Solo Max-Level Newbie

As night filled the sky and the sun completely set, Jin-hyuk stood waiting in an abandoned alley.

‘Nights are pretty cold here.’

He had come out a little early in case he missed the black market’s set starting time, but the nights here were cold.

Still.

Because his desired condition had been achieved, even standing around waiting for another felt enjoyable.

‘It’s said that having a strong bank account gives you confidence that you didn’t have before. Guess that statement is true.’

Thirty million dollars or over thirty-five billion won in Korea.

Jin-hyuk had earned it within 10 minutes. It was an incredible jackpot that would go down in the history of Las Vegas gambling.

‘That is enough to win the bid for a replica.’

He heard that over 100 items were being auctioned, so the competition probably won’t be that fierce.

‘Especially because I do not want to be noticed by others.’

A pearl in the mud.

Items that had value incomparable to the money you’d spent it. Those who don’t know the true value would be reluctant to spend their money on it.

Anyway, the time had come…

And the moment he thought about that.

Woong!

He heard the sound of a car approaching. After a moment, a black Benz stopped in front of him.

The car windows were lowered, and a man in a suit was inside. Probably a black market employee?

“Guest 117, is it you, sir?”

“Yes. That is me.”

Jin-hyuk showed him the invitation card and number.

“We have confirmed it. We will now take you to where the auction is held. We ask for your understanding as we have to ask you to put on a blindfold for the sake of security.”

A blindfold?

As expected, even magic was being blocked.

In movies and other media, they’d put a blindfold on the protagonist, and they would know their destination by feeling the seconds that passed or the turns they took.

But, in reality?

It would be fun to try, but it doesn’t work.

[The location is 30 minutes away, a mansion in the middle of the desert.]

[We must hurry to not be late. But what do we do?]

Even without doing anything, he could glean the information using the Eye of Gluttony.

‘I should try it on players next time.’

In the past, all the players had already left the Tower of Trials by the time he had made this Eye. That meant that even if he wanted to experiment, there was no one to target.

‘I do not have to worry about that anymore.’

If we don’t want humanity to perish, we must use everything and climb the tower.

Checking to see if the Eye of Gluttony worked on those who use magic and those who don’t. If it did work, to what level was its efficiency?

It would be a different kind of pleasure to know that. Jin-hyuk let his thoughts wander as he buried himself in the car seat.

It took precisely 30 minutes.

“We are here.”

With those words from the staff, the car stopped.

He was finally able to take the blindfold off.

‘Phew. I thought I was going to die there.’

As Jin-hyuk got out of the car, a surprising scene unfolded.

“Oh.”

He exclaimed unconsciously.

He couldn’t help it.

This was a much more splendid and beautiful mansion than he had imagined. In addition, the starry night sky and the oasis around it harmonized with the mansion’s exterior to create a picturesque sight.

“You can hand the invitation over to me. And have a good time, sir.”

After the staff rechecked the authenticity of the invitation, he bowed his head. Jin-hyuk, who was alone, went inside the mansion.

The moment he went through the gate, he looked at the pond attached to the garden.

[The promise, you haven't forgotten it, right?]

Elise’s voice could be heard. Right, she was still here.

Helping him find a demonic human on the plane was a special achievement, so he had allowed her to wish for one thing. She had wished to see the outside world.

“It doesn’t matter. This is fine, right?”

Las Vegas would have a lot more to see if they roamed outside there. There were many forms of entertainment, from fireworks to motorcycle performances.

But she wanted to visit an auction house that was only for the rich?

[If you want to fit into the noble-blooded denizens of the night, you need to have such a level of dignity. It isn't a bad mansion. Even if it was made by humans, this is fine.]

Ugh.

“Living in a small place like the ring suits you fine. And what is this nobility of the night?”

Was she talking about the nobility who waited in the corners?

[What!? A bat doesn't wait in corners!]

Elise screamed indignantly, to the point that the ring vibrated.

“I didn’t say it like that…”

At this point, he felt bad for her.

Right.

She had been through enough in the past, so he just decided to nod his head. After all, it was a spacious mansion, a rare sight to see.

Nor could he feel any cameras or magic in here.

‘As long as the invitation has been checked, the internal security must be less strict.’

Above all, due to the nature of guests participating in the auction, there was a strict need to have their privacy protected.

The procedures went well.

And no one would notice if another guest was added to this place.

Woong!

Jin-hyuk infused magic into Braham’s Ring.

Elise soon appeared in human form from the ring.

And she wasn’t the size of a small dog this time but was at a height close to 150 cm.

She was still small compared to her actual size, which was over 170 cm, but it was enough to avoid any suspicion.

“Umm! The air from outside is amazing!”

Elise stretched her body.

Long silver hair and red eyes.

“I poured in as much mana as I could, but it is unreasonable to go beyond that size.”

“It is fine. Still, it is better than being smaller than 30 cm.”

She smiled happily.

“It is nice to think that way.”

“Well, are you going to do something in the auction?”

Elise’s eyes twinkled.

Because she had been in a position where her subordinates would seize or steal whatever she wanted, money made no sense to Elise.

Therefore, spectacles such as auctions were interesting to her.

“Right. Take it slow. It’s almost the starting time.”

Jin-hyuk took out his phone and checked the time.

Ten minutes.

After that, a war of capital would begin.

In an amphitheater located in the center of the mansion.

While it was initially designed for opera, it had been transformed into an auction use that welcomed the world’s wealthiest people who wanted to deal behind the scenes.

“Now 175… I attend it yearly but get excited each time the auction starts.”

“I heard the ‘heart of the ichthyosaur’ is being put in the auction?”

“Really? Is it finally being put out?”

“It must have been thanks to the Tower of Trials finally appearing. All the treasures of constellations that disappeared in ancient times are being reproduced using magic or something.”

“Kuak. I am looking forward to it. Even if I don’t win the bid, I want to look at it.”

“And this time, a lot of big things are coming out, and they said they are accepting precious metals or bonds along with dollars. Of course, in that case, we have to pay an additional 10% fee.”

“Then the competition will be fierce. I need to recheck my balance.”

Whisper.

More than half the people were seated and talking. Jin-hyuk and Elise also moved to empty seats.

But at that moment.

“Haha. Nice to meet you.”

An old man dressed in a black hood approached him.

This guy was…?

Jin-hyuk frowned. It was a familiar face.

Not too long ago, an old man from the Demonic Human Association had pitched a strategy to the world’s major guilds regarding the attack on the 3rd floor.

That same old man was now here.

‘This is another one.’

If he considered the man’s abilities back then, he had to be at least an executive or in a position of command.

“…”

And next to him was Alex, who he had met on the plane.

‘This guy must have been quite angry.’

The handsome guy with a nasty mind. He was clearly angry because Jin-hyuk had taken his elixir.

Naturally, Jin-hyuk didn’t care much about them. Feeling sorry for your actions only applied to another human being.

“I am Julius Cardick. I am sure you must have noticed it, but as you can see, I am the teacher for this stupid disciple.”

That was his name.

Jin-hyuk activated the Eye of Gluttony.

—

Name: Julius Cadrick

Gender: Male

Age: 58

Level: 30

Strength 11 Agility 9 Stamina 10 Magic 49 Misconduct 25

Stat Points: 1

Coins: 130,855

Occupation: Necromancer

Unique Ability: Gravekeeper of the Cursed Tomb

Skills: Lv6 Wailing Wall, Lv6 Commander's Command, Lv5 Night of the Dead. Lv5, regeneration, Lv4 Area Weakening, Lv4 Infectious Disease

—

[Copy Condition: Psychologically, he is furious because of the recent successive failures of his incompetent subordinates. After completing the black magic class he supervises, if you get an A+ grade, you can copy one of his skills or abilities.]

Jin-hyuk knew it.

As expected, he had great skills. He was sure that the unique ability would also create a good synergy.

Gravekeeper of the Cursed Tomb was able to summon a large number of familiars with minimum use of magic. It was clearly the ability of a Necromancer, but he wanted a summoner-like skill added to his repertoire.

But…

After reading the copy conditions, Jin-hyuk felt his head hurt.

‘The system has to be crazy.’

There was something about taking on the role of a passionate student.

What kind of condition was this?

Necromancy wasn’t something he was too interested in, which made these copy conditions a bit too much for now.

All of it was bad.

‘But the ability…’

First of all, should we try it out?

Jin-hyuk looked at the old man.

“Thanks to your disciple, I got a precious thing, and it was a pleasant flight.”

“Haha. I am glad you did. So I want to ask you again about the information. This time I came to you directly.”

“Are you talking about the masked player?”

“Yes. It is a pretty important issue for us. It might be a bit of an exaggeration, but our life depends on it…?”

Look at this…?

Was he trying to threaten him?

Jin-hyuk smiled.

“If that was the case, I would have said I would tell you later.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have time. We need to know it as fast as possible.”

“I don’t know.”

Whether they were in a hurry or not, he didn’t care.

What did it even have to do with him?

They should have sent him a pack of twelve elixirs if they were in such a hurry.

However, despite Jin-hyuk’s words, Cadrick’s expression was calm.

“Hmm. Think carefully before you make a decision. From what I see, you came here to get something?”

“So?”

“If we put our minds to it…”

Cardick’s eyes looked cold as he said.

“It means we can buy all the items being auctioned here tonight.”