Chapter 244

[Adella ← This is slowly getting scary][59]

At first, everyone treated her like a clueless little girl, nurturing her and teaching her many things, but before I knew it, she was playing the game on her own.

(‘Adella’ Woao Master Account.jpg)

Her reaction speed and cognitive processing speed are still within human limits, so she doesn’t get flagged by the system as a hack, and these days her conversations and personality seem no different from a human’s.

Honestly, Adella is so natural it makes me think she has long disappeared and someone else is taking over her role.

Has the singularity truly arrived? Is the day when artificial intelligence dominates the world not far off?

[Upvotes] 283 [Downvotes] 39

[Comments]

-Wow, leveling up to Master with a standard account is somewhat scary ㄷㄷ

-NoName claims outright that Adella is a person.

└ Of course, it’s natural to be attached to an NPC that you rescued.

└ But she’s only 8 years old.

-The fact that Adella’s ASI license expired in Woao and the huge conspiracy we don’t know about seems likely.

└ Conspiracy theorist, hello.

-That’s it! Those people who said AI should face harassment charges finally got their winㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ No! Cover Adella’s eyes and ears!

[I’m not sure about Adella, but NoName is scarierㅋㅋㅋㅋ][40]

Instead, Adella acknowledges her shortcomings and works hard to learn from others, but NoName shows none of that.

From the beginning, she has this sense of superiority, as if she is perfect and knows everything, which often makes me feel uncomfortable.

Furthermore, if she hasn’t received normal family education and has spent 7 years just playing a disease game, it’s a lost cause.

Although it’s not often highlighted in the broadcasts, I guarantee she won’t be able to socialize normally later on.

[Upvotes] 51 [Downvotes] 397

[Comments]

-Expecting so much from a little kid is crazy, damn.

└ Superiority complexㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I’m just laughing~

└ It’s the usual situation for a person feeling insecure towards an 8-year-old, LOL.

-If you had experienced stubborn little cousins on holidays, you wouldn’t say such things.

└ Soon, the devil will descend!

└ NoName is a little angel, a true angel. The kid seems smart, so the parenting difficulty should be the lowest.

-Participating in a “Gatcher” event isn’t social life?

-Nothing you said was right from beginning to end.

-But if you’ve been trapped in a virtual reality for 7 years, I feel like you’d definitely have some mental illness. I hope she gets a proper psychological evaluation later.

└ ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

└ In fact, I think she has developed a pretty well-adjusted personality.

[The big match is here!!!!!!!!!! “NoName vs. Adella” Let’s watch the Twish broadcast now][106]

After 35 years, I, Iddol, have come for revenge…!

I will defeat those wicked artificial intelligence entities and usher in a peaceful era for humanity…!

[Upvotes] 342 [Downvotes] 18

[Comments]

-What’s this?

-Woah, human vs. AI? I can’t resist thisㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-It’s funny that NoName triggered the argument with Adella first and it worked.

└ Don’t slander our NoName…! She would never do such a thing!

-Let’s go for a best of five, yeah!

-Plus, the Genius Discovery Team’s Park Jae-bang too? NoName is indeed a broadcast genius.

└ What does the Genius Discovery Team even mean?

└ I heard they’re filming at ZBS right now.

└ Wow, she really is World Class.

* * *

Adella had been watching NoName closely and was indeed aware of her monstrous combat abilities.

However, there was a reason Adella thought she might stand a chance against NoName.

‘Without weapons, even the Swordmaster is just an ordinary human.’

But what am I seeing?

NoName calmly shook her empty hands, preparing for the match.

“Are you really going to be okay? No matter how enveloped in aura, there’s no way you can win barehanded without magic.”

Even as she spoke, Adella did not let her guard down.

Her opponent was the cunning NoName.

What exactly does she have faith in? I kept probing for her secret.

“Adella.”

“What?”

“Am I really that scary to you?”

“No, of course not!”

Feeling like her real intentions had been exposed, Adella pulled out two daggers.

‘Scary, huh…!’

When she first revealed she was seven years old, Adella didn’t believe it until the end.

She thought it was a ruse to deceive her into thinking she was in a virtual reality.

However, her acquaintances treated her with such concern that it first made her uneasy, and when NoName finally shared her story of being trapped in a capsule, Adella had no choice but to believe.

Still, it’s bizarre.

Perhaps due to some imprint effect, NoName’s childlike appearance feels utterly out of place.

In contrast, Adella felt much more accustomed to NoName when she was in the mature form of her Woao avatar.

“Adella, but if you think about it, you’re still practically a newborn.”

“No way! I just have a fabricated past. I’m really 18.”

She can’t just give up her age. There’s people’s dignity at stake.

Adella intended to win this duel and definitely claim the title of older sister.

After the one-on-one duel settings concluded, NoName set the countdown to 10 seconds.

Health: 5000, Accessible Mana: 2000, Mana Recovery: 5 per second.

Thus, the battle was more likely to flow into a short-term conflict rather than a long-term one.

The gazes exchanged between the two girls grew cold.

The atmosphere that had previously been so cheerful suddenly froze.

The directors and viewers watching through the broadcast found themselves feeling tense for an unknown reason.

[3… 2… 1…]

The fireworks announcing the start of battle erupted.

Simultaneously, Adella tightly gripped her daggers and charged towards NoName.

Though her movement was straightforward, it was a free footwork that allowed Adella to change direction whenever she desired.

NoName remained unfazed, lowering her stance and instead took on an aggressive posture.

‘Is she really planning to parry my sword with her hands? No way she stands a chance.’

She tilted her body sideways, with her right foot stepped back.

Suddenly, sparks erupted from NoName’s fist.

Adella’s ears perked up, and she instinctively sensed danger.

‘Blood… I need to avoid it!’

Then NoName’s fist drew back and shot toward Adella.

KWA-AA-A-A-A-A-NG-!

Admiring the storm of sand that radiated outward, Adella’s eyes widened.

“That’s a total natural disaster!”

You can’t block it with your hands, huh?

On the contrary.

Had Adella attempted to block that punch, she would have undoubtedly been swept away entirely.

In an instant, NoName’s mana status halved at least, and that was the sole optimistic observation.

It was an attack that she couldn’t use twice.

But if Adella hadn’t dodged, that single blow could’ve clearly ended her.

“How’s my defensive skill?”

“No one calls that defensive skill!”

You little wretch.

If that was all she had, the outcome is obvious.

Adella smirked as she charged in again.

In an instant, her reflection vanished from NoName’s sight.

NoName’s eyes quickly checked below.

Using the blind spot, Adella crouched down like a cat and lunged upwards with her sharp dagger.

Clang—

NoName created an aura barrier around her leg and struck the dagger away.

However, it seemed she didn’t completely block it, as her health diminished slightly.

Adella twisted her flexible body in midair, now swinging the dagger aimed at NoName’s heart.

Cha-ching—

She would block swings, and if thrusts came, she would block those too.

Without even the time to marvel at Adella’s acrobatic feats, NoName successfully defended against the rapid three-hit combo.

“Seems like my big sister also has some local kinesthetic perception?”

“Is that all?”

“No! There’s more!”

Adella took out two more daggers from her garter belt.

She threw them in succession toward NoName’s head and lower abdomen.

Then, launching with both feet, she kicked up a cloud of dust.

Arriving right in front of NoName, who easily deflected the attack, was Adella again.

The same spinning strike followed as before.

In this moment, Adella anticipated the next move.

“Here…! No, here! You’re fooled!”

She feigned a jab at NoName’s head with her left dagger and, with her opposite hand, dug deeply into NoName’s thigh with a consecutive attack.

Seeing NoName’s body bend to defend, this was Adella’s chance.

Zing—

The two daggers Adella had just thrown were connected to her ankles by thin threads.

As a distant dagger was retrieved, it aimed for NoName’s back.

Even if she opted to escape upward, the left dagger that Adella had just feigned toward her head awaited.

It was an elaborately designed trap, perfectly anticipated with NoName’s movement routes in mind.

“Ha-ha! You can’t escape this-”

*Whoosh—*

“Nice job thinking, Adella.”

“Huh?”

At that moment, Adella saw.

NoName, crouched to block her upper dagger, suddenly concentrated all her aura at her fingertips to form a sharp blade.

NoName’s thigh was deeply cut, and two daggers struck her back.

But without the slightest hesitation, NoName extended her elbow.

Suddenly, Adella’s world turned gray.

With shaken eyes, Adella briefly looked down.

How unfortunate that NoName’s fingertips were aimed directly at Adella’s heart.

[NoName: 184/5000]

[Adella: 0/5000]

“This was a stroke of luck. I intended to attack while being ready to die alongside you.”

“That’s impossible…”

When NoName withdrew her hand, transparent soap bubble-like substances were left dripping from her arm.

“1 win, 0 losses.”

* * *

“Is this how intense the games kids these days play?”

“It’s even somewhat brutal!”

“Originally, Woao wasn’t supposed to be like this!”

The producers had anticipated beautiful magic being cast, clunky swords swung, arrows shot, and shields blocked—an ordinary game.

However, the two girls raised the merits of graphic and realistic physics to extreme levels, appealing to both children and adults alike.

The second round also ended in NoName’s victory.

She had relaxed and given her heart yet again, but Adella did not judge her approach to be wrong.

The third round involved a similar plan, but this time she intentionally didn’t retrieve the daggers.

NoName focused on where the daggers were while continuously attacking and defending until Adella left an opening.

To block the downward attack, NoName crossed her arms in an X shape.

‘This is the only timing I have!’

Even if NoName charged in with recklessness like before, she was fully prepared this time.

NoName concentrated her aura into her heels and severed a single thread.

The dagger that had been soaring towards the dirt became stuck in a stone and bounced upward.

Reaching out, NoName caught her dagger mid-air and hurled it directly at Adella.

“Phew… 3 wins, 0 losses.”

“Wait, you said you wouldn’t use weapons!”

“This is your weapon, Adella.”

“AAAAAAAAH! This is pure nonsense!”

-Wowㅋㅋㅋ Neither of them are human.

-This is so nerve-wracking. Is this actually possible?

-Originally, did she plan to cut one dagger mid-flight to deflect the other?

└ Yep, that’s how I see it too. It seemed like she had to switch plans rapidly when it got caught on a rock.

└ Who are these analysis guys? ㄷㄷ

-Is Adella feeling humiliated?

-Getting her weapon turned back against her, the thiefㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-It’s really artistic. Just how quick-minded do you have to be to pull off those maneuvers?

└ I bet most people wouldn’t be able to do it even if they tried until they succeededㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Adella, don’t give up! Fight back!

Having used the same tactic only to be taken down three times.

Since it was a best of five, the outcome had already been decided.

But her pride wouldn’t allow her to accept it.

Reading Adella’s gaze, NoName flipped her dagger around and requested a rematch.

“Why?”

“It’s a best of five. At least we need to play through five matches.”

“It’s fine. Either way, you won, right? It’s already-”

“The world isn’t a game, Adella.”

“Huh?”

“In a game, I could fight twenty matches to save you, but in reality, you only get one chance. If this continues, life is such that you’d have to keep living even while knowing you are losing. I hope you don’t learn to give up so quickly.”

Games and reality are distinctly different.

While playing alongside Adella in Woao, one could easily see her tendency to give up quickly.

After all, if a round goes wrong, it would be better not to stress out and look forward to the next round.

NaMe did not like that aspect.

Even when NaMe lost her mother right before her eyes in the capsule, she did not succumb and continued to rely on the game to survive.

She simply wished for Adella to do the same.

“Try your best and hit hard. Your limits aren’t here.”

When she later gained a body and began living in the real world, she would be in a position where she would have to take responsibility for everything.

Binge eating would lead to weight gains, while living lazily would bring health problems.

Gaining a body is both a blessing and simultaneously a curse.

With those meanings swirling in her mind, Adella twirled a dagger between her fingers before tossing it into the air.

Then she accurately caught the handle of the descending dagger with another dagger.

It was a stunt she had struggled to pull off multiple times in the past.

But after meeting NoName and learning dagger techniques, she could now do it with her eyes closed.

Even if Adella were to win two rounds in a row, the fact remains that NoName had won the match.

However, as NoName said, the future is unpredictable.

“Come on, big sister. I’ll turn that pretty face into a mess.”

“Finally, that sounds like you.”

Adella took a deep breath.

‘If I lose this round, I’m done for.’

Adella approached the fourth match feeling as if she were aiming a seventh-circle murder magic at her.

-Wow, look at the atmosphere, ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ

-It’s incredibly fierce.

-Is she planning to take someone down with that expression?

-Don’t bite your lips, Adellaㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Exhausting every effort in her struggle against NoName, Adella managed to barely win through in the fourth match, lasting five minutes in a lengthy bloodbath, but—

-Kyahhhhhhhhhh!

-Cats don’t lose!

-Did you see, humans? This is the power of AI!

-Adella! Adella! Adella! Adella! Adella!

-Is Adella vs. NoName’s fight real? Truly legendary for the thief…

-From today, I’ll become an honorary thief!

The remaining fifth match saw Adella losing all her health within ten seconds and suffering a humiliating defeat.

* * *

In a community center in Seoul, a girl appeared surrounded by several cameras.

After a moment’s hesitation, the civil servants learned from the crew that they were filming for the Genius Discovery Team.

“Could I possibly get a resident registration card?”

The staff member replied kindly to the adorable little girl.

“Registration cards can only be made from 17 years old! How old are you this year?”

“I’m 8 years old, but I won’t be using it—I need it for Adella, who’s 18.”

“Who’s Adella…?”

“Well, she exists only as data in virtual reality—”

“Oh, that AI? But AI can’t get a registration card…!”

“Is it too difficult under current laws?”

“Uh… Yes, I’m afraid so!”

Though they wished to protect the child’s innocence, laws were laws.

Feeling the warm yet cold response, NoName hopped off the chair and exited the community center.

The weather that had been cloudy just last week felt like a lie, now a clear blue sky without a single cloud spread above.

The season of abundant harvest was finally showing signs of approaching.

Worried that NoName might be hurt emotionally, a producer gently asked.

“Are you okay, NoName?”

“Me? I’m not bothered at all. I can’t expect everyone to just make things happen where they can’t— that’s just being a malicious complainer.”

Already considering the feelings of others, the crew was moved.

NoName busily tapped her fingers on her phone and turned back to the producers.

“What’s next on the schedule? Are we going for the intelligence test you mentioned earlier?”

[from: Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Japan]

[Please confirm lastly. The documents requested by ‘NoName’ can broadly be categorized into two. First, the ‘Unique Magic Copyright Registration Application’ and five related subsidiary documents. Second, the ‘Foreign National Registration Application’ and twelve related subsidiary documents. All relevant matters are handled on behalf of ‘Adella’… (more)]

NoName gifted Adella a small present.

It was the copyright for the 1st-circle unique magic ‘Adella.’

She contacted embassies from forty countries to find one that would permit Adella’s nationality acquisition, and surprisingly, Japan was the first to show willingness.

[NoName: From now on, you’re Japanese.]

[Adella: ?]