Floor 1

I really should've worked out more.

Sure, I'd been brimming with confidence just moments ago, but fear was fear. There was no helping it.

No, seriously—something that huge could actually move?

Watching it on YouTube and seeing it in person were two entirely different dimensions.

Not that any amount of exercise would've let me beat that thing down anyway.

It'd take a high-ranked hunter of no small caliber to take on a monster like that barehanded. Still, if I'd had some stamina, at least I could have run.

Whatever. The only thing I can count on is Foxfire!

My eyes settled on the foxfire I'd summoned in advance, and I forced a confident look onto my face.

"Go! Foxfire—I choose you!"

Then, without hesitation, I swung my arm and hurled the foxfire straight at the rock golem.

Ten seconds. I just have to hold out ten seconds.

It did worry me a little that my opponent was a golem made ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of solid rock…

But the firepower's already been proven, after all.

If it worked on the monster, the flames would melt it down in one gulp.

Alright, it's inside—success…!

A few more swings of my arm, and I managed to plant the foxfire dead in the golem's core.

But the rock golem had no intention of taking this lying down. Its pace picked up as it charged straight toward me, faster than before.

Heh heh. Ten seconds, coming right up.

All I did was glare back at the rock golem with an expression of contempt.

…Huh? Wait a second.

Ten seconds should have passed by now, and yet nothing was happening.

Uh, um…?

Was it not working? The fire had gone in just fine, though! What was I supposed to do now—dodge?

Why is something the size of a mountain so FAST!?

My mind went completely blank. The moment I scrambled to move—

Whooomph—

Blue flames bloomed from the center of the gray-hued golem. Slowly, slowly, just like the day I'd first seen it, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the fire grew.

It rose past my height, and soon swelled to swallow the entire massive golem whole.

Phew….

I thought I was actually going to die back there.

Looks like the material was so dense the effect kicked in late.

A substance harder than reinforced concrete—yeah, an A-rank monster was definitely an A-rank monster.

More importantly, it's swallowed the whole thing….

I'd only glanced away for a second, and already the foxfire had grown far larger than the golem itself. True to its size, it was slowly melting the creature down from the core outward.

The golem had stopped its charge entirely, flailing desperately in an attempt to escape the flames. It seemed to have finally realized something had gone very wrong.

But no matter how hard it ran, the foxfire was always faster.

Watching it like this… I almost feel a little sorry for the thing.

They say being burned alive is the most agonizing death there is, after all.

Not that I have any intention of setting it free.

I wasn't an idiot. Who in their right mind releases the monster that just tried to kill them?

If it's that upset, it should have fought better in the first place.

This is what they call the difference in strategy.

"…Huh. Even the melting takes a while."

A few more seconds passed, maybe. Then the crystal-like object in the golem's chest melted away, and suddenly the golem froze mid-motion.

So that was the core?

The moment the core keeping the golem's body together vanished, the rest of it began collapsing in an instant. By the time the wreckage was too mangled to recognize its original shape—

At last, the clear window had materialized right before my eyes.

Phew… I nearly died.

Thank goodness the foxfire worked. I'd been half-convinced mid-fight that it wasn't going to, and it nearly gave me a heart attack.

But hey—it worked in the end, that's what counts.

I reached over and gave the little flame a light pat as it bobbed gently beside me.

Without this thing, I'd probably be rolling around on the floor right now. Or worse.

…By the way, what's that "NEW" next to the clear time supposed to mean?

Just as that thought crossed my mind, an unbelievable announcement rang out from the status window.

I… broke a world record?

For the first few seconds, I was too stunned to do anything but stammer.

Well, if I hadn't turned to the foxfire right away and melted the thing down, who knows.

And here I thought it took me quite a while….

Thirty-one seconds? That was it?

Foxfire's activation time plus the delay is what, fifteen seconds? Then the melting took about the same….

Yeah, actually, when you add it all up, the math checks out.

Of course, having nearly died made it feel like I'd fought for a solid ten minutes at minimum.

Looking at it like this, it really is a cheat skill, no question.

An A-rank monster that ordinary people wouldn't even dream of touching—and I could incinerate it in one shot?

And by destroying its weak point, the core, no less?

At this point, it's a genuine cheat skill.

Ahh, I apologize for ever doubting you.

You are simply the GOAT, Foxfire.

Still—next time, could you maybe melt things a little faster? Please.

Alright, let's check the rewards first.

Three whole levels at once!?

Ordinary hunters have to grind through floor after floor just to gain one level, don't they?

The gallery forums said you'd need to clear at least three floors to gain a single level. Even a total scrub like me had just pocketed the equivalent reward for clearing ten floors in one go.

Insane difficulty on top of the Rank 1 bonus…!

Sure, that risk had been worth taking.

A three-level gain translated to a whopping nine stat points, after all.

Maybe that doesn't quite land, so let me put it this way: if we're talking Agility, it's roughly the difference between a kindergartner and Lee Yeonwoo.

It was an enormous, almost absurd gap.

Hmm, so where should I put all this?

I racked my brain, but no obvious answer came.

It wasn't like I had to decide this very second. I'd just pick later.

…First things first, I need to figure out what "Divine Power" even is.

I had no idea what the reward stat "Divine Power" actually meant.

Unless I'd heard of something similar somewhere, even guessing was a needle-in-a-haystack proposition.

Is it… like a skill?

But if so, wouldn't it normally say "Skill Acquired"? I had no clue.

Maybe there's something in the status window?

No new skills had appeared, apparently.

Any other changes? Name's the same… class is Fox God… yep, that checks out.

Huh? Hold on.

My Magic stat is gone?

Where "Magic" used to be, "Divine Power" now sat.

Oh—so Divine Power ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is a stat, huh?

Some kind of exclusive stat, then? So this was a way rewards could be handed out.

Granted, this was clearly the special result of a Rank 1 bonus stacking with Insane difficulty.

Wait, but if that's the case….

The grand total of all my stats…

…was four?

Wow.

Without the foxfire, I'm pretty sure I'd lose a fight against my old human body.

At this rate, aren't I less "Fox God" and more "Foxfire Parasite"? Maybe I should get the class name changed.

And my Magic used to be a respectable 3, too….

That was my last bastion of dignity, you know. I might actually miss it.

S-still, I did get an exclusive stat out of it.

By genre convention, this kind of thing is usually overpowered. No—correction—it had to be overpowered.

Try being garbage. Just try.

I would tear this status window clean in half.

So—what exactly does this Divine Power do?

Unlike intuitive stats like Strength, Agility, Stamina, or Magic, Divine Power was vague. It didn't feel like it boosted any one specific attribute.

Would it kill them to include a one-line explanation?

Apparently, the status window just plain disliked me.

I should've known from the moment it let me set my own nickname.

Fine. I'd find out myself, then.

First, let me check whether anything else about my stats has changed.

I'd already gone over everything else just now, so the only place left was the skill window.

Fox God, unchanged…. And One Tail is….

Huh?

There it was—supplementary details added to the One Tail skill.

Ohh, so I grow more tails with Divine Power!

At last, I'd figured out how to grow. And on top of that, an option to enhance Foxfire had appeared, too.

This is a total jackpot… but—

Flip it around, and if I hadn't gotten Divine Power as a clear reward, wouldn't I have been stuck with a single tail for the rest of my life?

Granted, Foxfire is overpowered as-is.

But it was just the starting skill. I was supposed to have nine tails in total—which meant there had to be at least eight more skills with Foxfire-level performance waiting down the line. Passing those up would've been flat-out idiotic.

Man, rushing to clear it fast really was the right call.

If I hadn't snagged the Rank 1 bonus, I'd have wandered around forever without even knowing how to grow my tails.

I turned my head toward the burned-out rock golem and gave it a small, respectful bow.

Thank you for dying so quickly.

No answer. Tsk tsk—this is why you can't trust the young ones.

Leaving the fallen golem behind, I turned my attention back to the status window.

Time to deal with the stat points I'd been putting off.

Actually, my mind's already made up.

Who in their right mind would invest anywhere else when they've got an exclusive stat?

Effectively, the system and the status window were both holding up a sign that read "INVEST HERE, PLEASE~". I admit the stat itself looked a little suspicious…

But logically speaking, Divine Power is the obvious choice.

I had exactly nine points on hand, and hitting ten would apparently unlock the ability to enhance Foxfire.

I wonder what it'll look like once it's enhanced.

It's not just going to get a bit bigger and insist it's stronger now, right?

Ahem. I cleared my throat once, then pressed the button and dumped all my remaining points into Divine Power.

The moment I hit ten, the notifications flashed up.

Oh, it boosts skill damage just like the Magic stat did?

Made sense, really—it had essentially ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stepped into Magic's shoes.

It would come in handy whenever I used Foxfire, or any of the skills I'd pick up later.

But the main event is this right here.

Just as the window had said, I'd gained one Authority Enhancement Point.

This time, I didn't even bother hesitating—I leveled up Foxfire on the spot. I only had the one authority, after all.

…?

What is this?

Suddenly, the foxfire bobbing beside me began to change shape.

A moment ago it had been a wisp of will-o'-the-wisp straight out of an old horror film, but the more its form solidified, the more it came to resemble a small animal.

A… fox?

About ten seconds passed, and there it was—transformed into the shape of a tiny fox cub.

The one difference from an ordinary fox was that its whole body was blue. Its fur rippled and flickered, like a sculpture carved from living flame.

Incredible.

Yes, I said that out loud just now!?