Online Game: I Started with Max Charisma and Caught the Goddess's Eye

Susie chattered on non-stop, and Luca was starting to get a bit of a headache from the constant noise. "If you want the details, you can call her yourself," he said quickly.

With that, he made a hasty exit. Women who are star-struck are truly terrifying.

But on the flip side, this also showed just how strong Renamon’s charm was. Not only Donald and Darabont, but even Susie, this little girl, had been completely enchanted by her divine presence.

Before entering his own room, Luca glanced at the several gaming pods, all of which were turned off, the whole area looking dim and inactive.

The Celestial Pearl had closed off the Spatial Node, which also interfered with players’ ability to enter normally. It looked like it would be a while before he could use it again.

Luca shook his head and entered his room. Right now, there were only three things that mattered to him. First, cooperating with Morning Star to clear out the monsters and rescue more cities as quickly as possible.

Things were already starting to head in the right direction. Once Celephais was cleared, he would be able to focus on heading to the Northern Territory to clean up the other cities.

The second priority was figuring out how to regain his powers. To do that, he would need to enter the Battlefield of the Heavens, the magic array he had left on the node. Only with enough power could he go to Dragon Mountain to deal with Zenith.

The last thing on his mind was figuring out how to resurrect Sophia.

Luca flipped his wrist, and a blue crystal shard appeared in his hand, glowing with a brilliant azure light. It looked mesmerizing and enchanting.

Luca’s mental energy sank into the icy divine rank, and he could feel Sophia’s faint consciousness. She was dressed in a white gown, lying like an infant on a glacier, already deep in sleep.

The most crucial thing to resurrect Sophia was to forge her body anew with materials. Ordinary materials and items were out of the question—at the very least, he’d need something at the Transcendent level or higher.

Finding such materials wasn’t something he could just do on a whim. For now, he’d have to put that plan on hold and focus on stabilizing the situation before entering the Eternal World to search for them.

Just as he was lost in thought, Luca’s room door suddenly swung open, and Susie excitedly ran in. "It really was Renamon! She’s even more gentle than I imagined! So cute! I want to marry her!"

Luca’s face immediately turned dark. "Can’t you think of anything normal for once?"

Susie pouted, then her eyes sparkled mischievously as she teased, "What’s wrong, are you jealous?"

Luca’s face darkened even further. What was going on in that girl’s head?

At that moment, footsteps suddenly echoed outside, followed by the sounds of Sini and Zoey arguing. Luca, curious, poked his head out to take a look and saw Donald and Darabont standing obediently with their heads lowered, clearly receiving a scolding.

Were they relocating?

Luca pulled his head back, not feeling the slightest sympathy for the two of them. Two grown men, completely disregarding danger, went off to chase after a celebrity? It didn’t fit their usual persona at all. They deserved it.

Since there was nothing else going on at home, Luca didn’t linger. He gave a few quick instructions to the others to stay indoors before grabbing his weapons and heading out again, planning to clear out the monsters in the villa district.

The villa area on the outskirts of Celephais wasn’t very large—maybe around a hundred households—and it was equipped with its own security. When the node outbreak happened, the residents had immediately grabbed their weapons to start clearing out the monsters. As a result, Luca didn’t need to spend much time clearing out the area. At the same time, his level had risen to 45, mainly because there were many low-level monsters, which gave little experience.

"Finally done!" Luca killed the last Crimson Flame Demon Tiger and let out a long breath. Though the monsters weren’t many, the back-and-forth running around had tired him out.

Just as he was about to leave and head to the city center to meet up with Drumph and the others.

A surprised voice suddenly came from behind him. "Luca, senior?!"

Luca turned around and saw Sona holding a small machete, standing by the roadside, with more than ten bodyguards behind her.

"Long time no see." Luca, remembering the rich noblewoman who was a junior at the academy, greeted her with a smile. He then looked at the bodyguards behind her, a bit puzzled. "What’s this all about?"

"Monster hunting!" Sona excitedly jogged over. "My game level carried over to the real world, and these monsters are no match for me!"

The announcement that the game mechanics had transitioned into reality had already been made public by the authorities, so Luca wasn’t surprised by that. What puzzled him was the group of bodyguards behind her.

"They’re from my father," Sona said, pouting. "He’s worried I might get hurt."

The bodyguards behind her exchanged glances, unable to suppress their wry smiles. There was nothing they could say to that. After the game feedback, Sona’s personal strength was indeed now above theirs, but as for her combat experience... that was another story. Her fighting style mostly involved rushing in and hacking at anything that moved.

Luca could only shrug in response. He wasn’t in the mood for a long conversation. "I’ve got some things to take care of. We’ll catch up another time."

Just as he turned to leave, Sona hesitated, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back. After a moment, she finally gathered the courage and said, "Luca, senior... we... we’re planning to go to the Imperial Capital. I was wondering if you’d like to come with us?"

"Why are you heading to the Imperial Capital now?" Luca asked, slightly surprised. With monsters everywhere, traveling all the way to the capital was risky—one careless mistake and they could run into danger.

Yuel sighed, saying, "My father said that Celephais is too dangerous. The Imperial Capital has already set up a safe zone, and it’s the safest place in all of Summer Country right now, so we’re planning to go there and secure a spot."

"I see," Luca nodded, understanding. In his past life, the safe zone in the Imperial Capital had only been set up a month after the game’s arrival. He hadn’t expected it to be done so quickly this time.

He shook his head and said, "Miss Yuel, thank you for the offer, but we aren’t planning to leave Celephais for now. I’m afraid we won’t be able to go with you to the Imperial Capital."

Celephais would be cleared out in a few days and would temporarily become the safest city in all of Summer Country. There was no need for him to risk taking his family to the capital for refuge.

Besides, it was clear that only the wealthy and influential would be able to secure a spot in the safe zone. Even if Stormlook wanted to get a spot, it would likely take a lot of effort. He didn’t feel the need to owe such a large favor to Yuel’s father.

"Well... okay then," Yuel said, her face showing a hint of disappointment. She had originally planned to ask her father to bring Luca and the others with them, especially since after this farewell, she didn’t know when they would meet again.

"Don’t be upset," Luca noticed Yuel’s mood and offered some words of comfort. "Maybe it won’t be long before I go to the Imperial Capital. When that happens, we’ll have another chance to meet."

"Alright! I’ll wait for you!" Yuel’s eyes brightened, and the look in them seemed to sparkle with stars.

"I have to go now, take care," Luca, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the intense gaze, quickly waved and walked away.

Yuel watched his back disappear until she reluctantly turned her gaze away. Then, suddenly, she shyly covered her face and said to herself, "This counts as a promise between us, right? Yes, it definitely counts!"

...

Over the next two days, Luca didn’t return home but instead stayed with Drumph and the army, helping to deal with the monsters in Celephais.

Though the node hadn’t been open for long, the number of monsters pouring out from it was still overwhelming.

The high-tier monsters were particularly destructive, and even an army of a thousand soldiers struggled to handle them.

Such monsters could only be dealt with by Luca and other high-level players like Donlow.

To clear these monsters, the group worked nonstop for two full days and nights, without any rest.

The soldiers could rotate, but Luca and his companions worked around the clock without stopping.

When the last block was cleared, the entire army erupted into cheers.

Some couldn’t help but tear up, hugging each other and crying. Fuzzsir, even more exhausted, let out a loud grunt and collapsed on top of a monster’s corpse, quickly falling into a deep sleep. In less than ten seconds, he was snoring loudly.

"Finally done. We can finally rest!" Donlow’s spirit was still high, as expected from a martial artist, with physical strength and stamina far beyond ordinary people.

However, even so, exhaustion was visible on her face and body. Hairry, on the other hand, was sporting heavy "panda eyes," looking like he’d applied dark eyeshadow. @@novelbin@@

Luca, on the other hand, was utterly drained, lying on the vehicle without the energy to move.

It wasn’t that he was weaker than the two girls, but the fact was that he had single-handedly dealt with most of the high-tier monsters.

If not for him, they would never have managed to clear all the monsters so quickly, which also made him the most tired of the group.

Maybe this was what they meant by "with great power comes great responsibility," Luca thought to himself.

However, it wasn’t all for nothing. Luca’s level had officially reached level 50. Due to the lack of time to complete the Awakening Trials, he could have likely leveled up two more times had he been able to do so.

[Player: Luca]

[Level: lv50]

[Talent: The person favored]

[Main Profession: Demonic Rune Mage]

[Attributes: Strength 8851, Spirit 14,000, Stamina 8610, Agility 2678]

[Skills: Magic Runes Drawing, Eye of Insight, Dream Manifestation, Fate Manipulation…]

...

His mental power had officially broken through 10,000, and with Luca’s current strength, he was capable of easily eliminating any ordinary monster below Superclass. Even encountering a Leader-level monster would no longer require the use of Zenobia’s divine rank.

However, Luca couldn’t help but feel uneasy about the divine rank—it always felt too hot to handle, and he thought it was better to avoid using it too often in the future.

As he sat up on the abandoned vehicle, preparing to go back and get some rest.

A voice suddenly came from behind him. It was Coarmy.

Shouting loudly through a megaphone, "Luca! Mr. Drumph wants you to go to the Northern Territory branch to discuss the cleanup of the Northern Territory!"

Luca’s lips twitched. This old man really treated him like a tool, didn’t he?