Chapter 65 – LV.? Mage Troll – [Three]

One player looked troubled.

“I don’t know how dangerous it is, but I need to discuss it with my team first.”

“Right, no need to answer immediately, take your time and discuss it. Just so you know, the items left after the kids take what they want will be distributed to volunteers first? Everyone should keep that in mind too…”

Oh Haengbok continued with various explanations.

Meanwhile, Seo Yun closely observed the orc’s demeanor. Oh Haengbok nodded while talking with the players, showing agreement with their words, and occasionally laughed.

Fortunately, the madness from that day wasn’t visible now. So, was it safe to relax for the moment?

No, there was no telling when another fit might occur. Based on that judgment, she continued observing.

Gaeulbi spoke up.

“Hey, Seo Yun? I want to volunteer for that, but you…?”

Seo Yun thought. It seems she wants to level up quickly, regardless of danger or anything else.

“I’m fine with it, but what about Han Siwoo? Is he okay with it too?”

As she said that and looked at Han Siwoo, the expected answer came from him. Han Siwoo nodded.

“If you guys are okay with it, then I am too.”

Gaeulbi smiled happily.

“Then it’s unanimous! Let’s quickly choose our weapons. I wonder how many arrows we have?”

Seo Yun grabbed the girl who was heading towards the mat.

“I heard arrows are too expensive, so we couldn’t buy any.”

“Huh? Really. Well, I did steal them all and then the military grunts took them…”

Seo Yun cautiously asked.

“So what will you do now?”

“Well, I’ll have to keep using the crossbow like now, but there’ll be limits, so I need to prepare another combat method, right?”

Seo Yun was shocked by Gaeulbi’s answer. Was she really planning to engage in bare-handed combat this time? Did she truly miss life in the trees that much?

Under Seo Yun’s suspicious gaze, Gaeulbi reached her hand into the Bag of Infinity.

“Wait.”

Something long slipped out of Gaeulbi’s hand. Upon closer look, it was a dark, gleaming staff.

“What’s that?”

At Seo Yun’s question, Gaeulbi swung the staff and proudly exclaimed.

“A six-foot staff (quarterstaff)!”

“That looks familiar…”

“You know that halberd you got from beating up that big centaur, right?”

“Yeah. I gave it to Han Siwoo because he said he’d use it?”

“This is it! He said it was too heavy for him to swing? So I decided to remove the axe blade and spearhead parts and just use the staff part! That way, it should count as a six-foot staff. We can always reattach the blade parts later…”

Seo Yun was shocked once again by those words. Was she deliberately ruining a perfectly good weapon to use it? How could that race so casually perform actions humans couldn’t even imagine?

She began to suspect that if you gave that race a pickaxe for farming, they might only use the handle part. Still, it was definitely necessary from an RPG perspective.

If a Martial Artist uses weapons like longswords or halberds that don’t match their class, they can’t gain Experience Points. However, the six-foot staff is one of the universal weapons usable by all classes. Swinging that weapon would be recognized as gameplay fitting for a Martial Artist’s class.

Gaeulbi continued.

“I probably can’t deal proper damage to strong monsters with this… but when I saw you guys fighting Butatsch Cun Ilgs last time… Seo Yun, it seemed like a really good tactic when you gave Siwoo a fire-resistant buff and he used flame magic?

If we fight like that consistently, damage dealing and tanking are separated. So what I should do isn’t recklessly trying to damage monsters, but preventing monsters from getting close to you casting magic from afar.”

“So you’re…”

“Now I’ll protect you!”

Seo Yun nodded and thought.

‘That sounds like some class discrimination.’

She considered mocking her as trash to discourage that attempt, but Gaeulbi seemed too excited right now. Was she acting like this because she saw hope that she could continue being active? It felt wrong to crush that hope immediately.

As Seo Yun kept quiet, Gaeulbi asked.

“There’s a weapons instructor here, right? Seo Yun, you probably learned swordsmanship from that Mister too?”

“Well, that guy isn’t actually a medieval swordsmanship expert, he’s just a Mister who diligently attended the local longsword swordsmanship club. He can swing a longsword decently enough, but he’s not knowledgeable about all weapons like actual medieval knights.”

“But he might know roughly! I’m going to ask him to take a look at my staff technique.”

Saying that, Gaeulbi ran off to the swordsmanship school Seo Yun had told her about. Seo Yun blankly watched her retreating back, then spoke to Han Siwoo.

“She’s really happy about this.”

Han Siwoo replied.

“Yeah. Well, she did practice spear techniques a bit when she was in the village, and she handled them pretty well, maybe because her limbs are long.”

“Was Gaeulbi’s Dexterity 8 points?”

“Right. Dexterity 8 points. The best in our village.”

Seo Yun spoke indignantly, thinking about how hers was like a chimpanzee’s.

“Then she’ll probably learn quickly… but hey.”

“Yeah?”

“But are you really okay with it? Volunteering for the Dimensional Gate expedition party.”

From what Seo Yun had learned while staying with these two, Han Siwoo had no opinions of his own. He just followed Gaeulbi around, nodding like a yes-man to whatever that creature said.

Indeed, Han Siwoo couldn’t answer readily. Seo Yun said.

“If you’re uneasy or really don’t want to, tell me. If you can’t say it yourself, I’ll say it pretending it’s my opinion.”

After some hesitation, Han Siwoo nodded.

“That won’t be necessary… Anyway, thanks.”

Seo Yun grinned and headed to her own tent. Entering it, she opened a book.

The book received from the troll.

The Campaign Book… She roughly knew what kind of item it was. Because it was briefly mentioned in the Immortal Kingdom primer.

In TRPG, how to handle session settings and story progression is up to the Game Master and players, but if desired, they can use pre-prepared stories and settings.

The Campaign Book is precisely the item prepared for such gameplay.This book will contain specific backgrounds and developments of events. These will likely be content officially prepared by the game company, so they should be considered official settings similar to the Rulebook. Therefore, the meteorite will probably want to realize the events written in this book as well. It seems the troll wasn’t entirely wrong in calling it a prophecy.

I looked at the first chapter.

It contained rules about the Game Master (GM)’s role, operation methods, difficulty settings, and so on, so I skimmed through it roughly.

Seo Yun’s eyes stopped on the next page.

Background: After the meteorite fell, the Goddess of Beauty was deeply grieved by what she had done. So depressed was she that she subsequently cut off all contact with her Devotees.

Her Undead Devotees were bewildered by their Goddess not responding to their prayers, but they didn’t overly concern themselves with it. After all, they were now the masters of the world. They were too busy collecting beautiful men and women to suck their blood.

However, the ancient Lich Pygma Mule was different.

That Lich is the first Lich. He is one who, out of adoration for the Goddess of Beauty, immolated himself as an offering to her. He is also the one who bestowed upon the Goddess the realization that even the most hideously ugly person becomes far more pleasing to look at after their flesh and skin are burned away.

Thus, Pygma Mule is also the father of all Skeletons. Commanding tens of millions of Skeleton legions, he is the master of the most powerful Kingdom of Immortals. He is also the Great Warrior of Beauty, personally appointed by the Goddess of Beauty herself.

Pygma Mule was shocked that the Goddess he loved did not respond to his prayers.

He tried every method he could think of to get the Goddess to respond to his prayers, but failed.

He resolved to use his final resort. How?

If the Goddess of Beauty is grieving because the world has become more wretched than she anticipated, then the solution is to make the world even more wretched. So wretched that she cannot remain secluded in her private chamber in the Celestial Realm.

That is why the ancient Lich Pygma Mule began his campaign of conquest.

Pygma Mule’s army of tens of millions marches into the lands of the living. Along with this, Pygma Mule declared he would kill and eradicate all Mortals in the Mortal Realm. He likely expected that by actually carrying out this declaration, or at least acting as if he would, the Goddess of Beauty would eventually open her door, come out, and tell him to ‘stop.’

The Vampire Lords were horrified by this decision. Unlike that Lich, they need their blood-bags to remain alive so they can sink their fangs into them.

Since the Vampire Lords sent out their armies to oppose the ancient Lich who was once their Leader, there is a brief respite.

However, there is no time for complacency. No matter how powerful the Vampire Lords are, they won’t be able to hold off that ancient Lich for long. Pygma Mule is the most powerful Mage in the world, and as the Great Warrior of the Goddess of Beauty, he is also the most powerful Priest. Furthermore, the tens of millions of troops under his command are (……)

Meanwhile, the Goddess of the Hearth decided to protect the few remaining living beings.

Also, the Goddess of the Hearth knew that the reason for the Goddess of Beauty’s grief was not simply because the world was ruined. She knew that the Goddess whom the Goddess of Beauty loved had died.

The Goddess of Spring Flower lost all her Devotees in the world ruined by the meteorite and perished. It was only natural. How could spring or flowers possibly remain in an endless winter?

She surmised that this event particularly drove the Goddess of Beauty to despair.

The Goddess of the Hearth made contact with a Lesser Angel who had been stranded in the Mortal Realm and spoke. “Do your duty, Angel.”

The Goddess gave a mission to that Fallen Angel (……)

The Goddess’s voice echoed in Seo Yun’s mind.

‘Do your duty, Angel.’

Seo Yun nodded. In a daze, she left the tent.

Her mind felt empty. She didn’t know if it was because too much sudden information had poured in, or because she was shocked anew.

Still, she was able to calmly organize her thoughts.

She couldn’t immediately know what specifically she had to do, but what she needed to do going forward became clear.

She had to become that damn Goddess. To do that, she had to raise her Level. She had to kill more monsters.

For now, that damn Dimensional Gate would be helpful. The monsters on the other side of it……

She thought she should first go find her Party Members. Where was that chimpanzee? He’d probably be at the swordsmanship training school.

Feeling light-headed, Seo Yun walked in that direction.

She saw Gaeulbi.

Sweat was streaming down the girl’s entire body. The swordsmanship instructor, who showed no leniency just because the trainee was a girl, was pushing her hard.

“More fluidly!”

Gaeulbi did as she was told. She swung and swung the pitch-black Six-Foot Staff in her hand. It was originally a staff wielded by a giant Centaur. Even with the blade removed, it must still be heavy, yet she was somehow managing to swing it.

Her expression looked full of agony.

Contrary to Seo Yun’s expectation that she would train while grinning mindlessly without a trace of intellect, that wasn’t the case. Yet, it was strange that she didn’t stop training. Several hours had already passed since Seo Yun parted ways with the girl, so she must have been at it since then.

It was truly desperate. Seo Yun watched Gaeulbi intently and thought.

It seems she desperately wants to continue hunting as a Player, but what’s the reason? Does she really want to put holes in the heads of all those soldiers and people she dislikes? Or does she truly believe that if she becomes powerful enough, she can beat all the soldiers to death and get her aunt back?

Whatever the reason, it was something to welcome for now. She herself now planned to level up more fervently than anyone, and that girl was showing enough passion to keep up.

She approached the girl and spoke.

“Can you cast some Spells on me? Heal and Heroism, I mean.”

Only then did Gaeulbi notice Seo Yun. She grinned and answered as cheerfully as ever.

“I’d be grateful if you did!”

The next day, Oh Haengbok gathered all the Players of Happy Village and made an announcement.

“I’ve decided to open the Dimensional Gate after all.”

Naturally, there were opponents. One Warrior Player spoke up.

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous to have something like that near the village? Just as we can enter, something could also come out from inside it.”

“We’ll post guards and beat down whatever comes out as soon as it appears.”Seo Yun welcomed the decision, yet found it unexpected.

Hadn’t that safety-first Orc once been pleased by the situation where soldiers were stationed to block the monsters’ southward advance? He had always weighed the danger of monsters more heavily than the necessity of hunting. Even now, he probably wouldn’t want to take such risks…

Oh Haengbok spoke.

“We don’t know what that Troll is scheming, nor exactly how dangerous it is, but the current situation is dangerous enough as it is. Provisions production is unstable, soldiers are snatching away perfectly healthy people, neighbors we thought were quiet are capturing Priests…

Amid all this, it seems the Troll is visiting this village and that, opening Dimensional Gates. If we just sit back and watch, won’t we be left behind when others charge ahead? We simply can’t afford to sit idly by. So, volunteers?”

Various Players raised their hands. Whether it was to curry favor with Oh Haengbok or because they wanted Leveling, Seo Yun couldn’t tell, but she was surprised that over half of those gathered had raised their hands.

And Seo Yun herself raised her hand.

“Us too.”

As she said it, she anticipated a “No way!” in response. That Orc had always been reluctant to let minors engage in dangerous acts.

In that case, she was prepared to assert the fact that she now had the third-highest Level among the village Priests, and that since the Level 10 Priest Lady—the village’s highest-level Priest—had retired from active duty due to dementia, she was the second-highest Level among active Priests. Also, the fact that with the need to bring along as many Priests as possible, there wasn’t really anyone more suitable than her.

However, rendering all that preparation pointless, Oh Haengbok grinned and replied like this:

“Sure, having our pretty one along will be a great comfort.”

Two days later, the Troll returned.