Overlord: Welcoming the Birth of the King
Chapter 2: Innate Ability: Player 7

Watching anime from the perspective of "Nazarick's Great Tomb of Nazarick," it's pure enjoyment - an unstoppable force crushing everything in its path. But from the viewpoint of humans in that other world, it's endless despair, with the tomb's inhabitants being nothing short of world-ending demons.

Of course.

Tang Zheng felt no sense of belonging to either side. What truly worried him was the consequences if his identity as a transmigrator were exposed after joining the Sorcerer Kingdom.

The Sorcerer Kingdom was ultimately just a tool for the Overlord to rule the world. Neither the Overlord nor the Floor Guardians of Nazarick cared about anything beyond the Great Tomb.

Especially the Overlord, who would mercilessly destroy anyone or anything that posed even a potential threat to Nazarick.

Even if Tang Zheng meant no harm, simply being exposed as a transmigrator would mark him as a threat in the Overlord's eyes, warranting immediate elimination.

During this process.

Tang Zheng was certain the Overlord would subject him to the Torturer's interrogation first. Having been just an ordinary office worker before transmigrating, he doubted he could withstand even mild torture, let alone the Torturer's methods.

Moreover, there was an even greater likelihood of the Overlord using memory-extraction magic on him first, turning him into a mindless husk before execution.

Tang Zheng roughly rubbed his cheeks, hoping the pain would wake him from this nightmare. Yet the world around him remained stubbornly real.

What terrible luck!

Following the bustling crowd, Tang Zheng gloomily found a spot by a shop's wall and slumped down.

He wasn't tired.

In fact, his energy and stamina far surpassed his previous sub-healthy state. Looking at his arms, he could see clearly defined muscles.

Tang Zheng had already confirmed this was indeed his body, albeit in its sixteen or seventeen-year-old version - though he'd only been twenty-five before transmigrating.

This physical transformation must be related to his cheat ability - more precisely, his "Innate Ability"!

Narrowing his eyes slightly, a status screen visible only to him appeared, divided into two sections.

[Status Panel]

Player: Tang Zheng

Karma: 0 [Neutral]

HP: 13 (1%) MP: 13 (1%)

Physical Attack: 13 (1%)

Physical Defense: 13 (1%)

Agility: 13 (1%)

Magic Attack: 13 (1%)

Magic Defense: 13 (1%)

Composite Resistance: 0 (0%)

Special: 0 (0%)

Total: 7%

…………

[Ability Panel]

Innate Ability: [Player]

Composite Level: 0 (No Class)

EXP: 0/100

Class: None

Skill Points: 0

Passive Skills: Item Box

Active Skills: None

————

Tang Zheng focused on his Innate Ability in the Ability Panel.

[Innate Ability: Player - Gains player characteristics. (Undetectable, Unstealable)]

The description was remarkably brief.

The status screen before him was likely a manifestation of these player characteristics.

As they say, "The fewer the words, the bigger the implications."

Being an experienced gamer, Tang Zheng could roughly guess the capabilities implied by the "Player" characteristic.

"Innate Abilities" didn't exist in the "Overlord" game - they were special powers unique to humans in this other world.

Their occurrence rate was surprisingly high, with about one in every two hundred humans possessing one. However, most were extremely weak abilities offering no combat advantage.

In gaming terms, they were like special skills innate to this world's humans.

Setting other aspects aside.

The "Player" characteristic meant he could level up, unaffected by human limitations or talents.

Yet!

Even knowing he possessed such an ability, Tang Zheng's sense of helplessness remained undiminished.

This was ultimately another world, not the "Overlord" game.

Even if he used his Innate Ability to reach level 100 before Nazarick's arrival, he'd still be no match for the Overlord.

How could a barebones level 100 compete against the Overlord with his divine-class equipment, cash shop items, and World Items?

Moreover!

Nazarick contained more than just one level 100 being!

Precisely because Tang Zheng understood Nazarick's terror better than anyone in this world, he fully grasped the insurmountable gap in their power.

"All base stats at 13 points. Though I currently have no class, purely in terms of numbers, this should already surpass this world's ordinary people."

Examining his status values, Tang Zheng silently considered the enhanced physical strength and vitality he now felt.

These weren't just game numbers - they perfectly reflected his actual physical condition!

Tang Zheng could even sense a unique energy within his body - likely mana.

By this world's standards, he possessed "Magic Caster" aptitude.

The percentage values after each stat.

Were a unique calculation method from the "Overlord" game.

If Tang Zheng remembered correctly, the Overlord's composite value was "683.6%+?%", with the "?" because his mana had exceeded limits.

The light novels mentioned that average level 100 players had about 1300 MP, while the Overlord's reached 1.5 times the maximum value.

Hmm... such was the power of whales!

Tang Zheng had previously researched some mechanics of "YGGDRASIL," the game world of "Overlord."

He speculated that excluding equipment bonuses, average player attributes across races should be equal.

After all, only with identical ceilings could game balance and fairness be maintained.

[Note: Setting each attribute's maximum percentage at 1300 is a personal choice, both for aligning with character stat tables in the light novels and preventing confusion in the story's numerical system.]

Therefore!

Theoretically, each level up would increase all stats by 13 points, reaching exactly 1300 at level 100.

But theory differed from reality.

Because different classes boosted different stats - warrior classes only increased HP, physical attack, physical defense, and agility, while caster classes boosted MP, magic attack, magic defense, special, etc.

Additionally.

Among playable races beyond humans, demi-humans and heteromorphs had unique racial classes.

Take dragons, the strongest in this world - they had six racial classes (Wyrmling, Young, Adult, Old, Ancient, Elder).

Maxing all six required 50 levels, meaning only 50 levels remained for class construction.

Humans lacking racial classes was both disadvantage and advantage - all 100 levels could be used for class construction.

Thus at maximum level, the gap between the three major races wasn't significant.

Hence.

Even the Overlord only maxed out two stats - "MP" and "Special" at 100% each.

Tang Zheng glanced up at the street crowd. Seeing no one watching, he reached into his rough-spun clothes' pocket and pulled out a palm-sized rye loaf.

Though called black bread, it was actually dark brown.

A bit hard and coarse, but not unpalatable.

At two loaves per copper coin, basic goods in this world seemed reasonably priced.

With limited funds, every bit saved counted.

This bread hadn't actually been in his pocket, but retrieved from his "Item Box." His original clothes and acquired coins were stored there.

The "Item Box" was essentially the game's inventory system.

From Tang Zheng's observation, its storage space was vast but finite - otherwise "YGGDRASIL" wouldn't have included items like "Bottomless Bags."

Though called "bottomless," these too had limits, serving as supplements when the Item Box filled up.

Tang Zheng shoved the bread into his mouth, biting off a chunk and chewing noisily.

Last night's dinner had been one such loaf - he'd lasted until now, but hunger was setting in.

This gnawing hunger reminded Tang Zheng that while "Player" was his Innate Ability, this was an undeniably real world!

He could feel hunger, exhaustion... and yes, he could die!