Level 2 Player

Chapter 03

The titles “First Hunter” and “One Strike One Kill” were achievements Jinsu had planned to get.

The “Barehanded Hunter” title was something he tried just in case, and it worked.

The problem was, all the titles disappeared right after he got them.

Jinsu checked his status window.

“No change at all.”

All his stats were still stuck at 22.

“This is a huge loss.”

With all the achievements he got, his stats should’ve increased by at least 50 points.

But they didn’t go up even once.

“Will the blessings keep eating my titles like this?”

If this keeps happening, Jinsu’s growth would be seriously affected.

Titles are one of the most important ways to increase stats permanently.

Even if two players have the same level, the one with more titles is way stronger.

So, more titles = better.

“Is there no point in collecting titles while I have these blessings?”

If they keep getting deleted, getting them would be meaningless.

But still…

“Let’s keep going for now.”

His first goal was to collect all the titles and hidden dungeons on the first floor.

Even if the titles vanished, he wasn’t planning to stop trying.

“Kiieeek!”

“Kyarruk! Kyarruk!”

Jinsu moved forward, hunting monsters.

He quickly cleared out the first floor, earned achievements, and got titles.

[Title “Monster Hunter” has disappeared.]
[Title “Hunting Master” has disappeared.]
[Title “One Against Ten” has disappeared.]

All the titles were being deleted one after another.

[Level up!]
[Stats increased!]

After defeating a lot of monsters, he finally leveled up.

It was expected after how much he had hunted.

[The Sun God’s Blessing is pleased with the new level.]

[The Moon God’s Blessing is satisfied with the increased stats.]

Suddenly, another message appeared.

“Wait, what?”

[The Sun God’s Blessing cancels the level increase.]

[The Moon God’s Blessing chews up the increased stats.]

[Level down.]

[Stats decreased.]

“What the hell?”

Jinsu was stunned.

Now, the blessings wouldn’t even let him level up.

“Why are they doing this to me?”

He frowned.

No titles, no level-ups—it was like his growth was completely blocked.

[The Sun God’s Blessing has grown stronger.]

[The Moon God’s Blessing has grown stronger.]

Another message popped up.

“The blessings leveled up?”

He quickly opened his status window and checked the new info.

[Blessing of the Sun God]

Increases Strength by 2.2%

Increases Agility by 2.2%

Increases Magic by 2.2%

(More to come?)

[Blessing of the Moon God]

Increases Health stat by 2.2%.

Increases Endurance stat by 2.2%.

Increases Mental Power stat by 2.2%.

‘Now my Magic and Mental Power stats increased by 2.2%.

Did the blessings absorb the titles and level-up instead of deleting them?’

But something still felt off.

If the blessings really grew by feeding on titles and level-ups…

‘Then why did the blessings grow the first two times when I hadn’t earned any titles or leveled up?’

Jinsu realized he didn’t know enough about the blessings.

And if things continued like this?

‘It’s not worth it.’

All stats increased by only 2.2%.

Percentage-based buffs are powerful—but only when your base stats are already high.

‘The real problem is efficiency.’

The blessings had already eaten over 10 titles and a full level’s worth of experience.

If he added up all the stats he should’ve gotten, it would’ve been at least 80 points.

But instead of raising his stats by 80, the blessings only gave a 2.2% boost to each stat—not even close to making up for the loss.

‘And 4 of the 6 stats were already increased before the blessings started eating titles and levels.’

So really, after eating 12 titles and a full level’s worth of EXP, the blessings only raised Magic and Mental Power by 0.484 each.

From Jinsu’s point of view, that was a huge loss.

The value for effort was just terrible.

If things kept going like this, he wouldn’t even survive the lower floors of the tower—never mind clearing all the way to Floor 2,222.

‘For now, I have to keep moving.’

Jinsu quietly went back to work.

If he had given up now just because things weren’t going well—if he had whined about how bad the efficiency was—he would’ve never made it to the 2,222nd floor.

But Jinsu never gave up, even in hopeless situations.

He kept trying, kept fighting, and always found a way forward.

That was Jinsu.

And that was the path he would continue to walk.

He silently focused on hunting again.

[The title “One-Strike Killer” has disappeared.]

[Your level has decreased.]
[Your stats have decreased.]

Once again, the title he earned vanished.

His level went up—only to immediately drop again.

But Jinsu didn’t stop.

He kept moving, kept hunting.

[The Blessing of the Sun God has grown.]
[The Blessing of the Moon God has grown.]

Suddenly, new system messages popped up.

Jinsu opened his status window and checked the blessings again.

[Blessing of the Sun God]

Strength stat increased by 12.2%

Agility stat increased by 2.2%

Magic stat increased by 2.2%

[Blessing of the Moon God]

Health stat increased by 12.2%

Endurance stat increased by 2.2%

Mental Power stat increased by 2.2%

‘Now Strength and Health have increased from 2.2% to 12.2%.’

That’s a 454% growth in those buffs.

‘Still not efficient, though.’

Even with that big boost, the blessings had eaten too many titles and levels.

The cost was still too high.

‘But at least… there’s hope.’

The actual increase was small, but a single growth boosted the effect by over 450%.

That meant the blessings could grow massively in the future.

If they kept growing like this, one day they might boost stats by thousands, millions, or even more.

‘Of course, my base stats are still too low, so it doesn’t help much yet.’

No matter how big the percentage, if your base stat is tiny, the bonus stays tiny.

A tiny bean is still a tiny bean, even if it grows a thousand times.

‘I need to find a way to raise my base stats.’

There was no solution yet—but Jinsu wasn’t giving up.

He’d find a way, no matter what it took.

‘I think it was somewhere around here.’

After hunting monsters and collecting titles while moving, Jinsu finally reached his next destination.

‘This is the place.’

Jinsu arrived at a small cave.

‘Hobgoblin Dungeon.’

It was a one-time hidden dungeon located on the first floor of the tower, where you could get a mission to defeat a group of goblins led by a hobgoblin.

‘The difficulty is pretty high.’

Players who just arrived at the tower usually had the same physical and mental abilities as normal people.

For them, the Hobgoblin Dungeon was basically a trap.

Even fighting one or two goblins was tough at that stage, but this dungeon threw dozens of goblins at you—plus a boss monster, the hobgoblin.

‘But the rewards are good.’

Aside from the mission reward, the bonus loot made it worth it.

The hobgoblin carried a Treasure Pouch.

It was a space-type artifact that could hold as much stuff as a small cart.

Items placed inside wouldn’t spoil, so it was great for storing food and other gear.

It had some downsides: it could only hold 20 items and had a weight limit of 200 kilograms.

‘Maybe not so useful later, but super valuable early on.’

Best of all, the pouch usually had something inside.

If you were lucky, it could contain a lot of food, weapons, or other artifacts.

‘Alright, let’s go.’

Jinsu entered the dungeon.

Even though his stat bonuses from achievements and level-ups had all been erased, his base stats were still all at 22.

‘On the first floor, that’s more than enough.’

Plus, his blessings had grown again, increasing his agility and endurance boosts to 12.2%.

‘Not that it adds much…’

Even with a 12.2% increase, a stats of 22 only became 24.684.

‘Still, better than nothing.’

At least strength, agility, health, and endurance—the most important early-game stats—had improved.

Jinsu stepped into the dungeon.

[You have entered the Hobgoblin’s Dungeon.]
[Mission – Defeat the Hobgoblin Horde has been given.]
[Number of challengers: 1.]
[Calculating mission reward…]
[Mission Reward – 10 Strength Elixirs.] [You cannot leave the dungeon until the mission is completed.]

As soon as he entered, the mission was forced onto him.

“Kiieeek!”

Right away, goblins charged at Jinsu.

‘Nice rewards.’

Strength Elixirs increase your Strength stat.

‘Looks like the reward was meant for a 10-player team.’

Jinsu swung his two swords.

Slash! Slice!

“Kiik!”

“Kyak!”

The goblins charging at him were cut down like straw.

“Grrraaargh!”

The hobgoblin, angry at the death of its minions, rushed at Jinsu.

While regular goblins were about the size of a child, the hobgoblin was nearly 2 meters tall.

It moved quickly too, which meant its level was probably quite high.

‘Its stats are definitely higher than mine.’

But high stats didn’t automatically mean it was stronger.

Whoosh!

The hobgoblin swung its club.

‘Too slow and wide.’

The hobgoblin seemed powerful, but its moves were big and easy to read.

Jinsu twisted his body to dodge.

BOOM!

The moment the Hop Goblin’s club slammed into the ground—

Stab!

Jinsu’s sword, held in his right hand, quickly and precisely pierced through the Hop Goblin’s neck.

“Gurghhh!”

Thud!

The fierce-looking Hop Goblin collapsed and died just like that.

[Mission – Hop Goblin Group Elimination Completed.]
[Mission Reward – 10 Strength Potions awarded.]
[You can now exit the dungeon.]

[You defeated a higher-level monster with your first attack.]
[Title “Overcomer” has been granted.]

[You defeated the dungeon boss with your first attack.]
[Title “Victor” has been granted.]

[The Blessing of the Yellow God is pleased with the titles Overcomer and Victor.]
[The Blessing of the Red God is satisfied with the existence of the titles Overcomer and Victor.]

[The Blessing of the Yellow God chews up the titles Overcomer and Victor.]

[The Blessing of the Red God slowly chews up the titles Overcomer and Victor.]

[Titles Overcomer and Victor have been erased.]

‘Yeah… I knew this would happen.’

Jinsu wasn’t even surprised anymore.

‘Anyway, let’s get the reward first.’

Smiling, Jinsu took one Strength Potion and drank it.

[You have consumed a Strength Potion.]

[Strength stat increased by 2.]

It was just a small increase, but every little bit counts.

But then, something unexpected happened—

[The Blessing of the Yellow God smiles, pleased by the stat increase from the Strength Potion.]

[The Blessing of the Red God smiles, satisfied with the stat increase from the Strength Potion.]

[The Blessing of the Yellow God chews up half the stat increase from the potion.]

[The Blessing of the Red God also chews up half the stat increase from the potion.]

[Stats have decreased.]

‘What the—?!’

Jinsu was stunned.

He hadn’t expected the blessings to absorb not just the stat increases from titles, but also from potions.

“Damn it! Why are you doing this to me? You said you were pleased! You said you were satisfied! Then why are you taking it back?!”

He shouted in frustration, voice echoing in the dungeon.

“This isn’t some offering for you!”

They already had terrible efficiency, and now they were eating everything he earned.

“…Haah.”

After a long string of swearing, Jinsu let out a deep sigh and forced himself to calm down.

He bent down and picked up the treasure pouch hanging from the Hop Goblin’s belt.

‘Let’s see what’s inside.’

He reached into the pouch, and information about the items inside appeared in his mind.

‘Most of it is useless.’

There was mostly food, but it wasn’t the kind that humans could eat—maybe goblins could.

‘Wait… there’s an item!’

He thought it was a total bust, but luckily, there was something useful.

[Ring of Recovery – Level 22]
– You can use the active skill Recovery.

[Ring of Decay – Level 22]
– You can use the active skill Decay.

“Ring of Recovery and Ring of Decay, huh.”

They were a matching set of silver rings.

“The level is pretty high, and the effects aren’t bad.”

The Ring of Recovery had a skill that healed injuries.

The Ring of Decay had a skill that made enemy wounds worse.

When worn together, they made both skills stronger.

“Got lucky with this one.”

Healing items were really rare on the lower floors of the tower.

After floor 50, you could find healers.

After floor 200, there were potions made by alchemists.

But early on, if you got hurt, there wasn’t much you could do except move on to the next floor and hope for the best.

“Skill books that boost natural healing are better overall, but this isn’t bad either.”

The Decay skill could also help in battle, depending on the situation.

Jinsu put both rings on his fingers.

[The Ring of Recovery and Ring of Decay have been combined. The set bonus is activated.]

[The Blessing of the Golden God has grown stronger.]

[The Blessing of the Red God has grown stronger.]

[The Blessing of the Golden God has grown stronger.]

[The Blessing of the Red God has grown stronger.]

At that moment, system messages popped up twice in a row.

The blessings had grown again.