13 – 3 – Partying with the Demon King – 3

—Your level has reached 99 and reached the limit.

—Your level has reached 99 and reached the limit.

Level 99.

It was a goal for all heroes.

The standard by which one became complete as a hero, enabling them to face the Demon King who reigned at the peak of this wretched other world.

Although they had suffered and been deceived plenty after being dragged to the other world, the perception of Level 99 alone had remained an ideal for all heroes.

That was simply how it had been in the past.

“I’m finally hitting this level now.”

Gi-jun looked at the system message with a face full of mixed emotions.

Now, he knew that this 99 was merely a Common-rank Level 99 and, far from the end, did not even reach the starting point when compared to other strong races.

Still, now that he had actually achieved Level 99, he felt a tightening in his chest, recalling the times he had talked with his past companions about what they wanted to do once they reached Level 99, or…

The unspeakable thoughts that had crossed his mind when he saw Ye-min, who had reached Level 99 before him, vividly came back to him.

“Okay, then let’s pull back first.”

Confirming that Gi-jun’s level had risen, the Demon King spoke in a firm voice.

Gi-jun blinked in bewilderment as he turned to look at her.

“Wait, don’t we need to hunt more from now on to raise my rank?”

“If species ranks could rise just by beating down monsters, wouldn’t those ignorant Orc bastards, who have nothing but food and fighting in their brains, have already conquered Leta?”

Hearing that, it made sense, so he agreed.

“As expected, Senior, you had a plan.”

“Yes. In fact, even if you said you wouldn’t raid the ruins, I was planning to make you hit Level 99 here anyway. Regardless, to raise your species rank—if my thoughts are correct—you don’t need to hunt monsters. The achievements and skills you’ve accumulated so far will be enough.”

To think that serious exchange had actually been a predetermined conclusion.

Still, should he consider this a good thing?

Over the past three days, Gi-jun had faced lesser demons while minimizing his rest times with the power of working without sleep or rest, but they were still only stuck at the entrance of the ruins, so naturally, it did not take long to get back out.

He sighed, feeling he still had a long way to go, but Gi-jun did his best to comfort himself.

“Still, since I cut it down to two hours. Once my species rank rises, I should be able to cut it down even more.”

“Yeah, you’re a genius, Hero. You’re born to fight.”

The Demon King said so sarcastically, but those were actually her sincere thoughts.

How much could his stats and skills have grown over the past three days anyway?

The fact that the time to hunt a single monster had been cut to less than half, even though other conditions had barely changed, could not be explained by anything other than Gi-jun’s natural combat sense.

The Demon King praised herself once again for her genius in recommending Dual Shield Mastery to Gi-jun, but she kept that thought to herself, not wanting Gi-jun to look at her with dead eyes again.

It really fit him perfectly, though!

“Ah, now that I think about it, the ceiling was closed.”

“It probably meant that once you entered, you shouldn’t think about leaving until you either cleared it or died. Originally.”

—Originally?

When Gi-jun experimentally tried pushing the ceiling that blocked the ascending stairs, it naturally did not budge at all, but when the Demon King pushed it up with one hand, it opened wide like an automatic door.

It was something that completely deflated Gi-jun’s spirit, as he had thought he had gotten a bit stronger in the meantime, but he decided to simply be grateful for the fact that they could now easily enter and exit these ruins.

“Don’t be so down, Hero. Who knows, maybe the door opened in response to my pretty face.”

—You demon, don’t lie to our contractor! If that were the case, it should have opened for my face, too!

Lucy surely meant no harm.

Surely…!

—We’re outside—!

Perhaps she had secretly disliked the dark ruins, as Lucy let out a cheer the moment they came outside.

However, as she was expressing her joy by spinning around in the air, she noticed something, fluttered down to Gi-jun who was just coming out of the stairs, and whispered as she clung to him.

—Contractor, it’s a moth!

“A moth?”

“I am the tutorial fairy!”

Whether she had heard the voices of Lucy and Gi-jun, the moth—no, the fairy—shouted in a furious voice.

Just how long had she been waiting? Looking at the moth flying at full speed toward them from the direction of their tent, the Demon King tilted her head.

“Moth, why are you here? I was actually going to call you anyway.”

“What do you mean why? You’re coming out from right there and you still haven’t figured it out?”

Having arrived in front of the group, the moth fluttered its wings in anger, scattering sparkling powder.

The Demon King, who had been tilting her head, looked back at the ruins they had just exited and nodded as if she finally understood.

“Are you talking about the ruins?”

“That’s right!”

Come to think of it, the group had just discovered and entered a ruin that had never been found in the tutorial channel before.

Judging by the fairy’s furious face, it seemed that something had gone wrong.

Indeed, if a ruin discovery achievement had been completed in a tutorial channel that was thought to have already ended its operations, that would certainly be troublesome.

It was none of Gi-jun’s business.

“I’m telling you in advance, I didn’t help him, okay?”

The Demon King seemed to feel the same way.

Perhaps thinking she was shamelessly lying, the fairy grew even angrier.

“Do you think that makes sense, Hero? A ruin that had never been discovered during the 1,874 previous tutorials was suddenly found by a hero who coincidentally had the ability to find it, and of all times, in this 1,875th channel which is closed down with everything gone except for the Demon King’s castle and its surroundings!”

“Spiritual Power was the trigger.”

“Ah…”

At the Demon King’s brief word, the fairy immediately grasped the situation and pressed her hand to her forehead in disappointment.

“What’s troublesome is that the achievement of the first discovery hasn’t been reflected in the other channels currently running. The probability is extremely low, but—if someone in another channel discovers the ruins, it means the reward for the first discovery will be handed out twice. You might be fine, Hero, but I dread to think what the higher-ups will think of me…”

Deducing from the fairy’s words, it seemed that the rewards like stats or abilities granted to individuals for various achievements did not occur naturally, but were finite resources brought in from somewhere.

Indeed, that was more logical.

Furthermore, seeing how angry she was, it seemed that once a reward was given, it couldn’t even be retrieved.

If it ended with only the fairy getting screwed over, frankly, it was a very pleasant thing.

“Who cares? In any case, that achievement reward is originally given on a party basis. Even if the Hero here received it, it’s only a single person’s portion, so it won’t be a huge loss.”

“That… well, is roughly true, but…”

“I have no intention of making up for it. That would be admitting we did something wrong, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, that’s true, of course. Sigh.”

“Instead, I’ll buy a lot of things from you. Cheer up.”

Faced with the Demon King’s way of dealing a blow and then offering comfort, the fairy had no choice but to let it go.

However, the Demon King’s subsequent order list made not only the fairy but also Gi-jun tilt their heads.

She ordered a large quantity of an unknown ore called Sunlight Ore, covered a glass box large enough for a person to enter with specially processed magic circles, and mounted a giant magic magnifying glass on the ceiling…

At this point, Gi-jun got an idea.

“Wait a minute. Am I the one going in there?”

“As expected of the Hero, your intuition is amazing.”

“Are you trying to roast and eat me?!”

A box, heated stones, and even a magnifying glass to warm them up.

It would be perfect if a squid went inside instead of Gi-jun; was this perhaps the Demon King’s highly sophisticated way of indirectly insulting him by implying he looked like a squid?

As if trying to reassure Gi-jun, who was having such thoughts, the Demon King smiled warmly and added.

“We won’t use all the ore this time. Looking at the state of the ruins, if things go well, it might even be possible to cross over to Rare rank, so I bought everything we’ll need for then as well.”

“Wait a minute, you’re saying this is the purchase list to upgrade this bug’s species rank?!”

The fairy glared at Gi-jun with astonished eyes, and then, after erecting a barrier so he couldn’t hear, she flew over to the Demon King and whispered in her ear.

“Demon King, I won’t say anything more about how you handle that bug. But this is crossing the line. An emotional line. It’s not good for you either!”

“I’m just raising a disciple, is there a need to react so loudly? It’s not like I’m pouring my entire fortune into this.”

“Is he really just a disciple? Are there no other intentions?”

“Then what other intentions could there be?”

To the Demon King, who shrugged and asked back with an innocent expression as if she truly didn’t know, the fairy frowned and said.

“Once the tutorial ends, you won’t… in all likelihood, you will never meet again. You know that, right?”

“I know.”

“I’m telling you because it seems like you don’t know… You have to control your emotions if you want to do this job for a long time. You’ve done so well until now, so why to a guy like that?”

Glaring at Gi-jun with a hateful look as if he had ruined the Demon King, the fairy soon let out a deep sigh and disappeared, saying she would bring the items.

While the fairy was fetching the items, the Demon King explained what Gi-jun needed to do to raise his rank.

“Originally, humans are one of the races for which it is very difficult to raise their species rank. They have so few characteristics. At best, they usually focus on mana manipulation to aim for the path of a High Human, or somehow transcend their limits physically to aim for the path of a Barbarian.”

“Why does one become a barbarian just by developing their body?”

“Because they give up mana manipulation in exchange for a stronger physical body. To be precise, it’s not that mana disappears entirely, but that as soon as mana is generated, it is absorbed into the muscles and bones… Never mind, you’re not going to be a Barbarian anyway.”

Waving her hand to forcibly brush off Gi-jun’s curiosity about Barbarians, the Demon King returned to the main topic.

“Therefore, humans who wished to transcend their species limits chose to train by focusing on separate, acquired traits.”

“Ah… is that why it’s ‘light’?”

“Right. The purest and most powerful thing you possess. That’s why I chose light.”

—Ahem, the demon finally recognizes my greatness.

“At least among the things you have, that is…”

—Youuuu…

Lucy glared fiercely at the Demon King, who just had to add that last remark, but since the Demon King couldn’t see Lucy, it had no effect whatsoever.

“So what do I need to do?”

“That is.”

“I’m back! I’m back with the Box of Evolution, completely customized for one person!”

Just in time, the fairy returned with the ordered items.

The Demon King opened the glass box, laid out the stones called Sunlight Ore inside, attached a giant magnifying glass to the lid, and turned to Gi-jun with a bright smile.

“From now on, go inside there and converge the energy of light inside you. Spirit, if you don’t want to see your contractor burn to death, cooperate accordingly.”

—Of course. Our contractor will walk the path of light.

“I’m sorry, Lucy, but that phrasing is a bit ominous, so let’s just say I’ll walk alongside the light.”

—Yeah!

“Sigh, may Mr. Schrödinger watch over me.”

Resigned, Gi-jun entered the box, hoping he wouldn’t turn into a stone-grilled squid.

As he sat down in a comfortable position, Lucy lightly landed and sat on his head.

At that moment, all the surrounding ores heated up and began to emit a bright light.

—Contractor, this is expensive.

Lucy whispered to him.

—That woman chose the best method for you. So don’t doubt her and concentrate, okay?

“Of course.”

He had intended to do so from the start.

Even though Lucy had bickered with the Demon King, wasn’t she saying something quite different now that they were alone?

Thinking that Lucy was also quite cute, he chuckled and focused his mind.

Using his Spiritual Power as if managing mana, he drew the light toward himself through the authority of Lucy, who was connected to him.

In a situation where his entire body was so hot he felt he might be cooked in an instant, he went as far as to accelerate it through Steelization.

It would certainly get hotter, but he would be able to endure it much better than with bare skin.

—Contractor, are you okay?

“Yeah.”

Feeling Rapid Regeneration activate, Gi-jun spoke quietly.

“I can do this all day.”

He felt the light filling his surroundings pour into him.

The pain that external foreign substances must have caused, which humans born with nothing had to endure to achieve transcendence.

Compared to them, having gained a high affinity for light thanks to the spirit, he couldn’t even be said to be suffering much.

Indeed.

Gi-jun was now ready to embrace this specialness.

A faint smile hovered on his lips while his eyes remained closed.

The transcendence began.