Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 5

5. The Chosen One (4)

“Inquisitor…?”

Woo-jin muttered, staring at his status window.

Inquisitor was an exclusive job class that only those who chose the faith of Ru could advance to.

Generally, there was no problem believing in any of the seven gods regardless of one’s job class, but each faith had one exclusive job.

The disadvantage was that abandoning your faith meant abandoning everything you had built up in that job, making it a high-risk choice. However, the advantages included better treatment within the order and a much easier time gaining the deity’s favor.

‘I didn’t make any choice, so what do you mean I made a choice?’

Woo-jin grumbled inwardly.

Even if he conceded that he had chosen Ru’s faith when he prayed, he had never even considered the job of Inquisitor.

‘But well, I was going to go melee anyway. Should I try it out? Maybe it’ll suit me….’

His level was only level 1.

From Aile’s point of view, who had just started, there was no risk in changing jobs.

Moreover, the Inquisitor could use all melee weapon types, so he could equip himself with weapons and gear to his liking.

‘I’ve heard the performance is definitely good.’

If you followed the typical path, it was a decent job with good stats in both damage dealing and tanking, and it boasted a speed that wasn’t slow among the striker-type jobs, so it was highly rated for its performance in both PVE [Player versus Environment] and PVP [Player versus Player].

On top of that, if you had a religion, you could show off even stronger abilities with the grace of God commonly given to believers.

But the problem was that Inquisitors could only advance if they believed in Ru’s faith, and everyone had to become a follower of her, who was famous as a crazy goddess.

‘She didn’t seem like a crazy god when I saw her….’

The appearance of ‘Ru’ that he had seen directly was very different from the rumors or his imagination.

But he couldn’t let his guard down yet.

Looking at the examples of world quests or individual quests that she had given to her believers so far, he could see that the rumors were not exaggerated.

‘Faith… Inquisitor… gives power, huh….’

With his head in a whirl, Woo-jin slowly organized his thoughts.

‘She definitely said she gave me power… It’s better to watch the situation for now.’

Simply looking at the status window, the stats, job, and even the goddess’s favorability were no different from other starting users.

Considering the conversation just now and the fact that the goddess had awakened, there was a high possibility that she would approach him again if her power returned, so it was best not to rashly abandon his faith and wait.

“Right, the time……!”

Woo-jin shouted, remembering the cell phone alarm he had completely forgotten.

He had set it to automatically report after 1 hour in preparation for being trapped in the access device again, but he had forgotten all about it because he was going through such a hectic situation.

Woo-jin hurriedly manipulated the menu to log out, and his figure slowly disappeared.

However, there was one notification window in the corner that he missed, hidden by numerous status windows.

[You are currently on the path of the Apostle! (2.24%)]

* * *

Bleep, bleep, bleep!

Woo-jin, who had come out of the access device, immediately rushed to his cell phone and canceled the set report alarm.

Fortunately, there was still quite a bit of time left.

It would have been unfair if the police had broken down the perfectly fine front door to enter, or if he had been fined for making a false report.

“There’s nothing wrong with my body… There really isn’t any problem?”

He quickly checked his body and muttered in disbelief.

Woo-jin had experienced all sorts of side effects related to virtual reality, but now he didn’t feel anything wrong.

Although he couldn’t receive the 3.5 billion won reward, he had returned safe and sound and was able to access Warlord.

He had been worried that he would never be able to play games or use virtual reality-related technology for the rest of his life, but he was definitely relieved of that worry.

After organizing his thoughts, Woo-jin first started searching through the folders on his computer.

Folders meticulously divided by item, and an enormous amount of documents, images, and charts filling them.

Those were the various pieces of information about Warlord that Woo-jin had scraped together over the past year.

It might seem ridiculous that he, who couldn’t even play the game, had gathered such a vast amount of information that rivaled that of an expert.

But Woo-jin was a case where he couldn’t enjoy virtual reality games because his body couldn’t keep up, even though he had a more desperate wish than anyone else.

The sense of helplessness and futility that came from that was indescribable, and Woo-jin would relieve his thirst a little by rummaging through the news of all kinds of virtual reality games that were popular instead.

That was the same even after Warlord was released.

Rather, when hope arose that he might be able to play Warlord, which had overcome the stability issues, he endured the wait until he had the financial means by gathering and organizing all the information related to Warlord.

And the result of the process during that time was this.

Woo-jin began to thoroughly browse through the folders containing information about Warlord’s deities and orders, and in particular, he looked up a lot about Ru, the goddess of light and madness.

He prided himself on having a memory that was among the best, but it was impossible to always remember everything, and soon even the parts he had vaguely forgotten were all recalled.

‘Competition between the seven gods… The deities are definitely restricted. Performing the teachings and accumulating ‘faith’ means… Ah, I think I know what’s going on.’

A faint smile appeared on Woo-jin’s lips as he grasped the general situation.

Without delay, he entered the access device again.

* * *

Whoosh!

The alleyway where he had last logged out unfolded.

Woo-jin, no, Aile, walked out of the alleyway and assessed his physical condition.

There was no problem moving his arms and legs, and his reactions were normal.

He had heard that when you first started the game, your movements could become dull and you could feel frustrated, but Aile felt lighter than he did in reality, and he strode forward with a good feeling.

“The Iope Guild is recruiting new guild members! Newbies are welcome too, don’t be shy and come on in!”

“Looking for party members to run the Soltia Temple together! Looking for experienced players level 80 or higher!”

“We are accepting applications for mercenary escorts for the Red Mane Forest! 15 gold per person!”

“Looking for a girlfriend. Please……”

As he entered the city’s square, he heard the noisy voices of people.

He hadn’t been able to see the scenery properly because he was in a hurry to escape from the underground prison, but when he faced it properly, his chest swelled.

When he was trapped in the access device and almost died, he resented the developers of Warlord so much, but now he was even grateful.

‘I really came into the game, this can’t be a dream…….’

Aile shook his head and took out his equipment from the inventory.

He had skipped the name, city selection, and even the basic tutorial, so he had never received a separate explanation, but he was as skilled at these simple operations as a user who had always played Warlord.

Swish!

The weapon initially given was, as expected, a plain sword.

It was just the right size and length for beginners to use easily, and it was an object with a somewhat bland pattern.

“Good grip.”

Aile was satisfied with the basic weapon and moved for his first hunt.

Before starting anything in earnest, it was a priority to warm up and gauge his skills.

There were plenty of hunting grounds around the metropolis of Dubel, but there were a total of four places to go from level 1, in the east, west, south, and north.

The four hunting grounds, divided by difficulty, could be chosen according to the user’s taste. The easiest one in the east had low risk, so smooth combat was possible.

However, many people gathered there, so competition was fierce, and the rewards for catching monsters were not very good.

On the other hand, the most difficult hunting ground in the north was risky, but there were few people and the rewards from monsters were high, so you could level up the fastest.

Of course, being able to level up quickly was only the case when your skills kept up.

If you died for any reason, you would lose 48 hours of access and level down, and even lose your equipment, so if you were greedy, you could fall behind even more.

You had to find a place that suited you within a reasonable range so you wouldn’t die.

‘I’m… of course, going for the difficult one.’

Aile headed north without looking back.

He was a skilled player in the server who had made a name for himself in PC online games in the past, and he had a certain pride in his gaming skills.

Of course, he knew that combat skills in computer games and virtual reality games were not very related, but the confidence and habits of those days, when he was not afraid of difficult things and challenged them, were still ingrained in him.

“Is it here……?”

Aile muttered as he arrived.

There were hardly any people in the hunting ground located on the northern hill.

There were even a few bodies of users who had bravely challenged it but died near the entrance.

Out of a gamer’s instinct, he rummaged through their bodies, feeling sorry, but no items came out.

Perhaps the ‘pros’ who were waiting around and rummaging through the bodies of these dead players had already taken care of it a long time ago.

‘Even if I die, they’ll take all my items.’

He wasn’t particularly scared.

He was still at level 1, where the penalty was less severe, and unlike the online games he had played with his life on the line in his school days, it was just a hobby that he was approaching with a joyful heart.

All he felt was a slight tension and anticipation before the battle.

“Croak! Croak!”

As Aile entered the spacious hunting ground, he encountered a hopping horned rabbit.

With bloodshot, bright red eyes and a body that came up to a person’s waist, the guy didn’t seem like a monster for beginners at all.

It was a completely contrasting figure to the cute grass rabbits in the eastern hunting grounds.

The black-skinned horned rabbit jumped up and ran at Aile.

Then, he quickly reacted and moved his body, swinging his sword, and the guy’s attack lightly missed.

Only Aile’s sword passed by, cutting the horned rabbit and causing it to bleed from its side.

After that, the horn on the rabbit’s forehead continued to aim at him, but the guy’s attacks repeatedly cut through the air.

If it was a normal user, they would have felt like they were walking a tightrope and fought hard because the guy’s attack, which would leave them in a near-death state if they were hit even once, but strangely, the battle felt easy to Aile.

Thwack!

Aile’s sword pierced through the horned rabbit that was passing by.

The horned rabbit, which had already been cut several times and had its health reduced, trembled as its chest was pierced and then collapsed to the floor.

“What, what is it? I’m sure it was said to be difficult… why is it so easy?”

Aile stopped in confusion when the battle ended without leaving a single wound.

After briefly reviewing the battle in his head, he came to a conclusion.

“My body is also very light. It was easy to react. Maybe… am I surprisingly talented?”

* * *

Warlord’s development company building.

The female employee, dressed in a suit, who had personally visited Woo-jin’s house with a card, swiped her card and entered, and soon met a male employee from the same department at the entrance.

Then, while exchanging brief greetings, she began to talk about what had happened during her business trip.

“The access error I was in charge of this time… It was very unique, wasn’t it?”

“Well, it was the first access failure that appeared in the 1 year of service after the release, so of course it’s unique. When I first heard about it, I thought it was a prank call and hung up, and then there was a mess.”

“No, the reason why the error occurred is very unique.”

“The reason?”

“Yeah, I just thought it was a unique constitution that simply didn’t suit the virtual reality system, but that wasn’t it. Rather, the synchronization rate with virtual reality was so high that a rejection reaction occurred.”

“What? I’ve never heard of such a case. How high was the synchronization rate?”

“270.”

A ridiculously high number that made me doubt my ears for a moment.

A moment of silence flowed.

“…Are you kidding me?”

“It’s real. I thought it was a measurement error at first. As soon as it was connected, the soaring synchronization rate was forcibly pulled down by applying several layers of restrictions to the program, and then it was adjusted to 99 percent.”

“Is such a figure possible……?”

The male employee swept back his hair in disbelief.

That’s because there has never been a case where the synchronization rate with virtual reality exceeded 100 percent.

The average synchronization rate of the strongest rankers and the best stars Warlord has produced, the 6 guild leaders, was 92 percent.

“To think that someone with such a high synchronization rate couldn’t enter virtual reality games because of access problems… It’s absurd. Of course, it would have been difficult to play with games other than Warlord because of stability issues.”

“That’s true, but synchronization rate isn’t everything, is it? Is there even anything to regret?”

The synchronization rate was the figure that showed how much of the potential for reaction speed, judgment, sense, and all other talents could be expressed without loss in virtual reality.

If the talent you already have is lacking, it means that even in a state where the synchronization rate is 100%, you can only stay at the same level.

“Yeah, it’s just ‘potential.’ But it’s worth looking forward to, isn’t it? He’s the user with the highest synchronization rate ever. Whether he’s an insignificant man or the emergence of a new ranker… Personally, I hope it’s the latter.”

“What, do you like the customer you saw this time?”

“His face… ahem. No, if that happens, I’ll be seeing the start of a ranker, right? Even a latecomer who started in a shabby one-room apartment.”

“Hmm, it sounds interesting when you say it like that. Ah! Then, can we secretly monitor him to see how well he’s doing? Or should we throw him a few rare items or special quests?”

“Hey, if you want to quit the company, you should submit your resignation.”

“…Geez, can’t I even joke?”

The male employee shook his head, grumbling at her cold answer.

In a common-sense game, it was natural that a GM [Game Master], who was just an ordinary employee of the game company, could not directly intervene in the game.

Moreover, Warlord’s development company, which had declared in advance that there would be no intervention, had specified even more strict internal regulations.

Uncommon things like item creation and transfer by GMs were, of course, prohibited, and even monitoring users without their permission was strictly prohibited.

This was possible because all bugs and hacking programs were completely blocked, and a strict review process using artificial intelligence was conducted before release, so all balances and systems were perfectly completed.

As long as the things that took place within the system were permissible, there was no need to monitor and sanction anyone.

In other words, they had nothing to do with the games they had already developed.

They were just watching and enjoying Warlord like any other user.