If Yakumo said he was going to work hard at leveling, then he really needed to put some effort into it.
He hadn’t reached second job yet, so he was still extremely fragile.
Going outside at this level was dangerous.
There was a good chance he’d simply die and respawn again.
Although the map had loaded long ago, most regions remained locked.
“Hm? The World Map finally unlocked?”
“This really does feel like late-era MapleStory.”
“Let’s see…”
“Other Worlds?”
Yakumo stared at the option on the left side of the map.
There was actually an entire section for other worlds now.
“Could this be…”
“A function that lets me transmigrate again?”
Yakumo shot out of bed.
If he remembered correctly, the Cash Shop sold Teleport Rocks.
Maybe he could test it?
[System Message: Level insufficient. This function has not yet been unlocked.]
“I knew it…”
Yakumo’s mouth twitched.
With virtually everything tied to his level, he hadn’t exactly expected every function to unlock immediately.
Forget it.
He’d keep this discovery to himself for now.
After that, Yakumo threw himself wholeheartedly into leveling.
Early on, when he only had Energy Bolt, he alternated between completing quests and hunting monsters.
He specifically chose beasts that couldn’t fly, could only run along the ground, and couldn’t jump very high.
Since Soaring didn’t consume MP, he could slowly kite those monsters to death.
The efficiency was admittedly terrible.
But a single magical beast still provided a considerable amount of experience.
Once he learned Magic Claw, hunting became somewhat easier.
He even dared to fight slower flying monsters.
During that period, he also experimented with the effects of Magic Guard and Magic Armor.
At first, Yakumo had assumed Magic Guard would function exactly as it did in the game, simply replacing a percentage of HP damage with MP loss.
But after testing it, he discovered that wasn’t how it worked.
In the real world, Magic Guard manifested by forming a magical shield over whichever part of his body was about to be struck.
He could freely adjust its output, although there was an upper limit.
For example, the original max-level version redirected 80% of HP damage.
Once maxed, the real-world magical shield could be adjusted anywhere from 0% to 80%.
And if all three copies of Magic Guard were maxed…
There seemed to be additional effects.
Magic Armor, by comparison, was much less impressive.
Since it only increased physical defense, it manifested as a layer of magical armor around his body. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
It reduced damage from all physical attacks, but had no effect against magic.
“Tch. Looks like the original recommended skill build really was the best…”
Yakumo had no choice but to return to his initial plan of maxing all three copies of Magic Guard.
In terms of practicality, the real-world version of Magic Guard was still by far the most useful.
After all, it could also block physical attacks.
It was simply rather demanding on his MP reserves.
Which meant maxing MP Eater later was probably mandatory.
Improving MP Recovery would also be extremely important.
“Come to think of it, encountering demons near a tiny remote village like this really is pretty rare.”
After spending so long leveling, Yakumo never encountered another demon.
He occasionally saw Hero parties passing through, though.
Apparently, “Hero” wasn’t a title belonging to one specific person in this world.
It was practically a profession.
Countless people voluntarily set out on journeys to defeat the Demon King, each contributing whatever strength they could.
Yakumo spoke with quite a few of them.
Many had titles that sounded mass-produced, like “Hero of Such-and-Such.”
Yet every single one possessed qualities associated with heroes.
Courage.
Integrity.
Kindness.
At the same time, each of them had their own personality.
They were absolutely not NPCs.
Quite a few parties invited Yakumo to join them.
Skilled mages were rare, and humanity was at a severe disadvantage compared to demons when it came to magic.
In fact, many human spells had originally been learned from demons.
Speaking with those adventurers and Hero parties gave Yakumo quite a lot of information.
It also made him change his original plan.
At minimum, he wanted to reach second job before setting out.
For that reason, he remained in the small mountain village for another half a year.
By the time he finally reached Level 31, he had maxed Magic Guard and Magic Claw, and unlocked Teleport, Heal, Fire Arrow, and Thunder Bolt.
Only then did he finally feel that he had some real foundation.
He hadn’t neglected the chat group during those six months either.
For the moment, time flowed at different speeds in each member’s world.
Yakumo’s moved the fastest.
Eriri’s was the slowest.
Only a few days had passed for her.
And whenever she entered the chat, time on her side stopped entirely.
Even though Yakumo had already suspected that stacking identical maxed skills might produce unique effects, he still couldn’t stop himself from grinning.
There was simply no helping it.
The effect was too good.
In addition to increasing the maximum damage redirection from 80% to 100%, it also reduced MP consumption by seventy percent.
Yakumo further discovered that once Magic Guard was active, the amount of damage he received varied according to numerous factors.
Where the attack landed.
Whether he’d noticed the attack in time.
Whether he’d reacted properly.
And so on.
The final damage differed depending on the circumstances.
Magic Guard alone was practically worthy of being called a god-tier skill.
Of course, none of those fancy effects mattered if he was hit by something powerful enough to kill him instantly.
He still needed to level up further and improve his stats and defenses.
But with this ability, he finally possessed enough strength to travel through relatively low-risk regions.
“Granny, I’m leaving the village.”
Before leaving, Yakumo decided to say goodbye to the old woman.
She had taken far too much care of him during his time here.
Of all the money he’d found inside treasure chests, he’d left almost eighty percent of it with her.
“Ah… I knew this day would come. But now that it’s finally here, I still feel reluctant to let you go.”
Although the old woman was equally reluctant, she didn’t try to stop him.
She had seen all the adventurer parties and Hero parties that had invited Yakumo during the past months.
She understood that he couldn’t remain in this village forever.
“I have to go out and see the world eventually.”
Yakumo scratched the back of his head and smiled.
“Who knows? Maybe I’ll even defeat the Demon King and save the world.”
“If you really manage that, then our village will have produced quite an extraordinary person.”
The old woman smiled too.
“But Granny would still rather see you stay safe. Someone else can deal with the Demon King.”
“Of course. I’m extremely good at staying alive.”
Yakumo answered with a grin before turning away.
Everything he owned was stored in the system inventory.
There was nothing he needed to physically carry.
Whenever he decided to leave, he could simply go.
After saying goodbye to everyone in the village, Yakumo finally set out.
First of all, he wasn’t heading north.
The Demon King’s Castle was in the far north.
The farther north he traveled, the more frequently demons would appear.
It would be safer to explore southward first.
Along the way, he could pick up extermination quests and continue raising his level.
Once he reached Level 50, most of the important second-job skills would be available.