Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Phelos was not from this world.

Three days ago, while he was immersed in a 70th-anniversary event for the game "Legends", he received a death notification from his doctor.

"Legends" is currently the hottest holographic game in the galaxy, celebrating its 70th year, which also marks Phelos's 15th year of playing.

As a veteran player, he had battled countless world bosses, but facing one alone was a first for him.

World bosses typically spawn three times daily. However, for the 70th anniversary, a few extra world bosses would randomly appear throughout the month, in addition to the regular spawns.

Having just snatched a divine piece of equipment and two legendary materials from the hands of the Shengshi Guild, Phelos was on the run, wanted across all channels by the guild. He had not expected to encounter a randomly spawning world boss in such a remote location.

These bosses, seemingly overpowered by the game developers with intimidatingly high health and attack stats, would usually require several elite teams of a hundred players to defeat.

But having stumbled upon this "isolated" world boss, Phelos had no intention of passing up the opportunity.

Waiting for rival guilds to fight over the loot was thrilling, but wasn't soloing a world boss an even greater challenge?!

So Phelos decisively led the boss to an even more secluded area.

The rewards from a world boss were extremely, extremely substantial, but due to their scarcity, they were typically monopolized and shared amongst the major guilds from one week to the next.

Phelos was a lone wolf, unaffiliated with any guild, which usually meant he wouldn't even catch a glimpse of a boss. However, his exceptional skills, high attributes, vast abilities, and sharp instincts had allowed him to snatch loot from guilds on numerous occasions. Despite mixed outcomes, the rewards from a single success were tremendous.

Snatching loot could only net a small portion of the total, but typically, a world boss would drop a minimum of five gold-tier materials or equipment, hundreds of advanced materials, and dozens of superior pieces of equipment.

Dragon-class bosses, due to the "Dragon Hoarding" feature, have an even greater guaranteed loot!

Thinking of the generous loot from the world boss, Phelos felt a surge of strength, executing a series of combo attacks smoothly and rapidly.

Just as the boss's health dropped to 20% and it entered a frenzy, Phelos received a notification from his doctor stating that his bodily organs had reached their limit, and his father had signed a voluntary relinquishment form to let him pass away more peacefully.

Fifteen years ago, the doctors had pronounced his death sentence. Sustained by an innumerable amount of medical resources, making it to 25 was an achievement in itself. So when the moment arrived, it didn't stir much within him.

Connected to the game pod, he couldn't feel the pain of his body, but his fading consciousness faintly signaled that his death was imminent—mere seconds away, perhaps now. His account was about to go offline.

With no possibility of ever logging in again.

It was a bit regrettable for him; he at least wanted to finish off this boss before disappearing... A lone world boss, such a rarity! The achievement of soloing a world boss! In fifteen years of playing "Legend," it was his first encounter with such an event!

Perhaps it was his intense will, but his dissipating consciousness gathered like a fistful of sand returning to form, and without overthinking, he continued to fight the frenzied boss with his dagger.

"It must have been around that time..."

Due to various coincidences and bugs, his vanishing consciousness and a segment of in-game data unintentionally fell into a temporal rift.

What lies at the end of the world? Chaos. Different from the laws of the scientific domain, the realm of magic doesn't have planets or a universe, only countless planes large and small within chaos. Chaos is filled with endless energy; if one had to describe it, it would be akin to a unique form of nuclear radiation. Aside from deities, any creature that enters chaos will perish due to the immense energy, leaving not even remains.

However, a collision of the rules of science and magic created a new bug; the laws of the magical domain mistook Phelos and the series of data on him as real, infusing him with endless and surging energy, turning those data settings into reality.

For instance, the contents of his backpack, the world boss dragon, the level 300 legendary thief, the level 300 legendary wizard, the grandmaster alchemist, and so on...

In short, all the settings became real, and now Phelos could conjure up hundreds of formulas for advanced mana recovery potions along with their crafting methods, perfectly embodying his knowledge and skills as a "Grandmaster Alchemist."

This was different from the game, likely due to the magical domain's laws turning settings into reality.

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Phelos was quite fond of that world; after all, he could grind in "Legend" for another 500 years without tiring! But since he was dead, there was no helping it.

So, he decisively slaughtered the evil dragon that had become real alongside him, and the game's setting of a loot drop thousands of times greater than normal expanded his backpack by three full pages!

Just as he finished collecting the loot and was about to leave, the royal knights who followed the sound discovered him. Phelos, with the patience he applied to quests, endured the interrogation and handed over a level 100 dragon heart, which was of little use to him.

On Dragon Island, common monsters have a one in a thousand chance of dropping a Dragon's Heart, elite monsters one percent, and bosses five percent.

As a major grinding spot catering to levels 100-300, Philos enjoyed spending time there, with his inventory brimming with an uncountable number of Dragon Hearts.

Thus, somewhat bewildered, Philos, who had become a Dragon Slayer Hero, was granted nobility along with a piece of land and some slaves of little value.

Philos was a lone wolf, unaffiliated with any guild and with few friends; although the game offered extensive guild play, with many treating it as a base-building conquest game, Philos had no interest in it.

He only brought the slaves to tend to his land because he planned to develop the land into his personal gaming haven.

At the legendary level of 300, Philos was infinitely close to godhood, with a lifespan too extensive to deplete. If he couldn't spend this elongated life playing games, Philos felt he would find a way to end himself out of sheer boredom!

The perseverance of an internet-addicted youth.

This magical continent was vast, and just within this kingdom, the straight-line distance from the easternmost to the westernmost border was over tens of thousands of kilometers.

And the distance from the royal capital to Philos's territory was 50,000 kilometers. Between them lay countless dangerous areas swarming with magical beasts, wandering undead, and cursed ruins, which not even 1,200 slaves working together could traverse more than one city's distance.

It was merely a show of force. Although Philos had been awarded the title of Dragon-Slaying Hero and had submitted a Dragon Heart, he possessed nothing else of note, and he lacked the aura of the extraordinary. This made it hard for others not to suspect that the Dragon Heart was part of a deliberate conspiracy against the kingdom.

Yet, as a "hero" who had slain the evil dragon and protected the kingdom and its people, titles, lands, and rewards were due, and thus Philos was given a viscountcy, barely superior to a baronetcy, along with the most barren and perilous lands and the least valuable slaves.

Philos, a newcomer, wasn't well-versed in these intricacies. A seemingly useless Dragon Heart had earned him a piece of land, which didn't seem like a bad deal to him.

The teleportation arrays in the royal capital were exorbitantly expensive, although to Philos, the cost was negligible. However, only nobles had access to the arrays, so his wealth remained unspent.

Thus, Philos decisively set out with his slaves on their own.

"I remember making a contract..." Although Philos was a lone wolf, he wouldn’t pass on using the pet system, given how exhilarating it was to grind with pets.

But his main pet, his main pet's main pet, his main pet's main pet's main pet, and so on, were all level 300 creatures.

A level 300 pet might not be as strong as a world boss, but in a magical world, the concept of "dominance" existed, and he feared his pets' mere presence might terrify his slaves to death.

"Ah, found it." Around level 200, he had taken a chain quest to transport goods and had contracted a Cloud Skimmer Devilfish specifically for that mission. At level 150, the Devilfish, while not highly offensive, was massive and swift, perfect for hauling cargo.

Yet, because of its low attack power, Philos hadn't used it since completing that mission.

"Woom~" The Devilfish, over 1,300 meters in length and 2,000 meters wide, with a tail stretching a thousand meters long, was a true behemoth.

But it was docile, carefully lowering its head from the sky, "little eyes" filled with pure admiration.

When it was merely a string of data, Philos felt nothing wrong in discarding it after use, but seeing it as a living creature looking at him with such eyes stirred a twinge of guilt in him.

After patting the devilfish's head, Phelos decided to treat it with kindness.

The slaves were evidently terrified of this magic creature of exaggerated proportions, yet Phelos's command compelled them to overcome their fear.

The fear of the devilfish paled in comparison to the prospect of being discarded for disobeying orders, especially since this “fish” seemed to be quite obedient to Phelos.

Most importantly, the continent of Tantali is a magical plane where all that is unreasonable is attributed to magic.

Though mere slaves, their capacity to adapt was astonishingly formidable because of their very bondage.

The colossal devilfish afforded not only a seat for every slave but also ample space to each; yet out of fear and awe, all the slaves huddled together, maintaining a “respectful” distance from Phelos.

This, however, was convenient for Phelos; a simple cleaning spell left everyone pristine, followed by a healing spell that significantly improved everyone's complexion.

Wounds healed instantaneously and weak bodies were invigorated with strength; the slaves widened their eyes in disbelief before kneeling in unison to express their gratitude to Phelos.

“The Holy Light!”

“Oh merciful master…”

“Silence,” Phelos said with a headache beginning to form.

Fortunately, the slaves were obedient; at Phelos's command for silence, they immediately quieted down.

But this only heightened their respect and fear towards Phelos, and within them stirred a sense of pride and honor.

To be owned by a spellcaster, and such a powerful one at that! How fortunate they considered themselves!

Although, if Phelos were aware of such thoughts, they would be met with nothing but a long line of ellipses.