🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 3…
Crackle!
The moment I logged into the game, my vision exploded with light.
As I slowly opened my eyes beneath the brilliant sunlight, a bustling city came into view.
“Selling intermediate iron daggers!”
“Buying monster materials! Paying more than the general store!”
“Anyone want to hunt Red Slimes? Tankers welcome!”
People filled every corner of my vision.
It truly deserved to be called the world’s most popular game.
Seeing it, I couldn’t help but be shocked.
First of all—the sound.
“Why does this feel so real?”
Even First had decent audio, but it never went beyond the limitations of ordinary game sound effects.
This was different.
People’s voices sounded exactly as if they were coming from the real world.
And then there were the…
“Wow…”
Graphics.
The rough, pixelated visuals unique to First were nowhere to be seen.
Even with countless players crowding the area, not a single graphical glitch appeared. Before me stretched a world that looked indistinguishable from reality.
Hair swayed naturally in the breeze.
Water poured from the fountain.
A puppy ran around in the distance.
Even the clouds drifting across the sky…
Everything looked so lifelike that it was impossible to tell it apart from the real world.
And that wasn’t all.
The aroma of grilled chicken skewers.
The texture of the clothes I was wearing.
Every sensation I experienced was on an entirely different level from First.
“So this is why everyone kept talking about Second.”
Now I finally understood.
Second wasn’t just an upgraded version of First.
It was practically a completely different game.
A true virtual reality game.
A world realistic enough to be called another reality.
“Let’s check my status window first.”
The status window was the foundation of any RPG.
I opened it.
Immediately…
[ Status ]
Name: Mir
Level: 1
Class: —
Strength: 20
Agility: 20
Vitality: 20
Intelligence: 20
Wisdom: 20
A simple status window appeared before me.
There were more detailed menus where I could check achievements, attack power, and various other statistics, but this was the default display.
Looking it over, nothing seemed different from First, including the numerical values.
Except for one thing.
“My stats are doubled.”
My attributes.
According to both First and everything I’d researched about Second, every new character started with all five stats fixed at 10.
But mine?
Every stat was 20 right from the beginning.
This was another one of the Returner’s Benefits I’d received during character creation.
Although it wasn’t listed anywhere, there were other hidden bonuses as well, such as increased skill proficiency growth.
Next…
“Inventory.”
I opened my inventory.
A small inventory window appeared.
As expected of a brand-new character, it looked tiny and almost empty.
Inside were only two items.
The first was Gold, the official currency of Second, given as beginner settlement funds.
The second…
[ Contract of the Black Flame ]
That.
The item I had brought over from First as an additional benefit.
Normally, the first thing every new player did was head to the training grounds.
Instead, after glancing around, I entered the nearest alley.
If the Contract of the Black Flame worked the way I thought it would, using it in front of the crowded fountain was the last thing I wanted.
“This should do.”
No one was nearby.
Calmly pulling out the contract…
Riiip!
I tore it in half without hesitation.
Immediately, black flames erupted from the torn parchment.
The fire spread beyond the contract itself, burning even the surrounding air as it rapidly expanded until it engulfed the entire alley.
Then…
Grrrrrrr…
A familiar growl echoed through the darkness.
And…
Flash!
Within the sea of black flames, a pair of terrifying eyes opened.
An overwhelming pressure, transcending all races, filled the air.
Yet I felt no fear.
Instead…
It felt like I was seeing an old friend again.
“Long time no see, Luke.”
“As expected… it was you, Master.”
Luke.
He was a familiar bound to me through a contract.
If the Golden Dragon of Greed, the last monster I defeated in First, had been the game’s official final boss…
Then Luke had been the unofficial hidden final boss.
The Black Flame Dragon of Pride—
Lukenir Desperate Ignocturn.
The only Black Flame Dragon that had ever existed in First.
After defeating him, I formed a contract with him.
Well…
His full name was absurdly long, so I simply called him Luke.
Anyway, there was a simple reason I’d chosen the Contract of the Black Flame from among all the available rewards.
Because Luke grows stronger as time passes.
Although Luke was an incredibly powerful Black Flame Dragon, he wasn’t the type of summon that fought alongside me on the battlefield.
After our battle and subsequent contract, he had lost his original dragon body.
All that remained to him were his unique abilities.
Devour—absorbing defeated monsters to permanently increase his own stats.
Black Flame Transformation—lending those accumulated stats to me.
In other words…
The sooner I summoned him, the stronger he’d become by the late game.
Looking toward the future, summoning Luke was the most efficient choice.
That was why I’d selected the contract.
And that’s not all.
Luke possessed a third ability besides Devour and Black Flame Transformation.
Storage.
He possessed a Black Flame subspace far larger than any inventory.
Since I primarily used equipment switching strategies—changing gear according to each opponent—Luke’s storage ability had always been the perfect partner.
Back in First, every item I’d collected had been stored inside his dark subspace.
I intended to play Second the same way.
“Is this… the effect of time?”
“The power and presence you once possessed have completely vanished, Master.”
“That’s what happened.”
From Luke’s perspective, the gap between First and Second simply seemed like the passage of time.
That didn’t matter.
The important thing was that the summoning had succeeded, and he’d recognized me as his master once again.
Just as I was about to return to the game…
“Will you not require equipment?”
Luke asked.
It was an understandable question.
At the moment, I was wearing nothing but beginner equipment.
To someone who only remembered me as the number one ranked player of First, I probably looked pitifully weak.
“I’m not ready yet. I’ll gather everything again little by little.”
I gave him a casual answer.
But then…
“Is that necessary? My darkness overflows with equipment.”
An unexpected reply.
Overflowing with equipment?
Surely…
“…You still have my items?”
Could it be?
Did he really still possess everything?
Every item I’d collected throughout First?
No way.
That couldn’t be…
I doubted it.
But Luke’s next action completely erased every trace of that doubt.
“Of course.”
Hummm—
His body…
The black flames spread outward, covering the entire wall before me.
Then something began emerging from within it.
The hilts of swords.
Spears.
Axes.
Handles of countless different weapons.
Armor.
Accessories.
Consumables.
Luke possessed every single item I’d ever collected in First.
Including…
[ Zeus’ Thunderbolt, Astrape ]
[ God’s Shield, Aegis ]
[ Sword of the Chosen King, Excalibur ]
[ Elixir of Immortality ]
[ Meteor Strike Spellbook ]
…
Even the mythical equipment I’d agonized over during character creation was still there.
Was this even possible?
Luke had brought every item from First intact.
Which meant…
I could freely use every single item I’d collected in First within Second.
“This can’t be…”
Was this a bug?
Wouldn’t the developers notice and patch this immediately?
Nothing seemed abnormal.
Then I remembered something Luke had said earlier.
That time had stripped away my power and status.
Which meant…
“Luke… how much time has passed since the last time you saw me?”
Could the era Luke remembered from First actually be Second’s distant past?
The thought crossed my mind.
Unfortunately…
“After you disappeared, I slept within the deepest darkness.”
“I apologize, but I cannot remember how much time has passed.”
“I see.”
So I couldn’t determine the timeline.
That was disappointing.
Still, it was something I’d investigate later.
If Second truly was the future of First, then everything I remembered about First—the past of this world—would undoubtedly become valuable information.
Come to think of it… this place feels familiar too.
I looked out from the alley.
The City of Beginnings.
The tutorial city every new player had to pass through.
Naturally, First had also possessed a starting city.
It had been much older and more worn down.
But now that I looked closely…
The layout of the buildings.
The terrain.
They were nearly identical.
Well…
That wasn’t important right now.
“So I can use all of these items from the very beginning?”
That was the real issue.
Everything Luke had stored.
From beginner wooden swords…
To Astrape, the ultimate weapon.
Whenever I found an item in First, I never simply used it and threw it away.
I always kept at least one copy.
Maybe it was my collector’s instinct.
The moment I’d discovered achievement rewards for collecting items, I’d made it my goal to gather every single item that existed in the game.
Eventually…
I’d earned the achievement:
Master of All Things.
Which meant Luke now possessed…
Every item that had ever existed in First.
He was essentially…
A mythical warehouse.
One that could instantly retrieve whatever item I requested.
“Let’s try taking something out.”
Seeing all the equipment I’d worked so hard to collect made me want to use it immediately.
As I debated which item to test first…
“What’s a little brat like you doing in our territory?”
A voice came from behind me.
Someone had chosen the worst possible moment to interrupt.
Annoyed, I turned around.
A group of thugs stood at the entrance of the alley, blocking the exit.
At the same time, a system message appeared.
[ Sudden Quest: Alleyway Thugs ]
Difficulty: Intermediate
Description: While wandering through an alley, you’ve encountered members of the Goblin Gang, which controls the western alleyways of the City of Beginnings.
Objective: Defeat or drive away the Goblin Gang thugs.
A Sudden Quest.
Exactly what the name implied—a quest triggered unexpectedly by certain situations.
Just like in First.
“No need to look so scared, kid. We’re friendly brothers.”
“Just leave your belongings and we won’t kill you.”
“Think of it this way. You probably don’t have much money anyway. Cheap price for your life, right?”
There weren’t just one or two of them.
Five thugs.
Each held a dagger while blocking the entrance.
No wonder the quest wasn’t ranked Low, but Intermediate.
For beginners in the starting city, this was a fairly difficult encounter.
Looking at them…
I smiled.
“Perfect.”
I’d been wanting to test these weapons anyway.
Now my test subjects had delivered themselves to me.
I gripped the weapon I’d just chosen.
[ Zeus’ Thunderbolt, Astrape ]
(Cannot Trade)
Type: Spear
Rank: Mythic
Requirements:
- Level 1,000+
- Seal of Zeus
- All Stats 1,000+
Description: The thunderbolt of Zeus, supreme god of Olympus and king of the gods.
Astrape.
One of the strongest weapons I’d ever obtained in First.
Its level requirement.
Its seal requirement.
Its stat requirement.
I met none of them.
Would I even be able to use it?
Crackle!
The instant I drew Astrape…
That familiar surge of electricity raced through my body.
Currents burst outward from me, expanding into a wide electromagnetic field.
“Let’s find out.”
KRAAAAAAAK!!
Within the narrow alleyways of the City of Beginnings…
The thunderbolt of the King of the Gods descended.
