Chapter 69

I covered my face with both hands and slumped down in my seat.

The sense of self-loathing is more intense than I expected.

Arang’s emotions, which were supposed to protect me from this self-loathing, disappeared as soon as they finished their job. It’s making me even crazier.

I can’t believe I acted all cutesy in my 30s. I really want to die.

If I ever do something like this again, I swear I’ll throw away my dignity… Oh wait, it’s already gone…?

“Kyaaaa! Arang is so cute!”

Sunchoo hugged me and shook me excitedly, clearly delighted.

“Okay! I’ll teach you everything properly!”

We created a private room and entered the arena.

Sunchoo chose their main class, the Warrior, and I, of course, went in as an Assassin.

“Hmm… The most important thing in PVP is skill canceling!”

“Skill canceling? Now that you mention it, I think I saw a Great Sword user do that.”

“Right. After watching the video Arang recorded, I think it went something like this.”

Sunchoo closed the distance in an instant with a charge skill, just like the Great Sword user.

I thought I had enough time to use a movement skill, so I activated it immediately.

“Yah~”

“!?”

Even though there was still some distance, Sunchoo appeared right in front of me in an instant and canceled my movement skill with a punch, just like the Great Sword user did.

“What? How did you do that?”

“This is one of the combos tanks use: charge cancel, skill cancel, and martial arts combo.”

“Why is it so complicated?”

“It’s simple. Use the charge skill to close the distance, cancel it before the speed drops, use any forward-moving skill, cancel it, and then use martial arts!”

“That sounds super complicated! But if you cancel two skills, isn’t it a loss if all you get is one martial arts hit?”

“That’s because Arang has insane physical skills.”

“Why?”

“Let me explain!”

The charge cancel, skill cancel, and martial arts combo isn’t something you use from start to finish every time.

If the opponent reacts slowly or misjudges the distance during the charge, you just attack with the charge skill. If the opponent reacts, you cancel and use the next skill to change the attack position. If they react to that too, then you finish with martial arts.

The advantage of this combo is that the final martial arts move is almost impossible to dodge.

“Isn’t that broken…? If you get hit, your skill gets canceled, so it’s hard to do anything.”

“But since two skills go on cooldown, even if you succeed, it’s not that much of an advantage. Martial arts doesn’t deal much damage.”

Sunchoo stepped back and took the stance for the Warrior’s charge skill again.

“Of course, that small advantage significantly increases the success rate of the next attack, so it’s a popular combo. The way to counter it is to either completely create distance the moment you recognize the charge motion or use a CC skill. Let’s try it.”

“Okay. Got it.”

When Sunchoo used the charge skill again, I took a small step forward, unlike before.

Sunchoo, of course, used the charge to close the distance, then canceled and tried to use a skill that moved forward, though not as much as the charge.

I aimed my Assassin’s thrust skill, [Rapier], at Sunchoo and unleashed a dagger in a straight line toward them.

“Looks like you’re just a bit short, huh?~”

Sunchoo laughed at my skill and was about to use the next skill when…

Clang!

“Huh?”

Sunchoo’s skill, which hadn’t fully activated yet, collided with the end of my thrust skill [Rapier], resulting in a parry.

We both staggered back, stunned.

“Wait, that reached? I thought it would be just a bit short.”

“You stepped forward a bit when you used the charge skill.”

“Wow… Arang, how are your combat sense and physical skills so insane? How do you even do this? How do you attack an axe with a thrust? If it’s even slightly off, it’s game over.”

“I don’t really know about my combat sense. But I do know why my physical skills are so good.”

“Really!? It’s not just talent?”

“Yeah. Want me to tell you?”

“Yes! I want to know too!”

“Do you know this?”

“Know what?”

I pointed to my eyes.

“About how visually impaired people develop heightened hearing and touch.”

“Yeah, I know. Isn’t that a pretty well-known fact?”

“Right. It’s famous. It’s called ‘plasticity,’ which basically means the brain’s ability to reorganize itself based on interaction with the environment.”

“But why are you bringing that up now?”

I stretched out my limbs and pointed to the boundary line of my limbs with one hand.

The boundary line created by the AI in Leore. Someone might mistake it for an amputation line, but no… or is it?

Anyway, moving on.

“After my limbs were amputated, the remaining parts of my body became incredibly sensitive and developed. When the Leore AI created my limbs, they made them based on my body’s composition. So not just my body, but my entire being became insanely sensitive and developed! Hehehe!”

After losing my limbs, my body’s senses and nerves developed 200% compared to others. The Leore AI saw my body at 200% and made my limbs with 200% sensitivity and nerves too.

Arang’s body was already a bundle of talent, but losing my limbs doubled that talent, and now my limbs are back?

It’s basically cheating.

My body moves exactly as I think, with zero delay.

In the beginning, other users accused me of hacking or illegal modifications, and I can see why.

It’s been a while since the raid came out. It’s almost the 6th week, and even with their gear, DPS players can’t break the 1v1 mechanic.

To achieve this level of physical skill, you’d probably need years for your brain to adapt, right? Especially if you’re limbless.

Arang has been limbless for almost 4 years.

This is pure luck.

I was already upset about losing my limbs, but if my senses and nerves hadn’t developed? That would’ve been heartbreaking.

“Losing my limbs made me stronger. It’s pure luck!”

Good, good. After the thumb-thumbs-up incident, Pinkubelly called me old-fashioned, so I’ve been studying the latest memes before bed.

I think that meme was perfectly timed.

Even though I was an uncle before becoming Arang, now I’m a fresh 15-year-old girl, so I need to keep up with these things.

Swoosh.

“Sunchoo unnie?”

Sunchoo suddenly hugged me.

“…?”

Sunchoo didn’t look too good.

What’s going on? She’s not crying like last time with Dr. Hyeseon, and she’s not making a sad face. She was laughing while talking, so…?

==

-Arangiiiiiiii

-Arangarangarangarangarang

-Kyooooooook

-Nonooooooongnoooooong

-Team leader, summon Arang right now! Summon her!

Kang Hangeul sighed as he looked at his stream chat.

Normally, mentioning other people is banned on his stream, but there was no way to stop the flood of messages this time.

After the WFK, he hadn’t streamed with Arang.

It had been over a month, and Arang hadn’t logged into Leore for about a week, so people had lost track of her.

The only place people could hear about Arang was, unfortunately, Kang Hangeul’s stream.

Arang is the party leader of the guild that achieved WFK, and with her 1v1 Makkora video, she’s known as the player with the best physical skills in Leore, making her the most famous Leore user in Korea.

But she doesn’t stream, doesn’t have a YouTube channel, and has only posted one guild recruitment post on the gallery.

The only way people can hear about Arang is through Kang Hangeul, so they go crazy asking about her whenever they can.

Kang Hangeul has been moderating the chaos while streaming.

But with Arang’s absence and her not logging in for a week, only to suddenly appear in the PVP arena, the viewers who had been searching for news about her went wild, demanding to see her.

After the WFK, Arang’s inbox was flooded, and now the viewers are going crazy too, giving him a headache.

Of course, he doesn’t dislike it.

Thanks to Arang, he achieved WFK, gained global recognition beyond Korea, and his stream and YouTube channel, which were in a slump, suddenly grew. So he’s happy.

Even if his body is suffering.

He knows this is the time to push through, so he’s rowing hard.

With the chat going wild, demanding to see Arang, and the situation becoming uncontrollable, Kang Hangeul finally sent Arang a whisper, begging for help.

“Phew… Everyone, Arang says to come to the guild house.”

-Yay!

-As expected of the team leader! I knew I could trust you!

-Arang’s phone lololol

-Arang’s contact info lololol

-But honestly, you’ve benefited a lot from Arang!

-True lololol

-Let’s go see Arang~

-I actually like Pinkubelly noona and Sunchoo noona more than Arang

“Everyone, as you know, Arang is 15 years old. Be careful with your chat. If you cross the line even a little, I won’t hesitate to ban you.”

-We know~

-Everyone on the gallery knows that lololol

-Hmph!

-Shut your mouth!

-But it’s true that it’s hard to resist when you see Arang lololol

-True lolololol

Kang Hangeul finally let out a sigh as the chat calmed down.

‘I need to ask Arang to do something, anything, to interact with the fans.’

---