Chapter 6

The Game’s Difficulty
Went Crazy

One hour before Triss arrived.

Glen was wandering around his room.

To win the spar with Sir Robert that would take place in three weeks, he needed at least one Ring of Sacredness.

But right now, Glen could not even activate holy power, let alone form a Ring of Sacredness.

‘First, I need to be able to use holy power.’

Feeling the holy power and demonic energy that were stopped inside his heart, Glen retraced his memories from before Edgar approached him.

A being that handles two different powers at the same time.

Glen tried to find such an existence to solve the problem of holy power and demonic energy, and soon set a goal.

‘The Spirit-Devouring Wolf.’

A forest spread across the southern part of the Wordsworth territory.

That was the name of the boss monster living there.

‘That thing uses both spirit power and demonic energy at the same time. If I examine its heart, I might get a hint about holy power and demonic energy.’

The problem was how to kill it.

The Wordsworth territory was a location that could only be reached in the middle part of the story. Because of that, the monsters appearing nearby were fairly high level.

‘The Spirit-Devouring Wolf is one of the strongest boss monsters in the territory. Even Sister Triss, a 5-star Holy Knight, struggles against it.’

The probability of the current Glen defeating the Spirit-Devouring Wolf and obtaining its heart was close to zero.

No, it was simply zero.

‘Should I ask Sister Triss?’

Glen immediately shook his head.

Of course, Triss would actively help.

But if that happened, secrecy would not be maintained.

‘There’s no way Father wouldn’t notice Sister Triss coming back after a huge battle.’

Nothing was more troublesome than the Wordsworth family head noticing something.

He could not use Triss.

Glen had to hunt the Spirit-Devouring Wolf with his own power.

‘How do I do this…?’

Resting his chin on his hand, he tapped the desk.

Thousands of pieces of information about Gray Eden flashed rapidly through his mind.

After a short moment of thought, Glen’s hand suddenly stopped.

“There’s no need to fight it head-on.”

The Spirit-Devouring Wolf was strong, but it was a monster with clear weaknesses.

If he avoided a frontal battle and properly targeted those weaknesses, Glen had enough chance to win.

Moreover, he was a rotten veteran player.

Glen also knew a way to exploit that weakness to the extreme.

‘If it’s the Inglusio magic circle, I can maximize its weakness.’

The answer Glen came up with was none other than a magic circle.

In fact, in Gray Eden, magic circles were not a very popular method among users.

The patterns were complicated and hard to draw, and even with effort, they were difficult to make as effective as normal skills.

But inside Glen’s head existed thousands of game strategies that used magic circles.

‘There’s some groundwork needed, but if I use magic circles well, it’s definitely possible to subdue the Spirit-Devouring Wolf.’

Glen took out paper and a pen and began laying out the plan in his mind.

Soon, the corners of his mouth curled up slyly.

“When will Sister come back?”

As expected, about an hour later, his sister came after hearing about the spar.

Glen asked her to gather materials for his groundwork.

Of course, he did not give a detailed explanation.

Even if Triss trusted him completely, he could not say that he was going alone to hunt the Spirit-Devouring Wolf.

—What do you need?

Even so, Triss willingly cooperated. She sent him a determined look.

The moment he saw that look, Glen became certain of his victory.

The next day.

As usual, Glen and Triss were at the training grounds.

Clang—! Clang!

The sound of metal colliding echoed through the quiet training grounds.

“That attack just now was really good, Glen!”

Triss blocked the incoming strike.

Glen smoothly continued his movements.

Then he accurately blocked Triss’s counterattack.

Clang—

What had been clumsy sparring at first had now taken on proper form.

This back-and-forth was possible because Triss was holding back to some extent.

Even so, Glen’s swordsmanship was far too refined to believe he had learned it for only ten days.

‘I feel this every time I watch him, but he’s really a genius.’

Triss admired him.

Not encouragement, but genuine admiration from the heart.

Not as a kind older sister caring for her younger brother, but as the demon instructor feared by all apprentice knights.

‘At this rate, in three weeks, he might overwhelm Sir Robert with pure swordsmanship alone. But…’

For a moment, a sharp gleam passed through Triss’s eyes.

At the same time, her body accelerated.

Claaang—!

Glen’s sword flew out of his hand and into the air.

The tip of Triss’s blade stopped right in front of Glen’s defenseless neck.

Glen let out a rough breath.

“You can’t let your mind wander when you’re facing me, Glen.”

“Haa… You noticed.”

“Of course I did.”

Triss smiled gently.

Throughout the spar, she had felt that Glen’s mind was elsewhere.

“Shall we rest for five minutes?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll go get something to drink.”

Stopping the maid nearby who was about to move, Triss walked away.

Glen awkwardly scratched his head.

Just as Triss said, he had been thinking about future plans the entire time.

‘Thanks to Sister Triss helping, the preparation for the magic circle is going smoothly. But just that feels a bit unsafe.’

The Inglusio magic circle Glen planned to use this time contained a trap-type installation spell.

In other words, he had to lure the target into the magic circle.

But the enemy was a monster that even a 5-star Holy Knight struggled with.

Avoiding its attacks while guiding it into the magic circle would not be easy.

‘Of course, with my current specs, I can lure it. But to raise the success rate, I need to become faster and stronger than I am now.’

Even if the success rate was 90, Glen never ignored the remaining 10 of variables.

Blocking all variables and creating a success rate close to 100.

That was one of the reasons he had cleared Gray Eden hundreds of times.

Glen opened his status window and checked his stats.

‘Most of my physical stats are between 10 and 14. I need at least an average of 17 to lure it safely without risk.’

At his current growth rate, he would probably reach that level in about five days.

But Glen changed the target period to three days.

The sooner he solved the holy power and demonic energy problem, the higher his chances of beating Sir Robert.

“Young Master.”

Suddenly, Lucy, who had been watching the training from the side, spoke to Glen.

Glen raised an eyebrow as if it were unusual.

There was not a single servant in this mansion who spoke to him first.

“What is it?”

“There’s something I’d like to ask.”

“Go ahead.”

“The spar with Sir Robert. Will you really be alright?”

‘As expected.’

Glen sneered inwardly.

At a glance, it sounded like concern for him, but that was not it.

She was worried that Triss’s efforts would be wasted if Glen lost the spar.

The hidden meaning Glen roughly grasped was this:

‘Please don’t let the Lady’s efforts be in vain. Or give up the spar now.’

He thought Lucy was quite bold.

A madman who labeled anyone opposing him a heretic and set warehouses on fire.

How many maids would dare approach such an uncontrollable brute and give advice like this?

‘It’s because of Sister.’

Lucy. Triss’s exclusive maid who had stayed by her side for ten years.

This nosy lady truly thought of Triss like her own younger sister.

She liked things that benefited Triss and wanted to deny things that did not.

Of course, whether a mere maid liked or disliked something changed nothing, but Glen did not dislike Lucy.

People like this were useful in one way or another.

“The spar with Sir Robert? Don’t worry. As long as things go according to plan, I won’t lose.”

“I see. Thank you for answering.”

Lucy bowed her head.

Her expression looked unsettled for no reason.

Even so, there was no reason for Glen to explain his plan in detail.

‘I’ll just show the result.’

Seeing Triss coming back from afar with drinks, Glen stretched.

From now on, he would ask for even harsher training to grow to his desired level within three days.

‘Sister Triss will probably say that overworking my body will have the opposite effect. But that’s because she doesn’t know the Gray Eden system.’

As he had said before, Gray Eden was a world that thoroughly rewarded effort.

There would be backlash from overworking the body, but he would gain additional stats in return.

Of course, knowing his personality, he would regret this tomorrow morning, again and again.

But someone once said this:

‘Tomorrow’s problems are for tomorrow’s me to handle. So it’s none of my business.’

Three days passed.

After finishing Triss’s training and returning to his room, Glen checked his status window with a satisfied expression.

《Glen Wordsworth》

《Race》 : Human / 17 years old

《Stats》

§ Strength : 13 Agility : 21
§ Endurance : 17 Charm : -18
§ Holy Power : 15 Demonic Energy : 10

《Unique Potential》

§ Demonic Energy User

《Condition》

§ Normal

It had been about two weeks since he started training his body with growth potions and Triss’s hellish training.

Most of his abilities except holy power had surpassed those of an apprentice knight and were approaching the level of a full-fledged knight.

“The magic circle materials I asked Sister for arrived this morning too.”

With this, the minimum conditions to go hunt the Spirit-Devouring Wolf were all met.

All that remained was execution.

Glen reached under the bed.

Soon, a medium-sized sword was pulled into his hand.

A sword he had stolen from the armory during the day.

Holding the well-honed blade, he stood in front of the mirror and took a stance.

His once-skinny body had gained a fair amount of muscle, and his posture with the sword was straight.

And looking back at him was a boy with clear ash-gray eyes.

As the sun began to set, Glen left the mansion through the back door.

The world was dyed red by the sunset.

Glen was walking through the middle of the forest spread across the southern Wordsworth territory.

“It’ll start getting dark soon.”

In this world, a forest was not a pleasant walking path with clean air and good water.

It was a dungeon created by nature itself, where monster or wild beast attacks could happen at any time.

Because of that, even skilled hunters avoided entering forests alone in the evening.

Glen also would not have come here unless he had a special purpose like today.

After wandering the forest for dozens of minutes.

Glen stopped in front of massive footprints and lowered his gaze.

Footprints of a wolf as large as a human body.

There was only one monster of this size in this forest.

‘It’s nearby.’

Glen took off his backpack.

A glass bottle filled with blue liquid fell to the ground. It was a magic potion made by mixing materials Triss had obtained.

‘From now on, I need to focus.’

The Inglusio magic circle was a high-level magic circle that took over an hour just to draw.

On top of that, if even one part was disturbed, a completely different spell could come out.

Glen bit his lip and picked up the quill pen.

About an hour passed like that.

Without taking a proper breath, Glen nearly completed the Inglusio magic circle while staying bent over.

Fortunately, there were no monster attacks during that time.

That was probably thanks to regular expeditions led by the territory lord to reduce monster numbers.

“Ugh… This is seriously exhausting.”

Separately from that, Glen could not endure the stiffness in his waist and stood up to stretch.

Looking at the incomplete magic circle faintly glowing blue on the ground, he smiled in satisfaction.

—You’re probably the only person in the entire world who memorized this and draws it directly. Seriously insane, man.

It was something a user had once said after watching his veteran playstyle video in the past, where he used the rule of “draw every magic circle yourself.”

Normally, people used parchment or scrolls with completed magic circles drawn on them.

Since drawing it yourself did not increase performance, what Seong Yo-hwan had done in the past was considered even more bizarre.

Ironically, because he had memorized magic circles like a freak, Glen could use them now.

The materials were hard to obtain and it took time, so he could not use them often, but they were definitely helpful.

“Alright, let’s finish this.”

Only a few strokes remained.

Just as Glen stretched and was about to lower his body again—

An overwhelming pressure flowed from behind him.

A chilling presence that sent shivers down his spine.

Glen slowly turned his head.

And there—

“Grrrrrrrr.”

The one he had been searching for, now twice as large as he remembered, was staring down at him with glowing blue eyes.

Glen’s pupils shook.

“No, why…?”

Something that should never have happened, happened.

At the same time, with a notification sound, blue particles of light appeared before Glen’s eyes and formed letters.

《You have encountered a Lunatic Element.》