Chapter 155: Time Passed Quickly

Time passed quickly.

No-Pay Casual Gamer adapted to a world ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that was changing at a breakneck pace, and in the midst of that adaptation one realization struck him.

At least several years... no. I've gone all the way back to the very beginning.

The era itself had changed—literally, back to the day he was first created. What differed from then was that his mind was clearer now, and the words and conduct of the human players had shifted. Even their outward forms were markedly different.

They've gotten smaller.

The players who had newly appeared stood far shorter than before. Once, humans well over six and a half feet tall had been anything but rare. And yet the average height of those who showed up after the return to five years prior was, at best, around five foot seven. No-Pay Casual Gamer found the changes strange.

Then what was everything I lived through until now?

Those experiences remained vivid in his memory. They had absolutely not been a dream.

No-Pay Casual Gamer never stopped moving. Every item in his inventory had vanished, but unlike the other players, he was effectively starting alone from level 500—and he still possessed multiple titles, along with high-grade skills and traits. It was not a matter of being a few steps ahead. While everyone else was only just learning to crawl, he could already fly.

Using the information he already knew, he monopolized the hidden dungeons.

What I need right now is items.

His stats and skills were already in place. All that remained was to obtain equipment worthy of them, and that was no difficult task. Over three months—long if one called it long, short if one called it short—he cleared hidden dungeons and gathered gear. He could take pride in having secured a great many high-quality pieces, but one worry nagged at him.

Surely the items in my inventory won't vanish again.

If everything he had painstakingly gathered disappeared all at once, just as it had last time, the sense of loss would be no joke.

One misfortune like that is enough.

His face set hard, No-Pay Casual Gamer severed the neck of the monster before him with a wet crunch. He cut down the hapless creatures one after another, forcing the unease out of his mind.

Yujun made his way toward the far end of the laboratory. Along the route he found a great many monster test subjects, and he eliminated every one he laid eyes on. All of it was experience. They were unfinished, so the experience didn't climb by much, but it was still far better than ignoring them and walking past. Every little bit counted; piled high enough, scraps like these might help him someday.

He was practicing the art of firing Chaos like a laser—a sharp hiss, then a boom—and it was, quietly, quite good.

Not bad at all.

The destructive power was one thing, but the speed of the Chaos he loosed was no joke.

What if I mix it with Flash?

A laser attack was inherently extremely powerful, but its drawback was a simple trajectory and a monotonous method of striking. If he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠used Flash and only then released Chaos, though, an enemy would have no way of knowing where the attack was coming from.

I can keep it as a trump card.

Moving quickly, Yujun reached his destination in an instant.

Just because it's the last room doesn't mean it looks like anything special.

He opened the iron door and stepped inside. Poorly kept, the place greeted him first with a cloud of acrid dust. Frowning, Yujun searched the modestly sized chamber. A few research logs lay about, and flasks filled with green liquid stood in countless rows. He took only a handful. They weren't items, so they wouldn't enter his inventory, and he couldn't carry many. Nothing else stood out, and he was about to leave when something on the floor caught the thin sliver of light slipping through the gap in the door.

What's that?

It didn't seem dangerous to touch, so he picked it up. A marble—transparent, and tinged with blue light.

An item?

Just in case, he called up its information.

Relic grade?

Did a grade like that even exist? Surely this wasn't higher than Transcendent. It didn't look like much of anything—and the item option was the faintly absurd note that there was no information at all.

Yujun turned the Synchronization Marble over this way and that. He checked for any writing, but there was nothing. It was no different from an ordinary marble sold at a toy shop or a stationery store. He scratched his head. He wanted to simply let it go, but the Relic grade nagged at him. The odds that it had no particular effect were vanishingly low... and for all he knew, it might even be an item of a grade above Transcendent.

He poured mana into the Synchronization Marble, tried Chaos on it, even stroked it gently. Nothing changed. Disappointed, Yujun tossed it into his inventory.

And in that instant—

"..."

Wait. What is this?

"Synchronization?"

Hadn't the inventory synchronization already finished—at the moment he collapsed in front of his computer and opened his eyes again? That was how he had brought No-Pay Casual Gamer's inventory over as it was.

Is this because that one Auto-Revive Scroll disappeared?

If the synchronization reached its end, would he be able to obtain that Auto-Revive Scroll? Yujun shook his head. The unexpected turn left him a little dazed. Should he treat this as a fortuitous encounter, or a simple system error? With nothing certain, he couldn't simply be glad.

I hope it isn't an error.

Even so, a system error seemed the likelier explanation. He had already taken every item from No-Pay Casual Gamer's inventory, all but that single Auto-Revive Scroll. Unless an inventory could create something from nothing, the chance of obtaining a new item was slim.

Still, if I'm lucky, I might get the Auto-Revive Scroll.

And that was nothing to scoff at. It meant one more life.

Then a system message appeared.

Find a new one?

Yujun let out a hollow sigh.

"Give it to me, then snatch it right back."

They could at least have handed him something before cutting it off. When he checked, no additional items had been transferred into his inventory.

Got my hopes up for nothing.

A new Synchronization Marble, though. If there were more of them besides this one, he would have to look.

War of the Gods never had an item like this.

For now, it was an item of that novel grade called Relic, so he knew it wouldn't be common. Yujun left the room and moved on to the next one beside it.

Maybe here too?

It would have been nice ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if every room held a Synchronization Marble. The grin he wore as he began the search soon gave way to disappointment. To state only the result: there was no Synchronization Marble. He had ransacked every corner, and still nothing turned up. The next room over was the same—research logs and flasks, and nothing else to be found. The message had said the marble would vibrate if another was nearby, so there truly wasn't one.

I wish at least a clue for getting out of Sourtul Forest would turn up.

There were plenty of rooms. No need to lose heart already.

Yujun even put on his Eagle Eye Scouter and set out to search. The difference between wearing it and going without was certainly large. It couldn't manufacture something that wasn't there for him to find, but it made for a swift search, and the time required was cut dramatically. He kept at it, and at some point came face to face with Jo Su-a in the corridor.

"Any results?"

"No. Only that this laboratory hasn't been here long, and that this was something they'd been planning for quite a while..."

"Nothing about a way out of Sourtul Forest, or the Demon God Worshippers' strength?"

"Nothing. What about you?"

"I didn't find anything."

"I think we've pretty much looked everywhere. Is there any point in staying here longer?"

"You never know. I'd like to look around a little more."

"Then I'll keep looking too."

And so the two parted again.

Yujun went into the rooms Jo Su-a had already searched and examined them through the Eagle Eye Scouter.

She might have missed something and walked right past it.

He observed meticulously enough to check even the tubes connected to the monster test subjects. Only the sound of mana vapor at work echoed through the laboratory—or so it seemed, until the endless crash of Paranet's body slams reached him as well. Boom. Bang. Bang.

The impacts never change in force. Still hasn't pulled it off, has he.

He understood. It wasn't that Paranet was lacking. Skill combos hadn't been easy even when one controlled them in the game, and moving one's own body to chain skills into a combo was incomparably harder. Of course, exceptional talent might let someone apply it even faster than in the game. In Yujun's eyes, Paranet's talent was mediocre. Dead average.

Still, seeing how he mixes Space Movement with Body Slam, he ought to pick up the Thousand-Pound Drop and Body Slam combination if he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just puts in the time.

He shook his head. This wasn't the moment to worry about Paranet. Yujun moved on in a hurry, searching for a Synchronization Marble that might be hidden somewhere.

Woo Changgyun entered Sourtul Forest on orders from above. Honestly, a forest of such infamous repute was not something he could face without a flicker of fear, but the reward for succeeding this time was enormous.

Within the Demon God Worshippers he was famous as a rising powerhouse. A player of only four years, yet stronger than most of the highest rankers. Overwhelming talent, overwhelming ability—possessing both, Woo Changgyun had become the focus of everyone's expectations. In truth, he grew stronger at an absurd pace with each passing day.

Even Coordination, which could be called a subordinate arm of the Demon God Worshippers, had sent him a scouting offer. His strength was part of the reason, though being Korean had likely played a part as well. Woo Changgyun refused.

I'm not the sort of man who belongs in Coordination.

His confidence pierced the heavens in equal measure to his talent and skill, and he possessed the power to back it. He had fought several members of Coordination before. At the time the matches had been neck and neck and ended in draws, because it had seemed the fight would only finish when someone died. A year later, things were different. Having recently seized a fortuitous encounter as well, Woo Changgyun had grown incomparably stronger than before. He believed Coordination was too small a vessel to hold him.

Kill this Shin Yujun, take the Legendary-grade elixir, and I can grow even stronger.

A thin, unpleasant smile crossed his face. His body was already trembling—the look of a man who absolutely did not believe he could fail.

"Will you be all right? I heard everyone who fought ahead of us was taken down."

A Demon God Worshipper dispatched alongside him spoke with a worried face.

"Are you comparing me to trash like them? Right now?"

Woo Changgyun's expression twisted. The Worshipper flinched and bent at the waist.

"I apologize."

"Just because you've got a mouth doesn't mean you get to run it. I don't sort people into allies and enemies. You know that, don't you?"

"...Y-yes, sir!"

There were fully eight Demon God Worshippers. Every one of them nursed discontent in some corner of the heart, but none dared cross Woo Changgyun's mood. Only four years since he had gained his powers, and in that span he had become a powerhouse no one could lay a hand on. His growth was fast enough to make even Worshippers past level 600 click their tongues. Above all, even among those cruel ranks he possessed a uniquely foul disposition. Displease his eye, and you offered up your life on the spot. On top of that, he sat firmly in the good graces of the Worshippers' leadership. Raising a hand against him was unthinkable.

"One laboratory was completely half-destroyed, and they're at the main laboratory. That right?"

"That's correct."

It was then that a strange sound reached the ears of the Demon God Worshippers standing before the laboratory. Thud. Boom. Boom. Thud! Boom! Impacts in a steady rhythm. Right nearby, a vibration rose from below, and there was no way they could fail to feel it. Woo Changgyun narrowed his eyes.

"What is that sound?"

"Could they be tearing the laboratory apart?"

"Hmm. They said the ones who were originally here all got taken down... Weaklings. But for something being smashed, it isn't all that loud, is it?"

"I think we should go in and check."

"You go in first."

"Sir?"

"I said go in first."

"Ah—understood."