Might of Players

---Third POV---

Looking at the glowing orb flying around Luminaris, ProGamer_Daddy's eyes were almost dazzled.

"What is the young goddess doing? Aren't we here to level up?" he asked.

"I don't know. I tried saying hello, bowing, even using emotes," Logan replied with a shrug. "But it didn't seem to trigger any keywords. Wait, hold on, it worked!"

He immediately straightened up as he saw the game panel automatically pop up.

So it turned out...

When Luminaris was bestowing blessings upon the three believers, he discovered that these three silly followers only wanted him to teach them magic.

Ridiculous!

An entry-level spell could never compare to the value of a divine blessing.

During their journey, the three of them had poked at him more than ten times! Ugh, these short-sighted followers!

And to make things worse, Viktor and Edgar were still lurking and watching like predators.

Left with no choice, he angrily decided to finish the task Viktor had given first. 30 divine power were deducted from Viktor's system panel.

---Logan's POV---

I watched as a burst of golden light erupted from the three of us, and a new panel appeared in front of me.

[Please select your initial skill:

- Fireball

- Wind Manipulation

- Holy Light

Note: Your initial skill will determine your future class tendencies. Please choose carefully.]

I opened the details for each skill, carefully considering my options.

Fireball was a simple attack magic, focused purely on damage. Its career progression was unclear.

Wind Manipulation enhanced speed and agility, likely leading to classes like assassin or ranger.

Holy Light could attack and defend, healing the user while also damaging dark-aligned creatures.

Dark-aligned creatures… oh, our faction leader.

Corresponding careers would be healer or warrior.

After weighing my options carefully, I settled on Fireball.

My current understanding of Aeltia wasn't deep enough to determine what kind of class I might want later. Fireball suited me best for now.

With my low level, I desperately needed a combat skill. Wind Manipulation might only help me run faster, and Holy Light didn't seem particularly useful at the moment.

After selecting my skill, I felt a rush of memories flood into my mind. It seemed like a memory of a child learning to read a book. The experience felt both long and fleeting.

It was like having electricity flow through your veins, but... warm? Alive?

As the flood of information slowly subsided and I came back to my senses, all I could recall was a lengthy incantation.

Ancient flames that dance in midnight's breath, hear my call through ember's depths.

Let the fire of creation flow through mortal hands, ignite the spark of power that commands!

But my body remembered more—the process of magic energy flowing through me, and the nuanced rhythm of the chant in my throat…

An uncontrollable feeling of power made me swallow hard.

"Ignis Spiritus... Fireball!"

A small flame appeared at the tip of my middle finger.

So this was what it felt like to use supernatural powers through your own body?

So mysterious, so addictive!

Although the flame was small, leaving me slightly disappointed, I remembered reading in the notes that spells would grow stronger with practice and could even evolve.

In other words, I could grow my magic. When I mastered it, the fireball could grow into a massive fireball—or even a rain of fireballs.

It was all up to me!

The sense of freedom and growth completely outweighed my initial disappointment.

The sound of two other upgrade notifications caught my attention. I quickly went over. "Have you chosen your skills?"

Garble nodded. "I plan to go for a solo assassin build, so I picked Wind Manipulation."

He murmured a chant under his breath. Suddenly, his body became a blur, moving behind me in just two seconds before returning to his original spot.

"Holy... Did anyone see where he went?" I gasped.

"Do it again!" ProGamer_Daddy called out.

Garble clenched his fist, clearly pleased. "I can only maintain this state for five seconds right now, but my speed rivals that of a car!"

"Magic… truly amazing!" I exclaimed in awe. "The Wind Manipulation skill is so generous with its initial effects."

With such speed, its offensive potential might even surpass Fireball.

I turned to ProGamer_Daddy. "What about you?"

"This, uh..." He scratched his head. "I was going to pick Fireball, but I figured you'd probably choose it too. There's only the three of us in the beta test, and overlapping skills wouldn't be great for progression."

"Plus, my leg cramped really badly recently—it hurt like hell. So I just went with Holy Light, since it has healing effects."

We nodded in understanding. We remembered how his leg had been so painful that he couldn't help transport wood earlier—it had taken all three of us to carry it back.

He stretched out his leg and did a couple of high-knee exercises, way too delighted. "Look, my leg is completely healed now!"

"That's great. Now we've got a mage, an assassin, and a healer." I said happily. "But... It's just that my Fireball… sigh, it might take some time to develop…"

The others' skills could give them the speed of a car or instantly heal injuries, but my skill... was barely better than a cigarette lighter.

ProGamer_Daddy leaned in curiously. "What's wrong? Is Fireball not working well?"

I forced a smile and extended my right hand, showing the flickering flame on my middle finger—so small it looked like it might go out any second.

"..."

Garble patted my shoulder. "It's okay. At least your skill has great comedic potential."

"What?! Even you are making jokes now?" ProGamer_Daddy gasped in mock horror, taking a step back. "You can't possibly be Garble. Say it—what kind of mimic monster are you?"

"..."

With ProGamer_Daddy joking around, my earlier frustration quickly dissipated. "I'm not upset. With Viktor as my example, I'll definitely reach that level eventually."

Thinking about that put me at ease.

"Exactly! Just don't forget to look out for your tank and healer, okay?"

"Don't worry, I've got your back!"

I hadn't even noticed when Viktor and Luminaris had left, too absorbed in our excitement over the new skills.

---Third POV---

Viktor opened his system panel.

Forcing the three players to "comprehend" their beginner spells had cost him 30 divine power.

On top of that, Luminaris had secretly spent 3 more points with his tacit approval to bless the players.

This left Viktor with just 20 divine power.

Not much left…

Let's see how much divine power the players can provide tomorrow… Viktor muttered to himself.

For the first time, he genuinely hoped that his followers would generate more divine power.

---Logan's POV---

We used the remaining time before logging off to focus on practicing our spells.

Unfortunately, we were all beginners at magic. After just two or three repetitions, we'd completely drained our magical energy.

"Is anyone else seeing two of everything?" I mumbled.

"I can't feel my arms..." ProGamer_Daddy groaned.

"At least your healing should help with that," Garble pointed out.

The side effects of magic depletion were really severe. I felt even more exhausted than when I'd been hauling wood earlier that day.

My mind was clouded with sleepiness, tempting me to log off. Each time my vision went black, I forced myself to reconnect.

My fatigue became so overwhelming that when Viktor served us a meat-based meal later, I couldn't even taste it.

After finally addressing my character's hunger, I was eventually booted offline.

---

After removing the gaming helmet, I felt a surge of vitality sweeping away the exhaustion that had settled into my body.

I once again marveled at the realism of Chronicles of Aeltia, as I had countless times in the game, "This game is absolutely mind-blowing!"

But even with the negative buffs in the game gone, the fatigue from playing an entire day wasn't something my body could escape from... I moved my neck.

Huh?

"I played games all day, and I'm not tired at all?"

Not only that, but I felt the kind of comfort one got after a deep, refreshing sleep. This doesn't make sense... I should be exhausted.

Having spent years sitting in front of a computer, I had developed a serious cervical spine issue. Even if I rested properly, it was rare for me to sleep as well as I did today.

I stared at the gaming helmet in my hands like it was a priceless treasure, turning it over carefully to examine every detail. This wasn't just a gaming helmet!

It was practically a godsend for insomniacs!

"No external power source, minimal heat generation... How is this even possible?" I muttered, running my fingers along the smooth surface.

I was willing to bet that even if the game itself turned out to be terrible, this sleep-enhancing effect alone would be enough to convince wealthy buyers to snag the helmet without caring about the price.

"But now that I've rested so much, what should I do?" I muttered to myself as I powered on my computer. "Come on, you ancient beast. Just one more year of service, that's all I ask."

The startup animation looped endlessly on the screen.

Wide awake and filled with energy, sleep was no longer an option, so I had to find something to keep myself busy.

Based on my in-game fatigue meter, my character wouldn't wake up for at least a full day and night in the real world. Chronicles of Aeltia had this one major flaw—the realism of the negative statuses was way too intense.

If your character passed out, there was no logging back in until they recovered.

Which meant that I probably wouldn't be able to log in at all tomorrow.

Well, that works out, I thought.

In two days, I needed to update my video channel anyway. But after experiencing Chronicles of Aeltia, I had completely lost interest in playing any other games.

Holding my head in frustration, I let out a deep sigh. "Why can't I just play Chronicles of Aeltia forever?"

I screamed in protest internally. AAAAAHHHHH!

In the end, my dreams had to bow to reality.

"Sigh, I still need to eat… I'd better look for a new game."

My computer was an ancient relic, slow as molasses when booting up. But I had no complaints—it was reliable for video editing and saved me a ton of money on an upgrade.

Finally, after enduring the agonizingly long startup animation, my jaw dropped when a pop-up appeared on the screen.

[SpeedBoost Pro Alert!]

[Warning: Your startup time (20 minutes) is slower than 98.7% of systems in your region!]

[Click here to INSTANTLY boost your PC performance!]

[Auto-scan recommended]

[Time in Munich: 3:05 PM]

"WHAT? It's only 3 PM?!"

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. I immediately got up and opened the heavy curtains in my room.

The next moment, sunlight flooded the room, blindingly bright.

Now I had no choice but to believe it.

I calculated the time I'd spent in the game. There was no in-game clock, but the game panel recorded the hours I had been online.

I distinctly remembered checking the panel right before logging out—it showed 14 hours of playtime.

The game servers had launched at 8 AM, which meant in-game time was progressing twice as fast as real-world time.

"No way… This company actually developed time-acceleration technology?!" My heart was pounding so hard that it almost felt numb. I had genuinely spent 14 hours in the game.

Looking at this from a broader perspective, wouldn't this kind of technology essentially extend human lifespans?

"Chronicles of Aeltia, what other surprises are you hiding from me?" I murmured to myself, my gaze complex.

This time, I had truly hit the jackpot with the game's hype.

I had a strong hunch that Chronicles of Aeltia was destined to go viral. And as one of the first beta testers, I stood to gain the most from it.

Before that, however, I needed to connect with the other two beta testers.

As one of only three participants, we had agreed to form a team, so exchanging contact info outside the game was a must.

I already had the handle of one of them, ProGamer_Daddy. I created a new group chat and invited all three of us to join, ensuring smoother communication.

To make my upcoming game recommendation video, my personal experience alone wouldn't be enough.

The technology in Chronicles of Aeltia was too advanced, too revolutionary. The perspectives of the other two testers were crucial to filling in any gaps in my understanding.

"I just hope they'll cooperate," I muttered nervously as I began drafting an introduction for my group message.

Just then, I noticed something surprising—ProGamer_Daddy was actively chatting in my fan group.

And not just chatting—he was arguing with several other active members. And judging by the messages popping up, they seemed to be discussing Chronicles of Aeltia.

I quickly opened my fan group and scrolled through the chat history to see what was going on.

---

[GameLord420]: Ugh, it's so boring! Why is the group so dead today?

[MemeKnight]: Isn't it obvious? Because NeverShowOff is irrelevant now.

[GameLord420]: Not like he was ever popular to begin with, right?

Nice to see my fans are as supportive as ever...

[GameLord420]: Wait, I remember now! Didn't ProGamer_Daddy say he was going to live-text his experience with a new game today?

[GameLord420]: It's already the afternoon, and he still hasn't shown up!

[Actually_Hitler]: What new game?

[GameLord420]: That knockoff game riding Netherworld Revolution's coattails from a few days ago. The one with the horribly done website.

[GameLord420]: You were there for that, weren't you?

[Actually_Hitler]: Oh, yeah! Now that you mention it… @ProGamer_Daddy, Great Daddy of all Nations, where are you?

[ProGamer_Daddy]: Ta-da, the main character has arrived! Sorry, everyone, the game was just too good—I completely forgot!

[LootGoblin]: You actually managed to summon him? I was trying to get him earlier for tips on passing engineering courses, and he ignored me!

[ProGamer_Daddy]: Shut up, shut up! If you use my stories to flirt with girls one more time, I swear I'll track you down through the internet!