Chapter 46
"You are…"
-You are???
-Oh lololololol
-Streamer, you're just swinging a sword, so why is it so cool? lololol
-For real, the scent of a master is there
-So what's the result?
[You are now a member of the Demonic Cult.]
"You seem to be someone I cannot carelessly evaluate."
Baek Wigang, an elder of the Demonic Cult, put his hands behind his back and turned to look into the distance.
When Seojun followed his gaze, he saw a single pavilion, the tallest of them all.
"To think there is already an outsider who has entered the ranks of Grandmaster. This is a first."
Baek Wigang finished speaking.
[You have obtained the title of Grandmaster.]
[From now on, you will receive treatment equal to that of the elders in the Demonic Cult. Those belonging to the Demonic Cult will look up to you.]
[You have obtained trait points.]
.
.
.
-WTF
-Grandmaster? Something like that exists?
-I'm an old-timer, but this is the first time seeing it.
-Not Supreme Peak or Flowering Realm, but Grandmaster? That's insane, really.
-What's a Grandmaster?
-Grandmaster is a realm where you can create new martial arts. People like Bodhidharma of Shaolin or Zhang Sanfeng of Wudang lol
He has a discerning eye.
Seojun was satisfied as he read the explanation of the title.
It seemed to be a title that would grant him treatment higher than anyone else's, at least within the Demonic Cult.
Judging from the description, if you were evaluated as a low rank like Third-Rate or Second-Rate, you would start with fewer goods and trait points obtainable through the game, and the NPCs' treatment in the Demonic Cult would be poor.
Grandmaster was the exact opposite of that.
"Did you see? This is the Heavenly Demon's Sword."
-Crazy
-I'm seriously seeing that for the first time
-No, why are you so good at martial arts too!!!
-Why did someone following that guide become Second-Rate and someone else Grandmaster? What's different??
-Well, something's definitely different. If you can't feel it, you're at least Bronze, for real lol
-STFU
Seojun liked the fact that he started with all the points needed to assign traits.
"Heavenly Demon-nim, what rank did you get?"
As he came down from the sparring platform, the Swordsman asked.
"It says Grandmaster. Doesn't it show next to my nickname?"
"Ah, the title? You have to set it to display yourself."
"Really? Ah, then what about your title, Swordsman-nim?"
Seojun looked above the Swordsman's head.
"Yes. I set it myself."
Wasn't he supposed to be embarrassed?
What an unpredictable person.
"But Seojun-nim. If it's Grandmaster, how high is that? I didn't see it in the guide I looked at yesterday."
"Hmm... They say it's a rank that's appearing for the first time right now."
"Wow... Is it above Supreme Peak?"
It was known that the titles Baek Wigang gave out went as high as Third-Rate, Second-Rate, First-Rate, Supreme, and Supreme Peak.
At least until today, that is.
"Didn't we do the exact same thing? How on earth did you do it?"
"Shall I tell you?"
There was still some time left anyway.
The battlefield opened for exactly three hours, from 7 PM to 10 PM.
The current time was 6:30 PM.
"Yes! I want to be at least First-Rate. I really mean it."
-Professor! Please help! lol
-Seriously, how did he do it...
-The Streamer is suspiciously good at martial arts
-And unexpectedly, he's always been serious about wuxia
-Does reading wuxia novels improve your martial arts skills too?
-As if that would work lol
'If I just casually correct his stance for 30 minutes... No.'
Suddenly, a fun idea came to him.
"Or would you rather I teach you swordsmanship? A little bit every day."
"That's even better! I know your skills, Heavenly Demon-nim. And on top of that, you even got a new title."
"Really?"
"Yes!"
"For real?"
"Yes!"
"I can promise you one thing: your skills will definitely improve."
"Ohhhhh!!!"
"In exchange, you absolutely must not run away."
"Got it! ...Huh?"
He's hooked.
"You answered already."
With this, I've secured content to warm up the broadcast while playing For the Sake of the Faction.
-???
-The atmosphere suddenly turned weird.
-How chilling. There's a dagger in my heart...
-He says he'll teach you, but why does the Streamer's face look so wicked lol
"Uh... Seojun-nim?"
The Swordsman seemed to have noticed something strange as well.
"Yes?"
"How exactly are you going to teach me..."
"Ah. Don't worry about that."
They are all carefully selected and verified teachings.
How many prodigies of the orthodox sects had wished for his guidance?
Of course, even those prodigies completely changed their attitude after training and some secretly ran away, but wasn't the effect undeniable anyway?
"It can't be that it's hard, right?"
Even if it's hard, you'll just have to take it.
It's the teaching of the Sword God himself, for crying out loud!
This is tricky. I can't even reveal my identity.
"First of all, Swordsman-nim."
"...Yes."
"Do you think you can improve your skills while taking it easy?"
"Of course not."
"Right?"
"Yes."
Indeed.
There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
Even those who seem to have ascended realms in a single moment of enlightenment have passed through countless times of frustration, blocked by a wall.
A single word from him can't change anything.
In the end, what's needed is effort.
And not just any effort—greater effort!
"And think about it. You, Swordsman-nim, become a master and subdue an enemy in just one move. Then you look down at them and say..."
"Say what?"
Gulp.
The Swordsman's Adam's apple moved.
Seojun watched this and slowly said:
"This Lord finds your vessel far too lacking to receive my sword."
-Cringey cringe
-As if that'll work lololol
-How is the bait just a concept play? lolololololololol
-Stop messing with the poor guy lol
Seojun's face, which had worn the most solemn expression possible, returned to normal.
Then he gave the Swordsman a look that asked, 'How about that?'
The result was:
"That would be so freaking cool!"
As expected, this person is just so pure.
"Right? You saw what I did yesterday, didn't you?"
"Honestly, I was envious."
The Swordsman nodded.
-That actually works??
-stay......
-Well, he might actually teach him well
-Yeah, right. After watching the stream so far, you still don't get it? The biggest villain here is the Streamer
-For real lol
Sigh.
Seojun sighed inwardly.
Originally, there would have been no need to persuade him like this.
He could have just said "You, come out," and then immediately thrown him off a cliff like a lion.
'In the old days, whether you were the child of a prestigious family or a promising prodigy, I provided the same equal education. I guess I'll have to make an exception this time.'
There wasn't even a suitable cliff in sight right now.
"First, Swordsman-nim. You can spare three hours every day for training, right?"
"Yes, well. Finals are over. My schedule is wide open!"
"Are you a university student?"
"Yes!"
That's even better.
"Then I'll teach you with the long term in view. How's that?"
"Great!"
"Then, first of all, log onto the Surface site and do all the recommended exercise courses. It should take about two hours a day."
The exercises recommended by Surface for virtual reality were ones related to body balance.
Squats, standing on one leg, weight shifting, yoga, Pilates, and so on.
"Huh? Why that?"
The Swordsman looked bewildered.
"For the fundamentals, obviously. Didn't you hear what Baek Wigang said earlier?"
"He said my fundamentals were lacking."
"That's right. But fundamentals are both important and not some grand secret. It's the basics."
And the method for building the basics is simple and mostly known.
The problem is it's obvious, tedious...
It's by solidifying those obvious, tedious, seemingly unrewarding basics that skills improve.
"Seojun-nim, aren't those the exercises people say are good for increasing synchronization rate?"
"In virtual reality, that is the basics."
"Ah, you're right."
That basic foundation will soon become his fundamentals.
-Oh lolololol
-That makes sense
-I've learned something once again from a newbie who hasn't been in virtual reality for long...
I heard it from Lee Dong-soo.
Even the pros do the exercises recommended by Surface every day.
In virtual reality, the body's sensory organs aren't used.
'So, paradoxically, you have to train your real-life sensory organs. It was fascinating.'
To maximize synchronization rate, pros train their bodies to narrow the gap with virtual reality sensations, reducing the sense of dissonance with the brain by even a little.
Since signals in virtual reality are mostly more extreme than those in reality.
Of course, synchronization rate only increases by a tiny amount.
The reason Surface recommends those exercises is for health.
Seojun was only recommending them as a way to build a foundation.
"Understood. I'll go do them!"
"Make sure to do them in reality. It's better to accumulate combat experience in virtual reality. It's not like you're going to fight anything in reality, anyway. But moving your body is different."
To be honest, I'm not sure if exercising in reality is better for skills rather than just health.
It's just that athletes, and especially Seojun himself, move well in reality and similarly well in virtual reality?
So the only reason he told the Swordsman to exercise in reality was one.
That way, it's tough.
Training should be, as a rule, tough.
-But where did the Streamer even build up combat experience?
-Isn't he the heir of an organization?
-He's the heir of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
-So he really was from the martial world lololol
Homework was taken care of.
From now on, I'll call him out every broadcast and use him to kill some time.
* * *
"Hmm, now let's set up the traits."
The Swordsman had already logged out to go exercise, as Seojun had assigned.
After that, Seojun came down from the mountain to join the game, headed to the center of the village, and settled in.
Opening the trait window revealed a complex-looking screen connected like a tree.
And floating at the top: 30 trait points.
The maximum number of trait points obtainable.
Now, I just had to distribute these well to create a build, or so they said.
"Whew, this is complicated."
Even if you chose other sub-factions, you still had to assign traits, but since the Demonic Cult had no sub-factions, the traits were particularly numerous and complicated.
From minor traits that slightly increase movement speed in special situations, all the way to core traits that allow you to use martial arts.
Considering the combinations, there seemed to be countless possibilities.
-Go for the Blood Cult meta. I want to see that.
-Why are you recommending a tank?
-What suits the Heavenly Demon is naturally the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
-For real, you guys know nothing lol. For Demonic Cult, it's heavy sword, no contest.
-Heavy sword, my ass
-Lolololol look at them fighting
Even though he didn't ask for recommendations, people started giving them.
"You guys, do you really think I came here without looking into this stuff?"
-Yes
-Ye
-Of course
-<<
The viewers' distrust of the streamer is serious.
However, Seojun really did have a trait setup in mind.
Build.
A term in gaming referring to the combination of various equipment and trait settings.
In For the Sake of the Faction, the core of any build was to set up traits centered around the key martial art.
Seojun began to read the descriptions of countless traits and started selecting them.
-Is he really going to do that???
-Heavenly Demon? Heavenly Demon? Heavenly Demon? Heavenly Demon?
-Why a tank, of all things lol
-Blood Cult meta, let's go
As Seojun allocated traits, the outline he was drawing became clear, and the viewers caught on.
But as he assigned more and more crucial traits, the reactions changed.
-What's this?
-Wasn't this the Blood Cult meta? Why is he taking that?
-Was there a build like that?
-Streamer......
-If you do that, you can't be a tank lololololololol
-Starting with the nonsense again, huh
"Phew."
Seojun finally took the core trait.
It was the Absorption Great Technique.
Since the Absorption Great Technique was originally a martial art that absorbed the opponent's internal energy, in For the Sake of the Faction, it was designed as a martial art that could replenish health when attacking enemies.
Thus, it was used in a tank build because you could endure for a long time in battle, and the sight of you recovering health earned it the nickname Blood Cult.
But the reason the viewers were reacting like this was...
-Um... if you only took sub-traits related to damage, you won't be able to hold out...
-Please stop doing this
-Uncomfortable hehe
-I knew this would happen lolololololololol
-(Site link) Look at this and change it, Streamer
The build he finally completed was completely detached from the existing tank builds.
In the first place, altering traits optimized by old-timers over hundreds or thousands of matches is an inefficient thing to do.
But.
"I'm not changing it. This is way better. You're not a Grandmaster."
-You're not a Grandmaster!
-For real lol
-Streamer, just do whatever you want lololol
-The words of the Grandmaster-nim are all correct.
And.
"Time's up. I have no choice now."
It's 7 o'clock.
With light steps, Seojun walked inside to start the game.
The Battlefield mode had been added to the game.
"Well, we'll find out who's right once we play a few games."
Surely he wouldn't do this if he planned to lose.
If he fails, he becomes a magical girl.