A little while earlier.

After receiving One-Day White Flame, Hyunsoo could not stop feeling shocked.

Because its effect was unbelievably powerful.

He summed it up in a single line.

This is the final boss of buffs.

It was not an exaggeration in the slightest.

All stats increased by 45%.

Sword attack power increased by 500.

Physical attack power increased by 45%.

Magic attack power increased by 52%.

Skill cooldown reduced by 40%.

Status ailment resistance greatly increased.

A temporary status ailment reflection skill was generated.

What mattered was that this could be seen as the Ares Church’s version of Berserker Mode.

Berserker Mode achieved a dramatic rise in attack power in exchange for the loss of reason.

Instead, defense dropped to an almost absurd degree.

But this White Flame was different.

The notification itself said it. Strongest among all current users.

Even though it had dragged him up to that level, physical defense and magic defense had only fallen by 20%.

Let’s see.

First, he needed to confirm how strong he had become after receiving this One-Day White Flame.

If you cleared a dungeon above your level, you gained more experience.

That was common knowledge to anyone.

Hyunsoo even had information on hunting grounds meant for users in the 500s.

Kabel said they’re basically the private playground of second-advancement users. That it’s dangerous for someone like me who hasn’t had a second advancement yet.

Even if Karsel came with him.

Places meant for users above level 500 were unexplored dungeons.

Dungeons are packed with unknown risks.

That was why he had not challenged them before, but it had still left him dissatisfied.

Even now, Bahala is probably roaming places like that.

But with One-Day White Flame, it became possible.

Still, first he needed to determine how reliably he could farm them.

“Let’s take a short break.”

The golem dungeon was one you could leave at any time.

Hyunsoo and Karsel came outside, then waited for the dungeon golems to fully regenerate.

Twenty minutes later.

After entering again, Hyunsoo confirmed that the monsters had respawned.

He recalled the time it had taken before.

When he had received no buff.

One hour and twenty minutes.

When he had received a half-buff.

Forty-three minutes and thirty-two seconds.

“Start...!”

Hyunsoo moved.

SLAAASH—!

White flames erupted over the body of the slashed golem.

WHOOOOSH—!

It was White Flame.

This White Flame rose both from Hyunsoo’s body and from anything struck by him.

And originally, in a no-buff state, it had been around this level.

[You have dealt 28,301 damage.]

Now, it was different.

An increase in attack power meant a higher attack success rate.

On top of that, it also allowed him to break through the monsters’ absurd defenses and deal actual damage.

So this was not a simple matter of damage rising by the same percentage as the buff amount.

[You have dealt 68,319 damage.]

Compared to his no-buff state, there was now a damage gap of well over 2.5 times.

And due to the increase in all stats, his attack speed and movement speed had both become roughly 40% faster.

RUMBLE—!

After cutting down one golem in just a few exchanges, Hyunsoo sprinted forward at high speed.

“Chain, gather, accumulate, cut through in one stroke.”

SLAAAAASH—!

After instantly gathering and carving through thirty golems, Hyunsoo finally struck the boss monster, the Iron Golem.

And soon.

[You have cleared the Lava Golem Dungeon.]

[This is a remarkable achievement.]

[Total time taken: 17 minutes and 32 seconds.]

“...Ghk.”

Hyunsoo could not hide his shock.

Compared to the first time he had entered, his clear time had become roughly four times faster.

And then.

[The title One Who Grows reacts.]

[Something special may occur.]

Just as I thought!

Hyunsoo believed there was no such thing as a penalty title that imposed nothing but unconditional restrictions.

What’s the special event? Hmm... the notification went off because my hunting speed shot way up, which means...

Reduced experience gain.

That was the short-term penalty dwelling within the title One Who Grows.

My experience gain was definitely lowered, but I’m still moving faster than before!

That had to be the hint.

At last, Hyunsoo stepped into the dungeon said to be entered by level-500 users.

[You are entering the Dungeon of the Wrathful.]

Its baseline level was above # Nоvеlight # Hyunsoo’s, so ordinarily it would obviously have been a place where even hunting alone at all would not be easy.

But just as the notification had said, he was currently the strongest among all users.

It was not difficult for Hyunsoo.

SLASH—

After killing the tree-type monster called the Violent Ent, Hyunsoo was astonished by the amount of experience.

[You obtain 497,031 experience.]

At present, Hyunsoo was in a state where his experience gain had been greatly reduced by the title One Who Grows.

And yet even in that condition, he was still earning nearly 500,000 experience.

The benefit from hunting monsters far above my own level is offsetting it!

And the resulting effect was astonishing.

Though Hyunsoo did not know it, specialness was continuing to be added to the title One Who Grows.

The first had been the restriction he received in the half-buff state.

But now, compared to when he had been under that half-buff restriction, Hyunsoo’s current experience gain had become nearly twice as high.

Ordinarily, that would have been impossible.

Because he had been carrying a penalty that reduced experience gain.

And one of the reasons specialness kept being added was that Hyunsoo had moved to a high-level hunting ground.

Then the specialness of the title One Who Grows revealed itself when he killed the boss monster of a level-500 dungeon.

Ding!

[The title One Who Grows shines!!]

Hyunsoo expected it.

The reward that came when you understood the system!

Is it going to rise all the way to Grade S!?

That was Hyunsoo’s misunderstanding.

What he had achieved was far greater than that, and the chain reaction caused by One-Day White Flame was fraudulent.

[The title One Who Grows changes from a Multi-Title to a Unique Title.]

[The title One Who Grows is upgraded to Grade SS.]

(One Who Grows)

Unique Title

Grade: SS

Special Abilities:

·Experience gain permanently increases by 18%.

·When hunting monsters 50 or more levels above yourself, gain 50% additional experience.

·When hunting boss monsters 50 or more levels above yourself, gain 80% additional experience.

·You have overcome 5 days of 30% reduced experience gain.

·For 5 days, experience gain increases by 50%, and this applies stacked with any other method of gaining experience.

The penalty disappeared, and my experience gain goes up permanently by 18%? 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

High-rankers were obsessed with artifacts that permanently increased experience.

If there were an artifact that raised it by only 5%, they would pay hundreds of millions of won for it without hesitation.

And yet through this title, Hyunsoo had gained a permanent increase of 18%.

What matters is that these effects start applying from this very moment.

Gain 50% additional experience when hunting monsters 50 or more levels above him.

Gain 80% additional experience when hunting boss monsters 50 or more levels above him.

And on top of that—

It lowered my experience gain at first, but once I overcame that, for the next five days—in other words, even during the period Saintess Aria’s buff is active—my experience gain increases by 50%...! Just how many levels can I gain?

Desire boiled inside Hyunsoo.

[Remaining One-Day White Flame duration: 3 hours and 27 minutes.]

Hyunsoo ran through the battlefield until the very last moment, and after One-Day White Flame ended, even he could hardly believe it.

Because he had power-leveled so absurdly hard that even by his own standards it made no sense.

Of course, that was thanks to One Who Grows.

And this was not a bug.

There was something he had heard from Kabel.

That there are at least a thousand holders of the title One Who Grows.

A Unique Title was granted to one person, and one person alone.

That meant he was the only one who had risen to Grade SS.

That was how it was.

His explosive growth was legitimate.

*****

Sorry, Hyunsoo.

Bahala wore a bitter expression inside the Black Dragon’s Nest.

A while ago, before Hyunsoo could take it, he had demanded Ares’s Mercy.

Bahala was currently stronger than anyone.

Even including Hyunsoo.

But there was a reason he had to be.

[The Code of the Sword sends a warning.]

[There is one who will reach godhood faster than you.]

The one who reaches godhood first.

Just like that, Hyunsoo was the kind of person who created so many variables that even Bahala himself could not estimate them.

That was why.

Impatience.

It was Hyunsoo who had created that impatience in Bahala.

And Bahala himself had also decided that he had to grow stronger before two months passed.

Of course—

If you fail to chase me down and have to forfeit, then that will be the burden you must bear, and it will mean that you are the one drinking the poison alone.

That would simply mean Hyunsoo had never been his true rival to begin with.

Still, in Bahala’s case, there was one fortunate point.

The Code of the Sword would acknowledge it even if Hyunsoo forfeited.

What was regrettable was that if his good-faith competitor Hyunsoo failed to keep up, then the competitive spirit Bahala had felt toward him would turn to a fistful of ash.

Then Bahala gave a faint laugh.

I obtained Ares’s Mercy, so I can’t help but stay ahead.

To be honest, Bahala judged that the odds were high Hyunsoo would fail to catch up.

Still, that was fine.

If you’re the man I know, you’ll rise again and come after me.

After finishing that thought, Bahala soon realized that the effect of Ares’s Mercy, the greatest potion in the history of the Ares Church, had ended.

Since he too understood Ares, he noticed it right away.

If I kill this boss monster, the title One Who Grows will rise to Grade SS.

He possessed the Grade S version of the title One Who Grows.

Depending on the title’s grade, both the penalty and its direction changed.

Bahala was certain he would obtain it if he hunted the guardian of the Black Dragon’s Nest.

However—

THOOOOOOM—!

“...?”

Bahala was taken aback.

What?

His prediction had missed.

The title One Who Grows did not upgrade.

There were only two possible reasons for that.

Either he had failed to meet the conditions, or someone had already claimed it first.

That... can’t be possible, can it?

Bahala believed it was impossible for someone to grow faster than him when he possessed Ares’s Mercy.

Could it be?

Recently, Bahala had heard of one user who supposedly did nothing but eat and level up.

He had heard that the man possessed a Legendary class called God of Gluttony, and that he leveled up whenever he filled certain benefits by eating.

Bahala decided that this must have happened because that user had leveled too easily.

Then that user is just empty inside in the end.

A high level alone meant nothing.

Bahala quickly hid his disappointment and logged out.

After obtaining Ares’s Mercy, he had managed to gain six levels.

There must be an uproar.

He switched his official ranking to public.

It was to make Hyunsoo give up.

After pouring water into a glass, he turned on the TV, and an excited voice rang out.

Just as I thought...

—The growth of one high-level user is receiving dazzling attention.

—In only a few short days, this user has achieved explosive level-ups.

Information on that user appeared on the screen.

Clink—

Bahala, without realizing it, dropped the glass.

Because the name on the ranking screen—

was not his.

How...?

That level of his had definitely started at 452.

Only three days ago!

[Hyunsoo Lv.486]

And now he had gained thirty-four levels.

Bahala.

At that moment, he felt it clearly.

Was I the one drinking the poison alone...?

The moment was arriving when the whole world would be shouting not his name, but Hyunsoo’s.

And Bahala felt something else.

That Hyunsoo had already leveled his sword at his throat.

*****

At present.

[One-Day White Flame ends.]

Hyunsoo, who had been resting after finishing a hunt, stiffened in confusion.

KIIIIIIIIIIING—!

An enormous sound rang through his ears.

He realized that it was not just some simple roar.

This was the clear, elegant tone that spread when someone flicked a peerless blade with a finger—

the resonance of a sword.

And this effect that continued through sound—

Hyunsoo had experienced it once before.

With the White Tiger Sword.

At the moment of its birth, the White Tiger Sword had gifted the entire world the effect of a tiger’s roar.

But there was also something he could not understand.

Why?

Karsel was sprawled out flat on his back like a corpse, not moving in the slightest.

If Karsel had heard this sound too, he would have woken up in shock.

And Hyunsoo noticed that the guild chat window was completely quiet as well.

Because of that, he realized one fact.

I’m the only one hearing it!?

At last.

KABOOOOOM—!

The sword that had flown from the far end of the dungeon arrived before Hyunsoo’s eyes.

Hyunsoo’s heart began pumping like mad.

What is this sword...?

The instinct of a blacksmith honed over many years was screaming at him.

This was a peerless blade.

And Hyunsoo’s heart pounded because the power he felt from it was immense.

It’s definitely a Transcendent artifact, so why does it feel like it’s on the level of the White Tiger Sword?

And then he felt it again.

[This is a bound artifact.]

This power—

was being felt by him alone.

Clench—

The moment he gripped it—

[A hidden effect is unlocked!!]

Hyunsoo’s heart pounded wildly.

Because he realized that Takashi had hidden something unknown inside it.

Then immediately—

[An Artifact Quest is created!]

Ding!

[Artifact Quest: The One Who Must Become King]

Grade: SSS

Restriction: Hyunsoo

Reward: Upgrades to Mythic grade

Failure Penalty: Unable to grow into Mythic grade

Description: If you become the first king among all users, the artifact’s grade will be upgraded to Mythic.

Hyunsoo had just gained yet another reason why he had to become the first king.