Even Yujun, a Little More Thorough...
Yujun took a little more care concealing his body and face as well.
Summon Paranet, and the disguise would fall apart at once, but he judged it better to alter his appearance for the time being.
I ought to get Paranet a big cloak, too.
The man's bulk was no problem. Items resized themselves to fit the wearer.
He had set the meeting with Do Jiyun somewhere out of the way. Meet her in the residential district and then move, and Coordination might pick up their trail.
"Master."
"What."
"The cloak is fine, truly. But is it not rather conspicuous?"
"You stand out more with it off."
"...Ah?"
Paranet had the enormous cloak hauled over himself from head to toe. With a frame like that, there was no hiding him, no matter what he wore.
"And when are we to depart?"
"Wait. The moment Miss Do Jiyun arrives, we go."
"Pardon? When she arrives, you say?"
"Yeah."
"And why is that?"
"No need to leave first."
"Hrm?"
"Space Movement. We've got that."
"So the hour of my glory has come round once more."
Lately Yujun had been using Paranet for nothing but Space Movement, and yet the summon showed little complaint. The pleasure of shifting someone else through space was simply too delicious, or so he claimed.
What a pervert.
Yujun left the residential district and stepped into a forest dense with tall, slender trees. He closed his eyes and spread his senses wide, searching for any presence that might be watching him.
Aside from the small animals, there was nothing that felt like Coordination.
Even so, he could not afford to relax.
They could be peeking through the animals.
It was a method possible even without Ancient Magic. That did not mean he lacked a way to shut such a gaze out. The answer lay in Ancient Magic itself.
Yujun drew his mana up. An invisible wave slipped free of his body.
Paang!
The wave raced outward, far and wide.
"Done."
That single pulse had nullified every ploy bound to magic or to magical items.
"Magic truly is a fine thing."
"Right? But if your skill rank is low, you can't even do this. All you get are the basic spells."
"Then skill rank matters that much."
"Yeah."
"And when do you mean to use the skill gem?"
Paranet had touched on something important.
"Ah, right. I'd forgotten about that."
He had received a high-grade skill gem from the Abyss King. He had a mid-grade one as well. Better to use them before Do Jiyun reached the meeting place.
"How do you even know about that?"
"I confirm my master's every gesture and every step at all times. The last time we camped, there being no paper, a leaf—"
"Stop. You're giving me chills."
"Yes."
Yujun opened his status window. He already knew where the high-grade skill gem belonged.
Ancient Magic(EX+)
Using the gem there would be the most efficient choice. Yujun applied the high-grade skill gem to Ancient Magic (EX+) at once.
Fwaaah—!
Brilliant light burst outward.
The skill Ancient Magic (EX+) has become
Ancient Magic (EX++) — Gem (High)
Yujun made no effort to hide his disappointment. He had wondered whether anything lay beyond EX+ rank. All that happened was one more plus sign tacked on at the end.
Even so, there would be a difference. He knew it without so much as casting Ancient Magic.
"Well? Any change?"
Paranet asked.
"There is, but it's nothing major."
"Was that not a high-grade gem you used?"
"Ancient Magic's rank was already high to begin with. A small rise is something to be satisfied with."
The change in rank was slight, yet the spell's real destructive power and efficiency must have climbed sharply. For all he had just said, it was in fact a considerable change.
One skill gem remained. A mid-grade one.
"This..."
Aside from Ancient Magic, every skill he possessed sat around A rank at best. Spending a mid-grade skill gem on them felt like a waste.
Rapid Advance and Frozen Field, especially. Making those stronger wouldn't mean much.
A gem could not be set and later removed. He would save it for the day a better skill came along.
Right on cue, word arrived from Do Jiyun. The communication orb, still holding a trace of mana, lit up.
I've arrived.
"We're coming right now. Paranet."
"Yes."
Paranet, already prepared, called on his mana.
Space Movement.
Fwak—!
A brilliant band of light wrapped Yujun and Paranet. In the space of a blink Yujun arrived beside Do Jiyun and raised a hand.
She looked utterly thrown.
"I was wondering why I couldn't see you. You've learned spatial movement magic?"
"Yes. Can we go straight to the Demon Realm?"
"Why do you want the Demon Realm? To get away from Coordination, by any chance?"
"No. There's someone there I absolutely have to ask something."
"You know someone in the Demon Realm?"
"...Mm."
They had agreed to go together. No need to hide it.
"I'm going to meet a witch."
"A witch? The witch I know?"
"Yes. It should be that one."
"There's an unwritten rule. Never get involved with a witch, no matter what. You don't know it?"
"I know."
"Then why a witch..."
"I told you. There's something I want to ask."
"I'm getting tired of being surprised. So you're going all the way to the Demon Realm to meet one witch?"
"Yes."
"Fine. I understand. We agreed to go together, so I'll follow along without a fuss."
"Have you been to the Demon Realm before, Miss Jiyun?"
"In reality, this would be the first time."
"The way across. You know it, right?"
"Wouldn't it be the same as in the game?"
"I hope so."
Just as it was hard for demonkin to cross from the Demon Realm onto the Continent, the reverse held true as well. Reaching the Demon Realm from the Continent demanded a considerable price.
Humans, moreover, could not bring their full strength to bear there, thanks to the thick Dark Demonic Energy saturating the realm. Unless one was demonkin or a demonic beast, merely staying alive was a struggle, which only made the place more dangerous. A player of the Continent weakened the instant they crossed over, while the demonkin who lived there were all but fighting on home ground. The ones who had come to the Continent before might as well have been half of what they truly were.
Perhaps for that reason, even Yujun felt a faint tension.
Demonkin in the Demon Realm are the real thing. I can't afford to take them lightly.
The Demon Realm.
The law of the jungle. Survival of the strongest held here more absolutely than anywhere else. The weak were culled—more than culled. To lack strength was, without exaggeration, to walk straight into death.
It was into that Demon Realm that Yujun and Do Jiyun now stepped.
Do Jiyun let out a heavy sigh.
"Getting to the Demon Realm for real is seriously hard."
"In a way, we're crossing into another dimension. It would be stranger if we could go without paying a price."
What made travel between the Demon Realm and the Continent possible was a gate, and through that gate Yujun had crossed over. Gate or not, it was nothing so grand: a passage where the Demon Realm and the Continent happened to touch. That was all the word meant.
"Filthy keepers... A hundred million points a head. I'm sure it was much cheaper in the game."
Do Jiyun grumbled.
A rare race of the Demon Realm assisted in the use of the gates. So few of them remained that they stood on the brink of extinction, yet they alone could keep a gate whole and put it to use. Yujun and Do Jiyun had paid their points to one such keeper.
"Ah, what a waste."
"You paid with what I gave you."
He was the one who had asked, so he had covered her admission as well.
"It's still a waste. I never thought we'd burn two hundred million in total just to visit the Demon Realm once."
"We can always earn more points."
"But a Mythic-grade item—how in the world did you get one?"
"I bought it with time."
"What? What does that even..."
"One thing's certain. I definitely didn't get it for free."
"Well, of course not. I suppose you've no intention of telling me."
"Correct!"
"...What is this confidence."
Then Do Jiyun's eyes flew wide.
"W-wait. Mr. Yujun."
They went as round as saucers.
"That armor. Isn't that the Destruction God Set?"
True to a former top ranker of War of the Gods, she knew the equipment at a glance.
Yujun nodded.
"It is."
"...You gathered the whole thing?"
"Yes."
"H-how?"
A flicker of excitement, and with it envy and jealousy, filled her eyes. Small wonder. Among level 400 set items, the Destruction God Set was counted the finest of all.
"There were more twists than I can count. Explaining all of it would take a good five years."
"...What? Five years?"
"It's hard to put into words."
"Wow. I still can't believe it. The Destruction God Set. So the items you put up at auction were nothing but junk to you."
"Not quite junk. They're Legendary grade, for what that's worth."
After staring at his equipment for a long while, Do Jiyun spoke.
"It's really strange."
"What is?"
"You've got plenty of Mythic-grade items, but your level is low. And yet you're strong enough to beat Coordination members. And Destruc— no. Hold on."
"What now."
Do Jiyun studied his face without blinking.
"You lied to me, didn't you?"
"Pardon?"
"The Destruction God Set can only be worn at level 400. Didn't you say you were level 352?"
"I did."
"Then it doesn't add up."
"There are Rainbow Stickers."
"...Don't tell me you had four Rainbow Stickers and used every one of them on the Destruction God Set."
"You could put it that way."
In truth, it was the Primordial Player privilege that let him ignore fifty levels of equipment restriction. He could hardly tell her that outright.
"Wow. How did you even get them?"
Do Jiyun was still looking at him half in disbelief, so he decided to change the subject.
"Where would the witch be?"
"Witches are usually near the heart of the Demon Realm. Places where lots of demonkin come and go."
"Why?"
He had never taken much interest in witches or the Demon Realm, so he hadn't known at all.
"Because they have to draw demonkin into their dungeons. Witches usually manage and run dungeons here."
"Can you judge how strong a witch is by how many dungeons she owns?"
"Half right. The more dungeons she owns, the better the odds she's strong. But that isn't everything. Even with only one dungeon, if its difficulty or quality is high, her rank is that much higher too."
"Mm. One more thing. Can a witch own and manage dungeons outside the Demon Realm?"
"For most of them, no. If anyone can, it would be a pureblood witch, and those are truly rare. Meeting one is like plucking a star from the sky. And you shouldn't meet one, either. Even among witches, purebloods have a terrible reputation. They're strong, and awfully fickle..."
As he listened, Yujun's expression grew complicated.
The witch he had met, Manuela, seemed to have been a pureblood. She had held two dungeons on the Continent alone, outside the Demon Realm. She might have owned still more.
And he had cleared two of them.
This is...
It had gone past simple hostility. They might as well be called irreconcilable enemies.
Yujun confessed that past to Do Jiyun without holding anything back.
Having heard him out, she stared at him with the vacant look of someone whose soul had left her body.