Game Opportunities Become Reality, Episode 100
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Game Opportunities Become Reality, Episode 100
26. Anomaly (2)
Up until now, I had taken down Aura Master Vanguard on broadcasts and made many Knights realize that a Mage could fight like this if they put their mind to it.
Thanks to that, I was able to make a name for myself as a Battle Mage, and it was something I took pride in.
"Ugh!"
"Oh! You dodged? For a low-level punk!"
But that was only true in reality.
Outside the game, an Aura Master and a 7th Circle Grand Mage were extremely rare, but this was inside the game.
Among users enjoying Chronicle Online, now in its 10th year since launch, there were more max-level players than non-max-level ones, and Lord Wizards (9th Circle) and Lord Masters were everywhere.
And this crazy bastard charging at me was definitely max-level too.
I managed to dodge the first attack somehow, but if a max-level player came at me in earnest, there was no choice but to be pushed back due to the overwhelming gap in skill power.
It meant there was a limit to how much I could cover with practical experience or combat sense.
"What the hell? Why is a low-level Wizard this good at dodging? Uselessly good control!"
"Leave while I'm being nice! You'll regret touching me!"
"Haha! I heard you've got money! So drop something good!"
Arcia hurriedly supported me, and Black Eagle messed with the bastard's vision, but...
That only lasted a moment.
"Gah!"
With pain like my entire body was being torn apart, the world dyed red and my limbs stiffened.
'What? What's happening?'
With a bewildered expression, I blankly stared at the sky in my field of view.
[You were killed by user Beltor.]
And the moment that message appeared, I let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity of it.
'Haha! Haha. Ha...'
Naturally, no laugh escaped my mouth because of death.
I could only laugh inwardly.
This wasn't my first time dying in the game.
Just when I faced the boss monster Death Knight at the 7th stage of the previous Opportunity quest, I experienced death nearly 20 times.
I'd died twice more after that from overambitious hunting, but this was my first death from PK.
If it had been my own mistake or if a monster I had to fight was too strong, I could understand, but this was just some guy charging in unilaterally and slamming into me, leaving me no choice but to die.
It was almost like an unavoidable car accident, I suppose?
"Jackpot! What!? This guy!? How much is this worth!?"
Arcia lay down next to me, and the PKer's voice filled with ecstasy rang out.
[You revive at your base.]
* * *
[You lose some experience due to the revival penalty.]
A moment later, revived from death, I ground my teeth and used a Support revival scroll to bring Arcia back, who had died alongside me.
"That was frustrating."
And as soon as Arcia, disguised with an appearance different from reality in case someone recognized her, revived, she said that to me.
I understood.
Because of some crazy bastard, I'd lost time for restoring experience and lost items too.
"Did you drop any items?"
I asked Arcia while opening my inventory to check my own items.
And sure enough, I confirmed that the ring I had equipped and a few scrolls had disappeared.
But the problem was that among my equipment, which I'd splurged money on for smooth leveling, there was nothing cheap.
"Oh no, I dropped a bracelet."
Arcia's bracelet was just as expensive as my ring.
The loss incurred in an instant was close to 5,000 in value.
That was only natural, since in terms of stats alone, even a max-level ranker could use it as a main item.
Given how huge the loss was, the bastard was definitely a Rogue-class thief.
Among thief-class jobs, there were skills that increased the drop rate of key items from hunted targets, and there was related gear too.
I figured he was probably the type who made money specializing in PK.
It seemed he'd heard a rumor that some sucker was paying a fortune to the Black Dragon Guild to rent a hunting ground.
"Ah, so annoying."
Should I be grateful I didn't drop a weapon or armor?
Clicking my tongue briefly, I opened the auction house right away and looked for items identical to the ones I'd lost.
[Seller: Beltor]
And then I could see the name of the PKer who killed me posted in the auction house.
I fought back my boiling anger and paid a little extra to buy the same item from another seller.
After all, 50 million Lute wasn't that much money for me, a Grand Lord, so I decided to just think of it as helping out some poor unfortunate neighbor.
It was more productive to recover my experience and level up as fast as possible than to waste more time on some crazy bastard.
"Arcia, here."
I bought the equipment Arcia had lost as well and opened my message window right away.
Then I sent a complaint message to Penny, the Guild Master of the Black Dragon Guild, who had been raking in a fortune by providing me with an exclusive hunting ground.
Thanks to me holding the staff, the Black Dragon Guild had come into surplus funds and was rapidly climbing the guild rankings in Chronicle Online, riding high on success.
[Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll come find you right away and apologize in person. And, if I may ask, could you tell me the user's nickname? I'll issue a kill order within the guild.]
Guild Master Penny's response was swift and full of remorse.
Naturally to them, I was the VIP of VIPs that had to be protected at all costs.
There was no need for her to come all the way to apologize in person, but I didn't refuse her offer to issue a kill order on the PKer.
[Beltor, you say? Understood. And I'll strengthen the guards around the hunting ground so no outsiders can get in.]
"Yes, please do."
[We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.]
The barely concealed fury in his almost servile voice made it clear he was genuinely furious at the PKer.
At this rate, I probably didn't need to worry about getting killed by that PKer again.
* * *
"I feel like the death penalty keeps getting harsher as I level up."
Back when I kept dying to the 7th-stage Opportunity quest boss, Death Knight, one or two hours of grinding was enough to make up the lost experience.
But now, dying cost me at least three hours of grinding to recover.
And that was even with me hunting at high efficiency in an exclusive hunting ground.
Because of one crazy bastard, I'd lost a precious three hours.
If I converted those three hours into money, it would far exceed the value of the item I'd lost.
"Alright, let's think positively. At least I didn't drop a weapon or armor."
Weapons and armor were covered in all kinds of enchant scrolls, so losing them meant taking time to recover them too.
I forced myself to forget the unpleasantness and threw myself into hunting.
But then….
"Ah, fuck."
I couldn't help but curse.
-Ratatata-tak!
"Hey! I'm back!"
The reason was the Rogues I could see charging toward me from afar.
The one leading the pack with a manic look on his face was the bastard who'd killed me earlier he'd apparently gotten hooked on this easy money and come back for more.
"I-I'm sorry, Minki-nim!"
"Minki-nim, get down!"
The Black Dragon Guild members were chasing them, sweating cold bullets, but there was no way they could catch up to Rogues in speed.
I quickly used a Teleport Scroll.
[User Beltor has used a Teleport Interference Scroll.]
But my teleport was blocked by those bastards.
A Teleport Interference Scroll wasn't something an ordinary user would use.
After all, a single sheet cost hundreds of thousands of won.
It was clear that this PKer named Beltor had come fully prepared.
"Hand over your items!"
The bastard shouted as if I owed him my items and swung his sword.
I dodged the attack again, buying time.
Fortunately, things were better this time than last.
At least the Black Dragon Guild members were with me.
The problem, though, was that this time, Beltor wasn't alone.
"God damn! Why do you dodge so well for a low-level character!"
I dodged a dagger aimed at my back and shouted desperately.
"You think you'll get away with messing with me?"
"What are you on about?"
I didn't want to use this card, but I had no choice.
"I'm a noble! You think you'll get away with touching me!?"
"Then I'm Emperor Bringham."
Sadly, that threat didn't faze them one bit.
Probably because the Chronicle Online game company was infamous for refusing to release personal information even when requested by investigative authorities.
"You really want to die, don't you."
"Yeah, well, this game's company doesn't get involved in player conflicts."
A few of them flinched at my reaction, but Beltor's taunts only made them press in on me like madmen.
If I could just buy time, victory was mine.
The Black Dragon Guild was sure to send reinforcements.
But...
It was nearly impossible to keep fighting enemies two tiers above me at the 7th Circle level.
[You have been killed by user Beltor.]
In the end, I was laid out again, and the moment I got PK'd by the same bastard twice, I snapped.
* * *
Chronicle Online user Beltor.
He was your run-of-the-mill max-level Rogue user confident in his control, but not famous enough to rank due to lacking gear.
It was pure coincidence that he came across information on a certain individual.
"Seriously? He's paying that much just to enjoy solo play?"
"I'm telling you. Dude's poured over a billion into his gear alone. Uses only cash-shop potions too."
"Just how rich is he?"
"Well, some people just live in a different world."
"Is he a noble, by any chance?"
"He claims to be, but I don't know the details."
It was a conversation between a Black Dragon Guild member and a member of another guild at a pub.
The moment he heard that, the thought "this is it" flashed through Beltor's mind.
'What kind of gear does a user who spends hundreds of millions just on hunting ground rental fees have?'
His level seemed to be in the low-to-mid 200s, but among the equipment for that level range, there were quite a few items with options that were hard to come by even at max level.
Considering items like that had a base market price in the tens of millions, it was impossible not to salivate.
'Even just picking up one of those items would be a jackpot.'
So Beltor, half out of interest and half for fun, scoured the Black Dragon Guild's exclusive hunting grounds to see if that person was there.
"Found you!"
And he located the target without much difficulty.
The moment he saw that person's gear, Beltor knew the rumors weren't empty.
"Whoa, holy shit. How much is all that worth?"
The talk about the target possibly being a noble seemed to be true.
A hundred million was a huge, precious sum to commoners like them, but to a noble, it wasn't all that much.
Still, he wasn't too worried about the target being a noble.
Nobles who had everything in reality tended to look down on Virtual Reality games.
Most nobles who got serious about Virtual Reality were ones who'd lost out in family competition, so there was no need to fear them.
So Beltor, without any hesitation,
[You have killed user Minki. Your Karma level has risen; you will be arrested by the guards upon entering a town.]
Took down the target.
And he...
"Wh-what the hell? How much is this worth?"
With a single hunt, he scored items worth nearly 50 million Lute.
That was more than enough to make Beltor, from an ordinary commoner family, go wide-eyed.
"What if I keep doing this?"
How much could he make if he repeated the same method?
Just imagining it made him feel like a rich man already.
Excited, he went looking for the target again.
But this time, it wasn't easy.
The Black Dragon Guild had increased security at the hunting grounds.
"Then I just need to bring more numbers!"
So he recruited a party, and once Beltor's verification checks out, plenty of Rogues and Assassins jumped in.
And so began the Second Round.
The target fought hard, showing impressive control for someone in the low-to-mid 200s, but even so, taking on max-level agility characters as a Mage was too much.
[You have killed user Minki. Your Karma level has risen; you will be arrested by the guards upon entering a town.]
And this time...
He managed to get his hands on items worth a whopping 100 million.
Even splitting with his party, he'd still pocket at least 10 million per person.
'No, do I even need to share?'
Faced with such a fortune, he gradually lost his reason.
But...
"Wh-what the hell is this!?"
His happiness was shattered before long.
Because of a single post that went up on the community board.
[Seeking real-life information on the following user. Will reward generously.]
-Users: Beltor (highest priority), Aintre, Faint, Roku, Eisen...
-Rewards
Real name only: 30 million Lute (Beltor), 10 million Lute (others)
Real name and Kingdom they live in: 100 million Lute (Beltor), 30 million Lute (others)
Real name and detailed location of residence: 1 billion Lute (Beltor), 300 million Lute (others)
This is by no means clickbait I will deposit the full amount without a single error and make the transaction details public. Of course, the information must be accurate; false information will not be tolerated.
Account verification (photo attached)
Balance: 10 trillion 522.1 billion Lute.
First come, first served, so hurry up and give me the info.
Watching the post's view count skyrocket, Beltor rubbed his eyes again and again, wondering if he was seeing things.