Chapter 13

“As a man who stood on my own two feet, I command…”

Ark, a young man wearing leather armor, recited calmly in a low voice in front of a large cave. He was performing Spell Casting, a magical language for aggression, toward the empty space inside the large underground chamber. Suddenly, something strange happened.

Whoosh––!

A shimmering, three-meter wide magic circle rose in the innermost part of the cave. It began to swirl in the air and changed into a sphere. Shortly after, the round solid figure disappeared after spitting out a Lizard Lancer that had a pair of 1.5-meter long spears on its head.

“GRRRRL…”

The creature then prepared for combat. Unlike the other games, the recognition system in D.I.O.[1] started immediately when the monster found a user. Thus, no matter how far away the user was standing from the monster, the creature in D.I.O. would identify the player as an enemy the moment the person entered its sight.

The programmers of this game didn’t make the monster’s AI that simple, so the creature wouldn’t just pounce on the players right after recognition, but once the monster perceived its surrounding enemies, users found it very difficult to raid. Thus, a perfect hiding skill or an imperceptible, long-distance attacking skill was necessary for the users when they encountered a monster.

“Whoa, so this one is Level 7, right? Will you be okay, Ark? He’s two levels higher than you.”

Surprisingly, a talking cat was sitting behind Ark. She was Elley, a Russian Blue with green eyes and blue-black hair. Ark stopped casting the spell and grumbled, “It doesn’t matter, but.. hmm… the Regen[2] time is definitely random. Earlier, the monster appeared very late, but now it came out too fast when I still have about five minutes of Spell Casting left.”

“GRRRLL…”

The Lizard Lancer held two javelins with its arms crossed and carefully approached Ark.

Elley uttered, “Why don’t you keep casting the spell, instead of complaining about it?”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Ark grumbled, then began to continue reciting the spells again from the part he had stopped.

“KRRR!”

The Lizard Lancer threw the left spear, being aware of what Spell Casting was. The creature knew it was bound to be at risk when the Spell Casting was over, whereas the user was in a defenseless state during the incantation.

Pow!

However, Ark avoided the spearhead and penetrated deep into the lizard man to strike a Counter Blow.

The Lizard Lancer stumbled from the unexpected attack. It never imagined that Ark would throw a punch in the middle of Spell Casting, but the monster quickly overcame the blow and thrust the right spear.

This humanoid-like reptilian was approximately five times stronger than a grownup man and had shield-like, protective skin. Plus, this one was a [Warrior] level Lizard Lancer that skillfully used some weapons and learned mana. So although Ark’s punch was beyond human force, it wasn’t enough to knock down this lizard man.

Wham!

Unfortunately, Lizard Lancer’s spear couldn’t pierce into Ark’s leather armor. The monster hesitated at the unanticipated situation. Ark took this opportunity and quickly struck the lizard man on both sides, which was a perfect Combination Blow done in a breath.

SWOUF!

“Flames become rage, storm into despair.” Ark continued casting the spell nonchalantly while throwing a combination blow at the Lizard Lancer.

Reddening its eyes, the monster stared at Ark, but all it could see was Ark’s pupils revealed through the hooded cloak.

BAM! PAF! ZWOUP!

The two slugged it out. The man punched the lizard man, chanting the spell. Meanwhile, the Lizard Lancer was striking Ark with two spears as it realized that the weapons wouldn’t pierce into his body.

“Hmm, if things keep going this way, you’ll lose in a minute. Don’t you need any help?” asked Elley.

Ark replied, “I can sustain. Your attack has a four hours cooldown, so I don’t want to waste it now.”

“But you will die since you are two levels lower than the monster and even getting more damaged from this fight.”

Elley was right. Wearing the leather garment concealed how severely wounded Ark was. In fact, his status was already ‘Serious Injury.’ The tough leather armor might have prevented Ark from being stabbed, but the Lizard Lancer had brutally injured him.

THUD!

When Ark bent back to avoid the spear, a giant stalactite behind him broke into pieces in an instant. The monster’s force was definitely impossible for humans to exert at the same level.

Gradually, Ark felt his body becoming heavier and fighting was getting increasingly difficult. However, his eyes still glowed cold-heartedly, and he looked for the chance to counterattack. At that moment…

ZWOUP!

Having narrowly escaped from the thrown spear, Ark shot himself to the Lizard Lancer, then brought his fist down violently to the monster.

PAF!

When his Jolt Counter directly struck the lizard man’s chin, the monster became groggy and was about to collapse. The creature couldn’t stay utterly unharmed against the brain-striking counter.

There was now a three-meter distance between Ark and the monster, and Ark’s body began to spin around faster. Loading all his weight to his fist, Ark kicked the Lizard Lancer on its head; it was the Round Kick in Taekwondo.

Crack!

The heavy attack blew the lizard man about two meters away and made it crash on the cave wall. The monster collapsed on the ground, but it still wielded the two spears since it was concerned about any additional attacks.

Ark, on the other hand, continued casting the spell, instead of striking another blow.

“It’s the way of the explosion, so now I set you free.”

Ping!

With a small explosive sound, the magic circle in his right hand beamed. His leather gloves made it invisible, but Ark realized that the spell was finally completed.

Elley said, “It’s done.”

“Okay,” Ark quietly murmured, then jumped into the Lizard Lancer who had straightened up to attack Ark.

Ark grabbed the spear, but he was dragged by the heavier and stronger monster. Still, it didn’t matter to him since Ark intended to get close to the enemy.

Whack!

The monster’s other spear hit Ark on the neck, but Ark endured the pain and pulled the lizard man so he could jump into the creature’s arms. Holding that position, Ark put his right fist on the monster’s chest, then…

“Flame Buster, Part One.”

With a click, his magical power speeded up to create an explosion. The prepared technique began to operate; his magical power was rearranged according to the laws. Soon, there was a sudden burst of energy.

“Magnum.”

Boom!

With a booming noise, Lizard Lancer’s upper body shattered into pieces. It looked dreadful as if the monster was hit by a high-speed train, but shortly after, the lizard man disappeared and the two spears fell to the ground.

Ark groaned, “… Spears, again? Geez, when does the warrior crest come out as a Drop?”

“But you’re earning a lot of EXPs, right? It also helps you to gain battle experience,” replied Elley.

“That’s why I’m still holding out here. I also started to see the trajectory of the spear moving.”

Ark then sat on the ground in a half-lotus to perform the No Thoughts Gold Strong Technique, which enabled the user to endure all kinds of attacks.

“What if the lizard man regenerates while you’re moving your internal energy?” asked Elley.

Ark snorted, “Show your lethal moves to the monster and wake me up afterward. It takes less than five minutes to pause this performance since the No Thoughts Gold Strong Technique is a self-defense technique.”

“Alright, then good night, Master.”

“I’m not sleeping!” Ark grumbled. He closed his eyes, then began to circulate his qi.

Elley watched him for a moment, then murmured, “Wow, he’s such a diehard. It’s true that the Blackyak Sect has absolute stability against the outside world, but how could he cast a spell while having a brutal hand-to-hand fight?”

In addition, Ark was increasing his abilities as a mage and member of the Wulin at tremendous speed. He only spent a month in the world of D.I.O., but Ark could already control his internal energy as he wanted to and recite the Level 7 spell very fluently. Even though users became exceptional in this virtual world, the speed of Ark’s development was surprising.

Plus, he quickly adapted to the Blackyak Sect and was capable of designing a one-hour length Spell Casting. If the monster’s Regen time took longer, Ark could successfully perform a Level 3 spell.

Elley uttered, “Is he the so-called genius or a brilliant hardworking man? Anyway, I could achieve my goal faster than others then.”

Grinning in satisfaction, Elley, Ark’s pet[3] sat in a comfortable position, then began to keep a lookout.

***The Passionate Genius***

He who is a natural genius can’t win against he who works hard, and he who works hard can’t win against the one who enjoys the process.

However, this saying had a big flaw. Being a genius was an innate talent, whereas working hard and enjoying the process was an acquired attitude. Thus, how could we judge them in the same line? What if there was a hard-working or passionate genius?

To all ordinary human beings, I advise you to remember that there’s someone in this world who can catch up within a day with what you’ve established over a decade. It is…

It is the space. I am standing in the middle of the pitch-black space. All I see is darkness, then a dot of light appears.

Yongno continued exploring his world in his mind.

Pop!

It was the sun, the source of light that blazed and brightened everything; it also pulled things toward it by exerting gravitational force.

WOOOOHHH…!

But it stopped. Yongno was definitely perceiving the infinite world within him, but it was somehow not fully under his control. There was a limit in the space where his power couldn’t reach; the restricted area seemed like a huge room in his eyes.

So this is the level cap[4].

The actual figure wouldn’t look like this room since it was just his imaginative space.

It seems hard to break through.

Yongno instinctively noticed that it was useless to put his effort into moving forward in this room. As he had come to think of it, that was how the system of D.I.O. worked; so as long as he was a player in this game, he couldn’t break through this space.

Hmm~ but since I started doing this thing, it makes me feel bad to just stop here. It also seems hard to enter this place again.

Yongno had already finished processing the qi gathered by performing the Dark Northsea Divine Technique into the internal martial arts of the Gold Core Immortal Technique. If there wasn’t a level cap, Yongno could have absorbed 1 cycle of internal energy, i.e. 120 points, or perhaps more than 2 cycles of internal energy. However, due to the level cap, Yongno could only absorb 30 points of qi. In other words, the narrow limit didn’t allow him to widen his stats.

Still, it’s too limited and small. Something else seems to take up this space…

Yongno broadened his senses and searched for the other energy occupying him. Shortly after, he could simply find what it was since it wasn’t hidden energy.

Clank.

It was a heavily chained-up huge lump of light. Yongno realized that it belonged to the 20 points of 50 spiritual power points and was the unattributed basic spiritual power.

I see, so is this how the image of unchosen, unusable spiritual power looks?

Yongno tried to move the locked-up light, but it didn’t move an inch. The beaming spiritual power was indeed his, but it wasn’t accessible to him yet.

Woooong.

But then he tilted his head in wonder. Eh? I think I can break through this one!

When Yongno performed the Gold Core Immortal Technique, the spiritual force before his eyes reacted. It encouraged him to overcome this situation since Yongno had more spiritual power than the sealed one in front of him. His qi also seemed to lean toward the bigger and higher purity one like osmotic pressure.

Okay! I don’t need to struggle to break through the room since the goal here is to just pull out the spiritual power inside it to me.

Yongno smiled satisfyingly—but of course, he remained expressionless and didn’t make any sounds in his imaginative, inner world—and soon returned to his work.

1. The process of a monster judging a user as an enemy ☜

2. Regeneration of dead monsters in online games ☜

3. A pet that follows and helps a character in a game ☜

4. The maximum reachable level of the player character in games ☜