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Chapter 4…
The Second Crisis Response Team.
This department was responsible for predicting the direction of Second’s self-governing world and figuring out how to respond to it.
Since the general course of NPC behavior was almost predetermined, most of their work consisted of monitoring unusual players.
And there were countless “anomalous players” in Second.
“Hup! Hah! Hup! Hah! Why hasn’t anything triggered yet? I’ve dug this much already—shouldn’t something happen?!”
A player who had obtained a shovel the moment he entered the game and was doing nothing but digging outside the beginner hunting grounds.
“I’ve hit it ten thousand times and no hidden quest?! Fine! I’ll go for a hundred thousand!”
A player relentlessly beating a training dummy in the beginner city’s training grounds.
“Kill me again! My dream is to become a Death Master! That hidden class should appear any second now— Gah!”
A player who repeatedly charged monsters the instant he respawned, only to die over and over.
Watching people repeat such bizarre behavior to such an absurd degree was enough to make the Crisis Response Team sigh in exhaustion every single time.
Yet they still kept monitoring them.
Because…
What if a hidden quest really does appear…?
It was all because of Second’s autonomy.
Just as the Crisis Response Team existed, so did a Balance Team within the game’s developer. However, most of the world’s adjustments were handled autonomously by the supercomputer that made up Second.
Not long ago, hadn’t a player who insisted on biting every monster he encountered and eating all sorts of disgusting things been granted the hidden class “Predator”?
No one knew what kind of variables the game might create on its own.
Ignoring situations like these simply wasn’t an option.
Just then—
“Team Leader Kang.”
“Yeah, Assistant Manager Seo. What is it this time? Don’t tell me that idiot digging holes actually got a hidden class.”
“No. Not yet.”
“Not yet? Don’t say it like that. You’re making me nervous. So what is it?”
Assistant Manager Seo approached Team Leader Kang.
As the head of the Crisis Response Team, Kang had long since been worn down by every strange incident and unexpected crisis Second had thrown at him.
Dark circles hung beneath his eyes, and a thick beard covered his face—it looked as though he hadn’t gone home in days.
Facing him, Seo began her report.
“A First User has appeared.”
“What? The game’s been open for almost two years, and there’s still a First User left?”
“Yes.”
“…Seriously. I thought they’d all shown up already.”
Within the Crisis Response Team, First Users were considered a special case.
First, the predecessor to Second.
It had been such a poorly made game that very few people had actually played it.
But not zero.
And among those few players, an even smaller number had begun Second with a special bonus called “Returner’s Privilege,” allowing them to inherit part of their abilities from First.
One such person was Yulha, the current Rank 1 swordsman in Korea.
Thanks to the swordsmanship and skills she had mastered during the First era, she had climbed to the top of the rankings almost immediately after Second’s launch.
“I get it. Just file them under F-Rank.”
“Is F-Rank really enough?”
“First Users only mattered when Second first launched. It’s already been two years. Even if they’re a little skilled, what can they possibly do now?”
“But…”
“Assistant Manager Seo, do you realize how busy we are these days? If you’ve got time to watch some beginner town, spend it keeping an eye on the Heavenly Break Guild. I have a feeling something’s about to happen there.”
“…Understood.”
Team Leader Kang didn’t even bother looking through the report.
It made sense.
First Users had only been considered dangerous during the early stages of the game.
At this point, two years after launch, even if a new First User appeared, they couldn’t possibly create any major disruption.
At most, they’d just grow a little faster than everyone else.
That wasn’t enough to qualify as a meaningful variable anymore.
And so Kang lost interest.
However…
Assistant Manager Seo’s expression remained uneasy as she returned to her desk.
This player… doesn’t seem like an ordinary First User.
No matter how she thought about it, something felt off.
A First User appearing two years after Second’s launch?
And that nickname…
For some reason, it gave her a very bad feeling.
Just then—
“Team Leader Kang!”
One of the employees monitoring the game rushed over in panic.
He immediately reported what he’d witnessed.
“An alley in the Starting City has exploded!”
“What? What kind of nonsense is that? Did someone set off a bomb?”
“No! Monitoring confirms that it was struck by lightning!”
“…What?”
“I mean… lightning hit it!”
“Then explain why lightning powerful enough to blow up an alley would strike the Starting City!”
“I-I don’t know!”
“You don’t know?”
“We checked the moment we detected the anomaly, but all we found were a group of completely charred thugs!”
“What about other players? Were any users injured? If players got caught in it, we’ll be flooded with complaints!”
“W-We haven’t confirmed that yet…”
“Isn’t confirming that your job? Hurry up and check!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
A mysterious phenomenon had occurred within the Starting City.
For some reason…
Only one name surfaced in Assistant Manager Seo’s mind.
…Mir.
The newly arrived Returner from First.
* * *
Meanwhile…
After blowing up the alley—and the gangsters inside it—with the Heavenly God’s Lightning…
“Whoa… That scared me.”
I had already escaped far away from the scene.
Honestly, even if they were just NPC gangsters, my attack had literally blown apart the entire alley.
If the city guards had caught me there, I might have been arrested on the spot.
The gangsters hadn’t actually died, but the lightning had completely burned the alley to ashes.
I hurriedly took out an item Luke had been storing for me.
Tarnkappe
Cannot be Traded
Type: Cloak
Grade: Heroic
Requirement: Level 150+
Description: A magical cloak said to have been used by the great dragonslayer Siegfried to conceal himself.
Tarnkappe.
A magical cloak imbued with invisibility.
An incredibly useful item.
Using its power, I slipped away from the scene without anyone noticing.
After hiding somewhere quiet and catching my breath, I felt the cloak’s power disappear.
It automatically unequipped itself.
Moments later, the inactive Tarnkappe burned black and crumbled away.
“Is that the penalty?”
I recalled the lightning from Astrafe earlier.
It had been astonishingly powerful.
But…
The Astrafe I remembered wasn’t supposed to be limited to that level.
The same applied to Tarnkappe.
People had still glanced toward me whenever I moved, sensing faint traces of my presence.
Its invisibility had clearly been weakened.
So I decided to perform a few tests.
“Let’s separate them by grade… then by level…”
After taking out and testing various items in different ways…
I finally understood how the items Luke stored actually worked.
“First.”
Non-tradable.
Just as their descriptions stated, any item taken from Luke couldn’t be traded.
Only I could use them.
I had hoped I might be able to sell unnecessary items for some startup money.
Unfortunately…
That wasn’t possible.
“Second.”
Even if I can use them, their performance drops to match my level.
Honestly, that was only natural.
Normally, equipment with level restrictions couldn’t even be used.
The fact that a Level 1 player like me could wield Astrafe at all was already absurd.
So items beyond my level had their performance automatically reduced to something I could handle.
Even so…
Legendary items were still terrifyingly powerful.
“Third.”
Time limits.
This was closely related to the second point.
The greater the level restriction and the higher the item’s rarity, the shorter its usable duration became.
Astrafe, my ultimate weapon, could only be used for a single strike.
Tarnkappe, despite its weakened invisibility, barely lasted long enough for me to escape the alley.
A little disappointing.
But unavoidable.
Actually…
Even this was more than enough.
Weakened or not, my collection remained overwhelmingly powerful.
And the stronger I became, the closer those items would return to their original strength.
More importantly…
[Sudden Quest: “The Alley Thugs” has been completed.]
[You have obtained the small amount of gold the thugs were carrying.]
The gangsters had already been reduced to dust by the lightning.
Thankfully, their money had been transferred to me automatically as the quest reward.
If I’d had to search through the ashes myself, I’d never have gotten it.
Fortunately, I received the proper reward.
Defeating all five thugs had earned me a respectable amount of money for a beginner.
Which meant…
“First things first.”
“I should rent a room.”
The first place I headed for was an inn.
Finding it wasn’t difficult.
After all…
“It’s exactly where I remember.”
It stood in precisely the same location as it had in First.
Of course, only the location remained the same.
Everything else had changed.
Instead of the old two-story inn from First, this one had three floors.
Its architecture was far more refined.
And most importantly…
Campfire Inn
The name was different.
“Welcome! How may I help you? A meal? Or lodging?”
“Lodging for one night, and bring the meal immediately.”
“Certainly! Our standard Campfire Set is included. Is that alright?”
“That’s fine.”
“Our Campfire Set is the most popular meal in the city. I’m sure you’ll love it.”
I decided to eat first.
Just like in First, eating was an important mechanic in Second.
Since realism was heavily emphasized, failing to eat resulted in various debuffs.
If neglected long enough, you could even starve to death.
On the other hand, eating properly granted buffs.
There was no reason to skip meals.
“Your Campfire Set is ready!”
When the meal arrived…
“Oh… that smells incredible.”
“Right? It’s our pride and joy. Make sure you enjoy every bite!”
It looked far more luxurious than I’d expected.
A rich stew packed with meat and vegetables.
Freshly baked bread.
And fragrant honey water.
Still…
I kept my expectations in check.
No matter how advanced virtual reality became, perfectly recreating taste should have been nearly impossible—
Slurp.
“…Huh?”
It was delicious.
Ridiculously delicious.
It tasted no different from real food.
It wasn’t just salty and sweet.
Even the subtle sweetness released from the vegetables came through perfectly.
How was that even possible?
Before I knew it, I’d devoured the entire meal.
The waitress smiled proudly.
“I told you it was good.”
“It really is.”
To think they’d perfected even the sense of taste…
Second had advanced far beyond my expectations.
It was enough to make me realize…
First truly had been nothing more than an unfinished prototype.
After finishing my meal, I headed up to my room.
Most beginners wouldn’t waste money renting one so early.
But I needed a private space.
Because what I was about to do…
“Luke.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Show me every elixir we’re carrying.”
Whoooom—
[Golden Dragon’s Heart]
[Ten-Thousand-Year Hasuo]
[Elf’s Tears]
…
I needed time alone.
Somewhere no one could interrupt me.
