Chapter 22

<The Land of Death>

The bidding for the Class-exclusive Weapon Box had reached 20 Gold.

This time, a generous 72 hours, or three full days, had been set, so the bidding had temporarily gone quiet.

If nothing unusual happened, it would probably sell for 20 Gold.

Even I thought 20 Gold was a bit much, but it seemed the desire to beat the competition had been added on top of it.

And after selling the daily potions I got from the temple and everything I looted from the PKers, my Gold had been replenished.

About 15 Gold.

An amount that would let me handle anything that might come up at the hospital and still be more than enough for anything I needed in Fantasia.

There were plenty of ways to spend it.

But I saved it.

‘I need to get called to the next region.’

My plan was to get ahead on the Main Quest, monopolize the information, sell anything that could turn a profit, and basically copy Gold.

If necessary, I was even willing to give up major events like a First Raid Clear.

I had earned more Gold in the process of hunting the Cursed Ferocious Bear than from the reward itself.

‘The Land of Death, in particular, seems like it’ll be a juicy one.’

Looking back on Act 1, several moments came to mind where I could have earned more Gold.

Vowing to become a more careful, livelihood-minded gamer, I headed for the swamp.

Today, I wasn’t planning to hunt in the swamp. I was going to the Hanimo region.

The current trend was for everyone to stay in the Moina region until Level 15 to 20 and suck up as much of the EXP Buff as possible before moving on, but it was common sense that reaching a new region ahead of everyone else meant getting more information.

I would stay one step ahead of the others.

Besides, while Level was important, I had become strong enough to feel I could move on to the next region.

Kiiiek!

I couldn’t dodge and kill like Sword God, but I was now used to hunting while taking a moderate amount of hits.

As I killed the Lizardmen I ran into along the way, I remembered it was time to distribute the Stat Points I had been saving.

‘Considering the PKers and the next region, I guess I have to invest them now.’

Other than putting 10 points into Agility while hunting Lizardmen, I hadn’t used any of the points I had gained from leveling up and Quest rewards.

Should I put them into Luck?

Or into other Stats?

I couldn’t come to a clear answer.

But after running into the PKers, my thoughts had started to settle.

‘It’s a Class that’s affected by Luck, so wouldn’t it be wrong to invest elsewhere?’

The probability itself didn’t seem to increase, but the values for Damage, Buffs, and healing amounts seemed to change.

So I was leaning toward the idea that boosting general Stats like Strength and Agility with items or Enhancement, like I was doing now, and investing my points into Luck was the right answer.

Of course, this wasn’t definitive.

As far as anyone knew, he was the only Lucky Hero, a Hidden Class, in Fantasia.

The path Han Youngwoong walked was the immediate right answer for the Lucky Hero, so even as I made my choice, I felt anxious and uneasy.

‘Let’s do it!’

Still, I made a choice.

If it’s wrong, then it’s wrong.

I brought my finger to Luck, which cost 5 points to raise by 1.

[You can no longer increase Luck.]

‘Huh?’

The decision I had agonized over for so long was shut down so simply it was almost embarrassing.

Thinking I might have misread it, I tried pressing it again, but the same message appeared.

‘…What the.’

Did that mean it was already that high?

So high that it couldn’t be raised any further.

Or maybe it was blocked because I hadn’t met some condition yet.

Since it didn’t give me a clear answer, I couldn’t be sure, but for now, the correct answer had been narrowed down to one.

‘Then that means it’s okay to put points into general Stats, right?’

My expression brightened, and a smile formed.

Personally, I wanted to invest evenly in Strength, Vitality, and Agility to add some stability to my current fighting style.

Get hit and keep swinging until Luck activates.

How simple and easy was that?

The risk of dying would go down too.

Because as Vitality increased, so did Health.

I had only hesitated because I couldn’t easily abandon Luck, which seemed to be my main Stat.

[Strength increases by 10.]

[Agility increases by 10.]

[Vitality increases by 15.]

After cleanly spending all my saved-up Stat Points, I headed toward the part of the forest that was gradually coming to an end.

The Golden Light arrow grew larger and brighter.

A sign that I was getting close to my destination.

‘Huh?’

The end of the swamp.

The entrance to the village within it.

I spotted a single player surrounded by Lizardmen, fighting them.

‘…They look familiar?’

Short stature. Silver hair. The movement of the sword I had given her.

‘Sword God?’

Admiration slipped out of me.

Of all things, she was fighting a seven-on-one battle alone in a Lizardman village.

Should I help?

But the ones getting beaten pitifully were the Lizardmen.

One after another, they fell.

‘Wow.’

This time too, the only thing I understood from watching was that she had charged straight into the middle of the Lizardmen.

But as expected, no matter how skilled she was, a game character had its limits.

Sword God seemed to be getting tired, her movements slowing down.

The number of attacks she was taking also increased slightly.

In the end, after cutting down four of them, she just bolted.

‘Pfft.’

She had charged in like she was going to kill them all, so seeing her run away without looking back was a strangely mismatched sight.

But of all directions, she was running this way.

‘Huh?’

The moment she saw Han Youngwoong, Sword God ran over with a bright smile.

And it wasn’t just the remaining three Lizardmen chasing her.

Another five had appeared from somewhere, making it eight in total.

‘No…’

Why are you coming this way?

There was no time to ask.

I had to decide.

I turned around and started running.

===

‘Pant. Pant.’

After running for a long time and finally shaking them off, I sat down on a tree stump in the swamp to catch my breath.

Sword God sat next to me and naturally took the potion I offered, gulping it down.

“Thanks.”

“What were you doing back there?”

Her Health being nearly gone and her stamina completely spent was one thing, but why on earth had she been doing that in the village?

It was a Lizardman village, so I could understand if there was a field Quest to subjugate them.

But couldn’t she just lure them out one by one and hunt them?

“Training.”

“……”

“It’s not easy.”

“Of course it isn’t.”

I didn’t know what her Level was, but hunting Lizardmen with such shabby Equipment was absurd in the first place.

Though there were a few pieces of Equipment that had changed after hunting the PKers.

“Where are you going, Oppa?”

“Oppa?”

“You don’t look like an ahjussi.”

“……”

It was closer to something she had picked up herself than something I had given her, but I still felt a sense of pride seeing her use it well. Then I found myself a little flustered by the sudden closeness.

Like she said, I wasn’t old enough to be called ahjussi.

But wasn’t it usually hard to call someone you weren’t close to Oppa in a game?

She didn’t seem particularly friendly either.

But strangely, it didn’t feel awkward or unpleasant.

No man would hate being called Oppa by a cute young woman.

Besides, after watching Sword God fight, it was true that I wanted to get to know her.

“I’m on my way to the next region.”

“Oh! Me too.”

“…? Weren’t you trying to clear the Lizardman village?”

“No. I have to go to Hanimo.”

“Ah!”

So she had been heading in the right direction.

“I saw it on the way and started training.”

“That’s amazing. If you’d died, you would’ve had to come all the way back from Moina again.”

“I don’t die.”

‘I’m sure you don’t.’

When talking to her, Sword God felt like an ordinary girl.

She said she wasn’t deliberately wearing bad Equipment. She just changed her gear with whatever she got while playing the game.

“You seem fun, Oppa.”

“I’m just doing this to make money. Though this Class is fun.”

“I want to fight you once.”

“Why did the conversation suddenly go there?”

“A duel!”

“Sorry, but I can’t die.”

Her bright smile was pretty.

I did my best to put off her duel requests, which came with that pretty smile, by saying ‘next time,’ then got up from my seat.

If I’d had my way, I would have liked to run off right there, but our path was the same until we got out of the swamp, so we moved together.

Before long, we managed to leave the dark swamp behind.

“Phew. Finally.”

We had finally escaped that gloomy place.

I hurried off the muddy ground and onto solid earth, where a vast stretch of land unfolded before us.

“……”

I had left the sunless swamp only to be greeted by a sky shrouded in grim darkness.

“Ugh. It’s dark. I hate it.”

The Land of Death.

I had arrived in the land where the undead roamed.

===

Pshhhh-

The capsule opened, and a small girl stepped out.

Red hair, fair skin, delicate features, a small face.

A twenty-year-old girl who had only recently lost the last traces of baby fat.

Wearing a light, flowing dress, the girl looked at the woman standing before a large screen and asked,

“Did you see?”

“Yes.”

The woman, who looked to be in her early to mid-thirties and wore a white lab coat, evaluated her while checking several screens.

“Your brain activity is normal, and there are no particularly outstanding figures. Good. How was it when you fought the Lizardmen?”

“I thought I could win, but my body wouldn’t move with me.”

“That’s an unavoidable in-game restriction, not a problem with your brain.”

“Hmm.”

The girl puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction, then smiled as if she had just remembered something.

“Should I wear good items too? I really want to fight that Oppa next time we meet.”

The doctor observing Sword God smiled and patted her head.

“If our young lady wants it, then we have to do it, don’t we? I’ll speak to the Chairman.”

“I want to try and win.”

To dismiss it as simple competitiveness would be difficult. The emotion in the twenty-year-old girl’s flushed face carried a different meaning.

“That won’t be easy, you know?”

“How does it look?”

Of course, the doctor’s role was that of analyst and advisor.

She coolly reviewed the information on the screen.

“It looks like you would only have a chance of winning if you don’t get hit even once, but I can’t gauge his Stats or Defense, so the simulation isn’t producing any results.”

“I can still win.”

“You seem to like that Oppa, don’t you?”

“He seems like a fun person.”

“He probably thought the same thing when he looked at you, young lady.”

“Really?”

Was she happy? Or embarrassed?

Lee Soi left the research lab.

The doctor watched her go and smiled in satisfaction.

“It’s a relief that the young lady has found something that interests her.”

A report was immediately sent upward, and before long, a large amount of Gold was put into circulation.

===

After leaving the swamp, I parted ways with Sword God.

“See you next time if we get the chance.”

“Okay, Oppa.”

Her tone felt a little more friendly.

But the way she turned and left without any lingering attachment made her a person I still couldn’t quite figure out.

‘It would be nice if Yeri could play Fantasia too.’

For some reason, thinking of my little sister lying in the hospital made me feel a little more attached to her.

“Excuse me, did you perhaps come from the swamp?”

There was still some time before nightfall, so while I was walking toward the village, several NPCs dressed like hunters appeared not too far away.

“Yes. I came from Moina Village.”

“Gasp. Then the Lizardmen too…”

“Yes, I killed them on my way here.”

“Did you happen to see the Lizardman village on the way?”

“Ah, I saw the village, but hunting wasn’t my goal, so I just passed by.”

The three hunters exchanged glances and cautiously made a request.

“We have a lost item in the Lizardman village. Could you please find it for us? We will reward you generously.”

It was an earnest request, but Han Youngwoong refused firmly.

“I’m sorry.”

The Lizardman village.

The very same village where, just an hour ago, Sword God, who toyed with Lizardmen, had fought a seven-on-one battle before running away.

Could Han Youngwoong win there?

[Sub Quest]

[Lost Treasure in the Swamp]

● Grade: Heroic (??)

● A hunter who lost a precious keepsake from his deceased parents asks you to find it in the Lizardman village in the swamp. Retrieve the keepsake and return it to the hunter.

● Reward: 5 Gold

“What does it look like?”

I had meant to refuse.

But my mouth accepted on its own.

How could I resist 5 Gold?

As long as I didn’t charge in recklessly, there might be a way.

“It’s a necklace with a thumb-sized red jewel. If you find it, we will be sure to reward you.”

“Oh my, if it’s that precious, then of course I should find it for you.”

“Our cabin is about 100 meters north of here. We would be grateful if you came there once you find it.”

I made a U-turn and headed straight back toward the swamp.

Then, while hiding behind a tree, I watched the NPCs glance this way and whisper among themselves.

Something smelled fishy.

‘A Heroic grade for a Sub Quest?’

With 5 Gold, you could buy a pretty good necklace at the Exchange.

Thanks to EasyLife and a few other rich people, Heroic grade items were trading at high prices, but even so, the value of 5 Gold was extremely high.

That was true for the NPCs living in Fantasia too.

A necklace they were offering a 5 Gold reward to retrieve.

No matter how much of a ‘parents’ keepsake’ premium you attached to it, it still smelled fishy.

‘Heroic, at the very least.’

Besides, considering how NPCs tended to lowball rewards for users, there was a high probability that the red-jeweled necklace was a Heroic-grade item.

I was conflicted.

‘Should I take it and run?’

Fantasia was a game with a high degree of freedom.

You were free to make any choice, and the user bore the responsibility for that choice.

Running off with Quest materials was also entirely possible.

No, saying ‘running off with it’ was wrong in the first place.

‘Hehe.’

If I thought I could sell the necklace for more at the Exchange, I could take it and sell it. If not, I could simply return it for the 5 Gold.

The problem was getting to the point where I could even make that choice.

‘How do I get through?’

Entering a village swarming with Lizardmen alone was insane.

I had the boxers that gave me a 22% chance to evade, and my Stats had increased, but that alone wasn’t enough to break through dozens of Lizardmen and search out some hidden treasure room.

It was a task that would practically require turning the entire Lizardman village upside down.

‘Let’s go to Hanimo first for now.’

It wasn’t a time-limited Quest, so I was about to stop by the temple first, clear the Main Quest, and then come back.

‘Huh?’

I saw the hunters heading toward where Han Youngwoong was.

Their movements didn’t look like they simply had business in the swamp.

With bows and swords in hand, their benevolent and innocent expressions were gone, replaced by the true faces of hunters stalking prey as they carefully scanned their surroundings.

Seeing that, I had no choice but to hide.

“He went in, right?”

“Hurry, after him.”

As they passed by muttering chilling words, I had a feeling I knew exactly who the prey they were after was.