章 2: Chapter 2: Adrias Cromwell (2)
With a sturdy nose and a graceful posture, She emanated a sense of dignity that seemed innate, not forced. No longer a mere girl, she was blossoming into the beauty of a young woman, Making it ambiguous to address her as a girl.
With each step she took, her pure black hair swayed, Captivating the attention of those around her with its innocence.
"Oh, it's Dianne. I heard she got a perfect score on the magical dynamics exam."
"Yeah, I'm taking the same class. It's been nine years since anyone achieved a perfect score. Sometimes I wonder if she's even human."
"Wow! Really? I would love to take the same course and see for myself. How can she be flawless in both appearance and abilities?"
"Is it only about looks and abilities? What about her background?"
As Dianne calmly and confidently moved forward, unaffected by the surrounding noise, Something caught her eye.
At first, she thought she might have been mistaken and intended to just pass by, But she soon realized that her eyes did not deceive her and came to a halt.
"Adrias Cromwell."
The eldest son of the Cromwell Viscount family.
No, perhaps soon he would be demoted, And it would be awkward to address him as a viscount.
The reason she looked at him, the pitiful son of such a lowly family, was not for any other reason.
His family owed a debt to hers.
Since they were young, they had encountered each other several times, And they had somewhat of a friendly relationship.
"In those ignorant early years..."
The good times had passed, and now they were merely creditors and debtors.
Since the death of Adrias's predecessor, the late Viscount Cromwell, He had shown a subservient attitude, ready to grovel at her feet.
He truly was like a worm.
No ability, no talent, and not even the effort to improve.
He simply existed because he was born, a disgraceful sight, Just seeking a moment of tranquility.
Given the circumstances...
"Why?"
Something didn't feel right.
His messy, unkempt hair and foolish-looking face were the same as usual.
But it wasn't his usual slouching posture, and his expression, which was always gloomy, seemed somewhat detached and dreamy.
Of course, she had seen him with a troubled expression before, but it was clearly different from how he appeared now.
Suddenly, her gaze fell upon the book he was holding.
"The Conflicting Understanding of Nature and Mana?"
Of course, it was a book she had already thoroughly studied.
But it wasn't a book that such a worthless person could comprehend.
Perhaps he was running an errand for someone or had some other reason.
The Adrias she knew was that kind of person.
"Hmm?"
As if sensing her gaze, he snapped out of his reverie and looked in her direction.
"..."
A brief moment passed, and he slightly bowed his head before continuing on his way.
...He just walked past?
Trying to act as natural as possible, she turned to look back, and indeed, he was simply walking his own path.
"Huh?"
An awkward exclamation escaped her lips.
Startled by her own voice, she hurriedly closed her mouth, but the fact that she made a sound was a blow to her pride.
"Adrias, was it?"
She thought he was a completely different person.
From a distance, she had some doubts, but when they actually crossed paths, the atmosphere felt different.
Did Adrias just see her and give a casual greeting before walking past?
"It's strange."
Instead of getting angry, a wave of curiosity and questions surged within her.
Just last month, she was sure he was nothing but trash, a bug.
What could have happened during that time?
"Diene Alben. Wow, gives me the chills."
I quickened my pace, trying to avoid any further eye contact.
Diene Alben.
The prodigy of the Alben Duke and one of the most renowned magical geniuses.
She was also a playable character I had tried before and currently, as the owner of this pathetic body, the character most closely associated with Adrias.
In other words, she was the character with the highest probability of killing me.
"But still, seeing her alive and breathing like that gives me a fresh perspective."
Due to the game's characteristic of becoming more difficult as the episodes progress and the characters becoming more pitiful, high-spec characters like Diene Alben were designed for beginners.
I remember choosing her as my third character, and she not only possessed talent but also the power of her noble family couldn't be ignored.
The Alben Duke family was a powerful clan, so much so that they were called one of the four pillars supporting the empire.
"Come to think of it, I was indebted to them as well."
A memory suddenly resurfaced, tormenting me.
The feelings of inferiority and inadequacy that I, this pathetic loser, had experienced were vividly conveyed.
But I have to clearly distinguish it now.
"These aren't my emotions."
Adrias.
Although he only played the role of a lackey in the game, I was truly dedicated to the game and had uncovered all the information I could about him.
Though I may not know every little detail, I couldn't simply let him die like before.
"Now I am Adrias."
I am Kim Jinhwan, also known as Adrias.
Although it took me nearly a week to accept it, I had to do my best to survive in this new reality.
And the first step was already decided.
"Special Abilities."
One of the reasons it took me so long to accept this reality.
Here, it was a mixture of reality and game-like abilities.
To be precise, it seemed like only I possessed such abilities.
Ding!
[There are unselected special abilities.]
This screen is the evidence.
If it weren't for this, I might have adapted a little faster.
While I could accept the location and the people around me, seeing a game-like window in front of me naturally made me think it was a dream.
Now, although I've adapted to it, at first, I thought I was going insane.
I closed the game window and opened my character information.
[Adrias Cromwell]
Race: Human
Mana: 1581
Special Ability: Dual Core
Talents: Dark Magic Commander (Versatile), Water Elemental Magic (Mediocre)
Skills: Detailed Dark Magic 〉〉 Detailed Water Elemental Magic 〉〉
It's pitiful.
First, the amount of mana.
If there is no talent related to mana, that amount is usually average.
But the average won't cut it in this world.
All the characters I have played and raised so far had at least one talent related to mana.
"How did I become a magician?"
It's difficult to become a magician without a talent related to mana.
For a talentless person to become a magician, it requires an outrageous amount of money.
...Is that why the family went bankrupt?
For now, let's move on to the next thing, the special ability.
When you start the game, you are randomly given one special ability.
Of course, there were trash-like abilities, but there were also some that were good enough to survive with just one.
Special abilities are divided into four grades: Normal, Rare, Epic, and Unique. There is always a distinction between good and bad.
The problem is that it's a special ability obtained randomly...
"Dual Core, huh?"
Since special abilities are random, whenever I start a new game, I create and delete countless characters.
It's called rerolling.
Of course, the highest grade Unique abilities don't appear, but even just the Epic ones are incredible.
In the game, I would keep rerolling until I got good ability, but in this reality, I couldn't use such tricks.
[Dual Core]
Grade: Epic
Two mana storage spaces.
Unlocks the potential of a Magic Swordsman.
An Epic-grade special ability.
Just judging by the grade, it's a top-tier ability.
And a Magic Swordsman, how romantic and alluring.
"Such nonsense."
I've followed romance so many times, and my legs have been torn apart dozens of times.
Do you think I haven't tried?
I've seen the ending 12 times.
If I didn't dig just one well, I couldn't possibly escape.
Resources and time are limited, and the abilities I need to develop are doubled, so the rate at which I become stronger slows down.
On top of that, this place is not a game, it's reality.
From what I've gathered in the past few days, it's the past time period when the game starts.
Although the grace period before the crisis arrives has been extended, the important thing is that this place is real.
"No, should I become a side character instead, since this is reality?"
"Haha."
That's all that came out, just a sigh.
Even in the game, I've never achieved a no-death clear.
If characters far superior to Adrias couldn't achieve a no-death clear, how on earth am I supposed to survive?
If it were a game, I could make the decision to dig just one well, whether I die or not. But if I aim for survival, the Dual Core ability doesn't seem bad either.
Because my current goal is not to clear the game but to survive.
In the end, I left the special ability aside like a shackle and looked at the talents below. There was nothing more to say about this place.
To be honest, I didn't even want to look at it.
"Having a mediocre talent is one thing, but to have both versatile and mediocre?"
The A-grade talent just says "magic" in two words.
Or maybe "swordsmanship."
When the description gets longer like that, it's not a good thing.
It means there's talent only in that particular field.
But I'm both versatile and mediocre.
Especially in the case of being mediocre, it has the opposite effect rather than having nothing.
If an average person is 100, being mediocre means 70 to 80.
"Water magic seems to be a joke."
I realized it here.
It seems like the world has gone mad and wants to kill me.
The reason Adrias died countless times in the early stages of the game was probably because of these mediocre abilities.
Lastly, skills were an extension of talents.
If you had exceptional talents, you could quickly level up and improve your skill proficiency. But without talent, even if you worked tirelessly, it wouldn't work, especially when it came to magic skills.
Dark Magic: Basic Command (3/100) 〉〉 Skeleton Summoning Level 1
Elemental Magic: Beginner Earth Element (2/100) 〉〉 Grease Level 6, Rock Sphere Level 3, Earth Shield Level 5
Even though I'm only in the third year of the academy, my proficiency at the beginner level surprised me. And having only one elemental magic was driving me crazy.
When I learned that to enter the Matop (Tower) I needed to show magical achievements by the time I reached the fifth grade, I didn't need to look to know what this guy's future would be like.
No, it was my future.
In the end, there was only one thing left for someone like me.
Ding!
[There are unselected special abilities.]
Selecting a special ability.
Even among countless gameplays, I've never had the chance to choose a special ability freely.
This game also had elements of rogue-like, so sometimes when I defeated a mid-boss or achieved something, I could occasionally get a special ability, but they were all random.
"Now I have to choose to survive."
Returning to my dorm room, I put down the book and sat on the chair.
And as I reflected on the positive meaning in front of me, the text changed.
"Please choose the special ability you want."
Hundreds of special abilities appeared in front of me on a list.
I carefully examined the abilities on the list.
First, I chose all the Normal and Rare-grade abilities.
"I didn't know such abilities existed?"
There were so many abilities in the Epic and Unique grades that I had never come across before
In particular, Unique abilities were ones that couldn't be obtained even through game restarts, so except for a few, they were all completely new to me.
And finally, one special ability caught my attention strongly.
"This is...!"
Without realizing it, my thoughts blurted out.
And for a while, I continued to ponder.
What would be the best course of action for me to survive?
Is this truly the best option?
How much resources and time do I have?
What is the current situation?
"Phew."
Since my life was at stake, it was difficult to make a decision easily.
While I was contemplating, a pile of various papers with notes I made during my deliberation had accumulated in front of me.
The conclusion that came out of there was...
"In the end, I'm a Necromancer. It's an undeniable fact. Even if I don't use it, I can't erase what I've learned."
If that's the case, I have no choice but to utilize it.
As long as I don't get caught.
Only when my life is truly in danger.
Moreover, a Necromancer, if allowed to grow safely, becomes a formidable monster stronger than any other magician.
That's why in the game, the Necromancer was such a malicious existence that players would always seek them out and kill them first in every play-through.
"One of them is this guy's master... Wait."
I hastily checked the calendar.
"I'm late."
Adrias' memories began to resurface. Only now did I remember that I had promised to meet him last night.
It was troublesome.
I won't die.
...Probably.
I quickly put on the clothes I had discarded and prepared to go out.
I have to find him now; otherwise, I might really die.
"But before that..."
I stopped contemplating and chose the ability that I had been thinking about.
There's no point in pondering for a few more days; it won't lead to an answer. It's better to quickly acquire the ability and make use of it.
Now that I have chosen a special ability, my goal is to plan carefully and survive as much as possible.
And the next step towards that goal will probably be the place I'm going to visit now.
In this damn situation, I will definitely survive.
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