Tutorial (1)

I was utterly bewildered.

The moment I pressed the "Start Game" button, before I could even blink, I had been pulled inside the game.

If someone were to ask how I knew I was inside when I could neither see nor hear a single thing, the only answer I could give was sheer instinct. The very instant my consciousness inhabited this flesh, the realization floated naturally to the surface of my mind: Ah, I'm inside the game. It was so immediate that I wouldn't even know how else to describe it.

If pressed for a logical explanation, I supposed it was because my sense of touch remained fully intact, even if sight and hearing had been completely severed. When clicking "Start Game" was followed by that violent sensation of being forcibly pulled into another space, culminating in total sensory deprivation—no sight, no sound—there could only be one conclusion.

After all, how many characters in existence were both completely blind and completely deaf?

In this game, there wasn't a single pre-existing character who suffered from disabilities of that caliber. Naturally, there was only one vessel in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this entire universe that fit the description: the custom character I had crafted with my own two hands.

I can't see a thing... This is driving me insane...

I had never imagined that having zero vision would be this paralyzingly uncomfortable. No matter how much I turned my head, nothing existed except pitch-black darkness. Being blind was agonizing enough, but having no sound whatsoever made me question whether I was even alive. Opening my eyes made no difference at all, so keeping them shut was honestly far more peaceful.

Right now, the only thing I could do was tap the wooden cane against the stones before me, praying I wouldn't trip over some unseen obstacle as I shuffled aimlessly forward.

At this rate, it felt as though whatever deity governed this game had taken personal offense: How dare you create a character this maliciously frail? You made her, so go down there and experience every miserable second of it yourself! It was as if they had shoved my soul into this body purely out of spite.

To end up inside a fantasy world only to be blind and deaf... Even the most desperate isekai fanatics would shake their heads in pure disgust. They would point and laugh, endlessly mocking me for ending up in such a hopelessly broken shell.

Is this divine retribution...?

Well, fair enough. When creating this build, I had deliberately designed a character utterly incapable of surviving on her own. A blind, deaf holy maiden who healed others while driving herself to bloody ruin, scattering her own lifeblood in tragic martyrdom—as a roleplay concept, it was peak aesthetic. But actually having to live through it was plagued with countless excruciating inconveniences.

When I was merely planning to play the game on a screen, I figured it would just be a minor mechanical challenge. Traveling to quest markers or following dialogue wouldn't truly hinder me, the player holding the mouse. The game interface would display all essential prompts anyway. Even if a deaf character couldn't hear spoken words and thus couldn't normally converse with NPCs, the Saint class possessed an absurd passive skill called Divine Protection of Light. Through mental resonance, she could perceive thought waves, and through divine power, she could map her surroundings to walk without stumbling, not to mention detect incoming threats. I had carelessly assumed it would all work out just fine.

I had been totally oblivious to how terrifyingly suffocating it would feel in real life.

Thud!

"Ngh, ah...!"

My foot caught, and I pitched forward into the dirt.

Yet, I was certain this wasn't an accidental stumble on my part. I had been rhythmically tapping the ground ahead with my cane; missing a ledge or curb high enough to send me sprawling would have made no sense. Above all, whatever had hooked around my ankle had moved with deliberate, mischievous vigor. There was zero doubt someone had purposely tripped me.

Ouch...

It stung. When crafting this character, I had stacked every conceivable negative trait to maximize my min-max points and ensure she had the qualifications to become the greatest Saint in history. As a result, her durability was paper-thin—practically as fragile as an ocean sunfish. Merely tumbling against the cobblestones brought stinging tears to my eyes.

It hurt... It undeniably hurt, and yet...

Why was this happening?

Don't I... look delightfully pitiful right now...?

I had no idea how I looked to an outside observer, but a strangely intoxicating sensation welled up inside me. Actually living through the quintessential scenarios that masochists only ever fantasized about... it sent a delicious, shivering tremor running straight up my spine. The sharp, throbbing ache from scraping against the ground felt unexpectedly wonderful.

I really am an absolute degenerate, aren't I...

Then again, when rolling this build, I had literally lamented that I wouldn't be able to experience this suffering firsthand. What else could I expect from myself? I chuckled self-deprecatingly in the silence of my mind.

Still, this is genuinely exhausting...

Neither seeing nor hearing felt like sitting in a pitch-black room with the lights dead, eyes clamped shut, and hands pressed firmly over both ears. As I had realized earlier, the sensory deprivation was suffocating enough to make me doubt whether I was still among the living. At this rate, it almost felt like it would be a relief if someone grabbed me by the collar and dragged me off to be sold into slavery.

Living with a disability... is this harrowing...

To stand firm and endure the world with such limitations—how could anyone possess such unbreakable resolve? I felt an overwhelming swell of genuine reverence for anyone who persevered through life like this.

Carefully pushing my bruised body up from the ground, I swept my hands along the paving stones, searching for where my cane had fallen. Right now, becoming a Saint took top priority. If my starting configurations held true, I should have spawned in Varkan, the capital of the Holy Kingdom, which meant the Great Cathedral had to be located here. If only I could somehow find my way there.

Nobody's... helping me...

How utterly pathetic. Rather than offering a helping hand to a blind, deaf young girl, people were busy playing cruel pranks and tripping her for amusement. A slight shiver ran through my frame.

I mean, the humiliation feels fantastic, but...

With my literal life on the line, the charm was beginning to wear thin.

Just as I widened the sweep of my hands across the rough stones, someone gently caught hold of my shoulders and helped me to my feet.

"Ah..."

Did someone pick me up?

While I stood dazed and bewildered, they retrieved my fallen cane, placed it into my open palm, and gently curled my fingers around the handle.

Who is it...?

I needed to ask for help immediately. If they were kind enough to support me like this, surely they would agree if I begged them to guide me to the Great Cathedral because I couldn't find the way?

Just as I parted my lips to speak, a glaring dilemma slammed into me.

Ah...!

I didn't know the language of this world!!

It would be wonderful if speaking Korean magically translated, but no fantasy world was ever that convenient out of nowhere. Unable to see or hear, I had no way to verify how they would react. If I suddenly blurted out Korean and frightened this person into walking away... No, even before that, speaking Korean meant they wouldn't understand a single syllable anyway.

What do I do...?

While I agonized in desperate silence, a gentle voice resonated directly within my mind.

"[Oh dear, forgive me, Sister. I had no idea you could not hear.]"

It was a voice that reverberated inside my consciousness rather than vibrating against my eardrums.

And then—

Ah...!!

Only then did I realize who had caught me. I recognized this voice!

A kindly grandfather's tone, speaking with venerable, benevolent politeness... If this place truly was the Holy Kingdom, there was only one person this could possibly be.

Of course, nothing was absolute. I could be mistaken. I still couldn't tell whether this was a literal game world where people followed scripted dialogue or a reality that simply shared the game's setting. I was still thoroughly disoriented. But judging by the cadence of that voice, I was almost certain. Or perhaps I desperately wanted to believe it, because that would make everything so much simpler!

The person speaking to me right now was the Pope—or, to be precise, the Light Dragon Lord masquerading as the Pope.

A mythical dragon.

Guardians of the Middle Realm dispatched across the world to thwart demonic invasions, and among them, the Light Dragon Lord who occupied the position of Pope to gather intelligence. While acting as the Pope, she polymorphed into a benign old man, since her presence in the mortal realm had to remain an absolute secret. There was no way I wouldn't recognize her. To unlock the hidden class of Saint, she was the person—no, the dragon—one was required to meet.

Aselina Sunlight...

For now, playing dumb was the smartest course of action. Thought waves didn't expose deep, subconscious secrets. According to the game's mechanics, you had to consciously manifest the thoughts you wished to convey as pure intent for the other person to understand them. The explanation had always sounded abstract, but failing to communicate here would ruin everything. Then again, if a helpless blind and deaf girl suddenly demonstrated flawless telepathic conversational skills, that would be suspicious in its own right... I had to transmit raw, fragmented impressions rather than polished sentences.

With no time to hesitate, I simply allowed my instinctual thoughts to surface.

"[Who...?]"

"[As I feared... you cannot speak either.]"

"[Apologies... words... ignorant...]"

"[Fret not, child. It is only natural given your frail condition.]"

So this was how it worked. Whew... Should I be grateful this was a fantasy world? If asked how I had learned spoken grammar without sight or hearing, I wouldn't have had an answer, so playing primitive and fragmented was the right call. What a relief.

Then is all that's left heading to the Great Cathedral to become a Saint candidate...?

The hidden class of Saint was already thoroughly dissected by the player community, which had allowed me to lay all the preparatory groundwork beforehand. Thanks to that min-maxing, I had spawned right here, where Aselina resided. Seeing as I had been dropped into this world as a lone orphan without complicated familial ties, it made things even cleaner.

Good... that fulfills the initial criteria.

The prerequisites for unlocking the hidden class of Saint were infamous for being the most tedious in the entire game.

Those last five requirements were the true nightmare. The Pope's favor was triggered by RNG based on obscure hidden conditions; acquiring a Good alignment required spending precious bonus attribute points during character creation, since default builds always started Neutral. Players almost never chose a Good alignment at the start. Spending irreplaceable positive points just to shift moral alignment without any tangible stat bonus was practically unheard of.

As for having an innate disposition worthy of a Saint, the character's personality had to be forged into 'Devoted' and 'Self-sacrificing.' Since personality traits were finalized based on actions during the brief childhood prologue, it meant giving away every last coin and constantly throwing oneself into harm's way for others. The no-evil restriction meant that throughout one's tenure as a candidate, one could never commit a single misdeed—only stack altruistic acts to prove moral purity. And finally, after meeting every single prerequisite, the Goddess had to choose you.

Aside from the Goddess's final selection, everything else was effectively being decided right at this moment.

I swallowed hard. I had to keep this conversation going. Now that I was here, becoming a Saint was non-negotiable.

"[Fault... debt... ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠repay... grateful... speech... how? Understand?]"

"[Mm, I merely could not bear to leave you in distress, so please do not trouble yourself, Sister. And... hoho... this is a technique known as thought resonance. Even if two souls share no common tongue, one's intent can be conveyed to allow communion. It is an art accessible to anyone blessed with divine power.]"

"[Wondrous...]"

Yes, exactly that! With thought resonance, communicating wouldn't be an issue. Once mastered, it could even detect faint ambient vibrations, effectively mitigating my deafness.

"[It appears you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have nowhere ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to turn... What say you? Would you accompany me to our cathedral?]"

At the kindly grandfather Pope's—no, Aselina Sunlight's—proposal, I nodded quietly yet with unmistakable conviction.

Pleased by my response, her mental voice sounded noticeably brighter as she addressed me once more.

"[Then come with me, Sister.]"

Perfect!

Now all that remained...

Becoming a Saint candidate...

Securing the candidacy. And after that, my objective was singularly clear.

To vanquish the Demon King.

Now that I had been pulled into this game, what else could I possibly strive for? Beating it, of course. If only to find a way back home. And as a bonus, I would wield divine powers to save countless people while thoroughly enjoying every drop of delicious agony, maintain my tragic martyr roleplay to the absolute letter without a single soul discovering my true degenerate desires, clear the game, and return!

My resolve burned with fierce, unyielding determination.