Level 4 Human in a Ruined World

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Chapter 414: Cosmic (1)

Click.

As soon as Yeongwoo placed the coin in his mouth, dotted lines formed along the outline of his body.

He had entered a sort of modification mode.

「Character Settings」

| Appearance |

| Stats |

With his considerable wealth, he could have significantly increased his height, but Yeongwoo’s focus was already on his stats.

‘I've already passed the height threshold, so the cost-effectiveness isn’t great. It’s better to raise my stats instead.’

Height differences were quite significant in battles between Earthlings, but in space, that wasn’t the case—Yeongwoo knew this well.

In a place where all kinds of species were mixed, some opponents could be dozens of meters tall.

Besides…

‘Even Chairman Dogo isn’t particularly tall for a spacefarer. And yet, he still goes around beating up government officials.’

In space, strength and status mattered far more than height.

And soon…

‘I’ll gain power beyond Earth’s limits…!’

As Yeongwoo internally shouted this, he selected ‘Stats,’ causing a detailed display of his current attributes to appear before his eyes.

『Character: Jeong Yeongwoo07』

[Strength] 35,800 (19+35,781)

[Endurance] 25,448 (21+25,427)

[Durability] 26,598 (13+26,585)

[Senses] 33,600 (24+33,576)

‘Hmm…’

His current cash holdings were about 37 billion.

However, the amount he could actually use was closer to 26 billion.

This was because he had to pay taxes on the wedding gift money tonight.

‘Still, I can’t just burn through all 26 billion. Like Mom said, I need to keep some for family expenses and upgrading the city level.’

So how much should he invest in his stats to make a wise decision?

‘Let’s start with 10 billion.’

Converting 10 billion in cash into stats meant a whopping 10 million stat points.

Considering that his total stats had just exceeded 100,000…

‘…Am I gonna die from this? From becoming too strong all of a sudden?’

For a mere human like Yeongwoo, it was an unfathomable realm.

A total stat value reaching 10 million.

‘Well, the Chairman can split a spaceship in half with just a sword, so I guess this makes sense?’

Since he was still new to the cosmic world, Yeongwoo could only speculate.

But soon, the secret behind the strength of the upper echelon would be revealed.

‘Let’s do this.’

Determined to push his physical capabilities to their limit today, Yeongwoo began pouring his entire 10 billion karma into his stats. The dotted lines around his body flared red.

Swoosh!

No wonder—the stats were increasing by 30,000 to 40,000 per second.

—What the hell?

“Yeongwoo, are you okay?”

Sensing something unusual, his parents, Jiseon and Jeonggu, tried to approach him, but ‘Administrator’ Kubu quickly blinked.

―The family head is swiftly burning through the wedding gift money. It would be best not to interfere right now.

Just as Kubu said, Yeongwoo was essentially setting fire to the fortune acquired from his parents’ wedding gifts.

With his stats rising by over 30,000 per second, he was consuming approximately 120 million karma every second.

Fwoosh!

—That bastard… he’s not spending all our wedding gift money, is he?

If Yeongwoo was a newcomer to space, then Jiseon was a newcomer to motherhood.

The idea that seeing your child eat is enough to make a mother feel full didn’t apply to her in the slightest.

—Hey, you brat! Do you even remember how much that guy’s weekly salary is?!

Pop!

The moment Jiseon pointed at Kubu in frustration, Yeongwoo’s stat-burning suddenly stopped.

Fwoosh!

—Huh?

“Y-Yeongwoo?”

As his parents flinched, Yeongwoo turned to look at them, his pupils now shimmering gold.

“…I can’t raise them any further.”

-What? What do you mean?

“My stats. They won’t go past one million.”

True to his words, Yeongwoo’s stats had stopped precisely at one million per attribute.

『Character: Jeong Yeongwoo07』

[Strength] 1,000,000

[Endurance] 1,000,000

[Durability] 1,000,000

[Senses] 1,000,000

Additionally, the extra fields that used to display his innate stats had disappeared.

As if Yeongwoo’s ‘human phase’ had truly come to an end.

‘What… What is this? Is there a stat ceiling? Or is it a limit to the human body?’

As he looked down at his body in bewilderment, a delayed wave of ‘pressure’ suddenly crashed down on him.

Crunch!

“…Kuh!”

The side effects of his extreme stat increase manifested as a massive mental and physical strain.

“Khaaaaah!”

Even his berserker talisman couldn’t suppress this overwhelming force.

Golden flames burst from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

Crackle!

—Holy shit?!

“Y-Yeongwoo! Your nose is…!”

As their son spewed flames like a shattered brazier, Jiseon and Jeonggu were too shocked to approach or retreat—they could only stomp their feet anxiously.

“Ku-Kubu! What the hell is going on?!”

Terrified, Jeonggu turned to Kubu for answers, but the administrator simply blinked again.

―It appears that the family head is on the verge of transcending his innate existence.

There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in Kubu’s voice.

After all, Jeong Yeongwoo07 was now the master of the household Kubu served.

So the brief pain he was experiencing as he transcended his human limits was merely a rite of passage that any loyal retainer should accept.

“Kkeeeugh!”

Of course, Yeongwoo himself had an entirely different perspective.

“A-Are you kidding me…?! Is there no way to stop this?!”

The unbearable pain—no, an immense, inescapable fear—was suffocating him.

Then, suddenly…

“Hik!”

His eyes landed on the Aratubank lying on the ground.

At the moment his body began to collapse under the pain, he had unknowingly dropped his shield.

“…!”

The first thing that came to Yeongwoo’s mind was Aratubank's defensive properties.

【Immunity】

| This shield cannot be destroyed and can block most non-physical damage and mental attacks.

【Shared Pain】

| The Redfoot ancestors will bear half of your pain. Your pain will be significantly reduced, and emotional suffering such as guilt and sorrow will also be alleviated.

Gathering the last of his strength, Yeongwoo clung to Aratubank, causing the spirit inside—Song Jungho—to recoil in shock.

∴ What the hell is this brat doing?!

But Yeongwoo had no room to process the other’s bewildered voice.

“Haa…!”

The moment he hugged Aratubank, the pain miraculously halved.

‘Whoa, as expected of a myth……!’

Even so, the mental pressure remained immense.

It felt as if some transcendent force was trying to suppress the presence of a newly ascended powerhouse.

An overwhelming pressure, something that made the very idea of resistance seem impossible, was crushing Yeongwoo’s entire consciousness.

Then—

Ssssssshh……

The flames erupting from his body subsided, and at the same time, the unknown oppressive force weakened.

“Are you… are you insane? I almost died just now.”

As Yeongwoo finally managed to catch his breath, Jiseon spoke up again, picking up where she had left off earlier.

—Did you just say the stat limit is 1,000,000?

“Yes. Even if you have money, you can’t raise it above 1,000,000. No, to be precise, the stat-increasing function itself is disabled.”

Yeongwoo had never thought that his stats could rise infinitely, but he hadn’t expected a hard limit to be imposed either.

—Wait, so does that mean the chairman and the executives all have their stats capped at 1,000,000?

Jiseon's sharp question.

But Yeongwoo had no knowledge to answer that.

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“I don’t know. The cap might be different for each race, or maybe…”

Yeongwoo trailed off, then immediately pulled out Bastard and stabbed it into his own thigh.

Squelch!

—What the hell, you lunatic.

His thigh was effortlessly pierced, and blood began gushing out.

Yeongwoo quickly checked his stat screen.

To his surprise—

『Character: Jeong Yeongwoo07』

[Strength] 1,250,000

[Endurance] 1,000,000

[Durability] 1,000,000

[Senses] 1,000,000

Thanks to the effect of the jewel Masochism, his Strength had increased exactly by 25%.

‘As expected.’

Even though his stats had hit the cap, external boosts still applied.

“We can surpass the stat limit using equipment effects.”

—What? So, in the end, it’s all about equipment?

“Hm.”

An equipment battle.

That made sense, but it didn’t fully explain the overwhelming strength of the top-tier beings.

‘So just having good gear would make me as strong as the chairman or Mara? That doesn’t quite add up.’

Of course, if someone was covered in dozens of mythical-grade items, it might be possible, but that was practically unfeasible.

Moreover, since the stat cap was 1,000,000, Yeongwoo now had a whopping 6 billion still left unspent.

“I ended up with a lot of leftover money.”

—Oh? Then why don’t you hand that money over to us—

Before Jiseon could finish her sentence, Yeongwoo’s eyes suddenly turned bright blue.

Flash!

—Oh, come on, what now?

Jiseon instinctively took two steps back.

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo was too absorbed in the strange text appearing in his vision.

「You have reached the ‘End.’」

‘…The end?’

He had a vague idea of what it meant.

It likely signified that he had reached the absolute peak of growth possible through conventional means on Earth.

‘Then what’s next? Don’t tell me I’m stuck at the bottom just because I’m from Earth?’

The universe was a place of karma and opportunity.

Having dared to summon third-class beings for a ritual, Yeongwoo had no choice but to believe that.

No matter how much of a backwater planet he came from, he was certain that with the right lineage, he could establish a family and survive in the universe.

That’s why he had founded Renaissance today.

‘Didn’t they say I have a meeting with the board later? I better show them something impressive.’

As Yeongwoo stared at the word End, the text in his vision vanished—only for golden waves to suddenly flood his sight.

「Prestige Level has now been unlocked!」

“What?”

Prestige.

It was a familiar term.

In the universe, prestige was the measure of one's existential power.

It was the reason beings like Mara could suppress lesser creatures with just a glance.

‘But there’s a level system for prestige?’

As Yeongwoo blinked, golden letters slowly engraved themselves at the center of his vision.

Flash!

[Prestige Level: 0]

Then, the golden waves swirling around the edges of his vision all surged upwards at once.

Sssssshhhhh!

‘W-What is this?’

Before he could react, the number 0—his current Prestige Level—began to glow red.

「Assessing initial Prestige Level.」

“……?”

「+1 for surviving a Reset.」

‘What the—’

「+1 for dungeon breakthroughs.」

「+33 for possessing a Myth.」

‘Huh?’

Just having a Myth had instantly added 33 points to his Prestige Level.

It seemed each accomplishment had its own weight, almost like earning experience points for a character level-up.

And then—

「+0.1 for encountering a 4th-class being.」

「+0.2 for battling a 4th-class being.」

「+2 for encountering a 3rd-class being.」

「+0.1 for possessing 10 billion Karma.」

The Prestige Level gain began to slow down noticeably.

‘So, the higher the level, the more experience it requires.’

「+0.5 for being a Family Head.」

Even Family Head carried significant weight.

And finally—

「Prestige Level has been finalized at 37!」

With that, Yeongwoo’s “placement test” was complete.

[Prestige Level: 37]

|90/100

Required Karma per point: 130 million

Prestige Level 37, with 90% of the requirement filled for the next level.

He didn’t know exactly what kind of position this gave him in the universe, but one thing was certain.

「Lesser beings detected nearby. Caution is advised when using Prestige.」

What he had joked about earlier—killing people with just a glance—had now become his reality.

‘W-Wait, is “lesser being” an official term?’

A chill ran down his spine.

The term “lesser being,” which high-ranking entities used so casually, wasn’t just arrogance born from strength.

From their perspective, the beings around them truly were lesser creatures.

And now, based on his Prestige Level of 37…

—What’s with this guy? Why does he look like that?

“Yeongwoo, are you okay? You don’t look so good…”

Jiseon and Jeonggu, sensing something was off, felt an inexplicable chill as they observed Yeongwoo.

Then, Yeongwoo’s lips curled into a grin.

“Haha, you lesser beings!”

—…What?

“What are you waiting for? Bring me my eyes and my spear at once!”

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