Chapter 35
#35. Party Play
‘Jeonbungi’ is the common slur for challengers who chose the normal Warrior class.
Right now, the Tower of Trials has already been fully cleared up to the 100th floor, and thanks to all kinds of carry services and rankers, it’s become a pretty comfortable place.
Naturally, the advancement routes and strategies for rare classes were established long ago, and you could easily buy advancement items at the auction house.
On top of that, through ranker carries, it was perfectly possible to climb floors or prepare for class advancement even without having changed classes yet.
Of course, just because you’ve chosen a normal class doesn’t mean you can never switch to a higher class later.
But when your class changes, your previous mastery skills and proficiency reset, so the sooner you advance to a higher class, the better.
Ah, if it’s the same class line, some skill growth does carry over. The problem isn’t just skill growth, though.
Depending on the class, the stat gains on level-up can differ too, so leveling while you’re still in a normal class is a loss in itself.
That was exactly why I hesitated to class-change on the 1st floor.
Warrior was the only class that could be class-changed into on the 1st floor without any special conditions, but it was also a class that shaved off your future ceiling the moment you chose it.
What’s more, Warrior-line classes often have separate masteries, so very few skills carry over to higher classes.
In a situation like this, being stuck with the normal class Warrior means one simple thing.
No money or connections, so ranker carries are always pushed to the back of the line, and for the same reason there’s no quick way to switch to another class.
A dirt-poor challenger who can’t wait forever, so he ends up class-changing into Warrior anyway.
Combined with a job performance that’s basically a downgraded version of other Warrior-line classes, that’s how the slur ‘Jeonbungi’ came to be.
But in fact, there are surprisingly many challengers who class-change into Warrior early and use it to get through the beginning.
The ceiling gets shaved off a bit, but if you just get through the early game and switch to another class later, your build doesn’t suffer much.
The real targets of the slur ‘Jeonbungi’ are high-level Warriors like me.
It’s the route taken by the few who, even after slogging through the early game as Warriors, still can’t switch classes quickly because they have no money or connections.
Even if they later get money, they’ve already built up too much growth to give it up—the so-called people who got stuck with the Warrior class.
My background is a bit special, but either way, I’ve outgrown a normal class, so the label ‘Jeonbungi’ does fit me.
But damn it, where the hell did he learn such trash manners, saying that straight to my face?
“What?”
I immediately frowned and shot back. Paladin Kim Min-hyeong jerked his chin as if to say, What’s your problem?
Look at this asshole, overflowing with confidence.
His level was 44, eight levels lower than mine.
It was a pretty big gap, but level isn’t everything. For one thing, he has a rare class.
The difference between a normal class and a rare class isn’t enormous, but it’s enough to make up an eight-level gap.
And just by looking, his gear seemed a tier higher than the other two’s.
Since I’m blatantly wearing what looks like trash gear, he probably thinks the difference in items and class puts him on top.
Now then, what should I do with this guy? I still don’t know how competent he is beyond his specs.
-Tap, tap.
I casually tapped the hand axe at my waist and watched the mood for a moment. There was no point in making a scene out of nowhere.
Then the first to move wasn’t that rude bastard or me.
“Hey, what do you mean ‘Jeonbungi’ to the guy who gave up his seat for you, you Jeonbungi!”
Kim Jina hopped up and swung her wand, smacking the rude bastard on the crown of his head.
-Bonk!
Ooh, nice and crisp.
**
Kim Jina immediately bowed her head and apologized over and over.
Of course, she didn’t just apologize herself—she also scolded the rude Paladin and made him apologize too.
Of course, the Paladin gave a perfunctory bow as if wondering what he’d done wrong, but it wasn’t completely unbearable.
To be fair, I’ve also got a record of mocking easy Jeonbungi targets on the community, so I decided to let this one slide.
I’ll just treat him as one of those guys who can’t tell real life from the community.
Still, the fact that he didn’t know my name meant he probably wasn’t someone who frequented the community.
Anyway, after that it was time to decide how we’d move through the dungeon.
The three of them were a fixed party that had been in sync for a while, so it felt a little awkward for me to jump in and help.
After a short meeting, my role was set to rear guard. I’d be protecting Kim Jina, the ranged attacker, from behind.
“Wait, wouldn’t I be better suited for that?”
“You should be tanking up front.”
“Yeah, we agreed to do it the way we always do.”
The rude Paladin objected a little, but since there was no real reason to change positions, he was quickly shut down.
I can kind of see why that bastard was being such a prick to me.
He probably just wanted to look cool in front of a woman. I get it, but next time, there’ll be no mercy.
[Would you like to enter?]
Since there were people waiting, we quickly sorted out our positions and immediately went through the portal.
“Yes.”
What appeared beyond the portal was a huge golden ruin.
**
The dungeon’s overall style wasn’t much different from the Lizardman ruins on the 3rd floor.
If there was a difference, it was that it looked much wider at a glance, and gold trimmings were attached here and there.
Could that actually be real gold? I wonder how much it would fetch if I stripped it all off and sold it outside.
Of course, you can’t just take items out of the Tower of Trials however you want even after clearing it, but still.
“According to the info posted on the community, the main monsters here are golem types.”
That was Kim Jina’s explanation. I’d only fought golem-type monsters once before.
The field boss in the 4th-floor desert zone was a sand golem.
Its whole body was made of rock and sand, so it didn’t even seem like damage was getting through.
After I smashed what I assumed was its head three times in a row, it stopped regenerating and collapsed.
“Have you ever fought a golem monster before?”
“No.”
“They’re not hard. You just have to find the core and smash it, and they go down easily.”
I see. Then the sand golem must have had its core in its head. So I took it down by sheer luck.
Kim Jina seemed to enjoy explaining things she knew, and she rattled off all sorts of golem facts.
I nodded along and matched my pace to theirs, but then I heard the rude Paladin click his tongue up front.
“Tch, and you haven’t even fought a golem at that level...”
It was a little irritating, but it didn’t seem like he meant me specifically, so I let it go for now.
A little later, the ground rumbled and a huge rock golem appeared.
It was a bit bigger than the sand golem on the 4th floor; just its head looked to be about 3 meters high.
As soon as the golem appeared, the three of them quickly moved into position and dove straight into battle.
“Hup!”
First, the Paladin tank raised his great shield and slammed into the golem with Shield Bash.
Judging by the way the shield flashed, it seemed to be a Paladin skill. But it didn’t look like it was doing much damage to the golem.
Next, Kim Jin-seok, apparently a Gladiator class, drew his twin swords and charged at the golem.
The two swords of identical length flashed as the skill was activated. It was a six-hit consecutive attack.
Seeing the stone making up the golem get chipped away that quickly, the damage seemed pretty strong.
While the two melee fighters kept drawing the golem’s aggro like that, Kim Jina, the mage, cast her skill.
“Magic Missile!”
-KABOOM!
A string of pure-white magic projectiles flew in succession, blowing apart the area around the golem’s chest.
Inside the destroyed chest was a single bright-red, round stone, and that seemed to be the golem’s core.
The two melee fighters didn’t recklessly attack the exposed core; they held their positions and kept tanking.
Meanwhile, Kim Jina’s second Magic Missile finished casting, and she quickly fired it to shatter the core to pieces.
-Thud!
[Guardian Golem Rock Shard]
[Festival Coin]
The golem fell, and the dropped items floated up before my eyes. I didn’t do anything, but the items came to me anyway.
So that was why he had so generously offered to let me be party leader. The party leader can even swipe the rewards and run, huh.
“How is it, Jin-hyuk? Anything drop?”
“A material and a coin dropped.”
Apparently, even trash mobs don’t always drop coins, and Kim Jina smiled brightly, saying I was lucky.
“More importantly, how was our performance? You said we were a good party, right?”
Kim Jina, who was drinking a mana potion, asked abruptly. Was she fishing for a compliment?
They were definitely pretty good at keeping their positions and fighting calmly, but as for judging their actual skill... well.
“Yes, pretty much.”
I tossed out some polite empty praise and let the thought that had come to mind drift away.
I may not be great with people, but I’m not as rude as some Paladin bastard.
I couldn’t exactly call them a pushover to their face.