Status Open!
Raven managed to get everyone to acknowledge he was male through a logical explanation paired with a small performance of placing his hand on his belt buckle. The second part was especially effective. He’d been ready to actually drop his pants if it came to it, but thankfully everyone except one demon seemed willing to take his word for it. The stigma of being “the pantsless demon” never materialized.
“Raven, I mean Raven junior, is truly not a female entity?”
“No.”
Regina Gura, the TS demon senior, kept staring at him with lingering suspicion, but what could he do? He wasn’t about to prove it by showing that. What a shameless demon.
“Ahem. I believe Raven.”
“His voice has been male from the start. How could a crow be female, nyang? Regina must have been mistaken, nyang.”
“Mistaken? Hmm…”
With the timely support from the rest of the party, Regina Gura paused in thought before nodding in acceptance.
“Very well. If Raven junior says so, I shall not question his gender any further. My apologies for causing such a misunderstanding!”
“Glad we could clear that up.”
After that, everything proceeded smoothly. Whether it was because closing time was near or because she was simply competent, the exchange went quickly.
“One high-quality common mana stone, sixty-three common mana stone fragments, and seven intermediate mana stone fragments. That comes to a total of 6,840 Dallant!”
Regina Gura grunted as she heaved a pineapple-sized pouch of Dallant onto the tray. It looked decently heavy, but Raven had no frame of reference for how much that actually was, so he asked.
“Senior, is this a good amount?”
“Considering a beginner five-person party usually earns between three and five thousand Dallant, this is quite respectable! Though if the mana stones hadn’t been damaged, you might have earned over a hundred thousand. So next time, try not to smash the mana stones while hunting Entities!”
“Understood.”
By his rough calculation, novice adventurers earned about eight hundred Dallant per person per day on average. Given that a cheap inn near the dungeon cost two thousand Dallant a night, life for the newbies in this world seemed just as harsh as anywhere else.
‘Still, I didn’t expect the price gap between intact mana stones and fragments to be this extreme.’
He had known broken stones were worth less, but eight to ten times less was beyond anything he’d imagined.
‘…The mana stones are supposed to be near the Entity’s heart, right?’
From now on, he’d aim for headshots to keep the stones intact. Headshots were his specialty anyway.
“Is that everything, then?”
The subtext was clear: If you’re done, get out.
While Raven was mentally running through hunting simulations and stuffing the pouch into the contractor’s old backpack, the voice of a receptionist desperate to clock out reached him. She was already shifting her weight restlessly on the platform, as if honey had been smeared on her house. Unfortunately, he still had one very important matter left to handle.
“Nyang! W-wait! Regina, I’m really sorry, but could you process just one more thing, nyang?”
Sion clasped her hands together and pleaded earnestly.
“Eh? There’s still more?”
Annoyance and impatience flashed across Regina Gura’s eyes for an instant, but two hundred years of experience let her slip her polite receptionist mask back on in the blink of an eye.
“Hmm…”
She let out a short hum, then spoke.
“Fine. Tell me what you need. I’ll finish it as quickly as possible!”
“Ah! Thank you, Regina, nyang! I’ll treat you to a meal later, nyang!”
“Meat. I want meat. More importantly, what is this remaining business?”
“We’d like to apply for an adventurer rank promotion, nyang!”
“Promotion? The adventurer has already qualified for advancement?”
Regina Gura’s thick eyebrows shot up in surprise. She looked at the contractor with an expression that said not bad.
“Heh. It just sort of happened.”
The contractor stood with arms crossed, nodding confidently.
“Impressive! Even as a demon contractor, one must overcome adversity through one’s own strength to advance. You have surpassed your own limits with your own power. Truly admirable!”
“With my own strength…”
The contractor lowered her head, staring blankly at her bandaged hands as if Regina’s words had struck a chord. Regina showered her with congratulations and praise before handing over a quill and a single sheet of paper.
“This is the promotion application form. You only need to fill in the checked sections. Normally you would enter a private room with me to complete it, but since there are no other adventurers present, we can do it here.”
“Understood.”
The contractor accepted the form and began reading it line by line with careful attention.
“Hmm?”
She let out a puzzled sound, apparently having come across something confusing.
“What’s wrong? Is there a part you don’t understand?”
At Regina’s question, the contractor nodded lightly and pointed to a specific line.
“Ah, it’s this part. It says that providing status information will earn a small amount of Dallant. What exactly is a status?”
…Status? Don’t tell me…
“Ah! Status refers to the Goddess’s blessing that lets you view your abilities as numerical values! Try saying ‘Status Open!’ right now. Since you’ve reached 1T, you should be able to use it!”
‘What the hell, was this a Japanese game?’
If Koreans had “Status Window!”, the Japanese apparently had “Status Open!”. No wonder this medieval fantasy world was overflowing with polite, cutesy people—there was a reason after all. He should have realized it the moment the demons started looking like fairies…
“Ahem…”
Huh? While Raven was quietly reeling from this newly uncovered truth about the world, the contractor’s deadly serious voice cut through his thoughts.
“Status Open!”
‘Whoa…’
The chuunibyou black-mage cosplayer’s grave delivery of “Status Open!” was shockingly fitting.
“Ooh, so this is what a status looks like? Amazing…”
Even her surprised reaction upon seeing it was perfectly in character. Then a sudden thought struck him.
If she could access her status at 1T…
‘Does that mean I can use it too?’
‘It works.’
And it worked very well. But—
‘2T? I’m already 2T?’
He had leveled up without ever receiving a level-up message. That wasn’t the only strange thing.
‘What the hell is “Hu?man”? A typo?’
Scattered throughout the text were odd little errors, as if the Goddess had been half-asleep while typing.
‘Age thirty-two? Thirty? Not seventy or forty?’
He had been in his early thirties when he first possessed a body in that damned Terraforming game. So why was he still listed as thirty-two? Where had all the decades he spent rotting in that hell gone? Had he literally eaten his own age through his ass?
While he was glaring at the status—no, the Status—with a head full of questions, a familiar chime rang in his ears.
You have neutralized multiple enemies with a single attack.
Furthermore, the strong now fear and revere your power. This is a remarkable achievement!
Your rank has increased!
1T → 2T
Stats have slightly increased.
Presence has slightly increased.
You have acquired the passive skill 【Fear Collector】!
Fear Collector
Reach out. It is now your fear.
- Collect
- View
‘Is the Goddess really typing all of this herself…?’
Urgent updates, typos in the status screen, and now a belated level-up message—everything felt highly suspicious. But suspecting her wouldn’t change anything. She was the kind soul who had performed an emergency update just for one player. Worry was the more appropriate response.
‘Take it easy, Goddess. You’ll collapse from overwork at this rate.’
He offered a light bow, wishing for the Goddess’s health, then examined the new skill he had gained from the level-up.
Fear Collector
Reach out. It is now your fear.
- Collect
- View
The skill type was a passive that remained constantly active, meaning it could be toggled on and off with a command.
‘Two commands?’
This skill unusually had two separate commands.
‘I should check if it’s active.’
If it was like 【Indescribable Terror】 and required proficiency, it might currently be inactive.
“…Collect.”
Would you like to deactivate the passive skill 【Fear Collector】?
【YES】 【NO】
‘It’s active by default.’
That meant it wasn’t some bizarre skill that would suddenly melt his body. A small relief.
That left the “View” command. It clearly opened the collection list. Since this was a brand-new skill, the list would naturally be empty, but curiosity got the better of him and he quietly spoke the command.
“View.”
Viewing collected fears.
Currently collected fears (2 types)
1. ‘Phonophobia’: Fear of sudden or loud sounds.
2. ‘Ekrixiphobia’: Fear of explosions or explosive sounds.
‘…They’re here.’
But why did they feel so… familiar?