The standard for the players Han Woo-hyun had to meet personally in China was clear.
The Chinese server was the largest server after Korea.
Therefore, although it was not quite on the level of Korea, the country that had developed the game, it still boasted quite a large number of rankers.
In other words, that meant there were just as many shut-ins who had devoted their entire lives to the game.
For the sake of using them all as fighting strength, and also for China’s stabilization.
He had to make them obey thoroughly.
If they refused to listen, they had to be properly “handled.”
He could not persuade every last piece of chaff one by one.
He could only expect Li Haoran to handle those things well on his own.
Fortunately, the important figures were relatively few compared to Korea’s countless Villain Players who possessed transcendent madness.
Four important heroic players. Six important Villain Players.
Regardless of level, they had exceptional talent in Force ability operation and control, unlike the other immature players of the early period.
They were future figures with outstanding potential, able to adapt to their own power and control its strength and adjustment as soon as their abilities awakened.
Whether he persuaded them, made them submit, or cut them down at the root, he intended to settle matters with all of them within the day.
“Let’s meet the ones in Beijing first.”
“I will go to the youth nursing home beside Peking University. There are two of them there. I know one.”
Coincidentally, they were two contrasting people.
One was the recruitment target he needed most, while the other was the worst slaughterer.
Level 293 Barbarian Warrior Zhang Zihao. Character Name: Great General.
Before his regression, in China’s final raid, he had been a hero who sacrificed himself to save Li Haoran and sent him to Korea.
“(What kind of insane nonsense is this? You’re saying this is real? This?)”
“(Long time no see, Zhang Zihao.)”
However, they ran into an unexpected obstacle.
“Ah··· Guild Leader, there is one problem.”
“Did he refuse? The atmosphere didn’t seem bad. If that is the case, I will persuade him. Translate.”
“That is not it. He says he wants to see your ability once.”
“···Pfft.”
Han Woo-hyun bit his lip without realizing it in order to suppress his laughter.
If Zhang Zihao had not used [Sharp Eyes], Han Woo-hyun could have understood.
Even if it was an erroneous bluff of a status window, to say something like that after seeing level 300 and a transcendent primary stat of 120,000.
Well, on the other hand, it was not completely incomprehensible.
Because he had that much backbone, he must have sacrificed his life to save his friend.
“To be precise, he says he cannot accept that a trash class like [Paladin] is the master of the guild··· regardless of stats.”
"Ha."
So that was it.
It was not an entirely wrong judgment.
Because due to the game’s design structure, where tanks were meaningless, Paladin really was a trash class whose damage output, simply because it was a tank, was only about half that of other classes.
However, if one considered that this was not because the performance of Paladin itself was trash, but because tanks had no reason to exist in the game.
Applying that to reality was quite wrong.
Because in reality, only a Paladin could withstand the attacks of other players and boss monsters head-on and protect allies.
In other words, it seemed Zhang Zihao had understood that the game had become reality.
But he had not understood that the game and reality were different.
Then again, even if he was a hero before regression, the truth that he had essentially come from being a game-addicted shut-in did not change.
Han Woo-hyun carefully observed Zhang Zihao’s expression.
"···."
Fortunately, his intent did not seem all that bad.
Because Zhang Zihao’s eyes as he looked at Han Woo-hyun were filled not with jealousy or hostility, but with pure competitive spirit.
Han Woo-hyun decided he would show the difference in their strength at an appropriate level.
“There was an empty lot right beside here. We will end this there quickly.”
“Will that be all right? If they see our power, the aftermath···”
“The world will be turned upside down tomorrow anyway. And my power control is perfect, so do not worry.”
“If that is the case···.”
When Li Haoran translated, Zhang Zihao nodded as though looking forward to it.
Soon, Han Woo-hyun went out to the park in front of the youth nursing home and looked around.
―Whip.
―Whoosh.
Fortunately, since it was dawn, there were almost no people. The space was not particularly wide, but it did not matter.
If it was within a ten-meter radius, he could sufficiently control the aftermath.
“Good. Come.”
Han Woo-hyun picked out the basic Chinese he had learned from Li Haoran before his regression.
The meaning was roughly, good, come.
“(I offer this war to Odin!)”
―RUMBLE!
As if he had no intention of holding back, Zhang Zihao immediately used an ultimate skill. A level 250 Barbarian Warrior divine possession ultimate skill.
Then again, even considering class advantages and disadvantages, with that level gap in-game, they were practically equal.
-[War God’s Strike]
Red light burst from Zhang Zihao’s eyes like lightning.
―SHWAAAK!
And he swung the long axe he had drawn at some point.
―THOOOM!
No, rather than “swinging,” it was more accurate to say he “threw his body along with his weapon.”
“Shield··· no.”
Perhaps, if it had been Han Woo-hyun before his regression, he would have been a little tense.
Barbarian Warrior had recently been remade from a simple northern warrior into the concept of a great warrior of the war god.
In the process, there had been a minor screwup where a ridiculous lore collapse, saying that they used the power of the four great northern spirits, suddenly appeared out of nowhere. But in any case.
As was typical of recently remade classes, it boasted one of the strongest tiers.
Therefore, even if Han Woo-hyun was level 300, if the two of them had possessed the same level of battle sense, it would have been quite a difficult fight.
“[Absolute Defense].”
―SHWAAAAK!
But Han Woo-hyun was the only player at the current point in time who had mastered real combat.
There was actually no need to use the Transcendence-Grade skill he had obtained by incompletely reaching level 300.
But he decided to use it in order to properly show the difference in their levels.
Light wrapped around Han Woo-hyun like mist.
―WHOOOOONG!
The level 300 Transcendence-Grade skill obtained when the level 20 skill [Queen’s Shield] advanced. [Absolute Defense].
Although, because of the error, it was not a skill that had been perfectly applied system-wise.
Through operation so perfect that its recoil did not spread to the surroundings at all.
―SHWAAAAK!
―WHOOOOSH!
Naturally, the axe swung at transcendent speed was stopped by the defensive field and could not move any further.
“(S-soft? What is this?)”
“My turn.”
Han Woo-hyun answered Zhang Zihao’s shocked voice leisurely.
“[Light-Sealing Sword].”
A level 150 skill. A suppression skill that disarmed the enemy and sealed their movement.
That alone was not enough.
―Wooooong···!
In addition, he consciously stimulated his pineal gland by force.
―Wooooong···!
Time gradually slowed, and the Yggdrasill Force flowing from his pineal gland pulsed through his cerebral cortex.
An original skill developed before his regression by scientist players under the United States Department of Defense.
―Wooooong-Zzzzzng!
[Force Combat Arts Fifth Form: Nerve Manipulation: Neural Acceleration].
A technique whose operation had become even more skilled after he clearly felt player awakening.
―SHIIING!
Eight wedges made of light formed between the fingers of Han Woo-hyun’s two hands.
―THUNK.
―THUNK.
―THUNK.
―THUNK.
―THUNK.
―THUNK.
―THUNK.
―THUNK.
Not even 0.1 seconds passed.
―THUD!
Zhang Zihao collapsed with his entire body frozen.
"Kuh, kuheok···?!"
Wedges of light were packed densely into his ankles, knees, elbows, waist, neck, and shoulders.
“Will you continue?”
“(He asks if you will continue.)”
“(Absurd. This is on a completely different level··· I acknowledge it.)”
“Zhang Zihao says he acknowledges you.”
Fortunately, there was value in showing an overwhelming difference.
“[Guild Window].”
“[(Guild Window)].”
He succeeded in recruiting his third guild member.
However, what came next was more important.
“Zhang Zihao. Li Haoran. This time, I may need your direct help.”
“Command me as much as you wish.”
“(What is it?)”
Reaper Shi Haiyan. Level 291 Dark Warlock.
The first lord of Beijing, who had forced nearly one hundred million players and ordinary people into brutal mutual slaughter in the Beijing Arena.
A mad slaughterer who made them hate and kill one another, expanding the Chinese civil war beyond any point of return.
However, she was one of the few level 290-rankers in China.
The most important ranker and Villain Player after Li Haoran and Zhang Zihao.
A target who absolutely had to be made to obey.
Coincidentally, she lived very close by.
“Do you know Shi Haiyan? Character Name: Reaper’s Dark Warlock.”
“(Her real name was Shi Haiyan? ···That lunatic.)”
“Zhang Zihao says he knows her.”
Han Woo-hyun heard the explanation that followed.
It seemed she was already famous in China.
Far more than Han Woo-hyun had expected.
She was a troll who turned on a VPN every day and posted gore snuff films on all kinds of internet communities.
Because she did it with dozens of different IDs, even Chinese website operators had headaches because of her.
“···She was a complete mad bitch.”
Han Woo-hyun muttered as though he found it absurd.
He felt a slight sense of doubt.
Even if he seized the initiative and bent such a human being to his will.
He could not help wondering whether she was worth using as a subordinate.
“···No.”
Now was not the time to be picky about means and methods.
In the first place, if he accepted only sane people as subordinates, he could not defeat the boss monsters.
For boss monster raids, he had to gather the economic power, technical power, and manpower of the entire world.
Even then, it was doubtful whether the Twelve Apostles could be stopped.
So he had to crush all the villains beneath him and make them obey.
“A lunatic··· but her ability is real.”
Han Woo-hyun slowly opened his mouth.
“You may not like it, but she is also a very powerful player. Therefore, I intend to at least attempt recruitment.”
“(...Understood.)”
“(Understood.)”
Li Haoran nodded without thinking much, but Zhang Zihao looked somewhat uncomfortable.
It was fully understandable.
Considering her actions before Han Woo-hyun’s regression, even he wanted to kill her immediately.
“Let’s go.”
The three of them immediately entered the building two doors down from the study hostel where Zhang Zihao had lived.
Shi Haiyan lived on the third floor of this building.
―Ding!
Han Woo-hyun frowned as he stepped out of the elevator.
“···?”
Because his eyes met those of a woman with a vacant expression, dragging a handsome man behind her.
Black hair. Black eyes.
A face beautiful to an unrealistic degree.
In other words, a player.
“....Reaper Shi Haiyan.”
“(Wh-what?! Who are you?)”
She saw Han Woo-hyun clad in brilliant armor and flinched in shock.
“(Shadow Hide)!”
Leaving the unconscious man behind, she vanished in an instant, as though snuffed out.
“I knew she was a crazy bitch.”
“(This fucking...)”
“Could she have already awakened?”
Fortunately, it did not seem she had crossed the line yet.
But she had been just before it.
“Both of you, protect that man. Focus only on defense. Shi Haiyan is a Dark Warlock specialized in stealth and bloodsucking. You two have only just become players, so she will be difficult for you to face.”
Han Woo-hyun slowly focused Yggdrasill Force from his pineal gland into the sensory nerves throughout his whole body, as well as his eyes and nose, then continued.
―Wooooong!
He also drew his Force up to the maximum, all the way to its limit.
“Remember. Protect only your own bodies.”
When Han Woo-hyun judged that all of his nerve cells had been dyed in Force, he unleashed that power.
―FWOOOOSH!
“[Holy Ground]!”
―CRAAAAACK!
A level 130 skill, a domain declaration skill.
Originally, it had only the effect of raising defense and attack within its area.
But the regressor Han Woo-hyun could additionally exercise an enhanced ability.
Because in that domain, every space and living creature entered his consciousness.
It was, as expected, a technique developed through collaboration between ability researchers and players in the United States.
―Slide···
―Sliiide···
“Is it there?”
She was surprisingly close.
Hidden in the shadows, holding her breath, he sensed her presence moving while concealed in a wall only a few meters away.
―WHOOSH!
Han Woo-hyun leapt while paying careful attention not to break the building.
-[Authority of Light: Magic Shattering]
―Wiiiiing!
An energy that dispelled skills gathered in a round shape in his hand.
―PAANG!
When he drove it straight into the wall, the shadow flowed down as though collapsing.
―GRAB!
The black-haired woman who had been hiding was caught in Han Woo-hyun’s grasp.
“(I-impossible! I was in absolute stealth!)”
She screamed as he seized her by the nape.