Once Grid finished his 280th piece of firewood, his hunger became worse, and he started to become dizzy. However, he didn’t stop.

‘I wouldn’t be me if I gave up at this point.’

Since childhood, he had never been good at anything. He wasn’t smart or handsome, and his personality wasn’t good. He wasn’t even good at sports or exercising. He didn’t have a special talent in a single field. He had no abilities, felt severe jealousy towards others, and made excuses...

He couldn’t deny that he was a bad representation of the human race. However, the reason he could build amicable relationships in high school was his persistence.

He wasn’t very smart. He needed to study several times more than others just to maintain a normal grade. His personality was bad. He often put on a charade that was just as good as the politicians. He wasn’t good at exercising. During PE, he was able to play soccer with others because he tried diligently.

He knew this about himself, so he tried. He did his best to not give up. Thanks to his persistence, he was able to go to university and make it safely through the army. He might be debt-ridden because of Satisfy, but he barely managed to maintain an ordinary life.

Anyway, persistence was his strong point.

“Level... money...”

Grid was caught by this obsession and didn’t stop moving his axe. He had just chopped the 460th piece of firewood when a notification window popped up suddenly.

[Persistence stat has been opened.]

“Eh?”

Surprisingly, it was a new stat. He immediately checked the stat.

[Persistence]

[You never give up, even in the face of a difficult task. You won’t get tired easily. The weight limit for your possessions has increased. The feeling of satiation will last for a long time.

* The higher the number, the higher the effect.

* Stat points can’t be distributed to this stat.

* Every time 10 points are gained in this stat, the ‘Indomitable’ stat will increase by 1 point.] 

 “Wow!”

He wouldn’t tire easily, his weight limit would increase, and his satiety would last for a long time! It was truly fantastic. Furthermore, his indomitable stat would go up by one with every 10 points in persistence?

‘I have to be persistent to raise this stat?’

Grid felt some doubt as he returned to chopping the firewood. 

‘I showed a lot more persistence when completing Ashur’s quest... Why wasn’t the persistence stat created until now?’

He could only think of it as the difference between a normal rank class and a legendary rank class.

‘It might be the same actions and same effort, but the stat growth rate of a legendary class is higher than that of a normal class.’

Once he discovered the new benefits of the legendary class, he forgot all of his fatigue and started to chop the firewood with more determination.

Ttaak! Ttaak!

As the number of firewood increased, he developed the knack of hitting the firewood. 

Despite hitting along the grain, the durability of the axe decreased by one point with every 200 pieces of firewood. However, at a certain point, it no longer decreased, and the speed of his chopping accelerated.

By the time he finished chopping 1,000 pieces of firewood, Grid had four points in the persistence stat.

[You haven’t consumed food in a long time, so all stats have dropped by half. It is easier to become affected by an abnormal state. If you continue to starve, your health will gradually decline.]

It was a close call. He was lying breathless on the ground. 

“Pant pant...”

Grid’s knees were weak, and his arms were heavy. His whole body was screaming in pain, making it hard to move. Despite the compensation from the persistence stat, his -3 level stamina was still poor.

He had chopped firewood for only six hours, but he was exhausted. Grid ate the bread and water that he took out of his inventory and looked toward the east where the Gray Forest was located.

‘The raid party should’ve arrived at the Guardian of the Forest by now. It is good that I didn’t join the party... I would’ve been disgraced if I joined.’ 

With his -3 level stamina, he wouldn’t even have been able to follow the movement speed of the other party members. How embarrassing would it have been if he died from exhaustion and not by a monster? Grid shook his head as he recalled his premature attempt to join the party.

‘When I think about it, I don’t even know the drop rate of blue orichalcum. My thinking was too simple when I tried to join the party. I should think and act more carefully.’

It felt like he had a small amount of mental growth. 

After a while, he barely recovered and returned to Smith’s smithy.

“I finished chopping the firewood. I did as much as possible and managed to obtain 1,000 pieces.”

“What?” Smith burst out, “Puhahahahat! A newbie like you chopped 1,000 pieces of firewood in six hours? You aren’t just a newbie but a liar as well! Are you trying to deceive me?”

He laughed like it was funny and glared at Grid.

‘Is this person bipolar?’ Grid thought.

Then he pointed toward Smith’s backyard. “Isn’t it too much to lie that I chopped 1,000 firewood in six hours? If you don’t believe me, why don’t you go and check it directly?”

“You don’t have to tell me that. If you cheat me, I’ll kick you out of here straight away.”

Grid followed Smith toward the backyard. 

After a few moments, Smith’s mouth dropped open as he saw the 1,000 firewood piled up on one side. “H-How is this possible...? How can someone like you cut 1,000 pieces of firewood so quickly? They’re also perfect...! No, the amount of time isn’t the problem. You don’t have the stamina to chop 1,000 pieces of firewood! Tell me honestly! Where did all this firewood come from? Did it come from Vans carpenter store? Or did you buy it from the woodcutter who lives in the mountains? Foolish guy! I asked you to chop the firewood yourself!”

“What? Why are you framing someone? These are my own logs of firewood!”

“Ridiculous! It can’t be!”

‘Is this person senile? Why doesn’t he believe me?’

Grid picked up the axe. Smith flinched and stepped back when he saw the axe in Grid’s hands. However, Grid just went on to set up a log.

Ttaack!

His woodcutting technique had reached the peak after chopping 1,000 logs of firewood. As soon as the axe met the wood, a clear sound rang out. It was a thrilling sound that reverberated through the smithy.

Smith marveled at the sound and then looked surprised when he saw the log split neatly in two.

After staring blankly, he nodded and opened his mouth, “I thought you were an ordinary newbie, but you’ve actually worked for a long time in woodworking.”

“No.”

“Then, you’re a woodcutter.”

“No.” Grid reached out a hand toward Smith, who was talking nonsense. “First, give me the compensation.”

“Umm... Yes. The work is better than I expected, so I will give you more compensation than I promised...” Doubt could still be seen in Smith’s eyes, but he pulled out 40 coins. 

At that moment, the quest completion notification window stated that Grid received 15 experience points. The way that Smith gazed at Grid also changed considerably. Before, he had looked at Grid like he was a cockroach. Now, Smith looked at Grid like he was a mutt on the streets.

Grid was proud. He had felt helpless in the successive S and SS-grade quests, so completing a normal quest after a long time gave him a sense of accomplishment.

While Grid was bathing in the afterglow, Smith gave him a pickaxe.

“If you climb the mountain, there will be a mine. Gather iron ore from there!”

“How much?”

“As much as possible!”

[Mine Iron Ore]

[Difficulty: E

Blacksmith Smith is suspicious of you.

He keeps looking and looking, but Smith can’t understand why you are better at chopping firewood than him.

Smith has greatly increased the difficulty of the task in order to assess you properly.

Quest Clear Conditions: 80 pieces of iron ore.

Quest Reward: Affinity with Smith +30, experience +55, 20 bronze.

Quest Failure: Affinity with Smith -30.] 

‘55 experience!’

If Grid cleared the quest, he would go up three levels at once and finally get rid of the minus level. He was happy. 

‘No, wait. Other people start at level 1, while I’m glad about reaching level 0...’

He felt strange as he accepted the quest. “I’m going now.”

Grid placed strength in his hand that was holding the pickaxe. He had a huge passive skill that was understanding items. If he took advantage of this, the mining job would be done without difficulty.

Then Grid left the smithy without delay.  

As he headed to a small mountain in the back of the village, he asked a child passing by, “Kid, do any monsters emerge on that mountain?”

The kid with the runny nose, who seemed to be around eight years old, shrugged and replied, “Are you really asking that question? How can there be monsters on a mountain attached to the village? My dad says that the lord’s soldiers patrol this area for our safety. So you don’t have to be a shivering coward, Traveler.”

“C-Coward? Me?”

The kid had such a spiteful expression and nasty tone! This was a nasty kid who provoked one’s urge to punish him.

As Grid prepared to rub his fist on the child’s head, he saw a big man, who was probably the child’s father, approach.

The man looked between Grid and the boy with a disapproving expression. “Boy, why are you hanging around that traveler? He looks stupid, so don’t associate with him!”

“Yes. I only replied to him because he looked so pathetic and frustrated,” the child said.

“Huhu, my son had to go through a lot of trouble. By the way, how did a traveler like that come to our village? Our village isn’t a place that lazy people can enter.”

“That’s right. But he asked me a question, and I didn’t want to be rude.”

“Hahahat! Yes, yes. Then let’s go eat. Your mother is waiting.”

“Yes, Father!”

The father and kid walked away.

‘Dammit, now I’m being ignored by a kid.’

“It is too much.”

The NPCs’ attitude toward Grid was disturbing. During the level 1-10 beginner days, the NPCs didn’t show a favorable opinion toward users, but they still taught the users and helped them grow. However, they unconditionally ignored Grid now that he was a minus level. They felt irritated just making eye contact with him.

Grid’s reputation might’ve increased by 500 in exchange for discovering Pagma’s Rare Book as well as the dignity stat after changing classes, but the minus level itself seemed to have the worst affinity with NPCs.

‘Then that means Doran was a really nice person.’

Grid preferred an NPC like Doran who mistook him for a high level. Doran had forced Grid to accept the quest, but at least he hadn’t ignored Grid.

‘When I think of Doran, I’m reminded of Doran’s ring.’

He still mourned the thought of the loss of Doran’s ring. 

Grid gazed at the sky for a moment and soothed his mind. Then he checked his status window before moving to the mountains.