Chapter 14

Level Up IlDanSimPanGwan – Chapter 14 (14/227)

Chapter 14: Apostle

“Wha… What the hell.”

“This is insane…”

The users muttered in shock, their faces blank.

They had been hiding on top of a building to evade the Tregawl, but when they saw Ail single-handedly take down the field boss monster, their jaws dropped and wouldn’t close.

Not only did he use unexpected explosive items, but his movements and reaction speed while handling the Tregawl far surpassed those of an average user.

His balance, which didn’t waver despite the boss monster’s violent thrashing, was impressive. And his movements were straight out of pro highlight reels—sending shivers down their spines.

Moreover, despite wearing mostly basic beginner gear, his performance was way beyond what his apparent specs suggested.

Since the users had no clue that Ail belonged to the Light Church and received grace from Lu, all they could do was gape in disbelief.

“That kind of guy… why is he here?”

“Hold on… Why isn’t he picking up loot? What’s he doing just standing there?”

A man pointed at Ail, noticing something odd.

Instead of celebrating or quickly collecting items, Ail stood still, staring blankly ahead.

* * *

[‘Light Judge Lu’ has chosen you as her Apostle!]

[Your influence over this faith has drastically increased.]

[Apostle-exclusive skills have been activated.]

[Insanity stat has been enabled.]

These messages floated before Ail’s eyes.

Though it would be normal to be confused by the sudden appearance of these status windows without explanation, surprisingly, Ail fully understood all the concepts and details flooding into his mind.

What being an Apostle meant. What he needed to do next.

And what he would gain by accepting Lu’s request.

Just like how new users naturally internalize basic controls and skill usage when starting Warode, Ail instantly gained comprehensive knowledge about the Apostle system.

Regaining his senses after a moment, Ail applied his newly acquired title and opened his status window.

<User Info>

Name: Ail

Title: Holy Punisher

Affiliation: Light Church

Level: 13

Class: Heresy Judge

Main Stats

Strength: 47(+12) Agility: 33(+10) Vitality: 40(+10) Magic: 20(+10) Faith: 12.2(+10) Insanity: 11(+10)

Passive Skills

[Crazed Martyr(Basic)], [Blade of Hatred(Basic)]

Active Skills

[Sentence of Punishment(Apostle)], [Heresy Designation(Apostle)]

‘Holy Punisher’ Title Effect – All stats +10, +3% damage vs heretics

Faith: Goddess of Justice, Light, and Madness

Position: Apostle of Lu

Goddess Favor: 51.86%

Contribution: 205 (Total 205)

“Hmm…”

Ail rubbed his eyes lightly, letting out a small sigh of admiration.

At first glance, his status window might seem decent for his level but nothing extraordinary.

However, upon closer inspection, it was clear this wasn’t the case.

His rank within the Church had jumped from a lowly novice priest to Apostle, and his Insanity stat was now glowing brightly, activated.

Unlike the fifth class-specific stat, the sixth stat – Insanity – was exclusive to Apostles.

This powerful bonus, separate from the goddess favor bonus, enhanced all combat-related abilities, gradually increasing as he eliminated heretics.

Normally, this stat shouldn’t be available at his current level, but since Ail had been directly chosen by Lu, he was an exception.

‘Apostle, huh…’

Ail stood still, staring blankly at the system message.

Apostle-exclusive skills unaffected by maximum skill limit caps, and Apostle-exclusive stats that boosted all abilities – truly ridiculous benefits.

If such advantages were given only to a select few users, it could be considered a complete game balance collapse.

But this was actually prepared as second-stage content for all users.

The reason no Apostles had appeared until now was simply due to timing.

The Apostle system he’d just received was supposed to be endgame content.

Even though high-level monsters were extremely rare in the current world of Warode, they were on an entirely different level compared to previous ones.

Monster health, attack power, speed, and even pattern difficulty had skyrocketed compared to earlier stages, making even grinding mobs difficult for parties of players.

This sharp increase in difficulty was intentionally designed to prevent endless loops of monotonous gameplay.

While monsters grew stronger, players also reached a point where their stats advanced to the next tier – namely, the Apostle system Ail had just obtained.

Whereas the fifth class-specific stat improved skill efficiency, the Apostle stat enhanced all player abilities.

With experience requirements exploding at level 500, simple leveling alone couldn’t keep up, so this new stat progression was added.

Of course, normal users who didn’t follow any faith had an alternative system called Awakening, obtainable through sufficient leveling.

‘The problem is I’ve already received it…’

Ail’s level was merely 13.

He’d obtained the level 500 Apostle system 487 levels early.

Considering one common condition for raising the sixth stat required hunting monsters of similar level, Ail – at such a low level – would easily raise stats others had to struggle hard to increase later.

Moreover, compared to others who started raising additional stats at level 500, Ail could begin much earlier, potentially accumulating stats others couldn’t match.

Then, a system message from Lu flashed before Ail’s focused eyes.

[‘Light Judge Lu’ proudly gazes at you.]

‘So… you were watching after all.’

The seven deities in Warode were supposed to remain semi-dormant until a leading player reached level 500.

After the first Apostle appointment beyond level 500, the deities would awaken to compete for world dominance – that was the original scenario.

However, things changed when Lu, the Goddess of Light, broke protocol and awakened early.

Apparently, after awakening, she gathered her newfound power solely to appoint Ail as her Apostle.

According to her, “faith” – likely meaning influence in this world – was used not to expand church power or other purposes, but entirely focused on appointing Ail as Apostle.

Though Lu’s actions might seem like she abandoned all first-mover advantages…

She wasn’t a philanthropist, and Ail clearly understood what she expected in return.

‘Undoubtedly, she told me to gather faith…’

Ail deduced that deities in Warode probably gained influence through the activities of their believers or apostles.

Meaning, if Ail actively engaged in missionary work or heretic hunting, his goddess Lu would continuously receive influence.

And Lu’s goal was to dominate future unavoidable deity competitions using this influence.

“What if the developers discover a bug and nullify it?”

Having organized his thoughts, Ail suddenly asked the air.

Anyone seeing him might think him strange, but with no one around, he received a clear response.

[‘Light Judge Lu’ sends a message.]

[She says the situation is too complex to undo unless a server rollback occurs.]

‘So… that’s how it is…’

As the system message returned, Ail smiled faintly.

Server rollback.

The act of reverting the entire game to a past point in time.

Typically done only in extreme cases involving serious bugs or defects,

It resets everything – player levels, items, completed quests, defeated bosses, records, even in-game transactions – back to a predetermined point.

Even with various compensations for affected users, it’s a risky measure rarely undertaken.

Especially in cases like this, where a deity awakened prematurely, rollback could be considered given the unusual circumstances.

That is, under normal gaming conditions.

But this wasn’t a normal game anymore.

Warode had long transcended ordinary games, becoming a massive market with staggering capital flow and hundreds of millions of users – practically another world.

Reverting such a vast market back several days would cause catastrophic consequences beyond mere “disaster.”

Even the highly capable Warode development team couldn’t bear such risks.

Had they noticed and tried to deactivate Lu or revoke Ail’s Apostle status, it would prove impossible.

Even a few-hour rollback posed enormous risks; the fact that everything remained quiet days later showed no solution existed even if they noticed late.

Satisfied with the answer, Ail asked his next question.

“I understand your will, my lady. But may I inquire – should we proceed gathering faith without regard for means?”

[‘Light Judge Lu’ shakes her head.]

‘Hmm…’

Lu’s response made Ail hum thoughtfully.

Apparently, the goddess he followed preferred adhering to justice as per her设定.

Though the seven deities recognized they existed within a game, their original tendencies and directions remained unchanged.

Certainly, Lu’s concept of justice was rather extreme, so restrictions wouldn’t overly hinder him, but unnecessarily attacking innocent users seemed discouraged.

[‘Light Judge Lu’ sends her final message.]

Apparently, sending text messages to users consumed a certain amount of her influence.

Most questions were answered when he became an Apostle, and his main concerns had been clarified through questioning, so it was fine.

‘This… should I visit a temple sometime?’

A smile naturally formed on Ail’s face as he grasped the situation.

Finally, the device allowing him to catch up with top Rankers as a professional gamer was in place.

Starting a year late, Ail could now surpass them… No, precisely because he started late, an overwhelming device to dominate them was finally ready.