Ch.319[Chapter 319] The Value of 4 Stars

Sir Dominic’s party visited the Story Mode lobby with Captain Elang.

As Sir Dominic stepped into Story Mode, a system window appeared before his eyes.

[Since you’ve joined a clan, Story Mode has been reorganized.]

[HARD mode for areas 1-4 has been unlocked! Hard mode has limited attempts but offers higher rewards than regular Story Mode.]

[The Hidden World Story opens for the chosen ones. To play the Hidden World Story, you need at least one Field Support Strike Team Commander and one squad.]

[When an event story ends, you can check the story in the permanent events afterward. In permanent events, you collect slightly fewer resources.]

Patches in Gachaland never ended with just one change.

It was truly a world-changing, life-altering experience.

Sometimes there were minor patches, but in Gachaland, patches typically brought tremendous changes.

Story Mode was no exception.

Story Mode had undergone some reorganization, resulting in many new features.

While Sir Dominic showed interest in these changes, unfortunately, he had things to do.

“This way. Elang? Let’s hurry. We need to register our squad first.”

“Ah, yes!”

Captain Elang grouped Sir Dominic, Sir Dominica, Park Chunbae, and Malley into one squad.

Though it was a temporary squad that would disappear once new cards were drawn, Captain Elang was overcome with emotion.

After 1113 attempts, he had finally formed a proper squad.

“I’m so moved…”

“Hey, save the emotion for later and let’s hurry. When does the card pack exchange open?”

“Just a moment… Ah. According to this, we need to clear 1-3.”

“Up to 1-3, huh. That’s plenty doable.”

Park Chunbae enthusiastically swung his arms around.

He swung them so forcefully that the cowboy hat he wore almost flew off from the air pressure.

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica sighed as they watched Park Chunbae.

“Too much enthusiasm can be problematic.”

“I wonder if they’ll even need us for the prologue story.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica tilted their heads, considering the difficulty level of area 1.

Given the difficulty of area 1, it seemed like anyone could clear the prologue.

“Wait, just a moment! A help guide suddenly appeared… Please wait a bit!”

“Oh, sure, take your time.”

Captain Elang was frantically skimming through the help guide that had to be read before entering the Hidden World, sweating profusely.

Finally, having gone through all the help guides, he called everyone in a small voice.

“I’m done! Gather around and we’ll depart right away!”

Everyone gathered around Captain Elang at his words.

Cuirassier, modern cavalryman, cowboy, and outlaw.

These four seemingly mismatched yet somehow fitting people were transported to a new world with a single gesture from Captain Elang.

…

paenituit Dominum quod hominem fecisset in terra. Et tactus dolore cordis intrinsecus

The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.

Genesis 6:6.

…

“Ugh, my goodness. What on earth happened?”

Surprisingly, Sir Dominic had briefly lost consciousness during the transition.

While moving to the prologue, something massive had struck Sir Dominic.

Sir Dominic vaguely remembered seeing mechanical parts attached to that something.

Perhaps those were the reason the androids had malfunctioned.

As soon as he got up, Sir Dominic looked around.

True to its name, the Hidden World wasn’t much different from Gachaland, but if he had to point out a few differences…

“Good heavens. The world is burning.”

The entire world was on fire.

Purple lightning scattered in all directions from the clouds in the sky, and each time lightning split the sky, the sound of dimensions tearing apart echoed loudly.

Sir Dominic looked around a bit more.

The surrounding buildings weren’t much different from those in Gachaland, but none were in normal condition.

They were either collapsed, shattered, pulverized, or charred black.

The Hidden World was such a terrible place that it seemed like the perfect representation of the end of the world.

Sir Dominic raised his sword and shield in preparation for possible attacks.

“Be careful. This looks extremely ominous-“

Sir Dominic habitually warned those who might be nearby, but suddenly realized he was alone.

It seemed that when they collided with that massive something, everyone including the commander and Sir Dominic had been scattered.

“…I should look around for Sir Dominica and the commander first.”

With that thought, Sir Dominic left his position.

The reason he didn’t particularly think about Park Chunbae and Malley was that he didn’t believe they could have survived such a tremendous impact.

As Sir Dominic walked around, he realized this place was like an island floating between swirling dimensions.

It was floating in the sky as if a part of Gachaland had been copied and torn away.

Sir Dominic watched a pebble from the edge of a steep cliff disappear into the dimensional gap.

Being horribly shredded in the process.

“This Hidden World… is interesting.”

Sir Dominic began to feel happy for the first time in a while.

If he had been tired from the continuous succession of incidents until now, this new situation was fresh, novel, and sparked his interest.

Things he found interesting never tired him, no matter how much he did them.

Sir Dominic gradually expanded his search range, his expression still showing a slight grin.

After walking continuously thanks to his overwhelming stamina, Sir Dominic was able to find the first person.

It was Sir Dominica.

“Sir Dominica!”

“It’s Sir Dominic. I’ve been looking for you for a while.”

Sir Dominica had been moving cautiously but dropped his guard as soon as he met Sir Dominic.

Seeing a familiar face had slightly eased his tension.

“Are you alright?”

Sir Dominic checked Sir Dominica’s condition.

Sir Dominic and his party basically had an 11.25%… no, now a 13.5% damage reduction effect, so there was no need to worry, but since the squad had disbanded, it was uncertain whether the buff had been properly maintained.

“Well, fortunately, the damage reduction effect worked properly. Thanks to you. Thank you.”

Sir Dominica expressed his gratitude to Sir Dominic.

“Don’t mention it.”

Sir Dominic politely responded to Sir Dominica’s words.

Thus, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica joined forces and began searching this building island again.

While conversing with each other.

“Have you seen anyone else?”

“I did see someone. I think it was Malley.”

“What do you mean ‘think’?”

“The impact made it impossible to recognize the form.”

“…As expected.”

Sir Dominic nodded.

Even pure tanks like Sir Dominic had fainted from the impact, so it would have been too much for a fragile dealer to endure.

“Fortunately, we haven’t found the bodies of Captain Elang and Park Chunbae yet, so there’s a high chance they’re still alive.”

“I hope so… Hmm?”

Sir Dominic was about to agree with Sir Dominica when he suddenly noticed something out of place among the building debris.

Sir Dominic hurriedly climbed onto the building debris to check what it was, and it turned out to be a human arm.

The arm was twitching as if trying to signal that it was still alive, and as soon as Sir Dominic saw it, he began clearing away the building debris as if entranced.

And beneath the building debris, he discovered someone who had collapsed unconscious.

“…Captain Elang.”

It was Captain Elang, the Field Support Strike Team Commander.

“What? Is it Captain Elang?”

“Yes. Let’s clear the remaining debris!”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica cleared the remaining debris and pulled Captain Elang out.

Fortunately, Captain Elang only showed minor scratches and bruises, with no major visible injuries.

However, just because someone looks fine on the outside doesn’t guarantee they’re fine on the inside.

Sir Dominic thought he should wake Captain Elang first.

“Captain Elang! Wake up! Sir Dominica? There should be a potion in my inventory. Please take it out!”

“Got it!”

Sir Dominic opened his inventory.

Sir Dominica reached into the inventory, rummaged around, and soon pulled out a small potion.

This potion was something Sir Dominic had received from a seemingly unkind yet kind citizen when he first came to Gachaland.

Sir Dominic took the potion that Sir Dominica had retrieved and poured it into Captain Elang’s mouth.

Half of the potion flowed down his throat, but the other half spilled out of his mouth.

Nevertheless, the potion was effective; Captain Elang’s eyelids began to twitch.

Seeing signs of Captain Elang regaining consciousness, Sir Dominic continued calling him, trying to wake him up.

“Captain Elang! Captain Elang!”

Captain Elang seemed to truly hear Sir Dominic’s voice, as he began responding more and more to Sir Dominic’s calls.

And after a few more calls, Captain Elang was able to open his eyes.

“General… Dominic…?”

Of course, opening his eyes didn’t mean he had fully regained consciousness.

Looking at Captain Elang now made that clear.

Captain Elang seemed to still be in shock, as he was spouting nonsense.

“General… where is this…?”

“Don’t you remember? This is the Hidden World.”

“Hidden World… I see…”

But perhaps it wasn’t nonsense after all.

Perhaps he really had suffered mental damage.

“General… I have one more question…”

“What is it?”

A very serious mental issue.

“Who… am I…?”

At Captain Elang’s words, Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s faces froze.

It seemed that Captain Elang had lost his memory.