LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 11 - Goblin (2)
Chapter 11: Goblin (2)
Yeonwol opened his eyes in the temple and immediately tried to head back to Zekkaliss.
It was to face death once more, but his steps halted.
He could feel it instinctively.
‘I can’t approach that place with just an ordinary death anymore.’
Simply dying wouldn’t be enough.
He didn’t know how he came to this realization, but he just knew.
To take the final step closer to that place, he would have to die in an extraordinary, very special way.
But how?
Yeonwol couldn’t think of any more special ways to die.
‘I just need to approach it step by step. There’s always a way.’
There was no need to rush.
Yeonwol decided to tackle the tasks before him one at a time.
“First… I should deal with this.”
Yeonwol took out the Silver Bell and examined it.
It was an item he had received almost by accident.
This item had also existed in his previous life and was quite well-known—not for its performance, but for its tragic backstory.
In his past life, someone who obtained this after hunting Zekkaliss had publicly smashed the Silver Bell in frustration, apparently dissatisfied with the lack of a significant reward.
‘An item like this will attract attention if used in public. I need to find a discreet location.’
Such a place was easy to secure.
Staying at a hotel or similar lodging would work.
These were protected by a neutral system, preventing unauthorized access unless someone was of the thief class.
High-grade hotels were nearly impossible to infiltrate, even for skilled thieves.
‘No one’s paying attention to me right now, so I’ll choose a reasonably secure place.’
While organizing his inventory and walking through the streets, Yeonwol noticed something strange.
There were suddenly many people carrying alchemy kits.
Moreover, even low-level and intermediate players wearing cloth armor could occasionally be seen.
“What’s going on?”
Alchemy wasn’t such a common profession.
As Yeonwol wandered through the city, he noticed an even stranger scene.
“Come on, get in line!”
“Hey, no cutting in line!”
A massive crowd had gathered.
The location turned out to be none other than the “Swordsman Examination Hall.”
“Seriously? This city’s overcrowded enough. I’ll grow old waiting like this.”
“The swordsman exam reopened just two days ago. Of course, it’s going to be packed.”
‘What’s all this about?’
As Yeonwol stood hesitating nearby, someone tapped him on the shoulder.
Turning around, he saw a man with a longsword scowling at him.
“Hey, get in line properly. Can’t you see how many people are waiting?”
Yeonwol asked back with a bewildered expression.
“What’s going on? Did an influencer set up a tanghulu stand nearby or something?”
“Oh? You don’t know? This is the line for the Lower Swordsman Exam. Didn’t you see that video from a month ago? The one posted by the Khazaram Killer? He defeated the final boss of the ‘Lower Swordsman Exam’ in an incredible way.”
“Uh, right.”
The man, unaware that Yeonwol was the very Khazaram Killer he was talking about, continued to ramble.
“They say the skill rewards for passing the lower exam as a swordsman are amazing, so swordsman players from all over the world rushed to the examination halls.”
Apparently, that was the story.
“But then, the lower exam halls were closed for a month. All of them, worldwide. It was chaos.”
“Why?”
“We have no idea. Anyway, after they reopened, there’s been a new Steel-Plated Knight replacing the old boss. But the exam is still mostly the same. People can still use the Khazaram Killer’s method to pass.”
“…”
“Oh, you don’t know about that either? Well, apparently, instead of enduring the boss for 10 minutes to win, he just knocked it off the edge.”
The man also recommended several Eltuber videos.
“If you watch these creators, they explain ways to knock back the Steel-Plated Knight even more easily than the Khazaram Killer did. His method is too unique and hard to imitate, right? Alchemy isn’t exactly an easy skill to pick up.”
The man, who even kindly explained his planned strategy, followed the line forward.
“Well, good luck to you, too!”
“…”
In-game, a month had passed.
In real time, it had only been a week.
In that time, the Lower Swordsman Exam video had garnered a staggering 30 million views.
Yeonwol decided to check out the community forums for the first time in ages.
In neutral zones, he could access the internet, allowing him to browse the community even in-game.
[New Possibilities for Alchemy?]
[Using Alchemy in Combat]
[About Free Transmutation]
While the Lower Exam itself drew attention, many were particularly curious about the “Free Transmutation” technique Yeonwol had used.
‘I never imagined alchemy would receive this much attention.’
To be honest, alchemy wasn’t considered a remarkable profession.
At best, alchemists tinkered with potions and herbs, making buff potions to sell.
They were regarded as mere merchants.
Top-ranking alchemists could create permanent stat-boosting potions or even elixirs, but until then, the consensus was that alchemy was useless in combat.
One Eltuber had even invited a top-ranking alchemist, Pajaram, to analyze Yeonwol’s video.
The Eltuber praised Yeonwol’s technique, but the alchemist’s reaction was cold.
“It’s nothing special. You’ve all heard of Free Transmutation by now, right? For rankers like us, creating something like that is a piece of cake. Watch this.”
Pajaram placed a metal plate and scraps on the ground, clasped his hands, and strained with all his might to perform alchemy.
With a face flushed red and sweat pouring, he finally managed to craft a spring and presented it confidently.
“Oh! Pajaram, do you frequently use this technique in combat?”
“Well, I don’t particularly enjoy fighting…”
“Ah, I see.”
The comment section went wild.
[User9: Look at his face, turning red like that.]
[User17: He’s really struggling to make just one thing.]
└[User18: Seriously, if that’s how he does it, there’s no way he could use it in battle.]
└[User34: And yet he acts like it’s easy? What a poser.]
Most of the comments mocked Pajaram.
Yeonwol had smoothly transmuted a spring from a metal plate, but Pajaram hadn’t even come close.
A few days later, a new post appeared.
[Author: Current status of Pajaram, who got roasted online.jpg]
Content: Looks like he got so pissed off from being mocked that he tried to use Free Transmutation during a fight with a low-level boss?
The post showed Pajaram’s corpse.
Having rarely fought before, the alchemist couldn’t handle even a low-level boss and ended up dead.
People ridiculed and cursed Pajaram for this failure.
[User192: That person is still a ranker who can craft high-tier potions… If even a ranker can’t manage it, how difficult must it be?]
Free Transmutation wasn’t something that became easy just by leveling up.
It was purely a matter of control and skill, and the world came to realize that it required instinct and talent thanks to Pajaram’s failure.
People also quickly understood how absurdly skilled Yeonwol was with the technique he displayed.
[User301: Let’s just not even try to imitate it…]
From one topic, another arose, and the “Alchemy Boom” Yeonwol had created showed no signs of fading quickly.
However, surprisingly, no one seemed interested in switching to the alchemist class.
[User167: If fighting like that is so hard, let’s just stick to normal combat classes.]
The reason was that after a few attempts, people found alchemy too difficult to learn, and they honestly thought using combat skills was easier and more effective.
For Yeonwol, this was a fortunate outcome.
Having more people quit combat and switch to alchemy would not benefit the future in any way.
But because of this, one thing became clear.
Yeonwol’s actions could change the future.
‘The butterfly effect. As long as I act differently from my past life, the future is bound to change.’
The future was shifting.
If so, then the future where Earth was destroyed…
‘I can change it.’
In this game, while there were guilds created by players, there were also “clans” established by NPCs in this world.
Naturally, NPC clans were much larger in scale than player guilds.
This was because they were inhabitants of this world and possessed power and skills far beyond what players could currently achieve.
There was one more unique aspect.
One distinct characteristic of NPCs on the continent of Elthera was that they could also watch videos uploaded by players!
Of course, this only applied to videos created on the continent of Elthera, specifically on “Eltube,” but it allowed NPCs to recognize players’ fame.
“Master Valenko, what do you think of this player in the video?”
Valenko, a master alchemist who had reached the pinnacle of alchemy and was bestowed the title of “Alchemic Master,” was also the leader of the clan “Deystar.”
He stroked his chin as he watched the alchemy displayed by the player named Yeonwol in the video.
“Using Free Transmutation already, despite never formally learning alchemy…”
In their understanding, players weren’t supposed to be proficient in magic or alchemy.
While skills like tailoring, smithing, cooking, or painting—common on Earth—could be easily adapted to this world, academic disciplines like magic could not.
But this player was different.
Despite presumably using alchemy for the first time in this world, he skillfully performed Free Transmutation.
Many players had made names for themselves as alchemists, but none had ever caught Valenko’s attention.
None of them had any intention of uncovering the true essence of alchemy and instead relied solely on skills to create medicines and potions.
However, that couldn’t be considered the true path of an alchemist.
‘The ultimate goal of us alchemists is to become complete humans.’
Achieving that would mean becoming the greatest existence, untouchable even by the gods above.
Their purpose was to gain free will and liberate themselves from the mysterious gods’ strict rules governing this world.
‘To escape the laws of constellations and attain freedom. To overcome life and death and achieve perfection. If so, even the gods will revere you.’
But until now, no alchemist had succeeded in achieving “Perfect Transmutation.”
Even Valenko himself would likely never succeed.
He was well aware of his limits.
Knowing he could no longer grow, he decided to take on disciples to help them grasp true understanding.
‘But the alchemists of this continent are all stagnant. Just like me, they’re stuck at the wall of truth. The only ones capable of breaking that wall and moving forward are the players.’
Despite the years players had spent in this world, none of them had caught his eye.
“…That alchemist is still just a player in the end. Don’t get your hopes up too high.”
Valenko spoke dismissively and turned off the video indifferently.
Paying attention to a mere level 10 novice player seemed pointless, given how many times his expectations had been crushed.
‘This time will be no different.’
Players always managed to bring disappointment.