Chapter 63: The Life of a High-Ranker (1)
Crockta received a medal of honor from the mayor of Quantes for his work in resolving the Demon’s Mouth situation. He refused to have an ostentatious award ceremony, so the event was held modestly in the main building of the gnomes’ garrison.
Quantes’ mayor wore a monocle and had the air of an intellectual. He looked up at Crockta, who was much taller than him.
“Orc Crockta!” the mayor yelled.
“Yes,” replied Crockta.
“The city of Quantes is presenting you with a medal of honor for your contributions in resolving this incident.”
The members of the garrison clapped enthusiastically as the mayor tip-toed, struggling to reach Crockta’s chest and pin it on his leather armor. As the mayor lowered his gaze, he saw the Demon’s Mouth on Crockta’s waist and flinched.
“Ah!” he screamed in surprise.
After regaining his composure, the mayor self-consciously eyed his surroundings and then let out a dry cough as he fixed his monocle.
“Hmph! Ahem! Crockta! The citizens of Quantes will remember your heroic deeds,” the mayor stated.
“Thank you,” replied Crockta with a nod.
The mayor took a last glance at the Demon’s Mouth and then left the podium.
There was a lot of talk about Crockta’s possession of the Demon's Mouth. Some gnome researchers argued that they should confiscate the Demon's Mouth from him, but the Demon's Mouth refused to leave Crockta. Whenever someone other than Crockta tried to touch the Demon’s Mouth, it bared its steel teeth and tried to bite everything and everyone in sight. Even when Crockta tried to take off the belt, it would fly toward him like a magnet and cling to him the moment the distance between them exceeded a certain limit.
Even though the Demon’s Mouth followed him everywhere, it didn’t respond when Crockta tried to make conversation with it. It was a weird one. The lack of response seemed to be related to the limitation set on the belt’s power because Crockta was not strong enough to handle the belt yet. Currently, the belt only demonstrated its power by boosting Crockta’s strength.
Crockta took another look at the information on the belt in the system.
[The Belt of Despair’s power (Hero) will be limited. Your strength and willpower have increased. Your resistance against the demon’s power has increased.]
It was Crockta’s first time hearing about the Hero tier. He couldn’t sell the Demon's Mouth because it was bound to him, but it was probably the highest-tiered item known in Elder Lord. Crockta also noticed that his achievement score had increased dramatically after being awarded a medal of honor.
[Orc warrior Crockta’s name has spread all over Quantes and its surrounding areas.]
[Status Window
Orc Warrior
Title: Pursuer of the Pinnacle
Level: 45
Achievement Points: 116510
Assimilation: 80%
Skills:
Giant’s Destructive Power (Essence)
Troll’s Regenerative Power (Essence)
Leyteno’s Swordsmanship (Essence)
Combative Spirit (Essence)
Mind’s Eye (Essence)
Tattoos of Honor and Indomitable Will (Essence)
Army Crushing Roar (Essence)]
All of his skills were now of the Essence tier.
In the status window, skills that had already been of the Essence tier prior to Crockta visiting Quantes didn’t upgrade because they had already reached their peak. Crockta thought about Hoyt’s ‘pinnacle swing’. It seemed that to advance a skill to the pinnacle level, it was necessary to acquire some kind of epiphany in addition to having proficiency in the skill. A skill’s pinnacle level didn’t seem like something he could reach just by practicing and leveling up.
When the modest award ceremony ended, the gnomes expressed their gratitude toward Crockta again, and Crockta shook hands with the mayor once more. Then everyone returned to their regular jobs.
Tiyo approached Crockta and tapped his waist. “Hey.”
The sight of a small gnome acting like a macho soldier was quite cute, and Crockta grinned upon seeing it.
“What’s that smile for?” questioned Tiyo.
“It’s nothing,” replied Crockta.
“I catch on to things immediately. Quickly get rid of that indecent thought,” warned Tiyo.
Crockta couldn’t stifle his laughter and laughed out loud, but there was more surprising news waiting for him.
[Your achievements in Elder Lord are top-tier compared to other players.]
[You have entered the rank of a high-ranker.]
[Your current achievement points ranking is 482nd. Would you like to make your status public?]
Crockta was now a high-ranker. His achievement points had increased greatly due to his involvement in the Demon's Mouth incident. Consequently, he managed to join the ranking of the world’s top five hundred players, attaining the status much more quickly than the other high-rankers. Now Crockta and the real-life Yi-An could be sponsored by the Elder Saga Corporation. Sponsorship funds came from the profits that Elder Saga earned from operating Elder Lord, so he would get a huge sum of money.
Although he hadn’t been financially struggling, he would become incomparably richer than a regular café owner with the sponsorship. Nevertheless, Crockta simply shrugged. He wasn’t a materialistic person, so not much would change for him. However, this meant it would be fine to splurge or indulge himself from time to time.
In any case, he decided to keep his status private for now.
[You have refused to disclose your information. Your information will be indicated as private.]
[Congratulations on becoming a ranker.]
[We anticipate your journey!]
Some high-rankers refused to make their status public, but most high-rankers revealed their statuses to receive commercial opportunities and obtain even more wealth and honor.
Crockta smiled while thinking about these things. Soon, people would find out that there was a new high-ranker, and they would be shocked that this high-ranker, whose details remained undisclosed, was continuously rising in the ranks. Crockta burned with fighting spirit. He wanted to continue evolving and become stronger.
Tiyo, who didn’t know what was going on, tilted his head curiously. “Crockta, did something good happen?”
“Haha, it’s nothing.”
“Then, why are you laughing? Are you still entertaining the silly thought from earlier?” questioned Tiyo.
After deciding to accompany Crockta to the north, Tiyo followed him around everywhere. Since Tiyo had already submitted a leave of absence request to the garrison and Crockta didn’t really have a reason to refuse, Crockta accepted Tiyo as his travel partner.
The two continued to talk as they exited the garrison building. Tiyo was eager to tell Crockta more about himself even though Crockta didn’t ask for the information.
“I want to tell you about myself since we are heading to the north together!” Tiyo began.
“...”
Tiyo continued, “My father was a great adventurer who traveled to lands everyone was afraid of. He was a true adventurer who freely ventured to and back from the north!”
“Really?” wondered Crockta.
“My father was the one who got me the General from the north. I have built a renowned career as a member of the garrison, but when I saw you, I realized I have an adventurer’s blood running in my veins!”
“Your father used to go back and forth between Quantes and the north...? That’s amazing. What is he up to now?” asked Crockta.
Tiyo’s face turned dark at the question.
Crockta immediately regretted asking about Tiyo’s father. Tiyo explained that there had been a day when his father never made it back from the north and that it had been several years since he had last seen his father. Tiyo’s family believed that his father was already dead, but Tiyo didn’t think so.
“I believe my father is still alive in the north,” Tiyo stated.
“I see.” Crockta nodded. “Anyway, I’m counting on you Tiyo.”
Crockta then extended his hand. Tiyo grinned and extended his hand as well. The orc and gnome shook hands.
“When are we leaving?” asked Tiyo.
“As soon as possible,” replied Crockta.
“Good. It’s always nice to get a head start!” said Tiyo heartily.
Crockta and Tiyo promised to reconvene after packing for the journey, then they parted ways.
Now that Crockta was alone, everything seemed quiet with his noisy gnome friend gone. However, it was also because of Quantes’ somber atmosphere. The city was drowning in grief, mourning for those they had lost.
Although Crockta had resolved the incident with the Demon’s Mouth, he had only managed to do so after numerous gnomes at the academy had already been killed by monsters. Even the rescue team had retched with nausea when they saw the brutally dismembered corpses. Quantes later held a memorial service at the public square to honor the dead, and the gnomes wore black armbands in solidarity and mourned the deaths of their people.
As someone who had been directly involved in the incident, Crockta felt sad. He looked down at the belt on his waist. It had all been because of this belt.
Yet, what really weighed down on him were the sights the demon inside the belt had shown him—the scenes of cosmic emptiness. The one that the demon had targeted had not been orc Crockta but human Yi-An, and it had used his sister and Han Yeo-Ri to drive him into despair.
Thus, the strange and incomprehensible feelings he’d had for a long time regarding Elder Lord came alive once again. Was Elder Lord really just a game? Did it reveal such realistic visions by analyzing a human’s brain and scanning the details of their memory? Or was there more to it?
Crockta thought of what role-player Kim Dal-Kwang had said in an interview with Elder Lord Times, “I even sometimes think of Elder Lord as a portal that connects you to a different dimension.”
When Crockta recalled the scene of the universe that the demon had shown him, what Kim Dal-Kwang had said was convincing. Crockta couldn’t believe that Elder Lord was just a game that ended when he logged off.
What was the truth? Would he be able to find out the truth if he went to the Temple of the Fallen God?
While Crockta was lost in his thoughts, someone called out to him, “Orc Warrior Crockta?”
He turned around and saw two gnome children looking up at him.
Gnomes were small, but younger gnomes were even smaller.
Crockta nodded and smiled. “Ah, what’s the matter?”
The children exchanged surprised looks at the orc’s deep, grumbling voice and then handed something to him. It was a cookie in a paper bag.
The kids’ eyes widened as they asked, “Do orcs eat cookies too?”
Crockta couldn’t help but laugh at those innocent eyes. “Of course.”
The kids smiled. They had the same smile. The two of them seemed to be brothers.
“It’s a gift for the warrior who rescued the city,” said one of the kids.
“Our parents run a bakery,” added the other.
When Crockta raised his head, he saw a bakery in the distance. A gnome who appeared to be the kids’ father waved his hand at Crockta from the entrance of the bakery. It seemed he had given the cookie to the kids to give to Crockta.
“I want to grow up and become an orc warrior like you,” said one of the kids.
Crockta caressed the child’s head. “Become a gnome warrior instead of an orc warrior.”
“Can a gnome become a warrior too?” he asked.
“Of course.”
“Then I want to become a gnome warrior,” said the kid with a nod.
The two kids then bowed their heads before running toward the bakery. Crockta gave the father a look of thanks and resumed walking.
Then he thought, ‘I don’t know whether this is a game, but I will do my best anyway.’
Crockta entered the inn where he was staying at. When the inn’s owner—who had assumed Crockta was a criminal and handed him over to the police—saw him, she flinched. Nevertheless, Crockta smiled in return, causing the owner to gaze down in embarrassment.
After that, Crockta went upstairs to his room. Right when he was about to disconnect from the server before officially embarking on his journey to the north, someone knocked on his door.
“...?” Crockta opened his door.
“So you were here after all.” The beautiful elf, Eileen, was standing there.
She had heard someone entering Crockta’s room and came to see who it was.
Eileen smiled and said, “Thank heavens you are safe. I heard the news.”
“I’m glad you are safe too,” replied Crockta.
“Can I come in?” asked Eileen.
“Of course,” replied Crockta as he opened his door further for Eileen to enter.
The moment Eileen entered the room, a pleasant scent filled it. This wasn’t her natural scent though. Crockta glanced at Eileen, who was all dressed up. The smell of her perfume continued to waft through the air.
Eileen twirled a lock of hair in front of Crockta and then slowly opened her mouth.
“Crockta, I was so worried about you... We left you and ran away...” she said, slurring her words.
Crockta shook his head.
“You did the right thing. How is Deco?” he asked.
“Deco is fine thanks to you,” said Eileen with a slight smile. “It’s all thanks to the great warrior Crockta, who rescued Qunates from the Demon's Mouth.”
“Aw, shucks,” said Crockta.
“Don’t be embarrassed. It’s the truth.”
Eileen glanced over at the belt on Crockta’s waist. She hesitated for a moment and then swept her pale hand across the belt, running her fingertips across the belt’s steel teeth.
Eileen sighed, “I can’t believe this is that scary belt...”
“I know, right?”
Crockta felt his lips dry up at Eileen’s touch, as the movements of her hand were gradually becoming sensual. Her hand crept up the belt and reached Crockta’s firm abs, where the leather armor parted and revealed his bare skin. Then Eileen’s fingers caressed the thick skin covering Crockta’s abs.
“Eileen,” said Crockta.
He looked down at Eileen. Her small face was within arm’s reach, and he could see his reflection in her distinctly green eyes. They were a beautiful pair of eyes. He then gazed at her fair skin and plump ruby-red lips that blossomed beneath her perfectly straight nose.
Eileen spoke quietly as if in a whisper, “Are you leaving for the north?”
Crockta nodded, and Eileen cast her eyes downward again.
Then she drew her body closer. “Life is so unpredictable.”
She raised her head again and leaned toward Crockta. It was an obvious display of interest. The ends of her eyes quivered slightly.
“What do you think?” Eileen asked.
It was a loaded question. Crockta kept his mouth shut.
In this small room with just the two of them, Eileen was even more beautiful than usual as she drew closer to Crockta.
Crockta closed his eyes. Why did someone else’s face suddenly pop up in his head at this moment? Crockta tried to shake away the image of her face from his mind and then gently pushed Eileen away.
“Eileen.”
“...”
“I’m...” Crockta didn’t want to hurt her feelings with a stern rejection.
With Eileen’s earnest and beckoning eyes staring at him, Crockta said, “I’m actually...”
Then he whispered in her ear in a barely audible voice, “I’m...”
Eileen’s eyes widened in surprise. “Ah...”
“I’m sorry.”
“That can’t be...” Eileen looked at him with sorrowful eyes. “Understood, Crockta.”
“...”
“That’s... okay. I hope you achieve your goal in the north, and I hope we meet again,” said Eileen before swiftly leaving the room.
Crockta sighed as he saw the door close in front of him. The room seemed darker after she left. Her sweet fragrance lingered in his nose. It was a desolate room.
Suddenly, a message window popped up as if it was teasing him.
[Crockta who has refused a beautiful elf’s heart!]
[Is your locked love mode an extension of the outside world?]
[Once you activate your love mode, you can recover from this abnormal state!]
[Abnormal state...]
Crockta closed the message window and soothed his heart by humming the song of orc warriors. He was an orc warrior before anything else!
“A great warrior is here. Make way! ... A warrior doesn’t need women...”
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