Max Talent Player

[Eye of Perception detects danger.]

It was definitely not a meaningless warning.

‘It’s dangerous to approach without any sort of defenses.’

In the initial stage of the Seoul Station Dungeon, countless Players lost their lives to that poisonous gas, not knowing the method to counter it.

“Oppa—!”

Despite having become accustomed to Goblins and relatively normal monsters like City Wolves, it seemed Sunhwa still hadn’t gotten used to these kinds of special effects.

“I’m scared,” she murmured, standing behind me.

Yoohyun didn’t show it, but he also looked tense.

“Both of you, stay back.”

The speed of the diffusion itself wasn’t fast. It was fine as long as you didn’t breathe it in. We were still okay, since we were far away.

“What about you, oppa?”

“I have to get rid of that.”

“…”

Sunhwa’s eyes were round with worry.

“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

It wasn’t like I didn’t feel any nerves. Even though I knew the strategy from beginning to end, even though I knew how to get rid of that poisonous gas, I would still die if I messed up.

I strode towards the crystal.

‘Around here, I guess.’

I drew in a big breath. Having become a Player, I could now hold my breath far longer than a regular person. My eyes were fixed on the crystal exuding the poisonous smoke.

‘Here I go.’

I inspected the item one last time, the Hidden Piece item I got from Mandra.

[Mandra’s Gloves]

Mandra’s Gloves have a special effect. They have a special resistance to ‘poison’ and will protect the wearer from countless infectious diseases.

Defense: 2

Effects: Poison resistance +3

A poison resistance of +3 couldn’t block all poisons. The closer I got to the crystal, the more my skin began to sting.

[Resisting the poisonous smoke of the ‘Seoul Station Crystal’.]

[Eye of Perception detects danger.]

I sensed the danger slightly more concretely through Eye of Perception. If I kept going forward like this, I would get poisoned and die. After some time, my skin would rot and fester. ‘Poison resistance +3’ alone wasn’t enough to completely resist this crystal’s poisonous smoke.

And this was something I already knew. I continued to approach the crystal, holding my breath as best I could.

‘Senia must know.’

She had to know that I, someone who didn’t have full poison resistance, wouldn’t be unscathed from approaching the crystal simply on the merit of the ‘Mandra’s Gloves’.

‘And the Guardians must be focusing, too.’

Senia and the Guardians, both of them were likely focusing on my Playing. They wanted to see. They wanted to see if a mere level 18 Player could truly clear this place on his own. For Guardians with names like ‘Whispering Devil’, they might even want to see me die a miserable death.

‘I’ll show you.’

The Playing you guys want.

‘Inventory.’

I opened up my Inventory, then pulled out an item. It was the item we had acquired earlier, ‘Buzzing Bee’s Stinger’. It was a monster that gave little EXP and not many Coins. Despite that, we worked hard to hunt them, not missing out on a single one.

[The crystal’s poison has begun to seep into your body.]

[Resisting the poison.]

‘It’s hard to keep my eyes open.’

Thanks to my stats being far higher than the regular Player, my poison resistance was likely higher than the average Player.

‘I’m also at my limit for holding my breath.’

I had reached the crystal, but the poisonous smoke was so thick I could hardly see in front of myself. Actually, I really couldn’t see anything. The smoke was just too thick.

‘Where is it?’

[Eye of Perception detects very severe danger.]

Eye of Perception did me the useless favor of drawing out the future in great detail. If time went on like this, I would die.

‘Gugh…!’

I tried my best to hold my breath, but it wasn’t perfect. I felt the poison seeping up into my nostrils, and the feeling of my skin burning.

[Potions cannot be used.]

I already knew that.

‘Where is it?!’

I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. Intense pain began to hit me. Despite the pain, I desperately groped for the crystal.

‘Here!’

In the end, Eye of Perception didn’t fail me. I was able to grab the crystal.

‘Quick…!’

The very same instant I got the crystal, I crushed the ‘Buzzing Bee’s Stinger’ in my hand. A black fluid burst out of the needle-like stinger. Quite a lot of fluid flowed out from such a small stinger and fell onto the crystal.

Szzz–!

Smoke rose from the crystal.

[The toxicity of the ‘Seoul Station Crystal’ is being neutralized.]

[The toxicity of the ‘Seoul Station Crystal’ is being neutralized.]

I crushed more Buzzing Bee’s Stingers and smeared their fluid on the crystal. Every time I did so, smoke billowed up and I got notices saying the toxicity of the ‘Seoul Station Crystal’ was being weakened.

I heard Sunhwa’s voice, saying one honest and simple word.

“Holy…”

The purple smoke thinned, little by little.

“Gugh… gugh…!”

I stared at my arm. It had turned purple and looked fairly poisoned.

‘It wasn’t as easy as I thought.’

My physical sight had been rendered nearly completely unusable. As a result, I wasn’t able to find the crystal right away.

‘In any case, I did it.’

It wasn’t perfect, but I achieved it nevertheless. At just level 18, I managed to destroy the crystal of the ‘Seoul Station Dungeon’, something that had produced countless victims in the past.

[Acquired the ‘Seoul Station Crystal’.]

[You have fulfilled ½ of the clear conditions.]

Before I knew it, the smoke had completely disappeared.

[The ‘Nameless Observer’ observes you with deep interest.]

[The ‘Whispering Devil’ is disappointed.]

The Whispering Devil definitely wanted to see me die from poison, it seemed.

Yoohyun approached me. “Hyungnim, how did you do it? I couldn’t see very well because of the smoke.”

“We got the Buzzing Bee’s Stingers earlier, remember? I neutralized the poison smoke with that.”

“How did you know you could neutralize the smoke with that?”

“The item description says it neutralizes poison.”

There was no need to twist myself in knots to explain. The Guardians were watching, and I didn’t need to boast about my Playing.

“Then did you think of this Play after seeing just that one description?”

“Yeah.”

It wasn’t something I’d thought of. It was the Great Explorer, the mighty Jackson. Yoohyun was silent.

State: Respect / Interest / Surprise

Somehow, it felt like his state was becoming similar to Sunhwa’s, but that wasn’t important. I acquired the crystal. After doing it once, it would be a little easier to get the other crystal.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

The party went into the path that Seo Joohwan had gone into first. Their way through was almost the same, and so was the difficulty.

They then reached the vicinity of the crystal and heard the notice once again.

[The ‘Seoul Station Crystal’ does not welcome intruders.]

It was a repetition of the same trick. To some extent, the ‘Seoul Station Dungeon’ was a beginner dungeon and didn’t have a complicated or difficult clearing method. As long as you knew the strategy, it had a very high clearing chance and the death chance was also very low.

[Eye of Perception detects danger.]

Like before, Eye of Perception sent Hyukjin warning signals. However, Hyukjin was able to acquire the crystal with slightly more ease than before.

Senia streamed Hyukjin’s Play in silence.

‘He has… already grown.’

The way he nullified the Seoul Station crystal’s poisonous smoke earlier was already surprising, but after doing it just once, his movements were much more natural than before.

‘Earlier, he was definitely in a really dangerous spot.’

The poisonous smoke was so thick that he wasn’t able to find the crystal properly. If he didn’t have Eye of Perception, Kim Hyukjin might have even died in the first forked pathway.

‘But this time…’

Last time, his arm had gone purple, but this time, there wasn’t a trace of purple anywhere, meaning he hadn’t taken any damage from the poisonous gas.

[The ‘Nameless Observer’ is in awe of the speed of your growth.]

[The ‘Lady of the Scales’ is surprised by your growth.]

[The ‘Courageous Lion King’ has begun to take an interest again in your talent.]

The Guardians were also in awe of Hyukjin’s current speed of growth. They were watching his Playing from a 3rd person view. They could make far more objective estimates of his Playing.

‘Player Kim Hyukjin. Are you conscious of what kind of Playing you are doing right now?’

What in the world was this Player?

Her common sense could not make sense of it. There wasn’t even any need for her to make any commentary. Even at this very moment, prominent Guardians were entering her channel, simply based on the fact that she had ‘good quality content’.

[Anonymous Guardians are entering Channel #19207 in great numbers.]

Not just Rabble, but yet another Guardian who revealed their ‘True Name’ entered her channel.

[The ‘True Master of the Heavenly Demonic Mountain’ has entered Channel #19207.]

Senia simply continued to stream Hyukjin’s Playing, watching in silence as Hyukjin obtained the crystal.

[Acquired the ‘Seoul Station Crystal’.]

[You have fulfilled the clear conditions for the ‘Seoul Station Dungeon’.]

Some unfortunate dungeons could only be cleared by completely destroying the crystal at the end, and the crystal possessed incredible defense. Fortunately, the Seoul Station Dungeon didn’t require such a thing.

[Clear complete.]

[The ‘Seoul Station Dungeon’ has been cleared.]

[The ‘Dungeon Break’ of the ‘Seoul Station Dungeon’ has been sealed.]

Senia, who had been streaming while semi-transparent, revealed herself. So Yoohyun’s jaw dropped upon seeing her.

‘My god…’

Her appearance was beyond anything he’d ever seen. It was like a noble angel had descended from the heavens. Even her expressionlessness was beautiful. It went past beauty into something more noble.

‘She’s… Hyungnim’s Intermediate Administrator?’

He almost drooled. How could she be so beautiful? Yoohyun found himself amazed by how Hyukjin could remain unmoved even while looking at such an incredible beauty.

‘Just what in the world did this hyungnim do in the past?’

Yoohyun was curious as to what hyungnim’s background could possibly be.

‘I’m sure I’ll slowly find out.’

He decided not to approach too abruptly. He already owed Hyukjin his life. Yoohyun resolved to repay his debt to that person slowly, very slowly, in his own way.

Senia opened her mouth. “I will proceed with the rewards.”

“You being here to give the rewards… must mean there’s something special.”

Normally, when a dungeon was cleared, the dungeon itself would give the rewards. That was how it normally was. The fact an Intermediate Administrator personally appeared to deliver the reward meant they had used some item or authority.

‘I think there’ll be a level up point, as a fundamental reward.’

Senia nodded. “Yes. I will distribute level up points to all members of the group that cleared the Seoul Station Dungeon.”

That was a very unsurprising reward, an all-too-ordinary compensation.

‘What I want is…’

There was something else that Hyukjin wanted. His true goal for clearing this dungeon was something else. It was the first step and the starting line for his plan.

‘She’ll probably give me a choice.’

Hyukjin silently waited—no good came from being hasty. At last, Senia continued.

“For showing an astonishing Play, a choice will be offered to Player Kim Hyukjin.”