The D-Rank Guild Leader of the Number One Guild
Chapter 8
‘Is there no way to shake that man off somehow?’
As I was looking around, something perfectly suitable finally caught my eye.
It was my first time seeing it in person, too.
A light that appears randomly on the field, teleporting you anywhere at random.
It was exactly what we needed right now.
“Ririt, we’re running over there. You can do it, right?”
“Yeah.”
Hesitating might let the man catch up from behind, so I resolutely grabbed Ririt’s hand and dashed forward without hesitation.
“Wait—”
A moment later, the light flashed and swallowed us whole. Only the man’s sorrowful voice seemed to linger behind.
* * *
The moment I found a hiding place, I immediately opened the Day 2 settlement results.
First, I checked the ten viewer comments.
Surely, among them, there would be praise for me—how I made Ispan out to be a coward and turned the tables on him with my unique ability.
But perhaps because of the lottery order, entirely different comments were floating at the top.
‘Yo, he got rejected lololol’
‘Rudel is so honest it’s likable, plus he’s hilarious lololol’
Unhar, because you’re so good-looking, my morning exploits were completely buried. And my dignity disappeared too.
Comments poking fun at the incident with Unhar were exactly these two; the remaining eight were the reactions I’d expected—people moved by my direction during the awakening moment.
But because of Unhar, my enthusiasm had deflated, so I didn’t feel as good as I’d expected.
‘Did he know? That it comes out when you’re Pure Nature and nearly dead?’
‘The creepy smirk like he knew all along, gives me chills;;;’
‘That was so fucking thrilling… I’m following this guy from now on’
‘If he gets skill actions in Round 2, how about a flame skill’
Sigh, I should just do what I need to do.
The special reward for being the first to unlock a unique ability.
It was exactly “raising the rank of one stat among Stamina, Strength, and Agility by one grade.”
I pondered for a moment, then chose the lowest stat—Stamina.
Then the D-Rank stat shot straight up to C.
A total of 17 more levels were gained.
[Name] Rudel / [Level] 29
* * *
[Stamina] 365 / ▲176 / ▲C
[Strength] 376 / ▲190 / ▲C
[Agility] 560 / ▲288 / C
Lower ranks have smaller gaps between grades, so moving up a letter grade is easy. Call me a character with C-grade stats from now on.
Since I’ve checked the stat increases…
There’s a system I was planning to check tonight.
I opened the detailed menu and checked how many kill points the character I’d killed today was worth.
Kill Points: +10,000
As expected, kill points carry a huge share. Killing just one gives ten thousand.
They say the higher the killed opponent’s ranking, the greater the point weight…
Anyway, Ispan must have swept up an enormous amount of experience today too, before he lost to me and ran away.
I was gradually growing anxious.
I had no intention of earning kill points.
I wasn’t someone who enjoyed massacres like Ispan; rather than showing some half-baked morality, my strategy was to establish myself as a character with plenty of humanity.
But there was no guarantee that good direction like today’s would happen every time.
Compared to kill points guaranteed by results, play points would be influenced by luck each time.
Then in the end, I’d fall behind. Compared to characters who earn kill points well.
What if there was a character who earned kill points well and was also popular, sweeping up play points too?
With my already pathetic base stats, I had to keep riding the upward momentum, or it was obvious I’d fall hopelessly behind.
If I, being like that, didn’t accumulate kill points, there was only one way.
To stop others from earning kill points.
‘Walking around the field personally intervening at murder scenes would be too crude a method to work…’
Considering the information I possessed and the position I stood in, I devised a decent plan.
And the moment dawn broke, I shot up like a bullet and put it into action.
* * *
From early morning, there were characters hovering around me, curious about how to unlock their unique abilities.
I gathered them in one place and let a remark slip.
“After being the ‘sole possessor of a unique ability’ for a day, you guys are so annoying that I can’t stand it.”
“Then just tell us.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Everyone will figure it out on their own soon anyway, so I figured I’d tell you first before that.”
Characters flocked in droves. Half of them were wary of me, but they twitched their lips with the hope that my words might be true.
“I awakened my ability right at the moment Ispan was about to beat me to death.”
“R-really?”
“Go ask the eyewitnesses. I’m telling the truth. So, the condition I believe unlocks the unique ability is—”
Getting killed by someone else. Of course, if you actually die, it’s game over, so it has to be right before death.
After I finished speaking, silence descended.
I smiled faintly on the inside.
It hooked them perfectly.
Analyzing my statement just now, about 30% was truth, 20% was lies, and the remaining 50% was concealment.
[First, the 30% truth: It is true that awakening happens at a moment when your life is in danger.
The 20% lie: But it can also be unlocked with desperation equal to that of a life-threatening situation. Meaning you don’t necessarily have to die. And it works with accidents or suicide, not just murder.
The concealed fact: All of this only applies to the ‘Pure Nature’ ability type; the remaining two types work differently, making this information useless for them.]
I quietly waited for their reactions.
Soon, one of them opened their mouth.
“N-no way. I’m scared of dying. It hurts, so how can I die? And you’re telling us to get killed by someone else?”
Characters frightened and holding back tears.
“Hey, someone kill me!”
Characters who had courage.
And then.
“……No.”
“What?”
“If I kill you, you’d be the only one getting a unique ability. Why would I only do someone else a favor?”
“Hey, if you kill me, I’ll kill you next!”
“That won’t work either. What if you don’t keep your promise?”
“I will!”
“Then let’s do this. I die first. Go ahead, you kill me first.”
“……I don’t want that!”
Characters caught in conflict and distrust. It was all according to my calculations.
They’d hiss and haw, hovering over whether to kill or be killed, but ultimately nothing would come of it.
Distrust and anxiety toward one another would cause it to fizzle out.
After spreading the rumor, I opened my status window and turned on the kill notifications I’d kept off until now.
Turning this on delivers a real-time list of participants dying, but until now, it had been close to noise pollution, so I’d only checked the results at night.
Currently, the notifications had completely stopped.
‘As expected, it’s going according to my plan.’
The moment I spread the rumor that “the condition for unlocking a unique ability is getting killed by someone else,” people dying disappeared entirely within just a few hours.
‘Of course. They can’t let someone else have all the benefits.’
The moment I made the condition “you can’t do it alone, you need a team play of two or more people,” conflict was inevitable.
Well, someone might really beat the target half to death, and if that target happened to be Pure Nature, it might end successfully.
But if not, they’d just die for nothing.
So even if someone came to me later complaining, “You lied!”, I could play dumb and say I only told them what I’d realized.
Anyway, with this, the operation to “prevent others from earning kill points” was a success.
I returned lightheartedly.
But Ririt was waiting for me.
“Rudel, you……”
Hmm, why is she looking at me with an angry face? It’s the first time I’ve seen Ririt angry.
Soon, tears welled up in Ririt’s fresh green eyes. But her voice was still laced with anger.
“You said you nearly got beaten to death by Ispan?”
Oh no, when I was spreading the rumor to the characters, had Ririt been hiding behind and listening……?
For the thirty minutes that followed, I had to sit politely and listen to Ririt’s nagging about taking care of my body.
Even during that short time, the flow of the field was changing.
* * *
Perhaps because I’d unlocked my unique ability, I gained more information that I could check about other characters.
Specifically, I could now see what ability type another character possessed, and the potential rank of that ability.
To check, I first looked up Ririt’s unique ability nearby.
Since my base stats started at D but my unique ability was S-Rank, I wondered if our Ririt might also be hiding something amazing.
Had I perhaps chosen a character blessed with both beauty and potential with godlike insight?
[Ability Type] Soul
[Unique Ability (Locked)] ■■
[Potential Rank] D
D-Rank.
Tch……
No, I’m not that disappointed. I don’t expect anything from Ririt.
‘Soul’ is one of the three categories of unique abilities; simply put, it’s “miscellaneous abilities.”
The leftovers that don’t fit into any one category, excluding Pure Nature and the other one.
Saying it like that makes them sound like totally useless abilities, but of course, depending on the ability, there’s potential to be even stronger than Pure Nature.
But the moment the rank is D, it would be hard to expect that from Ririt.
Still, hopefully, the false rumor I’d spread about the unlock condition would last for about a day.
Taking advantage of that chaotic gap, I resolved to recruit a new comrade.
I couldn’t just pick up anyone. I had to choose a truly impressive character and imprint that recruitment scene on the viewers.
But then again, persuading an openly outstanding character to become my comrade wasn’t great either. Too obvious.
‘Something like… someone who looks like a total scrub but actually possesses an incredible unique ability.’
So that my popularity would rise together for recognizing a hidden powerhouse no one expected.
Now and always, every action of mine must have a reason, a plan.
I had no intention of serving under anyone. I would create characters who follow me.
Like Ririt here. And a combatant character stronger than Ririt.