The No-Pay Casual Gamer's Character...

The No-Pay Casual Gamer's inventory was staggeringly vast. Hunting down a single weapon he actually wanted took a considerable stretch of time.

A search function would've been nice.

Not everyone, of course, owned as many items as Yujun. The No-Pay Casual Gamer's inventory—five years of hoarding every rare drop he could find while pouring money into the game—existed on an entirely different scale from any other user's.

Level 250... 250...

Yujun combed through the item data with a hawk's eye. Another five minutes or so slipped past before one entry made his eyes light up.

There it is.

The level restriction was not there for show. Its attack power was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enormous, and like any proper Legendary piece, every option bolted to it was excellent. The numbers would not appear on a status window, but the moment he actually swung the thing, he would feel them.

Bajur's Mana Sword outclassed even the other Legendary items he had taken from boss hunts.

So I can use this at level 100?

Yujun pressed a Rainbow Sticker onto Bajur's Mana Sword, then closed his hand around the hilt.

He cut the empty air a few times—whoosh, hwoong. Neither heavy nor light. Just the right weight, and an edge viciously sharp. It was no ornate showpiece, but Bajur's masterpiece of pure practicality. A satisfied smile touched Yujun's lips.

Weapon's done...

Next came accessories and armor. Thanks to the Primordial Player privilege, he could equip anything with a requirement up to level 150. Thirty minutes passed—short, if one called it short; long, if one called it long—and Yujun drew a full set of Legendary armor from the inventory and put every piece on.

A helmet that hid half the face. A single suit of brutally thick metal, torso and legs joined as one. Shoes comfortable enough to move in, and still heavily armored. Massive, solid gauntlets that locked onto the arms of the full plate. The Frenzy armor set.

The set had been quite famous in War of the Gods. Easy to obtain and absurdly overpowered, it had been a favorite of countless players. The catch was that the pieces dropped only from random loot boxes bought with cash—and that was where a great many users had walked away.

If they'd just run the game properly, there'd have been far more players.

Yujun clicked his tongue.

Even so, for all its outstanding performance, the Frenzy armor set had been remarkably common in War of the Gods. Spend a little money and it was yours. This, however, was no longer a game. It was reality, and there was no particular way to obtain the set anymore. In short, the odds were high that he was the only person alive who owned it. A faint smile crossed Yujun's face.

Something this good, and I'm the only one who gets to use it?

That was not the end of it. Heroic accessories with a level 150 requirement—pieces that raised attack, defense, and every manner of stat. Slot several of them on, and the status window shifted dramatically.

With every preparation finished, Yujun started walking. He had no further business in the Ancient Ruins.

Or so he thought, until he stopped dead.

I still haven't found any treasure. It's the Ancient Ruins. Poke around a little and something ought to turn up, right?

If he was going to search, two pairs of eyes were better than one. Yujun summoned Paranet. Unlike the space where he had fought the Primordial Player, the summon appeared without incident this time.

"Master. I beg your pardon. Sleep took me without warning."

"That wasn't your fault."

"It... wasn't?"

"Never mind. If you see treasure, or anything that looks valuable, bring it straight to me."

"Ah! As you command."

Paranet scuttled off, arms and legs swinging. The ruins had only one path anyway. All they had to do was retrace their steps and search at their leisure. The most suspicious things were the strange pictures carved into the walls.

Worship of the Primordial Player?

Now that he knew the man had existed, the figures on the stone no longer felt entirely unfamiliar.

Yujun kept hunting for treasure that had to be hidden somewhere, then halted. The wreckage of the stone statues he had smashed earlier still lay intact across the floor, and between the fragments something shone with a bright, steady light. Eyes narrowed, he approached with care.

"This is..."

His eyes went wide. It was a blue ore that gave off light of its own.

A mana stone?

A mana stone. No larger than a grown man's fist, it held a staggering quantity of compressed magic. Mana stones were brutally difficult to obtain—rarer, even, than the Legendary item boxes he had pulled twice. That alone said ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠everything.

And I'm getting one now.

A mana stone's true worth showed only when it was absorbed. Draw out the essence of magic sealed inside, and a character's Magic rose permanently.

That should still be true, right?

The world becoming real had never once changed how an item's effect applied. Absorb a mana stone, and Magic would almost certainly increase. Consumables that permanently raised a stat were vanishingly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rare.

One stone was about forty Magic, wasn't it?

Stats an ordinary player would need thirteen levels to earn—and a single absorbed mana stone handed them over. That was explanation enough of how good the item was.

The problem was that absorbing one required a cash-shop item, the Magic Absorber. There was no chance Yujun lacked something that basic. He drew the Magic Absorber from his all-purpose inventory.

"Master!"

Paranet came scrambling up at that moment, and astonishingly, another mana stone sat in his hand.

"What?"

"Is this not a mana stone?"

"You know what a mana stone is?"

"It is the sort of thing mages and alchemists cannot help but covet."

"Right. You were an alchemist."

"Yes."

"Hand it over."

"Yes? Ah... very well."

Paranet's motion as he offered the stone was sluggish, as if he hated to part with it. Yujun simply reached out and took it.

"...Ah!"

That made two.

"That's all? Nothing else nearby?"

"I searched most thoroughly. There is certainly nothing more."

Yujun did not absorb them at once. He turned the surroundings inside out, but no further mana stones appeared.

A shame... but two mana stones. Where else am I going to find that?

The value of two mana stones this early could not be put into words. Grinning wide, Yujun set the Magic Absorber to drawing the magic out of the first stone.

A clean, refreshing current of magic traveled through the device and into him. What dwelt in a mana stone was magic in its purest form, and the mere act of it entering his body brought a thrilling pleasure.

So this is real magic.

In truth, Yujun had never properly handled magic before. Vast power poured in from the stone, and it did not take long to absorb every last drop.

A terse message. There was none more pleasant.

At this rate I won't even need to raise Magic.

He had already been pouring everything into his physical stats, saving Magic for the day he found a mana stone. Now that two had fallen into his hands, the whole allocation plan had to change. Yujun did not linger. He absorbed the remaining stone at once.

The same notice, one after another. Just looking at it was satisfying.

After that he scoured every corner of the Ancient Ruins for anything else, and found nothing.

So the mana stones were all of it.

Even that was reward enough. The greatest gain of all, though, was clearing the Intermediate Tutorial—and inheriting the Primordial Player's power as its prize.

That's everything... All that's left is climbing the floors.

Yujun walked out of the Ancient Ruins.

Jin Changho's eyes flashed.

"He's out!"

"Yeah. Jump him right— huh? His gear looks completely different."

"Does that matter right now? Move!"

Jin Changho and his companion, Park Seoksan, were just snatching up their weapons and rising when others moved faster still.

Arrows screamed in—fwip, whoosh, fwip—a barrage aimed at the man who had only just stepped clear of the Ancient Ruins. It was a sudden, meticulous assault with nowhere obvious to dodge. The man took dozens of shafts with his whole body. They were certain he was dead. What followed was astonishing.

Kang! Clang! Kakakang!

Every arrow, however fiercely it flew, struck armor and ricocheted away. Not one of them pierced the man's solid plate.

Then, at a moment no one had expected, several magic skills came flying as well. Surviving a rain of arrows was one thing. There was no way he could take flame magic of that power and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠walk away unhurt. Watching from a distance, Jin Changho was sure of it.

This time a great explosion erupted—fwoosh, boom, crash—and hammered the whole area. Dust billowed up thick, then tore apart almost at once on a hard gust of wind.

"W-wait. Did I see that wrong?"

At Jin Changho's stunned outburst, Park Seoksan shook his head.

"He's fine."

"He definitely didn't even raise a shield."

"Right? He just stood there and did nothing. I'm not seeing things, am I?"

"Apparently not."

"Hah..."

Even as they stared, the fight went on. A fierce battlefield—or rather, fierce on only one side.

The mysterious ambushers poured on attack after attack. Flame roared. Impacts cracked. The result never changed. Nothing they threw at the man who had come out of the Ancient Ruins did him the slightest harm.

The ambushers, who had been forcing a calm while they hammered him, began to panic.

"What is that? Is he even a player?"

"Not even a named monster or a boss would be that tough."

"What do we do?"

While the masked men floundered, the one who looked like their leader spoke.

"He's definitely using some strange item. Something peculiar he pulled from the ruins, no doubt. It can't last forever."

"Do we keep attacking?"

"We drag this out. Conserve your magic and keep pressure on him."

"Yes, sir."

More than ten ambushers. In numbers, they were far ahead. They were just about to loose another volley when the man who had done nothing but stand and take it—Yujun—moved first.