I Entered a Gacha Game That Had Been Abandoned for 10 Years

23 – 1st Floor (4)

Elena felt her heart sinking involuntarily and at the same time felt a sense of doubt.

‘Why am I?’

For her, the Lord of Lartania was truly a grateful person.

Although it’s uncertain how much of his words are true, ultimately, Elena was able to grow like this all thanks to Kim Hyun-woo.

But strictly speaking, the meeting between the Lord of Lartania and Elena has been a long one, at most about a month.

No matter how grateful he is, it hasn’t been a long time to build affection.

However.

‘Why do I feel so bad?’

Elena felt as if something precious was being forcibly taken away.

It was so unfamiliar to her.

Originally, she was not like this.

If there had been a similar situation where she felt such emotions, Elena would probably have thought, as she had always done, with a slightly regretful heart, ‘Ah, that’s how it is. It feels bad, but there’s nothing I can do.’

For the past few years, Elena had learned how to adapt to reality.

That was also the reason why she could continue to work like a mercenary, even when she heard the derogatory term ‘fallen hero.’

Just adapting to the criticism and derogatory terms directed at her made her feel at ease.

Of course, it wasn’t like that at first, but after several failures and a few years, the defense mechanism created gradually became the very essence of her thought process.

Until a little while ago.

“…”

Elena realized in an instant that her mood was plummeting to the ground after hearing Alta’s voice.

That she herself was placing more importance on her relationship with the lord than she had thought.

The moment she brought to the surface the fact that she had been unconsciously aware of, her mood sank even deeper beneath the surface.

As if she knew Elena.

And Elena also knew Alta.

And the Alta that she knew was much stronger than the Elena before she joined the Lord.

So, in a moment of unease, when Elena hesitated in placing her hand on the doorknob.

“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of doing that.”

The voice of the Lord was heard.

####

[The conquest of the 1st floor has been successfully completed.]

Just after Elena and the exploration team came out and saw the message in front of them, Alta came to find him, waiting to report to him.

“So, that means you want to hire me?”

“If that’s what the Lord wants.”

Kim Hyun-woo, who was staring intently at Alta as she spoke with a slightly enchanting expression, opened her information window.

—–

※ Retrieves information saved at the time when the recruitment target visited the tavern once.

Hero

Name: Alta

Title: X

Star: 2 stars ★★

Affection: 0

Stats

Strength: 33 Agility: 63

Intelligence: 25 Luck: 23

Magic: 19

-Special Ability-

Clear Intuition: Can vaguely estimate what one instinctively wants to know without going through a proper process of experience, judgment, and inference.

Route Vision: If possessing talent beyond that of a “monstrous” level, it becomes possible to see the most ideal “path” of attack.

-Talent-

Has ordinary talent with a dagger.

Has extraordinary talent with a cloak.

Double-handed, she had an extraordinary talent.

-Skill-

[Read]

—–

“Oh.”

In Kim Hyun-woo’s eyes, Alta’s ability values weren’t bad overall.

In a way, one could say that she had quite good ability values among the 2-star heroes, and the combination of ability values and talent wasn’t bad either.

Especially since the dual-wielding short swords she possessed were greatly influenced by agility.

In fact, there were heroes in Arteel who had significantly higher ability values and strangely high luck compared to their talents.

So, compared to those heroes, Alta had grown quite well.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have that intention.”

Kim Hyun-woo firmly rejected her proposal.

“…What?”

Alta visibly showed her surprise, seemingly not expecting to be rejected so suddenly.

Seeing her like that, Kim Hyun-woo spoke again.

“I appreciate the offer, but I have no intention to do so.”

Alta’s expression became slightly grim at Kim Hyun-woo’s words.

She seemed visibly uncomfortable.

However, Kim Hyun-woo didn’t pay much attention to it.

From the beginning, he had no intention of recruiting Alta.

“Even if the ability values match well, the combination of talents does not.”

Kim Hyun-woo knew that Alta’s characteristics were quite good, but in Arteel, the combination of characteristics and talents had to match well.

In other words, even if Alta’s characteristic of being quick-witted was magnificent, it would be meaningless if she didn’t have the talent to utilize it.

“In a situation like this, it’s pointless to raise her diligently.”

Considering this, while looking at the uncomfortable Alta, Kim Hyun-woo pondered.

“I may say it like this, but I was much stronger than that hero. If you help me like you did to Elena-“

He could roughly understand why Alta suddenly appeared based on what she said.

“It seems that she thought I was the cause after seeing Elena, who was called the fallen hero, become stronger.”

Kim Hyun-woo thought that it was indeed a reasonable misunderstanding.

“In a way, her words are not entirely wrong.”

However, if there was one fact that she couldn’t grasp here, it was that Elena had grown so rapidly due to her “innate” talent and her characteristic of being a hard worker, rather than because of Kim Hyunwoo.

In other words, Kim Hyunwoo, who wanted to open his mouth to reject Alta’s proposal in a positive manner, couldn’t grow like Elena because his talents were at least three levels lower than Alta’s.

“I honestly don’t understand why you’re so worried. Isn’t it obvious that it would be much better for me to help you rather than that ‘failed hero’?”

I couldn’t help but laugh in response to Alta’s words that immediately reached my ears, feeling a slight annoyance.

Alta, frowning at Kim Hyunwoo’s appearance, seemed like she was about to say something, but…

“Not at all.”

“What did you say?”

In response to Kim Hyunwoo’s continued words, she found herself asking without realizing it.

“I see much higher growth potential in Elena than in you. Besides, I don’t really like people who complain like children when they don’t get what they want, whether they’re male or female.”

“Ha…”

Alta laughed as if she thought Kim Hyunwoo looked pathetic, but…

“Just wait and see. Naturally, as time passes, you will be able to see the difference between you and Elena.”

With those words, it was over.

“If you’re done speaking, please leave. As I mentioned before, I will handle the compensation according to the conditions I stated.”

Kim Hyunwoo sent Alta away.

####

As Alta sent him off with a gaze that seemed to say “Let’s see about that.”

“Hmm, did I say it too harshly?”

Kim Hyunwoo pondered for a moment, but soon shook his head.

After all, he wasn’t even a 5-star hero. The second-star heroes were so abundant that they could fill the earth. Kim Hyunwoo’s character was not so good that he could easily withstand such a provocation from someone who didn’t even have the eyes to see such opponents.

And so, a little while later.

“My Lord, um, I’ve come to report…”

Kim Hyunwoo responded to Elena’s words as she came in to report, with a puzzled expression on his face.

“You seem unusually cheerful today?”

The reason was because, despite her seemingly restraining herself, there was an elusive smile on Elena’s lips.

Seeing her face, which seemed calmly unaffected by the usual fluctuations of emotions, and even had a slightly brighter expression, Kim Hyunwoo asked a question.

“Ah, um, well… I was able to clear the 1st floor exploration this time without any damage…”

Elena briefly turned her gaze elsewhere, then turned it sideways and answered.

For some reason, the more she spoke, the quieter her voice became, but Kim Hyunwoo opened his mouth without much thought.

“That’s good to hear.”

“Yes, thanks to you, Lord, we were able to avoid any harm. I’m truly grateful.”

Elena bowed her head.

A moment later.

“…As you mentioned, I placed ‘vacancies’ in all four locations, as well as, as you instructed, there were also variant creatures.”

Kim Hyun-woo, now hearing Elena’s report in a more composed manner, nodded his head, organizing his thoughts.

‘As expected, the first floor of the labyrinth was in a state of rampage, and the boss remained unchanged from before.’

Kim Hyun-woo expressed satisfaction upon learning that the monsters would become stronger in a rampage state if the labyrinth was not visited for a long time, and the fact that the variant orc he had killed hundreds of times to achieve accomplishments in Arteil had not changed.

Firstly, the fact that the labyrinth was being maintained as he knew meant that he had a bit more room to maneuver.

‘I can’t be completely sure, but now that I know the labyrinth functions like the one I know, I should check the rewards and plan for the second floor schedule.’

Therefore, as Kim Hyun-woo was about to organize his thoughts, he said,

“Oh, and I found this on the first floor.”

“?”

Seeing what was placed on the desk along with Elena’s explanation, Kim Hyun-woo unintentionally made a puzzled expression.

“What is this…?”

“That’s-“

As Kim Hyun-woo made a demanding expression as if asking for an explanation while folding the blue bone, Elena began to explain, recalling the situation at that time.

After hearing all the explanations shortly after,

“…So, summarizing, it seems like this blue bone helped in defeating the boss, is that right?”

“That’s what I think. It’s not a boss’s bone, as you know, the variant orc’s bone is not blue, and it’s not even an orc.”

While listening to Elena’s words, he stared quietly at the blue bone.

“…Lord, do you have any insights?”

Listening to Elena’s question, wondering if there might be an answer, Kim Hyun-woo remained silent for a moment before responding.

“I don’t really know.”

No.

No.

‘Honestly, there is some insight.’

Upon seeing this blue bone, Kim Hyun-woo immediately thought of a clue.

Although it appeared abruptly, this blue bone somehow reminded him of her.

‘…The sorceress of the Blue Forest.’

Kim Hyun-woo recalled the nickname he had given her.

He would naturally feel that way, as the appearance of these blue bones resembled so closely the form of the bones that would appear when the hero used his skill.

Although he had only seen it in a mobile game, Kim Hyun-woo knew no one else who could summon and use the blue bones.

However, Kim Hyun-woo had a question while looking at these blue bones.

“…Is this…dead?”

It was because the commander of the Blue Forest, the Bone Sorcerer, was already dead.