[Humans believed they could obtain divine power from the 'Monument of New Moon' and started a war to seek it.]

‘Do they fight all the time?’

[The war was long. 10 years, 20 years, and finally 50 years. However, humans who emerged victorious from the war could not gain any power from the 'Monument of New Moon. It only brought disaster instead.]

‘Humans are the problem again.’

The history of war in this world was mostly caused by humans, initiated by humans, and humans were the problem. That was the only content.

Elves and spirits pursued peace, while dwarves were only interested in pounding the ground with their iron fists.

The various races like gnomes and kobolds formed their own tribes, enjoying a modest life of foraging and singing songs among themselves.

Only humans desired something, coveted and seized it to make it their own.

He really couldn’t tell who the demons were.

[When it was confirmed that the 'Monument of New Moon was no longer benevolent towards humans, the dark mages' religion, the "Dark Magic Faction," began to actively operate.]

"Ugh...!"

After slurping up the last drop of jjamppong broth, he patted his stomach. The restaurant owner was staring at him as if he were a strange creature.

[The leader of the Dark Magic Faction said, "The power of the Monument of New Moon is no longer exclusive to you. We, too, can obtain power from the New Moon.” The mages didn't believe it, but those words soon became a reality. Because...]

’Ow, my head.’

Everything was fine, except that the mental strain from the Direct Neural Interface was causing a headache.

[Mental Stamina EXP +0.01%]

Still, it was good to engage in this consistent mental stamina training. Even simply using the Direct Neural Interface had slightly increased the ability stat of mental stamina.

[The dark mages summoned mysterious powers from another realm and used magic to create a Persona Gate by punching a hole in reality. And in this place, common sense doesn't apply at all…]

‘Wait.’

[Yes, please speak.]

’Your voice sounds a bit monotonous. Can you read it with a little more tenderness?’

Right now, it felt like a machine was reading it. Even though it was actually a machine.

[How exactly would you like me to read it?]

‘Um... read it like a lover.’

[Such a function does not exist.]

‘Or like a girlfriend.’

[It would be easier and faster to get a girlfriend and ask her to read it instead.]

‘You're really getting on my nerves.’

As Baek Yu-Seol’s headache worsened, he disabled the voice output function and checked his stats.

[Baek Yu-Seol]

[Stats]

[Strength: 2 stars (61%)]

[Senses: 2 stars (45%)]

[Agility: 2 stars (42%)]

[Endurance: 2 stars (12%)]

[Tenacity: 0 stars (97%)]

[Mental Stamina: 1 star (59%)]

[Mana: ~]

Perhaps it was due to consistent exercise while walking around the Leafbane territory, his stats had accumulated tremendously. However, even utilizing that place had started to reach its limit.

'Divine Erosion.'

Other humans don't have their lifespan reduced when training in the Spirit's Garden. It was because they didn’t suffer from Mana Accumulation Retardation.

Leafbane's Garden was truly a great training ground, but now it was time to gradually restrain himself due to the immense penalty of 'Divine Erosion.'

He had no idea how to reduce this Divine Erosion, let alone decrease it.

Once the erosion level rose, it was highly likely that it wouldn’t decrease permanently, so one must be cautious.

By the way, it was about time to restore the other functions of the Direct Neural Interface.

Among the many functions lost with the spec, there was also the 'Persona Gate Pattern Analysis.'

Literally, it was a function that thoroughly analyzed the Persona Gate and derived the fastest and easiest path to the correct answer, allowing players to navigate the Persona Gate without getting lost and taking clear actions.

If one were to make a comparison, it was similar to the quest notification system in an RPG, which marked the directions on the minimap.

Without it, he would wander foolishly in this [episode].

Unlike other mages who had mana and could analyze the patterns of the Persona Gate, he didn't possess such remarkable abilities.

Thanks to the academic presentation where he assisted Alterisha, he received several rewards.

It could be inheriting some of the items and skills possessed by the character Baek Yu-Seol, or restoring some of the functions of the downgraded items he currently possessed.

Of course, even if he chose to restore the downgraded items, it wouldn’t mean he could restore all of their functions, so he still couldn't expect them to be on the level of ancient relics.

However, it was entirely possible to restore one of the key functions of the Sentient Spec.

[Partial functions of the item <Sentient Spec> have been activated.]

[▶Phenomenon Analysis]

[Telescope]

[▶Infrared Vision]

Whether it was because of sufficient narrative power or not, some of the functions that were lost had been restored as a bonus.

With this much, he wondered if receiving other items wouldn't result in a significant downgrade.

Anyway, now that he could enter the Persona Gate without getting lost, he felt relieved.

The next day.

"First-year students, please choose the Persona Gate you wish to train in."

When that message was broadcasted through the academy announcement, Baek Yu-Seol immediately headed to the classroom bulletin board.

The students were already buzzing with excitement.

[1st Year Class S, Rank 1141, Baek Yu-Seol]

[You have chosen the C-7 practice site.]

Baek Yu-Seol tapped on the holographic board and selected the gate where the incident was scheduled to occur.

Luckily, the capacity hadn't been exceeded yet.

The slight worry here was that the C-7 Persona Gate, where the incident would happen, had a maximum capacity of 16 people.

Since he took someone's spot, one person wouldn’t be able to enter here.

What if key figures like Edna or Eisel couldn’t enter?

[C-7 Team List]

[Edna, Jecky, Baek Yu-Seol, Ivan, Eisel, Karschel, Gellion....]

There were currently 7 spots filled. Most of the key figures had already applied.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to participate in this practice with Mayuseong or Haewonryang, but since Eisel and Edna were here, they wouldn’t fail in conquering the Persona Gate.

Anyway, he didn’t plan to have much involvement in the strategy against the final boss.

The hidden reward, the "Enchanting Tree's Petal," was all he needed to obtain.