There is Something Wrong with This Game

[Real World: Yasaka Ruri's Residence]

While waiting for the installation to complete, Ruri decided to do some maintenance.

Ruri used her T-Bracelet to type a series of command lines, ordering all the cleaning robots in her house to gather in the garage as she walked there. The robots immediately suspend their task and faithfully obeyed her command. When Ruri arrived at the garage, there were already 15 cleaning robots with various shapes standing there waiting for her next order.

Those 15 robots were personally made by Ruri herself, following some blueprints obtained from the Kyoto Academy's Archives by spending some of her Academic points.

Then she crafted their parts with Hecate's Blacksmith skill using material item obtained from the game, Blue Steel Alloy, which was considered an ordinary grade material but was still stronger than real world steel.

Meanwhile for their processor units, she used the latest model of robotic-board, Raspberry - IXA 4.08 that she purchased online from Mercury website. This board model was specifically developed for people who want to build their own robots or drones and could be purchased at an affordable price.

The costs of making these robots were surprisingly low with each only costs less than ¥10000.

As the robots saw Ruri's appearance in their camera's sight, they greeted her with their machinery voice.

"Good morning, Master. Have a nice day." ×15

Ruri flatly replied their greetings.

Anyway, they were just a soulless lump of machines without any personality module installed. Even their greetings were just a simple set of pre-programmed command that follows a specific routines.

In her view, answering their greetings is just a waste of time.

Of course, there was always the option of installing a personality module chip to each of the robots. Although the price of the chip is quite expensive on the Mercury website, it was still affordable to buy.

The robots that has the module chip installed will act more lifelike, self-thinking, can interact and even carry out conversation. Usually it was installed into human-shaped androids, mostly in conjunction with the installation of artificial sexual organ(s). It was a very popular product especially for singles who want the touch of a companion.

But even so, Ruri never considered to do that.

'Dealing with Robotic Laws is very troublesome. Besides, I can't really trust robots with independent thinking.'

If she wants to have a self-thinking robot, she has to fulfill some procedures and obligations listed in the Robotic Laws. These laws are primarily in place to ensure parties involved to not cause any harm to others, and limit the number of self-thinking robots that they can own according to various circumstances. 

This was because there are already a lot of cases where self-thinking robots and androids went berserk and cause trouble to the society due to mismanagement.

-- There have been reported cases of property loss and destruction, injury, and even death!

And since Ruri was still considered a minor, she needed permission from her guardian, in this case her parents, to complete the procedure. Moreover, with the same reason, the number of self-thinking robots she could own was limited to only one.

It was truly not worth the effort.

Ruri took her eyes off from the robots and walked over to a nearby table. She took two rings from the drawer and placed them on her fingers. The moment Ruri put on the rings, she immediately felt power coursing through her small body.

These rings were the better version of the Bravery Rings that Hecate had used previously (Chapter B006).

The crafter, Shuna has inscripted more runes at the time of their creation, which resulted in the difference of the stat buffs. As Hecate, she had requested 10 of these rings at some time in the past and materialize them into the real world.

Ruri had found out from her experience that unlike in Ascension, there seemed to be no restriction for wearing the equipment in the real world.

She can use any equipment without any problems, ignoring the level or class requirements. Moreover, all the equipment that she had brought up until now was automatically adjusted to fit Hecate's body size at the time of materialization, which was also the same as Ruri's body size. All she had to pay attention was the condition of her real body.

For example, Ruri can wear a set of Full Plate Armor belonged to Knight classes, with only problem that it was very heavy. But this can be solved by wearing a few of Bravery Rings.

And of course, it was possible to wear more than 10 rings in the hand!

Unfortunately, although Ruri could benefit from equipment buffs, her real body was really of a muggle. She couldn't utilize any of the spells or skills that were in the equipment at all.

"Well, I think two rings is enough."

Ruri hummed and proceeded to take some maintenance tools from the drawer.

Two Bravery Rings gives her a total of +8 STR. It only made a slight difference in the game, but in the real world, a 1 STR difference was a big deal. Wearing one ring was enough for her loli body to gain the strength of an average adult. Add one more and she gets the strength of a professional weightlifter.

There was no need for her to wear more as it only makes her to break some things by accident.

But those rings also not without its downsides. Wearing two rings also gives her a demerit of -6 INT which caused her thinking process to be clouded. Ruri solved this problem by eating food items that temporarily boost her INT.

"Gather, my slaves! It's the time for maintenance!"

Holding the screwdriver in hand, Ruri commanded the robots to line up.

She started the maintenance by cleaning the filter of the vacuum cleaner robots, refill the mosquito repellent and air freshener liquid on the spraying robots, lubricating the joints of each robot, and many more. It took her about an hour for her to finish the maintenance.

Done with the maintenance, she took off the rings and put them back to the drawer along with the tools.

"Phew, all done... Let's see what I can do again."

Ruri checked her Mercury account, Rucien to see if there was anyone who ordering her craft, which turned out to be quite a few. From her previous crafted items, there are some people who put them to their order list.

When people add their items to their order list, the site will ask to hold a portion of their balance equal to the item's price. This balance is still refundable if they canceled before the seller accepts the order. But once the seller accepts the order, the transaction must continue to completion or a penalty will occur.

"Well, right now I'm not in Rosenweil Kingdom, but fine... I'll buy some material and rent a Blacksmith room later."

She accepted all those orders and set the time limit to one week.

This time limit was a precaution because if she couldn't complete the order within the time limit, she would have to pay the penalty and Rucien's seller rating could drop. It would be easy for Ruri to recraft those items, since Hecate had already saved the blueprints.

But that only if she could enter the game. Right now, she can't do anything else except for waiting.

Occasionally, she also checked the installation progress from her T-Bracelet and saw that there was still about half of the percentage bar remaining before completion.

It was faster than the estimation but there still some time left before she could play.

"Oh well, I'm bored~"

Ruri flopped her naked body down to the floor, staring at the garage ceiling.

♠♠♠

[Ascension: Drusel Fortress City]

That day was the worst day of Nebula Guild.

Thousands of Native corpses were scattered outside the Drusel Fort, along with many Players' life-sparks. Regardless of who they were, Merchants, Knights, young and old, their fragile lives were destroyed so easily.

Even the Safety Barrier, the one who kept monsters away from the Fort continued to dim. It wouldn't be long before the barrier ran out of mana supply, and if that happened, the barrier would definitely disappear.

The Knights stationed on the fortress walls couldn't help but gasped when they saw what was happening.

"A stampede...!"

Outside the fort, countless Orc troops can be seen advancing from the valley. Their gazes are fierce and their facial expressions are filled with hatred.

Anyone who saw them in the fort were trembled in fear at their numbers alone.

[⁂][Orc General - Lv100~120] (×??)

 --- Mount: [⁂][Darkhound Wolf - Lv100~110] (×??)

[⁂][Orc Shaman - Lv100~120] (×??)

[ ⁑ ][Orc Fighter - Lv80~99] (×????)

[ ⁑ ][Orc Cavalry - Lv80~99] (×????)

 --- Mount: [ ⁑ ][Blackfang Wolf - Lv50~70] (×????)

[ ⁑ ][Orc Hunter- Lv80~99] (×????)

It was clear that these orcs had come here not for a friendly visit, but for war!

And in the farthest part of the army, there was a very noticeable orc, different from the other orcs. This orc was extremely large, dwarfing the others in size. It can be seen from the first glance that this orc was their leader, The Orc Lord.

[✢][The Enraged Orc Lord, Gerchwiik - Lv142] (×1) - HP 95,670,000 

        (information can only be seen with the skill Appraise Lv7+)

He had two fangs protruding from his mouth, making his angry expression even more terrifying. His body was enveloped with a strange mixture of red and black aura. And inside his armor contained an extremely excessive amount of muscle.

The Orc Lord, Gerchwiik, looking at the fort in distance with hatred.

"UNFORGIVABLE... COWARDS!! HOW DARE YOU... KILLED MY FRIEND!! CHWAAAKKk!"

Just this morning when he woke up, he received a shocking news from his subjects.

His childhood playmate, Kerchwiik, who was supposed to have married Sechwii the day before, died tragically. Kerchwiik and his wife, along with everyone else in their district, were massacred overnight.

It should have been a happy day especially for the two of them, but suddenly it all ended in tragedy.

The corpses of those orcs who died were hideous, their skin melted revealing their bones wrapped in purple flesh oozing pus. Even their faces had been deformed beyond recognition that no one could find out their identities except from their belongings. From their tragic corpses, traces of an extremely terrifying poison could be clearly seen.

As for Kerhwiik and Sechwii, they were burned in their dwellings and almost nothing was left except for two slags. Even in their deaths, they still held hands. Their prized weapons, armors, and shields were nowhere to be seen.

Gercwhiik wouldn't be so angry if they were killed honorably in battlefield.

Orcs were a very proud race that valued strength. They would rather die in battlefield than in bed. Even if they ended up dying in such a situation, they would die with pride and respect the victor. This conviction was already deeply rooted in their race.

If Kerchwiik, his wife, and his neighbors died in battle, Gercwhiik would still be sad but he could accept it.

But, since they were died of such underhanded and cowardly attack, he couldn't accept this outcome. Moreover, Kerchwiik was his best friend since childhood.

The thought of Kerchwiik's honor and pride being trampled on caused Gerchwiik to be furious.

"DESPICABLE FILTH!! I WILL DESTROY YOU UNTIL NOTHING'S LEFT!! CHWAAAKKK!"

Last night's incident was still fresh, so there was no need to find the culprit. Whoever it was, they must be one of the people, most likely Players who barricaded themselves on the Holy Mountain inside that stone building (Drusel Fort).

This grudge must be paid in blood!

However, Gerchwiik knew himself best that he still didn't have the strength to fight those Immortal Players head-on. This was because he had not been long since evolving to a new tier, from an Orc General into the newly crowned Orc Lord.

In Ascension, every time someone advances to the next tier, they inevitably have their strength temporarily decrease as their level is reset to 1. But in exchange, their maximum level cap would increase. What's more, they also retained their previous stats as it was.

So when they managed to catch up to their previous level, their strength would definitely increase by leaps and bounds. It's just that this process requires time and effort, and Gerchwiik didn't have the patience to wait until then.

He was afraid that if he waited too long, the fire of hatred in his heart would eventually cool off.

Gerchwiik who was blinded by hatred then immediately performed the forbidden ritual.

• • "O THE SACRED SPIRIT UMBRA! HEED MY CALL AND GRANT MY WISH!"
    • "Child, what is your wish? And what will you offer in exchange?"
  • "TAKE HALF OF MY LIFE! I WANT REVENGE SO GIVE ME POWER!!"
    • "Kukuku, very well... I'll grant that wish."

This was actually a dangerous gamble for Gerchwiik's life as he tries to make a deal with the Spirit of Dark, Umbra.

Forbidden ritual is called forbidden for a reason.

If for some reason Umbra was displeased, or Gerchwiik's offering was unsatisfactory, the end result might backfire on him. He was very lucky that the ritual completed successfully without problem. 

And so, Gerchwiik sacrificed half of his lifespan in exchange for a permanent power boost.

With the buff Umbra's Blessing, Gerchwiik instantly filled with power.

If someone with the skill Appraise Lv10 checked Gerchwiik's stats, they would find that all his stats had drastically increased. His maximum HP suddenly grew from about 6.5 million to 95 million. His level also went up continuously from Lv6 until it stopped at Lv142.

A sudden rise of power, except this power wasn't free at all, with half of Gerchwiik's lifespan as the price. Now, his appearance is getting older because he lost 136 years worth of life.

And at the same time, every Player who was online at the time received the same notification message.

Perhaps Gerchwiik would regret this choice after the war is over regardless of the outcome. But anyway, with this new power, he was ready to exact revenge towards those vermin scums who holed themselves inside that stone building.

♣♣♣

And so, Gerchwiik lifted a large boulder with one hand, and threw it towards Drusel Fort.

It was just a simple skill called Rock Throwing, which anyone could learn as an Extra Skill by constantly practicing throwing stones for a certain period. But what Gerchwiik did was no longer just an ordinary Rock Throwing. That rock had been filled with his unknown aura and possessed extremely destructive power.

The moment the rock hit the barrier of the Fort, a shockwave occurred and devastate the nearby people outside the barrier. Countless Native corpses and Player life-sparks before were caused by this kind of blast. The barrier that held back the attack also grew dimmer for each attack.

It wouldn't be long before the barrier disappeared for good.

"Where is our vanguards? What? They're still stuck with update patch? Why at a time like this...?!"

"Dammit! Our Knights! Our residents! HURRY UP AND CALL THEM RIGHT NOW!"

Panicked voices can be heard throughout the Fort.

With the Nebula Guild's strength, normally they wouldn't need to panic even in such a situation.

Unfortunately, the stampede coincidentally occurred at the same time as the Capsule Pod update patch. Most members who log in using Standard and Premium types of Pod are still stuck downloading the patch, including those who logged in from Cyber Cafes throughout the country. As for Executive type, there was no one in their guild.

Even though their patch size is smaller than Executive type, they don't have Prioritized SSL Quantum Connection like a certain loli. So they have to suffer from waiting for download time, and then suffering again waiting for installation time.

Those who can attend at this time are those who are logged in from the Basic type Pod which has only a few changes. And they mostly were just a bunch of low-leveled Players who basically were nobody in the guild.

Many of the higher ups of the Nebula Guild could only grit their teeth in frustration in front of their Pods.

"Nooo! My beloved Mina-tan (a Native) is still inside the fort! Please be safe..."

"It's over... It's over... Our effort up until now..."

At another place, a man in his early 20 complained to the Cyber Cafe manager. This man comes from a certain influential family and he was one of the regular, and has the VIP membership of this Cyber Cafe.

The look on his face showed that he was in a hurry.

"Manager! Can you bypass the update patch and allow me to login immediately? What, you can't!?"

"My apologies, sir! I don't have such skill..."

The manager could only reply with a troubled expression.

Countless curses and censored words spewed throughout the forums against Gaia Corporation. But no matter how many cursing words were thrown, it does nothing to change the current situation. With the lack of support from high-level Players, it was only a matter of time before the Fort could be breached.

By noon, Drusel Fortress City was no more.

Safety Area protected the people inside from receiving 'lethal' damage, and warding wild monsters from entering the area. It doesn't prevent people from using any skills or dying for other reasons, such as hunger, sickness (bad statuses), and lifespan (Native only).

The level of protection depends on the mana reserve of the Save Crystals connected to the area. When the Safety Area run out of mana reserve, this protection disappear.

The Orcs' Levels

Kerchwiik (Orc Hero) -> Lv1 with HP about 4m.

Because he did a violent snusnu a few hours earlier, he got a few bruises (HP -10%) and his stamina at rock bottom. At that state he took a very potent poison while running towards his house (HP -60%, DOT) -> (Remaining HP ~1.2m)

Gerchwiik (Orc Lord) -> Lv6 with HP about 6.5m.

Performed a Forbidden Ritual, sacrificing his lifespan to gain a permanent buff of 136 level ups. -> (Lv6 -> 142), (HP 6.5m -> 95m).

Btw this permanent buff, in the end is still a buff and not his real power. Hence, it can be dispelled.

Orc Tiers

Orc Baby (0)

Orc Warrior/Archer/Tamer(1) -> Orc Fighter/Hunter/Cavalry(2) -> Orc General/Ranger/Paladin (3) ->

Orc Hero/Orc Lord(4)

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