Beneath the shade of an oak tree in the Forest, Alphonse sat cross-legged. His golden eyes were shut tight. He focused his entire consciousness inward, drawing the flow of mana from the surrounding air to replenish his drained reserves.
Remembering that death was a real threat in this world, Alphonse cursed his own carelessness. Forcing the use of the [Tier EX - Akashic Terminal] until it stripped his vitality was sheer idiocy. He had allowed curiosity to override his rationality.
Fortunately, during the hour he meditated, not a single feral monster caught the scent of his presence while he was at his most vulnerable point.
Alphonse opened his eyes slowly. He tried to draw a long breath, but instantly grimaced. A sharp sting throbbed within his chest cavity. When he wiped the lower half of his face, his skin felt stiff from the rough crust of dried blood from his nose.
Without wasting time, he aimed his palm at his chest.
[Tier C - Heal]
A wave of faded green light glowed from his hand, seeping softly through his shirt and robes. The light wrapped around his internal organ tissues, sweeping away the sting in his lungs and heart until it was replaced by a soothing warmth.
"The mana density in this area is too thin," he muttered in a dissatisfied tone upon realizing the state of his internal energy.
Inside Orion Online, if he sat meditating without the aid of any recovery items, his mana capacity would fully replenish in just one hour. Yet in this Forest, after a full hour of absorbing mana from the air, his reserves had not even touched the twenty-five percent mark.
He stood up, letting the hem of his robes rustle softly. His eyes caught a puddle of residual rainwater collected clearly in a depression not far from where he stood.
Alphonse stepped closer 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 clean.
Water dripped slowly from his jaw. He put his monocle back on, staring at his reflection in the puddle for a moment with golden eyes that once again radiated cold calculation.
He stood tall.
"It is time to pick up that idiot."
Armed with the spatial coordinates he obtained from the Akashic Terminal, Alphonse prepared a spatial displacement spell. He decided to meet Arcus first.
Although the man appeared to be laughing uproariously and in control of his fight in the last visual, as a guild master, Alphonse chose not to take risks.
Alphonse extended his hand downward.
[Tier A - Teleportation]
Instead of casting instantly, Alphonse let mana flow from the tips of his shoes, drawing a complex magic circle on the ground. Even though this magic had reached Level 10, he had to input the specific destination coordinates. In the game, he only needed to visualize a location on the map. In this world, since he had never set foot where Arcus was, he was forced to manually input the spatial coordinate numbers digit by digit into the rune structure within 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 scent of wet earth. In a vast expanse of swamp shrouded by a thin mist, the dark sky suddenly split open.
A reddish-gold light projectile plummeted fiercely toward the earth. There was no deafening explosion, no earth scattered.
When the light touched the surface of the swamp mud, its glow faded gracefully, revealing the figure of a tall man clad in a maroon suit.
His eyelids opened, unveiling a pair of sharp, gleaming blue eyes. The Sirius Piercer bow rested firmly on his back.
Arcus turned his head, staring at the expanse of the dark swamp that stretched endlessly. His brow furrowed sharply.
"Is today April Fools?" Arcus said, his voice breaking the silence of the swamp.
He immediately noticed the anomalies. His field of vision was too clean. The system interface, the mini-map, the rows of HP bars, and the party list—everything had vanished.
Arcus raised his hand into the air and performed a rapid swiping gesture.
"Menu! Guild Log! Quest List!"
No blue panels responded to his call.
"Game Master! Report! Report!" he shouted to the sky.
Only the echo of his own voice bounced among the swamp trees.
Arcus lowered his hand. He inhaled the night air deeply. The foul stench of carcasses, acidic mud, and water humidity felt so piercing in his nasal cavity.
The night wind swept his blonde hair, bringing a chilling sensation that tickled the skin of his face.
Out of curiosity, Arcus raised his right hand and pinched his left cheek hard.
"Ouch!"
A stinging sensation and a throbbing pain instantly spread. This was not the dull, artificial pain whose parameters had been lowered by the gaming pod capsule. This was real pain.
Suddenly, Arcus's shoulders shook. He bowed his head, then a second later, uproarious laughter exploded from his throat.
"Hahahaha! This is not a dream! The myth is actually real!"
Arcus spread his arms wide, challenging the night. His secret dream—which Alphonse frequently laughed at—had now become reality.
He had reincarnated into a new world, bringing the grand form of his game character along with all the power of a Level 100 player.
However, his booming laughter became an invitation for the starving denizens of the swamp.
From behind the mist and thick mud puddles, points of yellowish-green light ignited one by one. Hundreds of pairs of reptilian monster eyes now locked onto him as a target.
To ordinary humans, the darkness of this night was a blinding grave. Yet, Arcus's blue eyes were the manifestation of his job's passive ability: [Sagittarius Eye].
The darkness of the swamp was unveiled like a scene in the middle of the blazing midday sun. Every scale, every drop of venomous saliva dripping from the jaws of those monsters was clearly visible.
He immediately recognized them. [Swamp Lizards].
Giant lizard monsters that in the game were Level 20. And now, he was surrounded by hundreds of them.
Instead of feeling daunted, the smile on Arcus's face only grew wider, showing his teeth. He felt the universe was greeting him with a red carpet welcome like the main character in an epic novel.
"O gods who sit on thrones high above," Arcus proclaimed loudly, slicking his blonde hair back. "Witness the raising of the curtain on the legend's tale... Arcus the Sagittarius!"
The monsters seemingly felt insulted by being ignored. With a hoarse roar that vibrated the mud, hundreds of [Swamp Lizards] charged simultaneously.
Their webbed feet tore through the wet earth, advancing fiercely like a tidal wave ready to tear the arrogant man apart.
Arcus smirked cynically. His right hand moved like lightning to his back, drawing the Sirius Piercer bow.
[Tier C - Light Arrow]
A single pull of the string. An arrow of pure light materialized. The string was released. The streak of light cleaved the night air and struck right between the eyes of the foremost [Swamp Lizard]. The monster's head exploded in a spray of blood.
Arcus felt an incredible sensation. There was no interface guiding his hand. It all felt like muscle reflex.
He drew his bowstring again. This time, relentlessly.
[Tier C - Light Arrow]
[Tier C - Light Arrow]
[Tier C - Light Arrow]
[Tier C - Light Arrow]
Golden light flickered like a machine gun. Four giant lizards fell in succession with gaping holes in their skulls.
Arcus's eyes widened with pure joy. He realized one crucial thing. His shots were far faster than when he was in the game.
He twisted his body, evading a splash of venomous mud. His fingers wove mana.
[Tier C - Piercing Ray]
A straight beam shot out, piercing the thick carapaces of five [Swamp Lizards] lined up before him all at once.
[Tier C - Piercing Ray]
[Tier C - Piercing Ray]
[Tier C - Piercing Ray]
Rays of death swept the area around him repeatedly. Lizard carcasses lay scattered with burn holes through their bodies.
Arcus laughed freely amidst the carnage. "Of course it's faster! Ridiculous limits like Skill Cooldown are dead! My own body is the limit now!"
Even though Arcus had slaughtered dozens of monsters with ease, this swamp housed far too many of them. The second wave of [Swamp Lizards] surged forward, trampling the carcasses of their own comrades, closing the distance until the stench of their foul breath was clearly smelled.
"Time to take a more artistic point of view."
[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 high in the night sky, he looked down. His [Sagittarius Eye] stretched his field of vision to the horizon. He could see every ripple of water, every tiny insect resting on the tip of a leaf miles away.
Arcus laughed in delight again. "Hahaha! The seal on my eyes has been released! The render distance from that damn graphics engine is gone! Alphonse the three-eyed freak will no longer be able to mock my eyesight!"
He drew his bow wide. It was time for a colossal performance.
[Tier A - Clone]
[Tier B - Decoy Shoot]
On his left side, a light projection solidified, 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 shining moon.
"O gods, witness the tears of heaven welcoming my arrival... Rain of the Fallen Star!"
[Tier C - Multi Shoot]
[Tier C - Multi Shoot]
[Tier C - Multi Shoot]
Together with his clone, Arcus unleashed shots into the sky. Hundreds of light arrows shot upward, leaving faint after-images that suddenly solidified into barrages of real magical arrows.
A rain of deadly light fell from the night sky.
THWACK!
THWACK!
THWACK! THWACK!
The sound of tearing flesh and screams of despair echoed. The swamp turned into a field of carnage.
Hundreds of arrows bombarded the muddy land, pinning the bodies of the [Swamp Lizards] to the earth. Arcus laughed uproariously from above, intoxicated by the power and freedom flowing in his veins.
After several brutal seconds, the rain of light ceased. The clone projection beside Arcus faded into dust particles.
As Arcus slowly lowered his bow, a sensation spread from his shoulder down to the tips of his right arm. His muscles felt sore and throbbed with fatigue from dozens of consecutive bowstring pulls at an unnatural speed.
His breathing was slightly heavier than usual. The arrogant smile on his face subsided a bit as his mind processed this important fact. The absence of cooldowns did not mean he was free from limitations. In this world, those system limits did not vanish; rather, they were now borne entirely by his own muscles and stamina.
However, when Arcus looked down, the satisfying sight that lay before him made the soreness feel incredibly worthwhile. Hundreds of giant lizard corpses lay lifeless upon the swamp ground.
Yet, his sharp eyes caught movement. At the 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 and a body twice the size of the others.
The [Swamp Lizard] King.
The beast that should have been the tyrant of this territory was now fleeing frantically, dragging its tail in panic away from the blonde demon in the sky.
"A grand prologue requires a perfect closing sentence," Arcus said with a haughty smile.
He flew higher, piercing the clouds. He drew the string of the Sirius Piercer bow until it curved. Immensely dense mana energy gathered at his fingertips.
[Tier S - Nova Blast]
A sphere of light formed in the center of his bowstring. The light was so bright and blinding that it swept away all the darkness of the night.
For several seconds, the swamp land below was bathed in light as if it were midday.
Arcus released his fingers.
The sphere of light shot out, cleaving the air. Its speed far surpassed the capability of an ordinary eye to follow its movement. The shot landed squarely in the middle of the back of the [Swamp Lizard] King, who was looking back in terror.
ZRAAAASSH!
BOOOOOOOOOM!
An explosion of light erupted violently. A wild shockwave swept away everything. The hot air slapped Arcus's face in the sky, forcing him to cross his arms to protect his eyes from dust and boiling steam.
The explosion evaporated the swamp water instantly. The [Swamp Lizard] carcasses were scorched to ash.
As the light faded, Arcus slowly descended back to the ground. His dress shoes now stepped upon a swamp land that was no longer muddy.
The incredibly massive temperature of the explosion had melted the mud, turning a radius of hundreds of meters of the swamp land into a smoking glass mirror.
Arcus puffed out his chest.
"With this, the darkness has been purified. This land of glass shall be a silent witness to the first steps of the conquer—"
His sentence was cut off.
A chill swept the back of his neck. His sixth sense, honed on the battlefield, detected something. A spatial fluctuation. Its energy was stable, yet felt threatening, appearing not far behind his back.
The arrogant laughter and the smile on Arcus's face vanished instantly.
His face hardened; his gaze shifted into that of a vigilant predator.
In one smooth, silent motion, Arcus spun his body one hundred and eighty degrees. He lowered his stance, drew the string of the Sirius Piercer taut, and aimed the tip of a lethal light arrow right at the flash of light materializing before him.