Adaptation Expansion: The manhwa makes it a lot more clear just how much the debt collectors hounded Hyun and his family long before they take Hyun's 3,000,000,000 won at the hospital.
The Bet: The lead loan shark, Han Jinsup, makes a bet with Hyun to prove that he can make 3,000,000,000 won again within the next five years. If Hyun manages to do so, Han Jinsup would become his subordinate.
Character Level: Hyun maxed out the level of his Continent of Magic character, Weed, which is a feat that no one else was able to accomplish in the game.
Dark and Troubled Past: The life of the Hyun family starts off in is not a good one. Hyun's parents are dead, which forces him to step up as the one who looks after his little sister and grandmother who's bedridden from injury. They're also living in poverty, which forces Hyun to work any job he could find for enough money that could keep the family going, and pay for grandmother's medical bills.
The Dreaded: Due to his efforts in the Continent of Magic video-game, Hyun turned his game character, Weed, into this by infamously becoming the first and only player to ever max out a game character with all the best stats and equipment available. He also took on objectives that no one saw possible, such as fighting powerful monsters solo.
Get-Rich-Quick Scheme: Very unintentional on Hyun's part. He only expected to make a bit of won from selling off his Continent of Magic video-game character. It ended up going for 3,090,000,000 won due to how famous the Weed character was.
Goal in Life: Hyun's overall goal is to one day be able to send his little sister, Hayan, off to college, and to provide his grandmother with a comfortable home. It also becomes a goal of his to one day get back at the five loan sharks who took 3,000,000,000 won for him to pay off his father's debt, which he plans to do so by starting another game journey within Royal Road.
Here We Go Again!: Hyun had already made his game character, Weed, a famous legacy within Continent of Magic due to his efforts to strengthen the character up until he was the strongest. Now Hyun plans to do the same with a brand new character for Royal Road.
Hope Spot: Despite being robbed by the loan sharks, Hyun still has 90,000,000 won remaining from his Continent of Magic auction to work with, which is enough to buy a better home for his family, and to buy a virtual reality pod for Royal Road to enter the game, and create a new legend of power, fame and wealth.
Loan Shark: Five led by Han Jinsup show up once they get word that Lee Hyun had just made a 3,090,000,000 won fortune. They take 3,000,000,000 won due to Hyun's father taking out a 100,000,000 won loan from them in the past. Interest than accumulated over the years until the current day debt was up to 3,000,000,000 won. In the end, Hyun was forced to pay, which left him with 90,000,000 won remaining.
Parental Abandonment: A primary reason as to why Hyun's family is living in poverty is due to their parents being dead.
The Plan: Hyun plans to work for money to one day get his grandmother a good home, and to send Hayan off to college. Selling off his Continent of Magic character was the first step to this, but Hyun was not expecting to get as a staggeringly high 3,090,000,000 won for it. Once the loan sharks arrived and took 3,000,000,000 won from him, Hyun made it his goal to one day get them back for it as well, and plans to make that all again by starting a new character within Royal Road. He spent a year of preparing before buying a game capsule for Royal Road.
The Protagonist: The readers are introduced to Lee Hyun; a hard-working young adult male Korean who highly values money.
Raised by Grandparents: Hyun's grandmother took care of her grandchildren, Hyun and Hayan for a time, but Hyun had to take over as the caretaker once grandmother became bedridden due to injury.
Real Money Trade: Hyun puts his Continent of Magic character, Weed, up for auction. What he doesn't expect is the character being so famous that it was eventually purchased for 3,090,000,000 won.
Took a Level in Badass: For a year, Hyun trained himself at multiple martial arts halls in real life to prepare his body for when it's time to take on Royal Road.
Virtual Reality: Virtual reality has become a big deal within this universe. The video-game, Royal Road, has become the king video-game of the world that everyone desires to play due to being a virtual reality game where people go into, and go off on any adventure they desire.
Chapter 2: Wild Beast Appears
Character Customization: What players need to go through when they first start up Royal Road. When Hyun creates his game avatar for Royal Road, he goes with a normal human, and his body features are based on his real-life self. He also names his character as Weed just like how it was with Continent of Magic.
Character Level: Given that Hyun has officially started a new character within Royal Road, he starts off at level 1 again.
First Town: The Citadel of Serabourg in Rosenheim Kingdom serves one of the potential starting locations to newbies first starting out in Royal Road. Lee Hyun / Weed chooses it as his starting location.
Master Swordsman: New players all start with Beginner Sword Mastery level-1. Due to Weed training with a wooden sword at the Training Hall, he increased the skill to Beginner level-3.
New Skill as Reward: Weed obtains 2 new stats in the form of Fighting Spirit and Endurance during his training at Serabourg's Training Hall.
The Plan: Before doing anything else, Weed decides to train up his starting stats at the Serabourg's Training Hall.
Pragmatic Adaptation: In the manhwa, Hyun runs into Pluto and his company before entering the Training Hall rather than Pluto watching Hyun train at said hall along with other spectators. It's pretty much the same story with Pluto supposedly teaching Hyun the basics. Though he outright tells Hyun in the manhwa rather than the light novel where Hyun overhears Pluto's conversation with the spectators.
Quest Giver: The instructor of Serabourg's Training Hall is one. He provides Weed the E-Rank Quest, "A Mystery Sculptor Rumored to Have Visited the Royal Palace." The instructor tasks Weed to go search for information about a rumor he heard about that there was once a master sculptor who showed up in Rosenheim that sculpted the moonlight.
Rules of the Game: The rules of Royal Road follow pretty much anything one would see in an MMORPG video-game. However, one noteworthy rule that's different is that newbies can't leave the starting zone until a week of game-time, or four weeks of real-world time, is up. This is to make sure that newbies don't go out into the dangerous world until they've gotten a true understanding of the game.
Starter Equipment: Players who first start off in Royal Road have on basic clothing. Their also given a water canteen and some low-tier Barley Bread to eat.
Took a Level in Badass: Weed trains for 3 weeks with a wooden sword at Serabourg's Training Hall, which makes him much stronger despite still just his game avatar still being level 1. Along with +28 Strength, +25 Agility, and +22 Vitality in stat increases, he obtains the Fighting Spirit and Endurance skills, and his Sword Mastery skill levels up from Beginner level-1 to to Beginner level-3.
Training from Hell: If one trains at Serabourg's Training Hall, they must continuously strike a training scarecrow with a wooden sword for days to rake up +1 stat rewards to Strength, Agility, and Vitality every once in awhile. Weed does just that, which comes as a shock to a lot of spectators watching Weed train since they don't find the length to perform the training worth it.
Veteran Instructor: The instructor of Serabourg's Training Hall is this. He respects anyone that goes through with the daily training at his hall, which allows Weed to befriend him, and pick up a rare quest regarding Sculpture Mastery.
What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Starting from here, Weed doesn't find the art of sculpting all that worth it, and tries to avoid having anything to do with it.
Chapter 3: The Instructor's Request
Adaptation Expansion: The manhwa makes it a tad more difficult for Weed to convince the retired maid to talk with him. Instead, he has to give her a massage first.
Back Story: A lot of this chapter is about the backstory between Rosenheim's Queen Evane and the master moonlight sculptor, Zahab.
Character Level: Weed gains two level-ups upon completing the E-Rank Quest, "The Sculptor's Past," which puts his game character at level 3.
Compressed Adaptation: Though there is an image of Weed possibly visiting the pub, the manhwa skips over Weed meeting with the bard.
Flashback: After Weed learns of the story between Queen Evane and the moonlight sculptor, Zahab, the game sends Weed into a game flashback that shows off Zahab and Evane when they were kids, as well as some scenes that led up to the moment that Zahab kept his promise to Evane.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: If Zahab's story is anything to go by, it shows that mastering sculpting is an awesome skill to have since it allows him to fight while being able to carve the moonlight.
The High Queen: The story of Rosenheim's Queen Evane is told in this chapter.
Master Swordsman: Along with being a master sculptor, Zahab was also this.
New Skill as Reward: As a reward for unlocking the A-Rank Quest, "Follow Zahab's Last Wish," Weed is rewarded with four secondary profession skills in Item Identification, Sculpture Mastery, Repair, and Handicraft.
The Plan: While training at Serabourg's Training Hall, Weed is given a couple E-Rank Quests to look into the rumor about a moonlight sculptor that appeared in the Rosenheim Kingdom. He spends some time looking into the rumor around Serabourg in order to complete the quests.
Pragmatic Adaptation: In the manhwa, the childhood flashback happens at the start of the retired maid telling the story instead of Weed seeing it afterwards.
The Promise: As kids, Zahab made a promise to one day show Evane the most beautiful sculpture under the heavens. He does so when he makes a sculpture of moonlight within the royal court against some Brent Kingdom assassins.
Quest Giver: Several. The shopkeeper of Serabourg's sculpture shop provides Weed the E-Rank Quest, "The Sculptor's Past" quest to discover the connection Rosenheim's Queen Evane had with a moonlight sculptor named Zahab. Another quest giver turns out to be Queen Evane's retired maid, who provides Weed the A-Rank Quest, "Follow Zahab's Last Wish." Said quest requires Weed to find Zahab beyond the forbidden Gray Pass Region in order to learn a song that Zahab sung that the maid wishes to hear again before she dies.
Secret Character: The Moonlight Sculptor class is this if players discover the right quests that unlock the opportunity to change to the class. Weed manages to do so upon completing the E-Rank "The Sculptor's Past" quest. However, he chooses not to accept the class change due to not believing it will earn him enough money. The manhwa also hints at other possible secret classes that can be discovered, such as the Berserker or Blacksmith of Iron Blood classes.
Star-Crossed Lovers: The story of Queen Evane and Zahab is basically this. The two loved each other since childhood, but Evane ended up becoming Rosenheim's Queen while Zahab went off to master the art of sculpting.
In the manhwa, Weed's encounter with the high-level player, Python, at the Training Hall is expanded a bit as you get a better sense that the two got along while training at the hall.
The manhwa adds a flashback where you see as a kid that Hyun is someone who's used to waiting, which fits in with Weed being forced to wait to see Rodrias the Sage.
Bare-Fisted Monk: Surka's class is Monk, which she usually fights at the front with her fists.
Black Mage: Romuna's class is Mage, which she specializes in long-range fire magic.
Character Class System: Like any RPG, the game has a class system. This chapter really begins to showcase it since it's the beginning of Weed's journey to discover his class while he joins up with a party that are each a different Royal Road class.
The 4-man party of friends that introduce themselves to Weed reveal their current levels as well. Pale and Romuna are level 6 while Irene and Surka are level 7. They all gain a level by the end of the fox hunt.
Weed levels up from 3 to 6 throughout his fights with the foxes and wolves outside Serabourg.
Combat Medic: Irene's class is Cleric, which means that she's a user of healing magic, but she still has the ability to defend herself. One of her mentioned skills is some sort of Blessing that she can use offensively.
The manhwa doesn't include the exposition dump about the Versailles Continent's four races myth.
The manhwa skips past the fox hunting that Weed partakes in with his five-man group outside of Serabourg. It instead goes straight to the fight with the wolf with heavy implications that they've been hunting other starting zone creatures up to this point.
Cool Sword: Weed is rewarded with a Hard Iron Sword from the instructor of Serabourg's Training Hall for completing the basic training program. The sword has up to 54 durability, deals 10-14 damage, and equipping the sword adds +10 Strength. Requirements to equip are 40 Strength and 35 Vitality. Weed chooses this sword as his main weapon for the time being thanks to being able to reach farther, and hits to its durability would allow for Weed to level up his Repair skill. The sight of the sword is actually what leads Surka into thinking that Weed is strong enough to join their party.
Critical Hit: Scoring higher damaging critical hits during battle is a mechanic in Royal Road.
Zahab's Sculpting Blade has an effect that allows for higher chance to score critical hits.
During the fights with the low level foxes outside Serabourg, Weed is seen scoring critical hits against them.
Damager, Healer, Tank: The party that Weed joins is basically set up to be the following. Weed is the tank, Irene is the healer, and Pale, Surka and Romuna are the three damage dealers. Due to Weed's low level, Surka plays the role of tank at first. But Weed eventually takes over once he's gotten the hang of fighting the low level foxes.
Draconic Humanoid: Kobolds exist as a race within "Royal Road''. Some around the level 20 range live within the Lair of Litvart dungeon.
Draw Aggro: Seen throughout the fights against the low level foxes. Surka usually runs around gathering up foxes for the party to kill. Pale eventually joins in as well given that he's an archer that can pull monsters from afar.
Dungeon Crawling: The Lair of Litvart dungeon appears to be for low-level players starting out in the Rosenheim Kingdom. Quests related to it, such as the "A Clean-up Operation in the Lair of Litvart" are only at the level of E-Rank, and the monsters within said dungeon, such as Kobolds and Goblins are only around the level 20 and 50 range respectively. The Training Hall instructor offers Weed said quest to take on the monsters within the Lair of Litvart dungeon. Weed declines for the time being.
The chapter starts off providing a bit of exposition of the history of Royal Road. Said exposition details the four races myth that explains how the four main races of the Versailles Continent started off, and then went off on their own once peace between the four races fell apart. These races being the Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs.
Some details of how the Rosenheim Kingdom works is seen here, such as the strength of the royal army.
How class choosing is explained. Players usually go to the intelligence guild for help on choosing a class. They're chosen based on two groups: a combat class or the craft class.
Fantastic Foxes: Some of the low level starter monsters outside the Serabourg starting zone are foxes around level 5. The 4-man party Weed teams up with starts off hunting foxes.
Fireballs: Romuna has the Fire Ball spell, which she shows off against the low level monsters outside Serabourg.
Flashback: The story flashes back to the time in real life when Hyun was training at Ahn Hyundo's swordsmanship dojang during the year that he was preparing to enter Royal Road. Hyun's non-stop swordsmanship training impressed Hyundo to the point of making the boy his successor, but Hyun stopped showing up at the dojang before Hyundo could tell him.
Foreshadowing: The Training Hall instructor mentioning how there's higher level Training Hall programs throughout the world of Royal Road basically spells out that Weed is eventually going to find them one day.
The Good King: He's only mentioned in quest text for the time being, but this chapter reveals that the ruler of the Rosenheim Kingdom is the righteous and benevolent King Theodarren.
Green Hill Zone: There's an area outside the Citadel of Serabourg with weak monsters that helps level-up newbie players that are first starting out. These starter monsters include raccoons, foxes, rabbits, and wolves.
Healing Hands: Irene has the Blessing: Healing Hand skill, which she uses whenever her teammates require healing.
The Hermit: Rodrias the Sage is basically this. He's said to be a powerful and informative sage that lives within his Serabourg manor, but rarely ever leaves it. Weed is suggested by the Training Hall instructor to get advice from the sage on what class to pick, but is unable to see Rodrias for the time being due to his low Fame. In order to get to see the sage, Weed plans on waiting outside the manor until the day that Rodrias is forced to come out.
Killer Rabbit: Some of the low level starter monsters outside the Serabourg starting zone are rabbits.
The Leader: Pale appears to take on the leadership role of his four-man team since he's usually the one doing the talking for Irene, Romuna and Surka. He also continues to lead once Weed joins the group.
Weed eventually starts to give commands as the party leader once he's ready to tank for the party.
Master Swordsman: Master Ahn Hyundo was this in real life being a 4-time swordsmanship champion. Hyundo runs a dojang where he teaches swordsmanship practitioners how to wield the sword in order for them to eventually become master swordsmen as well.
The Medic: Given that her class is Cleric, Irene performs the role as the healer for her party.
My Greatest Failure: After witnessing how dedicated Hyun was at training in the way of the sword, Master Ahn Hyundo regrets not being able to make the boy his successor since Hyun stopped showing up at the dojang before Hyundo could tell him.
New Skill as Reward: After getting up to level 5, and leveling up the Sword Mastery skill to Beginner level-5, Weed receives a new skill in Sculpting Blade, which is said to be a skill that was accidentally discovered by Zahab in the past. The Sculpting Blade skill is said to enable the user to be able to carve the invisible/intangible. Using the Sculpting Blade skill costs 50 mana per second. Given that Weed is still low leveled with a very small mana pool, it means that he can only use it for a couple seconds.
Old Master: The chapter introduces the reader to master Ahn Hyundo; a 4-time swordsmanship champion who runs a real-life dojang that teaches young practitioners how to wield the sword.
Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Dwarves exist as a race within Royal Road. As one of the four main races, a bit of their history is mentioned in the four races myth.
Our Elves Are Different: Elves exist as a race within Royal Road. As one of the four main races, a bit of their history is mentioned in the four races myth.
Our Goblins Are Different: Goblins exist as a race within Royal Road. Some around the level 50 range live within the Lair of Litvart dungeon.
Our Orcs Are Different: Orcs exist as a race within Royal Road. As one of the four main races, a bit of their history is mentioned in the four races myth.
The Plan: After graduating from the Serabourg Training Hall, Weed's current plan is to figure out his class, which the Training Hall instructor advises him to get advice from Rodrias the Sage. During the wait to see the sage, Weed plans to level up a bit against low level monsters outside the Citadel of Serabourg.
Player Party: Ready to hunt low level monsters outside the Citadel of Serabourg starting zone, Weed joins up with a 4-man team. The 5-man party consists of the following:
Tank - Weed (Surka fills the role at first, but Weed eventually takes over.)
Healer - Irene (Cleric)
Damage - Pale (Archer)
Damage - Romuna (Mage)
Damage - Surka (Monk), (Surka fills the tank role at first due to Weed's low level, but he eventually takes over.)
Playing with Fire: Romuna specializes in fire magic. One of her spells she shows off here is Fire Ball.
In the manhwa, Weed bidding farewell to Python is put before the instructor rewards Weed for completing the Training Hall instead of after.
The flow of Ahn Hyundo's introduction and Weed's party hunting was moved around due to the fox hunt being cut out.
Quest Giver: The Serabourg's Training Hall instructor is this once more after Weed completed the basic training program. He offers Weed the E-Rank Quest, "A Clean-up Operation in the Lair of Litvart." Said quest is to support the Rosenheim Kingdom by taking part in an army force led by Sir Midvale to clear out some monsters (kobolds and goblins) within the Lair of Litvart dungeon. Weed declines the quest for the time being due to not having a character class.
Random Drops: Like any RPG, monsters drop loot. For example, one of low level foxes that Weed's party kills drops a Fox Pelt and a Fox Meat.
Players who work their way up within the game can eventually crown themselves as an Emperor of their own kingdom, and develop the land like any king would do.
The benefit of obtaining Fame points from quest rewards and such is being able to purchase items at a cheaper price, such as grocery foods or blacksmith items. In addition, NPCs have greater respect to those with Fame, which allows for easier negotiations.
If a player dies within Royal Road they're given a penalty where they're not allowed to enter the game again until 24 hours in real life are up.
Savage Wolves: The area outside of Serabourg has higher leveled wolves amongst the lower level creatures. During the hunt for low leveled foxes, Surka accidentally pulls a wolf, which results in the party having to battle said wolf. There's also a forest near Serabourg where a plethora of wolves live, which Weed decides to solo hunt at once his party logged out.
Stone Wall: The reason Surka invited Weed to their party is because their group is in need of a tank. Surka was performing the tanking role for the group despite being the Monk class, and has to continue the role for now due to Weed being the lowest level in the party.
The Team: The chapter introduces Pale, Irene, Romuna and Surka as a 4-man party of friends. When they're about to begin hunting low level monsters outside the Citadel of Serabourg, they invite Weed to their party since their group is in need of a tank.
True Companions: The Pale, Surka, Romuna and Irene party were already this as a tight 4-man group of friends. However, they become this to Weed after he joins the party, and they fight together in the starting area outside Serabourg against foxes and the higher level wolf.
Weed finishes up the Serabourg Training Hall for as much bonus stats as he could muster. Along with the two level ups, some of his stats are now at 55 Strength, 55 Agility, and 50 Stamina. In addition, Weed's rewarded with a Hard Iron Sword from the instructor for completing the basic training program. It's said that because of his stat inflation, he rivals that of a Warrior class that would be around level 30 even though Weed is currently only a level 3.
During the fights against the low level foxes outside Serabourg, Weed's Sword Master skill goes up from Beginner level-3 to Beginner level-4. The Attack Power sword increase at level-5 is said to increase 50%. His character also levels up to 4, which he dumps the level-up stats into Agility.
After killing the wolf that Surka accidentally pulled to the party, Weed's character levels-up to 5, and his Sword Mastery skill also goes up from Beginner level-4 to Beginner level 5, and is rewarded with +50% more Strength, and +15% more Agility. He also receives the new skill, Sculpting Blade.
After the fight against the wolf, Weed's party hunts at least 60 more foxes, and each gain a level. Weed is now level 6, and dumped his level up stats into Agility.
In a flashback, Hyun is seen training how to use a sword at Master Ahn Hyundo's swordsmanship dojang. Hyundo and his top practitioners are so impressed by Hyun's dedication to train that Hyundo decides that the boy should be his successor.
