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Chapter 07
Job Change
《Calculating rewards.》
Ohhh!
Yeah, this is exactly what I’ve been waiting for!
Now, what will they give me as a reward?
《Dungeon clear rewards will now be distributed.》
The first reward was runes.
《Obtained: Common Dark Runes x300.》
《Obtained: Advanced Dark Runes x100.》
《Obtained: Rare Dark Runes x50.》
Oh, nice, nice.
That’s a good amount of runes.
Enough to strengthen several summoned beasts and still have leftovers.
But this was just the dungeon-clear reward—the main prize was still to come.
《Clear Rank Reward will now be distributed.》
《Obtained: Common Summoning Tickets x100.》
《Obtained: Advanced Summoning Tickets x50.》
《Obtained: Rare Summoning Tickets x20.》
I couldn’t help but smile.
A hefty pile of common, advanced, and rare summoning tickets were now mine.
If I sold these, they’d make for some pretty decent pocket money.
But as useful as runes and tickets were, they weren’t the main reward I was after.
《Clear Time Record-Breaking Reward will now be distributed.》
Finally!
《Obtained: Special Skill Unlock Scroll.》
Special Skill Unlock Scro…! Oh…? Wha—?
…?
What’s this?
Even I’ve never seen this item before.
Maybe it’s something added after the game turned into reality—like how Hertia was given that “Apocalypse”-grade rank.
I immediately checked the item description.
[Special Skill Unlock Scroll]
Description: A scroll imbued with a powerful force that forcibly unlocks one of a summoned beast’s unique skills.
Wha—wait, seriously?
My mind went blank for a second when I read that.
It could forcibly unlock one unique skill?
That meant I could unlock one of Hertia’s unique skills right now!
The value of this thing was beyond measure.
Unique skill unlocks become available at Level 10… but even then, it’s not just about leveling up.
Unlocking a unique skill requires all sorts of resources—
Runes as a base, plus endless other materials like monster horns, fangs, old tomes…
The higher the summon’s rank, the more absurdly expensive the required materials get.
For a Mythic-tier summon, the cost is enough to make you cry.
Judging from Hertia’s performance, “Apocalypse” rank was definitely not below Mythic tier.
Which meant that, even being optimistic, unlocking just one of her unique skills would normally cost hundreds of millions.
And now I could skip all that pain?
I clenched my fist toward the sky.
Yes!
An item of this caliber was the perfect reward for Hertia’s contribution.
I called out to her, noticing she was watching me intently.
“Hert.”
“Yes, Master?”
“You’ve done great. I will bestow a reward upon you.”
“A… reward, my lord?”
Her expression shifted strangely at those words.
Not hostility—
But the way she stared at me…
Could it be—
Was she planning to evaluate me?
If the reward I offered turned out to be disappointing, she might just turn on me and strangle me again.
Honestly, I was a little nervous.
But this time, I had confidence in what I was giving her.
“Come here and sit.”
“Yes, Master.”
Hertia knelt before me on both knees.
I took out the scroll I had just received.
《Would you like to use the Special Skill Unlock Scroll on Hertia?》
Of course, yes!
《YES》
《Unlocked Hertia’s unique skill: “Dark Side.”》
“Haaa—”
Hertia shuddered as the awakening of her skill sent waves through her body.
I quickly checked the skill description.
[Unique Skill]
Skill 2 – Dark Side
Description: Unleashes the essence of darkness, reducing the target’s defense by 50%.
On attack, triggers an additional strike, “Death Vortex.”
Death Vortex: Concentrates the power of darkness into a vortex, destroying the enemy and stealing 20% of their attack power. Damage increases in proportion to maximum HP.
The sheer length of the text made me sigh.
Whoever wrote this skill description clearly had a thing for overly verbose nonsense.
Still, my years of gameplay experience let me sift out the key points instantly:
Defense reduction! Attack power steal! HP-scaling bonus damage on every attack!
When paired with her first skill, Hertia’s build was obvious—
Stack HP like crazy, forget speed, and she becomes a bruiser who’s both a tank and a damage dealer.
From the opponent’s perspective, the kind of unit you curse at when facing.
“Hert. Do you feel it?”
“Yes… I can feel your blessing filling me, Master.”
“Good. We will conquer this place nine more times.”
“I will follow you to the ends of the earth.”
Of course, I wasn’t planning to stop at just one clear.
I’d run this dungeon dry, squeezing every last bit of reward out of it.
Looks like I’ll be breaking my own record over and over.
At the same time…
Team Leader Lee Jungyul sat at her desk, eyes glued to the “Growth Forest” record logs.
Her neck and back ached from sitting too long.
But no matter how long she waited, the record didn’t change.
…Is he just not planning to challenge it today?
The odds of that were low.
Statistically, 90% of adventurers who cleared the tutorial attempted the Growth Forest immediately—or at least by the next day.
Honestly, if you had a shot at awakening and flipping your life around, wouldn’t you want to grab the reward and summon your next monster as soon as possible?
Could he be… tackling a different dungeon?
The Growth Forest was the most popular beginner dungeon—
Great rewards for the difficulty, and a high-ranking clear could get your name on the leaderboard and even land you a scout offer from a major guild.
But if this rookie didn’t want their information made public, they might deliberately choose a dungeon that wasn’t tracked on the rankings.
For example… the Rune Dungeon.
Lee Jungyul reconsidered her theory, then sighed deeply—
Slap!
“Whoa, what the—?!”
Park Taegyun flinched at the sudden smack.
He turned to see his boss pressing a palm to her cheek.
“…Sleepy, boss?”
“Yeah, I guess I was.”
She cooled the sting on her face and refocused.
Get it together, Jungyul. There’s no way a freshly awakened adventurer could clear a Rune Dungeon.
She stretched and glanced at her junior.
“Taegyun, want a coffee?”
“I’ll pass. Already had five today.”
Tch. She had been hoping to send him on an errand.
She sighed at her own lack of authority and got up herself—only to freeze.
Uh-oh.
She hurried back to her seat.
Approaching from a distance was none other than Jeon Myeongil, the chairman of the Adventurer Management Association.
Agh, this old man… the timing!
Jeon Myeongil was the top official in charge of Korea’s highest-ranking adventurers—and also the person Jungyul found most difficult to deal with at work.
“Team Leader Lee.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Cut the fake discipline. You got time to talk?”
“Uh, I’m a bit busy right now—”
“Buy me a coffee afterward.”
“…Should I book a meeting room?”
“No need.”
He pulled up a chair right next to her.
As she wondered what the hell this was about—
“Got anything new?”
“Pardon?”
“Any rookie discoveries? Any leads?”
She hesitated.
Does he… already know?
She hadn’t yet reported that Korea’s tutorial record had been broken—and that the player might be Korean.
“Well, it’s just that—”
Before she could finish, Park Taegyun jumped in:
“Uh… not confirmed yet, but we might have a super rookie born here in Korea.”
Taegyun!
She wanted to smack him, but not in front of the chairman.
Still, something was strange—Jeon Myeongil’s expression had stiffened.
After glancing around, he leaned in and whispered:
“What do you mean, super rookie?”
“…A record-breaking clear in the tutorial dungeon.”
“I never got that report.”
“Ah, I was in the middle of writing it up.”
(Lie.)
“And why do you think it’s a Korean?”
At this point, hiding it was pointless.
She explained: most adventurers enter the tutorial in the country they were born in—
93.8% of the time, according to the Tower of Records’ own data.
Given Korea’s unique adventurer influx and traditionally low records, she had been cautious about confirming it.
“…Alright. Let’s just keep watch for now.”
“What about publicly—”
“We play dumb.”
“…Sorry?”
“We don’t know the nationality for sure, right? So we say exactly that. No speculation.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jeon Myeongil, for all his faults, was still Korean—and he knew all too well how much weaker Korea had become in this changed world.
Other nations often used dungeon-break prevention as leverage to extract concessions from them.
“Now write that report.”
“Yes, sir!”
Just then—
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The Tower of Records’ terminal began to sound off.
The employees tensed up.
“Update notice!”
“What’s it gonna be this time?”
“Vampires? Yokai?”
“As long as it’s not some ‘Great War’ nonsense…”
The glowing walls displayed the title of the upcoming patch—
Legend Seven – Episode 8: The Return of the Elf Legion
Shock spread through the staff.
“Episode… 8?”
“Wait, this is the first main story update since the change, isn’t it?”
Legend Seven had originally consisted of seven episodes—
The sudden appearance of an eighth meant the entire flow of the world was about to shift.
“What’s the release date?”
“One month from now.”
No other details—just the title.
Whispers filled the room:
“Elves? Weren’t they wiped out?”
“Lore says a few survived… but wait, does that mean… the Apocalypse Witch might come back too?”
“We’re screwed!”
At the mention of the Apocalypse Witch, some reacted with actual dread.
Park Taegyun, however, had no idea why.
“What’s the big deal?”
“Taegyun, you don’t know? In the Elf episode—”
“Oh, something about the Episode 1 boss being a witch, right?”
“…The elves were a main race in Episode 1. If they’re coming back…”
“And?”
“That means their nemesis—the Apocalypse Witch, Hertia—might return too.”
“…Ah. I see.”
Clearly, he didn’t.
He had no idea how terrifying Hertia had been—
How many newbies had been crushed under her overwhelming power, even in a scripted defeat event.
Even Jeon Myeongil sighed.
“Great. Good news and bad news all at once. I’m out—higher-ups will be all over this.”
As he left, the staff slumped back in their chairs.
Taegyun looked up Hertia online… and froze.
“N-not a single player has ever beaten her?!”
《Level up! Adventurer Level has reached 9.》
Easy leveling, easy life!
Just one more level to 10!
Level 10 meant it was time to choose a career as an adventurer.
Legend Seven wasn’t just about raising your summons—
Adventurers themselves could grow, learning special summoner skills for PvE and PvP.
You could strike enemies with lightning, or heal your summons.
Basically, you could directly influence battles at crucial moments.
Of course… your skills were also decided by RNG.
At Level 10, your career was assigned based on your playstyle—
Randomly.
Back in the game days, this was infamous as “the devil’s reroll.”
Still, I wasn’t too worried—
I could make use of anything.
And even if the job I got sucked, I could always reroll later.
“Alright. Last one!”
“Yes!”
Hert’s blow felled another golem.
Rune Dungeons had a daily limit of ten runs for full rewards, but you could keep going afterward for reduced rewards and XP.
《Level up! Adventurer Level has reached 10.》
《You have gained the opportunity to choose a career.》
《Before you are 10 cards. Flip one to choose your career.》
《Proceed with career selection?》
Yes!
A white deck of cards appeared before me, scattering into ten separate cards.
I checked their “rarity glow” one by one—
Most were gray (common). Two were green (advanced). No blue (rare). One purple (epic).
The only real jackpot colors were gold (legendary) and orange (mythic).
Tch. Not expecting much. What was the best pick in epic tier again…?
Then I touched the last card—
Sssss—
A dark, ominous violet glow flickered from it.
I recognized this chilling aura immediately.
This is… exactly like when I summoned Hertia…
