Chapter 9
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Awe and Fear (5)
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- You have reached Level 4.
- Observer's Eye (Lv.3) has grown.
- It has become Observer's Eye (Lv.4). You can now observe the continent with greater clarity.
Several days had already passed since I gave Yutenia the grimoire.
In game time, it was nearly ten days.
During that time, I hunted steadily, and as a result, I was able to reach Level 4 quickly.
Upon reaching Level 4, my mana increased significantly once again.
Also, as Observer's Eye leveled up, the speech bubbles began to display different content than before.
- Bread.
Of course, even with the new content, it was still just displaying two-character fragments of dialogue.
It wasn't much different from when it only showed emoticons.
Yutenia, who had woken up and was practicing magic, offered a prayer and asked for bread.
It clearly seemed to mean, "Give me bread."
Watching Yutenia demand bread, I let out a dry laugh and looked at her.
"Seriously, did you leave your bread with me or something?"
For a moment, I considered just getting rid of her.
I took a baguette from my inventory and placed it in front of Yutenia.
Thud.
Seeing the baguette on the ground, Yutenia offered her thanks.
- Thanks.
- Thanks.
The extremely short dialogue felt awkward.
After giving her thanks, Yutenia went into the cave and began to tear off pieces of the bread to eat.
I calmly watched Yutenia eat the bread.
Regardless of everything, it was true that she looked cute while eating.
Had I grown attached to her while watching?
Now, I no longer felt any desire to dispose of her.
"Yeah. Eat up. Now that you've learned magic, the least I can do is feed you."
And as I continued to watch her, I could also see Yutenia using the barrier magic.
The grimoire I had given her was taking effect.
Now that I realized the character could use magic, I felt the urge to give her other grimoires to test them out.
If I gave her various grimoires, I could surely raise a perfect mage character.
If only I had enough money in my wallet, that is.
"Can't even play a game freely without money."
The cost of a 10-pull had risen to seventy dollars, so even pressing the summon button once wasn't an easy decision.
The only saving grace was that the Cash Shop's level didn't increase when I hit Level 4.
The price for a 10-pull was still stuck at seventy dollars.
Payday is just around the corner, so I should probably do a pull once the money comes in.
I continued to watch Yutenia with those thoughts in mind.
"Eat well and grow strong. That way, you can smash everything with your own hands."
As I watched Yutenia with my chin in my hand, she finished her meal and came back outside.
In her hands was the grimoire.
It seemed she was about to practice magic again.
Seeing Yutenia prepare to train, I was about to move the screen.
Just watching her practice magic was boring, so I planned to go hunting while she trained.
If it hadn't been for a single character approaching from the distance, that is.
In the corner of my eye, just as I was about to go hunting, I saw an armed man running.
"What's this? I haven't seen that outfit before."
I had dealt with several villages so far, but this was the first time I'd seen someone dressed like the man before me.
A man in a blue uniform was moving in Yutenia's direction.
The moment the man spotted Yutenia, he began to approach her, his guard up.
In his hand was a sword that looked far superior to the ones the bandits used.
A proper-looking sword. And a neat uniform.
Judging by his attire, he didn't look like a bandit.
Seeing the man approach her, Yutenia, who had spotted him, displayed a speech bubble above her head.
- Kla.
Kla. That single word was all that came from Yutenia's mouth.
It seemed the man's name was Klein.
Was it because Yutenia had spoken to him?
The man who had been approaching Yutenia also stopped in his tracks and displayed a speech bubble.
- You.
- You.
- You.
The two, facing each other, began to converse.
Did they already know each other?
Watching them converse smoothly, I observed the two.
It was nice to defeat everyone and get experience, but there was also fun in watching character interactions like this.
However, I had no way of knowing exactly what that man called 'Kla' and Yutenia were talking about.
It felt like deciphering some kind of code.
- Village.
- Yes.
Of course, every now and then, a piece of dialogue I could understand would pop up.
The line the man just said was one such instance.
Yes.
That single word was the only thing I could clearly understand.
"Ah, I can understand that one."
Naturally, I couldn't understand anything else.
I don't know whose idea it was, but cutting dialogue down to two characters just because the level is low was not a very good one.
I sighed and continued to watch their conversation.
Yutenia and 'Kla' exchanged a few more words after that.
The conversation that had been continuing came to an end when the man raised his sword toward Yutenia.
I wondered what they were talking about, but it seems they were just going to end up fighting.
As expected of a game, beating each other up is the best part.
The long-awaited moment of battle had arrived.
"The prey has walked right into my hands."
Watching the interaction is over.
Now it was time to convert the character before me into Karma.
Tap.
As a test, I lightly tapped the man who was pointing his sword.
The plan was to deal 1 damage and see his reaction.
And in that moment.
I witnessed an unexpected sight.
- No way.
Clang!
The man swung his sword and blocked my tap.
A 0 for damage appeared above the head of the man who had parried the attack.
He had completely nullified the attack using the sword in his hand.
Seeing the man block my tap attack without taking any damage, I couldn't help but be flustered.
"What? He blocked it?"
Tap.
I moved my finger and sent another tap his way.
Of course, the man's reaction was not much different from before.
Clang!
The sword swung, and a 0 for damage appeared above the man's head.
It was proof that the previous block wasn't a coincidence.
"Whoa, what is this? He must be a boss monster or an elite monster."
Some games have monsters with unusual patterns.
Elite monsters. Or boss monsters.
They display different patterns from normal monsters and often force you to use different strategies to defeat them.
And it seemed the male character before me belonged to that category.
"So basic attacks won't work on him, is that it?"
To think he could block my basic attack.
It was only natural to be surprised by this unexpected pattern.
But if it's a game monster, there's always a way to beat it.
I decided to use the Lightning skill I had spent a lot of money on.
Press.
I placed the targeting reticle for the Lightning skill directly over the moving character.
- You have used Lightning.
CRACK!
The screen flashed as a bolt of lightning struck down at the man.
Facing the descending lightning, the man crouched into a defensive stance, unlike before.
There's no way he could block lightning with a sword.
The lightning that fell from the sky broke through the man's defense.
- Guh.
The man hit by Lightning cried out in pain.
The damage that appeared above his head was 9.
It was a low number compared to the usual 15 damage it dealt.
This meant it would take more mana to hunt him than other characters.
However, considering he was an elite monster, the very fact that he could be defeated was what mattered.
"You're dead now."
I began to spam the Lightning skill.
CRACK! CRACK! CRA-CRACK!
A cheerful series of thunderclaps burst from the speakers.
Two days had passed since Rick, a 3rd-class investigator of Cloud, had set out in search of the evil god's traces.
During that time, Rick had wandered through several villages searching for signs of the evil god, but he had found nothing, coming up empty-handed each time.
No matter how much he searched the areas around the villages, there was no trace of the evil god to be found.
After much deliberation, the last place he arrived at was a village at the foot of a mountain range.
However, something strange happened as Rick was about to leave the village and enter the mountains.
The moment his horse set foot on the mountain path, it tried to throw Rick off and flee.
Rick barely managed to calm the horse and tie it up in the village, but he could no longer travel with it.
Left with no choice, Rick had to proceed alone, leaving his horse behind.
"The atmosphere here is unsettling."
As he entered the mountain path, an ominous feeling from his surroundings sent a chill down Rick's spine.
There is something in these mountains.
Something that cannot be measured by human eyes.
Rick walked forward, his gaze never losing its vigilance.
With every step, he felt a cold sweat run down his back.
He had been wandering the mountain path for about ten minutes.
Then, someone came into Rick's wary line of sight.
'There's someone here.'
Rick's eyes scanned the figure standing in front of a cave.
It was an unknown girl with ash-gray hair fluttering in the wind.
Clink.
Rick's grip on his sword tightened.
Her clothes are too clean for someone living in the mountains.
No matter how you looked at it, her appearance was suspicious.
'A priestess of the evil god?'
The book in her hand also looked out of the ordinary.
There's no reason to carry a book that thick while visiting the mountains.
Even its thickness and appearance suggested it was a scripture or a grimoire.
A mage. Or a priestess.
Either profession was enough to arouse suspicion.
"I'll know once I check for myself."
Risking one's life was an investigator's duty.
To confirm the other's identity, he would have to confront them.
Shing.
Drawing his sword, Rick began to move toward the girl.