“Hey, Erich, your bounty has gone up to 200 gold coins.”
The brown-haired girl walked away from the request board, sat down opposite the white-robed man, and lowered her voice.
Erich, completely shrouded in his white robe, scoffed without reservation. “200 gold coins? Interesting. Looks like it's time for me to make my move.”
As soon as he spoke, cheerful laughter erupted in the guild. A stubby-bearded man sitting nearby slapped the table, turned around, and yelled, “Hilet, you haven't even paid back the boss for your drinks yet! What do you mean 'make your move'?”
Right after, someone else chimed in. “A guy who was scared to death of slimes just half a month ago is now going after that empire-renowned playboy noble? Don't go wetting your pants the moment you see his magic!”
Erich ignored their mockery. He stood up calmly, walked over to the request board amidst the room's jeering, and reached out to rip down the bounty poster. It bore the punchable face of a silver-haired youth.
“Oh? He actually took it?”
“Are you crazy, Hilet?”
Jeers rose and fell behind him. Someone shouted, “Don't go dying in the Abyss!” which triggered another round of laughter.
Erich left them with a proud, aloof back. Only after stepping out the door did he turn and call out, “Let's go, Isa.”
The brown-haired girl, Isa, shook her head and stood up to follow him.
...
It had been nearly a month since Erich transmigrated. Before his transmigration, he had been sitting in front of his computer. The screen was displaying a cutscene from Starspire. A blonde girl stood under the moonlight, looking out of the screen with tear-filled eyes. She was the most popular romanceable character in the game, and her personal storyline had brought countless players to tears.
Erich had pressed the skip button with a blank expression. He had no interest in romance plots. To him, the sole purpose of Starspire's existence was to serve as a launcher for the massive multiplayer raid dungeon, the 【Abyss】. As someone who had consistently ranked in the top three on the leaderboard, Erich played the game for only one thing: the thrill of battle.
Beautiful animations skipped one after another, and his computer's fan began to spin wildly, emitting a dying roar.
Erich paid it no mind. This computer had been with him for eight years; as long as the fan spun, he considered it a win. Keeping his eyes glued to the screen, his hand clicked the mouse at lightning speed, attempting to skip the unskippable cutscene.
The screen froze on the loading interface. Then, with a loud bang, the computer exploded, and Erich's vision plunged into instant darkness.
When he opened his eyes again, he was lying on a large bed with silk sheets. The room was ridiculously spacious, with a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling and gold-framed oil paintings on the walls. Anyone living in such a place was clearly rich and powerful.
Before Erich could celebrate, the door was kicked open.
Silver-armored soldiers filed in. The leader held a roll of parchment and announced coldly, “Erich Edmond, you have been summoned by the Tribunal. Come with us.”
Giving Erich no chance to argue, two soldiers stepped forward and grabbed him by the arms.
As he was escorted to the Tribunal, a surge of memories churned in his mind, chaotic and fragmented: banquets, wine, servants trampled underfoot, a maid crying in the hallway, and the disgusted look of a silver-haired girl.
The presiding judge was a gray-haired elder who mercilessly read out Erich's crimes one by one: bullying commoners, abusing noble privileges, attempted murder of a noble...
Kneeling in the center of the courtroom, Erich had not yet fully digested the memories flooding his mind before the verdict was delivered. He was stripped of the Edmond family name, deprived of his noble status, and exiled to the northern border.
Erich was thrown into a dilapidated carriage and jostled along a muddy dirt road for four whole days. The escorting soldiers dumped him in a desolate forest, leaving him with a brief "fend for yourself" before driving off.
Fortunately, heaven never seals off all exits. A status panel appeared before the desperate Erich.
【Name: Erich】
【Level: 7】
【EXP: 100/295】
【Attributes: Strength: 9; Constitution: 7; Spirit: 12; Willpower: 2; Charisma: 12】
【Free Attribute Points: 0】
【Class: None】
【Skill List: 【Vertical Slash Lv.1】】
Seeing a panel almost identical to the one in the game, Erich, a top PVP master who had dominated the leaderboards for years, instantly felt a surge of confidence. With the panel, he had everything. Sooner or later, he would tear through this alternate world.
Half a shichen later, Erich squatted beside the corpse of a wild rabbit, staring at the motionless EXP bar on his panel. His expression slowly froze. He remembered the mechanics of Starspire: EXP could only be obtained within the 【Abyss】. In the game, this was to prevent players from maliciously farming monsters in the main city zones, thereby limiting the leveling areas to the Abyss dungeons.
In other words, he had to get to the Abyss first.
The Abyss was also located in the northern region of the Radiant Empire, the same area where Erich had been exiled. However, unfamiliar with the land, Erich had to survive in the wilderness for half a month before finally reaching it. His original body's attributes were pitifully weak. As the "most disgusting character" and the "man with the most death CGs" in the game, almost all the tragic pasts of the female characters who needed to be saved by the protagonist were related to him. Consequently, no matter which route the player chose in the game, Erich Edmond was always doomed to die, so he naturally didn't need very high attributes.
But this was torture for the transmigrated Erich. Over those two weeks, he had slept in tree hollows, drunk from streams, been chased by wild dogs half the height of a man, got drenched like a drowned rat in torrential rain, and broke a rib rolling down a hillside. This pampered, noble body had been utterly ruined by the torment of those fifteen days.
But he had finally arrived.
The towering, heaven-reaching giant tower—a colossal structure so massive that describing it as a "tower" felt like a sacrilege—appeared before Erich. The cluster of buildings at its base looked utterly insignificant by comparison.
The magnificent tower filled Erich with a surge of ambition. He felt that his path of slaughter was about to begin right here.
But after killing his first goblin, Erich ran into a problem. In the game, killing monsters automatically granted EXP and sent materials straight into the inventory. In reality, while he got the EXP, he had to harvest the materials from the corpses himself. Erich simply couldn't bring himself to do it.
Fortunately, he met Isa. Both short on cash, the two hit it off immediately. They worked together to kill monsters, and Isa looted the corpses, making their efficiency incredibly high.
...
In front of the light portal at the bottom of the Abyss, Isa spoke up, “Are you really going to turn yourself in?”
Walking ahead, Erich stopped, turned back, and glanced at her. “Are you stupid?” He pulled the bounty poster from his chest, flipped it over, and revealed another request form hidden underneath for a 【Bone-Spine Pearl Mother】, with a reward of 7 gold coins.
Isa's eyebrows furrowed instantly. “Say I'm stupid one more time, and you can collect your own materials from now on!”
“No, no, no, my bad.” Erich immediately backed down, but his feet didn't stop as he continued walking toward the giant tower.
Isa snorted, stepped up to grab Erich's hand, and the two stepped through the light portal together.
Rate on N.U.
