Hyper Luck

Warm streams of blood poured down to the ground and formed a sticky puddle. Lidornn fell to the ground and looked at me as he coughed up blood.

“Don’t believe this is over.”

He stared at me without losing his cool, even as he was drenched in pain.

“I am none but just firewood that lit a small fire. I’ve burned down to ashes now, but my role is over now.”

“Your role is… what?”

I asked him quietly. The Prince of Rebellion smiled dimly, like paint with too much water.

“I threw myself into the fire of conflict. Now that I’ve burned down completely, the other fires will start."

The wolf’s harsh breathing had stopped.

< Your level has been increased by one! >

< Your level has been increased by one! >

< Your level has been increased by one! >

< Your level has been increased by one! >

…

…

.

As soon as his breathing stopped, the rays of light wrapped around my body, and in the meantime, the black smoke from his corpse coalesced to form a single sphere.

Was it really just a mere quest? I thought for a while. However, the joy of realizing that the moment of pain and despair had finally passed had come. It was the moment when the selfishness of the player that Lidornn had mentioned multiple times really shined to show itself.

Khea cautiously walked toward me. I instinctively got angry at her and shouted.

“Why did you do that!?”

At my words, Khea just looked at me without saying a word. It was as if she had engraved me in her green eyes, and then quietly opened her mouth.

“I needed to risk at least that much in order to defeat the ‘White Wolf of Logis’.”

“Please, never do that aga—”

Before I could finish my words, she rested silently on my shoulder. At the end of this battle, in this place where there was nothing but iron and blood, the scent of dried petals from her calmed my heart for a moment.

“Please, let’s stop and just pray for his peace for now.”

At Khea’s suggestion, I shut my mouth and turned to look at Lidornn’s face which seemed to have finally found peace.

Quietly reflecting on the words that flowed through my mind, leaving behind the unexplainable sadness, Khea and I moved on again.

* * *

In all circuit communities such as <Circuit Master> and <Circuit Gallery>, the last battle of the ‘Prince of Rebellion' that took place on the Asparagan continent became a topic of discussion for many people to the point that the web servers went down.

The appearance of the ‘golden ship' that suddenly appeared marked the beginning of these discussions.

[General] It’s gotta be an NPC lol [13]

[There’s no way someone that owns a ship like that could be a player in the first place. I searched up the prices of airships before and even the cheapest floating crystal was 500k gold.]

[He’s got a point since even the largest companies still rent ariships. There’s not a single company that has purchased an airship yet, so that golden ship must belong to an NPC.]

[I actually saw that golden ship appear at the Asparagan marina XD. I was drinking some strawberry smoothie and got my eyes fkin flashed lmao.]

[Imagine getting your quest reward stolen by an NPC, LMAO! Y’all got destroyed by some NPCs and got your head slammed in the back by an NPC in the end HAHA! Bunch of idiots lol.]

The first topic was about claims that the owner of the golden ship would not be a player.

[General] I saw it myself and it was a player. [31]

[I am a guild member of one of the guilds that went out in the raid. I saw 4-5 people get off from the golden ship, and it was obvious that it was a party of players.]

[How disgusting of you all to talk shit without even participating in the battle. All the people that got off from the golden ship are players. I saw an Archer class shouting skill names during the battle. Also saw the greatsword player going insane on the battlefield. Everything got caught on fire all of a sudden so I couldn’t stick ‘til the end. Anyways, judging from the way they talk and move, they were deffs players.]

[Lots of keyboard warriors showing up here, yikes! All you did was hide in the corners and pray that we complete the quest for you while we were out there fighting with our lives at risk. And now you have the audacity to say it was the NPC who completed it for us? You assholes.]

As the vivid testimonies of actual battle participants continued, the preceding reactions subsided. But soon, the Circuit threads were completely muddled by subsequent posts.

[The only reason you got to even try the raid was because you got yourselves into high-end guilds by circlejerking so hard LMAO. Btw, two temples went down because all of you were looking for chances to last-hit, you know that right?”

[XD Honestly, we probs need reevaluation for the Rose Holic guild that tried this raid the first. All the other guilds were just looking for the chance to last-hit after Rose Holic guild got their asses kicked in the raid.]

[What is this? Why do you come out with the RH guild out of nowhere? Are you Guardman himself or something? Self-promoting?]

[TBH, the golden ship came to last-hit too, don’t you think?]

[Actually right btw. Last-hitter last hits in the end.]

[Last-hitter, my ass. Didn’t you hear others saying that he went 1v100 in the battle? I’m seeing way too many keyboard warriors here.]

[Yo, but if he’s actually a player, that means there’s a player out there that’s on a completely different level than the others… How much money did he put into this…? He must be hella rich or something.]

[Thank god for reward distribution so that the last-hitter doesn’t take everything.]

[Not last-hitter, dumbass.]

[Why are you so mad? Are you the last-hitter?]

[RIP, Lidornn.]

[Do you guys know the Lidornn story? Honestly, I would’ve acted the same way if I were him. Anyways, I’m going to tear any troll players that cross my sight into pieces.]

[Press X to pay respect to Lidornn.]

[Not sure why you guys are arguing with each other. This all started from troll players. Goddamn trolls, I’m going to kill all of them when I see them.]

The very next day before this hot potato had even cooled down, that was three days in <Circuit> time, <Lid Tel>, an anti-players group that suddenly appeared not only in the Logis Empire but also in neighboring countries, began to assemble quickly.

They came together with a single will to deeply engrave and believe in Lidornn’s claims and completely uproot the players. As a result, countless innocent players began to suffer through damage.

On the other hand, the Magic Tower, "White Tower", announced the ‘Stigma Magic' that allows anyone, both NPCs and players, to identify a ‘troll player’

Players who committed felonies were reborn as bounty quests in the information guild.

With the three factors of resentment from Lidornn and Lid Tel, stigma magic, and bounty hunting, many players began to hunt troll players down mercilessly.

Players who openly troll had to choose between hiding themselves or quitting the game itself.

It was literally a virtual reality ‘troll sanction patch'. Conversely, this was a splendid achievement achieved by Lirdornn brilliantly playing the role of ‘starting conflict'.

Two weeks have passed in the game. In the real world, it was only four days. The temples destroyed by Lidornn and his cavalry were being rebuilt with the active support of the Asparagan Imperial Family.

Most current players were reluctant to go out on the field. If they were to die now, it would take a lot of time before they could connect again.

Likewise, the value of healers such as priests rose, and their value skyrocketed.

The Asparagan had returned to its normal life, not too long after the incident with Lidornn had occurred.

The only difference from before was that it was no longer possible to ride the SkyLord to Asparagan. 

It was too much of a burden to anchor the SkyLord, which had already become famous in the Circuit community, at the marina of Asparagan.

“Mose!”

Standing in front of the huge gates of Asparagan, I heard a familiar voice. Khea was walking toward me with her hands waving at me in the distance.

Wearing her red-lined loose neck linen shirt, tight matte leather leggings, and leather boots, she approached me with a fresh smile.

“Are you all prepared?”

She was holding baskets in her hands. Having quickly received one of the baskets, I moved to the Sanctuary with Khea using the Portal Stone.

Then we hopped on the SkyLord which I anchored somewhere around the Sanctuary.

“Anyways, this is something that I didn’t expect. Never thought we’d be visiting your hometown so soon, Khea.”

“Well, a lot of things happened. And we’re just visiting there for fun anyways.”

The heavy atmosphere that I had after the Lidornn quest between me and Khea was becoming troublesome and awkward, especially since we didn’t have playful Guile, reliable Swordsman, and lively and sharp Sharan to cheer things up.

After a while, the heavy emotions started to soften up a little, and as the days of others being able to connect back into the game approached, the conversation between me and her had become more frequent.

What I learned here was that my violent emotions had become calmer and more solid like the calmness after a violent storm.

Then Khea offered me to go to her hometown with her, and I accepted her offer.

As soon as we reached the grand hall of the SkyLord, Khea gave me a couple of clothes with a small smile.

“Uh, what is this?”

“Aren’t you tired of wearing the same all the time?”

I couldn't hide my embarrassment at her question. Come to think of it, I didn't pay much attention to the clothes I wear in this world.

And because of that, when I wasn’t wearing armor, I was still wearing the clothes I had been wearing since the in-game tutorial.

Worn out leather shirt, frayed leather pants, and leather shoes, these things felt like a part of my body to me now.

“Change into these. We wear this outfit in my hometown.”

At her request, I entered a small room and unfolded the clothes she had bought for me.

[Azharus styled linen shirt]

Class: Top

Rank: Normal

History: The charming point of this linen shirt is that its neck is very loose compared to other clothes. Sometimes, just undoing one more button than usual can send a bigger message than a hundred words which can lead to solving a lot of problems. The more buttons you undo, the fewer words you would need to say. – Fashionist of Azharus, Lubid –

These leather pants and boots sure looked like some items that could be found in a general clothing store, but this linen shirt had a design that made it really stand out. The design looked like it could be found in the real world also.

After changing into the clothes she gave me, I went outside and ran into Khea looking up and down at me a few times and over.

“How long do you plan on staring at me for…?”

She grinned at what I said.

“Probably for a long time, I think? Honestly speaking, you looked like a vagabond in Posteville. But oh my! It turns out that you are actually a person, not a vagabond!”

“Whaat?!”

At my question, she laughed as she pulled her back like a bow, which was her characteristic laughter.

“Anyways, it will take at least over a day for us to get to Azharus. Do you plan on doing ‘that’ today too?”

“Yeah. I feel like I have to get used to it as soon as possible.”

She looked at me and asked with a smile from the laughter still on her face, and when she heard my answer, she quietly nodded her head.

“Then I guess I’ll be reading some books.”

Khea picked up a book titled ‘Lang, the Continent of the East' and went into one of the many rooms in the ship.

I wonder when it all started. When it suddenly felt as if there was an invisible wall in between her and me.

At this point in time when we started talking to each other again after the Lidornn incident, whenever I tried to restore the relationship like before, this invisible wall appeared between us.

***

I headed for the spiral staircase leading down the hall. Then Elsha appeared.

“Mose, my master. Will you be doing ‘that’ again?”

“Yes. Could you prepare for me?”

“As you wish.”

And a moment later, I reached a large open space located on the lowest floor of the ship. I moved around to warm up after I took my leather boots off.

I checked every single room and location that was densely packed on the SkyLord for the past two weeks.

And among all of them, I realized that the lowest floor was a cargo space for luggage, so a very large space was provided.

And I am using this space quite efficiently in a different way than it was intended for.

“The mana that was previously supported on the battlefield is now almost depleted. It seems that today will be the last day for this training as well. I will now cast strengthening magic on the inner wall of the lowest floor."

I raised my left hand slightly as Elsha finished speaking. And soon, a sword appeared on my left arm with black smoke.

It was Sharma.

Originally, It was an item that I had to call out its name in order to summon, but that wasn’t the case for now.

Then I cautiously raised my right arm. A grunt escaped from between my closed lips as the weight suddenly pressed down on my right shoulder.

After some time passed, another sword appeared with black smoke. A longsword with inscriptions embossed between the silver body of its blade was the sword that appeared from Lidornn's fingertips.

“Go’h”

I slowly closed my eyes, and the words I struggled to get out of my mouth had a deep reverberation like an echo of a voice from the depths of a mountain.

As soon as I finished my word, the two swords that appeared on both arms rushed forward with great speed.

A gruesome sound of the two blades piercing through the wind filled the cargo. In the meantime, Sharma, which had been shot forward, came back toward me after drawing a large upward curve. And I grabbed the handle of the Sharma flying toward my direction.

“Hup!”

After using several swords techniques in an instant with Sharma, I threw Sharma forward with all my might. Then I grabbed the handle of Lidornn’s sword as it came back to me.

And in that instant,

Crash!

When I grabbed the handle, I rolled to the floor as I was dragged by the sword. I glared at the uncontrollable Lidornn’s sword.

“Release.”

I quietly opened my mouth. As soon as I finished speaking, the two swords disappeared into smoke.

“Inventory.”

I opened my inventory and stared at the newly acquired item.

Proficiency was essential in order to fully utilize this item that possessed unconventional ability which came out of the core of the Lidornn.

[Engraved 11 Swords – Korma]

Class: Longsword

Rank: Legendary

Manufacturer: Lavoger

Weight: 9.8 Kg

One-handed Attack power: 654 – 671

Two-handed Attack Power: 881 – 968

Strength + 31

Vitality + 24

Speed + 38

Intelligence + 28

When the engraving is completed, the sword disappears and is automatically engraved on the wielder’s active arm.

When the engraving is complete, the ‘Engraving Summon’ is automatically learned, and when this skill is activated the sword is automatically summoned around the wielder.

Set Effect: 2 / 11

–

– Engraved Sword Korma

–

–

–

–

–

–

– Engraved Sword Sharma

–

–

2 Set Effect (Korma & Sharma)

– All the existing ‘Engraved Summon’ skills are all deleted, and the summon method will be changed to ‘Will Summon’.

– Acquire an active skill: ‘Go’h’

– Attack power of the Engraved Swords will be increased by 8%.

History: As one of the 11 Engraved Swords forged by Lavoger, Korma was eventually handed over to the Logis Kingdom by the ‘100 Years War’ in the end. This sword has the power to control all the other Engraved Swords. If the summoner has enough magical power, it can be summoned from a distance rather than from close range. Therefore, those who face their blade against the master of Korma are often beheaded without even a death sentence. Korma, the jockey of all the other Engraved Swords, is the second sword among its 11 other Engraved Swords.

The legendary item obtained from Lidornn was none other than the ‘Engraved Sword'. This elusive Engraved Sword was the one that defeated my colleagues, Guile and Swordsman, in an instant.

This formidable sword had a greater ability than I expected. If it was used well, it was clear that it would be possible to launch a more daring and great tactic than before.

However, this item was not as easy to handle as Attoria's set. Just like the ‘Solar Rampage’ skill that grants great power but can risk my life in an instant, Korma has been given a new skill.

[Go'h]

active skill

Skill Level: 1 (23 / 100)

Consumed MP: 43

A ‘rune command' that can command ‘Korma', the jockey among the Engraved Swords. Activation upon the moment it is pronounced.

Fires all Engraved Swords toward the target that came into view from a distance of up to 400m.

Each fired Engraved Sword deals an additional 180% increased damage based on its weapon ATK.

It was magic that shot all the engraved swords I had like arrows. The power of this skill, which fired at a speed that my eyes could barely chase for just memorizing a single letter, was beyond my evaluation.

However, unlike Sharma, which moved freely according to my gaze, trying to chase Korma’s speed with my eyes almost made my eyes explode. Not to mention, the weight of the blade itself was too heavy to receive at the speed it was flying at.

This must have been due to my inexperience, as evidenced by my low skill level. Fortunately, the more I use the skill, the more my proficiency and skill level increase. That was why I was training in the cargo space.

If I had to pick a moment when I felt my helplessness the most in the bloody battle against Lidornn, it was when Khea was at risk. In a situation in which I may have other people from this world as colleagues like Khea in the future, I had to have at least one ability to protect them in a risky spot.

I climbed back upstairs after spending the rest of all the mana I had left in me. I looked to enjoy the view of the night sky as it flowed beyond the window of the ship. 

The SkyLord was flying through the river of stars that could not even be compared to the one in real life. I stared at Khea who was sleeping on the chair next to the window.

Her books were lying on the floor of the cabin.

I looked at her as many thoughts crossed my mind. Then I pulled out a thick blanket and put it on top of her.

I took a seat next to her and looked at the quietly flowing night sky again.