Chapter 4: Trueffe

[Level Up!]

“Nice…!”

The level-up notification popped up before my eyes.

Fck.

A curse slipped out with a sigh.

It had been a long, grueling grind.

No matter how many monsters I killed, the experience bar crawled like a snail.

But this time, it surged by more than a tenth in an instant.

Guess that third-job-advanced big guy was worth a lot.

Makes sense—third-job advancements aren’t exactly common these days.

Unless you’re a veteran from some war-torn battlefield, even second-job advancements are rare.

Sure, the number of adventurers is growing fast, so in time, second and third jobs might pop up like mushrooms.

But not yet.

And me?

Lv.100

17892 / 398000 (4.4%)

Name: Juhyuk Seo

Job: Crusader

STR: 1078

DEX: 229

INT: 218

LUK: 157

AP: 10

“Look at that clean level.”

Heh.

Just seeing it made me grin like an idiot.

Level 100.

At level 100, I could do my fourth job advancement.

Not just a Crusader—a real Hero.

In the game, level 100 was nothing special, but here, it was a big deal.

The current timeline in Maple World is 800 years in the past, right after the Black Mage’s invasion began.

Not long ago, El Nath raised the beacon, spreading word of the Black Mage’s calamity.

Probably something to do with Lude.

Anyway, this is way before the Big Bang patch, so the effort needed to level up is on a whole different scale.

Sure, thanks to my status window, my skills got the Big Bang patch treatment.

But the experience points from killing monsters?

Still pitifully low.

Leveling up was just as brutal.

My status window appeared a month after I landed in Maple World.

Right when I was starving and rummaging through trash cans.

[Adaptation period complete.]

[Congratulations on adapting to Maple World.]

—It spouted some nonsense like that and showed up.

But even after getting the status window, nothing really changed.

My life didn’t get any better.

I was still digging through trash to survive.

Why?

Because I couldn’t level up.

I started at level 0, not even level 1, so I couldn’t even get basic adventurer skills.

My body hadn’t changed, and after a month of starvation, my muscles were gone.

No way I could take on any monsters.

If there’d at least been Orange Mushrooms or Snails around, maybe.

But the weakest things nearby were Ex Stumps.

Leveling was a pipe dream.

Then one day, I leveled up for the first time.

—Fck… Die…!

By killing someone.

There was this one thug, nastier than the rest, who’d apparently been kicked out of his group because of his temper.

That night, while looking for a place to sleep, I locked eyes with him, drunk and alone.

—…Hey. Where you running off to?

He grabbed me and beat the crap out of me.

—You fcking piece of sht… Always looking at me like that… Urgh—!

Luckily for me, he was so drunk he lost his balance mid-kick and fell flat on his back.

—…

—Hey, hey… Wait. What the fck are you doing…!

Seeing my chance, I grabbed a nearby wooden plank.

Bam—!

I smashed his head in.

—Ow… Stop…

Bam! Bam! Bam—!

I kept going until he stopped moving.

No regrets.

If I hadn’t killed him, he’d have killed me.

The guilt of taking a life hit me later, but in the slums, one or two deaths were nothing.

I just had to deal with it myself.

The next day, I fled the slums and headed for a bigger city.

That’s when I learned.

This place was Critias.

The Critias ruled by King Hekaton.

[Would you like to begin the 4th Job Advancement Trial?]

“Yeah.”

I started the fourth job advancement trial immediately.

Naturally, the job instructor was my status window.

Post-Big Bang Hero instructors don’t exist here.

The trial worked by the status window assigning quests, and I’d complete them to advance.

“…Hm.”

The status window was still loading, showing nothing but a “Loading” message.

It wasn’t like this for the third job advancement.

Guess the fourth job has more requirements.

“…Phew.”

The reality of becoming a Hero was sinking in, making me sigh.

If I’d gone with Fire/Poison, I’d be an Arch Mage by now.

I’d always had a thing for mages.

I wanted to be a Sun/Call or Fire/Poison mage, not a Hero.

A mage—how cool is that?

Wielding a staff, chanting spells, dominating battlefields like a one-man army.

But to survive early on, I pumped points into STR and DEX, and the status window locked me into Hero.

Fcking thing.

Ding—.

After a short wait, a quest popped up.

[Go to Trueffe Plaza (Incomplete)]

[(Please complete the previous objective first.)]

[(Please complete the previous objective first.)]

[(Please complete the previous…]

[

“…What the hell.”

What the fck is this?

“…What’s this supposed to mean?”

Looking again didn’t change anything.

Not only were there a ton of quests, but the content was bizarre.

[Go to Trueffe Plaza (Incomplete)]

I couldn’t grasp the quest’s purpose.

What does this have to do with the fourth job advancement?

For the third job advancement, it was stuff like “Kill 50 Dark Stone Golems” or “Kill 100 Skeleton Soldiers.”

So I assumed this would be similar.

But go to Trueffe Plaza?

It’s a long trek to Trueffe, right in the heart of Critias.

Was this trial about some kind of dog training?

As I was seriously pondering this—

Ding—!

Another notification sounded.

[Reach Trueffe Plaza within 3 hours.]

[If you fail this quest, you will not pass the 4th Job Advancement Trial and will be unable to proceed with further quests.]

[Time remaining: 2:59:57]

“…”

Three hours.

Fail, and I’d never get the fourth job advancement.

“You fck—!”

Forgetting about looting the thieves’ barracks, I sprinted toward Trueffe at full speed.

This damn status window.

Why’s it suddenly rushing me like this?!

While running nonstop, I roughly calculated the distance from my location to Trueffe.

It’s gonna be tight…!

I ran like my life depended on it.

Because it did.

I might actually be screwed.

For the first time in a while, I ran with everything I had.

“…Huff, phew—.”

[Go to Trueffe Plaza (Complete)]

I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

It was close, but I made it in time.

I never expected to be sprinting full speed from morning.

“…What’s next?”

I opened the status window to proceed with the next quest.

No doubt it’d be something weird again.

[Wander around near the center of the plaza (Incomplete)]

“…”

As expected.

…Well, what can I do?

Gotta do it.

I didn’t get the point, but it wasn’t exactly hard.

Might as well take a stroll through the plaza.

“Come on, ladies! Just 50 mesos for a box! A whole box of apples for just 50 mesos!”

“Potions for sale—! Buy 100, get one free!”

As expected of the central plaza, it was bustling even in broad daylight.

While leisurely wandering and crossing a bridge—

“Hey, handsome young man! Have some milk! Freshly squeezed from a reindeer today!”

“Is it free?”

“Uh, well, just drink it!”

“Alright, thanks, ma’am.”

A merchant suddenly called out to me and shoved a bottle of milk my way.

Reindeer milk.

Expensive stuff.

Since she said it was free, I downed it without hesitation.

“Wow, that’s refreshing. Thanks, ma’am.”

“Glad you liked it~”

“Alright, then…”

“Wait, where you going?”

“Huh?”

“Pay up!”

The merchant thrust out her hand.

This crazy lady?

“You said it was free.”

“When did I say that?! You just drank it!”

“You gave it to me!”

“If you drank it, you pay!”

“You should’ve said it cost something! I wouldn’t have taken it.”

“You already drank it, so pay up!”

“Ugh, come on.”

“5400 mesos! Hand it over!”

“I’ve got 54 mesos.”

“You messing with me?!”

“Ugh…”

Just as I was starting to get annoyed—

Thud—

“Sorry…”

Someone bumped into me from behind.

I turned to apologize.

“…Huh?”

She looked oddly familiar.

Long black hair, deep navy eyes.

“You…”

Who was she?

My memory was fuzzy.

She looked up at me and spoke.

“…You weren’t supposed to be here.”

“What?”

Shove—.

“Wha—.”

She pushed me.

My body gave way easily.

Me, pushed?

I fell off the bridge.

Thud.

“Ugh.”

And at that moment—

BOOM—!!!

A deafening explosion roared from above the bridge.