Chapter 11
However, the result was… unfortunately, not the shooter weapon I had been so desperately hoping for.
‘What is this, a book?’
Even to my untrained eye, the thick leather cover looked luxurious. The edges were decorated with shiny metal and gemstones, sparkling brilliantly.
For a second, I wanted to bite it to see if it was pure gold, but I held back.
At first glance, it was obviously an expensive item, but equally obvious that it wasn’t the kind of equipment a shooter could use.
With a sour expression, I opened the item description popup.
[Fryne’s Magic Tome]
Healer-exclusive, Lv.60
Combat Power +20,000
A magic tome… The red letters “Healer-exclusive” immediately caught my eye.
My friend Sohyun’s main class was healer, so I had occasionally seen one before. It wasn’t exactly like a regular book—when you opened it, crystal-like shards filled with mana would pop out and spin in the air.
In short, it wasn’t really a book, but a book-shaped weapon.
Either way, it meant the thing was utterly useless to me.
I tried grunting and forcing it open, but since I wasn’t a healer, it wouldn’t even unfold.
Talk about disappointing…
Unlike me, Belinda looked very excited.
“Wow, this is… an incredibly fine piece of equipment.”
“Is that so?”
I asked half-heartedly. No matter how good it was, it was something I couldn’t even use.
If there were other players around, I could at least trade it for a high price and turn it into money. But as we all know… well, that ship has sailed.
“Yes, of course. This was once the weapon used by the great healer Fryne, the hero chosen by the Goddess around 800 years ago…”
“You mean… you’re really giving such a relic to me?”
I asked in an almost guilty tone. Was it really okay for me to accept this? It sounded like something that should be shipped straight to a museum.
I even worried for a moment that I might have damaged it when I had just tried to force it open.
“Oh, naturally, it’s a replica.”
“….”
I narrowed my eyes at Belinda. Wasn’t this basically a scam? Pulling a “legendary” item only to find it’s a replica?
“P-please don’t be so disappointed! It was duplicated through the Goddess’s blessing, so the weapon’s performance is identical. You won’t find another replica crafted this perfectly.”
Her explanation eased my annoyance a little. Well… if the performance was the same, then fine.
Now that I thought about it, in the game there had been thousands, tens of thousands of items with the same name. Obviously, not all of them could be the “original.” They must have all been replicas too.
Besides, for something supposedly passed down from 800 years ago, the cover, gemstones, and metal parts sparkled way too much. It looked more like a brand-new product, less than eight months old, let alone 800 years.
Still, the idea that it was once the weapon of a hero chosen by the Goddess… made me wonder. Would there ever be a weapon named after me in the far future, showing up in some gear draw? Something like [The Strongest Shooter Elaine’s Pistol]…
By then, I’d already be dead, of course, but even so, the thought of a legendary weapon bearing that name was horrific. I had to change my name before such a disaster ever occurred.
While I was once again fired up with determination to change my name—
Bam-bam-bam!
That familiar fanfare rang out, and my level rose.
[Level Up!]
Lv.2 → Lv.3
Combat Power +10!
Total Combat Power: 245 (Equipment effect +225)
Oh, the quest cleared and I leveled up again.
On top of that, with the weapon’s effect, my combat power now soared past 200. That meant I had grown ten times stronger compared to yesterday.
Games are supposed to be like that—early on, you get that rush of levels shooting up fast. A few more quests, and my level would skyrocket even further.
Still, I had no plans to touch the main quest just yet. Before the real story started moving, I needed to take care of renaming myself first.
Once the main quest began, I’d be traveling all over the continent, flashing my hero’s guild ID. All the more reason I had to fix my name quickly.
And in this system, nothing happened if you accepted a quest but didn’t proceed. That meant I had time to grind for rainbow stones.
So I thought—then paused.
‘Wait a second… this means the main quest is going to get tangled, doesn’t it?’
The next quest was to investigate yesterday’s crash.
The order was: receive instructions, board a ship with the other members, drink a magic potion that lets you breathe underwater, dive to investigate the wreckage, and then find a magic recording stone—basically the black box—among the shattered cockpit debris.
Through that, you discover the crash was caused by followers of the demon lord Phoneros.
Except… I had already finished all that yesterday.
Sure, I’d brushed it off as a divine revelation from the Goddess, but in the end, I had captured one of the culprits and even got her testimony.
I had been planning to delay the main story as much as possible, but now… wasn’t my whole plan collapsing?
Just as I was thinking that—
Another fanfare sounded. Not a level-up popup this time.
[<Main Quest: Truth of the Crash> Completed!]
…The timing was uncanny.
Unless the status window had read my thoughts and gone, “Hey, you’re right lol,” there was no other explanation for this perfect timing.
At any rate, my level went up again. Now I was level 4, with total attack power at 340 thanks to the weapon’s 300 attack boost.
What was this ridiculous growth rate? I wasn’t some mushroom sprouting after the rain.
“Um, so… can I go now?”
“Yes, of course. From now on, you’re free to use all facilities on Mid-Isle. There are missions given to hero corps members, but they’re optional. If you’d like, you can pick whichever you want from the bulletin board up ahead.”
Belinda nodded as she answered me. She added that if there were ever any mandatory missions, they would summon me directly.
“Oh, and please stop by the training grounds sometime when you have the chance. The instructors are very curious to meet the Strongest Shooter Elaine.”
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
I nodded enthusiastically.
Training grounds, instructors—those words reminded me of something.
Every five levels, completing the instructors’ training quests would earn you a rainbow stone.
And right now, rainbow stones were exactly what I needed. Getting one every five levels? That was an absolute blessing.
‘Hehehe… thank you in advance, Instructor Craig.’
I grinned inwardly like a villain, imagining the instructor I hadn’t yet met.
The training grounds didn’t just have Craig, who handled shooters. There were instructors for healer, summoner, wizard, and other magic-based jobs too.
One of them was a woman named Johanna, if I remembered correctly. Since my main job was shooter, I had almost no interaction with her, so her name and appearance were only vaguely familiar.
Craig, on the other hand, taught tanks, melee damage dealers, archers, and shooters—basically all the physical classes.
At first, I had wondered if shooters counted as a magical class, since we used mana bullets. But apparently, since we couldn’t use magic without guns as a medium, we weren’t classified as mages.
Anyway, I left the Hero Corps office and headed toward the market.
My plan was to sell off the useless gear I had drawn earlier, and while I was at it, do some window-shopping.
The first thing that caught my eye was a huge bulletin board.
The marketplace board.
In the game, players used it for trading items.
You’d post unwanted items for sale, and buyers could search and purchase what they needed.
Here, though, it was implemented analog-style, with handwritten notes stuck onto the board.
And unlike the crowded player bazaars in the game, with thousands of characters swarming, this real marketplace board was deserted, with hardly anything posted.
The few notes there looked so old that the paper was weathered and ragged.
Curious, I glanced at what was written and recognized some names.
Darren was selling an almost brand-new intermediate axe techniques manual. Johanna was selling some suspicious potion she had made.
For a moment, I considered posting a note to sell Fryne’s Magic Tome. But… looking at the empty board, I doubted anyone would ever see it.
The loneliness of being stranded all alone in this world hit me again, leaving me a little bitter.
Sighing, I stepped into the marketplace street.
It felt like an old seaside European alley, with wooden signs hanging over every shop.
General store, weaving shop, tailor, leather workshop, carpenter, blacksmith, apothecary, magic workshop, tavern-and-inn…
This tiny island had everything.
Except for the general store and inn, most had nothing to do with me. Still, since I’d need rainbow stones, I would eventually have to make rounds through all of them.
Shrugging, I headed toward my main destination: the general store.
“Welcome!”
A tanned middle-aged man greeted me. He was Lucan, the shop owner.
“A new face, I see. What brings you all the way to Mid-Isle? Here for a vacation? Our island does have some fine scenery.”
With a friendly smile, he struck up conversation.
