Chapter 07
One hour after taking Uni to the secret room, I was in the castle’s high-class restaurant.
“Mm! Smells good!”
Unlike the beginner town, the restaurant in Terrivan Castle, often visited by high-level players, had top-quality food.
By “quality,” I mean the food’s level requirement started at least at 300.
The prices started with gold coins, not copper or silver.
“Then, please enjoy your meal, sir.”
“Yes, yes.”
I ordered my favorite, level 491 fan steak.
Steak is common everywhere, but is any steak really the same?
Good meat is easy to find, but great meat is rare.
Steam rose from the properly cooked steak. The iron plate in the middle of the wide dish kept it warm—a nice touch.
Three tomato slices and some sauce decorated the side. Simple, but better than something overly complicated.
I cut a piece, dipped it in sauce, and took a bite.
“Ah, life’s not so bad.”
The juicy flavor spread in my mouth. I smiled without realizing it.
I nearly starved walking to the castle on only a few crumbs.
I pulled out the pouch Ken gave me and shrugged.
“Thanks, Ken!”
And… sorry!
I spent all the gold Ken gave me at this restaurant.
If thrifty Ken saw me, he might faint at the spending, but at my level, this wasn’t overconsumption.
Repairing equipment after one hunt could cost more than 20 gold coins. Spending three gold on a steak wasn’t strange.
Though, leaving over 7 million gold coins for Ned at his level… that might be a problem.
“…….”
Thinking of the dazzling bank vault, my head went blank again.
I had about 140,000 gold coins in my vault.
I never imagined there was a secret space behind the bank where such a paradise existed.
“Now I understand.”
No wonder En stiffened when they saw me.
It wasn’t nerves at seeing a stranger—it was seeing a VVVIP of the bank, frozen by sheer wealth.
Uneria was truly a world run on capitalism.
Even in a game, you can’t ignore money…
“Anyway, repair costs shouldn’t be a problem. I can buy some clothes too…”
I’m a reasonable person.
I don’t think the gold mountain is all mine.
I already asked Ned if I could use some of his items. I planned to return the money I spent later. With his permission, I could use at least 140,000 gold coins from the vault.
That’s enough to buy clothes, accessories, food, and repair Thor’s Sword.
“Ah, the blacksmith might be a problem.”
There are only a few blacksmiths in Uneria who can repair Thor’s Sword.
I also need to buy a dragon and raise its level.
In Uneria, dragons are stubborn and don’t listen to weaker people. At least level 300 was required to ride one.
So many things to do in no time.
[Mail has arrived.]
“Oh, already?”
There’s only one person who would send me mail.
Hearing that, I felt a little flutter.
[Hello, Uni. This is Ned.
I received your mail.]
On PC, the letter would just be in stiff Uneria text, but here in the virtual world, it felt different.
Ned’s handwriting appeared exactly as it is.
Judging someone by a quick glance is silly, but his handwriting was surprisingly neat and serious.
Handwriting is said to show personality—his was careful and polite.
I started regretting my messy past letters.
[I safely cleared the dungeon with the bow you gave me. Thank you for helping.
I should have thanked you sooner, but I didn’t know there was a mail system in Uneria. Sorry, and thank you.]
He’s making a big deal over just a random item.
Anyway…
“Ned was also summoned without warning.”
Ugh, GM Neria, I’m coming for your neck once this is all over!
[The northern monster island you mentioned—is it Veris Island?
If so, I visited it just before your mail arrived.]
“Oh…….”
I hope he got the crystal there.
[I went to find the crystal you mentioned, but I couldn’t find the red-roofed building.
I only found ruins with blue roofs.
Could you guide me if I took the wrong path? I’ll try again, but I want to know the right route first.
(Monsters respawn quickly, so I might be a little late.)]
The letter was full of care.
“Blue-roof ruins… he probably didn’t see the Z-coordinate.”
Too high—he needs to go lower.
[Also, while going there, I couldn’t find a way to walk, so I rode your dragon. Since it didn’t obey me, I used the method you noted.
Thank you for understanding.]
“Note?”
What did I note? My dragon? Oh, the profile!
I thought hard, then slapped my knee.
[It only works if you get hit, that’s how you wake up.]
Ah, that profile made Eiri laugh every time.
“So he called that a note?”
Newbies are confusing. I laughed.
“Ah, so cute.”
Do whatever you want, Ned!
That dragon was a buggy, laggy monster even in Uneria.
Sometimes it was recognized as a monster and couldn’t be ridden.
If I attacked it with my character, it would die as a “monster” and return to a rideable state.
From Ned’s perspective, he accidentally hit his own dragon—poor thing.
[I felt sorry, so I fed it a lot. Thank you for understanding again.]
Ah, cute! So cute!
[You don’t need to worry about using items. I’ve accidentally used some of yours too. Sorry again.
There’s some gold in the vault; please use it freely.
Items might break, but they aren’t expensive, so feel free to use them.]
“Huh?”
I almost popped my eyes out reading this.
The item window and letter matched—nothing changed.
[They aren’t expensive, so please use freely.]
Not expensive… Thor’s Sword isn’t “not expensive”?
He bought it, so he must know the price. Who is this person?
[I’m worried about you struggling with low-level stats.
If it’s okay, I’d fly over to help (I’ll feed it well).]
“No, you can’t.”
He’d get lost on the continent.
He’d fly around and never find the mailbox!
[Then please tell me your location again. I’ll try and report back.
Thank you, and have a good day.]
He was polite to the end. I shook my head reading it.
“Not expensive… not expensive…”
That line stuck in my head.
I fiddled with the letter. I had so much to say to this rich and cute newbie.
I tried to write a proper reply to Ned.
First, the crystal’s exact location. And…
[Also, Thor’s Sword is very expensive, can I really use it—]
I erased that part.
Even without asking, he might think Thor’s Sword isn’t expensive if the other items aren’t, so no need to ask.
[Level Up!]
With money, no level limit on items, and seeming to cheat with an alt, the only problem was…
“Ah, another forest map.”
Uneria is cruel: even high-level monsters don’t give experience if they’re over 20 levels higher.
So I had to pick the highest-level dungeon I could handle.
I knew monster types, spawn points, and traps, so clearing the dungeon was fine. The problem was lag.
“This damn forest!”
Why lag in a game world? The point was, I could barely move.
Especially here, with so many trees, just walking caused severe lag.
[Uni / Lv. 133]
Still, I leveled up a lot.
Just seven more levels here, and I won’t go to a forest dungeon again!
