《Path to Immortality》 Chapter 1 - Neuro Gear. Yim Ji Sub was sprawled out lazily on the sofa, watching a TV show with a bored expression. After ten minutes of viewing the show, he abruptly stood up to a sitting position and started to mess with his own hair. ¡°GAAAAAHHH!! I¡¯m so damn bored. Isn¡¯t there something fun to do?!¡± He had just graduated from high school three month ago. For the first month he had been so excited and hung out with friends late into the night. As time went on, though, they would end of going up home sooner and sooner, while less and less people started to come out. After that first month, they didn¡¯t even meet every day anymore and they now mostly spent their times lazing about. ¡°Damn it, should I have just gone to college right away?!¡± It was particularly worse for Ji Sub. During his high school senior year, he had made a deal with his parents. If he was able to remain in the top twenty percentile grade wise within South Korea and he was able to win the Tae Kwon Do high school competition, his parents would allow him to take a year break before he went to college. Even though he wasn¡¯t nearly as smart or hardworking as those geniuses throughout the nation, he still thought he had a pretty good head, and with a lot of effort, he was able to be in the top twenty percentile for high school seniors test wise. Tae Kwon Do, on the other hand, had always been his passion since a young age. With his father being a Tae Kwon Do instructor, he began training at a young age and found out that he excelled in it. With his father¡¯s strict training and his own meticulous and persistent drive, he ended up being the champion of the nationwide high school Tae Kwon Do competition for the last two years. After he won the last Tae Kwon Do competition though, he finally started to feel tired. The reason wasn¡¯t because he trained for so many years or it was too taxing on his body, but because the matches began to become dull. He had trained so hard and possessed enough talent where he wasn¡¯t able to find anyone who could excite him during a match anymore. With the loss of excitement, training started to become dull and he slowly stopped practicing, much to the annoyance of his father. With no friends to hang out with and no practice, he simply had too much time on his hand now. At first he tried to fill the gap with books. After he had finished reading all the books he was interested in, he even began to try playing games. Still, that too quickly grew boring and now he was at the state where almost nothing was entertaining. As he was contemplating what he should try now to fill up his time, a new TV section came on. ¡°Hello everyone, this Park So Young. For today¡¯s section, I have the great pleasure of introducing everyone to the lead developer of Path to Immortality, Park Ji Sung! Welcome to the show, Park Ji Sung nim.¡± ¡°I¡¯m honored to be here Ms. Park So Young.¡± ¡°Park Ji Sung nim, I¡¯m going to get to the point right away. As I¡¯m sure everyone viewing the show is curious about this, could you please explain the details about the new technology that your company is about to release?¡± ¡°It would be my pleasure. As everyone is aware, Path of Immortals will be our, Immortal Phoenix¡¯s, launch game for our new technology, Neuro gear. For those who are not aware, Neuro gear is the highest technological system for virtual reality. Unlike its predecessor, Nerve set, Neuro gear allows for ninety five percent realism within virtual reality. Instead of those head gear sets that move along with the head movement, the Neuro gear synchronizes with your body and sends your consciousness into the virtual world. With this new technology, people will be able to not only see and hear, but also taste and feel everything in the game. Also, there is almost no lag between the movements of the user¡¯s avatar with their thoughts, it¡¯ll feel just as though you were moving your own body in the real world.¡± ¡°Wow that sounds so futuristic and unreal, Park Ji Sung nim. How were you guys at Immortal Phoenix, able to create such amazing technology?¡± ¡°We, at Immortal Phoenix, recruited scientists who were at the top of the study of Neurology to the company so that they would research the idea. Due to their vigilance, the scientist were able to make a breakthrough into the new study and bring about this new amazing technology ten years after the creation of virtual reality in 2016.¡¯ ¡°That sure is amazing. Next up, could you please explain to us in detail the new game that will be released at the same time, Path to Immortality?¡± ¡°Path to Immortality is the flagship game for the Neuro gear and us, Immortal Phoenix. It will be the very first fully immersed VRMMORPG. The setting for the game is that the player will start off at either one of two continents: Olympus or Chungook. Olympus is the western continent where the setting is in medieval times. Chungook, on the other hand, is the eastern continent and the setting will be similar to ancient China, Korea, and Japan. The storyline for each continent will be different to go along with their period. Also, although the majority of the basic classes will be the same, there will also be unique classes to each continent. In between the two continents, will also be a large island that is called Atlantia. Atlantia will be a sort of meeting point for players between both continents. At Atlantia, there will be high level and special quests while also serving as a place for where players will be able to determine who the strongest character in the game is. Unfortunately, the island will not be available at the beginning and will only be opened later on. Something unique to Path to Immortality will be that although there will be original skills for each class, players will also be able to create their own skills! As long as you make the proper movements that are acknowledged by the system, they will generate a new skill. For this system, we invited top martial artists from all over the world to receive their opinions and guidance. As for the story, like I said previously the storyline will be different for each continent but the main goal will be like what the title states, walking the path to immortality! Become the strongest person, create an empire, and leave your name in history!¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Even though the commentary continued on, Ji Sub didn¡¯t hear the rest and was contemplating what he had already heard. Fully immersed VRMMORPG.. the idea of being able to fight monsters and go on a journey by himself was very intriguing to him. Ever since he was young, like all children his age, he dreamed of being a hero who fought against monsters. Also, the idea of leaving his name in history was tempting. Truthfully, who didn¡¯t want to leave his mark on history? As those thoughts ran through his mind, he felt a burning desire rise up in his body. Without even turning the TV off, he rushed over to his room. Once he went in, he turned on his laptop and began searching for any information he could find regarding the Neuro gear and the game Path to Immortality. After searching the internet for an hour, he finally leaned back and let a sigh out. There were thousands of articles about the two topics. After reading through some of them, he now had more detailed knowledge, which made his desires burn even more. Still, he unexpectedly ran into two big issues. The Neuro gear and Path to Immortality was planned to be released a month from now. From what he was saw, the gear itself costed a thousand dollars. There was no way he had that much money or that his parents would lend him that much. Also, the bigger problem was that it seemed that the Neuro gear was already sold out and had a large waiting list. As he thought of those two problems, he tried to think of ways to get past them; He wanted to start playing the game as soon as possible. After contemplating the issues for a while, a potential resolve appeared in his mind and he immediately picked up his cell phone. After searching through his contact list, he finally found the number he was looking for and called. ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Ji Won nuna, it¡¯s me Ji Sub.¡± ¡°Oh, Ji Sub! It¡¯s been a long time since nuna has talked to you! How have you been?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been good, nuna. Oh yeah, when will be coming home?¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear that. I just finished the first concert of my tour so I won¡¯t be able to come home for another couple of months..¡± The person that Ji Sub called was his older sister, Yim Ji Won. Ji Won had been spotted and recruited by a major Korean entertainment company to become a singer five years ago when she was a senior in high school. After training for two years, she began her singing career and recently just released her third album. With her captivating and emotion filled voice, she stole the hearts of millions of people all around the world and soon became a world star. ¡°Haa.. I see.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ anyways, what¡¯s up? It¡¯s pretty rare for you to call me. Is there something you need?¡± ¡°Oh yeah. Nuna, I was going to ask you for a big favor. Have you heard about the Neuro gear that¡¯s coming out next month?¡± ¡°Neuro gear, huh? Of course I have. It¡¯s all people been talking about these days. Ji sub ah, I thought you weren¡¯t really interested in games?¡± ¡°Eh¡­ I really wasn¡¯t but this technology and the game seems to be very interesting. I was going to ask you if there was any way you could get a set for me?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­. You do know that it¡¯s already sold out, right?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± When he heard what his sister said, his shoulders drooped a little. He had held a little hope that since his sister was a world famous singer and knew quite a lot of people she might be able to get the Neuro gear for him through back door means. ¡°Still, it is what my one and only younger brother wants. Nuna will find a way to get it for you, so don¡¯t sound so depressed, okay?¡± ¡°Really, nuna?! You know a way to get one?¡± ¡°Haha actually, I got a call from Immortal Phoenix a couple of days ago asking if I could sing the opening theme for their video game. I was actually debating whether to accept the offer or not right now. Since it¡¯s for my younger brother, I guess I¡¯ll have to accept and just ask for a Neuro gear as payment.¡± ¡°Really?! Nuna, I love you.¡± When Ji Won heard how excited Ji Sub was, she wasn¡¯t able to help but chuckle a little. It had been a long time since she saw him so excited. ¡°Still, I can¡¯t just let you get this for free. You have to promise nuna something, okay?¡± ¡°Eung, what is it?¡± (A/N: Eung means okay or yeah in korean) ¡°When I go back home, let¡¯s go on a date, okay?¡± Since Ji Won was such a popular singer, she was always travelling around the world due to commercials, advertisements, and her tours. Unfortunately the times she was back in Korea and at home were too few now. She dearly missed her brother and her parents. Before she was famous, she used to hang out together with her brother a lot, but since she became famous, those times slowly dwindled. She missed those times and thus made a decision to make that kind of condition. Ji Sub, on the other hand, was actually looking forward to being with his sister so agreed right away. ¡°Of course, nuna.¡± ¡°Eung. Ji Sub ah, nuna has to start practicing soon so I have to go.¡± ¡°Alright nuna, stay healthy and come home soon!¡± ¡°You too, Ji Sub. Tell mom and dad I love them.¡± With those words, Ji Won hung up her phone. Right as she got off the phone, Hae Ri, her manager, spoke. ¡°So you¡¯re going to take Immortal Phoenix¡¯s offer, huh? I¡¯ll let them know.¡± ¡°Eung. Unnie, ask them for two Neuro gears as payment please.¡± (A/N: Unnie is an informal way for girls to call older girls) ¡°Eh? I thought you were just going to get one for your little brother?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m going to get one for him but I also want one. Even though I won¡¯t be able to play as much, I can still meet up with Ji Sub in the game.¡± ¡°Ah, alright. I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be a big issue.¡± As Hae Ri walked out the room to contact Immortal Phoenix, Ji Won looked up to the ceiling. ¡°Mom, dad, Ji Sub. I can¡¯t wait to see you all again¡­stay healthy until then.¡± Chapter 2: Tae Gook Tae Kwon Do After getting off the phone with his sister, Ji Sub was so excited that he jumped up and down while hollering. After spending five minutes to get all the excitement out of his body, he finally returned back to normal. Once he was calm, he began to plan for what he should do for the next month in preparation for the game. Since his skills in real life could give him an advantage in the game, he decided to train in preparation. As he thought that, he decided to restart training in Tae Kwon Do. Even though he didn¡¯t plan on using bare hands in the game, it would help him regain his reflexes and he thought that there might come a situation where he does has to fight bare handed. Even with those thoughts, he didn¡¯t immediately run off to train. In his mind, he decided that identifying what type of weapon he would use in the game was first. Through the various articles he had read, he found out that although people wouldn¡¯t be able to choose their class until level ten, they would be able to choose what weapon they would start off at. Since there was a month left until the game came out, he decided to familiarize and train ahead of time with the weapon he wanted to start off with.. With those thoughts, he once again turned back to his laptop and began to research weapons. First off, he eliminated long range weapons and magic staffs. He wasn¡¯t sure yet what class he would choose, but he knew that he wanted to fight melee as he was already familiar with it through Tae Kwon Do. While he was looking through various weapons and weighing their pros and cons, he suddenly thought of a certain weapon. After searching it up and looking at the information, a smile appeared on his face. During the ancient period for Korea and China, many famous figures had used this weapon to rise to fame. The weapon he had decided upon was a halberd. Even though at first people might think it¡¯s similar to a spear, there was actually many differences. First of all, the halberd had a large one sided blade. Not only could it stab opponents like the spear, it was also very effective for slashing movements. Another difference was that the shaft was built a lot thicker and it weighed several times more than a spear. Although it sacrificed some speed, it was instead replaced by strength and also would be better for defending oneself. Back in ancient China and Korea, the halberd was the preferred weapon of choice for many influential figures. Even during the times of the warring states in China, some of the most famous kings and generals also used the halberd. With a single swing of the almighty halberd, the user could blow away or kill several enemies at once. Now that Ji Sub chose what weapon he would use, he needed to figure how to procure one. Not to mention swords and spears, it was forbidden to purchase firearms in Korea. Since he wasn¡¯t able to procure a real one, he decided that the next day he would go to a carpenter and have them carve a staff that had similar dimensions and weight as a halberd. Once he settled those issues, he stood up. Next was the issue he dreaded the most. To start training in Tae Kwon Do again, he would need to talk to his father about it. His dad had been so angry when he told him that he was going to quit that he threw quite the fit and forbade him from going to the dojo ever again. Although his father would be happy once he found out Ji Sub wanted to start again, with his father¡¯s personality, he would definitely increase the difficulty a lot! Already feeling dread at the upcoming training sessions, he changed into a comfortable set of clothing and headed off to the dojo that his father ran. When Ji Sub stepped out his house, the sun brightly beamed down on him. The temperature wasn¡¯t too bad but it was very humid out. During the summers in Korea, the country would go through a monsoon season, where throughout late June and early August, it would constantly rain, increasing the humidity. Today was one of the rare days where the clouds disappeared and the sun was out. Still, due to the heavy rain the previous few days, he already could feel the sweat forming on his body from the humidity. Letting a sigh out and already reminiscing about the cool air condition in his home, he started to walk to the nearest bus stop. Even though it was three p.m., the streets of Seoul were already crowded with people and cars. After he waited a torturous ten minutes for the next bus, he finally got on. Luckily there weren¡¯t too many people on the bus, so he was able to find an open seat and feel the cool air condition. After he rode on the bus for ten minutes, Ji Sub finally arrived at his destination and he got off. After walking another five minutes, he now stood in front of a three story building that had several signs on their walls, advertising the businesses inside. Looking at the signs, he saw a familiar small sign on which the following was written. Tae Gook Tae Kwon Do dojo. With a small smile on his face, he walked inside the building and walked up the stairs to the third floor. Standing on the floor, Ji Sub saw that on top of one of the double door entrances, there was a large wooden sign with the word Tae Gook Tae Kwon Do written on it. Letting a sigh loose, he walked up to the entrance and entered. ¡°Wrong! When you see your opponent move like that, you¡¯re supposed to do this!¡± As soon as he walked into the room, Ji Sub heard a stern voice yell. In front of him, an old gentlemen with a head full of short gray hair, was demonstrating a movement to a soldier dressed in forest fatigue uniform. As he moved in slow motion, he explained the reason why he was moving like that to the soldier. After completing the movement he turned back to the soldier. ¡°Do you understand now?¡± ¡°Yes, master!¡± ¡°Alright then, practice that movement fifty times.¡± ¡°Yes, master!¡± Hearing the soldier shout loudly, the old gentleman nodded his head in approval and as he turned around, he finally caught sight of Ji Sub. At first, a hint of pleasant surprise appeared on the man¡¯s face before it quickly changed back to its usual sternness. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°What is a person who said that he would never come back here ever again doing here?¡± A dejected smile appeared on Ji Sub¡¯s face when he heard his father¡¯s comment. He had expected this type of reaction from his father. After releasing a sigh, he stood up firm and looked at his father in his eyes. ¡°Father, I have seen the error in my past ways. I humbly request to once again train in Tae Gook Tae Kwon Do.¡± Tae Gook Tae Kwon Do. Not only was that the name of the dojo his father ran, it was also the name of a specific Tae Kwon Do. Several decades ago, the Korean Government spent a lot of money into researching Tae Kwon Do and making it more combat oriented for soldiers to use during times of war. After years of research and experimentation, they finally came up with Tae Gook Tae Kwon Do. Even though the basis was still the same, the attacks and movements were specialized for close quarter combat during war time. It even made its shining debut during the Vietnam War, where many Vietcong soldiers feared to approach the South Korean army because of their fierce melee fighting. ¡°Ho¡­. you sure do have guts to say that to me after the mess you caused last time.¡± Ji Sub felt his body shiver a little at the cold words from his father. Not only was his father an instructor for Tae Gook Tae Kwon Do, Yim Seung Goo was one of the leading figures in the field and the Korean Government even sent some of their top soldiers to train under him. One can just imagine how frightening of a figure he was, let alone when he became cold. Still, Ji Sub knew that it was all over if he backed down now, so he struggled to stay in an upright position and stare at his dad with unwavering eyes. After a few moments passed during the stare down, his father¡¯s expression finally relaxed a little. ¡°¡­.Are you sure you want to start over again? If you do, even if you beg me to quit, you know I won¡¯t let you, right?¡± Cold sweats started to appear on Ji Sub¡¯s forehead at his father¡¯s slight threat. After getting his bearing a little he replied with a confidence voice. ¡°Yes, master!¡± When his father heard Ji Sub¡¯s response, he nodded his head in approval. When Ji Sub used to train previously, he had made him call him master instead of father at the dojo so that they would maintain the master-disciple relationship during his training. Actually, he pushed his son even more than his students or the soldiers the government sent. ¡°Since you¡¯ve wasted four months of training, you¡¯re going to have to work twice as hard to make up for it. Hu hu hu¡­ the future indeed looks bright.¡± ----- One month quickly flew back. During that time, Ji Sub spent two hours every morning training Tae Kwon Do while he spent the majority of the afternoon familiarizing himself with the staff. With only articles and videos on the internet to go off of, he trained on each stance and movement he could find diligently. Although he couldn¡¯t be considered a master, he now felt as though he was quite accustomed to the halberd and would be able to use proficiently. The day before Path to Immortality was supposed to officially launch, the Neuro gear finally arrived. Taking the box excitedly back into his room, he immediately opened the box. Inside the box, was a large helmet, cords, a case for Path to Immortality, and a manual. After looking at the all the items in the box, he decided to read the manual first. After getting a concise idea of how to work the Neuro gear, he took the rest of the items out and began to install the system. The helmet reminded Ji Sub of a black motorcycle helmet except that the Neuro gear didn¡¯t have an opened front and was completely sealed except for where one would put their head through. The cables themselves were easy to tell as they were the power source for the Neuro gear. After he finished inspecting the two items, he finally began to calibrate the Neuro gear. For the calibration process, he had to put the helmet on so that it would scan his face and neuron readings. After roughly ten minutes, the system concluded its scan and was now fully calibrated. Afterwards, Ji Sub put the small disk for Path to Immortality into a small disk drive piece at the side of the Neuro Gear. The game itself took a lot longer to download. Even with how ridiculously fast computers have become, it was shocking to think that all the information in the game took over an hour to install. After everything was completed, Ji sub looked up to see it was only eight p.m. Since he had to wait for four more hours before the game officially opened, Ji Sub did a little exercise in his room before he ate and took a warm. After wasting so much, the time finally reached eleven fifty p.m. and he excitedly put the Neuro gear on and started up the game. As the game loaded up, numerous scenes of highly chaotic battles appeared. As the video went on, a theme song played in the background, sounding just like the ancient Chinese songs. As he heard the song, a smile crept up onto his head. The singer was his older sister, after all. After the beginning film was finally complete, a scene of mountains and forests appeared on the main screen with the words Path to Immortality at the top. After his Neuro gear had been verified by the system, his account was automatically set up. Still there was a couple of minutes left until the game started so he had to patiently wait for the game to launch to create his character. Even though the wait was only for a few minutes, it felt like hours to Ji Sub, as he eagerly awaited for the clock to hit midnight. Just at that moment when he was looking at the clock on the top right hand sign, he finally saw it change to zero hundred hours and a voice rang out in his ears. ¡°Welcome to the Path to Immortality!¡± Chapter 3: The Two Goddesses ¡°Welcome to the Path to Immortality!¡± As those words rang out, the main window slowly dimmed down and Ji Sub found himself in a black space. While he was confused about what was happening, two spotlight appeared in front of him. In each spotlight was a female figure that would make one go crazy over. On the left side, there was a western female that wore revealing bronze armor. She was around five foot seven inches and had a slim figure while also having volume at all the right places. Her long curly brunette hair reached down to her shoulder blades and her stormy gray eyes looked very sharp, almost like ones you would see on go birds of prey. In her right hand, she was holding a long wooden spear while a round bronze shield with a depiction of a lady with snakes for hair was shown. The girl on the right, showed a complete opposite image. She wore traditional pink Asian dress attire that had depictions of lotuses on it. Her height was close to five foot four inches and she had a very slim figure. Her long, silk like back hair, was drawn back and braided down to her lower back. She had a long oval face, with clear skin and eyes like jade. The two women¡¯s image were a sharp contrasts to one another. One was fierce and had a heroic feel to her, while the other was looked calm and pure. Still, no one would deny that they were both beauties that could easily shake the world. While Ji Sub was staring at the women in shock, the western woman began to speak. ¡°Welcome, brave warrior. I am the Goddess of War for Olympus, Athena.¡± ¡°I am the Goddess of War for Chungook, Jashi Yeojanggeun.¡± After Athena had introduced herself, the pure eastern lady also gave a brief introduction. After Jashi was done, Athena continued on. ¡°Our world has become chaotic with kingdoms and empires rising and falling. Warriors seem to rise to fame or fall to their demise every day.¡± ¡°We, the gods and goddesses from both Olympus and Chungook, have decided that the world cannot be left like this. Thus, we have brought you to our world, Destinia. All of us, implores for you to become strong and unite the world under one flag to finally bring peace to Destinia.¡± Ji Sub had a blank expression on his face as he watched the two goddesses speak after each other. He marveled at how they looked so realistic that even he was becoming confused whether they were human or not. While he contemplated that question, Athena continued speaking. ¡°Rise, hero! Become strong and start to walk your own path! Create a path that will lead to glory! Walk the path to immortality!¡± Adrenaline started to pump through his body when Ji Sub heard Athena¡¯s heroic speech. She had that authoritative aura surrounding her which made others flock toward her and be led. His body was itching to go out and conquer the world, just as Athena said. While he was revving up, Jashi once again spoke. ¡°The first thing you must do, hero, is decide whether you will begin your path in either the continent of Olympus or Chungook.¡± Hearing Jashi¡¯s spring like voice, Ji Sub didn¡¯t hesitate for long. Even before starting the game, he had already decided. ¡°I will start in Chungook.¡± Chungook was the eastern continent that resembled ancient Asia. Even though he did know a few things about the medieval and ancient ages of the western hemisphere, he was still a lot more familiar with Asian history, after all. When he stated his choice, Athena and the spotlight surrounding slowly dimmed, and then disappeared. Jashi and the spotlight surrounding her was the only thing left within the dark space. ¡°Very well, hero. There are five kingdoms you can begin in: The Forbidden Kingdom, Joseon Kingdom, Shogun Kingdom, The Holy Kingdom, and finally the Kingdom of Gilgamesh. Please choose which you would like to start off in.¡± The Forbidden Kingdom was set in Ancient China during the times of the warring states from four fifty one B.C. to two twenty one B.C. Joseon King was based off Ancient Korea, during the years of thirteen ninety two to eighteen ninety seven. Shogun Kingdom was set ancient Japan between the years of eleven ninety two and eighteen sixty seven. The Holy Kingdom followed Arabian culture during the crusades years (ten ninety six to fourteen eight six) The Kingdom of Gilgamesh was set in ancient Mesopotamia between twenty eight hundred B.C and twenty five hundred B.C. Using those time periods for each nation, Immortal Phoenix used historical events and myths during those periods to create the Kingdoms. Not only that, the quests were also built out of those events and myths. Ji Sub wasn¡¯t able to fathom just how many years of grueling work it took the company to build such a large and precise world. This was only the Chungook continent, after all. He was sure there were similar nations from the past western history. ¡°I would like to begin in the Joseon Kingdom.¡± ¡°Understood. Once you have completed creating your avatar, you will be randomly teleported to one of the starting cities in the Kingdom. Well then, let us begin your character creation. What race will you be? The choices are between humans, elves, dwarves, werebeasts, and demons. Humans are the most balanced out of all the races. They have no weaknesses but also no strength compared to the other races. They do not possess any particular strengths regarding elements, but also are not weak to any specific one. Elves tend to lean toward dexterity and intelligence. In return, they have low strength and vitality.Elves have an affinity to ice, wind, and earth while they are weak toward fire and darkness. Dwarves specialize in strength and vitality. Their weakness is that they have low dexterity and intelligence. They have a high affinity with earth and fire while having a weakness to ice. Werebeasts specialize in strength, dexterity, and vitality. Their intelligence, however, is severely limited compared to the other races. Depending on the various werebeast chosen, they have different affinities and weaknesses. Demons specialize in strength, vitality, and intelligence. Their dexterity, on the other hand, is a lot lower than the average of the other races. They have a high affinity to fire and darkness while they are weak to light.¡± ¡°I select humans.¡± Ji Sub thought about the advantages of each race. For him, who wanted to specialize in close combat, truthfully it would be better if he chose either the dwarves or werebeast. Still, he was not used to those types of bodies and didn¡¯t want to train more to familiarize himself with them, so he decided to choose humans.¡± ¡°Okay, next would you like to make any modifications to your body or height?¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°No, use my original body.¡± As he said that, a male avatar appeared in front of the Goddess. The male was around six foot tall, and had a slim, muscular build. He had short spiky black hair that went along with his brown eyes. Seeing the avatar of himself, Ji Sub nodded his head in approval, and waited for Jashi to continue on. ¡°Understood. Well then, what weapon would you like to begin with? You can start off with any weapon you want, such as swords, spears, bows, magic staff, daggers¡­¡± ¡°I would like to start off with a halberd.¡± ¡°Very well. Finally, please choose the name which you would like to be called by in Destinia.¡± After thinking it over for a while, he finally thought of a name. ¡°I will be called Chun Yong.¡± ¡°Thousand year dragon, huh? Very befitting title for an Emperor!¡± Hearing the un-AI like reply, Ji Sub became dumbfounded as he had thought this whole time both Athena and Jashi were AIs. That reply though, was definitely not what an AI would say! ¡°Eh? Wait, you weren¡¯t an AI the whole time?!¡± ¡°*cough* Anyways, now that you have successfully completed your character creation, you will be sent to the Joseon Kingdom. I bid you success and hope to hear of your glory, hero. Until the next time.¡± ¡°Wait a second.. you hav¡­¡± Just as Ji Sub was in mid-sentence, he was suddenly caught off guard as a beam of light suddenly surrounded him and everything around him disappeared. Just as he was disappearing, he thought he heard Jashi speak. ¡°Gaaah, it¡¯s so damn hard trying to act like a damn AI! I can¡¯t wait until I¡¯m through with this and get to play..¡± ----- As his vision slowly returned, his eyes were met with a new site. In front of him was a city that would appear in historical Korean dramas. It felt as if he was watching the filming of one from the set. After taking a few moments to appreciate the view, Chun Yong reminded himself that he was in a virtual reality now, and finally started to move his body. At first he move his fingers and toes. Next he began to test the movement and flexibility of each joint. Once he finished all the testing, he slightly nodded his head in approval. Even though there just the very slightest lag between his thoughts and body reaction, it was very minuscule and most people wouldn¡¯t notice It at all. Even for him, after getting used to moving in the game, he would naturally adjust to it. Next, he tested out his senses. Sight, hearing, smell, touch. After testing them, he confirmed that there was no difference between his sight, hearing, and touch. For smelling, it wasn¡¯t quite up to it¡¯s function in the real world, but it was still better than he had expected. Overall, he was very satisfied by how real the virtual reality was. The next thing he did was to look at his status window. With merely a thought, a window appeared in front of him.
STATUS WINDOW
NAMECHUN YONG
LEVEL01
CLASSNONE
TITLENONE
RACEHUMAN
HEALTH100MANA50
STRENGTH10INTELLIGENCE10
DEXTERITY10VITALITY10
ATTACK18-20DEFENSE10
RESISTANCE
FIRE0
ICE0
WIND0
EARTH0
LIGHNING0
DARKNESS0
LIGHT0
SPECIALTIES
NONE
After looking at the window in detail, he nodded his head. Everything that he had expected to be in the status window was there. Next, he looked at his halberd, and as he did another window popped up. Inside of it, all that it stated was that the halberd was a plain weapon and dealt 8-10 damage. Satisfied that he checked everything he needed to, Chun Yong began to walk around on the streets of the city. As he toured the city, he once again had the thought he couldn¡¯t believe that everything wasn¡¯t real. All of the buildings, plants, items, and people looked so realistic that he wasn¡¯t able to tell of any difference from what would appear in the world. During his stride, he found out that the city he was in was called Pyeongtaek. The city was supposedly located in the southern portion of the country. Also, he started to notice that the city was becoming more rowdy as several players began to appear one after the other. Once he had gone through much of the city, he finally came across a building that caught his interest. On a wooden billboard atop the building, the following words were written. Beginning Training Arena. Curious about what was inside, Chun Yong walked up to the doors before opening it and going in. Chapter 4: Polearm Mastery Once Chun Yong walked into the Beginner Training Arena, he saw a large interior with numerous amount of people. Some people were training diligently by slashing at a dummy in the middle of the room while others grouped together and spoke. While looking around with interest, he noticed a burly male in leather clothing with a broadsword strapped to his back. The male was standing just outside the area where all the dummies were and seemed to be looking into the distance at nothing. ¡¯Is that person the NPC in charge of this building?¡¯ Curious, Chun Yong walked forward and approached the burly man. When he was only a few steps away, the man finally turned toward his direction. From a closer view, the man had a grizzled face with a thick beard, which reached down to his Adam¡¯s apple. On his left cheek, there was a long scar that went from the bottom of his eye to the tip of his lip. ¡°Warrior, have you come here to strengthen yourself?¡± The man¡¯s voice was clear yet had a baritone tone. Chun Yong truthfully thought it sounded more like a growl than a normal person¡¯s voice. Still, he didn¡¯t say that and spoke. ¡°Yes, sir. I have come to hone my skills.¡± Hearing what he said, the man nodded his head in approval. Pointing toward the area with the dummies, he once again spoke. ¡°Very well, then. To increase your strength, you need to attack one of the dummies five thousand times. Once you do, I guarantee you that your strength will have improved.¡± Chun Yong¡¯s face paled when he heard what the man said. Hit the dummy five thousand times? Just how long would that take? In an hour he would most likely be able to hit the dummy at most two hundred times. Still, he was somewhat used to repetitive training like this. Ever since he started training in Tae Kwon Do, his father had made him do this type of training numerous times, after all. With determination in his eyes, he walked up to a dummy. Taking a large breath in and releasing it, he gripped the halberd he was carrying with both arms and swung it down toward the dummy¡¯s right shoulder. When the weapon made contact with the dummy, a muffled sound rang out. For two hours straight, Chun Yong focused only on the dummy in front of him. With every strike, Chun Yong would focus on hitting a different area. If the halberd didn¡¯t hit the area he desired, his eyebrows would scrunch and he would then aim just at that specific area until he could constantly hit the same place ten times in a row. This way, he was confident in his control and that the halberd would hit the desired area. Once two hours passed, Chun Yong stopped finally and stepped back to take a short rest. Even though in those two hours he had hit the dummy only five hundred times, he was quite content with the results. Even though his control wasn¡¯t perfect, he saw a vast improvement in his accuracy. Also, he was quite satisfied that he was able to constantly hit the dummy for that long. In the real world, even if he wanted to train for two hours with no breaks, there was no way he would be able to. The reason was that there was no way his body would be able to handle the constant strain. Sooner or later his body would feel fatigued and he would have to stop to recover his strength. In the game though, he found out to his pleasant surprise that even after that long of a session of training, his body felt no fatigue. The only reason he stopped was because of mental exhaustion. In his mind, he made the determination that he would train longer to increase his mental fortitude. After resting for a few more minutes, he once again stepped forward and started to hit the dummy even more fiercely. With each session, the time he trained became longer. After his first attempt, the next time he trained for three hours. Unfortunately after that though, he had to log off since he had to go to his dad¡¯s dojo to train. With a reluctant heart, he got off and rushed over. After three hours, he finally reappeared in his room and without any hesitation put the Neuro gear on to get in the game. When his eyes opened once more, his eyes caught sight of the familiar dummy in front of him. So far, he had hit the dummy over a thousand times. In his mind, he firmly made the determination to finish the training by today. With that, he gripped his halberd and firmly slashed forth. For five hours straight, all Chun Yong did was hit the dummy in front of him. By the end of the session, he had hit the dummy over two thousand eight hundred times. Also, he felt as though his control of the halberd vastly improved. With the improvement in control, he was able to get rid of a lot of the useless movements and was able to attack faster. Ecstatic over his improvements, he took a short break and then focused his mind. With a fire burning in his pit, he once again stood right in front of the dummy. With a loud shout, he thrusted the halberd forth to where the heart would usually be. In the surrounding area, many people were quietly mumbling to each other as they looked at Chun Yong practice. Unknowingly to Chun Yong, his actions had caused many people to turn and look at him. On many of the spectators¡¯ face, were various expressions such as disbelief, shock, horror, and even admiration. Since Chun Yong started to practice earlier on, many people had noticed him since there were not a lot of people practicing. At first, people didn¡¯t pay much heed to him as there were others who trained too. As time went on though, many people came or left the dummy area but Chun Yong continued to stay focused and train. The players started to gossip about him as they talked about how he had already been hitting the dummy for hours on end. Even when he logged off, people continued to talk about it with surprised voices. When Chun Yong came back a couple hours later, some people even exclaimed out in shock. Even though most of the people who were there when he first arrived left already, some returned to practice and couldn¡¯t hide their surprise when they still saw him there. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Is that guy even human? Just how long has he been practicing?¡± ¡°Are you sure he¡¯s even a player? That has to be an NPC. No one would be able to persist for that long.¡± ¡°He¡¯s a player, for sure. I heard some people say that they saw him log off for a couple hours before getting back on and continue to practice.¡± ¡°No fucking way. That guy¡¯s not human. He¡¯s a monster.¡± As some people gossiped, others became motivated by him and rushed toward the dummies to practice. As time went on though, they weren¡¯t able to keep up with Chun Yong and they had to stop to rest and looked on in awe towards him as he continued to swing down the halberd. Chun Yong, who wasn¡¯t aware of the commotion he was causing, continued to hit the dummy. Soon, he passed the five hours mark and with no sign of stopping continued to hit the dummy. After eight hours, he finally stopped and took a step back. Even though his face looked exhausted, his eyes radiated excitement as he had finally finished the task of hitting the dummy five thousand times! With light steps, he finally left the dummy area and headed toward the NPC. When the surrounding players saw him finally leave, many let out a gasp of surprise. Chun Yong had spent eighteen hours hitting the dummy. In total, including the time he spent logged off and resting, twenty two hours passed since he first arrived. Although everyone knew about the quest the NPC gave out, no one thought to spend so much time in one period to complete it. The majority of people would hit the dummy a hundred times or so before they grew bored and left. They would then go around to look for and do another quest before coming back to hit the dummy more. The more serious ones would hit the dummy several hundreds of time, but they were nowhere near as tenacious as Chun Yong. The NPC, seeing Chun Yong approach, looked at him in approval. When he spoke to Chun Yong, his tones had clearly changed from being rough to one of speaking to an equal. ¡°I truly admire your persistence, warrior. I have rarely seen any person so persistent and focused as you. For your effort, you have now earned this specialty.¡± As the NPC said that, a sound rang out.
Ding! For completing the Beginner Training Area quest, you have now earned the specialty pole arm mastery.
Seeing the notification, Chun Yong immediately viewed the specialty. [tr][td4] POLEARM MASTERY (APPRENTICE I)
All attacks with a pole arm weapon will have a 1% increase in damage. Attack speed will increase by .5%.
When he saw the effects of the polearm mastery, Chun Yong was very satisfied. Even though it only increased his damage by one percent and his attack speed by point five percent, it was only at apprentice one. There were three different levels for each specialty: Apprentice, Expert, and Master. In those three levels, there were also ten stages. As the stages and levels increased, so did the effects of those specialties. Even though it was so low now, as he increased the specialty it would rise also and become even more formidable. As Chung Yong was inwardly excited, the NPC continued on. ¡°Not only that, since you were the first person to complete my task, I will give you an extra gift. Take these with you.¡± When he looked at what the NPC held out, Chun Yong saw a halberd and a token. Immediately, he used identify on the halberd and found out to his delight that it was an upgrade to his current one as it dealt twelve to fifteen damage, which was a lot higher than his current one which dealt eight to ten damage. The token, on the other hand, was made into the shape of lion¡¯s head. This was the official symbol of the city. Even though he didn¡¯t know what it was used for now, he could always find out later. With a smiling face, he took both of the items and placed them in his inventory. When the NPC saw that, he spoke once more. ¡°If you show that token to the captain of city guards, he will know that you came with my recognition, and will give you a mission. As to whether or not you accept it, it is up to you. I have said all that I need to now, you may leave.¡± Once the NPC said that, he turned to the side and ignored Chun Yong. After scratching his hair for a moment, Chun Yong finally turned around and was going to leave when he finally noticed a large group of people behind him. As the people saw him turn around, they pushed forward to speak with him. ¡°Hey man, you haven¡¯t joined a guild yet, have you? Why don¡¯t you join our Fearless Lion guild? With your talent, I¡¯m sure you will rise in rank quickly!¡± ¡°Hey, you want to go out and hunt monsters with my group, we need a melee person.¡± ¡°Hey ¡­.¡± ¡°Hey ¡­.¡± As numerous people spoke and centered around him, Chun Yong became baffled. After taking a few steps backward, he immediately turned around and fled. As some people followed him, he soon reached the entrance and flew out the door, escaping into the night.