---Logan's POV---

  Both segments of the giant worm stopped moving.

  I stared in disbelief at my hands. The viscous substance dripped between my fingers.

  "We... we did it!"

  Even though it was just a game, and I was only pying as a supp fighter itle, the thought of killing a creature dozens of times rger than myself—splitting it ly in half—was enough to make me proud for months!

  I watched as ProGamer_Daddy rubbed his hands together, then wiped them on his back before repeating the gesture nervously.

  "Was this really... us?" He kept lookiween the worm's body and his hands, as if trying to vince himself it had actually happened.

  "No, it was Garble who did it."

  I grinned so widely that my facial muscles ached, uo suppress my smile. I cpped Garble on the shoulder.

  "Not bad, Garble! What do you do in real life? Your skills are incredible!"

  None of us had noticed when he approached the giant worm during our escape earlier—nor, apparently, had the worm. Otherwise, there was no way the creature would have ignored him and chosen me as its target after defleg the bde.

  From my perspective, I could only see the bde spinning through the air, followed by Garble's sudden, almost diviervention, turning the tide of battle in an instant.

  The fight had ended as quickly as it had begun.

  ProGamer_Daddy nodded enthusiastically.

  "Yeah! What's that phrase? 'Holding up a colpsing building,' 'saving us from disaster,' and something about—"

  "Turning the tide of battle," I corrected.

  "Yes, that's it!"

  I watched as he looked at Garble with respect.

  "That move you pulled off—the backward hook-kick thing—was that some kind of martial art like karate? I learn it?"

  Garble, who had been the first to approach the worm, was in the worst state of us three. His face was smeared with the worm's blood and slime. While he wasn't as excited as we were, he looked visibly pleased.

  "It's not that impressive. Just a simple teique of applying force."

  As we were about to tinue chatting, the worm's body twitched again.

  The blood it had lost seemed to stop flowiirely, as if its wounds were healing rapidly.

  We began to retreat instinctively, but theher half of the worm's severed body began moving too!

  The two halves of the worm, now ag like pletely separate entities, lu us with frightening speed.

  "No way?!" ProGamer_Daddy's face turned pale. "Now it split itself?!"

  We had barely mao cut the worm in half, and instead of eliminating the threat, we had doubled it.

  The two sturdy bdes we had relied on earlier were now pletely ruined from overuse. With no o, we immediately turned and bolted.

  If one worm had been enough to trap us, how could we possibly hawo?

  To make matters worse, ProGamer_Daddy, exhausted after a full day of running, tripped on a stohat had likely been washed onto the path by the rain.

  His leg cramped up.

  "Aaaah!" he screamed in pain. He lost his band fell ft into the muddy ground.

  Behind him, the half of the worm with a gaping maw had already opes mouth, revealing rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth.

  Garble and I turned back at the same time.

  "Roll! Just roll!" I shouted.

  "To yht—rht!" Garble added, already moving to help.

  ProGamer_Daddy squeezed his eyes shut and followed our instrus instinctively, rolling away just as the massive jaws snapped shut.

  Spt!

  The worm bit down hard—on mud. Its teeth sank deep into the earth where he had been just a moment before.

  Just as ProGamer_Daddy clutched his right leg and staggered to his feet, ready to flee again, I watched as a massive, bzing fireball engulfed the whole worm.

  Although the worm had no vocal cords, its violent thrashing clearly unicated its pain.

  Within three seds, the fireball burhe worm to nothing—leaving not even ash behind.

  From behind a tree, Viktor emerged, holding a bck staff.

  "That was a Red-Scaled Worm, the most oure in the Great Oak Forest. They typically feed on wild fruits and decayed leaves in the soil," he expined calmly.

  "They spend most of their time underground but e to the surface after rain te for wild fruits."

  ProGamer_Daddy stared, sck-jawed, at Viktor, who seemed untouched by the rain.

  I could see he was still captivated by the massive fireball spell and hadn't fully processed what had happened.

  Unnoticed by roup, the rain had already stopped, though water still dripped from the leaves above.

  Meanwhile, Edgar dealt with the other half of the worm.

  Seeing our sorry state—covered in mud, slime, and who knows what else—he raised an eyebrow.

  "They don't eve people. How did you mao provoke one?"

  Vikt the scattered wild fruits on the ground. "Judging by the juice stains on your clothes, you must have gotten some fruit jui you. It's one of the Red-Scaled Worm's favorite foods."

  "Sihey don't have eyes or brains, they probably mistook you for a walking ptter of snacks," Edgar mused, ing his bde.

  "Sounds pusible."

  Looking at our miserable state, Viktor seemed to feel a bit guilty. His expression softened slightly.

  "Lord Viktor!" ProGamer_Daddy suddenly grabbed Viktor's staff with both hands.

  "When I reach level two, I learn that fire spell you just used?"

  "Me too!" I chimed in eagerly.

  Though Edgar's swordsmanship had been impressive, the allure of the fireball's fshy effects was simply irresistible.

  Viktor hesitated, then sighed. "Fine. Fireball is ary-level spell."

  "So are Red-Scaled Worms the kind of creatures we'll be dealing with from now on?" Garble asked.

  Viktor hen shook his head.

  "In theory, any new species born from the remnants of the divine essence qualifies as a magical creature. But the Red-Scaled Worm's magical energy is so weak, and it cks the destructive power of true magical creatures, so it's sidered part of the natural ecosystem."

  "So... it's basically an i?"

  My eyes widened in disbelief.

  Wait a sed—so this massive worm doesn't even t as a magical creature because it's not strong enough?!

  I couldn't help but shudder at the thought of how terrifying a true magical creature must be.

  After Viktor and Edgar's expnation, we finally uood why the worm had beelessly chasing us.

  The reason, shogly, was all a misuanding!

  Even mindless worms could push us to such a desperate state—an embarrassiy that left us feeling somewhat defted.

  We were just too weak.

  So, we decided not to venture further into the outskirts of Honeyvale Town until we had the bat strength to single-handedly kill at least one worm.

  We hauled the lumber we had gathered bato town.

  Although the NP charge of our task evaluation was right nearby, the materials still o be delivered to the designated clearihe church to be officially tallied.

  Our excitement grew as we thought about the reward: the same fireball spell Viktor had!

  ---Viktor's POV---

  "They didn't lose their will to fight, even after being pletely drenched by the rain?"

  Was this the legendary persistence of hardcamers? How many hardships must one eo develop such tenacity?

  I resolved to pay closer attention to the pyers' psychological states from now on.

  Meanwhile, Edgar looked on with bewilderment.

  "They were beaten so miserably by a worm, and the crisis only just passed... yet they're already looking forward to the fight? Do they not feel fear?"

  To a mage, red-scaled worms were merely beginner-level oppos. But to ordinary people, they were still formidable, almost insurmountable creatures.

  Irials held by the Radiant Church for knight didates, red-scaled worms occasionally appeared.

  Many children—about 30%—developed such severe psychological trauma from fighting these creatures that they abaheir path as knights ave up on magitirely.

  The red-scaled worms were like demons that maniputed people's emotions. Yet, these pyers were pletely ued.

  The only signifit emotional rea they dispyed was a fleeting moment of shame upon learning the worms were sidered pos.

  Shame? Over losing to a stronger enemy?

  Edgar seemed he couldn't his head around it, just as he couldn't uand why they weren't afraid of the red-scaled worms at all.

  I noticed his face, which clearly said, "The world has gone mad," and couldn't help but feel amused.

  "Now do you see why I'm fident in stabilizing our base of operations?" I asked.

  After a long pause, he responded, "If this is the extent of their abilities, they're not exceptional—barely passable, at best. My passing grade is for their ce in fag fear and for the bat skills of that... peculiar one among them."

  "But let me be blunt: their potential frowth is still very limited."

  I smiled but said nothing.

  Edgar would eventually experience firsthand what the pyers' true potential really was.

  ---Logan's POV---

  Late at night, we took a bath in the river, thanks to the free starter gear and toiletries provided by Viktor.

  "You know what's weird?" I said, letting the cold water wash away the day's grime. "This feels more real than it should be."

  "Tell me about it," ProGamer_Daddy agreed. "I actually feel the cold water."

  "And the mosquitoes," Garble added. "Don't fet the mosquitoes."

  Whether it was healthy to bath in the river didn't matter; at least the cold dampness ging to my body after the rain was finally washed away.

  "Ahh, finally feels good!"

  While waiting for the others to finish, I opened my game panel:

  [Name: NeverShowOff][Race: Human][Level: 1 (Newbie)][XP: 158/100][SAN: 88][Skills: None][Iory: Empty]

  "Guys, check this out. The wave us bonus XP."

  In addition to chopping trees, I had spent the afternoon experimenting with other ways to gain XP. Once I had enough to reach Level 2, I stopped trying too hard.

  By my calcutions, I should have earned 108 XP total, but the extra 10 XP came automatically after defeating the red-scaled worm.

  ProGamer_Daddy and Garble, gained 9 and 19 XP respectively.

  "K. Grinding mobs is way faster for leveling," I muttered.

  Even though the XP gained from defeating the worm wasn't much—barely better than cutting down two trees and hauling lumber—it was clear this wouldn't always be the case.

  After all Viktor had said the red-scaled worms were just low-tier monsters. The strohe monsters, the more XP they'd yield.

  Once our levels were higher, our primary method for earning XP would undoubtedly be fighting monsters. On another note, my SAN value, which had dropped earlier due to a mistake, hadn't recovered at all—something that pained me greatly.

  I told myself to act more "normal" in the game.

  I had tested it: running around naked while bathing didn't reduce my SAN value. So, my earlier loss wasn't due to streaking.

  No, it was because I acted like a public fsher ireets, and the system had deemed my behavior inappropriate for the game's reality!

  "Damn it! I'm pying a game—why do I still have to follow real-world rules?" It was hard to believe I was the same person who had praised icles of Aeltia for feeling like another world earlier that day.

  Finally, the time we had been eagerly awaiting arrived: leveling up and unlog new skills!

  ---Viktor's POV---

  I noticed Luminaris, who had been sulking on the goddess statue's hand, lying there in despair.

  I had restricted his movement to within a marked area, leaving him uo leave the church grounds.

  At long st, the church doors opened, and the three pyers walked in.

  Luminaris lit up like he had seen his saviors.

  "Chirp chirp! Yippee!"

  With his usual verbal blessing, he shot toward the pyers like a missile.

  Smack!

  I intercepted the round, glowing ball mid-air.

  "Luminaris, what did we discuss about personal space?"

  "Chirp chirp! But they're here!"

  Gring at him in annoyance, I whispered, "'t you be a little more mindful of your ow?"

  Even though most of Luminaris' powers were now under my trol, he was still a god-tier creation. The impact force of such a being wasn't something an ordinary person could handle.

  ---

  The three pyers huddled close together.

  "What do you think they're talking about?" ProGamer_Daddy murmured, gng sideways at NeverShowOff and the orb.

  Garble shrugged slightly. "Probably just excited about how fast we're leveling up."

  "Yeah, looking at how the goddess is ag, that seems likely. But don't you think it's weird? Why 't the goddess speak properly? She just keeps chirping the same thing over and over."

  "e on, she's obviously the game mascot! You know how these things work—a mascot that's too smart wouldn't be cute anymore."

  "Ah..." NeverShowOff nodded slowly. "That actually makes sense."

  "Yeah," Garble whispered thoughtfully. "hought about it that way before. Learn something new every day in this game."

  ProGamer_Daddy couldn't help but grin, though he still kept his voice down. "See? I know my games!"

  ---

  As Luminaris wriggled in my hand, he shouted, "Let me go! I just want to bond with my precious believers! I promise I won't hurt them!"

  "Oh? You're bold today, aren't you?" I said, surprised.

  Still, it was time to let him i with the pyers.

  I thought for a moment and released him.

  Luminaris immediately began cirg the three pyers, reg praises for the chosen ones from his memory.