The Age of Adaptation

Back when most users still hadn’t made it out of the F rank.

Yoo Sung-jun challenged the E rank. He cleared it safely and brought in points at a steady clip, too. And that was before he’d even strengthened his body.

Now, then.

He couldn’t aim for D rank yet, but maybe he could at least reach one step higher.

That was why he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had come back to the Enter Room.

"Loki. Show me only the E+ difficulty missions."

The list spilled out.

There was no need to look through all of it. He needed to narrow it down further.

"Filter by acquisition missions."

"Set the reward to item payout."

Now he was at a level where he could actually browse.

Point rewards varied wildly from mission to mission.

Yoo Sung-jun wanted one with the right structure.

Something difficult enough, but flexible enough to let him use everything he had.

"Found it."

Fortunately, he found a mission that fit.

The reward was good.

E-rank missions were still close to a blue ocean market.

In other words, hardly anyone bothered with them.

Which meant he might be able to secure every purifier scattered across the entire downtown area.

How many points would I get if I took all of them?

He had no intention of stopping at the purifiers alone.

The Infector level here was around level 2, which meant they were probably E+ as well.

So he planned to hunt anything he saw. He would rake in points and use them to upgrade his gear.

Once my little brother finishes the tutorial safely, I’ll need to kit him out too.

After unlocking body strengthening and innate talent, he was practically broke.

He needed to recover fast.

"Loki. Give me a set of twenty high-calorie calorie bars, one bottle of water, and five purifier filters."

The treatment foam spray was still left over, so that would do.

After restocking the consumables he needed, he requested transport.

That familiar sensation returned.

He stretched his strengthened senses into the changed environment without restraint.

The smell of wet rain. A faint trace of blood. As he drew back the tip of his tongue, he caught a hint of iron.

What lay before his eyes was a gray downtown district.

Rows of faded buildings and shopping centers half-collapsed here and there.

He looked up at the holographic signs hanging between the buildings.

The family characters laughing cheerfully looked eerie, their surfaces rusted in places as if they were wounded.

"Number of participants."

That answer surprised him.

Yoo Sung-jun’s eyes twitched.

"There’s someone else besides me?"

[That is correct.]

He couldn’t get any more information than that.

He had already learned that much from asking about all sorts of things before.

Which meant he had no way of knowing whether the other user was carrying out the mission, had run into trouble, or was on the verge of death.

Not that it was his concern.

As long as we each clear our objectives and head back, that’s enough.

It was a shame the pie had shrunk, but it was within expectations.

"Is the other user following the same route as me?"

To challenge an E+ mission at this stage usually wasn’t something you did by walking the usual path.

He was probably a solo user like Sung-jun, not in a party, and probably using only the bare minimum of equipment.

I hope he’s decent.

A teammate. He hadn’t exactly ruled the idea out.

In the end, the final goal was to build a safe zone here and survive.

Somewhere you could rest, and someone you could trust enough to turn your back on.

His younger brother was a good shot, but Another Earth wasn’t the kind of game where that alone could make you a ranker.

Balance mattered. Melee, ranged, support—that would be enough.

Of course, the problem is if I just end up protecting only myself and my brother.

Three or ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠four people weren’t going to spend their whole lives hunting or patching up old gear.

If he wanted to rebuild a nation, population was the first thing that mattered.

That was why Igrato was so obsessed with securing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bunkers.

There had to be people first.

Only then could you divide up specialties and secure the labor needed for reconstruction.

Yoo Sung-jun thought the starting point was pure strength.

Everything else inevitably followed once people were drawn to power.

So first, he had to get stronger.

That was the road ahead.

And in the middle of it, he had discovered another user.

Apparently he had already challenged E+, just like Sung-jun, which made it feel like they were walking the same road.

Someone who was no longer in need of support was proof enough that he had grown used to Another Earth.

If he’s the sort of person who could become an ally, maybe I should test him out.

Though of course, that would wait until he’d grown accustomed to this mission himself.

Just as Yoo Sung-jun was savoring his own assumptions, he brought out the Sharp Shooter.

By then, a cluster of black spheres had already occupied the front.

They unfolded.

Tendrils that had been coiled around their bodies like balls shot out in every direction.

Devil Urchin.

Literally, a demon sea urchin.

It had no other sensory organs.

If it had one, it was the giant eyeball mounted at its center.

With that, it identified prey and lashed out with its sharp tendrils.

Just like now.

Whoosh!

He recognized the attack and kicked off the ground.

One breath. Power surged through his entire body.

He felt lighter, sharper, clearer.

There was a saying that if Earth had twice as much oxygen, humans would feel happiness every time they breathed. Oxygen was a drug, they said.

He remembered seeing that on YouTube. Back then, he’d just thought, Huh, that’s neat.

But this wasn’t imagination anymore.

He was feeling it himself.

Oxygen beyond the body’s limits further strengthened Yoo Sung-jun’s body and mind.

Not bad...

Tension faded. Fear was swept away.

In its place came a small, quiet pleasure.

The corners of Yoo Sung-jun’s mouth lifted.

"Kha-hat!"

He burst out laughing even as a tendril grazed past him.

It didn’t matter if a follow-up attack came his way.

He already had the upper hand.

Fwew-fwew-fwew-fwew!

He fired in a burst the instant he took aim.

With his senses doubled, there was no chance he’d miss.

He pierced the weak points of the creatures precisely, blowing apart their eyes.

Once the main body died, the tendrils that had been flying toward him dropped powerlessly to the ground.

At the same time, Loki’s settlement chime rang out.

It was a level 1. Even after taking out a whole pack, the points were stingy.

Still, it didn’t matter. There seemed to be plenty of Infectors left, and some of them were probably level 2.

"If I were me, where would I install the purifiers?"

He quietly asked himself the question.

This was humanity’s desperate struggle to erase the D-Virus from the area.

There wasn’t enough information, and on the other hand, the mutations spread at terrifying speed.

They must have thrown out installation plans indiscriminately before they ever got accurate intelligence.

And in dense areas, too.

Department store.

Yoo Sung-jun stared at the English directional sign in the center of the downtown district, marked with the words large department store.

His first destination was set.

"Kyaaaack!"

Boroko snapped forward like a spring.

That enormous boa constrictor dripped with corrosive venom as it lunged for Yoo Sung-jun’s nape.

He ducked, and it passed by in a razor-thin near miss.

The Jet Sword tucked at his side split the creature under the jaw. It kept going and sliced clean through the body.

Thud, thud, thud!

"Ptooey."

Blood and chunks of flesh splattered wetly down.

Yoo Sung-jun spat out what had gotten into his mouth.

He looked at the result of his own handiwork.

He had cut down an entire creature that easily weighed dozens of kilos in a single stroke.

Even accounting for the way he’d turned its own force against it, it was still an excellent result.

So this is the payoff for body strengthening.

Boroko was a nuisance if you didn’t kill it outright.

If the first ambush failed, it would retreat and spit corrosive venom from a distance.

"I’m not even that tired."

Thanks to his already heightened body, his breathing-based stamina preservation, and the way he could distribute his energy, Yoo Sung-jun looked over the eighth floor of the department store he’d climbed to.

It was packed with the corpses of all sorts of Infectors.

It was the result of him butchering every level 2 Infector that had occupied the place, one after another, the moment he saw them.

"This was nice and easy to collect too."

He tapped his backpack.

Inside were the purifiers he’d secured while making his way through the department store.

They were cylindrical containers the size of a 500 mL water bottle. Small enough that carrying several wasn’t a problem.

Still, it’s a little annoying.

The problem was that they swung around with every hard movement and threw off his balance.

Once he had enough points, he’d need to buy a space-compression backpack or something.

Is this the last floor now?

Yoo Sung-jun looked up at the ceiling.

The department store was fairly large.

That had allowed each species to carve out its own territory and build nests.

What was up there?

Curiosity and tension filled his body.

Before moving, he checked his gear.

The Jet Sword was fine. There was nothing much to inspect there.

No chips in the blade, no cracks.

Seems okay.

That one was fine.

The problem was the Sharp Shooter.

"Huh..."

He was out of bullets.

He’d thought he still had spare rounds, but maybe he’d been firing too wildly on the lower floors.

It looked like he’d have to pull back around here.

Having a firearm and not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠having one was, unexpectedly, a huge disadvantage.

I should use the points I’ve gathered to swap out the firearm this time too.

It was a little disappointing that he hadn’t seen the other person here, but there would be other chances.

The downtown district is big.

He still had a long way to go before he could search the whole thing.

Just taking down one department store had eaten up an entire day.

Clicking his tongue, Yoo Sung-jun requested a return.

Loki guided him back to the Enter Room, with an armful of purifiers in tow.

Then she immediately moved on to the settlement.

This was insane...

Was it the payoff for a full day of suffering?

He’d earned one low-tier achievement, two mid-tier achievements, and even one high-tier achievement.

Between exterminating Infectors and securing purifiers, he had made close to thirty thousand points.

Still, the number was staggering.

Just because the difficulty went up one notch, the reward shot up this much?

He was still dazed when Loki gave her explanation.

[Finishing blow is awarded when you completely kill every Infector you have subdued. Sharpshooter is given when you maintain an accuracy rate of 70% or higher.]

"Nice of you to explain even when I didn’t ask."

[Hehe, I’m a support who learns as I go.]

"So? What about Butcher and Cleaner?"

[Butcher is awarded when you use cold weapons to deal with thirty or more Infectors that do not show hostile intent.]

So there had been Infectors that weren’t hostile.

In the game, all Infectors were enemies of the user.

That was why he had dealt with every one he saw.

So this is the real world, huh.

[Cleaner is awarded when you exterminate 80 percent of the Infectors in a given area.]

So the department store counted as a single area.

That made the slaughter worthwhile.

The top floor was a shame, but he had still achieved a high-tier accomplishment.

I need to use this as efficiently as possible.

Though not right away.

He had stayed up all day and his mind and body were both exhausted.

For now, he planned to go back, rest properly, and then inspect his equipment.

"Good work, Loki. Send me outside."

[Understood.]

He returned to his room.

A familiar back view came into sight.

Sitting on the bed, Yoo Sung-hwan was looking down at the RD-77 Sung-jun had given him before, his eyes cold and focused.

"What are you doing in my room?"

Before Sung-jun could even ask, he sensed him and lifted his head.

Yoo Sung-jun faced his younger brother, Yoo Sung-hwan.

Resolve lay in his eyes.

"Don’t tell me..."

"I’m ready now, and I don’t think I should put it off any longer. Users from 1.0 are already preparing for Dark Cover and getting stronger, aren’t they? You too, hyung."

"You can prepare more thoroughly before going in."

"No."

Yoo Sung-hwan shook his head firmly.

"We don’t know when Dark Cover will happen. I’m going now. I’ve already made side dishes and everything."

"How good do you think you are at cooking that you’re saying that? I can just order food."

"I may not look it, but I’ve been living on my own for three years. I know how to make most side dishes."

"Hah. Fine... I don’t want to end up not even finding my little brother’s corpse."

He knew this day would come sooner rather than later.

He just never dreamed it would be today.

Even so, Yoo Sung-jun could calmly see his brother off.

Apparently he’d seemed pretty good, because Yoo Sung-hwan pulled out his card and gave a snort of laughter.

His hand was no longer shaking.

"Now that it’s right in front of me, I’m not shaking."

"That’s a good thing."

"...I guess it is."

Crack!

He snapped the card in half.

At the same moment, his younger brother vanished in an instant.

Thud. The RD-77 he’d tucked into his pocket fell to the floor.