Ch.6056 – Adela

# Magi.

In World of Arsheria, it had a slightly different meaning than in past lives.

Here, magi was the driving force behind magical beasts and demon races.

It wasn’t entirely wrong to say magical beasts were born from magi, but considering how vulnerable demon races actually were to magi, it was quite ironic.

In the prologue, defeating the Hydra quest determines the game’s “Magi Difficulty” setting.

The higher the magi, the more ferocious the magical beasts become, and dark magic grows more brutal.

However, clearing the game on high magi difficulty grants bonus attack power or spell power later on.

Next is Exploration.

The Incomprehensible Labyrinth only took an hour to clear when I went through it with Lora, making it surprisingly short.

From the Hydra to the labyrinth, I thought the game’s overall difficulty was easy, but it turns out these weren’t even official content.

Similar to magi, higher exploration difficulty lowers field item and weapon drop rates.

It gives health bonuses to the final character.

Last is Infamy.

This could be earned by completely dominating the Knight Commander during the confrontation in the capital.

Higher infamy restricts which NPCs you can ally with and makes opponents stronger in PvP combat.

The infamy sub-option provides growth bonuses to a character’s ki or mana capacity later on.

Each option makes your character more powerful, but the cost isn’t trivial.

And most importantly…

[PressCamera6TimesWhenJumping donated 10,000 won!]

– Nightmare sub-options 10/10/10 LMAOOOOO

The fact that I had entered the Nightmare branch.

[I’ll enroll through the official procedure. / We don’t have much time.]

[▶We don’t have much time.]

‘Was my past choice really a branching point?’

A bar under the jurisdiction of the 15th District Abyss branch.

Only after drawing all the curtains and thoroughly establishing mana barriers did the branch director explain the academy infiltration operation to us.

I pause the story progression for a moment to check the chat.

“What’s different about Nightmare difficulty?”

This was information I absolutely needed to know while playing the game.

– In Nightmare, you absolutely cannot die

– Basically a no-death clear is mandatory

“So if you die, it’s game over… that’s what it means.”

– No no

– It’s not game over, but you go back to the beginning of each main story section. Part 1’s checkpoint is exactly where you are now

– And all the enemies become insanely strong

– Clearing becomes almost impossible

– The mobs and bosses also have subtly different patterns?

– Right, except for perfect clears, pattern strategies don’t work so the difficulty really spikes

– So if you die, just delete your account and go back to the save point at the branch director quest in the prologue

– Don’t know why they made it so annoying when it resets you anyway

– For real, redoing the sub-option side quests each time makes me want to die lol. Pretty sure I’ve killed the Hydra like a hundred times

– Maybe they intended to prevent people from memorizing patterns?

– Not a chance, “AGAIN!” lolololol

[PriestOfFists donated 1,000 won!]

– In WoA, you need to constantly increase your combat power based on initial stats through weapons, accessories, circle releases, skill unlocks, etc. In Nightmare, every time you die, your stats get reduced as a penalty. So for the final boss battle where you need at least 10,000 combat power, if your stats get reduced at the beginning, you can never reach that threshold since most growth is multiplicative. Nightmare is even stricter than that.

They added that choosing Nightmare was meant to get superior combat power compared to others, but if your stats get halved, there’s no point in choosing it.

That definitely made sense.

Growth in WoA doesn’t work by adding 2000 to 1000 HP to make 3000, but by multiplying 1000 by 3 to get 3000.

So if you start with 500, multiplying by 3 only gives you 1500.

In an area requiring minimum combat power of 2000, you’d likely die.

“I understand.”

The ‘Nightmare’ difficulty was also the company’s consideration for Arena users.

It was a way to drastically shorten the story, extract only the most important elements, and minimize character development time.

It reduced the burden of seeing the same story every time you raised a new character.

However, it also attached prerequisites requiring users to have corresponding qualifications. Not something you could clear with just perseverance and pattern learning.

The number of permitted deaths was at most once or twice.

[Resuming game.]

“Alperion and Sisiella will wait at the east gate of the academy with six members.”

The old knight and the young bear-kin nodded solemnly.

“And you, NoName, I won’t assign you a difficult mission. You’re still a rookie and haven’t been with our Abyss for long. You understand, right?”

Even to me, who didn’t know the full context, the branch director’s plan seemed flawless.

“What do I need to do?”

“Go to the back gate of the academy, draw the soldiers’ attention, and then run away.”

But once again, I was given a choice.

[That’s reasonable, I accept. / Is that all the bald man’s plan amounts to?]

“…?”

What’s this now?

I found myself drawn to the option that would make me sound like a jerk.

Until I make my choice, all NPCs mysteriously pause their movements, waiting for my answer.

– Doesn’t matter what you choose lol, pick whatever

– Suddenly feeling really angry, going to get a refund

– It’s free anyway

– What even is WoA’s revenue model?

So there are choices that don’t affect the story.

That makes things complicated.

I restrained my hand from going right and reluctantly chose the left option.

“That’s reasonable, I accept.”

“I like your quick decision. You’ll go with Adella tonight. It’s a simple diversion, easy right?”

The branch director pointed to a small cat-eared girl standing alone by another pillar.

She glanced at me briefly as we exchanged looks.

“Daniel and I will go around to each team to explain the detailed plans. In the meantime, introduce yourselves.”

* * *

The building had a bar on the first floor and an inn on the second and third floors. Our meeting place could only be our individual rooms.

Since we had committed to executing the operation, no one could leave the building until nightfall.

But Adella went upstairs before the branch director finished speaking, so I missed the chance to accompany her.

Hence the quest: Find Adella’s Room.

It’s quite game-like to turn even this into a quest.

Let me try talking to someone first.

“Sir Alperion?”

“Oh, if it isn’t the famous Forest Keeper of Arsheria! Do you have business with me?”

“I’m looking for Adella’s room.”

“Ah, that one? You’ve been assigned a difficult task from the start. Unfortunately, I don’t know her room.”

The old knight gave his programmed response.

I also asked the bear-kin beside him.

“Sisiella, do you know which room is Adella’s?”

“Why would I know her room? She likes to hide in some corner, so her room is probably in some nook too.”

No one seemed to know exactly which room was hers.

Moreover, Adella didn’t seem to be treated well within the Abyss.

Still, I gathered clues from various people.

Third floor, corner, next to the stairs.

Without hesitation, I knocked on room 302.

“Come in.”

A sharp voice came from behind the door.

The room’s layout was identical to mine.

However, from the entrance, underwear and trash were scattered everywhere, making it difficult to step inside.

“Adella.”

I called her name, but she remained silent.

I guess I have to go to her.

Somehow, Adella was lying down drinking beer since morning.

Her gray hair was covered with black grime, creating a gloomy atmosphere.

With bored eyes, she hung her head upside down from the bed to look at me.

“Hic. I’m so drunk.”

She blinked her annoying vertically slit pupils.

They say physiognomy is all lies?

No, physiognomy was science.

Not pseudoscience, but real science.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t already feel this overwhelming dread about upcoming missions.

I see, you’re the nightmare.

* * *

“Adella.”

“…”

“Adella.”

“…”

This game is less user-friendly than I thought.

– LMAOOOOO

– Adella’s personality already showing lol

– WoA has great characters and story but the early game filter is too harsh

– She’s the embodiment of toxicity

I wasn’t sure if NPCs normally don’t respond to me or if it was just Adella, but she seemed to have no intention of replying.

I’m already starting to dislike this game.

I missed Liri, the fox-kin who sold old boots and potions in Legacy of Legend.

It was really cute how she would go “hoee” and twitch when you petted her fluffy fur.

Compared to her, Adella had absolutely nothing likeable about her.

Her hair was dirty and rough, and while her face was quite cute, it was flushed red from alcohol, making it impossible to feel any forced affection.

Viewers seemed to indicate this was Adella’s normal character.

“Forest Keeper, what’s your name?”

Adella finally speaks.

“NoName.”

“Whoever named you gave you a really shitty name.”

Adella casually picks her nose.

“What did you just say?”

“…”

“I said, what did you just say?”

Mana energy radiates from me involuntarily.

I try to control my emotions by clenching my fist, but my inner anger shows through my trembling lips and rough breathing.

‘Do I have to let this slide just because she’s a game character?’

The trash in the room begins to swirl and float.

I almost punched her in the face, or rather, I nearly did.

But I managed to stop just a paper’s width away,

And she still didn’t blink an eye, calmly downing the rest of her beer.

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