Hard Carry Support

Chapter 67 - Realizing his worth (1)

"Was it this?"

[The Robes of the Praying Priest (Unique)]

Requisite: [Empathy 100]

<It's the robe of a priest who prayed to the demons. There's a powerful strength sleeping within it.>

Durability (140/140)

Defense: +97%

- The item’s capabilities are sealed.

- Capabilities when [Skill: Pray] reaches level 6.

Unlike The Ghost Commander's Robe of Darkness, the new cloth had a harmonious combination of black and white colors.

Although the overall color was black.

The reason why that average-looking robe was special was the wearing pre-requisite it had.

'The requisite is having Empathy?'

At first, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

If the requisite was having a stat that was exclusive to the Support, that meant only he could wear the item.

Basically, it was an item exclusive to the Support.

Who would've imagined that there was an item with such low versatility?

At first, he had doubts about the item, but after thinking about it for a while, he found a connection.

'Now that I think about it, «Assimilation» is also a Support's skill.'

That's right. He had obtained it after defeating Mayday, who had been «Assimilated» to a named boss.

Support, «Assimilation», Empathy…

He wasn't sure how the three things were connected, but he didn't think that it was a coincidence that the requirement to wear it was having Empathy.

"Hyun, you're... Not going to throw away the equipment you're wearing now. Right?"

"Hmm? Do you want it? Oh, that's right. My equipment has Magic embedded in it! I don't have a use for it anymore, so do you want it?" Hyun answered at Ain's mumble.

"Th-then shall I use it...?"

Because Hyun was so concentrated on analyzing the new item, he didn't see the corners of Ain's mouth going up.

Among the items description, the last part caught his attention the most.

'Raise the level of «Pray»?'

According to the description, once he reached level 6 of «Pray», the item would unlock new abilities.

Although it was troublesome, he had to do it.

It was the first unique robe he had obtained. Not only that, but he had received it after defeating a level 235 named boss!

Not only that, but items with restrictions often had a special ability.

Even if unlocking an item was bothersome, it was something that had to be done.

'I must go up two more levels.'

Thankfully, fulfilling the pre-requisite wasn't a hard task.

Hyun had raised the level of «Pray» whenever he had free time. Thanks to that, it was currently at level 4. Not only that, but the proficiency bar was half-filled.

'Okay, let's do this.'

Hyun went to the temple that was nearest to the Empire.

He remembered a chapel where you could raise the level of «Pray» quickly.

It wasn't a lie that the Empire had a history of hundreds of years. The chapel was full of people praying until late hours.

Hyun also closed his eyes and began praying.

But why was it?

It didn't matter how much he concentrated—he felt that the proficiency bar wasn't increasing.

No, he felt it was increasing slower than when he was praying alone while lying on the square bench.

'Was it always this slow...?'

There was no progress.

Hyun tried to remember the teachings he received in the Twilight Temple.

Praying was the act of feeling empathy with the will of a Transcendent…

That's right, Transcendent... He had to feel the presence of a Transcendent.

'Wait, if Louise is an angel... Then she's also a Transcendent?'

At that moment, Hyun became surprised.

The progress rate had changed.

'What happened?'

He looked at the skill window once more.

He felt that the proficiency bar had gone up a lot after thinking about Louise.

It was an incredible result considering that, during 10 minutes, there hadn't been a change in proficiency.

'Is Louise... Related to the proficiency of praying?!'

From that moment, Hyun began praying while thinking about Louise.

He remembered that day, before the patch, the incidents that happened five years before, and lowered his consciousness.

Hyun emptied his thoughts and went to the state your mind is just before you go to sleep, and then he felt that his mind was being filled with the feelings of someone else.

The sensation of feeling someone else's feelings was similar to that day.

But unlike the ones he felt that day, they were of a different kind.

Back then, he felt fear and frustration. But this time, he could feel sadness and a deep longing for what was past.

Was it because of Empathy? Hyun was so immersed in praying that he couldn't feel time flow.

In just an instant, the proficiency bar was almost half-full.

Hyun didn't notice that he had shed some tears while praying.

That was because the system immediately erased a user's tears, unlike those of an NPC’s.

Translator - Daniel Shin

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

Two days were short, but it was too much time for a gamer that played Asrian.

It was especially longer for players that had received a penalty for dying.

He knew how it felt because he had also experienced it firsthand. So SeoHyun felt sorry for both Stardust members.

After all, they had died because of a quest he'd taken them to.

Hyun was thinking about what to tell them, but after looking at JaeHoon's expression, he discovered he was worrying about nothing.

"So you ended up killing that bat boss?! You're amazing!"

JaeHoon became excited after hearing that the quest was a success.

Because he had died, he hadn't received the achievement bonus for being the first ones to kill Betty, but it seemed like neither member of Stardust cared about that.

Hyun smiled after seeing JaeHoon's bright expression.

"There were some dangerous moments... But we got lucky in the end."

"Woah, you're amazing. I'll tell it to Jini also. Oh, yeah. She was asking for your contact."

"Oh, feel free to share it with her."

"Really?"

JaeHoon pressed his smartphone with a smile.

He was probably sending a message to Jini.

"Haha... She says thank you."

SeoHyun scratched his cheeks.

The truth was that it had been him who had proposed that they do the hidden quest, so he felt it was his fault that they had died. He wasn't sure what they'd say—that was why he felt weird about them saying thanks.

He told that to JaeHoon, and he just laughed.

"Why are you worrying about things like that? No one would complain after receiving 10 free skill points."

"Really...?"

If he were asked to choose between 10 skill points and logging in for two days, he would always pick the second option.

But what Hyun didn't realize was that his perspective differed from the rest of the users.

"I don't care about dying. These past few days, I've been focusing too much on gaming, so I wanted to take some free time. Even if my job is being a professional gamer, I can't be playing for the entire day. Right?"

JaeHoon just brushed off the incident.

That's how the conversation ended.

But something unexpected happened when he got home.

SeoHyun's eyes widened after reading a message in the capsule.

[You've one unread message!]

The moment he clicked on it, an unbelievable message unfolded.

SeoHyun was so surprised that he couldn't blink for a moment.

[You've received $50,000 USD from Jinny77.]

'Wh-What! Jinny? Did she really send this...?'

The capsules had an option to link bank accounts, so it was possible to send money if you knew the other person's ID.

But rather than that, SeoHyun was surprised because of the amount of money.

'Seriously, $50,000?!'

Surprised, SeoHyun sat down on the floor. He wasn't able to do anything for a while.

Judging from the ID, the only person capable of doing something like that was Jini... But he couldn't understand why she'd sent such a huge sum of money.

Ting! The notification alarm sounded when SeoHyun couldn't get his act together.

[Jinny77 has asked for a 1 on 1 conversation. Will you accept?]

'What?!'

He reflexively turned his head toward the screen.

He could hear Jini's voice from the speaker within the capsule.

"I've heard the news from Practice! So you've cleared the quest?"

"Jini? That's not the issue here..."

Hyun asked after looking at the amount of money that appeared on his capsule's account.

"What's this? Is this the fee for the classes? Then it's too much!"

"Oh, that's not the class fee."

"Then...?"

"It's for clearing the hidden quest!"

"What?!"

"I've asked my fellow teammates how much they would pay for 10 extra skill points in Asrian Online... Most of them answered a number that was around $50,000 USD. That's why I've sent that to you."

SeoHyun's head throbbed after listening to Jini's explanation.

To be honest, that amount of money frightened him.

Was it okay for him to receive such an amount of money?

He had indeed played the biggest role, but it wasn't that the rest of the party had done nothing.

'We were able to clear the quest because we all did our part.'

While fighting against Betty, Ain's Mana had plummeted. If it weren't for Jini's Ultimate Attack, «Retrogression», they wouldn't have been able to withstand Betty's attacks.

And Practice also kept stunning Betty so that Ain could attack safely.

Also, the plan wouldn't have been possible without Ain's high damage output.

Everyone had done their part during the quest.

But Jini had sent money only to him.

It was a huge sum of money.

Jini also knew that wasn't a reasonable amount of compensation.

Jini also knew her teammates were joking while talking about what the skill points were worth.

Despite all that, Jini had decided to do it because she knew the worth of the user Hyun.

'I must think well.'

From the first moment she met him, Jini had watched Hyun closely.

—As a user and as a person.

Hyun's mental calculations in stuff related to the game were incredibly fast.

That was something easy to see, considering how he thought about and executed creative plans.

But it still seemed dull in stuff related to real life.

She'd noticed that he didn't realize his own realistic worth.

Maybe it was because he was still a freshman and didn't have much real-life experience.

Could she take advantage of his lack of experience?

She thought that for a short while, but quickly shook her head.

That would be penny-wise, pound foolish.

The most valuable thing was Hyun himself.

Once the game was out of its early stages, he'd soon realize what he's worth.

She'd rather not do things that would make him hate her later on.

'No, I should rather tell him what his worth is.'

She'd decided to send him that money because she wished for the relationship to continue.

A one-sided relationship where one kept owing the other part couldn't last long.

That's why Jini had decided to clear up her debts.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you will make a lot more money than that in the future."

"Me?"

"Yes."

"Also, I still have more money to pay. We haven't decided on the price of the classes."

"No, you don't need to..."

"Hmm, how much should we make it per class... Maybe ten..."

'Ten...? She's obviously not talking about ten dollars, right?'

SeoHyun suddenly got nervous.

As sums of money he'd never had appeared on his head, he began feeling headaches.

To be honest, he still hadn't processed the $50,000 USD Jini had given him.

If, on top of that, he received more money for the classes, wouldn't he feel pressured to teach her for the entire day?

SeoHyun shook his head.

"No, I don't need more money! It's not like I have something incredible to teach you or anything!"

"Yeah... I guess you won't have much time either. Although I'm okay with you giving me some tips."

Jini nodded her head.

Maybe he was still feeling overwhelmed, so she decided not to discuss the price of the classes.

But she decided she wasn't going to take advantage of his goodwill.

Only by having a thoroughly calculated deal would she be able to keep having a relationship with him.