The waiting room of the 15th floor of the Spirit Dojo .
There were paintings on the walls of the waiting room on every floor, but the waiting room structure of the 15th floor was special .
On the 15th floor, the 'Dojo Master' was on one side of the waiting room .
Syarlion, a dojo master protecting the spirit dojo .
Ian entered the room and talked over to Syarlion with a pleasant look .
“Huhu, you said that I should be nervous, right?”
“I was very nervous, and dealt with you very seriously . ”
“Huhu . ”
“The perfect defeat . Congrats on being the first honorary conduit . ”
Syarlion, who smiled bitterly, offered something to Ian .
It was a small thing, the texture and size were similar to the wood plaque that he had been given by Syarlon .
Tring-!
[You have earned 'Sign of Honorary Conduit (Beginner)' . ]
[You have become the 'Honorary Conduit' for the first time . ]
[You have successfully completed the quest 'Syarlon's Errand' . ]
[Fame increased 500,000 . ]
[Affinity with the 'Goral' race had increased permanently by 10 . ]
[You have earned the item 'Guardian Mask' . ]
Seeing all the rewards come up successfully along with the quest completion message, Ian couldn't hide his laughter .
The miscellaneous item, 'Sign of Honorary Conduit' was an item with a decent option according to Ian .
-Sign of Honorary Conduit (Beginner)
Cla.s.sification: Goods
Rank: Rare (transcendence)
This certificate proves that you have become an Honorary Conduit of the Spirit Dojo which is located in the Pneuma village on the south side of Spirit Mountain .
If this certificate is present, you will be given the least recognition as the Intermediate being .
Also, if the Spirit Dojo is re-challenged anytime, the challenge can be resumed from the 16th floor .
*Option
Leaders.h.i.+p: +10 (Transcendence)
All battle abilities: +10 (Transcendence)
Transcendence Fame: +50 (Sealed)
(Sealed options aren't active unless the 'Intermediate-being' has been obtained . )
*This item belongs to the user 'Ian' .
It cannot be transferred or sold to other users and will not drop if the character dies .
'The transcendence leaders.h.i.+p is 10, and all are 10 . And transcendence fame…'
The concept of the transcendence fame was the first time for Ian to come across .
But it wasn't so difficult to guess what it was from the name .
Advertis.e.m.e.nt'There is a fame that applies in the Middle-Earth . Somehow, my fame is over 10 million units and the NPCs here ignored it…'
And at the self-explanation of Ian, another piece of information was provided .
The statistic of transcendence is a stat that has been opened since becoming an intermediate being .
But the sign of Honorary Conduit was encouraging it as an 'Unexpected Harvest' .
'Huhu, this is really my own item . '
Ian flicked the white mask that was on his face .
From the very moment, the mask would be of a very great hep for Ian and the spirit spell .
Feeling better, Ian bowed slightly towards Syarlion .
“I'll use this mask in the right way, Syarlion . Thanks to you, I was able to get a valuable item . ”
And at the grat.i.tude that Ian was showing, the bitter expression on the face of Syarlion turned brighter .
“Not at all . After all, that mask has a master now . ”
The gaze of Syarlion was fixed on the Guardian Mask .
And his words followed again,
“If you wear that mask in the future, don't ever lose it to anyone . That is the honor of the Goral race beings . ”
At the serious expression of Syarlion, Ian smiled and joked,
“I understand Syarlion . I'll take it off if I'm going to lose . ”
And with a friendly atmosphere, Ian and Syarlion talked .
And in it, he was trying to know what the 'hidden condition' meant .
“By the way, what does it mean to be an honorary conduit?”
“Uhm, well…”
As he heard the voice of Syarlion, Ian's eyes began to sparkle .
From the tone of the voice, it looked like an important story was going to start .
After a while, Syarlion's words continued,
“Firstly, I'll have to explain the concept of 'conduit' . ”
The explanation that Syarlion had given was quite long .
The content couldn't be summarized simply .
Firstly, the 'conduit', means the pract.i.tioners who guard each floor of the Spirit Dojo .
But the conduits can only be of the Goral race .
Secondly, the 'Honorary conduit' was a system designed to give the position of a conduit to a competent person even if they don't belong to the 'goral' race .
Thirdly, the honorary conduit was not given all the duties and privileges of the conduit, but he could serve as the true conduit as the master instructs .
“So, what I want to say is, you have been appointed as a true conduit in our Spirit Dojo . In fact, there are no examples that I can think of about non-intermedite beings a.s.signed as the conduits, but I feel that you will be great at it . ”
After listening to the explanation of Syarlion, Ian's eyes went wide .
It seemed like a very interesting content, but the constraints on them were too great .
“So, Syarlion, so am I supposed to obey this dojo like any other trainee?”
“That is right . ”
Ian was fl.u.s.tered at what he heard .
“I need to stay here for 365 days and get the challengers… is that what you are implying?”
Seeing the shock registered on Ian's face, Syarlion laughed .
He understood what kind of concern was going over Ian's head .
“Huhu, I know what you are so concerned about, but don't worry . ”
“Hmm…?”
“Have you ever shared a word with the other trainees besides me?”
Ian started to go down the memory lane .
And soon he spoke,
“Ah, nope . I don't think so . ”
Syarlion shook his head and continued the explanation,
“Okay . Obviously . They're just the illusions replicated by the power of spirits . ”
“Aha!”
And Ian was able to understand the system of it in just a matter of seconds, and Syarlion was saying it the cleanest way possible .
“From the very moment, you will be a conduit guarding one floor like the other trainees . To be precise, your illusion represented by the spirits' power . ”
“I understand, Syarlion . ”
“Let's see…you could be on the 9th floor . How's that sound?”
“Huh, well, sure . ”
At the suggestion of Syarlion, Ian just nodded his head .
'I don't have to be here by myself, so I guess it is okay . '
And after the conversation with Syarlion, Ian began to see the new system messages .
Tring-!
[Appointed as the gatekeeper of the Spirit Dojo . ]
[Since the transcendence level is of 'level 9', you will be placed at the gateway of the 9th floor . ]
[All the current stats will be duplicated creating a 'Spirit Form' (If the level of the character or the stats increase, it won't be reflected in the spirit form)]
[Each time your Spirit Form wins over the challenger, you will gain 9 Hero Score . ]
[If your 'Spirit Form' is defeated by the user, you will be disqualified as a 'gatekeeper' . ]
[To re-qualify as a 'gatekeeper', you will have to go to the Dojo master who oversees the section . ]
After reading all the messages, Ian looked a bit disappointed .
'Sh*t, I thought too much about the reward . '
Collecting a hero score of 9, that was just too easy .
Of course, it wasn't like a one time reward .
And Ian was under the impression that there were way too less contenders to challenge the dojo .
Not to mention the number of users who could even enter the Spirit Dimension, not to mention, he never even saw an NPC challenger .
In addition, if the users lose against the gatekeeper once, he thought that it would be a good thing if he got three or four rewards .
'Well, this is the main part…'
Ian tried to keep his mind clean and was ready to say goodbye to Syarlion .
“You worked hard, Syarlion . I'll have to go now . ”
At the greeting from Ian, Syarlion looked surprised .
Ian, who had defeated him with a penalty, if he wanted then, he could go up to the 20th floor .
“Oh ho, you're going to move out without challenging the 16th floor?”
Ian nodded his head and answered,
“Yes, I have a lot of things that I need to do . I'll try to take on the 16th floor later on . ”
“Ah ha, you have something busy to do . ”
Seeing the sad expression on Syarlion's face, Ian smiled .
He too wanted to go past the 16th floor, but too much time had pa.s.sed .
'I can sleep for only 5 hours even if I log out right away . '
He actually decided to recharge along with the guild members for 12 hours, but had lost more than 7 hours due to the unexpected quest, 'Syarlon's Errands' .
'I have to log out right away and get some good sleep . I don't have to rush, as there is no way that the 30th floor could be broken . '
Ian summarized his thoughts and came out of the dojo without regret .
And immediately exited the game .
“Right, Chesk! The cover was good!”
“This is great!”
“Inisco, block the retreat . ”
“Okay, hyung!”
Ralph and their teams had come back to heal the mental strain they had due to the mysterious challenger .
They were able to clear the dojo at a 'Kboom' kind of pace .
Tring-!
[You have won against the trainee!]
[You have successfully cleared the 6th floor of the Spirit Dojo . ]
[This section has already been cleared, additional rewards cannot be obtained . ]
[You have earned 5 Hero scores . ]
… Syncopation…
[You have successfully cleared the 7th floor of the Spirit Dojo . ]
[You have successfully cleared the 8th floor of the Spirit Dojo . ]
And thanks to the rest, their teamwork and their fighting were much better and coordinated than before .
“Nice, Chesk . We should have done it this way!”
“Huuh, I wasn't myself yesterday . ”
“Hmm, Chesk hyung . The combat is different from yesterday . Taking a break and then trying it . ”
As soon as they entered the waiting room on the 8th floor, Ralph and the entire party stepped to the next floor .
And, the 3rd to 12th floors were the sections that weren't so hard to clear, even when the condition wasn't so good .
When Ralph, the leader, stepped into the 9th floor, a system message had come up in front of the three people .
Tring-!
[You have entered the 9th floor of the Spirit Dojo . ]
[Since the number of the party are 3, the stats of the conduit will be increased accordingly . ]
[The battle will commence in a while . ]
Ralph and the party looked over at the messages .
“The 9th floor huh? was it the Berserker warrior cla.s.s?”
“Right, hyung . I memorized the kind of opponent that we will have to face on the floors . ”
“It isn't so tricky, let's get rid of this in no time!”
“Nice!”
The three were so motivated again, and set foot to take over .
But the next moment .
Woong-!
Seeing the resonance and the silhouette on the other side of the duel, the three of them went stiff at the same time .
“How did this happen?”
“This right now… really?”
Too familiar, no, a familiar that couldn't be anything than familiar .
With a mask that they were seeing for the very first time, but the three of them knew who it was .
The guy infront of them was the killer who had turned their mental ability into powder .
Ralph, the first to speak, spoke to Chesk and Inisco .
“Kay, lets figure it . The silhouette is definitely similar, but… maybe he isn't the same guy?”
“Hmm…”
“And even if it was the same guy, we are at our best condition this time . Unlike the last time, our vitality is at the maximum this time . ”
After hearing the slightly encouraging words from Ralph, the two were feeling good .
And with his words, the situation surely seemed to be different from the last time .
'Okay . That time, we were at a loss of power after the 14th floor . '
'Nice . Let's do this in one try…!'
Unlike the killer who was waiting for them very silently, the three people were burning with desire .
But there was one thing that they all over looked .
And that was, the level and spec of the trainee that they were facing weren't the same .
As soon as they entered the 9th floor, a line of system messages came to their eyes .
[Since the number of the party are 3, the stats of the conduit will be increased accordingly . ]
The spirit form of Ian in front of their eyes, was a replica with almost twice the amount of stats at this time .
