"Is it around here?" Jared arrived at the snowy mountains of Casgard, where Deluke's hideout was. He entered a cave at the base of the mountain, pressing himself against the wall as he moved. Deluke's hideout was at the mountain's peak, and to get there, one had to follow a hiking trail. This was what people called the "proper way."
The problem was that from the entrance to the peak, there were countless traps set up. Proof of this was the frozen bodies scattered at the entrance. Some of these people had probably entered the mountain without knowing Deluke lived there or that traps were set, and they met their end.
"It's really hard to find because the gap is so small." In the dark cave, Jared used a light spell to barely illuminate his path, pressing the walls as he went. There was only one reason for this: there was a hidden secret passage here. A direct secret passage that led from the base of the snowy mountains to Deluke's room. It was one of the bugs not officially known in the game "Paradiso."
In his previous life, he never told other players about it and profited from it alone for years. Occasionally, he mixed in attempts using the proper method to cleverly avoid the game administrators' monitoring. Other players died countless times trying to conquer the place using the proper method from the entrance. But he used the secret passage to get into the room. It was a bug, plain and simple. Like a map bug, it was a flaw created by imperfect internal structure coding.
Jared was confident because even Deluke himself didn't know about this passage. When he accessed this passage, Deluke never realized his artifacts were being stolen until it was too late. After 30 minutes of gently rubbing the cave walls with his hands, searching for the special entrance, he finally found it.
"I found it!" There was a spot on the wall that felt like a sponge, where his hand sank in, unlike the rest of the hard interior walls. At a glance, it looked the same in color and texture as the surrounding walls. Plus, it wasn't an open hole but a wall, so it didn't look like a place you could easily run through. The problem was that this wall was a kind of warp gate that ignored the laws of nature, like the platform 9 and 3/4 from the movie "Harry Potter."
"Phew, alright." Jared took a deep breath and stepped back as far as he could. He couldn't be sucked into the passage at a slow speed. He had to run at full speed, as if he was going to break through the wall with his body, without hesitation.
- "Jared? You’re not seriously thinking of running through there, are you? Look, it's a wall. A wall!"
"I know. That's why I'm running."
- "Jared! It's dangerous!"
Isabella tried to stop Jared's charge by waving her hands from side to side in front of him. Over time, she had grown fond of Jared and enjoyed watching his every move. She was scared that if he died here, she would lose the joy in her life. She didn't want to leave his side either.
"If you're curious, follow me. You can come in too."
- "What?"
"I'm going! Follow me or wait here!" Jared started running at full speed, using a haste spell to maximize his acceleration.
Whoosh! The sound of the air being torn apart was loud as Jared's body rushed fiercely toward the cave wall.
- "Aaaaah!" Isabella screamed. At this rate, she was about to witness Jared's head shattering into pieces right before her eyes. But at the very next moment, swoosh! Jared disappeared. He vanished cleanly without a trace.
- "Really? There's a passage like this? It's like something out of a novel, how can this be real?" Isabella stared at the empty spot where Jared had disappeared with a bewildered expression. She couldn't believe it. Jared knew so much more than she could ever imagine.
As soon as I passed through the wall, the place I stepped into was none other than Deluke's secret room. Deluke's room was about 50 meters away from here, and the secret room was a separate space.
"Nice to meet you, subspace artifact. It's been inconvenient without an inventory in reality, but here you are." I picked up the artifact that allowed me to create a subspace.
[Greedy Prankster, Melt] [Classification Grade: 4-star] [Option 1: Own a cubic subspace composed of 1m in width, length, and height.] [Option 2: To expand the subspace, you must offer 10,000G as a sacrifice to Melt. If invested, the subspace size increases to 10m in width, length, and height.] [Option 3: It takes 3 seconds to store and summon items.]
This is an artifact set as a "subspace bag" made by a mischievous child named Melt. Despite not having options to increase stats, it was rated 4-star because it was hard to obtain. In "Paradiso," there was a concept similar to an expanded inventory, but a subspace that could be infinitely expanded with money was rare. The ownership rate among all users was less than 0.001%.
It appeared as a ring, and the moment you wore it, you obtained the subspace described in Option 1. The problem was that the initial 1m subspace was too small to store many artifacts. Expanding it required a hefty sum of 10,000 gold, which was impossible for me right now.
"People's minds have always surpassed the system. In that sense, I was quite cunning too." A familiar trick came to mind, and I chuckled. The initial 1m space was definitely insufficient to store all the artifacts in this room. However, the seemingly meaningless Option 3 was the key to the trick. The question was, where exactly are the items during the 3 seconds when you take them out or put them into the subspace?
The system calculates this as being in a boundary between the subspace and the outside, not belonging to either. I used this to cram in more items than the storage capacity allowed. It was a trick I often used when I couldn't afford to expand the subspace.
The method is simple. When the subspace is full, you issue a command to summon an item. Then, within 3 seconds, you quickly issue a command to store an item and forcibly close the subspace. This allows you to store items in a "stuck" state. In this state, items never come out or disappear forcibly from the subspace.
"Alright, I've secured a storage subspace!" Having a subspace made me feel so secure. Now it's time for some serious looting.
Ring. [Saintess Ifnos' Ring] [Classification Grade: 2-star] [Option 1: Increases Wisdom by 50] [Option 2: Increases Magic Power by 50] [Option 3: By using double the consumed magic power, you can imbue magic attacks with holy power.]
Necklace. [Great Sage Gorzaz's Necklace] [Classification Grade: 4-star] [Option 1: Increases Magic Power by 100] [Option 2: 1st-class magic consumes no magic power.] [Option 3: Perfectly controls hunger, sleep, and sexual desires. You can stay healthy without eating, sleeping, or engaging in such activities.]
Earrings. [Queen Mariella's Earrings] [Classification Grade: 2-star] [Option 1: Increases Charm by 100] [Option 2: Increases Magic Power by 50] [Option 3: Deadly Temptation - The earrings emit a fragrance that constantly makes others feel good.]
Jared immediately wore these three artifacts. They all increased magic power, and they boosted wisdom and charm stats, making them very useful for enhancing his capabilities. Just with these, he gained 200 magic power, 100 charm, and 50 wisdom. In simple level-up terms, it was like gaining the benefits of reaching level 110. That's how absurd the wisdom point exchange rate was.
"Usually, every 100 wisdom points doubled the maximum damage value you could expect, right? Not bad. All the artifact options are great." Jared smiled with satisfaction. Besides these, he stole 10 more artifacts, but since they overlapped in parts or he couldn't find an immediate use for them, he stuffed them into the subspace using his trick.
"Now it's time to pluck the hair of the sleeping old lich." Jared cast a paralyze spell on his right hand in advance. Following the 3rd option of Saintess Ifnos' ring, he used double the magic consumption to create a holy paralyze spell. Carefully, he opened the door leading out of the secret room.
Squeak. The door opened quietly without any creaking noise. Meanwhile, Isabella, who had come in later using the same method, joined him. She seemed to quickly grasp the serious atmosphere and silently followed behind Jared without saying a word.
"……." Deluke was indeed an old and weakened lich, but at his core, he was still a dark sorcerer. Moreover, at this point, his level wasn't low, being at 6th class. In terms of class alone, Jared was at a disadvantage. Therefore, he needed to settle things quickly. He had to deal a massive blow with magic imbued with holy power early on to take the creature's life.
"If I kill Deluke, I can get Deluke's bracelet from him. It's the perfect artifact for someone like me, with a low level, to use cunningly." Jared thought of Deluke's bracelet. It was an artifact that doubled strength and wisdom stats when your level was lower than your opponent's. For Jared, who focused on stat growth rather than leveling up, it was an essential artifact.
"No matter how prosperous a territory becomes, if the lord isn't up to it, the territory is bound to fall one day." Jared knew this all too well. He had seen the countless user lords in "Paradiso" and the sad endings they faced. Watching their tragic conclusions, Jared had vowed and vowed again. He would never neglect to strengthen his own power. He had promised himself countless times in the game, and he wouldn't forget it in this real life.
"I will definitely become the protagonist of this world!" Jared bit his lip. A fierce light of determination flashed in his eyes as he sharply scanned the entire hideout. Just then.
"It's chilly. Is there a draft coming in from somewhere?" "……." From the right-angled corridor, a low, old man's voice could be heard. Even without seeing, he could feel it. It was Deluke. The unique aura of a lich was unmistakably present.
Shhh. The holy paralyze magic orb on Jared's right hand was waiting to burst out. Since paralyze magic wasn't an elemental magic like fireball, he could completely hide its presence.
"One minute, no, 30 seconds. I'll finish it within that time, when Deluke is at his weakest!" Jared held his breath and quietly waited. And then.
Step- step- step-. Deluke's footsteps drew closer, and a wrinkled, aged face appeared clearly before Jared, who had been waiting.
"Die!" Jared shouted.