Rest
Choco stared at the staff with a long, unimpressed gaze.
At the tip of this staff woven from dark, twisted wood sat a dark purple gemstone.
A magic stone, and not even a particularly high-grade one. Judging by the scale of 1 to 10, it might be around a 6 or 7.
Of course, even if the grade was low, any mage worth their salt would have been itching to get their hands on a staff like this. They would have paid far more gold than what Choco had earned so far. It certainly wasn't a reward for defeating the kobolds.
But Choco's expression stayed utterly blank.
“So you picked up a rather serviceable blunt instrument.”
To turn the spoken words into reality, it first had to be activated.
Yet when infused with spirit power, no special effect triggered. The gemstone remained dark. Since the staff ran on spirit power rather than magic, a clash in nature should have produced some resistance. But there was none. In truth, it was little more than a relic of the past. Still valuable, but nowhere near the level Choco had imagined.
After all that effort, the result was just this… a leftover.
Choco let out a sigh, but instead of tossing the staff aside in frustration, she swung it a few times before flinging it onto the bed and collapsing down. As she lay there, her mind wandered.
It was undeniably disappointing that the staff had lost its usefulness. Even without magic, one could unleash terrifying power with bare hands. Mages could only become stronger with a fine weapon.
That attempt had failed, which was a pity in its own way. But honestly, it was only a minor factor.
What Choco truly wanted was information about the person who had sealed the staff—the one who might have been the bearer.
Even this information was incomplete. Still, if she tracked down the witch who once owned the staff, finding the bearer would be no easy task.
But what am I supposed to do once I find them?
A sudden question rose in her thoughts. It was a fair point. Finding another bearer wouldn't increase her own spirit power, and she had no particular interest in their background.
Moreover, according to Banya, the Gumiho could only be one. The other bearers might not know the truth, but if they did, they would almost certainly kill her on sight rather than cooperate.
Whether as the first or second, once one became a god, it would be better to confront them head-on if necessary.
Knowing she might have to fight, why did she still feel the urge to seek the other bearer?
Choco pondered it for a moment, then let out a light laugh.
“Why not? Because I'm curious, of course.”
In her own mind, the reason she had become Rank 1 was that she simply asked more questions than others. She had never truly weighed the pros and cons of her actions. She simply chased rumors she heard by chance or clues she stumbled upon.
Many of those paths had led to good results, some to less pleasant ones. But Choco had never stopped.
When she paused, she would only reflect for a brief moment before moving on to the next thing. Whatever it was.
So this time was no different. If she met the other and a fight broke out, she wouldn't run.
Of course, avoiding the fight would be better. But if she won, the other party's Fox Bead would belong to her as well.
Even if it was a fox with only a few tails, it would be one step closer to her goal of becoming a Gumiho.
She didn't expect to lose. Before, maybe. Now, not likely.
Fox Bead, Five Elements Daoism, Detect… (Expanded)
The experience gained from defeating the kobolds during the boss fight had sent her level skyrocketing in a single leap.
Bringing the fangs of the Kobold King to Roy, the castle's administrative officer, had turned her into an absolute experience party. The average party level rose by two for every such contribution.
A level-up of almost twenty in a single day.
Even at the beginning of her journey, this speed was astonishing.
Moreover, the title she received for clearing this boss fight was one Choco already knew.
The title reduced the chance of being afflicted by status ailments and shortened any debuff duration. Simply possessing it would have made playing Al Fantasia easier.
Of course, it was also one of the rarest titles. Yet here it was.
I obtained something much harder to get than this.
When had that been? Back when her level was still around 350.
She had carelessly entered a dimensional dungeon and witnessed the collapsing world of a giant.
The boss there was the giant holding the world together. Six arms total. Three above the shoulders bore the weight of the planet, while the remaining two pairs rained down magic of different elements.
Even then, she had survived by repeatedly hitting and running. If the other arms had moved as well, she would never have won. The giant's level was 450, while her own capped at 400.
That was how she had earned the title Overcome's Greatest.
Was this boss fight that difficult?
Because difficulty is always relative, new players could earn the title by beating a Black Wolf pack.
But it is strange that all four of us received it.
Hojin had even muttered under his breath, “It's not even on my main account…”
Well, thinking that “good is good” was a valid philosophy. She didn't know how the titles were awarded, but this one was certainly strong.
And my stats rose nicely as well.
Choco let out a short laugh while staring at her spirit power stat, which had pushed well into the 200s.
At level cap, most players reached the 900s in two of their four stats. A DPS character would focus on Strength and Agility, a tank on Strength and Endurance, a mage on Agility and Magic.
If one roughly divided by hundreds, a level-100 player averaging around 230 in their stats was considered normal. Anything higher meant they trained seriously.
Yet Choco's level was only 37, and her spirit power was 237.
By that metric alone, she was on par with a level-100 mage.
Logically, this was absurd. No matter how many low-level mages she had fought, no level-40 player should match a level-100 mage in stats.
If someone found out, they would scream about cheating. And honestly, she wouldn't have blamed them.
Well, I was born different anyway.
Her race had never been human to begin with.
So why was she using spirit power instead of magic? And why was she learning unfamiliar arts like Daoism?
With no class yet, it was already impressive. Imagining how she would feel once she got a real class… it was enough to make her shiver.
Who knew, at level 100 her spirit power might surpass 600?
That ridiculous thought had barely left her mind when the sound of the door opening echoed.
She turned her head. Yeon entered cautiously, and their eyes met.
“Ah… Did I wake you?”
“I was never asleep, yeon.”
“That's a relief.”
Seeing Yeon relax, Choco asked, “Were the others gone?”
“Yes. They said they were logging out and heading to bed.”
“But Choco, are you okay? Se-jin unnie is like that, but Hojin-nim…”
“Hmph, don't worry about him. At the very least, he keeps the promises he makes.”
Choco snorted.
After collecting their individual rewards from the forest, the four of them gathered under Hojin's lead for a group photo.
Choco had wanted to refuse on the grounds that she hated having her face shown, but when Hojin threatened to reveal their secret if she didn't join, she had no choice but to go along.
Of course, Hojin had ended up receiving a smack from Se-jin right after the threat.
Obviously, he had only done it to stage the perfect selfie. Even though it was obvious, Hojin secretly craved honor.
A sudden event had triggered in the low-level zone, compounding the level restriction. The four of them had beaten it, and Choco had even earned the Overcome's Greatest title.
In effect, the event's difficulty had been proven.
If posted in the community, it would spark controversy for a while. Of course, someone would eventually recognize her face. So she had warned Hojin to keep the other three's faces hidden.
Se-jin being there as well was a potential issue, but Choco couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in her chest.
That guy is secretly gullible, you know.
Hojin had only threatened the photo to protect the secret. He wouldn't have posted it anywhere if he hadn't taken it.
If any problem had arisen, it would have surfaced on the forum. Hojin had actually used that tactic a few times before.
If she later heard the behind-the-scenes story, it would all turn out to be trivial misunderstandings. But this time… she couldn't imagine it staying quiet.
If she wanted to check, there was still a way…
“Haa~ I'm so tired~”
Choco glanced sideways at Yeon, who had collapsed onto the bed beside her.
Curious as she was about how Hojin had posted it, she decided it wasn't her place to drag Yeon to the forum.
Of course, she might have been overreacting…
Choco rubbed her forehead with a sigh.
It's dangerous to have a stalker like me attached…
Rankers, especially those in the top 20, rarely stayed active on the forum.
Most had once been first to clear hidden regions and enjoyed the attention that came with the title of Ranker.
Choco was no different. If she had to describe her role, she was a silent advisor who watched from the sidelines.
She never wrote posts herself, but she frequently answered questions. Besides her, others did the same, though Choco was the only one who almost never posted.
That had changed after a certain stalker user began following her around. Every time she answered a question, the mysterious replies appeared. After two months of endless harassment, Choco finally stopped visiting the forum.
Years later, he even escalated…
Choco shook her head, thinking to herself.
She would definitely warn Yeon to stay away from forums like that.
“Choco-ya, sleeping?”
“Never!”
“Huh? What was that?”
“Ah, no. Just thinking about something else, yeon.”
Yeon tilted her head slightly at Choco's outburst, then smiled awkwardly.
“I think I need to log out for a bit.”