The Knight's Oath

The Humanity who had obtained the Gravekeeper job thought to herself.

She had simply buried the items in the ground and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sprinkled salt water over them—had that counted as a grave, or had the system decided to treat it as a ritual offering? She honestly had no idea.

Of course, the items she had buried were packed with descriptions about residual souls lingering inside them, and if left in a corner they would spout nonsense like “offer up your body,” while the salt water was, strictly speaking, a consumable for curse removal. So it wasn’t all that different in the end.

As a Humanity who possessed every last one of the main body Yu Hee’s past-life memories, her feelings toward the user WageSlave—whom she had watched on the forums for well over ten years, even longer than the main body herself—couldn’t help but run deeper than most.

Another user she had believed completely dead was still alive. Even if the Abyss had revived him in a horrific state, the simple fact that he was alive meant something.

She moved the main body’s body and began building the grave.

With the job correction in place, constructing a proper grave was simple enough. The real problem started from there.

The Gravekeeper job’s characteristic was that creating a grave granted stats or special abilities. So far, every grave she had roughly slapped together by burying items in the Mental World had only raised her Spirit stat.

This was the first time she was properly building a grave in reality. No one knew what might happen.

She peeked once at the main body training skills in the Mental World, then, trusting only in Yu I-seong’s True Name Dharma Treasure lodged in the heart, the Humanity erected the final piece of the grave—the tombstone.

She had spent so long on the forums yet never learned anything beyond the nickname WageSlave. With no real name to go on, she had no choice but to finish the tombstone with the name “Gail,” the one he had probably taken upon reincarnating.

The moment the stone was complete, system messages cascaded across her vision as if they had been waiting.

Before the Humanity could even read them, a pure white aura slipped free of the grave, circled the tombstone once, and in the blink of an eye charged straight at her and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠burrowed in.

A flash of life flickered through the Humanity’s mind.

A middle-aged man in black armor, more than half his helmet shattered and his face exposed. Three cultivators surrounding him, looking down from midair.

“I do not acknowledge you.”

“You who devour humans and treat them as materials—how are you any different from beasts?”

“You vermin who think living a long time is all it takes.”

“You’re nothing but strong-powered brats who wasted your years cooped up among yourselves, cultivating nothing but a sense of superiority.”

“Do you think you’re speaking the truth? We were the same humans, yet just because we lacked spiritual roots and couldn’t become cultivators, you treat us as livestock and try to raise us?!”

“Then die to me—a mere Mortal. I’ll kill you and prove it. That you too are only human, and that even a Mortal you called dust can kill you. I’ll prove it.”

“I swear it.”

The cultivators’ words never reached her, but WageSlave’s rage-filled voice came through crystal clear.

Just what the hell had been done to him that this kid—who, even while clinging to this shitty game, never cursed the company on the forums beyond cursing the game itself—was saying things like that with bloodshot eyes?

Well, from the way he talks it’s definitely WageSlave, the Humanity thought, setting the observation aside. The cultivators who completely ignored him for being a Mortal, or the ones who charged in furious, eventually fell after the battle—three of them—but in the end WageSlave also collapsed right there.

He had poured out every skill, every bug, every consumable as if there would be no tomorrow. That was how he managed to take down Nascent Soul cultivators more than a hundred levels higher even at the hard level cap of 500.

Fully equipped with a PvP skillset and gear, no matter how many Laws those Nascent Soul cultivators threw around, they still had no choice but to die to a max-level knight charging in with bugs on top of everything else.

After all, he had really dumped every last consumable.

You never knew when an Eok-kka event might hit, so any user who had played this shitty game for a while naturally saved consumables for the unexpected.

But against consecutive Eok-kka events, there was simply no method at all.

The Humanity had reached out without realizing it, yet as if the conditions had been met, WageSlave’s memory cut off right there—swallowed into the Abyss’s maw together with the three cultivators’ corpses.

“Who wants to do it?”

The Gravekeeper job’s effect had spat out a job, but because she already possessed the Gravekeeper job, the effect had changed.

Yet the Humanities were all independent souls and simultaneously one, so they could share not only the Status Window but rewards as well. That was why she asked.

“But even if it’s a Special Job, the level cap is still 500, right?”

“Just transcend like I-seong.”

“Oh, is that so? Then I’ll do it.”

The Humanity switched places and accepted the job.

Even if it was called a Special Job, it was really just a Knight job with one extra prefix attached.

“It feels like the job got one Dharma Treasure added!”

“It’s way better than a regular Knight job!”

“So how is it?”

“Uh… how should I put the sense of handling the body? It’s like it’s soaked into the soul? Seeped in? Grafted on? Something like that—I can’t explain it in words.”

“Since we’re parts of the main body, if I-seong filled the deficiencies of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the soul through Transcendence, then we can add to and expand the soul through jobs. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Wait a sec—switch with me.”

The moment Gravekeeper received control of the body, the Humanity who had newly obtained the Knight job pulled an armor from the inventory.

Spiritual energy and Slaughter Qi flowed into the Ancient-grade armor bearing the Tier-1 prefix Immortal.

The Humanities who shared thoughts immediately realized what the action was for and quickly assisted. Finding it interesting, even the Nascent Soul popped out and spun its wheel round and round atop the armor.

Armor alone wasn’t enough, so they pulled matching Legendary- and Epic-grade defensive pieces from the inventory and laid them out.

Armor, helmet, greaves, gauntlets, boots.

They completed a full defensive set excluding accessories and weapons, filled it with Slaughter Qi, and poured spiritual energy into the armor to seal it tightly so nothing would leak.

They applied the powder made by grinding items with a millstone without a single gap, melted it on by forcing spiritual energy through it as if overlaying, and assembled and connected every part except the helmet’s eye sockets.

This was the method cultivators used to refine True Name Dharma Treasures.

Wrapping a spiritual-energy-laden tool in spiritual energy to connect the soul, thereby imbuing the tool with spirituality.

Of course, the Humanities—mere fragments of the main body Yu Hee’s soul—could not obtain True Name Dharma Treasures.

Unless they Transcended like Yu I-seong, their souls were nothing more than shards that held only memories.

Then how about just going inside entirely? The Humanity who had obtained the Knight job came up with that idea.

And the other Humanities, finding the notion entertaining, all joined in on the fun-looking act from the thought alone.

Of course the Humanities by themselves could never have managed it.

Spiritual energy they could handle, but Slaughter Qi they could not even control unless it was through a skill.

Yet the newborn Nascent Soul, intrigued, was helping while holding its wheel.

From the Nascent Soul’s perspective, rather than Yu Hee who only ever made it work, the big sisters who played with it in the Mental World were all gathered playing together—so of course it wanted to join in.

The Humanity with the Chef job and the one with the Alchemist job together kindled the fire of spiritual energy to accelerate the refining.

An Ancient-grade item carrying the Tier-1 Immortal prefix would never be damaged by mere spiritual-energy fire, and if any of the other pieces burned they could simply replace them.

And so, with the help of the other Humanities and the Nascent Soul, the Humanity who had obtained the Knight job attempted refining while completely connecting herself inside the Ancient-grade armor.

At that moment, the heavens opened.

Before there was even time to react, the Heavenly Tribulation that dropped in an instant was aiming for none other than the full-body armor the Humanities had been diligently creating.

The Nascent Soul sitting atop the armor spinning its wheel urgently pulled out the tower and raised it like a stick to block the tribulation, yet as if the bolt had never been aimed at the Nascent Soul, it shoved the infant aside and was about to strike the armor directly.

The Humanity who had prepared for death instinctively moved her arm—more precisely, the gauntlet connected to the armor—following the resonance her soul cried out.

The moment the Humanity’s gauntlet and the Heavenly Tribulation precisely collided, Parrying activated.

Even with its power greatly reduced by the Parry, the Heavenly Tribulation seemed to possess piercing force as well. It punched through the Ancient-grade armor’s defense, damage immunity, and damage reduction and struck the armor directly.

Despite the gauntlet burning away and vanishing under the powerful force imbued in the tribulation, the armor itself was not only unharmed—it mixed with the heavenly primordial energy of the upper realm and began radiating an even stronger power.

As if replacing the gauntlet that had burned away mixed with the Heavenly Tribulation, a gauntlet of pure white spiritual energy formed. At the same time, pure white spiritual light bloomed from the empty eye sockets of the helmet.