I Entered a Gacha Game That Had Been Abandoned for 10 Years

28 – The Second Hero (2) [Revised]

One week after Kim Hyun-woo sent Tainus to the upper region.

—

Territory of Lartania.

Territorial Development: 194

Territorial Population:

[Humans: 1758]

Owned Buildings:

[Lord’s Castle LV1 >>> Upgrading 72%]

[City Walls LV2]

[Residential Zone LV2]

[Blacksmith LV2]

[Barracks LV2]

[Tavern LV2]

[Market LV1]

[Lumber Processing Plant LV0 [Under construction] 52%]

[Leather Processing Plant LV0 [Under construction] 0%]

[Stone Processing Plant LV0 [Under construction] 0%]

[Trade Hub LV0 [Under Construction] 0%]

[Restaurant LV0 [Under Construction] 0%]

Military Strength

– Regular Soldiers: 100

—-

Kim Hyun-woo, amidst the development of his territory that had now approached 200, leisurely admired the landscape beyond the fortress walls.

Immediately catching his eye was a market that had sprung up next to the residential zone.

People, instead of sitting in the square as before, were now allocated spaces in the newly built market to buy and sell goods. The adjacent tavern, thanks to additional expansion work, no longer resembled the old one made entirely of wood; now, it featured stone tiles here and there, shedding the rustic image.

Moreover, the once simple wooden palisade had undergone another transformation. Near the palisade, wooden watchtowers had been erected, and the expanded blacksmith shop was now slightly larger than before.

“It’s satisfying to see it grow.”

Considering the current state of territorial development, it was still at the very early stages, and yet, Kim Hyun-woo found the changes in the territory with this level of investment quite pleasing.

Regardless, the territory, changing day by day with each invested coin, brought him immense satisfaction.

Since the establishment of a processing facility that required mana stones for production, Kim Hyun-woo no longer needed to extract resources using the blue stones himself.

Once all the processing facilities were constructed, even without using the blue stones, he could produce high-quality processed resources, if not the top-notch ones.

“After all, building structures with unprocessed resources not processed through the processing facilities lowers the happiness of the residents and increases the likelihood of building accidents. That’s why I bothered to use blue stones to produce resources.”

Of course, as the production quantity was limited, until the level rose, he would gradually have to build trade hubs to import resources.

Given the importance of reducing the usage of blue stones that could be obtained in limited quantities depending on special events, Kim Hyun-woo was eagerly anticipating the construction of the processing facilities and trade hubs.

“Elena and the soldiers are also growing quite well.”

With these thoughts, Kim Hyun-woo activated the information screen.

Considering only about a week had passed, both the soldiers and Elena were showing a steep growth trajectory.

—–

Hero

Name: Elena

Title: X

Star Rating: 2 stars ★★

Affection: (Under measurement)

Attributes

Strength: 30↑ Agility: 39↑

Intelligence: 21↑ Luck: 18

Magic Power: 15

“The hero trusts you.

—–

Kim Hyun-woo looked at Elena’s information window and smiled.

‘Her hardworking trait is quite good.’

Usually, as all stats increase, the growth rate gradually slows down. However, despite becoming a 2-star, her stats were rising quite quickly.

There was one thing that puzzled Kim Hyun-woo, who naturally smiled at her outstanding growth.

‘Why is luck increasing?’

It was because Elena’s luck stat was going up.

As far as Kim Hyun-woo knew, there were only two cases where luck increased.

One was when events like a fateful encounter occurred for Elena, causing her stats to greatly increase.

The other was when Elena faced a life-threatening crisis and survived.

‘But has she ever faced such a crisis? Even if she did, it would probably be only the first level of the labyrinth.’

Considering that most of the tasks he had given Elena so far were missions that did not threaten her life, Kim Hyun-woo, with a skeptical expression, thought.

‘Maybe I should choose missions more carefully, just in case. And on top of that, I should expose the soldiers to real combat for better growth.’

With that thought, he opened the military strength window this time.

—-

[Troop Type] Regular Soldiers.

Leader: Maron [Proficiency 69/100]

Number of Members: 100 [View Details]

Battle Efficiency: Ordinary.

[No personnel available for upgrading to higher troop types.]

-Basic Equipment-

Head: Helmet.

Body: Lightweight Armor.

Waist: None.

Legs: None.

Armament: Iron Spear. Sub-armament: None.

※ Equipment is rudimentary.

—-

Compared to Elena’s growth, the information window seemed a bit dull, but Kim Hyun-woo had a rather satisfied expression.”

There isn’t a hero specifically in charge of training in the military buildings right now, but considering that the penalty effect has already disappeared, it seems that the soldiers’ proficiency has increased significantly due to hierarchical exploration.

“Now, it would be nice to recruit a cooking hero or a training-specific hero among the auxiliary heroes.”

In fact, at this point, what Kim Hyunwoo wanted a little more was a cooking hero.

Although a cooking hero might seem a bit out of place, Arteal’s cooking hero could create dishes with buff effects.

In other words, if a cooking hero is recruited, they can be deployed in real battles where proficiency can rise faster, quickly stabilizing and developing soldiers and heroes.

…Of course, compared to training, stability might be lower, but that was a problem that could be adequately adjusted with mission difficulty.

“…There’s a lot to worry about besides the military strength right now.”

Except for the slightly uneasy resources, most things were sailing smoothly, so Kim Hyunwoo had a satisfied expression.

After about three days like that.

When the lumber processing facility was about to be completed.

Now, as the tavern reached level 2, with 2 to 3 heroes coming and going each day, Kim Hyunwoo was checking each one by opening the information window.

—-

A ★ hero ‘Rani’ has entered the territory.

—-

—–

Hero

Name: Rani

Title: X

Star: 1 star ★

Affection: X

Stats

Strength: 9 Agility: 7

Intelligence: 19 Luck: 19

Magic Power: 7

-Traits-

Perfect Taste: Can distinguish various flavors and has a tongue that can catch subtle taste differences.

Curiosity: If possessing a talent ‘overwhelming,’ the proficiency of that talent increases very rapidly.

-Talent-

Innate talent in cooking.

-Skills-

[Read]

—–

A supporting hero with the characteristics Kim Hyun-woo desired had entered the Larthania territory.

####

Lately, Merilda’s mood hadn’t been particularly pleasant.

No, to be precise, she was in a struggle against the envy she felt within herself.

The reason? The woman right next to her owner.

‘Jealous.’

She genuinely thought as she watched Elena, who was diligently practicing her axe skills from a distance.

Elena had everything that Merilda desired.

She received care from the owner.

She shared affection with the owner.

She received gifts from the owner.

Thud—!

Merilda’s red eyes were engulfed in envy.

Killing her would be all too easy from Merilda’s perspective.

Just appear in front of Elena and slit her throat; that would be the end of it.

If she was worried about being caught by the owner, she could kill her when she came out for a mission.

Whoosh—!

…Recently, she had even put soldiers around her to ensure she properly received the owner’s affection, but Merilda was confident.

She was confident that she could kill her and escape before the soldiers noticed.

However, despite her confidence, she could never reach Elena.

The wolf knows.

If she were to die and the owner somehow identified the culprit, everything would come to an end.

“Hu-hu-hu…”

She suddenly felt her breath becoming faster.

Of course, the wolf hadn’t executed the plan.

She hadn’t killed Elena, not even touched a single strand of her fur.

But just imagining being caught by the owner was enough to make her breath tremble with unease.

Soon, as she forced herself to calm her breathing.

Thump-!

“!”

Merilda instinctively felt a peculiar discomfort.

A sensation of magic sticking uncomfortably, an uncomfortableness she hadn’t felt in a very long time.

Merilda immediately turned her head to find the source of this discomfort.

Her gaze first fell on a crowd moving towards the Larthania territory, but Merilda quickly shifted her eyes elsewhere.

The cause of the discomfort that the wolves were feeling was not them.

And the moment she turned her gaze away.

“…”

Merilda could see it.

In the empty grassland, where there had clearly been nothing, stood the absolute figure of darkness, as if it had been there from the beginning.

A presence that could only be endlessly discomforting to her.

“…”

Merilda silently glared at the absolute figure of darkness.

She had no intention of talking to the half-beast in front of her, and honestly, she wished the woman would disappear right now.

She felt a growing aversion towards her own actions, seeing herself like a mirror, and memories of herself from ten years ago were resurfacing, making her heart throb.

But.

“…I have come to make a request.”

In response to the words of the absolute figure of darkness that followed.

“Will you not return the Executioner’s Sword?”

“…”

The red-eyed werewolf’s irritation peaked.