If the empire were to learn of this and join the labyrinth expedition, a great catastrophe would break out.
Anyway.
‘I’ll have to prepare.’
Giving us as many as ten days before entry was basically telling us to finish all preparations before stepping in.
It also meant we were supposed to top up the Fragments of the Golden Rule needed to explore the labyrinth.
‘The fragments are enough.’
In my case, I had enough fragments to use for nearly a thousand hours, so that part wasn’t a concern.
The only thing that bothered me was whether or not I had a party.
Isaac and Isabella.
Both of them possessed Fragments of the Broken Golden Rule.
They’d obtained them while clearing trials together with me.
It was only a few dozen hours’ worth, but it was obvious it would help with the early stages.
I needed to grind those two’s stats properly during the remaining time, and also grind my own proficiencies in preparation.
‘I don’t have the luxury of delaying any rewards.’
The Abyss Labyrinth, where I had to pour in everything I had.
I immediately took a golden fruit out from my bosom.
The gift the Constellation of Radiant Heroes had rewarded me with.
A kind of elixir.
But my body was one where ordinary elixirs hardly worked. Because I had so many talents and traits, there wasn’t much room for elixirs to make me any better.
‘This fruit is different.’
But this fruit was different.
So different, it was a problem in itself.
To be honest, I’d hesitated because it looked dangerous, but I no longer had the time to hesitate.
Without delay, I tossed the fruit into my mouth.
At that moment.
<You have consumed the ‘Fruit of the World Tree’>
Grrrk! Grrruuuuk!
My stomach gurgled like crazy, and tremendous pain tore through my entire body.
“······!”
I bit my lip and clamped my mouth shut.
I felt like the moment I opened my mouth, I’d vomit the fruit out.
A rejection reaction beyond imagination.
I’d never felt pain like this, even after becoming a player.
I grabbed my neck with both hands. The fruit kept stimulating my throat as if it were about to pop back up.
Before I knew it, I was thrashing around.
My whole body flushed red, and my mind drifted far, far away.
‘Crazy······!’
Regret surged over me like a tidal wave, but I couldn’t give up something I’d already started.
Just before my consciousness completely faded.
<The ‘Fruit of the World Tree’ begins to be digested>
<You have achieved the achievement ‘Breaker of the Taboo’>
<The fruit’s efficacy begins to circulate through your entire body>
<The energy you failed to absorb will be expelled>
<By ‘Glutton’, all energy is absorbed>
<Absorption rate 110%!>
<You have successfully absorbed the ‘holy lineage’ dwelling in the fruit’s seed!>
<The hidden trait ‘druid’s nature affinity’ evolves into ‘high druid’s great nature’>
<Nature-series talents are specialized> <A skill has been generated>
······.
***
The Demon Realm.
On the throne at its furthest end, the Demon King looked down at his own body.
‘This body is······ perfect.’
The Demon King was in the middle of taking Wilhelm’s body and making it completely his own.
And the stronger his dominance grew, the more he couldn’t help but marvel.
A body forged to the extreme.
The star that had once been granted to this body along with life had been stolen, but the experience of breaking through his limits still remained intact in the flesh.
In all his long years, the Demon King had never seen a body this complete.
Because of the goddess’s mischief the body had died and could no longer grow beyond this, but it was enough.
So long as he could make it wholly his, he would become several times stronger than he’d once been.
“‘The Abyss Labyrinth’ has opened, my king.”
The seven rulers of the resurrected strata knelt before the Demon King.
Hearing their words, the Demon King stroked his chin as if intrigued.
“So the specters of the abyss have finally begun to crawl out.”
“Will you simply watch, my king?”
“Of course not.”
The Demon King gave a small laugh and clapped his hands.
Then, from within the darkness, a woman revealed herself.
Seeing the woman who had appeared, the rulers of the strata could not help but be greatly shocked.
“She is······?”
“Isn’t she the treacherous lackey of the Goddess Church?”
At those words, the Demon King nodded.
Then he looked at the woman and spoke.
“You know what you must do, Saintess Seah.”
“Yes.”
Saintess Seah, who had sacrificed herself in the great expedition to protect her companions.
She had not died.
Strictly speaking, she had not been killed.
Instead, all of her will had been annihilated, leaving behind only a puppet.
The Demon King’s smile deepened.
‘Fall into despair over everything you once thought was hope, humans.’
How to treat gods
How much had I writhed in agony?
Only after resisting the temptation to log out nearly a hundred times did the pain finally subside.
My instincts told me that if I logged out and ran away here, it would have a huge impact on the absorption rate.
“Are you awake?”
“··· Hudson.”
When I opened my eyes, I was in a bedroom.
Hudson was sitting beside me.
He let out a long sigh of relief, then asked with an utterly serious expression,
“Why didn’t you log out?”
Hudson had already realized that I was a player.
From the moment he brought me that top-grade elixir.
Because he was a player himself, he could tell.
And since he’d also learned the name Randolph, it would have been strange for him not to know.
I shook my head a little and pushed my upper body up as I spoke.
“How much time has passed?”
“Two days. You didn’t log out even once during that time. Did you, perhaps, take some kind of special elixir?”
“I did.”
The Fruit of the World Tree.
To maximize its absorption rate, I had gone two full days without logging out.
I had simply gritted my teeth and endured the unending pain.
Hudson shook his head.
“In cases like that, most players log out. There isn’t a single player who would foolishly endure pain for two days straight.”
This was new to me.
Elixirs.
The word for medicines that possessed mysterious, miraculous effects.
Most of those brought pain upon ingestion, and the majority of players apparently couldn’t stand that pain and logged out.
But now that I’d tried enduring it, logging out didn’t seem like such a good idea.
“I stayed by your side just in case something happened in the middle of it. Priest Andrew has been on standby outside the whole time as well, but······ please never do something so foolish again.”
“I can’t promise that.”
“You mean you’ll do it again?”
“If you log out after taking an elixir, the absorption rate drops.”
I was certain. Logging out made the absorption rate fall. Only by fully enduring the pain while absorbing could you get the proper effect.
“At most, it’s a difference of about 1%.”
“Even 1% is huge.”
“······.”
Hudson was at a loss for words and looked at me as if wondering what sort of human I even was.
Was there really anyone who would undergo two days of pure suffering just to squeeze out an extra 1%?
‘There wouldn’t be.’
But that accumulated 1% was what had created Wilhelm.
I knew that well, which was why I hadn’t given up.
After thinking for a moment, Hudson seemed to make up his mind about something and spoke firmly.
“Sir Randolph. Are you taking care of your real body properly?”
“Well enough not to die, at least······.”
“······ You didn’t log out for two days, and you call that ‘well enough’?”
“After becoming a player, my real body also got strangely sturdy.”
“That’s a placebo effect. Players’ real bodies are the same as ordinary people’s.”
Placebo effect.
Making a fake work like the real thing by making you believe it is real.
People who became players and obtained the bodies of strong warriors believed that their real-world bodies had become just as strong.
But reality was different.
Hudson knew better than anyone the disconnect between Pangaenia and the real world.
‘Except it’s actually true for me.’
But for it to be only a placebo effect, my real body had definitely grown stronger.
Even without working out, muscle had formed, and my strength was enough to lift a person with ease. I could even go two or three days without drinking water and still manage.
Not on Randolph’s level, but far beyond the standards of an ordinary human.
Were other players not like this?
“Are you aware that ‘the Abyss Labyrinth’ will open in seven days?”
“I am.”
“The players are in an uproar. The Interdimensional Community and all that······ According to my personal sources, it doesn’t seem like only players will be joining the expedition.”
“If it’s not just players, who else would join?”
“The Goddess Church and the Earth God Church have been making noise about the Abyss Labyrinth ever since the announcement went up.”
“Hm.”
My mind snapped fully awake.
The Goddess Church and the Earth God Church. The two largest groups on the continent were speaking with one voice.
It wouldn’t take long for everyone on the continent to find out.
No, they might all already know.
And if not only players but the powerful of Pangaenia joined en masse?
‘A vision of hell will unfold.’
It wouldn’t be easy.
I didn’t bother asking about the entry requirement, the Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule.
The monsters of Kramdel had also possessed Fragments of the Broken Golden Rule.
And unlike the people of Pangaenia, players had limitations.
Hudson pinpointed that exactly.
“It’s likely to turn into a prolonged battle, and since logging out resets your position, you’ll need someone to manage your real body.”
“That’s true.”
No one knew how long it would take to攻略 the labyrinth.
If a free-for-all broke out, the time investment would be even greater.
If you went in thinking it would be simple, you’d be in for a rude awakening.
Above all, even if you had nearly a thousand hours’ worth of Fragments of the Broken Golden Rule, if you logged out for the sake of your real body, your position in the labyrinth would reset.
No matter how sturdy my real body had become, it wasn’t superhuman enough to leave unattended for tens of days.
And that was true for other players as well.
“If you don’t have anyone to manage you, please come to England.”
“England?”
“Of course, I know that the Phantom is said to accept no one’s help, but······ if you come to England, I can help you thoroughly and discreetly.”
Even as he spoke, Hudson inwardly shook his head.
He knew that Randolph was Phantom, but that was all.
There wasn’t a single person who knew who Phantom was in reality.
Absolute secrecy.
There was no way that mystery would be broken for someone like him.
“I will.”
“I understand, it must be difficult······ excuse me? Cough! Khak!”
At my answer, which he’d never even imagined, Hudson started coughing in sheer shock.
He couldn’t tell if this was a dream or reality.
‘Hudson is someone I can trust.’
He was the man chosen by Serengeti.
When it came to judging people, Serengeti had a better eye than I did.
Besides, I could see Hudson’s ‘status window’.
Seeing another person’s status window was something that had never happened even after becoming a player.
So I’d judged that he was trustworthy.
“Where in England should I go?”
“I can come······ no, that wouldn’t be good. May I ask your nationality and name? I’ll arrange everything as quickly as possible.”
How much was a plane ticket to England again?
Hudson had said he’d been born into a “well-off family”, but even an economy ticket cost several million won. I felt like I was putting too much of a burden on him.
“I’ll make my own way there.”
“N-no! This is, by rights, something I should do. Please allow me to handle it!”
“If you insist that much, fine.”
If he was that determined to do it, it would be rude to keep refusing.
When I told him my nationality and name, Hudson hurriedly dashed out of the room.
“P-please wait just a moment!”
······ It felt like a typhoon had blown through.
Only after Hudson left the room could I calmly examine the ‘changes’.
<Status Window>
Name: Randolph
Class: Successor of Stars
<Stats>
Level: 6
Strength: 83 (73+10) Stamina: 83 (73+10) Agility: 89 (74+15)
Intelligence: 83 (73+10) Star Power: 86 (76+10)
Notes: All stats increased due to ‘Successor of Stars – 2 Stars (All stats +10)’ and the last equipped item ‘Shatiros’s Fear (Agility +5)’.
First of all, all my base stats had gone up by 1.
A change that hadn’t been written anywhere on the Fruit of the World Tree.
‘The absorption rate was so high it even raised my stats, huh.’
My stats had risen after already hitting the max value. That was something ordinary elixirs couldn’t do.
‘Agility is nearly 90.’
I’d dominated Maxim earlier, raising agility by 1, and with Shatiros’s Fear, agility was now my highest stat.
Agility 89.
It meant my senses and reflexes were insanely high.
Once agility exceeded 100, you gained ‘sixth sense’, allowing you to counterattack surprise assaults.
But more important than the change in stats were the evolution of my talents and hidden traits.
‘The four elements have changed.’
[Fire of Origin] [Water of Origin] [Earth of Origin] [Wind of Origin]
The simple fire, water, earth, and wind had gained the word ‘origin’.
Origin.
The beginning from which things arise.
What was different?
I looked at the candle set to the side.
As I brought my hand over the still-burning candle,
‘Oh.’
The flame climbed up my hand and then coiled around it.
It was a wondrous sight, like some kind of magic.
But it wasn’t hot.
Only then did I realize what the name ‘of origin’ meant.
‘My attribute resistance must have skyrocketed.’
Giant’s Magic Resistance only blocked blows inflicted by mana. It didn’t let you walk unharmed through blazing fire.
Now, that had become possible.
At this level, I felt like I could endure almost any attribute attack.
Sometimes, for attribute-specialized classes, mana even changed its name entirely to ‘attribute power’.