How to Survive as a Player Chapter 187

#187

Sehyeon was sitting in the waiting room where mercenaries who had not yet been promoted were gathered to take the test. The small piece of paper in his hand had the number 128 written on it. The mercenary who left the waiting room a little while ago was from the 110th division, so there were about ten more people left ahead.

When I woke up in the morning and checked, the hands of the monster covering the sky were more shriveled than yesterday. Even the dull colors gradually began to become vivid. However, people did not notice this, and the number of applicants for the empire’s punitive force was constantly increasing.

The subjugation that the employee was talking about.

There was a high probability that the Empire knew about the monster’s hand floating in the sky. Otherwise, there was no way to explain the reason for recruiting mercenaries from all over the country in the name of subjugation.

And if that’s true, they will end up as victims.

“Get ready for number 120!”

At the sound of a shout from the window, the mercenary who was warming up in front of Sehyun began to move while holding the paper tightly. Before we knew it, the area around Sehyeon had become quiet.

Only then did Sehyeon ask a short question to Ruhak, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

“Ruhak, do you know about the red moon?”

“It is a symbol of bad omen recorded in imperial literature. According to records, on days when the red moon rises, great floods, great earthquakes, epidemics of unknown origin, or the appearance of monsters occur and hit the continent. There is a theory that it comes periodically once every thousand years, but even that was dismissed as a superstition as it lasted for 3,000 years.”

Just before Ruhak started speaking, Muan quickly used the ‘Sound Blocking’ skill to prevent any sound from going out around him.

“And, normally, the red moon never rises.”

Sehyun’s eyes narrowed slightly. That means that the red moon did not rise in Ruhak’s original world.

“So you’re saying the red moon has nothing to do with this incident?”

“no.”

Ruhak’s gaze was directed to the window with a clear view of the sky. A black shadow entered his eyes.

“This is our home, but it is a recreated world. This means that it wouldn’t be strange if something different from what we experienced happened. For example, our extinction occurred about 50 years from today. However, the time we currently have is only one month.”

“That means… .”

“It means that a destruction different from the destruction we experienced is coming. “And that too in the near future.”

Another destruction. What was happening now might be something new that even Ruhak had never experienced.

“The great dukes call the destruction that must be prevented within the tower the ‘destruction of dreams.’ It has nothing to do with the ‘actual’ destruction of the world, and is a predicted destruction that even the Grand Dukes have never experienced. But even this is real.”

“It’s real… What.”

“Literally. If the destruction is prevented, everything that happened in this world will become the reality of the vassals. It becomes established in the life you have lived, as if you have lived that way. Some of them have already become reality and have been transferred to Elix. “The greatest example of this is Renshis.”

The name Renshis that came out of Ruhak’s mouth felt particularly unfamiliar. Renshis was Sehyun’s 7th hero who used a gauntlet. He was also a vassal who showed him a letter he was holding in his arms and asked him to read it, whenever he did a trust check.

Inside the letter it was written:

‘I must live… And let’s meet again. To my beloved hero, Ren.’

I’ve never asked about it, but I’ve always been curious about that. She also felt uncomfortable. About his previous life where he was loved by someone.

“Originally, Renshis was someone who did not exist in the world we lived in. “It would be right to say that he never existed.”

“… It could be an illusion. No, how do you know that in the first place? It could be that you live far enough away that you don’t have to come and go. “If we don’t know because we haven’t met, why don’t we consider it?”

“It would be better if it was an illusion. “The path to his life or death will depend on what kind of footsteps you leave here.”

“my… Are you saying that Renshis’ life or death is determined by his actions?”

“Well, we’ll see. I also don’t know how he became ‘real’ and came to Elix. “I just know that you did something here and that made him ‘real.’”

The Grand Duke had the inherent right to view the people of his own race. It was a kind of information record, and the moment they saw the vassals summoned from the dimensional gate, their entire lives appeared as text.

But only one. There was a being that was pure and devoid of anything. That was Renshis. He was a man filled with blank spaces, with no information on his age, nationality, hometown, or even what he had been doing.

After a long time, Ruhak realized what that meant. It is real, but it is non-existent.

He was not the real world where Ruhak lived, but a ‘branch’ that was born separately from somewhere and came over for some reason. The origin is the same, but it has been newly derived and has become itself.

And here there was only one other world. The Archduke’s dream that may become reality.

That was Ruhak’s conclusion about Renshis. And Ruhak criticized the kings as the ‘existence’ that intervened in his life and death. Starting with the first king, all the way to Sehyeon.

Of course, now that he has become closer to the Archduke’s dream, Ruhak has limited his existence to Sehyeon. The person who created Lenshis was Sehyun, not anyone else.

“… “What happens if I don’t save Ren here?”

Ruhak did not answer. Nevertheless, Sehyeon found the answer to this in silence.

extinction.

Sehyeon’s eyes closed darkly. The destruction that Ruhak saw was initially ‘two-fold’. The destruction that actually happened, and the destruction of the dream that Sehyun had to prevent, like this.

Only then did I realize what the saying ‘it becomes real when it is achieved’ meant. It was said that everything Sehyeon accomplished here had an impact on the lives of the heroes and, by extension, the vassals. Sehyeon’s actions and choices are everything.

It was a heavy and scary result.

“… “Do you know anything else about the red moon?”

At Sehyeon’s answer, the surroundings fell silent. Ruhak looked away from the window and shook his head. For now, that was all he knew.

“But is it okay to say it like this? Ruhak, what are your restrictions?”

“After coming here, the power of the restriction was partially weakened due to some influence of the tower. It would be more accurate to say that it was cut off from the outside world. I don’t know if this was intentional, but if it goes to this extent without direct mention… “I think it’ll be okay.”

“If it’s disconnected… . “Isn’t that why communication doesn’t work?”

I thought the tower was in charge of the princes’ ‘constraints’, but judging from Ruhak’s words, the tower and the constraints seemed to have separate properties. Suddenly, the thought occurred to me that maybe it was the guides who were in charge of the restrictions.

“… road.”

As the silence grew longer and the conversation broke down, Muan spoke to Sehyeon, his eyes shining beneath his robe hat. The eyes, which blinked a few times, soon told a story.

“I heard this a while ago when I happened to visit the Magic Tower… . There was an eccentric wizard who visited disasters and recorded mana values ​​to study black magic… “At that time, he said that the places that suffered the most damage from the rising red moon had certain characteristics in common.”

“Like what?”

“It was said that this is the place where resentment is deepest.”

This time, all eyes focused on Muan. Mu An paused for a moment, perhaps remembering her memory, and then opened her mouth again.

“He believed that the red moon would seek out grievances and bring disaster there. Most of the places where disaster struck were places where wars, massacres, and subjugations took place, and the energy of death was present. It is said that resentment becomes a ghost and is expressed as mana… . “I was very young at the time, so I couldn’t understand it very well.”

The place where resentment is deepest. If what Muan said is true, it means that the disaster began in a specific place. At least it meant that the location was specific.

“The Empire has already… .”

“Get ready for number 128!”

At the sound of a shout coming from afar, Sehyeon’s eyes reflexively turned to the paper I was holding. No. 128. It was Sehyun’s number. Sehyeon got up from his seat at the employee’s shout. Sehyun’s next person in line was Ruhak.

“Let’s go and talk about the rest. “I tell you in advance, everyone please do it in moderation.”

Sehyun left only those words and followed the staff’s instructions to the testing site. After passing through the end of the long hallway, we reached the outside training hall. There were two high-ranking mercenaries there in charge of screening.

The employee handed over the application documents that Sehyeon had submitted in advance to the reviewers and then quickly disappeared again.

“It’s class D.”

“Besides, seeing as there is no mission information, it must have been a while since we won the card.”

The mercenaries clicked their tongues, looking Sehyeon up and down as if they were disapproving. In their eyes, Sehyun will be seen as a newbie who just jumped in for the money. These days, D-class mercenaries are coming in and out of the mercenary office in the hopes of making some money, so the fatigue of the office staff is at its peak.

There was no way for them to feel very good about the weak appearance of Se-hyeon. Plus, that blonde hair visible through the robe. We couldn’t ignore the possibility that some nobleman’s son ran in for fun.

“ha… First of all, give it a try. “Your main weapon is a bow?”

“I’ll tell you in advance, if you fall short of the standards by even a little bit, you will be immediately disqualified.”

Sehyeon walked towards the training ground’s target. The distance to the target is approximately 80 meters. It was shorter than the distance I usually practice. Sehyun grabbed the bow and arrows provided at the test site and stood where the line was drawn.

“Let’s begin.”

Sehyeon hung an arrow and pulled the bowstring right in front of his nose. It is unknown whether this was intentional, but the bowstring of the provided bow was loose. In addition, because the bow was quite large compared to Sehyeon’s body, there was a limit to how tightly it could be pulled.

In this case, if there are ten, the arrow will not receive any force and will fall before it reaches the target.

At first, I thought I would just shoot the arrow and be done with it, but seeing it come out like this made Sehyeon change his mind.