Former Hero, Solo Play Oriented

_Hwooosh!_

The desolate land with a chilling sandstorm swirling. Outside the gates of the House of Roede, the eastern wilderness.

After leaving the gates and walking for a while, I started to see menacing monsters scattered around. Could it be the influence of the demons that started to stir beyond Erin’s Canyon? They were much stronger and larger than any monster I had encountered so far.

“I get why the Alparion Empire hasn’t conquered the eastern wilderness beyond the House of Roede until now.”

I nodded to myself.

Even if the monsters here are strong, the territory holds no value. A dry land in a different sense from a desert; beyond here lies the endless Erin’s Canyon.

While it’s possible to use the coast beyond the canyon as a port, trade in this world occurs solely within a single continent. Moreover, the territories of the Alparion Empire touching the sea extend beyond just this Erin’s Canyon. Until the exchanges with possibly existing other continents begin, the value of the eastern coast isn’t particularly significant. Once everything related to intervention from other dimensions is over and this world begins to prosper, then maybe it will be a different story.

Nevertheless, even if it is uninhabited and a barren wasteland, it is still technically the territory of the Alparion Empire under international law. The existence of a vast land within the empire’s territory, where national influence doesn’t reach, must be an eyesore for the Empire as well.

“But…”

_Swoosh!_

_Creeeak!_

After dealing with a gigantic spider before me, I was extraordinarily angry.

“What the heck!?”

The liquid spurting from the wound on the spider I had sliced was neither a bizarre green blood nor a horrifying red blood.

Why is the monster’s wound pixelated, with white milk coming out?

Is this the reason? Is this what’s causing it?

_[Safety Filter]_

I glared at the faint green curtain that appeared in front of my eyes.

It didn’t obstruct my view much nor was it significantly bothersome. But, for some reason, the monsters seemed to have been ‘censored.’ While the creepy appearance of the spider wasn’t edited into a cute teddy bear, the blood and wounds looked odd.

Now that I’ve checked the patch notes in detail, I was able to deduce the cause.

“Astria Online has become a 12+ rated game as of today.”

The adult game ‘Astria Online’ has been downgraded to a 12+ rating with this patch. Now, minors can also play this game.

In fact, it had been something that was already announced. Existing adult players didn’t pay much attention, thinking it wouldn’t bring significant changes to them.

In the advertisement I hadn’t fully watched, they were already promoting Astria Online as a 12+ game.

Then, surely, this must affect underage players.

“This so-called Safety Filter is what’s causing this.”

_Whoosh, whoosh._

Fuming, I waved my short arm as if to swat away the green curtain in front of my eyes. Unkindly, the Safety Filter did not vanish.

This is a huge problem for me.

I play this game to feel a sense of reality, but with this in place, it starkly reminds me that it’s a game.

Why? I’m an adult, so why is this applied to me?

This is clearly a bug.

Hana Games has become a large corporation since the game’s launch. But seeing them handle matters poorly like this makes me think they haven’t shaken off the habits of a small company yet.

While I was futilely messing around with the interface, I used the operator call feature. To report this bug.

_Buzz._

After using the call feature, a moment later, the face of a beautiful woman with yellow hair in a wizard’s robe appeared before me.

‘Han Yeoreum,’ the team leader.

She’s from the marketing department that handled my advertisement, a bizarre being who knows about the Astria continent before it became a game.

Seeing her face, I pouted.

Is this the only operator available?

Her hologram appeared, looking as if she was sending a video call.

“Oops, our cute Rain! What’s wrong? I’m so sorry~ It seems there’s a flood of inquiries today because of the patch. Ah, no, it’s nothing serious.”

It seemed like team leader Han Yeoreum was currently dealing with inquiries from other users.

Not serious? A huge bug has occurred!

I waved my hands defiantly and shouted, “Excuse me, what’s with this green filter? Why is there milk coming from monsters?!”

Team leader Han Yeoreum’s busy gestures suddenly froze.

“Oh, wait? The Safety Filter has been applied to you, Rain?”

“Yes. Can you please fix this quickly?”

The hologram of Han Yeoreum looked troubled.

“Why is that appearing for you? During the checks, did the person in charge mistakenly apply the filter to all pre-generated accounts of minors during the server modifications? Ugh, what a mess. Rain, can you hold on a bit? We’ll fix it by today.”

“Oh, today? Can’t you do it right now?”

“Um, it’s hard to explain in detail, but manipulating your avatar during live service is quite complicated. However, if you wish, we could disconnect everyone’s access and start an emergency check right now…!”

“No! T-take your time!”

I waved my hands anxiously.

If an emergency check starts because of me, I’d feel bad for others who are playing and having fun right now.

“Sigh.”

After ending the contact with team leader Han Yeoreum, I let out a long sigh and lowered my sword.

I didn’t feel like hunting anymore.

I squatted down for no reason, merely wagging my finger in the sand of the wilderness.

Now what do I do?

I’m not in a rush to hunt right now. Anyway, quests are sequential, and the Elite Dungeon hasn’t been discovered yet. At least until players advance to the canyon area in the distance, ‘Erin’s Canyon,’ something will likely emerge. Even if the Elite Dungeon is discovered quickly, it will take time for it to open up, just like before.

I planned to level up before the busy Sister Chris did and help her out at a good experience hunting ground if I found one.

Far out in the wilderness, I glanced at the now small-looking walls of the House of Roede.

Speaking of which, Sister Eleonora asked me to drop by the Duke’s estate sometime.

I was supposed to level up first and then look around the entire House of Roede and later visit the Duke’s estate.

_Boom!_

Suddenly, a strong wind began to blow near me.

I turned my gaze toward the source of the sound.

“Oh.”

I gasped in awe at the majestic tornado blooming in the wilderness.

The whirlwind of sand, a dragon twister, surged from the ground, sucking in a few giant spiders.

“Is that Aerial?”

The wizard’s new skill from the Ice Tower, ‘Aerial.’

A skill specialized for mob gathering. While it isn’t a high-damage skill in single named enemy combat, it is extremely helpful in this leveling phase. It also has the effect of muddling the enemy’s view in named encounters, reducing hit accuracy. It can be viewed as a staple skill primarily used for mob gathering and debuffing rather than as a dealing skill.

After all, the wizard has the powerful nuke ‘Arcane Burst,’ so having such skills can be helpful.

_Boom!_

_Creeeak!_

An Arcane Burst detonated on the giant spiders gathered by Aerial. The giant spiders collapsed, spewing out milk. What a fine skill combo!

The male wizard who cast Aerial turned his gaze toward me. He looked a bit surprised.

“Uh, Rain? Long time no see.”

“Uhh.”

He recognized me. Who was he again? He seemed familiar but I couldn’t place him.

“I’m Puuquilquil, the wizard from Skada’s party.”

“Oh, Puuquilquil! Good to see you.”

I chuckled, remembering his odd nickname. He was the wizard I first teamed with when creating the side character guild ‘Abyssal Tree.’

The side character guild, nicknamed ‘Skada & Hong Baek 2 Team,’ disbanded after some farming was done. Many side characters of Hong Baek guild members were leveled up, and after including those who completed farming from the existing team, they had decided to reduce the number of players and split the teams to operate buses.

This was the first time meeting after the banquet in the Alparion Empire’s royal palace, so it must be almost a month.

“Why are you just squatting and not hunting? I thought you would advance before anyone else, Rain.”

I stuck out my tongue and offered a sheepish grin.

I couldn’t possibly say, ‘I’m not feeling like hunting because milk is coming out of the monsters.’

“Um… I just don’t seem to be in a rush at the moment.”

“Oh really? Then how about checking out the Orc Forest?”

“The Orc Forest?”

I tilted my head.

The Orc Forest is the first hunting ground I encountered after starting ‘Astria Online,’ also known as the ‘Newbie Zone.’

“There have been a ton of newbies entering after today’s patch. Even though the expansion pack has opened, only the ones who have finished farming in the Abyssal Tree can properly hunt in this wilderness zone.”

“And what’s going on there?”

“It seems they are doing newbie boosts and running bus services to the ‘Orc King’s Cave.'”

I gaped.

Today, on the day of the expansion pack ‘Endless Canyon’ release, Astria Online has become a 12+ rated game.

If there are newbies starting the game today, there would certainly be minors among them, but also some adults.

Are they really taking money from kids, who haven’t yet learned about the realities of life, to run bus services?

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