Chapter 2：Another World

The Miracle Continent was the continent on which the world rested. It had been divided into dozens of kingdoms and empires. No one could imagine the sizes of the kingdoms and empires, let alone a large number of islands and undiscovered areas on the continent around the kingdoms and empires.

The weather had a very specific pattern on the Miracle Continent. The farther to the north, the milder the climate was. Overall, the continent's air was not dry, but it was not humid either. It was probably the most comfortable environment a person could live in. The Serian Kingdom was located in the northern area, and it could be regarded as a rich and powerful kingdom. However, no matter how rich and powerful a kingdom was, there were always a few areas that lagged behind in terms of development. Those areas could potentially hinder the development of the entire kingdom, though that could have been because of local Lords. However, most people did not think like that.

There was a small village in the Sivir Domain, which was located in the Serian Kingdom.

The village was not big. There were only around 30 families that lived in the entire village. However, because there were no special products to export from the village, not just businessmen, but even foot dealers did not go there. Therefore, the flow of people was close to zero. Usually, only a very small number of people could be seen passing by the village in a year. Although the village was not that prosperous, it was not barren. The village relied on hunting and the two seasons of farming every year, which allowed the villagers to live a relatively good life.

However, it had not been that peaceful for a while. Ever since an Undead Dark Knight, who had arrived out of nowhere, had occupied an old ruin that was located outside the village a few months ago, people inside the village had been in a constant state of panic. From that moment onward, people inside the village had begun to disappear. It even developed to the point that as soon as night came, each household would close their doors tight, as they did not dare to go outside for fear of also disappearing. It was exacerbated by the fact that Walking Corpses had also started to appear inside the village.

Since the village's economy was not very good, they couldn't ask a mercenary team to come and help, as they could not afford it. As for the small mercenary teams, they did not dare to take up such a task after they heard buzz words such as "Dark Knight" and "Walking Corpses." The chief of the village had sent people over to tell the Lord of the situation when it had gotten dire. However, after a long time had passed, the Lord's army had not come to surround the village and suppress the issue. It made the people inside the village feel a sense of despair, as they felt like they had been abandoned.

The ruins that were located outside the village had once been used as a mansion by an aristocrat. During that time, the environment that surrounded the village was quite good. But due to some man-made developments and destruction, the beauty that had surrounded the village had disappeared. Afterward, the mansion was abandoned as well. Later on, perhaps because of the severe weather, or maybe because of other reasons, the mansion collapsed and turned into ruins.

At the moment, nearly 50 villagers had gathered at the entrance of the village. They looked expectantly at the ruins in the distance.

The ruins were not too far away from the village. It was possible to see the outline of the buildings when standing at the entrance of the village.

"Chief, those two children…Are you sure they will be all right?"

"It should be…no problem at all…" The old man who was called the chief of the village was bent over, as his face displayed a little uncertainty. "That person warned us before this monster appeared, so…so he must have a way to defeat it."

However, no matter who it was, once a person entered the ruins, which was the same as hell in the eyes of the villagers, and had been there for five to six hours without any updates, it was safe to imagine that something bad had happened. Unfortunately, the two youngsters had been the only people who were willing to help them in recent months. Therefore, even though they had been gone for so long, everyone was still gathered at the entrance of the village with expectations and hopes.

Right at the moment that looks of disappointment began to appear on the faces of the villagers, two figures finally appeared on the horizon.

Most of the villagers began to rub their eyes. When they had confirmed that the two people were the same ones who had said they would help them solve their problems before they ran to the ruins, all the villagers let out a burst of cheers. They rushed towards the two figures like a tide.

The two figures were Sean and Cecilia.

Cecilia was dressed in a long black and white Gothic dress. She held a golden book in her arms that was around 30 centimeters thick, and 30 centimeters in length and width. Her exquisite facial features were expressionless at the moment, but the expression on her face as she looked at Sean displayed a little bit of resentment. "Liar!" muttered Cecilia from time to time.

Sean sent her a wry smile, then rubbed Cecilia's head. "I told you earlier not to run out from your hiding spot. I told you to wait until I tricked it into moving closer to where you were, and then to use your Fireball Technique to deal with it. You did not listen and instead made things difficult to deal with. How can you blame me for that?" Sean questioned.

"Liar!"

Sean was helpless.

The strategy of getting into the ruins to deal with the Dark Knight had gone quite smoothly in the beginning.

There were only about 10 Walking Corpses inside the ruins. With Sean's sword skills and magic skills from Cecilia working together, the Walking Corpses were very easy to deal with. Of course, the process wasn't very pretty, but it was effective. After all, the evil monsters like the Walking Corpses were really ugly and a little frightening to Cecilia. However, even though things had gone well along the way, the situation turned into a complete mess once they met the Dark Knight.

According to Sean's original plan, he would have been the one responsible for attracting the hate of the Dark Knight and leading it close to where Cecilia was hiding. After that, Cecilia would have used her Fireball Technique to take care of the Dark Knight. Because of this, Sean had stayed inside the ruins for a couple of hours. However, Sean had never expected that Cecilia would have been startled by a mouse, hence why she was eventually discovered by the Dark Knight. After that incident, a series of unfortunate events occurred, in which they were constantly evading and running away. The Dark Knight had entered into a stage of fury when it saw them running away, which made it significantly more difficult to handle. Even if Sean had the experience dealing with a Dark Knight, he still did not dare to provoke it in that state. He could only endure until the stage of fury from the Dark Knight had ended.

Of course, if that was all that had happened, then Cecilia would not have been scolding Sean. However, before the task, he had told Cecilia it would be very easy. He had said that all she had to do was throw out a few fireballs to easily take care of the business. But in reality, Cecilia had almost been cut down by a Dark Knight with his sword. Faced with such a direct fight had made her extremely frightened, and she was trying to make Sean suffer for it. Sean really could not say anything after he thought about how Cecilia was only a 12 or 13-year-old girl.

"It is different from the game." Sean looked at Cecilia, who still had an angry expression on her face. "There are still too many unexpected factors. This is still just a level five dungeon…" Sean muttered.

"What are you muttering about again?!" Cecilia glanced at Sean. Although there was still not much expression on her face, she was not as angry as before. "You are always talking to yourself like this." She looked forward again. "The villagers are coming."

"It's nothing." Sean shook his head as he glanced at the villagers, who were cheering and running towards them. A small smile replaced the serious expression that had been displayed on his face. Although he looked a bit disheveled at the moment, the confident and calm aura emanating from his body still made people feel like they had found their backbone. "That's right. This is no longer a game, but the real world!"

It was as if he was trying to strengthen some sort of belief. In front of all the villagers, Sean lifted his hand, which was holding the severed head of the Dark Knight.

All of a sudden, the cheers from the villagers became even louder.

Like heroes who had returned home triumphantly, Sean and Cecilia were welcomed back to the village with great enthusiasm. It made Cecilia a little bit distressed because she was not very good at socializing with other people. However, whenever he noticed, Sean would take great care of her. After they returned to the village, there was a grand dinner, as if it was a celebration. Fish even appeared during the dinner. The village was nowhere near the seaside, so their main dishes were based on meat and vegetables, and fish was a luxury. Generally, fish-based dishes would only ever appear during major festivals. The most special thing about the dinner was that the fish dishes that had appeared during the dinner were all very fresh. This made Sean believe that the enthusiasm from the villagers was all real, as there were no hints that they were being deceived.

When the dinner was over, the villagers even sorted out a clean house for Sean and Cecilia to stay in. Such enthusiasm was usually hard to find, so Sean had no choice but to choose to stay inside the village for another day.

...

The northerly wind in the middle of the night was not as cold as expected. Sean stood at the window on the second floor of the house, overlooking the view outside.

A moment later, Sean finally turned from where he had been standing next to the window. He turned his head and glanced at Cecilia, who was sleeping on the bed. From the look on her face, he could see that the little girl was sleeping very soundly. Looking at the sleeping Cecilia, a small smile stretched across Sean's face, which was rarely seen. "A month has already passed…"

The words held some very deep emotions.

In reality, Sean did not belong to that world. He had arrived from a place called Earth.

He could not explain why he had appeared in this world. In the last memory of the last scene from before he arrived in this world, he could remember he had led an elite team to reclaim a 100-person dungeon that was claimed to be the most difficult in the game at the time. After that, he had mysteriously woken up on the outskirts of the continent. At the time, he was penniless and even had to face being chased by several country dogs. If not for the hunters who happened to be nearby, he may have turned into a meal for those dogs.

After that event, Sean had sorted out his thoughts and decided to take care of things by placing his survival as his immediate top priority. The reason he could adapt to the pace and habits of life in the world so quickly and understood many things that normal people would have found surprising was entirely due to the virtual online game that Sean had been playing when he was still on Earth. The game was called "Miracle," and the world inside the game was the same as the world that Sean resided in right now.

As Sean started to learn about that, he had also begun to discover the secrets hidden on his body. The secret was that even though he had come to this world at only level one and his previous luxurious equipment and amazing wealth had not been brought over with him, his skills tab had been transported along with him. It displayed the many powerful skills that Sean had spent a lot of time and effort collecting and practicing.

Although the skills were impossible to use at first, Sean soon knew what he was supposed to do after he discovered that this world was the same as the world inside the game "Miracle." However, even though he knew what to do, he quickly realized how difficult it was to accomplish his goal after he started to implement his plans. That was because in an online game, where it was a virtual world, a lot of time, he had not needed to care too much about many of the situations that occurred. But it was now the real world, which meant that daily problems had to be taken care of.

On the Miracle Continent, not only did Sean face all kinds of life-threatening situations, but he also had to work hard to make money to solve his problems of food and clothing. Furthermore, he had to find ways to increase his current level. Apart from those things, there were also different kinds of practical issues that had haunted him, such as injury, sickness, and the distance on the road. An hour-long journey inside the game had increased to more than a few days in the real world. Due to it being the real world, his health bar and mana bar did not appear either. If a foot or hand was broken, it would become a real lifelong disability. Death naturally also became a real death.

Even so, Sean had not given up because he was well aware of the gap that his advantage put between himself and the others. It was related to the proficiency points. He was just like the player he had been inside the game; he would receive two proficiency points every time he advanced a level.

That was what Sean valued the most.

On Sean's skills tab, only three skills had been activated so far.

[Sprint: Run six meters forward at a very fast speed. Support/Rank One/Common, level 2/3. Proficiency 1/4.]

[Slash Combo: Make three consecutive attacks. Sword Skill/Rank One/Common/Sword, level 2/5. Proficiency 2/4.]

[Steal: If the sum of strength, endurance, and agility are greater than the sum of three goals, then the opponent's weapon can be successfully seized. Support/Rank One/Special/Empty-handed, level one.]

It took Sean nearly a month before he finally advanced to level five. As he only had 10 proficiency points, he did not dare to randomly use them.

In the later stages, there were a lot more skills for the player to acquire and the activation of the skills would consume one proficiency point. There would also be the activation of the special skills that needed to consume more proficiency points, not to mention the fact that proficiency points that could also be used to improve personal attributes or to improve life and professional skills. His proficiency points would all have to be carefully considered before being used.

Usually, the consumption of one proficiency point was required to activate a skill. Skills such as "Steal" required the consumption of two proficiency points to be activated because it was a rank one special skill. Even skills such as "Slash Combo" and "Sprint" were limited to a certain extent during level one. Only when the level of the skill increased would the power of the skill or other areas of effect be increased as well. For example, "Slash Combo" could only make two consecutive attacks at level one. Once it reached level two, it was able to make three consecutive attacks.

Even though the increase of proficiency points did not seem to be that much and it only required three proficiency points to raise the Slash Combo to level 3, in reality, the increase of each proficiency point required a long period of persistence. Also, the higher the proficiency, the slower the skill would advance, and therefore it would take longer to consume a proficiency point.

Right now, both his skills of Slash Combo and Sprint were level two. This was because Sean had been training day and night for the past month. If he did not want to waste his proficiency points, then he could only go through that kind of relentlessly difficult training to bring about improvements. After all, many high-level skills first required a few of the low-level skills to be learned before they could be strengthened and raised.

Sean had used four proficiency points to activate the three skills. He had also consumed three proficiency points and allocated them to his personal attributes when he had successfully seized the weapon from the Dark Knight. Therefore, Sean only had three proficiency points left that were unassigned.

However, Sean did not feel any regret from this.

As he was once the commander of the elite team in the guild, Sean had his thoughts on how to take care of things.

[Charles' Sword, slightly magical (bronze). Hardness 12, Sharpness 12, Impaling 10, Strength +3, Endurance +1].

[Item Description: This was the sword given to General Charles by King Erdos III of the Serian Kingdom on the eve of the Northern Battle. This sword followed General Charles his entire life and was once regarded as a symbol of honor for the family of General Charles. However, later, the sword was lost and its whereabouts unknown because of the internal fights between the family members of General Charles over their rights to inherit it. Although you are lucky to receive this sword, it has lost a lot of the magic in it, and it no longer has the same reputation as it once had.]

The sword was the main reason Sean wanted to go take care of the Dark Knight. Otherwise, why would Sean have been interested in or even spent a lot of time and energy on a level five dungeon that was originally given to new players to practice coordination due to not being difficult at all?

As a professional player with a signed contract, Sean had struggled in "Miracle" for seven years. He knew and understood a lot about many of the things inside the game. Although he did not remember many of those things very clearly, if he came across the scene that could stir up his feelings, then he could awaken those sleeping memories. Just like with the sword, Sean had remembered that it had a follow-up mission. However, the sword would only fall when the Dark Knight was killed for the first time. Back then, when he had been playing the game "Miracle," Sean had just missed the sword. At least this time, he did not miss it.

However, Sean had found a problem. The problem was that in the real world, the dungeons could not be cleared repeatedly like the dungeons in the game. Any dungeon had only one chance of being cleared. Also, in addition to that problem, the dungeon had a specific time when it would appear. For example, that dungeon, originally called "Wandering Darkness" in the game, had appeared only a few days ago. Sean had shown up at the village half a month ago to get the sword, but at that time, the dungeon had not yet appeared. That was why when the villagers later discovered that the Lord had not sent troops to encircle and suppress the dungeon, the village chief had immediately sent someone to contact Sean.

But after half a month of changes had passed, Sean was no longer by himself when he returned to the village. He had a young girl with him.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Sean walked up to Cecilia and covered her again with the quilt that she had kicked off. Although Cecilia always gave off a young yet prudent and capable look and would sometimes speak vicious words, in reality, the little girl was still only 13 years old. Inside, she still longed to be loved by others. From the moment Sean chose to take Cecilia along with him on these adventures to take risks, he had decided that he would take good care of raising the little fellow.

Sean felt extremely excited every time he thought of the fact that he was likely nurturing a super genius magician.

No one knew the details about Cecilia's personal attributes better than Sean, and he could see that she was on track to do great things!