Chapter 3

When he returned from the brink of death, he ended up gaining the experience value equivalent to 402 of the weakest monsters.

Suddenly confronted with a mystery, Rio lay on his back, his thoughts racing.

"…It must be related to the activation of the unique skill."

Given the situation, this was the most likely possibility. However, he couldn't understand the logic behind gaining such a vast amount of experience just by activating a unique skill.

Rio had been found by a goddess when he was a child and had lived far away from human settlements ever since. As a result, he lacked a lot of common knowledge.

Experience points can be obtained in small amounts even from daily life. In the extreme case, just breathing gives a tiny bit. However, since the value is so small, it is added when you defeat a monster, and the total experience points are announced at once.

Of course, experience points can also be obtained through skills. However, only a few special skills can grant hundreds or thousands of experience points when activated under specific conditions.

(Anyway, let's give it a try.)

Rio sprang up and rustled the bushes with his sword.

"Kiki!"

A giant ant leaped out.

"Come on, then!"

Rio sheathed his sword and spread his arms, ready to face the giant ant.

"Ki?"

The giant ant, looking suspicious, stared at him, who seemed ready to be attacked. However, noticing that Rio's knees were trembling, it glared with its compound eyes and pounced.

(Ugh… It's still scary.)

No matter how powerful the ultimate skill of 'Avoiding Death' was, pain was still pain. When he was beaten by two of them earlier, his whole body ached so much that he almost cried. In fact, he did cry a little.

(To begin with, is this skill really omnipotent?)

Would he revive if his head was crushed? What if he was completely erased by a powerful magic spell? Even though he knew the Soldier Ant didn't have that kind of power, the thought of a worst-case scenario flashed through his mind. Still—

"Ugh!"

He pushed aside his fear and took a direct hit. His waist was clamped by the giant ant's mandibles. Since the giant ant was the weakest, it couldn't take all his HP with one hit. However, that was precisely why—

"It hurts!"

But he endured. Verification was essential.

The Soldier Ant, perhaps giving up on biting his torso, backed off and circled around Rio, who had no fighting spirit.

(Just get it over with already.)

Finally, it leaped at him from behind. After that, it gnawed on his entire body, and his HP gradually approached zero.

—Unique Skill [Embrace of the Goddess] has been activated.

He sighed in relief at the long-awaited voice. His life and consciousness were both close to zero. He had endured with great effort, fearing that he might faint and the skill wouldn't activate.

His HP was fully restored. The giant ant left.

—You have gained 160 experience points.

Rio inwardly shouted, "That's so little!"

(…But, it's equivalent to 32 Soldier Ants.)

Experience points were now measured in terms of giant ants.

(Even so, it's much better than killing them normally, but the difference from earlier is too great.)

He thought the difference was thin. The gap was more than ten times, which couldn't be justified.

If there was a difference between then and now—

(It must be the difference in my consciousness…?)

Whether he fought seriously or intentionally let himself be attacked.

(Well, the first time I tried to run away and failed.)

Still, he had fought desperately. He couldn't shake off the feeling that this was a significant difference.

"Alright, let's try it again."

This time, he would fight seriously. He might end up killing it, but if he fought another one while tired, the skill would activate.

Honestly, he was scared.

The first time, he didn't understand what was happening. But the second time, even with his resolve, the pain was so intense that his consciousness almost faded.

He would have to experience that agony again.

No, it wouldn't be that simple.

"But, I have no choice."

He had become an adventurer, leaving behind that paradise-like life—leaving behind the gentle and cheerful goddess. His goal was to conquer the seven great dungeons of the adventure island Eldias. Only then could he meet the goddess again through the proper procedure. Otherwise, she couldn't grant his wish.

Rio's wish.

It was simply to free the goddess, who was extremely confined.

There was no guarantee he could do it. He might be seen as meddling and be disliked. But he couldn't leave her alone, always by herself.

His equipment was already in tatters. With his upper body exposed, he faced death for the third time—

Next time, the results of the skill verification. And the secret of Rio's surprisingly impressive birth will also be revealed.