Golden Experience - Chapter 192: “Pure Heart”

In Tore Forest, specifically in its center, stands a towering World Tree.

To the west of the World Tree lies a large open square, and bare earth gazes up at the sky.

“I see, a Pure Heart huh? It seems quite murky for such a name, but if it’s said to be a drop from an angel, I guess I could see it”.

I was picking up the red, murky gem-like objects scattered in the square.

According to [Appraisal], these dropped items are called [Pure Hearts]. However, both the name and information about the monster that dropped them are not particularly important, trivial compared to the explanations provided by the [Appraisal].

There it was written – it supposedly had the effect of anchoring the soul to the body.

“──So I should consider it as a material for revival items, right?”

At this point, few players would have thought about the topic and realized this. The game developers would likely introduce premium items later. Players that have acquired [Appraisal] are probably very scarce. But that’s just for now.

After the event ends, there will be maintenance. Premium items are likely to be implemented after that.

During the event, many players will acquire a large number of these items. If they have no immediate use for them, they may sell them, but if the buyback price is low, they will probably store them in their inventory for now. Unlike NPCs, players do not have to worry about the problem of bulky luggage.

Angels periodically attack, and various countries’ knight orders and national armies can handle them. Many Pure Hearts must have been scattered across this continent. If that’s the case, their rarity value might not be significant. In that case, the buyback price would be low. Players will end up purchasing appraisal items with a lot of inventory. However, if they become the raw material for valuable consumable items, it’s a different story. It wouldn’t be surprising if they were traded at a surprisingly high price. In that case, players may choose not to sell.

In any case, it’s necessary to know the current market value.

“──Ah, I see. Maybe I should ask.”

〈Speaking of Pure Heart, is it the murky gem left by those angels?〉

〈That’s right, Gustav. They must have appeared in the market before, but I want to know how they were treated.〉

〈It’s not anything special. There are many of them, and they are the annoying crap left by those angels.〉

If he’s been suffering for a long time, that’s understandable. Gustav’s tone is harsh. If he were an elf, it might be different, but Gustav, being human, should not have directly suffered from angels so far. Or was one of his ancestors killed by an angel?

For me, seeing it for the first time, the appearance may be frightening, but the angels themselves have a very lovely appearance, and despite being slightly murky, this heart can be considered a beautiful gem.

〈Gustav, do you have any information about what this can be used for?〉

〈I’ve heard rumors that it has the effect of anchoring the soul to the body. Because of that, those shady practitioners in dark occupations like necromancers are buying them up. That’s also why it’s not considered a good item in common society.〉

── Is that so?

I am a player who has acquired and taken the skill [Necromancy] up to a considerable level. This was something worth noticing.

No, it’s impossible.

Associating necromancy with words like ‘angels’, ‘pure’, and ‘anchoring the soul’ is too difficult.

Conversely, NPC necromancers are quite observant. How do they come up with such ideas when they think about it every day?

However, even if I try to anchor a soul to a physically deceased body, in this game, the result would be nothing more than a high-quality undead. That can’t be called ordinary resurrection.

There’s probably another crucial factor missing. Perhaps something to bring a dead body back to life.

Until that is clear, crafting resurrection items is impossible. Even rallying players, unlocking just the [Healing Magic] required waiting until the second event. It may need a bit more time.

Thinking about it, if materials were abundant, even if the price was high, NPC vendors in the city should be selling resurrection items.

However, I’ve never seen such items before.

It means that this material alone cannot be used for crafting. Another material or some special skill like the [Magnum Opus] of [Alchemy] is likely required.

“…Well, it doesn’t matter. Anyway, for now, the value of resurrection items is low for me. It’s more beneficial to think about countermeasures and hindering usage. If so, it’s not a problem even if I can’t craft them myself.”

I instructed Gustav that if players asked him about this item, he should emphasize and explain things related to necromancy. As a precaution, I subtly instructed him to gather pure hearts from players without arousing suspicion and then ended the friend chat with Gustav.

“Leaving that aside, the weak angels didn’t prove to be much of a challenge after all.”

It was a test of my own skills and stats, as well as a performance test for the pets, Ubel and Amphisbaena.

Angel attacks were very light, and no one had managed to directly damage me through my [Magic Shield], which protected me on all sides.

Damage to the shield itself was minimal, and probably, if the attack was directed at my main body, it would result in no damage.

The defense value of the shield was basically the same as mine. However, since the shield was not made of equipment like the Queen’s thread-woven dress, its defense was lower.

Out of curiosity, I appraised the dress that Queen Arachnea had woven.

The dress that I was currently wearing was called [Queen’s Dress (Pure)], having high magic resistance and defense even surpassing the armor that an NPC knight had worn before.

Additionally, it had an equipment attribute that “nullifies damage of 1 or below”. However, since this description was also found in the knight’s armor and previously worn clothes, it was probably a common attribute of protective equipment.

I recognized this description. It was similar to one of the effects of the racial trait [Dragon Scales] of the True Dragonkin.

This was probably why the life of the [Magic Shield] was being reduced.

The shield, due to angel attacks, was slightly decreasing its LP at regular intervals.

Although the defense power of the dress was lower, there shouldn’t be a significant difference compared to Ubel, who was lively next to her. The only difference might be that Ubel inherited [Dragon Scales] from the True Dragonkin.

Damage from the angel’s attack on the shield was not visible with just one hit. However, damage was occurring at intervals.

Taking advantage of this system where damage calculations included decimal points, there were damages that didn’t appear as visible numbers.

Normally, when receiving damage with decimal points, it would recover immediately through LP natural recovery, and damage received before becoming a visible number would disappear due to natural recovery even when completely naked.

However, [Demon Shield] had neither LP natural recovery nor minimal damage nullification, so the damage received accumulated straightforwardly, gradually becoming visible results.

Whether this feature could be utilized or not, it was still a useful verification.

But that was about as far as its usefulness went.

I wanted to verify which attribute affected the power of breath attacks and played around with Ubel’s stats, but it was not achievable.

Although Ubel’s breath attack itself didn’t seem to have much damage set, the additional effects of venom and plague caused angels to die within a few seconds.

Angels were considered pure and immaculate beings. They were probably weak against poison and diseases.

Naturally, they should have high resistance, but if resistance fails, the damage in case of failure is significant.

Usually, when talking about resistance to poison or diseases, it would indicate resistance to the difficulty of dying after being invaded. In this game system, resistance is one of the indicators of success or failure in action judgments. If the resistance is successful, there will be no impact at all, but if it fails, all additional effects will be suffered.

Considering Ubel’s overall combat power, these angels should not have been able to resist.

I wanted to verify the power of breath attacks while adjusting INT and DEX a few times, but before statistical confidence was achieved, the angels disappeared.

“It’s about compatibility. It’s like a curse from the Spirit Lord against me. Probably, the attribute or something like that is close to the opposite.”

This means, paradoxically, that me and Ubel also have the potential to suffer significant damage if we were to be subjected to the special attacks of angels.

Since the angels flying around only seem to use normal attacks, it’s not a problem, but caution may be required when facing, for example, the Archangel. However, in that case, it would probably be mutual.

“Other controlled territories… it seems everything is fine. The attacks from the so-called angels have calmed down for now.”

As planned, it seems there is no issue leaving each of my controlled territories to their respective overseers.

In case of reckless players attempting unreasonable assaults, separate measures would be necessary, and I have instructed to immediately communicate in such situations.

From a quick scan of social media, there are still areas in combat or regions seemingly unaffected by angel attacks.

The system messages for event announcements mentioned that all characters on the continent would be attacked. If that’s correct, the reason some areas haven’t been attacked yet is probably because angels haven’t appeared there.

I have already dealt with the angels mainly due to the power and range of the tested attack methods, but there are many regions in cities guarded by players or national knights where the situation has already concluded.

In other words, the timing of angel attacks varies depending on the region.

Regarding my controlled territories, for example, cities like the City of Rifure and the capital of Hiers Kingdom were attacked earlier than the Liebe Great Forest.

What is the reason for this subtle time lag?

“…It may be reasonable to assume that the difference is due to the distance from the current location of the Sky Castle. And considering that all angels have the same ☆2 rank, their abilities are likely uniform, and there probably isn’t much difference in movement speed.”

If all the posted reports on social media, the times and locations of the posts, and the maps of the player-made board game, as well as the maps of Hiers Kingdom and Aural Kingdom, are cross-referenced, it might be possible to determine the detailed position of the Sky Castle.

“…Well, no, it’s probably impossible for one person… or rather, it’s so much work that I don’t want to do it. Even if I get Lyra to help, the amount of work will only be halved… Well, let’s give up on it this time. Perhaps someone among the playerbase will figure it out eventually. Let’s check the forum and wait for it.”

I am not alone.

Beyond the sea of the network, there should be many comrades with the same aspirations.

Even without saying it explicitly, some players have probably already noticed this and started taking action.

The devs mentioned that the players should forget their biases and cooperate. Let’s believe in the power of these yet unseen comrades.

At that moment, a message came from Queen Vespoid, who manages the Liebe Great Forest.

“Hmm? Is there a party that enthusiastically focuses only on dungeon conquests without reading the atmosphere? Moreover, in the Liebe Great Forest, which is unusual. In fact, it’s the first time since the last event.”

However, abandoning the cooperative play recommended by the management is unacceptable.

In this case, it’s essential to teach the players who only think of their own interests the importance of cooperation.