Cordova

My name is Cordova, an ordinary player in Innocent World...

At least, at the beginning, I thought I was pretty ordinary. Please () check out the most complete and fastest-updating novels!

That was until I entered the game for the first time and took that first damn step.

I got dragged into a brawl between NPCs, and then... well, there was no then. I died on the spot.

That was merely the beginning of the nightmare...

After enduring the realistic simulated pain, I emerged from the darkness and appeared once again among that pile of damn doors. It was completely useless, because only the door labeled "Kindness" would open for me.

I was randomly assigned a new race and, still utterly bewildered, entered the game once again...

Sand Goblin. That's right, I became a Sand Goblin—a race that was ugly, weak, and utterly devoid of special talents. To be honest, if the system hadn't turned me into the leader of the tribe at the very start, I probably would have deleted the character outright.

Yet everything that happened afterward taught me that I really should have deleted the character right then and there!

The tutorial quest had me lead my people into cooperating with some sneaky fellow to carry out a supposedly "perfectly safe" and "guaranteed" robbery. The rewards were also unusually generous, so I believed him.

And then...

Sorry, there was no then. I only remember leading my people out of the woods and seeing a Lizardfolk riding a lizard charge toward us at the head of the group.

"Eat my mighty Idari Firearm!"

Those words, followed by a bang, brought my second gaming experience to an end.

What the hell was that supposed to be!?

I was utterly shocked, but I still didn't turn back. After all, I didn't like the Sand Goblin race, so if I could start over right away, I could accept that.

And so I began my third journey. My goal was no grand voyage across the stars and seas. I only wanted to survive, that was all...

Fortunately, I was randomly assigned a human this time. Thank goodness. I liked humans.

There was one other thing: when I created my character this time, I discovered that I had somehow gained an additional talent. However, it was somewhat embarrassing, so I won't explain it for now...

The people around me were friendly and gentle, and my tutorial quest was merely a simple chore like working at a blacksmith's shop. At the time, I naively thought I had finally gotten onto the right track. Little did I know...

Only half an hour later, the nightmare descended. It seemed that a riot had broken out at some noble's banquet, after which people fleeing the inner city began appearing constantly on the street where I was. Farther away, the land was filled with cries of anguish.

I hid inside an oak barrel outside a nearby tavern and trembled for nearly an hour. In the end, I shook away all my stamina, yet the tragedy outside still hadn't ended.

After some more time had passed, I heard a spine-chilling voice ring out nearby.

"Not bad hiding..."

And then...

Everyone knows what happened next. I was sent back among that pile of damn doors once again and pushed open the door labeled "Kindness."

Honestly, even I had no idea why I hadn't burst out of the game and smashed the game pod beneath me—the one my dad had given me as a birthday present!

But I survived this time... Heaven knows why I'm putting it that way. In any case, that day passed surprisingly peacefully. I completed the tutorial quest, joined some autonomous army, and successfully survived until the end of that day's game time.

That afternoon, in the spirit of serving the public, I even posted an article on the forum analyzing Innocent World's death penalty. The response was incredibly enthusiastic!

I had to admit, even though the game had tormented me for half a night, I still felt an intense, profound love for it.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last...

Two days later, I had already developed a decent amount of strength. I went on a patrol mission with the teammates from my in-game squad. In the captain's words, we were all just going outside the city for a stroll. Yet when we reached a point somewhat to the south, we encountered enemies!

More than twenty fully armed Orc soldiers!

We fought desperately, and our opponents paid a tremendous price as well. It took them nearly an hour to wipe us all out. Yes, time was life, and we had worn away a great deal of their lives.

When a musclebound brute sent me flying with a savage slash, that was how I consoled myself...

Then reinforcements arrived. But by that point, I had at least seventeen or eighteen stacks of bleeding buffs on me, so there was obviously no saving me. A priest whose face I couldn't make out tossed some sort of healing spell at me, but all it did was make me suffer for a while longer.

"Trash game, terrible experience!"

I left those as my final words before exiting the game at the moment of my death.

I couldn't take it anymore!!

For the entire day that followed, I didn't log into the game again...

But people were all masochists at heart. After thinking it over, I decided to give this trash game one last chance!

One last chance!!

Ignoring the two new, utterly terrible talents, I began my fifth life in Innocent World. During the tutorial quest, I ran into a lunatic. That lunatic caused an enormous mess, and in the end, I died again...

I was desperate. I was quitting! Wasn't it enough that I didn't want to play anymore!?

After making up my mind, I posted an article while visiting a friend with some others. It could also be called my quitting declaration. I planned to smash the game pod that had been specially air-freighted over as soon as I returned to the hotel that evening.

But...

Within half a day, I received countless messages of support and encouragement. One reply in particular, about how "Heaven bestows great responsibilities upon a person," brought tears to my eyes.

Fine, one last time! I swear, this really is the last time!

That night, still trembling with apprehension, I climbed into the game pod once again...

I never expected my luck to finally turn around!

When the system notification appeared—You have completed the hidden conditions. After successfully dying non-voluntarily five times within a short period, you have triggered a special scenario—I glanced at my quest panel...

This was insanely powerful! At that moment, I felt as if I were invincible beneath the heavens!

But... wait... why couldn't I move!?

Why was the goblin in front of me, who was shaking his head and lamenting, "Failed again," walking toward me with a chainsaw? What on earth did it want to do!?

Anka Market, Innocent World, noon

Mo Tan had logged on, and his expression was extremely ugly...

The reason was simple. The instant he had logged in at the opening time, he had immediately disconnected. From that moment until now, his memories were completely blank. This filled him with indescribable worry, and a certain guess he had made earlier was drawing ever closer to the truth...

"But I should hurry back for now..." he muttered, hoping that Jadeka and Yaya had already cleaned up the mess from before. At the very least, he hoped it didn't look too terrible. Otherwise, things would become troublesome when the employer returned!

Still, he went to the market first, planning to buy some of the repair materials and ingredients he had intended to purchase yesterday (the money had been given to him by Jadeka).

Although the two of them had insisted yesterday that Mo Tan go back and take a breather while they stayed at the farm to clean up the mess, he had never felt at ease. In the end, he had agreed to bring some materials back as early as possible today and do his best to finish cleaning everything up before the farm owner returned.

And because of the earlier mishap, time was extremely tight now!

Yet just as Mo Tan was halfway through his shopping, he ran into someone he absolutely did not want to see at that moment...

"Yo, young man!" The old Orc, who was picking through goods at a stall, greeted Mo Tan with a hearty smile. "I came back early! I was just about to buy some gifts and go find you all! Huh... what are those things you're carrying?"

Mo Tan: "...Nothing, nothing."

All he could do now was desperately pray that the other two were at least somewhat reliable, and that they could produce some sort of result before he and the employer, who still knew nothing about the situation, returned!

As it turned out, dreams were always beautiful, while reality was often painfully stark...

When the old Orc saw his main house, which had practically been reduced to a pile of ashes, along with the completely barren fields, he let out a "Gah!" and collapsed.

"I was wrong!" Jadeka weakly knelt on the ground. "It exploded twice more while we were repairing it last night... One of those explosions even made Yaya's fur stand on end..."

Mo Tan stared woodenly at the ruins that had still been a farm yesterday. His entire body turned pale.

An hour later, the Anka Market branch of the Adventurers' Guild

"Anything else you want to explain?" Miss Chris looked benevolently at the three people sitting before her with their necks tucked in like quails and asked gently, "If so, go ahead. Don't hold it in."

Mo Tan: "No..."

Jadeka: "No..."

Yaya: "Woof..."

"Nothing, huh?" Chris pursed her lips and nodded. She glanced at the old Orc's retreating back, which resembled that of Xianglin's wife, then smacked her lips at the three of them. "The total losses come to roughly one hundred gold coins and three dog lives~"

Mo Tan and Jadeka showed no reaction, but Yaya, standing between them, froze. She looked left and right, then frowned and counted on her fingers.

"Woof?"

She seemed to mean, Where did the three come from?

"Um, let me pay the money," Jadeka said with an awkward laugh. "This whole thing was actually because..."

"Shut up!!" Chris roared.

Not only did Jadeka shut up, but every other adventurer in the first-floor hall did too. Everyone stared at them in fear, as though they were looking at three corpses that had already gone cold.

The young lady softly exhaled and struggled to squeeze out the faintest smile. "As for the money, you don't need to compensate us."

The three of them immediately shuddered. Did that mean she intended to make them pay with their lives?

"It's true that we couldn't make change for the generous forest spirit's payment earlier, so this branch will cover the losses for you," Chris said flatly. "But your temporary party must accept a mission. The reward is quite good, but there will be absolutely no room for negotiation."

Jadeka sighed when he heard that. "Then just tell us where you want us to go die..."

"I'm not asking you to die." Chris shook her head. "You know the Onderhill Ruins southwest of the market? Your mission is to go there and bring me back a stone. The deadline is thirty days."

Mo Tan immediately froze. "What kind of stone?"

"I don't care what kind of stone you pick up," Chris said darkly. "But you must return and report on the very last day of the mission. You can be late, but you absolutely cannot return even one day early!"

Jadeka was dumbfounded as well. "You mean...?"

"What I mean is!" Chris shot to her feet. Brilliant lightning flashed in her hand as she pointed at their noses and roared, "I don't want to see any of you for the next while, so get as far away from me as possible! Don't appear before me again for a month! Disappear, now! Immediately! Go!!!"

The three of them then fled the Adventurers' Guild on hands and knees...

"Um..." Jadeka shrugged at the other two. "This is a rare opportunity. Shall we go our separate ways for now?"

Yaya lowered her little head and grunted, indicating that she had no objections.

"You two go ahead," Mo Tan said, shaking his head. "I promised a friend I would wait here for someone, so it won't be convenient for me to leave for the next two days. Besides..."

He paused. "I want to go back to that farm and help out a little. Assuming they don't throw me out."

The other two were stunned. Yaya immediately grabbed Mo Tan's clothes, but after a long while, she still gently released them and whispered, "Sorry to trouble you... for us... to make amends."

Jadeka sighed as well and patted Mo Tan's shoulder. "We'll do as you say. We both owe you one."

For some reason, although that phrase carried tremendous weight among adventurers and mercenaries, it sounded thoroughly unreliable to Mo Tan at that moment...

In the end, the three agreed on a meeting time and split up at the southern gate of Anka Market. Jadeka led Yaya ahead toward the Onderhill Ruins, while Mo Tan headed toward the farm, where practically nothing remained.

Half an hour later...

"Old man~" Mo Tan greeted the stunned old Orc in front of him. "I'm here to help. The branch will send someone over with the compensation soon. I'd like to stay here temporarily and help you out."

The old Orc took a while to process that before suddenly jolting awake. He immediately staggered backward several steps and waved his hands frantically. "You're my grandpa! Please, I beg you, show some mercy and let me off!"

With that, he let out another "Gah!" and collapsed...

Mo Tan: "..."

After a long while, the old Orc finally recovered. He slowly sat up and eyed Mo Tan suspiciously. "You... really want to help?"

For some reason, he felt that this young man was sincere. After calming down, he also remembered that the earlier tragedy didn't seem to have been caused by this young fellow. Those two demon-like calamities didn't seem to be here.

"I guarantee it!" Without another word, Mo Tan grabbed some materials piled nearby—the ones he had bought at noon—and walked over to the ruins (...) of the main house, where he immediately began working briskly.

The old Orc watched him busy himself, a gratified smile curling at the corners of his mouth. He felt that perhaps the world wasn't quite so malicious after all.

Little did he know that a hapless victim who had been screwed over by the world countless times was drawing closer and closer to this place...

Time quietly slipped away...

The bright moon rose soundlessly, replacing the sun alongside the stars at its side and illuminating every inch of Innocent World...

The farm was coated in a layer of silver. At some point, the old Orc had leaned against half of a fence and drifted off to sleep.

Not far away, the main house had gradually begun to take shape under Mo Tan's tireless efforts.

However, at that moment...

A faint, distant, whistling scream gradually drew closer and reached Mo Tan's ears...

He set down the wooden board and tools in his hands and instinctively looked up.

He saw a figure hurtling through the air at a terrifying speed, whistling as it descended... crashed down...

The voice grew louder and louder~

"Daaaamn~ you~ scam~meeeeer~~~~~!"

Chapter Forty-Seven: End