【Ian de Logres】
◈ Level: 8
◈ Title: None
◈ Traits: [Dragon Strength], [Insight Eye], [Oath of Chivalry]
◈ Stats
◈ Physique: 111 | Mana: 50
◈ Luck: 10 | Mental Strength: 30
(SP Available: 0)
▶ [Skills]
This was fucking incredible.
I had not even reached level 10 yet, and my physique stat had already surpassed 100.
Roughly calculating my current stats, I was level 40.
At this level, I could be dropped into the North and somehow manage to survive.
The stage of becoming a Sword User—the first step toward knighthood—began at level 30.
Which meant that a low-level nobody who could not even produce sword aura was comparable to a knight who could wield sword energy.
That was only if we were talking stats, of course.
There was quite a gap between a level 29 who had not awakened aura and a level 30 who had awakened aura and entered the realm of Sword Users.
In game terms, it was like the difference between having one copy and being fully refined.
That was how enormous the difference was between having sword energy and not having it.
Sword energy increased not only a weapon’s cutting power, but its durability as well.
Unless it was a famous blade, if an ordinary sword clashed with a sword reinforced by sword energy, the ordinary sword—and the body holding it—would do nothing but get cleaved in two.
Even in the game, when a sword imbued with sword energy struck one without it, the latter would be destroyed in that single exchange.
Of course, the very fact that I could contend with them through stats was absurd.
Now that I had checked my stats, it was time to inspect the reward for that goddamn performance.
"I wonder whether this one will screw me over or not."
The first had been a teleportation ticket called Dreamland.
The second had been ten pieces of jerky—out of nowhere, but unbelievably delicious.
So what was the third?
I opened my inventory.
Rows upon rows of square slots unfurled before me.
And in the last of the slots containing an item was an image fixed in place.
A golden-glowing dagger, as though declaring itself to be my reward.
[Sealed Carnwennan]
One of the three weapons most trusted by the proud King of Knights.
◈ Rank: ■■
◈ Attack Power: 120
◈ You may consume mana to use the skill [Stealth].
◈ Nullifies magic of the sixth circle or below.
◈ This weapon is sealed.
When I clicked the weapon’s image, a silver dagger appeared in my hand.
The rank display was broken, and like Orlando’s Muscle Cultivation Method, this was a weapon I had never seen in the game.
But.
‘This is fucking broken.’
First of all, it had 120 attack power despite being a dagger.
Four times the value of the iron sword I currently had.
That was attack power comparable to a decent greatsword. For a dagger to have this much attack power, it would have to be a hidden piece appearing in the mid-to-late game—and even then, there was no guarantee.
It even had a stealth skill.
But I figured those voyeuristic bastards would hate seeing me use that, so I would pass.
The part that really deserved attention, though, was its ability to nullify magic of the sixth circle and below.
Because the sixth circle was no joke.
In terms of levels, that was level 60.
At Dawnstar Academia, the circle above that—the seventh circle—was considered equal to Sword Masters, superhuman beings.
To nullify all magic of the sixth circle, just below that, and everything beneath it was absolutely incredible.
In other words, I had become the natural predator of most mages.
And here, where the game had become reality, it might even nullify magic-based gimmicks.
Then there was the fact that it was sealed, which drew my gaze even more.
It was this powerful while sealed. Just how powerful would it become once unsealed?
Its short reach was unfortunate since it was a dagger, but with a weapon like this, that idiotic act earlier did not feel like a waste at all.
No, with this much, I could do it a few more times with a smile on my face.
Now this was some effective financial therapy.
As I was reveling in my delight, a question suddenly came rushing in.
No, let me correct that.
It was not sudden.
It was something I had been wondering ever since I fell into this world and saw them.
The identity of those called the Stars of Knights.
What were they?
Everything about them was a mystery.
Orlando’s Muscle Cultivation Method, and this weapon too.
The Dreamland ticket had existed in the game, but rather than taking me to Dreamland, it had teleported me before Dolnesia.
Orlando’s Muscle Cultivation Method had given me my absurd biceps stat, yet it was a skill that had never appeared in the game.
The same went for Carnwennan.
And the Stars of Knights themselves were a setting that had never appeared in the game.
Even Ian, though he had not appeared in the game, had at least been mentioned in one line of the art book later on. But the Stars of Knights had not received even that one brief line.
Of course, I was not some veteran who had played through the game a thousand times, nor had I sought out the original work.
It could be a hidden piece I did not know about, or perhaps a setting from one of the novels that had served as the game’s source material.
Then what was their goal?
Why were they trying to make me play the fool?
Could they be the culprits who had trapped me in this other world?
Whether they were the culprits or not, they could not be entirely unrelated.
Which brought up the question I was most curious about.
Out of all those countless players, why had they made me possess someone here?
Dawnstar Academia had never been an unpopular game.
In other words, I was not the only person who played it.
If their cliché reason was to save this world—
Then instead of bringing in someone like me, with a middling twenty-nine playthroughs and nothing more than a few glances at the setting through wikis and art books, they should have brought in a thousand-playthrough veteran or a devoted reader who knew the original setting inside out.
If they simply wanted to feel amusement or catharsis—
They should have brought in a newbie, or someone who had sampled the game and quit.
So why?
Why bring in me, with my middling twenty-nine playthroughs?
Just to torment me?
They had made me perform absurd chivalry in sudden situations, but the rewards had been certain.
Come to think of it, these bastards seemed determined to screw me over, but looking only at the results, there had been nothing bad about them.
The Dreamland ticket had teleported me without warning, but in the end, it had let me save Dolnesia when she was on the verge of falling into a bad ending.
The ten pieces of jerky had been utterly random, but they had let me win Dolnesia over. And Orlando’s Muscle Cultivation Method had been the skill most responsible for building these biceps of mine.
What I did when I fought those goblins earlier had definitely been a fucking prank, but they had given me Carnwennan, a weapon that seemed like it would barely appear even in the late game, as a reward.
What were these guys, and what was their purpose?
Besides.
[Communication is not yet possible.]
Even if I wanted to communicate with them, perhaps because they had not yet recovered, all I got after that one exchange was the same notification saying communication was impossible.
So I pondered it for a while.
But before long, I decided to just give up.
Nothing would change no matter how much I worried about it, and there was nothing I could learn.
And while their intentions were unclear, it was true that they were helping me.
In that case, I should make use of them.
Having settled my thoughts, I looked toward the spring.
It should be about time for her to come out.
At that moment—
Whoooosh—!
Water splashed up around the spring, soaring toward the cave ceiling.
And within that spray, a figure began to emerge.
"The dropout has returned."
"There you go saying weird things again, old man."
Dolnesia emerged from the spring with a helpless laugh.
【Dolnesia Kihano】
◈ Level: 10
◈ The target has awakened the stat [Spirit Affinity].
She had gained four levels from level 6 to reach level 10, and as expected, she had also acquired her exclusive stat, Spirit Affinity.
With Sancho included, she probably would not die easily.
And.
Awakening Spirit Affinity was not the spring’s only effect.
It also provided the fucking amazing matchmaking service of letting you contract with one spirit as a bonus.
In Dawnstar Academia, spirits came in water, fire, wind, and earth types, and their ranks were divided into low, middle, high, and king.
There were irregulars like Sancho, but those special spirits were a type of hidden piece acquired through unusual events.
As I recalled, the same was true of kings.
The type and rank of spirit that came out of this spring were random, but aside from irregulars and kings, just about anything could appear.
When I played the game, I got middle- and high-rank spirits, and water and fire types came up often.
I had even tried rerolling to draw something better.
But king-class or irregular spirits never actually appeared.
"You must have contracted with a spirit. Did you?"
"As expected, you know everything, old man. Yes, a friend came to me."
Then something began walking out behind her.
What kind of spirit had she contracted with?
Sancho already covered offense, so fire and wind—damage-dealer types—would be a little awkward. It would be nice if she got earth for tanking, or water for support.
Then I doubted my own eyes at the identity of the spirit that emerged.
A spirit in the form of a horse with a lush mane.
But more than that, it was the creature’s color that made me doubt my eyes.
Ordinary spirits tended to bear colors matching their elements.
Blue for water.
Green for wind.
Red for fire.
Brown for earth.
But that horse—
It bore all four colors, as if claiming to possess every element.
Was it some kind of genetically engineered spirit?
I almost wanted to ask if it had four parents.
"What do you think, old man?"
Dolnesia looked at me with a triumphant expression.
The smug look was one I had seen far too often somewhere before, and I barely managed to swallow the string of curses rising to my lips.
More importantly, how had she drawn that?
An irregular like that should never come out here.
As I continued staring at Dolnesia with questioning eyes—
[Insight Eye activates.]
[You have observed Dolnesia’s narrative, ‘Spirit Arts.’]
[Acquiring ‘Spirit Arts’....]
[You do not possess the special stat ‘Spirit Power’ or ‘Spirit Affinity.’]
[You have failed to acquire ‘Spirit Arts.’]
And then it immediately shut off again.
What was that just now?
Had it tried to acquire a skill?
I had merely looked at Dolnesia, who had contracted with a spirit, and I had nearly gained her skill.
Though it had failed due to the lack of an exclusive stat.
The description of Insight Eye did say that one of its abilities greatly increased skill acquisition.
But I had not expected it to work like this.
So if I only met the requirements for a skill, could I acquire it just by seeing it?
That was fucking broken, wasn’t it?
Unfortunately, it seemed I could not obtain it because I lacked Spirit Power or Spirit Affinity.
Conversely, that meant I could acquire Spirit Arts if I gained Spirit Power.
Having a spirit would be nice.
Being a spirit mage would not be bad, either.
But the problem was that mana would be replaced by Spirit Power, which meant I would be unable to obtain aura.
And it would also mean Orlando’s Muscle Cultivation Method, which required mana, would become a useless skill.
Besides, the spring would not react to anyone but Dolnesia, and Spirit Affinity was Dolnesia’s exclusive stat.
So I decided to cleanly give up on it.
I looked at the horse standing behind Dolnesia.
I had seen a spirit shaped like that before, around the late game.
But by then, you could contract with Spirit Kings, so most irregulars, other than Sancho, were removed from spirit decks.
It had not appeared often enough that I had only seen it once in all my time playing the game.
You could call it a shiny among spirits.
Dolnesia had drawn that in a single pull?
[You use Insight Eye.]
【Supreme High-Rank Spirit Rocinante】
◈ The target is currently frightened.
Supreme high-rank was a rank I had never heard of.
Perhaps because it was an irregular, even its rank was extraordinary.
But why was it frightened—
Neighhh!
Before I could even finish the thought, Rocinante reared up with a cry and vanished.
"It unsummoned itself...."
"Ahahaha. This friend is very shy around strangers."
Dolnesia forced a laugh at Rocinante’s escape act.
Sancho, whom I could believe was an evil spirit rather than a spirit, and Rocinante, who was so fucking scared that it bolted while leaving its master behind.
Were these really the kinds of spirits one was supposed to give a romance-fantasy heroine?
It seemed Dolnesia’s outrageous misfortune would continue after all.
I sighed and tried to rise from my seat.
Ding!
[The protagonist, Dolnesia, has avoided a bad ending.]
[The protagonist, Dolnesia, has awakened a special stat.]
[You have achieved two of the three hidden conditions required to conquer Dreamland.]
[You have successfully conquered Dreamland.]
A sudden flood of notification windows poured in.
What?
"Old man? What’s wrong?"
Dolnesia called out to me in a worried voice, apparently noticing something.
The sudden information that I had conquered Dreamland, and her worried words before me.
Before any of it could even settle—
More new information had already been added.
[Through your efforts, the protagonist Dolnesia’s fate has been revised.]
[The current world has strayed slightly from the route leading to the DLC, a world fated for destruction.]
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