Timeline

He immediately checked his Basic Stats to ensure he was at Novice Level 2. Just a few more and he would be at level 3!

**Name:** Ethan Kim

**Race:** Human?

**Level:** Novice Level 2

**Basic Stats:**

**Health Points (HP):** 8/15

**Energy Points (EP):** 15/15

**Strength:** 5/15

**Agility:** 5/15

**Intelligence:** 9/15

**Charisma:** 4/15

**Experience Points (EXP):** 13/30

**Reputation:** -1/10

**Skill Points**

**Abilities:**

"Counterstrike"

"Persuasion"

Right now, he could already see the Skill Points, but they were still grayed out. When he noticed the ability Counterstrike blinking, details about the ability appeared in his mind almost immediately.

What surprised him was the additional words below that stated:

[Progression]

[Counterstrike Level 1 can be further honed and expanded to higher levels by using Skill points.]

So, if he was right, he could assign skill points to both the abilities and his Basic Stats. This is the way for him to increase his strength, agility, as well as intelligence and charisma.

Now, his only question is how to increase his health points. His Energy Points were at 15/15, but his health was still 8/15. He suspected that he could not use the Skill Points to increase his health.

Right now, he is actually more inclined to believe that he might—or this body might have been poisoned, and that was the reason why he could not awaken his Essentia.

With this in mind, he decided to go to the library inside the mansion. This was not exactly a library full of fictional books but a library about the history of Essentia and information about families with Essentia. The first thing he saw when he walked inside the library was the large list of names of the people who first discovered they had an Essentia.

Ethan knew this was not the complete list, as the list he saw in the games was longer and more complicated than this. He ignored the list and immediately went towards the type of Essentia and the studies that had been done in the past few decades to find out more about them.

The books that his grandfather had were the books that SEP published and permitted the public to have. In fact, Ethan had read this abroad. He only came here because he wanted to find out about one thing.

Poisons that could affect Essentia Users.

After a little while, he located the specific book he sought: "Venoms and Elixirs: Understanding Toxicity and Properties." This book was fundamental for those delving into alchemy studies. Yet, given the complexity of alchemy as a subject, it remained relatively obscure to many, making this book not widely known.

His grandfather and overall the Kai Consortium tried to explore alchemy in the past. However, not many people were able to succeed in the craft. In the end, his grandfather had to focus on mining in the dungeons. Because of this, this library had a few resources about Alchemy.

Ethan eagerly delved into the pages of the book, immersing himself in a world of poisons, venoms, and the creatures that wielded these toxic substances. He meticulously studied the names and properties of various elixirs, both renowned and rare, that could counteract the effects of these poisons.

However, the familiarity of the elixir names brought a sigh to Ethan's lips. He had come across this information during his previous studies abroad. So he was well aware of the exorbitant costs and rarity associated with crafting these potent elixirs. The ingredients for such powerful concoctions were scarce and often found within the perilous depths of the Dungeons.

Drawing from his experiences as a seasoned player of the game, Ethan knew that Elixirs held significant value among players. These miraculous potions had the potential to mend wounds in mere moments. This was a highly sought-after commodity within this virtual world. Yet, the catch lay in their location—they were only accessible within the places tucked away deep within the dungeons.

In this role-playing game, players were assigned missions from the villagers and people both inside and outside the dungeons. However, some vital elements could only be acquired within the dungeons themselves. Concepts like blood contracts, and slavery contracts, these powerful elixirs were exclusive to the unstable domains of the dungeons.

Ethan sighed as he thought about the current timeline.

At this time, players had yet to appear, so he could not talk to anyone who chose an Alchemist in-game occupation and asked them to create a potion that could heal him.

Speaking of those players, Ethan was not exactly certain when they would start appearing.

In that game, Essentia Users also exist, and they are relevant to the plot. In fact, there is a part of the game that would make the Essentia Users fight against the players because of some conflict.

However, since Ethan arrived, he hasn't heard of the concept of players and many things about them. He thought by now, that the players and the fact that they do not actually die but only revive should be common knowledge, but he was wrong.

The players have yet to appear.

If that is the case, the tragedy that would befall Yeonsin has yet to happen. However, no matter how much he tried to examine the past history and the current timeline, it was obvious that the tragedy that happened in the game already happened in Yeonsin— in this very world.

Ethan was talking about the clash between humans and Essentia Users or World War 3, which happened around the 1880s.

In the game, the clash caused a lot of damage and somehow affected the dungeons. Because of this, a well-known group of priests and an Essentia User opened a portal and summoned 'helpers' to help the humans eradicate the monsters in the dungeons.

This was a cliche starting point for any players in the game.

They would be summoned into this world, and they would start doing missions for various people. They could create a guild and other things.

Again, that tragedy has passed. In fact, the current date in this world is already 2020. Until now, the players have yet to appear!

There is, of course, another possibility that Ethan was more inclined to believe.

And that there would be no players in this world. This could be another reality in another universe.

Either way, he needed to prepare himself in case those players appear.

Players cannot die.

They would revive over and over again. How was he supposed to fight people like that?

Ethan had no interest in fighting! All he really wished was to live a really… really good life.

"Found you…." Ethan smiled as he stared at the image of one plant that he could use to create a concoction that could cleanse his body of poisons. However, his brows soon furrowed.

The information states that the flower is only available in a place— or a dungeon surrounded by snow and lava.

Where is he going to find a place like this?

....

A/N: Basically, there are no players in this world.