Chapter Title: Using Cheats to Enter the Game
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A magic circle appeared. It had looked like a shabby summoning scene when viewed on the monitor, but seeing it now in reality, Dante thought it was incredibly cool as he gazed at the skeleton he had summoned.
"Whoa."
In 2021, when virtual reality games were nothing more than flights of fancy, who could ever experience the thrill of wielding such vivid magic?
'Though this is actually real magic. Whatever—cool is cool.'
With that thought, Dante looked at the summoned skeleton. It stood there blankly, clutching a single rusty sword in its hand, staring back at him.
Watching it, Dante worried whether this thing could really fight properly, but since this skull was the one lifeline holding his fate in its bony grasp right now, he had no choice but to trust it.
"Let's summon them all first."
Thanks to the basic skill's effect, he summoned three. Then, with the bonus from Undead Mastery, one more, for a total of four skeletons. Dante addressed the four skeletons staring back at him.
"Protect me."
At his command, the skeletons silently bowed their heads before taking positions around him. Each one stood at east, west, south, and north, forming a perfect escort formation on their own. Dante was impressed.
In the game, they just mindlessly trailed after the player, but reality was different. This part's pretty great, he thought as he looked at the skeletons and said,
"I trust only you guys."
To grow stronger and survive to the end of this world, he absolutely had to make it alive to Wizley Village.
And once there, he could use his karma for 'Skill Upgrade' to raise the rank of existing skills, or 'Skill Evolution' to replace them with advanced versions.
So reaching that place would dramatically boost his odds of surviving this brutal world. After all, he had nearly infinite karma.
"Let's go, guys."
With his resolve set, Dante took a step forward, and the skeletons began walking the path alongside him, maintaining a set distance.
The weather was perfect under a clear blue sky without a single cloud, and lush grass lined both sides of the road, painting a beautiful scene. But to Dante, it might as well have been the gateway to hell.
'Please, few enemies. Please, just a few.'
The monsters in the opening stretch were 'goblins.' As tutorial fodder, they might seem laughable, but this game's goblins were nothing like those in other games—they weren't weak at all. One slip-up, and he'd die right here.
Worse, they spawned randomly from two to ten at a time. Ten showing up meant instant game over.
'Two. Please, just pairs of two.'
He prayed inwardly as he walked when suddenly the skeleton on his right veered toward the grass on that side.
A small arrow flew and struck its skull but failed to pierce through.
"Kiek!!!"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ 3 Goblins have appeared!
Seeing the three goblins, Dante swallowed hard at the sight of the small arrow on the ground.
"Poison arrows right from the start...?"
As he thought how he might've died if he'd taken that hit, the battle between the three goblins and four skeletons began. The one that had fired the arrow tossed its bow aside, drew a dagger from its belt, and charged a skeleton.
Its speed was blistering, like a full sprint from an average adult. But the skeletons moved just a bit faster.
One goblin tried to parry a skeleton's swinging sword with its dagger. But the skeleton struck first—with a thud, its blade sank into the goblin's skull.
Rusty as it was, it didn't cleave clean through, but it plunged deep enough for an instant kill. Blood and brains splattered as the goblin crumpled.
The remaining two goblins couldn't properly block the skeletons' attacks either, their bones cracking under blunt strikes as they bled out and died.
The goblins were cleaned up in seconds by the skeletons, and Dante resumed walking the lone path under their escort.
As Wizley Village came into distant view, it looked exactly as it had in the game. Wooden walls encircled it, some sections bearing signs of damage—just like in the game.
"Already under attack, huh."
Wizley Village was the first hub for players starting the game and the place to learn its core systems.
'And the site of the first major hurdle.'
About 60% of players who started this game quit in frustration right there, cursing it as their first wall.
'I struggled too.'
It had taken Dante himself sixteen attempts to complete all the village quests and move on. Then he got stuck at the next area.
'And since your character dies, you have to make a new one and start over from scratch.'
Die after Wizley Village, and it was back to the beginning: remake the character, trek to the village again, finish all quests, then proceed.
That's why players called the difficulty insane. One death, and it was over.
Barring rare exceptions, you'd remake and restart from zero—so without grit, seeing the end was impossible.
Hence all the cheats, and Dante was a beneficiary, planning an easy start.
"I did get that cheat-boosted easy start. Just didn't expect the game to become my real life."
He sighed to himself. The absurdity still hit him hard. But what was done was done. To survive, he had to press on.
Returning to his original world? That could wait. Not dying here came first.
"Gyaa!!!"
Then five goblins burst from the left grass, daggers drawn, launching a sudden ambush on the skeletons. They reacted swiftly.
Dodging dagger strikes or tanking them with their bodies, they prioritized killing the goblins and blocked any path to Dante.
Once all five lay dead on the ground...
✨ LEVEL UP! ✨ Lv. 1 → Lv. 2
The words "Your level has risen" appeared before his eyes. Seeing it, Dante opened his status window.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ ⚡ Strength: 3 💨 Agility: 3 ✨ Intelligence: 6 💪 Stamina: 6 Name: Dante - Lv. 2 Job: Necromancer Trait: Max Skill Level Karma: 999,999,999,999
"Total stats up by 14. What a cheat job."
Normal classes in the game got 5-7 total stat points per level. This was double that or more—and the gap would only widen at higher levels. No wonder it was called a cheat.
"Alright. Let's keep this up. Just make it to the village."
Speaking to the skeletons and himself, Dante quickened his pace toward Wizley Village, praying for minimal goblin encounters till arrival.
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"Finally..."
Whether some god heard his prayers, Dante reached Wizley Village without further goblin fights after leveling up.
The people repairing the broken wooden walls spotted him with the skeletons and went on alert; some even nocked arrows at him.
Dante raised both hands high and called out,
"Just a traveler passing through! I don't want to fight! I can even help! Mind if I enter the village?"
One of the archers replied,
"Then make all those skeletons vanish and approach slowly!"
Dante nodded and willed the skeletons gone. Unlike summoning, they dissolved into light the instant he thought it.
Hands still up, he walked forward slowly. The archer lowered his bow, approached, and said,
"We got hit by a monster raid recently, so we're on edge. Did you run into any monsters on the way here, traveler?"
"Killed nine goblins."
The man nodded and said,
"As an apology, come to my house. We've got an empty room—we'll put you up."
"Thank you."
"Oh, I'm Ribel, the village chief."
Dante smiled and replied,
"Dante. Necromancer."
And so, Dante successfully entered Wizley Village unscathed.