In the wilderness, under the scorching sun, a man and woman walked amid the dry land. Usually, the burden of walking in these lands was great, but that was not the case for the pair.

Shaneth had resistance to heat. That was why she was not even thirsty, even though it was her first trip. On the other hand, Kang Yoon-Soo was used to such travel, and showed no signs of fatigue even though they walked day and night.

The two, who walked at the same pace day and night, could pass off as siblings. However, it was still difficult for Shaneth to get used to Kang Yoon-Soo, and the only thing she learned about him was that he strangely had a lot of knowledge about different things—that was it.

“We have to conserve our water and resupply whenever we get the chance to. Look, there seems to be a spring nearby where we can refill our water,” Shaneth pointed out.

“That spring has been contaminated,” Kang Yoon-Soo answered.

Shaneth was skeptical of Kang Yoon-Soo’s answer. ‘How would he know without even visiting it…?’ she thought to herself, and she adamantly insisted on going to the spring. However, only muddy water greeted them when they arrived. 

“I… I’m sorry. We should’ve looked for food instead. If I knew it was going to be like this…” Shaneth said apologetically.

Suddenly, Kang Yoon-Soo stretched out his right arm and…

Wham!

He caught a snake that had been hiding in the muddy waters, and they solved their food issue by eating the snake for dinner…

That was how things had been until now. Whenever Shaneth mentioned something, Kang Yoon-Soo was already several steps ahead of her. It was not normal.

That was not the only thing. Kang Yoon-Soo was addicted to alcohol—no, it would be more fitting to say that he was obsessed with alcohol. The whiskey Hermia had provided him before they left had been finished in half a day. In fact, Kang Yoon-Soo’s lips were glued to alcohol all day.

“You don’t seem to get drunk even after drinking that much… There’s actually no difference before and after you drink,” Shaneth remarked.

“Yeah.” Kang Yoon-Soo’s reply was short, as always.

“Then why do you drink so much? Is it because it tastes good?” Shaneth asked curiously.

“Because my head hurts.” Kang Yoon-Soo’s reply was slightly longer this time.

“Eh?” Shaneth was confused.

“I like it when my head hurts after I drink,” Kang Yoon-Soo explained.

‘I knew it… He’s a weirdo…’ Shaneth thought to herself.

It was the fifth day since they had left Kerlin. Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly stopped, and Shaneth looked at him with a puzzled expression. Suddenly, a weak vibration rippled across the dry, barren ground of the wilderness.

“Kyaaaaarrrk!” A large worm suddenly shot up from the dry ground. It was a ‘Landworm’, a creature that resembled an ordinary worm, but with razor-sharp teeth.

The landworm let out a shriek. “Kweeeeeraaaaak!”

It was not alone, however; more than ten other landworms suddenly shot up from the dry ground, responding to its cry.

“Kweeerrrraaaak!”

“Kweereek! Kweeeruuuk!”

Landworms hunted in groups on dry, barren ground, emerging from the ground to search for prey. The two travelers were recognized by the landworms as their prey.

Kang Yoon-Soo hated landworms. They were annoying to deal with in his current regressed state where everything had been reset. ‘It’s tiring to think the same thing every time,’ he told himself as he unsheathed his greatsword. The enhanced greatsword glowed blue.

He was currently Level 34, and the landworms were around Level 50. He was outnumbered and outleveled, but he did not seem to be worried one bit. ‘I guess it’s a good warm-up,’ he thought to himself as he started running toward them.

A landworm shot out of the ground with its mouth wide open. Kang Yoon-Soo slightly moved back and swung his greatsword. With each swing, it sustained heavy damage.

“Life Drain,” Kang Yoon-Soo said with an outstretched hand. A green light flew from his hand and started to absorb the landworm’s HP.

[The skill level of Life Drain has increased.]

[The amount of HP drained has increased.]

He closed the gap between himself and the landworms with only his combat experience. However, the landworms targeted Shaneth when they found that Kang Yoon-Soo was not an easy opponent. One landworm dove into the ground, planning to ambush the girl from behind and rip her to shreds.

“Kweeeeruruk!”

Shaneth took her weapon, a scythe, out when she noticed the landworm. She turned and swung it down.

Pukeok!

The landworm’s head was split in two.

A scythe was a large sickle with a long handle, and it had been Shaneth’s favorite weapon when she was a soldier for the feudal lordship. She started to swing her scythe, and there was no hesitation in her movements.

The reason Shaneth had been a soldier was not because of her relationship with Hermia. She was innately more muscular than most others, and she had been able to endure harsher training than the other soldiers. Additionally, she had ample experience dealing with landworms as a feudal lord’s soldier. However, perhaps because of the power fragment, her body felt lighter than it normally was. She felt no burden even after swinging the scythe numerous times.

More and more landworms started to gather toward them, and there seemed to be no end to their numbers.

Kang Yoon-Soo stretched out his right hand and said, “Summon 78 skeletons. Summon Zombie Giant Hobgoblin.” Additionally, he continuously used Corpse Explosion, and the numerous landworms started to dwindle one by one. However, all of the skeletons were destroyed in the battle.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just leave the battles to the undead?” Shaneth asked as she removed the landworms’ sticky fluid from her hair.

“The experience points obtained will decrease if you don’t join the battle yourself,” Kang Yoon-Soo explained as he sent the Zombie Giant Hobgoblin back into the summon dimension.

A question started to form in Shaneth’s head after she saw Kang Yoon-Soo fight. ‘No way… It can’t be…’ She asked Kang Yoon-Soo just in case, “Excuse me, can I borrow your hand for a second?”

Kang Yoon-Soo gave her his hand without saying anything, and Shaneth gripped it tightly and squeezed it. “It hurts,” he muttered.

“No way… Did you put some strength in your hand just now…?” Shaneth asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo answered.

Shaneth exclaimed inside her head, ‘He’s so weak!’

She hadn’t noticed during the fight with the Spartoi, since it had been so mesmerizing, but… She had noticed after fighting with him just now. Kang Yoon-Soo was much weaker than her, that was certain. Of course, his ability to perform critical strikes and avoid enemy attacks was much better than hers, but his physical strength was a mess.

“What level are you?” she asked.

“Level 35,” Kang Yoon-Soo responded.

“…” Shaneth was speechless. She was Level 72. Although it would differ based on how stat points were distributed, she was twice as strong as him.

“Then… What about your class…?” she asked expectantly.

“I don’t have one,” Kang Yoon-Soo answered.

“…” Shaneth was stuck speechless for a second time.

It was more advantageous the earlier one chose a class, even if it was a production class. Having a combat skill and at least one more class unique skill made a huge difference.

Shaneth had the class “Soldier”, since she had been a feudal lord’s soldier. The Soldier class specialized in combat, and their abilities increased when they served a king or a lord. However, no such benefits could be received when one had no class. 

“Excuse me, but… How long has it been since you arrived in this world…?” she asked carefully.

“Seven days,” Kang Yoon-Soo answered.

“That’s impossible!” Shaneth finally blurted out.

She could not believe that he had reached Level 35 after just a week in this world. Travelers were usually busy trying to make heads or tails of their situation after being summoned, and they did not have the luxury to raise their levels. The combat prowess he had shown was not something one could develop in just a week.

On the other hand, Kang Yoon-Soo was calmly thinking about something else. ‘I have to perfectly prepare every step to kill the Demon Lord.’

He had been confident in facing the landworms alone without summoning the undead, but it would waste a lot of time. Also, Shaneth could either get hurt or killed if the fight dragged on. There were still twenty years before the Demon Lord appeared. The safety of his future comrades came before his immediate leveling.

‘Also, it isn’t enough if only I become stronger.’ Kang Yoon-Soo approached Shaneth, and his face was so close that she could feel his breath on her face. Shaneth was flustered, but he just touched her forehead.

[Shaneth Elogran]

-There are 798 hours remaining before the awakening of the 1st power fragment. The time will lower as the user grows stronger.

“Still a long way to go,” Kang Yoon-Soo said after checking her status.

“What will happen to me if the power fragment awakens?” Shaneth asked worriedly.

“You’ll get stronger,” Kang Yoon-Soo answered.

“…” Shaneth said nothing.

Kang Yoon-Soo walked toward the corpses of the landworms. He cut off their feelers with his greatsword, stuffing them in the rucksack. In time, he manually harvested the feelers from tens of landworms.

“Why are you collecting the feelers?” Shaneth asked.

“It’s an ingredient for potions,” Kang Yoon-Soo answered.

“You know about potions too…?” Shaneth asked back in surprise.

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo said, returning to his usual curtness.

Shaneth was flabbergasted, her eyes wide. Potion-making was the sole realm of alchemists; they created potions by combining ingredients ranging from monster parts, herbs, and roots. It was impossible to even attempt to make potions otherwise, as the process was very tricky and complex if one was not an expert in it.

She could not help but be suspicious of his identity once again. He looked like a swordsman or a mercenary when he swung his sword, but he also looked like a necromancer whenever he raised the dead—but now he claimed he could even make potions…? She could not believe that he was classless and that it had only been seven days since he came to this world.

“Mass Raise Dead,” Kang Yoon-Soo muttered after he was done collecting the feelers. The landworms started to rise from the dead one by one, with dark, rotten skin. He sent the Dark Landworms to the summon dimension.

[54 Dark Landworms have been stored in the summon dimension.]

[Summons currently stored in the dimension: 54 Dark Landworms, 1 Zombie Giant Hobgoblin.]

[Remaining space for additional summons: 445.]

“Let’s drop by the Yultika Ruin before we head to Hiledan,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.

“A ruin?” Shaneth responded with a look of surprise.

Ruins were usually inhabited by hundreds of monsters, but there were precious treasures in them. Most clans were aware of the dangers of a ruin and would only enter one with at least 200 members, but why was this man saying that as if he were going to take a stroll in one?

Kang Yoon-Soo had already started walking, and Shaneth hurriedly chased after him. She asked awkwardly, “If it’s a ruin, there must be a lot of strong monsters, right…?”

“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo responded in the usual manner.

“Do… Do you think we can raid it with just the two of us…? It’s common sense to prepare a proper raid party, and have runners enter and map it first, before entering! This is no different from committing suicide, I tell you!” Shaneth objected strongly.

“It’s alright,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. His short answer only made Shaneth more skeptical about his plan, but then he suddenly added…

“We’ll only go to take the treasure.”