Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Gambler Class

I did not say anything so greedy as, If you were going to give me something, you should have given me a different class first!

A gacha box, after all, was something you only understood after opening it.

I opened the first box.

[Misfortune will be converted into luck! The converted luck will be granted to your class!]

Ding!

[Player Ryu Jin’s Luck stat has been changed to MAX!]

[You are the first holder of a MAX stat! MAX will be converted into a numerical value and displayed as a number!]

Beep!

[System calculation failed! It cannot be expressed as a number! It will be displayed as MAX, as before!]

[The player’s stats only apply within the labyrinth!]

Class abilities were valid only within the labyrinth.

That much, I had already known.

‘How will it be applied?’

I would only know that for certain after entering the labyrinth.

For now, it was time for the next box.

Ding!

[A critical System error has occurred! You are a player who failed to regress for an unknown reason! You do not meet the conditions of a labyrinth-selected individual! This was a special benefit that only selected individuals could possess! The special benefit that was about to be granted will disappear!]

“Do not joke with me.”

The moment a curse was about to burst from my mouth.

[A new category will be created!]

[Player Ryu Jin will be classified as an Unselected Individual! The unique trait ‘Unselected Individual’ will be granted as a special benefit!]

[Unselected Individual]

The rules of the labyrinth, as determined by the labyrinth’s masters, do not apply to an Unselected Individual!

Not being bound by the rules means freedom, but it also means danger! Every choice made by an Unselected Individual will bring about changes that have never existed before!

Inherent System authorities, such as the clearing and failure of the labyrinth, cannot be ignored!

Once the player becomes aware of the unique trait’s abilities, they will be specified below.

Free Entry: You may enter any floor you wish, even if you have not cleared the previous floor.

For a moment, I doubted my eyes.

In order to descend to a lower floor, one had to clear the previous floor.

It was the most fundamental rule of the labyrinth, and an absolutely unbreakable one, yet this ignored it.

Of course, I was not sure how this would benefit me right now.

The deeper one went into the labyrinth, the more brutal the monsters and clear conditions became.

Going down without clearing the previous floor was no different from entering without meeting the minimum qualifications.

It was perfect for dying an early, violent death.

I decided to think about it later and opened the final box.

Ding!

[For a Non-Regressor, the ten years of memories from before the regression may as well have vanished entirely! Even with the System’s authority, something that has completely disappeared cannot be restored!]

[Although it will be endlessly insufficient for one who has lost so much, a special benefit to fill this gap will be selected at the maximum limit of authority!]

[You have acquired the unique trait ‘Great Labyrinth Library LV1’ as a special benefit!]

[Great Labyrinth Library LV1]

A growth-type library containing everything about the labyrinth.

As the library grows, it will show more records to the player!

LV1: Book Draw

You may draw a book from the library.

One book contains the records of a certain floor.

The records include everything, such as appearing monsters, clear conditions, hidden items, and the dates and times of hidden events.

Labyrinth Energy is required to draw a book.

Ding!

[A new resource stat, ‘Labyrinth Energy,’ has been added!]

Labyrinth Energy can be obtained by clearing the labyrinth!

“Wow?”

I stared at the message that had appeared.

As expected of a Gambler, even the library’s books had to be drawn.

But I could not complain.

The hidden rewards, hidden monsters, and various events that existed on each floor of the labyrinth.

Even after the regression, the regressors had never released information related to them.

Just because everyone had regressed together did not mean the information they possessed was the same.

Thanks to that, there had been no way for me to access such knowledge, so what kind of windfall was this?

‘This trait will rise exponentially in value the deeper the floors become.’

There was a high probability that other people already knew the information about the early and mid-level floors.

But from a certain depth onward, the story was different.

The deep floors, which only a small number of people were said to have been able to reach even before the regression.

The deepest floors, which only an extremely small number of people classified as rankers had supposedly reached.

And even the bottomless floors, which no one had ever reached.

As long as I could draw them, I could obtain information about those places before any regressor.

Huff! Huff!

I steadied my rough breathing and looked at my status window.

[Player: Ryu Jin]

Class: Gambler

Level: 1

[Unique Traits]

Draw Box – Weapon F~SSS+

Unselected Individual

Great Labyrinth Library LV1

[Unique Skill]

Draw

F to SSS+. It was a category I had never heard of or seen before.

Moreover, ordinary items usually had their grades displayed as Normal, Rare, Unique, and so on, but although this was a weapon, it seemed to be treated as a trait.

In any case, the fact that I had mostly drawn pinking shears or mechanical pencils before the regression meant I had only ever landed on F, right?

Slide.

I stared intently at the Luck stat displayed as MAX.

Then, with a reverent heart, I clasped my hands together.

Please, may the goddess of luck be on my side this time!

“Hooo!”

I leaned back comfortably in my chair and calmed my excited heart.

I had to stay calm.

There were plenty of players who had died after getting drunk on the thrill of Awakening and rushing carelessly into the labyrinth.

After taking one minute to settle myself like that.

‘Shall I go?’

I stood up.

I had awakened just now, after folding ten thousand paper cranes.

On top of that, traits that had not existed before, and that clearly looked far from ordinary at a glance, had been added.

How could I postpone it?

I had to go immediately.

Of course, I could not simply go to a place where one wrong move meant death.

I opened my wardrobe and took out a large backpack.

It was a beginner package I had bought back when I wondered whether I should try cash farming.

It contained various pieces of equipment, including potions to drink in a true emergency, tools for first aid, and a lantern for exploration.

After taking a deep breath, I opened the gate leading to the labyrinth.

Ding!

[The Labyrinth Gate cannot be opened while interacting with another person, while experiencing emotional overload or mental instability, or while under an external threat or in an unsecured state!]

[Checking whether the Labyrinth Gate can be opened!]

[The Labyrinth Gate will be opened!]

Let us go.

To the labyrinth.

---

[You have entered the labyrinth’s personal lobby.]

I looked around.

A rift had formed when I chose to move.

I had taken only a single step forward, yet the background had completely changed.

This place was no longer my small but comfortable studio apartment.

The damp and heavy air, the oddly pungent stench, the sticky floor, and even the ceiling with water leaking down in streams.

I had heard that an unupgraded personal lobby was poor, but I had not expected it to be this bad.

In any case, this was a space called a personal lobby, roughly a preparation room before one began a full-fledged labyrinth exploration.

As I went a little farther, I saw a huge electronic display board.

It was a space where the names of individual players or parties who had achieved the best results on each floor were recorded.

The nationalities of the names written there were diverse, including Geum Gang-chun, Donald Marie, and Uchi Shohei.

In other words, although each individual had their own entrance route, they ultimately gathered in a single labyrinth.

That did not mean one had to rub shoulders with people from all over the world every time one explored the labyrinth.

[Player Ryu Jin. Current cleared floor count: 0. You may enter the shared lobby of the first underground floor of the labyrinth.]

The default entrance was the personal lobby, and one only moved to the shared lobby of the relevant floor when one wanted party play.

Even when entering a floor, a new instance was assigned, so if one wished, one could spend one’s entire life in the labyrinth without ever meeting another person.

Swish.

I waved my hand and cleared away the message before my eyes.

When exploring the labyrinth for the first time, it was normal to form a party.

Even a sheet of paper was easier to lift together, so people did it to reduce the danger, even if only slightly.

But that did not apply to me right now.

I did not know the extent of the abilities I had been given, and more importantly, I did not have Ariadne.

Ariadne, developed by Kronos.

It was a state-of-the-art AI device completed by collecting big data from both before and after the regression, and it contained detailed strategies for clearing the labyrinth.

Since it provided guidance through real-time holograms, it was called an essential piece of equipment for labyrinth exploration.

Not having something like that was the same as going to mine ore without a pickaxe.

It was not that I had not bought it simply because I had no money.

The installment system was well-developed, so even if it was expensive, purchasing it itself was possible.

Even so, the reason I had not bought it was because of something called pride, or perhaps stubbornness, that still remained in me by a very thin thread.

Ariadne collected all information related to labyrinth play, along with one’s personal information, the moment it was equipped.

I did not want Kronos, the company that had thrown me away, to look into my movements.

If I went today and decided that I truly could not manage without Ariadne?

Well, I would think about that when the time came.

[You will enter the first underground floor of the labyrinth.]

The personal lobby scattered into small particles of light.

At last, the first underground floor of the labyrinth revealed itself.

An absurd level of humidity and an unpleasant fishy smell wafted toward me.

Step.

I moved farther inside.

I had already looked up information about this place while folding paper cranes.

The basic information about the earliest floors could be easily found even on labyrinth sites.

The monster that appeared here was a self-destructing slime.

It was a creature that exploded upon contact, and it was located beyond this passage.

The clear condition for this floor was to kill them until the appropriate number remained, then lure them to the boulder blocking the path and make them explode there.

And.

There was one thing the strategy guide had emphasized as the most important point.

Never get distracted by the Constellation chat.

I had been curious about where I had to go to see this chat.

But the moment I took my first step, I naturally understood.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

At the notification sounds that rang out without pause, I moved my gaze into the air.

What? Is he a newbie?

It has already been three years since the labyrinth appeared, but he is still on the first floor? Is he not someone from a lower floor who came here to play around?!

It is newbie cosplay!

[Lugia, the Arrogance That Never Bowed, glares at the player with suspicious eyes!]

[Surprise settles in Lugia’s eyes!]

No?! He really is a newbie?

I knew it! If that clueless and nervous face is acting, then that guy is not a player, he is the Constellation of Actors!

Wow! I came over because I caught a whiff of something spicy, and this is amazing! A real newbie!

Constellations were called the masters of the vast world known as the labyrinth.

Even now, no one had accurately identified what they were or how many of them existed.

What was known was that they resided in the vast community called the labyrinth and wandered around various floors.

And despite their frivolous way of speaking, they possessed tremendous authority when it came to the labyrinth.

Granting special rewards or authority to the player who achieved the best results on each floor was one such power.

But why are you alone? You do not have any equipment, yet you came without a party? Did you come here to die?!

Child, try answering us!

What should we do? The newbie seems nervous!

It is only natural to be nervous because he is a newbie.

What are you doing, replying to my chat?

I am only replying because it is a chat.

Even though I had only glanced at it briefly, the chat already felt as if it would drive me insane.

I quickly looked away.

There was a reason the guide had said not to look at it for nothing.

Besides, now was not the time to pay attention to the chat.

I stopped walking.

Then I stared straight ahead.

A self-destructing slime was visible as soon as I exited the passage.

After taking a breath, I stretched out my hand.

[Draw Tickets Owned: 1/1]

[Draw Box – Weapon. Would you like to use one Draw Ticket?]

The drawn weapon will be returned when you exit the labyrinth.

‘No pinking shears.’

After praying in my heart, I used the skill.

A draw slot began spinning before my eyes.

I did not ask for much.

There was only one thing I wished for.

The smile of the goddess of luck.