Yeon vs. Yeon

“That’s a wrap for today!”

I blurted out those words right after successfully taking down the Shadow Yeon.

After a long series of tries, time flew by, and it was already nearing 12 AM.

It was out of the question to continue the game any further, so we decided to stop the raid here.

“Good work, everyone!”

The party members nodded without complaint.

We had overcome the first boss on our first day of trying.

Compared to the progress of a typical party, it was an incredibly fast pace, so the party members’ faces were filled with relaxed smiles.

On the other hand, Dogric and the other sub-tanks had dark expressions.

I knew why they were making those faces.

They must have thought that if things continued this way, I would steal their tank position in the party.

But there’s no need to worry.

I was planning to switch back to being a dealer next month when the party members’ specs improved.

But there was no need to tell them that now.

People grow in moments of crisis.

I wanted our party’s tanks to grow a little more.

If you take down a boss that appears in a raid, what’s the next thing to do?

Of course, it was to check the dropped items and hold an auction.

The items dropped by Shadow Yeon, or rather, the Shadow of Approaching Moonlight, were as follows.

[The Other Side of the Moon]

This item cannot be equipped currently.

Equippable after Ether Succession from the same type of equipment.

All stats +20% upon Ether grade succession.

Unique Acquisition: Bound

Bracelet

Level Restriction 85

Movement Speed +10%

Casting Speed +15%

Attack Speed +15%

[Shadow] skill available.

[Shadow]

Designate a specific target to create a clone of that target for 1 minute.

The created clone mimics all the skills of the designated target and possesses 60% of their stats.

Cooldown: 30 minutes.

※ Boss monsters cannot be designated as targets.

[Shadow Sword]

This item cannot be equipped currently.

Equippable after Ether Succession from the same type of equipment.

All stats +20% upon Ether grade succession.

Unique Acquisition: Bound

Two-Handed Sword

Level Restriction 85

Attack Speed +30%

30% additional damage when attacking Light attribute monsters.

15% additional damage when attacking Dark attribute monsters.

Absorb 10% of the damage dealt as health.

[Blessing of the Fallen Moon] skill available.

[Blessing of the Fallen Moon]

When used, creates a buff effect that enhances the caster and party members for 30 seconds.

All stats +10% increase.

Cooldown: 30 seconds

[Master Rank Transcendence Stone]

When used, increases the Master Rank of the desired job by 1.

Acquisition: Bound

※ Cannot be canceled after the item effect has been applied.

I wondered what would happen to the existing Ether grade when getting a new item, but it seemed that the enhancement stage could be transferred intact through a system called succession.

I nodded as I checked the item descriptions.

Among the dropped items, the Shadow Sword wasn’t a very appealing weapon, but the first item I checked, The Other Side of the Moon, had an interesting skill.

An item that summons a clone of a specific target.

This was bound to be in high demand.

Turning my gaze to look at the party members, they were all eyeing The Other Side of the Moon with shining eyes.

The next item that dropped was the Master Rank Transcendence Stone.

It wasn’t a Transcendence Stone that enhanced the item itself, but an item that enhanced the user’s job.

The secret of the Master Rank system, which was first revealed in the update announcement, was now being unlocked.

After all the party members checked the dropped items.

The auction finally began.

Deron’s system had improved a lot.

Now, even if I, the party leader, didn’t conduct the auction, the party members could proceed with the auction on their own.

The first item to appear was The Other Side of the Moon.

As expected of an item that everyone would pay attention to, the bidding amount started to skyrocket from the beginning.

Chwareureureuk-

Chwareureureuk-

Chwareureureuk-

Maintaining a subtle state of silence, only the gold rises sharply.

Less than a minute after the auction started, the bidding amount for the item had already exceeded 6,000 gold.

At this rate, it seemed like it would easily surpass 10,000 gold.

As I expected, the bidding amount stopped rising at 9,500 gold.

The bidder’s nickname was Iyap.

He was looking at [The Other Side of the Moon] with desperate eyes.

But even with Iyap’s desperate gaze, someone appeared to join the auction.

That nickname was Helena.

“Heok…”

The party members gasped.

They already knew from many experiences.

That an item that Helena showed interest in could never be won.

Competing with Helena’s gold was a foolish fight.

“Oh, man…”

Iyap gave up quickly.

In the end, the [The Other Side of the Moon] item was taken by Helena.

The next item auctioned was [Shadow Sword]

A two-handed sword. And since it was a weapon used by dealers, the people in the party who could win this item were narrowed down to two.

There were only two dealers who used two-handed swords.

Me and Yerin.

As expected, Yerin bid 500 gold for the item.

She watched my reaction in that state.

But it didn’t matter. I wasn’t interested in that item.

Usually, there isn’t just one type of weapon that appears in a raid.

I was planning to invest in an item with better performance than this.

In the end, Yerin won the Shadow Sword.

It was a huge difference in price compared to The Other Side of the Moon, which was won for 10,000 gold.

The next item to appear in the auction was [Master Rank Transcendence Stone]

During the short time the auction was in progress, I searched for information on various communities, but no information had been released yet.

That meant the drop rate was extremely low.

The party members showed interest.

But since they didn’t know what effects this item would bring, few party members invested a lot of money.

The description said that it would raise the Master Rank of a specific job by 1.

What would change if that Master Rank rose?

Even looking at the item’s description, I couldn’t find out.

Of course, there were people who invested gold in items with such uncertain performance.

Those who were relatively greedy for spec upgrades.

Snow Mage, Iyap, and Yerin.

In other words, they were our party’s aces.

They invested thousands of gold in this small stone and heated up the auction.

Of course, Hwarang and I also participated in between.

The bidding amount for the small stone exceeded 6,000 gold.

When things got to this point, I had no choice but to give up.

Even if I combined the gold I had prepared with the gold I borrowed from Helena, I couldn’t offer any more than that.

Was Helena not interested in this item?

She was looking at the bracelet she had won and smiling happily.

As if she didn’t feel the gazes around her.

In the end, Iyap won the Transcendence Stone.

The winning bid was 7,600 gold.

The total auction amount for the first boss was 18,100 gold.

If 40 people divided it, they would get 452.5 gold each.

It was a huge gold income for only catching one boss.

“Everyone, dismiss!”

Now that the auction gold had been distributed, it was time to dismiss.

I felt proud as I watched the party members scatter.

If I hadn’t used the Rank Reset Ticket, we wouldn’t have parted on such a good note today.

“Heum heum…”

It’s a little disappointing.

I wish the party members had praised my spirit of sacrifice a little more…

At that moment, Snow Mage, who had been watching from the corner, ran off in a hurry.

The place she headed to was the middle of the room where the boss had fallen.

“Heok… The transformation…!”

Snow Mage looked at the boss’s corpse lying on the floor and sat down on the floor.

It seemed like she had expected something a lot, but that expectation was shattered.

“What’s wrong?”

“The transformation has been undone…”

Snow Mage answered in a listless voice.

She sighed deeply and slowly started walking out of the dungeon.

Judging by the fact that she even forgot to use her Return Stone, she seemed very heartbroken.

What was she expecting?

I crossed my arms and silently watched her leave.

“Yeon-ah.”

“Ah, Helena.”

Helena, who had come closer, was smiling brightly.

Was the item she had won this time that good?

Seeing her smile made me happy too.

“Can you help me for a second?”

“With what?”

“I want to test the item’s performance.”

Test the item’s performance.

Don’t tell me she’s going to use me as the clone target?

I nodded.

And so, I returned to town with Helena and headed to the blacksmith.

The Ether grade succession work was also done at the blacksmith.

“Wait a second.”

Helena took out the bracelet she was wearing and started the succession work to transfer the Ether grade of that equipment to the The Other Side of the Moon she had obtained this time.

The succession work took about 10 seconds.

I had expected a fancy effect, but there was no visible enhancement effect.

Instead, there was a bracelet with black shadows rippling on Helena’s wrist, which I hadn’t seen before.

It seemed like the succession work was over.

Helena and I moved to a quiet place with few people.

In front of a small flower bed behind Solaris Castle.

When she arrived at that place, Helena reached out to me.

There were no special incantations to use the skill.

The black shadows rippling from Helena’s hand were the activation effect of the skill.

The shadow that wriggled and revealed itself soon transformed into the same appearance as me.

Just like the boss who mimicked my appearance in the raid dungeon.

“Oh…”

Helena started giving various commands to my cloned doppelganger.

From light walking to running.

And even spinning around and sitting on Helena’s lap.

The shadow, which had been performing a variety of commands, scattered in a blurry state after the duration of 1 minute had passed.

Helena smacked her lips as if she was disappointed at the sight.

I thought as I watched the scene.

Why did she need me to test the performance of the clone?

She could have done this test even if she had created her own clone.

I looked at Helena with a sullen expression.

“Do you like the item’s performance?”

“Yeah… I like it a lot…”

“That’s a relief.”

I smiled lightly at Helena’s answer and nodded.

“Then, I’ll head out?”

“Are you leaving already?”

“Yeah. My mom was worried that I’ve been staying up too late these days.”

“Ah…”

Helena nodded at my answer.

I waved my hand at Helena and logged out.

***

Helena, who was left alone, stroked her bracelet.

The information of the target once designated remained on the bracelet.

In other words, unless a new target was designated, the clone summoned from this bracelet would be in the form of her friend, Yeon.

Duration: 1 minute.

Cooldown: 30 minutes.

Helena looked at the spot where Yeon had disappeared and waited for the cooldown.

To summon a new clone.

After 30 minutes had passed.

Helena used the bracelet’s skill to create a new clone.

“Heok…”

Helena looked at the clone created in front of her with trembling eyes.

Although she knew it was fake, the appearance perfectly reproduced her friend’s appearance.

Helena looked around, checking her surroundings, and then carefully took action.

To do what she couldn’t do to her friend.

The first was touching her cheek.

Helena raised both hands and rubbed the clone’s face, which was like a soft rice cake, and squished it.

The next was interlocking her hands.

Helena lowered her hands, interlocked her fingers with the clone’s hands, and made eye contact.

Like that for 1 minute.

Until the clone completely disappeared.

More satisfying than any other item.

Helena smiled faintly as she looked at the bracelet that could create clones.