Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Plague Curse (3)
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“Insane.”
Only then did it hit him—the fatal bug from the early Sewer Quest.
This bug, infamously dubbed the “Plague Wipeout Incident,” caused the “plague” spreading from the Plague Jewel to infect even those who didn’t hold the jewel.
“Was coming too early the problem?”
The reason it took so long to become known was that it only surfaced after the Plague 10-chain quest had already triggered or after the Sewer Dungeon was fully cleared.
Even back then, a Plague Jewel would drop every time the Sewer Dungeon was cleared. But by the time the user who obtained it reached Steroian, far fewer people were visiting the Mage Guild, so at first, no one knew about the bug.
But now, Rokan had bulldozed his way through a place teeming with people on the verge of bursting at the seams, so widespread infection was almost inevitable.
“At least the contagion stops when you die.”
Rokan knew quite a bit about this curse. It was such a notorious event that some scholar even published real-world papers like “Outbreak of Epidemics in Virtual Worlds” and “Example of Realistic Epidemic Spread Routes” based on it, sparking a huge controversy.
It was a contagious curse that couldn’t be cured by potions or user skills until a special antidote was consumed, steadily gnawing away at life force. With it spreading far and wide, the city turning upside down was only natural.
“NPCs…… I’ll have to avoid them.”
Users at least died, but merchant and guild-related NPCs had an “immortal” setting for convenience, so they didn’t die. Knight-level and higher powerful NPCs also stayed alive while diseased, continuously spreading the plague as carriers.
At that point, even the few survivors had no choice but to abandon the city. Even if they barely made it to a village alive, they couldn’t interact with NPCs, rendering it pointless.
In the end, The Lord’s new system admin “Condol” stepped in, separating spaces and instantly lifting all Plague Curses to resolve the issue. But it required an emergency patch removing the immortality effect from merchant NPCs, and it caused a massive uproar among users too.
“That user probably didn’t get punished.”
Even with such decisive action, the controversy lingered for years because the user who first exploited the bug faced no penalty. Sure, the bug happened, but it was a systemic error, not personal fault or malicious intent.
For similar reasons, no compensation or restoration was given to the deceased users. It was all just part of the game.
The ones who profited were the vulture-like sneaky users. They deliberately spread the plague, chased after the recovering victims, and looted the dropped items when they died before fleeing.
However, the items and experience never fully recovered in the end.
“That means…… it’s safe to take them.”
As old memories resurfaced, Rokan’s eyes caught sight of items floating over dozens of corpses.
There were no living souls left. So as long as he avoided contact with Mage Guild NPCs, he wouldn’t get reinfected, and no one would know who took the items.
He’d even been thinking of jumping out the window to avoid other users on the first floor bothering him, but now he hurried down and scooped up the items.
Mostly beginner gear, and even that was mage-exclusive, but there were enough to fetch a decent price when sold.
* * *
After grabbing everything worth taking, chaos had erupted outside too. Some plague-cursed users must have made it out.
“Arrrgh!”
“Help me out here!”
“Priest! No priest class? Please, purify……!”
‘……No need to mingle with them.’
Dodging the zombie-like users screaming and causing a scene, he reached a quieter area. The curse hadn’t spread far yet.
Rokan immediately hit the weapon and armor shops, offloading the stolen goods. Kton had no auction house, and these weren’t fancy enough for auctions anyway, so he dumped them at whatever shops would take them.
The original owners would cry blood if they knew, but that wasn’t his problem. Their loss.
One item, though, he kept for himself.
[Cowardly Mage’s Ring][Magic]
An escape ring made by a cowardly mage.
-Shout “Escape” once per day to teleport 3 meters backward.
-Charges: 1/1
-Recharge wait time: 0:00
It came with a survival skill. The only option was that one skill, and it was just Magic grade, but survival items were rare, so plenty of high-level players kept using it even after leveling up.
“Oh, you got this already? But they won’t know its value yet, so no big loss.”
If someone had taken it from him, he’d be furious beyond belief, but the mage who lost it would just be mad about dropping a Magic-grade item. Their control was still weak; they probably couldn’t even use it properly yet.
But not him. For Rokan, filling the gap in close-range survival skills meant an extra life.
“I’ll put it to good use.”
Sending thanks to the unknown former owner, Rokan moved on.
“Let’s see, easy money’s meant to be spent.”
Next up: shopping. With his unexpected windfall, Rokan went on a spree.
He stocked up on cloth for bandages, antidote herbs, potions, and food. He hadn’t planned on it, but grabbed some throwing hand axes and a few pieces of armor too.
For armor, though, he prioritized options over defense. Even if defense was poor, gear boosting strength, agility, stamina, or toughness came first. It didn’t cost much either.
“This should last till around level 50.”
Pure defense-wise, he’d need to swap as he leveled, but optioned armor was decent up to 50.
Gear with both good defense and options was expensive and rare anyway. And it didn’t boost stats by tens.
‘Now…… time to bounce.’
Preparations done, Rokan quickly slipped out of the city.
He couldn’t even guess how far the Plague Curse would spread this time.
He had no plans to return until Condol noticed the severity and rolled out an emergency patch.
“Three days…… perfect.”
He was set to meet Steroian again in three days. It lined up perfectly with his plans.
* * *
“Let’s see. The cemetery…… east side, right?”
Rokan headed to the cemetery on the village’s east side.
It was odd. The cemetery was just that—a cemetery, barren and long confirmed empty.
Countless players had poked around hoping for undead monsters to hunt, but no one found anything. Online consensus was it was just set dressing.
‘Fools.’
Rokan thought differently. Or rather, he knew.
His info wouldn’t surface for another month or two, so of course others didn’t know.
“Found it.”
Right after entering the cemetery, Rokan searched for and found someone’s prosthetic leg.
[Gravedigger’s Prosthetic Leg][Common]
The prosthetic leg lost by the legless gravedigger. He’d probably be happy if you returned it.
The prosthetic leg of the cemetery’s gravedigger. Bring it back and you’ll just get yelled at to hand it over quick and get chased off—no reward. Now ignored as junk, but Rokan smirked and picked it up. Then he found a different grave instead of the gravedigger.
“Here it is.”
Click. Rumble rumble rumble.
What he sought was a tombstone with a small groove.
Slotting the prosthetic into the groove triggered a change. The grave opened, revealing stairs.
[You have discovered the secret dungeon ‘Moonlit Cemetery.’]
[Amazing feat! Applause for your insight in uncovering the hidden secret dungeon first.]
[You have acquired the title ‘Explorer.’]
[You are the first to acquire this title.]
[First][Explorer][Rare]
Your keen senses and unique insight have unraveled a hidden secret. You possess the talents of an explorer.
[Effects]
-Vision increased.
-[Night Vision] effect: Field of view correction at night.
-Low chance to discover hidden mechanisms.
He even snagged a Rare-grade title.
Vision and night vision were nice, but the hidden mechanism detection was honey. If one was nearby, it’d sparkle to alert you, even if low chance.
Meaning Rokan could find hidden mechanisms or places even without prior knowledge.
“Nice.”
Satisfied with the simple but long-term useful options, Rokan happily stepped into the dungeon.
[You have entered the secret dungeon ‘Moonlit Cemetery.’]
Rumble!
As he entered, a grand noise echoed from the direction he came.
The path back hadn’t vanished, but the external entrance sealed shut. Secret dungeons only allowed one entry per person or party.
Sure, finding the reappeared prosthetic somewhere in the cemetery would reopen it, but until then, no one would know a dungeon existed here. Not for nothing was it a secret dungeon.
[First entry bonus: Acquired experience +30% for three days.]
[First entry bonus: Drop rate +30% for three days.]
First-entry perks followed.
A three-day first-entry bonus.
With three days of free time ahead, Rokan planned to milk this place dry.
“Time to suck some honey.”
Pitch darkness with no clue what lay ahead, but Rokan strode forward undaunted. Night vision meant no adaptation time, and he knew torches would light soon anyway.
Whoosh!
A bit further, magic-like flames ignited wall torches, revealing a passage.
A dug-out tunnel, damp and cave-like, giving a gloomy vibe. But no issue for him. The atmosphere screamed “ghosts any second,” but no stat debuffs. Ghosts only scared Rokan because he couldn’t hit them.
“Oh, not ghosts, but close enough.”
Clatter clatter!
Not quite—soon the dungeon’s stars appeared.
[Old Grave Skeleton][Lv 25]
Skeletons, or undead bones.
“Barely undead if you can’t even regenerate!”
Shoddy materials, ancient make, barely functional. No undead regeneration, rusted weapons crude as hell.
Crack!
Rokan charged and smashed one’s skull in one hit.
Dull feedback, cranium in two pieces. One reason he came here: decent hand feel, even if no challenge.
“Hya!”
He tripped another Old Grave Skeleton’s leg and swung his Orc Clan Battle Axe horizontally. Monstrous strength cracked or snapped every bone it caught.
Crack crack crack!
Savoring the satisfying hand sensations, Rokan shattered their joints.
Five foes, but meaningless to him.
[You have leveled up.]
Five down, five more. Effortlessly demolished without fatigue, and level-up effects bloomed. Crappy drops, but undead gave more exp than others.
Plus first-entry bonus, Super Hard Worker title, and huge level gap—others’ hours-long grind leveled him in one minute flat.
“Not bad.”
Rokan was now level 21.
Leveling that fast was tough even in parties; normals would freak. But to him, it was breathing-easy natural.
If anything, like warming up, he ramped speed, pushing deep into the dungeon.
In just 10 minutes, he’d cleared a third.