Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Sets a New Record
On the ramparts of a fortress drenched in blood and littered with corpses.
Roen, a Knight of the upper Sword Expert class, cried out as if screaming.
"Why…… why can't my sword reach you at all……!"
He had attacked with every last ounce of his strength, yet hadn't so much as grazed a hem of clothing.
“Would swinging a wooden stick against a cliff face not at least offer more hope than this?”
Mu-yeong, who had been quietly looking down at Roen, opened his mouth.
"Because you're too straightforward. Just from the movement of your eyes and muscles alone, I can predict exactly where every attack is coming from."
Having answered the question, Mu-yeong leisurely rolled his wrist.
Unlike Roen, who was covered in wounds, his body bore not a single scratch.
His breathing hadn't even grown ragged.
That fact only deepened Roen's despair.
'Even I, who ranks within the top five in the entire Order, am being handled this helplessly?'
He had been called a genius from the time he was young.
Under an exceptional swordsmanship master, he had devoted himself to training without missing a single day.
Given just a little more time, he had reached a level where he could comfortably set his sights on the position of Order Commander.
All that was left was to accumulate merits, and his path forward would be wide open.
That was precisely why he had joined the war……
But just what in the world was this monster?
"Gugh……! I never heard of someone like you existing—what are you?!"
"What am I…… Call it an act of God."
"What does that—!"
"I have nothing to tell the seventh one."
The truth was, Roen's swordsmanship itself was worth acknowledging.
It was quite sharp and unorthodox.
But his Footwork and energy management were so poor they drew sighs.
'Generous at best, early stages of the Supreme Pinnacle.'
In other words, on par with the current Divine Dragon's martial prowess.
But the same realm didn't mean the same thing.
It was clear as day that the difference in combat experience and proficiency could vary enormously.
It was almost embarrassing to compare them, but if the two were to fight, out of a hundred, a hundred times it would be an overwhelming victory for Divine Dragon.
So this was as far as it would go.
This one was far too lacking to hold his interest any longer.
Mu-yeong closed in slowly.
"Still, it wasn't entirely bad—I got to see a new style of swordsmanship. Go and learn more."
"No……"
Yet another head rolled lifelessly to the ground.
He turned around without a second thought, and the soldiers behind him had gone completely still.
"……"
They were looking at him like he was a monster.
It hadn't always been like that.
They had cheered every time Mu-yeong struck down an enemy, but somewhere along the way, silence had taken over.
He knew. He understood the meaning of that.
It was a gaze he received every single day—how could he not know it?
Mu-yeong wiped off his blade with an air of indifference.
At the same time, a pale blue window appeared before him.
[5 minutes of usage time remaining. 5 minutes remaining.]
"A shame. I wanted to see this through to the end today."
Still, having experienced what a Virtual Reality Game was like firsthand—more than satisfying.
In high spirits, Mu-yeong reached out toward the air.
But wait—how did you get out of this thing?
He was fairly sure he had pressed some kind of button when logging in, but……
His mind suddenly went blank, and Mu-yeong began flicking his fingers around.
He tried twisting to the right, then to the left, but no prompt appeared.
He tried with his wrist and arm too—same result.
In the end, Mu-yeong gave up and calmly gripped his sword.
'I'll probably pop out on my own once the time's up.'
Until then, he might as well keep defending the castle.
.
.
.
.
Click!
"Welcome back, Young Lord!"
The moment the lid swung open, Divine Dragon greeted him warmly.
Mu-yeong stepped out of the Capsule, pressing his fingers to his temple.
"You've worked hard waiting. How much time has passed?"
"One hour, sir."
"So it flows the same inside and out."
Mu-yeong kneaded his shoulders, trying to loosen his stiffened muscles.
He soon realized there was no need for that.
'My body was perfectly still the whole time, yet it feels like I was moving it around vigorously.'
As he patted himself all over, Divine Dragon gave a small laugh.
"Everyone does exactly the same thing the first time they experience Full-Dive. I was no different."
"Does it have any effect on the real body?"
"It has something to do with brainwave technology, I'm told—but to get straight to the point, yes, there are effects. Though they're said to be far more modest than actually moving the body. But then, this is all just hearsay……"
As if sharing a secret, Divine Dragon leaned in close. At the same moment, a transmitted voice reached Mu-yeong's mind.
—In reality, there are quite a number of martial artists who have seen results. The reason it's described as modest is simply because they were playing purely for fun, without any systematic training.
—So there are those who actually train inside the game?
—The Sect Leader mentioned it. He said striking a sword in a new environment was interesting, tried it a few times, and then…… said he had gained a new revelation.
Mu-yeong's eyes grew impossibly wide.
The Sect Leader—someone said to be approaching the Transcendence Realm.
And yet he had grown even further from that point.
'Beyond the Transcendence Realm, advancement isn't something that can be achieved through simple training alone.'
Then just what had the Sect Leader seen? What had he experienced?
Mu-yeong swallowed hard and clenched his fist tight.
He himself still retained his martial arts and his realizations intact.
Which meant his potential for growth was more explosive than anyone else's.
In other words—
'If I can make proper use of this, I can catch two birds with one stone.'
His heart began to race.
The thought of what lay ahead was so thrilling that he couldn't contain it.
A small smile crossed Mu-yeong's lips as he quickened his steps.
As he made his way toward the exit, people stood gathered in twos and threes, engaged in heated discussions.
Seeing that, Divine Dragon smiled.
"Compared to before you entered Closed Door Training, the growth is extraordinary. I honestly wouldn't be confident I could beat you even at my level before the Great Unification."
"……And how would you know that?"
"Ah—this establishment occasionally shares the game feed on the lobby's main screen for promotional purposes. Your footage played for about twenty minutes earlier, and truly, it was remarkable."
"No need to flatter me. All I did was face a handful of wandering Knights."
"Not at all. You didn't use a single drop of internal energy the entire time, did you? And yet that last one seemed to be at a level comparable to the Supreme Pinnacle—and you came away without a scratch. Remarkable."
It wasn't that he chose not to use it—he genuinely couldn't.
The unrelenting praise was making him oddly bashful, and Mu-yeong changed the subject.
"Still, having experienced it firsthand, I understand clearly now. Why the martial artists here have abandoned their training and fallen so deeply into this culture."
"And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are things far more enjoyable and far greater than the game you just played waiting ahead. Now then—let's be on our way. While you were inside, I arranged accommodations for you."
"Thank you."
They pushed through the crowd, and a few people caught sight of Mu-yeong, their mouths opening and closing as though they recognized him—but none moved to do anything beyond that.
And just as they were about to step out through the exit, Mu-yeong asked what had been nagging at him most.
"Right, Divine Dragon."
"Yes."
"By the way—how exactly does one get out of that Capsule?"
"You just shout 'Game End' or 'Log Out!' and that does it."
"Is that so?"
Simpler than expected.
Mu-yeong filed that away as one more piece of knowledge gained.
.
.
.
.
Two hours had passed, yet the lights of the Castle Defense Gallery showed no sign of going out.
What kind of game was this, anyway?.
It had launched to acclaim for its overwhelming graphics and immersion, only to get absolutely buried in criticism over failed balance adjustments.
And now some complete unknown, never heard of before, had blown past Stage 6 and taken down the Stage 7 boss?
At minimum, a week's worth of content to chew on.
[Ugh, who even IS Mu-yeong?]
—I asked a martial artist I know, and they said they've never heard of anyone by that name.
[Some reclusive eccentric, maybe?]
—Wasn't it an Elder-level guy who got the Stage 6 boss to half HP before? If someone cleared Stage 7, they'd have to be at least a Sect Master level or something, and there aren't many of those around.
[It's hacks or a ranking glitch]
—Nothing else explains it. I mean, the Stage 6 record just came out and then Stage 7 cleared ten minutes later? If that's not a bug then what is?
Someone said they were going to send a verification email to the developers.
As the mood gradually started to sour, someone poured fuel on the fire.
[My friend says they actually saw the person who cleared Stage 7 in real life?]
—They went to ○○ Capsule Room earlier and Castle Defense was being screen-shared, and apparently someone who looked like a martial artist killed a boss they'd never seen before.
—CeramicCraftsman: Don't take the bait lol, they probably just saw it wrong.
—NahThatAintIt: No proof, no truth.
—CrazyBladesman: Yeah I also ran into the Martial Alliance Leader on my way home today, shook his hand, hugged him, got an autograph, took a photo and everything lol, followed him on Minsta too.
No one believed it.
Everyone scoffed and dismissed it as the usual bait post.
But the same username added something with a bit more credibility.
[Not lying. Said it was so wild they even filmed it.]
—NahThatAintIt: Upload it then gg
—Knight King: If this is fake you're dead.
—OP: Yeah yeah just wait a sec. Getting the link.
Once there was word of proof, even the Entrenched Veterans started sitting up and taking notice.
They kept refreshing, waiting, and after a short while, a post with a video finally went up.
[Boss proof video]
—Shot it on a phone so the screen's shaky and the quality's a bit rough, keep that in mind. They were watching for a while before it got interesting enough to film, so it starts partway through Stage 6.
The moment they hit play, what appeared was the Stage 6 boss, bleeding out.
But something was off.
The one they called the Mad Knight was trembling head to toe.
He was even backing away, eyes wide with terror.
A question mark floated into everyone's mind.
'That…… is that actually the guy I know?'
The same berserker who used to charge in recklessly with no regard for anything?
Could this just be a different character who happens to look the same?
Just what had he seen to react like that?
People's eyes shifted to the side.
One man, standing with an ease that was almost absurd.
He felt utterly detached from the fierce battle raging all around him.
But the moment he moved, a storm swept in.
Those who had been staring blankly at the video for several minutes began to leave comments.
—CrazyBladesman: He just toys with the Stage 6 boss that easily?? Is that even possible?
—Knight King: What the—what did I just watch?
—EmptyMind: Instead of writing comments go watch Stage 7. That one's even more insane. Absolutely unhinged.
About ten minutes later, the Gallery exploded.
More worked up than they had ever been, people were typing posts at lightning speed.
[Showed the video to a martial artist I know, and they said that's flat-out impossible?]
—Someone who was pretty highly regarded in the martial world, and they say they can't do it.
[He does all that on pure physical ability alone?]
—How much of a gap in level does it take to pull something like that off? The Knight was even using Aura on top of everything.
[It's hacks, definitely hacks]
—You see how he just barely tilts his head by like 1mm and dodges everything? No human can do that. It's like he already knows every single trajectory.
And yet there was far too clear and undeniable a video to simply deny it.
But it was also far too unrealistic to just accept without question.
In the end, opinions split right down the middle.
If he clears it that easily, this person called Mu-yeong will probably clear up to Stage 8 soon enough—so let's just wait and see: the moderate camp.
I'm not believing a single word of it until the admins respond. That guy is definitely getting banned: the hardliner camp.
As time passed with no easy consensus in sight, the Entrenched Veterans began taking the debate to other communities.
Naturally, the view count on the original video climbed rapidly, and the discussion burned hotter and hotter.
All through the night.
.
.
.
.
At that same hour, Mu-yeong had just stepped inside the home Divine Dragon had prepared.
"Much cleaner, and there's quite a lot of things here."
"I put some thought into it, since it's where you'll be staying, Young Lord. It's the finest building in this area."
Sleek, gleaming walls and floors.
Furnishings and decorations that looked somehow very large and expensive.
Just yesterday he had been inside a cave, and now here he was surrounded by all these new-age novelties.
Of course, most of them were things he had already seen at the Iron Blood Witch's home, so it wasn't terribly disorienting.
Even so, the sense of burden hadn't gone away.
"Everyone is struggling to pay off debts, and here I am living in a place like this alone—I feel bad."
"Not at all. The Demonic Heaven Sect's future rests on your wellbeing, Young Lord, does it not? Please don't trouble yourself over it and make yourself at home."
"Thank you."
"Then I'll take my leave for now. Please rest well, and I'll come to see you tomorrow."
Divine Dragon gave a silent bow before slipping out of the house.
Left alone, Mu-yeong crossed his legs on the living room floor.
He tried to begin his Meditative Breathing Cultivation, but the game from earlier kept circling through his mind and he couldn't focus.
'To think I've already gotten addicted in just a single day……'
This was no time to be criticizing the old men of the Nine Sects and One Gang.
Mu-yeong retracted the comment he'd made earlier in the day and let out a long, deep sigh.
Then he uncrossed his legs and rose to his feet.
"At my level, meditation wouldn't yield much in the way of results anyway."
The Eleventh Stage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art wasn't something that could be mastered through training.
If anything, a sudden revelation might come in the middle of ordinary, everyday life.
Wasn't there a saying—the more urgent you are, the longer the road?
Perhaps diverse experiences and live combat, like those in Virtual Reality, would prove more useful.
Like that battle just now.
'I wonder what kind of opponent will show up next.'
In the end, that night Mu-yeong fell asleep thinking about Castle Defense.
The next morning.
There was something disturbing his usual Meditative Breathing Cultivation.
Vrrrrr…… Vrrrrr……
The Smartphone.
Mu-yeong stared at it with grave intensity.
It had been vibrating for a while now—how did you turn that off?
Actually, more to the point, there was a strange number displayed on the screen—was it broken?
Stroking his chin, Mu-yeong picked up the Smartphone.
Should he try channeling some internal energy into it?
Something in his gut told him that probably wasn't a good idea.
After seriously mulling it over, he pressed what seemed to be a green button.
The Iron Blood Witch's voice immediately poured out.
"Oh, Young Lord. Good morning. How was your night—did you sleep well?"
"……Just fine. More to the point, what is it?"
"There's something I wanted to ask you. Did you happen to visit a Capsule Room yesterday?"
"I was walking by and it caught my eye, so I stopped in for a bit. Why?"
"Well……"
She paused for a moment, then her tone brightened noticeably.
"Right now, every single gaming community out there is talking about you, Young Lord!"