Chapter 8: The First Taste of Luck

Just as you can tell from the tension of a first test or the sadness of a first farewell, the beginning is always the hardest.

As actions are repeated, things inevitably become duller and more familiar.

That was certainly the case for Yeo-hyeon, who at first showed discomfort at the excessive attention he received.

‘It was only awkward and difficult for the first few months.’

But not anymore.

In fact, it was as if his stomach had been waiting for this moment to rumble even louder.

The happiness that came from sharing daily life and emotions was not uncomfortable at all.

Now, at this family meal with the members of the Cheon family, Yeo-hyeon thought so.

“Oh, right.”

During the meal, Cheon Yeo-wol spoke up.

“Oppa, did you hear about ASA?”

“Yeah, I heard. It’s definitely the trend right now, rising in popularity day by day.”

Yeo-hyeon realized that it was around this time that ASA was officially adopted as an E-sports event.

“I heard it’s even being included in the Asian Games, and they’re making a separate League like the World Cup. ‘Trend’ is the perfect word for it.”

“It’s more than just a trend. I heard that among people in their twenties, being good at ASA is the number one thing that makes someone popular. That’s not all—inside the Game, they’ve even made a list of tourist attractions. And nowadays, they even call it another life, right?”

Han Myeong-hoe showed interest.

“What kind of Game is so popular? Should I try it too, hmm?”

“Haha, my dear, your heart is still so young. Sure, let’s try it together when our busy schedules calm down.”

“I still have the character I raised last time. I’ll check if virtual world tourism is worth it, so let me know when you want to try.”

Yeo-hyeon responded right away.

“I’ll help too, with hyung.”

Cheon Jeong-seok asked Yeo-hyeon,

“So, you’re playing that Game too?”

Yeo-wol glanced at Yeo-hyeon and grinned.

“Of course, he’s been playing super hard.”

Thud, a sudden arrow of guilt struck his conscience.

‘It’s not like the house is that big.’

A house this spacious was basically a castle, you could say.

No matter how you looked at it, Yeo-wol must have struggled to find him in such a large place, and he couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

“Sorry, noona, I got so immersed that I completely lost track of time.”

“Hey, why are you being so serious? I can’t even joke with you. Do whatever you want, our youngest! Whether it’s ASA or anything else, enjoy whatever you want to enjoy.”

Just as the topic about ASA seemed to be wrapping up with Yeo-wol’s words, suddenly Cheon Jeong-seok looked at Yeo-hyeon and spoke.

“So, you really enjoyed it that much?”

The unusually serious tone made Yeo-hyeon look up at his father, Cheon Jeong-seok.

His expression was serious, and a tension not seen before filled the air.

‘As expected, he doesn’t look kindly on playing Games.’

Judging by how he suddenly got serious, it seemed Jeong-seok, like most adults, had a negative view of Games.

There were ways to brush it off with a sly answer, but Jeong-seok was now both family and father.

Telling one lie would only lead to more lies, and eventually it would cause trouble.

He couldn’t bring himself to lie, not even about something trivial, to family who always treated him with sincerity.

So, he decided to honestly share the feelings he had while playing ASA today.

“To be honest, it’s been the most fun I’ve had recently. I want to play all day, every day. It was interesting enough to make me think seriously about it.”

And Yeo-hyeon braced himself inwardly to receive a scolding or lecture from his father.

But the words that came from Jeong-seok’s mouth were completely unexpected.

“Then enjoy it every day.”

“…Huh?”

Surprised, Yeo-hyeon blurted out a question, and Jeong-seok smiled warmly.

“I mean it. Play as much as you want. Just make sure you don’t neglect your health and keep up with your rehabilitation exercise.”

Yeo-hyeon replied with a small smile.

“Yes, I promise I’ll take care of my health.”

***

If you ask most ASA users what attracted them to start, seven out of ten will give the same answer.

-The freedom of having no restrictions, no matter what you do.

This lack of restriction naturally applied to Skills as well.

The Job Skills acquired after getting a Job were the same for each Job, but ASA was different from the mass-produced Games so common in the 21st century—it never ignored its original theme.

After changing Jobs, character development was truly up to your own will, just as the theme claimed: ‘freedom.’

Everything depended on the player’s choices.

And the system that proved that freedom was the ‘Skill Rune’ system.

‘Depending on the Skill Rune, even players with the same Job could have completely different styles.’

Thanks to being able to equip one Skill Rune every 10 levels, there was nothing stopping a blacksmith from attacking, nor a mage from wielding a sword.

Of course, that was only in theory.

Just as users optimized their Jobs for efficiency, there were also optimal ‘trees’ for Skill Runes.

‘The efficiency of each tree varies widely, though.’

Since Skills also had levels, Skill Runes equipped and used frequently early on would naturally become more efficient as the character grew.

But just slapping on seemingly powerful Skills like ‘Meteor’ or ‘Aura Blade’ from the start was pointless—you couldn’t use them due to mana restrictions, and if you couldn’t use them, their efficiency dropped.

In other words, Skill Runes needed to be selected systematically and with an eye to the future.

However, because the number of Skill Runes was so vast, it was nearly impossible to calculate the efficiency of every possible combination.

That’s why most pro players’ Skill Rune trees were kept private, and when information was traded, it could go for thousands, even hundreds of millions.

‘And the most preferred 10-level Skill Rune among pro players was the Passive Skill.’

In that sense, the ‘Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck’ he was holding now was the best Skill.

‘Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck.’

Even just from the name, it had a different aura than the ‘Enhancement of the Five Senses – Luck’ that was normally distributed through Guild wars.

‘Just how good is Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck going to be…?’

His heart was already pounding with excitement at the thought of what kind of effects it might show.

Even the lower grade, the mass-market version called ‘Enhancement of the Five Senses – Luck’, had tremendous effects.

As the name suggested, its effect was to increase the Luck stat.

And with the Luck raised by the Skill, you could predict the location of the soon-to-appear Boss Monster, even if only temporarily, which was incredibly useful.

It was only natural.

Searching for a needle in the desert with your bare hands and searching with a metal detector—there’s a world of difference in efficiency.

Especially in ASA, where the Field was so wide it was almost boring, it was an even more useful Skill.

For that reason, not only did every Ranking 100 Guild, but even most mid-sized Guilds, equip their Guild Members with the ‘Enhancement of the Five Senses – Luck’ Rune from level 10, or scouted those who had grown it to the max grade of A+, and created a separate ‘Treasure Hunter’ department just for them.

Even Wilhelm, who insisted on solo play, always equipped ‘Enhancement of the Five Senses – Luck’.

”But now, I have the even better Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck!’

Clutching his pounding heart, Dahav grabbed the ‘Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck’ Rune from his inventory and slotted it into the Skill Rune slot unlocked at level 10.

[Would you like to equip the ‘Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck (Special)’ Skill in the empty Rune slot?]

[Once a Skill Rune is equipped, it cannot be removed later.]

[Are you sure you want to equip ‘Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck’?]

He nodded, and the system responded.

Ping!

[You have acquired the Passive Skill ‘Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck’.]

[By acquiring the Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck Skill, the ‘Luck’ stat has been newly unlocked.]

Reading the message window floating before his eyes, Dahav was left speechless.

He knew it was the first special reward obtainable only by opening Madra’s Secret Treasure Shop for the first time.

So he could guess it was a unique Skill that only one person could have and use.

But he never imagined it would be Growth-type.

The only flaw of Enhancement of the Five Senses – Luck was that its max grade capped at ^.

But ‘Growth-type’ Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck didn’t even have that flaw, making it a truly overpowered Skill.

Growth-type means there’s no max growth value, no limit.

‘This is really insane.’

As you could tell from Enhancement of the Five Senses – Luck, ordinary Skill Runes had a maximum rank, and grades were divided based on that.

‘Ordinary Skill Runes go up to 8, the best are A+, and the masterpieces or treasures that Rankers go crazy for are grade 5.’

That’s why, no matter how mediocre their performance, grade 5 Skill Runes started at hundreds of millions.

So the value of a Growth-type Skill Rune, which surpassed even grade 5 and was called ‘beyond the heavens’, was beyond words.

‘Unbelievable.’

Considering that the essence of Siren, which was once ranked 8th among Guilds, was supposed to be Enhancement of the Five Senses – Luck, it always felt like something was missing.

‘Turns out, Siren’s real essence was elsewhere.’

What Platy had wasn’t just Enhancement—it was the unique, Growth-type Skill Rune: Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck.

‘And fortunately, Platy hasn’t obtained Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck yet.’

Come to think of it, Siren started much later than the other Ten Great Guilds.

‘Yet Platy still managed to push Siren up to 8th place, overtaking all the established Guilds.’

It went without saying how powerful the Skill must be.

With the Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck that made Platy and Siren famous, they could have disappeared, but that didn’t bother him at all.

Siren colluded with criminal underworld organizations trying to exploit ASA, and used the funds gained from Enhancement and Transcendence to support their organizations, not to mention behind-the-scenes manipulation.

Riding on the fame of ASA, they even reached into real-world crimes like drug trafficking and human trafficking, raking in ‘underworld money’.

‘They were better off never existing in the first place.’

With all those problems gone, all that was left was excitement and anticipation.

Luck wasn’t just limited to finding Boss Monsters or discovering hidden locations.

There was even a saying that only those with talent, money, and ‘Luck’ could succeed in ASA—the scope of Luck was vast.

It affected the probability of stat increases through certain actions, relationships with NPC, Critical Attacks that triggered randomly, and every interactive action.

“Just how powerful is this Transcendence?”

No sooner had curiosity struck than ‘Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck’ showed off its power.

[Thanks to the ability of Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck, mysterious luck is in effect!]

[The location of the Boss Monster ‘Albino’ you’re searching for has been detected.]

[‘Albino’ can be found with a high probability near the Odong Tree outside the eastern city gate.]

Dahav’s pupils widened as he read the message window.

“My goodness.”

Now he understood how Platy managed to make Siren so successful even though he started ASA much later.

What would take others days, he could find in a single day—maybe not even that.

He would walk through Fields others passed by and discover dungeons, obtaining treasures.

By monopolizing relatively good items and drastically reducing the time needed, he was able to surpass all the competition and enter the top 10 Guilds.

The more he thought about it, the harder it was to hide the smile spreading across his lips.

“If Platy could do that, then what about me now…?”

Thanks to returning, he had a lot of Information about the future, but since he hadn’t played himself and had only watched videos, it was hard to make full use of the fragmented Information.

But with this Skill, he could make up for any shortcomings.

‘Starting late as a newcomer, I’ll be able to obtain the items used by those who rose to Ranker status at breakneck speed, or even Wilhelm’s unique Skill Rune.’

Just imagining it made his heart race faster.

As Dahav imagined the future and basked in happiness, he shook his head.

“Get a grip. Now’s not the time for this.”

He couldn’t let himself get lost in fantasies and miss out on the Albino right in front of him.

Dahav strode energetically toward the Odong Tree outside the eastern city gate.

***

Albino of Eren port.

As the Boss Monster of Eren port, its difficulty was extremely high, so it wasn’t a particularly popular Boss Monster.

But thanks to its reputation, it wasn’t exactly ignored, either.

Rather, for players in the level 30 range—like the Party currently talking with ‘Ollie’—it was known as the ‘Golden Goblin’.

“Any word from the others?”

At the Party Leader Ollie’s question, the man at the front replied,

“Doesn’t look like Albino is here. Let’s just finish the quest and head back.”

Ollie clicked his tongue and licked his upper lip.

“I was hoping to sell off Albino and have some pork belly and soju with the guys tonight, but I guess not.”

“What should we do?”

“Well, you never know when it’ll show up. Let’s just have the others come back, finish the quest, and head home. Tell them to meet at Erin Fort Square.”

Despite his words, Ollie couldn’t hide his disappointment and didn’t move his feet.

At that moment, as if responding to Ollie’s wish, the man shouted.

“Charlie says Albino’s been spotted near the Odong Tree!”

Ollie’s eyes lit up instantly.

“Really?! Then let’s go catch it quickly and have a pork belly Party tonight.”

“But… it looks like someone’s already fighting it?”

As that sliver of hope was dashed again, Ollie’s shoulders slumped.

“Damn, looks like another Party beat us to it.”

But the man’s next words reignited Ollie’s interest.

“It’s not a Party, it’s a solo player.”

“A solo player?”

“And judging by the gear, all the equipment looks to be rare grade, so he’s not just rushing in. Maybe he’s a rookie from one of the Ten Great Guilds taking on a Challenge?”

It didn’t happen often, but sometimes it did.

Some players, not satisfied just being a Guild Member of a top 10 Guild, would try to prove their worth and aim for higher positions by achieving feats.

In fact, in the past, a player named ‘Rabo’ was dissatisfied with being just a regular Guild Member and took on Albino solo, setting a Challenge and earning the title ‘Supernova’, receiving full support from the Guild and rising to prominence.

“What should we do?”

Ollie curled his lips into a sly grin.

“Let’s go watch and see. We’ve seen guys like that before, haven’t we?”

There were a few who, aiming to be the next Rabo, attempted to solo kill Albino, but the result was always the same.

They’d hit the limits of their ability and fall behind.

Even if their skills were as good as Rabo’s…

When Albino’s HP dropped below 20%, it would trigger ‘Berserk’, which was almost impossible to endure.

Berserk would lower its defense, but all other stats would more than double—Albino’s final trump card.

Even Rabo, who had solo killed Albino, said in an interview, “I only succeeded because of my Job abilities and luck,” attesting to how insanely difficult it was.

A sly smile appeared on Ollie’s lips.

“Let’s get over there and get in line.”