I Don't Need To Log Out

Trion had enjoyed world peace for the past 3,000 years, but achieving it had not been easy.

Long ago, 17 intelligent species, including humans, coexisted on Trion. Most were hostile toward each other, building cities and nations to wage wars. Some had natural predator-prey relationships, while others were driven by greed. They developed weapons, enhanced their magic, and devised strategies to emerge as the dominant species.

Three thousand years ago, only nine of these species remained. Although humans had become extinct, one exceptionally powerful human survived and single-handedly put an end to the war. Afterward, he dismantled nations, established cities, and enforced harmony among the surviving species. Known today as Efsa, his real name has faded into the dusty pages of history along with his riches.

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After leaving the town, Arlon headed for the Great Forest, a vast, city-sized woodland filled with dangerous monsters. Of course, these monsters posed a real threat only to low-level players. Technically, Arlon was also low-level, since level 10 amounted to just 0.1% of the Keldars' overall power on Trion.

But level wasn't everything. Arlon had experience fighting these creatures, and he carried better equipment. Combined with his extra CP, he was confident he wouldn't just be the best player this time; he'd be the strongest in this world.

With these thoughts, he arrived at a large hole in the ground, his destination. Many had attempted to enter here, only to turn back due to the secret requirement to get in. Without hesitation, Arlon jumped. The secret was simple: "Don't look up." But of course, it wasn't as easy as it sounded. After jumping, a person would freefall for 15 minutes straight. If they looked up even once, they'd be instantly transported back to the top as if they hadn't fallen a meter. To any onlookers, it would appear that the jumper remained at the top.

Arlon kept his gaze down for the entire 15 minutes until his feet finally touched the ground. Instead of celebrating, he immediately drank his invisibility potion—it only lasted three minutes, so he'd needed to time it carefully. If he'd been seen before drinking it, he'd be as good as dead. The second he turned invisible, he dashed toward a door-like opening at the base of the hole.

After sprinting down a long corridor, he finally entered a circular room in which he encountered his target: a two-horned, devil-faced monster. Back on Earth, "devil" would bring up images that looked a lot like this. Of course, this wasn't a real devil, but a boss monster and one of the main reasons he was here today.

Normally, this boss would require a balanced party of ten players, each at least level 25. Well, it was true for most of the players, Arlon had another way. Magical chains bound the monster's limbs, giving a false sense of security. In reality, as soon as the monster awakened, the chains would crumble to dust. This creature had been locked here long ago by the great magician Agema; so it wasn't actually a Keldar but a native of the planet, though no one had ever discovered its true name.

Anyway, Agema had imprisoned it thousands of years before even Efsa's time, so the chains were ancient. The monster itself, however, had also grown weaker over the years. Once, it could have annihilated almost everyone on Trion alone, but now, a level 25 party could potentially defeat it.

This encounter was still dangerous for Arlon—not only because he was both low-level and alone, but because what he was attempting had never been proven to work before. Monsters didn't respawn since this was real life, so in the previous timeline, when the ten-person party killed this creature, it stayed dead. Its weak point, its horns, was mentioned in one of Agema's books since that was the means she'd used to subdue it. But because this book was only accessible after the monster's death, no one had been able to test its weak point beforehand.

Arlon felt confident that even if the monster awoke, it wouldn't have enough strength left to escape the pit. And even if Arlon died, he would revive without a penalty since he wasn't yet level 20. He wanted to test a theory he'd come up with, so he carefully made his way around the monster, which had been sleeping since the day it was imprisoned—a side effect of the chains.

He could hear its slow but powerful breathing, a reminder of the danger. The creature was massive, at least 15 meters long, making it challenging to move quietly around it. He couldn't afford to make a sound, nor could he move too slowly, as his invisibility potion only lasted a few minutes. The potion absorbed 99.9% of the light around him, rendering him nearly invisible. Of course, only low-level existences relied on sight alone to detect others, so this tactic wouldn't work against higher-level existences. Fortunately, this monster was chained with magical chains, sleeping, and weakened.

After two minutes, Arlon reached the back of the monster. He equipped his sword, took a deep breath, and struck at its horns. His blade sliced cleanly through the first horn as if it were butter, but it got stuck halfway through the second. Quickly, Arlon stashed the first horn in his inventory, then freed his sword and struck the remaining horn with full force.

At that moment, the monster awoke with a thunderous, cry-like roar, but it was too late—its second horn was severed. Arlon grabbed the horn and stowed it in his inventory, though he didn't yet relax. He wasn't sure if this would be enough to kill the monster, as its horns were only noted as a weak point, not a guaranteed kill.

The monster stored its magical energy in its horns, and Agema's seal had prevented it from using magic. Back then, however, the creature had been too powerful for her to destroy, so Agema had no choice but to seal it away, leaving it for future generations to deal with.

With its horns severed, the monster began to shrink until only a coal-like shard remained. Arlon picked up the shard, unsure of its purpose he put it in his inventory to scrutinize later. He was relieved to have survived.

Then he heard eight distinct ding sounds—his level-up notifications. Despite its weakened state, this monster had once been among Trion's strongest, so leveling up eight times this early on made sense. He was a little sad that by defeating the monster this way, he didn't get any loot. But what he would get soon made this bad feeling unnecessary.

Feeling accomplished, Arlon continued down the corridor at the other end of the circular room. No longer needing invisibility, he walked at a relaxed pace toward the door at the end. When he opened it, he found another circular room, smaller than the last. It looked like a bedroom for a human, complete with shelves full of books, a bed, a study desk, a few decorations, and other necessities.

In his previous timeline, none of these books were ever published, likely because they'd never been removed from this room. The party that had defeated the monster had left most of the items behind, dismissing them as irrelevant lore items. Of course, they hadn't known that everything in the game was real, so they couldn't have understood the potential value. After they left, the entrance had been sealed, leaving these things untouched.

Arlon began examining the books, carefully choosing those that appeared informative or contained diaries, and storing them in his inventory. One by one, the books vanished from the shelves. Finally, he found a skill book:

Eyes of ***** (Weakened): See the world through the eyes of *****

"This skill's effects were weakened to make it suitable for the player's level. Unlock its full effects as you grow stronger."

Arlon couldn't contain his excitement and began to jump around. This wasn't the skill he had come here looking for; in fact, he'd never even heard of it. This meant that either the previous party hadn't thoroughly checked each book, or they'd found this skill and kept it a secret.

Curious about the skill, Arlon decided to learn and test it. Once activated, his vision transformed: everything seemed to move in slow motion, but that wasn't all. When he looked at a nearby chest, a bubble-like information screen appeared above it, displaying "Agema's Beloved Mahogany Chest (Unlocked)" According to one of the diaries, Agema had an unusual love for collecting different types of wood, with mahogany being her favorite. He could also see that it was unlocked.

Before he could explore more, his vision returned to normal, and a slight headache set in. Despite the skill lasting only three seconds, his mana was completely drained. But the skill's potential left him amazed. It could give insight into the things he was looking at. This meant that he could also check the status of other beings. Then who was *****? 'They must be a strong existence to have such eyes,' thought Arlon.

Although he was excited, Arlon continued his exploration and finished examining each book. Then, he approached the chest. Since it was unlocked, he opened it easily. The chest was surprisingly spacious inside and contained just two items: a book and a sword. It was exactly what he came here for.