Chapter 09
“!”
I instinctively opened my inventory and grabbed Thor’s sword.
“Now, this is the place where priests used to train. Only those who reach the center without being tempted under any circumstance—huh?”
“Huh?”
Looking closer, it was the High Priest.
Behind him, countless apprentice priests stared at me with wide, curious eyes.
Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be a secret?
At that moment, the kind message from the Neria NPC popped into my mind:
[Fourth notice: some main story elements have been altered from what you previously knew.
Please save the continent of Uneria once more, hero!]
Was that the “slightly different main story”? Changing the crystal locations?
Then it’s not “slightly different” at all, damn it!
“What brings you here? Tours are only conducted in sequence for those who requested them…”
The High Priest spoke, and I couldn’t answer.
After all, I had ignored that overly zealous priest chasing me and had run all the way here.
I only needed to grab the crystal. After that, there’d be no reason to get involved with the palace people in the main story.
“Um…”
I stepped toward the High Priest and then dashed straight through the line of apprentices.
But there were too many of them, and suddenly the game lagged.
“Gah, what the world…”
The High Priest’s mouth fell open, and some apprentices even fainted in surprise.
Curious, I looked down—and my body was gone. Only my face floated in midair.
“Oh.”
I turned around to see my body stumbling behind me, trying to catch up.
Sometimes Uneria glitches so that the face and body don’t sync when creating a character—but I didn’t expect it to happen in this world too.
Fix scary bugs like this instead of trivial ones!
“A heretic?”
One apprentice flinched, and I couldn’t help replying sarcastically.
“Am I a heretic just because my body lagged a bit?”
“Judging by just one aspect of a person can sow discord,” said the High Priest, smiling gently at the apprentices.
True enough.
The apprentices continued to watch my floating face and stumbling body.
“This is the miracle of Neria: one going in and two coming out. Truly a devout believer,” the High Priest said.
Not true!
Once I barely escaped the Papal Palace, my mind was in chaos.
I still couldn’t believe the crystal’s location had been changed.
On the way out, that zealous priest collided with me again, but I ignored him and kept running.
“This is going to make clearing it much harder.”
How am I supposed to clear it if I don’t know where it moved?
Do I really have to follow the main story exactly to finish it?
“Annoying…”
Not that I couldn’t clear it, but it would take forever.
Listening to long speeches, completing 241,748,274 pointless side requests—when am I supposed to clear it? And without a guide?
[Mail has arrived.]
“Huh?”
It’s Ned!
I ran to the mailbox in an instant.
Maybe because of my low level, I was out of breath by the time I got there.
Forget the main story for now; maybe I should level up first, then blast through all the quests.
[Hello, Uni. This is Ned.]
The polite tone of the letter calmed me somewhat.
[I went back to the location you mentioned.
I flew down on my dragon and found the open space you indicated, and acquired the crystal.
Is this the correct crystal?]
I looked down and saw a carefully drawn picture of the crystal, sketched with a pen.
The translucent image even reflected the character’s faint silhouette—like a photo.
“Whoa.”
He drew this himself? I almost dropped my jaw.
If he wanted to show an item, he could’ve just linked it from the inventory!
But the newbie’s extraordinary letter didn’t stop there:
[While retrieving the crystal, I saw something strange.
A huge hand-like thing attacked while passing over the island.
It seemed to target me, so I assume it’s a monster, but it’s not listed in Uni’s ‘Hunting Compendium’.]
“Not listed?”
In Uneria, players who max out all skills and stats often do weird things.
I can’t imagine there’s a monster I haven’t fought.
[It dealt excessive damage, and its HP regenerated too quickly for me to handle, so I retreated.
Fortunately, it didn’t chase me when I got far away, but I think I entered an unknown village.
Also, the dragon’s HP…]
“?”
HP… what? The letter cut off mid-sentence.
Ned isn’t the kind to lazily send letters.
But “excessive damage”? The monster did enough damage to show against my specs?
“There’s no such monster in Uneria.”
I’m the kind of player who wouldn’t die even standing still in the highest-level dungeon. Monster damage barely tickles.
“So what about the dragon’s HP?”
If it died, no big deal. Sad, but I can revive it.
According to Ned, just feed it plenty of good food.
But the letter cutting off was suspicious…
He went somewhere unknown, and if the dragon died, Ned wouldn’t know how to revive it.
A newbie wouldn’t know the Potion of Revival, which requires mastering seven separate crafting skills to make just one.
“……”
I folded the letter and opened my status window.
[Name: Uni / Lv. 140]
I need to hit level 300 fast and go rescue my newbie.
Main story or not, I can’t just let a lost newbie wander in a faraway land.
I let down my hair, which I’d tied back, and took off the unisex Medica uniform inspired by Ned’s fashion sense.
Instead, I put on a white dress.
It wasn’t the kind of flouncy dress that gets in the way of movement.
Just a simple black line on the hem for style, yet the dress was active and practical.
Honestly, the stuff available in level-200 towns was usually tacky, but this one was acceptable.
Simple is best.
“This is how hunting should feel.”
I checked the dress again in the outfit tab.
After leveling up, monsters that could one-shot unarmored players were appearing.
Armor in this area is brutal. Even a stylish character becomes a walking tin can with armor. So after level 100, using the outfit tab is essential.
Plus, moving in full armor is heavy—I didn’t know this because Neria GM didn’t tell me.
[Uni / Lv. 248]
I’ve leveled up a lot, and it’s time to return to town to resupply.
Buy potions, repair equipment…
And I couldn’t help worrying about Ned.
“Is Ned dressed properly?”
Our character data got swapped.
I fell into this world wearing a fancy dress only worn for meeting Eiri, while Ned was in my Medica uniform.
So maybe Ned is here wearing my dress with his amazing figure… or worse, naked while talking to Neria GM.
I closed my eyes, imagining the worst.
I prayed that Ned had at least equipped the shared Medica uniform somewhere in the inventory and not worn it in the outfit tab.
“Oh, you’re here? Today your aura seems particularly strong.”
The blacksmith NPC accepted my equipment and spoke.
He hadn’t moved when I entered, but when I handed him equipment, he received it with extreme politeness.
Understandable—the price alone would demand respect.
“How do you use equipment so roughly? You should handle it gently, oil it…”
“No. I haven’t learned armor maintenance,” I said.
I opened my skill window and scrolled to unlearned skills.
“Armor Maintenance” was there, but I didn’t have time to level crafting skills. Level 300 was my priority.
[It dealt excessive damage, and its HP regenerated too quickly for me to handle, so I retreated.]
After the letter cut off with “dragon’s HP…,” I still hadn’t received any updates.
A day and a half had passed. Ned hadn’t made contact.
“……”
At first I thought it was a bug, but now I was becoming certain:
Ned was in a situation where he couldn’t send a letter.
