Chapter 2

‘This bastard!’

I wanted to stab my sword in Ashur’s mouth right now, but it was an impossible task. The man’s level was 300 and was also a great magician who completed his third class change. His escort knights had an average of level 180.

On the other hand, I was only at level 73 and didn’t even have a chance against the youngest knight who was serving as a bread shuttle. (Bread shuttle - Usually used at school, where one student is picked on and/or bullied to do the errands for people who are higher on the social ladder than the shuttles are.)

But look at the quest clear conditions. I had to kill them.

Plus! Even if I cleared the quest, wasn’t the quest compensation garbage?

‘My intelligence will be minus 50? Fuck, right now I have 30 intelligence, so won’t I be an idiot if I’m at minus 50? And all of the kingdom’s nobles would hate me? So where was my exit route?? Why is there a quest like this? Ahhh!!’

There was only one choice. Just die. I would drop two levels, but I couldn’t succeed anyway. Besides, what was the point of succeeding with such a nasty quest?

“Hu...”

I felt resigned. The pressure from the knights wasn’t a joke.

‘This means I would’ve lost eight levels just from this quest... Ashur... One day, I will become high level and take revenge. Definitely.’

I stared at Ashur and vowed revenge, then closed my eyes at the menacing swords in the knights’ hands. Then suddenly, I remembered Pagma’s book in my hand.

’Wait, what about this?’

Would it remain in my inventory after I died if I put it in there before my death? This wasn’t a general quest item, so I couldn’t be assured of the situation.

What was Ashur’s purpose in the first place? Pagma’s rare book. The reason he wanted to kill me was to take it away. In order for the story to go smoothly, if he killed me, it was likely that Pagma’s book would disappear from my inventory and fall into his hands.

“Shit!”

If I was going to lose Pagma’s book anyway, I might as well use it instead of selling! A new option emerged. I could use Pagma’s rare book.

However, I hesitated. I hated production-related classes. Wasn’t the point of a game to enjoy the thrill of battle? However, if I became a blacksmith, I would have to sweat as I hammered at iron in front of a fire. It might be necessary to carry pickaxes while searching for mines to collect the necessary materials.

It was indeed...

‘La. bor.’

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

At that moment, a chill went down my spine. I was doing brickwork and shovel work at construction sites in real life, and now I needed to do labor in a game as well! Just imagining it made me feel terribly dizzy.

“Kuock...”

I wanted to remain as a warrior; it was my dream to swing my sword at enemies and someday become an army general. But now it was time to give up on that dream. An item worth hundreds of millions of won would be taken away by an NPC! By that bastard Ashur!

"It’s better to use it than to lose it to him!”

I tearfully opened Pagma’s book. The shocked Ashur hurriedly stretched out a hand and chanted a spell.

"It’s too late, you jerk.”

I ridiculed him before falling silent as I checked the notification windows appearing one by one.

[You have become Pagma’s descendant.]

[Your level has dropped.]

[You are now level 1.]

[All skills and stats have been reset.]

“......?”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Weren’t class changes supposed to help you get stronger by strengthening your existing level, stats, and skills? Therefore, I couldn’t understand why my level, stats and skills were reset instead of maintained.

“What is this?”

As I was confused by the unknown situation, new notification windows emerged.

[Dexterity stat has opened.]

[Blacksmith’s Craftsmanship skill has been created.]

[Blacksmith’s Craftsmanship skill has been mastered.]

[Blacksmith’s Appraisal skill has been created.]

[Blacksmith’s Appraisal skill has been mastered.]

[Blacksmith’s Patience has been created.]

[Blacksmith’s Patience has been mastered.]

[Blacksmith’s Disassembly skill has been created.]

[Blacksmith’s Disassembly skill has been mastered.]

[Blacksmith’s Repair skill has been created.]

[Blacksmith’s Repair skill has been mastered.]

[All blacksmith skills have been mastered to the level of the Pinnacle and the skills of the legendary blacksmith have been opened.]

[The Legendary Blacksmith’s Craftsmanship skill has been created.]

[The Legendary Blacksmith’s Discernment skill has been created.]

[The Legendary Blacksmith’s Appraisal skill has been created.]

[The Legendary Blacksmith’s Patience skill has been created.]

[The Legendary Blacksmith’s Repair skill has been created.]

[The Legendary Blacksmith’s Disassembly skill has been created.]

[The Legendary Blacksmith’s Breath skill has been created.]

[The Legendary Blacksmith’s Blessing skill has been created.]

[The Legendary Blacksmith’s Creation skill has been created.]

[Title, ‘One who Became a Legend’, has been acquired.]

[Composure stat has opened.]

[Indomitable stat has opened.]

[Dignity stat has opened.]

[Insight stat has opened.]

In the case of dexterity, it was a basic stat possessed by all users with a production-related class. However, the Composure, Indomitable, Dignity, and Insight stats were all unfamiliar. Was this a good thing?

"Not good!”

I was desperate. There were 15 passive skills and 22 active skills that I learned as a warrior. However, I completely lost all my abilities as a warrior. Due to the effect of the class change, I had completely become a laborer.

Furthermore, I was level one. The levels that I barely built up over the past year had been completely reset and I needed to start over? I had to restart the damn level-up grind from the beginning?!

“Why is there a quest like this? Fuc*[email protected]....~#@...[email protected]....^%$!!”

I combined several Korean characters together as a knight’s sword rapidly headed towards me.

[You have been hit by a blow!]

[You have died.]

The level 1’s low stamina dropped to 0 with a single hit from a level 180 knight.

[Quest failed!]

[You will no longer be able to enter Patrian.]

[Any Patrian soldiers will kill you on sight.]

[Your level has dropped by 2.]

[You are now level -1.]

[There is no registered residence. Do you want to resurrect at the nearest temple?]

“......?”

I saw my level and lost it.

“Negative? My level is negative??”

I was certain that I had been cursed by the gods for some fault in a previous life. I barely got here after three months of hardship only to get this result? I didn’t want to play the game. I chose to log out instead of resurrecting.

Once I quit the game, I immediately connected to the Internet and searched through all of the Satisfy related forums in Korea to look for information about a negative level. But I couldn’t get any information so I wrote my question directly on the forum.

Title: I am currently level -1.

Contents: I have been doing a quest for three months and received a legendary old book. However, I failed and my level strangely dropped to -1. Why??? Has this ever happened before???????

I pressed the OK button to post and completely emerged from the capsule. A quick glance in the mirror revealed someone who looked like an emaciated patient with an incurable disease. It was the aftermath of not sleeping for three months while doing the quest. And the only thing I received in return was a loss of hundreds of millions of won and a minus level.

“My three months of work have gone flying away... Three months of hard work. Hahaha...”

I could’ve gone and taken some labor jobs, but I ended up shoveling air. No, it was a loss of time and level. I lost energy and flopped to the ground. I was sad, empty, grumpy, and resentful. All types of negative emotions were pouring in, giving me a tremendous sense of helplessness. If I were weaker person, I was sure that I would’ve committed suicide.

"...I need to take a shit.”

I had been connected to the game for a long time, so I headed to the bathroom after receiving a physiological signal. It was three in the morning. All my family members were sleeping. If I woke up my parents then they might curse at me.

I stealthily crossed the living room, quietly did my business in the bathroom, washed up, moved back to the kitchen, and took out a side dish from the fridge. I barely managed to find a spoon in the darkness and returned to my room with a bowl of rice.

"Oh, it’s sausage fried rice.”

The taste of a meat processed product! As I ate delicious food and filled up my stomach, I relaxed and could think soberly.

"How did my level become minus?”

I thought about it before sitting in the capsule to check the question I posted on the Internet.

“What?”

In the meantime, the number of views on my posts had gone over 10,000. The number of comments was more than 2,000!

“D-Don’t tell me?”

I couldn’t find the information, but was the minus level actually famous among users, and the users were excited because it gave tremendous benefits? My dream was destroyed when I checked the comments.

Iksl ** ’s answer: If there is a minus level, a ghost will appear before me at night.

Eksk ** s answer: Wow ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I am level -5 ^.^We are low-level comrades.

Tutu ** ’s answer: Did you find a legendary book as well? ㅋㅋ Do you have an attention sickness?

cm3s **’s answer: He should be brought to a mental hospital. Take this post down.

7r14 ** s answer: Legendary book... minus level... these days ㄸㄹㅇ really, some people...

jk12 **-1’s answer: Wouldn’t -1 be last place in the rankings ㅋㅋㅋㅋ I would quit the gameㅋ

Kkks ** ’s answer: Something this unique that hasn’t appeared yet, what nonsense.

Qkr8 ** s answer: Is it excessive drinking?

Gjte ** s answer: Wow, minus level... I pay homage to your imagination. You should be a fiction writer. ㄷ ㄷ

“......”

There were 2,000 comments like these. I felt like an idiot.

‘It seems that information about minus level hasn’t been revealed at all... am I the first person?’

Satisfy’s system was configured to allow users to discover and develop themselves. There was no such thing as a customer service center like in other more traditional online games. Satisfy’s two billion users had been developing the world during the past year by pioneering and exchanging information on their own.

But in such a vast world, there was a lot of information that hadn’t been revealed, such as the minus level that I was experiencing now.

Swaaah.

It was raining outside the window. According to the weather forecast, it was going to rain all day. It wasn’t easy to get a labor job if he went out looking today. I ate the last of the rice and logged into the game again.