Chapter 5

“He built his castle on a hill behind the village that wasn’t even suitable for habitation. I remember how strike squads kept coming endlessly due to the lack of monsters.”

We looked around at the devastated villagers. The existing residences, including the Lord’s castle, were no longer usable. Almost 10,000 orcs had poured out from the dungeon.

‘Insane.’

Yes, it was insane. There were 10,000 orcs. In a territory where only 3,000 people lived, having such a massive horde of formidable orcs was absurd. Despite each orc occupying less than three square meters, the entire territory seemed cramped. How could this remote area sustain an army of 10,000 when its 3,000 inhabitants barely managed to eke out a living?

It was indeed an absurd sight, but…I knew why it made sense. In truth, this situation was logical.

‘Yes. This isn’t reality; it’s a game.’

As I defeated the orc berserker, I witnessed something ridiculous. After a short time passed since its death, the body disappeared, and a pouch containing gold coins dropped.

‘13 gold. A decent meal at a restaurant costs around 1 gold, so this is enough for 13 meals.’

This development made the situation even more serious. In the worst-case scenario…it meant that there might be regen.

‘What a crazy situation.’

Regen (short for regeneration or resurrection), refers to the phenomenon where monsters reappear after a certain amount of time following their defeat in games.

If these creatures respawned, then the orc berserkers I risked my life to defeat would come back to life. Considering how formidable even regular orcs were compared to knights, humans with no regenerative abilities wouldn’t stand a chance against such monsters freely roaming around.

As this thought crossed my mind, the scout returned.

“Greetings, Lordship!”

“What’s the situation?”

“We must flee! The monstrous orcs have formed groups of about a hundred and scattered in different directions. One group is expected to pass through our training grounds on their current path!”

“…” My face instinctively scrunched up in frustration.

Wait, they follow the game system for drops and respawns but move independently?

In online games, monsters usually didn’t stray far from their respawn points. If they wandered around instead of staying near their spawn locations, how could players hunt them? However, upon further thought, the orc berserker had chased me for three kilometers to try and capture me.

‘No good. I need more information.’

Before giving any movement commands, I first said:

“Log out.”

I returned to Earth. The installation of Revenge hadn’t progressed at all. It was natural that it would take a long time during this era of slow technology.

“It really takes less than one second.”

This phenomenon had been confirmed several times already, but it still amazed me every time. When I entered the Ardenia continent, time on Earth stopped completely. Having lived there for 20 years without feeling the flow of time, there was no need to worry about any time ratio.

Conversely, when I returned to Earth, time stopped in Ardenia. The flow of time was completely separated, with me as the pivot point.

“Let’s check out the website first.”

While Revenge installed, I accessed the game’s official site and read up on its background information.

The world setting, overall map, monster encyclopedia, Q&A forum, beginner guides, main systems, list of NPCs, etc.—I absorbed it all.

And here’s what I discovered:

“The year 1317 of the Continental Calendar… So that means it’s fifteen years before the game starts.”

In this peaceful era (though not so much from my personal experience), gates began opening across Ardenia, allowing creatures from another realm to invade. Initially, humans managed to fend them off well enough, but they eventually succumbed to the relentless onslaught. Both the empire and kingdoms were forced to abandon their territories, driven to the fringes of the continent.

This continued for about ten more years.

In order to regain their homeland and take revenge on the monsters, humanity raised an army. Hence, Revenge - it was a game about reclaiming the continent from the monsters, akin to playing Go.

“Both empires, the alliance, and the kingdom will fall within five years? Well, given this situation, it would be strange if they didn’t.”

Revenge could also be considered as an apocalypse-themed game. The gameplay involved fighting after humanity had been once destroyed. I examined the overall map again. It was a Go board-shaped map with monster icons scattered everywhere.

“As expected…the further outside of the Go board, the lower level zones there are. However, at each hua point (花點), there is a special boss that requires unique strategies… In terms of Ardenia, it corresponds to the southwest starting point of our territory. Is it Zhimail, the capital?”

And at the center of the board, known as tenkan, resided Revenge’s sole myth-level monster: Lefl, the Phantom Dragon.

“It sounds like something straight out of a textbook…”

Despite Revenge being over ten years old, no one had yet defeated Lefl. Players had conquered most of the board, but the dungeon at the very center remained impenetrable, standing tall like an impregnable fortress.

“The method for acquiring territories is unique too. I guess it fits with the game’s Go-inspired world.”

The continent of Ardenia resembled a Go board with nineteen lines horizontally and vertically, resulting in 361 intersections.

Now, instead of dragon veins, dungeons have appeared at these intersections. If a guild clears four connected dungeons to create one ‘home,’ that area becomes their territory. Once acquired, the guild can collect taxes from the territory and benefit greatly from various events or special raids held there. Consequently, guilds constantly engage in battles against each other to expand their territories.

“My territory… I guess I have no choice but to give it up for now.”

I organize my plan. First, I need to evade the pursuing orcs and move to an area devoid of monsters. Ideally, I should travel northward by about 100 kilometers to reach the low-level zone.

Fortunately, my territory was located on the outskirts and not too far from the low-level zone.

“Let’s see… Monsters… The dungeon to the north has goblins. Rank: General.”

While I wasn’t sure about orcs (advanced), I believed that even my villagers could handle goblins (general).

“Of course, it would be better to move two squares up for more certainty…”

Two squares up meant reaching the outer edges of the Go-like board, where monsters like wild boars (general), bears (general), and wolves (general) appeared. If we reached there, our situation would significantly improve. Not only would their meat serve as food, but their hides could also prove useful in various ways, allowing us to plan for the future!

The problem lay in the distance.

“Moving two squares is 200 kilometers…”

It was 200 kilometers from Seoul to Jeolla-do. If I were alone, it wouldn’t matter but how could we move such a distance with the people of my territory? There would inevitably be dropouts and morale among the villagers would plummet.

“Meow!” Cheddar suddenly cried out. Turning around, I saw his mouth open.

“The installation of Revenge is complete.”

“Yes, let’s give it a try.”

‘Revenge’ was a convenient game that could be played on mobile devices, PCs or access devices. For a moment, I looked at Cheddar before sitting down at the computer. Since I was home, I decided to use a keyboard and mouse.

[A beautiful and peaceful Ardenia continent…]

The intro video started, showing a beautiful castle, wide lake, and vast forest. In some places, they were familiar because I had been there myself.

However, it wasn’t at all welcome.

“Beautiful and peaceful…” It was absurd.

In this uncivilized medieval land, nobles hunted peasants for fun, and when I reduced taxes to 70 percent (the previous tax rate had been 90 percent), envoys from neighbouring territories yelled at me, asking why I hadn’t mentioned reducing taxes beforehand. How could such a place be beautiful or peaceful?

Regardless of my grumbling, the video continued. It briefly explained the world setting that I had already investigated. Humans lost their homes due to monsters and other races coming from another world, and awakened beings with special powers—known as Players—embarked on adventures as humanity’s hope.

“What a clichéd story. Despite being overwhelmingly number one in sales, why does it feel so mass-produced…?”

I set my race as human, gender as male and appearance as basic before connecting to the world. As soon as I connected, a pop-up window appeared:

★☆Starter Package☆★ - The six for four package is on sale now!

★☆Battle Pass☆★ - Overwhelming benefits for 55,000 won per month!

★☆Secret Material Event☆★ - Collect secret maps!

This was common in mobile games so without hesitation, I closed the window with ‘Don’t show again today’ and continued playing the game.

The starting point of the game was [Starting].

“This place used to be called Dwelling Marquisate… Has it changed due to the devastation?”

‘Starting’ was located at the far right corner of the chessboard. From our territory, we had to move two squares up and two squares to the right to reach this location.

In other words, it was 400 kilometers away.

‘Straight distance is slightly closer but…’

It would be better to move along the lines rather than diagonally, as several high mountain ranges had to be crossed. Considering the beasts and monsters present, it was wiser to travel 500 kilometers overland. I briefly looked around the starting point. The Dwelling Marquisate, which mainly relied on fishing, was just a village except for the Lord’s castle where the dragon vein was located. However, the starting point was different.

‘To think it has developed like this…’

I stared at the 15-20 storey buildings that didn’t fit with the medieval landscape, as well as the solid stone-paved roads before grabbing a nearby Player.

Kilian: “Excuse me, excuse me!”

Nuwa’s Footprint: “Huh? Me?”

Kilian: Excuse me, but what’s with those buildings? Isn’t this supposed to be medieval times?

Nuwa’s Footprint: Oh, the buildings? When the game first launched ten years ago, this area felt like a rural village.

Kilian: So it’s not anymore?

Nuwa’s Footprint: Of course not, with all these Players around. Those are guild buildings. Once a guild reaches level five, they can access the Guild Housing System. I heard you can buy a building there using cash and guild points. This city is one of the top five starting cities in Revenge, so that’s why it has developed like this. Many other cities still maintain their medieval feel.]

Kilian: …Wow. Thank you very much.

Foot of Nuwa: You must be new. Welcome to the world of crazy microtransactions!

After hearing this friendly advice from another player, I looked around the city for a moment. Now that I saw it, there were quite large buildings resembling factories, as well as orchards and wheat fields. In between them, tens of thousands of people were busily moving about!

Using my mouse, I examined the cityscape briefly before accepting a quest from Isabella, the priestess devoted to the Goddess of War. With her commandment in hand, I hunted down the wild boars considered a nuisance in town (amusingly, amidst all these buildings, there were oddly placed open spaces where wild boars roamed). As I did so, my abilities increased, trash was collected automatically, and even the city’s lamps lit themselves.

And throughout this entire process…

Everything happened autonomously.