Lee Gun furrowed his brows at the notification. A while ago, he had received a related notification.
[When you reach level 10, you will go through a special trial.]
[According to the disposition you have established up to this point, the trial will be used as a base to activate a special quest.]
[Serpent Bearer’s Awakening (SSS rank)]
He had thought it was a simple awakening question. Now, he could understand why it was called a trial.
[Until you pass your trial, your EXP will stay stagnant.]
[Until you pass your trial, your innate skill <Death Instinct> will remain locked.]
[Time limit for clearing the trial: 239hrs 58m 12s!]
[Caution! If you are unable to pass the trial, additional penalties will be applied.]
In other words, Lee Gun was without his ultimate skills now. He had to rely on his efforts to pass this trial. ‘It doesn’t matter. I rarely use <Death Instinct>.’
Cooldown time! There wasn’t a problem regarding the cooldown in reusing the skill. At Drachma, Lee Gun had felt it to the bone when he had used that skill against the Leo Saint.
‘It might be a deification skill.’ Death Instinct was the only skill that could counter a god, but as a price, a staggering rebound came along with it. Back then, Lee Gun had almost wanted to cuss.
[Abnormal Status: Full body paralysis, fibromyalgia, dystonia, neuralgia, lumbar pain… Arteriosclerosis Strain, Internal Bleeding! (Remaining Time: 23hr 47m 31s)!]
[Using <Death Instinct> puts a heavy load on your body!]
[You must upgrade your body!]
[Current Body Status: Sturdy Rookie who is charged with a bit of divine skill.]
That was the notification that he had received that day. Using that skill had put him out of commission for a day, and he had to lay down like a vegetable.
‘If not for my Super Regeneration, I would have been screwed.’ He would’ve died young. That was why Lee Gun didn’t care that the Death Instinct was temporarily locked away.
‘It will be great if the gods don’t target me in the meantime.’
He would have no problem cooking the Zodiac Saints. Moreover, a trial wasn’t all bad. Good things would come out of it.
[Rewards]
– Serpent Bearer’s Unique Construct (SS)
– Body Upgrade
– Unique Awakened Skill (SSS)
– Serpent Bearer’s Unique Divine Holy Item (SSS)
As expected, the trial came with rewards. ‘These are things that can be acquired only through a trial.’ Moreover, the trial didn’t look too hard.
[You have to pass three trials.]
<Trial of Strength>, <Trial of Intelligence>, and <Trial of Reputation>
In Lee Gun’s opinion, the first trial would cause him no trouble.
<Trial of Strength>
[Take care of the monster that eats gods (SS) (0/1)]
Lee Gun didn’t know what kind of monster that was. However, since the Trial of Strength was mentioning it, it had to specialize in strength.
Of course, there was a problem.
‘I wonder how strong an SS rank monster is.’ The rank within and outside the Devil’s tower was completely different. If the SS rank mentioned here referred to that outside the tower, the trial wouldn’t be a problem. However, if the rank was that of within the tower…
In a rarity, tension appeared in Lee Gun’s eyes. However, it would be ok. ‘I don’t care which monster comes out. I specialize in hunting them down.’ Whether he sank or swung, he would just need to fight the monster with his weapon.
So what about the second trial?
<Trial of Intelligence>
[Find a Secretary (0/1)]
– You need a record writer who’ll record the Serpent Bearer’s achievements.
That wouldn’t be a big problem either.
‘I don’t know. I’ll steal one of Taeksoo’s disciples.’ What were friends for? ‘If that doesn’t work, I can just make him my secretary.’
When Hugo saw Lee looking at him, he became frightened for some reason. “I don’t know what you want, but I won’t do it!”
Lee Gun ignored him. Anyway, he wasn’t worried about the strength and intelligence trials. The biggest problem was the last one.
<Trial of Reputation>
[Add a human familiar (disciple) (0/1)]
– The Serpent Bearer feels the need to bring in a human familiar.
For some reason, Lee Gun had known this was going to happen. He didn’t know if the voice could read his heart or not, but the voice spoke again.
[You have to be cautious in choosing your disciple. If your familiar’s faith isn’t 100%, your reputation will tank.]
‘This is driving me nuts. Where the hell am I supposed to find some mutant with 100% faith?’
Of course, seeing if a person possessed 100% faith or not was easy. As proof, Lee Gun discreetly looked at Hugo’s subordinates. That had the effect of bringing up something aside from their achievements.
[Faith]
Lee Gun had used his amassed points after returning to his house and upgraded several skills. One of those skills was ‘Gaze of the God (E)’. That skill allowed him to see things that he was unable to before. He used it on the Archer disciples.
<Suh Jihoon>
[Archer Saint Faith: 85% (Very Loyal)]
The information was interesting. However, that wasn’t all.
<Suh Jihoon (A)>
[Faith of Each God (Compatibility)]
[Sagittarius Faith: 81% (Very low)]
[Capricorn Faith: 20% (Very low)]
…
[Gemini Faith: 19% (Dislike)]
[Leo Faith: 15% (Dislike)]
Lee Gun could see the faith a person held toward the different gods. It was a rough measure of how much one believed and liked a god.
‘The baseline figure is around 50%.’ One’s faith rose or decreased from that point. Still, the faith value dropping below 10% was rare.
Lee Gun discreetly looked at his surroundings.
<Hugo Otis>
[Sagittarius Faith: 96% (Contracted God)]
[Leo Faith: 3% (Hate)]
[Aquarius Faith: 1% (Hate)]
…
[Gemini Faith: 2% (Hate)]
This shocked Lee Gun for an obvious reason. ‘Even a Saint doesn’t have a 100% Faith?’
The shocked Lee Gun quickly turned toward the Monkfish Yang Wei.
<Yang Wei>
[Aries Faith: 90% (Contracted God)]
[Aquarius Faith: 81%]
[Capricorn Faith: 50%]
[Gemini Faith: 30%]
…
[Leo Faith: 9%]
‘That’s crazy!’ Of course, Lee Gun could understand the distribution of Yang Wei’s faith. ‘His Faith is high for the gods that make a lot of money.’
This was to be expected of a materialistic Saint. It also meant that even Yang Wei and Hugo didn’t possess 100% Faith toward their gods.
‘The Saints are supposed to be the people with the highest faith amongst humanity.’ Moreover, Hugo had a relatively higher loyalty to his god compared to the other Zodiac Sants.
Therefore, only one thought appeared in Lee Gun’s mind. ‘I’m screwed!’ There was no way someone with a 100% Faith toward the Serpent Bearer existed. However, it was too early to give up.
“Gun?!”
Lee Gun suddenly ran toward the archer field in the next room.
Slam!
“Kyaaa! Lee Gun-nim!”
He sought the other disciple of the Archer Saint. She was a big fan of his, so her faith should be high. ‘There is a good chance that it is over 90%.’
[Yoon Yeorin]
[Sagittarius Faith: 80%]
[Ophiuchus Faith: 81%]
Lee Gun despaired. It was too bad. Yoon Yeorin was a member of his fan club, and her figure was high enough for her to become his general. However, that was well short of what he needed.
‘A hundred percent!’
Even a fan of his had only 81% faith toward him. Would he be able to find a freak with 100% faith? Of course, it wasn’t as if Lee Gun didn’t have candidates.
‘There are Yooha and Sungjae.’ Of course, Yooha having 100% faith toward him might put him in an awkward position. ‘If I bring Yooha into the fold, Taeksoo will lose his fucking mind.’
However, Lee Gun didn’t care about that. ‘I’ll have to look at both of them.’
First, he decided to look at Chun Sungjae. If he was being honest, Yooha probably had a higher figure than that kid.
‘It should be high, right?’ Thinking about how Sungjae acted, he thought it should be very high. Yet, cold sweat appeared all over him. ‘No, he is human. Is 100% an impossibility?’
Lee Gun shook his head. ‘No! It is 100%! It will be 100%! At worst, it will be 99%!’
It had to be!
Hugo tilted his head in puzzlement when he saw Lee Gun struggling by himself.
Slam!
“Uncle! I got big news!” Suddenly, Chun Sungjae entered the room.
Lee Gun quickly activated his magical energy. ‘He has to be 100%!’
[You’ve activated ‘Gaze of a God’.]
[The information is being retrieved.]
The figures appeared. The sight shocked Lee Gun; he couldn’t believe it.
<Chun Sungjae>
[Sagittarius Saint: 0% (Don’t Like)]
[Gemini Saint: -10% (Hate)]
[Libra Saint: -99% (Want to Kill)]
[Goat Saint: -15% (Hate)]
[Aries Saint: -20% (Hate)]
…
[Leo Saint: -10% (Hate)]
“…!”
Aside from the Archer Saint, everything else was a minus. Those were crazy numbers. It was almost unbelievable that Chun Sungjae was part of a society where gods existed. However, the most surprising part was his faith toward the Serpent Bearer.
It was something Lee Gun hadn’t expected; the faith wasn’t 100%!
[Ophiuchus Faith 200% (Zealot)]
Unexpectedly, it was above 100%. Even the mighty Lee Gun was surprised. ‘That figure is possible?’
He expected the figure to be abnormal, but this was beyond his imagination. At this point, he was worried about what he would see in Yooha’s information. ‘I would have been thankful even if it were 100%.’
This was scary. Lee Gun was dumbfounded, but he decided to take this in stride. ‘He’s qualified.’ That was the important part.
Oblivious to it all, Chun Sungjae ran toward Lee Gun. “Look at this, Uncle.”
“?”
Chun Sungjae handed him a newspaper article.
<The European alliance was attacked by the unknown civilization.>
<“Never-before-seen monsters raze the northern area.”>
<“Attacks don’t work on them.”>
<Will the Virgo Saint fail to protect his territory?>
<Appearance of the Scorpio Saint>
<Citizens say, “Leave it to Lee Gun.”>
<Virgo Saint replies, “Lee Gun can’t address this.”>
The article made Hugo recall something. On the day of Lee Gun’s return, he had been in England on a mercenary contract. “I was probably called to fight them. However, I returned when I received your voice message.”
“What? You abandoned a commission for me? Aren’t you too much in love with me? Mr. Softy Oh Taeksoo.”
“What the hell! What did you say?”
In the West, the European side had the Virgo Saint and the Scorpio Saint. The Virgo Saint was ranked second amongst the twelve Zodiac Saints. Since a faction ruled the west, Hugo had thought his absence wouldn’t matter.
He said, “In the first place, the raid would’ve probably failed even if I were there.”
“What?”
Hugo was looking at a specific part of the article.
<“Never-before-seen monsters”>
<“Attacks don’t work on them.”>
“I’m sure of it. Probably, these monsters are similar to the ones that showed up at Drachma.”
“Ah!”
Hugo was sure of this. The monsters in Europe would be like the beast-type monster that had fought over the Leo Saint for the bone. ‘I’m pretty sure only Gun’s weapons worked on it.’
These were rare unidentified monsters that attacks didn’t work against.
‘Impregnable type monsters.’ Lee Gun furrowed his brows when he turned the page to see the picture from the scene of the fight. “Ah!”
“What?”
“These are the ones I killed in the towers,” he explained.
“…!”
Lee Gun pointed toward the clay monsters roaring toward the sky.
Chun Sungjae spoke, “Aside from the clay monsters, there were troublesome monsters that we still don’t know what really looked like. The Virgo Saint lost to those monsters.”
The Archer disciple Yoon Yeorin continued to read the article. “Uh! According to the Virgo Saint, it’s a monster ‘that can eat anything’…”
Lee Gun’s expression changed. ‘A monster that can eat anything. Is it possible that this is the monster from my recent quest? Could it be the <monster that eats gods>? Checking this out might not be a bad idea.’
Moreover, that was where the Saints who were aiming for him were.
At that moment, Chun Sungjae nonchalantly spoke, “The European alliance has sent a commission to Uncle.”
“What? The European alliance did?” Hugo was surprised. “Those picky bastards really…” These were figures much higher than the officials from the British government, who had hired him.
Chun Sungjae held up the slime, which was eating something. “Someone from the government had been in front of the office. This slime ate the official documents that were supposed to be given to Uncle.”
Lee Gun picked up the slime in acknowledgment.
“Anyway, this is where the big news starts. If you succeed in this commission, the Virgo Saint will return the item that he has! It is one of Uncle’s eight great holy items!”
“Oh!” Lee Gun replied. Right now, the commission and the eight great holy items weren’t important. He then said, “Hey, Sungjae.”
“Yes?”
“Do you like Uncle?” Lee Gun spoke in a kind and endearing manner. He sounded like a kidnapper trying to lure a child with candy. Something was contemptible about his tone of voice.
This frightened Hugo, and he sensed an ominous feeling. Whenever Lee Gun spoke in such a kind manner, something very bad happened for the most part.
Sure enough, Hugo was proven right.
“Sungjae, do you want to become Uncle’s disciple?”
