Conquering My Own Path

A Warrior's Awakening in Philadelphia

Dexterity: Intermediate level 3,17% Strength: 16 Agility: 8 Stamina: 9 Intuition: 3 Magic: 2 Vitality: 2 Mana: 8 Health: 46

Critical hit does 2x the damage. In other words, if you just focus properly, you can do twice the work with the same amount of effort. Of course, the effects of a critical hit don’t end there. You have to launch a lot of critical hits for your dexterity to advance quickly. There is also one more effect that is just as important!

One of the reasons I can confirm a miner is a “hidden class” is because of this. The speed at which you could raise your stats was surprisingly fast—almost as fast as raising your dexterity. If you managed to trigger the right qualifications, the stats increased even faster.

First, you have to focus and launch a lot of critical hits. Second, even if you’re tired, you have to continue to swing the pickaxe. In other words, you have to push your body to the limit.

Other than stopping briefly to satisfy my hunger, I continued to swing the pickaxe. Since I knew I would be rewarded based on my efforts, I could keep working joyfully even though it was difficult.

“Ahrachacha!” (Just a grunting noise.) Claaaang! Claaaang!

As I continued, the sound of my stats going up became more frequent. Humans are definitely animals of adaptation. On the first day, I really thought I was going to die. Not only was I in a harsh environment like the narrow underground tunnel, but I was feeling immense pain from my sore muscles.

But I clenched my teeth and persevered. The other miners only worked an average of five to six hours a day, but I worked more than twice that—swinging my pickaxe for 14 hours a day.

No wonder I was so tired it wouldn’t have been strange if I collapsed. However, after four days my muscles completely stopped being sore and I slowly got used to this harsh environment known as the mine.

My mining speed became faster each and every day. Only nine days had passed, but I was mining over 40,000 dollars’ worth per day. That was even without selling titanium—the most expensive ore.

Thanks to that, I already had 299,990 dollars in my bag. Just 10 dollars short of 300,000. I managed to save that much even after spending a decent amount on food and my small, cheap room. It was thanks to my increased stats.

My stamina points increased the most—up by 7 points. Following that was strength with 4 points, and agility and intuition both rose by 1 point each. Vitality increases on its own as stamina and health go up, so I didn’t need to worry about that. Same with mana—it increases on its own as magic and knowledge go up. Anyways, I had a total of 13 points increased.

Of course, it doesn’t go up like this forever. The speed slows as the stats get higher, and eventually it stops completely. When I was playing Royal Roader, it took about five months to reach that point. Until then, I’d continue to swing my pickaxe without looking at anything else.

“Shall I get started again? Aja!” Clang! Clang! Clang!

I focused all of my attention. I treated it as if I were training sword skills. Thanks to that, I didn’t miss even one hit. Each swing with the pickaxe resulted in a critical hit.

But suddenly, I felt lightheaded. My eyes darkened and my mind grew cloudy. It felt like I was suffering from an extreme case of anemia. It was unexpected and happened in an instant.

“Why all of a sudden…?”

My thoughts didn’t continue any further. Less than 0.1 seconds after feeling dizzy, I lost consciousness.

I opened my eyes wide. “Where is this place?”

I looked around in a daze. I was no longer in the mine. I was in my small, cheap room—cramped and shabby but still comfortable and safe.

“What happened? I was in the tunnel just now.”

As I came to my senses, I noticed that the alarm was ringing on my cellphone. Once I heard it, I realized the situation. With disbelief, I kicked my blanket.

“Damn it! How could this be?! It was a dream?!”

How cruel! I truly believed it was real—not a dream. I believed I could once again become the greatest warrior and rule while sitting atop the world. Yet it was only a dream.

“s**t! s**t! s**t!”

I couldn’t hold in my anger and continued to kick my blanket. But that didn’t change anything. I couldn’t believe it, but I had no choice but to accept reality.

Still, it was strange. I dreamt about eating, sleeping, even using the restroom. I vividly remembered each and every action. How could a dream feel so realistic?

The conclusion I came to was simple—I’d been way too deep into games lately. As a result, I had a game-related dream that felt like reality.

Now it was time to clear my mind. But I wasn’t ready yet. Out of habit, I approached my computer as soon as I woke up.

My addiction to computer games was harder to kick than smoking. Like usual, I turned on my computer and went to the Royal Roader homepage.

“Huh? It’s loading!”

Just last night, it only said Page cannot be found. But now, the homepage loaded.

That was it though—none of the buttons worked. None of the links to posts did anything.

“Wait… this one works!”

The Virtual Accounting button—it was a function that let you manage your in-game money on the internet.

It was still active.

“What is this? Are they saying they’ll at least protect our earnings?”

Pointless, really. You could only use Royal Roader money inside the game. Plus, interest in the game had dropped so much there wasn’t even cash trading anymore.

Still, I was curious. I clicked the button and entered the Virtual Accounting page.

I still had some game money left—exactly 299,990 dollars.

I couldn’t believe it. At one point, I’d saved over 1 trillion dollars. I had so much that money didn’t even feel real back then. But now… only about 300,000 dollars. Exactly 10 dollars less than 300,000.

“Wait. 10 dollars short of 300,000?”

That amount was oddly familiar. The last time I checked my account in my dream, I also had exactly 10 dollars less than 300,000.

How could it be exactly the same?

“Hmm… whose game money is this?”

I wasn’t logged in. The homepage wasn’t working properly—it wasn’t even supposed to allow logins…

“Huh? I guess I am logged in!”

My name—Leon Gerard—was clearly visible in the top corner.

“How is this possible? I never logged in.”

Then I noticed something new.

[Money Transfer]

Has that button always been there? No way. I’d been obsessed with Royal Roader for over 11 years—even more once I became the overlord. I’d researched everything, even minor NPCs, just in case of hidden quests. I knew the website inside out.

There had never been a Money Transfer button before.

So why was it here now? Maybe one of the programmers added it as a joke.

Whatever the reason, curiosity won.

“You have nothing to lose. Might as well try it.”

I clicked it. Three new fields popped up:

[Name of Bank: ???] [Account Number: ???] [Transfer Amount: ???]

It looked serious—like a real transfer could happen.

Was it okay to try?

What could go wrong? It was under my name anyway. Worst case, if someone asked for it back, I could just return it.

“All right, let’s try it.”

I typed in my account number from Philadelphia Safe Bank and entered 99,999 dollars. No reason for that specific number—it just came to me. Then I pressed Transfer.

An unbelievable message popped up on my screen:

[99,999 dollars were transferred to Leon Gerard’s Philadelphia Safe account.]