Katsuhata 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 go away.
After neatly folding her blanket, she sat down on the mat spread out on the floor.
She stretched her flexible legs out straight and pressed her chest down toward the floor.
Grrrgh!
Stretching was effective in waking her up.
Rubbing her eyes, Emika headed to the kitchen to get some water.
“Hmm? Did Na-me leave the lights on while sleeping?”
It was still early, before the sun had risen.
In the dimly lit living room, a yellow light could be seen seeping out from Na-me’s room.
Emika gently pressed her ear against the door.
“You’re not supposed to do it like that! Try lowering your position a bit more.”
“Like this? Ugh, I can’t take it anymore! I’m a person, not a beast! I can’t run on all fours!”
“Just get into the capsule. I’ll help you with your form inside.”
It was none other than Na-me and Cheon Saetbyeol’s voices.
For some reason, the sleepy beauties had gathered early in the morning.
At that moment, the door that wasn’t fully closed burst open.
“Kyaak!”
Bam-!
“Emika?”
Her body tumbled forward.
With her quick reflexes, Emika rolled onto her side and arrived right in front of Na-me.
“Oww… You both woke up early? What were you doing?”
“Waking up?”
Cheon Saetbyeol yawned with her bleary eyes.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t slept yet?”
“Yeah… I just want to sleep quickly, huaaam. What’s that Demon Beast transformation pattern?”
“Demon Beast? What’s that about?”
“I don’t know. The client wants me to recreate what they saw in their dream. Please let me sleep. Sigh…”
Cheon Saetbyeol collapsed onto the bed.
Na-me pinched her soft cheek and explained.
“It’s a task we need to undertake in Project Sekhmet. The boss we conceptualized is a swordmaster whose reason has been severed.”
“Uh-huh.”
Emika nodded her head.
The trio had spent the last two weeks diligently creating combat AI data.
Na-me had even named the AI Verstappen after Verstappen.
“For ages, various attempts have been made to distinguish between humans and animals. Rational thinking, value pursuit, self-realization, and so on. But if you think about it in a one-dimensional way, isn’t bipedalism the key? Bipedal movement is extremely rare in this world.”
“Penguins walk on two legs, you know… Uuk!”
“Shut up, Cheon Saetbyeol. So, I want to be sure to include data for fighting on all fours.”
“Oh, that sounds totally like a zombie! I think I’ve seen that in a movie a few times.”
Clap clap
Emika clapped her hands, her eyes twinkling.
“Sure, it’s similar. But I bet you’ve never seen a zombie wielding a sword in a movie or game!”
“Well, that would be weird, right? If their reason is paralyzed to the point they can’t walk on two legs, how could they use swordsmanship?”
“If it’s a swordmaster, even turning into a zombie would instinctively lead them to search for their sword.”
“Is that so?”
Unlike Na-me’s confident tone, Emika scratched her cheek, showing her doubts.
“Cheon Saetbyeol, wake up. Don’t dawdle, get into the capsule.”
Kyaaaak!
As Na-me and Saetbyeol entered their capsules, peace returned to Professor Cheon’s house.
Emika examined the numerous sketches of swordsmanship they had drawn on A4 paper.
‘At this very moment, Verstappen’s combat data must be overflowing…’
Unlike the modern swordsmanship categorized into around 20 types according to overall combat situations, the Imperial Palace Swordsmanship that Na-me had informed her about had a rather old-fashioned aspect.
When specific sword principles were applied, ten follow-up techniques would branch out depending on the opponent’s response.
With six main stances, 28 auxiliary stances, and 496 sword principles.
While learning the Imperial Palace Swordsmanship, Emika even felt like she was playing with string rather than battling with swords.
Though there were similarities to Germany’s Liechtenauer sword fighting system, there were also quite a few 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 would likely take at least two years.
A little later, Emika ran into Professor Cheon in the kitchen as he prepared to leave for work.
As Emika awkwardly avoided eye contact, Professor Cheon asked gently.
“Would you like me to pour you a cup of matcha latte too, Katsuhata-san?”
“Oh yes, please! Thank you so much…!”
Sluurp-
The warm milk blended with green powder, filling her mouth with a sweet and slightly bitter flavor.
Three days remained until the end of the August summer special contest.
‘I’m worried if Na-me can submit it by the deadline…’
—
As the 2050s approached, a troublesome ideology began to spread like wildfire among the Resonance gamers.
That the standards for judging a boss’s quality needed to change.
Endless criticism poured in regarding bosses that merely had high health and monotonous attack patterns.
[Games have been continuously evolving, and the current games must constantly persuade the public that they are better than the past. A good story and good graphics have already established themselves as essential virtues. Now, game developers must also show efforts to adjust difficulty through diversity in attack patterns, not just changing status coefficients for boss monsters. We want ‘games’, not just ‘number comparisons’ anymore!]
With renowned American game critic Aston Merlin joining the ideology by posting an article calling out “ineffective companies,” the movement to expose them accelerated.
This ideology hadn’t appeared overnight.
It stemmed from the fact that Resonance is both a game and a platform.
There were around 500,000 registered types of virtual reality games.
Resonance selects one game each month through internal reviews and recommends it for play.
In this way, any game integrated into the Resonance universe could potentially strike jackpot.
However, as time progressed, users expressed dissatisfaction with vague judging standards, and they hoped that even the painstakingly crafted boss monsters would be set as the standard for judging.
Resonance, the number one in virtual reality game market share, proposed a solution.
[“Diversity of combat” and “the villain’s charm” were already included as elements in our internal judging standards, but based on the feedback from many gamers, we will strengthen their scoring weight. However, we understand that small production studios or solo developers may have difficulties obtaining high-quality combat AI. Therefore, our Resonance Studio has decided to regularly hold contests to gather high-quality combat data algorithms and distribute them for free.”]
They demonstrated exemplary behavior by repairing the barn before losing the cows and checking the living conditions, garnering cheers from numerous gamers.
– Is this the number one in the industry? LOL
– What on earth was the game I knew until now…?
– Is it paid? Free. (Declared free as soon as the controversy arose!!)
– Just gleaming lights!
However, that burden fell on all the Resonance staff.
As gamers’ expectations rose by the day, it became harder to satisfy them with just an ordinary level.
At the Resonance Studio ASI combat data team based in Sweden, sighs were heard frequently.
Countless combat algorithms poured in from around the world.
Most just weren’t worth considering.
“If I had known it would be like this, I should have taken a job at a waste recycling station! I definitely applied to develop games. This is a job scam!”
“If you think about it, those who always complain like Jessie never leave and keep going, haha.”
“Ugh… is there no AI to efficiently differentiate good combat data AI?”
“Wanna make one yourself?”
“Sorry! I’ll just do my work quietly!”
They reviewed hundreds of algorithms a day, continuously scoring them.
Today, hundreds of warriors fainted in front of the AI “Prometheus,” draped in a red cloth.
With the concept also being a summer special, there were many bizarre AI.
For instance, having one’s avatar’s arm stretch ten times longer to deliver a punch was hardly watchable.
Occasionally, refreshing news would come in.
“Wow, 4.8 seconds? Isn’t that a new record?”
Prometheus lost to an avatar of a white silhouette after just one exchange.
“You know that clearances under 5 seconds are mostly bugs or designed through exploits, right?”
“I know, I just wanted to mention it. Still, we have to evaluate according to the rules. Jessie, can you do a precision check?”
“Ugh, I should either quit or do something soon…”
One hundred simulations were displayed on one colossal screen.
The formless white silhouette drew its sword.
AI Prometheus wielded a flaming sword and faced off.
To ensure a thorough review, it seized the initiative.
Prometheus attacked the white silhouette in a hundred different ways.
It struck down simply, and even tried piercing the center of the chest.
Among its unpredictable attacks, there were also strikes where it threw the sword and tripped its legs.
“What the…?”
Jessie’s gaze moved slowly until it ultimately came to a stop.
An astonishing event was unfolding.
The white silhouette countered AI’s attacks perfectly, almost as if being controlled by a real person.
Despite its ridiculous design, its swordsmanship showed no mercy.
The sword danced in the air before swiftly decapitating Prometheus.
The strange attacks were utterly ineffective against the white silhouette.
Every single battle meant a victory. All with different techniques.
It was nothing short of an artistic performance.
“Impressive. That looks incredibly strong. But isn’t it a bit ambiguous for a summer special? It’s just a skilled swordsman, right?”
“I think it had a combat mode change system. I’m going to try transforming it now.”
The simulation ended too early, offering no chance to verify other phases.
Forcibly switching phases, the white silhouette shivered and collapsed like a gelatinous creature.
“…!”
Suddenly, it ran with unprecedented speed.
It wasn’t simply an effect of increased speed.
Quadrupedalism is inherently faster than bipedalism.
The bizarre movement that fused beast and human caused an involuntary gasp.
The white silhouette leaped high and spun through the air while swinging its sword.
A fresh movement never seen before.
It wasn’t mindlessly swinging the sword, nor was it merely a refined swordsman’s stance.
‘I want to see more…!’
Captured by the blend of ferocity and restraint, Jessie filled Prometheus’s stamina to the max out of curiosity.
The twisting joints and unpredictable sword swings felt like watching a mystical performance.
Though it was slow enough for an average person to follow, the AI couldn’t counter at all.
“Oh, Jessie, I heard this was made in your home country? Do you know this clan?”
In the meantime, her senior rummaged through documents to find the source.
“Where? Korea? The only places that send this level of quality combat data are Arisu or Onnuri.”
“Let’s see. The clan’s name is… Yansaeul?”
“A Korean clan? Oh, you’ve got to be kidding. Let me see that.”
As soon as Jessie received the paper, her eyes widened in amazement.
[Clan: Janjeol (殘雪)]
[Clan Master: No Name (노나메)]
[AI Name: Verstappen]
[Combat Design Concept: Demon Beasts’ Swordmaster]
The youngest High Wizard, who had only been rumored until now.
It was Na-me’s first official activity as a wizard.
