Chapter 51 – Moonlight Sculptor: My Dad is a Legend

Weed had the body of a true alpha male.

He became the first to step on the Frozen Lands’ extreme point, achieving 100% cold resistance.

In the Burning Lands, it was so hot that he walked around shirtless.

“Now that’s refreshing.”

Through relentless training and physical transformation, his body was finely honed down to the last muscle.

Back in the Frozen Lands, every sculpted muscle was exposed to the biting wind.

And what did he grill and eat in that cold?

His own fingers and toes.

“The Frozen Lands are a bit chilly. While exploring, I figured if I ran out of food, I’d need something to grill—so I kept these prepared.”

“…”

“In places like this, food resources are important, you know.”

Even after it was revealed what kind of “food” he was eating, Weed was the only one enjoying it.

He expertly picked off the tiny bits of meat that clung to his severed digits. Anyone watching was on the verge of vomiting.

“Is he even human? I mean… they’re his own fingers.”

“Did he just come back from surviving 20 years in the jungle or the Himalayas?”

“No normal person would say something like that. That’s Weed for you—raw and unchanged.”

“Still an absolute monster.”

Calis and Roam had come here planning to take the lead.

They wanted to make it painfully clear that the Royal Road days were over, to naturally establish a new pecking order.

“What, you think this is Royal Road?”

“You can’t even hunt properly now, can you?”

But faced with the brutal cold of the Frozen Lands and the sight of Weed roasting his own extremities shirtless, their confidence was crushed.

Pale asked curiously.

“But… why do you have so many fingers and toes?”

There were dozens of them—it made no logical sense.

Weed waved his hand nonchalantly.

“Every time I got frostbite while exploring, I chopped them off. But thanks to my ‘Body Regeneration’ trait, they grew back quickly.”

“Wow… Body Regeneration! I didn’t know you had that!”

Not just Pale—Calis and Roam were also stunned.

Body Regeneration was ranked S-tier among player-assessed traits.

And it didn’t just mean fingers and toes could grow back.

In battle, if your muscles are cut or tendons are severed, you can’t move properly. Your combat power plummets, sometimes rendering you entirely useless.

Without a priest’s healing magic, it takes a long time to recover. But with Body Regeneration, you recover even during battle—it was a broken (OP) trait.

Even if your limbs are cut off, they regrow. Injuries to your heart or internal organs? Healed quickly.

As long as you don’t die instantly, you can recover—one of the most coveted traits even among top-tier users.

“He’s definitely still Royal Road’s Weed.”

“I should just quietly accept it.”

Bard Horay and Paladin Orhan, both members of the Arpen Guild, immediately accepted being outranked.

Calis cleared his throat and said,

“So you’re still creating your character? I cleared Nightmare difficulty on my second try. Character creation isn’t easy, is it?”

Beating Nightmare difficulty in just two attempts was a major achievement.

He casually threw that out there to reassert dominance…

“Hmm. Roanoke’s character creation isn’t easy either.”

Weed replied positively—unexpectedly.

Unlike how he was in Royal Road, he now seemed much more generous.

“Right? It’s tough, isn’t it? Probably harder than Royal Road. Just like Nightmare difficulty, there must be another layer of challenge here.”

Calis wasn’t stupid.

From the moment he entered the Frozen Lands during character creation—a place he didn’t even know existed—he figured this must be a difficulty level even worse than Nightmare.

“The Royal Road Weed is still alive and well. When people find out you’re clearing Hellfire difficulty, they’ll be shocked.”

Even Calis was shocked.

Most high-tier players barely scraped through Nightmare difficulty.

“Hellfire difficulty?”

“Wait, this isn’t Hellfire? Can you even get here on Hard or Brutal difficulty?”

“This is Hellfire.”

Weed said it like it was no big deal, and Calis’s eyes trembled with unease.

To even consider clearing Hellfire was beyond absurd.

No one had ever done it.

Roam hesitantly asked,

“So… is this like stage 4?”

Since no player had ever cleared stage 3, reaching stage 4 alone would already be legendary.

And Weed wasn’t just alive—he was thriving.

“I’m on stage 6 right now.”

“Stage 6?!”

“Yes. Once I complete a side quest and explore one more rift, I’ll be stage 7.”

“…”

Roam’s eyes were shaking.

He tried to hide his shock, but he couldn’t.

He had once failed stage 2 of Hellfire difficulty.

Running. Running. Always running.

When he was finally caught and killed, he had felt utter despair.

Yet Weed was doing what he could not.

Calis asked, incredulous.

“But… this is Hellfire difficulty. In Roanoke, dying means losing your life, right? If you die during character creation, you can’t redo it. How did you even get this far?”

He’d been casually speaking informally just moments ago, but now he was back to formal speech—without even realizing it.

Because Weed had been clearing Hellfire difficulty in a single run.

Weed shrugged.

“It was doable.”

“…”

What they all thought was impossible, he brushed off as “doable.”

They briefly hoped maybe stages after 3 were easier—but this was the Frozen Lands.

They weren’t about to chop off their own fingers and toes just to survive.

Such extreme cold meant death could come at any moment.

Even entering this area required passing through an ice storm so absurd it was terrifying.

“So, the side quest…?”

Roam asked cautiously.

He wasn’t quite at Calis’s level, but still ranked in Roanoke’s top 300.

He had only come out here for a walk to meet an old acquaintance.

But ever since stepping into the Frozen Lands, everything seemed off. And the fact that this was Hellfire difficulty made him hyper-aware.

“You see that city over there?”

The city of Sullium.

The five players had scouted it out and seen both humans and Lessers completely frozen in place.

A massive city full of corpses and frozen beings—it was an unimaginable sight.

“My quest is to bring the Purification Flame and warm the city. I’ve already obtained the flame. Once I activate it, everyone in that city will wake up.”

“That’ll trigger a brutal battle between humans and Lessers.”

“A massive war, yes. And we have to eliminate the Lessers and rescue the townspeople.”

“…!”

The quest was massive—yet only six of them were here to resolve it.

The Goddess of Adventure, Trinity.

She was infamous for sending challengers to their deaths.

“Weed-nim, what’s the quest difficulty?”

Pale asked brightly, holding out hope.

“S-rank.”

Weed’s reply crushed their spirits.

Roanoke’s quest system was far more intense than Royal Road’s.

An S-rank quest—especially one with a single outcome—meant you had to risk your life.

✦ ✦ ✦

Trinity Church – The Adventurer’s Deity

To adventurer-type users, or those with exploration achievements, a quest was triggered.

Ding!

Adventure in the Frozen Lands

The long-lost city of Sullium has been discovered by an adventurer.

The city is on the verge of destruction due to the Lessers.

Its citizens face imminent death.

The goddess Trinity wishes for Sullium to be turned to ruins and the Lessers to freeze to death.

Stop anyone trying to save the people, and destroy all Purification Flames.

⚠ Warning: Slightly chilly area.

A chance to explore the Frozen Lands.

Trinity’s generous rewards await!

Limit: First 10 applicants, level 80+

Difficulty: S

Despite Roanoke becoming a deadly game, many users still sought danger.

Most now preferred safe gameplay, but a few embraced risk for the thrill and growth.

“I’ll go.”

You have accepted the quest.

“Please count me in.”

You have accepted the quest.

“To take on a quest from the goddess Trinity… what an honor.”

You have accepted the quest.

As the Roanoke Crisis escalated, society quickly adapted.

Yesterday, 57,000 Roanoke deaths reported.

Memorial service in New York for the victims.

Articles about the dead didn’t gain much attention.

They were someone’s loved ones, sure—but people had grown numb to tens of thousands dying daily.

Decarte Guild declares rule over the Kingdom of Ungle.

How strong are Roanoke’s top players?

Large-scale siege expected in the Kingdom of Babrha due to monster invasion.

The events of Roanoke became trending topics on video platforms and news broadcasts.

Isiris Siege reaches 8.9% viewership.

Knight Ulwern holds city to the last.

Demon invasion hits Nesta Fortress right after East Guild’s attack.

TV ratings soared. Video platforms were dominated by Roanoke content.

—“These sieges are brutal.”

—“They kill every last player who resists… terrifying.”

—“The Windflower Guild is insanely powerful.”

—“Roanoke is now a total warzone.”

—“It’s violent, but thrilling.”

—“A world where you thank the gods every morning just for being alive…”

Battle royale-style films and shows were always popular, but Roanoke dwarfed them in scale and intensity.

“This is exactly what I wanted.”

Roanoke’s lead developer, Han Sung-hyuk, felt like a god.

It had seemed like a reckless dream—but now it was real.

The public’s response was fervent. People were living in the world he built.

Yes, people died for various reasons. But they had all lived meaningfully in this peaceful world, so they had no complaints.

But one player frustrated him:

Weed—who even conquered the Frozen Lands.

Weed approaches final stage of Hellfire difficulty.

Reevaluation of Royal Road’s Weed gaining traction.

All the attention was on Weed, overshadowing the developers.

The media and public were still focused on big guilds and top players—but Weed in Hellfire difficulty was a growing threat.

“Of all things, why did he have to show interest in Sculpting?”

The Ice Dragon had been an unforeseen error for Han Sung-hyuk.

He had rushed development, sure—but he didn’t have to reuse sculpture lifeform data.

“Why didn’t the AI filter that out? Even if we uploaded the data, it should’ve been flagged.”

They reused sculpting skills—but many new ones had also been developed in Roanoke.

“Having Weed’s sculpture lifeforms wandering my world won’t break balance… but…”

What truly bothered him was public sentiment:

—“Isn’t Roanoke just a copy-paste of Royal Road?”

—“They totally phoned it in.”

—“This is why people hate Korean games.”

—“Did Unicorn Group develop everything with a ‘just copy it’ mindset? LOL.”

As a creator, as a developer—his pride and prestige were taking a hit.