Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 91

The public square buzzed with activity as my nickname was revealed.

I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a breath to assess the situation.

First, the ‘Elfnuna’ they were talking about.

That was the nickname I’d used.

I hadn’t given it much thought at the time; I’d simply named my character that because she was an elf.

And…

‘I also wrote a stat summary…’

Was that about three years ago?

I’d put a lot of effort into compiling it, and it felt like a waste, so I posted it on the bulletin board to save it.

I remember that, true to the nature of a dead game’s bulletin board, it didn’t even get 100 views for a year.

But.

‘Why are they all looking at me like I’m some rare, named entity?’

Come to think of it, that woman earlier also said she was a fan of ‘that person’.

Why?

The last time I visited that community was maybe five years ago.

‘…Did I become famous without even realizing it?’

Whatever the reason, I came to a conclusion.

I’ve become famous.

I can figure out the reason for my fame later.

I’ve gathered enough clues to deal with the immediate situation.

“Ah, you’ve misunderstood.”

In about three seconds.

Having assessed the situation, I smiled brightly and waved my hand.

“I’m a fan of that person. If you look at my nickname carefully, you’ll see. It’s not Elfnuna, but Elfnunna. Nunna.”

It was a stroke of luck that I’d changed one letter in the spelling due to duplicate nicknames.

I hate unnecessary attention.

“Oh, now that you mention it…”

“The nickname is different.”

The men looked at my nickname again at my words.

“It’s Elfnunna! Not Elfnuna!”

“What, was it a fake…?”

“I knew it couldn’t be. I was a little excited because they said they were Korean…”

They sighed, seemingly disappointed.

Some looked at me with slightly displeased eyes, perhaps because they felt tricked.

“Haha, if you’re a fan, that can happen!”

The room leader, ‘Darkman,’ laughed and eased the tension, then told us a few rules to follow in the room.

We had to use honorifics with each other?

There wasn’t much else to remember other than that they’d ban anyone who caused trouble.

“Then, I’ll be going now, so feel free to chat. You can leave whenever you want.”

The welcoming atmosphere for the newbie was short-lived.

People returned to their original spots and chatted amongst themselves.

As I was wondering where to go, a white man approached me.

He was a player with the nickname PinkGuy.

“How many years have you been playing, Elfnunna?”

“Ah, I’m in my first year.”

I’m actually in my fifth month, but I figured it might seem strange if I said I came here too early.

However, the answer I got was unexpected.

“Really? You got your letter pretty late?”

“Huh?”

“Well, only a few people get letters after gaining fame, and most get them early on when they’re noticeable.”

“I see…”

“It seems you’ve been doing a good job of laying low if you just got your letter, Elfnunna. I started as a human and was just carrying luggage when I got my letter.”

“Ah, yes…”

“Anyway, if you’re in your first year, that means it’s only been about 70 days for you here… So you must know what’s going on these days? How is it over there?”

I didn’t know if there was anything worth mentioning, and I asked back as if I’d misheard.

“70 days… you say?”

I clearly said I was in my first year just now.

But why is it 70 days ago?

PinkGuy continued, looking like he’d realized something.

“Ah, if this is your first time, you wouldn’t know. The flow of time is different in your world and here.”

“Different?”

“Yes. One month on Earth is about five months here.”

In other words, a 1:5 time ratio.

I felt strange as soon as I heard that.

‘It’s only been a month…’

I’m glad that less time has passed, but I wonder if a missing person report has been filed.

I should have had someone looking for me besides my company.

As I continued to talk with PinkGuy, I learned various things.

“A way to go back? Well, there are many theories… but I heard nothing is certain yet.”

Even the players who came here much earlier haven’t figured out how to return.

The founder of the Ghost Busters is a veteran of 20 years.

“Clearing that game five years ago, that’s really amazing, isn’t it?”

“You can say that again.”

The more new information I heard, the more I felt defeated.

It felt like my pride as a veteran was collapsing.

No matter how you look at it, everyone here is a master who reached the Abyss Gate before me.

‘Even if they look dumb on the outside, they’re actually all amazing people—’

“So, what multiplier did you clear it with, Elfnunna?”

Huh? Multiplier?

I looked at him, not understanding what he was saying, and he added.

“You didn’t clear the original version, did you? You must have cleared the remake version. What multiplier did you use?”

No, I still don’t understand even if you say that…

Remake?

“Would you understand if I said it was a pirated version? You know, the game file that was uploaded to the Stone Iven bulletin board five years ago, where you could adjust the experience and drop rates.”

Oh…

There was such a thing?

PinkGuy then spoke with undisguised pride.

“Ah, not to brag, but I cleared it with a 50x multiplier.”

How can there be so many people who cleared this game?

It was the moment a long-standing question was resolved.

***

[Dungeon & Stone].

The game where I poured 10 years of my life into just to enter the final boss room.

While playing, I constantly wondered how a game with such difficulty could exist.

However…

‘You can set the maximum experience to 100x and the drop rate to 100x?’

Crazy, what kind of cheat settings are those?

I didn’t even know that the level cap was 30.

Even if I caught every monster in the labyrinth, level 11 was the limit.

‘Wait a minute, if the level cap is 30, does that mean you can feed 30 essences to one character?’

Honestly, I can’t even imagine it.

It’s like, you don’t need to give up anything or choose anything; you can just shove everything in.

I feel like a fool for agonizing over the best combination, thinking about the synergy of each essence.

And I even heard that you can open the rifts, which are the core of growth, at any time you want…

‘With a 100x drop rate, number items must have been pouring out.’

Thirty essences.

And a super munchkin character armed with all sorts of artifacts.

What if five such characters form a party?

The ancient dragon I caught after hundreds of tries, the Lord of Destruction, Leviathan, they would all die with a single tap.

“So, what multiplier did you clear it with, Elfnunna?”

“…I also used 50x.”

“Ah, I see. Wasn’t it difficult?”

Difficult my ass.

With these conditions, I’m confident I could clear any shitty event, even a dimensional collapse, in one go.

But…

‘It would be a loss for me to say that.’

Just like the evil spirit hunter came looking for me as soon as I gained fame, excessive attention is poison. It’s foolish to take risks to show off to someone.

I shouldn’t stand out and just find out what I need to know.

“What multiplier did the person who created this place use?”

“Ah, that person? Don’t be surprised. They cleared it with a 15x multiplier. They were an original user, so it was possible.”

“15x… I see.”

I pretended to be surprised, as if I should be. By the way, PinkGuy said that the average multiplier for players is between 60 and 80…

After hearing that, the conversations of the people laughing and chatting in the distance started to reach my ears.

“Haha, isn’t this world ridiculous? I still haven’t been in a rift. In the game, you just had to click.”

“Yeah, I know. If it’s this hard just to enter a rift, how are we supposed to get to the last floor…”

“I heard there were a lot of easter eggs in the game. I should have looked into those more.”

The players were lamenting, comparing the remake version they had played with reality.

Well, they had a point.

This place is a real-life version with even higher difficulty than the original.

“Hoo…”

A deep sense of futility washed over me.

The seniors who cleared this game before me.

Thinking that, I was trying to calm myself, telling myself to find things to learn from them rather than trying to belittle them…

But this is just ridiculous.

“Elfnunna?”

“Sorry, I was just thinking…”

After that, I continued to talk with PinkGuy for a while.

In the process, I learned things that were common sense for ordinary players, and I also learned much more about how this community works.

Also, one question was resolved.

‘The remake… so the pirated version became popular, and the game became popular again, and my nickname became famous along with it…’

In many ways, the conversation with PinkGuy was beneficial.

It was also quite fun.

“Ha, I’d be happy if I could just eat a whole pizza… Is there any food you want to eat, Elfnunna?”

“Cola and gukbap [Korean rice soup].”

“Gukbap? What kind of food is that?”

“It’s the most efficient food I’ve ever eaten.”

How long has it been since I had a conversation like this?

***

After exchanging a few words with other people, I left the newbie room.

At the end, PinkGuy asked if he could add me as a friend, and I politely declined. He was definitely a good person, but I didn’t want to get close to him.

He was too nice to me.

Like he was treating me like a crush.

‘Anyway, I think I know everything I need to know now…’

Even after returning to the room with the computer, I continued to cram information into my head by reading the bulletin boards and announcements.

So now it’s time to achieve the purpose of coming here.

‘Let’s start looking into the dimensional collapse.’

I tapped the keyboard and checked the timer in the lower right corner.

It had already decreased from 12 hours to 7 hours.

I had to hurry because the space would close when the time was up, even if I didn’t log out separately.

[Marketplace]

I used the mouse to open the marketplace page.

Here, you could purchase services such as information and goods with Ghost Points, GP.

In other words, it was possible to obtain goods or purchase rare items using GP.

However…

‘It’s better not to touch this.’

I decided not to use this feature if possible.

Goods must go through reality.

No matter how complex the intermediary system is.

Even if the system looks quite safe.

In the end, since actual items are exchanged in reality, there will inevitably be contact with me as a barbarian [outsider].

[Owned GP: 0]

Therefore, the option to charge GP with real money is also a pass.

Of course, I need GP to purchase information about the dimensional collapse, but…

It wasn’t a big problem.

I can be self-sufficient here.

Click, tap.

I used the mouse to apply the [Information] filter to the marketplace items. Then, I changed the category to [Purchase Request].

Then, countless questions appeared.

[20GP] Is there an easy way to get to the 2nd floor?

[100~500GP] I’m raising a melee dealer, and I want to know a strong early-game build.

Easy questions had correspondingly low GP rewards.

But…

[7,000GP] I want to know the special events for each staircase of the 4th floor’s Sky Tower.

[2,800GP] I want to know exactly how the passive skill ‘Dragon’s Master’ is judged.

For relatively advanced questions, the rewards were high.

So, I sorted them by the highest price.

That’s the most efficient way.

[70,000GP] Buying a strategy for the 1st floor’s floor boss. No jokes.

[69,000 GP] Only those who know about the 6th floor’s Skull Island in detail, please contact me.

The 1st floor’s floor boss?

[Requested a 1:1 conversation with TacitRonin.]

[Transaction completed.]

[Owned GP: 70,000]

The 6th floor’s hidden piece, Skull Island?

[Requested a 1:1 conversation with Bro_78.]

[Transaction completed.]

[Owned GP: 139,000]

There’s nothing I don’t know about this game.