< 9: Awe and Fear (5) >
-You have reached level 4.
-<Eye of the Observer (Lv.3)> has grown.
-<Eye of the Observer (Lv.4)> has been achieved. You can observe the continent with a clearer vision than before.
It had been several days since I handed over the magic book to Eutenia.
In game time, it was about ten days.
During that time, I hunted diligently and as a result, I was able to reach level 4 at a fast pace.
When I reached level 4, my magic power increased significantly once again.
Also, when the Eye of the Observer leveled up, the speech bubble showed different content than before.
-Bread.
Of course, even though it showed different content, it was only a level of displaying two letters of dialogue.
It was not much different from when emoticons appeared.
Eutenia, who woke up from her sleep and practiced magic, prayed and looked for bread.
It clearly meant that she wanted me to give her some bread.
I chuckled at Eutenia’s request and looked at her.
“Hey, did I leave bread with you?”
I briefly wondered if I should get rid of it for good.
I took out a baguette from my inventory and put it down in front of Eutenia.
Thud.
Eutenia thanked me after seeing the baguette that fell on the floor.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
The extremely short dialogue felt awkward.
Eutenia finished her thanks and went into the cave to tear and eat the bread.
I calmly watched her eat.
It was true that she looked cute eating bread like that.
Did I develop some affection for her while watching her?
I didn’t feel like doing anything to her anymore.
“Go ahead, eat. I should take care of your food since you learned magic.”
And if I kept watching her, I could also see Eutenia using barrier magic.
The magic book I gave to Eutenia had an effect.
Now that the character realized that she could use magic, I felt like giving her other magic books and testing them out.
If I gave her various magic books, I could surely train her into a perfect mage character.
If only I had enough money in my wallet.
“I can’t play the game as I want without money.”
The cost of 10 draws had risen to 70,000 won, so it was not easy to press the draw button once.
Fortunately, the <Paid Currency Shop> did not increase its level when I reached level 4.
The price of 10 draws was still at 70,000 won.
It was not long before payday, so I decided to try it once when I got paid.
I thought about that as I watched Eutenia.
“Grow well and eat well. Then you can smash everything with your hands.”
As I watched her, Eutenia came out again after finishing her meal.
She had a magic book in her hand as she came out.
She seemed to be practicing magic again.
I was about to move the screen as I prepared for training.
It was boring to just watch her practice magic, so I thought I would go hunting while Eutenia practiced.
If it wasn’t for one character coming towards me from afar.
A man in armor ran towards me in the corner of my sight where I was about to go hunting.
“What is this? I’ve never seen this outfit before.”
I had taken care of several villages so far, but this was the first time I saw someone wearing this outfit.
The man in blue uniform moved towards where Eutenia was.
As soon as he saw Eutenia, he showed signs of caution and started approaching her.
He had a sword in his hand that looked much better than the ones used by the thieves.
A decent-looking sword.
And a neat-looking uniform.
He didn’t look like a thief by his outfit.
Eutenia raised a speech bubble over her head when she saw the man approaching her.
-Cloud investigator
Cloud investigator.
These two letters were all that came out of Eutenia’s mouth.
It seemed like the man’s name was Rick.
Was it because Eutenia spoke to him?
The man who approached Eutenia also stopped and raised a speech bubble over his head
-You are
-You
-You
The two who faced each other began to talk
Did they know each other from before?
I watched them talk smoothly
It was also fun to watch the interaction between characters like this
But there was no way to know exactly what Rick and Eutenia were talking about
It felt like deciphering some kind of code
-Village
-Yes
Sometimes there were conversations that I could understand along the way
The word that the man just said was one of them
Yes
These two letters were something I could clearly understand
“Oh, I can understand that.”
Of course, I couldn’t understand anything else
Whoever came up with the idea, cutting the dialogue into two letters because the level was low was not a good idea
I sighed and continued to watch their conversation
Eutenia and Rick exchanged a few more words after that.
The conversation that had been going on was ended by the man raising his sword towards Euteneia.
I wondered what the point of talking was, when it all came down to fighting.
Of course, fighting was the essence of a game.
The moment of battle that I had been waiting for had arrived.
“The prey has walked into my trap.”
I was done watching the interaction.
Now it was time to turn the character in front of me into karma.
Tap.
I lightly touched the man who was aiming his sword at me.
It was a plan to deal 1 damage and observe his reaction.
And at that moment.
I witnessed an unexpected sight.
-No way.
Clang!
The man swung his sword and blocked my touch.
A 0 damage appeared above his head, who had defended against the attack.
He had completely nullified the attack with his sword.
I couldn’t help but be surprised by the man who had blocked my touch attack without any damage.
“What? He blocked it?”
Tock.
I moved my finger and tried another touch attack.
Of course, the man’s reaction was not much different from before.
Clang!
His sword swung again and a 0 damage appeared above his head.
It was a proof that his defense was not a coincidence.
“Wow, what is this. Is he a boss monster or an elite monster?”
There are some games that have monsters with unique patterns.
Elite monsters. Or boss monsters.
They show different patterns from normal monsters, and force different strategies to defeat them.
And the male character in front of me seemed to belong to that category.
“So basic attacks don’t work on him.”
I didn’t expect him to block my basic attack.
It was natural to be surprised by an unexpected pattern.
But if he was a game monster, there had to be a way to break him down.
I decided to use the <Lightning> skill that I had bought with expensive money.
Squeeze.
I overlapped the target area of the <Lightning> skill completely over the moving character.
-You used <Lightning>.
Zap!
The screen flashed and lightning struck down on the man.
The man, who faced the falling lightning, bent his body and took a defensive stance.
It was impossible to block the lightning with a sword.
The lightning that fell from the sky pierced through the man’s defense.
-Argh!
The man screamed as he was hit by <Lightning>.
A 9 damage appeared above his head.
It was a low number compared to the usual 15 damage that I dealt.
It meant that I needed more mana than when hunting other characters.
But considering that he was an elite monster, the fact that I could attack him at all was important.
“You’re dead now.”
I started to spam the <Lightning> skill.
Zap! Zap! Zap!
The pleasant sound of lightning rang out from the speaker one after another.
*****
It had been two days since Rick, a third-class investigator of Cloud, left to find the traces of the evil god.
During that time, Rick had wandered around several villages looking for clues, but he had only been disappointed every time.
He couldn’t find any signs of the evil god around the villages.
That’s why he ended up at a village that faced the entrance of a mountain range after a long time of thinking.
But something happened when Rick tried to leave the village and enter the mountain range.
The horse that he rode into the mountain path suddenly threw Rick off and tried to run away.
Rick barely calmed down the horse and tied it up in the village, but he couldn’t move with it anymore.
He had no choice but to leave the horse behind and move alone.
“The atmosphere around here is not good.”
Rick felt goosebumps as he felt the eerie aura around him as he entered the mountain path.
There was something in the mountain range.
Something that could not be measured by human eyes.
Rick walked forward without letting go of his guard.
He felt cold sweat running down his back with every step he took.
After about ten minutes of wandering around the mountain path,
Someone’s figure came into Rick’s sight as he was on alert.
‘There’s someone here.’
Rick’s eyes scanned over the person standing in front of a cave.
It was a nameless girl with ash-colored hair fluttering in the wind.
Click.
Rick’s hand tightened around his sword.
She looked too clean to be living in the mountains.
She seemed suspicious no matter how he looked at her.
‘Is she a priestess of the evil god?’
The book in her hand also looked unusual.
There was no reason to carry such a thick book around while visiting the mountains.
And the thickness and appearance of the book looked like a scripture or a magic book.
A mage.
Or a priestess.
Either way, it was a profession that raised enough suspicion.
“I’ll find out if I check it myself.”
Risking his life was the duty of an investigator.
To confirm the identity of the other party, he had to face them at least once.
Swoosh.
Rick drew his sword and started to move towards the girl.
