Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society

Chapter 112. Requirements of a Dimensional Mercenary (5)

[The two gods are very prideful. Hesitation is not allowed with their true names on the line! If you don’t make your decision in the next 10 seconds, you will miss your opportunity to obtain either name!]

“W-Woah! Let me get out of here first!”

No, no matter how fast I was, there wasn’t enough time to ask Loretta! Damn it! Should I choose Thor, known for his strength? Or Should I choose Zeus, known as the king of the gods? Damn, without any knowledge of the dungeon, I didn’t know which was better in the long run! No choice, I’ll flip a coin! Heads will be Thor, and tails with be...!

“It’s tails! Zeus!”

[You obtained the true name of Sky God Zeus! As you’ve already adapted to the true name of Hermes, you can adapt to Zeus’ power more quickly.]

[The God of Thunder, Thor, is shocked that you did not choose his true name. Gods close to him have begun to observe you.]

[Your strength and charm increase by 15%. All stats increase by 5. Affinity to all elements increases. Additionally, your affinity to the lightning element increases greatly.]

[Your body seethes with magic. Your magic increases by 20!]

[Once per day, you can use ‘Sky God’s Play.’ While Sky God’s Play is active, you can freely transform into anything you have seen with your eyes and will ‘absolutely’ not be discovered. You will still maintain your abilities, but equipment effects cannot be used if they are unequipped. The skill will last for one hour.]

[Once per month, you can use ‘Sky God’s Rage.’ You can manifest Zeus’ lightning bolt of punishment, forged by Hephaestus and the Cyclopes, into your weapon. Its power is absolute and may even slay a god, but when the lightning bolt is used against an unsuitable opponent, you will have to pay the price of your actions.]

I became dizzy and couldn’t help but kneel in place. My body was unbearably hot. Pzzt. A spark flickered from my body. Kuk, it was painful... It was incomparable to the feeling of leveling up. It felt like someone was forcefully pulling on me. I, who was confined in a small and narrow body, was being spread out into a bigger and wider realm. All my energies were going wild in all directions. Although I couldn’t perceive it before, because Hermes’ power had gotten stronger, it was even worse.

‘I see, so this is what Loretta meant...!’

In the past, when I obtained Hermes’ power, she was relieved that it wasn’t the true name of a god related to battle, war or violence. She said I wouldn’t have been able to handle it. Now, I fully understood what she meant.

If it was the past me, my vitality would have hit zero the moment I received Zeus’ true name and I would have been kicked out of the dungeon. I might have even received heavy injuries after returning to Earth. Zeus’ power was that fierce, large, and violent.

For the next few dozens of minutes, I circulated Peruta Circuit with my hands on the ground, trying to adapt to Zeus’ power. Although the wild energies around me raved without yielding to Peruta Circuit, the more I circulated Peruta Circuit, the more they began to listen to me. I felt relieved and finally became stable enough to read the messages I had gotten.

First, Zeus’ transformation ability and lightning. The transformation ability seemed to have countless uses. As for the lightning, although it had a tricky condition and could be used only once per month, its power was undoubtedly something I could look forward to. Not to mention, since it was a lightning attribute attack, it could be amplified with Peika’s power. It suited me perfectly.

Next were the effects of Zeus’ true name. The increase to all stats was the same as Hermes’ effect, but the 15% strength increase was astounding. Just like the Hermes title increased the speed of my body by 15%, the Zeus title increased the strength in all my movements by 15%. It was incomparable to my strength stat increasing by some amount. With this and the other abilities I received...

Couldn’t I call myself an SS-ranker?

When the thought crossed my mind, my heart began to pound. It was possible. With Zeus’ true name, the amount of mana I had shot up and my affinity to lightning increased to the point that my Elementalist powers could not keep up with it. Fighting with Ruyue previously, I felt that my connection with Ruyue was deeper than my connection with Peika, but it seemed it was instantly reversed.

I could feel with my body that Peika’s destructive power had increased significantly. As I was now, I felt like I could deal a critical blow to Brightman, that lovable bastard.

“No, first, I have to save Shina...”

Don’t rush it. I didn’t have to hurry to beat up Brightman. Not to mention, I wasn’t completely sure I could win against him. Plus, I wasn’t sure if Brightman was evil enough that Sky God’s lightning would work on him. No, since he tried to kill me, he had attempted murder. Maybe it would work on him?

I cooled my vengeful mind and focused on Peruta Circuit. While reading the rest of the messages, I found something strange.

“Charm? Why did my charm increase?”

A thought then flashed in my mind. Zeus was known for cheating on his wife Hera and having children with other women. Was that why my charm increased...? Doubtful, I held my spear blade up and looked at my reflection. Thankfully, I didn’t look or feel any different. I found it absurd that I was even considering it, but I would be troubled if any more girls said they liked me. My head was already a mess from Loretta and Ye-Eun.

‘Next is... Dimensional Travel.’

The reward for Wendigo’s first achievement, Dimensional Travel Magic Book! Its name clearly revealed its identity. I picked up the magic book without much thought, and in that instant, I felt a new power being vested in me, along with a tingling sensation. If obtaining Zeus’ power felt like standing on a hill where lightning fell like rain, the feeling from just now was like dunking my feet into icy water.

[You learned Dimensional Travel magic. Once every three months, you can travel to the dimension of someone on your friend list. Once used, you cannot use this magic again during the cooldown period no matter what. It is recommended that you prepare a precautionary measure. The number of people you can bring with you increases and the cooldown time decreases with skill level.]

[You can become a Dimensional Mercenary. Ask the Residential Area administrators for more info!]

Yes! I clenched my fists. I obtained the qualifications to become a Dimensional Mercenary too easily! Plus, I had even received unexpected powers. Although I told myself not to get overconfident, I couldn’t calm down. It was dangerous. Was it because Hermes’ power and Zeus’ power were going wild? This damned sense of omnipotence wasn’t disappearing, even though it wasn’t my real self that got stronger!

Now that I thought about it, I had not even checked Hermes’ new power, Caduceus. I checked the description for Caduceus and my eyes opened wide.

This was... a cheat!

I left the Floor Master room. I wanted to report to Loretta about obtaining a new god’s true name, about the class upgrade for becoming Gold Ranked and also about the additional subclass I could obtain. However, when Loretta saw me, she acted strangely. The moment she looked at me, she slowly got up from her bed, then let out a short sigh. Then, she approached me.

“... Huu.”

“Loretta?”

“Shin-nim, tell me straight out. What happened to you?”

“L-Loretta? I should be asking what happened to you! Why are you approaching me?”

“Tell me quickly. My self-control as the Elf Queen is being disrupted. Keep in mind that this is not normal.”

As she directly said her self-control was being disrupted, Loretta was approaching me with the eyes of a beast following its prey!

“Come on, tell me. We’re both going to be too busy to listen in a bit, so I want to at least hear what happened before I completely lose my reason.”

“No! You sound like you’re more than capable of maintaining your reason! What do you mean we’ll be too busy to listen!? What are you trying to do!?”

This woman, she lost it! For a moment, I considered using Orc Lord’s Warcry. Thankfully, after Loretta had forcefully taken off my armor, I managed to bring her back to reality with a full-force whack on her head.

“Huk! What did I just do?”

“Don’t hold onto my collar as you say that! Let go!”

“No, since we’ve already come this far...”

“Do you need me to hit you again?”

“Tsk, you coward.”

“Loretta, that’s enough. It’s really scary.”

“So? How are you emitting so much charm that you can even pierce my mental defense? It’s even continuous and not a one-shot.”

I told Loretta everything that happened. Her expression when I told her I got a second god’s true name was quite a sight. When I told her I chose Zeus between Thor and Zeus, she let out a long sigh.

“That’s good... I’m relieved.”

“Is Thor that bad?”

“Yes. Objectively speaking, he falls a step behind Zeus. If you obtained Thor’s true name, you might have gotten stronger in the short term, but that would be it. In the long run, Zeus’ true name will be several times stronger. Olympian gods are generally above Asgardian gods. It’s because they are immortal.”

“Ah...!”

Right. Gods from Greek Mythology were immortal. However, gods from Norse Mythology were fated to die from Ragnarok, and only a small number of gods survived Ragnarok. So the fates of the gods from mythologies affected their power...

“You did well. You just have to continue like that. Here’s a question. If Shin-nim had the opportunity to choose between Odin and Ares’ true name, whose should you choose?”

“Ares, right?”

“No, it’s Odin.”

“Why!?”

“Because the kings of gods are different. How can you compare Ares and Odin? Shin-nim already has Hermes and Zeus’ true name. If you get another chance to choose between two gods’ true names, you need to thoroughly compare their abilities and affinity to you. Ah, this doesn’t mean Shin-nim can obtain Odin’s true name. There’s already an explorer who has Odin’s true name...”

“... Loretta?”

Loretta’s complexion turned dark for a moment, so I couldn’t help but call out her name. At my worried call, Loretta raised her head and smiled.

“Alright, next was... your class?”

“... Yes.”

My main class as an Elementalist could be strengthened. I thought it was like the 2nd class advancement in games. However, just like how there were requirements for one to get their 2nd class advancement in games, there were requirements I had to fulfill to advance my Elementalist class. The biggest requirement was my skills. Regarding this, Loretta said I didn’t need to be impatient, as my ability would automatically improve when the requirements were met.

More important was the subclass. According to Loretta, explorers did not get many chances to obtain subclasses. As such, we had to try to get them when we could. As such, I chose Tamer as my second subclass.

[You obtained the ‘Tamer’ subclass. Your charm and luck increase by 10 through the class advancement bonus.]

[You obtained the class active skill, ‘Taming.’ Taming is based on your charm. The higher the skill level, the higher your charm, the more weakened your target is and the greater the disparity between you and your target’s strength, the higher your chance of success will be. The chance of success also increases if your target is the opposite sex. When Taming succeeds, you can command your target as a subordinate, and you can completely turn your target into your follower by deepening the bond and giving the target a name.]

[You obtained the class passive skill, ‘Spirit of the Tamer.’ It becomes easier to alleviate your target’s hostility and to increase their disposition towards you. The potency and number of tamable targets increase with skill levels. Current tamable targets: 2]

[Your tamed subordinates can accompany you in Event Dungeons and the normal dungeon. However, your subordinates cannot come back to life once they die, so be careful.]

Feeling the Tamer’s power being vested in me, I opened my eyes. I had made all the preparations that I could. I took care of the matter with the Floor Master, the god’s true name, and my new subclass. All that was left to do was to become a Dimensional Mercenary. When I was about to head to the Residential Area, Loretta grabbed my shoulders. Her eyes were flashing fearfully.

“Where are you going in that state?”

“Huh? Why?”

“You need to do something about that charming aura. If you go out like this, you’ll bring about a total calamity.”

That’s probably not right. Because Loretta liked me... Though it was a bit embarrassing to say, it was because Loretta saw me favorably that she went crazy. However, no matter what I said, Loretta would not let go. In the end, I gave up.

“Okay! Fine, I’ll do it!”

Just like that, I had to take 30 minutes out of my busy schedule to learn how to conceal my charm. Like the old saying went, good news always came with bad news!

Author’s note:

Shin flipped a coin!

A lot of people chipped in their opinions, and many made great points. Although Thor seemed to be better in terms of brute strength, Zeus’ immortality and his main weapon (lightning) suited Shin well. In truth, I thought Thor and Zeus were both a good match, but an overwhelming number of people wanted Zeus... cough. It has nothing to do with the fact that he’s a womanizer!

Shin will become a Dimensional Mercenary in the ! Wait, Shina!

For the record, Thor’s true name’s effects were: 25% strength increase, 10% intelligence decrease, summoning Mjolnir, etc...