Chapter 26. The Start Point of a Legend

Not a single person in Langeru knew about the fierce battle that happened beyond the mountains.

The traces and noises of the battle were not seen nor heard by the people of Langeru.

It was the effect of the barrier which Sire cast at the beginning of the battle.

The battle against Garnas was fought very quietly and secretly.

And after that quiet battle I,

Was able to increase my level by a whopping amount of 25, and acquired a core that came from the humongous dragon.

And now, at the halfway point of this mountain, there are dozens of people wearing fur coats with roses drawn on them busily moving left and right.

The people from the caravan which the Yvonne of Roses led started to debone the corpse of the dragon.

“Well, it’s better for the people of Langeru to not find this.”

People agreed in silence after Gohn’s words, and Yvonne continued to lead the deboning process of the dragon.

The body of the dragon, which was burnt to ashes the moment it reached its death, was just like an empty shell.

And that shell sucked in the light around it to show off its rich darkness even in the shadows.

“Various countries desire dragon’s bones and scales.”

Yvonne opened her mouth as if she was telling us a few things.

“It can go into the showcases of some rich people, or it can be made into armors or weapons. Therefore, it’s always sold for an extremely high price. So our dear Sworders, if you ever get your hands on these later in life, make sure to contact our caravan and we will pay you a high price for it, alright?”

All I could do was nod my head to her smiling voice.

“Gohn and Arora, do you have any use for these bones or scales?”

Soon, Yvonne asked Gohn and Arora and they showed no interest in them.

Arora received the reward of the quest from the Order of the 14 holy knights in hurry, and

“Man, I hate cold places.”

Arora left the place as quickly as he could. Soon, the body of the dead dragon was quickly deboned by the heavy equipment, which had been brought by the Rose caravan, leaving only black ashes.

“Don’t forget your promise!”

Yvonne, with a satisfied face, left her seductive voice to Hire and quickly disappeared with her caravan.

“Everyone seems to be heading off in a hurry. Sir Gohn, Sir Mose, and Sir Caloir. I would like to thank you once again for everything.”

Then Hire, Seer, and Sire came towards Caloir, Gohn, and me and politely saluted to us.

Caloir and I bowed and saluted back, but Gohn was just silently staring at them.

“Order of the 14 holy knights. Your mischievous attitude never changes, it seems.”

Hire with a smile on his face shrugged his shoulders slightly at Gohn’s expressionless attitude towards him. Hire’s voice suddenly changed into a very playful tone, and he said

“Was it too obvious?”

Surprised by his sudden eccentric reaction, all I could do is watch what was about to happen between them.

“This was not an order from the saint herself, correct? This mission, I mean.”

“Haha, as expected, all the ‘Swordmasters’ have quite some amazing skills at taking a clue. However, please do not be angry for we didn’t do this with mal intentions towards you.”

Gohn turned back to look at us, putting Hire who politely saluted towards him behind.

“Well, it wasn’t meaningless after all. I’d say this was a priceless experience just for meeting these two very talented Sworders. But y’see.”

Very soon, Gohn’s face started to get darker. And at that moment, it felt as if my body was starting to stiffen up. The aura that was coming out from him started to choke me.

Gohn turned back to show his killer face towards Hire. Hire, for the first time I’ve seen, had a very surprised look on his face.

“I suggest you stop with that perverted hobby of yours.”

Hire replied at his intimidating words,

“I will engrave those words in my heart.”

And bowed his head with a fresh smile on his face.

The Order of the 14 knights also disappeared to head off to Langeru soon after that. It was just Caloir, Gohn, and I who still stayed at the scene.

“Sir Gohn, what happened?”

Gohn changed back to his normal light attitude as Caloir asked him carefully.

“Nothing special. It’s just that I know the Order keeps on testing the veterans with methods like this.”

I could sense the bitterness from his voice, even though he had loosened his facial expression.

Then Gohn gave a huge sigh and looked and Caloir and me in alternation.

“Sworder of Lowsvan.”

With those words, Caloir reflectively kneeled down on his knees and said,

“Here I am, the blade of Lowsvan.”

Then bowed his head. Gohn looked at me next and,

“Sworder of Asparagan”

“Here I am, the blade of Asparagan.”

I too kneeled down on my knees and planted the sword into the ground.

Then bowed my head.

This was the same salutation I gave to my master.

“One day, your blades will reach the world we live in.”

Gohn left a mysterious phrase.

“I shall welcome you with both my arms open when that time comes. I am looking forward to the next time we come across.”

Then he threw a portal stone.

“To Bing-Caravan.”

And the Ghostblade disappeared into the portal in an instant.

Everything ended just like that.

Its end felt very underwhelming to me for how we just saved an entire city.

Even so, in the corner of my heart, I was able to become a shrimp with a content heart just by getting caught up in the waves made by those giant whales.

And I assumed that would also apply to Caloir beside me, who hasn’t relaxed his body from the salutation.

“Now then, I have an urgent contact to make. I will see you in Langeru later.”

Caloir, who got back on the ground, had a very short farewell with me and quickly walked in Langeru’s direction. Now, only I stood halfway up the mountain.

To be quite exact, it was just me and the core floating on top of the corpse of the dragon which was nothing but just ashes now. They were NPCs.

The system of the ‘core’ would not activate even if they were to kill a monster.

And that was why they had to directly use the materials they acquired from defeating the monster, as Yvonne did.

It reminded me of the fact that I was playing a game when I saw the floating core.

Realistically speaking, one could argue that I didn’t contribute a single thing to this raid. However, since I was the only Player in that party, I was able to directly receive the core all for myself.

I felt guilty to take this core all for myself for a moment, but I realized that was just an extravagant thought soon enough.

I have to become stronger.

I must become stronger to even come close to reaching those strong people.

Therefore, I needed the item that would be inside that core.

However, I made a promise to myself.

I made a promise to one day achieve the power to deserve the item. I will achieve it by grinding as much experience as possible, no matter how long it takes.

I took a deep breath and reached my hands out the black core.

There were a lot of people in the central square of Langeru, both Players and NPCs.

Some of them seemed to be slightly worried about the abnormal climate changes that happened behind the mountains, but since it didn’t have any effect on their lives, they didn’t care much.

Nobody seemed to give any attention despite the fact that the lightning striking behind the mountains had stopped and disappeared.

They probably thought the abnormal climates or lightning clouds just floated away.

However, a boy with a fur coat in the square with his hands holding his parents’ hands didn’t stop from looking at the mountains.

The boy’s eyes were dazzling brightly. Soon, the boy started to wave his hands to catch his parents’ attention.

“Mom! Look over there! Lord Bellica has risen up above!”

“What are you saying?”

Said his parents, as they moved their eyes towards the direction of their son’s sight. The parents’ eyes also started to dazzle brightly.

“Oh my…!”

With the child as the starting point, everyone in the square naturally focused their eyes on one point.

Over the mountainside,

There shone majestic streams of light as if the sun was rising from the place where Mose may have been.

Then the streams soon started to swim through the sky as if they were silks wet by the winds.

The boy’s mother smiled and opened her mouth at this.

“It’s hard to see an aurora from here, but take a good look. That is called an aurora, the blessing from the god of clouds and rain, Oroad.”

Then the boy followed his mother’s hand gesture and pointed his fingers over the mountainside.

The streams of lights disappeared after a while.

* * *

An exceeding amount of shock waves sent my body flying the moment I touched the core.

In an instant, even the snow on the floor was swept away in all directions, revealing the frozen ground beneath it.

The core, which was beating like a heartbeat, was broken as cracks emitting white light appeared everywhere on it.

A strong light shined out of it, slowly melting everything near it.

The frozen ground soon turned muddy, and the frozen sprouts raised their heads from the ground.

The mass of light that radiated heat like the pulsation of a flame soon disappeared and began to scatter in all directions.

In the center of the items dropping to the ground,

There stood somebody.

I carefully approached it as my heart skipped a beat with cold sweat at that moment. Then soon realized that it was not a living entity.

It was as if someone put on armor on a mannequin, a set of intact gray armor stood majestic in the mud.

And there was a ring that kept its pulsating heat standing behind it.

I carefully reached out and placed my hand on the chest plate of the armor which looked as if someone was wearing it.

The armor set collapsed to the ground like empty shells with a bright golden light and its parts were rolling on the ground.

And inside that,

A greatsword that was planted firmly into the ground revealed its appearance.

The soil on the floor where the blade was embedded was charred.

I carefully stared at the greatsword with my eyes shaking.

And a golden flaming window popped up, making me frown.

[Attoria’s Stigma]

Class: Greatsword

Rank: Legendary

Weight: 8.8kg

Effect: One hand attack 711 – 984

Two hand attack: 1,224 – 1,411

Strength +43

Health +31

Speed +27

Intelligence +16

Passive upon equipping: Acquires ‘Swordsmanship of Attoria’, Can use ‘Disastrous flame: Solar Storm’ for every 100 monsters killed. Can be charged up to 3 times. (Cooldown: 10 minutes).

(Monsters below 20 levels of the user are not counted towards the stack.)

History: Attoria, Knight of the Sun. This greatsword was wielded by the brightest one out of all the knights who participated in the most ancient and primitive war in the continent. This is one of the few swords that received the blessing from Bellica. Anyone who faces this sword will turn to ashes! Who dares to stare with their eyes wide open at this sun?

All I could hear was my heartbeat.

My shaky eyes automatically turned down to the ground. However, I couldn’t help but be surprised once again.

A golden flaming window suddenly popped up in front of my eyes when I looked at the armors rolling on the ground.

[Attoria’s Rising Sun Set]

Rank: Legendary

5 / 6

Attoria’s Mind (Heavy armor, Helmet)

Attoria’s Sun (Heavy armor, Top)

Attoria’s Tendon (Heavy armor, Bottom)

Attoria’s Craze (Heavy armor, Glove)

Attoria’s Flame (Heavy armor, Shoes)

– Attoria’s Stigma (Greatsword)

Effect:

Strength +87

Health +77

Speed +84

Intelligence +59

[Set Effect]

3 set effect – All of the character’s speed is increased by 34%

Disastrous Flame: Solar Storm’s charge increased by 1

5 set effect – Melee attack increased by 44%

Disastrous Flame: Solar Storm skill is enhanced

History: Armor worn by the Attoria, Knight of the Sun. The sun knight wore ashen gray armor and wielded the sun. Originally, it was armor made of mithril, which was called the fairy’s treasure, but it was burned several times because of the flame from the sword Attoria wielded, and it turned to the gray color it is today. As the light of the armor faded, the enemy constantly died. Eventually, when the light of the armor completely faded, Attoria’s movements also stopped.

The contents of the core that came from the dragon consisted of things that matched its majesty.

Legendary.

A treasure used by an important person from the history of this world was given to me.

I’ve long forgotten about the coldness. No, rather I was sweating from the heat radiating from the armor and the sword.

My arms and legs moved as quickly as my heartbeat.

I started to put them into my inventory carefully, and sincerely.

* * *

A beautiful woman stood in the middle of the plaza in Asparagan surrounded by many people, as she placed her sight on an orb floating in the sky and opened her mouth with experienced confidence on her face.

“Hello, everyone watching! This is JiHyun, Circuit TV’s 2nd generation caster!”

Many people around her started cheering after her playful greetings.

‘Circuit TV’ was the most popular TV program out of all the official broadcasts of the virtual reality game, Circuit.

“Did you hear the news from the Information Guild that came up yesterday morning! Did you all hear about it?! Finally, there will be a ‘ranker war’ from all over the continent!”

Soon, she started acting in a tasteful way with a face full of tension.

“You guys with the golden badges, you better be careful! Teehee!”

Then the orb started to float higher into the sky getting further away from her.

She threw her last line towards the orb getting further away from her with both her arms open wide.

“Everyone who is confident, come to Asparagan square right now!”

Numerous people around her shouted for her,

“Come!”

The ranker system, which was slowly finding its identity by the information guild, took its place systematically. The ‘Ranker War’ was the signal that heralded the beginning.

And starting from now,

A player named Mose started to write his own new legend.