Chapter 9: Ephterel Verden

The tremendous advancement of technology makes people lazy.

“Fufu, finally.”

I was no different.
I couldn’t escape that intense temptation.

After all, my fundamental nature came from being an ordinary human.

I haven’t left the house.

I had a desire to check out the changed world, but I soon realized that there were many things in this world that stemmed from my status.

The cell phone was a prime example.

I could learn many things without having to ride a carriage and travel long distances, or struggle to decipher the scribbled handwriting unique to nobles.

I don’t have to cover myself with a blanket and leave the bed. I didn’t have to lose sleep because of monsters that came without distinguishing between morning and night.

The most frightening thing in this world was Sephie’s hand trying to drag me out of bed by force.

But who am I?
I am a hero. A transcendent being that even the demon god feared.

At first, I tried not to give in.

But strangely enough, Sephie adapted incredibly quickly.

Based on my faint memories, I tried to tell her a little about the world I knew, but she said she had already heard everything from the goddess.

The goddess I met in the virtual reality capsule seemed to be very worried, and after meeting me, she went out of her way to give Sephie various advice and sermons.

Maybe that’s why.

Sephie turned into a very competent angel. The food she prepares is really delicious, and the ice cream she buys every time she goes out is sweet.

Because of that, I started to become a useless human at a rapid pace. To the point where even Sephie scolded me.

But no way!
I finally returned, and who dares to stop me from living comfortably!

Sephie knew that well, so she basically respected me.

‘What will you do without me?’

‘Why do you worry about that? Sephie will be by my side forever, right?’

‘…That’s right.’

We had such a conversation.

And so, Sephie and I spent a week together.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

With a smile on my lips, I lay down inside the capsule and closed my eyes.

[Scanning the user’s body]

I heard a sound.

It was like hearing someone speak, but at the same time, it felt like letters were floating in my brain.

[Scanning in progress. Average time required: 1 minute]

Scan.

The process of storing and registering my body in the virtual reality capsule I will use.

A body created based on the real body, another me is created.

[Please stop all movements until the scan is complete]

When I heard that sound, I closed my eyes that were opening.

My heart was pounding with a slight excitement, so I wondered if I should stop my heartbeat as well.

[Scan complete. Loading user’s body information]

[1…]

[2…]

[3…]

[Synchronization complete]

When I heard that sound, my eyelids naturally opened. What came into view was not the space where I met the goddess, but the vast universe.

The faint starlight was illuminating the pitch-black darkness. It felt so vivid that I unknowingly inhaled a breath.

In front of me was me.

I can check my appearance after the scan is complete.

[Would you like to modify your appearance?]

Such a system window appeared.
I shook my head because I couldn’t speak, and it disappeared naturally.

I blinked my eyes, reached out, and touched my hair. Pasasak— The sensation of the lifeless hair was familiar.

Pure white hair, and likewise, white skin that seemed to cover my eyes.

Overly calm eyes, and black pupils. The stoically closed lips were red. It was an appearance that made me admire even myself.

Below the neck… I was naked, so I looked away. Even though my body was a woman’s, my mind was a man’s.

I haven’t lost that yet.
I was thinking that.

[Warning!]

[The user’s assimilation rate is too high!]

[This device recommends adjusting the assimilation rate!]

[An excessively high assimilation rate may cause the user’s…]

The voice continued.
At the same time, a translucent window opened in front of my eyes. Several letters formed sentences in it, but.

“There’s so much?”

Humans are surprisingly easy to change.

I thought the thick experience in another world would never go away, but maybe it’s because I’ve been resting comfortably for the past few days, but the tension has completely disappeared.

I hated anything annoying.

A prime example was Sephie, who came in to clean the room and tried to drag me out by force.

I reflexively raised my finger and swiped them all away. Because it was based on the user’s brain, they disappeared one by one in front of my eyes.

[Registering ID]

[ID: ]

A blinking message window.

I thought for a moment, then thought of the ID I would use.

[ID: Ashilis]

[ID setting complete]

A smile blooms.

Maybe I really miss the other world.

[Would you like to reveal your real name?]

“No.”

When I verbally denied it, the various windows that had been making me dizzy finally disappeared.

When I was looking at the vast space again, another window appeared. I didn’t skip it this time.

[Loading game list]

I had to choose a game to play.

But there was only one.

And it wasn’t a game I bought, to be precise, it was a game the goddess had bought.

Normally, there should be nothing. But this was also an arrangement prepared by the goddess.

Of course, I could buy countless games with the money in the bank account that the goddess had prepared for me, but this was also the game I was going to play right now.

A smile spreads across my lips.
I raised my finger and pressed the game icon.

A black background, with pure white fog spreading around.

The title written in an antique font in the center.

[Eftarel Verden]

Without any hesitation, I stared at the title, and my mind momentarily blurred.

The wind blows.
The sound that reached my ears caused such an illusion.

Like a spark appearing on firewood, the sound that was flowing very faintly.

[Eftarel Verden]

It turned into a huge music, like an orchestra opening. My eyes automatically opened to the magnificent song that made my heart race.

Before I knew it, I was not in the vast space, but at the entrance of a dark forest with lush trees.

In the distance, I was looking at the crumbling castle of the empire. A blackening moon was in the sky. The lifeless wind tickled my cheek.

[Loading user’s body information]

[Synchronizing senses]

While waiting for the brief gap to load my real body, I recalled things about this game.

A week was a period of adjustment.

For Sephie. For me, it was only two days because I was born here.

While meeting the goddess and Sephie was diligently adapting to the world for a week, I learned about the game I would enjoy.

[Eftarel Verden]

The first thing I came across was Ratube, and the next was a gallery on the Internet.

[Eftarel Gallery]

―――

[Title: Newbie almost had a heart attack(★)]

I tried it to commemorate the installation of the capsule at home.

Damn it, I died to a mob and met the tutorial boss, but why is it like that?

As soon as I met him, I was stuttering and got my head smashed by a halberd;

It’s creepy just thinking about it again;

Why do you really play this game?

Are the bastards who play this game desperate to die?

It would be better to just enter the gate LOL

[Comment]

-Noob♥~

-Newbie cut LOL
ㄴ For real LOL It’s a gateway that newbies always go through LOL

-Do you think our ‘Knight of Despair’ Mobidik is a joke LOL?
ㄴ That’s why he’s not called the newbie crusher for nothing.
ㄴ Awakened ones are also ‘despaired’ by Godbidik;

-It’s like that at first, so try playing a little more

―――

It was the evaluation of a newbie who played Eftarel for the first time.

I looked a little more, and there were many similar posts.

I also looked up articles from when the game was released.

‘The difficulty is insane.’

‘The pressure from the gloomy atmosphere is amazing.’

‘The enormous scale is enormous.’

‘A crazy game where the tutorial boss has phase 1, phase 2, and phase 3, and even berserk.’

The last article was an article based on the title of a video uploaded to Ratube.

Seeing those things, I recalled a game that existed before I was summoned to another world. It was a game that tormented users with extreme difficulty.

Eftarel Verden felt like that game was transferred to virtual reality. That’s what it looked like when I looked it up on Ratube.

In fact, I also looked up real-time game streaming, and it was so exciting that it felt like I was in another world.

If there is a special feature.

As a virtual reality that recognizes the brain and embodies the real body and senses, a game where only the player’s own physical ability becomes the entirety of their skill.

In addition to that, if awakened ones play, their physical abilities are relatively high in many ways compared to ordinary people.

Because of that, there was even a system that automatically increased the difficulty when a certain standard set by the game was exceeded.

Of course, the opposite case is also applied.

In the end, it’s a game, and ordinary people also play it.

As an aside, I realized how amazing the development of science was, and I felt it to the bone.

Anyway, because of those factors, the difficulty was so high that even the users who were playing before warned a lot.

Nevertheless, it was very popular.

Of course, compared to when it was released, the popularity was cooling down, but it was still a game that many people were interested in.

‘It’s designed to torment the player, huh.’

I smiled bitterly.

That wasn’t important.
What I was concerned about was not only the game’s own elements, but also external factors.

Because…

‘She told me to try it.’

It was also the goddess who prepared the capsule, a virtual reality device. The only game registered in that capsule was ‘Eftarel Verden’.

What does that mean?

It means that the goddess directly recommended this game. Of course, she also said that if I didn’t like it, I could just enjoy another game.

‘There must be a reason.’

Surely there will be.

The goddess, who did the enormous thing of creating a world for me, wouldn’t have done this for no reason.

And, I felt a strangely familiar atmosphere.

Maybe it was because Eftarel Verden was quite similar to another world.

I am surviving in a desperate world with no dreams or hope. When I was in another world, I gritted my teeth, saying I would never come to a place like this again.

But I’m about to play a game with a similar atmosphere. It was ridiculous.

But there was the most important reason.

That is…

‘Maybe, Eftarel Verden.’

It might be a game that embodies the otherworld I went to, managed by the goddess.

[Synchronization complete]

I finished thinking and looked ahead.

My body now was no different from my body in reality.

[Warning!]

[Assimilation rate is too…]

As before, I skipped the system’s warning messages and terms of agreement that complicated my eyes.

All I wanted was the game.

Virtual reality makes the impossible possible in reality, so there was no need to deliberately reduce immersion.

“Shall we try?”

Without hiding the smile that spread across my lips, I calmed my heart that was trembling with a slight tension and walked forward, turning my back to the forest.

Along with that, darkness fell on my mind.

So, while I was looking forward to the start of the game.

-Oh, it’s a newbie.
-Looking at the playtime, it’s really a newbie.
-Is the customization your own? 1 try.
-Let’s go to the tutorial LOL
-Difficulty Lunatic LOL Newbie, turn off the game now LOL

I started the tutorial to learn the basics of the game, unaware that there were people watching my gameplay in real time.

[Ratube linkage terms]

[Do you agree to real-time streaming?]

Because I had no idea that there was such an item in the terms of use that I just agreed to and skipped because I was too lazy to read.