Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 267
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Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Chapter 267
58. A New Era (3)
Someone said.
'The Gift is Earth's future.'
There's no need to explain what this means.
A new power granted within a new environment, under new laws.
It would be both the minimum consideration bestowed by the gods and a means to overcome hardship.
Because of this, each nation strictly managed the Gift.
They arranged for special forces unit soldiers who were superior to anyone and easily controlled to receive the Gift, and continuously conducted research on Gift acquirers and the Gift itself.
From the start, the Gift was a limited resource.
Since a hundred people's worth of Gifts could be obtained from the temple within the poisoned lands, it was only natural to manage them with utmost care.
"Seonghyeon! One's getting away!"
"Yes! Fire Arrow!"
"Hey. That's all fine, but can you not shout out your skill names?"
"Our First Lieutenant here doesn't get it. This is like a battle cry, you know."
Recently, these precious Gift users had no choice but to be sent to combat zones.
The reason was to hunt monsters that dropped magic stones and magic items.
Monsters appearing in what were commonly known as hunting grounds dropped larger magic stones and better magic items depending on their strength.
However, hunting with firearms such as guns or grenades, or with mechanical devices, yielded nothing, so monsters ultimately had to be killed using cold weapons.
But it was far too dangerous for ordinary people to fight monsters with cold weapons.
So the government deployed Gift users for the purpose of strengthening them as well as acquiring magic items.
The special forces squad of First Lieutenant Lee Geunseok, who was hunting orcs, was a party formed in that way.
"Phew, let's take a break."
"This is kind of fun, actually? If there were a Virtual Reality game, I feel like it'd be like this."
"Unlike a game, though, if you die here it's a complete game over."
"Haha, that's true."
"I heard that Virtual Reality games actually exist in Rondel."
"Is that so? Wow, the more I learn, the more that place defies common sense."
"Why?"
"When you think of a fantasy world, it's usually like a medieval setting where you become a mercenary and fight monsters, right? But over there, UFOs fly around, Knights shoot beams of light, and even a soldier's personal firearm is supposedly an all-purpose weapon that combines a rifle, sniper rifle, and grenade launcher. I just find it so..."
The government divided squads based on the ability level of Gift users.
Additionally, to increase survivability, two people who could produce synergy were always placed in the same squad.
Synergy referred to the amplified effect produced when Gift met Gift, and in their squad, First Lieutenant Lee Geunseok's Wind Cutter combined with Second Lieutenant Kim Seonghyeon's Fire Arrow who chattered like a chatterbox enabled them to unleash a powerful synergy ability called Fire Burst.
The power of Fire Burst was enough to sweep away twenty orcs at once.
However, the downside was that synergy consumed so much Mana that it couldn't be used indiscriminately.
Still, it meant they possessed a powerful finishing move, so their survivability was bound to be high.
"Let's wrap up today's orc hunt here and stop by the troll hunting ground before returning."
"Oh, is it finally finishing move time?"
So when Mana remained even after filling the entire quota, they visited higher-tier hunting grounds and hunted monsters to drain their Mana.
If they were lucky, a powerful monster might drop a good item right away, so that was how they utilized synergy.
However, they could not enter the troll hunting ground.
The reason was that the place was already effectively saturated.
Squads with higher-grade Gifts than theirs and the Knight Order of Reiers County had claimed the hunting ground.
"Why does Reiers County bother doing that in Korea?"
"I think they agreed to share hunting grounds with each other."
So First Lieutenant Lee Geunseok deliberated.
Whether to go back to the orc hunting ground, drain their Mana against orcs, and then leave, or to try something new.
"Instead of that, let's try catching an ogre."
"An ogre?"
"If we pour out all our synergy, don't you think we could take down one without much trouble? I saw on YouTube that some American guys hunt an ogre and get their hands on an OPG (Power Gauntlet). If we get even one of those, our squad's combat power will surge."
It was certainly a tempting proposal.
Good items wouldn't drop easily, but there was no helping the interest it stirred.
Non-combat items are collected by the government and returned as a special allowance, but combat-related items were given priority placement to the squad that acquired them.
At most, they might catch only one or two ogres a day, but when that piled up and up, it was bound to become a number that couldn't be ignored.
In the end. First Lieutenant Lee Geunseok nodded, saying let's give it a try.
The ogre hunting ground was located in Bukhansan behind the Blue House, and it was near the unit they would return to.
So First Lieutenant Lee Geunseok drove the vehicle himself to move.
"By the way, did you see the video on YouTube of a Rondel and the Demon King fighting?"
"Ah, you mean the Japan incident? Well, it's famous."
"Do you think that's real? With each attack, the terrain changed and an area of several kilometers in radius was blown away."
"No way. It's not like it's a nuclear missile."
"Haha, right? Maybe it's something like a promotional video?"
Second Lieutenant Kim Seonghyeon chattered nonstop even inside the vehicle.
After driving on the road for about thirty minutes like that.
They finally arrived at their destination.
"It's quiet."
As expected, no matter how good the items ogres dropped, perhaps because of how powerful they were, no permanently stationed squad was in sight.
Thanks to that, they entered the hunting ground with inflated expectations.
"There's one over there."
"Then shall we go right away? Our desperate struggle!"
Unlike orcs, ogres did not form groups, so they seemed relatively easy to hunt.
But it did not take long to realize that was a huge misconception.
"Uh, huh? It isn't even flinching?"
They had merely regarded ogres as monsters a tier above trolls, but trolls and ogres were on a completely different level.
Their thick hide looked as if they were wrapped all over in bulletproof material, their massive bulk overwhelmed tanks, and their strength was like heavy equipment.
Because of that, the synergy attacks they had been confident in did not work at all, and in close-quarters situations, a disaster was bound to unfold.
-KWAAANG!
"Keuk!"
A tanker with a strength-enhancement-type Gift who used a carbon-material shield tried to block the club swung by the ogre, but flew away with a sound like a bomb exploding, vomiting blood, and slammed into a nearby tree.
The shield was torn apart, and the arm holding the shield was unrecognizable in form.
The collapse of the sturdy defensive line caused panic.
"D-Damn it, run."
Even if they tried to run, it was useless.
Ogres are not simply fat. Their entire body is made of muscle, and their size was far superior, so escape was impossible.
-Thoom thoom thoom thoom!
"Keuk!"
A squad member who possessed a reflexes Gift and used a spear tried to block the ogre's downward strike with the spear, but was crushed into a bloody pulp and stuck to the ground.
Unlike the tanker, it was complete death, impossible even to recover.
"Aaaaaaah!"
A great catastrophe created by lack of knowledge, lack of experience, and excessive confidence gained from obtaining a Gift.
Only then could they understand why there were no people in the ogre hunting ground.
"Uh oh!?"
-Crash clatter!
While fleeing in a situation where normal thinking was impossible, they happened to get their feet tangled.
First Lieutenant Lee and Second Lieutenant Kim tumbled together on the ground, and the shadow of death fell over them.
The scythe of the envoy no, the ogre's club was swung.
"A-Ah, no!"
"Aaagh!"
Sensing death, they shrank their bodies as much as possible and squeezed their eyes shut.
"...."
But for some reason, nothing happened to the two who had expected terrible pain.
When they cautiously opened their eyes, the terrifying ogre was splitting into countless cube-sized pieces and plopping apart onto the ground.
And then.
To the two people who had opened their eyes wide, not knowing what situation this was, unfamiliar voices came.
"Isn't this place supposed to have entry controlled? Making Gift users go to their deaths like this."
"I-I'm sorry. Normally, security personnel should be stationed here...."
"There was no one at the entrance, though?"
"It seems likely they abandoned their post. Since almost no one visits this place...."
"Good grief, whoever it is, they need to be properly punished. This is a matter of life and death, and to be on duty so negligently. Their stupidity is beyond the pale."
Since when had they been there, a group of people was standing beside them.
Three men in suits who appeared to be government figures, and people in flashy attire anyone could tell were Rondel.
Among them, a woman was seen cleaning the sword in her hand into the empty air, and it was not difficult to tell that she, wearing an oversized cloak coat, had saved them.
"To think you crushed an ogre into diced pieces."
But the surprising things did not end there.
The heavily wounded tanker and the corpse of their comrade, reduced to a bloody pulp, flew through the air and were laid before them, and soon, with a dazzling light, they were cleanly restored.
"Huh?"
"I-I'm sure I died, didn't I?"
Setting aside the injuries, to bring back a corpse whose form could not even be recognized to its original state.
This was not a human ability.
First Lieutenant Lee Geunseok and Second Lieutenant Kim Seonghyeon stared with dumbfounded expressions at the man dressed in a white robe lavishly embroidered with gold thread.
Because when he snapped his fingers, the two of them were revived.
A silver-haired young man still bearing a touch of freshness.
The moment I saw him, a video on YouTube came to mind.
It was the video of the figure who had fought the Demon King in Osaka.
"Th-thank you."
First Lieutenant Lee Geunseok expressed his gratitude to Adrian, but he paid no mind and suddenly raised his hand.
Then hundreds of ogres that had been stationed all over the Bukhansan hunting grounds rose into the air all at once.
And when Adrian clenched his hand, the ogres were all crushed at once and perished.
"Hoo...."
The soldiers gaped and rubbed their eyes, and the government officials who had guided Adrian swallowed dryly and struggled to maintain their composure.
"Oh, is this a magic stone?"
Next, hundreds of fist-sized magic stones and miscellaneous items appeared before Adrian as if summoned.
"Huh?"
Among them was also the OPG that the squad that had visited the ogre hunting grounds had wanted.
"I don't need this."
However, Adrian took only the magic stones and tossed the items, including the OPG, to First Lieutenant Lee Geunseok's unit.
"Don't let your subordinates die, and get a good grasp of the situation."
With those words as the last, Adrian, as if there was nothing more to see, led the government officials and his party out of the hunting grounds.
"Is he a god...."
"Rondel is scary."
It was a situation sufficient to make those who had become arrogant after obtaining Gifts humble.
* * *
"Those people will do. Let's use them."
"Pardon? But...."
At my words, the Chief Secretary tilted his head.
Because I had designated as test subjects the four-member special forces squad making blank expressions behind me.
"There are many Gift ability users more outstanding than them."
"No, rather than exceptional individuals, I think it's better to experiment on those who look ordinary. That way, the experiment results will be accurate."
"If Your Highness the King says so... Understood. I will arrange it that way."
The experiment I speak of is to investigate how strong a person with a Gift can become.
I classified the test subjects into three cases.
1. Rondel's Knights and Mages
2. Gift holders composed of Rondelians
3. Gift holders composed of pure Earthlings
In the past, I might not have attempted it, saying it was no different from raising potential risk factors myself.
But now that I had been reborn as a god race, they could never approach my level.
In fact, even when I and my companions absorbed magic stones, we felt no increase in our abilities at all.
So I decided to proceed with the experiment without hesitation.
"They have grasped a fortune greater than winning the lottery."
"That remains to be seen. An experiment is an experiment, so who knows what risk factors there may be."
"Even so, aren't you giving them an opportunity no one else could obtain? On behalf of the government, I offer my thanks."
I returned to the Blue House, guided by the Chief Secretary and his subordinates, who were almost servile.
But while walking in the Blue House courtyard, I heard strange sounds.
[Step down! Step down!]
People who appeared to be protesters were shouting something in front of the Blue House through loudspeakers.
I tilted my head.
At that, the Chief Secretary's complexion turned pale.
"I-it is nothing you need to concern yourself with. Please go inside quickly."
"What is going on?"
Sensing from his reaction that this was no ordinary matter, I listened to the voices of the protesters.
[We must drive out the Rondelians who insult God!]
[The government must sever its alliance with the demons!]
Thanks to that, I had to recall a force I had forgotten and furrow my brow.
"Come to think of it, Earth's religious people will not be able to accept the current situation itself."
"Sigh, that is right."
I figured that if I simply crushed them with force, Earth's nations would have no choice but to follow my orders.
However, among them were beings that would not be subdued even by force.
They were the people united under the name of faith.
"It is like that every day, but even so, Korea is on the better side."
"Jung-dong is beyond words."
"I suppose...."
Moreover, among Earth's religions, unlike Rondel, there were quite a few that were exceedingly militant.
Like a developer who discovered a serious bug too late, I had to massage my temples with a troubled expression.