---Third POV---
"Oh? There's a new mission?"
ProGar_Daddy opened the ga panel and read out the newly added green-colored mission title.
"Tid Mission: Newbie Guidance? Looks like we're supposed to help out the new players!"
NeverShowOff saw it too and nodded as he read through the description.
"This ga really puts effort into onboarding new players—advanced plot hints and even guidance missions!"
"Probably because the two NPCs wouldn't be able to handle it all by themselves? But yeah, the guidance system is a bit flawed," ProGar_Daddy speculated as he looked at the task panel.
After all, unlike handheld gas, this ga couldn't just set up a new player guidance cara directly on the screen.
The high degree of freedom ca with its own issues. Many gaplay chanics required players to figure things out on their own.
He scratched his head. "Sounds like a hassle. Should we take it or not?"
"Of course, we should! We're recruiting new teammates anyway. The mission only lasts a day. We'll just take them along with us while completing our tasks. Perfect chance to assess their abilities."
This ga was seriously hardcore.
If possible, NeverShowOff hoped their new teammates would have plenty of ti to be online, so grit, and preferably a specialized skill.
You never knew when it might co in handy!
Looking at the clock, there was less than an hour until the new players logged in.
Feeling a sense of urgency, NeverShowOff agreed to et ProGar_Daddy at the chapel and rushed off to Edgar to collect the mission items.
---
The morning sun rose over Marseille at eight o'clock when, after a nerve-wracking wait, the server launch finally arrived.
Yannik felt a dizzying sensation in his head as the world before him plunged into darkness.
A weird, nasty sll hit him, like wet dirt mixed with that tallic tang of blood.
His eyes wouldn't cooperate as he tried to open them. Everything felt off, like his body wasn't really his anymore.
However, as his eyes fully adjusted, that sensation rapidly faded.
Yannik stared blankly at the ornate church ceiling for a long while before he finally found his voice.
"Holy crap?"
He had actually logged into the ga?!
The light, the ceiling, the textures!
He patted the hard ground beneath him, his movents stiff and chanical like rusty gears.
"He wasn't lying!"
Chronicles of Aeltia had really created a fully imrsive VR ga!
He was about to hit the jackpot!
"Ahhh! Monster!" A shrill scream startled him.
Yannik turned his head to see two towering figures, at least three ters tall, clutching each other in terror as they stared at him.
His eyes lit up with excitent.
Wow! Such lifelike NPCs! Their expressions, movents, even the texture of their clothing—it all looks so real!
Chronicles of Aeltia, you're incredible!!!
Yannik was just about to reach out and touch one of the NPCs to test the ga's sensory feedback system.
But the two giants suddenly sprang into action.
"Quick, quick, the monster's about to attack!"
"Let ti its attack animation and cancel it!"
Those very player-esque lines finally made Yannik realize they weren't NPCs.
He frantically raised his hands and bolted. "Wait! Putain, stop attacking!! I'm a player!"
"You're a player? Then I'm the faction leader! Don't think I don't know—players can only belong to the human faction!"
"Hey! You're accusing of being a monster just because I'm short! That's unfair!"
"Pfft! You're just a 4-foot goblin trying to lie?"
Yannik had a sudden flash of realization and looked around.
He spotted a few more "giants" lying unconscious nearby.
Looking down at his own rough, bark-like hands and overly exaggerated limbs, he finally realized what was wrong.
It wasn't that others were too tall—he was too short!
Yannik's face twisted. This was bad. He might not be human!
Frantically, he yelled, "Wait! I don't know what's going on either!"
"Right, check your ga panels! I should have an ID displayed!"
The two players chasing him paused.
According to posts by veteran players on the forums,
It was true—friendly faction players and NPCs had their IDs displayed on the ga panel.
One player stopped the other.
"Hold on, these monsters supposedly aren't that smart. Maybe we made a mistake."
"Huh? This thing could really be a player? Fine, let try summoning the ga panel. Just think about it, right?"
"I did it!"
Through the translucent ga panel, the na above Yannik's head beca visible: [LootGoblin].
The expressions of the two newbie players instantly turned awkward.
They helped Yannik up, their faces full of guilt.
"Sorry, man. I've never seen anything like you here, so I overreacted."
Yannik waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine as long as we've cleared things up."
He was now very curious about what he looked like. As for the initial hostility, wasn't the human faction supposed to consist of… well, humans?
At that mont, a shocked voice echoed from behind.
"Holy crap! There's a monster in the chapel?!"
Yannik turned to see a short-haired, blue-eyed boy with glowing white fingertips staring at him in alarm.
In a flash of inspiration, Yannik guessed his identity. "Gar, Daddy is here, co give a hug!"
The bumps from when the two players had smacked him earlier were still there, but he couldn't feel the pain anymore.
His heart filled with gratitude, and his eyes welled up with tears.
"Is this Holy Light magic? You're so thoughtful—healing daddy's injuries the mont you arrive!"
ProGar_Daddy looked at the pale-skinned goblin, who had gone from sluggish to glowing with vitality.
He silently vowed never to use Holy Light on a monster again.
He took a step back in disgust.
"Wait, who are you? Since when can monsters talk?"
"? LootGoblin!"
"LootGoblin?!"
ProGar_Daddy opened the ga panel in disbelief and stared at the na above Yannik's head.
"What happened to you?!"
---
At the prayer room behind the chapel, Viktor led Alyanne out of the church.
Judging by the voices inside, the players had logged in.
It was ti for him to go in and trigger the opening cutscene.
Since it was Alyanne's first ti encountering players, he gave her another reminder.
"No matter what you see, don't react. If you co across anything incomprehensible, just pretend you didn't notice."
Alyanne nodded nervously.
She couldn't understand why she should act blind when she wasn't, But this was the renowned necromancer, after all!
She decided to follow his instructions without question.
After several days of recovery, she could already sense fragnted mories of the Ice Dragon's inheritance.
Even her dragonborn heritage was now visible to the naked eye.
Clearly, he knew what he was doing.
Still, she couldn't help but feel pessimistic, constantly worrying she'd ss things up.
She didn't want to lose her chance to leave in fifty years.
"Without magic, can I really handle this?"
It was said that every mber of The Watchers had once been a legendary figure.
Yet she was just an ordinary mid-tier mage with diocre talent.
She looked at her maid right hand, her eyes filled with deep unease.
Although the power of the dragon's bloodline was strong, she was rely a dragonborn with an extrely diluted heritage.
To truly unleash the power of a dragon, she didn't know how long she would have to wait. But for now, her crippled right hand was more noticeable than her dragon bloodline.
A regular person missing the palm of her right hand—what was more, a woman.
In the Ironblood rcenary Corps, such people were almost always left to the wastelands or relegated to the allure-filled streets.
"Well..."
Viktor hesitated for a mont, then led her around to the front of the church.
"They're a special type of talent among The Watchers. Anyway, you won't understand their language. Just assign tasks to them based on the phrases I gave you."
Alyanne obediently nodded.
Viktor placed his hand on the grand doors, glancing at her stiff, anxious expression. He found it sowhat amusing.
"Relax, they're not so kind of demons or monsters."
After all, she was supposed to beco one of his flagship allies for onboarding new players!
Players were the type to seize every opportunity. If they noticed her tension, she would be endlessly pestered.
Viktor sighed inwardly. As soone who'd be his loyal worker for the next fifty years, he ought to take her feelings into account.
He thought for a mont and added, "Hmm... If you're really nervous, just think about the guy who brought you to the Great Oak Forest. If you can't even handle eting a bunch of misfits, aren't you proving him right, that you're just the fool he said you were?"
Alyanne's eyes sharpened instantly. Her voice was filled with venom, as if she were biting into the na.
"Karl!"
Every ti her right hand throbbed with phantom pain, it dragged her back to that day in the forest.
His condescending posture, his scornful tone!
One day, she would get her revenge!
Viktor nodded with satisfaction. "Good. Keep that energy. Let's go in."
Creaaaaak—
The rusted doors of the church opened slowly, revealing the chaos inside.
Players of every kind filled the room.
One was attempting to climb the walls.
Another was prying at the magical symbols etched into the ground.
One particularly bold individual had stripped off all their clothes.
Luminaris had even perched himself atop a statue, pretending to be part of the sculpture.
"..."
By the Frostmoon Goddess! Alyanne's eyes were going blind.
Viktor could almost feel the searing, judgntal gaze burning into his back from her.
He felt like his dignity was being shredded.
So, he took a deep breath and summoned the GM panel.
A series of pop-up windows materialized in front of the streaking player.
[Warning: Due to your inappropriate actions, SAN value decreased by 1!]
[Warning: Due to your inappropriate actions, SAN value decreased by 1!]
[Warning: Due to your inappropriate actions, SAN value decreased by 1!]
The streaker stared at the unclosable windows in shock.
"What the hell is a SAN value? Does this ga actually have Lovecraftian elents?"
Finally, NeverShowOff, unable to bear the chaos, shouted at the players.
"Put your clothes back on! If your SAN value hits zero, your account will be banned!"
"What?!"
The streaker quickly scrambled to dress as his SAN value plumted toward 70.
While grumbling, he muttered, "What kind of rule is this? If you didn't blur it, wasn't it ant to be seen? Damn devs setting traps!"
"..."
If only he could summon a divine beam of holy light right now. This player would be his first experint subject.
Just then, another player crept over to Viktor, his tone full of curiosity.
"Whoa! NPCs can get mad? The micro-expressions in this ga are insane!"
"If we ss around, will they hit us?" another player mused aloud.
"I'll test it out!"
A wall-climbing player sneakily circled around behind Viktor and Alyanne, shouting loudly, "Ha! Sneak attack!"
Alyanne spun around, her pupils narrowing.
Her instincts scread at her to dodge, but she rembered Viktor's instructions.
When facing players, she absolutely couldn't show weakness.
If Viktor didn't react, neither could she.
Alyanne shut her eyes tightly, forcibly suppressing her reflexes.
Bang!
The player smacked into an invisible barrier, sliding down like a cartoon character.
Viktor scoffed inwardly.
He'd installed a protective barrier after the first batch of players entered, precisely to prevent these antics from disrupting the plot.
Who knew NeverShowOff's group was so well-behaved that the barrier wasn't needed until the second wave?
The other players froze for a mont, then erupted into excited chatter.
"Whoa, an invisible wall! I knew there was magic in this world!"
"No duh, this is a ga, not real life. How did you forget so fast?"
"Aweso!"
"I want to learn this spell!"
The players, who had been scattered across the cathedral, now crowded around Viktor.
They pressed their faces against the barrier, staring at Viktor and Alyanne with squished, distorted expressions.
Ignoring their antics, Viktor led a still-awkward Alyanne through the pre-written opening dialogue.
"Welco, returnees."
"As you can see, my mission has failed. The conflict between the gods and Aeltia could not be resolved. Six hundred years ago, the gods waged their final war and perished entirely."
"Aeltia, as foretold, has marched steadily toward destruction…"
Viktor recited his lines quickly, dragging down Luminaris, who was pretending to be a statue, for introductions.
He then introduced the newly arrived Alyanne, highlighting her importance.
With that done, he prepared to slip away.
The next tasks were already set to be handled by veteran players guiding the newcors.
He had more pressing matters to deal with—like improving the SAN system. A re deduction wasn't enough to scare these unruly players into behaving.
He wasn't going to tolerate another opening sequence where he was forced to witness streaking players.
He needed a better solution.
Sothing that didn't require zeroing out their SAN value but would still compel them to respect boundaries.
However, as he made his excuses to leave, ProGar_Daddy stopped him.
"Wait, Lord Viktor! I've got a friend—uh, I an, a fellow returnee. There's sothing wrong with his body!"
Before Viktor could respond, he pushed forward another player, whose na hovered above him as LootGoblin.
Viktor's eyes widened. "A dwarf?"
A player had reincarnated as a dwarf?
That shouldn't have been possible. The Flesh Rebirth Array didn't have the capacity to include dwarves...
"A dwarf? So he's not so kind of monster?" ProGar_Daddy slapped his chest in exaggerated relief.
"Whew, I thought I'd have to make the painful decision to execute him for the greater good!"
LootGoblin gritted his teeth. "Shut up! Don't think I didn't hear you planning how to divide up the first-kill rewards for slaying !"
Despite the banter, he visibly relaxed when Viktor didn't seem hostile.
It looked like his unusual race wouldn't be a problem.
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