abcnovels
Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Chapter link: (17/10/2015)
Translation: twomorefreethoughts / TpstT (20-11-2018)
Translation link:
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Update 1: So I was told that you couldn’t comment on the post for chapter 17 a few hours after I posted it. I’m sorry about that, turns out I had to tick a checkbox to allow comments. I tested it out but looks like I have to tick it for every page (not blog) >.< if anyone has a way to not have to tick it every page please let me know.
Update 2: I’ve changed the "7 Planetary" to "7 Luminaries" to match with the manga’s translation.
Update 3: MC uses a particular form of "I" when he’s speaking as Ruphas. It’s something that could/would be used by the emperors but are not limited to just them, MC doesn’t use the "I" as an emperor would but moreso portray the natural significance of his own character (he’s really just role playing as a great being, not an emperor). I would prefer to continue using "I" but if there’s enough vote for "We"/"our" I may change it. Please let me know which one you all prefer.
TL Disclaimer: I have no experience in translating anything, nor am I great at either English or Japanese. This is not machine translated but Japanese to English dictionary is occasionally used for words I am not sure about. I will not be able to fully translate the author’s jokes, puns or slangs if there are any. I will try to stick with literal translation where possible in the context. If there is anything I don’t understand I will leave it in a bracket (x).
If there is any error in the translation, website, sentence structure or format please let me know in the comments below or DM me on the discord and I will try my best to fix them. Any constructive feedback is appreciated.
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Levia: "I managed to Protect!!"
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Quite a few minutes had elapsed, and Aries finally stopped crying.
Although still teary and sniffing, it should at least be enough to hold a conversation by now.
For now, Aries had returned from being a wild monster to a monster under my control, so I should be able to see his status.
So the first thing I should do is to check his status.
[12 Heavenly Stars Aries]
Level: 800
Specie: Rainbow Sheep
Elemental Affinity/Type: Fire
HP: 75 000
SP: 7600
STR (Strength/Attack Power): 4100
DEX (Dexterity): 4000
VIT (Vitality): 4050
INT (Intelligence): 4300
AGI (Agility/Speed): 4170
MND (Mindpower): 4294
LUK (Luck): 4180
Hmm... Did his stats increase a little compared to what was in my memory?
If I recall correctly, Aries’s HP used to be 68 000, so it had clearly gone up.
I guess in his own ways he was trying to improve himself in the last 200 years.
Anyways, this is such a balanced stat.
Well, it was me that raised him to be a jack of all trades due to the scarcity of stat points though.
Incidentally, even with this, I doped his stat up a lot. Without doping his base stats were in the range of 1000-1500.
After all, this guy was originally a craft type monster and not a battle type monster.
Blatantly speaking, the correct way to use him is to let him manufacture wool and not take him to battle. As a matter of fact, I’m the weird one for forcibly making him strong and making him fight.
(TLN: For non-gamers out there, combat type pet is self-explanatory but, most games in the MMO genre have what you call life skills or crafting. Long story short you’re able to make various items for various use, e.g. potions to save expense, equipment to better your character, items to decorate your "own house", etc. From the context, Aries was something that produces a rainbow wool for a maybe cosmetic item or special equipment, or something that produces in-game currency if you sell them to NPC. TLDR: just know he’s not suited for battle)
"Now then, have you calmed down Aries?"
"Y, Yes"
Looking up with a swollen red nose and teary eyes, that was a face that I couldn’t relate to being male however I looked.
I’m not really into a trap so I didn’t think much at all but, Dina who had come back god knows when couldn’t stop smiling at all.
Although she disdained orcs’ appearance, it seems trap was a strike for her.
I feel as though I’ve gradually figured out her preferences.
... could it be, she is gallantly serving me simply because she likes my appearance? That can’t be the reason, right?
"I don’t like beating around the bush, so I’ll get straight to the point.
Currently, I’m on a journey to return the 12 Heavenly Stars to under my control, and you’re my first.
Don’t say anything and follow me. I won’t accept any objection."
"Yes! Gladly!"
Initially, I said I’ll gather the 12 Heavenly Stars and send them to the tower, but it’s quite a distance from here.
Or rather, if I send this guy back alone, I’m scared he’s going to get lost.
He’s excellent as a support so it’s probably more advantageous to take him along. Thinking along that line, I ordered him to follow me.
"Let’s persevere together again, Ruphas-sama!
And... an unfamiliar person standing over there, I look forward to working with you!"
"!?"
Dina had frozen as if she received a shock.
Ahh, yep. I guess you would freeze after being called an unfamiliar person.
I also happened to asked Dina "who were you again?", but it seems like Aries is just like me and had also forgotten about Dina. (TLN: poor Dina haha)
Dina quickly came back to life and then matched her line of sight with Aries’s eyes, striking up a conversation with a bright smile.
Wait no, looking carefully there were veins bulging on her forehead.
"Aries-sama? You really don’t remember seeing me before?
Really??
I’ve, always, been at that tower, you know?"
"Eh? You were there?"
"Here look, please try and remember. In the tower, didn’t I always stay close to Ruphas-sama?"
Told so by Dina, Aries’s eyes wandered off as if he was recalling something distant.
After a while, he suddenly raised his voice and said "Oh!".
"Could it be by any chance, you were that person that always blended in with the background and had no presence?"
"So cruel!?"
Dina was again devastated and looked at me with a face that was about to start crying anytime soon.
Well, yeah, there’s no helping it Dina.
Because Dina, you were in a literal sense, a "background NPC".
You literally couldn’t interact with others, have a turn to shine or have the ability to do anything. If you had operated in the same way in this world, of course, no one could remember you.
"I’m surprised! You could move from that spot!"
"Am I a furniture!?"
"Or more like, you can speak!"
"Ruphas-sama! This child’s spouting savage remarks with a smile without holding back!?"
Poor Dina. If you could have had displayed the current competence or made witty remarks 200 years ago, you wouldn’t be in this situation.
Or more like why were you a background back then?
Perhaps back then, you were a quiet person without much personality?
If that’s so, it’ll mean you’re also someone that changed after 200 years of time had passed... I feel as though you changed too much though. (TLN: I feel like 200 years is a long enough time for someone to have massive personality change)
Anyways, since this really is quite pitiful, I guess I’ll step in and give a helping hand.
"Aries. Ever since I came back to this world, Dina is someone that had supported me wholeheartedly.
Don’t bully her too much."
"Eh? What.. I’m not trying to bully her......!
I was just saying what I thought...."
"That’s even worse!!" (Dina)
Ahh, I understand now. For good or worse, Aries is just straightforward and honest.
At this rate, it looks like Dina is going to have some difficult time.
*
[ – and in that way, Aries was successfully retrieved.
And while we were at it some guy called Mars from 7 Luminaries was buzzing around and generally being annoying so I beat him up.
You may now feel at ease."
"........... What was all the hardship we went through in the past few years...."
After retrieving Aries, I went back to Megrez’s home in the Noble district.
I don’t know how he persuaded the guards but, after the last encounter he told them to allow me to pass through if I ever showed up with a Face pass (well not that I showed my face) (TLN: it’s a play on word in the raw, not so much a pun but... yea) but it’s quite an appreciative gesture.
As for Aries, since his original form and the human form is completely different, guards did not suspect and stop him to inspect at all.
No one would think that monstrous sheep over 100m would be this girly looking little boy.
I was the one that edited his human appearance to be such though.
"What happened to all the monsters?"
"I placed them all under my control for now. I ordered them not to pointlessly attack people so as long as you guys don’t attack them first you don’t have to worry about being attacked."
"That castle should have had few hundred monsters.... even after 200 years, The Supreme Ruler’s charisma to conquer and command still hasn’t waned at all, huh.
How scary."
Ah, I’m sorry about that part. It’s probably had waned a lot.
After all, inside is different.
Not that I can say that out loud. So for now, I just laughed with a confident smile to deceive him.
"What do you plan to do from now on?"
"Naturally, I’ll regain control of all 12 Heavenly Stars under me. Next is..."
Next is... where again?
I’m not familiar with this period’s geography at all.
If there were cities from the time I was playing the game I would know but, unfortunately, ever since my nation fell apart the heroes had conquered and founded their own nations so I have no idea where is what.
And so I looked at Dina to let her continue on with the exposition.
"Our next location is [The Royal Tomb of Black Wings].
Distance is approximately 500km from this point. One of the 12 Heavenly Stars Libra of [The Scale] is guarding it."
"........ From the name of it, it seems like my tomb."
"It’s not ’seems like’, it literally is Ruphas-sama’s tomb.
Construction was completed approximate 190 years ago.
Those who revered Ruphas-sama took 10 years building an enormous pyramidal dungeon consisting of 108 floors in the greatest monumental building project of the world.
The highest floor contains all the equipment, treasure and weapons that Ruphas-sama had previously occupied, and guarding that for the past 190 years without rest is one of the 12 Heavenly Stars, Libra."
"Hou, Libra huh."
12 Heavenly Stars, Libra of [The Scale].
Most likely the strongest Golem even within Exgate Online.
The base material was obtained by completing an official event, a material that is truly unique in existence; [Selection Scale].
(TLN: MMO Genre often have special events hosted by the game’s developers or publishers which gives a unique reward that cannot be obtained elsewhere in the game)
On top of that, I paid and transferred the material to a Level 200 Alchemist Mizaal to pull the level of the crafted item up.
I’ve previously already stated had the max level of the crafted item is determined by the material used, for [Selection Scale] the maximum possible level was level 1000.
Furthermore, with Mizaal’s Alchemist profession level of 200, the calculation used for golem creation is such; [1000 ÷ 2 + 200], and as such Golem of up to 700 could be created.
(Author Note: Golem is treated as an item so it is transferable)
On top of that, I used a limited edition cash shop item [Orichalcum] — the effect of an item: to randomly increase the final maximum level of the crafted Golem by 10-30% — and was lucky enough to get a +30% roll thus adding additional 210 levels.
In summary, whilst being a Golem, Libra boasted a level of 910, making it an existence which could be called a Super Golem co-created by Mizaal and myself.
Well, the rule of [Cannot be stronger than an owner] still stands as usual so if it is transferred over to a weaker player, it’ll weaken proportionately, but as I’m Level 1000 there’s no problem.
As a side note, if you look at the attack alone, it’s most probably the strongest amongst 12 Heavenly Stars.... Or perhaps more like, even stronger than me.
Though to be fair, the skill of the Boss Character [Goddess of the Scale] was carried over and included upon obtaining the [Selection Scale].
This [Goddess of the Scale] was a gatekeeper to the Almighty Goddess Aldvenus’s sanctuary (or so was the backstory of the difficulty for the dungeon), and thus required the players to have a fitting strength if they wanted to challenge the dungeon.
A fearful gatekeeper who struck down all weak and undeserving players without mercy, with its ultimate (unique) skill, [Brachium].
Skill’s effect - 100% hit rate, flat 99 999 Area of Effect damage which ignores all Defence.
It’s given but, if you improve your character normally, this is something that you can never withstand.
Even a high spec’d Angel race or Vampire race players usually only have around 70 000 HP at level 1000.
In another word, the enemy is buffed to the point of being broken, that outside of the top players you would have had no chance whatsoever.
As I side note, when we were clearing the dungeon Megrez who had low HP got rekt.
If you could not even clear this gatekeeper, you were judged to be unqualified to meet with the Goddess, this was the savagery behind the dungeon.
[If you could defeat the gatekeeper and manage to meet with the Goddess after overcoming various difficulties the dungeon threw at you, you will be rewarded] was the premise of the event.
Even after becoming a golem, this broken skill remained.
As one could expect, unlike the time when it was a Boss Character and the broken skill could be blasted out immediately after the start of the battle as many time as it wanted, as often as it wanted, the skill was nerfed once to the point of only being able to fire once every 24 hours.
But fearsome skill still remained fearsome.
I clearly remember the scene where even the allies were shuddering from the skill being blasted immediately at the start of the fight as a [Pre-emptive attack] to gain an advantage.
The problem was... most likely due to bad AI, if it was in a condition to be able to fire the skill, it just blasted it even against the weaklings.
As a consequence, there were many times I was stumped because it couldn’t be used when I really needed it.
Anyways, this clearly game-breaking skill was thought to be an administrative failure to properly balance by many players, and I also thought it was such.
There probably would have been a balance patch in the next update and the skill would have gotten nerfed, but before that could happen, the final war had occurred and I happened to come over to this world.
(TLN: Whenever something new comes out in an MMO (not limited to skills), most often it’s broken (overpowered), and after a while, with enough feedbacks or more commonly with enough complaints by the players, it receives a "balance patch" where it gets weakened (aka nerf))
Ah, so it’s the Gatekeeper eh...
I don’t know if there are any tomb raiders but if there was, I can only say "my condolence".
In this current world, I’d imagine probably only the likes of Levia can overcome.., that.
"I’ve always heard rumours about Libra.
I’ve heard it’s been called a merciless murder machine that kills anyone that comes to the top floor.
It looks like some had tried to persuade it by talking, but it really hasn’t listened."
As if troubled by it, Megrez sighed.
For me personally, I think it’s better off than the time with Aries, who was just acting around violently but that doesn’t seem to be the case for Megrez?
"Then isn’t it fine to just leave it alone? Is there really a reason to want to rough up my tomb so much?"
"It’s problematic because there is.
It’s not just the people that deteriorated compared to the 200 years ago. Weapons, equipment and alchemists all dropped in quality to an unbelievable degree.
Especially the legendary tiered swords and armours which were all lost during the fight with the Demon King, all that’s left in the existence are those safely stored in your tomb."
Legendary tier weapons are probably referring to the rare weapon drops that the players could not craft up.
The likes of official event rewards are especially valuable because it is something that you never get your hands on again.
"Currently, pressured into the corner by the Demon race, it’s something that they want to get their hands on at all cost.
It’s not that I support raiding the tomb of the diseased but, countless weapons saved in your tomb is something that could give mankind the chance for a comeback.
.... But, because of the existence of that golem, no one has been able to lay their hands on them."
Well, you are talking about a stupidly broken skill with fixed 99 999 damage and defence penetration.
Even if you say that the repeated firing is not possible, in the current age, even getting to the top floor is probably done only by risking their lives.
So being fired with an instant death damage after going through all that is really something that people wouldn’t be able to readily accept.
"Hmm........ Personally, I can’t come to blame Libra.
It’s true that for mankind, it’s an annoying and troublesome existence, but, for me, it’s a loyal retainer that’s been protecting my possession until I’ve returned. Let alone a reason for placing any fault on it, if anything I should be praising it."
"I understand that.
It’s just, after you’ve recovered Libra, it’s fine if it’s even just the stuff you think you won’t use, I’d really appreciate it if you left them in the tomb.
I’m fully aware this is a shameless request."
"......... well, I guess I don’t mind if it’s only that much."
An owner of the tomb that approves people raiding their own tomb, it’s quite an amusing story really.
At the very least, the next destination has been decided.
It’s time to go give a word of appreciation to Libra who had been working without rest for the past 190 years.
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End of Chapter Author’s note (TLN: even though I said I probably won’t translate it last chapter, I’ll try to do it for chapters which are not a skit and seem to give information and is simple enough)
[Some Irrelevant background settings]
In this world, people are aware of normal concepts such as class, level and skill that existed back in the game but (to begin with there’s no such thing as a video game) beyond all that, there’s a Creation Goddess Aldvenus, all systems are created by her.
There are no concepts such as [to create my own skill] or [to craft my own technique] in this world. All skills and magic are gifted by the goddess.
Current the only one with that mindset in this world, is an irregular existence, Ruphas only.
Fundamentally, those powers are prepared for use by mankind and outside of mankind class change is not possible.
That’s what, whatever monsters do, they’ll remain a monster, Alchemist Orcs cannot be born with 100% certainty.
It is said this mankind’s power to class change is something rewarded by the Goddess as a result of the devotion she received.
However, the demon race also has the power to class change, and as such there are more than a few who doubts whether the power to class change is really a reward from the Goddess due to the devotion she received.
And even after 200 years of being pressured into a corner, however much people prayed, the Goddess has shown no sign of changing this system, nor have there been a sign of punishment for the demon race.