Chapter 08
There are five crystals on the continent of Uneria.
One is safely resting in my inventory, one Ned has gone to retrieve, and that leaves three more. I just need to collect them and destroy them all at once.
I’d heard the story had changed slightly, but so far, it didn’t seem much different.
The hardest part of gathering the five crystals was clearly this.
“Will Ned be able to bring the crystal back safely?”
……
“I guess I should just stay put. I’ll have to fly there myself.”
From level 250 onward, the experience needed to level up increases sharply.
There’s a saying: “Uneria really starts at half-level,” because the experience requirements are brutal.
To level up enough to fly and fetch Ned, I’d need at least level 300. And the dragon doesn’t obey automatically at level 300… ah, it’s complicated.
“No, but it’s still better than having Ned come himself.”
If I asked him to come, he might get lost in Uneria.
Yes, it would be faster if I leveled up and went myself.
“Just a moment, you scary wallet but cute newbie Ned.”
Anyway, as soon as I hit level 140, I arrived at the Papal Palace.
The god worshiped there is called…
“Neria…”
I couldn’t help but scrunch my face.
Neria GM kept coming to mind.
Thinking about it, this game has countless players, but the only GM known publicly is Neria.
Hopefully it’s not connected to the Neria Church…
Anyway, the crystal should be deep inside this gross-feeling Neria Church Papal Palace.
In the game’s lore, ancient people went to great lengths to hide the crystals, but all that effort didn’t matter—I already knew every crystal’s location.
This is the advantage of a second playthrough… or, rather, replaying a character.
“…….”
I started crying, caught up in my happy thoughts.
Is this really an advantage? Can’t I just get my character back?
“Welcome. May Neria’s blessing be with you.”
“Ah, yes.”
Somehow, it felt like I was being forced to receive a GM blessing, which was uncomfortable.
The powder sprinkled as a blessing looked strangely like the blue powder scattering from Neria GM’s wings.
[Entering Neria Papal Palace. Please speak the language of blessing.]
“Ah……”
I sighed deeply.
I never thought I’d have to say this awkward line myself:
“May the miracle of one going in and two coming out always be with you.”
In other words, it’s not two going in and three coming out, but one in, two out. No misunderstandings, please.
A hellish solo church that splits couples into singles.
This isn’t a joke.
The Papal Palace quest is famous as a hellish solo quest.
The palace itself only allowed singles to enter.
[Entering “Neria Papal Palace.”]
Fortunately, Ned had money, equipment, and no partner, so entering wasn’t a problem.
My character had never married, so I was safe too.
If a glitch had caused one of us to be married and barred, I was ready to just blast the palace doors with a laser cannon. Hmph.
“Hello, Uni! It looks like this is your first time at Neria Papal Palace. What brings you here? Out of 70 prayer rooms, 49 are empty.”
I had no interest in the prayer rooms.
By now, a selection window should’ve appeared—like “Go to prayer room,” “Buy items,” “Other business.”
“…….”
“…….”
But no matter how long I waited, nothing popped up.
The priest and I just stared at each other, blinking slowly.
“Uni worshiper?”
“Uh, yes?”
It felt strange to have an NPC urge me to respond.
“Out of 70 rooms, 49 are empty. Where would you like to go?”
“I didn’t say I wanted a prayer room.”
The words slipped out, creating an awkward tension again.
“Are you here to buy items, then?”
“No, no, I just suddenly felt spiritual today.”
“Ah… yes. Welcome back to the singles.”
Don’t misinterpret. I almost cried.
I left the deeply bowing priest behind and entered the palace’s main hall.
Originally, the quest starts when a player enters the palace and a person runs by carrying a huge stack of books, crashing into the player.
Among the books, the player finds a suspicious object and uncovers Neria Church’s corruption.
A pretty basic scenario.
“Excuse me, coming through!”
A towering stack of books came charging straight at me.
That must be him!
Since the story requires him to collide with me, the priest ran at blazing speed.
But my level was seven times higher, so I wasn’t about to take it.
“Oh, let me through.”
I dodged, and the priest passed.
I saw his face for a moment—flustered. Not what I expected.
“Take care! Don’t hurt your back carrying that heavy stuff!”
Even in hellish Neria Church, the back is important.
After the priest rushed past, I entered the palace.
For the first time in a long while, I questioned something.
Maybe NPCs are controlled by people?
How can they be so dedicated to their job?
“Lots of action today!”
I was greeting the very priest carrying the book tower.
Before, I never realized NPCs could be this persistent because quests automatically progressed.
Anyway, I knew the crystal’s location. I wasn’t going to complete the palace quest—I just planned to grab the crystal and run.
―Tatadadak!
Urgent footsteps came from afar.
I watched the priest running with the book stack and dodged to the side again.
“!”
That was the fourth time today.
Every wide hallway, the NPC ran by, trying to collide with me.
I hadn’t expected him to run again, almost getting hit the second time.
I was startled, but with my high-level character, dodging wasn’t hard.
But the priest’s expression, tinted with frustration, was memorable.
“I need to grab the crystal and leave.”
Even outside, he seemed determined to follow.
I shook my head and pressed forward.
Now in the palace’s core, low-level priests like before couldn’t enter.
I relaxed slightly as I moved.
“!!!”
Then the priest appeared again—this time holding a pendant instead of books. The item players were supposed to find.
“Ha!”
The priest threw the pendant right in front of me.
What? Throwing a pendant instead of gloves? A challenge?
But there was no follow-up action.
He wanted me to pick it up?
“Ah.”
He just wanted a reaction.
But no way. I ignored the pendant and walked past.
I wasn’t doing the quest. Heretics, handle it yourselves.
Besides, in Neria Church, so-called heretics are just male couples anyway, right?
“????????”
I passed the bewildered NPC.
The palace has three main sections:
The surrounding cursed forest,
The main hall inside,
A narrow center connected to a maze underground.
Normally, players find the crystal in the maze center while chasing Neria Church’s heretics.
“Ugh, dust.”
My character probably breathed some dust entering too.
Sorry about that.
Being here in person felt completely different from seeing it on a screen.
The air was thick and unpleasant.
After a little wandering, I quickly found the familiar spot.
“This should be it.”
An open space in the maze center.
A worn box sat right in the middle.
Really? If it’s a quest item, shouldn’t they at least bury it for effort?
“Tsk…”
The setting was ridiculous, but fine. I opened the box quickly.
A white book was inside.
“Huh?”
A white book? Not the crystal?
“What is this?”
I grabbed the book—not to read it, but to see if the crystal was underneath.
It wasn’t.
“What the heck is this?”
[Neria Church Sanctuary]
“…….”
I threw the sanctuary on the floor, expecting it to contain 101 ways to break up couples.
At that moment, lights appeared from a corner of the maze, moving toward me.
