Part 2. One in a Thousand (4)
Is it acceptable for a game system to control human emotions?
It was a question that had served as a hot topic in the project for some time.
It was an extremely sensitive, yet intriguing question. After all, it concerned whether it was okay for others to just mess with one's feelings.
The first to raise the issue were human rights organizations.
The scholars from these organizations laid out unnecessarily complicated arguments:
"Human emotions and subjective feelings must be accepted as they are; they ought not be controlled by external intervention."
In short, it boiled down to: *I'll feel however I want! Don't you dare tell me what to do!*
They had a point.
If a game system touched emotions, roughly three problems arose:
1. Narcotic nature — Seeking only what feels good dulls human emotions.
2. Addictiveness — The habituation from point 1 leads to game addiction.
3. Loss of reality — Vividly manipulated emotions make one unable to distinguish between reality and the virtual.
These were the three.
However, as technology advanced, the three problems were automatically resolved.
"For example, let's say I hunt a goblin in a game. Cutting through a goblin's body—its skin and bones—with a sword. Without any external intervention in emotions, one's mind would collapse instead. This is precisely what turns an ordinary person into a murderer."
"But, if at such a time the game system does not erase the shock to their minds, but rather filters it, the user can feel in that situation that killing something is not because it isn't cruel, but because they are using the game system. In the end, this 'game system' will healthily resolve the fundamental violent desires in the human heart."
This was the game company's position.
"Furthermore, we can make vast content deeply moving. Even catching a fish while fishing need not be a mere 'Wow, nice,' but can deliver an overwhelming, heart-swelling emotion to the gamer. As for addictiveness, it can be resolved by addressing the sense of deficiency. Everything shall be proven by technology."
It was the same principle as MSG.
The taste remained the same, but it passed through a single filter.
What one worked hard for would be granted a great sense of reward,
while parts that caused rejection or suffering were made less intense than in reality.
In the end, after technological advancement and countless studies, emotion regulation within virtual reality settled into place just like that.
"Done! Now we can legally implement
After the meeting ended, the engineering geeks were apparently ecstatic.
...The reason Ted, despite being confused by the drug, still followed Cheon Gyeong-u's will was precisely that.
"Enhance! Enhance! Enhaaaance!"
"Ooh! Ooh! Wooooh!"
Ted and Brahman continued to hand the enhancement back and forth.
Ted, already intoxicated by the drug, and Brahman, intoxicated by excitement, were not in their right minds.
Failure? They knew no such thing.
Success? Honestly, they didn't care much about that either.
If only they could continue feeling this ecstasy...!
They fell into a trance, becoming one with everything, and attempted enhancements continuously. The world was spinning round and round around them.
Amid this relentless chain of enhancements, the 10% probability began to hit consecutively.
Flash—! Flash—! Flash—! Flash—! Flash—! Flash—!
With each successful Soul Imprint, new souls burst into the air.
+11. A level 700 high-rank demonkin burst out.
+12. Level 750. The Beast King
+13. A level 800 highest-rank demonkin burst out.
+14. Level 850. The Fire Spirit King
+15. Level 890.
+16. Level 910. The last warrior of the
+17. Level 930. The Silver Dragon,
+18. Level 970. The first ruler of the Red North Ocean, the Sea Emperor who had put an end to a nameless combat race.
All of these were named monsters or characters appearing in the mythology of the game released by the company.
By then,
Although they appeared only to vanish each time before even thirty seconds passed, the imposing presence displayed by the transcendent monstrosities of level 800 and above was immense.
When Ifrit appeared, the village was completely burned down.
When Sekwaian appeared, the scorched mountain village was covered in trees.
When Posira—Khan burst out, everything except the blacksmith shop was swept away by waves and vanished.
Level 800 and above... that was truly a level that brought calamity!
"+18? Not enough! Do the enhancement properly, Brahman!"
However, Ted continued enhancing without a care for his surroundings.
....
The ten-minute drug effect had not yet worn off.
Without even looking at the +18 weapon, Ted handed it to Brahman.
"Hehehe... Excellent! I am going!"
"This is the last one!"
"Ooooooh!"
With everything swept away by the waves, the blacksmith shop now held only hammer and anvil.
There, Brahman began to swing his hammer again.
No one could comprehend the principle at work. He swung his hammer at a musket that hadn't even been disassembled, and the musket disassembled in mid-air, emitting light on its own.
But for some reason,
at some point, the disassembled musket exploded in mid-air.
The white light that had come to Ted all this time did not appear.
It was a failure.
The musket, now scrap, fell to the ground.
"Kaaaaaaack!!"
At that moment, Ted let out a scream as if his throat were tearing, collapsed, and tore at his hair.
"No! Nooo!! Damn it! What kind of weapon is this! Hey!! You hammer-wielding bastard!"
Soon, Ted, who had thrown himself to the ground and was wailing, rushed at Brahman.
And grabbing him by the collar, began shaking him violently.
"Give it back! Damn it! Give me back my musket! I'll really kill you! Uwaaaaack!"
* * *
'Hm? What is this?'
Brahman, who had become a free-will NPC.
From the moment he began enhancing Ted's musket, a small change had occurred within him.
First, complex thoughts that he normally could not have became possible.
The
As if he had always been that way, he naturally continued his thoughts.
'Hmm! Did I truly succeed in Soul Imprinting a unique weapon five consecutive times? To succeed in such a great enhancement—no wonder I'm thinking more than usual. Ah, but what is this power!'
He felt a rich aura of blessing welling up from within his body.
Internal energy had been born inside him.
Upon succeeding at +5, it filled up satisfactorily.
Upon succeeding at +7, it spread throughout every corner of his body.
When he succeeded at +9, it enveloped his entire body from the outside.
Amid the repeated enhancements, it gradually made Brahman's body sturdier, and at the same time, opened Brahman's mind.
'I can see! I can see how to enhance more efficiently, more successfully!'
Brahman felt internal energy like an erupting volcano.
It was what outsiders commonly called 'EXP.'
The feeling of internal energy filling his entire body to the brim.
It was an emotion he had never once felt in his life until now.
The feeling of the heavens pouring down and the entire sea rushing in.
'Quenching, firing. In truth, none of that is needed. If only I have a single hammer, Soul Imprint is sufficient.'
As the enhancement count stacked ever higher, the EXP exploding within his body was transforming him into a master craftsman.
1 / 10,000,000,000,000,000,000
An absurd probability had caused an absurd amount of EXP.
An enormous quantity of EXP began to burrow into his body.
It was something no one could accept if they saw it. It was so immense that it could shatter the
However, the miracle of an astronomical probability that actually occurred before his eyes made it possible.
'Ugh, but I've hit a wall. What in the world is this wall!'
The internal energy that had been continuously rising began to float around him without being absorbed.
The stagnation of internal energy Brahman felt was when the +18 enhancement succeeded.
'Hmm! What is the cause! Is there some problem that has made me stop here!'
By the narrowest of margins, he was failing to become
If only one certain thing were fulfilled, he would cross that wall and become
But then,
the +19 enhancement failed with a clunk.
And at that moment. The tremendous EXP that had been churning through his entire body began to circulate like a bursting dam.
'Aah. What I lacked was failure! Because I kept succeeding, I could not gain enlightenment about failure. A great failure has finally broken my wall!'
Brahman looked down at Ted, who was grabbing his collar and shaking him wildly, with languid eyes.
Soon, light began to rise from the ground around him, drawing a distinct cylindrical pillar as it ascended to the heavens.
Level 1,000 blacksmith.
It was the moment a God of Blacksmiths unprecedented in history was recognized by the system.
"Outsider. Benefactor of fortune. My thanks. Because of you, I have now seen the end of a craftsman before the flames and the scythe. I have come to gaze upon the end of the great blacksmith's craft."
Even then, Ted was holding the broken remains and striking Brahman's chest while crying. The reason it was not the head was because Brahman's height had suddenly shot past two meters.
"What? You dog-headed bastard! Are you showing off that you hit the jackpot all by yourself right now?! After you busted my weapon, you're feeling high and mighty speeding down the highway at supersonic speed all alone... Huh...?"
Ted's mind returned as the drug effect ended.
Having come to his senses, he looked again at the name floating above Blacksmith Brahman's head.
Something truly unimaginable entered his eyes.
To attach the name Master to a single field, one absolutely had to hit the game's level cap of 1,000.
A peak level that not a single user had yet reached.
But now. The ordinary NPC before his eyes was bearing the name Master.
"What are you... What the hell just happened to you?"
Brahman did not answer that. He simply shook his head.
And he snatched the remains of the musket clutched in Ted's hand.
"Upon ascending to Master, I gained several abilities. Among them was a very rare treasure. I have become able to breathe life into what I failed with my own hands and restore it. Additionally, I can make what I restore even stronger by one stage."
Brahman gripped his hammer and raised it to the sky.
Rumble—! Crash crash!!
Soon, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky and struck the hammer.
At the same time, wind whirled around Brahman, creating a tornado.
"However... even as a Master, such authority is not something I can wield without consequence. To restore what has been destroyed. That goes against the flow of nature, a domain reserved for gods alone... I do not know if such a miracle will occur twice in my lifetime."
Boooooom!
Soon, Brahman brought the hammer down upon the remains of the musket.