Strength, Agility, Constitution, Magic

Strength. Agility. Constitution. Magic.

Strength. Agility. Constitution. Magic.

Yujun had no intention of putting anything into Magic. He meant to weight Strength and Agility far more heavily, and Chaos — which couldn't be allocated at all — he set aside as the exception. His magical power was already more than enough.

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Push close combat as far as it will go.

The fight against the Demon God Worshippers had left him with one clear impression. Against a crowd, nothing matched magic for efficiency — but against a handful of enemies who actually had strength, it failed to pull its weight. Relatively speaking, of course. It wasn't that his magic was weak. Not in the slightest. Set beside his Swordsmanship, though, it couldn't help looking a step behind.

Either way, I'm the one holding the sword...

The danger was ending up committed to neither, stranded in some awkward middle. That was a problem ordinary players ran into. It did not apply to him.

From here on, I'll be facing a few strong ones far more often than a mob.

Unless creatures like the Demon God Worshippers he had just killed started pouring out in droves, concentrating on Swordsmanship was the better call. He spread his unallocated points evenly across Strength, Agility, and Constitution.

It had barely been a moment since he finished.

His mind reeled. The world in front of him smeared into a haze, as if someone had dragged a mosaic filter across his vision. He clenched his fists, and the tendons all over his body stood out and writhed. Then a power unlike anything he had known settled into his flesh.

A little over five hundred points, amplified by percentage effects, ballooned into the thousands. A change on that scale was never going to be gentle.

"Ghk!"

Yujun shuddered as if lightning had struck him. It looked like a man shedding his bones to be born again — and in truth, his body was undergoing a tremendous transformation.

Crack. Crunch.

"Hhk—!"

Agony crashed over him. He ground his teeth and endured it. Four pairs of eyes were on him nearby, summons included. Scream here, and he would be minting one magnificent, lifelong embarrassment. Get mocked for it by Paranet in particular, and the psychological damage would be catastrophic. Let out a single cry, and he would regret it for the rest of his life.

On that one fixation, Yujun rode the pain out.

Five minutes, perhaps. At last his bones stopped twisting, and his flesh stopped surging up in angry mottled welts. Only then could he drag in a ragged breath. It felt as if a storm had torn through him and passed.

"Hah. I think I'll live."

"Are you feeling a little better, Master?"

Paranet braced him as he asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

Yujun closed his eyes and turned his attention inward. No matter how he considered it, this did not feel like a change that came from his stats simply jumping all at once. He would have to confirm it himself.

I can tell I've gotten absurdly strong. That much is obvious.

It didn't seem to end at a rise of several thousand points.

Did my stat efficiency go up?

It felt similar to his rank itself climbing a grade — and yet the sensation was slightly different.

That was when it came.

"......What."

The physical reconstruction, the rise in Chaos — fine. He could accept those. What he had not expected was a skill gem as an achievement reward. Skill gems and trait gems were the very things that refused to appear no matter how desperately he hunted for them. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠A hollow ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠laugh escaped him.

Yujun used the Skill Gem (Medium) at once. The target was Super Concentration (EX). In this fight, the skill had shown its true face without holding anything back.

The moment the gem took, Super Concentration became EX+. A single plus was all that had been added, but Yujun was not disappointed. Whether a skill carried that plus or not could flip victory into defeat — all the more so with a broken ability like Super Concentration. Even if the rank had not risen, simply attaching a skill gem pushed a skill's effect to its limit. What you could see was never the whole of it.

Good.

The reconstruction had left his body feeling markedly lighter. Yujun clenched a fist and drove it into the ground.

The impact detonated. A tremendous shockwave tore through the earth.

"Ah—!"

Manuela, whose physical stats were low, went sprawling flat on her back. He had not even laced the punch with magic, and still it carved out a massive crater.

"What are you doing?"

Manuela, the victim of the blast, demanded an answer.

"Looking for a tunnel."

"......I mean, it does look like you found one, but isn't this a ridiculously crude way to do it?"

"No. There's a tunnel. Right there."

"Huh?"

Manuela peered doubtfully down toward the center of the crater. Just as he had said, a fairly wide passage opened there.

"......There really is one."

"Let's go in."

"Right now? It might be dange—"

Manuela cut herself off. When had Yujun ever actually looked like he was in danger? Whatever obstacle appeared, he had the ability and the raw force to sweep it aside in a single stroke. Follow the thought that far, and she couldn't see any point in objecting.

"O-okay! Let's go!"

At that, Yujun needled her.

"Why are you always in such a rush? We should get ready first."

"Ah... right."

Yujun's party stepped into the tunnel. A passage larger than he had expected opened to receive them. They followed the single path until it split three ways.

"Which way?"

His gaze drifted, naturally, to Paranet.

"Yes?"

"Don't 'yes' me. Which way do you think we should go?"

"I... I do not know either."

"What's with you? You used to call it just fine."

"The thing is, Master — there are moments when the feeling strikes me. Bam! BAM! Clear as a thunderclap. At present there is nothing of the sort. I could not possibly speak so rashly."

That was when Jo Su-a opened her mouth.

"Um, Yujun."

"Yes?"

"From here on, I'll move on my own. I'm sorry."

"All right. I understand."

He answered at once. He didn't bother asking why. They had already gone over it by messenger, and if she meant to go alone, he had no grounds to stop her.

"See you later."

"......Yes."

Faced with how utterly unbothered he was, Jo Su-a — who had worked up considerable courage to say it — found herself embarrassed instead.

"If you need my help, contact me. Anytime. Even once... no. As many times as it takes, I'll help."

"Sure. But which way are you headed?"

"That way."

"Ah. See you later."

Jo Su-a chose the third path — the rightmost — and set off ahead of them.

Help. I decided I wouldn't take any.

How long ago had she even made that vow, and already she had survived crisis after crisis on his aid. Her heart would not settle. Traveling with other people made her uncomfortable. More precisely, receiving help from someone else did. She had grown fond of them, and the longer you stayed together, the deeper the affection ran, the harder it became to part. That was why she had made this choice. As she was now, it would be difficult to be of any real help to him.

I'll just get stronger, and pay him back.

Yujun held his head.

"Now what. Haa......"

Of the three paths, which in the world was he supposed to take? He was staring down a decision harder than the classic dilemma of black-bean noodles versus spicy seafood noodles.

"Right. I had Tapagol."

"Yes. You called for me."

"Which way should we go?"

"The left is best."

"Why?"

"The other two paths are dead ends."

"......What. You knew, and you didn't say anything?"

"You did not ask......"

"What?"

Was that a sentence, or a fart? He had kept the way to himself because nobody had asked? In the game, too, you used a Guide Golem by selecting a dialogue option and asking outright. He simply had not expected the same rule to hold in reality. Yujun felt a sudden need to cultivate some flexibility in Tapagol.

"From now on, if you know something, say it ahead of time. I won't scold you."

"Understood."

Watching this, Paranet let a laugh slip.

"Heh heh."

"And why are you laughing?"

"Is that dullard Tapagol not hopelessly stupid? Golem or no, with a brain petrified to that degree, how is he supposed to serve properly as your summon? Master. I trust this incident has opened your eyes, and so there is one matter I would beg you to keep in mind."

"Which is?"

"That your number-one summon is none other than myself!"

"......Mm."

Paranet declared it at a volume clearly meant for Tapagol to hear. What kind of nonsense was this? Yujun assumed Tapagol would, of course, not react.

But—

"Skeleton. Character...... defective......"

Was Tapagol actually saying that? So unlike him?

"Wh-what did you say? You?"

Paranet was visibly rattled. The golem had never answered him first like this.

"I asked what you said! You lump of rock!"

At Paranet's furious shout, the Guide Golem returned to silence. Only a jet of air burst from Tapagol's nose. Down in the tunnel the sound carried, and it reached Paranet's ears. It sounded remarkably like a scoff.

A golem that did not breathe had no business producing a sudden snort. Tapagol had done it on purpose.

Paranet was about to flare up all over again when Yujun spoke.

"Hey, hey. Quit fighting. Keep this up and every monster down here will come running."

"M-my apologies."

Yujun took Tapagol at his word and started down the left path. The others ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were dead ends, which meant Jo Su-a was walking for nothing.

No need to tell her.

He had a rough idea of why she had insisted on going alone. Her dislike of being a burden was written all over her. OnlyIDontHaveACat had been the same way. Whenever luck handed them the better reward, they would yield the next one without a second thought — to a degree that made you wonder if there was any need. It was extreme enough that he had thought, what an odd person.

Wait. They might actually be the same.

The more he turned it over, the more OnlyIDontHaveACat and Jo Su-a overlapped. If he ran into her later, he would have to ask outright.

"Huh?"

Walking straight along the left path, Yujun found a rabbit with white fur. A peculiar rabbit — it did not register in his senses at all.

"Why is there a rabbit in here?"

The moment it spotted him, the rabbit tried to flee. Yujun snapped a binding spell around it first, and only then stepped closer to look. It was about the size of a large dog. When he caught both ears and lifted it, tears welled in the rabbit's great round eyes.

"Eek! Eeek!"

"I'm not holding you that hard. Quit the act. You're making me look like the bad guy."

"P-please spare me."

"What. You can talk?"

It didn't look like a beastkin, no matter how he examined it. An ordinary animal, speaking.

Then again, a golem talks. Why wouldn't a rabbit?

Yujun found this convincing for a deeply questionable reason. Before letting the rabbit go, he drew an item from his inventory with his free hand. If it could speak, the odds were high that this rabbit was a player.

He tore the scroll.

"What."

A thin breath slipped out of him. This white rabbit's level was higher than his own. It wasn't so much a wound to his pride as sheer disbelief.

"Please let go of me! I beg you! My ears are rather sensitive!"

"Uh, yeah. Got it."

Yujun eased the hand gripping its ears. He did not release the binding.

"Eek! Eeek!"

The rabbit thrashed to get free, but Yujun's restraint magic was not that sloppy.

"What are you, exactly?"

"M... me?"

"Yeah."

"If I just tell you my name, will you let me live?"

"Who said anything about killing you? I'm asking because I'm curious."

"Then you won't kill me?"

The rabbit looked up at him. Beneath long lashes, eyes brimming with tears. Looking at the creature, his heart softened on its own.

"I'm a warm-hearted person. I won't kill you, so you don't need to worry."

Yujun said it gently. Then his expression changed.

"But why did you suddenly stop being polite?"