I Became A Collaborative Character In The Game

Chapter 8 – Karen

“[Generating Nanosuit specialized nanomachines.]” 

[T/N: changing nanites to nanomachines]

“[Generation will take 97 minutes and 31 seconds.]”

“[Remaining energy and resources will be allocated to increasing basic nanomachine production.]”

“Okay.”

Luther replied curtly and let out an involuntary sigh.

He felt he had overcome a hurdle, one way or another.

But it wasn’t time to sit and rest.

He had made quite a commotion, so there was no telling when more dragonkin or monsters would approach.

He had to leave this place as soon as possible.

‘First…’

Luther looked at the remaining Geists.

Two of the three seemed to have died instantly from being hit between the eyes and in the neck, but the one hit in the chest was still alive.

He had to kill it before it woke up and called for its comrades.

“Hoo.”

Luther swallowed hard and steeled himself.

It wasn’t a pleasant feeling to take the life of a creature the size of a human, not a small insect.

But it was something he had to do, so Luther grabbed the sword dropped by one of the Geists.

He pierced its heart, ending its life.

Having mechanically finished the task, Luther closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“[Master, that was an incredible performance.]”

“[I am proud of you.]”

Luther was a little taken aback by the sudden praise, but a smile formed on his face.

He understood that Integra had said those words to comfort him.

‘She’s really like a person.’

It didn’t seem like this in Star Savior.

Integra was a support AI with a hyper-scientific sensibility, whose words were always stiff and impersonal, even if her voice was gentle.

‘Some people liked that though.’

They found it charming how she could suggest abandoning injured allies because they were a hindrance, all while maintaining a gentle tone.

In any case, Luther thanked Integra for her encouragement and looked back at the leader.

He needed to take what he could before moving.

‘I don’t need the clothes…’

If he hadn’t had the Nanosuit Lv0, he would have taken them, but the monster’s ragged clothes were useless to him now.

So Luther turned his attention to the blowguns.

“[Master, I do not recommend indirect kisses with alien lifeforms.]”

Luther chuckled at Integra’s unexpected comment, shook his head as if to say that wasn’t his intention, and examined the blowguns.

‘Indirect kisses aside, they’re too big for me to use anyway.’

Moreover, the needles weren’t ordinary either.

Slightly longer than his little finger, they were clearly not artificial.

It seemed like they had been forcibly extracted from other monsters or insects.

‘Let’s take them for now.’

Luther took one blowgun and one pouch of Paralyzing Mushroom Spores and stood up.

The Geists’ axes and clubs seemed more useful than the dagger he got from the Kobold, but Luther wasn’t interested.

He had something much better.

‘The giant axe.’

The enchantment magic had disappeared with the removal of the magic stone, but it was still valuable as a large melee weapon.

“[Master, although it is too large and heavy for ordinary humans to use, you should be able to wield it with your strength.]”

Luther nodded and lifted the giant axe with both hands.

It was a bit heavy, but he felt he could manage it.

‘Good, let’s move.’

They had already wasted a lot of time.

Luther returned to Karen and Max and asked Integra,

“How are they doing?”

“[They are not in bad condition.]”

“[The detoxification is complete, and the nanomachines injected into their bodies are aiding their recovery, so they will wake up eventually.]”

Luther nodded at Integra’s words, slung the giant axe over his shoulder using the harness he had taken from the leader, and thought for a moment.  But the answer had been decided from the beginning.

He would carry Max on his left shoulder and Karen on his right side.

‘My strength really is something else.’

It would have been impossible to move like this without the superhuman strength of a combat homunculus.

Luther smiled wryly and started walking.

* * *

Walking forward as best he could, Luther soon found a place to hide.

It was a gap formed by the protruding roots of a very large tree. The tree was so large, and the ground was dug out enough to create a space where the three of them could squeeze in.

Luther laid Karen and Max side by side in the innermost part, sat near the entrance, and looked up at the sky.

The sky, which had been fairly bright at night thanks to the two moons, was now cloudy and dark.

Clouds had rolled in.

“Haa.”

He sighed involuntarily.

Now that he had calmed down, he felt a renewed sense of bewilderment.

‘What in the world happened?’

It was absurd enough that he had entered a world identical to a game, but now there was a collaboration too.

‘I just went to sleep and woke up.’

It wasn’t like he was logged into the game on the server shutdown date, or received a suspicious email asking if he wanted to enter the game.

He just went to sleep and woke up in the game.

‘There must be a reason.’

The reason he woke up in this world.

The reason he became Luther Lightseeker, a character from Star Savior.

The situation was too strange to be a mere coincidence.

“[Master, it seems Karen is waking up.]”

Luther, who was lost in thought, turned his head at Integra’s voice.

“Ugh… uh…”

Karen, groaning with a frown, slowly opened her eyes.

Her pale face showed she was still weak.

“Wh… where…?”

“Moved. Defeated Geists.”

Karen looked dazed for a moment at Luther’s words, then nodded.

She remembered the fight with the Geists.

“Ma… Max…?”

“Lying next to you.”

Luther gestured, and Karen turned her head, breathing a sigh of relief.

Perhaps due to her usual stamina, or perhaps because she was only affected by the Paralyzing Mushroom Spores, Max was sleeping peacefully.

“Thank you so much.  You also treated the paralysis… didn’t you, Luther… sir?”

“Yes.”

When Luther confirmed, Karen bowed her head in gratitude despite her weakened state.

“If it weren’t for you, Max and I would have been killed by the Geists. Thank you so much for saving our lives.”

A smile spread across Luther’s face again.

Karen was not only beautiful but also kind.

Feeling a warmth in his heart, Luther looked at Karen and asked,

“Are you feeling alright?”

“Yes, I’m a little… uncomfortable right now, but I think I’ll be fine after a while. How about you? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

Even the holes in his Nanosuit from the poisoned needles had completely disappeared.

“But Karen.”

“Yes, Luther… sir.”

“Was what you used earlier a superpower?”

Karen pursed her lips at Luther’s question, then nodded and replied,

“Yes, it’s telekinesis.  It’s… like this.”

Karen lightly raised her finger, and a small pebble on the ground floated up.

“It’s a secret, though.”

Karen put the pebble back down, smiled sweetly, and winked.

Normally, no one would enter combat assuming their opponent was an esper.

Espers were even rarer than mages.

Therefore, just by concealing their abilities, espers could gain a significant tactical advantage.

The fact that she admitted it so readily meant that Karen trusted him that much.

Although unintentional, it seemed the bond between them had strengthened considerably thanks to the battle with the Geists.

“But Karen, do Geists normally appear in the Forest of Ancient Trees?”

Karen slowly nodded at Luther’s question.

“Yes, but… it’s a bit strange.  I mean, maybe if it were deep within the Forest of Ancient Trees… but Geists rarely come down near the campsite.”

Luther felt a sense of unease again at Karen’s words.

As far as he knew, Geists didn’t appear in the Forest of Ancient Trees at all.

What was going on?

Was it simply the difference between reality and the game?

A sudden sense of foreboding washed over Luther. He swallowed hard and asked Karen,

“Karen, one last question.”

“Yes, Luther… sir.”

As Karen leaned forward slightly, showing interest, Luther looked up at the night sky again and asked,

“What year is it?”

“Huh? Oh, yes. It’s the year ■■■.”

“[Master, I have not yet acquired numerical data.]”

Here we go again.

Clenching his teeth, Luther showed her his fingers.

“Sorry, could you show me with your fingers?”

Karen’s eyes widened, and she tilted her head in confusion at Luther’s words, but then she smiled and held up her fingers.

“It’s the year ■, ■, ■.”

Karen indicated 1, 1, 9 with her fingers.

Year 119.

The starting point of Dragon Hunter 3 was the year 120 of the Human Imperial Calendar, so it was roughly the same time period.

‘So, it’s right before the game starts?’

That was a relief.

He had been worried that the years might be significantly different.

‘If it’s before the game starts… it makes sense. It’s possible the Geists that lived in the Forest of Ancient Trees have left.’

Perhaps Karen and Max were a similar case.

If they had moved far away from the Forest of Ancient Trees before the year 120, it would explain why they didn’t appear in the game.

“Haa.”

After breathing a sigh of relief, his heart began to pound.

It was right before the game started.

This was both good news and bad news for Luther.

The good news was that he could fully utilize his game knowledge. The bad news was that he would have to experience all the chaotic situations of Dragon Hunter 3 firsthand.

‘Still, it’s much better that it’s before the game starts.’

Dragon Hunter 3 depicted the desperate struggle for survival between humanity and the evil dragons.

The atmosphere was relatively peaceful in the early stages, but by the middle of the game, the winds of war were blowing, and in the latter half, a great war broke out between humans and evil dragons.

‘Let’s build up my strength during peacetime and prepare for the mid-game.’

Having made up his mind, Luther looked up at the sky again.

The patchy autumn foliage among the trees caught his eye.

“Autumn of the year 119 of the Human Imperial Calendar…”

Then, in a couple of months, the siblings Als and Alisa would visit the Pioneers’ Village.

But at that moment,

“Human… Imperial Calendar?”

Karen blinked and asked, as if she had never heard of such a thing.

“Wait, Karen. Are you saying it’s not the Human Imperial Calendar?”

Luther’s eyes trembled slightly.

The only calendar system in Dragon Hunter 3 was the Human Imperial Calendar.

If she didn’t know the Human Imperial Calendar—

“Um… yes, it’s the Holy Imperial Calendar. The year 119 of the Holy Imperial Calendar.”

Karen replied cautiously, and Luther clenched his teeth.

Unlike Karen, who didn’t know about the ‘Human Imperial Calendar,’ Luther knew about the ‘Holy Imperial Calendar.’

“Are you… talking about the Holy Empire of Yustia?”

“Yes, the Holy Empire of Yustia. You knew?”

At Karen’s reply, Luther closed his eyes.

The Holy Empire of Yustia.

The first unified human nation founded by the Sword Saint Clausewitz.

It wasn’t the year 119 of the Human Imperial Calendar.

It was the year 119 of the Holy Imperial Calendar.

That’s why Luther had to clench his teeth.

‘This isn’t Dragon Hunter 3.’

It was the Dragon Hunter universe, but not the time period of Dragon Hunter 3.

The prequel to Dragon Hunter 3.

The story of heroes who lived in a world destined for destruction.

This world was undoubtedly the world of ‘Dragon Hunter Origins.’

–CROW–