Miracle Continent is the vast land in which this world exists, divided into dozens of kingdoms and empires. Its size is unimaginable, and it is surrounded by numerous islands and unexplored territories.
In Miracle Continent, the climate becomes milder as you move closer to the northern regions.
The air is not dry, but not too humid either, providing a comfortable living environment.
The Kingdom of Serian is located in such a northern region and can be considered a prosperous and fertile kingdom.
However, even in prosperous nations, there are areas that lag behind in development, possibly due to local lords. However, common people usually don't think about these factors.
This is a small village located in the Hivell domain of the Kingdom of Serian.
The village is not large, consisting of around thirty households. Since the village does not have any special products for export, not even traveling merchants visit this place, resulting in almost zero human traffic.
Usually, only a few people pass through the village in a year. Although the village is not prosperous, it is not impoverished either. The villagers have a relatively comfortable life, relying on hunting and seasonal farming.
However, several months ago, since an unknown undead Black Knight occupied an old ruin near the village, the villagers have been living in constant fear. People started disappearing, and it escalated to the point where every household locked their doors and dared not come out at night because the village began to experience the appearance of walking corpses.
Due to the village's poor economy, they couldn't afford to hire a mercenary group for help.
Moreover, upon hearing terms like Black Knight and undead, most small-scale mercenary groups were too afraid to take on the task.
The village chief sent someone to report the situation to the lord, but even after all this time, the lord's army has not come to besiege the village, leaving the villagers with a sense of despair and abandonment.
This ruin used to be a noble's mansion surrounded by a beautiful environment. However, due to human development and destruction, the once scenic surroundings of the village have disappeared, and eventually, the mansion fell into ruins, possibly due to weathering or other reasons.
At this moment, nearly fifty villagers have gathered at the village entrance, anxiously watching the distant ruins.
Although the ruins are not too far from the village, the outline of the ruins can still be seen from the village entrance.
"Village Chief, what about the two children... Are they really okay?"
"They should be... He assured us before this monster appeared, so he must have a way to handle it."
However, no matter who it is, if there is no news for five to six hours after entering the ruins, which the villagers consider no different from hell, it is undoubtedly not a good sign. Nevertheless, he was the only person who had been willing to help them in recent months. So, despite the long wait, the villagers spontaneously gathered here, holding onto their hopes and expectations.
Just as disappointment began to appear on the faces of some villagers, two figures finally appeared on the horizon.
The majority of the villagers rubbed their eyes in disbelief. Once they confirmed that it was indeed the two individuals who had promised to help them and rushed towards the ruins, the villagers erupted in cheers. They surged toward the two figures like a tide.
The two figures were none other than Sean and Cecilia.
Cecilia wore a black and white gothic-style gown, holding a golden tome in her arms measuring about thirty centimeters in length and width. Her delicate features were somewhat expressionless at the moment, but her gaze towards Sean carried a hint of resentment. She muttered from time to time, "Liar!"
Sean smiled wryly, rubbing Cecilia's head, and then spoke, "I told you not to rush out. Wait for me to lure it to you and then use Fireball to deal with it. But you didn't listen, and you ended up in such a miserable state. How can you blame me for that?"
"Liar!"
Sean was helpless.
In fact, their initial tactics for dealing with the Black Knight in the ruins went quite smoothly.
There were only about ten walking corpses in the entire ruin, which were easily dealt with by Sean's swordsmanship and Cecilia's magic. However, things became chaotic when they encountered the Black Knight.
According to Sean's plan, he was supposed to attract the Black Knight's attention and lead it towards Cecilia, who would then use Fireball to defeat it. Sean spent several hours in the ruins, waiting for the right moment.
However, unexpectedly, Cecilia was startled by a mouse, which alerted the Black Knight.
They had to engage in a series of desperate evasions and escapes because the Black Knight had entered a berserk state.
Sean didn't dare provoke it at that moment, despite his experience in dealing with the Black Knight, and had to wait until its berserk phase ended.
If that were the only issue, Cecilia wouldn't be angry at Sean.
However, he had previously assured her that the mission was easy and that she could easily handle it with a few fireballs.
But in reality, Cecilia almost got struck by the Black Knight's sword, which frightened her. Understandably, she was not pleased with Sean. However, considering she was just a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl, Sean couldn't say much.
"It's different from a game," Sean muttered, looking at Cecilia, who still seemed upset. "There are too many unexpected factors. This is just a level five instance..."
"What are you mumbling about?" Cecilia glanced at Sean. Although her face still lacked much expression, she wasn't as angry as before. "You're always so lost in your thoughts. The villagers are coming."
"It's nothing," Sean shook his head, glancing at the villagers who were cheering and running towards them.
Although his appearance was quite disheveled at the moment, his confident and composed demeanor made it easy for people to feel reassured, as if they had found their leader. "Yes, this is no longer a game. It's a real world."
As if affirming some belief, Sean raised the head of the Black Knight in his hand in front of all the villagers. The cheers of the villagers grew louder.
Like triumphant heroes, Sean and Cecilia were warmly welcomed back to the village by the villagers. This made Cecilia, who wasn't good at socializing, feel a bit troubled, but at this time, Sean would take care of her.
After returning to the village, a grand feast resembling a celebration awaited them. Even fish was served, despite the village being far from the coast and primarily relying on meat and vegetables.
Fish was usually only available during major festivals. What was even rarer was that the fish served at the feast was incredibly fresh. It became clear to Sean that the villagers' warmth and welcome were genuine and not an act.
After the feast, the villagers even arranged a clean house for Sean and Cecilia to live in. Under their unwavering hospitality, Sean had no choice but to decide to stay in the village for another day.
...
On a chilly night, Sean stood by the window on the second floor, gazing at the scenery outside.
After a moment, he finally left the window and turned to look at Cecilia, who was sleeping soundly in bed.
From her peaceful expression, it was clear that she was having a deep sleep. Seeing Cecilia asleep, Sean couldn't help but smile faintly. "It's already been a month..."
His words were filled with deep emotions.
In fact, Sean doesn't belong to this world; he comes from a place called Earth.
However, even he can't explain why he appeared in this world. His last memory before arriving here was leading his guild's elite team to conquer a 100-player dungeon known for its high difficulty in a game.
After that, he inexplicably woke up in a suburban area, penniless and being chased by dogs. Fortunately, a nearby hunter saved him from becoming the dogs' meal.
From then on, Sean focused on organizing his thoughts and prioritizing survival in this new world. His quick adaptation to the world's pace and habits, as well as his remarkable knowledge about many things, can be attributed to the online game "Miracle" he played on Earth. This world turned out to be an exact replica of the game.
Upon realizing this, Sean discovered a secret hidden within him. Although he arrived in this world with a low level and without his luxurious equipment and wealth, he still possessed his skill panel from the game. The panel contained numerous powerful skills that Sean had spent a lot of time and effort collecting.
Initially, these skills were unusable.
However, once Sean recognized the similarity between this world and "Miracle," he knew what he had to do.
But when he started implementing his plans, he realized the true difficulty of this world compared to the game.
Unlike the virtual world of the game, this was a real world where he had to face various threats of death, work hard to earn a living, and find ways to improve his level.
Additionally, he encountered real-life problems such as injuries, long distances between locations (where a one-hour journey in the game could take several days), and the absence of health bars or mana bars.
In this world, losing a limb meant permanent disability, and death meant actual death.
Despite the challenges, Sean never gave up. He knew the gap between his skills and those of others was his advantage: Skill Points. Like the players in the game, each level increase rewarded him with two Skill Points.
That was the most valuable asset for Sean.
So far, only three skills had been activated on Sean's skill panel:
1. Sprint: Allows a quick six-meter dash forward. Support/First Tier/Normal, Level 2/3, Proficiency 1/4.
2. Combo Strike: Performs three consecutive attacks. Swordsmanship/First Tier/Normal/Sword, Level 2/5, Proficiency 2/4.
3. Disarm: Successfully disarms an opponent if the sum of Sean's Strength, Endurance, and Agility exceeds the target's three attributes. Support/First Tier/Special/Unarmed, Level 1.
It took Sean nearly a month to reach Level 5 and accumulate only ten Skill Points, so he couldn't afford to use them recklessly.
In the later stages, players would have many more skills, and activating a skill would consume a Skill Point. Moreover, special skills required even more Skill Points.
Not to mention that Skill Points could also be used to improve personal attributes or life occupation skills. Therefore, every use of a Skill Point required careful consideration.
Generally, activating a regular skill required one Skill Point, while a special skill like "Disarm" as a First Tier skill consumed two Skill Points just to activate.
Skills like "Combo Strike" and "Sprint" had initial limitations at Level 1, and their power or utility would gradually improve with level advancement.
For example, "Combo Strike" could only perform two consecutive attacks at Level 1, but it would increase to three attacks at Level 2.
Despite the seemingly low increase in proficiency, it actually takes a long time and consistent effort to improve each proficiency level.
The higher the proficiency level, the slower the improvement, requiring more time.
Currently, both the Combo and Sprint skills are at level 2 due to Sean's relentless training over the past month.
Sean's dedication to training is necessary to make progress and avoid wasting proficiency points, especially since higher-level skills often require lower-level skills as prerequisites for enhancement.
Sean has already spent four proficiency points activating these three skills, and an additional three points were used earlier to successfully obtain the weapon from the Dark Knight.
Therefore, Sean currently has three unallocated proficiency points remaining. However, he does not regret these choices.
As a former guild elite group leader, Sean has a strong logical approach to handling matters.
The sword he acquired, Charles' Rapier, is the root cause of his confrontation with the Dark Knight. Without it, Sean would not have been interested in spending a significant amount of time and effort on a level 5 dungeon that was once an easy challenge for him when he was just a beginner player.
As a professional player contracted to the game, Sean has been dedicated to "Miracle" for seven years, gaining knowledge and understanding of many aspects of the game.
Although some details may not be clear, certain memories can be awakened when triggered by familiar objects.
Sean remembers that this rapier is part of a follow-up quest, which is only dropped upon killing the Dark Knight for the first time.