Beneath the shade of an ancient oak tree in the Eastern Forest, Alphonse sat cross-legged.
His golden eyes were tightly shut. He focused the entirety of his consciousness inward, drawing the flow of energy from the surrounding air to replenish his depleted Mana.
Considering that death was a very real threat in this world, Alphonse cursed his own recklessness. Forcing the use of the Akashic Terminal to the point of draining his vitality was sheer stupidity. He had allowed his thirst for knowledge to override his rationality.
Fortunately, during the hour he spent meditating, not a single wild monster had sniffed out his presence while he was at his most vulnerable.
Alphonse slowly opened his eyes. He attempted to take a deep breath, but immediately winced. A sharp, throbbing pain flared within his chest cavity.
When he wiped his lower face, his skin felt stiff from a rough crust of dried blood beneath his nose.
Without wasting time, he aimed his palm at his own chest.
[Tier C - Heal]
A wave of pale green light radiated from his hand, softly seeping through his shirt and robes. The light enveloped the tissues of his internal organs, sweeping away the stinging pain in his lungs and heart, replacing it with a soothing warmth.
"The Mana density in this region is far too thin," he muttered in a dissatisfied tone upon realizing the condition of his internal energy.
In Orion Online, if he sat in meditation without the aid of any recovery items, his Mana capacity would fully replenish within a single hour. However, here in the Eastern Forest, after a full hour of absorbing natural atmospheric Mana, his reserves hadn't even breached twenty-five percent.
He stood up, letting the hem of his robes rustle softly. His eyes caught sight of a puddle of clear rainwater collected in a hollow not far from him.
Alphonse walked over and knelt. He removed his monocle, cupped his hands into the cold water, and washed his face. He scrubbed the dried blood above his lip until it was clean.
Water dripped slowly from his jaw. He put his monocle back on, staring at his reflection in the puddle for a moment. His golden eyes once again projected a cold, calculating aura.
He stood up straight.
"It is time to pick up that idiot."
Armed with the spatial coordinates he had acquired from the Akashic Terminal, Alphonse prepared a spatial displacement spell. He decided to rendezvous with Arcus first.
Even though the last visual showed the man laughing uproariously and in complete control of the battle, as a Guild Master, Alphonse preferred not to take any chances.
Alphonse extended his hand downward.
[Tier A - Teleportation]
Instead of casting it instantaneously, Alphonse allowed his Mana to flow from the tip of his boot, drawing a complex magic circle upon the dirt.
Even though this spell had reached Level 10, he had to input specific destination coordinates. In the game, he only needed to visualize a location on the map. In this world, because he had never set foot where Arcus was, he was forced to manually input the spatial coordinate numbers into the runic structure of the magic circle.
The final rune locked into place. A burst of silver light swallowed Alphonse's figure, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished without a trace from the silence of the Eastern Forest.
The night wind blew, carrying the foul stench of damp earth and sulfur. Across a vast swamp blanketed in thin mist, the dark sky was suddenly torn apart.
A reddish-gold projectile plummeted toward the earth at blinding speed. There was no deafening explosion, no scattering of dirt.
When the light touched the surface of the swamp mud, its glow faded gracefully, revealing a tall man draped in a maroon tailored suit.
His eyelids fluttered open, revealing a pair of sharp, gleaming blue eyes. The Sirius Piercer bow rested sturdily on his back.
Arcus turned his head, staring at the expanse of the dark swamp stretching endlessly before him. His brow furrowed sharply.
"Is today April Fools'?" Arcus asked with his signature theatrical flair, his voice shattering the silence of the swamp.
He immediately noticed the anomalies. His field of vision was entirely too clean. The system interface, the minimap, the row of HP bars, and the Party list—everything was gone.
Arcus raised his hand in the air and performed a rapid swiping gesture. "Menu! Guild Log! Quest List!"
No blue panel responded to his summons.
"O, Game Masters hiding behind this false sky, reveal yourselves!" he shouted into the heavens.
Only the echo of his own voice bounced between the swamp trees.
Arcus lowered his hand. He took a deep breath of the night air. The putrid smell of rotting carcasses, acidic mud, and stagnant moisture stung his nasal cavity vividly.
The night wind swept through his blonde hair, delivering a chilling sensation that tickled the skin of his face.
Driven by curiosity, Arcus raised his right hand and pinched his left cheek hard.
"Ouch!"
The stinging sensation and throbbing pain flared instantly. This was not the dulled, artificial pain synthetically dialed down by the gaming pod capsule. This was absolute, raw reality.
Suddenly, Arcus's shoulders began to shake. He lowered his head, and a second later, uproarious laughter erupted from his throat.
"Hahahaha! This isn't a dream! The myth is actually real!"
Arcus spread his arms wide, challenging the night. His secret fantasy—which Alphonse had frequently mocked—had now manifested into reality.
He had reincarnated into a new world, possessing the majestic form of his game character and the absolute power of a Level 100 Player.
However, his booming laughter served as an open invitation to the starving denizens of the swamp.
From behind the dense mist and mud puddles, one by one, points of yellowish-green light flickered on. Hundreds of pairs of reptilian eyes now locked onto him as a target.
To a normal human, this darkness was a blinding grave. However, Arcus's blue eyes were a manifestation of his Job's passive ability: Sagittarius Eye.
The darkness of the swamp was peeled back, rendered as clear as a landscape under the blazing midday sun. Every scale, every drop of venomous saliva dripping from the monsters' maws was vividly visible.
He recognized them instantly. Swamp Lizards.
Giant lizard monsters that were Level 20 in the game. And now, he was completely surrounded by hundreds of them.
Instead of feeling intimidated, the smile on Arcus's face only widened, baring his teeth. He felt as though the universe was rolling out a red carpet for him, just like the protagonist of an epic novel.
"O, gods who reign upon high!" Arcus declared loudly, slicking his blonde hair back. "Bear witness to the opening act of the legend... Arcus the Sagittarius!"
The monsters seemingly felt insulted by his dismissal. With a hoarse, mud-trembling roar, hundreds of Swamp Lizards charged simultaneously.
Their webbed feet tore through the wet dirt, rushing forward like a feral tidal wave ready to shred the arrogant man.
Arcus smirked mockingly. His right hand moved like lightning to his back, drawing the Sirius Piercer.
[Tier D - Light Arrow]
One pull of the string. An arrow of pure light materialized. The string was released.
A streak of light cleaved through the night air and struck dead center between the eyes of the leading Swamp Lizard. The monster's head exploded in a fountain of blood.
Arcus felt an incredible sensation. There was no interface guiding his aim. It all felt like pure, instinctual muscle memory.
He drew the bowstring again. This time, without pausing.
[Tier D - Light Arrow]
[Tier D - Light Arrow]
[Tier D - Light Arrow]
[Tier D - Light Arrow]
Golden light flashed like a machine gun. Four giant lizards dropped dead in succession, gaping holes burnt through their skulls.
Arcus's eyes widened in sheer joy. He realized one crucial fact. His rate of fire was significantly faster than it had been in the game.
He pivoted his body, dodging a splash of venomous mud. His fingers wove Mana.
[Tier C - Piercing Ray]
A straight beam of light shot forth, penetrating the thick carapaces of five Swamp Lizards lined up in front of him simultaneously.
[Tier C - Piercing Ray]
[Tier C - Piercing Ray]
[Tier C - Piercing Ray]
The beams of death swept the area around him repeatedly. Lizard carcasses piled up, massive burn holes riddling their bodies.
Arcus laughed wildly amidst the carnage. "Of course it's faster! The ridiculous constraint of Skill Cooldowns is dead! My own body is the only limit!"
Although Arcus had slaughtered dozens of monsters with ease, this swamp housed far too many of them. A second wave of Swamp Lizards surged in, trampling the corpses of their own kin, closing the distance until the foul stench of their breath was palpable.
"Time to find a more artistic vantage point."
[Tier B - Fly]
Gravity released its grip. Arcus's body shot into the air, hovering high above the reach of the filthy jaws snapping desperately below him.
From the night sky, he looked down. His Sagittarius Eye stretched his field of vision all the way to the horizon. He could see every ripple of water, every tiny insect resting on the edge of a leaf miles away.
Arcus cackled with glee. "Hahaha! The seal on my eyes has been broken! The render distance of that damn graphics engine is gone! That four-eyed Alphonse can't mock my vision anymore!"
He drew his bow back fully. It was time for a colossal performance.
[Tier A - Clone]
[Tier B - Decoy Shoot]
To his left, light projection condensed, forming an illusory figure identical to himself. The clone raised its bow, mimicking its master's movements with lethal precision.
Arcus looked up, staring at the dimly glowing twin moons.
"O gods, bear witness to the weeping heavens welcoming my arrival... Rain of the Fallen Star!"
[Tier C - Multi Shoot]
[Tier C - Multi Shoot]
[Tier C - Multi Shoot]
In tandem with his clone, Arcus unleashed a barrage into the sky. Hundreds of light arrows shot upward, leaving faint after-images that suddenly solidified into a torrential downpour of actual magical arrows.
A rain of deadly light plummeted from the night sky.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack! Thwack!
The sound of tearing flesh and shrieks of despair echoed loudly. The swamp was transformed into an absolute slaughterhouse.
Hundreds of arrows bombarded the mud, pinning the bodies of the Swamp Lizards to the earth. Arcus laughed uproariously from above, utterly intoxicated by the power and freedom surging through his veins.
After a few brutal seconds, the rain of light ceased. The clone projection beside Arcus dissolved into particles of dust.
As Arcus slowly lowered his bow, a sensation crept from his shoulder down to his right fingertips. His muscles felt sore and throbbed with fatigue from drawing the bowstring dozens of times in succession at an unnatural speed.
His breathing was slightly heavier than usual. The arrogant smile on his face dialed back a notch as his mind processed this vital fact.
The absence of Cooldowns did not mean he was free of limitations. In this world, the system's mechanical limits hadn't disappeared; rather, the burden was now entirely borne by his own muscles and stamina.
However, as Arcus looked down, the immensely satisfying sight below made the soreness feel entirely worth it. Hundreds of giant lizard corpses lay lifeless across the swamp floor.
Yet, his sharp eyes caught a flicker of movement. At the far edge of the swamp, a few monsters had managed to survive outside the radius of the arrow rain. Among them was a monster with a blazing red crest, twice the size of the others.
The Swamp Lizard King.
The ferocious beast that was supposed to be the tyrant of this territory was now fleeing in sheer terror, dragging its tail frantically away from the blonde devil in the sky.
"A grand prologue requires the perfect closing line," Arcus declared with a haughty smile.
He flew even higher, ascending past the thin cloud formations. He drew the Sirius Piercer's string back until it arched tautly. Incredibly dense Mana gathered at his fingertips.
[Tier S - Nova Blast]
A sphere of light materialized in the center of his bowstring. The light was so brilliantly blinding that it washed away all the darkness of the night.
For several seconds, the swamp below was bathed in illumination as bright as midday.
Arcus released his fingers.
The sphere of light tore through the air. Its velocity vastly exceeded the capability of a biological eye to track its movement. The shot struck dead center on the back of the fleeing Swamp Lizard King, who was looking back in sheer terror.
ZRAAAASSH!
BOOOOOOOOOM!
A thermal light explosion erupted violently. A feral shockwave swept away everything in its path. The intense heat slapped Arcus's face in the sky, forcing him to cross his arms to shield his eyes from the boiling dust and steam.
The explosion vaporized the swamp water instantly. The remaining Swamp Lizard carcasses were incinerated into ash.
As the light faded, Arcus slowly descended back to the ground. His expensive loafers now stepped onto a swamp floor that was no longer muddy.
The incredibly massive temperature of the blast had melted the mud, vitrifying a radius of hundreds of meters into a smoking plain of solid glass.
Arcus puffed out his chest, preparing to deliver his nonsensical monologue.
"With this, the darkness has been purified. This plane of glass shall stand as silent witness to the first steps of the—"
His sentence was cut short.
A chill swept across the back of his neck. His sixth sense, honed on countless battlefields, detected something. A distorting spatial fluctuation.
Its energy was stable, yet it felt immensely threatening, materializing not far behind his back.
The arrogant laughter and theatrical smile on Arcus's face vanished instantly.
His features hardened, his gaze transforming into the hyper-vigilant stare of an apex predator. His Chuunibyou prince mode died, replaced entirely by the aura of an elite combat protagonist.
In one seamless, silent motion, Arcus spun his body a hundred and eighty degrees. He lowered his stance, drew the Sirius Piercer taut, and aimed the tip of a lethal light arrow directly at the flash of light materializing before him.