"Your Highness."
A deep, low voice pierced my ears. A voice that jolted awake a mind the pain had knocked out.
"Are you all right?"
When I forced my eyelids open, I saw an old man, his snow-white hair neatly combed up, looking down at me.
'Baek-no.'
......That was the old man's name.
"You have broken out in a heavy cold sweat."
He slowly helped me sit up and spoke in a low voice.
"Were you having a nightmare, perhaps?"
At his words, I thought to myself.
'A nightmare......'
Right.
I'd had a terrible nightmare.
No.
I was still having it.
'If this isn't a terrible nightmare, what is?'
Still groggy, I slowly looked around.
A faint steam filled the whole room. Medicinal herbs were neatly arranged along the walls.
It gave the illusion of having walked into a country herbal shop. But it was no illusion.
This place actually was an herbal shop.
No.
To be exact.
'A Medical Pavilion.'
And not just any Medical Pavilion.
The Medical Pavilion whose master was the Divine Physician.
Even though I was definitely seeing it in person for the first time, the place felt deeply familiar. It had to.
'I've seen it through a screen often enough.'
But I really never thought I'd see it in person like this.
The game I loved had several starting points. This was one of them.
'And arguably the worst starting location of all.'
Of course, if you picked Severed Meridians as your Trait, starting here was the default.
People with Severed Meridians usually began the game with a flare-up. So most of them woke up in the Divine Physician's Medical Pavilion.
It was a kind of courtesy.
A courtesy from the developer so you wouldn't die a miserable death the moment you started.
Not that the users saw it as a courtesy, of course.
'If it were a courtesy, would this place be called the worst starting location for nothing?'
But anyway, that was about my character. I had never once imagined I would actually end up here myself.
So at first, I thought it was a dream.
But after four days of passing out from the pain and coming to, over and over, I had reached a conclusion.
'This isn't a dream.'
It was undeniably real.
'I'm inside the game I used to love playing.'
And by possessing the Avatar I had made, no less.
For four days, I denied it. But now I had decided to accept it.
No.
To be exact.
'Not that I have any choice but to accept it.'
It had already happened, and the more I denied it, the harder it would be on me.
Why?
How come?
For what reason?
I kept wondering why this had happened to me.
But I decided not to think about that 'for now.'
Why?
[ Sudden Trial Triggered! ]
Survive the danger that targets you.
-Survival Success: Reward + Next Trial
-Survival Failure: Death
Before worrying about any of that, I had to look after myself first.
"It is a new decoction. The Divine Physician says it is somewhat stronger, but it may be very bitter."
I took the bowl Baek-no handed me and drank the decoction down without hesitation.
Gulp, gulp—
Just as Baek-no had said, the decoction going down my throat was bitter. Horribly so. Enough to make me gag.
"Ugh—"
But somehow, I drank it all.
No.
To be exact.
I had to drink it all.
"Here."
As I handed Baek-no the empty bowl, my eyes went to the corner.
[ Trait ]
[ Nine Yang Severed Meridians ]
[ Grade: Lowest / ??? ]
Long ago, a god came to crave creating the most perfect body.
A flesh that would not age, would not sicken, and held endless strength.
So he tore off a strand of heaven's flame, the yang of the sun, and planted it inside human bodies.
That was the power of the Nine Yang.
But human bodies were too frail to hold the sun.
All who were born with the power of the Nine Yang perished before they ever came of age.
Yet the god did not give up.
He was certain.
That someday, if one appeared who could master the power of the Nine Yang......
That one would become the most perfect body of all he had shaped since the dawn of time.
Thanks to this damned Trait, I was suffering tremendous pain every single day.
The only thing that eased the pain even a little was the decoction. So I had no choice but to force that stuff down.
That was how damned a Trait it was.
If I had at least picked it myself, I wouldn't feel so cheated.
Sure, I had been planning to try a run this time where I picked Severed Meridians and maximized the return.
But doing it by my own choice and having someone force it on me were two completely different things.
On top of that, of all the things the random roll could have given me......
'The Nine Yang Severed Meridians.'
That it was these damned meridians in particular made it worse.
The Nine Yang Severed Meridians was ranked the very best of all the Severed Meridians. For better or for worse.
Severed Meridians saddled you with risk at the start, but once you overcame it, it paid you back with a huge return.
The Nine Yang Severed Meridians had the biggest return. And the biggest risk.
So people who picked the Nine Yang Severed Meridians almost never survived the first Trial.
Being Severed Meridians meant you could only start at this worst of starting locations to begin with.
And carrying the biggest risk on top of that made getting past the first Trial next to impossible.
As a result, many of the people who had once picked the Nine Yang Severed Meridians for the return took the full penalty when they made their next character, and quit the game.
I was one of them.
Of course......
'I did cling on for 30 days before I died.'
Anyway, that was that.
What mattered now was this.
[ Sudden Trial Triggered! ]
Survive the danger that targets you.
-Survival Success: Reward + Next Trial
-Survival Failure: Death
If you picked the Nine Yang Severed Meridians, you had to be fully prepared to survive the first Trial.
The Trial that usually began at this starting point.
The Sudden Trial known as the Frenzied Raid broke out four days of game time after character creation.
Normally, a Sudden Trial meant just what it said: a Trial that appeared out of nowhere.
When?
Where?
How?
Nobody knew, in other words. But in this world, Sudden Trials followed fixed patterns.
That was how I knew.
When the Sudden Trial would begin.
Anyway, if you started at this starting point, you had to prepare as much as you could during those four days.
But I hadn't prepared a thing in those four days.
'Because I kept collapsing from the pain, over and over.'
And it was far too late to start preparing now.
"Your Highness, I believe I must step away for a while."
The Trial was already about to begin.
That was how this Trial usually went. If anyone was by your side, it cleared them away first.
"What is it?"
"The Divine Physician is short of hands for the upcoming festival and has asked for my help. So I believe I should go and lend a hand."
"You?"
"Yes."
Baek-no nodded.
"His Majesty asked that the Divine Physician be accommodated as much as possible while Your Highness stays here. Is it not only proper that I comply?"
The moment I heard Baek-no, I realized it.
The Sudden Trial had already begun.
'Even if I tell him not to go, Baek-no will go one way or another.'
Or else this world would find some way to pull us apart. So there was only one answer I could give.
"Very well."
"I shall return shortly."
At my answer, Baek-no bowed his head and left the room.
"......"
Left alone in the room after Baek-no was gone, I thought to myself.
'What kind of Trial will it be?'
And.
'How am I supposed to get through it?'
It was the worst possible situation.
I had prepared nothing.
And my helper was gone.
At this rate, I'd fail the Trial with flying colors. And then I'd die.
But I still had one thing I was counting on.
[ Authority ]
[ Instant Kill ]
[ Grade: Supreme ]
: Should you wish it, nothing in this world can remain alive and breathing.
(An Authority unique to those who inherit the blood of Heaven.)
[ How to Use ]
1. Keep your gaze on the target for 3 seconds or more
2. Harbor 'the will to kill.'
3. Sever the revealed Life Thread.
[ Penalties ]
1. Each use shortens the user's lifespan. (The stronger the target, the greater the cost.)
2. If the gap in realm between the user and the target is large, the Authority's power weakens.
3. Killing intent accumulates with each use.
[ ??? ]
1. ???
An Authority I got by doing what the mysterious poster told me. With it, I thought I might be able to get through the first Trial.
And the moment the thought crossed my mind.
Snick—
"Don't move."
Right on cue, the Trial began.
***
"Third Prince, Ju Muk-rin."
A stranger's voice came from behind me.
At the same time.
Tap.
Something chill and cold touched my neck. I glanced down— a dagger.
"Correct?"
An assassin, no doubt about it.
'So the opening hasn't changed.'
I had wondered.
'Could the Trial have changed because I took over this body?' I had even worried about that.
But thankfully, it hadn't.
"Follow me quietly, and you might keep your life."
The Trial was exactly as I knew it.
'To survive this Trial, you have to take one of two approaches.'
The first was simple.
'Kill this assassin.'
But that was impossible for me.
No.
Not just for me.
It was impossible for anyone.
Pick Severed Meridians and you started out worse off than an ordinary person. Right now, my body staggered in a passing breeze.
And I was supposed to beat an assassin?
'An assassin who's first-rate at the very least?'
Not a chance. That was why most people took the second approach.
'Buy time until the helper arrives.'
You had to hold out for roughly 10 minutes. But holding out for those 10 minutes was, in truth, close to impossible.
Dodging a first-rate assassin's attacks for 10 minutes in a body weaker than a commoner's was simply not in the realm of possibility.
'Unless you're a hardcore veteran like me.'
I had already memorized all of the assassin's patterns. So dodging his attacks wasn't that much of a stretch.
Right.
If this were a game, that is.
Stab—
The cold blade bit shallowly into my neck. A sharp, stinging pain tingled through my whole body.
Gulp—
The pain told me that this moment wasn't the game I used to play. It was real.
My mouth went bone-dry. It felt like the dagger would sink straight into my neck at any moment.
But I couldn't stay frozen forever.
'......Stay calm.'
I thought hard.
How was I supposed to get through this crisis? The answer was simple.
'I have to use the Authority.'
But to do that, I had to put some distance between me and the assassin holding the dagger to my throat.
1. Keep your gaze on the target for 3 seconds or more
Because the Authority's condition was to fix my eyes on the target.
But shaking off an assassin with this pathetic body was out of the question. If I struggled to pull away, it would be my throat that got sliced.
'......'
My mind raced furiously.
So was there no way out?
Not at all.
'The Nine Yang Severed Meridians.'
I decided to make the most of what I had. It was a method I had actually used in the game when I picked the Nine Yang Severed Meridians.
'The Nine Yang Severed Meridians is a constitution that holds extreme yang energy inside the body.'
I knew a way to vent that extreme yang energy out of the body temporarily.
The Man's Welcome Point.
An acupoint at the front of the neck, on either side of the Adam's apple, to put it simply. You just had to pierce it with something sharp.
Being near the carotid artery, it was a point that could kill you if you pierced it wrong. But with the Nine Yang Severed Meridians, you didn't need to worry about that.
Stab.
Conveniently, the spot where the guy's dagger rested was right on the Man's Welcome Point. All I had to do was press my neck into it.
Right.
That was all it took......
'......Can I do it?'
I was scared.
Who wouldn't be?
I had to drive a dagger into my own neck of my own free will.
'......'
So I hesitated.
But only for a moment.
'I have to.'
It was the only move that could get me through this crisis.
So.
'Hup—!'
I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my neck forward.
SQUELCH—!
The instant I felt something foreign bury itself in my neck.
FWOOOOOOSH—!!
A tremendous surge of yang qi erupted from my neck and flooded the room in an instant.
"......Kugh!"
Just as I planned, the assassin couldn't stand the heat and put distance between us.
"......How dare you pull a trick like this—!"
He glared at me with the eyes of a demon.
But I had no room to care about that.
'......It hurts.'
The pain of a stabbed throat.
The hollowness of the yang qi draining out.
Together, they were making my head swim.
"I meant to leave the Divine Body as unmarked as I could......"
A line I had only ever heard in the game came out of the guy's mouth.
But wait.
'......I think the line changed.'
The original line was......
'Wasn't it about the potential to become a Divine Body?'
I think it did.
Or not?
'......I don't know.'
Anyway, that wasn't what mattered right now.
Stomp.
The guy, glaring at me with fierce eyes, kicked off the floor. In an instant, the distance between us closed.
It was a sense of speed I had never felt in the game. My eyes could barely keep up.
But I had to watch.
1. Keep your gaze on the target for 3 seconds or more
The condition for using the Authority.
I had to keep my eyes on the target, no matter what.
'Please.'
So I opened my eyes wide and stared at the assassin closing in like a flash of lightning.
"I'll leave you just barely alive."
He was on me in a blink, about to drive the dagger into my chest, when it happened.
[ Authority Activation Conditions Met ]
A low voice rang in my ears, and at the same moment.
Flash—!
My vision transformed.
'......Huh?'
Everything turned red.
The assassin charging at me.
And everything else in the room.
And.
Whooooosh......
The assassin, who had felt as fast as a flash of lightning a moment ago, now looked impossibly slow.
It was strange.
An eerie sight.
'......'
I couldn't understand what was happening.
But my body moved on its own. As if my body weren't my own.
A world turned entirely red.
In that world where time crawled.
Swish—
I slowly raised my hand. Something alien caught on it.
Rustle—
It was a line.
A line that ran from the assassin's body.
I had never seen one before, I was sure of it.
And yet......
'A Life Thread.'
Though I had never seen one before, I knew what it was. As if by instinct.
3. Sever the revealed Life Thread.
And that instinct, without my meaning it to, snapped the line I was holding.
Crumble—
The moment the severed thread turned to ash, something horrifying unfolded before my eyes.
The body of the assassin who had been lunging at me a moment ago. His body......
Splat—
Slosh—!
It burst into pieces and scattered all over the room.