This Is Impossible

This was impossible. Leveling up in The Demon King and the Hero's Party belonged to the considerably difficult category. For one thing, the maximum level was only 100. And that level 100 wasn't even designed to be reached. For example, during my 999 attempts, I had never once hit Lv100. No, reaching even the early Lv90s had happened so rarely I could count the occasions on one hand. Even the final boss of this game, the Demon King, wasn't Lv100. Even on the highest difficulty with the Demon King's seal released to its limit, it still wouldn't reach Lv100. At best it would sit in the late Lv90s. That was how difficult leveling up was in this game.

Thanks to that, I could declare it with certainty right now.

Early morning, in the back alley behind a tavern. Sitting amid piles of filthy garbage, I muttered those words. This was the conclusion I had reached after agonizing over it the entire night.

No matter what hidden piece I obtained, no matter what jackpot dungeon I discovered, reaching Lv70 in only two weeks was absolutely impossible. Even if I hadn't been a human who'd done 999 runs but had fallen here as a shut-in who'd done 9999, that truth almost certainly wouldn't change.

"It doesn't make sense from the start."

Lv70 put you on the verge of the semi-supreme line. Do you know how vast the level gap is here? Lv10 was roughly normal human level. Around Lv20 you were treated as a fairly strong soldier. Just reaching Lv30 let you obtain a decent knight title whenever you wanted. At Lv40 or 50 you could claim the seat of an elite knight or guild master of any respectable mercenary guild. That was the treatment you received for a mere Lv50.

The inflation grew far worse the higher you climbed. At around Lv60 you could rise to a position like Magic Tower Master, and at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lv70 you could even aim for the strongest seat in a small nation. Such was the weight carried by level 70.

'And they want me to reach it?'

In only two weeks?

Impossible. It was pure lunacy. If only my current level were even a little higher… but my current level was a pristine, untouched Lv1. So pure it made me want to vomit curses. Just how the hell was I supposed to start with this?

In the original game the minimum starting level had been 10, after all.

"…Ha. Still, I guess I have to at least try."

But my grumbling lasted only a moment. In the end I had no choice but to stand. Staying here wouldn't improve anything.

And as far as I knew, The Demon King and the Hero's Party never handed out truly impossible problems. Even if it looked hopeless at first glance, a closer look always revealed a hole you could dig into. And honestly, I could already see roughly how I should approach it.

'Status window.'

The status window that most game-possession stories came with as standard. Fortunately it existed here too. But the system in The Demon King and the Hero's Party felt somehow special.

It was composed solely of name, level, and skill, without any trivial details like stats or traits. It looked exactly like the status window I used to check in the game. In this world stats weren't displayed separately. Because here, level itself was the measure of strength. Level represented the sum of a person's accumulated experience and history, so there was no need to show separate stats… or so the game company had answered.

In truth they probably just hadn't wanted to show it. No matter how much level served as the measure of strength, compatibility differences clearly existed. Mages had high magic power, warriors had high stamina, and so on. Those obvious stat differences were present. Yet the game simply said 'Just judge by level,' which inevitably left you irritated.

Anyway, I could tell the status window was exactly as I remembered it.

'My name seems to have been set to Luke.'

That wasn't particularly important so I set it aside. What mattered was the skill called Authority of Sacrifice.

A skill name I'd never seen before. The only perk I'd received upon choosing the hidden route and falling into this place. The moment I examined it closely, the status window suddenly distorted and enlarged the Authority of Sacrifice to show me.

The moment I read it, I frowned.

"What a shitty skill."

At first glance it looked good. No, it definitely was good. The explanation was a little vague, but it granted compensation every time you offered something. Its versatility would be tremendous.

Yet it wasn't a skill I particularly wanted to use.

'Why do I have to offer something every single time?'

Just give it to me. If that's how it was, they should have handed me standard skills like Eternal Flame or Clear Wind Sword Technique. With those I could have comfortably passed the early stages.

"Tsk."

Still, since I'd obtained it I couldn't let it rot. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠might as well test it.

[Will you offer it?]

I spoke aloud, stating in order what I would offer and what I would gain. What I would offer was lifespan. Lifespan made for quite a good sacrificial medium. It couldn't be seen, wasn't easily felt, and even if it vanished you wouldn't notice the loss right away. It was perfect for an experiment.

Of course it wasn't that I didn't feel the waste… but in the current situation I had no other choice.

"I offer five years of my lifespan to raise my level."

And in that instant.

'…!!'

An extremely unpleasant sensation seized my body. It felt as if the Grim Reaper's scythe had lightly brushed across my throat. A fierce emptiness, as though part of my soul had been ripped away, swallowed me whole.

But that lasted only a moment.

A sacred swarm of light seemed to dance around me. Five years of lifespan had raised me by fourteen levels at once. It was as if I'd gained all the experience from early childhood to the coming-of-age ceremony in a single burst. Certainly tremendous growth, yet… I could only smile bitterly.

'This is… I don't know whether to call it good or bad.'

The cost-performance ratio was ambiguous. Lifespan was a rather precious resource. Though it had no form and couldn't be seen, lifespan was definitely important. I had just offered a limited resource called life force. In wuxia terms, it was like burning through an enormous amount of my innate qi. Yet I'd only risen by thirteen levels. And that was even in the low-level range where explosive leveling should have been possible.

"Tsk."

This method was wrong. Even if I offered my entire lifespan, it was questionable whether I'd reach Lv70. Sacrificing my lifespan to clear quests from the beginning was far too inefficient, and I had zero desire to feel that disgusting sensation again.

'I need to find another way.'

Thinking that, I left the back alley. Now that I'd confirmed the skill I possessed, it was time to wander everywhere and work hard. Hunting monsters, seeking fortuitous encounters, training—something would surely give me an answer.

Thus began my life aimed at explosive leveling.

*

…To speak from the conclusion, I failed. And I failed spectacularly.

It had been ten days since I began wandering all over. In that time I had raised my level ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by only ten. That was all after more than a week. Even after offering an additional five years of lifespan on top of the first sacrifice, that was the result… A truly miserable outcome.

There were three reasons why a 999-try veteran like me could only produce this kind of result.

First, it seemed I had absolutely no talent. For ten days straight, without missing a single day, I had swung my sword. Training, including swordsmanship, was converted into a form of experience after all. Thanks to that, there existed people who had seized the position of knight commander through training alone with outstanding talent.

But those ten days of training hadn't raised my level even by one. Of course it had only been ten days, but still—I was supposedly a hero candidate… To not raise even a single level. It was utterly deplorable.

Still, I had managed to obtain one skill…

It looked completely useless at first glance. I frowned.

'Who the hell is this mocking…'

Anyway, the first reason was my lack of talent. The second reason was that I hadn't obtained any hidden pieces. I roughly knew the locations of the early-game opportunities. The problem was that most of them couldn't be obtained under the current conditions. Most required a lot of money, housed powerful monsters inside, or were simply too far away. I couldn't spend the precious two weeks traveling just to obtain a single opportunity.

It was good that the starting point was a city within the empire, but unfortunately I barely had any money to pay for travel expenses. Therefore I was currently in a state where I hadn't obtained even one fortuitous encounter.

The last, third reason.

'The monsters are too strong…'

Even though this was a safe city, heading to the outskirts meant there would be weak monsters. I'd planned to level up by hunting them, but the monsters were stronger than expected. Of course my poor combat ability played a part… but this was the bigger issue.

The world was faithfully carrying out those words. The monsters I knew were at least one or two levels higher than the versions I remembered… so they weren't easy to defeat. In this world there wasn't much you could do with a mere Lv20.

Thanks to that, these words eventually slipped from my mouth.

"Ha… Should I just give up?"

It was a quest that looked impossible from the start. To reach the semi-supreme seat from a state that was practically bare ground. A quest that offered no answers and even drained away any sense of humor.

In the first place, I thought I'd just be playing games in my room. Who could have known I'd suddenly fall into the real world? So giving up should have been fine. The world would eventually be destroyed, but… what was I supposed to do about it? The answers weren't visible even from the early stages.

Yet even as my heart leaned toward giving up, one thing still caught on me.

'Then what about them…?'

If I failed to clear the quest, what would happen to the heroines here? When I thought about their futures, I couldn't help but hesitate…

It was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠when I was gradually sinking deeper into the swamp of worry.

Suddenly a voice rang out from behind me.

"Hey, buddy. Do you know whose territory this is, wandering in here like you own the place?"

A clichéd line as if drawn straight from a picture. When I turned to find the speaker, four rather thuggish men were staring at me.

Among them, the especially large one spoke.

"If you entered without permission, you gotta pay a toll."

Seeing him sneer with that grimy face, they were classic back-alley punks.

At the sight of them I let out a sigh.

"Sigh…"

Really, when things refused to go well, every possible nuisance came crawling out to cling to me.