LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 23: Arthur...
[Identity status opened…]
[Welcome, Arthur Wyllt]
[Statistical Power- 40]
[Titles]: {Descendant's Hero}
[Species]: {Human}
[Occupation]: {Adventurer}
[Class]: {Knight}
[Level 3] {Next Level->37 /10,000 Experience}
[Stat points]- 0 remaining status points!
[STR]- 5 [VIT]- 7 [MEN]- 2
[DEX]- 3 [INT]- 4
[M. DMG]-1
[CRT]- 2.00%
[H. RATE]- 100.%
[C. DMG]- 2.0%
[DEF]- 4
[P. RES]- 3.0%
[M. RES]- 91.6%
[EVD]- 0.3%
— [Health] --- {8/11 [+1.4 Hp regeneration per minute]
— [Arcana] --- {3/7 [+1.0 Arc regeneration per minute}]
I checked the status information once again, hoping to monitor my progress while farming inside this woodland. However, much to my surprise, I only levelled up once and increased my strength at a molecular level! It meant that MY STATISTICAL POWER and my status points changed nothing, as it was before!
Despite killing the ogre, my overall stats remained closely the same. I was still as weak as a villager, who could barely stand for myself against these ogres. It almost felt that my experience bar got stuck on a bottleneck.
"Wait… don't tell me I have a bug?!" I asked.
My hands quivered upon realising that thought became the truth. In this world, bugs and other glitches were not new to veteran players like me. However, now that my life was a different one, levelling up would prove to become a strenuous role for me to achieve.
Upon wandering around, I stumbled upon the monster again, who was staring at the dancing branches and trees. It was the worm from before that resurfaced itself above ground.
Even though the worm revealed its stark and slimy body from the ground, it had no openings. No matter what angle I looked at, the worm, that creeping creature, could react to the sound of my steps. It was also the thing that tracked me down to the lake.
The game also had that feature. A party of five players would beat that worm down within a matter of seconds! The two players would act as a decoy and create a distraction while the remaining three people strike the worm at the back. The worm had low defences, so weapons and magics could effortlessly penetrate the monster.
However, thanks to its agility, the beasts needed countless players to take it down. I, who had no teammates to back me up, could not dream of winning against that thing… But I could always try.
And that was what I did.
I rushed to the worm-like madman and tried attacking it from behind. That plan was the only thing I had in mind, since the worm was more vulnerable at the rear. I defeated them when I still had my overpowered account. So I could defeat it again!
But it was far from the truth.
The worm noticed my figure approaching. To my surprise, that monster did not bother moving its body and evaded my attack. Instead, the worm took a hit against my Clarent blade and mocked me about my damage.
My blade pierced through the worm's scales. But it was not enough to kill it. Heck, the worm didn't even receive any damage at all from my strike! The sword gripped in my hands went straight through its body. And yet… I failed.
"I failed…" I whispered.
And it was the only voice I heard after receiving such an alarming blow on my right shoulder. By the time I swivelled my head in that direction, a throbbing pain emerged around half of my body, forcing me to hover towards the trees.
I was fortunate enough to cushion myself on the bough filled with leaves and lovely petals. The agonising pain reached towards the other side of my body, forcing me into a deep state of slumber.
I knew it was no time for me to idle around… but my body begged for a rest. It was the only time that I closed my eyes without concerning myself with the danger surrounding me.
...
"Wake up!"
Like an alarm clock waking every cell inside of me, the voice calling out inside my head jolted my body open. But the sensation was like last time. Despite opening my eyes, there was nothing but darkness surrounding me. My legs and hands refused to heed my commands.
"Where am I? Am I… dead?"
"If you're dead, you won't be here. Someone would've taken you to the underworld."
The voice replied to me once again, as if telling me a natural answer. I tried focusing my line of sight in front of me. After a few moments, there was an anomaly fluttering before me.
"Who are you? What do you want from me?" I asked. But my voice let out a croak.
"Hmph. You've already forgotten the entity who helped you live your life in this world, have you? No wonder you can never become a hero like me."
The arrogant being that threw me inside this dreadful realm was the one who mocked me before landing in Magique. It was a great thing that I could not see that individual talking to me. But if I do, I would make that person eat those words!
"Eat my words for a peasant like you? You can't even take down a proper ogre with that pathetic skill of yours," the voice reacted, making my eyes widened in surprise.
Even in this world, the entity could read my thoughts. I needed to act carefully if I wanted to think of something without getting myself caught.
"Why did you bring me here? I need to return to the forest. We're both wasting our time chit-chatting about useless things. You're stressing me out," I exclaimed, and hoped to cross my shoulders in this dark dimension.
"I'm the only one wasting my time with you. You waste your time every time you make a decision," the entity said. "I brought you here for some information that you could use."
"I don't need your help. I will never rely on you!" I retorted.
"But this involves your levels. Are you not interested in gaining more power?"
Silence filled the room and our conversation. That statement was enough for me to lend an ear to this mysterious voice, despite all the ridicule I received. However, I still considered those lines as a trick to manipulate me.
I was not in a perfect state right now to listen to anybody, after all… Especially after getting my ass kicked by the monsters in this forest. Those creatures that I defeated uncomplicatedly threw me like a pebble near a lake earlier.
It was enough to shatter one's pride… and life.
"I'm listening."
"I finally got your attention," the enigma answered. "You cannot level fast enough because you do not belong in this world. However, despite being an alien or a foreigner in Magique, the world chose you to be its descendant's hero. Hence, your pitiful status and unremarkable fighting abilities."
"You're just stating the obviou-!"
"Silence, you fool. I am not done talking," the strange voice interposed, and continued where it had left from the explanation.
"You need to do heroic deeds to unleash the slumbering power inside of you. Once you unlock that, all those powers that you wish to get will come to you."
"But I am a hero! I saved the village from the ogre! I helped Afenos and Rain unlocked the system! I gave them a fighting chance against the horde! I will defeat the demon lord holding that damned Excalibur! Isn't that enough to prove to everyone that I am a hero?" I shouted, unable to accept every word coming from that entity's mouth.
The creature in front of me bursts into a sinister laugh. That chortle meant to torment me, as if telling me what I explained was all wrong.
"What's funny?"
"You believe all you did was an act of charity? An act of righteousness, deed, and heroicness?" The tone of the creature's voice became more blaring than before.
"When you first arrive in the village, you want to leave the old farmer, his children, and the town! Despite knowing the approaching horde, you did not think about protecting the bourg with your life! When you encountered that ogre in the forest, you became a coward! You regret fighting that monster and curse yourself for helping the town. And now, you abandoned the entire village, thinking that you would die a painful death!"
The entity lifted my body and gripped my neck. Although nothing showed in the pitch-black realm, the pain surged through my skin.
"All those things, yet you still have regretted none of it! You're no hero, Arthur. I hate speaking your name, since… Nevermind. You don't need to hear any of my explanations. I'm helping you because you're the only one who could help me. But seeing your pathetic self right now, I must have lost my mind for choosing you…"
"Let me tell you this one last time… You're not a hero, Arthur. And you will never become one."