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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: bchen3
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“Huu…”
Waking up and lifting my upper body, the first thing I saw was the sunlight streaming through the window into the room.
The dust particles danced in the filtered light.
And as if to announce the morning, Junior downstairs did his best to let me know he was well.
“So real.”
Beyond the textured light, I thought, watching the world rendered with everything from fine dust to unnecessary body parts, down to the most minute detail.
A week.
It had been a week since I was trapped in this damn game.
And even including the time I spent sleeping, I had been scouring this realistic world for twenty-four hours a day, experiencing all sorts of things, trying to figure it out. It felt like a real-life transfer to another world, like what Doraemon Trio’s Gigante would say, not just some teenage delusion, but a genuine sense of reality, a misconception.
If it weren’t for the status window and a few other elements that clearly marked it as a game, maybe I would have joined in on that thought.
“And that’s not the problem I need to deal with right now.”
I kicked off the expensive-looking blanket covering me, ignoring the slightly sticky feeling from the sweat I had accumulated while sleeping all night, and changed clothes.
These weren’t the clothes I wore before coming here, but rather a richly ornate uniform that would be considered cosplay if worn outside.
I quickly left the room.
As I stepped out, a maid followed, but I was already used to it after a week and didn’t pay much attention.
It was just this damn situation that made my teeth grind.
A week was enough time to figure out the nature of this game, and yet it wasn’t enough.
As a Korean who loves summaries, let me briefly summarize.
It’s slow.
This game was excruciatingly slow.
What is a week for a Korean gamer?
For a packaged console game, even if it’s a bit difficult, by the second day, you’d usually have seen the ending, and after that, you’d be busy with achievements, variations on gameplay, and essentially playing the game to death.
Is it any different for an MMORPG?
As soon as it opens, the Korean cyber ghosts charge in, decimating all the hunting grounds, and completing the basic storyline, and the few quick internet broadcasters upload videos with titles like “Things to Prepare for the OO Raid,” or communities are flooded with posts like “Why OO is a trash game.” Enough time for all of that.
“But what about this game?”
From my perspective, there was no significant progress in a week.
Staying in a room fit for a European palace thanks to the priests’ guidance was fine.
Even with the dedicated maid following me now, it felt like a hotel, not bad.
The day after choosing our professions, the Pope, who seemed to have no sleep, gathered us all together in the morning. He gazed upon us, each holding our hero’s weapons, and smiled contentedly.
“You heroes who have come to this Elysium, guided by the gods, possess potential that is among the highest of all beings. But conversely, you are still merely eggs harboring potential. Facing powerful enemies right now is an impossible task.”
As the Pope gestured, attendants and maids came forward, handing out uniforms to everyone.
“But fear not. We have been waiting for your arrival and preparing, following ancient prophecies. We will do our utmost to support you, providing the best environment for you to grow accustomed to this world and thrive during this short month.”
Even up to this point, I thought it was the usual predictable start. We’d choose our professions, receive our weapons, and get some clothes. Then some training on dummies, a few basic quests, and the adventure begins!
But the “short month” was literally a month.
Eight hours a day.
Whether it was training or studying the knowledge of this world.
We had to spend at least eight hours together learning from the NPCs, training or studying.
“Suddenly, an academy?”
If it were truly necessary, it could be considered one step back for two steps forward.
But the amount of experience points we gained from the training or studying we did under their full support was only 5 per hour.
Considering the experience bonus we get as heroes, the experience points per hour were only 1.
That’s just dust gathering dust.
It would take about 100 years to accumulate the experience I have now, but naturally, I didn’t even have such thoughts.
“I understand you’re impatient, but if you leave at this level, you won’t be able to avoid difficulties. I won’t stop you, but… I don’t recommend it.”
The Pope, warning me with a chilling atmosphere, about leaving.
We had to be confined here for a month.
Faced with that fact, some of the users, including myself, felt frustrated, but they eventually backed down due to the persuasiveness emanating from the Pope’s appearance and demeanor.
After all, no one could gamble with their lives.
Even without the dust-like experience, we still gained something.
The fact that we could expect a very small increase in status even through training, apart from experience.
And in any case, through training and sparring, we were getting a sense of how to play the game.
At least for users lacking in sense, it wasn’t bad considering the difficulty of the game.
“Ah, hero Yoon Si-hoo. You’re up early again.”
As I strolled through this giant castle and reached the training ground, the man in full plate armor, minus the helmet, greeted me, flashing his teeth.
This is Sir Gregorik, the NPC instructor in charge of the warrior side of this temporary academy.
For now, with no options, I decided to make the most of my time and had been active since early morning, which is why I had gotten acquainted with some people.
There were other users, not always present, but who moved before the entire user population began their daily routine.
One of them was the arrogant, Japanese-style high school student who, before me, came to the training ground and, upon my arrival, glared at me with narrowed eyes.
“Are you here to watch again?”
“Yes.”
Then Gregorik cleaned up the space next to him and invited me to sit.
I watched the training ground from beside Gregorik.
I wasn’t interested in trivial settings. During the month the users were training, the knight NPCs in the castle were training in the early morning, before the users.
“Draw your swords!”
The knights on both sides raised their swords and pointed them at their opponents.
Eight knights on each side. And one priest.
The knights were diverse, with some wearing heavy plate armor, while others wore light armor or just leather.
Eighteen in total stood on the training ground, their auras rising.
“Don’t overdo it. Begin!”
The ironclad men, with their full plate mail, massive shields, and swords, clashed in the vanguard.
Ka-gang!
As the heavy masses collided in the vanguard, a ripple of energy rippled through the surroundings.
Simultaneously, figures appeared from behind each of the clashing knights, rushing towards the opposing priest.
“Ugh!”
Screams erupted from various locations.
The lightly armored knight, taking on the role of a bruiser, targeting the priest, was hit by a blow from the side, receiving a blow to the sword.
Tduduk.
The wound bled heavily as the light armor couldn’t protect the area that was slashed sharply.
But he didn’t stop.
The knight who had blocked the bruiser seemed to know that wouldn’t stop him, and was already swinging his weapon towards the bruiser’s legs.
In an instant, the bruiser’s eyes glanced at his own priest.
He seemed to make a decision, and without even thinking about avoiding the attack aimed at his legs, he continued on his planned path, charging toward the enemy priest.
Serg.
Whir.
Although the attack from the opponent’s sword naturally slowed down his mobility, making him stagger.
Hwak!
A white light illuminated the bruiser’s body, and the wound quickly healed.
The reason the bruiser had glanced at his priest was to see if the healing spell had begun casting.
With his mobility instantly restored, the lightly armored knight shook off the knight who was clinging to him and accelerated towards the priest again.
But as if the opposing side had already anticipated this, the priest, who was already targeted, was already moving, and the knights other than the bruiser also moved their formations fluidly. The priest, who had been the target, was now out of reach of the bruiser, who would have to pass by two knights to get there, and the bruiser was deep within the opposing camp.
“It looks like American football again.”
The touchdown is the opposing priest.
The linebackers in full plate and the nimble knights moving to behead the opposing priest responsible for stamina.
And the formations moving fluidly, attacking and defending in between.
After about thirty minutes, as the dust rising from the knights’ feet, moving their heavy bodies this way and that, created a thin mist of sand in the training ground, the sword of one of the knights struck the priest’s body, ending the battle.
“Ah! We won!”
“…Damn it!”
One side roared in victory, while the other grimaced in defeat.
“Is this what you wanted to see?”
Gregorik spoke from beside me, noticing my hardened expression.
“Yes, definitely.”
I spoke, feeling a bit down.
And I replayed the brief battle in my mind.
“No matter how you look at it, the hit boxes, without exaggeration, have a 1:1 ratio with real objects. This means that if the tank or the user responsible for the middle connection doesn’t have any sense, the rear could be exposed in a flash.”
“Even with a basic composition with this much limited variety in professions, there are frequent changes in formation to protect the rear in a short amount of time. If the engagement is prolonged, mistakes are a constant, and rear-guard professions must have their own means of self-protection.”
“If there’s no priest or someone to fill that role, it’s a game that can’t withstand stamina loss.”
“The problem is that the fighting is more intense than I expected. Even hardcore gamers would probably lose their minds. Could casual players who came here to enjoy something like Shinmo follow the tactics even after training?”
I sighed.
This mini-battle’s process and outcome itself was the reason why I couldn’t ignore the Pope’s words and head outside, even after a week had passed.
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