The Primordial Player's Perk

It would be no exaggeration to say that, after the inventory that had passed into his hands, this perk was the greatest help Yujun had received.

Face bright with expectation, he opened his status window.

Before he knew it, his level had reached 440. His traits and skills were packed with good ones, and his stats had climbed to staggering heights. It hardly looked like the status window of a level 440 player at all.

Primordial Player...

Yujun read over the Primordial Player perk at the bottom of the window.

Forty unallocated points were added, and the equip restriction is the same.

There was a new entry as well. Against Demon God Worshippers, attack and defense each rose by fifty percent.

I'll be fighting Demon God Worshippers plenty from here on... Not bad, is it?

For something earned by killing a handful of them, the benefit was excessive, and that only made him like it more. It felt as though he had been paid better than the effort deserved. He decided to leave the unallocated points unspent. There was no particular reason. He simply felt good when they piled up.

A satisfied smile on his face, he spoke.

"This is no time to stand around in a daze. The Demon God Worshippers sent for reinforcements, so even worse ones may be on their way."

The one who had stopped to stare at his status window was Yujun himself. No one protested the shameless remark.

"Then what do we do now?"

Rayl of the Hon asked, his face uneasy.

"Getting out of this forest has to come first."

"Is that even possible? I heard no one has ever escaped."

"Even if it isn't, we do it. Or we kill every last Demon God Worshipper. It'll take a while, but."

At those drastic words, the two Hon clamped their mouths shut. If it was him, he really might. Jo Su-a nodded in silence. She had decided to trust Yujun completely.

There's nothing to lose by listening to that man. First, I have to stay alive.

In War of the Gods, too, she had chased extreme efficiency, whether she was hunting, securing items, or running a raid. That was how she had claimed second in the rankings, and her outstanding control had done its share as well.

No matter how hard I tried, I could never take first. Because of him. No-Pay Casual Gamer.

A man who had poured nearly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hundreds of millions of won into the dead game called War of the Gods. However superb one's control, there was no surpassing a character armed from head to toe in mythic items. Was that No-Pay Casual Gamer—the rival she had measured herself against for as long as she had played—on this continent as well? If so, the odds were high he had become a greater power than she was, provided he had not met some absurd death along the way.

What is he doing now...

Jo Su-a, who had gone by the name Only I Don't Have a Cat. If asked to name the happiest moment of her life, she could have answered without a moment's doubt: clearing high-difficulty raids beside No-Pay Casual Gamer. It might make her sound like an addict, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it was a fact she could not deny. She herself had felt that the online world, more than reality, was the true world she lived in. So when she was first summoned to the Tower of Infinity, she had been glad. It proved that the world she had believed real actually existed, and setting foot in it herself had thrilled her just as much. She also learned that those who had played War of the Gods had received perks, just as she had.

After that she searched for No-Pay Casual Gamer, but she never found him. She ached to meet again the one whose play had meshed with hers so unusually well—the only existence she could call a friend. They had met in a game, yet she thought of him as one. Had No-Pay Casual Gamer felt the same?

Lost in that old recollection, she felt someone tap her shoulder. It was Yujun.

"You all right?"

"Huh?"

"You looked like you'd gone somewhere else. Sorry. For leaving you behind earlier."

"Ah... that doesn't matter. I'm really fine, so please don't worry about it."

"Good. Anyway, we'll be moving soon. Stamina's all right?"

"Yes."

When Jo Su-a nodded, Yujun set off. His stride quickened, and before long he broke into a run. Manuela took to the air and caught up beside him.

"What about our materials?"

She whispered at his ear.

"We'll look as we go. If we can't find them, it can't be helped. Right now, getting out of the forest comes first."

"Yeah. Got it."

Manuela did not push her greed too far either. Going out of their way to hunt for the flowers that served as dungeon materials could only make things worse.

"The Demon God Worshippers. Just how many of them are in this forest?"

Yotolban asked, running with everything he had.

"A lot, from the look of it. They keep calling for backup."

"I never thought their order would have so many high-level players."

"Even so, for level six hundred, they didn't seem all that strong."

Jo Su-a answered what he had tossed out.

"That's because it isn't power they earned for themselves."

"Slowly?"

"Yes. Their level is high, but their caliber looked far beneath it. The Demon God Worshippers..."

"You can see that?"

"Yes. You can't, Yujun?"

"No. I felt it too."

Set Jo Su-a beside them as the measure, and the incompleteness of the Demon God Worshippers' power was unmistakable.

The raw amount of power doesn't seem all that different. It's more that the quality is something else.

Yujun had realized a moment ago that this was a difference in caliber. In short, Jo Su-a possessed strength worthy of her level, while the Demon God Worshippers were greenhorns who were merely strong. The comparison fit exactly. That did not mean they were weak. People did not call level a tyrant for nothing. With absolute stats that high, seizing the upper hand in a fight came easily, and there had been three dark elves besides, each commanding those rare dark spirits. If creatures like that were thick on the ground, even Yujun could not afford to dismiss them.

Don't get cocky. I never even accounted for level six hundreds.

He drove the warning into himself. For him, the greatest enemy was arrogance. A measured confidence was fine, but excessive pride bought nothing.

What I know isn't the whole of it.

He might not be a frog in a well, yet beings beyond anything he had imagined kept surfacing. He could not take what lay in front of him at face value. The Demon God Worshippers might harbor a monster that defied all expectation, and that was a fact he must not overlook.

"It does feel like they laid hands on something they shouldn't have. Even in movies and novels, groups like this usually gain their power by doing something vicious."

Jo Su-a said it with a grave face. Movies and comics—wasn't that a rather rough guess? The thought came, and with it the sense that she had a point. The Demon God Worshippers' power was incomplete. They were clumsy with the strength they held, and that clumsiness had weighed heavily on the fights themselves. It was also why Yujun could cut down Demon God Worshippers past level six hundred with relative ease. Had he been forced to face three beings like Jo Su-a, he might have been in real trouble.

One-on-one, I could finish it in a breath.

He pushed his detection magic to its limit. The search for materials was already a lost cause, but there was no need to throw up his hands and think of nothing but escape. He hoped he might at least stumble across what Manuela needed.

"Master!"

Paranet, leading the way, cried out.

"What is it?"

"There seems to be something beneath the ground here!"

Paranet was not the sort to shout nonsense for no reason. Yujun hurried over and checked the earth where the summon stood.

"There's nothing."

"Ah, such haste! Kindly tap the ground! It ought to give a hollow, springy sound, as if the inside were empty!"

"That so?"

Yujun tapped the ground as he was told. Tok. Tok. It did seem hollow—no, the texture was unmistakably different from the earth around it. To think Paranet's instinct outdid even detection magic.

"Nice find."

"Is it not?"

Paranet bounced his shoulders, delighted. Yujun let out a short laugh and stomped. The impact landed with a thunderous boom, and a vast crater opened in the earth. He gathered mana into his foot and brought it down once more. Another crash rolled out, and as the thick dust settled, Rayl ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spoke, having spotted something.

"Huh? There really is a space."

Precisely cut stone stairs lay revealed. They had certainly not formed on their own.

"The Demon God Worshippers did this, I assume?"

"Most likely."

Yujun set his foot on the stairs without hesitation.

"We're going straight in?"

"We should at least see what it is. The Demon God Worshippers seemed to come and go through this forest as they pleased, and more than anything, if this place is tied to them, we may learn a way out of Sourtul Forest."

"That's true."

Rayl conceded, and so four players and one summon stepped onto the stairs leading underground.

"It's dark."

At Jo Su-a's words, Yujun lit a light spell. In truth, players could move through darkness as if it were broad daylight, but seeing clearly was better all the same. Every step Paranet took sent a heavy thud booming through the sealed underground, and the Hon were no different. Their frames had long since left the category of human behind. Yujun raised a sound-blocking barrier with Ancient Magic, so that nothing would leak outside.

"Magic really is convenient."

"You don't have any magic skills, Su-a?"

"I can't use magic as freely as you do. All I have are a few attack spells I picked up as skills."

"I see."

Glancing about as they descended, Yujun muttered.

"Hmm. No giants among the Demon God Worshippers?"

"Why?"

"It's narrow in here. Anyone even a little over four meters couldn't possibly get through."

"Now that you say it..."

"Well. There might be another passage."

"There might."

"Or this place might have nothing to do with the Demon God Worshippers at all."

"Oh. That tracks."

"And if it does, we'll have to turn every corner inside out."

"Right. I think we should."

Yujun stopped dead.

"Su-a. Are you a reaction machine?"

"What?"

"Never mind. Keep up the good work."