Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 006
Chapter Title: The Sanctuary Boasting Hellish Difficulty
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The Sanctuary was infamous for its brutal difficulty.
Several factors made the Sanctuary so challenging, but the one universally condemned as the most vicious was its level-up system.
Levels provided an intuitive sense of a player's growth.
-Max Level: 30.
The Sanctuary's max level was 30.
And among the hundreds of millions of players across their lifetimes, fewer than 1% had ever reached it even once.
It was said that only around ten thousand had achieved max level across two lifetimes.
And among those, no one had reached max level in all three lifetimes.
'None.'
Not a single one existed, or so it was known.
This was due to the Sanctuary's system, where the experience required increased exponentially with each reincarnation.
The final lifetime was inevitably the one with the lowest level.
Yet it could also be the strongest.
"The montage."
That was thanks to this montage system.
Every three level-ups triggered the montage, allowing inheritance of abilities from past lives.
'Of course, it's random.'
But Sein was different.
"I can choose with my cheat."
The lifetime granted, the number of montages available.
'Even the perks I'll receive.'
He had the ability to choose it all.
The montage returning once more was also a confirmation of that.
Vmmm!
The activated reincarnation stone belonged to his third life: the crown prince of the empire.
In that life of imperial blood flowing with dragon heritage, Sein had gained a faint trace of draconic power.
"Well..."
Sein stood before the reincarnation stones.
"The options available now are limited."
He couldn't activate another past life without first raising this one—the empire's crown prince—to a certain level.
For the time being, he needed to focus on the third life.
Swoosh.
The stone he touched was the third one.
Vmmm! Vmmm! Vrrrrrm!
The stone containing that life resonated massively, as if recognizing its master.
Normally, it would be assigned randomly, not chosen.
"I select the reincarnation perk."
But Sein had his choice cheat.
Visions like illusions rose in his mind.
Yet in this moment, what to inherit was clear.
"Inherit..."
Fwoooosh!
The third stone blazed with intense light.
"Dragon Heart."
If he'd gained dragon blood, he needed a vessel to contain it.
*
*
*
After awakening from the montage, Sein kept grinding away at hunting.
But limits always existed.
"Boss..."
Derren tired first.
Sein had put the most care into raising Derren in Chichiron.
Though he couldn't wield aura, Derren was a powerhouse in hand-to-hand and swordplay, unmatched in the back alleys.
His role had been just finishing goblins Sein missed or ones that survived—yet he'd already hit his limit.
"To think you'd complain like that."
But Derren wasn't the only one at his limit.
Scrrch.
A bizarre sensation, like bugs crawling over his skin.
On his lifted arm, a long black scar-like mark had grown.
"You said this was your first time leaving the territory."
Arin, who'd only watched the hunt till now, straightened from leaning against a tree and spoke.
"It's the darkness."
"Darkness?"
"The continent is steeped in darkness. Without barrier protection, you'll be stained by it."
He'd known this factually.
"This is the darkness?"
But experiencing it was new.
"If it keeps up, the corruption will accelerate."
Arin said.
"It starts like a mild illness, but worsens over time."
"Eventually, you turn into a monster."
A tale he'd heard from mercenaries.
Nod.
Arin nodded as if confirming Sein's words were spot on.
"The more you fight the darkness, the faster the corruption spreads. It's amazing you're only this corrupted after hunting that many monsters."
That wasn't curiosity—it was suspicion.
"You?"
Sein changed the subject.
"You don't look corrupted anywhere."
Arin's outfit—a black dress unfit for such a dangerous place—left her arms bare and her legs visible through the slit skirt.
Yet no black scars marred her body like his.
"I have resistance to the darkness."
That was new, unheard even in remote villages.
"Resistance?"
"Those blessed by it aren't swallowed by the darkness. Though only to a point."
The words were complex, but the point simple.
"I need to shake off the corruption?"
"Yes."
The sun was already setting.
The already dim forest plunged deeper into thick darkness.
"There are ways to purge corruption, but the most effective is hiding within a territory's barrier."
Sein waited.
"Otherwise..."
Arin would have a method.
Thud.
She suddenly drove her staff into the ground.
Vrrrrm!
He felt mana flowing out, spreading.
"There's a temporary barrier method. You can pay me later."
"You're my guardian, and that's how you act?"
"As I said, even this much help is me going out of my way. Sein Demorus."
Sein stopped whining and nodded.
"Derren, we're camping here tonight."
"Got it, boss."
As if prepared for this, Derren pulled camping gear from the luggage.
He and Sein set up camp with practiced ease.
"...Didn't you say you'd never been outside a barrier?"
Arin's incredulous voice rang out.
"I never planned to rot in the countryside forever. I told you."
The topic had shifted plenty.
What mattered now was another anchor.
"Genius, right?"
"..."
"A genius wasting away in some rural hole is a massive loss to the continent."
"Infuriating."
But Arin moved her hand as if conceding.
"Done."
Tent and campfire.
A proper campsite took shape.
"Sorry, no tent for you. Wasn't planned."
Only one tent.
Derren had anticipated this, laying out his sleeping bag on the ground.
Arin's had none.
"Doesn't matter."
She waved her hand dismissively.
Rumble!
Earth surged up.
From it emerged a tent of pristine white bone.
"..."
Larger and plusher-looking than Sein's.
"You wouldn't consider swapping...?"
"No."
Got it!
*
*
*
Crunch! Crsh!
Sein's dagger had long lost its edge.
With aura, even a dulled blade could mimic a master sword's cut, but he held back.
He wasn't yet comfortable handling aura.
'Wasteful.'
Better to use that mana for movement.
Crunch! Crsssh!
That caused these eerie sounds.
He'd seized goblins' wooden spears once or twice, but now he was ripping goblins apart barehanded.
"No need to follow anymore."
Arin said to Derren, who rose despite being bloodied.
"...Urgh."
Derren slumped in frustration.
His body had reached its limit.
"The temporary barrier slowed the corruption, but only slowed it."
Black scars blanketed Derren's arms and legs, over wounds from fighting goblins.
"Push it, and you die."
"But the boss..."
"You gonna follow that?"
Crunch!
Up ahead.
"Kirruk!"
"...Kiruk!"
Terrified goblin shrieks and laughter-like noises mixed.
Hunting.
"That's obsession bordering on madness."
Sein took minimal breaks, hunting relentlessly.
"Not that I don't know, but... any grudge against monsters?"
"..."
"High goblins do something awful to you?"
"Not that I know of."
Then what.
Crunch!
Where did that madness come from?
Impossible without ironclad purpose and venom.
Even with that, it shouldn't be possible.
Crack!
Pure insanity.
'Definitely broken.'
Arin thought, watching Sein.
'And accelerating.'
Her job was to observe him.
"Now we'll see what he does."
Derren hadn't awakened mana, and Sein was in full rampage.
But Arin sensed it.
Hummm.
Deep in the forest.
An unnatural mana surge.
It had stealthily stirred long ago, approaching this spot.
"Sein Demorus. My help ends here."
So now.
Boom!
He had to handle it himself.
Amid thick dust.
Groooan...!! Boom!
Massive trees toppled with thunderous crashes.
"...Boss!"
"Hold back. Go now, and you really die."
Boom!
Another distant explosion, and a small shadow shot out.
Crunch!
Smashing through several trees before stopping—it was Sein.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Heavy footfalls.
Crack! Boom!
Trees that would take skilled loggers hours to fell toppled like dominoes.
"Kieeeek!"
The roar shook the forest.
A special breed exposed long to darkness, embracing it.
"A Dark Goblin, huh."
Monsters devoured by darkness, empowered.
They far surpassed their base kin.
Fwoosh!
And wielded unique abilities.
The Dark Goblin appeared.
"No, a Dark Hobgoblin."
The Dark Hobgoblin charged Sein, swinging its massive flaming greatsword with its hulking frame.
"Urgh."
Sein, who'd fallen, rose too.
His body wrecked from overexertion.
But Arin saw.
Smirk.
His lips curled in a smile.
"Finally showed up. Boss monster."
Sein had clearly been waiting for this moment.