Chapter 9

Chapter 09 . Dancing with the Skeletons (2)

Class Tower .

It was the place to obtain the basic classes, and also the place to periodically obtain information on skill books . At the same time, it was a meeting point where players who shared the same class gathered .

As a result, no matter which castle one visited, the Class Tower would be surrounded by many people .

As always, greed lurked around a place filled with people .

There were people with different purposes near Class Towers . The most prevalent were scouts .

“We’re recruiting fire or ice-attributed magicians!”

“Aran Guild is recruiting curse magicians . We’ll fully support you to level 50 . ”

Scouts near Class Towers all had the purpose of recruiting new players .

Warlord was an immensely popular game . Within a year after its launch in 2035, over a million players had joined, and the number was growing by thousands every day .

However, Warlord also had a lot of manpower shortages . Many often said there weren’t enough people .

The biggest reason for this was that there weren’t any casual players . Gamers were usually distinguished as being either hardcore or casual . This was because most games were free-to-play, and players could pay money to obtain advantages . But Warlord wasn’t free-to-play . It wasn’t even cheap enough for someone to try the game on a whim .

So most players started Warlord with a clear aim . In other words, they had plans of their own . Even if one tried to recruit others, most were already part of a group .

Another problem was that players needed auxiliary help to participate in Warlord’s main content – raids . Magicians were especially sought after in this aspect . Magicians could receive up to a 200% damage advantage depending on their magic attribute compatibility . They could also receive an equivalent penalty if their magic attribute was incompatible . Because of this, it was important to recruit skilled magicians of different attributes .

Obviously, it was extremely difficult to recruit skilled, well-known, and high-leveled magicians .

If you couldn’t recruit one, you just had to make one!

It was much more efficient to recruit new players and raise them to be the type of magicians one wanted . Of course, even if one touts on the street to recruit newbies, often one wouldn’t be successful . Even so, it was much better than posting some recruitment post on an online forum . It made sense that talking directly in game would show more results .

However, after being unsuccessful for a long time, there were those who became frustrated .

Those who already had decent levels and played for some time didn’t like being so subservient just to recruit newbies who had just started playing .

Thus, sometimes things got a little rough .

“Hey, you! Wait a moment!”

Now was such a case .

A player who had been recruiting guild members suddenly called out and grabbed the left wrist of a player about to enter the Magician’s Tower . He held the player’s wrist tightly to prevent him from getting away .

“You’re a new player, right? Hear me out for a bit . ”

Saying this, a player named Suduri stared at the newbie in front of him .

The newbie’s appearance wasn’t anything special, but Suduri had a gut feeling the moment he saw him . A feeling that said, ‘this guy’s a loser!’

‘This guy is definitely a loser . If I don’t at least bring him back, that guild master fucker will throw another tantrum . ’

Suduri’s guild master was his high school senior, who dragged him around like he was his underling . After hearing the money involved in Warlord, he bought a V-Gear and brought his so-called underlings to make a guild .

It went without saying that there weren’t many in the guild . There were less than ten people . The guild master ordered Suduri to go find new recruits unless he wants to be beaten up . Suduri wouldn’t mind if it was just an online threat, but he was often punched when they met in the real world for a drink .

So to Suduri, anyone was fine . Since he found a loser who seemed to be a pushover, he planned on making him forcefully join his guild .

On the other hand, Hyrkan who became his target sneered at the rat-looking man in front of him .

‘He probably thinks I look like a loser . ’

To Hyrkan, this wasn’t the first time this had happened . As such, he could easily figure out what this man was thinking . He had been treated like a loser so much his whole life, that he had more or less grown used to it .

Of course, things were a bit different in Warlord . After he gained some reputation and skill, he beheaded everyone who treated him like a loser and fed their heads to tiger-type monsters nearby . He showed them who the real loser was .

Such a thing wasn’t possible for the level 1 Hyrkan now .

Hyrkan stared at the man .

“What do you want?”

“You’re going to be a magician, right? We’ll support you, so come to our guild . ”

Even as he said this, the man refused to let go of Hyrkan’s wrist . There was no way Hyrkan wouldn’t know what his real intention was .

‘Does he take me for a fool?’

In this situation, Hyrkan smiled lightly instead of frowning in displeasure . Seeing his smile, Suduri immediately continued .

“It’s fine no matter what attribute you go for . We’ll properly support you, just you specially . Not everyone can enter our guild, you know? It’s only for the select few . ”

The man started spewing nonsense like how Hyrkan had a kind looking face or that his ancestors must have been men of virtue . At this stupidity, Hyrkan asked him a quick question .

“You said any attribute is fine?”

“Of course!”

“Even black magic?”

“Hm?”

At this, Suduri hesitated for the first time . Over 90 percent of magicians chose white magic, as it had the most diverse options in terms of magic attributes . On the other hand, black magic skill trees were all categorized into a single attribute .

“Are you looking to be a curse magician?”

Among those choosing black magic, almost all went down the curse skill tree .

Debuff magic had many varieties . Black magician’s debuff magic had a single attribute, which was its advantage . Although they weren’t particularly advantageous in terms of attribute compatibility, they weren’t disadvantageous either . This meant one could expect average results no matter what monster one faced . As mid and small sized guilds couldn’t afford to acquire debuff magicians of various attributes, many covered their needs with curse magic .

However, curse magicians weren’t popular as they couldn’t do anything by themselves . As was the case in all games, it wasn’t much fun to stay in the back casting buffs without actually participating in the battle .

“That’s great! If you want to be a curse magician, you’ll need support for sure . ”

It wasn’t bad at all .

In fact, Suduri felt like he struck it rich with this loser . But as Suduri was thinking this, Hyrkan said to him,

“I’m not planning on being a curse magician . I’m going to be a necromancer . ”

“What?”

Hearing this, Suduri loosened the grip on Hyrkan’s wrist .

‘So he wasn’t a loser, but a pervert…’

He wants to be a necromancer? I didn’t think this loser would be one of those rare perverts .

Meanwhile, after seeing that Suduri had loosened his grip, Hyrkan pulled his arm back with a snap . It seemed Suduri didn’t plan on holding Hyrkan’s wrist again, as he just stared at him .

“You still want to support me?”

Instead of replying, Suduri turned his head and spat . He was telling Hyrkan to fuck off .

Seeing this, Hyrkan whispered .

“Next time I see you…”

“What?”

It was soft enough that Suduri couldn’t hear him . Suduri responded to the sound but Hyrkan had already entered the tower after finishing what he had to say .

Hyrkan’s words .

‘… If you hold my left wrist again, I’ll kill you . ’

It was his final warning .

★★★

In Warlord, the best way to differentiate between NPCs and players was to look at their left wrists . Players were wearing their smart watches on their left wrists . This smart watch had various functions . Players could check their stats, confirmed quests, check maps and their physical data, communicate within and outside the VR world, take pictures or film videos, and quick-slot change their equipment .

Players couldn’t take off their watches . The only way to take them off was to cut off their wrists, or when they died . In other hands, players left behind their watches when they died in-game . If others picked up these left behind watches, they could turn them into dealers located in each castle and town . In return, they received one random item from the watch .

Thus, PKers often aimed for their opponents’ wrists first . If they could just cut off their wrists, they wouldn’t be able to switch items using quick-slot, and the PKers could just run .

In some cases, PKers threatened their victims to leave their wrists in return for their lives . This felt the worst, as players couldn’t use the functionalities of the watch before they restored their wrists . They wouldn’t be able to pick up even if someone called them from the outside . Most just chose to log-out and wait for the situation to sort itself out . People called this time period the cigarette-time or the sage-time . Anyhow, it felt like shit . People often wondered why they paid so much money to play Warlord . Make that always .

As a result, players who were PKed a lot were sensitive to anyone touching their left wrists .

‘I’m remembering some bad memories thanks to some nobody . ’

In this aspect, Hyrkan was sensitive to the point of hysteria . Since his left wrist was gripped, he was in a terrible mood .

‘I have remembered your face . ’

And in this aspect, Hyrkan showed his extreme temperament .

He’ll let it go the first time, but there will be no second .

‘Next time this happens, I’ll destroy you regardless of what your level is . ’

Huu!

After taking a deep breath and calming himself, Hyrkan headed straight to the NPC on the 1st floor . Like in bank windows, 2 NPCs sat facing the players . What was interesting was that there was a long line for one of the NPCs, while there was only one in the line for the other .

The long line was for players trying to learn white magic, and the shorter line was obviously for black magic .

It was easy to see the difference between white magic and black magic . If it wasn’t this bad, Suduri wouldn’t have spat in disgust at the necromancer-aspiring loser .

In fact, the people in line for white magic saw Hyrkan walking towards black magic and showed looks of pity . It was as if they were looking at a man walking to his death .

Under their pitying looks, Hyrkan faced the NPC . It was a dark-faced old man with shriveled skin . The NPC spoke, facing Hyrkan .

“I am black magician Golco . Are you interested in black magic?”

[A class-related quest has begun . ]

[After choosing a class, there is no turning back . ]

[To switch from black magic to white magic, a tremendous price must be paid . ]

System alerts filled Hyrkan’s ears .

Hyrkan ignored the alerts .

“Yes . ”

“You cannot walk the road of black magic with just words . Embed your determination here . ”

With this, Golco took out a piece of paper as shriveled as his skin .

It was a contract, and there were five places for Hyrkan to sign both front and back combined .

It was to prevent players from complaining to game admins to change their class . This happened more often than one might expect . There were always people who didn’t like their choices in games and complained to get them changed . Some even hired lawyers . The contract was to prevent something like this from happening . Hyrkan signed the five spots without batting an eye .

After confirming Hyrkan’s signatures, Golco spoke while looking at Hyrkan .

“Hold out your palm . ”

Hyrkan held out his palm, and Golco wrote the number 3 on it with his fingers .

[A key has been inscribed to your palm . ]

Golco gave an explanation about the number .

“Go up the stairs to the 2nd floor and you’ll see four rooms . If you enter the room with this number, you’ll find a library . You may bring one book out of there . You can exit and reenter whenever you want before coming out with a book, but the moment you come out with a book, you can only enter with a new key . ”

Such system of keys was truly befitting that of magicians .

[At any time, you may check your conversation with the NPC through the app installed on your watch . ]

After hearing the final alert, Hyrkan clenched his fists .