Chapter 3
The game Oblivion Gate was always notorious as a brutal RPG that showed no mercy to its players.
Unlike other games that let players retry as much as they want, this one had a single, merciless rule: death comes with a heavy price.
Once a player's HP hit zero, the death penalty was immediately enforced: their level would drop by five. If they didn't have enough levels, they would be forced to start over from the beginning.
The only way to avoid this was through resurrection items or magic: a resurrection ring, a resurrection staff, or extremely expensive ritual spells.
Sagan… didn't have any of those.
And he suspected something even more terrifying: Even if he possessed some innate "Player" abilities, this world was not a game.
There would be no automatic resurrection once he died. Because of that, being careless meant death.
Chewing on a piece of black bread as hard as a rock, Sagan reached to his waist and gripped the short sword he had purchased with the last of his silver coins.
Without an Object Appraisal spell, he had no way of seeing its stats.
Judging from the weight, balance, and the quality of its metal, the sword was just an ordinary sword. No attribute bonuses. No hidden effects. No rarity. But Sagan didn't buy it for combat. He bought it because touching weapons could trigger class detection.
『Buzz-』
『Contact with object: Short Sword. Basic Job detected: Warrior.』
『Would you like to take this job?』
The prompt appeared on his status panel like a hologram in his field of vision.
He didn't need to think. "No," he refused silently. The prompt disappeared.
This wasn't the first time.
When he bought it at the weapon shop, the prompt had appeared and he had refused it once already. This made twice. Even earlier, he had found something more interesting. When he touched a large shield in the shop, a Intermediate Job was detected—Guardian.
Unfortunately, he couldn't take it. The job had a requirement: he needed to have the basic job Shield Bearer first.
So he spent almost fifteen minutes in the shop, touching every weapon like a weirdo while the shopkeeper stared daggers at him from the counter.
From longswords, daggers, bows, spears, maces… the results were all the same. Warrior, Warrior, and Warrior. No Magiccaster basics. No unique Classes. No advanced Classes.
Well, Sagan hadn't expected much anyway.
In Oblivion Gate, Classes were divided into three tiers:
Basic (Max Level 15)
Intermediate (Max Level 10)
Advanced/Specialized (Max Level 5)
Each Class could only be leveled up to its tier limit.
With over 300 Classes available, the game was known for having one of the most extensive and diverse Class systems ever. Even after finishing the game multiple times, Sagan had never chosen the same Class path twice.
But now things were different.
The total character level limit was 100. If he took Warrior to level 15 and Magic Caster to level 15, that would already consume 30 levels. That left 70 levels for everything else.
He had to be extremely careful. His margin for error was tiny—Sagan couldn't afford a single misstep.
If he picked the wrong basic Class now… He could ruin his entire future. And die before accomplishing anything.
In Oblivion Gate, once you picked a Job, you couldn't remove it.
He had to choose wisely.
For him, the biggest threat right now wasn't monsters, nor the inhabitants of this world.
He bit into the bread, the hard crust cracking loudly between his teeth. Leaning back on the bench, head bowed, he pondered over every possibility.
While chewing the black bread,
Sagan frowned slightly, sitting with his head lowered, his eyes glinting with thought.
Regarding the choice of his Basic Class, he had only a few clues—or more accurately, he didn't dare make a decision. If not for the threat of the Nine Gate of Helldusk, and if he only had to face the natives of this world, he wouldn't be this hesitant.
The only true natural threat in this world was the True Dragon King. Even if Sagan wanted to reach level 100 quickly, there were ways to do it.
The Class system in Oblivion Gate didn't require maxing out the level of every Class. If someone had 100 Classes, their level would instantly become 100.
But… a level 100 like that would be extremely weak and worthless.
Ever since learning the truth about the world he had transmigrated into yesterday, Sagan had been thinking about how to narrow the gap between him and the Nine Gate of Helldusk.
After much thought, everything came down to two points:
① Exploit the unique technology of this world, technology that didn't exist in the game.
Many things that didn't exist in the game existed here—the silver and copper coins, for example.
② He needed a Special Job.
Special Jobs were far stronger than high-tier Jobs, and they came with extraordinary skills or special effect, sometimes even surpassing super-tier magic.
Only by obtaining a Special Job would Sagan have a chance to fight one-on-one against the guardians of the Nine Gate of Helldusk.
He also considered forming an elite group, advancing technology like alchemy, strengthening soldiers, and similar ideas.
But nothing concrete had formed yet.
Tap tap—
Footsteps emerged from the flow of pedestrians and stopped right in front of Sagan, who was sitting on the bench with his head lowered in deep thought.
A shadow blocked the harsh sunlight.
A faint chill fell over him.
Sagan was the first to snap out of his thoughts, staring at the shadow on the ground. His heart jumped, and he adjusted his expression before lifting his gaze.
Standing before him was a young man. With short blond hair and bangs nearly covering his eyes—shaped like a mushroom cut—he gave off a soft, timid impression.
He wasn't very old. His clothes were ordinary, but still far better in quality than Sagan, who only had a few copper coins left.
Sagan paused for a moment upon seeing him, a brief flash of surprise in his dark brown eyes.
Eidar? The NPC known as the "genius alchemist" one of the very few humans deeply valued by the Demon King.
Even though his appearance was a bit different from his initial character model, it wasn't difficult to recognize him.
"Um… are you having trouble?" the young man asked shyly, his voice soft and sincerely concerned.
Trouble?
The question caught Sagan off guard.
Seeing the half-eaten barley bread, his slumped posture, and the aura of melancholy around him…
Sagan more or less understood.
Great.
I'm being pitied.
Sagan's lips twitched. "It's nothing," he replied expressionlessly.
"What are you doing, Eidar?" a cold voice called out from behind.
An old man—small, ordinary, only around 1.5 meters tall—with pale hair tucked under a green hat approached with a chilly expression.
Hearing the old man call the blond mushroom-haired youth by name, Sagan thought:
It really is Eidar.
If he had doubts before, now he was almost certain.
Sagan glanced at Eidar again, unconsciously.
This was a true prodigy.
He possessed two variant Jobs:
Alchemist (Genius)
Basic Magic Caster (Genius)
These were unique Jobs in this world—a kind of innate or natural talent.
The "(Genius)" designation allowed him to learn far more skills than normal in that field, including skills that exceeded his current level, enhanced skill intensity, and more.
After discovering the threat of the Nine Gate of Helldusk, Eidar used knowledge and ability to create numerous potions that greatly strengthened the coalition forces against the Demon King and his army.
This made him a target of the Gurath Goat Govenant.
Eventually, Eidar was kidnapped by members of the Nine Gate of Hell and was later discovered to have been turned into raw material for their experiments. A tragic end indeed.
But beyond that, Eidar also had a natural ability: Limitless Skill.
This ability allowed him to store and copy any skill or spell he had seen—special Classes, magic scrolls, weapon skills, even race-limited or Ultimate items Skill with extremely high requirements.
Thinking about all this, Sagan drew a deep breath.
This extraordinary talent, Eidar was practically a "high-quality human" in this world.
To a certain extent, Eidar could even become a threat to the Nine Gate of Helldusk.