‘Wasn’t this originally a solo play section?’
The party play tutorial had not even started yet, so why were there so many players here?
“Ah! You're there, player who just arrived!”
As I was wondering about that, a strange, echoing voice called out to me.
‘What is it?’
When I looked toward the voice, I saw a fully armed player in heavy armor. They were even wearing a helmet that covered their entire face, and because of that helmet, their voice seemed to be echoing from inside.
‘Could you customize your character like that in the character creation screen?’
Anywhere else, maybe, but how had they gotten heavy equipment like that in the tutorial zone?
“Excuse me, we have exactly one spot left in our hidden quest party. What do you think? Do you want to do the quest with us?”
The player wrapped head to toe in heavy armor and a helmet asked me that.
It was a party invitation.
“A p-party?”
“Yes!”
“Isn’t this a solo play section?”
“Ah, apparently party play is possible from this base onward!”
“Hm......”
I had thought it was a completely solo hidden quest, but it seemed that was not the case.
‘Well, back when I played, there weren’t any people in this section.’
It was a hidden quest tucked away in the tutorial section. Naturally, back when I was playing, not many people were looking for this quest. It was already a time when players had left this section behind.
But right now, the classic server had only recently opened. A crowd had gathered in a section that had originally been quiet.
There could be new discoveries I had not known, or ones that had not been revealed before.
“With just one more person, our party can attempt it. What do you think?”
“I’m not sure......”
Was there any benefit to doing it as a party? I was thinking it over when it happened.
“Hey, Armor. Let’s stop.”
“Huh?”
A player waiting behind the armor player, who seemed to be part of their group, stopped them.
“Seeing as that guy doesn’t even know parties exist, he’s probably someone who just barely got here after skimming some guide. If we put someone who doesn’t know how to do it into the party, the party will just fall apart. He’ll get in the way.”
“......”
Hm. The words were harsh, but I thought that could happen.
Party play was not something that worked well just because skilled people with good equipment were gathered together. First of all, teamwork had to match.
On top of that, I was more of a blind-progression type. Rather than reading guides, I preferred making the guide myself.
My disposition usually did not mesh well with guide-absolutist players like that.
“And that guy doesn’t even have a medal, does he? It’s obvious his skill isn’t that good either.”
“What did you say?”
But what? I could not let that slide.
“Ah, ah. This hidden quest! You receive a medal up front depending on how well you performed the previous quest.”
The armor player explained while trying hard to soften the atmosphere.
“If you only hit the cutoff line, you don’t receive a medal, and after that it goes for the Iron Medal, Bronze Medal, Copper Medal, and Silver Medal!”
“Ah......”
Only now did I clearly understand why the reward had changed from the Silver Medal of Honor to the Gold Medal of Honor.
The original reward did change, but back on the original server, I had always only hit the Silver Medal of Honor cutoff line, so I had played without knowing that there were ranks below it, or even one above it.
‘But there were that many grades below silver?’
How did you even manage that? Just defeating the [Medusius Serpent] guaranteed silver.......
“So, um, what medal did you get? If you at least received an Iron Medal, we can explain the guide to you and it should be......”
“Ah, why even ask? If it’s not pinned to his chest, he’s some guy who didn’t get anything.”
The player who had been picking a fight from earlier snapped back.
“Taking in a scrub like that will only break the party. Let’s just wait a little longer.”
“But......”
“Excuse me.”
Dumbfounded, I challenged the player who kept snapping at me.
“How good are you to talk to other people like that?”
“Ha.”
Then the aggressive player snorted and confidently tapped his own chest.
“Look at this. Copper.”
The aggressive player boasted as he flaunted his Copper Medal.
“Now you get it, right? Aside from that streamer Yang Pinpin’s party over there, no party has gotten a Silver Medal, and in other parties, the person with Copper is always the party leader. Got it?”
The player showing off his Copper Medal even clicked his tongue as he spoke.
“If you can't even get a medal, don’t be a nuisance to others. Go to YouTube, watch a guide, and come back.”
“Hey, aren’t you being a little too harsh? He might have come here without knowing......”
The armor player must have felt that was too much, because they objected, but the aggressive player showed no sign of reflection.
“This hidden zone can’t be cleared without party play, so if he came here without even watching a guide, he didn’t prepare at all, did he? His attitude is wrong, so he deserves some criticism. If that guy joins any party as he is, he’ll seriously be a nuisance.”
What an unbelievable bastard.
‘This hidden zone can’t be cleared without party play?’
Nothing he said was right, from start to finish.
To me, who had already cleared this section before, he only looked like some half-baked bastard making pointless threats.
On top of that, the medal he was so proud of was copper. Wasn’t that a reward several tiers below mine?
“Acting high and mighty over a mere Copper Medal.”
In the end, I could not hold back and laughed at the player who had challenged me so aggressively.
“What? Ha, unbelievable. What a funny newbie. I told you nicely to go watch a guide, and now listen to that attitude.”
“Isn’t someone giving unsolicited advice to others over one tiny little medal even funnier?”
“What?!”
Then the player flared up and shouted.
“Shit, I was going to let it slide nicely because you were obviously some new influx newbie, but I guess that won’t work.”
“What are you going to do if you can’t let it slide nicely?”
“What else?”
The player drew his weapon with a nasty smile and pointed it at me.
“I’ll teach you a lesson.”
“Oh-ho.”
Things were getting interesting.
It had turned into a situation where he was openly charging in, asking for a fight.
“What are you doing to a newbie?”
The armor player was horrified and tried to stop him.
“What do you mean? If he can’t accept it, we should settle it by skill. Right?”
I did not like the way he spoke, but I agreed with the content.
‘This is what I like.’
Wasn’t the appeal of a game being able to exchange sword blows rather than argue with words?
[Tutorial]
[Privacy Notice!]
[A nearby player is taking photos or recording video!]
[You can adjust how much other players can record you through privacy settings.]
[Close]
That was when it happened. As if someone had started capturing the situation, a privacy notice popped up.
When the people around us began recording, a tutorial pop-up appeared. Hm, I would have to change this setting later too. So my face and things like that would not be recorded at all.
‘Still, they record this sort of thing too.’
Were VR capsules capable of capturing video cheap these days? Originally, recording footage of VR games had been absurdly difficult.
“No, um... everyone gathered here to play the game, so......”
“It’s fine, Armor.”
I stopped the armor player, who was trying somehow to smooth over the situation. If we could settle this with skill, that was better.
“Oh? You want to try?”
“That’s all well and good, but this is the tutorial zone, isn’t it? Can we even fight?”
[Elysium Online] was not a full war-type MMORPG. PVP was free, but there were various restrictions to protect players who did not prefer PVP.
The biggest problem in the current situation was,
‘You can’t PVP in the tutorial zone.’
Certain conditions were required to open the PVP system.
There was a way to fight without applying for PVP, but the problem was that even if you attacked like that in a base town, no damage would occur.
In other words, there was no way to fight except through formal PVP.
“Aha, so you were running your mouth because you thought PVP couldn’t happen here anyway?”
Then the player spoke with a sneer.
“Too bad. PVP can happen as much as we want.”
“Really?”
With a touch of hope, I waited for the next action of the player who had picked a fight with me.
Then.
VWOOOM!
The hand of the player who had picked a fight glowed, and he pointed at me.
‘Oh!’
It was the very skill I had been hoping for!
[‘KingdomOldHand’ used the ‘Duel Request’ skill!]
[Condition: Unlimited]
[Accept PVP request?]
[Y / N]
[Tutorial]
[PVP - Player vs Player: Duel]
[Through certain skills, you can propose PVP! If the proposal is accepted by the other party, PVP is established!]
[Formally requested PVP: Duel Mode through a skill will not generate any penalty!]
Because of the other party’s PVP request, a PVP tutorial message appeared.
With this, formal PVP play had become possible.
“What do you think? If you’re scared, bow your head. If you bow your head and get lost now, I won’t make you famous for it. Or you can prove yourself with skill. Mr. ‘Kylo.’”
As if he had checked my nickname through the PVP request UI, ‘KingdomOldHand’ spoke with a mocking smile.
“KingdomOldHand......”
The nickname felt fairly familiar.
Kingdom.
It was an abbreviation for [Kings of Dominion], a war RPG far more PVP-oriented than [Elysium Online].
For him to brag about being an old hand from another game, just how much pride did he have?
Whatever the case.
‘So a guy who knows how to play a little showed up, is that it?’
Let’s see whether he had the skill to go around picking fights so shamelessly.
[YES]
[Duel established!]
CLAAANG!
[Player vs Player!]
[Players are beginning a duel!]
[Condition: Unlimited]
“Oh, you accepted?”
“You went through the trouble of offering a duel. Of course I should accept.”
As if responding to his sneer with a smile, I spoke and drew my weapon.
[Sword of the Lost Battlefield]
◆ Grade: Legendary
◆ Category: Weapon (One-Handed Sword), Event
◆ Equip Requirements
◆ Event
─[A sword abandoned on the battlefield. It once displayed a mysterious power, but that power has now vanished. It can be equipped, but the weapon’s abilities will not activate.]
─[By purifying Medusius’s poison, it may be able to regain its original power.]
My only weapon.
The [Sword of the Lost Battlefield] I had acquired on the battlefield.
It had displayed extraordinary power in the tutorial hidden section, but now that the dedicated hidden section was over, its performance was worse than a mere stick.
A weapon that was virtually no different from bare hands.
“Pfft. What is that? Where did you pick up that rotten trash item?”
‘KingdomOldHand’ burst into laughter when he saw the [Sword of the Lost Battlefield].
“You don’t know what kind of weapon this is?”
“How would I know some garbage item like that? Those are everywhere. You picked up something like that and came all the way here calling it a weapon? Now that is impressive.”
“Pfft.”
This time, it was my turn to laugh.
That made it certain.
KingdomOldHand knew nothing about the hidden quest. I had no idea what he had done through some other quest route to arrive at this supply base, but.......
‘If he doesn’t know the [Battlefield Weapon], then he has no knowledge of this entire section’s hidden quest.’
This [Weapon of the Lost Battlefield] was the core weapon for clearing the tutorial hidden quest.
The fact that he could look at this weapon and still fail to recognize it meant he had not even experienced clearing this quest.
Unfortunately, he had revealed the full extent of his abilities before our swords even clashed.
“What, are you laughing?”
Then KingdomOldHand reacted threateningly to my laughter.
“No, I was just thinking how amazing it is that you can look down on others so well when you don’t know a single thing.”
“......Let’s see if that shitty attitude stays the same after you get beaten up!”
TAP-TAP!
The enraged KingdomOldHand immediately drew his weapon and rushed toward me.
An ordinary longsword.
Still, it was probably more powerful than my [Sword of the Lost Battlefield], which could not even be treated as a weapon.
But.
A difference of that level,
was far from enough to fill the gap between a ranker and an ordinary player.
“Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Wearing a grin, I kicked off the ground.
CLAAAAANG!!
And so KingdomOldHand’s sword collided with mine.
***
‘Isn’t this a little too much?’
‘Even if he didn’t read the guide, is there really a need to exclude a newbie like that?’
‘The newbie is going to get beaten one-sidedly.’
All the players watching the quarrel between Kylo and KingdomOldHand thought so.
KingdomOldHand, who had initiated PVP with [Duel Request], was a veteran who had even obtained a Copper Medal.
On top of that, KingdomOldHand had progressed through the tutorial hidden quest and leveled up.
His level was 11.
There was a full 10-level difference between him and Kylo, whose level-up had not even opened yet.
In the RPG genre, numerical values and level differences were absolute. A gap of 10 was not something ordinary skill could overturn.
KingdomOldHand was the only one who knew the exact level difference between the two, but the onlookers all guessed that there was a considerable level gap.
Because it was obvious that Kylo had not even leveled up yet.
On the other hand, the hidden route that ordinary players found, the one Kylo had not taken, was usually a route that allowed players to raise their level to 10, and even higher if they put in effort.
Was that all? In the case of basic classes, it was even possible to complete a class advancement!
There were also many players who had noticed that KingdomOldHand had already advanced from Novice into [Swordsman].
In that case, the level difference had to be at least 10.
Therefore, Kylo’s overwhelming defeat was practically decided before the PVP even began.
‘I should have stopped them before it started!’
The armor player, who had unintentionally become the trigger for the fight, anxiously stamped their feet inside.
They thought a beginner who had finally started the game was about to taste bitterness because of them.
While everyone was certain of Kylo’s defeat and watched the PVP,
“Huh......?”
“Wait a second?”
An unprecedented event that overturned everyone’s expectations began to unfold.