Chapter 381

Kamikita Emika’s wake-up time is fixed at 5:30 AM.

Even if she wanted to sleep in, the habits ingrained in her body wouldn’t easily fade away.

After neatly folding the blanket, she sat down on the mat laid out on the floor.

She stretched her flexible legs apart and pressed her chest to the ground.

“Ugh!”

Stretching was effective in waking her up.

Rubbing her eyes, Emika headed to the kitchen to drink some water.

“Hmm? Did Na-me leave the light on?”

It was still early, before the sun had even risen.

In the dimly lit living room, yellow light could be seen leaking from the gap in Na-me’s door.

Emika softly placed her ear against the door.

“That’s not how you do it! Try lowering your posture a bit more.”

“How like this? Ugh, I can’t stand it! I’m a human, not an animal! I can’t run on all fours!”

“Get into the capsule. I’ll help you with your form inside.”

It was none other than Na-me and Saetbyeol’s voices.

For some reason, the sleepy beauties had gathered together early in the morning.

At that moment, the door, which hadn’t been tightly closed, suddenly swung open.

“Yaaaaah!”

Bam—!

“Emika?”

She stumbled forward.

With her excellent reflexes, Emika rolled herself and ended up right in front of Na-me.

“Ow… You both woke up early? What were you doing?”

“Woke up?”

Saetbyeol yawned with bleary eyes.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t slept at all yet?”

“Yeah… I really want to go to sleep, haaaawn. What’s that demonification pattern all about?”

“Demonification? What’s that?”

“I don’t know. They’re asking me to reproduce what they saw in their dreams. Please, let me sleep…”

Saetbyeol collapsed onto the bed.

Na-me pinched her soft cheek and explained.

“It’s something we have to include for Project Sekhmet. The boss we’ve conceptualized is a swordmaster who has lost their sanity.”

“Yep, yep.”

Emika nodded.

The trio had painstakingly created battle AI data over the past two weeks.

Na-me even named the AI Berstaphen.

“Throughout history, there have been various attempts to distinguish between humans and animals. Rational thought, pursuit of values, self-actualization, and so on. But if we think of it in a more straightforward manner, isn’t bipedal locomotion the key? Because bipedalism is a very rare motion in this world.”

“Penguins walk on two legs too… Ugh!”

“Shut up, Saetbyeol. So I want to make sure to include fighting data with quadrupedal movement.”

“Oh, that sounds totally zombie-like. I think I’ve seen something like that in a movie a few times.”

Emika clapped her hands and her eyes sparkled.

“Well, it’s somewhat similar. But I doubt zombies wielding swords have been portrayed in movies or games.”

“Isn’t it odd? If their rationality is paralyzed to the point that they can’t walk on two legs, how could they use swordsmanship?”

“A swordmaster, even as a zombie, would instinctively seek out a sword.”

“Really?”

Unlike Na-me, who spoke with conviction, Emika scratched her cheek, expressing her doubts.

“Saetbyeol, wake up. Don’t waste time, get into the capsule now.”

“Yaaaah!”

Na-me and Saetbyeol both entered their capsules, and peace returned to Professor Cheon’s home.

Emika looked over the many sword techniques they had drawn on A4 paper.

‘Even now, Berstaphen’s battle data must be overflowing…’

Unlike the modern sword techniques, which can be categorized into about 20 types depending on the overall battle situation, the Imperial Palace Sword Method told by Na-me had a somewhat rigid nature.

When a specific sword principle was applied, ten follow-up principles arose according to the opponent’s responses.

Six primary stances, 28 auxiliary stances, and 496 sword principles.

As Emika learned the Imperial Palace Sword Method, she even felt like she was playing cat’s cradle rather than engaging in a duel.

While it had similarities to the German Liechtenauer sword fighting system, there were also significant differences.

‘Where did Na-me learn this? Or did she create it herself?’

Whether it was the former or the latter, it was undoubtedly an impressive feat.

Even for Emika herself, mastering all the movements perfectly would probably take at least two years.

Shortly after, Emika ran into Professor Cheon in the kitchen as she prepared to leave for work.

When Emika awkwardly avoided eye contact, Professor Cheon gently asked, “Would you like some matcha latte as well, Katsuhata-san?”

“Ah, yes please! Thank you very much…!”

Slurp—

The warm milk blended with green powder created a sweet and slightly bitter taste in her mouth.

Only three days remained until the end of the August summer special contest.

‘I’m worried if Na-me can meet that submission deadline…’

* * *

In the 2050s, a troublesome ideology spread among Resonance gamers like a trend.

It was the notion that the criteria for judging the completeness of a boss should change.

Continuous criticism was directed at bosses who merely had high HP and monotonous attack patterns.

[Games have been evolving daily, and the current games must constantly convince the public that they are better than those of the past. Good stories and good graphics have already become essential qualities. Now, game development companies must show efforts to adjust the difficulty of their boss monsters through diverse attack patterns, rather than altering the status coefficients. We want ‘games’, not just ‘number comparisons’ anymore.]

With prominent game critic Aston Merlyn from the United States joining in on this ideology by posting a contributing article, the movement to expose “incompetent companies” gained momentum.

This ideology didn’t arise overnight.

It stemmed from the fact that Resonance is both a game and a platform.

There are approximately 500,000 types of registered virtual reality games.

Resonance selects one game through its internal review every month and encourages players to try it.

Thus, games integrated into the Resonance universe could indeed hit the jackpot.

However, as time went on, users expressed dissatisfaction with the unclear evaluation criteria, and they wished that the hard work they invested in boss monsters would be recognized in the assessment.

The leading virtual reality game, Resonance, offered a solution.

[The internal review criteria already included factors of ‘combat diversity’ and ‘villain charm’. However, based on the opinions many gamers have provided, we will strengthen the scoring weight of these elements. However, small production companies or solo developers may face challenges in obtaining high-quality battle AI. Therefore, we at Resonance Studio have decided to periodically hold contests to collect high-quality battle data algorithms and distribute them for free.]

Displaying a commendable attitude of fixing the barn before losing the cows and checking household affairs, numerous gamers cheered.

-This is what being the industry’s number one class looks like, lol

-What on earth was the game I knew before?

-Is it paid? Free. (Declaring free the moment controversy erupted!!)

-Just pure excellence.

However, this burden was shouldered by all the Resonance employees.

As gamers’ expectations rose day by day, anything less than exceptional didn’t satisfy them.

At the Resonance Studio ASI Battle Data team, headquartered in Sweden, sighs erupted.

Thousands of battle algorithms poured in from around the world.

Most of them were worthless trash not even worth considering.

“If this continues, I should have applied to a waste separation facility instead. I clearly sought a job in game development. This feels like a job scam!”

“Thinking about it, the ones who always complain like Jessi never quit and keep dragging themselves along, haha.”

“Sigh… Is there an AI that can discern good battle data AI?”

“Want to try making one?”

“No thanks. I’ll just shut up and work!”

Day after day, they reviewed and graded hundreds of algorithms.

Today, hundreds of warriors fell before the ‘Prometheus’ AI, which was clad in a tattered red cloth.

Just so happened that the concept was tied to a summer special, so there were many bizarre AIs.

Suddenly, the length of the avatar’s arms multiplied by ten and it threw a punch—at least that was bearable to watch.

From time to time, refreshing news arrived like rain during a drought.

“Wow, 4.8 seconds? Isn’t that a new record?”

Prometheus lost to a white silhouette avatar in one strike.

“Most clears under 5 seconds are either bugs or designed through cheap tricks, you know that.”

“I know, I just wanted to say it once. Still, we have to evaluate according to the guidelines. Jessi, please run a thorough check.”

“Sigh, I should just quit soon…”

A hundred simulations were recorded on a single massive screen.

The formless white silhouette wielded a sword.

The Prometheus AI stood ready with a flame sword.

To ensure a thorough assessment, it seized the initiative.

Prometheus attacked the white silhouette in a hundred different ways.

The attacks included simple sword strikes and stabbing right at the center of its chest.

Among the more unpredictable attacks were those that involved throwing the sword and tripping the opponent’s legs.

“What the?”

Jessi’s gaze moved slowly until it finally came to a halt.

An amazing thing was happening.

The white silhouette perfectly countered the AI’s attacks as if a person was controlling it.

Despite the ridiculous design, its swordsmanship showed no mercy whatsoever.

The sword swayed in the air and swiftly severed Prometheus’s neck.

Trick attacks were ineffective against the white silhouette.

It won every single encounter, each with a different technique.

Truly, an artistic performance.

“Impressive. Looks incredibly strong. But isn’t it a bit ambiguous for a summer special? Just seems like a skilled swordsman.”

“It seems to have had a combat mode change system. I’ll try switching it up.”

Since the simulation ended too soon, there was no opportunity to check other phases.

When the phase was forcibly switched, the white silhouette trembled and sagged like a mollusk.

“…!”

The white silhouette sprinted with unprecedented speed.

It wasn’t just the effect of increased speed.

Quadrupedal movement is inherently faster than bipedal.

With an eerie movement that seemed to merge beast and human, gasps escaped.

The white silhouette leaped high and swung its sword in mid-air.

A completely fresh movement never seen before.

It wasn’t a wild flailing of the sword, nor was it the refined movements of a swordsman.

‘I want to see more…!’

Captivated by the sword art born from primal instinct and restraint, Jessi grew curious and set Prometheus’s stamina to infinite.

The twisting joints and unexpected sword swings felt like witnessing a marvelous trick.

Despite being slow enough for an average person’s eyes to track, the AI couldn’t respond at all.

“Oh Jessi, it seems this was made in your home country? Any clan you might know?”

While Jessi’s senior rummaged through the paperwork, they figured out the source.

“Where? Korea? The only places that provide this high-quality battle data are Arisu or Onnuri.”

“Let’s see. The clan’s name is… Jansol?”

“A Korean clan? Oh, surely not. Let me take a look.”

When Jessi received the paper, her eyes widened in surprise.

[Clan: Jansol (殘雪)]

[Clan Leader: Noname (No Name)]

[AI Name: Berstaphen]

[Combat Design Concept: Demonified Swordmaster]

The youngest high mage, who had only been rumored before.

This was Na-me’s first official activity as a mage.