One Man Army

One Man Army – Episode 6 : [Chapter 4] Drawing a Big Picture (1)

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA I’m posting the new OMA chapter scrubs

[ A recommended VRA for this game was 150. Users who were under VRA 100 would find trouble playing this game. ]

This warning had popped up first as soon as people started Eternal Life(EL). In virtue of the Act of 2024, all contents of DN must indicate the recommended VRA, mostly VRA 80 was the recommended rate.  

Considering it was in the higher regions with the recommended VRA 100-120, EL’s VRA level was supposedly very high. Moreover, they banned gamers under 18 years old from playing EL, the barrier of playing EL was getting more difficult.

Eventually, people who had low VRA ended up just playing EL even though they made a loss. Because the game was so exciting, it was one of those things. For this reason, in spite of EL being an adult game not for all ages, EL made and kept the most connections number record ever in DN game history.

It meant that EL was a great game. Anyway, if you wanted to enjoy EL, you had to have at least VRA 150.

That’s why there were a lot of ‘Watching users’ who just watched the live broadcasting of pro gamers, not playing EL in person.

‘Not only was EL really enjoyable to play in person, but it was also exciting to watch.’

There were a few reasons why EL made such a big success, it was not just that the game was really addictive and exciting, but it was also so much fun to watch others play.

‘But at this moment, EL simply just…..failed.’

Sang Hyuk recalled the staffs’ sad face from Raon Software. He would buy the Raon Software stock even when it was not listed yet. He didn’t know about stock and even though the company was in a bad situation, there was no reason to sell theirs because they already had enough money.    

While he was thinking about this, he already reached the setup page of accounts for EL.

You need another name to live in Eternal Life. Please speak loudly and exactly the name you want to use in Eternal Life.  

“Bul Myeol.(Meaning: Immortal)”

Sang Hyuk chose the name he really wanted to use even though it didn’t go well with EL. Because he used ‘Jil Phoong Nan Mu’ which was not special at all in the former life, he really wanted to have a special name this time.

No on has used ‘Bul Myeol’ so far. There will not be an extra code for your name since this is the first registration for the name.

The same name could be used up to 100 times in EL. However, they always had extra codes after the name. Except for those who registered first, the others had to put the extra code for the name systemically when they registered their name.  

For example, if someone also registered Bul Myeol which was made by Sang Hyuk, he or she got to have the name ‘2nd Bul Myeol’ systemically. Even though he or she might be able to use Bul Myeol without the code in the game, it was anyway divided with the first user’s name systemically.  

The white light covered Sang Hyuk’s body as soon as he began making the name and the new world spreaded out before his eyes simultaneously.

This place, which had a wide green pasture that looked cool, was a really meaningful place for Sang Hyuk for several reasons.

‘Boundless Pasture.’

This space was only for users who logged into EL for the first time. EL was really not a kind game for users.

There were no tutorials which were naturally served in other games and there were not even introduction of jobs or operation methods.

Raon Software which was EL’s development company just kept repeating the same words like a parrot whenever users complained about these things.

‘Eternal Life is another world which has been made by users. So, there won’t be a target guideline from the development company and we won’t stop people from making a target guideline themselves.’  

Of course, users complained about this a lot the first time, they had to be convinced because Raon Software adhered to this steadily.

The boundless pasture where Sang Hyuk was standing in was a kind of tutorial area, but no one mentioned about it, so first time EL users were really disappointed about it after they realized that. Besides, they couldn’t skip this area, so there was no way for them to recognize that the area was like a tutorial area.

People’s disappointment didn’t last for long. As users who reached level 10 quickly in a day and arrived at ELD world by getting out of the space, began to rave about how Eternal Life world was on communities. After which, most users noticed that this pasture was a tutorial area.  

Indeed, there was nothing special in the boundless pasture. It was only pasture spread out endlessly with monsters showing up every 30 minutes according to a user’s connection time.

Users could choose their weapon 5 minutes before monsters began to descend on them.  40 kinds of weapons which seemed made by dim shadows rose up from the ground and it turned into an actual weapon if a user chose one of them.

Users could select and change their weapons whenever a ton of monsters came, but if users chose another weapon, the one they had first will disappeared into a shadow. That meant that people used and tried lots of different kinds of weapons and chose the one that fitted in advance.

After monster troops attacked 20 times, 116 kinds of skill books, which had basic skills, rose up from the ground at the 21st wave of monsters.

This one was also interchangeable, like the weapons, continuously whenever monster troops attacked.

Users could choose other skill books until they killed their 40th wave of monster troops. Normally, they reached level 10 if they killed around 50 waves of monster troops.

These monster troops were really low level, even users who didn’t have any talents for the game could kill them easily.

According to a user’s expression, the boundless pasture was the only place that people could experience OP mode.

Users could experience a suitable weapon and skill in advance at the boundless pasture and this was helpful for them to select several things when they went to the real EL world.

After all, users just selected things as people recommended not from the experience at the boundless pasture. Regardless, the experience at the boundless pasture was necessary.

TAK TAK. Sang Hyuk tapped above his right ear twice and a few semi transparent windows popped up in front of his eyes. Bringing up system windows by these kind of gestures wasn’t new for people who already experienced virtual reality games since all DN game development companies had already had the same operations since 5 years ago.

Sang Hyuk, who selected a quest window among lots of floating windows in the air with two fingers, checked how much time he had until the first wave of monster troops.

‘The time that I have is 27 minutes and 22 seconds exactly.’

Other users who logged in as soon as the server opened like Sang Hyuk tried to adapt to the unfamiliar environment at this time, but Sang Hyuk already knew what was going to show up, so he just stood up in the place, warming up his body quietly.

‘‘The boundless pasture…the two things I have to get from here.’’

Sang Hyuk already planned and prepared many things while he was waiting for the opening of EL for more than a year.

It wasn’t easy to get both of them, but Sang Hyuk didn’t think about leaving here before he got both anyway.

“They are exactly an only level title and a hidden rare level item.”

If someone asked Sang Hyuk what the most important was in EL, he wouldn’t hesitate to answer ‘Title’.  All users who enjoyed EL might answer like this.  

Titles in EL could be used as prefix or prefix of the name but also some effects were applied like a constant effect even though people didn’t put the title on their name.

Maximum number of active titles was limited at 30, so people realized how important titles were in this game more so than others.  

Anyway, the title was more important than any other game elements and Sang Hyuk already kept a few titles which he really wanted to get in his mind.

“Let’s get a ‘The Challenger Never Gives Up’ first!”

‘The Challenger Never Gives Up.’ which was a unique level title. Users could get it only here, the boundless pasture, so it was a really rare title.

4,444 times.

To get the title ‘The Challenger Never Gives Up’, the user had to die 4,444 times at the boundless pasture. It meant that the user had to keep challenging without giving up regardless of the number of times being dead.  

In fact, getting this title was really impossible. Even someone who had low VRA could kill monsters easily at the boundless pasture. Only one out of ten thousand people died at this place.

Therefore, it was impossible to be dead over 4,000 times at this place. In fact, people realized that there was this title 10 years after EL was released.

People got to know this when Raon Software announced five special titles deleted for its 10th anniversary of EL’s releasing.

At that time, Raon Software said that there were ten titles which definitely existed but users couldn’t get them for the past 10 years. Now, there were only five titles remaining and the other five were removed for several reasons in the processing of the patch.

In the process, the five deleted titles were disclosed.

The title ‘The Challenger Never Gives Up’, which Sang Hyuk was trying to get, was one of the deleted five titles.

The class of the title was unique! That meant only one person could get this title. In other words, even if someone died 4,444 times after Sang Hyuk got the title, he or she couldn’t get the title again.

It wasn’t an easy task, dying 4,444 times at the boundless pasture. But, Sang Hyuk already knew the answer and ran head first into the monster troops.

If he didn’t know the answer, he wouldn’t even try.

Dead and dead.

So, Sang Hyuk kept dying repeatedly when people went through the boundless pasture really easily.  

< [Chapter 4] Drawing a Big Picture (1) > end

Translator : Joyce Gim

Proofreader : Kerrigan