Treasure.
When she regained consciousness, Rukoko found herself back in her small bed.
She just couldn’t move very well.
Lucia was holding her tightly like an octopus, sleeping soundly, as if guarding something precious.
Rukoko gently tried to pry open the arms that were locked around her.
“Don’t go! Coco, don’t go!”
Lucia suddenly trembled violently.
Even in her sleep, her voice carried a sobbing tone, and her arms tightened further, as if she wanted to knead the little girl in her arms into her very bones.
“…Sigh.”
Rukoko’s heart wavered.
She wasn’t sure whether the feeling was guilt or embarrassment, but it welled up out of nowhere.
She had never considered how much weight she carried in Lucia’s world.
At least before that day, she had always interacted with Lucia with a playful, half-acting mindset.
Teasing was fun.
Treating it like a game was true.
But she had never taken it to heart.
After casting the nameless seal and turning into a crystal lump, Rukoko had not lost her senses.
She saw everything that happened afterward.
Not only did she witness it with her eyes—she also clearly heard the emotional storm surging in Lucia’s heart.
In short: because of Rukoko’s “death,” Lucia nearly embraced the abyss.
And Lucia was terrifyingly strong—suspected to have once been a favored champion of the Goddess of Life.
“From now on, I’ll return that same sincerity.”
Thinking that, Rukoko remained in her mother’s embrace, staring blankly.
One tentacle waved and opened the system interface, accessing the few modules she was allowed to use.
Without an account, she could only use the auto-generated ID from the game terminal to watch player streams, browse guides, and scroll through forums to kill time.
Things like player auctions, global chat, recruitment systems—everything else was locked.
Not being able to read the insane essays from the “Five-Channel Lunatics” took away some fun.
Official Forum Section: [Aestra Intelligence Hub]
Title: “RIP—Gabriel Messed Up!”
Hello, you beautiful degenerates!
Good morning, afternoon, and evening!
Here’s the latest update: Episode 648 of “The Great Adventure of Level 42 Elite Hero ‘Gabriel’!”
VCR……
[Seriously, that Holy Light warp was SO obvious—how did this idiot miss it??]
[Princess Lino and Prince Ian were screaming their lungs out, and he STILL went for the kill!]
[What kind of monster kills such a cute little girl!? Deserved!!]
[That peaceful smile before the Little Saintess was struck… damn, my heart hurts.]
[If Princess Lino hadn’t been teleported back, she’d never be able to use magic again.]
[Gabriel! Your crimes are countless!]
[Shouldn’t we hang him on a cross and parade him around before we “take care” of him properly—]
[…Scene cut.]
[Even the old Archbishop started swearing—haven’t heard that in decades.]
[We’ll judge Gabriel later! What we REALLY want to know is WHICH goddess appeared at the end!]
[Analysis videos are everywhere—likely the Goddess of Life’s first appearance since public release!]
[I have a feeling hardworking Lilith is about to fall out of favor!]
[I, Hera, have something to say!]
[Cao thinks the Little Saintess’s mom has… tasteful charm.]
[Take my Holy Bulldozer!!]
[Everyone, reliable sources confirm—the Little Saintess survived.]
[Holy crap, the “Banger” Army Commander!?]
[So how many divine revelations did you sacrifice this time?]
[Coordinates!? Where are the coordinates!?]
[Runes Kingdom — Echo Territory, the sealed land of the vampire hag.]
[Isn’t half that kingdom a newbie zone?]
[Old players can’t enter without a Permit~]
[Checked—only players and adventurers below Level 18 can enter.]
[Casual veterans rejoice!]
[Newbies rejoice!]
[I’m a Church Investigation Corps member. Warning to new and casual players—DO NOT enter without a reliable team. The monsters there are… wrong.]
[We have a field witness!? Tell us more!]
[The closer you get to water, the more broken the monsters become—especially aquatic ones. Elite-tier clusters everywhere!]
[So the Kingdom thought the seal was failing and reinforced it?]
[Yes.]
[Did they find a problem with the seal?]
[No—it was reinforced multiple times. The Archbishop suspects the Little Saintess’s mother did it.]
[So what’s the problem?]
[They found it… but also didn’t.]
[Speak human!]
[Basically—the water is corrupted, but the source can’t be found. A professional team has been dispatched.]
At that moment……
[Everyone—look where I am.]
[Huh??]
[WHAT!?]
[How did you get in!?]
[Easy. Disabled pain perception, jumped off cliffs a few hundred times, deranked from 35 to 17.]
[WAS IT WORTH IT, OLD MAN!?]
[You know me—I always…]
Rukoko watched with fascination.
Echo Territory was definitely going to get lively.
Once players locked onto this place, chaos was inevitable.
She didn’t mind—but her mother was dangerously charming.
With countless shameless players out there, Rukoko worried Lucia might not be able to handle it.
She almost forgot—this game was originally a romance game! Even if history had glitched.
For example, Saintess Alicia remained everyone’s white moonlight.
Hero King Aiden was the dream man of countless female players.
To protect her household from intruders, Rukoko had already started planning how to declare ownership.
Like knocking people out with clubs…
Dropping their levels back to 1…
At heart, she was still a filthy player.
While thinking, Lucia slowly woke up.
Half-asleep—then she saw a tentacle waving in front of her face.
Instantly wide awake.
“Coco~! You’re awake!!!”
Without hesitation, Lucia hugged her tightly, like she wanted to squeeze Rukoko straight into her heart.
“Ugh~~!”
Caught off guard, Rukoko nearly passed out.
Lucia hugged even tighter.
Rukoko’s face turned purple, her back wings flared, her chest tentacles flailed wildly—yet she couldn’t break free.
To avoid getting strangled unconscious, two tentacles struggled loose and jabbed backward—
……
“YAY! Co—so go—OH! OW!!”
Lucia yelped as both tentacles stabbed straight into her nostrils.
Her grip loosened.
Rukoko tumbled off the bed and landed sitting on the floor, panting and coughing.
“Sorry! Sorry! Mommy hugged too hard and hurt my baby!”
Lucia covered her nose and hurried down to crouch in front of her, awkwardly patting Rukoko’s back.
“Eugh—”
Rukoko twitched, wondering where her mom learned such cringe baby-talk.
Without speaking, she raised a small hand and gently touched Lucia’s nose.
A soft magical glow flowed.
That hit must’ve hurt.
Lucia’s nose tip was slightly red.
Seeing the little girl heal her while glaring resentfully, Lucia giggled foolishly and quietly enjoyed the warm healing light.
Meanwhile…
Hundreds of miles away at the Echo Territory border, massive crowds of players suddenly gathered at every entrance.
Nearly 40,000 players.
Local guards were terrified and immediately sent urgent reports upward.
So many “Chosen Ones” appearing at once usually meant one thing—
The Dark Faction was making a major move!
Territorial lords panicked, mobilizing troops toward the border.
But all they got from players was the same reply:
“We’re just here to look…”
Who would believe that!?
Most assumed players were restricted from revealing the truth.
Barons, Viscounts, even the regional ruler—Count Leonard—quietly reinforced defenses, all on high alert.
Among the players, fewer than a thousand were under Level 18—mostly newbies with less than 10 years of game time (about 1 year in Earth time).
“Guild Leader, do we really need to be this careful?”
A Level 10 knight in blue gear received a Level 13 purple greatsword from a robed mage.
“Bind it immediately. It’d suck to lose it.”
The mage patted her shoulder, visibly pained—but she was the guild’s only promising awakened newbie.
“Guild Leader…” the knight hesitated.
“You’re our hope! Go for it—this gear is yours!” the mage declared generously.
“Yes! I’ll do my best!” The knight’s eyes burned with determination.
“Don’t feel pressured—this is a rare opportunity! If you can befriend the Little Saintess, our guild has a future!” the mage grinned, rubbing her hands.
“Alright! I’m going!”
“Go—share intel if you find anything!”
The knight passed through the air barrier into the Echo Territory newbie zone.
Not far from the respawn point, she met other players.
“Hey—team up?” a priest in mixed blue-purple gear approached with two companions.
All three looked freshly revived—low HP, damaged equipment.
“You guys got wrecked?” the knight asked in surprise.
All three were Level 15 with strong newbie gear—yet they’d been beaten this badly?
“The monsters here are messed up. Clusters of pseudo-elites—ever seen that before?” the mage behind him sighed.
Their hell-goat familiar bleated in agreement.
“Trying to solo through the river region? Zero chance, man,” another warrior shook his head.
“…Got it,” the knight said quietly—and joined their party.
Similar scenes unfolded across respawn points.
Guilds kept sending their new players into Echo Territory.
Days passed.
More newbies arrived.
Yet only a few dozen managed to break past the River Domain.
Most were repeatedly beaten back to respawn.
Some even lost so many levels that the system deemed them unable to survive there—
and forcibly transferred them back to traditional newbie villages to relevel.
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