Chapter 3

Theo picked up the loot scattered across the ground one by one. Most of it was junk, along with nothing but more Steel of Raia. He’d definitely heard this place was supposed to be rich in potion ingredients, but no matter how hard he looked, there wasn’t a single one. Golden-handed, my ass.

『Are you going to keep ignoring me? I said, where are you?』

Aslan’s voice rang in his ear again, making him let out a deep sigh.

“Aslan, I’m in a sanctuary. Even if you want to help, you can’t come.”

『What? As if you’re in a sanctuary.』

The sneer in his tone was obvious. Theo furrowed his brows.

“Aslan, I don’t have time for you. Stop talking, you’re just getting in the way.”

『Quit bullshitting and let’s run a dungeon tonight.』

“Block. Aslan.”

The block must have gone through. He could almost hear the muffled whining on the other side, but finally, his ears went quiet.

Aslan was a same-age gaming friend, and also a member of an allied guild Father was on good terms with. In Eternal Tale, guild organizations could be ranked up. The progression went: Pack → Clan → Guild → Union → Band. To upgrade from Guild to Union, two or more guilds had to merge. If Father’s guild met the requirements, he’d probably push for a merger with Aslan’s guild.

Anyway, Aslan’s easygoing, sociable nature meant he got along with anyone, even if they weren’t in the same guild. But his one flaw was that he always found a way to get under people’s skin once in a while. Just like now.

With the nuisance gone, Theo resumed his hunt carefully, making sure the Resha didn’t swarm too heavily. Yet no matter how many he killed, potion ingredients never dropped. Even being unlucky, even being shit-handed, it shouldn’t have been this bad. His inventory just kept filling with Steel of Raia.

As his once plentiful potions dwindled, he felt an anxious pressure rising in his chest. He tried using Heal, but it was so pitiful it was practically shaving years off his life, guzzling mana potions for nothing. For a character with no investment in Intelligence, the Heal Action was nothing more than pie in the sky.

While he was struggling on and on, a fierce wind suddenly swept over his head. It wasn’t the salty, refreshing breeze from before. Instinctively, Theo lifted his head—and gasped.

Far away, at the mountain peak in the island’s center, Raia had raised its head and spread its wings.

The sheer majesty of that figure made Theo stumble backward without realizing it, a chill running down his spine.

Raia stretched its wings fully, gazing over the entire island with a noble, commanding glare. Theo thought those eyes seemed to be issuing an order. At the same time, leaves rustled in bursts all around him, and the bushes shook with a clamor.

Snapping back to his senses, Theo darted his eyes around the area.

“?!”

Theo was struck speechless by the sight. Every Resha spread its wings and soared into the air. All of their names turned red.

Before he could even react, the entire flock locked onto him. Cursing under his breath, Theo sprinted for his life. There was no way he could handle that number alone. Worse, his potions were running dangerously low.

But no matter where he ran, he became a target for the Resha overhead. Attacks rained down from all directions, and the farther he fled, the more monsters swarmed in. His face twisted in frustration. There was nowhere to run, and hardly any potions left. No fallback, no plan B. Only one choice remained.

Theo strung three arrows to his bow. If he had to get beaten without a plan, then he might as well fight back without one. He downed the rest of his potions and unleashed a reckless barrage.

But something about the airborne Resha was different. Their strikes hurt more—their attack power seemed higher—but their defenses were weaker. Damage numbers and criticals landed more often, and two AoE blasts were enough to bring them crashing down, turning into loot. The cold tension in his hands melted away, and his stiff body loosened.

He kept running frantically, firing without pause. By the time his potions and mana bottomed out, he still hadn’t stopped attacking. Somehow, he forced himself to keep going. Then, once more, a gust of wind swept overhead. On the mountain peak at the island’s center, Raia folded its wings and curled up. At that exact moment, every airborne Resha plummeted to the ground and transformed into loot.

“?”

He didn’t know why. All that remained were sparkling drops strewn across the ground. Theo stared at them blankly, then slowly lifted his gaze toward the mountaintop. Raia lay there just as it had when he first arrived, eyes closed and wings tucked in.

Maybe it was part of its pattern. As he bent to collect the loot, he realized that every pick-up gave him potion ingredients—herbs for crafting low-grade potions. Not just one or two by chance, but consistent drops. It seemed that only by killing airborne Resha did the herbs appear.

Other than that, it was the usual junk and more Steel of Raia. For a moment, Theo dared to hope for an Eternal Item, but of course, luck was still luck. Disappointed, he slipped away from the area before the Resha could respawn, heading for a secluded spot where he could craft potions. Using the herbs, he brewed low-grade potions and combined them into mid-grade ones. Considering his overall health pool, he really needed high-grade potions, but then he’d have too few in number.

He sat on a nearby stump, cautious of his surroundings, and waited until both health and mana were fully restored. Then, with a heavier bundle of potions at his side, Theo returned to the hunt.

After he had grown somewhat used to the rhythm of battle, he came across a small clearing. A fence encircled the open space, and when he stepped inside, a notification popped up.

A glance at his mini-map showed he was somewhere near the island’s center.

“Camp? Is this a safe zone? What’s that ‘one-third’ supposed to mean? Wait, is it number of uses?”

As he wondered if there was a limit on entries, he noticed two NPCs standing idly inside. Behind one was a pitched tent, and behind the other, piles of crates stacked high. Tilting his head, Theo approached. The NPCs turned toward him and spoke.

“Welcome to the safe zone, Camp.”

“The camp can be entered three times per day.”

The NPC’s polite explanation cleared up Theo’s doubts, and he nodded with an impressed “Oh.” He then approached the NPC surrounded by stacked crates. Surely they weren’t there just for that single line of dialogue. To his surprise, the NPC opened a storage.

“No way… jackpot.”

Theo muttered without thinking and reached to take out the potions inside—only to find they couldn’t be withdrawn.

“?”

After a bit of checking, he realized the storage only allowed deposits, not withdrawals. Figures. Nothing could be that easy. Theo dumped all the junk and Steel of Raia from his inventory into the storage, then went over to the other NPC.

This one gave two options: Trade and Repair.

Hoping they might sell potions, Theo tried Trade. But all they sold were camping supplies. In fact, just a single tent. Still, Theo gladly bought one.

He had been wondering how he was supposed to sleep here. He could go without sleep for maybe two days if he forced himself, but without proper rest, his character’s fatigue would spike and interfere with hunting. Inside a sanctuary, he wanted to be at peak condition.

Looking around the camp, Theo picked a suitable spot and set up the tent. If it registered as a temporary residence, his respawn point would reset. He was nervous about whether that would work inside a sanctuary, but when he completed the installation, a system alert popped up:

His worries had been pointless. The tent registered just fine. Theo clenched his fist in joy. Now even if he was incapacitated, he wouldn’t be sent back to town.

It felt like he was pioneering an unknown land, step by step. By default, players who cleared sanctuaries never revealed information about them. They didn’t want the knowledge they gained to benefit others. On top of that, streaming or screenshots inside a sanctuary were blocked anyway, so in a sense, this selfish secrecy aligned with the intentions of the game admins.

Feeling proud, Theo looked over his newly placed tent and the camp one more time before heading back out to hunt. He had gotten used to fighting Resha, and his vague fear of incapacitation was gone, so the battles went smoothly.

Everything went well after that—except for one thing. The more he used the storage, the more the storage keeper demanded exorbitant fees that skyrocketed each time.

Theo returned to camp with his health and mana scraped thin. Collapsing onto the tent’s cot, he panted heavily. It had already been several days since he’d entered the sanctuary. His inventory was stuffed with items that needed to go into storage, but he dreaded checking the fees. It felt like he was spending more on storage than he was earning inside.

With a deep sigh, he lit the campfire to chase away the blackness around him. Time flowed differently between hunting grounds and camps. In the hunting grounds, game time passed. In the camp, like in housing zones, real-world time applied. By now, it was already past 10 p.m.