Matan's Shooter

The Royal Archives? That’s crazy! He should have told me the structure too!!

Leeha wanted to blame Browless, but he can’t help it.

The die has already been cast, and soon Clark will come down the stairs. How could he find it here?

‘Damn it…… How did this happen?’

Only then did Leeha know.

As he went down the stairs, he felt extremely nauseous. The reason for his dizziness must have been because of the effect of this space. Because it was not a flat surface.

It was a space where one couldn’t tell the ceiling from the floor, with countless bookshelves scattered around. Naturally, the collection was piled up, and Leeha had no idea how long it would take to read all of it.

‘There are even bookshelves like this above and below! How am I supposed to move to the bookshelves I see at the bottom of this space?’

‘No, this is not the time to worry about that.’

‘Will 3 hours be enough to find the report? Bullshit! It’s not like I only have to worry about the timing of my escape! I won’t even be able to observe if anyone would be coming’

The sound of footsteps was already starting to come from the stairs above. After a meaningless conversation with Browless, Clark was probably on his way down.

Leeha had to move.

“Damn it…… I’m so scared. If I had phobia of heights, I would have fainted.”

‘I won’t fall if I take a step, would I?’ Leeha took a step. Was Buzz Aldrin’s spacewalk this intense?’

‘Kuooo, shit!’

Taak-!

I’m stepping on it. The floor.

‘What, was this only for visual effect?’

Leeha felt like an idiot for being scared. Leeha lowered his upper body and ran behind the nearby bookshelf and hid.

‘It leaves no footprint. This space…… Maybe it’s a trick?’

Does the Royal Palace, which control a lot of people, especially in the Royal Archives? It means that this place is very important.

Leeha carefully put his head out and looked towards the entrance.

After a while, Clark entered.

He naturally descended the stairs, stepped on the space, and walked down. ‘Under’.

‘Oh my gosh……. Wasn’t this space only for visual effects?’

He was walking with his legs to move forwards, but Clark’s body was moving vertically as if he was riding in an elevator.

It’s not a staircase, what the hell is that? How does that work?

‘I will lose my mind if I stay here for too long. I need to quickly find the report.’

Leeha, who had been dazed for a while, quickly came to his senses. It was a strange place, but he didn’t come to play.

‘However, where is the record on the Human-Demon war……’

He glanced at the top of the bookshelf where he had hidden.

Long names that were difficult to read were written on them.

Judging it ending with Fibiel, it must be about kings.

‘Are these the recorded deeds of the past kings?’

That was not what was important now. Leeha carefully took one step at a time.

The feeling was similar to walking on a glass floor in the air.

Of course, it wasn’t glass, so Leeha was much more nervous than that. What was worse was he couldn’t see where he was stepping into.

‘Human-Demon…… Human……’

Leeha lowered his head from time to time to look through the gaps in the bookshelf or looked around before proceeding.

If anyone found him, it would be over.

How long do I have to walk like this? Only after walking to the point where Leeha couldn’t even see the entrance did he realize his fear of outer space.

It was a  space with only bookshelves of the same size spread all over the place.

There was no distinction between up, down, left, and right, and there was no signpost. If a person who did not know the way makes a wrong move, it would result in getting lost for the rest of your life.

‘I remember the way I came from, so I will be fine……’

Using the bookshelf as a block, he memorized all directions from straight, left, and right rotation. 

If one could proceed in reverse order, one would be able to return to the vicinity of the entrance again.

Leeha was well aware that in an unfamiliar place, the most important thing to be careful about is the road.

‘What is that? Light?’

After walking for a while, Leeha saw a shiny bookcase. The catalog was ‘Continental Map and Frontier Status’.

Does it include the maps?

‘It may be a trap but……’

He listened quietly. There were no sound of footsteps or talking nearby. There doesn’t seem to be anyone nearby.

‘Should I take a look?’

Sneaking around, Leeha thought deeply about the Royal Archives.

Users could definitely enter this place that seemed to be out of common sense.

But if they came in like he did? Will they get lost, or will they read all the books meaninglessly?

Leeha judged that they would not.

Wasn’t Middle Earth always about risks and rewards?

‘If I think that way……Coming here itself was a test. It was said that achievement, reputation, and special circumstance was necessary. In other words, one will get rewarded after entering.

Reading the scrolls in that shiny bookshelf was highly likely to give him a benefit. Moreover, was it not a visual effect that other bookshelves did not have.’

‘There’s something wrong.’

To look, or not to look.

Even if it was really a reward, there was a possibility that he will get caught if he spend too much time. But what if he didn’t read it now? Leeha did not know the next time he would come back.

Leeha took out the scroll after a lot of thought.

Leeha pulled out a scroll, it was titled ‘Eastern Continent Explorer-1’, when he read it, his wisdom raised by 1. Next to it, -2, -3, -4 are arranged in a row, and the bottom, azimuth marks such as North, East, West, and South were arranged in a row.

When he unfolded the scroll, a notification window appeared.

After a brief flash of light, the bewildered Leeha quickly covered it with his clothes and killed the light.

‘Damn, that was a surprise. What is it?’

He thought it was just the contents or something written down. Leeha carefully read it with the light turned off.

‘Map? No, this is…… what. Continent？’

A huge mass.

Perhaps it was an estimate of the shape of the continent. If one looked closely, one could see that the territories of each country were now divided.

And a single dot in the hologram moved to somewhere, and the, shhhing! He saw the darkness clear away.

‘Someone must have been exploring this area. And at the bottom is the information about the area……?’

Leeha looked at the information at the bottom of the scroll.

What was the terrain, what was the climate, what kind of monsters there were, and what level are they?

‘A map would be helpful. Because there were many things that could not be found even on the internet.’

Hereinafter, only information related to the geography, especially the hunting grounds, was looked at at first. Where is the most advantageous location to level up?

‘Did Biyemi also come here.’

It reminded Leeha of the Venomancer Biyemi.

Biyemi leveled up at an amazing speed where he could use his poison magic most effectively. By any chance, was he able to use this place?

Types of monsters, habits, up to the estimated level…

‘If I think about it, there is a possibility.’

It wouldn’t be difficult to sort out monsters that were weak to poison. Leeha didn’t have time to think about it.

‘Anyway, one thing is for sure. This is for users. Most importantly, NPCs do not use the word level.’

As if it was a strategy book.

‘It must be different depending on how you use the information. Some people will just pass this by.’

There will be people who will use the information that is right for them.

After memorizing the information about the monsters, Leeha looked at the author.

Of course, it wasn’t Biyemi.

‘Written by Fernand. The very use of the word level…… this person must also be a user. Alright, first, I need to quickly pick out what I need!’

After memorizing a few places where he could hunt, Leeha opened the next scroll.

West this time? Again, information about the area.

‘The author……. Fernand? The same?’

South?

‘Is the author Fernand as well?’

North too?

‘Written by Fernand? What? Only one person did it all? What kind of madman-’

Ah! Then he remembered. Middle Earth complete map on the home page. It was said that only the parts pioneered by users were revealed except for the first published data.

‘And most of it…… there was a rumor that only one person did it. No one knew their name, but their nickname…… Adventure King!’

A person who roamed around the internet under the name Adventure King.

‘A person who wanders around that only revealed the map, regardless of the quest, level, party or guild. Adventure King, Survival King, Pioneering King …… the person who received so many nicknames and respect……

That’s Fernand.

Leeha was in a bit of awe. What is the level of this person?

‘Anyway, a reward is a reward. I got the information about the Adventure King for free……’

If they knew the name of Fernand, the internet would be turned upside-down. Of course, he had no intention of doing that.

‘I barely saw it, so it’s okay. Now, let’s move- hmm?’

After looking at the scroll, he put it back in. As he was about to leave, another scroll caught his eyes.

A name that made even Leeha unable to take his eyes off of it.

‘New continent exploration……?’

It was what he saw. With just that much, it was enough!

As he unfolded the scroll, a notification window appeared again. Middle Earth complete map that he had seen before.

‘This is the same as the one that came out before-……. Huh.’

And the estimated area gradually reduced. What was shown in the notification window was an endless sea. A single shiny dot left the continent and navigated the sea.

‘This is the eastern sea of the continent…… have they gone beyond the seas of Kraven Kingdom?’

In the setting, there was the Fibiel Kingdom and Kraven Kingdom that fought at sea.

Although it was a narrow rugged land confined to the southeast of the continent, it was a country that had fostered maritime trade, including fishing, and deep-sea naval forces.

Did those naval forces go beyond their usual areas?

A single dot on the notification window passed through the endless sea over and over again. When the continent was no longer visible on the notification window, a black question mark appeared on the other side.

‘Is that a new continent?’

What other information does it have?

A monster that hadn’t appeared yet? Item? Maybe it’s something like a resource.

Unlike Leeha, whose eyes were twinkling, the twinkling dot on the notification window disappeared.

For a moment, it felt like it was the end. Another notification window appeared in Leeha’s eyes.