Above Your Head

Vol 2. 62: The Update is Way Too Fast (3)

Vol 2. Chapter 62: The Update is Way Too Fast (3)

“Wait, what?”

I thought we were almost at the end, but that wasn’t the case at all.

“A hundred million.”

Over the course of a year, I only managed to clear the stage 1,000 times. Moreover, I had to consume hundreds of tons of livestock to clear the stages 1,000 times.

But 100 million…

“Oh, my gosh, muscle loss…”

I leaned against a tree feeling deflated. Compared to my fit, muscular self from before, I had crumpled down terribly. Without enough protein as fuel, my body had burnt all the fat in my body, then started to break down my muscles to sustain itself.

“What about meat?”

We only have 100 kilograms left for emergencies.

“What about the smart farm?”

It is running at full capacity, but stockpiles are only 5% excluding the seeds. The situation could be different if there were a few months’ worth of time, but…

“But if I had to wait that long, I would starve to death.”

Not only that, but we do not have enough water.

“We finally ran out? I thought you recycled everything, even the blood from the livestock.”

Big Bread is called a miracle crop, but that does not mean I can create something out of nothing. No matter how conservative we are, there is a limit.

“One after another, huh.”

My Unique World was made of magnetic sand. Naturally, it was not an environment suitable for farming. When we were bringing the animals to the Unique World, we made sure they drank as much water as possible. We used their bones, their skins, and even their furs to maximum efficiency, but there was a limit.

‘It would have been different if the Unique World was made up of soil and water.’

But given the nature and attribute of my soul, it could not be helped.

“In the end, is this how it’s going to be?”

I had been oblivious when I continued to mindlessly clear the stage, but the situation was quite bleak. Catching an ogre was not a difficult task, but there were no resources left to sustain my play.

That wasn’t all.

“I’m going to die.”

Food was not the only scarce resource. My body and my mind were at their limits. As I continued to progress through the stage, I was becoming lighter and losing energy. The situation was particularly serious because I was a Life Energy Practitioner. It would have been fine if we were almost at the end, but…

“Ha.”

It was still ridiculous when I thought about it again.

“A hundred million.”

I cleared the stage a thousand times in a year. That was surely a remarkable feat. I traversed a city-sized jungle a thousand times and I killed 11,000 ogres. I discovered the hidden paths in the forest, the hidden story, the hidden weapons and even the hidden quests. I was pretty certain that there was no one who was more knowledgeable about this stage than me.

But on the other hand.

I had only cleared the stage 1,000 times.

“This is exhausting.”

I knew that it was impossible for me to achieve a complete clear by myself. It would never happen in a million lifetimes. That was why I made the guide video and spread it around.

But it still ended up like this.

“This is just not something I can do, is it?”

It took a year to clear 1,000 times, and that was the result of speed-running most of the time, without any regards for safety. Even if I carried out the remaining 100 million clears with speed runs, it would take me 100,000 years to finish.

Yes, 100,000 years.

“That’s just a little.”

Ridiculous. It was a nonsensically long period of time. By this point, food was not the problem any longer. Even if I had access to unlimited food, the time it would take was unbearably long. Of course, there were still 9 other people left besides me, but was there really a difference between 100,000 and 10,000 years? It would not take ten thousand years nor a thousand years to die old while fighting ogres.

Just a hundred years would be enough.

- 9 people remaining.

- 8 people remaining.

- 7 people remaining.

- There are currently 7 participants remaining.

“Ah, dammit.”

The last remaining participants started to escape from the stage. They were also making the same judgments as I and abandoning further progress.

This is it.

Good work, captain-nim. For the next test…

Ares and Genie started to wrap things up. They knew as well. This was no longer a game, nor training, and it was impossible to achieve a complete clear. Perhaps that was why they were taken aback by my next words.

- Would you like to start the next battle?

“…Yeah.”

Captain-nim?

Dae-ha?

They spoke with dissuading tones. They must have been thinking that I was about to sacrifice myself for the humans of Earth, even though I was already at my limits.

But.

‘Is that really the case?’

I wasn’t sure. I never thought I would show compassion to people I had never seen before. However,

- Level 8. Difficulty has been set at hard.

- Defeat the corresponding enemies (11 objects) within 100 hours.

- Stage will begin in 10 seconds.

- 10. 9. 8. 7…

- 3. 2. 1. Initiating battle.

It was just that.

To be honest.

“Here we go.”

I felt that it was a pity I had to give up because I could not do it.

- Would you like to start the next battle?

- Would you like to start the next battle?

I continued clearing the stage, using the same method as before. I acquired all the available fruits from the forest, ate, drank from streams, and beat up the ogres with Life Energy.

A harpoon that could penetrate the skin of an ogre, a poisonous plant used to put them in deep sleep, traps set by hunters – but I ignored them because they were scattered throughout the forest.

However, I fought with a slightly different method from before.

Brilliant Heaven Seven Lights.

Blue.

A blue light exploded with thunder. The other ogres rushed in after hearing the sound from far away.

Brilliant Heaven Seven Lights.

Blue.

An ogre fell to the ground with a loud thump. I planned my clear to reduce my movements to minimize the calorie consumption, and the battles were carried out with my magical power.

What is this? You’re fighting like a wizard, not a warrior.

“Don’t talk to me. It will cause muscle loss.”

What are you saying…?

What I said to Ares was bullshit, but nevertheless, I was actually in bad shape.

“Ugh, I’m thirsty.”

My entire body was drying up. When I touched my skin, the cracked, dead skin exfoliated so thickly that it rose in a cloud of dust.

Gulp.

I breathed in the transparent stream. At first, I had been relieved when I saw the stream, thinking that I had access to unlimited water.

Shuaaa!

When I drank above a certain amount of water, the stream dried up like a lie. A single stream only provided enough water for a single sip.

“Fucking satanic bastards.”

I didn’t know who designed this damned stage, but I would smash their head open if they were in front of my eyes. I could not believe they would be so cheap with food and water.

“I’m hungry… I’m really hungry…”

I was used to pain. Even when I was captured by the demi-humans, I had joked around. I dared say that my mentality was comparable to a special agent or a freedom fighter. But the hunger that dominated my body right now,

“I’m dying.”

It was increasingly becoming beyond human control.

Crunch.

I picked and ate a fruit, the only food allowed in this forest, but it would hardly be enough to fill the stomachs of ordinary people, let alone myself. At least the food I ate in the Unique World was being applied in the real world due to the skill, or else I would have given up a long time ago.

“Dammit, maybe I shouldn’t have chosen Brilliant Heaven Seven Lights…”

Practicing Life Energy, especially the methods of the Leonhardt Empire, was not hunger-tolerant training. Rather, it was built on the premise of receiving an enormous level of supplies at every moment. It was difficult to fill even the basic metabolic volume without a lot of food.

- Would you like to start the next battle?

- Would you like to start the next battle?

I cleared the stage around a dozen more times. But it had been more than a week since I was stricken with immense hunger, so the time required to clear a stage had increased quite a bit.

In the meantime.

- 6 people remaining.

- 5 people remaining.

- There are currently 5 participants remaining.

“Everyone’s going out.”

The number of participants steadily decreased. Same as me, their bodies must have been reaching the limit. No in fact, it would be more than their physical condition that was at its limit.

“Complete clear would seem impossible anyways.”

I grew more tired. My hunger had increased to the point where my mouth would water whenever I faced an orc, instead of being filled with fear or fighting spirit. If I could have eaten it, I would have eaten it, monster or not.

‘There is a definite limit to using just Life Energy.’

Even so, I did not intend to quit. If I was going to quit, I would have done so when there were only 10 participants remaining.

‘I have to use aura and spirit.’

Whenever my body in the stage fell asleep, I trained in aura production in the Unique World. Aura production as slightly different from the normal methods used by aura trainees. They did not necessarily implement aura in a certain form nor surrounded their bodies with an attribute. An aura production trainee transformed the properties and shapes of objects that already existed. Therefore, metal-type trainees could only use metal, while wood-type trainees could only use wood as materials.

‘Well, there are exceptions though.’

I heard that some trainees with a more comprehensive attribute could utilize multiple attributes. For example, ground-type trainees could use both stone and metal, while fire-type trainees could produce objects by smelting metal rather than fire itself.

‘At this point, it’s impossible to proceed bare-handed. There’s no future if I fight personally.’

As someone with the blood of Machine God Dekarma, I possessed a special ability ever since I stepped into the world of aura production. It was something that trainees at the level of a Compléter might possess.

Attribute granting.

I could grant a special property to metal by concentrating my mind and utilizing aura. The special property would be maintained even if the object’s shape was distorted because aura would dwell in the metal itself.

Among them, the first special property I learned was the concentric circle.

When facing an outside attack, regardless of how concentrated the attack was, the characteristics of concentric circle would disperse the power throughout the object it was imbued in. I chose this ability because it worked so well with Brilliant Heaven Seven Light.

While the End Project progressed, I acquired additional special properties. Reinforcement, which elevated the target’s endurance and strength. Restoration, which reverted the target before it suffered any damage. Attribute Resistance toward fire, ice, and lightning.

And finally.

“If I can finally complete that…”

With the playtime of the stage being prolonged endlessly, I had invested years of time to refine a property. It was not a common property of blacksmithing, rather, it was more befitting a war machine rather than a handheld weapon.

‘That’s right. If I want to make a guide, I need to take into account every single thing. For a game that requires more than 100,000 years of playtime, you need to step outside the box. You shouldn’t play normally.’

No matter how solid my mentality was, enduring 100,000 years was impossible. But if I could complete this property,

‘I have… a chance.’

If this was possible, the problem would be the difficulty rather than time. Perhaps I could even achieve a complete clear.

For.

Every.

One.

‘Huh?’

Click.

I suddenly realized that I was standing in front of the door. Moreover, that was not all. The door was open.

‘What!?’

I became panicked and shouted, but no one could hear.

‘Wait, why? Why did I lose control all of a sudden?’

I had lost control before, but it was the first time it happened so suddenly. It wasn’t as if I opened the door on purpose or lost my temper, so why?

Fortunately, a line of text appeared in front of my eyes and resolved my curiosity.

Title: Disaster of Mankind’s effect is activated!

Resurrecting!

Captain-nim!?

What…?

I started to hear Ares and Genie screaming. I lifted my head off the floor while slowly regaining my vision.

I was sitting in a daze. The resurrection had been invoked, but my body was still dry. Even if the title could revive me when my body was smashed to smithereens and my heart was crushed, it did not seem to be able to restore missing flesh and muscle.

“…I’m hungry.”

What are you blabbering about like an idiot?! Did you die just now?

You overexerted yourself, captain-nim. Let’s stop it here.

Genie and Ares scolded me in response to my words.

I deserved it.

I had starved to death.

While I was moving with my eyes open!