Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 153

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Player of the Ruined World – Episode 153
“Coordinates?”
“I’ll explain the details later. For now, let’s assess the situation.”
“Ah, yes!”
I chuckled dryly at Kim Suhan’s affectionate tone and continued.
“There should be villages here organized by faction. If possible, it’d be better to head to a village I’m familiar with.”
“You know the Japanese village too, hyung?!”
“What? This is my first time in Japan.”
“Huh? Then what village are you talking about…?”
Kim Suhan’s expression turned bewildered.
Then Do Sohee spoke up.
“Are you talking about a village that exists in Giant Punisher, Baek Doyun?”
“That’s right.”
“Could you perhaps tell us what clear method you’re thinking of?”
“I’ll exploit a bug. Since you’ve played the game, you should know—the stone statue in the Underground Village.”
Do Sohee pondered for a moment, then asked uncertainly after a brief pause.
“A stone statue… you mean the large one behind the altar?”
“Exactly. There’s a secret passage behind that statue. There should be a magic stone there.”
“There was something like that behind it? Wait, is there even space behind the statue?”
“Yeah, there’s a space behind the wall.”
As expected, Do Sohee knew about the statue.
Then Park Sangha, who had been quiet, quietly raised his hand.
“Could you explain this in a way we can understand too?”
“Do you remember what I told you about Giant Punisher’s background this morning?”
“The setting where an earthquake destroyed the village, and the people living underground were forced to come to the surface?”
“Yes.”
“Then the statue you mentioned… we need to find the location of that statue among the destroyed villages?”
“Correct. The first bug exists there.”
“Wait, before that.”
Park Sangha raised his index finger with a notably serious expression.
“Why are we still No Way Home Players?”
Why are we still No Way Home Players?
Well, that’s because we came from playing No Way Home…
‘No, wait. Giant Punisher has characters too.’
Right, Park Sangha has a point.
Giant Punisher has its own characters.
Unlike No Way Home, where you select characters with individual abilities, Giant Punisher was closer to choosing a job class.
The Rider, who boards a robot and fights the brain.
The Fighter, who assists the Rider and operates as ground forces.
The Builder, who leads the way in mining magic stones, repairing robots, procuring food, and constructing villages.
A Road that could only be created by users who had played all three characters and cleared Stage 1.
After explaining the characters to my companions, Park Sangha quietly stroked his chin and asked.
“That’s it?”
“Pardon?”
“There aren’t detailed characteristics for each character?”
Of course there were.
The Rider was described as a character with exceptional mana manipulation abilities.
Thanks to that, they could pilot massive mana-powered robots.
The Fighter lacked the mana reserves to pilot robots, but could channel mana into equipment for combat or release it directly to strike enemies.
The Builder was a character with no mana at all, and was primarily played by those who enjoyed farming content, robot dismantling and repair, or merchant guild management.
As for the Road….
“It’s a character that participates in flag capture.”
“Flags?”
“Yes, you’ve all confirmed that factions exist in this game, right?”
“We know.”
“Each faction has flags. The more flags you possess, the stronger the buffs you gain.”
“For example?”
“Faction stats increase. There are buffs for faster robot crafting speed and the ability to mine higher-grade mana stones.”
“Then… what happens if a Road character has no flags at all?”
“The faction is lost, and all characters in that faction are demoted to Builder or Fighter.”
After my brief explanation, Park Sanghun let out an incredulous snort and asked.
“What’s that about? So people who chose Builder or Fighter from the start are just suckers?”
“Not suckers exactly—they either couldn’t select Road or they simply prefer farming content.”
“I’d never touch a character like that, even if it killed me.”
Park Sanghun shuddered and shook his head vigorously.
Though people like Park Sanghun existed, the reasons players enjoyed games varied from person to person.
Even in the same RPG, some players enjoyed dungeon content while others preferred life-simulation content.
Some focused on strengthening their characters, while others found interest in expanding territories and building merchant guilds.
Thus, even playing the same game, each person’s approach to enjoyment was distinctly different.
There was no right or wrong in this regard.
But if the game had become reality… the story changed somewhat.
Elder Chulmin, who had been listening quietly, cleared his throat and spoke.
“Regardless, shouldn’t we also select characters like Sangha mentioned earlier?”
“I’m also finding that strange… why the character selection window isn’t appearing.”
I smacked my lips and opened my player information.
[Player Information]
[Name: Baek Doyun]
[Age: 28]
[Occupation: Buster (Physical Enhancement)]
[Titles: Battlesteam Honorary Player, No Way Home Master.]
[Current Stats: Vitality 1,224, Strength 1,591, Agility 1,326, Skin 1,800, Mentality 1,800]
[Damage Reduction: 15%]
[Points Held: 9,506,788,126]
[Coins Held: 0]
[View Skill List]
The occupation column in my player information still showed No Way Home character.
The character selection window should be appearing soon, but…
Was there some character creation condition I didn’t know about?
“System, our information hasn’t been updated yet.”
[Checking update history.]
Ding—!
[Current client cannot be applied.]
[Press Accept if you wish to reboot the client.]
A system message materialized before my eyes.
Reboot?
Wait, if we reboot, won’t all the existing information disappear too?
I narrowed my eyes and looked at the group.
They were all checking their own player information.
And I could see them moving their fingers toward the Accept button.
“Everyone stop! Don’t press anything!!”
I shouted urgently, but…
“Huh? Yes?”
Kim Suhan had already pressed Accept.
Ding—!
[Rebooting player Kim Suhan’s client.]
[Current client file has collided with Giant Punisher’s file.]
[Deleting existing client data for client optimization.]
[Deleting…]
“Wh-what?!”
Kim Suhan’s eyes widened like lanterns as he read the system message, then he frantically waved his hands at the system window and cried out.
“No, stop! Don’t do this!”
[Deletion complete.]
But the system mercilessly deleted Kim Suhan’s information.
“Ugh…!”
At the same moment, Kim Suhan collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest with both hands.
Kim Suhan possessed physical abilities more than twenty times stronger than an ordinary human.
All the stats he had accumulated while playing No Way Home had vanished, and his body was suffering the strain.
“Suhan!”
Park Sangha rushed to support Kim Suhan with wide eyes, and Kim Suhan gasped for breath, his eyes reddening.
“Hey, damn it, Kim Suhan!”
No matter how loudly Park Sangha shouted, Kim Suhan could only gasp for breath.
Gradually, Kim Suhan’s breathing steadied, and the words that barely escaped his lips were….
“D-damn it… Bro… I’m completely screwed….”
His regret over the vanished stats spilled from his mouth.
Every stat, point, and Skill he’d accumulated over months had disappeared.
Ding—!
[Player Kim Suhan’s character selection has begun.]
[Currently available characters are Rider and Fighter.]
[Rider is…]
[Fighter is…]
Oblivious to Kim Suhan’s despair, the character descriptions scrolled relentlessly upward.
We can only choose between two characters?
I understand Road being unavailable, but why Builder?
I stared at the System Message and asked.
“We can’t select Builder or Road?”
[Giant Punisher currently does not offer ‘Builder’ as a starting character.]
[The character ‘Road’ is only available to Giant Punisher’s initial players.]
So we couldn’t choose Road because we joined mid-game?
I understand that, but why is Builder blocked?
“It’s to incite conflict.”
Hong Yeonhui, who had been quietly reading the system explanation, spoke up.
Do Sohee then glanced at Hong Yeonhui while treating Kim Suhan.
“Incite conflict? What do you mean?”
“Baek Doyun said it himself. Roads get demoted if they lose their flags.”
“Ah….”
“The Roads currently ranked seized flags to obtain Builder as a slave.”
I had to agree.
Watanabe Shota, currently ranked first.
His faction power was 228.
This meant he’d seized 228 flags so far.
I couldn’t fathom how many players served under Watanabe Shota.
Moreover, the scale and nature of that collective remained beyond my current comprehension.
“Bro, what do I do?”
Kim Suhan’s voice followed.
His body had been healed, but his mental state clearly hadn’t.
His expression alone screamed despair.
Still, perhaps….
“Suhan, choose Rider for now.”
“Rider?”
“Let’s secure a robot first.”
At the mention of a robot, Kim Suhan’s despondent expression began to show signs of life.
Park Sangha glanced around the surroundings, then scratched his head as he asked.
“How are we supposed to find a robot here?”
“Hyung, isn’t there any deeply sunken terrain nearby?”
“You and I see the same things. Doesn’t the Shooter have a skill for checking terrain?”
Everyone’s gaze turned toward Kim Suhan, then a beat later focused on Hong Yeonhui.
Kim Suhan… could no longer use the Shooter’s skills.
Everything had been reset.
Meanwhile, Hong Yeonhui opened her player information and checked the items she possessed.
“I don’t have such a skill, but should I check if I can learn it from a legendary skill book?”
“You have a legendary skill book?”
“I have two. I haven’t used them since learning Snipe.”
Park Sangha and Hong Yeonhui were now speaking to each other without formality.
After revealing their mutual affection in front of everyone, they no longer bothered to hide it.
I hoped there would be a skill that could maximize the Shooter’s advantages.
“Use legendary skill book.”
Zzzt—
[The existing client is not compatible with the current client.]
“I want to check the skills of No Way Home, not Giant Punisher. I’m not saying I want to learn Giant Punisher’s skills.”
[Unable to open information. Please use the search function to find the desired information.]
So it couldn’t provide information about No Way Home anymore?
Still, it seemed the search function existed.
Hong Yeonhui opened the search function and spoke to it.
“I’m going to use a legendary skill book and want to learn Shooter skills.”
[You have crossed over to B-1 (Japan). Points, coins, and skill books acquired in A-1 cannot be used.]
So it really wouldn’t work.
With a bitter feeling, I was about to search for another method when Hong Yeonhui crossed her arms and shouted at the system.
“Find it!”
[….]
“Contour lines, view contours, terrain check, vision enhancement, target acquisition, tracking.”
Hong Yeonhui spouted out all manner of words, as if hoping something would stick.
At that moment.
Ding—!
[The searched ‘Contour Lines’ has been found in the existing program files.]
[Would you like to sync with the current system?]
“Do it.”
[Using the legendary skill book, you acquire the skill ‘Contour Lines’.]
Ding—!
[Contour Lines: For 5 minutes, you can see the contour lines of terrain and features within a 500m radius.]
[Cooldown: 1 hour]
Zzzzzt—
[An error has been detected.]
[To maintain client compatibility, we are disabling the skill books, coins, and skill enhancement features previously provided by the legacy client.]
Hong Yeonhui closed the System Message and checked her skill list.
Fortunately, she had already learned Contour Line.
However, another legendary skill book she had been carrying had vanished.
“Lucky I learned it before it flew away.”
Though it pained those watching, Hong Yeonhui spoke as though it were nothing.
“Elder Chulmin, you should try it too.”
“Very well.”
Elder Chulmin acquired the Contour Line skill using the same method as Hong Yeonhui.
How much better it would have been if we’d used it beforehand and moved on.
No, that wasn’t it.
Was it my carelessness for not informing the party in advance?
With time running short, I had forgotten to tell them while organizing skills, coins, and information.
Park Sangha also mentioned that a legendary skill book remained and, just as Hong Yeonhui had done, began listing skills that the Maker might possess.
“Creation, damage mitigation, turret, shelter construction.”
Though he enumerated several terms, the search ultimately failed, and the legendary skill book vanished.
“Tch.”
Park Sangha clicked his tongue and vented his frustration on a stone lying on the ground.
“Huh?! I-I-I!”
Do Sohee, who had been with Kim Suhan, raised her hand while stammering over her words.
As everyone turned their heads, they could see a message appearing before Do Sohee’s eyes.
[Barrier: Grants a permanent barrier to a target of your choice.]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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