The D-Rank Guild Master of the No. 1 Guild

‘How can I shake that guy off?’

As I looked around, something caught my eye—just what we needed. It was the light that appeared randomly in the field and teleported you to a random location.

Perfect for our situation.

“Lilith, we need to run over there. Can you do it?”

“Yeah.”

Without hesitating, I grabbed Lilith’s hand and started running, not wanting to give Unahar a chance to catch up.

“Wait—”

Soon, the light enveloped us, and we vanished with a flash, leaving only the echo of his sorrowful voice behind.

* * *

As soon as we found a new hiding spot, I opened the second day’s summary results.

First, I checked the top ten comments from the viewers.

Surely, they would be praising me for making Ispan look like a coward and for turning the tables with my unique ability—

But because of the random order, completely different comments were displayed first.

‘Haha, he got rejected so hard, lol’

‘Rudel is straightforward and funny, lol’

Unahar, your good looks overshadowed my morning exploits and diminished my authority. There were only these two comments about the incident with Unahar, and the other eight were, as expected, reactions to my awakening moment and my performance.

However, thanks to Unahar, I didn’t feel as pleased as I had anticipated.

‘Did she know about it? The pure natural ability unlocks when she’s at critical health?’

‘The way she smiled as if she knew was chilling;;;’

‘That was thrilling… I’m going to keep watching her’

‘What if she gets flame skills in round 2 when skills unlock?’

Sigh, let’s just focus on what I need to do.

The special reward for the first unique ability unlock was the chance to upgrade one stat by one grade.

After a moment of thought, I chose the lowest stat—my health.

My D-grade stat quickly jumped to C.

My level increased by a total of 17.

[Name] Rudel / [Level] 29

* * *

[Health] 365 / ▲176 / ▲C

[Strength] 376 / ▲190 / ▲C

[Agility] 560 / ▲288 / C

With the lower grades, the gap between grades is smaller, so it’s easier to change the alphabet. Now you can call me a C-grade stat character.

Having checked my stat increase, there was something else I wanted to verify tonight.

I opened the detailed section to check the kill points for the character I killed today.

Kill Points: +10000

As expected, kill points contribute significantly. Killing one gave me ten thousand points.

The higher the ranking of the opponent you kill, the more weighted the points are…

Anyway, Ispan probably raked in a ton of experience points today too, at least until he fled from me.

I was starting to feel anxious.

I don’t intend to rack up kill points.

Unlike Ispan, who revels in slaughter, my strategy was to position myself as a benevolent character, rather than displaying half-hearted morality.

But there’s no guarantee that I can consistently deliver impressive performances like today.

Unlike the guaranteed kill points based on results, play points are subject to the whims of the moment.

In the end, I might fall behind compared to characters who excel at earning kill points.

And if a character excels at getting kill points and is popular enough to gather play points as well?

With my meager base stats, I need to constantly be on the rise, but it’s obvious I’ll fall woefully behind.

If I don’t accumulate kill points, there’s only one way forward.

Preventing others from accumulating kill points.

‘Roaming the field to directly stop murder scenes isn’t feasible…’

Considering the information I had and my current position, I devised a decent plan.

At dawn, I woke up like a bullet and put it into action.

* * *

Early in the morning, there were characters loitering around, curious about the method to unlock the unique ability.

I gathered them and dropped a hint.

“I’ve spent a day as the ‘only unique ability holder,’ and I can’t stand nuisances like you pestering me.”

“Then just tell us how to unlock it.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Since others will eventually figure it out, I’d rather tell you first.”

Characters flocked around, half wary of me, but also hoping my words might be true.

“I awakened my ability at the moment I was about to be beaten to death by Ispan.”

“Really?”

“Ask the witnesses if you want. I’m telling the truth. So, the condition to unlock a unique ability, as I see it, is—”

Being on the verge of death from being attacked by someone else. Of course, if you actually die, it’s over, so just up to the brink of death.

A silence followed my words.

I smiled inwardly.

It worked perfectly.

Analyzing my statement, 30% was truth, 20% was a lie, and the remaining 50% was concealment.

[30% Truth: Awakening does occur at a life-threatening moment.

20% Lie: However, it can also be unlocked by an equally desperate situation, not necessarily life-threatening. And it doesn’t have to be from murder; it could be an accident or even suicide.

Concealed Fact: This only applies to the ‘Pure Nature’ ability category. The other two ability categories have different methods, making this useless for them.]

I waited quietly for the reaction.

Soon, one of them spoke up.

“No, no. I’m scared of dying. How can I die if it hurts? And being killed by someone else?”

Characters who were frightened and on the verge of tears.

“Hey, someone try killing me!”

Characters who had the courage.

And then:

“…No.”

“What?”

“If I kill you, only you get the unique ability. Why should I do something good for you?”

“Hey, if you kill me, I’ll kill you afterward!”

“That won’t work. What if you don’t keep your promise?”

“I will keep it!”

“Then let’s do this. I’ll die first. Come on, you kill me first.”

“…I don’t want to do that!”

The characters fell into conflict and mistrust. Everything was going according to my plan.

They hesitated, talked about killing each other, but ultimately nothing came of it.

The mutual distrust and fear caused everything to fizzle out.

After spreading the false rumor, I opened my status window and turned on the kill notifications that I had previously turned off.

This feature provided a real-time list of participants who died, but I had turned it off due to the noise pollution and only checked results at night.

Currently, there were no notifications.

‘Just as I planned.’

By spreading the rumor that the condition to unlock a unique ability was to be killed by someone else, no one had died in the past few hours.

‘Of course. No one wants to help someone else get ahead.’

By stating that the unlocking condition required teamwork of two or more people, chaos was inevitable.

Sure, someone might actually beat a person to the brink of death, and if that person had the Pure Nature ability, they might succeed.

But if not, they would just die.

And even if they came to accuse me of lying, I could simply claim that I shared only what I had figured out.

Thus, my strategy of preventing others from accumulating kill points was a success.

I returned with a clear conscience.

But Lilith was waiting for me.

“Rudel, you…”

Hmm, why was she looking at me with such an angry face? It was the first time I had seen Lilith angry.

Tears welled up in her vibrant green eyes, but her voice was still full of anger.

“You almost got beaten to death by Ispan?”

Oops, she must have been hiding and overheard me spreading the rumor…

For the next 30 minutes, I sat obediently and listened to Lilith lecture me about taking better care of myself.

Even in that short time, the dynamics of the field were changing.

* * *

Since unlocking my unique ability, I could now see more information about other characters.

I could identify the type of ability group they had and the potential grade of that ability.

To check, I decided to look up Lilith’s unique ability first.

Although my basic stats started at D, my unique ability was S-grade, so perhaps Lilith was hiding something incredible too?

Maybe my discerning eye had picked a character with both beauty and immense potential?

[Ability Group] Soul

[Unique Ability (Locked)] ■■

[Potential Grade] D

D-grade.

Well…

No, I’m not disappointed. I don’t expect anything from Lilith.

The ‘Soul’ category is one of the three unique ability types, essentially the “miscellaneous abilities.”

Excluding Pure Natural and the other main category, it’s a catch-all for abilities that don’t fit neatly elsewhere.

While this makes them seem trivial, they can be just as powerful, if not more, depending on the ability.

But with a D-grade potential, it’s unlikely Lilith’s ability will be anything extraordinary.

Still, it’s fortunate that the misinformation I spread about the unlocking conditions should keep everyone busy for today.

In this chaos, I decided it was time to recruit a new ally.

I couldn’t just pick anyone. The character needed to be memorable and leave a strong impression on the viewers during the recruitment scene.

But, I also didn’t want it to be someone too obviously exceptional. That would be too predictable.

‘Someone who looks like a minor character but actually has a hidden, extraordinary ability.’

That way, I’d gain popularity for recognizing their hidden potential.

Every action I take now and in the future must have a purpose and a plan.

I have no intention of serving under anyone. I’ll gather followers who support me.

Followers like Lilith, and stronger combatants than her.