Losing Touch with Reality
The words hit me like a thunderbolt. When Elon Busker announced he would pay a billion dollars for an all-purpose stone, I almost yanked the Ether Orb out of my inventory right then and there. But pulling anything from my inventory in front of them would have been suicide. The inventory itself was a problem, but the bigger issue was the stone’s origin. I needed a plausible story about finding it in the game—no, in this new world. If I carelessly claimed I could make them myself, I might get dragged off somewhere and forced to spend the rest of my life as a slave churning out all-purpose stones.
But can an all-purpose stone really heal physical disabilities beyond just curing potions?
I was dying to know where Elon Busker had gotten that information. One thing was clear: I had to keep the stone hidden and be extremely cautious about selling it. Just one more thing to worry about. My list of problems kept growing.
“Now that everything’s settled, let’s get moving for Second Lieutenant Scott, who’s logging in for the first time today.”
When we reached the connection room on the second floor of the condo, a brand-new capsule was already set up. Second Lieutenant Scott, who had been assigned straight out of West Point, had bright red ginger hair and a face full of freckles. He looked like the textbook definition of Irish descent.
Three hours after logging in, Scott emerged from the capsule with a dazed expression.
“What’s your character? Did you roll exactly sixty on stats? Where did you spawn?”
“It’s more than I ever imagined from the stories. A completely new world… it’s real.”
“Look at this newbie acting all starry-eyed. Haha. So what’s your class?”
“Ah, I kept rolling until I got exactly sixty on stats. My class is Axe Warrior. The location seems to be somewhere in the north. The nearest major city is called Quanta.”
“Quanta?”
Using the information we’d gathered so far, I located Quanta on the map. It was far north—even beyond the Akran Mountains.
“Land of herders and nomads. How long will it take you to reach the Splain Empire’s capital?”
“I’m not sure about that myself.”
It looked like it would take Scott at least a month to join up with the rest of us. Lieutenant Polman sighed.
“Can’t be helped. Survive somehow and make your way to the capital, Hayden.”
Several people crowded around Second Lieutenant Scott, giving him survival tips. After promising to meet again in the capital, everyone climbed back into their capsules.
“Roughly put out the fire before we go.”
The fire I had lit before logging out was still burning, sending up thick smoke. Lieutenant Polman quickly extinguished it with his water magic. As we left the inn, the villagers stared at us with hostile eyes. In a country where being a mercenary was a common livelihood, everyone was armed.
“What are you looking at, you bastards!”
Even though Aoyama now knew this world was real, his attitude hadn’t changed one bit.
“But you know, isn’t it better that this world is real? On Earth we could never feel this kind of freedom. And these kinds of abilities, either.”
Aoyama flexed his muscular arms, then ignited flames around both fists.
“You’re right. I agree.”
Lucas also thumped his own muscular chest, grinning with deep satisfaction.
“On Earth it was hard enough just to talk to a woman, let alone get married. But here I can do whatever I want. Hup!”
As Aoyama left the village, he grabbed a hanging torch and hurled it onto nearby rooftops, setting them ablaze.
“This is a world where the strong rule. And we are the strong. Hahaha.”
He ran around like a madman, setting fires everywhere. When the villagers finally charged at us, we spurred our horses and fled.
“Aoyama! I told you not to do crazy shit like that!”
“Captain! This wasn’t random. I made sure they couldn’t chase us. By setting those fires, they’ll have to put them out first. That way they can’t follow and ambush us.”
Aoyama stood there looking proud, as if he had done us all a favor. Lieutenant Polman felt another headache coming on. And his intuition proved correct.
“From now on I’m going to focus on spreading my seed. I’m going to go absolutely wild as a stud stallion wherever I go.”
“You crazy bastard, khahaha.”
Everyone laughed at Aoyama’s declaration, but he wasn’t joking.
“Think about it. When we went to clubs back on Earth, we had to put on a show and spend money just to impress those worn-out women. And we had to wear condoms too. But not here. This place is heaven! You just strip them and fuck them. This is a world made for men!”
Aoyama spoke with a straight face. Bortas, Sergeant Hobbs, and even Lucas nodded as if they had received some profound revelation.
“You can change women every day and sleep with a thousand of them. Who cares about two or three wives? I could have more!”
I hated listening to Aoyama, but he was right. In this world, if you had the power, you could do anything. And judging by our current abilities, we were easily in the top one percent of the continent.
“What about you, Jinwoo? The Captain and Sergeant John Low are married, but you and Sergeant Taylor are still bachelors. Come join us.”
“I’m good. I’ve never liked casual one-night stands.”
“Why not? You could taste a new woman every day. You don’t like that?”
I knew Aoyama wouldn’t try to seduce women normally. He would either pay for them or take them by force, like rape. I wasn’t comfortable committing those kinds of crimes with them. But openly saying I was uncomfortable would only create a rift with that group, so I had to make up a plausible excuse.
“I once picked up a girl on the street and caught an STD. My dick burned like it was on fire. After that, I only sleep with women I’ve properly vetted.”
“Khahahaha. So you caught gonorrhea from a street pickup. Khaha. If you’ve had an experience like that, I can see why you’d be careful. I get it. Hahaha.”
By claiming I had suffered from a venereal disease, I managed to distance myself from their group without openly confronting them.
“If it still hurts down there, shall I heal you? STDs are hard to cure even with holy magic.”
Priest Antarian took my excuse at face value and cast a healing spell on my crotch.
“It’s all better now. Thank you.”
And so, with Aoyama at the center, Lucas, Bortas, and Sergeant Hobbs formed a pack obsessed with sex. Lieutenant Polman and Sergeant John Low, who were married, and I—who had supposedly become cautious because of an STD—formed the other group. Archer Sergeant Taylor was stuck awkwardly in the middle, and since Priest Antarian wasn’t a player, he remained separate from both sides.
As we sat around the campfire during our night camp, listening to the obscene jokes and criminal plots coming from the other group, I realized that even after learning this world was real, none of them had changed. No—they didn’t seem to be taking the fact that this was a real world seriously at all.
Once I realized that, it occurred to me that I might be the same as them. When I killed Arho, the swordsman who used the demonic blade, I had realized he was a player, but I only frowned at the brutality of his death. Even though a person had died, I had accepted it the way one would accept a game character dying. I wasn’t sure whether that was because I had first encountered him as a game character, or because constantly traveling between Earth and this world had created a sense of separation between the two lives.
Life on Earth and life here. If I had to weigh them, of course I would put more weight on my life on Earth. Naturally, that created a difference in how seriously I took the two worlds. Even though I knew this place was real, my mind seemed to classify life here as a form of play or performance—something separate from my real life on Earth.
That was why, when I saw Arho die or watched the women of this world being raped, it didn’t truly hit me. My sense of perception, which should have recognized this place as another reality, had become twisted. Perhaps Changing had deliberately made us kill player Arho with our own hands in order to plant this kind of cognitive dissonance in our heads.
I thought about going to see Military Doctor Lieutenant Colonel Schultz for psychological counseling, but I worried whether he would truly understand or give me an accurate assessment. In the end, I had no choice but to suffer alone.
“Sigh…”
When Jinwoo let out a heavy sigh, Lieutenant Polman sighed as well.
“Sigh…”
Polman had plenty of worries of his own. After learning this was a real world, watching these men openly plan to rape women made him anxious about how to manage them.
“Sigh…”
In the end, only Polman and I seemed to be carrying the weight of these heavy thoughts. We couldn’t even force ourselves to smile.
Priest Lepe stood with firm resolve.
'This humble servant Lepe of Lord Lecherot shall challenge divinity.'
-Very well. In the name of Ouroboros, who symbolizes perfection, I shall bless you. I will guide you to the challenge of divinity.
A brilliant light enveloped everything. Priest Lepe had naturally narrow eyes, so he rarely squinted even in bright light, but this radiance was so intense he instinctively closed them.
When the light finally faded and he could open his eyes again, he looked around in shock. The scenery before him was completely different.
“Wh-where is this? Why is it like this?”
Lepe had attempted the challenge of divinity inside the Sturm Main Temple, which was blessed by Lord Lecherot. He had only closed his eyes for a brief moment. Yet the place where he now stood was not the Sturm Main Temple. His clothes and shoes were ragged, looking as though they would rot away at any moment. The surrounding landscape was even worse—nothing but a desolate plain of red dirt and withered grass.
-You failed the challenge of divinity.
“What? I failed? I failed the challenge of divinity? When did I even attempt it? Wait… does that mean I was also punished and became corrupted?”
-Correct. Your spirit and faith were lacking. You became corrupted and set fire to the Sturm Main Temple, burning it to the ground.
“...Is that really true? I burned down the main temple?”
Priest Lepe genuinely could not remember any of it. He could not believe he had burned down the Sturm Main Temple, a place that had been like his hometown.
“Then… did I awaken the sleeping Lord Lecherot?”
More than the absurdity of his current situation, Lepe was desperate to know whether the god he served had been awakened because of him.
-He has not awakened. To awaken Lord Lecherot from slumber, another god is required. A corrupted and lacking being cannot wake a god.
At Ouroboros’s words, Priest Lepe fell into despair. He also felt deep sorrow at being told his faith had been insufficient.
“Then can I not challenge divinity again?”
-Once is the end. You already know this.
Lepe did know. Challenging divinity meant either becoming a subordinate god of Lecherot or becoming a corrupted monster doomed to wander. That was the predetermined fate.
“But how did I regain my sanity? I was told that once corrupted, one’s original nature disappears and only the instinct for slaughter remains.”
-I took you as my host and extracted the corrupting energy.
“Host? Does that mean the subordinate god Ouroboros has entered my body?”
-Correct. Look at your reflection in that puddle.
Following Ouroboros’s instruction, Lepe peered into the puddle. Though the water was muddy, he could see his face—and immediately noticed something strange. His pupils had become vertical slits, like those of a reptile.
“Wh-why are my eyes like this? Wait! Why is my tongue like this too?”
Shocked by his snake-like eyes and forked tongue, Lepe checked the rest of his body. Fortunately, the rest of his form remained unchanged.
-To save you from corruption, I made you my host. That is why you have taken on the form of a serpent.
“Then… can I never return to normal?”
-You can return. There is a way.
“What is that method?”
-I must rise from a subordinate god of Lecherot to a higher god. Only then can you be freed from being my host.
“But… wouldn’t that mean Lord Ouroboros is abandoning Lord Lecherot? Isn’t that an act of betraying your god?”
-Hmph! Do you think Lecherot has never done the same? Gods are no different from humans. They band together for their own gain, kill fellow gods for their own gain, and force them into submission.
“But if I do that, I will be betraying Lord Lecherot. I will become an apostate.”
-When you were troubled, did Lecherot ever listen to your words? Did the Pope or the High Priests, who claim to be Lecherot’s representatives, ever truly hear your concerns?
“Th-that…”
Lepe could not answer.
-Not only Lecherot, but all the gods of this age take their believers’ one-sided love for granted. It should be the opposite. A god’s love should always descend upon everyone.
“B-but there are so many believers. How could a god possibly watch over everyone? That doesn’t make sense.”
-Then when should a god exist? Why should gods be praised? If they do not give love or answers when needed, why must we offer them one-sided love and beg for their favor?
“Because they are gods…”
-It is attitudes like that which have made the current gods arrogant. The time has come to change those arrogant gods. The time of change has arrived.
“Change the gods? Does that even make sense?”
-There were gods before Lecherot, and there will be gods after him. Why else would there be ancient gods? Even the seat of godhood changes.
“Th-that may be true, but…”
Lepe found himself convinced by Ouroboros’s words. He knew that forgotten ancient gods had existed in the past and still did.
“Then what do you want from me? And what can you give me?”
-Go to the Black Land, the realm of the gods. There I can become a true god. And you, as my host, may also become a god.
Even though he was told he too could become a god, Lepe did not believe it. He had already failed the challenge of divinity once. Still, having burned down the main temple, he had nowhere else to go.
“I’ve heard the Black Land is the realm of the dead. Can one truly become a god by going there?”
-Yes. Forgotten and dead gods reside there. Head north.
Flicking his newly forked tongue like a snake, Priest Lepe began to walk.