Night had fallen.
Lillian lay on his bed, idly playing with the Teleport Crystal he had purchased from Argo.
[Teleport Crystal]
Effect: Set a teleport point. After a three-second channel, teleport back to the set point.
Uses Remaining: 1/1
Teleport Point: None
It could only be used once, which alone showed just how precious it was. Under normal circumstances, wasting it before a true life-or-death moment would be unthinkable. Since the teleport point hadn't been set yet, Lillian planned to set it directly in Horunka Village once he went outside.
If he'd obtained this crystal earlier, he could have set it in the Starting Town—or even right outside the blacksmith's shop. Still, unless he was truly pressed for time, he wouldn't treat something like this as a simple teleport tool. That would be far too extravagant.
He checked the quest time limit. The countdown had started the moment he accepted it. Six hours had already passed, leaving sixty-six hours remaining. Plenty of time—no need to rush yet.
As for the room he was staying in, it was just a random inn in Horunka Village. A tiny room barely over ten square meters, yet the nightly fee was a steep 350 col. After paying, Lillian had just over nine hundred col left on him.
It definitely wasn't a bad deal. Trading information obtained from an outsider's perspective for intel on iron ore—and a Teleport Crystal on top of that—no matter how he looked at it, Lillian had come out ahead. He was in a good mood.
After opening the weather system to check tomorrow's sunrise time and setting an alarm for roughly two hours later, he fell asleep.
---
Beep—beep—beep—
When the preset time arrived, the alarm sounded automatically beside his ear. Lillian's eyes snapped open, and he immediately got out of bed and headed outside.
The years he'd spent in the world of AOT as a trainee soldier had long since cured him of procrastination. Whatever he did, he could enter the proper mindset almost instantly—his former late-stage procrastination back on Earth was completely gone.
Leaving the inn, it was still dark outside. Traveling at this hour carried its own risks, but in order to save time, Lillian had no choice. He was the only person moving through the deserted streets. After setting the Teleport Crystal's return point at the village entrance, he left the village and headed straight north.
"I keep heading north, leaving behind a world that once had you in it. You said you were exhausted, that you wouldn't fall in love with anyone ever again…"
As he ran, Lillian hummed to himself. It was just something to pass the time—he wasn't some ascetic saint. Running alone in the dead of night was honestly pretty boring.
Yet as he hummed and occasionally looked up at the brilliant, star-filled sky, his thoughts drifted elsewhere. How was the world of AOT now? How were Historia, Annie, Ymir…? They were people he still carried in his heart.
Before long, he slowed down and stopped singing, pulling out his one-handed hammer instead.
"Ugh…"
Up ahead, in what looked like a swampy area, several sticky, viscous monsters were crawling out of the muck, shambling toward him step by step.
They were humanoid in shape, but their entire bodies were coated in swamp sludge. With every step, thick slime dripped from them, making them look utterly disgusting. Lillian thought that if a timid player encountered monsters like these, they'd probably lose the courage to fight on the spot—and might just turn around and run.
There was no helping it. This game didn't have magic or any kind of "guaranteed-hit long-range attacks." Combat meant close quarters. Sure, you could grind skills like "Throwing Sword" or "Throwing Knife," but even at max proficiency, their damage likely wouldn't compare to that of a mid-tier sword skill.
"Good enough for leveling along the way."
Lillian charged forward with his one-handed hammer raised. His current level—6—was admittedly low, and his stats weren't impressive. Even though he was physically strong, he couldn't deal much damage. For example, he could easily kick a normal monster flying more than ten meters, which looked incredibly intimidating—but when he checked the HP bar afterward, it barely moved.
As the saying goes: flashy moves, pitiful damage.
That summed it up perfectly.
So Lillian needed more stats—and a higher-damage weapon. Otherwise, grinding mobs would be painfully inefficient. That said, he felt that with his speed and strength, he could probably solo weaker bosses if he played it right. The problem was his current stats were far too low. Forget taking a hit—he'd get one-shot instantly. But even if he avoided every attack, it would still be awkward if he couldn't even break the boss's defense.
"Ughh…"
Several sticky monsters stretched out their goo-covered hands toward him. Lillian moved swiftly, weaving around them while smashing their heads with his hammer—bang, bang, bang—like a game of whack-a-mole. It felt satisfying, but their HP bars dropped painfully slowly. Each hit dealt only about one-tenth of their health.
"My attack power really is too low… These sticky monsters are probably level seven or eight, right?"
As he was thinking, one monster's HP dropped to the brink. Suddenly, it opened its mouth and spat a glob of slime straight at him!
Splurt!
Lillian hadn't expected that. He dodged just in time to avoid his face, but some slime splashed onto his shoulder. His HP instantly dropped by one-fifth.
That much damage?!
He shot a glance at his HP bar and immediately stopped holding back. Raising his speed another notch, he swiftly finished off the remaining sticky monsters using Hammer skills.
[EXP: 100]
[Col: 60]
[Items: 1]
The rewards matched their level. After killing four sticky monsters, Lillian's EXP bar was nearly full—he was just about to hit level 7. He also gained an additional 230 col.
"If I had a better weapon, I could probably grind all the way to level 8 here."
He looked at more sticky monsters spawning in the swamp, then decided against continuing the fight and resumed his journey.
After running with intermittent stops along the way, Lillian finally reached the nearest safe town to the labyrinth area—Tolbana—just as daylight broke.
[Inner Area]
As he entered the town, a purple system message appeared before his eyes, indicating that he had entered a safe zone.
"Haa…"
Letting out a breath, Lillian relaxed. After nearly two hours of nonstop high-speed running, he was exhausted. That safety notification brought a deep sense of relief.
But then—
Looking at the streets ahead and the clothing worn by the pedestrians, it was clear that this place—Tolbana—had likely never been visited by any players before. In fact, Lillian was probably the very first one to arrive.
This wasn't an exaggeration. Even beta testers wouldn't run nonstop for hours like he had. They would always plan things out—grinding levels elsewhere first, building up some security before coming here to challenge the labyrinth.
As for someone like Lillian, rushing to a town near the labyrinth on the very first day—he was probably the only one.
That had its advantages. Maybe he could pick up some unique quests here. After all, this area hadn't been explored by beta testers yet, so their intel wouldn't be of any use.
But still…
Gurgle, gurgle.
Clutching his loudly protesting stomach, Lillian made a decisive turn toward the nearest restaurant.
Food first. He'd eat his fill—and then worry about everything else later.