GAVS35

Chapter 35 Lost Land (18)

Countless players had attempted to clear the early stages of [Lost Land].

But so far, not a single one had succeeded.

The attempts were still ongoing, but the results remained unchanged.

Why, then, had no one been able to clear it?

There were three core reasons.

First, the players were simply too weak.

The monsters that appeared early on were disproportionately strong, and there was a hard cap on how much players could grow during that time.

Due to a lack of good items, the power gap between the players and the monsters only continued to widen.

Second, the time limit.

Once a player entered the royal palace, saving the game was no longer possible. If there were unlimited time, one could eventually grind enough to brute-force through the challenge. But the window for growth was tightly limited.

And third—the most critical reason—they couldn’t even get close to the boss.

Even for players with excellent control and unusually fast growth, this barrier was insurmountable.

What the hell? Why do monsters keep showing up?

Bro I swear I was hiding so well, then some damn Orc warrior smashed my skull in…

Damn devs!!! At least let us see the boss’s face before we die!

No one knew why, but any attempt to approach the boss’s lair triggered a swarm of monsters who somehow knew exactly where the player was hiding.

Eventually, one user figured out the cause, after scouring NPC dialogue and combing through the game’s lore.

Entering the demon stronghold puts you under a location-tracking spell.

Now that they knew the cause, all that remained was to solve the problem.

But… no one had yet found a way to disable the tracking.

Players believed that if they could just find a solution to that one mechanic, they could face the boss, analyze its attack patterns, and finally clear the dungeon.

And now, the item rumored to be the key to that exact mechanic—had appeared on Phantom’s livestream.

[Enchantment – Mirage]

Even the name alone screamed “special effect.”

As the rumor spread, top-tier Lost Land players flocked to the stream. Viewer numbers began to spike rapidly.

50k viewers, holy crap

Five. Freaking. Ten. Thousand.

If you count simultaneous views from other platforms, this stream’s pushing 200k lmao

And you’re telling me this guy’s been streaming for less than two weeks? He’s basically a national power at this point

On top of that, a 10 million won (~$7,000) mission challenge was on the line.

Thanks to Dojun accepting the dare, the stream was heating up fast.

“Alright, I’m going to attempt the enchantment now. Let’s do this—!!”

He opened his inventory and hesitated for a moment, pretending to think.

What’s he thinking about? He’s just gonna guess anyway

Gotta put on a show, bro. If he just slaps them in with no drama, it’s boring

Still, he’s nuts. A 4% chance gamble? LOL

It’s ten million won, you have to go for it

Fail = hell, succeed = heaven~~~ 😎

While others laughed, Dojun recalled the runic studies from his past life.

The gemstones he currently had were:

Falsehood (Shard), Annihilation (Zeph), Life (Rel), Confusion (Der)

The characters engraved on the gemstones matched almost exactly with the ancient rune script he had studied—and even their pronunciations were identical.

But there was a problem.

“I’ve never seen this combination before.”

Though he was familiar with many runic combinations, he had never come across one for “Mirage,” even in his previous life.

Still, every known combination from the game so far aligned perfectly with the runic rules he remembered.

“Even if I don’t know this one, if the logic is consistent…”

Creating a runic phrase wasn’t too difficult—so long as the meaning behind the runes harmonized.

For example, “fast” and “slow” wouldn’t go well together. The overall message had to be coherent.

In that sense, the runes Falsehood, Annihilation, Life, and Confusion could be combined depending on the order and interpretation.

“To represent the idea of a mirage…”

The dictionary definition: a phenomenon where something appears in a location different from where it actually is.

In the game, the intended effect was likely similar, but more metaphorical.

“If it’s meant to block tracking, then maybe something like…”

After some thought, Dojun spoke aloud:

“Life is extinguished, triggering confusion that manifests falsehood.”

???

What’s he doing?

Looks like he’s matching meanings to each rune?

Ohh, yeah. That actually makes sense

Giving symbolic logic to his guess, lol. Better than pure RNG, I guess

Reading the chat, Dojun explained:

“If the item’s called ‘Mirage,’ then this is the meaning I’m aiming for. Just seems better than blindly guessing…”

Following that logic, the intended rune order would be: Rel (Life), Zeph (Annihilation), Der (Confusion), Shard (Falsehood)

But something felt off.

“Hmm… this order feels awkward. Even the pronunciation doesn’t flow right.”

Yeah, kinda clunky

Rel-Zeph-Der-Shard… weird to say out loud

Dude it’s still just a guess. Why stress over it 😂

“Fair enough. Let’s try it out.”

Dojun approached the armor Gandalf had given him and started the enchantment process.

A glow began to emit from the gem as it was absorbed into the armor—but Dojun suddenly froze.

“Uh… I accidentally put in Shard (Falsehood) first…”

LOL

Broooo 😂 just roll with it

Wasn’t that one supposed to be last?

Watching the chat scroll by, Dojun smiled faintly and said:

“Welp, guess I’ll go in reverse order now. Like reading ancient books from right to left, you know? Since it’s all guessing anyway, let’s just keep going.”

Of course, this “mistake” was fully intentional.

He then inserted Der (Confusion), Zeph (Annihilation), and finally Rel (Life) in that order.

As the final gem was placed, the armor flared with a brilliant flash of light.

Wait, did it work?

Doesn’t that glow mean success?

No system alert though… maybe it failed?

┗ C’mon it was 4% odds. No way he actually pulled it off lol

┗┗ Honestly, the dream was nice while it lasted. Let’s go back to the capital and try again lmao

With trembling fingers, Dojun opened his inventory and hovered over the item.

He stared at the result for a moment, eyes wide in disbelief, then spoke in a slightly shaky voice:

“Uhh… I actually succeeded.”

This time, he didn’t keep it a secret.

He immediately shared the item’s info on-screen:

[Shard-Der-Zeph-Rel – Mirage]

The ancients lived under constant threat from demons and natural dangers. While praying desperately for protection, one night they accidentally created a miraculous enchantment.

Wearing this armor grants immunity to tracking spells and erases your footprints while moving.

+1 to All Skills

+15 to All Stats

+50 Defense

+100% Bonus Defense

+30% Movement Speed

Chance on hit to absorb Health

Chance on hit to absorb Mana

+100% Damage to Monsters

The options were outrageous.

Even the earlier enchanted items had been impressive, but this one—likely due to using four ancient gems—was on a whole different level.

HOLY SH*T… He did it on the first try?

4% odds???

It worked!!!!!!!

That’s the craziest enchant yet

+1 to every skill, every stat, AND HP/MP leech??

┗ Don’t forget that monster damage bonus

┗┗ That’s not even the best part. THE FINAL GIMMICK IS CLEARED!!!

┗┗┗ Wait, is everyone leaving the stream now that it’s solved? LOL

More than 200,000 total viewers across all platforms just moments ago—and now, over 50,000 had already left.

Then came the quest notification chime:

[Main Quest – Combine Four Ancient Gems!!] Completed.

Ding~ Level Up.

New Main Quest Available.

◉ Main Quest – Eliminate the Root of Evil

The demon army is almost ready to launch a full-scale assault on the capital.

But time still remains. The source of evil has yet to fully recover from its injuries in the last battle against Albedo.

Before it regains full power, infiltrate the enemy stronghold using [Enchantment – Mirage] and eliminate the leader.

≪Reward – Clue to a New World≫

This has to be the final quest for Chapter 1

We’re almost there

I’m proud I bought PhantomCoin when it was still cheap 😤

At last—the final chapter of the game’s early story had arrived.

And it was time for Dojun to collect his well-earned reward.

★★ Mission Complete!!! 5 million won has been deposited. ★★

“Honestly… I thought I’d fail. Got lucky this time. Thank you so much for the mission, everyone!!”

Dojun bowed 90 degrees on stream.

★★ ‘DaggerBreath’ donated 100,000 won. ★★

[No way you hit that on your first try… you really are a genius, huh?]

This guy’s unreal

Just made 5 mil like it was nothing LOL

Some people are just born lucky

DaggerBreath is such a giga-chad, respect

Is he gonna go for a full clear next??

┗ Bro don’t jinx it 😭

“Mm… I’d love to keep going, but I’ve got school tomorrow…”

It was already past midnight.

“But tomorrow’s Friday, so I’ll log on and push for the clear then. Looks like we’re almost there. I’ll be back at 7 PM sharp. See you all then—SBA (Switch Bye)~!”

SBA~

Gotta order chicken for tomorrow night’s stream

┗ Meanwhile, Phantom’s about to win 100 million…

┗┗ That’s enough for a truckload of chicken, bro

Unless someone else pulls off a miracle, Phantom’s basically locked in that 100 million prize

Man… this high schooler is making more than most adults and he just finished his college entrance exams 😭

After logging out, Dojun got straight to calculating the day’s earnings.

Including minor donations and chat support, he’d made over 5 million won.

Today’s highlight—the mission reward—totaled 12.3 million won.

Nearly 18 million won in total revenue.

Even after a 30% platform fee, he’d cleared over 12 million won in a single day.

“This is insane…”

No job he could take as an adult would ever match this kind of income right now.

And if he cleared Lost Land tomorrow, he’d be handed a grand prize of 100 million won.

A staggering amount of money.

Yet in Dojun’s eyes—it still wasn’t enough.

“I need more.”

Nothing about this income was guaranteed to last.

Once Lost Land ended, the fire would die down.

He’d have to keep coming up with new content—new strategies—to continue making money.

And he wouldn’t limit himself to just streaming.

Dojun was prepared to chase every opportunity.

[Ka-ting~]

Just then, a message popped up on his phone.

It was from Lee Junseong.

“Don’t forget about tomorrow after school. You’ve got the interview at the broadcasting station.”

Of course, he hadn’t forgotten.

Junseong’s family had helped him many times in the past.

One of those favors was helping him land opportunities in prize competitions and TV shows.

From small contests with 1 million or 3 million won in prizes, to major ones offering up to 10 million—Dojun had participated in many.

All of them related to education or intellectual competition—and this was no different.

But this time, even Dojun felt the pressure.

The grand prize for this program? 300 million won.

“I have to win this one.”

TVM’s first season of the program had been a huge hit, so they immediately launched a second season.

Not only did it feature celebrities, but also a few selected participants from the general public.

Thanks to Junseong’s connections, Dojun had been able to land a spot.

Of course, it wasn’t just luck.

With credentials like perfect college entrance exam scores and multiple academic competition wins, he had more than enough merit to be chosen even without connections.