Chapter 15

In the game world, strength alone doesn’t matter. Even if the strength stat increases and causes increased close-range damage, it won’t destroy your body due to being unable to withstand the power. However, the situation was different in the physical world. Just like a car with a powerful engine, excessive strength could easily destroy the body.

“Then… I need to increase my health. Ah, regeneration is also needed.”

After wrapping bandages around my fingertips where the nails had burst out, I used my left hand to manipulate the PC and bought the Killian’s Stu skill book.

[You have purchased Heal Skill Book (General)!]

Then I changed classes.

★☆Job Change Completed☆★

Duelist > Chaplain

The job changed to Chaplain, a hero-grade priest class. It was a type of combat priest with most skills being buffs but still shared healing skills with priests.

“Let’s see… Heal!”

When I used the skill, mana was consumed and white light enveloped my entire body.

“Ah, wait, only heal the right arm and nails…”

I tried to control the mana but it was impossible. How could I control mana with Low Mana Affinity? I should be grateful that the skill automatically uses mana. In the end, Heal activated as intended.

Sharaang!

With a sacred effect, the damaged fingertips gradually recovered. Unlike a character recovering HP instantly in a game, at least the torn skin healed, and the reddened skin returned to its original color.

“I never thought there would be a day when I’d use healing magic.”

Like other skills, the effect of Heal was slightly different from what it was in games. The detailed description stated: ‘Heal (General) (Active): Converts Magic Power to Health. Recovers HP by 50% of consumed MP.’ However, the concept of HP didn’t work properly in reality. When I killed orcs, their HP wasn’t depleted; they died because their necks were cut.

It was the same now. Currently, my HP had decreased by less than 2%. This meant that the system recognized the damage caused by three burst fingernails and torn muscles in my right arm as negligible.

‘An ordinary person would be unable to continue fighting with this level of damage, yet it’s only a 2% decrease.’

Indeed, how many people could fight without any issue after losing three fingernails? Moreover, with my right arm muscles torn, I couldn’t swing a sword or raise a shield with it.

That wasn’t the only problem.

“Even though my HP is full, there isn’t complete recovery.”

Three fingernails were still missing, and although the swelling on my right arm had subsided somewhat, gripping anything was difficult. In other words, despite having 100% HP, all that occurred was emergency treatment. It seems like the concept of HP here solely reflects overall vitality rather than actual physical condition.

It wasn’t a joke that I could still die with over 90% of my HP remaining. Even if the body was fine, a person would die if their head exploded.

“I can’t use all my strength…I wanted to try throwing something like a military vehicle with one hand.”

There was disappointment but it couldn’t be helped. Strong muscles were good but I didn’t want both arms torn off after swinging a sword at full power once.

Out of the remaining 75 free points, I invested 26 points into health and the remaining 49 points into recovery. The reason for putting more points into recovery was simple—it had already reached 51 points. As a result, the pure stats became 62 points for Health and 100 points for Recovery.

Ba-dump!

As expected, I could feel something changing. My heart was beating and my blood flow accelerated. The condition of my arm, which had recovered momentarily but continued to worsen gradually, now felt like it was improving. It seemed that increasing stats through buffs only affected their performance temporarily without altering the physical body permanently.

“For now, this is fine…but eventually, I’ll need to invest points in a 2:1:1 ratio for Strength, Health, and Recovery.”

After drinking plenty of water from the spring, I set Killian on automatic hunting mode and lay down on my bed. Since auto-hunting wouldn’t run indefinitely, I occasionally needed to get up and…

”…Phew!”

When I opened my eyes, eight hours had passed. I felt refreshed after a deep sleep.

“Oh, looks like he died again.”

I used the free daily resurrection three times to revive characters who died during automatic hunting, sold miscellaneous items and replenished potions. Then I started auto-hunting again. Before long, Killian’s Study reached level 30. The highland wild boars provided a large amount of experience points, so after more than two weeks of continuous hunting, his levels steadily increased.

‘Well, it is reaching its limit now. From the beginning, Windbreak Heights wasn’t meant for level 30 players.’

Unlike my Ardenia characters with collection bonuses, hero-class ranks, and premium starter sets, my Revenge characters had ordinary equipment and classes. Additionally, their completed collections were filled with basic, common-tier items, making them significantly weaker compared to their levels.

From the beginning, Revenge wasn’t a game where players became stronger just by playing for extended periods.

‘Even if I continue this grind for several more months and reach level 40, I might still not be able to escape Windbreak Plateau.’

With that thought, I unwrapped the bandages. Although my nails were still missing, my fingers looked considerably better. My arm had also recovered, allowing me unrestricted movement. While it was impossible to rapidly replenish HP like in a video game character, the healing and recovery effects were undoubtedly working.

However, there was one issue absent from the game:

“I’m starving…”

The hunger felt unbearable, as if a hole had been punched through my stomach. It seemed likely due to enhancing my physical attributes with free stats.

‘But I can’t eat here.’

There was no special reason for this feeling. Naturally, it would be better to eat leisurely in reality. However, I didn’t have any money.

“Ah, I’m dying without money. Really.”

Instead of opening the door and walking towards the restaurant, I clicked Killian’s mouse to move him towards the shop. Then I clicked on the ‘Cooking’ tab and bought food. The prices made my teeth chatter involuntarily.

“What type of cooking costs 1,000 gold?”

In Ardenia, you could get a decent meal for 1 gold. In terms of real currency, it was roughly equivalent to 10,000 won. Yet here, it cost 1,000 gold. This price demonstrated that food in Revenge wasn’t essential for survival but rather luxury items providing buffs.

“Ha. It wouldn’t be a problem if I could roast wild boar.”

However, my Revenge game lacked any cooking content. Cooking involves more than just using one main ingredient.

I had accumulated plenty of wild boar hams, but to cook them, I needed Dark Salt shards obtained from defeating high-level golems in the Shadow Mine and paid 300 gold for crafting fees. Nothing was truly free here.

Since it wasn’t feasible to eat raw meat immediately, buying food seemed like the better option for now.

“Log in.”

“Pant…pant… Are you alright, Lordship?”

Upon entering Ardenia, dozens of dead wolf-type magic beasts caught my eye. Unlike orc warriors that disappeared upon death, leaving only items behind, these wolves’ cold bodies emitted steam on the open field.

“As you can see, I’m fine. Don’t worry about my body.”

“Pant…I…I am okay. The mysterious power bestowed by Lordship…keeps saving me whenever there is danger…puff puff.”

Seeing Stonestone gasping for breath, I took out sandwiches from my inventory and started eating them.

[You have consumed Sandwich (General)! For 1 hour, your Health and Recovery will increase by 5 points!]

The same notification sounded three times because I hastily stuffed multiple sandwiches into my mouth. Naturally, the buffs didn’t stack but were only refreshed, but it couldn’t be helped. I ate the sandwiches to fill my stomach, not just for the buff.

“Logout.”

Upon returning to Earth, I slowly chewed the sandwich that was still stuffed in my mouth. After drinking water and letting it digest gradually, I logged back in again. Using the same method, I consumed nine sandwiches. My gold reserves were insufficient even with Killyan’s Stew, so I had to utilize Killian’s account as well.

Having satisfied my hunger, I did some light stretching to warm up before entering Ardenia once more.

“Login.”

The neat studio apartment vanished, revealing a battlefield littered with wolf carcasses. Out of nearly a hundred orc riders, only about ten remained.

“In the middle of battle… Huh! To eat like that… Phew.”

“You should focus on your breathing.”

Now that Stonestone had leveled up quite a bit, I wanted to allocate some free stats to Stamina if possible, but there was no room for it given the current situation.

“Grrr… Human bastard.”

“Ah, finally coming forward? Do you remember me?”

The orc berserker who had been observing the battle from atop a two-headed wolf now stepped forward.

“Do you remember me? Yes. I heard you killed hundreds of our brothers.”

“Oh, really?”

Apparently, this guy hadn’t met me before. I looked above his head:

Vulcan Orc Berserker (Rare)

Hamlon

‘It’s him indeed.’

It wasn’t surprising that he didn’t remember me. I suspected memories might disappear when they died and respawned.

However, it was unexpected that his previous behavior and tendency had changed so drastically.

‘Does dying and coming back change the contents?’

But I didn’t feel that way. Something… seemed to be controlling its ‘Wildness’.

“Stonestone.”

“Yes, Lordship.”

“Drink this.” I took out a bundle of 10 regular HP potions from my inventory and threw them over. Then immediately, I said, “Heal.”

As a faint light enveloped Stonestone, his wounded body condition improved significantly.

“Humans! Finish them off!”

The orcs, quietly observing us healing our wounds, let out wild cries and charged forward. Without turning around, holding the Starting Sword mid-swing, I instructed:

“Do as before, Stonestone. Focus on enduring rather than eliminating enemies; conserve your stamina as much as possible.”

“Haha. I thought we would die here… Yes, Lordship. Let’s do our best to survive.”

With those final words, Hamlon clashed with the approaching orc berserker.

Klang!

[Parrying successful!]

The truth was revealed immediately.

“Ugh! What is this?!” Desperately regaining his posture, Hamlon retreated several steps back. The two-headed wolf carrying him stumbled, almost causing them both to fall. Of course, I also took a few steps backward… Considering the difference in size and momentum between us, it was truly an unbelievable outcome.

“Well.” Lowering the Sword of Beginnings, I smiled. Gone were the days when I cried like a baby, unable even to meet my opponent’s weapon head-on.

“You seem fine.”