Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Sealed Holy Sword and Rice Farmer Frenzy
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If the Empire had its "Divine Treasures," then the Church had its "Holy Relics."
There were three of each, and I was wearing all of the Empire's Divine Treasures.
The laurel crown, the robe, and the famed sword.
Equipment so powerful it could turn a village shepherd named Hans into a veteran knight.
Yet even those Divine Treasures were mere rare artifacts compared to the Holy Relics.
Of course, that was by the standards of a thousand years ago.
A millennium later, things had changed a great deal.
For starters, all of the Church's Holy Relics had been lost.
I'm not really the religious type, so I never bothered looking into where they'd gone.
I certainly never imagined I'd stumble upon a sealed holy sword in a place like this.
The path to finding this sealed holy sword had been straightforward enough.
It was buried in the spot where ghouls and skeleton knights respawned especially quickly.
Inside a single coffin. And within that coffin lay a rusted sword—the true nature of which was a sealed holy sword.
"Pera, is that an item?"
Suzuka had sidled up next to me before I knew it, so I shared the item's info window with her.
⚙ ITEM INFO ⚙ [Rusted Sword Corrupted by a Peculiar Energy] *Unappraised "Unappraised?"
"Looks like you need the Appraisal skill from one of the sub-jobs, Appraiser, to see the details."
Even so, Appraisal alone wouldn't break the seal on a holy sword.
The skill only revealed info on unappraised items, after all.
"That's why we need appraisers."
I glanced at Suzuka, who was staring fixedly at the sealed holy sword, and casually asked,
"Want it?"
"Nah, my inventory's full."
Fair enough. We'd picked up a ton of junk from hunting.
My inventory was on the verge of bursting as it was.
At first glance, the sealed holy sword looked so nasty I didn't even want to touch it.
'Just leave it here?'
The Goddess statue's true form—a so-called goddess who wasn't actually a god, but a transcendent being.
She was an Object of Destruction, the most dangerous enemy in this world.
Freed from her interference, the Church had undergone massive changes under the Saintess's hand.
She'd executed the hero hypnotized and brainwashed by the Goddess with her own hands.
And buried the holy sword—a byproduct of that Object of Destruction—right here.
'Still, it's a growth-type weapon.'
It bore the grand name of holy sword, but...
Neglected for ages amid the Saintess's religious reforms, it had lost most of its power.
And now it was sealed to boot, so properly wielding it would take a ton of time and effort.
Weighing all that, I concluded it was fine to just leave it.
'Who knew the Saintess executed the hero herself.'
The execution of the hero, corrupted and fallen under the Goddess's brainwashing.
It was the very first act of the Saintess who sparked the religious reforms.
"I'll call it here."
Time had flown by in the heat of the fun, and I wanted to keep going, but...
Ever since discovering the sealed holy sword, it had been nagging at me.
There might be more stuff like this lurking around.
"Aw, leaving already?"
"'Already' is a stretch when the sun's about to rise."
As a farewell, I sent Suzuka a friend request.
She looked a bit disappointed, but smiled in satisfaction at the request.
"See you later, then!"
"Yeah. Let's party up next time."
We made plans for later, and I logged out.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Since its official launch, Akare had been on a tear, raking in huge success.
Meanwhile, the PC gaming industry was in the worst slump ever.
The world's first virtual reality game, Akashic Records, had crashed onto the scene out of nowhere.
It was like a massive meteor slamming into the dinosaur age.
Even setting aside its groundbreaking VR title...
The gameplay and polish were top-notch.
But not everyone logging in was there purely for the fun.
📱 [Indie Minor Game Gallery] 📰 Post Title Obsidian Staff prices are insane lol ㅋㅋ (Cash trading site screenshot) Is a level 20 staff really worth this much? Two million won in cash? For real? Should've rolled a Cleric and farmed Cradle of Black Magic on repeat... Upvotes: 450 | Downvotes: 222 💬 [352 Comments] — Anon1 Early days, huh? Bubble's massive. — Anon2 One of those gets you a free pass to 30. — Anon3 If it was a bubble, it wouldn't sell like that. — Anon4 No drops outside the proper level range either. Drop two mil and hunt easy. Nice. — Anon5 Not pay-to-win~ — Anon6 Farm those and you're at 200 mil instantly? Good luck and monthly paychecks easy lol It all started with cash trading prices for the "Obsidian Staff" item.
The boss of the Cradle of Black Magic dungeon dropped it at an extremely low rate.
That Obsidian Staff outperformed every other staff in its level bracket by a mile.
With just one, you could power-level comfortably all the way to 30.
📰 Post Title Serious talk: Isn't there a problem with Obsidian Staffs? Cradle boss is level 17. Proper range (-5~+5), no drops after 23. Demand skyrocketing, supply can't keep up. Remove drop rate adjustment entirely to boost supply? Upvote if agree. Upvotes: 150 | Downvotes: 1999 💬 [561 Comments] — Anon1 Rice drifters what? — Anon2 All you rice-munching bastards drop dead. Yeah it's mages but staff supply is low af. — Anon3 Thanksgiving = Rice Muncher Festival lol — Anon4 Lmao Clerics spamming back button in panic. The fledgling economy needed time to stabilize.
The Obsidian Staff issue would sort itself out eventually.
But Akare's explosive popularity had inflated prices beyond reason.
📰 Post Title Sharing the ultimate rice farming route 1. Create Cleric character 2. Cradle spin-to-win to 23 3. Delete character Repeat 1-3 infinitely (Monthly paycheck proof screenshot) Recreating chars takes a day but worth it? Upvotes: 250 | Downvotes: 1446 💬 [447 Comments] — Anon1 Cleric << GOAT rice farm job — Anon2 Job perception totally fucked lol Already low pop too smh Pls don't do this — Anon3 Proof pic is photoshopped (low-effort post link) Clerics were the absolute best class for farming Obsidian Staffs.
Because of that, their reputation tanked—heck, they were halfway to public enemy status.
Cleric = rice farmer, rice muncher.
Legit players couldn't help but feel hard done by.
Pour your heart into a job, only for it to morph into "rice muncher" overnight?
Human nature—you lose attachment to the characters.
No use protesting; public opinion wasn't on their side.
Isolation from outsiders leads to infighting.
📰 Post Title It's all that Cleric from Suzuka's stream (Screenshot of Pera reaching out to zombie) How to max-damage undead with Cleric heals Ever since that aired, Cleric rice farming exploded Basically opened the rice muncher era Bonus: Cleric image ruined Upvotes: 565 | Downvotes: 404 💬 [411 Comments] — Anon1 Rice clerics killing normies now too? — Anon2 Getting triggered by rice clerics smh "Rice cleric" sounds nuts lol — Anon3 What'd our rice saint lady say/do Rice saint what Cleric perception fucked Just give up, too late The one who spread the word that Cleric heals wrecked undead monsters.
Wait... that was me.
"This is so unfair."
It felt so wrong.
How to max-damage undead with heals?
Info that had already spread far and wide—anyone in the know was in the know.
Clerics were just rare enough that guides and tips hadn't proliferated quickly.
So I aired it loud and clear on Suzuka's stream.
Never dreamed it'd boomerang like this.
Unfair. So unfair.
"Greetings, Rice Muncher Saintess."
"What're you even saying, Aka-chan."
How'd my director alt end up with a nickname like Rice Muncher Saintess?
I figured being linked to Suzuka would get some community mentions.
But a full-blown title like Rice Muncher Saintess? Never saw that coming.
For real.
"Aka-chan, should we shut down trading?"
The situation had heated up more than expected.
No telling how far the flames might spread if left unchecked.
"Pass. Not recommended."
"Aka-chan, stop checking the forums."
"Query? Master is deeper in forum addiction."
Couldn't argue, so I stayed quiet.
'Ban trading outright?'
That'd fix rice farming instantly.
But it didn't feel right. Undermined player freedom.
'Just stay hands-off?'
It'd probably resolve itself over time anyway.
Rice farming violated terms of service to begin with.
Ban for TOS breaks, done.
No plans to abuse that, though.
'Set clear guidelines.'
Workshop-level rice farming gets instant bans.
Small pocket money side hustle? Fine.
Mass-scale bot farms? No mercy.
"Hmm... Wonder if there's someone to set precise criteria..."
Aka-chan had already sensed the crisis and bailed.
Tch. Hate how quick that kid is on the uptake.
Someone to establish rules and manage enforcement.
I headed to where that person was.
The library, stocked with most books on modern knowledge.
Piles of books towered in the center.
And before them sat the Crown Prince, flipping pages and devouring knowledge.
"How's it going lately?"
"Thanks to you, I'm enjoying myself."
"Can tell."
Ahem.
After clearing my throat, I explained why I'd come.
"For someone who set the mood so dramatically, it's a surprisingly simple task."
"And annoyingly tedious."
I'd basically declared nepotism outright.
But the Crown Prince seemed pleased, closing his book.
"You always dump the annoying stuff on me."
"Did I...? Can't quite recall."
"Well, I'm used to it now."
I sat beside the Crown Prince and casually asked,
"When do you wanna sightsee the real world?"
"Hm..."
The Crown Prince glanced back and forth between the towering books and me.
"One more week..."
"Got it. We'll go in a week."
We set the date, I said goodbye, and left the library.