The First Major Update of the Game
The game connected, and suddenly the inn appeared.
On the bottom floor, Fersin sat quietly.
[You have entered the inn.]
Cain’s voice rang out in the text chat. [Cain’s here!]
Exactly on time, Seolhwa logged in and greeted the group.
[Hello, everyone!]
[Cain?]
[Seolhwa?]
[Yes, it’s me!]
[Let’s head into the dungeon today too!]
[Yes! Let’s go~]
Food supplies and recovery potions were stocked in abundance, and the party stepped through the dungeon entrance.
The first day underground floor one was cleared in just fifty minutes—the same area that had taken an entire hour on the very first run.
Ten minutes of rest, then they descended to the second floor.
They moved to the narrow choke point they had scouted earlier, where three walls blocked every side except the front entrance.
The defensive terrain made it easy to repel the goblin swarm.
[One hour and fifty minutes. What a grind.]
[Yeah… so they regenerate in ten minutes, right?]
[Exactly. Ten minutes of breathing room, then it’s back to the fight.]
They gulped down the potions and snacks they had brought for this exact moment.
Ten minutes later the goblins roared back.
This time the party finished the entire wave in one hour and forty-five minutes.
[Whoa… it’s tough, but it feels good.]
Seolhwa’s words made Cain nod along.
Two hours of nonstop goblin combat was mentally exhausting, yet the rewards far outweighed the strain.
Experience points poured in from slaying so many monsters, and the goblin scrap metal promised quick coin.
Kbang!
“Oppa!”
“Hye-mi? What’s wrong?”
Hye-mi stood with both hands on her hips, cheeks puffed in pure indignation.
“Oppa’s on break and all you do is game, game, game?”
“Eh?”
“You should come outside, watch TV, have lunch together—something fun, you know?”
Thinking about it, Hye-mi really must have been bored at home.
While Doun was buried in gaming, she had only watched TV or studied.
“Hye-mi, go outside and play with your friends.”
“Pfft! If I go outside I’ll just spend money. How do you know how much my friends will spend?”
Doun pulled two ten-thousand-won notes from his wallet.
“Oppa???”
“Here, take this. Go have fun with your friends.”
Hye-mi’s face crumpled. She was desperately holding back a laugh.
“Oppa… I’ll have lunch first and head out. When you get hungry later, eat this.”
She snatched twenty thousand won and dashed out of the room.
[Cute…]
The way she managed her expression and instantly changed her tone was adorable.
Had he ever given pocket money to his little sister back in the day…?
He had.
After university and landing a job at a big corporation, he had given his sister allowance.
Sigh.
A tired breath escaped him.
He had given pocket money to his sister, but he had received far more than he had given.
Just a few months after joining the corporation, the Netizen Detective Corps exposed him for spreading false school-bullying rumors.
Everything had spiraled downward from there, and his life had disappeared into the abyss.
Hah… he couldn’t live like that this time.
It would hurt him, but he absolutely could not let it hurt his family.
He had recorded the bullying incident well enough.
Still, if the recording ever proved useless, he would simply let the matter drop.
In his childhood, back in middle school.
He could never forgive Kim Ju-ho for tormenting him then.
Yet the lives of his family mattered far more.
That kind of bitter grudge—
he could simply tuck it away in his heart.
As long as his family was happy, how much pain was one person allowed to carry?
Ri-riing. Ri-riing.
Doun snapped out of his thoughts at the smartphone chime.
“Hello?”
“Doun-ah, focus!”
“Ah… got it!”
He ended the call and returned his gaze to the game screen.
His stamina had already dropped to about thirty percent.
[Whoa… that was close.]
He had focused fiercely to clear the goblins, completed five goblin-wave hunts, and exited the dungeon.
[Seolhwa, that was rough, wasn’t it?]
[Yeah… eleven hours of nonstop hunting… I even ate while playing…]
The effort had paid off handsomely.
From monster scraps alone he earned forty silver coins in a single day.
And Fersin, being a slave, needed no share.
Doun and Seolhwa each kept twenty silver coins.
[Doun-ah, we’re gonna get rich, right?]
[Why?]
[Think about it. If we sell everything we farm here, we’ll become rich in no time~]
[True, but…]
As Seolhwa said, cashing out now would bring big money.
Yet that money could be reinvested to grow faster and yield even greater returns later.
Of course, this was only while the character still lived.
Doun told Seolhwa his thoughts.
“Don’t cash out yet. Invest everything back into the game.”
Seolhwa agreed without hesitation.
[Thank you, Seolhwa.]
[No, thank you! Thanks to you I made forty million won~]
[Seolhwa, tomorrow morning at seven sharp—we’ll do it again!]
[Yes! Let’s gooo~]
.
.
—Second underground floor: goblins
—Third underground floor: goblins, goblin warriors, goblin shamans
—Fourth underground floor: orcs
—Fifth underground floor: orc warriors, orc archers, orc shamans
The party worked hard and cleared the fourth floor within two hours.
But the fifth floor proved far more difficult.
Three orc types—warriors, archers, and shamans—combined in one place was a nightmare.
They were all close-range fighters anyway, so the group’s frontline warriors could barely keep up.
The third-floor goblin warrior and shaman mix had also been tough, though level difference had allowed them to brute-force the clears.
[The fifth floor is the real problem…]
Name: Cain
Level: 41
Class: Head of the Household / Commander
DNA: Gambler
Strength 45 Agility 41 Vitality 54 Intelligence 45 Charisma 55
General orcs on the fourth floor had an appropriate level of around thirty.
The fifth-floor orc trio required around fifty.
The party had just jumped twenty levels at once.
Of course they could grind the fourth floor longer and level up first, but…
There was one catch.
A few days ago Doun had seen players exploring near Shurie County.
They were already high-level, but some adventurers were restless.
They scouted surrounding areas, mapped everything, and sold the information to others.
“One day the dungeon will be discovered…”
The moment rumors spread, hundreds of players would swarm here.
Monster-hunting competition would explode, and scrap-metal prices would crash.
[Seolhwa, let’s buy more slaves.]
[More slaves?]
[Three of us can’t clear the fifth floor fast enough.]
[Yes, do it your way, Cain.]
With Seolhwa’s approval, the party visited the slave guild.
[Ohohohoho~~ Looking for more slaves today?]
[I need a new slave…]
[A powerful warrior?!??]
The merchant grinned as he spoke.
[We have trouble with ranged monsters. Any slaves that can cover us?]
Doun wanted an archer-type slave.
A companion who could thin out orc archers and shamans while the frontline warriors handled the tanks.
[Hmm… may I ask about your budget?]
[Ten gold coins.]
[Ohohohohoho!!! Come this way!!]
The merchant clapped his hands and practically skipped forward.
[What about this one?]
[Eh?]
[Oh…]
Seolhwa stepped closer with pity in her eyes.
[This slave was very hard to obtain. Speaking of him… he’s a mage. And only twelve gold coins.]
[A mage!?]
Seolhwa reached out to touch the cage and recoiled in shock.
Mages.
In the current Hero game, mages were still a rarity.
The Holy Royal Empire was a country of faith and sword.
Clergy and knights dominated everything.
Mages existed here, but only rarely and at low levels.
Players themselves could not even choose a mage class.
Until the Magic Empire update came…
[Human Games really is something else.]
Doun muttered unconsciously while staring at the computer screen.
It felt that impressive.
In the early days of Hero, Lion Territory was the only one available.
The mini-map still showed only Lion Territory for players.
But unlike players, NPCs could travel to other territories.
Kses, the second son who had lost the first Succession War, had never run to Pirion Territory.
Even though Lion Territory was the only one open at the time.
Later,
Human Games updated the Holy Royal Empire.
The explorable space expanded from Lion Territory to the entire Holy Royal Empire.
But that was not the end.
Bordering the Holy Royal Empire was the hostile Hongri Nation.
Beyond that lay the Land of Scorching Heat, which would be updated much later.
The existence of the Hongri Nation was obvious from the countless armies marching through Shurie County.
Who were they fighting?
The Hongri Nation, of course.
Why had Human Games already built the Land of Scorching Heat?
Fersin gave the answer.
He was from the Land of Scorching Heat.
From the outside it looked like coincidence.
But to Doun, who understood the game’s update direction, it looked deliberate.
[It feels like… Human Games builds everything now and simply updates the world to match player progress.]
Then…
Would the upcoming virtual-reality service already be fully prepared?
Doun shook his head at the sudden thought.
That was impossible.
He had heard stories of alien technology when Human Games first offered VR services.
The technology had been cutting-edge back then.
Could they have already built it all?
His imagination was running wild.
[Ohohohohoho… the customer is not satisfied? Although the level is low, this slave has enormous potential…]
The merchant lowered his head even more, rubbing his hands faster.
[You only have ten gold coins?]
[Ohohohoho!!! Do not worry. We treat VIP customers on credit.]
This was only his second visit, yet he was being called a VIP.
Doun tried several times to negotiate down to eight gold coins, but the merchant insisted twelve was already a bargain.
[Hmm… still, in the Holy Royal Empire even a magic staff is hard to find. Will he actually be useful…?]
Doun’s casual hint about the empire’s difficulty was answered with another smile.
[Ohohohohoho!! That’s what worried you! Our slave guild has traveled every region gathering all kinds of goods.]
The merchant pulled a staff from a box with a bright smile.
[Thirty silver coins and it’s yours.]
[Fine. Twelve gold coins it is.]
[Ohohohohohoho!!! Thank you very much!]
[In return, please handle the slave marking and staff as a service.]
[Ohohoho…]
The merchant rolled his eyes and quickly agreed.
[Ohohoho… understood. We’ll do that.]
[Slave: Sarah has been marked.]
Doun bought clothes and supplies for the new slave and headed back to the inn.
[Sarah, you suffered, didn’t you?]
[Sarah, here—eat this.]
[Sarah, would you like a cold drink?]
Seolhwa, feeling sorry for the slave, had been taking care of her since they left the guild.
[Family Setting (3/3)]
Family members can now be set.
- Seolhwa (Lv. 41)
- Fersin (Lv. 38)
- Sarah (Lv. 7)
As levels rose, the number of family slots increased.
Sarah was now officially part of the family.
[A level seven…]
To tackle the fifth floor, Sarah would need to reach a decent level first.
[I should hunt orcs on the fourth floor a bit longer…]
The fourth floor only had normal orcs, all close-range attackers.
With Sarah in the rear, the party could keep grinding and level her up.
[Sarah, wait in the room. Unnie will buy you a delicious drink.]
The door opened and Sarah entered.
At the same time Seolhwa’s footsteps descended the stairs toward the first floor of the inn.