Arcana's status system was fairly simple.
All base stats started at one.
Each level up granted 1 point.
Players simply needed to allocate points into their desired stats according to their class specialty.
I stared at my status window.
Grandfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo
Class: Demon Hunter
Level: 67
Stats
Strength: 21
Agility: 26
Magic Power: 11
Luck: 1
Available Points: 12
Unsurprisingly, Demon Hunters lacked class-specific primary stats.
On top of that, my stats were distributed in a messy, haphazard way.
This couldn't be helped.
Back then, Demon Hunters had no proper guide.
Viability aside, hardly anyone actually played the class.
Because of the class's 'jack of all trades, master of none' nature, I had no choice but to invest stat points evenly into every attribute.
Though even now, not much has really changed.
It wasn't that I didn't know what I was doing—I was keeping my options open.
That single shift in perspective made all the difference.
I allocated the points.
Stats
Strength: 23 (+2)
Agility: 28 (+2)
Magic Power: 18 (+7)
Luck: 1
Available Points: 1
Two points into Strength and Agility each.
Investing 7 points into the relatively lower Magic Power left 1 point remaining.
Normally, I would have dumped that remaining point into Magic as well.
Yet for some reason, that single point in Luck bothered me.
『Grandfel Claudi Arpheus Romeo.
Heir to a great family, but his house fell to ruin at the hands of a demon. As the sole survivor, Grandfel walked the path of a Demon Hunter to exact revenge.』
"…"
Why did that character setting suddenly pop into my head?
Even though it was just a backstory for Grandfel written down on a whim, he truly had terrible luck.
His life was so tragically cursed that you had to wonder if having a single point in Luck was what brought on all that suffering.
Not that I actually felt guilty about it.
Honestly, wouldn't it be weirder if I did?
I was the one currently bearing the weight of Grandfel's backstory.
So if anything, what I felt was closer to pity.
Available Points: 0
Pity for my future self, who would suffer from here on out.
And while I was at it, a little pity for Grandfel's wretched life, too.
A pretty big investment for a bit of pity.
Luck wasn't treated well in Arcana at all.
Unlike primary stats like Strength, Luck didn't give you any immediate, noticeable payoff.
Calling Luck a terrible return on investment was putting it lightly.
Only a tiny fraction of non-combat classes ever bothered with it.
I remembered that even then, it was never a core stat.
Luck: 2
Although it was just 1 point, it was all a matter of perspective, wasn't it?
Let's just think of it as doubling my Luck. Of course, when your luck is this abysmal, doubling it probably wouldn't make much of a difference anyway.
* * *
The effect of doubling my Luck showed itself immediately.
Unmistakably so.
At dawn the very next day.
"?"
When I opened my eyes, a system message popped up before me.
You have met the requirements.
Starting Quest.
A quest…?
* * *
Back when Arcana was just a game, quests were a common sight.
"Ugh, another garbage quest."
"Just reject it. Isn't the reward trash anyway?"
"My affinity will drop. Do you know how hard it was to raise that?"
"Even if you finish that entire quest chain, all you get is a few potions. If I were you, I'd just spend that time grinding. A single decent drop would net you way more than those potions."
Players were picky and chose which quests to do based on rewards and difficulty.
However, now that Arcana had become reality, quests were the exclusive privilege of high-level players.
The reason was simple.
There were hardly any NPCs in reality to begin with.
After all, they only appeared when game structures crossed over into the real world—like when the Magic Tower erupted, bringing its resident mages right along with it.
"What in the world is happening…?"
"To think I would experience something like this in my lifetime."
"So this is the adventurers' world. It looks beautiful, sparkling in the dark."
Just like the rest of us, the NPCs were gradually adjusting to the Great Cataclysm.
"We can't just stand by and watch forever."
"The rift! No matter how you look at it, that's the cause of this problem!"
"We can't burden the adventurers' world any longer."
In other words, they were now giving players fresh quests tailored to this new reality.
However, only high-level players could undertake them.
"Hmm, no matter how I look at it, you seem lacking in training."
"It seems a bit too much for you, adventurer."
"Ah, another adventurer has already fulfilled that request…"
Quests in reality solidified the gap between high-rank and low-rank players even further, making it only natural for everyone to become sensitive to them.
↳Yo, did a Sudden Quest just pop up at the rift?!
↳fr? where? Im omw
↳Sucks that we have to scramble for Sudden Quests like this, so pathetic ㅠㅠ
↳If I knew it'd turn out like this, I would've quit my day job to no-life Arcana. High-levels are clearing chain quests, rankers are tackling the main storyline… wtf are we even doing??
That was the new norm…
I checked the quest window once again.
Class Quest: Prelude to a Counterattack
"…A class quest?"
What is this?
I had zero information.
At a glance, it seemed like a quest related to my class, Demon Hunter, but…
Exorcism, training, meditation…
Suddenly, quests I used to do at the Akshan base flashed through my mind.
No, those were just ordinary quests.
They didn't carry such a grandiose modifier as "Class".
Naturally, I didn't hesitate to type "Class Quest" into the search bar.
[Arcana News] Holy Knight Rank 1 'Gyver' Initiates Class Quest!
"Will he become the first Holy Knight to break into the top 10 player rankings? Expectations grow high as Gyver…"
Finding information about it wasn't difficult.
A Class Quest.
Out of numerous players sharing the same class, it was a quest granted to only a single person.
Though the exact details of those quests varied and remained a mystery, I understood why such a grandiose quest had landed in my lap.
"It seems I truly am the last that remains."
Class Quest: Prelude to a Counterattack
O Last Demon Hunter.
Inform the demons that the time for a counterattack has come.
─Slay a demon. (Success)
I was the only Demon Hunter left.
That was why this incredible Class Quest had appeared before me.
As shown in the system window, it seemed the quest had triggered from defeating a demon imp.
Hard not to get greedy looking at this.
Even from a quick skim of the articles, the rewards for a Class Quest clearly seemed amazing.
For starters, just accepting one was enough to make headlines, with articles hyping up how it could catapult someone straight into the top 10.
Yet that desire never surfaced on my face.
And why would it?
To Grandfel, all of this was only natural.
Slaying the demon.
Becoming the protagonist of a Class Quest because of it.
Even the rewards he would claim upon completing it.
Grandfel…
No, I was accepting every bit of it as entirely natural.
Far from fluttering with excitement, my steady heartbeat—beating no differently than usual—was living proof of that.
I shook my head lightly.
There goes my normal-person mindset. I'm actually starting to think like the heir to a noble house.
Still, I had no choice but to accept it.
To survive as a player, and moreover as a Demon Hunter, Grandfel's backstory was an absolute necessity for me.
However, I had to keep one thing in mind.
"…I am still far too young to drown in the past."
The fact that Grandfel was nothing more than my dark past.
Right, a dark past isn't something to immerse oneself in—it's something to overcome.
As I made that resolve, the quest window in my vision flickered.
"!"
A new quest objective appeared.
─Train your weakened body.
Memories of the Akshan base suddenly resurfaced.
Wait, don't tell me this is… the notoriously painful quest that made countless Demon Hunters delete their accounts?!
I let out a groan.
It seemed the effect of my Luck had already run out.
Yet that emotion didn't show on the outside either.
"Perhaps… I should have invested one more point."
How pitiful, Hoyeol Lee. As expected, I'm the only one who suffers because of this damned backstory.
* * *
The Akshan base, headquarters of the Demon Hunters.
To an outsider, it probably sounded pretty badass.
Even I, an absolute sucker for looking cool, had fallen for that hype and picked the Demon Hunter class.
But experiencing the reality firsthand was a complete and utter shock.
Poor facilities!
Class advancement quests that were basically manual labor!
NPCs who did nothing but yell at you instead of offering an ounce of encouragement!
Of course, there was a plausible-sounding justification attached to it all.
"Demons constantly target human greed. Therefore, a Demon Hunter must always remain pure."
"A strong mind dwells within a strong body. Do you wish to become a Demon Hunter? Then building a strong body comes first!"
"Living as a Demon Hunter, losing your life unexpectedly is common. Since demons target the grief of those left behind, deep bonds are poison to Demon Hunters. Do not try to get close to me."
Looking back on it as an adult, it was such an absurd setting.
There was a reason it was so unpopular!
Yet my past self had become even more fascinated by the class after hearing those lore snippets.
Enduring all kinds of absurdities, I had ultimately claimed the Demon Hunter class.
I… really was a severe edgelord.
Busting my ass like this was bringing all sorts of random thoughts to mind.
"Huuu—"
I continued doing push-ups, despite my arms feeling numb.
Class Quest: Prelude to a Counterattack
O Last Demon Hunter.
Inform the demons that the time for a counterattack has come.
─Slay a demon. (Success)
─Train your weakened body. (In Progress) ▼
Isn't something supposed to be different?! This is a Class Quest—a unique quest meant for just one person! So why the hell is it no different from the basic starter quests in Akshan?!
To top it off, this wasn't a virtual reality—it was actual reality.
Meaning dealing with the aftermath of this workout regimen was entirely my responsibility.
─Train your weakened body. (In Progress) ▲
●20km Run (Success)
●1,000 Push-ups (In Progress)
●500 Pull-ups (Success)
●300 Burpees (Success)
Today marked a full week.
Since those quest objectives refreshed daily, I had been plowing through that training regimen without skipping a single day.
It was only natural that the muscle aches showed no sign of disappearing!
Yet my complaints merely lingered in my mind before fading away.
As if I were someone who had been waiting for this quest all along, I dutifully cleared the objectives.
『Grandfel's noble pride did not originate from his highborn lineage. It was innate—a gift from heaven that remained unwavering before any ordeal.』
I had no choice but to be diligent, yet I had no memory of ever giving Grandfel a setting for being hardworking.
After all, wasn't a hardworking edgelord a bizarre concept in itself?
Everything I was doing was simply to uphold that high-and-mighty pride of his.
Clear, sunny weather without a single gust of wind.
Yet, even as my forearms trembled in agony, I managed to speak with absolute serenity:
"The wind blows quite fiercely today."
Only Grandfel's pride could grant me the shameless audacity to utter such a blatant lie without batting an eye.
However, one thing was certain: without this pride…
…I never could have done this, right?
I wouldn't have lasted even a single day.
I probably would have given up right during the run.
"This shall be the last."
…At any rate, good job, me. Diligently grinding out this quest again today.
You have met the requirements.
Reward will be granted.
Reading those words, I opened the system window.
The inventory was… unchanged.
Instead, the status window was flashing.
"!"
My level remained the same, but my stats had changed.
...Class Quests really were worth all the hype after all.
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