Chapter 3

At first, it was funny.

Just because I equipped a Title, they praised me as a Hero and showered me with Skills and money.

But when I stopped thinking of that money as Monopoly cash and started seeing it as Gold that could be exchanged for millions of won, my heart started pounding.

As hope began to bloom, the moment came when I had to bet everything on a coin toss, a gamble on my life itself, and cold sweat broke out all over me.

All the unfortunate endings I had always experienced came to mind.

I had already pinned too much hope on this to end it with just 3 million won, and I had been piling even greater hopes on top of it as if I were putting them into a savings account.

‘What a relief.’

I could protect these sweet rewards.

I could keep receiving rewards worth at least Gold from the Temple of Fortune.

With a sigh of relief, despite never having believed in a god in my life, I offered a prayer of thanks to the Goddess’s statue.

“Please, just let things keep going like this.”

My faith in the ‘Luck’ that had been with me my whole life deepened.

“Please return the coin. It is a treasure of the temple, Hero.”

“Ah, yes. I was a little out of it. Haha!”

The platinum coin I had been clutching in my hand was unfortunately taken back by the High Priest, who had been watching with wide eyes.

Still, the High Priest’s gaze and tone had become much gentler.

He had even begun speaking respectfully to me, acknowledging me as a Hero.

The 100 Platinum coin was exchanged for 1 Gold.

It was a little disappointing, but I had still earned 1 Gold.

I had also successfully completed a Hidden Class Change.

The greatest happiness was the relief of not losing what I had already gained.

“Is it over now?”

“The Hero Trial is over. Now all that remains is for you to travel the continent and purify evil according to the Goddess’s will.”

The High Priest chuckled and left the hall, and the priestess who had first greeted me approached with a bright smile and explained various things.

“Your goal, Hero, is to defeat the Demon King Belialzer.”

“The Demon King? Isn’t that the final boss?”

“Yes. The foreigners, the Heroes, are given the mission of protecting the Fantasia Continent, and at the very end of that mission stands the Demon King Belialzer.”

“So he was someone I had to kill anyway.”

“However, Hero, you must personally bear that destiny. You cannot avoid it, nor will you be able to.”

She said it very seriously, but I didn’t take it that way.

‘It’s a game, after all.’

‘I might not even be playing Fantasia by the time the final boss shows up, and even if I can’t defeat the Demon King, I can just quit.’

But I couldn’t let that show.

“I’ll have to work hard.”

“And the training tied to that destiny will be relentless. It will be incredibly difficult. You will face countless life-threatening crises.”

The priestess clasped her hands, her eyes wistful as she offered me encouragement.

“But I come back to life even if I die, so won’t it work out somehow?”

If I had been a real Hero, my shoulders would have felt heavy.

But a user with the gamer privilege of respawning had no reason to fear death.

“A Hero cannot be revived after death.”

“Wha…at? Whaaat?”

“Would you like to check your Class information?”

“Come on, you’re joking.”

But the priestess’s words poured cold water over Han Youngwoong’s confidence.

That shocking revelation threw me straight into denial.

It couldn’t be true.

Fantasia wasn’t that kind of hardcore game.

It was a fantasy RPG based on virtual reality, and it had clearly stated that Resurrection existed.

There was a Penalty for players Level 10 and above that made them wait 4 hours before logging back in when they resurrected at the Temple of Fortune.

This was the first time I had heard that I couldn’t be revived at all.

[Lucky Hero (Unique)]

A Hidden Class given to one who has received the Goddess’s choice and passed the trial.

● Increased chance of discovering Hidden Quests and Hidden Pieces

※ Upon Class Change, the character becomes bound to the continent. Upon death, the user’s Resurrection authority cannot be used, and the character will be deleted. (Resurrection Skills or item effects will still apply upon death.)

The Class information contained a lot of details.

There were several more long lines below the part I had skimmed, but it was too much to read right then, so I put it off for the moment.

“Hey, why didn’t you tell me something this important before the Class Change?”

“It’s alright. If you are the Hero chosen by the Goddess, you can do it.”

“……”

It suddenly felt like the difficulty had skyrocketed.

But then again, I wondered whether anything had really changed.

‘I just have to not die.’

At my positive attitude, the priestess smiled and gave me a Quest.

“We’ve heard reports that Corrupted Monsters have recently appeared in the forest near the village. Please investigate, Hero.”

[Main Quest]

[Investigate the Corrupted Forest (1)]

● Grade: Common

● Hunt Corrupted Monsters in the forest, collect 30 ‘Corrupted Mana Stones,’ and report back to the temple.

※ Corrupted Monsters are extremely dangerous, so it is recommended that you wear a full set of Equipment.

● Reward: 1 Gold, Stat Points (2)

“Of course, I must do it. If the Hero doesn’t, who will?”

My words were grand, but the forest outside the village was still just a beginner hunting ground.

It was where users who had just started the game and finished the tutorial went to hunt with wooden swords.

Even if Corrupted Monsters had appeared there, how strong could they really be?

It seemed like I could just pick up some Equipment and then head to the hunting ground.

It was only natural for it to be difficult, annoying, tough, and time-consuming.

“It’s a 1 Gold request. It would be weird if it were easy. Hehehe.”

I was getting paid in Gold for a request others were doing for Copper.

Thinking about the glittering gold coins, it felt like this too was connected to Luck.

On top of that, on my way out, the priestess told me more about the benefits a Hero could receive.

“If you come to the temple at 6 o’clock every day, we will give you support items for your adventure, Hero.”

At the temple entrance, I received the box containing today’s support items and opened it, and inside were food and potions.

[Intermediate Blessed Health Recovery Potion (Rare)]

An Intermediate Health Recovery Potion mixed with Blessed Holy Water. Restores a large amount of Health.

● Instantly restores 40% Health

● Recovers 2% Health every 10 seconds for 90 seconds.

● Blessing of Purification (Rare): Grants immunity to poison of Rare Grade or lower for 100 seconds.

[Fluffy Castella (Rare)]

A castella made from the eggs of a sacred chicken. It looks both delicious and nutritious.

● Agility +4 for 300 minutes

“I have to leech off this temple until this game shuts down.”

Seeing that there weren’t just one of each, but three, I made a firm vow.

===

Fantasia Life.

On the community forum where people shared Fantasia information, all sorts of posts were going up.

– Where do I buy potions?
└Try the alchemy shop.
└The one that restores 10% Health costs 50 Copper;; Isn’t there anything cheaper? └ If you don’t have money, just sit and rest until your Health recovers.

– I’m hungry, and I already ate all the bread they gave me at the start. Is there anywhere I can get bread? Why does one piece of bread cost 3 Copper?
└You can get it as a reward for side quests at the village tavern or cooking shop. Food is expensive at the beginning.

===

Listening to the complaints of early-game users, the biggest problem seemed to be the large number of consumables they needed while starting from scratch.

In other games, you could easily pick up potions while hunting Monsters, and many games didn’t even bother with a satiety system because it was such a nuisance, but in Fantasia it seemed to matter quite a lot, often feeling like a wall.

So I immediately listed the potion and castella I had received from the temple on the Exchange.

“When you get stuff like this, you sell it right away while there are no other Items for Sale.”

Nominally, it was [Hero’s Adventure Support Item (Common)] meant to support me so I wouldn’t suffer any inconvenience while carrying out my duties as a Hero, but it looked like nothing more than a very sweet side income.

‘I need to hurry up and clear lots of Quests so I can raise the support items’ grade too.’

According to the priestess, the more temple Quests I cleared, the more my contribution would accumulate, and the higher the grade of the support items I could receive.

They were support items, yet they weren’t marked untradeable, which meant I could sell them to other users.

To get more support items, and better ones, I had no choice but to work even harder.

[Exchange]

● Intermediate Blessed Health Recovery Potion (Rare) x3: 50 Silver

● Fluffy Castella (Rare) x3: 10 Silver

The Exchange allowed all users playing Fantasia to purchase listed items no matter which village they were in.

You could say it was a system that took quite a few game-like liberties, but in return it charged a 10% sales commission, just like currency exchange.

So for most users, it was more profitable to sell things directly in the village square or marketplace to avoid the commission.

But Han Youngwoong didn’t care.

“Who has time to sit around and sell things?”

Besides, very few people would buy potions or food that good.

The tiny number of users willing to spend irrationally just to get ahead in the early game wouldn’t waste time sitting around in a village searching for good cheap items.

That was why it was better to list them on the Exchange and wait, even if it meant losing 10% to commission.

Besides, the price wasn’t even that high.

At the alchemy shop, one Rare grade Intermediate Health Recovery Potion already cost nearly 20 Silver.

Naturally, the temple’s potion with the adjective ‘Blessed’ attached to it would be even better, and on top of that, the ‘Blessing of Purification’ Option was only found on blessed potions.

There would definitely be rich people who thought it was worth buying.

Since I could get them every day anyway, I listed them cheaply enough to look reasonable.

While I was briefly checking other items, the potion and castella I had listed on the Exchange…

[‘Intermediate Blessed Health Recovery Potion (Rare) x3’ listed on the Exchange has been sold for 50 Silver.]

[‘Fluffy Castella (Rare) x3’ listed on the Exchange has been sold for 10 Silver.]

…were sold.

“Kuh.”

‘So they really were worth this much.’

‘Should I have listed them a little higher?’

An additional 54 Silver was added to my silk pouch, making the total of 1 Gold and 54 Silver sparkle and reassure me.

‘It’s a little disappointing, though.’

It would have been neat if I could have exchanged exactly 2 Gold, but it was hard to resist.

● 1 Gold: 1,710,000 won

– Why did the Silver market price go up again? It was 15,400 won a moment ago, and now it’s 17,100 won.
└ It’s amazing that it’s even trading this well lol. At this rate, it’ll either stay here for a while or go even higher.
└ Someone even sold 2 Gold right at the start. Where the hell is Gold coming from?
└ Seriously, did they rob some noble’s house the moment the game started? How did they earn 2 Gold?

===

“My 500,000 won.”

In most games, the market price of currency drops sharply over time.

But Fantasia’s currency was different.

In the time it had taken Han Youngwoong to finish the last tutorial quest, its price had gone up by more than 10%.

‘I should have sold it now.’

Everyone had predicted the price would be highest right at the start and sold then, but instead, as currency trading became more active, demand was rising faster than supply.

It was a little regrettable, but tears of emotion welled up in my eyes.

‘Selling it at all is what matters.’

It was profit made from 0 won anyway.

I listed the Gold on the Exchange.

There was no need to worry about it not selling.

There were still no Gold Items for Sale, but there were already a great many buy orders waiting.

‘Still, I should keep selling consistently.’

The temple’s support items came in every day.

It was a fairly stable source of income, and I felt like I could play the game with much more confidence if my bank account stayed full.

[1 Gold 50 Silver transaction complete]

[2,497,500 won withdrawal complete]

“I’m rich.”

My in-game character was a minimalist, still wearing nothing but the clothes I had started with and holding only the Boing Hammer after four hours of play, but the real Han Youngwoong had made 5.5 million won in just four hours.

“Heheheh.”

A laugh escaped me.

No matter how I thought about it, that golden light felt like a savior.

It had guided me to become the Lucky Hero when I flipped the coin.

Even though I had changed into a Unique-grade Hidden Class that had to bear the fate of the continent because of it, I didn’t feel any sense of responsibility.

‘Let’s just not die and work hard.’

Instead, my motivation burned brighter than anyone else’s.

Even if it wasn’t some ironclad resolve to kill the Demon King, as long as the Quest rewards stayed like this, I was willing to act like a passionate Hero who would devote himself to killing him.

To that end, I took out the [Hero-Exclusive Beginner Armor Set (Common~Mythic)] box, the reward I had received upon completing the Class Change, and opened it.

As for a weapon, it seemed best to use the Hammer of Fortune custom-made for the Lucky Hero, and since I had already spent all the money given to maintain my dignity on other things, I was destined to wear whatever came out of the box.

“Does this one not have a golden light?”

Before opening the box, I examined it from every angle, pinning my hopes on this newly learned expectation, but unfortunately, there was no golden light to be seen.

The fact that it could contain anything from Common all the way up to Mythic meant that while something good could come out, it also meant the odds of pulling a Common item were overwhelmingly high, so all I could do was hope for the golden light.

“Tsk.”

‘I know.’

‘Luck only becomes happiness when it comes when you least expect it.’

‘I’ve already received so much luck that it would be shameless to ask for more.’

So I opened it without thinking too much.

‘I just want to get out of these cloth rags that don’t even have Stats.’

Flash!

A golden light, reminiscent of the Lucky Box, burst forth.