened.’

This class of items was called ‘random artifacts’ because you never knew when or where they would appear. One kind of random artifact, candles, had two different types—Redlight Candles, and Bluelight Candles.

Yeonseo also went up to Sunghyun, saying, “What’s with this candle-like thing on your back? It’s blue.”

Next to her, Sunhwa also stared at the light with fascination. “Amazing. The candle is attached to your back. Do you think it would go out if I blew on it? I wanna try.”

The way her eyes sparkled was really cute. It struck me a lot these days, but I was truly glad she became my sister. Her cuteness blessed me every day.

“You can’t blow it out.”

“Got it.”

Despite being at a rebellious age, she was very obedient.

Turning to me, Sunghyun asked, “Do you… happen to know what this is?”

“Nope.”

I pretended to just be observing.

‘If it’s blown out too quickly, the difficulty will be too high.’

By the same token, if the flame went out completely because it was blown out too late, the candle would disappear. We had to blow it out before the wick completely burned up.

“Dayum, this is one fascinating flame. I’m amazing when it comes to fire, you know.”

Thanks to the Vulcan Body Tome, Choi Sung-gu’s dormant potential for the fire element was second to none. He seemed to find the ‘candlelight’ very fascinating.

“I think something new will happen if this is blown out?”

He was pretty much right on the money.

“But I get the feeling that it shouldn’t be blown out too quickly.”

From the way he guessed it with one glance, a genius was indeed a genius. Sung-gu’s gaze turned to me.

“What’ll we do?”

* * *

“What’ll we do?”

With that one question, Jo Sunghyun became absolutely sure of something. The true leader of this group was Kim Hyukjin. He was a little confused. Honestly, he hadn’t thought there would be someone who would be above the Tutorial Ender. He had also seen Shin Yeonseo’s movements earlier, and they were simply incredible.

‘If I were to face her…’

He would lose, no doubt about it. She was amazing, as was Kim Sunhwa, who had a ridiculous tanking ability. And of course, there was Choi Sung-gu, whose fire magic was obviously the most outstanding out of all the magicians here. But all of them were waiting for Hyukjin’s words and judgment, like it was natural.

‘That must mean that Hyukjin hyung is just that amazing.’

It was so very natural, the way Sung-gu asked for Hyukjin’s opinion. When he saw it, Sunghyun felt a feeling akin to longing surge up within him.

‘I want to learn.’

* * *

Unbeknownst to him, his feelings and gaze had already been picked up by my Eye of Perception.

State: Slight Longing / Trust / Faith

I had achieved my goal in coming here—acquiring Jo Sunghyun’s trust.

‘The candle… offers greater reward than risk.’

It was even a Bluelight Candle. There was a high chance for a bigger reward.

‘Also, whoever blows out the Bluelight Candle can pick the Players who will participate.’

It was decided. If it was low risk, high return, giving it a go was the only answer, at least in my opinion.

[The ‘Nameless Observer’ is watching you.]

[The ‘Lady of the Scales’ is waiting for your choice.]

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ is impatient.]

[The ‘Barrier of Blue Light’ regards your prudence in high esteem.]

[The ‘Whispering Devil’ is bored.]

I waited a little longer.

‘I have to get the timing right.’

I had to wait for the point where the wick was almost completely burned out. 0.5 seconds could very well make a huge difference in the difficulty. It was random.

‘Now…!’

I blew on the ‘Bluelight Candle’.

Hoo–!

The moment I blew, the light went out, and a notice immediately rang out.

[The ‘Bluelight Candle’ has gone out.]

[Perfect timing!]

[The timing could not be any better.]

I got the feeling I heard fanfare.

[The perfect timing greatly decreases the difficulty.]

[The perfect timing greatly increases the rewards.]

I also heard the party selection notice.

[Select the Players who will proceed. Maximum raid participants: 6]

I picked right away. Jo Sunghyun, Choi Sung-gu, So Yoohyun, Kim Sunhwa, Shin Yeonseo, and finally, Kim Hyukjin.

‘Was… this made for me? Or is it because my timing was so spot on?’

I couldn’t be sure, but how was it possible that even the max party limit was perfect for us? In any case, it was a good thing. The wind, a refreshing breeze, began to blow again.

[↑↓↔↘↘↗]

It blew gently in whimsical directions. At the same time, the stream of notices continued.

[Leaving the Flash Gate ‘Hill of Blowing Wind’ and entering the Flash Gate ‘Tomb of the Wind Warrior’.]

* * *

Our surroundings were quiet. A gloomy fog had settled over the dark scenery, giving off the feeling of a poorly maintained cemetery or an abandoned field. Occasionally, there was the raucous cawing of a crow.

“Eugh, fuck. I’m scared.” Sung-gu grabbed my right arm.

“Hy-Hyungnim. I don’t like this,” said Yoohyun, clutching my left arm. Then, he shivered all over, squealing, “A-Ahhh! It-It’s a mouse! A mouse! I hate mice!” He was half clinging to me, and trust me, I was over it.

“If the two of you don’t get off right now, I’ll kill you right here and now.”

It might be different if it were Yeonseo or Sunhwa, but what were these guys who were bigger than me doing?

‘Well, it doesn’t seem like they’re actually terrified.’

Sung-gu’s state was:

State: Fascination / Slight Fear / Bravado

And Yoohyun’s was:

State: Slightly Scared / Determination / A Little Afraid

Since fascination and determination were there, they would do just fine if we had to keep Playing. Just then, I picked up something with Eye of Perception.

“On your toes, everyone.”

It was a Bluelight Candle, and I extinguished it at the perfect timing. The difficulty shouldn’t be terribly high, but we couldn’t be careless.

The ground shook. A slight distance away, a tomb began to emerge from the ground. From it, I felt something familiar.

‘This feeling is…’

It felt like something I’d already experienced before, a monster that I had already fought before.

‘Great Orc Warrior?’

A Great Orc Warrior was getting to its feet. Next to it, other tombs were coming up as well, but…

‘They’re just for show.’

Nothing would come out of them. The difficulty was greatly reduced. If my guess was right, it should have originally been a Great Orc Warrior plus an Orc Archer and maybe one or two regular Orcs to support the Orc Archer. Weirdly enough, I just knew that.

‘I can see it.’

Even without seeing it happen, I could envision what this place’s difficulty should have originally been, and how it would have progressed.

‘Two Orc Archers. One regular Orc. And a Great Orc Warrior.’

That’s what we would have been up against, and if that had really happened, it might have been a little tough for us at our current level… but not impossible. If we had moved well as an organic team, that was a challenge we could have definitely managed, though it would have been quite tricky if there were three or four Orcs guarding the Orc Archers.

Yeonseo pulled out her sword.

“I get what this is about.”

Yeonseo seemed to have sensed it, too. She knew that we had to fight the Great Orc Warrior, a monster we had fought in the past.

“Hyukjin, you still have one of the steel stakes we used last time, right?”

How admirable. She remembered the strategy.

“Yeah, I do.”

Just then, I heard a notice.

[The ‘Herdsman of Las Vegas’ offers a new quest.]

[The ‘Herdsman of Las Vegas’ shares the details of the new quest.]

[In accordance with the request of the ‘Herdsman of Las Vegas’, a ‘Pause’ takes effect.]

The Herdsman of Las Vegas, who relished gambling, offered me a quest. A note was in my Inventory.

1. Can activate the quest ‘Secret Within the Tomb of the Wind Warrior’. If you accept the quest, the difficulty will be adjusted to the original difficulty of the ‘Tomb of the Wind Warrior’, and an additional five ‘Orcs’ will be spawned.
2. Upon quest clear, you will receive 100,000 Coins.
3. Upon quest clear, you will receive ‘Great Orc Warrior’s Gloves’.
4. Upon quest clear, you will receive ‘U-Plex Dungeon First Entry Rights’.
5. Upon quest failure, all party members will die. 

100,000 Coins was a given, but what really caught my eye was the U-Plex Dungeon First Entry Rights. It had to refer to the U-Plex next to the Hyundai Department Store in Sinchon, the Seoul district Sunhwa and I went around last time. I would obtain the right to enter that dungeon even though it wasn’t even formally open yet.

‘Does that mean it’ll open to us, first?’

It was never revealed in the past how that dungeon opened up.

‘That’s somewhere I absolutely have to go.’

Plus, I would get Great Orc Warrior’s Gloves. For a wearer of the partial set like myself, it was truly a tantalizing offer. This fellow, the Herdsman of Las Vegas, didn’t put up a bad offer.

Yoohyun asked, “Hyungnim, what should we do about this?”

The fact that we could all talk to each other in the Paused field meant that my party members also got the same proposal.

It wouldn’t just be an additional two Orcs, but five. And they wouldn’t be regular Orcs, but ones that would be closely guarding the two Orc Archers.

‘Clearing that difficulty the way we are right now is impossible.’

The one who made this proposal was none other than the Herdsman of Las Vegas.

‘The Herdsman of Las Vegas’s proposal is pretty much a gamble.’

It was a dangerous but simultaneously attractive gamble. The Gold Pyramid Michelle successfully won all her gambles with the Herdsman of Las Vegas and once stood at the peak of the sovereign-class Players. Which meant… if I could win this Guardian’s bets, that was also possible for me.

‘But it bothers me that all party members would die if we fail the quest…’

This time, Yeonseo spoke up. “Boss. I think it would be good to accept this offer.”

“How come?”

“Because I think we can definitely clear it?”

But what in the world was her summary all about?

Summary: Swordsman Putting Faith in Their Wife

The strange summary aside, I had to make a decision as their leader. To be honest, I was thinking along the same lines as Yeonseo. A slight risk for a huge reward.

‘I’ll… take a closer look.’

Since we were in a Pause anyway, I examined the field again and again with Observer’s Eye. This was a matter where our lives were on the line. If my observations and intuition were wrong, then everyone would be in danger. If it was going to be too dangerous, staying out of it was the right thing to do. Because if we died, everything would be over.

‘Originally, clearing would be impossible.’

But for some reason, there was confidence bubbling within me, confidence that we could do this.

[3 minutes remaining until the Pause is deactivated.]

I had to make a decision.

“Sunghyun.”

“Yes?”

This kid was the still-unripe Incarnation of Hammurabi. He would repay a favor with a favor twice over, and a grudge with a grudge ten times over. That was the Typhoon’s ironclad rule.

“I’ll let you hold onto this.”

We couldn’t accept the Herdsman of Las Vegas’ offer at our current level. It would be too dangerous if we did that.

‘But if we did it with a Venti Body Tomed Sunghyun…’

It was more than doable. Not only would we be able to get out of here alive, but we would also be able to gain a hefty reward.

“...Huh?”

“I’m not giving it to you. I’m letting you borrow it.”

I handed over the Venti Body Tome.

“Th-This is…”

Sunghyun wouldn’t realize the exact value of this item. However, he should be able to tell that it was incredibly good, and he’d realize that even more after he experienced its effects.

“Repay a favor with a favor. I’m giving this to you because I think this item is better suited to you than to me.”

“...”

“So that we can survive this.”

“...I understand.”

Sunghyun didn’t refuse as vehemently as Sung-gu. It wasn’t that hard to get him to accept.

Summary: Incarnation of Hammurabi Resolved to Repay a Favor

“Use it right away. It’ll likely cause a big change in your body. It was the same for Sung-gu.”

“...”

If a genius of the wind element was boosted by the ‘Venti Body Tome’, they’d become a genius exceeding geniuses.

“...I’m not sure this is okay.”

“It’s okay. You can just repay me back twofold.”

“...I don’t understand what you see in me to be this generous.”

“Hm, potential?”

“...”

It was obvious to everyone that Sunghyun was deeply moved. In any case, this was good. To clear this place safely, Sunghyun’s ‘awakening’ was necessary.

‘The Herdsman of Las Vegas… balanced the proposal with our strength.’

He set the difficulty so that we would barely be able to clear it, making it just hard enough that a mistake would spell our death. I was sure he set it to around that level, and it was exactly the sort of thing the expert gambler the Herdsman of Las Vegas would do.

‘But he didn’t know I had the Venti Body Tome.’ I hadn’t publicized it. ‘If we have Sunghyun with the effects of the Venti Body Tome applied…’

Then the balance the Herdsman of Las Vegas envisioned would completely fall apart. The scales of the gamble would tip our way.

“Thank you. I will do my best to live up to your expectations.”

Sunghyun’s words were full of sincerity. 

‘That’s right, repay this favor twofold,’ I thought with satisfaction. ‘Because although I’m not doing this just for you or investing only in you, a favor’s a favor.’

“I will use it right now.”

“Go ahead.”

Sunghyun used the ‘Venti Body Tome’. A strong wind enveloped Sunghyun and whirled around with him in the center. The tempestuously raging wind was absorbed by his body. That alone changed his aura. The process took about one minute.

‘We’re ready.’

There was about one minute before the Pause ended. The preparations were finished.

‘So there’s only one thing left to do.’

“Senia,” I said. “I want to convey a proposal to the Herdsman of Las Vegas.”

Like they said, strike while the iron was hot. After hearing what I said, Senia, who had been streaming us in her transparent state, urgently sent me a whisper request.

–Player Kim Hyukjin. Are you out of your mind?

Don’t worry, Senia. My mind is perfectly sound, and I’m confident I can create a far more favorable picture and situation.

–Did you forget what I said before?

–What are you talking about?

The Herdsman of Las Vegas opened the doors to this stage. That was it—he only opened the doors.

From here on out, I would be the one to set the stage.