Chapter 2

I Became a Newbie Favored by the Transcendents Chapter 2

“Something... Something is happening...”

After receiving upvotes from those guys in the gallery, some kind of change occurred in my body.

First.

As the Assimilation Rate, whose true nature was still unknown, rose, an unidentified golden energy began flowing through my body.

‘Divine Power?’

Judging from the circumstances, this golden energy seemed to be called ‘Divine Power.’

I could tell that it was some kind of energy.

The problem was that among Players like me, I had never heard of a single case where someone awakened a power called Divine Power.

‘Isn’t there normally only mana?’

The energy Players consume when using skills or exercising their abilities is called mana.

And mana is usually a blue current, not golden.

Naturally, since I had awakened, I should have mana within me too― Huh?

‘There’s none.’

I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to sense the mana inside me, but strangely enough.

I couldn’t feel anything.

I definitely saw online that once you awakened, you could sense mana as naturally as breathing, right?

Wooooong!!

“Huh.”

At that moment.

When I consciously tried to draw out the mana inside me, that same golden energy― Divine Power bloomed from my fingertips.

Instead of mana.

‘Don’t tell me my body can only use Divine Power instead of mana?’

A Player who can’t use mana?

That’s no different from Ronaldo with both ankles cut off.

In other words, a corpse.

‘No. There has to be some advantage that makes up for mana.’

My breathing grew ragged from anxiety, and cold sweat began running down my body.

There had to be a reason the system gave me this thing called Divine Power.

No, there had to be.

“Right? You bastard system, say something!”

Ding!

=====

<​Divine Power>

-A unique form of energy that only Transcendents can wield.

-Special skills unlocked through increases in Assimilation Rate can be used.

-When using ordinary skills, skill power increases by 200% compared to normal.

-When using ordinary skills, energy consumption decreases by 50%.

-Class restrictions removed.

-[Locked]

-[Locked]

=====

“Huh.”

I yelled at the system without thinking much of it, and it really brought up information about ‘Divine Power.’

...And the contents were anything but ordinary.

The enormous increase in skill efficiency was already absurdly ridiculous, but the most shocking part was.

“Class restrictions removed...?”

What did that mean?

Normally, Players can only use items and skills suited to their designated class.

For example, a Player with the ‘Swordsman’ class cannot use Magic Missile or items exclusive to the ‘Mage’ class.

But apparently Divine Power removed this obvious and common-sense restriction.

It meant I could learn every kind of item and skill regardless of class.

“What the hell is this? This is fucking amazing.”

In other words, Divine Power was, simply put, an outright superior version of mana.

Rather than merely feeling good, it was so absurd that I was almost dumbfounded.

However, there was one thing that bothered me too much to just turn my brain off and celebrate.

-A unique form of energy that only Transcendents can wield.

‘I’m just an unemployed shut-in who completely failed at getting a job, though?’

If it was exclusively for Transcendents, then why could I use Divine Power?

Surely that couldn’t be it, but had the system mistaken me for someone else?

If it gave this to me for that reason and later took it back, then seriously...!

“Hmm. It’s not like there’s anything I can do about it. Other than curse the world.”

I’ll think about that when the time comes.

Next.

‘I got upvotes in the gallery, my Assimilation Rate rose, and I gained Divine Power.’

The true nature of this Assimilation Rate was still a mystery, but the way to raise it was clear.

I simply had to receive as many upvotes from the guys in the ‘Pantheon Gallery’ as the system demanded.

Things were roughly coming together.

To obtain special abilities like ‘Divine Power,’ I had to raise my Assimilation Rate.

And to raise my Assimilation Rate, I had to collect upvotes from the guys in the ‘Pantheon Gallery.’

“Access gallery.”

And that meant even more gallery browsing.

[Where’d the newbie go?] (5)

[Seriously never seen dimensional coordinates 111.111 before] (3)

[So is the newbie a girl or a guy, fuck] (4)

[I’m an elf and I got fucked after taking a piss in the forest...] (1)

[Bastards who don’t pay offerings <​<​<​ when I meet them I’ll smash their heads one by one with a mace...] (9)

[Do dwarves get charged the children’s rate at restaurants?] (17)

While I had been diligently analyzing my status window, the gallery’s interest in me had died down somewhat.

“So in the end, not a single bastard answered my question about what the Pantheon Gallery actually is.”

Figuring there was nothing I could do about it, I was about to browse around the gallery for a while.

[Achievement, ‘First Debut in the Priority Preservation Archive Records,’ achieved!]

[Obtained 100 GP!]

[Use GP (God Points) to access various functions!]

“Hmm?”

A tiny notification like this had appeared in the lower-right corner of the screen.

What the hell were Priority Preservation Archive Records now?

“Ah, it’s like a featured post.”

A featured post refers to a post with a lot of upvotes.

And here, they called those ‘Priority Preservation Archive Records.’

“Yeah, I’m calling them featured posts.”

Apparently, my first post, which had received an enthusiastic welcome from the guys in the gallery earlier, had risen into the featured posts and earned me some kind of achievement...

‘God Points?’

At a glance, this was obviously currency used within the gallery.

I carefully looked around the gallery for a while to find out what I could use it for.

I quickly found the answer.

[Notice] / [Hall of Fame] / [Tips] / [Trade] / [Shop] / [Arena]

Various tabs appeared at the very top of the gallery.

Among them, GP was required to use ‘Tips,’ ‘Trade,’ and ‘Shop.’

Of those, I decided to dig into ‘Tips’ first.

[Summary of Ernia Imperial Swordsmanship for Sword Newbies (First Form)] -100 GP-

[Spear Technique Tips Even an Intelligent Ghoul Can Follow] -500 GP-

[What Is the Most Efficient Mana Cultivation Method?] - 1,500 GP-

[About the Time I Was Mocked as a Dual-Sword Freak but Killed an Ancient Dragon All by Myself.] - 1,000 GP-

[In Smithing, the First Priority Is Feeling the Breath of Metal.] -5,000 GP-

[Potion Mixing Methods from Someone in Year 23 of a Zombie Apocalypse.] -600 GP-

...

“These are actually decent...?”

Even in a gallery I expected to be flooded with nothing but pointless shitposts, there were useful posts.

And judging from the titles, they didn’t seem all that unfamiliar to me, someone living in a reality that had turned into something like a game.

However, tip posts weren’t free. You had to spend GP to view them.

Since I happened to have 100 GP, I decided to unlock one and take a look.

[Summary of Ernia Imperial Swordsmanship for Sword Newbies (First Form)] -100 GP-

[Spend 100 GP to view this post.]

This was the only post I could currently afford to view with the points I had.

=====

[Summary of Ernia Imperial Swordsmanship for Sword Newbies (First Form)]

Author: SaviorOfTheEmpire

This post was written for certain Transcendents who spent their entire lives pursuing a single path and therefore know nothing about swordsmanship.

I have explained it easily and in detail so that even magic one-tricks who have spent their entire lives waving staves instead of swords can understand, so let us all train diligently and take one step closer to the realm of Sword Master.

(Omitted)

...

=====

As expected of a post that claimed to explain things in detail, it was incredibly long.

And strangely enough, it wasn’t just text either.

“There are animated images too?”

On the screen was a red-haired female knight who looked around my age.

A video was attached showing her, dressed in armor, personally demonstrating swordsmanship movements in accordance with the post’s explanations.

Well.

I saw earlier that people could upload pictures, so why wouldn’t they have animated images too?

‘By the way, these people really aren’t Earthlings.’

The reason I became convinced of that was because the background behind the female knight was far from ordinary.

She was standing in an empty field with nothing but grass.

And winged creatures resembling pterosaurs were casually flying through the sky.

On top of that, there were even vaguely visible medieval-style high-rise buildings far off in the background.

That confirmed it. The guys in the gallery lived in dimensions other than Earth.

Couldn’t the video have been filmed inside a gate?

No. Because electronic devices like cameras never work inside them.

“Oho...”

That aside.

As I watched the female knight’s demonstration, an exclamation naturally escaped my lips.

Even to me, someone whose only experience with a blade in my entire life was chopping vegetables.

I could vividly tell that what I was watching was quite a profound sword technique.

‘Profound or not... I think I could follow this well enough.’

I roughly rolled up some A4 paper to use as a substitute sword, then copied the female knight’s movements from the animated images.

I had no idea whether I was doing it correctly, but perhaps because of the effects of awakening, I could tell that my body had become astonishingly light and flexible.

And the moment I finished copying the movement from the final animated image.

Ding!

[You have acquired the skill, ‘Ernia Imperial Swordsmanship First Form (SS).’]

=====

<​Ernia Imperial Swordsmanship First Form (SS)>

-The first form of a swordsmanship created by a knight of an empire whose talent with the sword reached the heavens.

-Its power and speed are beyond comparison with any of the infinitely numerous sword techniques existing across the multiverse.

-When the movements are linked accurately, there is a high chance of breaking through the enemy’s defense and striking only vital points.

-The stronger the opponent, the stronger the swordsmanship becomes.

=====

It had outright turned into a skill.

And the description was making the most ridiculously extravagant claims imaginable.

‘No. If that’s actually true, then it isn’t exaggerating.’

There was only one way to verify it.

Use it in actual combat.

By going to the ‘Tutorial Battlefield.’

“...”

Before that, though.

I needed to think for a moment.

About whether I really wanted to walk the path of a Player.

Starting the tutorial was practically the same thing as taking my first step as a Player.

‘The reason Players are treated so well is because, in the end, it’s a dangerous profession.’

They fight monsters the size of houses with their bare bodies.

And naturally, they can lose their lives in the process.

This wasn’t something I should just be happy about because I awakened. I needed to think about it seriously.

‘No, Park Junbeom, you idiot. What are you hesitating for?’

Was walking the path of a Player something I was doing just for myself?

My family’s livelihood depended on me too.

Because of the outbreak two years ago, when monsters spilled into reality, our house was destroyed,

and my older sister, who had been a track athlete, was trapped under a building and still couldn’t walk without a walker.

And Mom and Dad...

Fuck, I miss them.

Even more when I think about how I’ll never see them again.

Back then, I was the only one who survived with my body relatively intact, and I suddenly became the head of the household.

And what good did that do?

In the end, I’m still an unemployed job seeker who failed to get hired.

But.

If I become a Player, things might change a little.

It may be too early to count my chickens, but at the very least, I’d gain a chance to make a lot of money.

Right. This wasn’t even something worth agonizing over in the first place.

“Move to the ‘Tutorial Battlefield.’”

Let’s do this.

_____________

“What kind of place is the Tutorial Battlefield?”

Around the first anniversary of the Great Cataclysm.

It was a question asked by a host on a broadcast featuring a special segment about Players.

The guest appearing on the show was the American Player who had been considered the very best at the time, and who still unquestionably reigned at the summit even eleven years later― Quentin De Niro.

His answer to the host’s question was as follows.

“It is the beginning, and it is everything.”

Awakening isn’t the end.

Because a Player who hasn’t gone through the ‘Tutorial Battlefield’ is no different from an ordinary person.

They cannot be chosen by the ‘Constellations,’ nor can they enter gates or towers.

That was why everyone already knew that the ‘Tutorial Battlefield’ was important.

But perhaps the host hadn’t expected Quentin to dramatically call it ‘everything,’ because he looked quite surprised.

“Everything? Is it really that important?”

“Of course. Because your future growth rate is determined by what kind of results you achieve in the Tutorial Battlefield.”

“Could you explain that part in a little more detail?”

“It’s simple. If you achieve poor results there, you’ll have difficulty leveling up even if you work just as hard as everyone else. And even if you do level up, your stats will barely increase.”

“And if you achieve excellent results, I suppose the opposite is true.”

“Yes. And the better your results, the greater your chances of catching the attention of equally outstanding Constellations.”

In other words, it determined your future life as a Player.

Some began in the heavens, while others started at the very bottom of the underground.

“A lot of people are also curious about exactly how the tutorial proceeds.”

“The Tutorial Battlefield is a very simple world. It’s a place where you learn how to fight and how to survive at the same time.”

“I see.”

“There are orcs that are summoned endlessly, and one Giant Orc that remains continuously summoned. The Player must defeat the orcs while surviving by avoiding the Giant Orc’s attacks.”

“Hmm... Wouldn’t things become much easier if you simply defeated the Giant Orc first?”

“The Giant Orc? A Player who only just started the tutorial?”

Hahaha.

Quentin burst out laughing as though he had just heard a hilarious joke.

“I’d stake my wrist on it. There will never be a Player capable of pulling that off.”