I stared at the message with blank eyes instead of crying out in joy.

[You have received the skill ‘Devi’s Sword.’]

I had been pierced by this exact skill in the past, so how could I ever forget about it? I had to use up everything I had saved up including A-class insignias, S-class weapons and mana stones that I kept hidden in the secret safe to heal myself. A single strike was that devastating. I would have died if I didn’t have a shock-absorbing insignia, and my body would have been shattered then.

Anyway, I realized the trait The Man Who Overcomes Adversity had made the First Evil into who he was after putting myself into his shoes. That trait was unbelievably powerful, and the entire world noticed its potential when the Eight Evils and Eight Virtues had fought together for the first time. It was obvious that the First Evil would have died then, but The Man Who Overcomes Adversity had resurrected him without a scratch and let him defeat the Great Evil of the Seven Demon Kings.

The world was shocked beyond imagination, and the aftermath was obvious. The First Evil was ranked the first, but he was cautious in dealing with the First Virtue because of that person’s main skill, ‘Devi’s Sword.’

The first time the Seven Demon Kings came out from the gate had enormous repercussions. It was because people realized the existence of stronger boss monsters than S class ones and the true strength of the Eight Evils and Eight Virtues. I had watched recordings of that day countless times. All clips were often cut off abruptly with poor quality, but they proceeded in chronological order and were edited to focus on individuals of the Eight Evils and Eight Virtues.

When I first saw the First Virtue from the footage, it was as shocking as seeing the First Evil’s trait for the first time. Until then, I had thought the First Virtue had rebuilt his skills as all eight skills had been formidable. He had upgraded all of his traits, insignias, skills and items to S-class.

One could have only eight at the maximum for each category, but the number of his S-class skills exceeded even this limit. It took me a long time to figure out that his skills were not due to item effects, and I came up with two possibilities. The First Virtue had either somehow lifted the skill limit or he only had one skill with multiple effects. After a while, I realized that my second presumption was correct as Devi’s Sword was a skill with numerous effects.

***

Since I now had both The Man Who Overcomes Adversity and Devi’s Sword, I was mesmerized by my skillset.

[Devi’s Sword (Skill)

Effect: The user projects sharp force.

Class: F (0)

Cooldown time: 5 minutes]

The class was at its lowest for now, but I would find out its true potential as the skill improved. I now wanted something that would upgrade Devi’s Sword more than anything else. I began to open the box from the lower classes, starting with the gold box.

[Your Strength has increased by 15.]

[Strength: E (15)]

The figure was quite lower than the average that would appear from a gold box. I was also disappointed that it was about Strength again.

Is Strength going to be my core stat now, instead of Sense like in the past?

I opened the second gold box.

[The Man Who Overcomes Adversity has increased by 81.]

[The Man Who Overcomes Adversity: F (89)]

Boxes could also be categorized. Bronze boxes were F, silver boxes were E, gold boxes were D, platinum boxes were C, diamond boxes were B, master boxes were A, and challenger boxes were S. This was important because things could appear from the boxes that were up to two grades above its class. For instance, I could obtain F-class items from bronze boxes up to gold boxes.

Of course, the numerical figures of minimum and maximum increases were also different for each box. Skill increases depended on the class of the skill and the class of the box. For example, I could obtain a 1 to 10 increase from the same class box, 11 to 40 from a box one class above, and 41 to 100 from a box two classes above. Within that limit, a random number would be picked, similar to rolling dice. This only time this rule wasn’t applied was when super high-class contents appeared from the box.

My Strength was E-class when the first gold box increased my stat. The increase I received was between 11 to 40 as a gold box was one class above my Strength class, E. The Man Who Overcomes Adversity was F-class when the second gold box increased the skill, so the numerical figure of increase was between 41 to 100.

Now, there was only one diamond box left. Based on the above rules, the box wouldn’t increase anything as my stats were too low. Therefore, I could only receive a new skill, insignia or item.

[Would you like to open the Diamond box?]

In an F-class dungeon, I needed to complete forty-five 1,500-point boss battle quests or kill 33,755 mutts to open a diamond box. The rim of the box glittered beautifully, and pleasant colors sprang out.

[You have received ‘Ruler’s Ring.’]

The light shone on my hand.

[Ruler’s Ring (item)

Effect: Controls a monster of a lower class to fight for you. However, monsters designated for box quests and One-on-One battle quests are excluded.

Class: B

Prize: None

Cooldown time: 24 hours]

“That’s not too bad…”

In the past, the Ruler’s Ring was traded at a high value due to three reasons. First, the effect was like a summoning skill. Second, it could be given to others. Third, it immediately removed one monster from a group, so it was good for fighting against monsters in the lower class.

I had opened all the boxes, and now I was going to open three silver boxes and two bronze boxes with my 3,420 points. I started off with bronze boxes.

[Your Health has increased by 4.]

[Your Agility has increased by 6.]

Both gave me stat increases, and it was a desirable situation. Then, I opened the silver boxes.

[Your Agility has increased by 22.]

[You have received the item ‘Earring of Vitality.’]

[Earring of Vitality (Item)

Effect: Temporarily increases the user’s Health by one class.

Class: E

Duration: 5 minutes

Cooldown time: 6 days]

This was the best item I could get from a silver box, and I could use this until my Health class increased to E-class. If I secured the same class insignia, I could strengthen it. My luck was still with me! I opened the last one.

[You have received the skill ‘Earthquake.’]

[Earthquake (skill)

Effect: Shakes the surrounding area by little.

Class: F(0)

Cooldown time: 5 minutes]

“Hmm…”

Although I would end up removing this skill as I got stronger, I could use it to both attack and defend. It seemed to be useful for now, so I was content. While increasing my number of skills would decrease the possibility of reinforcing Devi’s Sword, I was still too weak to rely on a single skill. Since I had finished opening all the boxes and using up all my points, it was time to check my status.

“Status window.”

[Name: Na Seon-Hu

Health: F (27), Strength: E (15), Agility: F (43), Sense: F (25)

Total points: 120

Trait(4) Skill(5) Insignia(1) Item(4) ]

[Traits ― The Man Who Overcomes Adversity: F (89), Strongman: F (5), Explorer: F (0), Interdiction: F (0)]

[Skills ― Odin’s Wrath: F (6), Devi’s Sword: F (0), Gaia’s Will: F (0), Earthquake: F (0), Night Eyes: F (0)]

[Insignias ― Escape(F)]

[Items ― Ruler’s Ring (B), Medal of Restraint (E), Earring of Vitality(E), The Blind’s Ring (F)]

***

Three days later, Woo Yeon-Hee was still in a mess, but I didn’t need to watch her closely anymore. She could move very slowly and digest meals. The first thing she asked for was to remove the urinary catheter, which meant she would take care of her own business by herself. I did as she asked but couldn’t understand why as her injuries were still severe. I thought she wouldn’t be able to move yet, but she actually walked to the washroom alone and came back.

“I did it.”

Her expression told me about the hardships she had in the washroom, but her voice was bright. She had received multiple boxes after finishing the dungeon quests, including rewards for being the second person to destroy the dungeon and defeat the boss monster. For her efforts, she received two gold boxes and one platinum box.

The contents from the boxes were neither items nor insignias. If that was the case, it would have been obvious from the time I escaped the dungeon with her. They increased the stats of her Agility and skill, and gave her a new skill. This was satisfying. That was why I couldn’t understand how she could move in that condition as if she had The Man Who Overcomes Adversity. Her rewards couldn’t explain her current state.

“You should go back now, right?” Woo Yeon-Hee asked since school would start in two days.

“Can I tag along on your way home?” she continued.

“Wouldn’t it be better to stay here?” I questioned.

“I want to go back,” she answered.

I responded, “The dungeon has been destroyed, so monsters won’t crawl out.”

Her eyes widened.

“That’s a relief. It’s good that we could destroy it.”

Her gaze turned towards the rural village that could be seen across the concrete walls. She spoke suddenly as if something came to her mind.

“I’d like to ask you about the characteristics of the trait ‘Revival.’”

Revival? Was there a trait like that? No matter how much I looked back on my memory, I couldn’t remember such a thing. Then, Woo Yeon-Hee seemed to have noticed my confusion.

“Wasn’t you the first one? If you don’t know…”

Her voice grew louder as if she figured out something important.

“There must be others like us!”