I'm Living as a Healer in Nord World - Chapter 2

[Eve of the Monster Invasion Event]

All messages disappeared, and a brief silence descended.

His vision, previously darkened as he relaxed with his eyes closed, slowly brightened. He opened his eyes naturally, and a simple message, Connection Complete, flickered before his eyes before vanishing.

In an instant, a scene from a hyper-realistic virtual world stretched out before him.

Every sensation felt real in this space, where even his sense of touch was seamlessly replicated. If not for the transparent system window filling the edge of his vision, it was vivid enough that he could easily believe he had been transported to another world.

Day and night transitions, even the weather, were perfectly replicated, reducing any sense of strangeness. With a familiar stride, he began to walk through the city of Midgard.

The city streets, decorated with a splendid medieval aesthetic, were filled with players like himself. Glances from other players brushed over him as he walked down the street.

His character appeared as a striking, middle-aged man. Though he might have looked ordinary at a glance, there were too many unique features to ignore.

With his massive, muscular build, stylish beard, and fashionable sunglasses, his appearance commanded attention. Above all, his tanned, healthy skin paired with a bright pink pair of swim trunks caught everyone’s eye.

“His fashion sense is as bold as ever this summer.”

“I tried talking to him before out of curiosity, but he barely replied. Doesn’t even use voice chat.”

“He’s gotta be an older guy, right? The username sounded like a woman’s, though.”

“With a look like that, could he really be a woman? No, that’s definitely a quirky look.”

A group of male players murmured amongst themselves. Although he couldn’t quite make out their words, he sensed from their tone that they were discussing him.

Not that he cared. He had grown used to such misunderstandings from people assuming his taste, and he dismissed it without a second thought. Far more pressing on his mind was the server’s precarious future.

“Hmm, lately, management seems sloppy. No updates, not even a single patch for months…”

Nord World was a fantasy MMORPG game that drew on Norse mythology for its standard fantasy settings, and aside from a generic interface, it had no distinctive features. It had briefly soared in the rankings shortly after its initial launch but now languished in the mid to lower tiers of the gaming charts.

The overseas servers that launched at the same time had received a decent response. However, the domestic market was flooded with diverse virtual reality games at the time, and Nord World, lacking competitiveness, quickly fell behind.

Still, the game had its strengths. Nord World offered players a high degree of customization, particularly in character appearance, and allowed players to select their gender—an option not often seen in VR games, which contributed to its early popularity.

While most VR worlds were moving towards using the actual player’s gender as a base, Nord World allowed a freer choice in this regard.

And that was precisely the reason he had chosen this game.

Critics had derided its storyline and details, but the game’s defined community content and a moderate level of freedom had cultivated a loyal player base.

Above all, Nord World was lenient towards the use of “Proxy Access TOOL,” an unofficial program that allowed account-sharing, which was a big factor in retaining its player base.

In VR games, where personal identification was mandatory, proxy play by others was generally impossible. But Nord World had a surprisingly lax stance on such practices.

The game company, Lestier, considered its high-ranking players as VIPs and even encouraged competitive play among them.

Players with disposable income but little time hired “monthly subs”—paid individuals who logged in to level up their characters on their behalf.

A monthly sub was essentially someone paid a salary by the account owner to play on their behalf. A substitute, in other words.

Although Nord World lagged in competitiveness, its allowance for proxy access remained one of its shining features. It was even rumored that unemployed players would occasionally jump into Nord World as a side job.

Granted, it was wiser to level up one’s own character, and even for those willing to work as monthly subs, there were more popular games offering better prospects, so few players sought subs within Nord World. Only the top-tier ranks sometimes recruited them, but even that had waned as the server atmosphere deteriorated, leaving few willing to apply.

Moreover, Nord World boasted a higher player age range, which contributed to its relatively clean community. Its reputation within online gaming circles was high, and new users continued to trickle in each month.

The game was a reasonably priced monthly subscription, with cash items limited to fashion avatars and gameplay aids, keeping things tidy.

Of course, Nord World was a game, after all, and over time, the cash items veered towards gambling features to increase revenue…

Still, with its high level of customization, diverse avatars, house system for interior decorating, and more, the game appealed deeply to female players.

As a result, Nord World’s primary revenue came from cash items such as avatars, and the in-game currency, Gold, held substantial value, encouraging an active real-money trade scene.

From the outside, Nord World appeared decent enough. But in truth, it was plagued by a significant system flaw.

The leveling difficulty within the game was absurdly unbalanced. Most new players either left midway through or stalled at certain points, exhausted by the grind.

Except for the top-ranking players, most hovered below level 70. The current high-ranking players had managed to level up relatively easily thanks to early events and promotions.

In Nord World, the endgame content was to defeat Odin, the god of the game’s lore. But with the current leveling system, reaching the final content was highly improbable.

Indeed, although the game’s maximum level cap was set at 100, the highest-level player currently stood only in the high 70s.

It had been three years since the game’s official release, yet the high-level players struggled just to defeat field raid bosses, let alone the final godly antagonist. Some players even speculated, with regret, that Nord World’s lifespan might end within the next two years.

“The limitations of a masochistic game, I suppose… Anyway, is no one online today either?”

The first thing he checked upon logging in was his guild list. It was peak evening time, yet only one player, himself, was online in the guild. According to the history log, most members hadn’t logged in for over a week.

“As soon as I level them up a bit, they all disappear. Well, can’t blame them—who’d want to keep playing this game?”

He managed a small guild called Dawnlight, playing as a healer character class of Saint.

A couple of months prior, he had reached the high level of 70 and had been spending his time assisting beginners. He had chosen this profession due to his lack of skill with precise game mechanics. Although, as he had learned, it was not the easiest role. His penchant for helping others had heavily influenced his decision.

Maybe it was just his nature. His current enjoyment in the game lay in nurturing new players. Watching beginners adapt and settle in with his assistance filled him with pride…

“Just a few months ago, there were at least five online at once. Now, it’s completely deserted.”

Dawnlight Guild. Total members: 34.

Players active in the past week: 1.

From the outside, it looked like a one-person guild. Sadly, most of the members were new players who gave up after about a week.

A few, with his help, had managed to adapt to Nord World and eventually moved on to join larger guilds. This feeling of accomplishment kept him from giving up on supporting new players.

“Maybe it’s time for me to switch to a social guild…”

This was his biggest dilemma lately.

Back when he was a low-level player, he had joined a large social guild and enjoyed a lively atmosphere. But with over 500 members, factions had inevitably formed, and conflicts arose.

After enduring the stress of factional disputes, he had opted to remain unaffiliated for a while. However, as his level rose, numerous combat guilds sought his services as a rare healer.

The healer, responsible for managing the life force of party members, was an essential presence during group hunts. However, due to the general perception of them as non-combat supporters, few players found the role enjoyable enough to dedicate themselves to it.

In Nord World, where leveling up was notoriously difficult, reaching level 70 was enough to be considered high-level, even if it was somewhat superficial. For this reason, high-level healers were particularly rare compared to other professions.

The game’s issues started from its launch. Initially, the development team hosted events to allow hunting without a healer, leading many players to choose warrior-type characters instead. Once these events ended, the sudden increase in difficulty encouraged a wave of player withdrawals. The scarcity of high-level healers was thus exacerbated by these factors, and he, too, had received numerous invitations to join combat guilds.

However, the mandatory regulations and obligatory participation in PvP (Player VS Player) events conflicted with his peaceful disposition. When guild rivalry was at its peak and invitations became incessant, he even founded a casual guild as a form of self-defense. That guild was now known as Dawnlight.

To him, PvP, which revolved around player-to-player combat, was an uncomfortable and burdensome activity.

“Hm? What’s this? Finally, an update?”

A notification popped up on the left side of his field of vision, its window blinking with a new message. Lately, Nord World had been criticized for its lack of updates and management, so he clicked the announcement with interest.

[Winter Event Notice]

[Nord Monster Invasion]

[Event Prelude: Starting from August 10, 00:00 to August 17, 00:00]

It was a brief announcement with little detail.

‘A winter event? What are they talking about?’

August 10th was only three hours away. As if confirming his thoughts, a “ding” sounded as his phone icon vibrated. He had linked his phone to receive notifications from the real world while playing.

The online community notification popped up, showing a flurry of new posts from the official Nord World strategy forum. Players seemed excited, discussing the sudden announcement in a stream of posts, though many were puzzled by the strange timing for a winter event.

“Anyway, if it’s the prelude, they’ll probably hand out goodies, right? This might attract quite a few new and returning players.”

As he scrolled through the comments, the excitement about the event was apparent.

Of course, not all reactions were positive. Some players expressed frustration over the abrupt announcement, while others, who no longer played but still lurked around, also chimed in.

Watching the reactions brought a faint smile to his lips.

“Maybe everyone will log in for this? I hope Pepe decides to come back, too.”

Pepe was one of his few close acquaintances who had parted ways with Nord World a few weeks prior. Despite being a highly-ranked healer, Pepe had often offered him help since his early days in the game, so his gaze softened with nostalgia.

He had been saddened when Pepe told him they were quitting due to real-life obligations.

“But they’re not giving any details for a prelude… Is the full announcement coming after midnight? What do they want us to prepare?”

Around him, other players seemed to share his confusion, some of them openly irritated by the cryptic notice. If he had known someone who could shed light on it, he would have approached them for a chat.

Just as he had become distant from people in the real world, he found himself isolated in this virtual reality as well. He couldn’t quite understand the deep relationships where players addressed each other as older siblings or close friends. Real-life connections were enough to handle; forming relationships online seemed out of reach. But sometimes, it did seem enviably carefree. Yet, he brushed that thought aside.

Yes, it was probably meaningless.

With a slight chuckle, he walked past the crowd toward the gate, intending to check the low-level hunting grounds and offer help to anyone in need, just as he always did.

However, just as he headed toward the gate that led to the hunting grounds, a message suddenly appeared in bold.

[Monster Invasion Event Pre-Registration Open]

[Upon acceptance, you will be moved to the waiting room. If you decline, you will be logged out.]

[Would you like to proceed with pre-registration? Y / N]

[Acceptance Time Limit: 300 seconds]

[If the time limit expires, it will be considered a rejection, and you will be automatically logged out.]

The system message, accompanied by a loud alert, appeared in a vivid display. He stopped in his tracks to read it, noticing that the other players around him were experiencing the same.

The mention of “logout” caused him to frown. Forced logout for not participating in the event? Was it a simple display error?

With Nord World lacking updates and management recently, it wasn’t entirely implausible.

“What the heck? Pre-registering without even knowing what kind of event it is? Would it kill them to provide a single line of explanation? These folks are really trying to get by with minimal effort lately.”

“Wait, what should we do? I feel like we should participate.”

“I guess we have to join if we want the rewards. They usually hand out rewards just for participating in events.”

Players huddled together, exchanging opinions, but few would refuse an event with confirmed rewards. Most began to press “YES” without much hesitation, eager to join.

And as they did, they started disappearing from the spot, causing those still present to look around in confusion.

“Huh? I can’t reach my buddy. Did they get sent to the event zone?”

“Oh, looks like it’s a real event. Private messages show they’re unavailable because they’re doing an event. Let’s go!”

“What? I was about to sleep. An event at this hour?”

“Are you joining or not?”

“Fine, I’ll do it!”

The event zone, a place players were occasionally transported to for large-scale events, lit up their expressions. With everyone’s excitement bubbling, players eagerly pressed “YES” and vanished into the event space.

Watching the gradually emptying area, he, too, pressed “YES” with a face lit up by expectation.

[Confirmation of consent received.]

[Transferring to Nord World.]

“Confirmation? Not ‘acceptance’? And Nord World? Is that the map’s name?”

As he puzzled over the wording, his vision faded to white, and his consciousness began to blur. He felt a strange sensation as his body gradually disappeared from the feet up.

And in that instant, his consciousness was severed.

[Participant Number 3865 Confirmed]

[Customizations have been adjusted due to balance modifications.]

[Resetting all customizations, including hair, eyes, and skin tone.]

[Player appearance will adjust to the reset customizations.]

[Unlocking the pain feedback system.]