Chapter 86 – Magician’s Ivory Tower (7)

Sungjin watched the Highlander. For one reason or another, he reminded Sungjin of his earlier days. Sungjin took out ‘Jasepit – Holy Water of Baptism’ from his vest.

The holy water splashed around inside. It looked the same as when he had first obtained it two raids ago. Sungjin was becoming increasingly curious as to its effects. What did the title of ‘Chosen One’ do?

The reason why Sungjin continued to hesitate was because obtaining ‘White Coin’ was a difficult task.

When it came to Black Coins, he could try harder and get more (with 5 Trollseeker Marbles, he could earn several more times the coins earned by others), but he couldn’t do the same with ‘White Coins’.

White coins obtained from ‘Reign’ required sincere submission, so it wasn’t something he could earn just by putting in more effort.

‘It isn’t something I can afford to use recklessly…’

[All monsters eliminated.]
[Beginning Raid Distribution]

‘Eh…’

Now that she mentioned it, this chapter was an ‘Ivory Tower’. A tower where ordinary monsters had no hiding place. The Hidden boss was the last enemy remaining.

[Monsters Slain. Halfdead body: 1. … Manscorpion: 1. …. Magic Mountain Goat: 1. ….Total 10,000 Points.]*
[Boss Monster ‘Mad Magician’ Lenin 1300 points.]
[Hidden Boss Terrible Chimera 1300 Points.]
[Combined Total 12600 Points. Distributing points.]

The reward began with the ‘Mountain’.

[Your Contribution is 12.4%]

Next was ‘Green Magician’.

[Your Contribution is 13.1%]

Followed by ‘Highlander’.

[Your Contribution is 21.7%.]

It was high as expected. A high value among elite hunters. Sungjin could guess what happened until they reached the 6th floor. Of course, it couldn’t hold a candle to what Sungjin was about to receive.

[Your Contribution is 52.8%. Stat points 6653 points Black coins 6653 points.]
[Raid Clear Bonus 2500 Stat points and 2500 Black Coins awarded.]
[Item effect ‘Additional 10% gained’ activated.]
[Distributing 9153 Stat points and 10068 Black Coins.]
[And now we will distribute the items.]

Everyone was busy accepting items from the raid reward. It was probably the most anticipated moment in the raid. Sungjin patiently awaited his turn. And soon the Operator distributed Sungjin’s share.

[Chimerao – Ring of Fused Beasts]
[Merka – Pulp of Evolution]
[Enhancement Stone]

Sungjin obtained 3 items in total. If something had to be pointed out…

[Congratulations! Legendary Item ‘Chimerao – Ring of Fused Beasts’]
[Legendary Crafting Material ‘Merka – Pulp of Evolution]
[Legendary Crafting Material ‘Enhancement Stone’ obtained.]

All three were legendary items or crafting materials. This suited Sungjin just fine since a wishy-washy heroic class item would only end up in the Auction house.

Sungjin picked up the items he received this round. The first was the ring. ‘Chimerao – Ring of the Fused Beasts’. Around the round Diamond centerpiece, four animals ‘Lion, Snake, Human, Goat’ decorated the ring.

Sungjin put it away for now. Next was the item ‘Merka – Pulp of Evolution’. This item was also very strange. It was a type of fruit with a light green color similar to that of a melon.

On the surface was a cloud shaped pattern. Sungjin picked up the item and sniffed it.

“Ugh…”

The smell was too strange. It couldn’t possibly inspire appetite.

‘Where am I supposed to use this…?’

He wouldn’t be able to find out more until he checked the Operator’s Information page. Sungjin placed this item into the cube as well. The last item was the ‘Enhancement Stone’. An item which enhances another item.

‘I already got three… I should visit the smithy soon…’

There were many places for him to spend Black Coins.

[Last but not the least, you will be awarded titles you’ve earned on this raid.]

Sungjin didn’t have high expectations of titles anymore.

Thanks to his near perfect playthrough thus far, he had already obtained all the important titles such as ‘Master Hunter’, ‘Elite Samurai’, ‘Adjudicator’, ‘Treasure Hunter’ and the like.

‘Well.. It should still be useful…’

But

[Iron Will – Auto protects twice against abnormal status such as ‘Sleep, Confusion, petrification, and blind’.

‘Ohh…’

It was quite a good title this time. It was a title many tanks used in the past.

‘Is it because I was forced to sleep twice…?’

It was a good title nonetheless. He didn’t feel the need to keep it active at all times, but if it could automatically block a single status effect, it would make fighting much easier.

After the distribution was complete,

[You have reached 100% completion. Returning to Hunter’s Hall in 1 minute.]

Sungjin said to the Operator

“Hey wait… I don’t want to be summoned back this moment. Is that possible?”

[It is possible.]

“Then send me back at the time-over.”

The Operator changed her words at his request.

[Understood. Returning to the Hunter’s Hall in 57 minutes and 14 Seconds.]

The Operator informed everyone of the remaining time.

‘…57 Minutes…’

The schedule was tight. Sungjin had a total of 5 Trollseeker Marbles.

It was not a large map by any stretch, but there was no telling what could happen so Sungjin had to hurry.

But before he could transfer dimensions, he had unfinished business to take care of; The baptism of the Highlander. Despite receiving his raid reward, the Highlander remained depressed. Sungjin stared at him.

‘What should I do…’

But there was no time to be hesitating. Sungjin made a decision.

‘Yeah, I need to find out what this does anyway. I’ll just go ahead and use it since I have another one on standby. I should be able to get a White coin one way or another…’

Sungjin approached him.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

This was the 3rd time he had asked. If he wouldn’t respond this time, Sungjin was prepared to give up on him. No matter how just, no matter how skilled, Sungjin had no reason to forcefully create a relationship with a man who disliked him.

But the Highlander looked up and told Sungjin his name.

“Franz. Franz Hosenfeld.”

After sharing Hidden place Bonus stats and overcoming the Chimera, he had no longer suspected Sungjin. Sungjin took out the ‘Holy water of Baptism’ and said

“Ok, Franz. I will Baptise you…”

Franz gazed up at Sungjin.

“Oh and I have no idea what this actually does. But… Go ahead and get baptised. It’s probably nothing harmful.”

Franz tilted his head at Sungjin’s words.

“What do you mean?”

He didn’t have time to explain everything. Sungjin hesitated for a second before repeating himself.

“It’s not going to harm you… probably.”

Franz must have realized something was odd and tried to get up, but Sungjin did not wait for him. He decided he was going to baptise him by any means, even by force if need be.

Sungjin opened the lid to the glass vial and poured the holy water over his head.

“Baptism”

Bright light left Sungjin’s body and flooded towards Franz. Franz lifted up his hands and said

“What is this?”

He asked, but Sungjin had no answer. He knew nothing about this process. The remaining two hunters watched this strange sight as well.

One giving, one receiving, and two watching; the four men were silently watching for about 10 seconds. Then the light began to dim and ebb.

And once the light ended, the Highlander’s cube made an announcement.

[You were ‘Chosen’ by someone. Title granted.]

[Chosen one – Receive 20% of the chooser’s stat as bonus stat. Once a day, you may summon the Chooser with his permission.]

“WHAT?”

Everyone on the spot shouted out in surprise. Sungjin was no exception.

“I can’t believe this… You’re going to get 20% of my stats as bonus?”

Sungjin had about double or triple the stat of others. Receiving 20% of stats from Sungjin would likely give him more bonus stat than having ‘Master Hunter’ title equipped for the Highlander.

Highlander was also surprised.

“20%? Operator, show me my stats.”

---

Title: Highlander
HP: 52320    MP: 6100
Strength:       6407  5216 (+1191)
Dexterity:     6974  5715 (+1259)
Endurance:   5232  4500  (+732)
Magic Power:  525      13   (+512)
Mind Power:  910       11  (+899)

Unallocated Status points: 1650

---

The Highlander was shocked after checking his stats again.

“WHAT”

Every stat had risen by an enormous amount. Strength, Dexterity and Endurance, even the stats he had ignored such as Magic Power and Mind Power had risen by a considerable amount.

The hunters watching were also surprised. The ‘Green Magician’ looked back and forth between Sungjin and the status screen as he said

“Wait, if this is 20%… your stat… it’s so high!”

He must have calculated Sungjin’s stat points based on the bonus amount. But the Highlander said

“No… this is not 20%. The ‘Chosen One’ title isn’t Active.”

The other two hunters were even more surprised. The bonus showing up on the status screen was not 20% since the title was not active; the bonus represented just 10% of Sungjin’s stats.

“Wait so 10%?! All of that is just 10%?”

The calculation became even simpler. The ‘Green Magician’ and the ‘Mountain’ looked at him in surprise. Multiplying Highlander’s bonus stats by 10 gave Sungjin’s ‘Basic Stats’.

“My god…”

“That’s incredible!”

They couldn’t help but be astonished. Sungjin had three times or even four times more stat points than others. And that was even with the ‘Master Hunter’ deactivated. The Highlander looked at him with respect.

“So you really did… go easy on me earlier.”

Sungjin silently nodded. The Highlander could tell with just the stats that if Sungjin had wanted, he would have died in just seconds.

He didn’t understand Sungjin’s circumstance, but Sungjin had enough strength to be acting alone, and more. The Highlander gazed at Sungjin a bit longer before bowing his head and apologizing.

“I am sorry for attacking out of nowhere.”

Sungjin replied

“No, no. In fact, the reason why I decided to baptise you was because you attacked me.”

The Highlander lifted his head back up.

“What?”

He looked at Sungjin with puzzled looks. But Sungjin was telling the truth. If the Highlander had thought

‘It’s none of my business’

‘There’s no reason for me to attack if it’s disadvantageous for me’

Like the others, Sungjin wouldn’t have wanted to baptise him. Sungjin replied

“I told you earlier… even if you can’t understand all of it… there’s a reason for it all. If you want an explanation, I could give one but…”

Sungjin glanced at the cube. The ‘Chosen One’ Title was unexpected, but it was time to leave for Troll hunting. He didn’t have any time left. Sungjin asked him

“In the explanation for the Chosen One title… it said you could summon the chooser… which is to say me, right?”

---

Note: * The author dosent provide the number of monsters killed in the distribution in this raid and instead uses ‘…’

For anyone wondering about the whole 20% point thing whether it will affect K, the Chosen One is a title so K does not lose 20% of his stats. Like Master Hunter title where his stats increase by 30% similarly on equipping the Chosen One the person’s stats increases by 20% of the chooser’s stats.

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