Chapter 8 …
Click!
A pitiful sound—so unimpressive it would drain the strength of anyone who heard it.
Hearing that now-familiar noise for the umpteenth time, Dohyun slowly raised his head.
KRAAAAAAA!!
The demonic dragon species roared with overwhelming ferocity.
Yet the creature, now drenched in blood, no longer carried the same predatory pressure it had at the beginning.
Like a beast driven into terror, its roar was utterly desperate.
The bold gesture that once looked like it was swatting away a mosquito had turned into something closer to a plea to stay away.
– HP [80 : ???]
A mere 80 health remained.
[Basic skill “Smash” is now available.]
And right on time, Smash had come off cooldown.
After more than five hours of brutal combat, the previously unseen end of the battle was finally approaching.
Perhaps the creature sensed it too.
Bang! BANG!
Even though it should have accepted its death, it kept swinging its fists toward the approaching Dohyun.
Yet as he continued forward without stopping, the monster’s thrashing only grew more frantic.
Being bitten once by a mosquito is merely annoying and itchy—but if an immortal mosquito sucks your blood tens of thousands of times, that becomes terror.
Clank. Clatter!
Though it could retreat no further, it kept stumbling backward, causing its restraints to rattle loudly.
Dohyun’s expression as he watched it was cold.
“You’ve held out long enough. Time to go.”
BANG!
Click!
Calmly dodging the decisive strike, Dohyun’s blade fell—
—and the moment it pierced the creature’s foot—
Keurgh…
With a feeble dying groan, the monster’s massive body collapsed.
As it crashed down in a cloud of dust, a flood of messages appeared above it.
[You have defeated the Bound Ironblood Demonic Dragon.]
[You are the first to defeat a Legendary Named Boss in the tutorial.]
[You have soloed a Legendary Named Boss.]
[You have achieved an unbelievable feat.]
[Recorded in the Book of Adventures.]
[As a reward…]
…
After confirming the flood of messages, Dohyun dropped heavily to the ground.
Checking rewards could wait—he just wanted to lie down.
It had only been fun at the beginning. Later, he’d been too focused to think about anything else.
“Seriously… what a damn persistent bastard.”
5 hours and 30 minutes.
That was how long the hunt had taken.
He’d expected it to take a while—but it dragged on even longer than anticipated.
The difficulty had been higher than expected.
‘Ten thousand hits, my ass…’
The moment its HP dropped below 30%, the monster’s pattern changed.
Up until then, it had only wildly swung its arms.
But perhaps irritated by Dohyun constantly striking from beneath its feet, it began stomping furiously—until eventually it just dropped its entire body down in a seated slam.
It was only manageable because its legs were tightly restrained compared to its somewhat freer arms.
If not for that, even Dohyun wouldn’t have been able to kill it.
Of that, he was certain.
‘No one else cleared this.’
Even his former teammates wouldn’t have managed it.
He himself might have failed if he hadn’t been in such good condition today.
And that prediction proved correct.
[You are the first to defeat a Legendary Named Boss in the tutorial.]
The system itself confirmed it.
Which meant all of his old teammates must have encountered the monster—
—and despaired.
‘They must’ve cursed like crazy.’
The thought made him chuckle.
The Sword Emperor would probably have frowned while pretending to stay stoic.
Kkukku-ddak-kkukku would’ve machine-gunned vulgar swears nonstop.
And Bora-ajusshi might have just laughed it off with, “Heh… figures. That’s the sequel to this trash game for you.”
‘…Or maybe they didn’t even get this far?’
That old man was basically the embodiment of effort plus money.
Given the system required tutorial performance, this stage was disadvantageous for him.
Still—Dohyun had done it.
What kind of reaction would they have when they found out later?
‘They’ll roll around in jealousy for days.’
Just like he used to whenever they pulled good items or skill cards.
‘Though I don’t even know where they are now.’
They should definitely be on the rankings—but even after checking high-rankers, he couldn’t find anyone who seemed to be them.
They could have set their profiles to private, but…
Honestly, those attention addicts doing that? Hard to believe.
Or… were they not playing God of the World’s End at all?
The thought crossed his mind—but he quickly shook his head.
These were the same people who had obsessively grinded the trash game Demrock.
Unless something special happened—like his own military service—there was no way they hadn’t started this game.
‘They’re all such weirdos… they’re probably off doing some bizarre concept play somewhere.’
Like hiding in the mountains pretending to be reclusive masters.
With a faint smirk, Dohyun opened the reward window he had closed earlier.
Now that some of his fatigue had faded, curiosity about the rewards crept in.
‘With how flashy that was, it can’t be garbage.’
He was sure the rewards would be pretty good.
At minimum, Hero-grade or higher.
With swelling anticipation, he checked—
[Title acquired: “First Slayer.”]
[You have completed the tutorial with an unbelievable achievement. Traits appropriate to your play and accomplishments will manifest.]
[Trait manifested: Weapon Master.]
[Trait manifested: Hidden Dragon.]
[Trait manifested: Slayer.]
[Trait manifested: Hero.]
[Trait manifested: Overcome.]
[Conditions satisfied.]
[Unique Trait manifested: Eye of Truth.]
“…?”
As if reality itself had dulled, Dohyun blinked blankly.
✦ ✦ ✦
Unlike Demrock, God of the World’s End had several special systems besides skills.
One of them was Traits.
Abilities granted separately from the fixed 13 skill slots.
Unlike active skills, traits were passive and provided various advantages in gameplay and combat.
Despite initial concerns that it was an unnecessarily strange system, players who actually started the game praised it for increasing build diversity.
As games mature, “meta builds” inevitably form for each class.
The most efficient and optimal skill trees.
Of course, due to God of the World’s End’s nature, you couldn’t easily obtain your desired skill tree—but at the ranker level, things tended to converge anyway.
That’s where traits created differentiation.
Even among the same class, different traits could alter skill builds—or at least introduce meaningful variables.
It added more psychological depth and diversity to the game.
However, not everyone could obtain the traits they wanted.
So far, only one method was known:
Traits manifested according to tutorial achievements.
“…What the hell.”
Dohyun’s case was the same.
Every player who cleared the tutorial received a trait.
Yet the reason he was so shocked was simple.
“…Why do I have so many traits?”
Because normally—
Only one trait manifested in the tutorial.
There were no exceptions.
Whether you maxed Charlie’s affinity or tanked it completely, you still only got one trait.
The difference lay only in quality and type.
From exploration traits like Guide-type abilities to combat traits like Sword Master.
Your tutorial performance determined the trait you received—and the higher your achievements, the higher its grade.
That was why major guilds tried to recruit players who raised Charlie’s affinity high.
It was objective proof of superior potential.
When someone with higher-grade traits grew to max level under the same conditions, they naturally had the advantage.
From that perspective, Dohyun’s situation was nothing short of extraordinary.
[Weapon Master]
Grade: Trait
Effect: Ignores weapon-type equip restrictions.
Can raise proficiency with all weapons at an accelerated rate.
[Hidden Dragon]
Grade: Trait
Effect: Gain +2 additional stat points per level up.
[Slayer]
Grade: Trait
Effect: Can view location and hidden information of monster types for which the Slayer title has been obtained.
[Hero]
Grade: Trait
Effect: The spirit of a hero protects against mental corruption.
[Overcome]
Grade: Trait
Effect: Surpass limits through indomitable will.
“…Each one of these traits is top-tier.”
Unlike skills, traits didn’t have explicit rarity grades—but there were telltale signs.
Take Weapon Master.
Normally, even obtaining Sword Master was enough for guilds to recruit you aggressively.
A Sword Master swordsman gained proficiency faster and dealt greater damage than other sword classes.
In other words, you could become a true master of that weapon field.
But Weapon Master?
‘It gives the Sword Master effect for every weapon.’
A trait that lets you handle all weapons and respond to any matchup.
It couldn’t replace class-specific skills—but it was exceptional for creating unconventional situations.
And Hidden Dragon?
‘The potential is insane.’
At max level 100, it produced the equivalent effect of level 140.
Just raw stats alone equaled multiple items’ worth of power.
Considering how much players fought over single stat points at higher levels, it was enormous.
On its own, it could be called overpowered—
—but compared to the others, its utility was somewhat straightforward.
‘Its versatility is a bit lacking.’
Others leveraged their traits creatively, but Hidden Dragon’s benefit was purely statistical.
Simple and brute-force.
Reliable—but somewhat lacking in the late game where trait synergy mattered more.
The gap became even clearer after reaching max level.
That was why Hidden Dragon’s evaluation wasn’t extremely high.
…but for Dohyun—
‘Not my problem.’
Because he didn’t just manifest one trait.
He manifested six.
And every single one was powerful.
Even just Hero and Slayer, which directly affected combat, were huge.
‘Status immunity.’
Thinking about how troublesome black mage curses were in Demrock, Hero was a very appealing trait.
In guild wars, black mages were always a nightmare.
Slayer also required obtaining the matching Slayer title for the target boss—but once acquired, the effect was undeniable.
‘I can start with an information advantage.’
Considering how critical information became for high-tier bosses, it was a trait with endgame value.
Traits that would earn elite treatment even if you had just one of them.
The vague description of Overcome bothered him slightly—but the others were so good it hardly mattered.
And finally—
Among all these traits, one stood out the most.
‘Eye of Truth…’
Swallowing hard, Dohyun slowly began reading its description.
