Before leaving the dungeon, Jung Si-woo handed over all the food he had stockpiled in his inventory to Yong Se-ha.

“Don’t worry too much when food runs out. Even if you die, you will probably remain in the form of a ghost.”

“That’s great news. If possible, please come before that.”

At first, Soo Ah-rin was worried that the Hearthstone wouldn’t work in that dungeon, but her worries melted away when they returned to the middle of the road where they first encountered Yong Se-ha. The artifact worked without a hitch, except that it teleported them to a spot where a passing car would’ve hit them if not for their superior reflexes.

“Shall I heal you?”

Soo Ah-rin offered, worried about the damages Jung Si-woo sustained.

“I’m fine; you don’t need to.”

Jung Si-woo replied coldly.

“Let’s go to the resting place first. I need some time to organize my thoughts.”

Using his key, Jung Si-woo opened the door to the resting place, making sure no one noticed him. He only fought one orc in that dungeon, yet the aftermath of that battle left him with incredible fatigue.

“I didn’t expect that last battle to be that much of a fight.”

“It didn’t seem like something you couldn’t handle.”

Ah-rin said, smiling a little in an attempt to cheer up Si-woo.

“I was clearly overwhelmed.”

If he didn’t get the flame enchantment in his last dungeon, he wouldn’t have been able to beat the armored orc. Before his match with the orc, Jung Si-woo believed that his strength and cunning tricks were enough to win him a fight against any opponent. His easy victories against dungeon bosses made him believe that this was true, but the battle with that orc shattered all of his assumptions about his strength.

“I need some training; I can’t have a repeat of that last battle. I can’t afford to win by chance again.”

Armored orcs and other insanely powerful creatures made Socheon Battlefield their home. Jung Si-woo definitely needed more training if he ever wanted a chance at clearing that dungeon. The armored orc’s power took Jung Si-woo by surprise. He felt a little bit ashamed of himself for having such difficulty dealing with his last opponent. Meanwhile, Soo Ah-rin easily progressed past that dungeon’s level and even reached six levels above it.

But, what was most difficult for him to accept, was the fact that there were probably hundreds of players out there far better than Soo Ah-rin. Jung Si-woo felt really small compared to the vastness of the world and the other stronger players that dwelt in it. There were many more dungeons above level 32, and if he couldn’t beat an armored orc without risking his life, Jung Si-woo would soon be reduced to dust. He paced around the room, terrified of the thought that just came to mind.

“First, we need a strategy to deal with the orcs. Perhaps it’s best if we try to avoid fighting the armored orcs for now.”

“You looked quite happy earlier during your fight. I thought we were goners, but it turned out pretty well in the end.”

Soo Ah-rin had always seen Jung Si-woo at his best; she couldn’t fathom the fear and doubt that were starting to take root in Si-woo’s heart and mind. Soo Ah-rin didn’t want to see a repeat of the last battle, to see Jung Si-woo risk his life again like that. For now, he needed to raise his level by gradually conquering easier dungeons. He would then stand a better chance against strong opponents like the armored orc when he had leveled up enough.

Every player Soo Ah-rin knew had grown that way, and that was the essence of growth. There was no need to rush improvement. Everything happened at the right time. But for Jung Si-woo, it was the exact opposite. He didn’t want to settle for weaker opponents. No, he wanted to get stronger as fast as possible by beating strong opponents because, deep down, he was afraid of being left behind. He couldn’t afford to wait for the right time; he needed to make it happen on his own.

“Your value won’t increase by comparing it to others. Having someone stronger than you shouldn’t change your attitude towards yourself. What’s important now is that you have the potential to move further and that you have the will to do so.”

Si-woo smiled, realizing just how lucky he was to have Soo Ah-rin by his side. The thought of having more room for improvement thrilled him. Jung Si-woo laughed at how foolish he was just a moment ago. Soo Ah-rin thought she already knew just what kind of person Jung Si-woo was, but after seeing him fight the armored orc, she realized there was more to him than what met the eyes. He possessed the determination to surpass all walls that blocked his path.

“I promise to become stronger without ever losing a fight…I feel like an elementary school student.”

“Noisy man.”

Soo Ah-rin teased, happy that mood seemed to have turned lighter. Jung Si-woo took off his armor and washed his body clean. After showering, he went back to strategizing.

“I have to prioritize leveling up.”

Jung Si-woo declared, his hair still damp from the shower.

“Absolutely!”

“But that’s not enough.”

Jung Si-woo acknowledged how underpowered he was as of the moment. Even with the progress he made with his battle skills today, he was sure it wouldn’t be enough to clear the dungeon with the armored orcs. He needed more experience and more training. And most of all, he needed–

“You need skills, especially active skills.”

Soo Ah-rin interrupted his thought. Although they were both skills, active skills and passive skills offered different benefits to players. There were situations where an active skill was more useful, and they were also situations wherein a passive skill was preferred. An active skill used mana at the instant it was activated. In some cases, the surge of mana in a user’s body when activated was enough to overwhelm them.

On the other hand, a passive skill couldn’t be activated and didn’t consume mana in one go. It worked by steadily consuming mana in small amounts to keep an effect active. Because there was no mana surge during casting, the player wasn’t overwhelmed.

“But that’s easier said than done. Most players acquire passive skills as rewards for clearing dungeons or achievements.”

Players lucky enough to acquire combat-related passive skills early, especially non-technical skills, easily gained more overwhelming power. And most of those players were now the heads of their own guilds.

“Passive skills are affected by mana only at birth, and after that, they develop regardless of the mana level and exert influence over their owners. Like your limbs, what you can trust in any situation at any time is a passive skill. It’s like saying that you’re going to make those limbs yourself.”

“If the mana in the body is condensed and fixed in a form that exerts a specific power, can it be considered a passive skill?”

In a way, that was how one could explain the core of how passive skills worked.

“That basically sums up what passive skills are. That’s why you know that it’s hard for a player like you who hasn’t dealt with mana his entire life, right?”

Soo Ah-rin sighed before continuing.

“First, let’s aim to turn your martial arts and physical skills into passive skills.”

To create a passive skill, a player needed to be highly proficient at controlling mana. But none of that would matter if the player didn’t have a deep understanding of the ability they wanted to turn into a passive skill. This was a task that Jung Si-woo couldn’t do in a day or two despite being an exceptional player, but the important thing was that it was something he could do.

“Hey.”

So Ah-rin’s tone suddenly grew colder.

“I need to tell you something very important about that.”

“What?”

Jung Si-woo could feel the tension in her voice.

“I fear that your mana capacity right now won’t be enough to develop a passive skill safely.”

Jung Si-woo was stunned after hearing her. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, but he didn’t expect that.

“What’s more concerning is the fact that when you create a passive skill, you inevitably lose some of your mana ‘permanently.’ If you use what little mana you have now to form passive skills, you might not have enough to use your active skills.”

“No…”

Jung Si-woo trailed off. Just when he thought he finally had a real plan to become stronger, a new problem popped up. Jung Si-woo needed to raise his level by clearing dungeons. He also needed to train his combat skills by fighting against monsters, and now, he also needed to find a way to create passive skills despite his low mana. He needed to do all of this before Yong Se-ha died.

“Then I guess I have no choice but to do what I always do. I have to secure as many dungeons as possible before the beads stored in the resting place run out.”

“Are you going right now?”

“I should. We can’t waste time while Yong Se-ha is out there in danger.”

Jung Si-woo put on his armor. It was quite clean thanks to Soo Ah-rin’s efforts to polish it. Soo Ah-rin sighed as she climbed up to his shoulder as he left the resting place.

“I just hope we can face dungeons easier than the last one.”

Ah-rin silently prayed. However, at that time, players retiring in dungeons worldwide were emerging on a tremendous scale.

[The players who successfully exitted a dungeon using an item called the Hearthstone claimed that the dungeons’ difficulty has increased’. Korea’s top guild also revealed that they lost several members, including Yong Se-ha, in the dungeon during a raid.]

[Breaking news. Very few people are aware of the existence of players with wings on their shoulders. More and more new players have suddenly appeared, with the number reaching a thousand in Korea and hundreds of thousands worldwide, giving hope to some after many players’ retirement and the surge of monster outbreaks. Opinions are still divided as to whether this is good news or not.]

[Players are said to earn dollars from clearing dungeons. But where do these dollars come from? Will this cause inflation to sour and make the global economy fluctuate? Reporter Lee Kyung-euk reports.]

More and more players from around the world sprang up to keep up with the surging occurrence of monsters. However, at the same time, all dungeons of the Heavenly Castle were strengthened. Veteran players who had been active for ten years retired, and some player candidates began to struggle because they couldn’t even cross the test dungeon.

Each time a player retired, the ant cave dungeons increased. And some of them would soon burst and bring a new disaster to Earth without anyone knowing it. Jung Si-woo, the only underground player who was at the center in all of these events, couldn’t do anything as he watched more and more dungeons spring up all over Seoul, Korea’s capital.

A cataclysm was approaching Earth.