Chapter 47

Level Up IlDanSimPanGwan – Episode 47 (47/227)

Episode 47: Silence and Together (3)

“AAAAHHH!”

Ail let out a sudden yell into the empty air.

If anyone had been around, they probably would’ve thought he was nuts. But any player who knew the situation wouldn’t blame him.

The long-awaited skill book had finally appeared…and it was the lowest-tier skill.

Taking up one of his precious skill slots, yet only providing a measly +14 defense that didn’t even scale with level—just a fixed value.

It was basically the quintessential trash skill.

[“Light Judge Lu” is trying hard not to laugh, her lips twitching.]

[She leaves you a small consolation prize for your despair.]

[Light Church Contribution +33]

“Who’s even rubbing it in…”

Ail made a face but couldn’t bring himself to say it outright. While he was practically crying inside, the goddess seemed unusually calm lately, now that she’d gotten her influence under control.

“It’s…it’s okay. There’s still one left. Think of the last one as an offering.”

Ail muttered this to himself, barely keeping it together as he looked down at the remaining purple skill book.

According to ancient gaming traditions, making an offering before important upgrades or draws increases your chances of getting good results—even if it’s just a superstition, he was willing to grab at straws right now.

With trembling hands, Ail prayed once more and reached for the book.

If this attempt failed too, all his plans would be thrown into chaos. He’d wanted to use his high-tier skill books to get powerful skills at level 20, then focus on leveling up quickly—but without decent skills, he’d have to prioritize finding new skill books just to fill the gaps.

That meant grinding bosses with high drop rates, which would reduce experience rewards due to Warode’s system penalizing repeated kills of the same boss. Though most players did repeat grinds anyway since the penalty wasn’t extreme, Ail couldn’t afford such inefficiency if he wanted to catch up to the leaders.

“Please!”

POOF!

[Il Island (Hero)]

– Heresy Judge Exclusive Skill

– Only a select few talented judges among those who serve the Lord of Light can master the art of wielding light. Their swords emit powerful flashes that become another weapon capable of cutting through all evil.

– Swings your sword rapidly, dealing massive damage to enemies in front of you.

“It…it worked!”

Ail said in a dazed voice.

There in glowing yellow text was a Hero-tier skill—a tier above the already rare Rare skills.

[“Light Judge Lu” watches with sparkling eyes.]

Even the goddess reacted to the unexpected Hero-tier skill.

“To top it off, it’s even a job-exclusive skill…”

While Warode’s skill book system is random, there are basic corrections based on the player’s class and weapon type—so warriors won’t randomly get mage skills.

What makes this special is that while some skills are common across classes, this was specifically exclusive to his current job—and with the fifth stat affecting job exclusives being “Faith” in Ail’s case, these were generally considered better than general skills.

Especially for direct damage attacks like this—while support or movement skills might be different, attack skills showed a big difference between exclusive and non-exclusive versions.

“This is insane…with this, I might actually stand a chance…”

Ail pulled out the Emergency Feather from his inventory.

After checking during his travel, this feather was apparently a representative gift given by elves to trusted friends.

Just carrying it gave off a unique aura that prevented attacks from Warode’s notoriously xenophobic elves—at least long enough for a single conversation before arrows started flying.

While elf territories existed throughout the world, and freely entering their lands was a separate issue entirely…

The fact that this seemingly ordinary item was classified as a quest item suggested there was some related request involved. Moreover, the feather clearly stated Level Recommendation: 25 and Quest Location: White Forest.

“Hmm, White Forest…”

Ail took out his map and spread it out, quickly locating the area indicated by the quest item despite having a rough idea already.

The White Forest lay between his current location in Esmaier region and the Solstide region further south.

It wasn’t exactly close, but it wasn’t unreasonably far either in Warode terms.

“Warode really is huge…I’m starting to feel it firsthand after playing.”

The range Ail had actively covered so far was barely a speck on the entire map.

Generally, most players could only comfortably operate within the central continent regions, with other areas often excluded entirely due to harsh environments like northern snow mountains, western deserts, eastern swamps, southern wastelands filled with monsters.

Still, even considering just the central regions, the continent was massive. Ail had only explored a tiny portion of the Esmaier region, which was equal in size to fourteen other regions.

Fifteen enormous central regions total.

With countless global players all accommodated within a single server, it made sense.

“Maybe I could cross regions while visiting the White Forest…but there’s no real reason to push myself at this point.”

Conveniently located between two regions, the White Forest could be a great passage if only the elves weren’t such a problem.

His current Esmaier region was 95% Nightmare Guild territory, whereas Solstide was much more complicated. Currently split between Nightmare and Dawnlight, two of the Six Great Guilds, the area was tense with unresolved conflicts.

Two major guilds that had been rivals since New World days were facing off across long borders, though currently in a ceasefire.

“I should just sell the item and prepare to move again.”

Still feeling the afterglow of the skill book opening, Ail slapped his cheeks and stood up.

Time to row now that the water had come.

* * *

<User Info>

Name: Ail

Title: Divine Punisher

Affiliation: Light Church

Level: 20

Job: Heresy Judge

Main Stats:

Strength: 57(+25) Agility: 47(+11) Vitality: 51(+12) Magic: 20(+10) Faith: 30.4(+10) Madness: 26.4(+10)

Passive:

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

Active:

[Sacred Flame (Basic)], [Sentence (Apostle)], [Heresy Designation (Apostle)], [Reversal (Rare)], [Island (Hero)]

‘Divine Punisher’ Title Effect: All stats +10, +3% Damage vs Heretics

Medium Armor Set Effect: +3% Agility, +10% Defense

Deity: Goddess of Justice, Light, and Madness

Position: Apostle of Lu

Divine Favor: 54.07%

Contribution: 458(Current)/1,058(Total)

“Hnnn…”

Ail stared at his info window, his jaw tightening slightly.

The list of skills gleamed brilliantly with the new Hero-tier addition, his impressive Faith and Madness stats standing out alongside growing contribution and favor—all evidence of his steady efforts stacking up nicely.

Unlike the harsh realities of life, seeing these concrete positive changes was one of the game’s greatest appeals to Ail.

CREEAK!

The carriage arrived at its destination deep in the forest. After paying, Ail stepped down.

“This shouldn’t take long.”

Checking his map, Ail zoomed in on the remaining distance.

Though surrounded by green trees, this area certainly didn’t qualify as the “White Forest.” No sane driver would willingly enter the elves’ territory where death awaited any trespassers.

Especially the White Forest, known as one of the most closed-off elven domains in Warode. Once you stepped in by accident, you were practically dead.

But Ail confidently strode deeper into the woods, patting the Emergency Feather safely tucked in his coat.