Chapter 25
Chapter 25: Realization (1)
One cannot hope for luck in worldly affairs.
Everything flows according to natural order, and rewards are given in proportion to the efforts accumulated.
Such an obvious truth.
‘Possessors are different, though.’
Erik fell into contemplation while holding a purple potion.
The wildflowers blooming all around and the clear sky no longer entered his vision.
‘Due to the incomplete system, I couldn’t enjoy the benefits of being a possessor.’
Erik’s regret, and perhaps the remorse of bygone days.
Erik was an existence straddling half possessor and half native.
Though he could obtain immense Divine Power thanks to the system, the strength of his flesh did not correspond to it.
‘It would have been good if I had known sooner…’
Erik’s eyes moistened.
Memories surfaced of his master and Ruelle sharing his pain.
He felt resentful of his younger self who had been full of ignorance and arrogance.
And he felt indescribable gratitude for their unconditional devotion.
‘Those were brutally difficult days.’
To handle the power called Divine Power, one needed a body that could endure it.
That’s why Priests and Paladins endured physical and mental suffering through wall-facing training and ascetic practices.
And why Erik had lived a cruel life wandering through conflict zones with his young body.
“Haha! Erik, your body is complete. Growing taller is something time will solve.”
Now even that had hit a wall.
According to his master Riferoze Astia, that was the case.
“What’s important now is experience! You must kill monsters and save the world to break through your own wall!”
Possessors prove their strength through levels and class changes.
However, those who truly live in this world cultivate their bodies and minds, accumulate power, and face their own walls.
But this wall was no easy matter.
‘It could take decades.’
Erica Fernasia’s older brother.
It was understandable enough that the eldest son of a Ducal House had entered the Labyrinth.
A wall was a problem that couldn’t be solved even with the wealth and manpower accumulated by nobility over hundreds of years.
The Imperial Family was the same.
So Erik had silently accepted reality.
‘I certainly had…’
Looking at the purple, lustrous glass bottle, different thoughts gradually arose.
Perhaps…
‘Couldn’t I break through the wall with this?’
A half-Possessor.
Perhaps that’s why hope surged within him.
He couldn’t abandon the church and orphanage to be buried in the Labyrinth for years just to break through a wall, could he?
Pop.
Erik opened the bottle of [Level Up Elixir] as soon as he finished thinking.
A pungent petroleum smell rushed forth.
“Uh,brother, do you know what that is before trying to drink it? It smells like goblin dung.”
At the foul smell he was experiencing for the first time, Jang Du-sik covered his nose and stepped backward.
The wildflowers blooming all around hung their heads and their beautiful petals turned blackish.
The colorful garden faded to a dreary gray from the smell emanating from the bottle.
In such a gray world, Erik shone with brilliant golden light.
He said:
“Du-sik, this is my wall.”
Level Up Elixir.
Literally an item that raises a character’s level by ‘+1’, created for latecomers to RPG games.
An element created to bridge even slightly the vast gap with the pioneers.
“The taste is quite terrible.”
Erik drank the [Level Up Elixir] with a half-believing, half-doubting heart.
“Brother, isn’t it hot? A person isn’t a lump of charcoal, so why is there smoke…”
Hissss.
Bright yellow smoke rose from his massive body.
Erik squeezed his eyes shut and endured the terrible texture that was soft and slimy and the stench that pierced his nose.
No, he had no choice but to endure it.
Because the effect appeared even for Erik who had no level.
‘This actually works.’
The scenery around the amazed Erik distorted, then transformed into a crude cave.
As the hot purple liquid passed his esophagus and reached his stomach, changes occurred in Erik as well.
‘It was real.’
Realization.
When you break through a wall, you gain realization.
You might have been able to break the wall because you gained realization.
Whatever the order, what the world’s supreme powerhouses claimed was clear.
“When you cross a wall, realization follows.”
Erik also gained realization.
They say you can barely obtain fragments of realization by overcoming terrible hardships and defeating mighty enemies.
‘I solved it with one potion.’
What a jackpot.
Snicker! Laughter escaped.
The realization Erik gained was simple.
[Divine Body (神體) 1/100]
The body of a God.
Though it was just a fragment, the status window that appeared before his eyes presented him with a clear goal.
“What did I see when I broke through the wall? I saw a sword that cuts through all things in the world.”
Though it was impossible to know what kind of existence he would become when he broke through the wall.
It was a clear fact that he would become a transcendent being beyond human cognition.
‘Just like my master who cut through the status window.’
Erik would also be reborn as a transcendent existence.
‘Very comfortably at that.’
Judging by the figure ‘1/100’, when he achieved 100 bottles or something equivalent to 100 levels, he would obtain the ‘Divine Body (神體)’.
‘I’ll probably obtain a body that can withstand 4th tier Divine Power.’
If that happened, he might be able to restore the status window his master had torn to its complete form.
‘Most importantly, I gain power.’
A precarious world facing the Great Cataclysm Patch.
The power to protect himself and precious things, and the possibility of avoiding the predetermined reality of destruction.
As Erik organized the realization he had gained and gauged the future:
“…Do, do you know what that is that you drank!”
Nishida Ryo shouted indignantly.
Some ignorant native had consumed the precious [Level Up Elixir], so from a Possessor’s perspective, it would be enough to make one’s stomach turn, but…
From Erik’s perspective, it was nothing short of insubordination.
‘This bastard, I’ve been watching him…’
Erik scrunched his face and looked around.
He saw Jang Du-sik blinking with his shiny head and three Possessors who seemed to have lost their souls.
The Possessors were stuck close together as if they were one body.
When Erik approached with large strides:
Thud.
“Ah, you really have no sense of the situation.”
The short-haired beauty Kang Pung-ho muttered quietly and pushed Nishida Ryo.
“Eek!”
Nishida Ryo rolled toward the massive Erik.
His movement stopped only after bumping into Erik’s foot with a thud.
“You cannot control your impulses.”
Erik said, looking back and forth between Nishida and Kang Pung-ho.
Why were two of the three in such a state?
They were at a level where their minds had simply snapped.
He gathered goblins and power-leveled them, and they act like this?
With a face twisted like a demon, Erik said:
“I shall bestow blessings upon both of you.”
The current Erik was the ‘Director of the Possessor Management Bureau’.
He was in a position where he had even made a bet with His Majesty the Emperor over dinner.
It would be nearly impossible to conquer the Labyrinth with such undisciplined Possessors.
‘Handling people is easy.’
Unlike the modern world, there was the most efficient method for handling people in this world.
Namely, ‘force and fear’.
Even that Jang Du-sik had reformed and become a mage after being beaten.
Would Possessors be any different?
“—Blessing.”
The two words spat out like a mirage produced Divine Power.
“Huh, brother, since when have you been able to send blessings so far?”
Watching Erik’s blessing, Jang Du-sik asked in admiration.
“Not long ago. I’m gradually getting used to it.”
When Erik obtained 2nd tier Divine Power, he became able to bless or consecrate others.
Upon obtaining 3rd tier Divine Power, the limitations on range disappeared.
It was on this principle that Divine Blessing descended upon Nishida Ryo before him and Kang Pung-ho hiding behind Park Chang-ho.
Whoooosh.
Vivid golden waves descended over the heads of Nishida Ryo and Kang Pung-ho.
Divine Blessing that illuminates darkness and increases natural recovery.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Kyaak! Kyet!”
Though Erik had controlled his power so the light was small, the pain the two felt was intense.
Because it was pain that ignored the Pain Resistance stat.
‘They’ll behave well from now on.’
Since it was a very weak blessing, naturally there would be no threat to their lives.
‘At least one is normal…’
Just because two Possessors were trash didn’t guarantee the remaining one would be different.
Erik looked at Park Chang-ho, who remained alone.
“This fucking—”
He immediately pressed his temple firmly.
Park Chang-ho was laughing while watching Nishida Ryo and Kang Pung-ho suffer.
‘It’s certain that only psychopaths become possessors.’
Erik thought this while watching Park Chang-ho, who had escaped punishment alone, smile faintly.
***
Carrot and stick.
Having given them a harsh whipping, now it was time to provide sweet rewards.
‘Possessors aren’t disposable items after all.’
The reason the Emperor used Possessors.
It was to substitute for the noble mission of the Imperial Family and the duties of nobles.
“Kang Pung-ho, you were level 1. Since you’ve reached level 30, you should have about 60 skill points.”
The lingering effects of [Divine Blessing] filled the cave.
“Your archery skills are quite good. The original owner of that body must have been quite skilled with a bow.”
Thanks to experiencing pain, the Possessors’ minds regained composure and they keenly realized their situation.
But then:
“Don’t invest in auxiliary skills like accuracy correction or pain resistance, and put everything into attack-related skills.”
Erik, who didn’t know games, was determining the Possessors‘ development path?
“Since your class will change and skills will reset anyway, it’s better to take a skill tree optimized for mob hunting for now.”
A Skill Set that maximized the use of two skill points given per level came from Erik’s mouth.
“From now on, invest in the skills I tell you about.”
As Erik’s words continued, the Possessors‘ mouths gradually fell open.
‘How does he know that…?’
Nishida Ryo was especially shocked.
The skill set Erik had taught was literally a build optimized for mob hunting.
[Flame Arrow – Max
[Arrow Rain – Max]
[Price of Penetration – Max]
[Arrow Explosion – Max]
‘Spray fire arrows like rain, increase penetration, and make them explode?’
[Chain Spread – Max]
[Rupture – Max]
‘The exploded arrowheads would be laid out like traps causing rupture effects in the field.’
Four skills that could be applied simultaneously to one attack, plus two skills that imposed penalties to worsen wounds from the aftermath of that attack.
‘The damage would be insane, though it abandons defense and evasion.’
The combination itself was ordinary.
When a combination in a game’s Skill Tree was ordinary, it meant it was very efficient.
In other words, it was the kind of skill set you’d see in rankers’ strategy guides.
‘How does a native know such a combination?’
But how could Erik, who wasn’t even a Possessor, know this?
“How, how do you know such skill combinations…”
Nishida Ryo unconsciously opened his mouth.
Having received [Divine Blessing] just a few hours ago, he seemed to have already forgotten the memory of pain.
However, Erik was merciful.
“How do I know?”
He smiled broadly while looking at the three Possessors.
Though no words followed…
‘Ah.’
With so many Possessors around, couldn’t the Astia Religious Order in that empire gather a single piece of information?
The Possessors could easily deduce the answer.
‘Using information extracted from possessors against possessors?’
How was such thinking possible?
The Possessors instinctively shrank back.
A bitter smile spread across Erik’s lips.
‘Using Divine Power means I won’t be suspected.’
Erik was the first to achieve the all-class max level accomplishment and unlock the [Paladin] class.
Most of the skill sets were also ones he had discovered independently.
That said, he couldn’t be completely at ease.
‘There were quite a few users at the end too.’
Someday, there might be those who would notice.
When he had unlocked the Paladin character during his Park Ji-hun days, he had vivid memories of hundreds of users rushing to catch him.
Well, nothing would change even if they knew.
Anyway.
It was time to get to the main point.
“Now then, everything’s ready.”
Erik stretched leisurely.
Behind him, a crude wooden door was visible.
‘Boss room?’
The Possessors remembered a fact they had forgotten while absorbed in skill trees.
They had walked while listening to Erik’s skill explanations, but when they came to their senses, they were in front of a boss room.
A place where monsters called floor masters lurked, and here too the difficulty had become hellish unlike in the game.
‘When did we get here…’
‘He wants us to take that down at level 30?’
In bewilderment, the Possessors only glanced at each other, when:
“Uh, brother. Is that the floor master’s room?”
Jang Du-sik asked a question.
When incomprehensible talk about skill trees and such had been going on, something he could understand had come up, hadn’t it?
However, the Possessors wanted to tear Jang Du-sik’s mouth apart.
Because the following words were murderous:
“According to the Possessors, rewards are maximized if you kill all party members right after conquering the floor master.”
“Huh… What’s the principle?”
“The Labyrinth grants a solo floor master conquest judgment.”
“Well, what? If you’re going, leave me out. I don’t want to die.”
When Jang Du-sik said this while massaging his shoulder with a club, Erik laughed loudly.
The cave in front of the boss room echoed thunderously.
“Du-sik, would I do such a petty thing?”
Silence fell.
Just as wrinkles were about to form around Erik’s eyes and his trapezius was about to twitch:
“…Th, there’s no way you would!”
Jang Du-sik quickly shouted.
‘Well, considering he sold out wanted criminals and caught possessors to beat them up…’
Somehow, Jang Du-sik thought Erik might actually do that.
Smack!
“Ugh. Why, why are you hitting me—”
“You just seemed annoying.”
Erik approached the crude wooden door with a mischievous face.
Though called a door, its size was reminiscent of the outer wall of a small castle.
In front of such a massive wooden door, Erik said:
“They say rewards are given for solo conquest, so wouldn’t it be fine if I conquer it alone?”
Creeeeak.
The massive door where the Labyrinth’s 1st floor master lurked opened.
“Du-sik, monster waves pour out during floor master conquest.”
Erik stepped inside.
“The consecrated Jang Du-sik will do well!”
Hearing the booming voice, Erik entered the boss room.
The Labyrinth welcomed Erik.
—One human challenges the Goblin King, master of the 1st floor.
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