Max Talent Player

Chapter 195

Elder Bufafa went to the house of his old friend, Bwarara. Just like Elder Bufafas house, Elder Bwararas house looked like a burning smithy.

He opened the door.

Long time no see, my friend!

Bwarara and Bufafa embraced. They didnt see each other often, but whenever they did, it was a truly joyful and enjoyable affair.

Elder Bufafa smiled widely. Ive come to see you three times in a row, so its your turn next time.

You were here just two years ago.

Dwarfs sought less social contact than humans. Although they hadnt met in two years, for dwarfs, they met relatively frequently.

Anyway. Elder Bwarara welcomed Bufafa inside. How about a drink?

Sounds good.

The two elders tipped back their first drink together in a while.

Right, right. Bufafa. You look like youre itching to say something.

Thats right. Howd you know?

You look like you have an itch in your butt. Whats up? Is it about that human from before?

The rumors have reached you, too?

Of course. The story of the human who drew near to Athenae, the Sacred Flame only blessed dwarfs can approach, has already spread like wildfire through the Winter Castle. Elder Bwarara drank his alcohol. Kyaa. Good stuff.

In truth, Elder Bwarara did not have much goodwill towards humans. He neither disliked or liked them, but dwarfs generally either ignored or excluded other races, especially races that had terrible production abilities like humans.

Well, its true hes an impressive human. But its not like hes the only such human, right?

Thats true. He wasnt the only one. Bufafa continued, But thats only if he was from the Sword Forest.

Hes not from the Sword Forest?

He definitely isnt.

Hes not a Sword Forest native, but he was able to get close to Athenae?

Elder Bwarara put down his mug. I thought for sure he was a Sword Forest native.

Bwarara. Think about it. Even in the Sword Forest, how many humans from there can approach Athenae? Theyre few and far between.

Thats true, isnt it?

But a human whos not from the Sword Forest got close. Bufafa took a deep breath. And he had the transcendent artifact, Lady Isabel, with him.

What did you say?!

Bwarara jumped to his feet. He got up so forcefully that his beard struck Bufafa in the face.

Lady Isabel? Whoa. A human had that?

Not only that, but a part of the ego was awakened.

Whoa.

Bwarara stared at Bufafa in disbelief.

Are you sure? You saw it with your own eyes?

I did. It was for a very brief moment, but the ego was definitely active.

Holy Athenae. Youre telling me a human had that?

Hes the swords bride.

Bwarara blinked his two eyes.

The first swords bride in 700 years Is he qualified?

Actually, I wanted to talk because of that.

Hm?

The swords bride came with a crown.

Isnt that a common occurrence?

He asked me to engrave a return authority while restoring it.

A return authority? Isnt that pretty normal?

But its not something a swords bride that has only just begun to toddle should know. Bufafas eyes turned serious. And I engraved the return authority like I was bewitched.

Like you were bewitched?

When I snapped out of it, I found that I had restored the Old Crown into a Crown and finished engraving the return authority on that crown. Without getting any compensation.

Of course, he followed the commandment and the rules of the quest, but Bufafa earned nothing of material value.

Eh? You, a dwarf who holds the value of labor more sacred than anything else?

Thats what Im saying. It was like I was bewitched or something.

He was played like a damn fiddle. Bufafa considered the value of labor sacred. Labor had to be compensated, if only a little. That was the correct attitude of a working dwarf.

I only realized it after everything was done.

Bufafa emptied his mug, too. Then, he opened his mouth again.

Our ancestor said the same thing happened to him 700 years ago, right?

* * *

* * *

Then what shall I do?

I foresaw the Exploring Baptists test, and as such, I said this to the dwarf elder Bufafa.

Oh, before I forget. I have a request, Elder.

To go back to what Bufafa said, he was having an audience with Isabel. That was why he accepted my request without much resistance.

A return authority? Not a problem. I will do it for you.

As a result, there was a return authority on the Crown, and one personally engraved by a dwarf elder. Even Players ten years later would have a hard time breaking that authority, so was the current Jackson capable of the feat?

Hes not.

I raised my right hand, my palm facing the sky.

This is what Ill do.

Golden light began to pool on my palm. Infinite rays of light gathered, and then I heard a notice.

[Reclaiming the Crown.]

The golden light suddenly took the appearance of a crown, the restored crown we had gained with dwarven help. Jackson made a shrug of defeat upon seeing the crown sparkling brightly under the sunlight.

Its my loss.

...

Did you expect this?

I thought there was at least a 50% chance of it happening.

Its as they say. Theres always someone better.

Jackson actually looked pleased. Vela was just tilting his head, not comprehending what was going on.

Hey guys. Whats going on?

There was no real need to give Vela an explanation. This was an issue between Jackson and me.

Cmon, fellas. Clue me in, too.

Guys?

Hyukjin? Jackson?

Tch. Meanies.

Vela muttered to himself before shutting his mouth. He then proceeded to mutter, Ill beat you jerks up.

Ill open the door now, said Jackson. Only, opening a gate is much easier with an item called a Gate Opener. I think that will greatly reduce the difficulty of the dungeon. And of course, it will also make it easier for me to open the gate.

A Gate Opener?

We had that. More precisely, Vela had one, acquired from the Gatekeeper Lee Sungcheol. Vela stared at me.

Oh. You finally wanna clue me in?

No, not that. Gate Opener.

Gate Opener? Vela tilted his head. Whats that?

...

It was actually terrifying that this was his true self. He couldnt even remember the name of an item he acquired. His forgetfulness was probably exacerbated by the fact that the item wasnt related to direct combat.

The item you took from Gatekeeper Lee Sungcheol in front of the D-Tower.

Ah! Velas two cells finally rubbed together and made a spark. Bottle opener?

Yeah, that thing.

With a spark of understanding, Vela started rummaging in his Inventory. His Inventory wasnt sorted at all, so it took him a long time to locate it. This guy was strangely super good at item switching, but apparently, that only applied to fighting.

Found it!

He took out the Gate Opener and gave it to Jackson.

Here.

Even the amazing Jackson couldnt help but make a face at Vela. Youre just going to give it to me?

Whats wrong with that? Im going in there.

Thats true, but this is a consumable item. This item can be used a total of three times.

Vela and I were planning on entering a dungeon right now. Jackson couldnt come in since entry was limited to only two people. In other words, if Vela gave the Gate Opener to Jackson now, it was unlikely that he would ever get the Gate Opener with two additional uses back.

Vela, this naive soul, asked back, And?

After using it once here, there will be two uses left. But you are going into the dungeon, and the Gate Opener with additional uses will remain in my possession.

Ah. Is that a problem? Vela flashed an easy smile. Take it, its yours.

...

Jackson stared at Vela like he couldnt quite keep up.

Whats wrong?

...

I felt a strange sense of kinship with Jackson.

Why are you giving it to me?

Cause I cant use it?

Cant you just sell it?

Thats so troublesome.

Velas personality was beyond logic or reasoning to begin with. I thought he was just exaggerating it for the screen on Youtube, but this was his real personality. It was, in some respects, extremely shocking.

Vela said, Well then, hurry and open the hidden field.

* * *

[The hidden condition of the Gran Seoul Dungeon has been activated.]

[The hidden entrance of the Gran Seoul Dungeon has been generated.]

Near the exit of the underground parking lot, an entrance was activated.

[Only those with a special qualification can seek passage through the hidden entrance.]

Vela and I already fulfilled that qualification.

[Map of the Gran Seoul Dungeon]

A piece of a map bearing information about the Gran Seoul Dungeons hidden piece. Only those with this map can activate the hidden piece. Additionally, this map acts as an entry ticket for a new entrance.

The Map of the Gran Seoul Dungeon that was acting as the entrance ticket went up in flames. A black, shimmering entrance appeared, visible only to us.

Jackson bade us a casual goodbye.

Have a nice trip.

In the past, Jackson might have been the one to go in here with Vela, but now, I was taking his place.

The shimmering of the entrance is black.

Normally, the color of a gate didnt change like this.

Its similar to what you see when shadow monsters appear.

Id have to go in to find out more.

[You have entered the hidden entrance.]

The Gran Seoul Dungeons hidden field was a place even I had no idea how to clear. I felt humidity in the air.

It looks exactly the same, said Vela.

We were standing on the road going into the underground parking lot. The place looked the same as it did from the outside, but the air was more moist and damp.

It was structured like we were walking down a ramp underground. I took the lead.

Lets go.

I couldnt feel any impressive presences from the monsters I could sense.

Kikik!

Kikikik!

Kigigik!

The cries of monsters came some distance down, from a place we couldnt see.

Goblins.

I was surprised that such weak, low-level monsters would be in a place like the Gran Seoul Dungeon.

Vela. There are Goblins down there.

Goblins? Theyre super weak.

We continued walking down the ramp. There really were Goblins waiting for us. There were about thirty of them.

Thisll be quick, eh?

No, dont kill them.

Why? was a reasonable question

Got it.

But Vela agreed remarkably quickly.

Kigik!

Kigigik!

A few Goblins clambered onto Vela, but their clubs couldnt penetrate Velas defense.

Theyre annoying. Can I just kill them?

Leave them be.

Got it.

Vela was surprisingly obedient. 

Whens the strong fella gonna come out?

Not sure.

It couldnt just be Goblins. We continued walking down, ignoring the Goblins. Even if they attacked, they couldnt harm either of us. We werent level 1 Players, after all.

Huh. Theyre not chasing us anymore.

The Goblins stopped chasing us when we reached a certain point. We kept going down.

Ugh. How long do we have to keep going down?

We had already walked down for two hours straight.

There are monsters lurking around us.

Really?

Assassin class monsters.

Are they good at fighting?

Velas fighting spirit finally began to burn.

No. Theyre good at stabbing and ambushing, but theyre probably weak at direct combat.

That was probably why they were remaining hidden, waiting for their chance to attack.

But how do you know that?

Cause Im an archer. Archers have special eyes.

Ah. Thats true.

He didnt even ask the extremely natural question, I thought you said you werent an archer? He just took me for face value and accepted my explanation. How could someone be this single-celled?

The monsters wheeling around us right now are Shadow Soldiers.

They were moving rather stealthily, but I could see them clearly. Thanks to experiencing them before through Lao Yu, I could follow their movements far better.

The problem is this probably isnt all.

Were Shadow Soldiers really the final enemies? Even the lower-leveled Lao Yu had a few of them tamed. Shadow Soldiers had an average level of around 30.

Things will get super exhausting if something like a Shadow Knight shows up.

Worse yet

If a Shadow Sovereign were to appear here

We would really have to fight for the clear with our lives on the line.

Both the Goblins and the Shadow Soldiers arent very dangerous enemies.

That meant there were definitely dangerous ones around somewhere.

And there arent any real traps to speak of.

It was just an open path we had to keep walking down. Basically, the difficulty was extremely low. It shouldnt be like this.

We walked down for another two hours straight. It became darker and darker. Magic lights were illuminating the surroundings here and there, but it was still not to the point of being able to see clearly. Those lights had descriptions.

[Murky Magic Torch]

A magic torch of the murky attribute. Not very bright due to its murky nature.

At some point, I could see the end of the path, a discovery that was accompanied by a booming thud.

Our retreat has been blocked.

A physical wall thudded into place behind us, blocking our retreat. We were trapped in an enclosed space. And then, I heard a voice.

<Welcome, offerings of the shadow.>

Welcome. Offerings of the shadow. These words were familiar to me.

Shadow Sovereign.

Deep underground, in the Gran Seoul Dungeons hidden field, was a Shadow Sovereign.

Its too disadvantageous for us to fight here.

A Shadow Sovereigns presence meant there were also Shadow Knights. This place was too restrictive; it was the optimal environment for them. We had to first get out of here somehow. If we didnt, we would die here.

We were trapped in darkness.

There is a way.