Ch.11 – Daily Quest

Hah… what am I even doing here?

As I open my eyes, the same tiresome scenery fills my vision.

The weather is always slightly overcast, wind from the northwest, and the sun just now shyly revealing itself from the horizon.

Merchants who’ve set up shop since dawn are calling out to potential customers without discrimination.

A rusty dagger, and next to it, a well-polished longsword basking in the warm sunlight.

Travelers purchase weapons that fit their bodies and potions with various scents before heading to the battlefield.

The merchants who’ve made a hefty profit after a long time have smiles stretching from ear to ear.

In contrast, there’s one unique merchant meditating in the corner, making no attempt to attract customers.

I could only approach the cute fox-eared merchant after everyone else had left.

“I’ll take this one.”

“Hmm? Don’t misunderstand, I wasn’t sleeping at all! Hmm? Are you sure about this item?”

The fox girl hastily wiped the drool flowing down to her chin before handing me the shoes I was pointing at.

She quickly dusted off the boots, brushing away any mud that might have been on them.

I place 5 silver coins into her fluffy hands.

“Fill the rest with potions.”

Since she only deals in low-grade health potions, she unhesitatingly added 4 purple flasks to the bag.

Of course, she wouldn’t have miscounted, but I habitually check the number of potions in the bag.

While I put on the smelly boots, the fox-kin was making strange “hoeeee” sounds as she held up the silver coins, examining them from different angles.

Now the fox girl will probably ask if our transaction is complete.

“Traveler! Do you need any@#!& ##!%&%@&?”

But contrary to my expectation, an unpleasant noise assaults my eardrums.

When I turn around, the cause is right in front of me.

[■■■■■■■■: ■(nim)]

[■■■■■■■■: ■■■■ ■■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■ ■■■■■ ■ ■ ■■■(NoName, the game started, can you watch for enemies coming here)]

What are you saying?

Get lost.

I thought you left earlier, why are you here again?

After I kept ignoring him, this stubby spiky turtle started getting angry.

[■■■■■■■■: ■■ ■ ■■■■■ ■ ■■ ■■?(What are you doing when the game has started?)]

The spiky turtle in front of me is also a player I’ll be gaming with for the next 30 minutes.

However, all his voice and dialogue are censored and don’t reach me.

So no matter how angry you get, I can’t understand a word you’re saying.

He seemed to keep saying something after that, but I ignored him and proceeded with my title farming secret quest.

[Normal – Collect 10 Mysterious Murals (0/10)]

[Legendary – Collect 30 Mysterious Murals (0/30)]

[Mythic – Collect 50 Mysterious Murals (0/50)]

I’m lucky today. All three quests are non-combat missions involving mural collection.

Plus, the 50 mural collection mission has a much easier difficulty compared to other 3-star quest missions.

In summary, it’s a relaxing game.

I really don’t understand why they introduced such secret quests in a 5v5 combat game…

If there’s any consolation, it’s that these secret quests can only be checked after the game ends.

If everyone could see the quests from the start like me, the world would be full of abusers and trollers.

Then hot-headed friends like that guy would get frustrated and leave the game.

[■■■■■■■■: ■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■ ■■ ■■■(These damn trollers are all f***ing dead)]

Man, he’s persistent.

Acting like he’ll follow me forever.

But after the game time passed one minute, the turtle huffed and stomped off into the forest.

Looking at our team composition overall, it wouldn’t have been great even if I had joined properly.

To make matters worse, since I’ll be practically non-existent, the game will head toward its end even faster.

I felt like this mission might have a pretty strict time attack. I wasted time having a staring contest with the turtle.

In a hurry, I quickly headed down a side path opposite to the turtle.

The 50 murals in the battlefield are said to appear randomly, but in reality, they’re generated at 256 designated points according to certain rules.

So as long as it’s not completely random, I can check 10 predetermined points first to figure out where all the murals are located in this battlefield.

The most important spot is the third central fortress. If there’s no mural there, there’s a high chance murals will be in the enemy territory.

If the team is pushed back weakly, it means the 3-star mission is a lost cause.

Click.

Fortunately, it was there.

With this, I could easily collect 40 murals just by planning a route that cuts almost straight from the western forest to the southern forest. I’m having good luck today.

[■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■■(The first fortress has been destroyed.)]

Just as I had that hopeful thought, a system warning message echoed across the battlefield.

I don’t know the details, but it roughly meant our team was being overwhelmingly defeated.

As I moved efficiently through the forest, I happened to run into that turtle more frequently. I waved my hand at him so as not to seem too cold by ignoring him and passing by without greeting.

[■■■■■■■■: ■■■(Get lost)]

I still couldn’t understand what he was saying, but he was glaring at me with an extremely hostile expression.

I didn’t know turtles could make such a grimace.

Click.

[Normal – Collect 10 Mysterious Murals (10/10) => Completed]

[Legendary – Collect 30 Mysterious Murals (30/30) => Completed]

[Mythic – Collect 50 Mysterious Murals (50/50) => Completed]

The game time is heading toward the 25-minute mark.

Surprisingly, the turtle friend must be fighting hard as his kill score shows 12/3/5.

Meanwhile, mine is 0/0/4.

Recently, the criteria for troller sanctions have become stricter. Even if you engage with opponents early on, if you don’t contribute a certain level to team fights in the mid to late game, you might be labeled a troller by the AI.

I guess they introduced this to prevent junglers who only farm monsters after getting upset, or laners who constantly push the opposite fortress.

But doesn’t that mean they’ll turn a blind eye as long as you participate in team fights?

Of course, the criteria for troller sanctions aren’t just about team fights, but the increased emphasis on it actually worked in my favor.

I just need to roughly do my quests and join in when it looks like there might be a fight, just lending a hand.

If I felt the game was dragging on too long, I was willing to help, but despite the turtle friend’s efforts, the game flowed one-sidedly.

Our team, respawning together in the Starting Village, glared at me briefly before rushing out, panting, to defend the final citadel once more.

Of course, there was no miracle.

[■■(Defeat)]

The citadel fell, and armored knights lined up. I could see the fox-kin who had handed me the boots earlier being helplessly bound and dragged away.

“Did you really do your best…?”

The most resistance she could muster was to well up with tears.

Even though it’s a game, I couldn’t hide my truly sorry feelings.

But a game is a game. Now it’s time for reality.

I was automatically warped to the waiting room, which statistically shows everything that happened in the battlefield.

When people get to the waiting room, most show a common trait: they become angrier.

As soon as I warped here, four people presumed to be my teammates rushed toward me.

[■■■■■■■: ■■ ■■■ ■■■? ■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■?]

[■■■■■: ■ ■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■]

Since it’s virtual reality and they know they can’t make physical contact with me, they’re probably resorting to verbal means, but I’m invincible there too.

It’s truly regrettable that I can’t let them know this.

Since the game statistics are useless anyway, I just confirmed that my title was properly awarded and then left the waiting room.

[Private Room]

As the name suggests, it was my own private room.

A small 3-pyeong space with just one bed, one table, and one chair.

Despite the room being so cramped, it looked relatively comfortable due to the lack of various odds and ends. Especially the plain white wallpaper with no patterns.

“I think I’m really going to go crazy.”

Maybe I already have.

But I don’t have time for this.

I need to hurry and sell the title I just earned, then immediately join the next game.

Riot Games didn’t support any auction content, aka “rice-eating,” where users could buy and sell from each other in this game.

But there are always people who do exactly what they’re told not to do.

The only connection I have to the outside world is this illegal title trading market supported by this Chinese virtual reality capsule.

A mysterious genius hacker set up a server to buy and sell title data, and since it doesn’t greatly affect the in-game itself and is quite difficult to catch, the company seems to just let it be.

[Legendary: Do you want to sell the Indiana Jones title?]

{Accept/Decline}

The market price is about 3,000 won, and if someone buys it at a high price, I’ve sold it for up to 5,000 won, so it’s not bad.

I’ve almost earned today’s electricity bill, and now I just need to earn money for food.

Daily electricity expenditure is around 4,000 won, mana tax about 30,000 won, and food cost is fixed at 30,000 won per day.

If I can earn about 3,000 won per game on average, I need to play at least 20 more games, or 23 if I’m unlucky.

The thought of playing more games makes me dizzy.

I’ve only played one game, why am I like this?

I barely lay my body on the not-so-soft bed.

If someone asks why it costs 30,000 won when I don’t have money to eat, I can proudly say:

Mana potions.

Something I learned after coming to this world is that humans can survive just fine by consuming only refined, processed mana as food.

For someone like me who lived in a world where mana didn’t exist at all, or where mana existed but scientific knowledge was non-existent, it was just fascinating…

So, as part of paid products, the capsule provides mana potions for people who stay in virtual reality all day. It’s just that the price is disgustingly expensive compared to what’s sold in the market.

When was the last time I ate real food?

‘I want chicken.’

As my body gets languid, various random thoughts cross my mind.

For example, pointless thoughts like what the daily quests and grinding have in common.

It’s been so long since I did manual labor that my memory is hazy, but I still remember the feeling from back then.

The feeling that if I don’t work today, I’ll starve to death tomorrow.

Funnily enough, that’s exactly what these daily quests are like.

Is my situation better?

“What do you think, Mom?”

I tightly held the hand of the woman sleeping next to me.

If someone saw a mother and daughter squeezed together on such a narrow bed, they’d surely find it ridiculous.

But what’s most ridiculous is that the warm sensation and soft touch transmitted through the hand, all these sensations, are fake.

“Would you have wanted me to live like this?”

There’s no answer.

Not just no answer, but no sound at all.

Is even a tiny breath a luxury in this desolate room?

Even as a virtual reality avatar, one breathes reflecting the real body.

However, her diaphragm still seems not to know how to rise.

“I really think I’m going to go crazy.”

In this life, my mother probably passed away 5 years ago, no, 6 years, anyway, sometime in between.

And I, in a bizarre cohabitation with a corpse, have been trapped in this capsule for 7 years since birth.