Is That the One?
Is that it?
A tiny point that had not been there before had fixed itself in his vision. Super Concentration. He had half doubted the skill could really be this dramatic, and having it prove itself on the spot left him strangely thrown.
Should've used it sooner.
Whatever the case, he had found the fourth lever at exactly the right moment, and he hauled it down at once. A deep, grinding rumble rolled through the water—a vibration beyond comparison with anything before, an earthquake of a tremor, as if the ground itself might turn over at any second.
If I stay down here, am I about to get myself killed?
A flicker of unease went through him. Even so, he trusted his defense and held his ground. If he fled the pond only to be denied the reward, there would be nothing more infuriating. He raised a shield and waited—for a message, or for the impact that was coming.
And then—
The last hidden sluice has been opened.
A smile touched Yujun's mouth. Paranet had almost certainly failed to find the fourth sluice. He had never met the prerequisite conditions in the first place, so he would not even have known a fourth gate existed. Which meant Yujun could receive something beyond whatever reward Paranet had been so fond of. He could not help the thrill.
Defeat the guardian of the pond, ???!
📍 Location: Moonlight-Drinking Pond
⚔ Objective: Fight the guardian and win
"......"
Wait. Where was the reward? He had cleared the prerequisites, found the fourth lever, and opened the final sluice, and there was still more to do?
Don't complain. This is actually better.
He had no idea what kind of place this was, but anything prepared to this extent was no ordinary trial. Just to be here, you needed a basic passive that let you move freely at an extreme depth—and on top of that, you had to fight a guardian, some unknown being. Even to Yujun's eye, the difficulty was absolute.
The guardian showed itself at once. Whether it had been hiding or had only just been summoned, he could not tell. It attacked without preamble.
A fishman?
A fish's head on a muscular human body. That was the guardian's true form. The strange part was that, fish head or not, its expression was readable. It sounded odd even to him, but the features were alive.
Yujun raised his sword and caught the trident the guardian thrust at him. Steel rang, a sharp, ringing crash—and to his astonishment, the trident collided with the Planet Destroyer's Sword and came away unscathed.
An Indestructible option, then. It isn't even a player... This is ridiculous.
Indestructible. For Yujun, who carried a sword of overwhelming attack power, it was nothing but irritating.
And the force behind it is heavy.
Muscular, yes, but the fishman was not especially tall—only a little taller than Yujun himself. Two meters, give or take. In this mad world, that was hardly a size worth bragging about. Relative to the frame, the power loaded into the spear was tremendous.
Why is there never a single easy one among these so-called guardians?
Of course there wasn't. A guardian had to be strong to do a guardian's job. That only made him like it more. Guardians, whatever you called them, had always handed him good items.
The guardian's eyes were deeply sunken. Emotionless. It was like a robot whose entire purpose was to carry out the order it had been given, and in truth no feeling rode on its attacks at all. Predicting them was no simple matter because of it.
With Super Concentration active, though, the guardian's movements began to stand out crystal clear. The trident was checked again and again against Yujun's sword. The Indestructible option kept the weapon itself from taking damage, but every clash would be sending a considerable shock up through its wrist. The guardian tried to hide its alarm by pouring the attacks on even harder. Trident and sword crashed together without rest—clang, a sharper ring, clang, again.
The guardian moved in dazzling flourishes. Yujun stood where he was and took every blow with ease. The outcome was already decided in that scene alone.
For the first time, Yujun extended his sword. At a stroke too fast to register, the guardian could not so much as resist. Its head was run through. He had not caught it off guard. His sword had simply been that fast.
The levels gained did not seem proportional to the guardian's strength. Yujun's own level was simply that high already. Two level-ups were a little disappointing, but the guardian had been a bonus in any case. The real reward would come from the pond.
Sitrain attempts to approach Player Shin Yujun's body.
Consent is granted.
I didn't consent to anything. Or was I supposed to refuse outright?
Simply remaining here might have been taken as permission. Either way, he had no cause to reject it. This was where it began.
Sitrain cannot help but marvel at the player's body.
Sitrain covets the body of the player who entered the pond.
He could tell Sitrain was the pond's master, or something close to it.
Covets it?
He should have gotten the details from Paranet before coming. He did regret that—but would this Sitrain really do him harm?
Sitrain smacks his lips.
Sitrain... Oh, that one's going to taste incredible. That body... I want it for myself.
The system message had gone strange.
An error...?
It seemed to be relaying Sitrain's inner thoughts exactly as they were.
Sitrain is disappointed.
Sitrain decides to give the player a modest gift.
Sitrain is selecting an item suited to the player as he is now.
This Sitrain. What even is he?
The system mentioned him so often that curiosity was getting the better of Yujun.
It said an item suited to me right now. What would that be?
His weapon, the Planet Destroyer's Sword, was better than perfect—overflowing, even. So he might receive a piece of armor, or an accessory.
Ordinary equipment isn't going to satisfy me.
His standards were considerably high. Could Sitrain really hand over something better than what he already wore? Yujun figured not. Pulling those levers had been no small labor. The guardian had certainly been a powerful enemy, but an easy one for him—he had finished it in a single blow. Expecting an item that matched his level might have been a thug's greed.
And if Sitrain is picking it himself, I can't even hope for luck.
Then a single line appeared before his eyes.
Sitrain complains that the player's equipment is far too good.
Sitrain says this is all he has to give.
"No, no. This is plenty. Thank you, Sitrain."
Why are you being shy.
What had Paranet received, to be that pleased? If a few pieces of equipment had left him grinning like a fool, Yujun did not quite understand it. The gear he himself had given Paranet was obviously far better.
And I found the hidden piece, so I should have gotten the better reward.
Grade:None
Option: Upon consumption, gain one additional trait. The trait obtained is determined at random.
Got another one of these, huh.
You have absorbed the pond's power over a long span!
You have once again transcended the limits of your species!
Your caliber rises!
Stat efficiency increases greatly.
Stat efficiency. Even with identical stats, that efficiency could make the difference between heaven and earth—so the established theory went. Raising it, however, was anything but easy. The training Dokgo Minsu had spoken of was one method that could increase stat efficiency. It was not guaranteed, of course. You could train for a hundred days and still see no rise at all.
So this is what Paranet got.
No wonder the man had been beside himself. For an undead whose prospects for growth were low to the point of nearly nonexistent, a rise in caliber was a blessing that should not even have been possible.
Paranet's a growth-type summon, so his case is a little different.
Only then did Yujun smile. He had not been dissatisfied with the Long-Aged Elixir, but going back with that alone would have left him slightly wanting. Absorbing the pond's power, and the rise in caliber that came with it, wiped the regret away completely.
Truth is, the rise in caliber is several times the reward the Long-Aged Elixir is...
The elixir he had gained by finding the fourth lever was practically a bonus. Yujun kicked upward and broke the surface in short order.
"You took longer to come out than I expected."
"Yeah. There was something else."
"Something else?"
"Yeah. You only found three levers, right?"
"Yes. That one was at the very deepest point, was it not? So I thought it was the last."
"There was one more."
"T-truly?"
"But it's better that you didn't find it. The guardian was a fairly strong one. Underwater, you would've had a hard time handling it."
"If Master says so, then it must be so. Heh heh."
Already more than content with the caliber he had gained, Paranet smiled in perfect satisfaction. Manuela, as if envious, had been staring the whole while. She raised a hand.
"M-me too!"
"Go on in."
He did not know how many people could absorb the pond's power at once, but if Manuela could rise in caliber as well, there was nothing better.
"Just find three, though. The guardian's already dead, so I don't know if it'll show up again, but it could be dangerous."
"Master. Rather than that, could we not simply go in together? Then it would be perfectly safe!"
"......Huh. You're right."
He was not certain whether two people could enter at once. Which meant it was worth trying.
"Paranet. Thanks."
"Oh, please. It is the least I can do."
"So you're saying I don't even manage the least?"
"......Master. You know full well that was not my meaning."
"I'm deeply disappointed, Paranet."
"......"
Paranet's face crumpled toward tears. Yujun dove into the pond with Manuela.
Once they were inside, the levers had risen again. He knew where they were, and he deliberately did not tell her. He let her find them herself.
I might get in the way.
If he pointed them out, she might fail to absorb the pond's power properly. Nothing was certain, so he had her do it herself, just in case.
She found the third lever. Yujun checked the place where the fourth had been, but there was no lever anywhere.
Gone after all, huh.
The real reward was absorbing the pond's power anyway. When Manuela came back out, she was wearing a brilliant smile.
"How is it?"
"It says my caliber went up! The purity of my mana feels at least twice as good. This is seriously insane!"
When stat efficiency rose, the purity of mana rose with it, plain as day. For Manuela, who had poured so much into her mana stat, it would mean all the more.
"Worked out for everyone."
They had taken everything the Moonlight-Drinking Pond had to give. Monsters slain, levels gained by a fair margin, caliber raised in the pond—and the Long-Aged Elixir on top of it, as a bonus.
So now all that's left is going back and crushing the Demon God Worshippers.
There was still no word from Atradeon, but when he asked the party, they said the sage was moving without a moment's rest to gather information. He would have to go and lend a hand. Before that, though, there was one thing left to do.
Yujun took out the Long-Aged Elixir.