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CHAPTER 50.
Hymn of Life
“Even those two who once tried to kill me and hated even the sound of my breathing ended up as my companions—so there shouldn’t be any problem with Illei joining our journey, right?”
“……”
“……”
The two men couldn’t come up with anything to say, so they reluctantly nodded, though their eyes were full of suspicion as they looked at Illei.
Illei, however, clung to me and wouldn’t let go, completely unfazed.
We had three horses, but since Illei was too young to ride alone, we had to argue over who would carry him.
Klaus insisted it would be dangerous to put Illei on my horse and volunteered to take him. Ancelot also agreed that Illei should be observed more closely and supported Klaus’s idea.
In the end, however, Illei refused to leave my side for even a moment, so I had to ride with him on my horse.
Getting out of the forest was far easier than when we entered.
That was because Illei’s fog had vanished, taking all the monsters in the area with it.
Pyurit! Pyuriit!
—“Lulu is mean to Piya!”
Pyurururururu!
—“Piya is upset! So upset!”
Piya cried noisily, but no one paid any attention.
Instead, the louder Piya cried, the deeper Illei burrowed into my embrace.
He probably didn’t even understand what Piya was saying—but it was as if he was mocking her on purpose.
And the moment we emerged from the forest—
[Main Quest: Dreamfog Forest (3/3)] Complete!
[SYSTEM] Quest Successful!
[SYSTEM] Gained 20,250 EXP.
[SYSTEM] Level Up! (Lv. 37)
[SYSTEM] Gained 10 Skill Points.
[SYSTEM] Quest reward has been delivered to your inbox.
Illei, seeing the world outside the forest for the first time, looked dazed and dreamy.
“How does it feel to be out of the forest, Illei?”
“……”
Illei glanced back at the forest, then tucked his head deeper into my arms.
As I gently patted his head, my eyes moved to my newly increased level.
‘My level has gone up a lot.’
When I had just left the imperial palace, I was barely around level 30—now I was almost at 40.
‘Sir Klaus’s help made a big difference.’
Even though I hadn’t hunted much myself, registering Klaus in the supporter slot allowed me to share the EXP from his monster kills, letting my level rise alongside his efforts.
It was fortunate I had the hunting quest first.
If I had removed Klaus from the supporter slot to block Ancelot’s attack before completing it, I would’ve had to hunt 500 monsters alone due to the one-week cooldown.
‘Anyway… I finally saved enough!’
Suppressing an excited breath, I opened my skill window.
[Skill Points: 50]
Seeing that I had finally reached 50 skill points was deeply satisfying.
Below it was a long list of my acquired skills:
[Special]
- Skill Level: 10/10
- Automatically switches to “Romance Mode” when activated and recognizes all opposite-sex characters as romance targets.
- Provides data on romance targets upon encounter and displays their emotional stats for efficient wooing.
- Adds a new “Lover Slot” each time a romance is successfully completed. Up to 100 lover slots can be stored.
[Special]
- Skill Level: 9/9
- Increases affection gain rate by 10x for 5 minutes when used. (Cooldown: 1 day)
[General] <Luce’s Footsteps>
- Skill Level: 1/6
- Increases movement speed by +500% for 5 minutes. Speed affects attack rate and evasion. (Cooldown: 6 hours)
[General]
- Skill Level: 1/1
- Grants logical consistency to your unnatural actions, preventing suspicion from NPCs.
[Combat]
- Skill Level: 1/10
- Increases defense by +165% for 3 minutes. (Cooldown: 30 minutes)
[Combat] (new!)
- Skill Level: 1/10
- Inflicts +17,985 damage with a divine strike under Luce’s protection. (Cooldown: 1 hour)
The skills I had inherited from Hezen had transferred over completely, including their leveled states.
The two max-leveled skills at the top were his handiwork—and as expected, they were absolutely useless for combat.
‘Now I know just how obsessed that lunatic was with harems.’
With a cold glare, I scanned the skill window and silently cursed Hezen again.
Each time I completed quests, I had saved up skill points. These could be used to unlock new skills or enhance existing ones.
I had deliberately held off on spending any points because I had my eyes on one skill in particular:
- Revives you instantly without pain, restoring a portion of your HP. (Cooldown: 90 days)
- Required Skill Points: 100
Unlike Hezen, this game wasn’t just a virtual reality to me. It was my actual, breathing, living reality.
Naturally, I couldn’t even log out at will.
I had to clear this game, no matter what. That was the only way to reach the goal waiting beyond.
But this game was infamous for its brutal final scenario.
Even though I hadn’t even reached the end yet, I’d already faced countless brushes with death.
Hezen cursed me with a time limit. I had to fight off cleaners who targeted bugs. Hezen even tried to kill me himself.
I also had to battle system administrators, survive spatial erosion, evade the trap of mist…
Piya told me that even if I died, I could always start over.
But even if I repeated death again and again and finally cleared the game…
I grimaced at the thought of returning to my broken home.
‘No. I’m not thinking about that.’
I shook my head, tossing the grim thought far away.
The very existence of a [Revive] system meant that death was likely as I followed the scenario.
Sure, there were revive tokens in the player-exclusive shop, but even ignoring the cost—they were useless to me.
Of course. The player shop was for paying users.
But I wasn’t a Korean player—I was Ruivel, someone from this world. I couldn’t purchase any items from that shop.
That made this skill my only lifeline.
I had decided from the beginning that I would unlock it—no matter what.
There was just one problem: maybe because of how overpowered it was, it required an enormous number of points compared to other skills, which needed only 3–5.
But I would unlock it, no matter what!
I only had 50 skill points now, but…
‘I have a plan.’
Grinning, I clicked on the small [Reset] button next to the skill list.
[Resetting skills will only return half of the points originally spent. Please select the skill to reset.]
Without hesitation, I chose .
How absurd, dumping all those points into a useless flirting skill.
Hezen really had been insane.
What good is having 100 lover slots anyway?
[SYSTEM] Skill has been reset.
[SYSTEM] 55 Skill Points recovered.
I now had 105 skill points!
I spent 100 of them to unlock .
[SYSTEM] Skill has been unlocked.
I looked proudly at the newly acquired skill.
It was my insurance.
No matter what crises awaited me, I now had one more life to spare.
So I could press forward, without fear.
‘Even though… if the system gets cut off again like before, this’ll be useless too…’
With that thought, I glanced at Ancelot.
He looked perfectly fine, no signs of pain—but…
‘The system does not tolerate those who break its order.’
Recalling the pain that always came with defying the system made me slightly concerned.
‘I guess I’ve just gotten used to it.’
Ancelot had said it wasn’t that he didn’t feel pain—he had simply grown used to it.
In the forest, he had revealed his identity as a bug and even severed Piya’s system connection.
Pyurururu! Pyururu!
—“Still, it’s a relief, Lulu! We made it out of the forest safely!”
Piya chirped as she gently landed on my shoulder.
Back when the system was cut off in the forest, I was worried a system admin would show up again like they did with Cedric—but luckily, nothing happened this time.
“A city is in sight!”
Klaus, scouting ahead, shouted back at us.
Pyururururu!
—“The next scenario won’t arrive for another two weeks. Lulu, take it easy and rest until then!”
Hearing Piya’s kind explanation, I tugged on the reins.
* * *
After leaving the forest, we arrived at the first city and decided to spend a night at an inn.
Klaus went to sell the materials dropped from the <Lv.30 Dreamfog Forest Bear>.
Rare monster drops usually fetched high prices.
As a princess whose only asset was money, I didn’t really care—but thrifty Klaus promised to use the money to buy potions for our journey and quickly set off.
We had slain 500 bears, after all. It was quite the haul.
While waiting for Klaus, we sat at a table on the inn’s first floor.
I ordered two beers for myself and Ancelot, and a warm glass of milk for Illei.
I poured a bit of Illei’s milk into an empty cup and handed it to Piya.
Pyururu! Pyurururu!
—“Piya wants beer too!”
“You wish.”
Pyururururururu!
—“Lulu, you’re mean!”
Piya flapped her wings and made a fuss.
“Quiet, Piya. Be more like Illei.”
Unlike the noisy Piya, Illei held his cup with both hands and quietly sipped his milk.
“What a good boy.”
When I patted Illei’s head, Piya grumbled and flapped even louder—until she locked eyes with Ancelot and instantly fell silent.
‘I still don’t know if she follows me or Ancelot, honestly.’
Grumbling inwardly, I sipped my beer.
This city lay along the path to Ruenhart.
Maybe that’s why I kept hearing Ancelot’s name pop up in conversations among the travelers on the first floor.
“So the prince of Ruenhart, Ancelot, is expected to return soon?”
“I wonder if blood will run through Ruenhart again once that murderer’s back.”
It seemed Ancelot was known among travelers as “That Killer Returns”.
“Ancelot, people are talking about you,” I whispered teasingly with a mischievous giggle.
He snorted, amused.
“They’re actually talking about Her Highness over there.”
