Don't Die

"Don't die. Either of you."

"You don't have to worry. I've gotten a lot stronger than you think. Thanks to you."

"I have only just grown used to my new magic as well. If anything, a place we cannot enter as a party may prove the safer one."

Manuela and Yenil spoke, and the words swept Yujun's worry aside. He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nodded. With a hard condition that it had to be done alone, the place was unlikely to be recklessly dangerous—and skipping the event dungeon was never an option. That would be no different from flinging the Peace Contribution he had worked so hard to gather onto the dirt.

They were trying to rattle him from the very start. He had assumed an event dungeon would be over in a single run, yet this was the first time the system itself had warned that a great deal of time would be required. Precisely because of that, it was not something he could brush aside. Even so, backing out now would change nothing, and Yujun stepped into the event dungeon without hesitation.

Thick, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠murky smoke billowed up from nowhere and closed around him. The world shifted, and unfamiliar faces came into view—most of them hulking, wearing not so much as a scrap of cloth, let alone equipment. The men had all bared their chests, their lower halves covered by little more than a loincloth, and the women, who gave off a rough and untamed air, had only the essentials scantily veiled.

"Hey, Shin Yujun. Why are you standing there in a daze? It's your turn."

"Huh?"

A man beside him spoke as he tapped Yujun's shoulder. To make sense of what was happening, Yujun checked the system messages that had just appeared.

Yujun looked down at his bare torso. Becoming a Barbarian had not swollen him into some grotesque mass of muscle; he had been well-built to begin with, so going around half-naked was nothing to be ashamed of. Losing his equipment left him oddly hollow, but if it had fed this thing called Potential, there was no point in regretting it.

But what does any of this have to do with the undead?

To go from hunting the undead straight into a world of Barbarians was far too abrupt.

Related or not, it isn't mine to worry about. I just need to take whatever there is to take.

He did not even know whether this world was real. Fretting over something meaningless would get him nowhere. He opened his status window to check.

Every stat had fallen, each one fixed at 30, and Chaos was gone as well. He would be able to return the moment he left the dungeon, so the loss did not worry him.

Ah. Right. Paranet.

Yujun closed his eyes and reached for Paranet ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠through his mental image. The bond between them was still firm.

I can summon him. Just not this instant.

Everyone around him was a Barbarian. If a five-meter undead appeared here, it would not stop at drawing eyes. Yujun glanced about with a faintly heated look on his face, and the Barbarian who had tapped his shoulder earlier eyed him as if he were acting strange.

"What's your name?"

Yujun asked the Barbarian.

"What are you on about?"

"Your name."

"You pretending you suddenly lost your memory? I'm Baren."

"Baren..."

When Yujun murmured the name as if tasting it, Baren let out an incredulous laugh.

"Did this guy actually lose his memory? Anyway, get up front already. Everyone behind you is waiting."

At Baren's words he looked around and found Barbarians scowling, glaring his way. He could roughly tell what sort of turn this was: a transparent jewel the size of a human head, held out by one particularly tall and massively muscled Barbarian, just as the one ahead of him had done. Yujun strode forward and stood before the man holding it.

"Put your hand up."

Unsure how he was meant to answer, he gave only a small nod and raised his hand. The instant he made contact, the transparent jewel began to change color—a faint red creeping in, then flaring all at once into a deep crimson.

"Whoa. What?"

"I've never seen a red that vivid."

"He had talent like that?"

"Who is he?"

"A guy called Shin Yujun."

"Shin Yujun? Odd name. I don't even know who that is."

The Barbarians, whose faces had barely shifted until now, were largely stunned. The Jewel displayed a person's Potential by color; it was, in short, an instrument for measuring it. Red meant that one's Potential as a Barbarian had reached the upper grade, and the more vivid the color, the closer it sat to the very peak. Yet the Jewel under Yujun's hand kept deepening, darkening toward a blackish crimson.

Rediak, the Barbarian charged with reading Potential through the Jewel, went rigid with shock. He knew exactly what a dark-crimson Jewel signified: the makings of a true king, one who would unify the grasslands. His ancestors had served as measurers for generations, and he himself had learned a great deal from parents who held the same post. A Barbarian fit to be king was the sort who appeared perhaps once in several decades. In twenty years of the work, he had never seen a single one.

And this man has those makings?

For a Barbarian, the build was ordinary. In this man of balanced proportions and an exotic face, Rediak could find nothing particularly exceptional. But it did not end there. The Jewel, dark crimson a moment before, turned utterly black.

"What..."

Had the Jewel, sound for hundreds of years, broken all at once? Rediak had never heard a single word about black. Was a total lack of aptitude being expressed this way? That seemed the likelier possibility—and yet, remembering the deep red that had come first, it could not be.

"You possess outstanding aptitude."

Rediak spoke with care, weighing every syllable, and the Barbarians erupted. It was the first time the Potential measurer had ever commented on someone's aptitude. Ordinarily he looked down on them with arrogant eyes; even when a Barbarian of upper-grade Potential appeared, he had shown little interest. And now that man was saying the aptitude was outstanding? How were they supposed to take it in stride?

"Black's a first, isn't it?"

"Maybe it broke."

"Right? Hard to believe a scrawny guy like that has high Potential."

"Potential isn't judged by looks. Still—to think Shin Yujun was the Barbarian who'd make our tribe strong. That's a shock."

"Was Shin Yujun a captive to begin with?"

"He's the one my father brought back as spoils from the victory over the Poison Dagger tribe."

The Barbarians having their Potential measured were those approaching their coming-of-age rite—not warriors at the height of their skill, and not a gathering of pure prospects either, for each one's Potential differed. To a Barbarian, Potential carried enormous weight. In the world of Barbarism, it was everything. Low Potential meant growth stalled almost at once, while a Barbarian of high Potential grew swiftly, with only a brief plateau, or none at all, climbing without end. One of lower-grade Potential could never become extraordinary. No amount of effort could shift a limit already fixed. In its way, it was a far harsher system than the Tower of Infinity.

Yujun already knew from the system message that his Potential as a Barbarian was high.

One million three hundred thousand Peace Contribution is hardly nothing.

That alone made gathering it worthwhile. The problem was that he could not use a single item he had relied on before. Looking around, not one Barbarian carried anything of the sort, which might mean the very concept of items did not exist here.

Wait. Then I can't use magic either—and my swordsmanship has dropped to complete trash?

The system had been clear: skills and traits would be converted into Potential as well. That meant the Swordsmanship trait that had made him a master of the blade could no longer take effect. Magic and swordsmanship, everything he was, had vanished. It was more than enough to set him on edge.

And yet something was strange. His theory of the sword was still perfectly intact, and so was his magic. He had the feeling that if he swung a blade this very moment, it would not feel awkward at all. Fallen stats meant he could not fight as he once had, but he did not feel as though the technique itself had degraded.

I won't know until I try it. Still...

He did not believe his swordsmanship had been wiped clean. Put a sword in his hand and confidence would come surging up. However he turned it over, this was not his imagination.

Is this because my Potential is high, too? It might be.

Recognized by Rediak, Yujun stepped down from the platform with an unbothered face. Baren, next in line, stared at him.

"What?"

"You... you were something else."

"You didn't know?"

Yujun asked because he genuinely wanted to know. He had no idea how he was blending in so naturally among the Barbarians. This did not feel like a virtual world, either. Less a virtual world than a stage built upon a world that actually existed—the way things were whenever the system hosted an event. Exactly that feeling.

"You were a washout to begin with. Honestly, I figured you were a nobody."

"You're being awfully honest."

"Well, it's true. Nothing you stood out at, and you didn't even train hard. Of course that's what I thought. But you had the highest-grade Potential all along... I'm kind of in shock."

Baren spoke as though he had been watching him for a long time.

Come to think of it, what happens to the other players who enter the event dungeon? Can I even meet them?

Curious, he tried to open the messenger, but it would not turn on either.

Well. I'll find out later.

Yujun went back to his place. All that remained was the tedious procession of Barbarians having their Potential measured. Many were still waiting, but each reading ended quickly enough; Yujun's, with the Jewel shifting color for so long, had simply been the exception.

So that's why the system said this would take a long time.

The measurement had only just finished. The real thing had not even begun.

Even so, it won't drag on for months. Will it?

The worry came first, but it would not come to that. He had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only to grow quickly on the back of his outstanding Potential and finish the dungeon alone. He was confident.