Not only am I a handsome guy, but I’m also a crazy talented gamer?!

Episode 2

-Your iris and EEG are being measured. There are no characters currently created, would you like to create one?

This is my first time logging in, so of course I don’t have a character. The first thing I had to do was decide on a server. I chose the Human server after two weeks of deliberation before the capsule arrived. Yesterday’s announcement was a big factor in my race choice.

“ME One Month Human Event.

I did some research and found that Humans are notably less active than other races. Surprisingly, Orcs had the highest number of users.

From what we could gather, Orcs level up very quickly. The experience required to level up was much lower than for Humans.

Humans were also the hardest race to level up compared to other races. I didn’t understand why Humans were so hard to level up when they were already the worst race in the game, unable to produce the best mages or the best warriors, but surely the devs must have known about their hidden advantages.

When my mind went that far, I started thinking about Humans, and there was an event for Human Servers. There was an event for human servers only…….

“For one month in RT (Real Time), events will be held only for human servers.

There will be one new event per day. For example, double experience, double item drops, etc. An event that starts on the 1st will end on the 30th, an event that starts on the 2nd will also end on the 30th, an event that starts on the 3rd will also end on the 30th, and so on until the last day.

Some events overlap. So if there’s a 2x experience event on the first day, and then a week later there’s another 2x experience event, you’ll get a total of 4x experience.”

My goal was to reach level 100 in a month. Since that’s one day in real-time, one event would last six days in-game time. I needed to reach level 100 quickly so I could return to Sudden Death. Initially, I thought about choosing an Orc, as they level well, but I decided to go with a Human, which would have an event to fit the month-long time limit.

“Create a character on the Human server.”

As soon as I finished speaking, another world opened up before my eyes. I was wearing brown pants and a white cotton T-shirt, floating on a cloud. The beautiful sky was stretched out above me. It was very fluffy, probably because I was stepping on clouds.

“…It’s beautiful!”

“Isn’t it?”

It wasn’t a question I wanted an answer to, so I was surprised when it came out. Suddenly, a beautiful woman stood behind me. I gave her a look of recognition, and she smiled.

“I’m Cherry, the job creation operator. Would you like to choose a job?”

“You’re an operator. Hmmm, I’ll choose prosecutor.”

The work ethic to talk to the woman more reared its ugly head, but I wanted to experience this new world first.

I thought about playing an archer, which would be a little more involved with firearms, but I decided to go with a swordsman or warrior, as they are easier to level up. My goal is to get full possession of the capsule.

“Okay, what’s your character’s name?”

As a game with 100 million users, I couldn’t choose a duplicate character name. Even with 100 million users, there was no way that foreigners’ naming sense would be the same as Koreans’.

I just had to beat the Koreans.

“Karen.”

I said the name I had wrestled with while waiting for the capsule, scrolling through the homepage.

“Karen, that’s a good name, I’ll search to make sure it’s not a duplicate… Luckily, it’s not. Would you like to change your appearance, you can change your color to some extent.”

You play this game pretty much in your face. It was designed to make it impossible to play too rudely.

And if you could fix your face, wouldn’t everyone be handsome and beautiful? If you’re serious in real life and beautiful in virtual reality, you wouldn’t want to meet girls in real life anymore.

I pondered, then opened my mouth.

“…Can I change the color of my eyes?”

“Sure. Usually, users prefer light blue or green eyes. Which color would you like?”

“…Is red okay?”

“Yes, but… it’s a little tricky. Red eyes symbolize unauthorized PK (Player Killing), and while PKers can be unlocked by killing a lot of monsters or doing good deeds, they’re targeted by other players until they’re unlocked. So being born with red eyes… it’s going to be hard for you to play…….”

“Really? Are there any sunglasses in the game?”

It may seem like a silly question, but Middle-earth has publishing houses and broadcast channels. It’s for the convenience of the people who play the game, and for the money of Middle-earth (publishers have to give a percentage of their profits to the people who run Middle-earth in order to stay in business in virtual reality).

“Yeah, but if you’re like me, you’re going to die as soon as you’re born, because you’ll be swarmed by other players.”

“I’m glad to hear there is, then make them red.”

I insisted on red eyes for one reason only.

I have a fairly white face and very dark black hair.

Brown eyes would look good on me, but… I thought red eyes would make me look a bit creepy and unrefined.

After all, it’s virtual reality, so what’s not possible, and it’s a bit of a thrill. If it was too hard to play, I could just get a new one.

“Anything else?”

“Old.”

“I have a feeling we’ll be seeing you again soon. I know it’s hard to afford sunglasses, but we’ll give you a pair. Have a great time…….”

What a friendly operator. It was a good start.

* * *

Is this what medieval Europe was like? A new world was opening up before my eyes. A rich, vibrant, beautiful world. The number of users around me was quite high.

Most of the users here are probably Korean. I read somewhere that different regions start in different towns.

Suddenly, a translucent window popped up in front of me.

“Beginner’s Guide?

“Welcome to the Beginner’s Town. First, I want you to take out the sword in your leather pouch. The hunting grounds are located nearby, and I recommend rabbit hunting for now.”

I opened the leather pouch strapped to my waist. It was a bag of inventory.

“Trainee’s Sword

Damage 1 to 5

Durability 10/10

Feature: Trainee’s Sword.”

I picked up the sword and looked through my inventory to see what else I had. Five hundred gold, a pair of sunglasses, and a lantern.

“Sunglasses

Armor 1

Durability 5/5

Features: Provides some protection from sunlight.”

I put on the sunglasses to shade my eyes. If I had a mirror, I’d savor my reflection, but I was in a hurry.

There were a lot of beginners in the hunting area and they were having fun. I didn’t want to disturb them too much, so I went deeper into the hunting area. Once I was deep enough and didn’t see any users around, I scanned the area for prey.

“Okay… where is the rabbit……?

About two meters in front of me, a rabbit regenerated. The first rabbit I would kill… a very lucky rabbit.

“Alright~ My first victim.”

I raised my sword and brought it down on the rabbit with an unfamiliar motion. Despite the lack of realism, the rabbit was struck by my sword and died instantly.

I picked up the gold the rabbit had left behind, shoved it into my bag, and looked around for another kill.

“Leveling up is no big deal.

“Leveled up.”

After catching a few more rabbits, a notification popped up to let me know I’d leveled up.

When the notification disappeared, the status window popped up automatically. I don’t know if it’s for beginners or just for the convenience of users, but I found this system to be very convenient. It makes it easy for even the most novice player.

“Strength, agility, intelligence, and luck? Strength is the best, right?

I invested all five stats into Strength. I wanted to do a lot of damage. I didn’t see much of a return on my Strength investment since the rabbit was a one-hit wonder, but I continued to invest all of my stats in Strength until level 5.

When I got bored with the rabbit hunt, I moved into a deeper part of the hunting grounds. I didn’t go deeper into the center, but deeper into the outskirts, where there were still no players in sight. It was a little unnerving to be out in the middle of nowhere, but I soon found myself wandering around looking for monsters.

“There’s a Pighead!

There it was, a monster I’d never seen before. It had a pig’s head and a human body, and its green skin color made it look disgusting. I felt a little regretful that I hadn’t looked at the monster book.

I skimmed the summary rather than the monster book. The monster was described as the weakest animal type and a starter monster, so that’s all I had to go on.

I thought, “I don’t even want to look at that ugly monster. Is that just a pig?

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)I decided that Pighead was simply an animal monster. It had a human body, but I didn’t care.

“Hey, Pighead!”

To my surprise, Pighead showed emotion. Turning slightly red in the face, the pig lunged at me, brandishing a frighteningly rusty axe.

“I’ll kill you, you insolent human!”

“Oops! Talking pig! I’m sorry. Talking Pighead! Come on!”

Surprised that my green skin could even turn red, I stabbed my sword into the body of the charging pig.

“…Hmph!

The pig dodged my sword to the side, but it didn’t quite make it, and its gnarled wrist made contact with my sword. But the pig’s wrist was surprisingly unharmed by my blade, and I succeeded only in making it lose its grip on the axe in its hand.

I struck before it could raise the axe again.

“I never knew pigs were so fast……!

The pig dodged easily and punched me in the face. I can’t believe I’m the one who got hit by a pig…….

I was surprised that there was a talking pig, and even more surprised that it was so fast, but I was most surprised and humiliated that I had allowed my face to be hit by its fist. But my energy window was hopeless.

My health, which was over 200, had been reduced by nearly three-quarters.

I only had 50 HP (Health Points) left. This pig’s fist is so strong, I can’t do it. I have to run!’

I turned around and ran for my life. I had 50 HP left after being hit with a fist, but an axe would have given me at least five times as much. I was very lucky because I dropped the axe somewhere…….

I kept running. My feet were so sweaty that I lost track of time.

I glanced behind me and saw that Pighead was following me, just as fast.

“Crazy pig!

I drank the potion in my bag as I ran. My blood was filling up fast, but it was clear I was going to get a game over from those two fists. I didn’t even have time to stop or think of an alternative, I just kept running. I had never run this long before.

I can’t run this long in real life. I had a stamina (stamina, endurance) meter to track my running, but since it was a test, it didn’t wear off quickly.

I glanced back to see how far the gap between me and the pig had widened.

“…Huh!

It wasn’t just one pig… it was several… a herd of pigs.

“Do they have some sort of kinship ritual?