One Month to Phantasma

Now he was certain. Everything up to SR was, at its core, nothing more than data that appeared inside a game labyrinth. But SSR was a power capable of reaching into Yggdrasil itself.

So far, two kinds of SSR had surfaced: System and Skill. System-type abilities carried no 'Lv' — presumably because they were complete as they stood. Skill-type abilities, like their SR counterparts, had to be leveled up.

The systems revealed so far were Delete and Limit Break. He hadn't yet tested Limit Break's power, but the explanation alone was more than enough to grasp what kind of ability it was. Both forces reached into the data of game labyrinths.

"And Yggdrasil Items carried into the real world?"

That figured.

"SSR Enchant, though — if it's a skill that grants attributes, then it probably exists in other game labyrinths too. It's SSR-grade, so there's bound to be something special about it."

SSR – Limit Break. SSR – Enchant Lv1. New weapons for the war against the Linzea Guild that lay ahead.

"Alright, then next up is skill enhancement—"

"Huh?"

A skill slot limit — this was news to him.

Ryu Hwi surveyed the skills he currently had equipped.

Those four skills had carried him through every fight so far. And this time, the new acquisitions—

SSR – Limit Break and Enchant. SR – Teleport, Meteor Strike, Iaido, Hawk Eye, Spear Mastery, Aura Blade.

Unless he planned on taking up the spear, leveling Spear Mastery would be pointless. And with Sword Saint in hand, Aura Blade was redundant.

"Can unused skills be stored somewhere?"

"Better to convert the useless ones into experience points and hold onto anything that might come in handy."

Then he threw himself straight into skill enhancement, pouring the points he'd stockpiled over the past month into each skill in turn.

Skill upgrades. Intuition Lv1 → Lv2 (7,000 RP). Sword Saint Lv1 → Lv2 (4,000 RP). Sword Saint Lv2 → Lv3 (8,000 RP). Sword Saint Lv3 → Lv4 (16,000 RP). Flash Step Lv4 → Lv5 (4,400 RP). Flash Step Lv5 → Flash Step (ygg).

First, among his established skills, he pushed Sword Saint all the way to Lv4 in one go. As an SR+ skill, it demanded a hefty amount of experience. For Intuition, he raised it just one level, since he had no idea what concrete difference each level would make. Flash Step he took to Lv5 and immediately upgraded into the SR+ Flash Step (ygg).

By that point, more than half the points he'd saved up had gone up in smoke. He set aside what remained and checked over the skills he'd enhanced.

Both of Sword Saint's branches — Sword Mastery and Parrying — had reached (ygg) status. Left to his own impulses, he would have loved to push Sword Saint to Lv5, but one look at the staggering 64,000 RP price tag killed the idea on the spot.

About 25,000 points remained. The other skills would need to be tested in the field before he could judge their worth.

"5555."

Do as she pleased — that was exactly what he liked about her.

Ryu Hwi snorted.

"One month. One month is more than enough to reach Phantasma."

5555 raised her voice in flustered alarm.

Ryu Hwi cut the connection unilaterally.

"Exactly. That's why one month to Phantasma will be plenty."

Ryu Hwi's progress had nothing to do with leveling. And that was precisely why, unlike every other gamer out there, he could slash the time needed to earn the Phantasma qualification down to the bone.

"Mods."

Three new mods had joined the lineup. Of the additions, BroadcastTest had been prepared to stream his play screen live in real time. Ryu Hwi kept this mod switched on at all hours, and 5555 was using its data feed to research a way to bridge the time gap between game labyrinths and the outside world.

The Sensory Control mod was a safeguard, added in case he ever needed to adjust his sensitivity the way he had in his clash with Linfel. And last of all, the Disguise Kit was — for Ryu Hwi right now — the single most vital mod of them all.

After running through each freshly installed mod once, he pulled up the map generated by Auto-Mapping.

"Closest one is Verdant Illusion, huh..."

He would clear the nearby dungeons one by one, starting from the nearest.

SR – Teleport Lv1. The moment he activated it, his whole body was swallowed by light — and vanished.

Near the entrance of the forest.

Having warped to the dungeon's vicinity, Ryu Hwi spotted wanted posters plastered all over the place. Posters put up by the Linzea Guild.

At the dungeon entrance, gamers who appeared to belong to the Linzea Guild were screening every single person trying to enter.

Ryu Hwi checked over his own appearance. Using the Disguise Kit mod and a handful of Random Box items, he masked his face just enough, then slipped into the line. The disguise held — not a soul looked at him twice.

No one would have imagined that Ryu Hwi himself would stroll up and blend brazenly into their checkpoint line.

"Seriously, are those guys out of their minds?"

He caught the murmurs of other gamers in line.

"They've been staking out every dungeon in existence for the past month straight."

"A month, they say, but there's no sign of when it'll end. And word is they've started taking down gamers who've been criticizing them, not just Ryu7017."

"WoPh isn't even theirs. I don't care how big a guild you are, this is way over the line."

Plenty of gamers were fed up with the situation. Some of them cursed Ryu7017; others cursed the Linzea Guild. Whatever they said, Ryu Hwi just played dumb and tuned it all out.

After lounging around at the back of the long line for a leisurely five minutes, he noticed gamers lining up behind him as well — a mixed party of two men and two women. Judging by their gear, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they hadn't been playing World of Phantasm ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for very long.

"Hello there."

Ryu Hwi greeted them in a cheerful voice. They bowed their heads with a hint of awkwardness.

"New to the game? This dungeon might be a bit much for beginners."

At his question, their faces turned uneasy.

"The easy dungeons just don't pay enough. So we take the risk — can't be helped, right?"

"How did it even come to this? We heard you could make good money in WoPh."

"We believed the hype and converted, and... the money's nowhere near what we were promised, and now the dungeons are locked down. Might as well have stayed in the game labyrinth we were playing before."

"Except that labyrinth's on its last legs. It could vanish any day now. Grind all you want, there's no future in it."

The party's grievances poured out one after another.

"Linzea's only acting like this because of that terrorist, Ryu Hwi. It'll blow over soon enough. Ah, sorry — it's just that we're a little stretched thin lately..."

The man who'd been chatting with him let out a sigh.

"Things are rough on your end too, huh? Wait — are you playing solo? Isn't soloing a dungeon rough?"

"It's fine. I'm a terrorist, as it happens."

"...Sorry?"

The man blinked in surprise for a moment, then apparently decided it was a joke and burst out laughing.

As the small talk flowed, the line dwindled before he knew it, and his turn arrived.

The Linzea gamers guarding the dungeon entrance made no effort to hide their irritation.

"We'll need to verify your identity. We ask for your cooperation."

Polite words, but their voices dripped with annoyance. Even on guild orders, who would want to babysit such tedious duty?

Ryu Hwi decided to help them stop wasting any more effort.

"Ryu7017."

The instant he announced his own name, the Linzea gamers froze in stunned disbelief. With a sigh of resignation, Ryu Hwi dropped his disguise and said it again.

"Looking for me?"

One of the Linzea gamers shrieked and tore out his weapon.

"Ryu7017! It's Ryu7017!!"

The moment he screamed, the surrounding area erupted into chaos. The party that had been trading pleasantries with him moments before recoiled in horror, and the Linzea guards came sprinting from their posts.

Three of them in total. Ryu Hwi drew his Gunsword.

"Linzea so kindly stationed 'humanoid monsters' at every checkpoint. Ignoring that hospitality would just be rude."

And it wasn't only here — Linzea guild members would be watching every dungeon entrance across the region.

"Might as well test out my new skills. Maybe get a little hunting in before I run the dungeon."