Kyung-hoon sighed deeply as he entered his house.
He was in a terrible mood after being unfairly scolded by the team leader due to his senior’s mistake.
The mistake was made by his senior, but all the blame was pinned on him, which was infuriating.
‘That senior is acting like he doesn’t know anything.’
He wanted to confront him, but he couldn’t.
‘That parachute bastard.’
It just so happened that the senior was the cousin of the company president.
A guy who had been working there a year longer than him but knew nothing.
It made his blood boil.
‘Well, whatever. I was planning to quit soon anyway.’
He couldn’t take the stress anymore, so he decided to stick it out for just one more year and then resign.
“Let’s just forget it, forget it.”
Today was a blazing Friday.
On such a golden day, thinking about that infuriating guy would only waste his emotions.
Kyung-hoon quickly changed his clothes, put on his VR goggles, and lay down on the bed.
He felt his body floating, and soon a semi-transparent window with a list of games appeared.
“Is there anything fun to play?”
On days like today, when he came home after being unfairly scolded, it was better to play a game he could enjoy alone rather than team-based games.
He logged into Steam and scrolled through his list of over 300 games when his eyes suddenly landed on one.
[Meta Pangaea. Playtime: 4,150.3 hours]
‘Meta Pangaea’ was a game with an incredibly wide range of character options, from professions to races and ethnicities.
There were hundreds, if not thousands, of playable characters, and you could even create a completely new character using customization.
The overall freedom in the game was immense, making it a masterpiece.
Kyung-hoon had been obsessed with this game when it first came out.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say he spent his twenties with it.
‘Should I give it a try again? I heard the AI has improved a lot.’
Eventually, Kyung-hoon reached out and pressed the start button.
[Would you like to access Meta Pangaea?]
“Yes.”
[Accessing Meta Pangaea.]
Whoosh—!
His vision turned black in an instant.
Soon, the game company’s logo appeared in the center, and the game began.
‘Ah~! The flags fluttering on the castle walls. The majestic background music!’
Memories came flooding back.
Soon, options like “Start Game,” “Continue,” “Options,” and “Developer’s Notes” appeared before his eyes.
“Start Game.”
[Starting a new game.]
The screen changed, and the character creation window appeared.
“Let’s go with human for the race…”
Kyung-hoon carefully selected each character setting.
As he was choosing a country, his eyes were drawn to a specific part of the map.
‘This must be Schrantz, right?’
A family added in the last DLC.
At the same time, the most famous—or rather, infamous—place in the game.
Schrantz, a family with a territory so small it was barely visible on the map.
The reason for Schrantz’s infamy was simple.
First, the geographical factors.
Hostile territories bordered it to the east, west, and south, while dangerous monsters lurked in the uncharted lands to the north.
Even the size of the territory itself was small, making it difficult to expand.
Second, the unpredictable events.
‘Just when you’re trying to manage your territory, hostile forces invade, and if you increase military spending, taxes rise, causing your people to flee or rebel.’
Just when things were starting to stabilize, some random event would throw a wrench in everything.
‘And if you try to play as the eldest son of this family, it’s even harder.’
The eldest son of Schrantz, who was set up as a troublemaker.
Kyung-hoon had tried playing as him before but gave up halfway because it was too frustrating.
Still, it wasn’t without its merits.
You could call it a perk of playing as the troublemaker eldest son.
The initial stats were very good.
Plus, you got an extra stat point every time you leveled up.
If you steadily increased your level, you could single-handedly sweep through enemies, which was incredibly satisfying.
‘It’s the best for mindless fun.’
It’s stressful if you want to immerse yourself in the game, but it’s perfect for casual play.
In other words, there was no better choice for turning off your brain and just having fun.
So Kyung-hoon didn’t hesitate and selected the eldest son of Schrantz, ‘Ian von Schrantz.’
Bzzzt!
“Huh?”
At that moment, noise appeared on the screen like a TV with bad reception.
[Starting the game… Bzzzt!]
“What’s going on? Why is this happening?”
He thought about force-quitting and restarting, but then his vision returned to normal.
[Would you like to start?]
‘Hmm, must have been a temporary glitch.’
Kyung-hoon brushed it off and answered.
“Yes.”
Bzzzt—!
Right after he answered, noise appeared again, and soon the screen changed.
* * *
“If you achieve great success in this monster subjugation, the lord and many others will surely view you differently.”
A voice naturally reached his ears.
When Kyung-hoon turned his gaze, he saw a fully armed middle-aged knight.
Behind him were about two hundred soldiers moving in formation.
“There’s no need to worry about the small number of soldiers.”
The middle-aged knight thumped his chest confidently, smiling reassuringly.
“Schrantz’s soldiers are the most elite in the empire. We can defeat them without significant losses.”
Kyung-hoon stared at him blankly.
“What’s wrong, young lord?”
“Before the post-launch support ended, they did a major update, and the reactions are so natural now?”
Just a moment ago, he had glanced back, and the knight thought he was worried about the small number of soldiers and responded accordingly.
“What are you talking about?”
Kyung-hoon shook his head as if it was nothing.
He remembered that around the time he stopped playing, users were praising how the AI had improved, making the game feel incredibly realistic.
‘And it even reacts to my muttering.’
In the past, it would have just stuck to scripted lines, but it seemed the AI technology had indeed advanced significantly without him noticing.
“Status window.”
Kyung-hoon decided to check the character’s abilities first.
Name: Ian von Schrantz (Lv.1)
Race: Human
Class: Noble
Profession: Knight
Title: Troublemaker Tyrant
Strength: 20 Agility: 17
Magic: 15 Leadership: 1
“Oh, as expected of the eldest son of Schrantz. The initial stats are really good.”
The moment you select a character, all stats are randomly determined.
Considering that, usually, no matter how high a specific stat is, it doesn’t exceed 10, having all stats except leadership exceed 10 is a massive advantage.
‘But, a strength stat of 20? I’ve never seen a stat like this before.’
Even when I watched streamers play, I don’t remember anyone having a stat as high as 20.
“Skill window.”
[Skills]
―Horseback Riding (Advanced) Lv.1
―Swordsmanship (Intermediate) Lv.2
―Archery (Beginner) Lv.4
―Aura Lv.2
―Martial Arts Lv.3
―Intimidation Lv.8
‘Oh ho.’
When it came to combat, this was the best possible setup.
‘It doesn’t get better than this.’
The usual strategy is to keep creating and deleting characters until you get the stats you want, but this was already a top-tier character.
I’ve never had a character with stats and skills this high before.
‘If I had to nitpick, the low leadership is a downside. With stats like this… the soldiers would never listen to me.’
It’s worse than useless.
Leadership is a stat that naturally increases when you command soldiers, give orders, display charisma, or manage your territory.
It’s also a stat required for all those actions and the only stat that can’t be increased with points.
But Kyung-hoon wasn’t too worried.
After all, he planned to quit the game before seriously leading the territory.
And the role of commanding the soldiers would naturally fall to the knight standing right beside him.
Kyung-hoon took a closer look at the knight next to him.
Name: Oswell (Lv.54)
Class: Semi-Noble
Profession: Knight
Title: Loyal Knight
Loyalty: 100 Ambition: 5
Strength: 80 Agility: 73
Magic: 30 Leadership: 95
When you become a lord, you can see the detailed stats of all the people in your territory.
This includes knights.
Oswell, the loyal knight of Schrantz.
No matter how badly you play as ‘Ian von Schrantz,’ Oswell will always risk his life to protect you.
‘I’ll just leave commanding the soldiers to Oswell!’
When you choose the eldest son of Schrantz, the game starts with a battle against monsters.
The strategy for this battle is very simple.
Oswell gives the orders, and all you have to do is watch the soldiers fight.
‘It’s about to start.’
“Captain!”
Just as a hill came into view, a scout rushed over urgently.
“Captain! Greenskins! About 2 kilometers beyond that hill, they’ve set up camp and are advancing!”
Greenskins.
A collective term for monsters like goblins and orcs with green skin.
“How many are there?”
“About 300!”
“Hmm, that matches the intel.”
As the scout and Oswell conversed, a semi-transparent message window appeared in front of Kyung-hoon.
[Quest ‘Greenskins’ has been triggered.]
<Greenskins>
Objective: Defeat the Greenskins (0/312)
―Eliminate the Greenskins that pose a threat to the village.
Reward: Experience points based on contribution
312 of them.
Judging by the reactions of the knights and soldiers following him, they didn’t seem too worried even though they were outnumbered.
“Tch. Is that all? This is disappointing.”
“I wish there were more.”
Their relaxed reactions made it seem like they were going on a rabbit hunt in the hills.
“Battle is imminent! Move in sync as you’ve trained!”
The soldiers moved slowly according to the orders.
When they reached the top of the hill, a vast plain stretched out before them.
In the distance, a horde of monsters was marching toward them.
They seemed to have spotted us too, as their pace quickened.
“Form the battle lines! We’ll meet them on this hill!”
At Oswell’s shout, the soldiers quickly formed their ranks and prepared for battle.
The horde of monsters, made up of goblins and orcs, continued their advance without stopping.
When the distance narrowed to about 500 meters.
“I’ll charge out and break their morale. Everyone, stand by. Charge!”
“Young lord?!”
Kyung-hoon suddenly spurred his horse and charged toward the monsters.
Even if the soldiers and knights under his command killed the monsters, the player would receive experience points, but the amount would be minimal.
If you kill them yourself, you get the full amount, but if the soldiers and knights kill them, you get less than 10%.
But.
He wasn’t doing this for the experience points.
“You parachute bastard!”
Among the Greenskins, there was an orc.
With a belly and a pig-like face, it looked exactly like his senior.
