The waiting room of the 15th floor of the Spirit Dojo.

There were paintings on the walls of the waiting room on every floor, but the waiting room structure of the 15th floor was special.

On the 15th floor, the ‘Dojo Master’ was on one side of the waiting room.

Syarlion, a dojo master protecting the spirit dojo.

Ian entered the room and talked over to Syarlion with a pleasant look.

“Huhu, you said that I should be nervous, right?”

“I was very nervous, and dealt with you very seriously.”

“Huhu.”

“The perfect defeat. Congrats on being the first honorary conduit.”

Syarlion, who smiled bitterly, offered something to Ian.

It was a small thing, the texture and size were similar to the wood plaque that he had been given by Syarlon.

Tring-!

[You have earned ‘Sign of Honorary Conduit (Beginner)’.]

[You have become the ‘Honorary Conduit’ for the first time.]

[You have successfully completed the quest ‘Syarlon’s Errand’.]

[Fame increased 500,000.]

[Affinity with the ‘Goral’ race had increased permanently by 10.]

[You have earned the item ‘Guardian Mask’.]

Seeing all the rewards come up successfully along with the quest completion message, Ian couldn’t hide his laughter.

The miscellaneous item, ‘Sign of Honorary Conduit’ was an item with a decent option according to Ian.

-Sign of Honorary Conduit (Beginner)

Classification: Goods

Rank: Rare (transcendence)

This certificate proves that you have become an Honorary Conduit of the Spirit Dojo which is located in the Pneuma village on the south side of Spirit Mountain.

If this certificate is present, you will be given the least recognition as the Intermediate being.

Also, if the Spirit Dojo is re-challenged anytime, the challenge can be resumed from the 16th floor.

*Option

Leadership: +10 (Transcendence)

All battle abilities: +10 (Transcendence)

Transcendence Fame: +50 (Sealed)

(Sealed options aren’t active unless the ‘Intermediate-being’ has been obtained.)

*This item belongs to the user ‘Ian’.

It cannot be transferred or sold to other users and will not drop if the character dies.

‘The transcendence leadership is 10, and all are 10. And transcendence fame…’

The concept of the transcendence fame was the first time for Ian to come across.

But it wasn’t so difficult to guess what it was from the name.

‘There is a fame that applies in the Middle-Earth. Somehow, my fame is over 10 million units and the NPCs here ignored it…’

And at the self-explanation of Ian, another piece of information was provided.

The statistic of transcendence is a stat that has been opened since becoming an intermediate being.

But the sign of Honorary Conduit was encouraging it as an ‘Unexpected Harvest’.

‘Huhu, this is really my own item.’

Ian flicked the white mask that was on his face.

From the very moment, the mask would be of a very great hep for Ian and the spirit spell.

Feeling better, Ian bowed slightly towards Syarlion.

“I’ll use this mask in the right way, Syarlion. Thanks to you, I was able to get a valuable item.”

And at the gratitude that Ian was showing, the bitter expression on the face of Syarlion turned brighter.

“Not at all. After all, that mask has a master now.”

The gaze of Syarlion was fixed on the Guardian Mask.

And his words followed again,

“If you wear that mask in the future, don’t ever lose it to anyone. That is the honor of the Goral race beings.”

At the serious expression of Syarlion, Ian smiled and joked,

“I understand Syarlion. I’ll take it off if I’m going to lose.”

“…”

And with a friendly atmosphere, Ian and Syarlion talked.

And in it, he was trying to know what the ‘hidden condition’ meant.

“By the way, what does it mean to be an honorary conduit?”

“Uhm, well…”

As he heard the voice of Syarlion, Ian’s eyes began to sparkle.

From the tone of the voice, it looked like an important story was going to start.

After a while, Syarlion’s words continued,

“Firstly, I’ll have to explain the concept of ‘conduit’.”

The explanation that Syarlion had given was quite long.

The content couldn’t be summarized simply.

Firstly, the ‘conduit’, means the practitioners who guard each floor of the Spirit Dojo.

But the conduits can only be of the Goral race.

Secondly, the ‘Honorary conduit’ was a system designed to give the position of a conduit to a competent person even if they don’t belong to the ‘goral’ race.

Thirdly, the honorary conduit was not given all the duties and privileges of the conduit, but he could serve as the true conduit as the master instructs.

“So, what I want to say is, you have been appointed as a true conduit in our Spirit Dojo. In fact, there are no examples that I can think of about non-intermedite beings assigned as the conduits, but I feel that you will be great at it.”

After listening to the explanation of Syarlion, Ian’s eyes went wide.

It seemed like a very interesting content, but the constraints on them were too great.

“So, Syarlion, so am I supposed to obey this dojo like any other trainee?”

“That is right.”

Ian was flustered at what he heard.

“I need to stay here for 365 days and get the challengers… is that what you are implying?”

Seeing the shock registered on Ian’s face, Syarlion laughed.

He understood what kind of concern was going over Ian’s head.

“Huhu, I know what you are so concerned about, but don’t worry.”

“Hmm…?”

“Have you ever shared a word with the other trainees besides me?”

Ian started to go down the memory lane.

And soon he spoke,

“Ah, nope. I don’t think so.”

Syarlion shook his head and continued the explanation,

“Okay. Obviously. They’re just the illusions replicated by the power of spirits.”

“Aha!”

And Ian was able to understand the system of it in just a matter of seconds, and Syarlion was saying it the cleanest way possible.

“From the very moment, you will be a conduit guarding one floor like the other trainees. To be precise, your illusion represented by the spirits’ power.”

“I understand, Syarlion.”

“Let’s see…you could be on the 9th floor. How’s that sound?”

“Huh, well, sure.”

At the suggestion of Syarlion, Ian just nodded his head.

‘I don’t have to be here by myself, so I guess it is okay.’

And after the conversation with Syarlion, Ian began to see the new system messages.

Tring-!

[Appointed as the gatekeeper of the Spirit Dojo.]

[Since the transcendence level is of ‘level 9’, you will be placed at the gateway of the 9th floor.]

[All the current stats will be duplicated creating a ‘Spirit Form’ (If the level of the character or the stats increase, it won’t be reflected in the spirit form)]

[Each time your Spirit Form wins over the challenger, you will gain 9 Hero Score.]

[If your ‘Spirit Form’ is defeated by the user, you will be disqualified as a ‘gatekeeper’.]

[To re-qualify as a ‘gatekeeper’, you will have to go to the Dojo master who oversees the section.]

After reading all the messages, Ian looked a bit disappointed.

‘Sh*t, I thought too much about the reward.’

Collecting a hero score of 9, that was just too easy.

Of course, it wasn’t like a one time reward.

And Ian was under the impression that there were way too less contenders to challenge the dojo.

Not to mention the number of users who could even enter the Spirit Dimension, not to mention, he never even saw an NPC challenger.

In addition, if the users lose against the gatekeeper once, he thought that it would be a good thing if he got three or four rewards.

‘Well, this is the main part…’

Ian tried to keep his mind clean and was ready to say goodbye to Syarlion.

“You worked hard, Syarlion. I’ll have to go now.”

At the greeting from Ian, Syarlion looked surprised.

Ian, who had defeated him with a penalty, if he wanted then, he could go up to the 20th floor.

“Oh ho, you’re going to move out without challenging the 16th floor?”

Ian nodded his head and answered,

“Yes, I have a lot of things that I need to do. I’ll try to take on the 16th floor later on.”

“Ah ha, you have something busy to do.”

Seeing the sad expression on Syarlion’s face, Ian smiled.

He too wanted to go past the 16th floor, but too much time had passed.

‘I can sleep for only 5 hours even if I log out right away.’

He actually decided to recharge along with the guild members for 12 hours, but had lost more than 7 hours due to the unexpected quest, ‘Syarlon’s Errands’.

‘I have to log out right away and get some good sleep. I don’t have to rush, as there is no way that the 30th floor could be broken.’

Ian summarized his thoughts and came out of the dojo without regret.

And immediately exited the game.

* * *

“Right, Chesk! The cover was good!”

“This is great!”

“Inisco, block the retreat.”

“Okay, hyung!”

Ralph and their teams had come back to heal the mental strain they had due to the mysterious challenger.

They were able to clear the dojo at a ‘Ka-boom’ kind of pace.

Tring-!

[You have won against the trainee!]

[You have successfully cleared the 6th floor of the Spirit Dojo.]

[This section has already been cleared, additional rewards cannot be obtained.]

[You have earned 5 Hero scores.]

… Syncopation…

[You have successfully cleared the 7th floor of the Spirit Dojo.]

[You have successfully cleared the 8th floor of the Spirit Dojo.]

And thanks to the rest, their teamwork and their fighting were much better and coordinated than before.

“Nice, Chesk. We should have done it this way!”

“Huuh, I wasn’t myself yesterday.”

“Hmm, Chesk hyung. The combat is different from yesterday. Taking a break and then trying it.”

As soon as they entered the waiting room on the 8th floor, Ralph and the entire party stepped to the next floor.

And, the 3rd to 12th floors were the sections that weren’t so hard to clear, even when the condition wasn’t so good.

When Ralph, the leader, stepped into the 9th floor, a system message had come up in front of the three people.

Tring-!

[You have entered the 9th floor of the Spirit Dojo.]

[Since the number of the party are 3, the stats of the conduit will be increased accordingly.]

[The battle will commence in a while.]

Ralph and the party looked over at the messages.

“The 9th floor huh? was it the Berserker warrior class?”

“Right, hyung. I memorized the kind of opponent that we will have to face on the floors.”

“It isn’t so tricky, let’s get rid of this in no time!”

“Nice!”

The three were so motivated again, and set foot to take over.

But the next moment.

Woong-!

Seeing the resonance and the silhouette on the other side of the duel, the three of them went stiff at the same time.

“…?”

“How did this happen?”

“This right now… really?”

Too familiar, no, a familiar that couldn’t be anything than familiar.

With a mask that they were seeing for the very first time, but the three of them knew who it was.

The guy infront of them was the killer who had turned their mental ability into powder.

Ralph, the first to speak, spoke to Chesk and Inisco.

“Kay, lets figure it. The silhouette is definitely similar, but… maybe he isn’t the same guy?”

“Hmm…”

“And even if it was the same guy, we are at our best condition this time. Unlike the last time, our vitality is at the maximum this time.”

After hearing the slightly encouraging words from Ralph, the two were feeling good.

And with his words, the situation surely seemed to be different from the last time.

‘Okay. That time, we were at a loss of power after the 14th floor.’

‘Nice. Let’s do this in one try…!’

Unlike the killer who was waiting for them very silently, the three people were burning with desire.

But there was one thing that they all over looked.

And that was, the level and spec of the trainee that they were facing weren’t the same.

As soon as they entered the 9th floor, a line of system messages came to their eyes.

[Since the number of the party are 3, the stats of the conduit will be increased accordingly.]

The spirit form of Ian in front of their eyes, was a replica with almost twice the amount of stats at this time.