A Village Appeared on My Desktop

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Chapter 35 – Miracle of the Outskirts (5)

‘Was it just a simple accident?’

Such a mundane resolution for something I was incredibly tense about. I mean, could I even win if I fought Riena with this character? Her movements as a superhuman are faster than my control over this character.

To her, incoming intruders might just be one more obstacle.

The only thing I’m really worried about is if other players find out about this. Of course, I have a contingency plan.

If I want to avoid confrontation with them, all I have to do is send the residents outside as soon as the intruder appears, and then disconnect. When the area collapses, the intruders will just be automatically expelled.

“—. —?”

At that moment, Riena slowly approached me and pointed to the spot where the corpse of the defeated player once lay.

Instead of a corpse, which turned to vapor and vanished, there was a glowing item on the ground. A game item I could pick up, one of the rewards given to the victor in PVP.

[Essence of Experience]

This gem, the size of a ping pong ball, is called the Essence of Experience. The price of losing in PVP is none other than experience points. The player who lost to Riena has lost part of their character that they cultivated while clearing the story mode.

‘Usable?’

I could also use this item. If I do, my character’s level would rapidly increase right now.

However, I hesitated to use the item. If it’s usable for me, then it should be usable for the residents too.

I am just a character trapped in this game, but they are important people who need to escape and fight other enemies.

[Not usable]

“What the…? Why?”

I immediately thrust it towards Riena. It’s her loot, gained through her skill, and as her skill improves, the tasks ahead will become easier.

But a notification popped up saying she couldn’t use it, throwing me into confusion.

‘No way.’

I opened the internet and searched for information on this item. What I found out was that the Essence of Experience obtained from PVP cannot be used if one’s experience points are already full.

Since Riena is a fully mature warrior, it means she has no need to absorb others’ experience.

“–, —?!”

Thanks to this, my eyes naturally turned to Balun and Shura next to me. They weren’t awakened from the start; they became artificially awakened after they arrived on my desktop.

Of course, they didn’t have any artificial experience reserves, but the effects would surely manifest in some way.

*

“C-Chief?”

He was elated to have found a target to use the Essence of Experience on, but after the eclipse disappeared, Shura, who had rushed over with Balun, could only step back as a large knight with a masked face approached, clueless.

“Don’t be too surprised. I’m not here to harm you.”

Riena, more accustomed to his strange behavior, reassured the startled Balun and Shura. It was a feasible statement because she trusted that whatever he did would ultimately be beneficial for them.

“Ugh.”

In reality, he was merely going to use the item in his hand. This glowing stone, which floated away from his hand, emitted an even stronger light before burrowing itself into Shura’s body.

Shura, startled, hurriedly felt her own body. But she didn’t feel anything unusual about a foreign object entering.

Seeing this, he expressed his emotions by giving a thumbs-up.

“That means it’s a good thing. You’re fine, right?”

“R-Right now, yes.”

Riena, interpreting his actions, carefully observed what was happening. With everyone’s attention focused, Shura strained to sense the unknown feeling coming from her body.

“Hmm?”

And at that moment, the mysterious energy that had been tingling in her body surged.

Using the Essence of Monster to artificially awaken her mana, and now with the Essence of Experience, her latent talent in Dagger Skill was rapidly maturing in the form of a class change.

“Riena, Shura’s mana!”

“I’ve never seen this before, but it looks like it needs to be expelled.”

A flabbergasted Balun gasped at the murky energy seeping out from Shura’s body. Recognizing its nature, Riena’s expression stiffened at the sight of the ghostly soldiers in the distance.

‘If the effect is this good, should we consider farming the Essence of Experience?’

Riena rushed toward the ghost soldiers with Shura, who was about to have her mana go out of control. Naturally, the ghosts recognized them as enemies and charged, roaring and brandishing their weapons.

Riena and Shura engaged in combat with their respective weapons. However, the one who shone in that process was not Riena, but Shura, wielding daggers the size of her forearms with no awkwardness whatsoever.

Her movements and posture were flawless. It was as if she had done this all her life. No matter how rough a child of the grassland tribe she was, such combat prowess was beyond comprehension.

He, who had completely removed his hands from the keyboard and was watching from outside the monitor, faintly smiled with interest.

His goal was to provide resources, weapons, and power to the residents on his desktop, who had to fight against the dimensional monsters threatening him and his surroundings, by efficiently ‘managing’ their information and programs that only he could see and use.

The Essence of Experience obtainable from PVP was a miraculous substance capable of rapidly boosting the experience points of the inexperienced residents, just like the Essence of Monster achieved through artificial mana awakening.

“Can you grant… such miracles to others as well?”

At that moment, Balun, watching Shura who was thrashing about uncontrollably from her newfound power, cautiously spoke to his character, who stood quietly.

Balun already regarded this seemingly ordinary knight as a divine being, someone in the same class as the deity they were serving from outside.

‘Hmm…’

Of course, he didn’t understand Balun’s words and was fiddling with the voice chat program, suspicious that it might allow him to hear the voices of the residents if activated.

However, just because words were lost, it didn’t mean their meanings were as well. As long as he was convinced that the other was a human like him, he could at least sense what they wanted.

“We’ve been raised from the brink of collapse thanks to your great grace, but it’s still not enough. The enemies threatening us are far too many and powerful, and we’ve only just taken our first step. To survive and fight back, we need more warriors, more miracles. I know it’s shameless, but please continue to watch over us. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

After observing how he awakened the talent of the young girl named Shura, Balun, trembling with emotion, pleaded with him.

To Balun, he was almost a divine being. The miracles he showed were not just a few that broke common sense and rules.

By this point, it was a lifeline that absolutely had to be grasped.

‘Since we’re in the same boat, I can’t convey this.’

He got the gist of Balun’s earnest eyes and actions but could only smile mildly from behind the monitor.

Even if Balun didn’t worry, he already thought about investing his time and effort into the residents.

To him, the residents that had suddenly appeared on his desktop were both a means of preserving his life and an extreme joy showcasing their growth day by day.

Until he learned that the Bug could invade the real world, he had been observing and assisting the residents purely out of interest and enjoyment.

And as time passed, investing in watching them and sometimes engaging in activities through the game made the bond growing inside him even stronger and more solid.

“…Thank you.”

As Balun saw him standing still and raising a thumb to him, he lowered his head in gratitude, having already understood what that action meant through Riena.

“What happened to Shura?”

“She overexerted herself, overwhelmed by her new power. Once she has a good sleep, she’ll probably learn how to control it herself.”

About an hour had passed when Riena returned to Balun’s side with Shura, who had exhausted herself from her overflowing energy.

Balun also felt he needed training, but he instinctively knew today should end here.

“This is bound to happen again. We have no choice but to get used to it quickly, even if just to explain it to those who will awaken in the future.”

Balun was already devising a plan. If the one who performed many miracles was certain to help them, he thought they also needed to adjust to his plans.

“What do you plan to do from here?”

“First, we need to ensure the safety of our tribe while increasing our numbers and exploring further afield.”

Having returned to the village, Balun grinned as if he had something planned. The sun had already set, but he didn’t go to sleep and summoned someone instead.

“Chief, did you call for me?”

The one who answered the call was Morin, who had been diligently working in a world full of blocks. Having had a hearty dinner, Morin looked slightly puzzled by Balun’s summons.

“I called you because I think I’ll need your strength a lot.”

“My strength?”

“The power to move heavy materials in a rectangular box shape.”

Balun mentioned Morin’s awakened Transporter trait. The ability to carry and install blocks harvested from the block world while retaining their block shape.

“I saw potential in you while you were building towers and whatnot. How about using that ability to create a fortress to protect our village?”

“A, fortress!?”

Morin’s eyes widened in shock at Balun’s words. For them, a fortress didn’t just hold a simple meaning.

For people who primarily led a nomadic lifestyle, a sturdy fortress or castle was like a structure symbolizing the settled tribes of foreign lands.

Of course, fortifications were not well regarded among the tribes of the grasslands. They would do so if they could survive by building a castle, but for them, there was no need or capacity to make one, so they disparaged and scorned it.

“We now have the power to do that.”

But Balun made his decision with certainty. It was time for them to evolve to the next level.