Only I know about “Level Up” in this world

31/05/2022PC

“I am the one who will eat you.”

Aiming at the ogre’s exposed nape, I stabbed the knife with a backhanded grip and rammed it in deep by striking the knife’s hilt with my left hand. Combined with the momentum of my fall, the knife went straight through and out his throat.

“…..Aaah…..eh….?”

The ogre was in shock and utterly baffled about what had just happened to him. After a short frozen moment, blood began to fountain out of his throat in a neat arc.

“….Haa….Haaa, eh….?”

The ogre tried to raise a cry by stemming the flow of blood from the base of his throat. However, all that came out was the rasping of air escaping his throat. He then fell face down into a pool of his own blood.

——Subjugation complete.

“Phew….”

I could finally relax a bit. It’s been 18 long years for this moment to arrive, I somehow managed it well. Even though I’ve been hiding and training myself all these years, my body still doesn’t move as well as I want it to at Level 1. Most of my magic was also used up in those few seconds, making me quite dizzy.

“(If it’s this bad, no wonder a normal human can’t win against a monster.)”

There is a huge gulf between the physical abilities of an ogre at Level 10 and a human at Level 1. That difference is likely more than the 10 times indicated by their Levels. In addition, humans are always under the watch of these monsters and can’t make any suspicious moves. Forget learning about magic, they can’t even get their hands on something that could serve as a weapon. The only way to get a decent weapon was to enter the ogres’ kitchen like this. And if that weapon wasn’t fortified using “Material Strengthening” magic it wouldn’t have even managed to scratch the ogre’s skin. Even though I used a pretty fuel efficient magic like strengthening magic, at Level 1 I can’t even use it for 10 seconds without my magic being completely depleted.

“(They are thoroughly controlling all aspects of humans’ lives so that they can never go against monsters.)”

I couldn’t help but heave a sigh at such a situation. Due to it, it took me so long to kill just one ogre. I don’t know what is going on outside the walls of this town either. Though, considering how the ogres treat the humans here, I can just about guess the state outside the town too. The other towns and cities are most likely in a similar state and probably no one has managed to defeat the monsters. In the first place, no one might have even stood up to them.

(“I am probably the only exception…”)

The monsters could never have expected someone like me to exist. Since the day I was born, I knew how to use magic, various martial arts and I also knew the weaknesses of monsters. Most importantly, I knew for a fact that humans can defeat monsters. Indeed, I have such knowledge because I have the memories from my previous life.

——Theo Road, the Adventure King.

That was how I was known in my previous life. Renown as the strongest human, the world’s only S-Rank adventurer. There was no place in this world I hadn’t explored and no monster I couldn’t defeat. Grasslands, mountains, forests, caverns, oceans, the sky……I had ventured to every sphere without exception. I defeated every monster that appeared before me no matter how powerful it was.

(“……No one would believe me even if I said all this.”)

If I had not actually been able to use magic, even I would have thought I was delusional. That was how absurd my memories were from the perspective of a human living in this time period.

In the first place, I have no clue as to why I reincarnated. I did remember hearing from Morigana, an alchemist acquaintance from my previous life, that “There have been cases were strong souls were reincarnated with their states preserved.” However, I’ve never heard of a case where someone retained so much of their past life memories. Besides, I don’t remember how I died either. I get this feeling that I made a very important promise to someone before I died, but I don’t actually remember what the promise was.

(“Still, these memories really saved my life.”)

If the knowledge of magic and martial arts weren’t so well preserved I would never have been able to beat an ogre at Level 1. In the first place, I wouldn’t have even thought of fighting against them.

——Humans can never win against monsters.

I would have joined this chorus like everyone else. However, only I know that…

——Humans can win against monsters.

No, not just win…humans have the potential to become the strongest race in the world because despite being born as the weakest, they have the greatest blessing that gives them that potential.

(“Oh…it’s here.”)

A light bloomed from the Level crest on the ogre’s shoulder and began to be absorbed into the Level crest on the back of my hand. In that instant…

“Tsu…!!”

I shivered as if my body was struck by lightning1. It felt as if a surge of energy was directly injected into my blood stream. Simultaneously, the Level crest on the back of my hand transformed.

(“Level 5 huh.”)

Level, a metric that is determined by one’s race, whose value signifies the worth of a life. That value is decided at birth and never changes…unless you are a human. They are the only ones who are given the gift that can overcome this rule…

——Level Up.

A gift that allows them to receive the life force of a monster they killed and use it as fuel to raise their own level. Humans are born with a Level of 1, but if they manage to defeat monsters there is no limit to how strong they can grow. Thus, humans are the weakest in order to be the strongest.

Still, the humans of this time who haven’t been able to kill monsters for so long have even forgotten that they can Level Up by doing so. Well, thinking about that now is not going to get me anywhere. Leaving that aside….

“(Shall I begin…?)”

Now that I’ve killed this ogre, there is no going back. Soon, the other ogres will discover his body. This is not the time to be lost in thought, I need to find a way to escape from this town. But, before that…,

——-Let’s subjugate every last ogre in this town.

T/N Notes: