A Warrior's Decision
Before heading out to the battlefield, isn't the first thing you need to ensure is your own strengthening for survival?
Of course. But right now, the most effective way I can strengthen myself is to play the Chronicle Online game.
—Kuoooo!
The troll's massive tree club came crashing down with a roar, and I barely dodged the attack, firing my two-circle magic Fire Arrow.
[Critical Hit!]
The fire arrow, boosted by my gear, pierced straight through the troll's forehead without any deviation. The critical hit judgment flared, slamming the monster backward.
Normally, even a troll would be instantly dead from a headshot. But this was the game world, not reality.
No matter how you targeted a weak point, as long as the monster's HP didn't hit zero, it wouldn't die. You could poke it with a fork and kill it if you managed to bring its HP to zero.
Because of that, the troll with plenty of health quickly straightened its posture and lunged at me like a sprinter.
—Kwaaaang!
Arsia, my supporter and tank, should have been blocking that troll, but she was currently holding down two on her own, leaving me without backup.
So I had to fight the whole thing alone, darting around.
—Kwak!
em__Chronicle Online was a game.
Even as a mage, I had some HP, so I'd be able to tank hits and keep fighting if needed. But my senses were exactly like reality, leaving me no room for carelessness.
One solid hit from that brutal club would cause pain beyond imagination, and the fight wouldn't even get going properly.
That's why the battles dragged on, and my leveling slowed down.
But I didn't see this as a drawback.
Having senses that mirrored reality meant accumulating real combat experience that would carry over to actual fights.
Even if I learned magic, it was useless if I couldn't use it properly in real combat.
In that sense, the fierce battles in Chronicle Online were perfect practice for real life.
[You have acquired 580 experience points.]
“Tough.”
After grinding on the ground for more than ten minutes, all the trolls lay defeated. I collapsed onto the floor with a thud.
Arsia approached quietly and stood beside me.
‘Should I hire a high-level supporter and let them get a share of the experience?’
I shook my head and dismissed the idea.
Of course, a high-level supporter would speed up leveling, but I was in a position where I couldn't afford to make contact with other users.
After all, I wasn't just some character inheriting Manuel Lucas's Arsia.
I didn't need to draw attention by advertising that I was different from the others.
If I suddenly winced in pain from a hit or looked drained, it would raise suspicions.
So I was taking my time, recovering Arsia quietly without linking up with anyone else as much as possible.
[Message has arrived.]
But life doesn't always go according to plan.
A sudden, unplanned participation was decided, so I had to revise my strategy a bit.
Since I hadn't done anything special to boost survival rates in war, I decided to go all out and prioritize results.
‘No choice.’
Of course, I'd still avoid contact with other users.
Instead, I'd think in other directions.
[Crafting request completed. Please visit the workshop to collect your order.]
While resting, I read the message and stood up, returning to the village with Arsia.
The place I visited was an alchemy workshop.
“Master Min-ki, you have arrived?”
As soon as I stepped inside, an NPC rushed over and bowed deeply.
“Thank you. Is this the order I requested?”
“Yes, it is.”
I approached a pile of wooden crates in one corner of the workshop.
Opening the lid revealed neatly arranged potion bottles inside.
[Salamander's Tears]
Grade: Magic
Effect: Fixed damage 3,000
Whenever I played games, I wondered why such terrible value-for-money items existed.
em__Chronicle Online was the same, and this time the item I ordered was exactly that.
Fixed damage 3,000.
In terms of power, it was equivalent to three or four circles, but the core materials were so expensive that a single potion's production cost in real money equaled 10,000 roots.
In other words, using it meant spending 10,000 roots per attack.
For a troll with 5,000 HP, I'd need two, so in-game, I was investing about 20,000 roots per kill.
Horrible value-for-money, wasn't it?
‘Still, it's perfect for me right now.’
But I had more money than time.
As long as I could level up, spending hundreds of millions or billions wouldn't sting.
“Order confirmed. Thank you for your hard work.”
“It seems you made all the 1-year stock. I never imagined a day would come when we'd mass-order the worst value-for-money item.”
The high-AI workshop NPC sounded just as expected.
I chuckled and stored the items in my inventory.
In total, I had 10,000 Salamander's Tears.
That was a staggering 100 million roots.
“I'll be back again.”
I left the workshop feeling good, and the alchemist bowed politely and saw me off.
Horrible value-for-money or not, fixed damage of 3,000 without any casting was incredibly useful in many ways.
Moreover, fixed damage meant it always dealt set damage no matter how high the defense.
Right now, with 10,000 Salamander's Tears in my possession, I could deal 30 million fixed damage with simple math.
With a little ingenuity, I could gain experience in a way that was almost a shortcut.
“Great, let's go!”
Arsia, as always, followed me quietly in response to my cheerful shout.
* * *
On the day Adrian bought a massive quantity of Salamander's Tears from the alchemist.
A strange post appeared on the Chronicle Online bulletin board.
[Does this game even have meteors?]
Hello. I'm a user who's been having a blast scouting lately. I went hunting for a hydra and saw something strange, so I'm posting this.
First, the location is Aint Bunji, famous for farming unique-grade hydra weapons.
As the field boss, Hydra Verkus's spawn time approached, and we headed to the swamp with our party.
Suddenly, a beam of light flashed from the sky, and the field boss Verkus with 28 million HP instantly evaporated.
The entire area became a wasteland and was marked off-limits, and system recovery took 30 minutes.
How are we supposed to process the fact that our prey just vanished before our eyes?
—User 1: Don't joke around.
—Poster: I attached screenshots. Look, you idiots.
—User 2: Isn't it just a Meteor magic?
—Poster: Even a Meteor wouldn't do 28 million damage to Verkus with high magic resistance. And it wasn't even a magic effect to begin with.
—User 3: No video?
—Poster: No, because it happened way too fast.
—User 4: Is it a bug?
The post, with over a thousand comments, became a small issue among users.
But Chronicle Online was full of all kinds of strange events, so interest quickly faded and users just dismissed it as a bug and moved on.
However, someone who read that post had to be greatly surprised.
After all, he had no idea that the situation would escalate so much.
“It was too noticeable, wasn't it? I'll have to be more careful from now on.”
He was Adrian, the owner of the character nickname ‘Min-ki,’ who had successfully gained a massive amount of experience.
* * *
Two days later, the day the Lawrence Baron territory's army departed.
“Come back safe.”
Cederic's mother approached me in my mother's favorite territory army commander uniform, holding my hands and wishing me safe return.
“Don't worry. I won't push myself too hard.”
My father patted my shoulder silently, while the adorable Anna pretended to wipe away tears and waved a handkerchief.
“If you don't accomplish a deed worthy of our family, don't even think about coming back.”
And Cederic was, as always, Cederic.
I let out a dry laugh and said I'd try my best, then boarded the ambulance train amid the cheering of the territory residents who didn't care about family circumstances.
The ambulance train, capable of carrying 800 personnel at a maximum speed of 900 km/h, wasn't just a train—it resembled a giant fighter jet.
As proof that the design wasn't empty boasting, it could fly in the sky if I wanted, but it was made to stay close to the ground for anti-aircraft defense.
Three such trains departed from Lawrence Baron territory.
The number of personnel was just over 1,000, but including my personal attendants, knights, support staff, and supplies, we mobilized all three trains.
“Young master, what about that girl?”
I sat in the widest seat as naturally as possible, but Commander Hahman, the seasoned staff officer who would actually command the army from now on, looked at Arsia beside me with a bewildered expression.
“You don't know about Arsia?”
How could he not have expected me to ask that directly?
Hahman looked visibly surprised.
“I've heard about your relationship with her, but traveling to a place that could become a battlefield while bringing along your lover… that's a bit…”
“I won't accept any discussion about her. Just think of her as my secretary.”
“Um, if that's how you feel, I understand.”
No one received my actions positively.
But Arsia was the one who would protect me by giving her body if necessary, so I couldn't leave her out.
Moreover, thanks to the boom, she had gained abilities on par with regular knights and became my most reliable ally.
Over the two days, I raised my level from 35 to a staggering 78.
This was thanks to spamming the horrible value-for-money Salamander's Tears.
I made three additional crafting requests and poured 200 million roots into the game.
At first, I gathered the tears and used them all at once to burst named monsters and boom up.
[Abnormal growth has occurred. Arsia's recovery may not be normal.]
But the system intervened in that way, so I had to use the tears one by one.
Still, the leveling speed was far superior to normal hunting, and after just two days, I had cleared the third stage of the Arsia quest and was on the verge of the fourth stage.
Normally, higher levels made leveling harder, but this growth ignored the rules.
In addition to creating the three-circle, the rewards I gained by clearing the third stage of the Arsia quest were two items.
One was the cash asset ‘1 billion’ roots.
The other was the omnipotent healing medicine ‘Elixir 3 bottles’ that appeared often in legends.
Elixir, comparable to a saint's miracle, could perfectly heal fatal injuries as long as the brain or heart was still alive.
‘It seems like the reward considered my current situation.’
Of course, Elixir wasn't a game item but something usable in reality, and it was currently stored in a corner of my pocket dimension.
Thanks to that, my heart felt much more relaxed as I headed to the battlefield.