Chapter 26

Chapter 26: [Knight Soul] Is This Really That Hard? (2)

The in-game function unlocked only after the ‘Rune’s Blessing’ descended upon a Player Character who cleared the tutorial of [Knight Soul] was- in a way, closer to a talent.

A character’s Growth Potential was written based on the ‘Origin’ assigned to the initial Player Character and the ‘Play Data’ accumulated until the tutorial was cleared and Status was unlocked.

From the basic growth rate of stats through level-ups to the absorption rate of Runes that could be gained through hunting, adventure, and so on─── all of it was finalized the moment Status was unlocked.

Of course- this was only the moment when the Growth Potential of Status was perfectly finalized. 

Even before receiving the ‘Rune’s Blessing,’ the actual Status values themselves were already being affected by level-ups.

The Status values were fluctuating and being applied in real time according to the Player Character’s ‘Origin’ and the details of their ‘Play Data.’

That was why, in [Knight Soul], how much the Player Character had grown by the time they cleared the tutorial was also considered important.

After all, only by raising the Status values as high as possible before receiving the ‘Rune’s Blessing’ could one smoothly continue in-game play afterward, centered around high Growth Potential.

Well. 

Considering that the level of a Player Character who had only just cleared the tutorial was usually in the single digits, and even a high one would barely enter the double digits, it did not have much meaning… but there were exceptions.

Like now.

《 Ju Seo-jin 》

=Origin / Knight’s Descendant

━Level: 27 (12.9%)

━Equipped Title: ‘Halkenburg’s Last Disciple’

━Knight Soul: ───.

━Soul Aptitude: ‘Patience’ · ‘Temperance’ · ‘Diligence’

━Personal Traits: ‘Oath of Bond’ / ‘Temptation of Madness’ / ‘Impulse of Rampage’

━Bonus Stat │ Held Runes: 81

━Status

*Strength: 37

*Vitality: 31

*Agility: 31

*Endurance: 34

*Technique: 39

*Soul Power: 31 ( New! )

*Nobility: 12 ( New! │ *Stat cannot be allocated with Bonus Stat )

Level 27. Bonus Stat─── in [Knight Soul], the essence of power known as Runes had accumulated to exactly 81. 

This was not the Status window of a Player Character who had only just received the Rune’s Blessing.

-Is this real..?? Aren’t the stat growth rates you get from leveling originally stingy as hell???? What the fuck is this????????

-His basic stats are already a fucking monster compared to others at the same level, but what the hell is Soul Power 31;;;;

-Soul Power 31 <<< Is that even a number you can reach at level 27 without using Runes?????? I’ve never seen anything like that?????

-The KniSoul system usually gets super picky with your previous Play Data when Status unlocks and sets your Growth Potential.. But this.. fuck..

-What’s Nobility? There’s a stat like that?

-└It’s my first time seeing that stat too, lol fuck.

Not only the basic stats set according to the Player Character’s Origin, but even his Soul Power was at a level unthinkable for the early part of the game… but what was even more absurd was the number of Runes he possessed.

-What the fuck is this?; Is it because of the first-encounter kill on Trinex..? Held Runes at 81 is actually ridiculous.. fuck;

-Holy shit; if he invests all that evenly into stats, isn’t he basically level 60 in practice, not level 27..?

-This.. if it’s not a boss mob, won’t he just STR-stomp most enemies to pieces...............??;

-Even when STR-stomping didn’t work, he beat everything down with pure Physical Skill.. and now he’s getting even stronger? Is this even a game, fuck???????

-This is.. KniSoul...???????? Then what the hell was the KniSoul I’ve been playing??? Where did the KniSoul where 300 hours of Rune-farming grind was basic go...?

Considering that, in the early sections of [Knight Soul], one had to spend a tiresome amount of time repeatedly obtaining and absorbing Runes just to maybe reach that many Held Runes, it was shocking.

=Uh… um- everyone, nothing’s wrong with this… right……? I-I’m looking at the stream window properly, right? I-I’m not hallucinating, am I?

-It’s real..

-Uh, yeah.. Yeah, shockingly, fuck, this is real.. I thought it was some fucked-up bug, but it’s not that either..

-He’s just so fucking good at the game that his Growth Potential got set at an all-time high...........

-He’s not human.....................

-Look at how neatly he even has three Personal Traits, lol.

-Three Personal Traits <<< They’re buried under the 81 Held Runes and you can’t even see them, lol.

-Info) He has a fucking grade-school-notebook-style Status with three Personal Traits tacked on, plus triple Soul Aptitude..

-└No, seriously, this really is a grade-school-notebook-style Status window..??; He crossed the line;

-Isn’t KniSoul originally a low-power fantasy game in the early parts.. If it’s like this... he’s just a monster, isn’t he..? Is this right???

Ju Seo-yoon stared blankly in admiration, her mouth hanging open.

Compared to Ju Seo-jin, who knew almost nothing about [Knight Soul], Ju Seo-yoon had already thoroughly prepared (?) beforehand.

Even though she had never played [Knight Soul] herself, she had memorized every bit of basic in-game knowledge, the main quests, and the major branch points. 

That was why she was shocked.

‘This… even most veteran [Knight Soul] gamers probably never started with Status this high… right……? Then does that mean even this is a world record…?’

It was because he had effectively been confirmed as the player with the greatest initial Status among all gamers who had ever played [Knight Soul].

‘Mmm… he is my brother, but I seriously wonder if we’re even the same kind of person…… How is something like that possible?’

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. 

What if… the broadcast title he had written to draw aggro- saying he would clear every boss fight in [Knight Soul] with No Deaths- actually came true?

‘No way… he’s not really going to clear every boss in [Knight Soul] with No Deaths like this…… right? But if it’s Oppa, I feel like it might be possible?’

Even though she thought there was no way that would really happen, in one corner of her heart, she could not shake the thought, ‘But it really feels like it will happen.’

‘Then… the Sword Empress might really end up calling Oppa Master…… If that happens, just how much influence would he have starting from his streamer debut…?’

She even began to have a somewhat absurd delusion that he might become a major Streamer in the shortest amount of time within Space Stream… but she could not continue thinking about it for long.

Fwoooom.

In that instant. 

A sudden strange phenomenon occurred, as a pure white energy began rising from Ju Seo-jin, who was kneeling on one knee with his eyes closed. 

Then Ju Seo-jin quietly opened his eyes and muttered.

“…Hm. Looks like this is how you do it. I think I roughly understand how I’m supposed to move it now.”

Swoooosh-

At the same time, Ju Seo-jin rose and gathered the pure white energy surging from his entire body, drawing it back inside in the blink of an eye.

“This. So this is all I had to do.”

“?”

“It’s manageable.”

“……….”

Silence. 

Grandis, who stood in front of Ju Seo-jin, could not continue speaking and merely stood there blankly, opening and closing her mouth like someone whose soul had left her body… while Ju Seo-yoon also failed to understand the situation and simply blinked.

“…As expected. Learning this Soul Power thing isn’t that hard. If anything, I think it’s easier than I expected.”

In other words───

-?????????????

-Pardon?

-What is this.......

-S-SERIOUSLY??;

-...? What.. Did he seriously grasp Virtual Energy Operation the moment Status unlocked??

-??? No, fuck, even bullshit hacks need limits! Does this make any sense right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Virtual Energy. 

At the same time he acquired Soul Power in [Knight Soul], he had immediately grasped the basic method of operating it… purely by instinct.

***

Virtual Energy.

The virtual force known as Aether or Mana, and in [Knight Soul] mostly called Soul Power, was fundamentally an element that could only be handled after accumulating a certain level of proficiency.

That was because the brain and nervous system needed to adapt in order to recognize Virtual Energy, which did not exist in the real world, as part of the body and manipulate it delicately, like moving one’s hands or feet.

Since a Virtual Reality Game made the player recognize and adapt to Virtual Energy that did not exist in the human body as a part of the body, the procedure and order of mastery for learning and adaptation were indispensable.

And yet…

“Mm. Even if you ask me what I did to make it possible… there isn’t really anything I can tell you. This isn’t hard.”

A case that defied common sense had appeared.

“It worked because I just did it.”

“Th-that… Oppa? In this world, nothing works just because you do it… That’s common sense, you know…? Saying it like that isn’t convincing at all…!”

“I’m just telling the truth.”

“……….”

“Mm. Well, I do think I can explain it in a way that’s easy to understand. It’s nothing special. It’s simple.”

Ju Seo-jin approached Ju Seo-yoon and answered lightly, as if he would casually resolve everyone’s questions.

“So- to put it simply, imagine imitating the circulation of blood. You create a circulation structure for Virtual Energy along imaginary blood vessels that don’t exist in the body… then turn that into several patterns and make variations so they can be applied appropriately to specific situations or conditions. Then you can combine those patterns and variations to keep deriving new circulation structures. Based on that, you redraw your body schema and move. That’s all.”

Ju Seo-jin explained lightly, as if it were nothing, then spoke with a faintly proud smile.

“……….”

“Easy, right?”

Once Ju Seo-jin explained how he had grasped the basic method of operating Virtual Energy, naturally───

-?

-What kind of bullshit is that?

-Teacher Seo-jin learned a foreign language too? Even the auto-translation function isn’t working. What the hell is this?? What language is Teacher Seo-jin speaking?

-I seriously don’t understand a single thing he’s saying..

-Fuck, just playing a 10-hour WeTube lecture video on Virtual Energy Operation on repeat would be easier to understand????????

-Teacher Seo-jin, seriously, what are you talking about..

-?? Is this guy really a KniSoul NPC? Does he live in the world of KniSoul instead of Earth??????? Is that why he’s like this????????

-Wow........... You.. really could live inside KniSoul.. I understand why your Status values are like that.. I’ll acknowledge it.. Yeah;;

-Someone like this........ is from the same.. Earth as me...?

“Um, sorry, but I don’t understand a single thing you just said…? What is that? That- something about making a circulating flow, then patterns? Variations…? Body schema…? I don’t get any of it…”

…No one understood. Even Ju Seo-yoon, Ju Seo-jin’s own younger sister, answered with a vacant look on her face.

“Hm. That shouldn’t be the case. That’s strange. I explained it really well and made it easy… Mmmm.”

Ju Seo-jin tilted his head, wearing an expression as if he could not understand, then muttered in a voice so small that no one could hear it.

“Is this really that hard?”

“……….”

-??;

-This crazy bastard...................

-Uh.. Sorry, but is Teacher Seo-jin a KniSoul local?? Are you someone who lives in that world? You’re not an Earthling, are you??

-Ju Seo-jin = all-time money-grubber (x) Ju Seo-jin = just an all-time crazy bastard (o)

-KRAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!! GET OUT OF OUR VILLAGE, YOU MONSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-???: His way of thinking itself is different from ours.

-He’s not human ..

It was a reaction that seemed to say he genuinely could not understand why they could not understand this. 

In front of him, Ju Seo-yoon opened her mouth as if to say something, then had no choice but to close it.

“Hmmm- that’s strange… There’s nothing difficult about it, so what’s the issue? Should I explain it again? It just sounds hard when you hear it. It’s really simple. This.”

“……….”

Seeing Ju Seo-jin’s sincere, purely convinced belief that it was ‘easy’ without the slightest emotion behind it- Ju Seo-yoon… honestly thought it was a little frightening…….