Chapter 2

After leaving the guild building, I somehow mustered the strength to enter the forest outside the town.

The reason I came here was to test the effect of the instant death magic I possess.

My level cap is 1. No matter how much I fight, my stats will never increase.

From now on, I probably can't live as an adventurer.

And most of all... Leen is gone too.

So, I decided to return to my hometown village.

But to get back to the village, I needed travel money.

I only had enough for a one-way trip.

To return to the village, I had to earn money by taking on easy monster hunting quests that even a level 1 like me could handle.

"There it is..."

After walking in the forest for a while, I found a blue, squishy object.

This is a slime, the weakest monster in this world.

Slimes are so weak that even villagers can defeat them. They occasionally jump or stretch their bodies to attack, but they are almost harmless. They were the perfect opponents to test my instant death magic.

I extended my right arm from a distance away from the slime and shouted to activate the skill.

"Death!"

Then, a jet-black wave with several skull-like faces appeared from my palm and flew toward the slime.

This seemed to be the magic of my instant death skill, "Death."

However, the wave disappeared as if nothing had happened when it hit the slime.

The slime was still trembling in the same way as before.

In other words, it failed.

"What the hell is this..."

With normal magic, whether it's fire or ice, a single slime could be defeated in one hit.

On the other hand, my "Death" was just a matter of luck, and it wasn't even clear if it would succeed.

Perhaps because it was the first time I used magic, I felt unusually tired.

Probably because my magic power had decreased.

I took a moment to catch my breath.

When I felt less tired, I tried using the magic on the slime again.

"Death!!"

But the jet-black wave disappeared just like before.

I felt tired again and sat down on the spot.

"I heard it was a useless skill, but I didn't expect it to be this bad."

I could only laugh bitterly at the inefficiency.

While sitting, I suddenly remembered the events at the adventurer's guild earlier.

The first face that came to mind was Leen's.

She refused to be with me and went with Allen, an S-rank adventurer.

By now, she's probably gathering equipment and fighting as a member of his party.

And surely, with him...

Thinking about it made me suddenly feel miserable.

"Hah... gah... ugh..."

I felt so frustrated that tears naturally overflowed and fell to the ground.

Leen.

Allen, who took Leen away.

The adventurers at the guild who laughed at me.

That man named Balzak who called me trash.

No one saw me as a human being.

If I had more power, it wouldn't have happened.

But the past can't be changed.

It's not just Leen. No one is by my side anymore.

After crying for a while until my feelings settled, I suddenly felt fed up with everything and decided to leave the spot.

There was still a slime trembling energetically on the ground.

Thinking about it, this slime is also the weakest, just like me.

There's no need for the weakest to take the life of another weakest.

Just as I was about to return to town, I noticed a large shadow in front of me.

"Huh..."

It was a black bear monster, a Killing Bear, which was at least twice my height.

Killing Bears are monsters that B-rank and above experienced adventurers take on in parties.

There was no way a level 1 like me could win against it.

But by the time I tried to run, it was too late.

The Killing Bear, standing on its hind legs, swung its terrifyingly thick arm at me.

"Ughh!"

I managed to guard against the swinging arm, but my body was lifted into the air and slammed into a tree trunk.

"Ugh! Ahhhh!"

At that moment, a pain that felt like my body was being torn apart shot through me.

Leaning against the base of the tree, I breathed heavily.

But I no longer thought about running.

(So this is the strength of a level 1 like me.)

Against a high-level opponent, I couldn't even put up a fight; I was just a weak adventurer who could only be defeated.

The Killing Bear slowly approached me and, this time, raised its arm above its head and swung it down with full force.

When those claws hit my body, I would definitely die. Even I, with my poor head, understood that.

But.

I could understand, but I couldn't accept it.

– Am I really going to end here?

Abandoned by my childhood friend, mocked by other adventurers, and die without even starting an adventure in this town.

Just because I'm the weakest, can I accept that?

Thinking about it, a surge of anger suddenly boiled up inside me.

No way.

I can't die here.

I haven't even started anything yet.

I stared at the Killing Bear and extended my right hand forward.

I won't die here – you will!!

"Death!!!"

The jet-black wave released from my right hand hit the Killing Bear's body and disappeared as if it had been sucked into it.

"Roooooar!!!"

Suddenly, the Killing Bear let out a roar, foamed at the mouth, and fell backward onto the ground.

"Haa! Haa!"

Despite the pain, I tried to catch my breath and slowly approached the Killing Bear.

It didn't move at all, and the light of life had completely faded.

"Could it be... I defeated it... me?"

Relieved, I slumped to the ground.

Why did such a miracle happen? There was only one possible explanation.

The "Death" skill had worked, and it had defeated the Killing Bear in one hit.

"Haha... I did it, take that."

I was still alive.

I had never felt so happy just to be alive.

"At least I secured travel money."

The body of the Killing Bear was incredibly heavy, but the town of Voltana was just around the corner.

If I carried it back to the guild and sold it as materials, I would get a considerable amount of money.

"...Huh?"

Suddenly, a mysterious semi-transparent rectangular object appeared in my field of vision.

It read:

"Skill level has increased. Please allocate points."

"What is this?"

The semi-transparent object followed my field of vision as I moved it, as if it was linked to my movements.

What does it mean that my skill level has increased?

I've never heard of a skill level increasing instead of a regular level.

When I touched the object with my finger, it disappeared, and a new object appeared.

It was much larger than the previous one, and the content was completely different.

A skull symbol at the center, emitting light, was connected to other symbols by lines like a spider web.

At the top of the semi-transparent object, it read "Ability List" and "Level: 20 Remaining Points: 20."

"Right, it said to allocate points."

When I touched the symbol at the center with my finger, text appeared in the upper right corner.

"Death: The first magic of the instant death skill. The effective range is extremely short, and the success rate drops significantly if used from outside the range, so it needs to be used close to the target. By consuming points and acquiring derived abilities, various additional effects can be obtained."

"Effective range? Could that be why it didn't work even on the slime?"

In a party battle, the mage is always in the back.

So, naturally, the distance from the target is far.

Just now, the Killing Bear's body happened to be right next to me.

That's why it worked.

And the message that appeared after defeating the Killing Bear.

The increased skill level.

This means...

"– It's not just my level that increases, but the skill level increases."