CH 54

“Ah! That thing I picked up that time was this…? Great…!” Siegfried exclaimed in disbelief when he realized that the item that was in his possession for the longest time was actually the other half of the map that would lead him to where Herbert’s final work was located.

Siegfried obtained ‘Treasure Map Ripped in Half 2’ during his glory days right before everything crumbled. He was Level 200 at that time, and he obtained a quest from the lord of a territory to exterminate a group of bandits. He obtained ‘Treasure Map Ripped in Half 2’ while looting spoils from that bandit’s den.

“What the hell is this piece of paper? Does anyone want this? No one?”

The problem was that ‘Treasure Map Ripped in Half 2’ was so tattered and worn out that nobody wanted it since no one could tell what treasure it was depicting and where the other half could be.

“I guess I’ll keep it…”

That was how Siegfried ended up shoving ‘Treasure Map Ripped in Half 2’ into his Inventory without much thought.

A year and a half later, Siegfried’s guild was in ruins, Siegfried was ruined, he met Deus and started a new life, and then he met Weapon Master Shakiro in Dondegiri.

Meanwhile, ‘Treasure Map Ripped in Half 2’ was still sitting in Siegfried’s inventory. It was a bit of a waste to throw it away, but he had no idea where he could use it, so he ended up completely forgetting about it.

“Is this what they call luck? Or is this what they call a coincidence? I guess all sorts of things do happen in this world…” Siegfried muttered in awe when he realized the true value of the ‘Treasure Map Ripped in Half 2’ that had been sleeping in his Inventory.

It was a complete coincidence that worked out for him in the end. He had never imagined—even in his wildest dreams—that the item he had obtained out of pure coincidence would find its true purpose after meeting Shakiro by pure coincidence.

If he hadn’t come to Dondegiri, if he hadn’t met Shakiro, and if Shakiro hadn’t shown any interest in him, Herbert’s final work would have been lost forever. It would have remained as nothing more than a folktale passed down from generation to generation.

“I feel like I have used up all of my luck in these past few months…” Siegfried muttered in disbelief at such a monumental coincidence.

However, there was one thing Siegfried had overlooked. It could have all been a coincidence like he thought, but all of this wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for his stubborn determination to produce results.

In fact, what he had gone through and obtained were the fortunes Siegfried had worked hard to create for himself, and meeting Deus to eventually turn his life around was a testament to what his determination could achieve.

Had Deus only been looking at Siegfried? No, Deus had been observing hundreds—no, thousands of people but none of them were able to captivate him. Siegfried was the only one who managed to pique his interest.

His unquenchable thirst for victory and his unyielding spirit to fight against a top guild like the Genesis Guild, and the tears he had shed out of frustration after continuously losing against them—these were what captivated the Level 999 Hidden NPC, Deus.

It was the same for his meeting with Shakiro. The Weapon Master wouldn’t have treated him so well if Siegfried were arrogant just because he had some nice skills, and Shakiro would have probably just ended up teaching him a few tricks before leaving. However, Siegfried hadn’t displayed any arrogance before the Weapon Master, and he faithfully carried out every single thing Shakiro had asked him to do.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

And Siegfried had always been humble, only striving to grow stronger. However, turning a coincidence into a fortune or into an opportunity still depended on one’s determination and passion.

“Well, this coincidence is so hard to believe, but…” Siegfried muttered as he placed ‘Treasure Map 1 Ripped in Half’ inside his Inventory. Then, he declared, “I will definitely find Herbert’s final work for you, Master Shakiro-nim.”

With the complete map in his hands, Siegfried could now look for the weapon Herbert had poured his entire life into creating because he didn’t have to find any clues as to its whereabouts.

***

Siegfried returned to Dondegiri and checked in to the Intervention Hotel before seriously contemplating his next move. The first thing that popped into his mind was avenging Shakiro.

‘Shakiro-nim’s body would not have disintegrated that quickly if it wasn’t for that bastard…’ Siegfried thought as he started boiling in rage.

The ultimate skill Shakiro had used, Torrential Flower Rain, had obviously sped up his body’s deterioration.

‘That’s more than enough reason for me to kill him,’ Siegfried thought while clenching his fists.

In addition, Vladimir was the descendant of Blood Master Berserk, so he was one of the people Siegfried had to defeat anyway. As such, it wasn’t strange for Siegfried to harbor such animosity toward the former.

However, that wasn’t the only reason.

Church of Osric.

They were the organization Siegfried had gotten tangled up with, and in a bad way at that, twice at the Sohoca Ruins and here in Dondegiri. They would obviously come after him now since they already knew his existence, which was what Shakiro had warned him about.

‘Why does it feel like I’m making more enemies these days…’ he thought.

His head ached when he thought about making another big enemy like the Church of Osric on top of the Genesis Guild, but he decided not to worry and disregard them for now.

Why?

‘I just have to become stronger and crush them in one go,’ Siegfried thought, clenching his fists.

He was currently walking on the path to invincibility. He was currently lacking, but he was bound to obtain power that can contend against them sooner or later, so there was no need for him to get scared of them.

‘Let’s upgrade my gears for now and leave this place as soon as possible,’ Siegfried thought as he left his room.

“Excuse me, are you Siegfried customer-nim?” a hotel staffer approached and asked when Siegfried was about to leave the hotel.

“Yes, I am,” Siegfried replied.

“There is a telegram message for you,” the staffer said.

“Huh? A telegram message for me?” Siegfried was surprised.

A telegram message was a key communication feature in BNW since the game didn’t have the ‘whisper chat’ system ubiquitous in other PC games. The developers opted to go without it to further enhance the realistic experience the game could give.

What use would offering a realistic experience be if the users could simply whisper to each other while being miles away from each other on such a large map? The game’s balance would have surely crumbled by now if players far apart from each other could easily communicate via the whisper system. After all, the players would definitely abuse it, as it was something the NPCs didn’t possess.

As such, the developers of BNW—Hive Games Entertainment—decided to get rid of the whisper system and implement a telegram system in its stead. The players could leave a telegram message through the Intervention Hotel, so they could still communicate with one another.

However, this was also one of the reasons some people ended up developing anti-social and psychotic behavior, which resulted in them getting locked up in mental hospitals.

“Would you like to check the telegram message?” asked the staffer.

“Sure,” Siegfried replied nonchalantly.

“Here it is,” the staffer extended an envelope to Siegfried.

‘Just who would send me a message?’ he wondered as he opened the envelope.

Then, he discovered that the message was from Gosran two days ago.

To: Siegfried,

Siegfried-nim!

How are you?

I’m doing well.

I was just curious about where you are playing these days, so I thought of sending you a message.

I’m not asking you to hunt with me, so do not worry about that!

I just wanted to say hi and keep in touch. Do not misunderstand…! @[email protected]

Then, I will wait for your reply.

From: Gosran

There was nothing special in the letter, and she was just keeping in touch.

“Ah, Gosran-nim sent it. Hmm… I guess it’s good that she is doing fine,” Siegfried muttered, and that was the end of it. He didn’t bother to reply.

“I’m busy…” he muttered, justifying his anti-social behavior.

He had no time to dillydally and chat with people. He had to go and upgrade his gears as soon as possible and decide on his next destination before anything else.

Siegfried decided to postpone his reply to the telegram message and left the Intervention Hotel.

***

When Siegfried left the Intervention Hotel to upgrade his gears, hundreds of millions of users were currently in a heated debate at BNW’s largest Community forum, New World.

They were debating about the ‘World’s Greatest Survival Tournament’ that was going to be hosted by the continent’s largest and strongest empire, the Marchioni Empire.

[Preamble]

I, Stuttgart Von Posteriore, the 16th Emperor of the Marchioni Empire, congratulate the Adventurers from another world.

Adventurers! I, the Emperor, am well aware of your exploits!

I would have never imagined that you, visitors from another world, would come and risk your lives to fight against monsters and the forces of evil to protect our world.

Your courageous feats are honorable and admirable!

You deserve to be respected.

I, the Emperor, the empire I rule, and the citizens I rule over, salute you for your bravery.

Henceforth, I hereby announce that all the gateways in my empire shall be free to use and the rates for the Intervention Hotel shall be reduced by thirty percent as a token of my appreciation for your valor.

Furthermore, I hereby announce the ‘World’s Greatest Survival Tournament’ will be held under my name. The ‘World’s Greatest Survival Tournament’ will test your mental fortitude, physical abilities, martial prowess, strategic competence, and many more things required to prove your worth and stand proud as a truly strong warrior.

Lastly, I shall confer the winner of the ‘World’s Greatest Survival Tournament’ the title of ‘Grand Duke’ and grant them fertile lands as their territory to rule over.

They shall come under the wings and protection of I, the Emperor of the Marchioni Empire, and be crowned as a king under the empire.

I, the Emperor, shall look forward to your participation.

Signed,

Stuttgard Von Posteriore

16th Emperor of the Marchioni Empire

The important parts were the conferring of a Grand Duke title, a territory to rule over, and becoming a crowned king. The winner of the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament would obtain the glory of becoming the first-ever king of a country among the players.

A king!

In addition, the first-ever player crowned king would receive massive advantages since no player had managed to obtain a title higher than a Baron up until now. Not to mention, the ‘fertile land’ promised as a reward, which was the ‘Proatine Province’ located in a strategic location and was geographically decent as well. Its ruler would surely obtain unfathomable riches if managed properly.

However, joining the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

[World’s Greatest Survival Tournament]

The ‘Warning’ part of the announcement caused an uproar.

They would lose all their skills if they died?

This was as good as having their character reset or deleted. In addition, their Rune of Transcendence, which was the Adventurer’s source of strength, being sealed for ten years basically meant that the player wouldn’t be able to level up for ten years.

As such, the users of the New World Community forum were in a heated debate as they discussed the ‘Warning’ written on the announcement, and the comments on the post alone had already reached hundreds of millions.

In the end, the email servers and phone lines of Hive Games Entertainment crashed due to the sheer number of calls and emails sent by users asking for clarification regarding the matter. The Vice Chairman of Hive Games Entertainment, Oppenheimer, was even forced to conduct a press conference to clarify Hive’s stance on the matter.