Chapter 26
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Logging into Chrono Rhea (2)
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Equipped my gear and immediately headed to the hunting grounds.
The target: the Lamenting Snowfield.
It used to be a high-level zone where even in a party, you'd have to hammer the keyboard for over ten seconds just to take down one monster.
"Now it's just a mid-tier hunting spot..."
The level cap had gone up, and spec inflation had kicked in...
Still felt a little bittersweet.
For reference, there used to be a debuff that drained a percentage of HP every five seconds.
Seemed like that had been patched out now—no more cold penalty.
[Arrived at the Lamenting Snowfield.]
[A nearby Yeti is watching you.]
At the same moment the alerts popped up, a massive Yeti monster roared and charged straight at me.
Back in the day, I'd have popped buff potions and skills right away, but things were different now.
Kaboom!
The skill voice effect was pretty damn loud.
Power Strike
-4,520,391 HP
[1,987,100 EXP gained!]
[3,312 gold gained!]
"...?"
The hunting log popped up in the bottom right corner, and the Yeti was gone.
Our strongest monster, the Yeti, shattered without even a scream.
It took less than two seconds.
No, it felt like one second.
"Whoa, damn. Inflation is scary as hell."
Used to take over twenty seconds to kill one of these before.
Now? One skill shot and it's dead.
I got hyped and dashed around the snowfield.
Blasted skills at every monster in sight.
The core thrill of an RPG: the stronger you get, the faster the hunts, addicted to that rush, craving even more power.
After playing a game where thirty-five monsters vaporize in one skill, doing this one-by-one meticulously hits different.
While I was lost in mindless grinding, someone appeared in the corner of the screen.
[ID: Suwon Ingye-dong Panty Thief Kim Heung-do]
Vile-ass nickname.
Yet this priest character was decked out in Taegwang Heavenly Divine Robe—an immortal-tier item.
Didn't seem like he was there to hunt. More like just passing through.
But then he spotted my character, stopped dead, and started circling me.
"What the...?"
I was mid-kill on a monster, so no chatting.
Sure enough, he messaged first.
[Who are you?]
I pulled my hands off the keyboard and stared blankly at the screen.
Normally in games, when you run into someone, it's "Hi!" or "Taking this spot!" or "GTFO!" right?
This "Who are you?" out of nowhere was so absurd I just typed a question mark in chat.
[?]
[Who are you?]
[Never seen your ID before.]
[Stranger hunting here, got curious.]
[First time today?]
Could a first-timer today hit level 85?
Dunno about that, but he seemed intrigued by the new face.
Concurrent players: 500.
That's not per channel—whole server.
About the size of one guild in a major MMO.
Meaning the vets all knew each other.
Like a stranger rolling into a rural Gangwon-do village—every granny at the community hall comes out yelling, "Whose boy are you?"
[Yeah.]
[Returning after a long break.]
[Ahh~ That explains why you seemed unfamiliar lol]
[Guild? Wanna join ours if not?]
[90% of concurrents are us.]
[Think it over.]
[YY, whisper if you need anything.]
[Got tons of spare pots, want some?]
He slapped a trade request on me without waiting for a reply—500 top-grade potions loaded up.
No time to decline; accept button clicked itself.
[Sent you a friend request.]
[Ask me anything you don't know.]
[Have fun~]
He tossed a cool wave emote, piled every buff skill on my character, and bounced.
I stared blankly at the potions now in my inventory.
Each one's worth 500 won...
Just handed over 250,000 won worth and dipped?
"Whoa... rural hospitality is insane."
What the hell was that game where they taxidermied you for boss order fees?
This treatment felt strangely good.
And at the same time...
My gut screamed this was prime content.
Title like Rural Hospitality of a Dying Shitty Game would pull mad clicks, right?
'Shorts this and 20 million views is a joke~'
Hit stop record right away, transferred the file to my phone.
Commanded the AI app:
"From the footage I just recorded, cut the hunting scenes and the chat with [Suwon Ingye-dong Panty Thief Kim Heung-do], make it a Shorts."
[Understood. Please wait a moment.]
AI whipped it up in three minutes flat.
[Back in Chrono Rhea after ages, grinding away.]
[Fancy skill effects deleting monsters.]
[Suwon Ingye-dong Panty Thief Kim Heung-do entrance scene.]
Caption: Sudden local appears
[Chat zoom: Who are you?]
[Dumping potions scene.]
Caption: Vet spots newbie, goes feral handing out freebies lmao
Video turned out slick as hell.
Great pacing, and that editing touch zooming in on the priest's baffled expression at the end? Chef's kiss.
Uploaded it to YouTube Shorts.
Title: Rural Hospitality of a Dying Shitty Game.
Kept grinding hard after posting.
Got so hooked I binged eight-plus hours straight.
Eventually curiosity hit—checked YouTube.
"Holy shit. What is this."
Fired up YouTube Studio app, and the views graph was shooting straight up.
Already over 8 million views.
As expected, comments were a total warzone.
Lmao 500 concurrents? My apartment block's residents meeting has more turnout lololol
Apartment meeting looking like a raid boss now? 😂
That "Who are you?" is straight-up horror vibes. Like rural villagers side-eyeing an outsider.
Fr lol "Ain't you the second son from the Kim family down the valley?" Pure that energy.
Not tribalism. Endangered species spotting fresh genes and losing their shit. Panicking over breeding rejection.
Yo but that YouTuber dropping cash on this dead game? Legend. Server wipe turns data to scraps, black sheep kek.
Moo~ 🐄
Chrono Rhea vet here;; those are freebies fyi;;
Freebies? You're nuts
Look at 'em heals and buffs. Desperate so newbies don't bail ㅠㅠ
So wholesome. Our game's scraping rice grains lol
This guy's comment history is rice bug tier?
*ptoo ptoo ptoo*
500 pots? Bribery offensive on max. Curse to keep you logged in till you use 'em all.
Was that it? Lmao
Free swag turning into curses now lol
Romantic af. Look at roguelikes now—newbie shows up, instant shank and ban. These guys are angels.
That's when pop's high lol. Here one player is VIP. Stranded on a desert island, you'd offer your liver too.
Game still alive? Lmao nostalgia hits. Quit as a kid after enhancement fail. Graphics smell like straight dogshit tho. Worse than modern mobiles.
Dogshit? It's classic, noob.
Yeaaah~ Dead game simp arrested~ Got server fees? Lol
No way you get hacked here
Fr lol guildies report hacker on sight.
Why report?
Logging in off-schedule = report lol. Bet they even DM "Legit login?" kek
Chill-inducing af.
Lmao detective skills maxed.
Pot giveaway means economy tanked. Rice grinders here won't even hit min wage. Electric bill higher.
Still 500 won each tho.
What soil? 500 of 'em?
250k donation lol
Rice grinding viable now?
No rice possible. Sellers everywhere, no buyers—exchange frozen.
Ah.
BGM hits and I'm tearing up... Snowfield, Dragon Palace, main castle themes are bangers.
Fr. Miss yelling for tank LFG in party finder. Empty now...
South side party recruit was tradition.
Met my first love there too.
Wtf is this dude on now?
Everyone did back then, kid.
LFG cash shop sugar baby@@@@
Memories beautiful when left as memories. Log in now? Deleted in 5 mins.
These types: Classic server drops, they no-life 21/24 lol
Hard facts lol
Rice grinding on god mode lol
Ha, never thought I'd see the day sharing nostalgia like this.
Felt the same vibe when I dropped the fan theory vid.
Scrolled the comments slowly.
Then spotted one with the official account logo.
Hero, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for relighting the night sky of the fading Chrono continent.
We dream of the day scattered heroes gather again, kindle a campfire, and reminisce old adventures—guarding this place silently till then.
To new heroes being born, and legends vanished into history...
Until the final lantern of Chrono flickers out, we'll wait here unchanging.
What was this touching-ass message?
Tears welled up a bit.
Most official game accounts drop stiff "Thanks" replies, but this dripped sincerity.
Evoked that old vibe of huddling round a campfire, chatting all night.
Pinned it without hesitation.
Replies exploded instantly.
Whoa official showed up irl?
Yo not working? On YouTube? Lol patch pls
Bro why you here...? Thought server shutdown notice, had a heart attack.
ㅠㅠ Why so sad... Can feel the dev crying.
Main pinning dead game official lolol what a guy
Retarded but cool...
Oxygen mask on shutdown patient lol. Shit-talker YouTuber's first saved game?
Grinning satisfied at the screen.
This should pull in extra players.
Ah, but if users flood in, what about Darkness Soul Land?
Yumina'll be too slammed to handle it.
Plans keep flipping. Damn.