Chapter 2
There is a huge difference between playing a game and entering the game itself.
Watching Oblivion Gate on a monitor makes everything look like a heroic action spectacle filled with flashy animations; defeating and slaying monsters feels exciting.
But once you step into its world…
Combat is no longer just animation, pain is no longer a number decreasing on your HP bar, and you cannot press pause when fear overwhelms you.
Saelran felt as if he already understood the fate awaiting him.
He had never experienced a life‑and‑death battle, let alone killed a person or any other living creature.
Like most modern humans, conflict and violence were just something he saw on screens—far away and unreal.
But even so…
Saelran knew one crucial truth about Oblivion Gate: even without the arrival of the Nine Gate of Helldusk, this world was never friendly toward humans.
Here, humans were not at the top of the food chain.
In fact, humans could be considered the most fragile race in this world.
They had no claws or sharp fangs like Beastkin.
No natural affinity for magic like the Elves.
No explosive population growth like Orcs or Goblins.
Human survival in this world… was pure luck.
Truly pitiful!
Saelran leaned back against a park bench as if exhausted, though he wasn't tired at all.
In truth, the energy in his body felt endless. His breathing was steady, his muscles felt light yet powerful. A glance at his arm showed defined muscle lines—something he never had before.
He had confirmed it: this was his own body.
But this body wasn't that of a twenty‑five‑year‑old man before his transmigration… instead it was younger, fitter, and at its prime like a sixteen‑ or seventeen‑year‑old.
"Is this… the bonus for transmigrating to another world?" He knew the answer.
It was most likely related to the cheat or rather, the special ability granted to him upon entering this world.
Saelran narrowed his eyes.
Instantly, a transparent panel appeared before his vision, like a holographic screen only he could see.
[STATUS — Saelran]
Alignment : Neutral
HP : 13 MP : 13
Attack : 13
Defense : 13
Agility : 13
Magic Attack : 13
Magic Defense : 13
Overall Resistance : 0
Total Status Efficiency : 7%
[Innate Talent – Player]
Job : — Not chosen
Level : 0
EXP : 0 / 100
Passive Skill : Inventory Box
Active Skill : — None
Skill Points : 0
Saelran focused his attention on the special ability listed on his status panel.
Innate Talent: "Player"
─ Grants the traits of a player.
─ Cannot be observed, removed, or altered.
The information was extremely minimal.
But precisely because of that, Saelran was sure this ability wasn't simple.
The floating status panel, the ability to see detailed numerical attributes, to understand the state of his body, to receive system information—these were all likely effects of "Player."
As the saying goes: the most dangerous things are the ones least explained.
And as someone who had cleared Oblivion Gate countless times, Saelran had strong suspicions about what lay behind this ability.
If the "Player" trait worked the same way as it did in the game…
Then he could grow without limit.
He could gain skills, jobs, EXP, and levels.
Most importantly… he could grow faster than anyone native to this world.
In Oblivion Gate, it was said that humans could be born with innate powers.
On average, one out of every two hundred humans possessed a special ability at birth, called an Innate Talent. But most of these talents were extremely weak: drying cloth faster, warming water slightly, memorizing sentences after hearing them once.
Completely useless in battle.
Just small gimmicks for daily life.
But his ability was different.
"Player" wasn't a power that affected the environment… but one that affected himself and his growth.
In game terms:
Not an active skill, but a fundamental mechanic.
The "Player" trait enabled level‑ups, allowing someone to break free from the limitations of human race and natural talent.
For now, Saelran chose not to overthink it.
There were too many unknowns, and drowning in theories would be pointless.
But!
Even knowing he possessed such an inherent ability, Saelran's confusion remained.
After all, this was another world—not the game Oblivion Gate.
Even if he relied on his innate ability to reach level 100 before the Nine Gate of Helldusk descended, he still wouldn't match Gurath Goath Govenant, the Demon King.
How could a level‑100 character with no equipment compete with a Demon King armed with a complete set of divine‑tier gear, Special‑Class skills, and the subordinates of the Nine Gate of Helldusk?
Moreover!
The Nine Gate of Helldusk did not consist solely of Gurath Goath Govenant at level 100!
Because Saelran understood the terror of the Nine Hell better than anyone in this world, he knew the power gap was enormous.
He wasn't even sure that uniting this entire world would be enough to stop them.
Pulling himself away from that terrifying thought, Saelran examined his Stats.
"All base attributes are 13? Even without a job, in pure numerical terms, I should already be above the average person in this world."
He looked at the values on his stat table, feeling the strength and power coursing through his current physique.
This wasn't just a number in a game; it fully represented his body! Saelran could even feel a unique energy inside him, clearly magic.
According to this world's teachings, he had the talent of a "Magic Caster."
Then there were the percentages beside each value.
This was a unique calculation method used in Oblivion Gate.
If Sagan's memory was correct, Gurath Goath Govenant's Total Stats were "683.6% + ?%," with the question mark indicating that his mana had exceeded its limit.
Well… that was the Demon King!
Saelran had looked deeply into the game's mechanics.
According to his speculation, once equipment‑based bonuses were removed, the base stats of all races should be identical.
Thus! In theory, each level‑up added 13 points to every attribute, meaning that at level 100, total stats would reach 1300.
But that was only theory!
Reality was nowhere near that simple.
Each job increased different attributes. Warriors gained HP, physical attack, physical defense, and agility, while magic casters gained MP, magic attack, magic defense, special attributes, and so on.
And then there were racial classes.
Beastkin and Demihumans possessed their own racial jobs.
The clearest example: the strongest race in Oblivion Gate, dragons, had six racial jobs (child, adolescent, young adult, adult, elder, and ancient dragon).
Each racial job required level 50 to master, leaving only 50 levels to build a class.
Humans, having no racial jobs, were at once disadvantaged and advantaged; all 100 levels could be used to build their class freely.
This allowed them to somewhat keep up with Beastkin and Demihumans by level 100.
But reality was different.
Even in the game, the average human warrior was only level 8–10, while adult Orcs averaged level 18 purely from racial jobs.
That was the advantage of racial classes.
NPCs with level 100 in Oblivion Gate could be counted on one hand—and none of them were human.
Heck! There were only two pure‑human NPCs above level 70!
Hah.
Saelran lifted his head slightly, glanced toward the street crowd, and seeing no one paying attention, he reached into the pocket of his rough clothes and took out a palm‑sized piece of bread.
It was called black bread, though its color was more dark brown.
Aside from being a bit tough and coarse, it wasn't bad.
One copper coin could buy two, so in that sense, the price of necessities wasn't too high.
Given his extremely limited funds, every coin saved mattered.
That piece of black bread wasn't actually in his pocket; he took it from his "Inventory Box," where he kept his original clothes and the gold coins he had obtained.
The "Inventory Box" was the game's inventory.
According to his observations, the space inside the Inventory Box was indeed large, but it still had a limit. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any magical item like the "bottomless backpack" in the game.
Of course, despite the name "bottomless," even that item had limits—it simply acted as a supplement when the Inventory Box overflowed.
Saelran bit into the black bread, chewing with a crunchy sound as his cheeks puffed slightly.
His dinner last night had been just one piece of black bread, and he was quite hungry now.
This hunger made Saelran realize that being a "Player" was just an innate ability and this world was painfully real!
He would get hungry, he would get tired… he could even die!