Chapter 4

* * * The spirit spoke with a gentle tone. Lorna had never heard a voice so beautiful. It was as clear as spring water. But something more pressing was taking up Lorna’s attention. …Trial? What trial? Lorna didn’t remember completing any “trial.” Oh dear… I think I might have skipped over a few things. Lorna began to sweat nervously. “U-um, well… I, uh…” “There is no need for you to explain. Only those pure of heart who have overcome the trial can speak the hallowed words.” Oh. Oh no… She is way, way off about me. Lorna tried to think of a way to explain. But before she could, the woman spoke again. “You must have had many adventures on your journey to this hallowed place.” Actually, my adventure only started about an hour ago… “You must have met many people along the way and experienced many a bittersweet parting.” Actually, you’re the first person I’ve met so far… “It is for these reasons that I am confident I can entrust this child to you.” The moment the woman stopped speaking, the saplings in front of Lorna rustled and formed into the shape of a single staff. Its tip was adorned with an emerald-green gem. One glance was enough to tell that this thing was incredibly powerful. “This staff—along with this world—I entrust it to you.” “Th-the whole world?!” Without thinking, Lorna reached up and grabbed hold of the staff. The spirit smiled gently. She seemed relieved. “Ah. Finally… Now I can…return to his side…” “Huh? Whoa, hold on! Where…?!” But it was too late for Lorna to stop her. In an instant, the lady spirit turned into particles of light and disappeared. Suddenly a line of text appeared before her. Obtained Title: “Yggdrasil’s Chosen” “………………………………” With no understanding of what had just happened, Lorna was left standing in the clearing, alone once again. Her hands were still shaking as she grasped the imposing staff. “Sh-should I maybe…not have accepted this, or…?” She hadn’t overcome the trial. She hadn’t been on any adventures, met any people, or experienced any bittersweet partings. Not to mention, being entrusted with the world sounded like way too much responsibility. “Um… What’s the return policy on this thing?” Her question rang out through the empty clearing. But no response came. Lorna got on her hands and knees and gracefully bowed her head to the ground. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sooo sorryyy! I thought I could just grab the staff and be on my merry way. I didn’t think it would be such a big deal!” Say the key words out loud, “Ding, ding, ding, you win the prize! Here’s a staff!” “Whoo-hoo!” That’s the kind of thing Lorna had expected. But the actual transaction had seemed like a pretty serious affair. What did she even mean when she said she was “entrusting the world” to me? Am I supposed to do something…? I feel like I’ve been handed a bomb, and now it’s my responsibility to take care of it… Lorna spent a little more time apologizing to the void, then she sighed and said, “…Oh well,” and got back up, resuming her usual happy-go-lucky attitude. “I got the staff I wanted… And this thing’s definitely strong. Can’t get rid of it now.” Her voice was shaky as she spoke, but she ignored it. “All right, let’s see… I should probably take a look at what this thing can do.” She vaguely recalled that the A-Rank Kingdom Sword had an ATK +500 modifier… So an SSS-Rank staff would probably boost her M-ATK by at least eight hundred. “Nah, no way… Eight hundred is a bit much. The maximum value for a stat is nine hundred and ninety-nine.” Lorna was skeptical, but she couldn’t help feeling excited as she took a look at her stats. Lorna Hermit, Lv. 2 HP: 14/14 MP: 99,999/18 ATK: 4 (+360) DEF: 11 (+5) M-ATK: 13 (+3,600) MIND: 13 SPD: 8 (+2) LUCK: 10 Equipment Weapon: Staff of World Tree (SSS) Armor: Cloth Dress (G) Armor: Leather Shoes (G) Skills Internet (SSS) Terra Drain (SSS) Magic I (G) Titles The Abandoned One Yggdrasil’s Chosen “……” Was she seeing that right? She stood in silence, rubbing her eyes before taking another look at her stats screen. MP: 99,999/18 Uh… I think the stats screen is broken. The +3,600 modifier to her M-ATK was equally incomprehensible, of course. Her stats were off the charts to an absurd degree. “W-well, then. It…looks like the cap for stats wasn’t nine hundred ninety-nine after all…” The hand she was using to hold the staff began to shake uncontrollably. Even court sorcerers only had around five hundred MP. Sitting at almost one hundred thousand MP, Lorna now had two hundred times that. None of it made any sense to her. One thing was for sure, though: There was no other human alive with this much MP and M-ATK. “Does this mean…I’ve become the strongest in the world?” The staff she’d collected on a whim turned out to be a hundred times more impressive than she could have ever imagined. It was more like a weapon of mass destruction than a staff. It seemed liable to start a war at any moment. “I-it might be a bit late to be asking this question, but uh…just what the heck is this thing?!” Lorna realized she hadn’t yet looked up any information about the staff. So she opened up the internet and typed in Staff of World Tree. Weapon: Staff of World Tree Rank: SSS Type: Staff Price: 360,000,000,000 shil Effect: ATK +360, M-ATK +3,600 MP Stock = 99,999 3x MP Usage, 2x Magic Range & Damage Equip Skill: Terra Drain (SSS) Effect: Absorbs MP from nearby foes. Terrain Bonus: 2x Damage in forests and meadows. Details: The in-world lore states, “Elven legend foretells that when calamity befalls the land, a chosen one will take up this staff and become the Savior.” But since the staff was added as post-game content in a later update, by the time it can be obtained, the catastrophe has already been averted. This staff is the most broken weapon available and equipping it with any character trivializes the game’s balance. It’s the kind of overpowered weapon you might expect to see in a light novel. “…………Huh.” Lorna closed the internet screen. “…I’m just going to pretend I didn’t see any of that.” She worried she’d fall to pieces if she thought about it too deeply. Lorna wasn’t interested in becoming a savior or the most powerful person in the world. All she wanted was to live a life of freedom. “A-anyway…the sun’s probably going to set soon. I guess I’ll just sleep outside today,” she said, voicing her thoughts in an attempt to clear her mind. There was no way she would escape the woods by nightfall. And the clearing she’d found looked like a safe place to spend the night. According to the internet, monsters wouldn’t attack her here. So with that in mind, she began preparing to make a fire. She gathered up kindling and some dried leaves into a little pile. Then she pointed the Staff of World Tree at it. She had tons of MP, so she didn’t need to worry about conserving any of it. It was an all-you-can-magic jamboree as far as Lorna was concerned. “Starter Spell—Petit Flame! ” she shouted cheerfully, hoping to create an ember to get her campfire going. But the next instant… Fwooooooooooooosh!!! “Fuh…FIRE!!!” …a massive dragon of flames erupted from Lorna’s staff. Lorna stood in complete shock as an all-consuming inferno swirled before her. The trees, the ground, the monsters—whatever the fire touched was incinerated in an instant and turned to ash. It was as though a massive dragon had devoured everything in the area. Ipple Slime swarm defeated! You gained 28 EXP! LEVEL UP! Lv. 2 Lv. 3 Toxibloom swarm defeated! You gained 148 EXP! LEVEL UP! Lv. 3 Lv. 5 Green Goblin swarm defeated! You gained 360 EXP! LEVEL UP! Lv. 5 Lv. 8 Goblin King defeated! You gained 2,180 EXP! LEVEL UP! Lv. 8 Lv. 14 SKILL UP! Magic I Magic III You learned the Petit Flash, Petit Bolt, and Petit Gale starter spells! You learned the Giant Killer I skill! Obtained Title: “Calamity Witch” “…………………………” As the blaze settled and the smoke cleared, the only thing left in the clearing was the scorched earth beneath Lorna’s feet. Lorna stood in complete disbelief. After a few moments had passed, she muttered to herself. “Okay… That was a bit much.” Massive earthquakes rocked the land that day. The epicenter of the tremendous quakes was the Guugelheit margravate, which contained the Ipple Woods. Rowser, one of Margrave Brau Guugelheit’s sons, ran to his father’s side. “Father!” “What is it? What’s all the commotion?” Brau furrowed his brow in irritation as he reclined on a lavish chair. “What happened with Lorna? You made sure to get rid of her, I trust?” “Who cares about that useless child?!” responded Rowser. “It’s the mana vein! The great mana vein in the forbidden clearing of the Ipple Woods—it’s…it’s gone!” “Wh-what?!” Brau dropped his wine glass in shock. It fell to the ground, shattering into countless pieces. Wine splashed across the expensive carpet at his feet, but he hardly noticed—his attention was now fully devoted to the matter at hand. “You can’t be serious!” “I’m afraid I am… The mana siphons around the vein have all ceased operation.” “That cannot be!” The great mana vein of the Ipple Woods was said to be the largest source of mana in the world. Mana siphoned from such veins allowed the people of the world to use magic. Humans needed mana to live. Without mana, the crops would wither and the people would be unable to use the magical tools necessary to purify water and keep their fires lit. The Guugelheit family had sole ownership of the Ipple Woods vein and had profited greatly from it. If what Rowser said was true, then their future wealth had vanished along with the vein. But we’ve taken out countless loans expecting to pay them back with profits from the vein, thought Margrave Guugelheit. Not to mention the scheme we’ve been working toward. We need mana for that as well… But that’s not even the worst of it. Brau put his head in his hands. I-if this news makes it to the king, then… The Guugelheit family had been granted a right to the vein in return for keeping it safe. Now that it had disappeared, they would be held responsible. Worse, if the palace launched an investigation, they would surely discover that the margrave had been embezzling mana. P-perhaps we can cover this up somehow? No. That would be impossible. There was no way to disguise the fact that the mana vein was gone. It was only a matter of time before people all over the world knew of its disappearance—and the name of the incompetent family that had allowed it to happen. There were no two ways about it—their family would be ruined. Dark visions of the future plagued the margrave’s thoughts. “Wh-why?! This shouldn’t be possible! Why would the mana vein we’ve been guarding for millennia suddenly disappear?!” “We’re currently investigating the matter, but…it seems highly likely this catastrophe was caused by…human hands.” “What do you mean?” “…Moments after the mana vein was extinguished, we detected powerful magic being used in the vicinity of the Ipple Woods. Based on the amount of mana expended, it seems the spell used…over ten thousand MP.” “…?! P-preposterous!” The maximum amount of MP a human could expend was 999. If Rowser was correct and a being who could use such a spell had appeared, they could hardly be considered human. It would be a magic-wielding, living calamity. Such a being hadn’t existed since ancient times, when the Demon Lord had walked the land. “A-at this rate, these earthquakes are certain to ravage the earth.” This problem was bigger than the Guugelheit domain—the whole world was in danger. “What in blazes has descended upon our lands? What’s to become of the world now…?!” Margrave Brau’s voice shook, and his body trembled in awe of this unknown foe. Meanwhile, completely unaware of the calamity that had befallen her former family’s domain and of the tremors that were at that very moment rocking the land, Lorna was desperately trying to put out the fires she’d started by shooting ice at them. “Waaah! Petit Ice! Petit Ice! Petit Ice!!!” Crack-crickle-crackk!!! A wave of ice swallowed up the forest until Lorna stood on what looked like a mountainous glacier. “Oh! Oh no! Oh no, no, no! Wha—what do I do?!” This was a disaster. Her staff was too powerful. There was no way for Lorna to control its magic. Even her weak starter spells were enough to cause natural disasters. Sword Plant swarm defeated! You gained 165 EXP! Evil Treant swarm defeated! You gained 420 EXP! LEVEL UP! Lv. 14 Lv. 15 Paraflower swarm defeated! You gained 220 EXP! Forest Wolf swarm defeated! You gained 318 EXP! LEVEL UP! Lv. 15 Lv. 16 Great Bear defeated! You gained 950 EXP! LEVEL UP! Lv. 16 Lv. 17 SKILL UP! Magic III Magic V You learned the Petit Heal, Petit Cleanse, and Petit Wall starter spells! You learned the Art of Slaughter I skill! “Whyyyyyy?!” With each spell, Lorna seemed to be slaughtering countless monsters. The level-up sound effect chimed on ceaselessly. If someone sees me doing this, who knows what might happen… Lorna imagined it for a second. It wasn’t good. “Gya-ha-ha! Burn the witch!” “Nooooo!” Visions of being burned at the stake filled Lorna’s imagination. She turned deathly pale. Not that anyone could hope to take her on now. She could easily drive off any foe. But that fact didn’t occur to Lorna, who had until mere moments ago been only Level 1. “A-anyway. I gotta get out of here, or else… Urgh, why is all this happening?” whined Lorna, tears welling up in her eyes. “All I want is to live a life of freedom.” She quickly looked at the map on the internet and set off in the direction of the nearest town.