Blessing of the Demon God

After concluding his meeting with Steebro Latia Duke, CEO of Latia Soft, Gabriel received a call from one of his guild members.

A new Deep Dive Escape video had been uploaded to Yggtube.

Ryu7017 had fought the Floor 10 boss of the Tower while an Error Code 666 death game was still active — and won.

Gabriel had analyzed every Deep Dive Escape video uploaded to date. He had mobilized the full analytical power of Linzea Guild's intelligence division to uncover Ryu Hwi's secret.

But the more he analyzed, the clearer it became just how terrifying an opponent Ryu7017 truly was.

The man was running a 'system' entirely separate from World of Phantasm. How such a thing was even possible, Gabriel couldn't begin to fathom.

Anyone who fought Ryu7017 found their stats rendered meaningless. No matter how high their defense, no matter how vast their HP pool, none of it mattered against Ryu7017's attacks.

What made it even more frightening was that he only grew stronger as time went on.

Linpel Darius had lost because of sheer arrogance. Had he properly analyzed his opponent before striking, he was not a man who should have lost.

But now? Now Ryu7017 had soloed the Tower's boss while ignoring even Error Code 666. He had calmly accomplished something even most veterans wouldn't dare to attempt.

"Ryu7017…… It's as if he's an envoy sent by Yggdrasil itself to bring about change."

Gabriel recalled the vision that Steebro Latia Duke had so proudly shown him. A great change was coming, and soon.

YggON was always suspiciously ecstatic whenever a gacha was involved.

It looked like a lot, but after having been wiped out before, Ryu Hwi couldn't afford to relax.

'But this time, even if everything fails, I've got the pity system!'

If he spent all of his tickets now, he would just barely cross the 300-pull threshold.

Reaching the pity meant he was guaranteed to pull an SSR-grade item from that game labyrinth's pool.

He decided to start with the YggON tickets.

But he didn't trust probability. One SSR out of a hundred pulls? Yeah, right. What a load of garbage.

He could never forget the pain and fury of watching over a thousand tickets vanish into nothing.

He slammed the Normal Ticket button immediately.

"?!"

"SSR?! An SSR on the very first pull?!"

[Impossible……!!]

At last, the dazzling rainbow swept across his vision, and the result appeared.

An SSR, right from the start?! YggON jolted and rattled as if it had crashed from a bug itself.

Ryu Hwi hurriedly pulled up the information on SSR — World of Phantasm System.

"Change the system's specifications……"

Why did it feel so strange? It was an SSR, sure, but something about it vibrated with an oddly underwhelming vibe.

[Perhaps you'd care to try it once, as an experiment?]

YggON, who had been stunned by the SSR popping out at the very start, had apparently collected itself.

Just as it suggested, Ryu Hwi activated World of Phantasm System.

He deactivated World of Phantasm System at once.

Right now, he wasn't running any system other than the UR-grade YggON system. That came with the drawback of relying solely on items and skills, but because he wasn't bound by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠any system's rules, he could ignore his opponent's stats entirely when attacking.

If he applied World of Phantasm System, he would have to level up like a World of Phantasm avatar. Starting from level 1, no less.

"A completely useless SSR…… and it's an SSR, of all things!"

The moment he applied it, he'd lose even the ability to ignore enemy stats. There was no way to make use of it right now. Of all the SSRs he could have pulled, it had to be this one.

Maybe someday it would come in handy — but not today.

"Damn it, next! Next!"

As if to prove that the SSR at the very beginning had been a miracle, an endless storm of N and R grades followed, and Ryu Hwi was brutally reminded of just how trash the Random Box could be.

The results of 257 YggON tickets and 14 SR Guaranteed Tickets:

N: 160. R: 82. SR: 29. SSR: 1.

He slumped in his seat and clutched his head with both hands. What exactly was "1% SSR rate"? He wished the probability scamming would just stop already.

Five minutes later, having barely recovered from the psychological damage, he checked the results list.

Twenty-eight items, duplicates included. He could currently equip a total of twelve skills. He would have to compare his existing skills against the new ones and build the most efficient loadout possible.

But before that——

The pity had finally been reached. Now he could pull the pickup item for World of Phantasm as a guaranteed drop.

He moved to execute the pity Random Box right away.

He froze.

That casually tossed remark was more than enough to stop Ryu Hwi in his tracks.

There existed SSRs that were nearly useless — and one of them happened to be part of the World of Phantasm SSR pool. Which meant there was a chance that this pity box would spit out SSR — World of Phantasm System all over again.

Please no, please no, please no!

Praying silently, Ryu Hwi executed the pity Random Box.

Even as the rainbow effect played out, he couldn't let himself relax. What would come out?

"Don't you dare enjoy yourself at a moment like this, you robo-vacuum bastard!"

At last, the result of the Random Box appeared.

"Aza!!"

[Tch.]

The reactions of the two split in that instant.

He immediately checked the effects of the new SSR.

"This skill is……"

It was likely a passive-type skill that activated simply by being equipped, like the Sword Mastery line.

"Boosted base stats, boosted skill attack power, and reduced cooldowns…… I'll have to test it myself to be sure, but I'd say the effects are definitely worthy of an SSR."

What was truly incredible was that it synergized with every attack-type skill he owned.

"Alright then, shall we check out the SRs?"

He went through the SR skills and items one by one.

Taijiquan raised proficiency in fist arts. His main weapon was the sword, so it seemed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠unlikely to be of use anytime soon.

Fireball hurled flames at range. The word 'magic' did tug at his heart, but now that he carried a weapon capable of ranged attacks, its efficiency seemed low.

Berserker deliberately drove the user into a frenzied state to maximize the body's physical capabilities — but it didn't fit his current combat style.

War Cry drew the aggro of enemies, which was utterly useless as long as he played solo.

The Seven-Star Sword was a decently performing blade, and the Energy Rifle was a long-range sniping weapon that looked useful as a sidearm.

The Paladin's Shield seemed solid in performance, but difficult to use alongside the Gunsword.

Which left——

"Five minutes stretched to fifteen, so it's at least practical now. But something even more valuable came out."

The Spirit Stone.

It was an item worth even more than the magic stones dropped by monsters. It was ether in crystallized form — and in this era, where ether had become civilization's lifeblood, nothing was more precious.

"Wolya's going to love this."

With that, the Random Box session was over. Now he had to compare his currently equipped skills and decide which ones to keep.

After a moment's deliberation, he settled on his skill loadout:

Excepting Iaidō, he swapped in Blessing of the Demon God and Flying Swallow Slash. That made exactly twelve.

"Combine the unneeded skills."

The required experience had dropped considerably. He immediately invested his points into skill levels.

He had leveled Iaidō — a skill he'd just removed from his slots — all the way up to (ygg).

The reason he'd invested points into a skill he wasn't even going to use?

It was simple.

"Time to forge a new skill."