The kobolds were closing in.
Desperately, I forced myself to my feet. My whole body creaked and groaned in protest.
I could tell I had taken considerable damage, but I could still move.
I turned around and started running at full speed. About ten meters away, I saw a sword lying on the ground. It was the sword Kikuchi and the others had looted from a monster earlier today. They had stuffed it into the backpack, but since it was too long to fit, part of it stuck out. That’s why it fell to the ground when Kikuchi handed the backpack to me.
Kikuchi and the others had fled without picking up the sword.
I reached the sword and picked it up, then turned around to face the oncoming kobolds.
Two of them were charging at me. In the game First Final, even an average level-one player would struggle to take down a single kobold, let alone two at once.
The first kobold lunged at me.
I dodged.
Jumping, I maneuvered into the perfect position to bait the second kobold into attacking.
The second kobold struck.
I dodged again with a perfectly timed backstep.
The second kobold was now in a state of post-attack stiffness.
Without hesitation, I dashed forward.
I thrust my sword into the kobold’s chest.
But it was a shallow strike. The kobold didn’t go down.
“Grrr…”
The injured kobold growled in pain.
I immediately backstepped.
The first kobold’s attack struck the ground where I had just been standing.
I could do this…
The timing was exactly like in First Final.
The second kobold recovered from its stiffness and attacked again.
I evaded. The second kobold was once more left stiff after its attack.
The window of time between the second kobold’s recovery and the first kobold’s next attack was excruciatingly tight.
If I mistimed it even slightly, I would take a hit. With my current level and gear, a single hit would be fatal.
I stepped in and struck the second kobold again.
Another shallow stab.
Greedy attacks were out of the question. If I went for a strong blow, the first kobold’s attack would land. I had to stick to shallow strikes, whittling away their HP bit by bit. That was my only path to victory.
I must have repeated the cycle of “evade, shallow attack” over ten times. Finally, one of the kobolds fell.
I couldn’t help but admire my own timing. Achieving such precise timing consistently was something I only managed after playing First Final for over 2,000 hours.
With just one kobold left, the battle was as good as over. I targeted its post-attack stiffness and landed clean strikes.
In less than 30 seconds, the second kobold also went down.
And then…
My body began to glow.
“Level up!”
“You can now access the status window.”
So leveling up to 2 unlocks the status window. That, too, was just like in First Final. In the game, you unlocked the status window after completing the tutorial and reaching level 2.
As I tried to open the status window…
A voice echoed from above.
“Skill ‘Power Attack’ acquired.”
“Huh?”
I froze for a moment in surprise.
In the game, Power Attack was the first active skill unlocked at level 2.
“Can I really use it?”
Half-doubting, I focused on activating Power Attack in my mind.
“Power Attack!”
My body moved on its own. A flawless move unfolded—I stepped in and slashed horizontally with my sword.
A sharp slicing sound cut through the air.
“The skill actually activated…”
I stood there, stunned, muttering to myself.
But Kikuchi and the others hadn’t used any skills.
…Could it be? Am I the only one who can use skills?
Is this the effect of my blessing, PPG ‘First Final’?
I decided to test opening the status window.
Level 2
Blessing: PPG ‘First Final’
Scrolling through the lengthy status window, I noticed something labeled DLC at the bottom.
Just like in the game, it appeared as a clickable button. In the game, you’d press it with the controller, but…
How do I press it here?
After a few seconds of thought, I realized I could move a cursor with my mind. Focusing on the button, I willed it to press.
As expected, another window opened.
Apply DLC?
- 100x EXP until Level 20 (Free)
- 20x EXP from Level 21 to 50 (Free)
This was the same adjustment they had made in the game to fix its absurd difficulty curve. In First Final, beginners often struggled to defeat even the weakest enemies, leading to a frustrating deadlock. After receiving harsh criticism post-launch, the developers had added this DLC for free as a quick fix.
Instead of rebalancing monster stats or combat mechanics, which would have required more resources, they opted for this slapdash solution.
But 100x EXP…
This was insane. It had been ridiculous enough in the game, but applying it to reality? And only for me, thanks to my unique blessing?
Honestly, isn’t this a little too overpowered?
