A ordinary guy gets reincarnated into a fantasy world he lives a pretty normal lufr again and he died protecting someone while he died he meat a goddess who give him a curse


My writing is awful so that a heads up and you might enjoy this I haven't think of the future plot or anything I have only think about what will happened so just enjoy the story

ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE so give me tips.

The world of Ascension had been built in a way that a level 1 player could kill a level 50 or even a level 100 enemy. That, however, was not an easy task to accomplish in fact, there was roughly a 0.00001% chance of it happening, but it was better than nothing. The more unwary you were, the less of a problem to your enemies your high level was - they would kill you despite you being ten times stronger. Two weeks felt like a day with all this fuss about the game. The game that became the most debated topic on the internet even before its release.

I will be posting this story on RoyalRoad

Ronan Atkins is a 20-year-old student, he studies Business Administration at Trinity College, it is considered as one of the best colleges to learn Business Administration in the world and in order to obtain a scholarship Ronan had to pass many tests, most of which have nothing to do with the actual course he was studying in, after passing all those tests he was finally given the scholarship he dreamed off, but even after getting the scholarship his life was hard, he had to work several jobs in order to pay for food and accommodation.
Until one day, when he is working part-time at a convenience shop something happens...

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Power Stones (Chapters released on the Monday)

Top 500 - 1 chapter
Top 250 - 2 chapters
Top 100 - 3 chapters

One time only bonus chapters (Chapters released day after) 
25 Power Stones - 1 chapter
50 Power Stones - 1 chapter
100 Power Stones - 2 Chapters. 
200 Power Stones - 2 Chapters. 
250 Power Stones - 3 Chapters.

Ao Wushuang stood proudly in the air like an invincible king and looked down at Huo Ling, Wu Sheng, and the rest.
"Ao Wushuang, I heard you left the Hong Domain last year?" Huo Ling asked.
Ao Wushuang nodded and said, "That's right. There are no more suitable opponents for me in the Hong Domain, so I went to the Yuanwu Domain for training!"
Ao Wushuang's words were full of both confidence and arrogance.
"No more suitable opponents in the Hong Domain!"
However, nobody thought that he was being arrogant. It was as if it was natural for him to say that.
"How's the Yuanwu Domain? Are there a lot of geniuses?" Hong Qingtian asked.
The Yuanwu Domain was a neighboring domain of the Hong Domain, but it was more than several times bigger than the Hong Domain.
"Many of them are strong. If any of you participate in their List of Top 100 Talents, you might not even get on the list!" Ao Wushuang said.
"What? They are that powerful?" everyone was shocked.
"Hong Qingtian, Huo Ling, and the rest were already the best among the young generation in the Hong Domain, but they might not even be listed in the top 100 in the Yuanwu Domain?"
"What about you? What's your ranking going to be in the Yuanwu Domain based on your current strength?" Wu Sheng from the Divine Sword Sect asked.
"I have no idea. I won't know without participating in their competition, but I can likely make it into the top 10!" Ao Wushuang shook his head and said.
Upon hearing his words, the geniuses suddenly sneered.
Ao Wushuang was obviously trying to say that they were far apart from him.
None of them could be listed in top 100, and yet he could be in top 10.
Was the difference between their strength really that big?
"Ao Wushuang, I've lost to you in the last competition, but I won't lose again this time around!" Wu Sheng said indifferently with his eyes full of confidence.
"That's right! Ao Wushuang, if your improvement is not great enough, someone else will take over your position!" Huo Ling said coldly.
"Haha!" Ao Wushuang saw their confidence and smiled. With his hands behind his back, he proudly said, "If anyone of you can withstand more than 10 strikes from me, I'll gladly give up my position on the List of Top 100 Talents!"
Ao Wushuang was filled with extreme confidence as he stood above the rest.
Even some of the strong elders were captivated by his aura and surprised by his extraordinary strength.
The rest of them sneered and their eyes beamed with confidence. They had been waiting for this day for a very long time. It was everyone's goal to defeat Ao Wushuang and take the top position on the List of Top 100 Talents of the Hong Domain.
"Ninth Sister, what do you think of Ao Wushuang's strength?" The Sixth Prince from the imperial family, Hong Qingtian, lowered his voice and asked the lady in the white veil beside him.
"He's very powerful, Sixth Brother, you might not be able to beat him!" The lady in the white veil spoke in a gentle, sweet voice but sounded tender. She was obviously quite young.
Upon hearing that, Hong Qingtian's face became dignified and after a short while, he signed and said, "I'll try my best. Even if I can't defeat him, I must at least improve further and enter the top three!"
"Go for it, Sixth Brother, you'll definitely enter the top three!" she smiled and said.
Hong Qingtian also smiled and asked, "Oh yeah, Ninth Sister, how am I as compared to the geniuses in the Dark Domain?"
"Well..." she hesitated and did not answer him.
Hong Qingtian could not hold his laughter back and said, "Ninth Sister, you can just tell me the truth!"
She lightly sighed and said, "Sixth Brother, honestly speaking, you have no chance of entering the List of Top 100 Talents in the Dark Domain."
Her words were full of certainty.
"Eh!" Hong Qingtian gave a wry smile and shook his head.
At the place where the Gale Islanders was situated, everyone looked up to where Ao Wushuang stood proudly. They were both envious and amazed.
All the elders looked at Ao Wushuang and sighed. "What's a rare genius? He is indeed a truly rare genius!"
The First Elder sighed and said, "If Gale Island has such rare genius, we'll be able to become a formidable power within 10 years."
"Jingtian, there are many geniuses in this year's competition. Are you confident in entering the List of Top 100 Talents?" The First Elder turned and looked at Duan Jingtian with a dignified face.
Duan Jingtian looked calm. He remained silent for a moment and said, "Top 40 should be within my grasp!"
"What? Top 40?" The First Elder was suddenly stunned. In his mind, so long as Duan Jingtian could enter top 100, he had already brought glory to their sect even if he was at the bottom.
But now he actually implied that he had absolute confidence to enter the top 40. The First Elder was in total shock!
Duan Jingtian smiled confidently and nodded seriously.
He had a great harvest in the Dragon-buried Abyss. Although his cultivation had not reached the Lv 4 True Spirit Realm, he managed to hit the Peak of Lv 3.
Most importantly, he had seized a great opportunity in Dragon-buried Abyss. Not only did he cultivate the Soaring Dragon Halberd Skill to the Great Completion, but he also received a drop of the Divine Dragon's blood.
Although the dragon blood had lost 99% of its power because it had existed for far too long, the remaining dragon's energy had greatly improved his body constitutions.
He was now physically strong and his physical strength enabled him to counter martial artists of the Lv 5 True Spirit Realm. Coupled with his Genuine Vitality cultivation, an average martial artist at Peak Lv 6 True Spirit Realm was definitely not his match.
This is why Duan Jingtian was confident that he would return to Gale Island with unparalleled glory after the competition was over.
At that time, he would command public respect and support by everyone, and no one would dare to oppose him. Those indecisive elders would instantly fall toward the island owner's side.
By then, his influence would completely crush the pulse of the Highest Elder, and he would be able to unify Gale Island and clear all obstacles.
Su Mo? The Highest Elder? They would all have to die!
Su Mo sat cross-legged on the ground while also staring at Ao Wushuang with a dignified look.
Ao Wushuang's aura was restrained and one could not tell his cultivation. Su Mo secretly activated the demonic beast Martial Soul with a huge nose and ears and detected an unusually powerful aura inside him. This aura contained an explosive energy that was extremely powerful.
"Number one on the List of Top 100 Talents, you really live up to your ranking!" Su Mo praised silently before hurrying up to refine Nirvana Sword Qi. He had already refined five strands of it and he intended to refine all nine strands before the competition started.
Time passed by slowly. After four hours, the gate of the Holy City of Top 100 finally opened.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With a loud sound, everyone saw the big black gate of the Holy City of Top 100, which was 100 meters tall and 50 meters wide, moving slowly to the side.
"The Holy City of Top 100 is open!"
"Let's go in!"
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The sound of people flying into the air continued to ring as hundreds of thousands of people flocked toward the Holy City of Top 100 like locusts.


Su Mo went from the pride of his clan to becoming the butt end of a joke in a matter of minutes. The former King of Mercenaries from Earth was reborn in the body of a boy in a foreign world and had used skills in his previous life to rise to the top among his peers, however, his previous training could only take him so far. The next step in this martial arts dominated world was to awaken one’s Martial Soul.
The awakening ceremony ends in disaster for Su Mo as he awoke a Martial Soul of the lowest level. Such a prodigy is now considered worse than useless as his Martial Soul is far too weak! After becoming the embarrassment of the clan, he discovers that his Martial Soul has a unique property: it could level up! This unique martial soul could shake the heavens. 
It was at this time that Su Mo meets the love of his life but the situation quickly deteriorates when she is taken by one of the most powerful forces in the world. Su Mo must rise from the lowest of the low and reach the pinnacle of power in order to save the love of his live within five years or she will forever be out of his reach.


On the evening of the 7th day of training, Priscus, cool and dashing in his armor, called them to gather in the main arena. He held in his hands a yellowed parchment sheet with the provisional rank of the recruits on it. This would determine whether or not they would finally get enough to eat tonight and in the days to come.

The tension was palpable. Not all of the slaves had suffered physically as much as Jake and the other Players who had to undergo more intensive training because of their stats. The reason was obvious: They all ate the same food, but some trained harder. 

Some slaves had even managed to gain a little muscle. The Throsgenians had levels of testosterone and growth hormones through the roof that would have been considered doping on Earth. Despite the intensity of the training, the weaker ones had managed to progress since the food portions were adapted to their profile.

The consequence of all this was that the weakest had a healthy glow while the strongest seemed to be at the end of their rope, heavy dark circles under the eyes, skin on bones. That was why this ranking was so important. If they didn't get the place they wanted, they would have to force it out of someone else.

"Good evening, recruits. I hope the training is going well. It's less than eight weeks before your first fight at the Coliseum, so don't slacken off... " 

The lame gladiator knew how to cheer them up. Half the slaves looked at him as if they would punch him in the face at any moment. Satisfied with their expression, he announced the long-awaited ranking.

"Rank 497: Lircam!"

No one showed up. The poor guy had been in the infirmary for three days straight after a badly executed weight-lifting exercise that seriously injured his lumbar vertebrae.

"Rank 496: ...! "

Again, no one answered, nor did the subsequent ranks. All of them had been wounded at one time or another. It wasn't until rank 477 that the real last one was announced.

It should be noted that beyond rank 100, the latter was of no importance. All these recruits would be paid one silver coin a week, not counting their daily portion of diluted blood.

Rank 51 to 100 doubled the salary, or two silver pieces. Food was also a little more plentiful, with meat or fish from time to time. Rank 21 to 50, three pieces of silver. And finally 5 silver coins for ranks 11 to 20.

Most of the Whites got provisional ranks above the top 100. Yellows were often ranked in the top 100, while Oranges were in the top 50. There were 18 Reds, 16 of them in the top 20. The other two had been wounded by Yerode and Lamine in friendly fighting, suffering an unforgivable setback in their progression.

Kyle placed 16th. His Aether stats weren't very high, some Orange Players were outclassing him, but his performance had been judged excellent by his coach Hector. He was aware that he was in danger of losing his place, but it didn't matter.

After all, a recruit or gladiator who was challenged and then defeated did not exchange his rank with the loser. The defeated would simply drop one place in the rankings, while the winner would take his former position. 

 Since a gladiator could only be challenged once a day, he was certain to remain in the top 50, even if he and everyone above him was defeated. Of course, this was impossible.

As for the top 10, the 10th and 9th were unknown to the battalions. They were native Throsgenians with intelligence barely superior to that of a gorilla, but with remarkable ferocity and fighting skills. They were warriors taken prisoner during the last military campaign in the North that Hector had brought back from a nearby town of Heliodas where other auctions had been held.

Elias was awarded Rank 8 and Jake Rank 7. The top 10 had unlimited access to starch and vegetables, but above all the pay was incomparable. The 10th was paid 10 silver coins, and each rank above was paid 10 more coins, up to the first rank whose wages reached 100 silver coins or 1 gold coin.

It was worth noting that professional gladiators bearing the mark of Servius Cassius from 100 to 108 were also paid 1 gold coin, indicating that the best of the recruits had nothing to envy them.

Miya, the skinny woman not talking to anyone, was ranked 6th, and Hugo the Player friendly with everybody was ranked 5th. Lu Yifeng was 4th, Yerode 3rd and Lamine 2nd. Lastly, Lu Yan was predictably on the top step of the podium.

Jake was in a great mood. He'd eat his fill tonight.  With his digestion speed and metabolism, he would finally be able to start a huge muscle-mass gain. The real question was whether he would rest on his laurels for today, or challenge another gladiator.

There was indeed a difference among professional gladiators. The Myrmidian blood that was provided to recruits was diluted in a certain amount of water at a ratio of 1:200. Gladiators on the other hand were given blood diluted at a minimum of 1:100. So they theoretically progressed twice as fast.

The top 51-100 were given blood diluted to 2/100, the top 21-50 to 3/100, and then 5/100 for the 11-20 rank. From rank 10 to the top rank the purity of the blood increased significantly until it was pure at the 1st place.

The privilege of picking an opponent was always given first to the last in the ranking. The last one in question shamefully lowered his eyes when Priscus asked him if he wished to challenge someone, his mute answer more than clear.

Since ranks beyond the top 100 recruits made no significant difference other than the prestige of saying you weren't so bad, most refused to fight. After all, if you weren't confident of defeating the 99th, it was better not to. At least that was the reasoning of the fools.

The slightly smarter ones targeted and defeated all without exception an opponent above them whom they were confident they could defeat. After all, a single victory against an opponent matching their strength was better than a full day's training. This daily challenge was their only legitimate opportunity to face someone.

Then the first duels began, each using the wooden weapons they had become familiar with over the past week. Priscus acted as referee and a crack of his whip on the sand would signal the start and end of the fight.

The first fights were between White recruits and it was a pitiful sight to see. More than once Jake looked away, the sight of it was unbearable. 

Two recruits with a questionable sense of self-preservation knocked each other out by abandoning all defense.Two others dropped their weapons after a few exchanges, the melee ending in a heated ground fight that looked more like two gays celebrating their reunion after a long absence. Some people may have liked it, but Jake was not one of them. 

On the other hand, the fitness level of the recruits at the bottom of the rankings was pretty bad. After a minute or two of twirling around in panic, the two recruits would often end up panting and short of breath, staggering around as if on a good bender.

The 100th managed to keep its place in the end, proof that there was a certain gap between the Whites and the Yellows. At least this one kept its calm and didn't give the impression of being desperate. After his victory, he challenged the 96th and won.

The challenge requests followed one after the other, as the fights became more technical and fierce, especially during the transitional duels in the rankings, where the position would secure more resources.

Kyle was challenged in turn by the 24th and after a long fight lost the duel, falling back to 25th place.  The one who had defeated him was from the Orange group, under the charge of Krona. His Aether stats were much better, but his technique was not up to the Reds. The Playboy's defeat was therefore completely normal.

Despite the fact that Jake and Elias were in the White group, no one challenged them. A 3 year old child training from the cradle had no chance of defeating an adult athlete holding a weapon for the first time. There were impassable gaps.

Comparatively, Miya and Hugo were each challenged once, but managed to keep their rank. Miya had excellent agility and virtuoso dexterity with her dagger. One might wonder what she was doing in life before arriving on B842. 

Hugo was slower, but his strength was high. Perhaps the highest of the Players present. He had chosen to adopt the Samnite style, armed with a large shield and a heavy sword more in keeping with his style.

Elias decided not to fight that night. Jake was confident that the former firefighter could defeat one of the professional gladiators of the ludus, but he surely had his own reasons.

Jake's turn to fight then came, and his gaze lingered for a moment on a certain gladiator. He had found his target.

Have you ever wished you exactly knew how to accomplish your dreams? Not feeling the slightest doubt anymore? Being aware at any time how every choice, action and decision of yours affects your future? 

That's what happened to Jake Wilderth, a procrastinating young man without ambition. When a mysterious silver spaceship, popping out from nowhere, delivered to each Earthling a bracelet containing an AI introducing itself as the Oracle, their destiny changed. 

From a boring uneventful life Jake began to strive for greatness, treading his Path over the dead bodies of many. 

What a blessing it would have been if he was the only one profiting of such a gift! But when everyone became equal to face the future, he soon realized no gift comes for free..


Just a warning. Volume 1 sets the atmosphere in a Earth slowly degenerating into chaos and can be considered as a big prologue. It is slow and not as rewarding for the readers than mainstream stories on this website. If you can push through it will be worth it. For some real action you need to wait chap 27.

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Discord link: https://discord.gg/d8udP7Q

Shunned by the whole world, Ethan was left with no choice but to quit Greek.

Of course, all this…

"I can't believe this is happening to me."

Hasn't happened as of now.

"I returned to the past…"

Ethan Schneider, he returned to 2036.

With all his memories intact!

...

Most men fell into a bit of narcissism, looking at themselves in the mirror after showers. It was a strange, unfortunate, and rather sad habit of the male species.

But Ethan Schneider detested looking at mirrors. He didn't have any particularly handsome feature, and he couldn't even look at the mirror without his thick glasses.

But at the moment, Ethan Schneider was staring into the mirror with a big smile on his face.

It wasn't an ordinary smile.

Grin!

It was a refreshing smile. It may look odd to others, but Ethan was doing his best to make his smile look as clear as possible. Looking into the mirror, Ethan spoke to himself.

"You unlucky bastard," he criticized himself.

"You unlucky bastard," he criticized himself.

But while criticizing himself, Ethan didn't lose the smile on his face. In fact, he made an even happier smile.

'Yep, you really had an unlucky life.'

Ethan Schneider once again recalled the last moment of his life.

It was a car accident. After he bought a lottery ticket, he resolved his mind for a new start. That was when a truck hit the bus station and crushed Ethan with it. He couldn't even feel any pain as he died instantaneously. He was thinking 'Ah!' as he was hit, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in January 1st, 2036.

'I knew I was unlucky, but come on, a car accident? Just how unlucky was I?'

It was a time when vehicles had built-in autonomous navigation system designed specifically to prevent car accidents. It goes without saying that Ethan Schneider was extremely unlucky to have died from a car accident.

But as of now, his unlucky life had never happened.

'Yep, you lived one really unlucky life.'

"So it's time to live a lucky one."

He had returned to the past.

There was no penalty. His memory, body, and thought process were all perfectly fine. He was disappointed that he didn't gain a superpower, but he was nonetheless satisfied. What was so important was that something that would only happen in movies and novels happened to him.It meant that he became a main character, since obviously a side character wouldn't be sent back in time.

Ethan Schneider didn't think too much into his situation.

It was a common cliché. Ethan Schneider didn't stop to think whether he was dreaming, or whether he had been dreaming a long dream all this time. He also didn't think about the butterfly effect his return would have on the world. He found it useless to bother with anything that wouldn't make him money.

There was only one important thing to him right now.

'I'll hit it big with Greek this time.'

Just that.

He knew Greek was the only way for him to change his miserable life. Ethan Schneider in real life was a dispensable, minimum-wage slave, but in Greek, he was the Phantom Killer, a character worth an immense amount of money and capable of slaying any foolish challengers.

In other words, what was important to Ethan Schneider were the tools he needed to achieve success.

'The date is January 1st.'

He needed to first understand the situation.

The current date was January1st, 2036, 1:22 P.M. to be exact.

'If you were going to send me back, why not a year more…'

Unfortunately, Warlord had already begun its service 10 months ago.

If Ethan had gone back one more year like he wished, he wouldn't have any big concerns.

In any case, he had to face the current situation. Truthfully, he was thankful. Wishing for more would be too greedy.

'The gap is huge.'

10 months weren't a small difference. In fact, it was anything but small.

Warlord released its top 100 rankings weekly, but rankers didn't refer to just these top 100. Although true rankers were those on this list, one could be called a ranker if one's level was above a certain standard based on the top 100 rankers.

The competition was fierce within the top ranking players. Only the names of top 100 rankers were displayed, and the money one could get from contracts by being a top 100 ranker were vastly different. Greek's rule of thumb was that every time the front digit of a rank changed, the front digit of a contract payment changed.

Anyways, what was important was that almost all rankers started playing within the first one month of service.

'5 months was it? Super Rookie Myojyo, I think he started the latest out of the rankers.'

In this area, a Polish player called Myojyo made a name for himself.

He started Greek exactly 144 days after its launch and managed to enter the top 100 in 2038, on Warlord's 4th year of service.

This meant it took him close to 3 years to bridge the gap with the Starters.

Myojyo's play time was freakishly high as well. Most rankers played about 100 hours per week. The Rule of 100. The standard was to invest 100 hours to playing every week. 110 hours meant a 10% higher result, 90 hours meant a 10% lower result. This was Greek's Rule of 100.

In Myojyo's case, his average weekly play time was 130 hours. Normal people weren't able to play for so long. Greek required high amount of concentration, and loss of concentration meant death. In addition, death meant 48 hours of downtime. It was clearly better to sleep 8 hours for a good rest than getting 6 hours of sleep and dying because of it. Regardless, Myojyo managed to reach the top 100, and he was given the nickname Super Rookie.

But what if there was a difference of 10 months?

'I don't know about the titles that have already come out, but I know all the titles that will come out in the future. If I can monopolize them, I can cover this gap.'

It would normally be impossible to bridge such a gap.

But it was possible for Ethan Schneider, who returned to the past with all his memories.

Greek has a title system. If a player achieved something no other players had, or if the player was the first to discover something, or if the player accomplished a monumental feat, he was given titles. They had a simple function – to permanently raise the player's stats.

It was a system for those in lead.

In most games, the ones who started later had more advantage, at least in terms of time efficiency. They just had to pick and follow a path other had toiled through. It was fair for the pioneers to receive some benefit, and that benefit was the title system.

There were no information on titles whatsoever. Players had to find them out for themselves by playing the game.

However, the current Ethan Schneider was full of title-related knowledge.

He also knew the best hunting grounds and the method for hunting certain monsters. These were among the many weapons at Ethan's disposal.

It wasn't easy to bridge a 10 month gap, but it wasn't impossible for Ethan.

'I'll just have to work hard.'

There was one more problem.

'What's important to me now is money.'

Ethan Schneider remembered 2036 very well. It was the year he was fired from the factory he worked in for no clear reason, and was close to running low on the money he had saved up.

'I probably have 2, 3 million at best.'

One needed at least 7 million won to start Greek.

'I need to borrow 5 million somehow…'

To play Greek, one needed Debot Tub's virtual reality device, V-Gear. Unfortunately for Ethan Schneider, the cheapest Level 1 Model's exact cost was 20,990,000 won.

It was expensive.

It was the cost of a small car. It wasn't a small amount, but it couldn't be considered too expensive for what it was worth. V-Gear was the key to accessing the virtual world.

There was, of course, no need to pay all at once. There were monthly installment plans just like for real cars. For V-Gears, 12 months was the max, and one had to make a down payment for the first three months, which was about 5 million won.

There was also the cost of creating a Greek character. Upon creation, one could play free for the first 3 months, but other extraneous costs amounted to another 2 million won. This cost couldn't be paid on credit.

All this amounted to about 7 million won.

Taking into account the currently saved up money, Ethan still needed 5 million more.

'There's no way my credit card can handle that much, and I probably can't loan that much from the bank. If I take out the deposit for this one-room apartment and live on the streets with just my V-Gear… no, that would be just asking to be robbed.'

Ethan already knew the answer to this problem.

'Looks like I'll have to go to those loan sharks.'

Private loans.

Ethan hated the loan sharks as much as anyone else, but he knew it was the only way to borrow such a large amount of money. It would be akin to putting himself on shackles, but obtaining 5 million won by honest work would take 3 to 4 months, and that would be no different than cutting off his own legs.

'Assuming I'm okay with money, what's my plan now?'

His next worry was about his future plans.

Greek's main content was monster raids. It was also the most lucrative content.

However, monster raids were designed for cooperative plays.

Ethan Schneider knew for sure that SoulKiller would never be able to solo a raid. Although SoulKiller was strong, it was impossible for him to solo a raid. It was because SoulKiller was a swordsman. Swordsmen were front-liners, and their job was to charge into the enemy and make way for his team.

Additionally, raids required various chemical reactions from different classes. If a monster reacted to a specific magic, it was the players' job to take advantage of the fact and find its weakness. Only a very small minority relied on brute force to fight.

'Damn.'

In the first place, this way of thinking was completely irrational.

Ethan had amazing personal skills and now the knowledge of the future. Using the two, he could easily enter any of the Top 30 Guilds' Esquire groups. Esquire groups contained prospective, back-up players for the Top 30 Guilds, and they received the full backing of their guilds.

If a player distinguished himself somehow, he was promoted to a regular member. At that point, wealth and fame naturally followed. All he had to do was cooperate with the guild's decisions.

'Fuck.'

But Ethan denied such rational way of thinking.

He didn't care about what the rational thing to do was.

'Like I'll ever work under those fuckers.'

Just like Ethan threatened to overtake their positions, those rich pigs had ruined Ethan Schneider's life. As a result, Ethan was forced to quit Greek with nothing but bitterness and anger left in him. Ethan would never forget the persecution, humiliation, and hardships he faced after his teammates betrayed him. It's nothing to brag about, but he even considered committing suicide.

Of course, none of this had happened in present time, but those memories were etched onto Ethan's mind.

Join their guild and become their dog?

Maybe he would if he really were a dog.

But Ethan Schneider wasn't a dog. He was human. And his human values wouldn't let him accept such a thing.

'A class that can do solo raids… a class you can play alone.'

Ethan racked his brain.

'Does Greek have a class that can do everything by itself?'

To Ethan anguishing over this question,

'Ah!'

A light bulb went off.

"Rich Lich."

There was one.

While everyone was fighting fearsome monsters as a guild, there was one person who succeeded in soloing a raid.

His nickname, Rich Lich.

"There was that guy!"

His class, necromancer.

Most men fell into a bit of narcissism, looking at themselves in the mirror after showers. It was a strange, unfortunate, and rather sad habit of the male species.
But An Jaehyun detested looking at mirrors. He didn't have any particularly handsome feature, and he couldn't even look at the mirror without his thick glasses.
But at the moment, An Jaehyun was staring into the mirror with a big smile on his face.
It wasn't an ordinary smile.
Grin!
It was a refreshing smile. It may look odd to others, but An Jaehyun was doing his best to make his smile look as clear as possible. Looking into the mirror, An Jaehyun spoke to himself.
"You unlucky bastard," he criticized himself.
But while criticizing himself, An Jaehyun didn't lose the smile on his face. In fact, he made an even happier smile.
'Yep, you really had an unlucky life.'
An Jaehyun once again recalled the last moment of his life.
It was a car accident. After he bought a lottery ticket, he resolved his mind for a new start. That was when a truck hit the bus station and crushed An Jaehyun with it. He couldn't even feel any pain as he died instantaneously. He was thinking 'Ah!' as he was hit, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in January 1st, 2036.
'I knew I was unlucky, but come on, a car accident? Just how unlucky was I?'
It was a time when vehicles had built-in autonomous navigation system designed specifically to prevent car accidents. It goes without saying that An Jaehyun was extremely unlucky to have died from a car accident.
But as of now, his unlucky life had never happened.
'Yep, you lived one really unlucky life.'
"So it's time to live a lucky one."
He had returned to the past.
There was no penalty. His memory, body, and thought process were all perfectly fine. He was disappointed that he didn't gain a superpower, but he was nonetheless satisfied. What was so important was that something that would only happen in movies and novels happened to him. It meant that he became a main character, since obviously a side character wouldn't be sent back in time.
An Jaehyun didn't think too much into his situation.
It was a common cliché. An Jaehyun didn't stop to think whether he was dreaming, or whether he had been dreaming a long dream all this time. He also didn't think about the butterfly effect his return would have on the world. He found it useless to bother with anything that wouldn't make him money.
There was only one important thing to him right now.
'I'll hit it big with Warlord this time.'
Just that.
He knew Warlord was the only way for him to change his miserable life. An Jaehyun in real life was a dispensable, minimum-wage slave, but in Warlord, he was the Hero Slaughterer, a character worth an immense amount of money and capable of slaying any foolish challengers.
In other words, what was important to An Jaehyun were the tools he needed to achieve success.
'The date is January 1st.'
He needed to first understand the situation.
The current date was January1st, 2036, 1:22 P.M. to be exact.
'If you were going to send me back, why not a year more…'
Unfortunately, Warlord had already begun its service 10 months ago.
If An Jaehyun had gone back one more year like he wished, he wouldn't have any big concerns.
In any case, he had to face the current situation. Truthfully, he was thankful. Wishing for more would be too greedy.
'The gap is huge.'
10 months weren't a small difference. In fact, it was anything but small.
Warlord released its top 100 rankings weekly, but rankers didn't refer to just these top 100. Although true rankers were those on this list, one could be called a ranker if one's level was above a certain standard based on the top 100 rankers.
The competition was fierce within the top ranking players. Only the names of top 100 rankers were displayed, and the money one could get from contracts by being a top 100 ranker were vastly different. Warlord's rule of thumb was that every time the front digit of a rank changed, the front digit of a contract payment changed.
Anyways, what was important was that almost all rankers started playing within the first one month of service.
'5 months was it? Super Rookie Myojyo, I think he started the latest out of the rankers.'
In this area, a Polish player called Myojyo made a name for himself.
He started Warlord exactly 144 days after its launch and managed to enter the top 100 in 2038, on Warlord's 4th year of service.
This meant it took him close to 3 years to bridge the gap with the Starters.
Myojyo's play time was freakishly high as well. Most rankers played about 100 hours per week. The Rule of 100. The standard was to invest 100 hours to playing every week. 110 hours meant a 10% higher result, 90 hours meant a 10% lower result. This was Warlord's Rule of 100.
In Myojyo's case, his average weekly play time was 130 hours. Normal people weren't able to play for so long. Warlord required high amount of concentration, and loss of concentration meant death. In addition, death meant 48 hours of downtime. It was clearly better to sleep 8 hours for a good rest than getting 6 hours of sleep and dying because of it. Regardless, Myojyo managed to reach the top 100, and he was given the nickname Super Rookie.
But what if there was a difference of 10 months?
'I don't know about the titles that have already come out, but I know all the titles that will come out in the future. If I can monopolize them, I can cover this gap.'
It would normally be impossible to bridge such a gap.
But it was possible for An Jaehyun, who returned to the past with all his memories.
Warlord has a title system. If a player achieved something no other players had, or if the player was the first to discover something, or if the player accomplished a monumental feat, he was given titles. They had a simple function – to permanently raise the player's stats.
It was a system for those in lead.
In most games, the ones who started later had more advantage, at least in terms of time efficiency. They just had to pick and follow a path other had toiled through. It was fair for the pioneers to receive some benefit, and that benefit was the title system.
There were no information on titles whatsoever. Players had to find them out for themselves by playing the game.
However, the current An Jaehyun was full of title-related knowledge.
He also knew the best hunting grounds and the method for hunting certain monsters. These were among the many weapons at An Jaehyun's disposal.
It wasn't easy to bridge a 10 month gap, but it wasn't impossible for An Jaehyun.
'I'll just have to work hard.'
There was one more problem.
'What's important to me now is money.'
An Jaehyun remembered 2036 very well. It was the year he was fired from the factory he worked in for no clear reason, and was close to running low on the money he had saved up.
'I probably have 2, 3 million at best.'
One needed at least 7 million won to start Warlord.
'I need to borrow 5 million somehow…'
To play Warlord, one needed Peach Corp's virtual reality device, V-Gear. Unfortunately for An Jaehyun, the cheapest Level 1 Model's exact cost was 20,990,000 won.
It was expensive.
It was the cost of a small car. It wasn't a small amount, but it couldn't be considered too expensive for what it was worth. V-Gear was the key to accessing the virtual world.
There was, of course, no need to pay all at once. There were monthly installment plans just like for real cars. For V-Gears, 12 months was the max, and one had to make a down payment for the first three months, which was about 5 million won.
There was also the cost of creating a Warlord character. Upon creation, one could play free for the first 3 months, but other extraneous costs amounted to another 2 million won. This cost couldn't be paid on credit.
All this amounted to about 7 million won.
Taking into account the currently saved up money, An Jaehyun still needed 5 million more.
'There's no way my credit card can handle that much, and I probably can't loan that much from the bank. If I take out the deposit for this one-room apartment and live on the streets with just my V-Gear… no, that would be just asking to be robbed.'
An Jaehyun already knew the answer to this problem.
'Looks like I'll have to go to those loan sharks.'
Private loans.
An Jaehyun hated the loan sharks as much as anyone else, but he knew it was the only way to borrow such a large amount of money. It would be akin to putting himself on shackles, but obtaining 5 million won by honest work would take 3 to 4 months, and that would be no different than cutting off his own legs.
'Assuming I'm okay with money, what's my plan now?'
His next worry was about his future plans.
Warlord's main content was monster raids. It was also the most lucrative content.
However, monster raids were designed for cooperative plays.
An Jaehyun knew for sure that Hyrkan would never be able to solo a raid. Although Hyrkan was strong, it was impossible for him to solo a raid. It was because Hyrkan was a swordsman. Swordsmen were front-liners, and their job was to charge into the enemy and make way for his team.
Additionally, raids required various chemical reactions from different classes. If a monster reacted to a specific magic, it was the players' job to take advantage of the fact and find its weakness. Only a very small minority relied on brute force to fight.
'Damn.'
In the first place, this way of thinking was completely irrational.
An Jaehyun had amazing personal skills and now the knowledge of the future. Using the two, he could easily enter any of the Top 30 Guilds' Esquire groups. Esquire groups contained prospective, back-up players for the Top 30 Guilds, and they received the full backing of their guilds.
If a player distinguished himself somehow, he was promoted to a regular member. At that point, wealth and fame naturally followed. All he had to do was cooperate with the guild's decisions.
'Fuck.'
But An Jaehyun denied such rational way of thinking.
He didn't care about what the rational thing to do was.
'Like I'll ever work under those fuckers.'
Just because An Jaehyun threatened to overtake their positions, those rich pigs had ruined An Jaehyun's life. As a result, An Jaehyun was forced to quit Warlord with nothing but bitterness and anger left in him. An Jaehyun would never forget the persecution, humiliation, and hardships he faced after the Hahoe Mask Guild betrayed him. It's nothing to brag about, but he even considered committing suicide.
Of course, none of this had happened in present time, but those memories were etched onto An Jaehyun's mind.
Join their guild and become their dog?
Maybe he would if he really were a dog.
But An Jaehyun wasn't a dog. He was human. And his human values wouldn't let him accept such a thing.
'A class that can do solo raids… a class you can play alone.'
An Jaehyun racked his brain.
'Does Warlord have a class that can do everything by itself?'
To An Jaehyun anguishing over this question,
'Ah!'
A light bulb went off.
"Rich Lich."
There was one.
While everyone was fighting fearsome monsters as a guild, there was one person who succeeded in soloing a raid.
His nickname, Rich Lich.
"There was that guy!"
His class, necromancer.

Year 2035. The Virtual reality game, Warlord, changed the world. An Jaehyun was one of the many who wished to change his life through the game. After dedicating his life to the game, he was met with a betrayal. A betrayal by his comrades. As a result, he lost everything. But a chance was given to him. A chance to redo everything again! "I won't play with others again. Whatever the outcome, I'll show that I can do it alone." Others rolled a dice to split the spoils of victory. An Jaehyun ate it all by himself. It was the start of An Jaehyun's solo game life.

Most men fell into a bit of narcissism, looking at themselves in the mirror after showers. It was a strange, unfortunate, and rather sad habit of the male species.

But An Jaehyun detested looking at mirrors. He didn't have any particularly handsome feature, and he couldn't even look at the mirror without his thick glasses.

But at the moment, An Jaehyun was staring into the mirror with a big smile on his face.

It wasn't an ordinary smile.

Grin!

It was a refreshing smile. It may look odd to others, but An Jaehyun was doing his best to make his smile look as clear as possible. Looking into the mirror, An Jaehyun spoke to himself.

"You unlucky bastard," he criticized himself.

But while criticizing himself, An Jaehyun didn't lose the smile on his face. In fact, he made an even happier smile.

'Yep, you really had an unlucky life.'

An Jaehyun once again recalled the last moment of his life.

It was a car accident. After he bought a lottery ticket, he resolved his mind for a new start. That was when a truck hit the bus station and crushed An Jaehyun with it. He couldn't even feel any pain as he died instantaneously. He was thinking 'Ah!' as he was hit, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in January 1st, 2036.

'I knew I was unlucky, but come on, a car accident? Just how unlucky was I?'

It was a time when vehicles had built-in autonomous navigation system designed specifically to prevent car accidents. It goes without saying that An Jaehyun was extremely unlucky to have died from a car accident.

But as of now, his unlucky life had never happened.

'Yep, you lived one really unlucky life.'

"So it's time to live a lucky one."

He had returned to the past.

There was no penalty. His memory, body, and thought process were all perfectly fine. He was disappointed that he didn't gain a superpower, but he was nonetheless satisfied. What was so important was that something that would only happen in movies and novels happened to him. It meant that he became a main character, since obviously a side character wouldn't be sent back in time.

An Jaehyun didn't think too much into his situation.

It was a common cliché. An Jaehyun didn't stop to think whether he was dreaming, or whether he had been dreaming a long dream all this time. He also didn't think about the butterfly effect his return would have on the world. He found it useless to bother with anything that wouldn't make him money.

There was only one important thing to him right now.

'I'll hit it big with Warlord this time.'

Just that.

He knew Warlord was the only way for him to change his miserable life. An Jaehyun in real life was a dispensable, minimum-wage slave, but in Warlord, he was the Hero Slaughterer, a character worth an immense amount of money and capable of slaying any foolish challengers.

In other words, what was important to An Jaehyun were the tools he needed to achieve success.

'The date is January 1st.'

He needed to first understand the situation.

The current date was January1st, 2036, 1:22 P.M. to be exact.

'If you were going to send me back, why not a year more…'

Unfortunately, Warlord had already begun its service 10 months ago.

If An Jaehyun had gone back one more year like he wished, he wouldn't have any big concerns.

In any case, he had to face the current situation. Truthfully, he was thankful. Wishing for more would be too greedy.

'The gap is huge.'

10 months weren't a small difference. In fact, it was anything but small.

Warlord released its top 100 rankings weekly, but rankers didn't refer to just these top 100. Although true rankers were those on this list, one could be called a ranker if one's level was above a certain standard based on the top 100 rankers.

The competition was fierce within the top ranking players. Only the names of top 100 rankers were displayed, and the money one could get from contracts by being a top 100 ranker were vastly different. Warlord's rule of thumb was that every time the front digit of a rank changed, the front digit of a contract payment changed.

Anyways, what was important was that almost all rankers started playing within the first one month of service.

'5 months was it? Super Rookie Myojyo, I think he started the latest out of the rankers.'

In this area, a Polish player called Myojyo made a name for himself.

He started Warlord exactly 144 days after its launch and managed to enter the top 100 in 2038, on Warlord's 4th year of service.

This meant it took him close to 3 years to bridge the gap with the Starters.

Myojyo's play time was freakishly high as well. Most rankers played about 100 hours per week. The Rule of 100. The standard was to invest 100 hours to playing every week. 110 hours meant a 10% higher result, 90 hours meant a 10% lower result. This was Warlord's Rule of 100.

In Myojyo's case, his average weekly play time was 130 hours. Normal people weren't able to play for so long. Warlord required high amount of concentration, and loss of concentration meant death. In addition, death meant 48 hours of downtime. It was clearly better to sleep 8 hours for a good rest than getting 6 hours of sleep and dying because of it. Regardless, Myojyo managed to reach the top 100, and he was given the nickname Super Rookie.

But what if there was a difference of 10 months?

'I don't know about the titles that have already come out, but I know all the titles that will come out in the future. If I can monopolize them, I can cover this gap.'

It would normally be impossible to bridge such a gap.

But it was possible for An Jaehyun, who returned to the past with all his memories.

Warlord has a title system. If a player achieved something no other players had, or if the player was the first to discover something, or if the player accomplished a monumental feat, he was given titles. They had a simple function – to permanently raise the player's stats.

It was a system for those in lead.

In most games, the ones who started later had more advantage, at least in terms of time efficiency. They just had to pick and follow a path other had toiled through. It was fair for the pioneers to receive some benefit, and that benefit was the title system.

There were no information on titles whatsoever. Players had to find them out for themselves by playing the game.

However, the current An Jaehyun was full of title-related knowledge.

He also knew the best hunting grounds and the method for hunting certain monsters. These were among the many weapons at An Jaehyun's disposal.

It wasn't easy to bridge a 10 month gap, but it wasn't impossible for An Jaehyun.

'I'll just have to work hard.'

There was one more problem.

'What's important to me now is money.'

An Jaehyun remembered 2036 very well. It was the year he was fired from the factory he worked in for no clear reason, and was close to running low on the money he had saved up.

'I probably have 2, 3 million at best.'

One needed at least 7 million won to start Warlord.

'I need to borrow 5 million somehow…'

To play Warlord, one needed Peach Corp's virtual reality device, V-Gear. Unfortunately for An Jaehyun, the cheapest Level 1 Model's exact cost was 20,990,000 won.

It was expensive.

It was the cost of a small car. It wasn't a small amount, but it couldn't be considered too expensive for what it was worth. V-Gear was the key to accessing the virtual world.

There was, of course, no need to pay all at once. There were monthly installment plans just like for real cars. For V-Gears, 12 months was the max, and one had to make a down payment for the first three months, which was about 5 million won.

There was also the cost of creating a Warlord character. Upon creation, one could play free for the first 3 months, but other extraneous costs amounted to another 2 million won. This cost couldn't be paid on credit.

All this amounted to about 7 million won.

Taking into account the currently saved up money, An Jaehyun still needed 5 million more.

'There's no way my credit card can handle that much, and I probably can't loan that much from the bank. If I take out the deposit for this one-room apartment and live on the streets with just my V-Gear… no, that would be just asking to be robbed.'

An Jaehyun already knew the answer to this problem.

'Looks like I'll have to go to those loan sharks.'

Private loans.

An Jaehyun hated the loan sharks as much as anyone else, but he knew it was the only way to borrow such a large amount of money. It would be akin to putting himself on shackles, but obtaining 5 million won by honest work would take 3 to 4 months, and that would be no different than cutting off his own legs.

'Assuming I'm okay with money, what's my plan now?'

His next worry was about his future plans.

Warlord's main content was monster raids. It was also the most lucrative content.
However, monster raids were designed for cooperative plays.

An Jaehyun knew for sure that Hyrkan would never be able to solo a raid. Although Hyrkan was strong, it was impossible for him to solo a raid. It was because Hyrkan was a swordsman. Swordsmen were front-liners, and their job was to charge into the enemy and make way for his team.

Additionally, raids required various chemical reactions from different classes. If a monster reacted to a specific magic, it was the players' job to take advantage of the fact and find its weakness. Only a very small minority relied on brute force to fight.

'Damn.'

In the first place, this way of thinking was completely irrational.

An Jaehyun had amazing personal skills and now the knowledge of the future. Using the two, he could easily enter any of the Top 30 Guilds' Esquire groups. Esquire groups contained prospective, back-up players for the Top 30 Guilds, and they received the full backing of their guilds.

If a player distinguished himself somehow, he was promoted to a regular member. At that point, wealth and fame naturally followed. All he had to do was cooperate with the guild's decisions.

'Fuck.'

But An Jaehyun denied such rational way of thinking.

He didn't care about what the rational thing to do was.

'Like I'll ever work under those fuckers.'

Just because An Jaehyun threatened to overtake their positions, those rich pigs had ruined An Jaehyun's life. As a result, An Jaehyun was forced to quit Warlord with nothing but bitterness and anger left in him. An Jaehyun would never forget the persecution, humiliation, and hardships he faced after the Hahoe Mask Guild betrayed him. It's nothing to brag about, but he even considered committing suicide.

Of course, none of this had happened in present time, but those memories were etched onto An Jaehyun's mind.

Join their guild and become their dog?

Maybe he would if he really were a dog.

But An Jaehyun wasn't a dog. He was human. And his human values wouldn't let him accept such a thing.

'A class that can do solo raids… a class you can play alone.'

An Jaehyun racked his brain.

'Does Warlord have a class that can do everything by itself?'

To An Jaehyun anguishing over this question,

'Ah!'

A light bulb went off.

"Rich Lich."

There was one.

While everyone was fighting fearsome monsters as a guild, there was one person who succeeded in soloing a raid.

His nickname, Rich Lich.

"There was that guy!"

His class, necromancer.

MrPiratedFan
*This novel is not own by me or Webnovel. 

Author: D-Dart; 디다트

Original Publisher: Munpia

Language: Korean web novel

Translator: Wuxiaworld

Year 2035. The virtual reality game, Warlord, changed the world. An Jaehyun was one of the many who wished to change his life through the game. After dedicating his life to the game, he was met with a betrayal. A betrayal by his comrades. As a result, he lost everything. But a chance was given to him. A chance to redo everything again! “I won’t play with others ever again. Whatever the outcome, I’ll show that I can do it alone.” Others rolled a dice to split the spoils of victory. An Jaehyun ate it all by himself. It was the start of An Jaehyun’s solo game life.

*This novel is not own by me or Webnovel. 
*I love this novel and decided to post it on Webnovel. 
*Credit to the Author/Writer of this Novel and translators 'Wuxiaworld', God make you stronger. 
MrPiratedFan.

Most men fell into a bit of narcissism, looking at themselves in the mirror after showers. It was a strange, unfortunate, and rather sad habit of the male species.

But An Jaehyun detested looking at mirrors. He didn't have any particularly handsome feature, and he couldn't even look at the mirror without his thick glasses.

But at the moment, An Jaehyun was staring into the mirror with a big smile on his face.

It wasn't an ordinary smile.

Grin!

It was a refreshing smile. It may look odd to others, but An Jaehyun was doing his best to make his smile look as clear as possible. Looking into the mirror, An Jaehyun spoke to himself.

"You unlucky bastard," he criticized himself.

But while criticizing himself, An Jaehyun didn't lose the smile on his face. In fact, he made an even happier smile.

'Yep, you really had an unlucky life.'

An Jaehyun once again recalled the last moment of his life.

It was a car accident. After he bought a lottery ticket, he resolved his mind for a new start. That was when a truck hit the bus station and crushed An Jaehyun with it. He couldn't even feel any pain as he died instantaneously. He was thinking 'Ah!' as he was hit, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in January 1st, 2036.

'I knew I was unlucky, but come on, a car accident? Just how unlucky was I?'

It was a time when vehicles had built-in autonomous navigation system designed specifically to prevent car accidents. It goes without saying that An Jaehyun was extremely unlucky to have died from a car accident.

But as of now, his unlucky life had never happened.

'Yep, you lived one really unlucky life.'

"So it's time to live a lucky one."

He had returned to the past.

There was no penalty. His memory, body, and thought process were all perfectly fine. He was disappointed that he didn't gain a superpower, but he was nonetheless satisfied. What was so important was that something that would only happen in movies and novels happened to him. It meant that he became a main character, since obviously a side character wouldn't be sent back in time.

An Jaehyun didn't think too much into his situation.

It was a common cliché. An Jaehyun didn't stop to think whether he was dreaming, or whether he had been dreaming a long dream all this time. He also didn't think about the butterfly effect his return would have on the world. He found it useless to bother with anything that wouldn't make him money.

There was only one important thing to him right now.

'I'll hit it big with Warlord this time.'

Just that.


 
He knew Warlord was the only way for him to change his miserable life. An Jaehyun in real life was a dispensable, minimum-wage slave, but in Warlord, he was the Hero Slaughterer, a character worth an immense amount of money and capable of slaying any foolish challengers.

In other words, what was important to An Jaehyun were the tools he needed to achieve success.

'The date is January 1st.'

He needed to first understand the situation.

The current date was January1st, 2036, 1:22 P.M. to be exact.

'If you were going to send me back, why not a year more…'

Unfortunately, Warlord had already begun its service 10 months ago.

If An Jaehyun had gone back one more year like he wished, he wouldn't have any big concerns.

In any case, he had to face the current situation. Truthfully, he was thankful. Wishing for more would be too greedy.

'The gap is huge.'

10 months weren't a small difference. In fact, it was anything but small.

Warlord released its top 100 rankings weekly, but rankers didn't refer to just these top 100. Although true rankers were those on this list, one could be called a ranker if one's level was above a certain standard based on the top 100 rankers.

The competition was fierce within the top ranking players. Only the names of top 100 rankers were displayed, and the money one could get from contracts by being a top 100 ranker were vastly different. Warlord's rule of thumb was that every time the front digit of a rank changed, the front digit of a contract payment changed.

Anyways, what was important was that almost all rankers started playing within the first one month of service.

'5 months was it? Super Rookie Myojyo, I think he started the latest out of the rankers.'

In this area, a Polish player called Myojyo made a name for himself.

He started Warlord exactly 144 days after its launch and managed to enter the top 100 in 2038, on Warlord's 4th year of service.

This meant it took him close to 3 years to bridge the gap with the Starters.

Myojyo's play time was freakishly high as well. Most rankers played about 100 hours per week. The Rule of 100. The standard was to invest 100 hours to playing every week. 110 hours meant a 10% higher result, 90 hours meant a 10% lower result. This was Warlord's Rule of 100.

In Myojyo's case, his average weekly play time was 130 hours. Normal people weren't able to play for so long. Warlord required high amount of concentration, and loss of concentration meant death. In addition, death meant 48 hours of downtime. It was clearly better to sleep 8 hours for a good rest than getting 6 hours of sleep and dying because of it. Regardless, Myojyo managed to reach the top 100, and he was given the nickname Super Rookie.

But what if there was a difference of 10 months?


 
'I don't know about the titles that have already come out, but I know all the titles that will come out in the future. If I can monopolize them, I can cover this gap.'

It would normally be impossible to bridge such a gap.

But it was possible for An Jaehyun, who returned to the past with all his memories.

Warlord has a title system. If a player achieved something no other players had, or if the player was the first to discover something, or if the player accomplished a monumental feat, he was given titles. They had a simple function – to permanently raise the player's stats.

It was a system for those in lead.

In most games, the ones who started later had more advantage, at least in terms of time efficiency. They just had to pick and follow a path other had toiled through. It was fair for the pioneers to receive some benefit, and that benefit was the title system.

There were no information on titles whatsoever. Players had to find them out for themselves by playing the game.

However, the current An Jaehyun was full of title-related knowledge.

He also knew the best hunting grounds and the method for hunting certain monsters. These were among the many weapons at An Jaehyun's disposal.

It wasn't easy to bridge a 10 month gap, but it wasn't impossible for An Jaehyun.

'I'll just have to work hard.'

There was one more problem.

'What's important to me now is money.'

An Jaehyun remembered 2036 very well. It was the year he was fired from the factory he worked in for no clear reason, and was close to running low on the money he had saved up.

'I probably have 2, 3 million at best.'

One needed at least 7 million won to start Warlord.

'I need to borrow 5 million somehow…'

To play Warlord, one needed Peach Corp's virtual reality device, V-Gear. Unfortunately for An Jaehyun, the cheapest Level 1 Model's exact cost was 20,990,000 won.

It was expensive.

It was the cost of a small car. It wasn't a small amount, but it couldn't be considered too expensive for what it was worth. V-Gear was the key to accessing the virtual world.

There was, of course, no need to pay all at once. There were monthly installment plans just like for real cars. For V-Gears, 12 months was the max, and one had to make a down payment for the first three months, which was about 5 million won.

There was also the cost of creating a Warlord character. Upon creation, one could play free for the first 3 months, but other extraneous costs amounted to another 2 million won. This cost couldn't be paid on credit.

All this amounted to about 7 million won.

Taking into account the currently saved up money, An Jaehyun still needed 5 million more.

'There's no way my credit card can handle that much, and I probably can't loan that much from the bank. If I take out the deposit for this one-room apartment and live on the streets with just my V-Gear… no, that would be just asking to be robbed.'


 
An Jaehyun already knew the answer to this problem.

'Looks like I'll have to go to those loan sharks.'

Private loans.

An Jaehyun hated the loan sharks as much as anyone else, but he knew it was the only way to borrow such a large amount of money. It would be akin to putting himself on shackles, but obtaining 5 million won by honest work would take 3 to 4 months, and that would be no different than cutting off his own legs.

'Assuming I'm okay with money, what's my plan now?'

His next worry was about his future plans.

Warlord's main content was monster raids. It was also the most lucrative content.

However, monster raids were designed for cooperative plays.

An Jaehyun knew for sure that Hyrkan would never be able to solo a raid. Although Hyrkan was strong, it was impossible for him to solo a raid. It was because Hyrkan was a swordsman. Swordsmen were front-liners, and their job was to charge into the enemy and make way for his team.

Additionally, raids required various chemical reactions from different classes. If a monster reacted to a specific magic, it was the players' job to take advantage of the fact and find its weakness. Only a very small minority relied on brute force to fight.

'Damn.'

In the first place, this way of thinking was completely irrational.

An Jaehyun had amazing personal skills and now the knowledge of the future. Using the two, he could easily enter any of the Top 30 Guilds' Esquire groups. Esquire groups contained prospective, back-up players for the Top 30 Guilds, and they received the full backing of their guilds.

If a player distinguished himself somehow, he was promoted to a regular member. At that point, wealth and fame naturally followed. All he had to do was cooperate with the guild's decisions.

'Fuck.'

But An Jaehyun denied such rational way of thinking.

He didn't care about what the rational thing to do was.

'Like I'll ever work under those fuckers.'

Just because An Jaehyun threatened to overtake their positions, those rich pigs had ruined An Jaehyun's life. As a result, An Jaehyun was forced to quit Warlord with nothing but bitterness and anger left in him. An Jaehyun would never forget the persecution, humiliation, and hardships he faced after the Hahoe Mask Guild betrayed him. It's nothing to brag about, but he even considered committing suicide.

Of course, none of this had happened in present time, but those memories were etched onto An Jaehyun's mind.

Join their guild and become their dog?

Maybe he would if he really were a dog.

But An Jaehyun wasn't a dog. He was human. And his human values wouldn't let him accept such a thing.

'A class that can do solo raids… a class you can play alone.'


 
An Jaehyun racked his brain.

'Does Warlord have a class that can do everything by itself?'

To An Jaehyun anguishing over this question,

'Ah!'

A light bulb went off.

"Rich Lich."

There was one.

While everyone was fighting fearsome monsters as a guild, there was one person who succeeded in soloing a raid.

His nickname, Rich Lich.

"There was that guy!"

His class, necromancer.

Year 2035. The virtual reality game, Warlord, changed the world. An Jaehyun was one of the many who wished to change his life through the game. After dedicating his life to the game, he was met with a betrayal. A betrayal by his comrades. As a result, he lost everything. But a chance was given to him. A chance to redo everything again! “I won’t play with others ever again. Whatever the outcome, I’ll show that I can do it alone.” Others rolled a dice to split the spoils of victory. An Jaehyun ate it all by himself. It was the start of An Jaehyun’s solo game life.

A little later, the interview proceeded. 
Among the questions was one about Yu Zuung's lineage, which Hyunwoo wanted the interviewer to ask. 
"I hear you have a Vienamese nationality. Are you from a Vietnamese family?"
"In fact, my great-grandfather was from a Chinese family, so Chinese blood is running in my body."
"I see."
The interview was done without any difficulty and was on air in an entertainment program several days later. 
Hyunwoo released everything about her.
The first item was her pictorial. Hyunwoo had her photoshoot finished even before the music video 'Temptation' was released. He was convinced that she would certainly embrace a day like this.
As soon as her pictorial was released, it drew an explosive interest from the public.
It was sold as a special edition for 100,000 won and a general one for 30,000 on the internet. The special edition was downloaded five thousand times on average per day, and the general edition twenty thousand times on average every day. 
There were various reasons for the explosive demands for her pictorials. First of all, it was sold simultaneously in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Secondly, there were no official photos of Yu Zuung on the internet.
Last but not least, Yu Zuung's beauty was a decisive factor in the explosive demands for her pictorial. She was just beauty itself from head to foot. In particular, the pictorial featured some particular parts of her body to underline her sexual attraction, which excited numerous men in Asia. 
Yu Zuung's sudden popularity invited other woman entertainers' jealousy. Some of them even tried to challenge her for a beauty contest. They put themselves next to her on purpose and made cute and sexy expressions.
But their behavior like that only backfired. Most of the viewers just felt they were pitiful.
"Tut, tut. I thought she was pretty, but she is just nothing, compared with Yu Zuung."
"What the heck? How weird Taehee's nose is! That's her soft side, compared with Yu Zuung's."
"Wow, look at the stunning beauty of Yu Zuung! She just puts other talents in the shade."
As the general public praised her tremendously, other female entertainers tended to avoid her. They knew that their weak points plainly came to light when they stood beside her, so they wanted to avoid it by all means.
"Are you sure Yu Zuung is also on the show? I don't want to be there."
"We can't send our entertainers to the TV shows where Yu Zuung appears."
Despite this, Yu Zuung was always treated as a top guest on TV shows because her appearance was much more helpful in raising the ratings than ten other entertainers. 
There was once a hot competition between two TV channels. One channel presented only Yu Zuung while the other presented several beautiful entertainers, but the viewers overwhelmingly watched Yu Zuung's channel. 
Some of the female entertainers confidently decided to appear with her on TV shows. But most of them were comedians or excellent actresses. 


Hyunwoo's second item about Yu Zuung was aggressive marketing of her commercial value in Vietnam and China. 
Her interview with the Korean Broadcasting music program was not only aired in Korea but also in Vietnam, her home country, and China.
That was what Hyunwoo intended from the start.
As expected, there was a fever of craze for Yu Zuung in Vietnam where the Korean pop wave was firing through the country. In China, her mention of her Chinese bloodline was actively promoted as 'a proud offspring of the Chinese people.'
The craze for Yu Zuung was also pretty strong in Japan and Southeast countries. She woke to find herself an Asian star. 
Her popularity directly led to a steep increase in sales of her pictorial. As she gained increasing popularity, the masks and costumes that the masked dancers put on sold like hotcakes. 
And now her popularity began to spread to Europe and America. A magazine allegedly boasting of the biggest circulation in the world chose Yu Zuung as the No. 1  of the world's top 100 beauty. 
After the magazine article came out she was flooded with requests for her appearance on TV and other entertainment programs. Not only Asian but also American entertainment promoters were enthusiastic about getting her on their TV shows. 
Yu Zuung was literally swamped with all kinds of requests from TVs and entertainment agencies from around the world. Even she could not believe her sudden popularity. She felt as if it might disappear all of a sudden like mirage one day.
But it was for real. Wherever she went, she was recognized by many people, who yelled for joy. No matter how much she split her schedule, she was basically too busy to take a break.
Thanks to her popularity the rest of the masked dancers also enjoyed the intense attention of the public. 
In particular, Soyun Han was in the spotlight. Jiah was already identified by the press, so Soyun was the only one of the three masked dancers whose identity had remained veiled up to now.
"Who is that girl?"
"Her dancing is so sexy. I wonder if her face is just as sexy."
"Why are they refusing to disclose her face?"
Many people strongly asked Ani & Funny to disclose her face, and Hyunwoo felt that the time to disclose her face was coming closer.
No matter how strongly they wanted her to disclose, Hyunwoo could not do it on his own. It was her judgment call, after all.
Of course, he could ask her.
He called Soyun to ask about her intention, "When do you think is the best time to disclose your face?"
"I think you can disclose my face when the music video Temptation is ranked tenth and above of the Billboard Hot 100. You can announce it as a promise officially."
Billboard Hot 100 was the main chart that ranked the top 100 songs of the week the world over. As it was the stage for the world's top singers, it was really commendable for a Korean singer to even get ranked within the top 100. 
Accordingly, it would be a terrific achievement if Temptation could be included in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. 
But Hyunwoo was not surprised. As Jinhon and Angela's Duckling Fly was still enjoying the top place in the chart, he didn't think it a great goal for Temptation to get ranked as one of the top ten songs of the chart. 
Thanks to Yu Zuung's popularity Temptation was also gaining more and more popularity in the US market. So, it would be a matter of time to see it get traction on the Billboard chart.
Hyunwoo thought he should seize the opportunity when it came along.
So, he didn't make any further schedule for the masked dancers in the Korean market. As soon as they were done with all the existing performances, Hyunwoo decided to send them to America.
He clenched his fists and said to Soyun, "Got it. Be strong and hang in there! You are not alone here. No matter what happens, your colleagues will stand by and move with you."
"Thanks so much!"
Several days later, Soyun came back to her studio late at night. As she was terribly busy working late, she was exhausted. But she didn't feel tired because she knew her dream would be coming true sooner or later. 
She turned on the TV instead of going to bed. She monitored the Korean Broacasting's music program by pressing the replay button on the TV. 
Someone from Ani &Funny said in an interview like this:
<When Temptation was ranked as one of the top ten songs of Billboard Hot 100 chart, we will disclose the faces of the remaining dancer.>
Yea, 10th place in Billboard chart. she mumbled before she knew.
She would not have achieved her dream if she had been stuck in her past. Her nightmare life during the past several years flashed into her mind. And now the time was approaching for her to end it. 
Tears rained down her cheek, which were tears of joy, happiness and hope, above all.

***
Hyunwoo went back to Ani & Funny office.
When he entered, Kyungsu briefed him about the business report.
"I have received all the entries of the students' animation movie planning finally."
Hyunwoo's face brightened at that. It was welcome news that he had been waiting for with patience. 
Unlike short animated stories, it usually takes lots of time to produce an animated movie. 
First of all, it took a considerable period of time to review all the entries submitted to the open contest. Though the summary of a short story was only one page, an animated movie required at least three pages of summary and 30 pages of text.
To save time, Hyunwoo had his staff work on the introduction of the movie only. He was thinking of a 60-minute playing time, but the first 20 minutes was produced based on the storyboard submitted by the students. 
He felt even that first portion was interesting enough to generate the people's attention.
"Really? Have they submitted the entries without any exception?"
"Yes, all the eleven teams submitted."
He wondered how interesting they were.
But he had to wait. Even experts could not enjoy the movie production draft composed only of the storyboard.
"Just send them to the Vietnam branch. Let them make webtoons first. Based on that, let me select the final entries for movie production."
Kyunsu sent all the eleven entries to the Vietnam branch.
Even though they were done with creating the storyboards, the students could not afford to have free time yet. There was lots of other work to do.
Hyunwoo went down to the first floor to encourage them.
But he didn't need to. They were so absorbed in working on other projects that they didn't know Hyunwoo was there. 
Come to think of it, it was natural that they bent over backwards like that. They clearly knew Hyunwoo gave them due cash rewards for their hard work. 
He came back upstairs in order not to disturb them and asked Kyungsu, "I think we had better raise our cash awards for our students."

Miracles don't come walking your way by themselves.

It is your decisions and will that determine these.

A story of a man who created miracles.

**Munpia Novels**

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The previous chapters were mistakenly released under 《Remember The Name》. It's finally fixed.

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