Chapter 3

Chapter 3
## Chapter 3: Miraculous Result

Quietly, I cast a frigid gaze over the immediate area, mentally organizing the chaos.

First, I assessed the strength of the encroaching slave drivers.

**【Lv 3】**

The majority were around level 3—standard soldier rank. As long as I didn’t run into any elite desert champions, I had a fighting chance to make it out.

“Argh!”

“Dammit, there are too many Hydragons!”

The real threat came from them: three level 5 monsters classified as raid bosses.

*‘I’m only level 1.’*

In comparison, I was at the bottom. Every enemy here outclassed me. No matter how I sliced it, this was a heartless quest. Asking a level 1 to survive the heart of a war zone? It was absurd. Furthermore, boss-tier monsters possessed special attributes that ignored simple level scaling.

*‘Hydragons have terrible vision. They can’t rotate their heads and bodies at the same time.’*

In this world, however, specialized knowledge was power. If you knew the mechanics, even a level 1 could take down a level 5 boss. Hydragons were technically balanced to be fought by a dozen level 1 players working in unison. The true power gap—the insurmountable difference in tiers—didn’t actually begin until level 7.

Anything below that could be managed with enough skill.

*‘I can pull this off.’*

It was too soon to give up just because of my level. Most importantly, I was a seasoned pro, a veteran of this game’s deepest systems. If I had to do the work of twelve men, I’d just have to find a way.

**Clang!**

Metal shrieked against metal.

A soldier had lunged into my personal space, his blade hummed with lethal intent.

*‘This is the real thing.’*

This wasn’t some digital simulation. I couldn’t rely on a mouse click to parry or dodge. This was a gritty arena of impact, where skin was sliced and bones were shattered. Survival depended entirely on my physical reaction.

The odds looked catastrophic, yet a glimmer of hope remained.

*‘I see the openings.’*

Was this the passive benefit of **【Weapon Master】**?

Weak points were manifesting before my eyes. I could see exactly where my strikes needed to land. The moment my fingers wrapped around a hilt, a strange sense of muscle memory washed over me, as if I had practiced these movements for decades. The necessary counters played out in my mind like a premonition.

Even before I could consciously process the plan, my reflexes took over.

**Crack!**

I parried the sword at a sharp angle and drove my fist upward, crushing the soldier’s jaw. As he stumbled back, losing his footing, I swept my blade across his throat.

There was no pause. No trembling. Every opening and every tactical path was being mapped out by my eyes in real-time!

—

The Snake Princess watched the center of the fray with a look of intense curiosity.

Her orders were simple: scrub this place from the map. It was a direct mandate from the desert queen. Usually, such tasks were trivial. She was the most powerful figure in the realm second only to the queen, and her forces were overwhelming.

But then, a single slave had snapped. He was systematically dismantling her ranks. Even more shocking was the sight of him slaying a Hydragon. He was a lone hurricane in the middle of the desert sands.

“…Who is that man?”

—

“Hah… hah…!”

My chest burned as if my heart might explode. Every breath felt like inhaling shards of glass. I couldn’t tell if the liquid dripping down my face was sweat or someone else’s blood. But the reality was simple: I was still standing.

**Clang!**

After hundreds of impacts, my sword finally snapped. The perimeter of enemies immediately began to close in, sensing weakness. The spearmen were the biggest problem; they kept me at a distance.

“His blade is gone! Finish him!”

“Get him now!”

The only saving grace was their lack of discipline. These weren’t elite imperial troops; they were a disorganized mob with no formation. One spearman, blinded by the prospect of an easy kill, lunged forward with his stance completely broken.

“Urgh!”

I dove toward him, rolling across the sand and sweeping his legs. As he hit the dirt, his spear flew into the air. I caught it before it even touched the ground. Other soldiers tried to capitalize on the moment, swinging their swords at my exposed side.

I whipped the spear around, catching a sword tip in the crook of the blade and using the momentum to throw the attacker off balance.

“Guk!”

I drove the spearhead through the soldier’s throat. A clean, instant kill. I wrenched the weapon free and spun it in a wide arc, creating a zone of death that kept the others at bay. The surrounding men watched in stunned silence, witnessing a level of spear mastery that usually took a lifetime to achieve.

Thanks to the **【Iron-Blooded Lord’s Heart】**, I remained mentally detached and physically resilient. Combined with **【Weapon Master】**, I could pick up any tool of war and wield it like a grandmaster without a second of practice.

The synergy with **【Dexterity】** was even better.

> **[Sword proficiency has reached Lv6!]**
> **[Spear proficiency has reached Lv6!]**

The hidden trait **【Dexterity】** accelerated skill growth. While **【Weapon Master】** allowed me to start at level 5 with any weapon, **【Dexterity】** made reaching the higher tiers effortless. Level 10 was the absolute ceiling; level 6 represented the skill of a legendary knight.

I had achieved that level of mastery simply by holding the weapon for a few minutes.

This was the power of hidden trait layering—a secret known to only a tiny fraction of the player base. Whether it was a bow, a staff, or a mace, it didn’t matter. I became the perfect counter to whatever I held.

“You freak!”

“He’s flagging! The monster is finally tired!”

“Kill him!”

The circle tightened. There were five hundred of them. Even after killing thirty men and a Hydragon, the sheer numbers were suffocating. Most veterans would think surviving this long at level 1 was a miracle.

I was reaching my physical breaking point. But then…

> **[Level up!]**
> **[Stamina and Mana fully restored.]**
> **[Fatigue cleared.]**

A small grin touched my lips. This was the turning point I needed.

*‘Time for the second round.’*

I rolled my shoulders as my breathing instantly went still. The frenzied movements of the soldiers now seemed to happen in slow motion. This was the sensation of true combat awakening.

“Halt.”

A low hum vibrated through the air.

A woman’s voice cut through the noise of the battlefield, carrying an unnatural weight. At the sound, every soldier froze mid-step.

*‘She’s finally stepping out.’*

The ranks of men parted like water. A woman sat atop a Hydragon, looking down at the carnage with a bored expression. Despite the desert sun, her skin was strikingly pale.

I felt a heavy weight in my chest as she approached with the predatory grace of a feline. I had known she would eventually show up.

“G-Great Princess, there was no need for your personal intervention…” the armored captain stammered, trying to find his courage.

The Snake Princess gave him a look of pure derision. “He isn’t exhausted. He was merely playing a part.”

“…That’s impossible. He was gasping for air, covered in—”

“Look at him again. Does he look like a man who has lost his breath?”

The captain turned his gaze back to me. His face twisted into a mask of confusion and fear. “He was faking it… just to lure us into a false sense of security?”

“Precisely.”

In reality, my level-up had simply refreshed my state, but the Snake Princess had interpreted it as a tactical ruse. I kept my face neutral as I stared back at her.

“Impressive. Very few can remain so calm while standing before me.”

I felt a wave of murderous intent roll off her, but **【Iron-Blooded Lord’s Heart】** kept my pulse steady. I looked at the floating information above her head.

**【Lv 8】**

Level 8. In this world, that was the definition of ‘apex.’

Level 7 was the threshold where humans transcended normal limits. Level 8 was reserved for the leaders of massive organizations or the protectors of great metropolises.

*‘Was there someone this strong in Paysalmer?’*

The Queen of Paysalmer was a known power, but I didn’t recall any level 8 NPCs in this starting zone. This was supposed to be a low-level area. Yet, looking at her, a strange sense of deja vu hit me. She felt familiar—like someone I had a long, complicated history with.

She rode closer and finally spoke. “Tell me your name.”

My name? I hadn’t even chosen a handle when I started this. Was this the moment the game designated for character naming?

*‘And the quest is still active.’*

The survival objective hadn’t vanished. Likely because the Snake Princess was the ultimate threat. She was more dangerous than the entire army combined. As long as she intended to kill me, the quest wouldn’t end.

The name I chose would matter.

“Randolph.”

“…The Great Wolf? A name from the deep desert?” She raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise. Randolph was an archaic term used by the nomadic tribes of the wastes.

“Why is a child of the desert traveling with these intruders from the central continent?” she asked, her voice dripping with contempt. To the desert people, those from the central continent were no better than demons. If they weren’t killed on sight, they were worked to death in chains.

It was strange, though. *‘She knows they are part of the expedition. And she’s slaughtering them regardless.’* Usually, they’d be taken as prizes. This felt like a purge.

*‘She’s destroying the evidence. She doesn’t want anyone to know the expedition ever made it this far.’*

I remembered the Eight Heroes—the legendary expedition I had led in my previous life. We failed at the Demon King’s doorstep, not just because of his power, but because of the politics and fear back home.

The Queen of Paysalmer clearly feared being associated with that failure. If word got out that she was involved with the expedition, it would lead to a bloodbath. Removing every trace of the central continent’s presence was her way of staying safe.

Seeing the board clearly now, I spoke up. “I was observing the movements of the central forces.”

“…A spy? Who do you serve?”

“I serve my own interests.”

“Yourself? Don’t lie to me. I know every warrior of the sands, and you carry no clan marks. Your skin is different. If you think a few desert words will save you…”

“The stars guided me here.”

The Snake Princess suddenly went rigid, as if she had been struck. She stared at me with wide, searching eyes.

“…The stars?”

I saw it then—a mixture of shock, desperation, and panic. I was right. I knew why she felt familiar. She was a character I recognized, and the ‘stars’ were the key to her entire existence.

They were her greatest vulnerability. And my only way out of this.

I leaned into the performance. “I am a Star Awakener. I belong to no tribe. I never claimed to be born of these sands—so why do you assume I was?”

She looked like she’d seen a ghost. **Star Awakeners** were legendary figures who navigated the world via celestial guidance. They were rare, unaligned wanderers. And they were exactly what the Snake Princess needed.

“Isabella von Dersian. The Snake Princess.”

“How… how do you know my true name?”

“The stars whisper many things to those who listen.”

It was a total fabrication, of course. Star Awakener was a class players couldn’t even pick; it was an NPC-exclusive path that players sought out later in the game for powerful buffs.

I knew Isabella because I had literally created her. This was a character I had designed during a testing phase. She was a tragic figure, trapped in the desert by a queen’s curse, unable to grow or escape without a ‘Star Blessing.’ Because there were no Star Awakeners in the desert, her character progression was a dead end, so I had abandoned the save file.

Now, she was standing in front of me, very much alive and very dangerous.

At that moment, a notification flared in my vision.

> **[Main Quest 1: Survival – Complete!]**

The quest hadn’t ended when I killed the soldiers or the beast. It ended the moment I secured my safety from her.

> **[Calculating Results…]**
> **[Unprecedented Achievement! A Miraculous Performance.]**
> **[Final Score: 220 points. Entry added to the ‘Hall of Fame.’]**
> **[Beginner’s Luck! The ‘Fortune Constellation’ is delighted. Rewards have been upgraded.]**
> **[The ‘Combat Constellation’ is impressed. Rewards have been upgraded.]**
> **[Acquired: ‘Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule’]**
> **[Acquired: ‘Hydragon’s Soul’]**
> **[Acquired: ‘Michella’s Sword’]**

I stared at the list of items, my composure momentarily slipping.

“…This is insane.”

The rewards were nothing short of legendary.