Hall of Fame
The Tower of Battle God.
At the same time the trials of that place, which had brought despair to everyone, came to an end.
People, and players in particular, could not help but be greatly bewildered.
“T-The Hall of Fame......!”
“How many things were updated all at once?”
“My eyes aren’t deceiving me, right?”
The Hall of Fame, which scores and ranks people according to how they clear the main quests.
That place had been shaken up on a massive scale.
And it was not just one or two entries.
Main quests were being completed simultaneously, and in the same way, the lists of several halls had changed.
Something unprecedented that had never happened even once before.
It was the first time several lists had suddenly been “updated.”
And the names that had appeared there gave them an even greater shock.
“Why is Wilhelm in the Hall?!”
...... Because Wilhelm had appeared in the Hall of Fame.
《The rankings for “Main Quest 1 - Survival” are being updated.》
<1st place, 500 points. Wilhelm>
<2nd place, 300 points. Park Hyun-myung>
<3rd place, 220 points. Randolph>
<4th place, 210 points. Isabella>
<5th place, 205 points. Choi Gangnam>
.........
500 points.
An overwhelming difference in score, to the point it could not even be compared.
It was a score so high they could hardly believe it even while looking straight at it.
But it did not end there.
Wilhelm’s name continued to appear after that as well.
《The rankings for “Main Quest 2, Obtain Class” are being updated.》
<1st place, 300 points. Wilhelm>
<1st place, 300 points. Park Hyun-myung>
<3rd place, 230 points. Randolph>
<4th place, 198 points. Gracia>
<5th place, 195 points. Askandal>
<6th place, 190 points. Gillette>
.........
《The rankings for “Main Quest 3, Climb the Tower” are being updated.》
<1st place, 300 points. Wilhelm>
<2nd place, 280 points. Park Hyun-myung>
<3rd place, 240 points. Randolph>
<4th place, 219 points. Gracia>
<5th place, 191 points. Mintchocoisdelicious>
<6th place, 190 points. Askandal>
.........
From Main Quest 1, “Survival.”
His name had appeared in every existing Hall of Fame.
As though every achievement Wilhelm had experienced had been turned into points and permanently engraved there.
“Does this even make sense?”
“Then does that mean Wilhelm is a player?”
Everyone had no choice but to be puzzled.
Originally, the Hall of Fame was like a privilege belonging only to players.
It was a place where only players were registered and competed against one another.
Naturally, a non-player had never once placed their name there.
If so, did that mean Wilhelm was a player?
But if he had been a player, his name would have gone up in the Hall long ago.
There had to be a clear reason why he had been suddenly added as if through an update.
Only then were people able to understand the exact reason.
“Look more closely. It’s not only Wilhelm.”
“...... You’re right. Besides Wilhelm, there are a lot of names I’ve never seen before.”
“What in the world happened?”
Wilhelm’s name had caught their eyes first, so they had mistaken the situation.
Wilhelm was not the only name added to the Hall of Fame.
There were names they had never seen before, or names that felt somehow familiar yet strange.
Among the players who stared at the Hall for quite some time, some finally realized the identity of those names.
“...... No way, damn it! That’s the alt character I raised!”
“The alt characters were added to the Hall?”
They were none other than alt characters.
The names of the characters they had raised before becoming players.
Those alt characters had also completed the same main quests in the game, so it was not particularly strange that their names were naturally updated into the Hall.
But the real problem was that the Hall of Fame was no longer the exclusive domain of players alone.
The people of Pangaenia whom they had once raised in the past, but who had now broken free from their hands and regained their freedom.
In other words, the characters who had suffered from divine disease were now competing together with them.
“Then can the alt characters use the system too?”
“Things like the Golden Rule Shop or the Achievement Shop too?”
“...... If that’s true, isn’t that a huge problem?”
In Pangaenia, players are sinners.
It was already known to some extent that the alt characters players had raised in the game suffered from divine disease, causing them to lose their memories during the time they had been controlled.
And that was not all.
Those who had suffered from divine disease hated the players who had controlled them.
But unless they transcended, they could not find them, and even if they transcended, they could only learn fragmented information, so revenge was almost never carried out.
Moreover, since they were literally alt characters, there were not many cases where they were strong enough to threaten players.
But now, that was no longer the case.
If the alt characters had truly joined the ranks of the system.
Even if not all of them, if they could at least take only the advantages from things like the Hall of Fame.
...... Then the alt characters would grow much stronger, much faster.
Even right now, they would likely be able to obtain all the rewards that had been left piled up until now at once.
People were shaken.
There was not a single thing from beginning to end that was not bewildering.
And moreover.
“Park Hyun-myung...... What the hell is this guy?”
“...... Exactly. Those are scores on par with Wilhelm’s.”
“Where has he been, and what has he been doing?”
“He did climb the Tower of Battle God, right?”
“He cleared all the way through Main Quest 5 in one shot?”
Wilhelm’s appearance had been so shocking that it had briefly overshadowed everything else.
But Park Hyun-myung’s name was also appearing in the Hall of Fame, either on the same level as Wilhelm’s or very close behind him.
“Wilhelm has appeared, and Randolph is still alive......”
“They’re both alive, right? Only the living appear in the Hall of Fame.”
“Even so, those two are already beyond our hands.”
The Hall of Fame only displayed the names of living players.
The names of Randolph and Wilhelm were both still registered there as well.
Proof that both of them were alive.
But those two had already gone beyond the realm of players and become beings like gods.
Only one remained.
The one whom their hands could still barely reach.
“Find Park Hyun-myung!”
“Bring Park Hyun-myung here at once!”
...... It was Park Hyun-myung alone.
People began moving in a frenzy.
Because by now, he had to be somewhere on Earth.
*
“From now on, I will teach you the basics of spear techniques.”
The Empire’s vast training ground.
Raiga stood tall holding a spear as he spoke.
He still clearly looked ill, but even so, his condition was not something ordinary people could dare compare themselves to.
Whoosh!
The shaft of the spear pierced through empty air.
So fast that the resistance of the air itself could hardly be felt.
“They say the king of all weapons is the sword, but that is wrong. The spear is the easiest weapon to handle, and also the most powerful.”
“Then why do you use a sword?”
“Because in the end, the sword lies at the very end of that path. But that is still a distant realm for you, so for now, polish your spearmanship first.”
Raiga cast a glance toward the weapons displayed at the far end of the training ground.
It meant I was to bring one myself.
A gaze with no real expectations.
We had not even formally entered into the bond of master and disciple.
More than that, his intention to test my talent further was stronger.
Because the tournament had been impossible to conduct properly, he had no choice but to mark me as the winner, but he still had not become convinced.
Moreover, the current Raiga had no light left in him at all.
He was simply waiting for death day by day.
I shrugged and brought back a spear from the weapon rack.
‘I need the title of Raiga’s disciple, so there’s no helping it.’
To go to Adrium, the holy land of the Goddess Church, secure Sonora’s divine disease, and obtain the remaining fragment of the Spear of Longinus, I needed a much more certain status.
I have a strong desire to learn Raiga’s sword, but... in truth, what interests me most is the secret arts of the Eight Knight Order.
That is why I stayed.
There was no reason not to.
Of course, there were several other reasons as well.
For example...
‘... Wilhelm’s status was that of an imperial prince.’
Of this place, the Empire.
And yet he had been treated as a fake and cast out.
Somewhere here, there would be someone wearing Wilhelm’s face.
And that was probably...
‘One of the executives of the reaper church has taken Wilhelm’s place.’
It seemed I would need to dig much deeper into this Empire.
The cast-out prince, and the fake who took his place.
The birth of the fake, and the ultimate conspiracy and scheme behind it.
There is a deep darkness in the Empire.
I intended to dig into that darkness I still did not know, and learn more about Wilhelm.
For that reason as well, I absolutely needed the title of Raiga’s disciple.
“You will learn not only the spear, but all weapon techniques. It will not be easy, so give up if you wish to.”
“I will not give up.”
“Hm. Confidence is not bad. Then follow me.”
Whoosh!
Slowly, Raiga thrust the spear forward.
It was an exceedingly simple movement, but Raiga’s spear precisely read and pierced through the grain of the air and wind.
He was telling me to follow that principle.
Even though there was no way someone who had only just picked up a spear could imitate the perfect timing that even a master of the spear would struggle with.
Hoo.
I swallowed a breath and took my stance.
And then—
Whoosh!
*
Raiga was in thought.
About ending the Eight Knight Order in his own generation.
‘If it cannot be properly passed on, then perhaps it is right to end it.’
The destiny of the Eight Knight Order is to assist the emperor.
The Eight Knight Order exists solely for the emperor.
But the emperor had slept for a very long time, and the purpose of the Eight Knight Order had also become unclear.
Since the emperor was asleep, the true forces of the Eight Knight Order did not step forward either.
Only Raiga alone moved on the front lines.
Raiga alone.
Who had once been a slave.
And who, for that reason, had never received proper acknowledgment.
He had deep doubts about that.
Of course, it had not been that way from the beginning.
‘When I became the successor of the Eight Knight Order, there was a bloodbath.’
The previous master of the Eight Knight Order.
The man who had been his teacher.
He had sealed off the Eight Knight Order in order to make Raiga its successor.
The forces of the Eight Knight Order, unable to wage war against the successor, had retreated even deeper within, and now no longer showed themselves at all.
‘Can I make that kind of choice for this boy?’
Inwardly, he shook his head.
He did not think he could make the same bold decision as the previous master of the Eight Knight Order, his teacher.
The will to make someone the successor no matter what, even if it meant bringing a bloodbath.
He simply did not feel that kind of attachment or desire.
However, to accept him as a formal disciple would require the approval of the Eight Knight Order.
That was the rule.
So if he was to bring this boy to the sealed Eight Knight Order and receive their approval, then he too had to be certain.
And in truth, he hesitated to some extent.
After all, he himself was dying.
‘... His stance is awkward.’
Raiga let out a sigh inwardly.
The way he held the spear really looked like someone touching a spear for the first time.
It seemed as though he only intended to swing it in the most basic way.
With no expectations at all, Raiga watched him.
And then—
Whoosh!
The spear swung.
Just as with his stance, it was a spear swing that looked completely unrefined.
“......”
But Raiga could not say a word.
... Because it had been precise.
That strike of the spear, driven out after reading the grain of the wind.
That spacing of the spear, extending so smoothly without resistance.
Yet the use of every weapon is bound to differ according to the weapon.
Just because one had mastered the sword did not mean one could know the timing of the spear perfectly.
And yet, it was not merely to that degree.
The subtle principle contained in the spear he had just swung—
“... Have you ever learned the spear from someone?”
“No.”
“...... Next is the blade.”
Raiga brought not a sword from the display, but a blade.
Blade.
A weapon sharpened along only one side of its edge.
It was different from a sword, which could cut with both sides.
They looked similar, but the blade was a weapon that maximized cutting power.
Swoosh!
He cut downward heavily.
Unlike the lightly moving spear, it cut through the wind with weight.
And then the grain of the wind changed.
An even more advanced technique.
Likewise, just because one handled the spear well did not mean one could handle the blade well.
Hyun of the city of Adrium.
The one who brought a single blade from the display.
Swoosh!
Swung it, and cut through the wind.
And yet, once again, it was the same.
“......”
... He had not merely cut the wind.
Raiga’s eyes trembled violently.
Just now, this boy—
‘...... Cut me.’
For an instant, he had cut Raiga.
He had found the grain of the wind Raiga had cut, and split it with perfect precision.
This went beyond merely cutting the wind; it was a technique several dimensions more difficult.
And he had done it instinctively, through pure intuition.
But Raiga could not understand it.
He had grasped his movement simply by watching it once, and then taken it one step further?
If that were true, then it meant—
‘...... Absurd.’
... It meant that his talent surpassed even Raiga’s own.
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