‘I'm suffocating!’

DIO's pain control system was only effective for certain types of physical suffering, such as the excruciating pain of getting stabbed or going through Qigong Deviation. It wouldn’t alleviate things like workout soreness or the suffocating feeling that Yongno was experiencing right now.

It would indeed kill the severe pain at the moment of death, but Yongno was already suffering too much from shortness of breath, so he desperately moved his arms to make an emergency ascent to the surface. However, the lack of air wasn’t his only problem.

/The sudden change in water pressure has caused fatal damage to your body!/

/Your status has been updated: 'Serious Injury!'/

Yongno felt dizzy as his condition worsened. He was constantly ascending, but his vision was growing darker. Yet, he couldn’t slow his rising speed since that would immediately change his status from 'Serious Injury' to 'Dead.'

/Your status has been updated: 'Fatal Injury!'/

Yongno was nearly unconscious by now, and just before his status was about to change to 'Dead,' he quickly popped his head above the water.

‘Huff, puff, gasp!’

He gulped down the sweet oxygen hungrily. A new message then flickered in front of him.

/Your health has increased by two points!/

/You have reached Rank 5 in Swimming!/ 

/You have gained the title of Advanced-Level Swimmer!/

/You have gained a special ability - Diving!/

"Oh, my health increased after going through all those obstacles. My Swimming rank also went up. Although my life was at risk, it's quite worth it too-"

Before he finished his words, another message appeared.

/You are in bad physical condition. You will be put to sleep for 30 minutes./

"Put to sleep?"

Yongno was perplexed by the unexpected message, but all of a sudden, he felt numb, and everything turned dark.

"Eh?"

Something had knocked him out, and he was put into a deep sleep.

* * *

Sizzle!

On a cool, breezy beech, Mari and Yongno were using a hot stone to grill deer meat.

"Argh, I'm sick of meat. I want to have something like veggies or rice," groaned Yongno.

Mari replied, "Then why don't you stop hunting animals and start foraging edible plants?"

"That’s annoying because I’ll have to prepare them. This meat looks like I got it from a butcher, but I’m still tired of eating it.”

Mari asked, "Aren’t you enjoying the meat right now?"

"It’s not that I hate meat; I'm just sick of 'only' having meat. You know I'm a meat lover. It’s easy on my stomach~."

Humming, Yongno took a bite of meat. The two ate a lot.

While swimming down the river, Yongno hunted many herbivores that gathered together to drink. After strengthening himself, he could reach and attack them effortlessly, even being capable of instantly killing a wild water buffalo. Once he finished hunting, he earned more than two lumps of dropped meat. Sometimes, he got cowhide or antlers as drops, so he grabbed both of them as he swam.

Mari asked, "By the way, how are you feeling now? Have you recovered from the injury?"

"Uh-huh, never better. Amazingly, my 'Fatal Injury' status became completely normal after I took an hour-long break and had some food. Such great health! Is it because of the title I earned?"

With his swimming skills now at Rank 5, Yongno gained the title of Advanced-Level Swimmer, which increased his muscular strength, stamina, and health by 50 points each. While in the water, this title also decreased the rate at which Yongno consumed his stamina by 30 percent. In the end, this meant that his stats more than doubled. Plus, the stat limit didn’t count toward the added stats given by titles, so the Advanced-Level Swimmer title was incredibly beneficial.

Yongno added, "Thanks to this title, I don't need to use Body Strengthening when I reach a depth of 200 meters in the ocean. Also, my muscular strength is surprisingly 77 points, which is stronger than weightlifters, right?"

Feeling excited, he shouted, “I'm a monster! A beast!”

Mari wanted to show him what high stats truly looked like by simply disclosing her overwhelming stats one by one, but she held back to give the newbies hope.

Sizzle!

They put the last piece of deer meat on the grilling stone.

Yongno suddenly clapped and said, “Oh! I forgot that one!"

"That one?" Mari inquired.

"Hold on for a second."

Yongno put his hand up to stop Mari from asking further questions before putting it down to retrieve the king clam he was sitting on. He had put it there since there wasn’t any shade for the deep-sea creature.

Mari exclaimed, "Wow, it's the Kalib king clam."

"Is it like the final boss of the clams?" asked Yongno in surprise.

Mari sulkily replied, "... Idiot... Do you think something like that even exists? It's just the name of this giant clam here. They are found in the deep sea and get bigger over time. This one looks like it’s around ten years old."

"Haha, this game is so cohesive, but it also has all these weird settings. Anyway, it’s the king of the clams; you never know how strong it is. My arm was bitten and almost sliced- Eh?"

Yongno was bewildered by the clam opening its mouth powerlessly, but Mari seemed nonchalant.

"It's dead," she said. "Unfortunately, the inventory stores objects by folding space and time, so living things can't survive there."

"Really? Then, is it possible to use your inventory to trap and kill a monster?"

Mari explained, "Of course not. The inventory isn't just fragile on the outside but also on the inside. Even small animals like dogs or cats could easily rip through and break out, but that plan might work for something as small as a mouse or bug.”

"That means this clam is dead and can’t move an inch, right?” Yongno asked.

Then, he removed the pearl and meat from the shell. He placed the meat on the grill, which was actually just a stone slab that Mari transformed into a grill with her magic power. It didn’t take long before the grilled clam began to boil. Yongno lifted it with chopsticks made of broken twigs, then tossed a question to Mari as he thought of something.

"... This isn't contaminated, is it?" he asked.

Mari replied, "It's fresher than you think, so don’t worry, Oppa. Being dead in your inventory is a spiritual matter, not something biological."

When she waved the twig-like wand, her amazing magic skills neatly cut the clam without actually touching it. After she was done, she put a slice in her mouth. Yongno saw this and then continued to eat. It didn’t take long before all the grilled meat was devoured.

He praised, "Wow, that was a fiesta! Survival games aren’t too bad if they’re like this."

Yongno had sand on his entire body from lying on the beach, but he didn’t bother with it since he was going back in the water. Letting seawater dry on the body wasn’t good for the skin, but nothing would happen since Yongno had high health.

"Are you gonna dive again?" asked Mari.

"Uh-huh. My goal is to cross the ocean."

"Cross the ocean?!"

Mari gave him a dumbfounded look, but Yongno shrugged.

He replied, "I changed my mind, though. I already have 45 stamina points, so if I keep swimming, I'll reach the cap soon. It’s a bummer."

"Then?"

"I'm gonna dive as far as possible since it’s more helpful for increasing my health and cultivating my internal martial arts. In addition, diving doesn’t affect my stamina as much, so that limit won’t be a problem for a while. I only have 27 vitality points, which means I still have 23 points left to reach the maximum cap. Besides…."

Yongno then took out the pearl he got from the clam. The clear ivory jewel was as big as a child's fist.

He asked, "I can sell this, right?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure about its market value, but it isn’t cheap,” Mari replied.

In fact, the pearl was quite pricey. Yongno clenched his fist.

"Alrighty! This will be my source of income for now. It's dark underwater, but with my night vision, I can spot every pearl."

As Yongno manipulated his internal force, his eyes began to glow gold. He was performing the Enhanced Eyesight skill.

Narrowing her eyes, Mari questioned, “Night Vision Eyes... When did you start using that skill?"

"I used it underwater before because it was too dark down there. We used to have a pair of these night vision goggles in my house. Let me tell you how it works-"

"Hold on." Mari put her hand on the back of his own.

Yongno tried to pull away, but he soon tensed up when a tremendous amount of qi flew into his skull.

"Mari?"

She said, "Remember, this is Telescopic Vision."

As soon as Mari told him the name of the skill, the sea that was far away jumped into Yongno's sight. He could now see distant areas on a magnified scale.

Mari added, "And this is the Night Vision Eyes that you just used."

At that moment, the previously-dark surroundings brightened up as if it were daytime. This vision was much clearer and enhanced than what Yongno had demonstrated earlier.

/You have reached Rank 8 in Skill - Enhanced Eyesight!/

/You have gained the title of Entry-Level User of Enhanced Eyesight!/

The messages appeared one after another.

Mari asked, "Did you memorize them?"

"Ah, yeah, for now."

"Will you be able to use them?"

"Probably,” responded Yongno.

Mari pulled the corners of her lips upward to show a twisted smile. She said, “... Alright. No problem, then. Now this one is-"

"Wait!"

Before the qi surged into him once more, Yongno shook off her arms and stepped forward. He saw the beautiful, gray-haired girl staring at him calmly, but for some reason, her glimmering eyes looked cold and made Yongno shudder.

He asked, "What's going on? You look scary... Is there something wrong?"

"..."

After a pause, the heavy silence around Mari disappeared.

She said, "I was a little serious, haha! You're so good at learning skills, so…."

Mari flaunted a vibrant smile as if nothing had happened, but Yongno looked doubtful.

Yongno wondered, "Why do you get serious when I'm good at learning skills? Do you think that makes sense? To begin with, why did you suddenly-"

Mari cut him off, "It's time to dive, right? Let's go diving! You have had enough rest, so it's time to work!"

"No, I don't want to work…."

"Let's go! Come on, or I'm gonna throw you in the water again!"

Mari beamed, but her eyes looked determined as if Yongno wasn’t allowed to object.

‘Unlike her innocent and kind-hearted appearance, she's such a villainous character!’

As he thought this, Yongno shrugged. "Okay, fine. I was about to dive anyway to burn up some calories."

"Good, please enjoy your time!"

"Pfft, she’s such a mystery,” grumbled Yongno before sinking in the water.

When he completely disappeared from the surface, the cold look in Mari's eyes subsided.

"One in a quintillion..." she murmured.

This term was used for true geniuses, as a quintillion was ten to the 18th power. Therefore, one in a quintillion was someone born out of a 1/1,000,000,000,000,000,000 chance, which was literally a miracle. This surprising and welcomed event wasn’t any god’s doing; it was the so-called 'rarity of a miracle,' the odds of one in a quintillion. And the nickname suited Yongno; he was indeed a super genius.

Still, his power was feeble at the moment. If there was enough time to fight everyone, Mari could beat billions of Yongno rushing at her. However, if Yongno continued cultivating, the sky would be his limit.

"The odds that someone gives birth to a mutant genius like him is almost non-existent. I have only heard about it; I never thought I would ever see one….”

The sun began to set on the beach. The silver-haired, CG fantasy-like beauty stood there for quite a while, staring at the ocean.