Chapter 165 …
“—Oh.”
Dohyun let out a small sound as he looked at the ten cards flashing in front of him.
It wasn’t admiration.
After all, a mid-tier skill draw ticket could only give Normal to Rare grades. At best it would be a rare skill—what was there to be amazed about?
Still, he couldn’t deny that he felt good.
‘Four out of ten… that’s not a bad probability.’
Six brown cards, four silver cards.
That meant a 40% chance of pulling a rare skill.
For a place famous for producing legendary pulls, it was a pretty decent ratio.
At least for Dohyun.
Now the question was which card to pick.
Left? Right? Or the middle?
‘The curse of the middle has been broken.’
The powerful curse that had once given him Dobung had been driven away by the brilliant Descending Thunder Dragon.
Then a thought suddenly occurred to him, making him pause.
‘Wait… if I hadn’t avoided the middle back then because of the curse…?’
What if he didn’t have the Eye of Truth?
He probably would have avoided the middle and picked somewhere else. Then he would’ve cried tears of joy after pulling a hero-grade skill, never even imagining that he had missed a legendary one.
Or maybe he would’ve pulled a rare instead.
‘Wow… that’s terrifying.’
The thought suddenly struck him.
What if he had actually been avoiding legendary cards all this time?
Maybe he wasn’t just unlucky.
Maybe he had the worst hands imaginable.
The thought was so horrifying it gave him goosebumps. Dohyun quickly shook his head.
[Eye of Truth is active.]
He nodded as the message appeared before him.
‘Let’s not imagine something that horrible. I have the King-level Eye now.’
The “trash-luck Kaiser” was gone.
Now Dohyun possessed the absurdly overpowered unique trait: Eye of Truth!
Steeling himself, Dohyun reached out his hand.
‘At times like this… go somewhere I’ve never tried before… the very end!’
Not the middle. Not left or right.
The very corner.
More precisely—the far left.
Ding—
When he pulled the faintly glowing silver card sitting there, a message appeared.
[You have obtained the Rare Skill ‘Fireball’.]
Fireball
Grade: Rare
Restriction: Fire-attribute Mage class
Description: A fundamental attack spell used by fire-wielding mages.
Although considered a basic spell, novice mages often struggle to control the aggressive flames within a Fireball.Effect: Creates a sphere of fire and launches it at an enemy.
On impact, it explodes and deals heavy damage.Cooldown: 17 seconds
‘Jackpot!’
Dohyun barely managed to suppress the cheer that tried to burst out of his throat.
If he shouted here, people would immediately stare at him. And he definitely didn’t want to suffer the humiliation of being hugged by Charlie again.
It was just a rare skill.
And a simple Fireball, at that.
Someone else might wonder why he was so excited—but for Dohyun, it was incredibly moving.
‘Ah… finally, a proper magic skill…!’
He had already obtained two magic skills.
Both of them were hero-grade, no less.
But ironically, neither of them actually felt like real mage spells. They only enhanced his close-combat style.
Unlike other mages, he had never actually fired something from a distance.
‘I wonder what Fireball feels like. The impact must be satisfying.’
If you asked what the most popular class in God of the New World (GOTW) was, the answer would easily be mages.
Unlike the clunky third-generation VR games, casting brilliant magic in true virtual reality was pure fantasy come to life.
‘Though it gets expensive later on.’
Like most RPGs, mages required a lot of money.
And since the market prices in GOTW were insane, “expensive” meant really expensive.
Compared to that, Linnich looked adorable.
Only players with serious wealth—and serious dedication—could sustain that kind of cost.
Still—
He could finally use magic.
‘Hold it in.’
He wanted to try it immediately, but Dohyun restrained himself.
He still had one more draw left.
He needed to use the luck of this “sacred draw spot” to pull Charlie’s skill as well.
‘Let’s finish this quickly.’
After taking a deep breath, Dohyun immediately tore open the second card pack.
[Using Guardian ‘Charlie’s Random Skill Draw Ticket.]
Light burst out once more.
But it was slightly different from before. There was less silver—but Dohyun saw it.
A yellow card shining among them.
‘Yes… the time has come.’
Charlie had finally obtained a hero-grade skill.
The Sword of Light he started with was a growth-type skill, so it didn’t have a grade.
Charlie’s class was Knight-type.
‘There are quite a few hero skills for knights.’
Knights were particularly dependent on hero-grade skills.
Most of their truly useful abilities were in that tier.
Several skills immediately came to Dohyun’s mind as he reached out his hand.
There was no hesitation.
There was only one yellow card.
Ding—
[You have obtained the Hero Skill ‘Oath’.]
‘Huh? Oath?’
Startled, Dohyun immediately checked the skill information.
Oath
Grade: Hero
Restriction: Knight-type classes
Description: A knight’s oath is absolute and symbolic.
It can make a knight strong—or weak.Effect: Form one of the following oaths with a target.
[Protection]
If the sworn target is within a certain range, the knight’s defense, magic resistance, and HP greatly increase.
However, if the target leaves the range, those stats decrease by 30%.
[Judgment]
When fighting a target that the sworn ally wishes to judge, the knight’s attack power greatly increases.
However, damage to enemies other than the target decreases by 30%.
[Sacrifice]
Once per oath, the knight takes a powerful attack intended for the sworn ally.
If the damage would be fatal, the knight’s HP is reduced to 1%.
Cooldown: 100 seconds
‘Wow… I actually got this.’
No matter how he looked at it, it was the skill he knew.
Oath.
When you think of knights, this word is almost the first thing that comes to mind.
A knight’s oath was famous enough for everyone to know about.
This skill embodied that concept perfectly.
‘Depending on how it’s used, it can be either an absurdly powerful skill… or complete trash.’
If the party member you swore an oath to was weak or poorly coordinated, the skill could become nothing more than a suicidal trolling ability.
But if used with good teamwork—
or in the right situation—
it could produce ridiculous efficiency.
‘Arthur always travels with a knight, right?’
Arthur, who always moved in teams, was famous for using this skill extremely well.
Some even said that if Arthur with Oath active had attempted the Outlaw Challenge, it might have succeeded.
Many other high-ranking players used it effectively as well.
That was why knights were valued as sub-tanks and sub-dealers.
‘They’re awkward as main tanks or main DPS… but perfect as a secondary role.’
A knight who supports their lord.
Sometimes a sharp sword, sometimes a solid shield.
This skill perfectly captured that loyal knight concept.
And Oath was the most symbolic skill of the knight class.
The only downside was that it required trust with the knight.
But…
“Lord, I feel a firm resolve in my chest. I believe I can serve you even better now.”
“Oh, I know that feeling. Looks like you got something good too?”
“Indeed! It must all be thanks to you, my lord. Please rely on this humble sword.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
That didn’t seem like something he needed to worry about.
Charlie had started with max loyalty as a guardian.
There was no reason not to trust him.
“Riza! Riza-riza!”
“Elizabeth, you want one too? Hmm… but you don’t have other abilities yet.”
“RIZA!!!”
“S-sorry. I guess it’s because you’re not fully grown yet.”
‘Come to think of it, Elizabeth is classified under Jihad’s faction.’
A subordinate guardian who grows together with Jihad.
The advantage was that she grew automatically.
But the downside was that she didn’t get skill draws.
“Riza…”
“It’s okay, Elizabeth. You’re already doing your part.”
“Riza?”
“Yeah. You really are.”
Perhaps encouraged by Dohyun’s words, Elizabeth’s drooping eyes began to sparkle again.
She rubbed her face against him as he gently stroked her with his finger and smiled.
Of course she was doing her part.
Her webbing and parasitic abilities were useful support skills.
And most importantly—
She was cute.
[You have obtained Pulsing Tree Root Leaf.]
“Alright, that’s one.”
After digging under the Pulsing Tree and obtaining a root leaf, Dohyun grinned.
‘Now… shall we go test the skills?’
The card opening was finished.
It was time to try out his first attack magic skill.
* * *
After walking for about ten minutes, Dohyun stopped.
There were still some people around, but far fewer than before.
He could have tested it earlier, but that would’ve been unacceptable.
‘You can’t dirty a sacred draw spot.’
Using skills in a lucky draw location was forbidden.
It was an unspoken rule among the “card-pulling tribe.”
Dohyun wasn’t a member of the draw gallery forum—but in spirit, he was already one of them.
“…Do you seriously understand that logic?”
“Camaraderie among comrades is important.”
“Yeah. Why did I even expect anything?”
Ignoring Jihad’s muttering behind him, Dohyun pulled out Cheonbyeon.
He intended to transform the weapon as usual.
But after thinking for a moment, he stopped.
‘Maybe I should’ve gotten a staff too.’
He had never needed one before, so he ignored it.
But now that he thought about it—he didn’t own a mage weapon.
In the end, he kept Cheonbyeon in its basic form and lightly waved it through the air.
It felt like he was holding a tiny wand from Harry Potter.
“Abraca— …ahem, not that.”
He trailed off, then spotted a lone troll nearby and activated the skill.
[Using Fireball.]
Flames began to rise in front of Cheonbyeon.
“Whoa…”
The air heated up with a whoosh.
Then the flames grew larger and condensed into a sphere.
The fire swirled while maintaining its spherical shape, and the air around it shimmered with heat.
It felt unbelievably real.
Like he had truly become a mage.
Whoosh— BOOM!
When he sent it forward, the Fireball tore through the air toward the troll at high speed.
The moment it struck—
an explosion erupted.
“Wow…”
It wasn’t an enormous blast.
The visual effects weren’t even that flashy.
But Dohyun felt deeply moved.
The sensation was completely different from close combat.
More than anything, the visual thrill and strange rush of excitement were exhilarating.
ROAAAR!
Judging by the troll’s scream, the damage was pretty significant.
Even without a magic staff, Dohyun’s mana stat was high enough to rival mages of similar level.
He was basically beating it with raw mana.
‘A 17-second cooldown isn’t bad either.’
Mages primarily dealt damage through skills.
That’s why their lower-tier skills had shorter cooldowns than other classes.
They didn’t really have a basic attack.
On the other hand, powerful spells had ridiculously long cooldowns—but that made sense for balance.
If you could constantly drop mass lightning strikes, the game would break.
[Transforming Cheonbyeon into ‘Radiant Taksinel’s Blue Sword’.]
[Using Dark Coating on Cheonbyeon.]
Just as he was about to finish the staggering troll—
a thought suddenly flashed through Dohyun’s mind.
‘Wait a second.’
Dark Coating could be applied to anything recognized as the caster’s possession.
Cheonbyeon.
Undead.
Even himself.
So then…
‘Could I coat a Fireball with it too?’
