The Privilege

What privilege a god chose to grant could change the entire arc of a player's growth, and the difference was enormous. On the strength of a single privilege, one player might die before their talent ever bloomed, while another might see that talent flower in full and shake the Continent with their name.

Most of the lesser gods quietly slipped one such privilege to the players they were backing—just as Ner had given Yujun the inventory of the character No-Pay Casual Gamer.

The lesser gods were suspicious of the privilege Ner had granted. Her expression didn't so much as flicker.

"Why do you keep nitpicking Shin Yujun's privilege? I only did the same thing the rest of you did. Shin Yujun even helped create the Tower of Infinity. If anything, I should think he deserves a greater reward."

"You're not wrong, Ner. But I think that reward went too far. That's how I see it. What about the rest of you?"

"Hmm... couldn't you just tell us? What privilege you gave Shin Yujun. That would settle the whole thing at once."

Ner had no answer for that.

A max-level character. And not just any max-level character—one that had been funded to an insane degree. If the other gods learned she had transferred the items in that inventory over exactly as they were, there would be an uproar. No. The entire God Realm would turn upside down. That much was obvious.

Telling them the truth straight was out of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the question.

"Spell a privilege out in detail, and all you're doing is scattering free information to your rivals. What else would it accomplish?"

Each ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the lesser gods kept players they sponsored—a handful at the low end, several dozen at the high.

And I can't even tell who's lecturing whom.

In truth, a rule forbade intervention of any kind, and yet sponsoring players went on as an open secret among the gods. Ner, for her part, was not really sponsoring anyone. She had merely pressed a single privilege into the hands of every user who had played War of the Gods. Even Shin Yujun, who had been of such great help to her, had received nothing further after that first privilege. He had grown, and grown stronger, well enough on his own. There had been nothing she needed to do.

"You know as well as I do that we can't grant privileges past a certain point. So why the uproar?"

As Ner said, there was a limit to what a lesser god could do. The only reason she had been able to give Yujun an inventory privilege at all was that Yujun himself had raised the character No-Pay Casual Gamer. That was what had allowed her, at her own discretion and without causality reaching in to interfere, to bestow it.

I can't tell them that.

Every god knew that a game called War of the Gods had existed, and they knew Ner had created it. That was why the lesser gods reacted all the more sharply to anything that touched her.

"In any case, I haven't done anything I ought to flinch over. Less than any of you, at least. Shin Yujun got strong because he has the talent for it. The players you're sponsoring simply don't measure up."

"..."

"..."

"So don't bother trying to keep me in check. It's pointless."

She was already a 7th-Rank God, the sort the higher gods were watching with keen interest. Tacitly, that placed her well above the other lesser gods, and the air among them had turned careful because of it.

Ner said only what she had come to say, then left.

The lesser gods who remained finally found their tongues.

"Wow. When did she get so unbearable?"

"She hits 7th Rank and suddenly we're a joke to her?"

"This is annoying."

"I wish she'd just die. Not that she will."

Then one lesser god, silent the whole time, cut in.

"Still, you can see why. Her future's already secure. Unlike ours."

"..."

"I'm dying of envy just from her winning the contest, and on top of that the player she marked took first in this event. Of course she'd be riding high. Anyone would."

"...And what exactly are you trying to say?"

"Quit the jealousy. Ner's already a different tier from us. All we can do is give our all from where we stand. Do that, and maybe someday we'll succeed the way she did."

"She just got lucky, that's all..."

"Do you really believe that?"

"..."

"There's no such thing as pure luck. The one who seizes the chance when it comes is the one who succeeds. Complain all you like, and you'll never get anywhere."

"Tch. Listen to you, so full of yourself. Fine. I get it."

"Good. That's all I needed."

Ten thousand from each region—forty thousand in all—had survived the first event. More than a hundred million players had entered, and this was all that remained. Even so, the faces of those who had made the forty thousand were on the bright side, fresh though they were from a brutal fight.

"The rewards for this have to be insane, right?"

"Right? The competition was ridiculous."

"We'll get our cut too, won't we?"

"Obviously. Hey, honestly? I didn't think I'd make it. My pride took a hit at first, but running the whole time was the right call."

"Same here. I just ran for my life, and before I knew it, it was over. Got a little lucky, too."

"We're kind of pathetic, though. Both of us over level 400, and the reason we survived is that we ran away."

"Wonder what kind of rewards everyone else is getting. The more kills you have, the bigger the event reward ought to be."

"Especially the ones who made the rankings. Those guys are really..."

"Hey, don't even bring them up. Makes me sick. Why is it set up so only the strong get stronger? Feels a little unfair, doesn't it?"

"What can you do? If it bothers you, get stronger."

"Oh, right. Did you see it?"

"See what?"

"They posted the kill scores for every region."

"They did? I missed it."

"It's just floating up there in the sky. Take a look."

"Let's see..."

"Not there. Look at Region 1."

"Region 1?"

The player who had been running his eyes along the hologram windows overhead went wide-eyed.

"What is that? Nine hundred fifty thousand?"

"Right? Insane, isn't it?"

"No, wait. That's nine million five hundred thousand."

"What?"

The grin slid clean off the smiling player's face.

"You're serious? So it wasn't nine hundred fifty thousand—it was nine million five hundred thousand?"

"..."

"..."

The two of them ran out of words and stared at the scoreboard with hollow eyes.

"That player, Shin Yujun—he's the only one on a completely different scale, right?"

"Yeah. Unless both of us suddenly can't read."

"Thank god someone that strong wasn't in our region."

"Why?"

"Get unlucky and you're just dead. He must've been throwing huge area spells around the whole time."

"But we're probably going to run into him next, aren't we? There's only forty thousand of us left. Nothing weird about gathering everyone in one place now."

"...Hey. Shut up. You're jinxing it."

"S-sorry."

Nine million five hundred thousand kills. Because of that number, players in every region had the name Shin Yujun burned into them.

What? Just a score, and that's the end of it?

It was a little disappointing. He had thought they would hand out some kind of reward on the spot, and there wasn't even a level-up reward. Still, there was no need to be too let down.

Holding a reward back just means the reward is that good. Of that much, he was certain. It had always been the same when he played War of the Gods. Scoring things this way meant the goods sold at a place called the General Store were anything but ordinary.

This might actually be better.

Being able to choose and buy the items he wanted beat receiving a reward at random.

Nothing would set my blood boiling worse than being rewarded with items I already own.

A deep smile settled at the corner of Yujun's mouth.

The next event will matter too, but for now, I've gotten the first step right.

In truth, "right" didn't begin to cover it. Even set beside the first-place players of the other regions, his kill count—his score—was overwhelmingly higher. And that meant a great deal of pushback would be coming his way.

From long experience, Yujun knew the weight that came with first place. There would be more than one or two people looking to drag him down by killing him. Even those who stopped short of that would try to get in his way somehow.

Or else they'll try to latch onto me.

Whether it was the one or the other, Yujun had no intention of tolerating it.

If I want to get stronger, I have to take the rewards for myself.

Even so, he needed comrades ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could trust, and who were strong. He couldn't resolve everything alone. The crisis of the world's end would soon be upon them, and to meet that crisis, companions were essential.

The question is whether there's anyone I'd actually be satisfied with.

Caston, whom he had met earlier, and the high-level player Jo Su-a. If it wasn't those two, he didn't think he could be satisfied. They at least had to be capable of standing against the Demon God Worshippers.

Yujun looked at the scoreboard. Among the ranked players, how many weren't on the side of the Demon God Worshippers? Right now those cultists were growing stronger by abnormal means, and the odds were high that they already occupied a large share of the rankings.

There must have been Demon God Worshippers among the ones I killed, too.

To drive his kill count up, he had sprayed magic without discrimination. Among the nine and a half million players he had slain, Demon God Worshippers were surely mixed in.

Good thing I pushed the kill count as high as I could.

He had more or less expected it—that it wasn't rank alone that mattered, but the kill count as well.

I've got the years I put into War of the Gods behind me.

And this was the profit that had come of it.

The General Store. If he meant to obtain something real there, he could not afford to grow complacent. The second event. There, he would have to take first again, or whatever else it took to stay at the top. And he could not die. If he were to die in the second event, there was every chance the nine and a half million points he had stacked up would come to nothing. That could not be allowed to happen.

The number of players left was now exactly 39,999. Perhaps two people had died at the same instant at the very end; either way, the survivor count had not landed on a clean forty thousand.

Yujun checked the party window.

The two who went solo are dead.

They had still been on the move back when three hundred thousand remained, so he had figured they would have a hard time surviving no matter what. By then, only the strong would have been left around them. He wasn't particularly sorry about it.

So what I have left is Paranet, Jo Su-a, and Caston.

There was Manuela, too. The moment the event began, she had left him a message saying she had something to look into, and gone off on her own.

She's still in the party, so it seems she hasn't died yet.

What in the world was Manuela doing out there? What was certain was that she hadn't properly taken part in the event. She hadn't made the rankings.

Someone like Manuela should have been able to place without even trying.

Right on cue, Manuela came flying in from overhead.

"What have you been up to?"

"I was out hunting for rare material items."

"There were things like that?"

"Yeah! A ton of them!"

"So you just didn't care about the event at all?"

"The rewards you can get from the event aren't much... The materials you pick up wandering around here were more tempting."

"You really are something else."

Manuela's face was bright; she must have come away with results that satisfied her.

And in that moment, a hologram window appeared before his eyes, announcing the start of the second event.