Chapter 14

Let’s imagine something.

If someone appeared who could bring into reality abilities and items that shouldn’t exist on Earth – like martial arts from murim, magic from fantasy, or products of super-science from SF that only appear in fiction – what would happen to that person?

Could they become an eternal historic figure unmatched by anyone, leading unprecedented developments across all fields from industry to economy, science, and culture, elevating civilization several levels beyond what humanity has built over thousands of years?

Could they obtain everything people desire – superhuman abilities to face nations alone, infinite wealth that never runs dry, unassailable honor, power to do anything – and live in luxury?

Yuseong’s answer to this was simple.

‘I don’t think that would work out.’

Treasures you can’t protect become poison.

If you carelessly reveal martial arts that enable superhuman abilities, magic that casually ignores existing physics and common sense, or SF products that surpass modern science by several levels, everyone from companies to nations would take interest and try to uncover and exploit those secrets one way or another.

Some might approach with courtesy and favorable terms for negotiation, but others wouldn’t hesitate to use threats or forceful means.

The problem is that he had no power to resist if the latter type came after him.

He wasn’t hoping for godlike powers that could casually destroy planets or abilities to reshape terrain with a gesture, but right now all he had was the power to create vines and think quickly.

If he acted recklessly without having even minimal power, he might get kidnapped by some special forces unit and become a shuttle delivering otherworld abilities and items, or be eliminated as a threat.

-RoomDweller: I cannot trust you all.

-BalanceLover: Can’t trust us?

-RoomDweller: I mean I have no faith that you won’t harm me.

-BalanceLover: I don’t understand. Why do you think we would harm you?

-RoomDweller: Because that’s likely if you’re a person with common sense. Think about it. If someone had the ability to bring items from other worlds into reality, what would you do? Would you just purely admire their ability and fairly share whatever they bring?

-BalanceLover: I see what you’re thinking. However, everyone here is a user with the same abilities as you. Organizations or nations might be different, but we have no reason to threaten or harm you.

It was quite persuasive, but Yuseong wasn’t naive enough to be swayed by such reasoning.

Just as he could casually sacrifice both arms to kill a monster even if it wasn’t his body, or throw away the entire Heavenly Demon Sect as bait without hesitation, Yuseong’s thought process differed considerably from normal people’s.

The madness to use any means necessary for his goals and the ability to execute those means without hesitation in reality.

Until now these demonic talents had been used solely for completing quests, but now back in the real world, they were shining in protecting his own safety.

-RoomDweller: The people here have known each other well while working as users for a long time. There might be minor conflicts or disputes but you wouldn’t cross certain lines. But I just became a user and have no connections with anyone. In this situation, if another user sees me as a thorn in their side or future competitor and tries to oppress or kill me, do I have any means to resist?

-WeaponMaster: Um, isn’t that a bit extreme?

-RoomDweller: Extreme but possible. You could resist if such things happened, but I have nothing to rely on except the other party’s mercy.

-BalanceLover: …While I can’t say such people don’t exist, they would be very few, and if someone tried something like that, I and others would stop them. Though we may have different ideologies and thoughts, everyone here wants to save humanity and Earth. We’re not foolish enough to destroy precious user forces with our own hands.

Seeing BalanceLover’s message, Yuseong sighed.

Since it was exactly the logic and answer he expected, he sent his prepared counter-argument without a moment’s hesitation.

-RoomDweller: That may be true. But can you guarantee my freedom as well?

He wasn’t additional force but replacement force who accidentally filled the empty spot after an existing user deserted.

And there was a huge difference between additional and replacement.

-RoomDweller: ‘OneLifeOneShot’ who dumped the user qualification on me and disappeared. Like how everyone here seems to have been preparing various things knowing about the current situation in advance, ‘OneLifeOneShot’ must have also had some role. But since they disappeared, doesn’t that mean I have to fulfill their role?

-SuperAnt: Of course you do. Do you think this is a place to just show off abilities and items from other worlds while laughing together? Don’t tell me you were planning to use your abilities just for your own self-interest?

-RoomDweller: Of course not. I should help. What I want to say is this. I’m someone who just became a user recently and naturally I’ll be weaker than ‘OneLifeOneShot’. That means I don’t have the ability to fully replace the role that ‘OneLifeOneShot’ had.

A reserve resource that couldn’t be used immediately as combat force, requiring some training.

This is where Yuseong saw the problem arising.

-SuperAnt: Of course that’s true. That’s why we plan to provide full support until you grow strong enough. We’ll help you grow quickly by providing maximum care with information, skills, items, etc.

-RoomDweller: What do you plan to do if I don’t achieve satisfactory growth even with that support?

There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

If they provide support, he would have an obligation to achieve growth commensurate with that support.

He had no complaints about that fact.

Isn’t this world all about give and take?

The problem comes when that give and take breaks down.

-RoomDweller: Given the situation, you won’t back down easily. You’ll try to get back what you invested one way or another – like making me get items you need or want without proper compensation, or sending me first into difficult and dangerous quests to gather information.

-SuperAnt: That’s…

-RoomDweller: In the worst case, you might judge that I’m unsuitable as a user and forcibly take away my user qualification to give it to someone else more capable and obedient.

-SuperAnt: …Do you have some kind of paranoia or something?

-RoomDweller: I’m being cautious.

He became a user not because he was chosen by some supernatural being or had special talent, but because he happened to buy goggles from a previous user and received ownership.

Given the risk of becoming completely powerless if the goggles were taken away or he was forced to give up ownership through threats or torture, there was no need to take unnecessary risks.

-RoomDweller: I’ll drop by periodically to get information. That’s all for today.

-SuperAnt: Wait…

After closing the community, Yuseong let out a sigh of relief.

Though the conversation went longer than expected, he succeeded in getting what he wanted.

“So there are no side effects from using the goggles?”

Yuseong’s purpose for entering the community was just one thing – to find out if there were any costs or side effects from using the goggles. Everything else was just fake to hide his real purpose.

The goggles’ operating principles?

Why monsters appeared?

What good would knowing such things do?

People don’t wonder about the operating principles or structure of cutting-edge devices they use daily, and even if they did, knowing such things wouldn’t affect how they use the device.

Knowing a car’s structure and history doesn’t improve driving skills.

Whether you know or don’t know a medicine’s ingredients, its effects don’t change.

It’s enough to know that users can bring abilities and items from other worlds and there are no side effects.

“Now then, what should I do.”

The safest choice would be to go somewhere order is maintained.

Since superhumans with various abilities were appearing worldwide, he could be naturally accepted and might be treated as valuable combat force able to fight monsters.

However, there was one seriously concerning point about choosing this option.

“…There’s currently a mobilization order in effect, right?”

In fiction when these things happen, you might hunt monsters to gain wealth and fame or enter an academy for a youth story full of dreams and hope, but reality is different.

The Korean government was dealing with the supernatural situation of monster invasion with the realistic card of mobilization orders.

Fortunately there hadn’t been fatal damage, but they were trying to gather as many people as possible to protect infrastructure like airports, ports, dams, and power plants, so there was a high chance of being drafted as reserve forces to fight.

“Let’s wait and see for now.”

He couldn’t even guarantee immediate survival in the first place.

While he could somehow handle goblins or orcs, what about building-sized monsters like he saw during the day or comparable beings?

As he told SuperAnt, gaining strength had to come first.

“Status Window.”

Name: Han Yuseong

Class: User

Level: 22

Title: One Who Makes the Impossible Possible

Strength: 20

Agility: 27

Wisdom: 78

Constitution: 38

Mana: 27

Skills: Eye of Truth(C+), Asura Perception Way(C), Snake Shadow Whip Technique(C), Flash Step(D), Pain Nullification(D), Mana Control(D), Thorny Vine(D).

Startled by stats several times higher than he remembered, Yuseong recalled the Great Restoration Pill[note]TLN: Sorry, it was not “Revival” instead, it’s “Restoration”.[/note] he ate before losing consciousness and nodded.

The ultimate elixir acknowledged by Hae Cheongyeong.

Though he took it to survive, its effects seemed excellent.

The only regrettable point was not having a sense of exactly how strong these ability scores were, but he couldn’t draw attention testing his abilities in this quiet city, so he decided to move on to the shop window for now.

Ignoring martial arts with impressive grades and flashy names that drew admiration just looking at them, Yuseong scrolled down the list until he finally found the products he wanted.

-Quest Retry Right

-Quest Abandonment Right

-Quest Temporary Withdrawal Right

“This is it.”