The Hall of Fame

The Tower of the War God.

The moment the trials that had delivered despair to everyone came to an end, people—especially the players—could not help but be thrown into utter confusion.

“Th-the Hall of Fame…!”

“How many got updated all at once?”

“My eyes aren’t playing tricks on me, right?”

The Hall of Fame, which scored and ranked people according to how they resolved the main quests, had been shaken to its core.

And it was not just one or two entries.

Main quests had been completed simultaneously across the board, and the lists of multiple halls had changed in kind.

An unprecedented event that had never once occurred before.

This was the first time several lists had been “updated” so abruptly.

Moreover, the names that had risen there delivered an even greater shock.

“Why is Wilhelm on the Hall of Fame?!”

……Because Wilhelm’s name was listed on the Hall of Fame.

Five hundred points.

An overwhelming gap so vast that comparison was impossible.

A score so high it was hard to believe even after seeing it with one’s own eyes.

Yet that was not the end.

Wilhelm’s name continued to appear after that as well.

From Main Quest 1, “Survival,” onward, his name appeared on every existing Hall of Fame.

As if every achievement Wilhelm had ever accomplished had been scored and sealed in place.

“Does this even make sense?”

“So Wilhelm is a player?”

Everyone could not help but find it strange.

Originally, the Hall of Fame was a privilege exclusive to players.

Only players were registered there, a place where they competed against one another.

Naturally, no non-player had ever had their name listed.

Then did that mean Wilhelm was a player?

But if he had been a player, his name would have appeared on the halls long ago.

There had to be a clear reason it had been added so suddenly, as if updated out of nowhere.

Only then did people grasp the exact cause.

“Look carefully. It’s not just Wilhelm.”

“……You’re right. There are a lot of names I’ve never seen before besides Wilhelm.”

“What the hell is going on?”

They had simply been mistaken because Wilhelm’s name had caught their eyes first.

The names added to the Hall of Fame were not Wilhelm’s alone.

Unfamiliar names—or ones that felt somehow familiar yet strange—were listed there.

After staring at the halls for a long while, some of the players finally realized the true identity of those names.

“……No way, holy shit! That’s an alt I raised!”

“The alts got added to the Hall of Fame?”

Exactly—the secondary characters.

They were the names of the characters the players ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had raised before becoming players themselves.

Since those secondary characters had also completed the same main quests in the game, it was not particularly strange that their names had been updated on the halls.

But the biggest problem was that the Hall of Fame was no longer the exclusive domain of players.

The humans of Pangenia whom they had once raised, who had now regained their freedom and slipped from their hands.

In other words, the characters who had suffered from the “Divine Illness” were now competing alongside them.

“Then can the alts use the System too?”

“Things like the Golden Rule Shop or the Achievement Shop?”

“……If that’s the case, isn’t this a huge problem?”

Players were “sinners” in Pangenia.

It was somewhat known that the secondary characters they had raised in the game suffered from the “Divine Illness,” losing their memories for the duration of the time they had been played.

And that was not all.

Those who had suffered the “Divine Illness” hated the players who had controlled them.

But unless they transcended, they could not find them, and even after transcending they only obtained fragmentary information, so revenge was almost never carried out.

Moreover, precisely because they were “secondary characters,” few of them were strong enough ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to pose a real threat to players.

But that was no longer the case.

If the secondary characters had truly joined the ranks of the System—

Even if not all of them, if they could simply take advantage of things like the Hall of Fame—!

……Then the secondary characters would grow far stronger, far faster.

Even now, they would be able to claim all the rewards that had been piled up until now in one go.

People were thrown into panic.

From start to finish, there was not a single thing that was not bewildering.

Moreover—

“Park Hyunmyung…… what the hell is this guy?”

“……Right. His scores are on par with Wilhelm’s.”

“Where has he been and what has he been doing?”

“He must have climbed the Tower of the War God, right?”

“He cleared all the way through Main Quest 5 in one go?”

Wilhelm’s appearance had been so shocking that it had been pushed aside for a moment, but Park Hyunmyung’s name was also appearing on the Hall of Fame at a level equal to Wilhelm’s or right on his heels.

“Wilhelm has appeared, and Randolph is still alive…….”

“They’re both alive, right? The Hall of Fame only shows the living.”

“Even so, those two are already beyond our reach.”

The Hall of Fame only displayed the names of “living” players.

Randolph’s and Wilhelm’s names were still registered.

Proof that both were alive.

But those two had already left the realm of players and become beings akin to gods.

What remained was one person.

The only one still within their reach was—

“Find Park Hyunmyung!”

“Bring Park Hyunmyung here right now!”

……Park Hyunmyung alone.

People began to move busily.

By now he was surely somewhere on Earth.

“From this moment, I will teach you the fundamentals of weapon techniques.”

In the Empire’s vast training grounds, Raiga stood tall with a spear in hand and spoke.

He still looked clearly ill, yet his condition was far beyond that of any ordinary man.

Whoosh!

The spear shaft pierced the empty air.

A speed so fast that the resistance of the air could not even be felt.

“They call the sword the king of all weapons, but that is wrong. The spear is the easiest to handle and the most powerful weapon of all.”

“Then why do you wield a sword, Master?”

“Because in the end, the sword lies at the pinnacle. But that realm is still far beyond you, so first polish your spear arts.”

Raiga glanced at the weapons arrayed at the far end of the training grounds.

It meant for him to take one himself.

Eyes that held no great expectations.

They had not even formally established a master-disciple bond.

Rather, his intent to further examine my talent was stronger.

Because a proper tournament had been impossible to hold, he had been forced to mark me as the winner, yet he still lacked certainty.

Moreover, the current Raiga possessed no light at all.

He was simply waiting for death day by day.

I shrugged and took a single spear from the display rack.

I need the title of Raiga’s disciple, so I have no choice.

To go to Adrium, the holy land of the Goddess Sect, secure Sonora’s Divine Illness, and obtain the remaining fragments of the Spear of Longinus, I needed a more solid identity.

I could not enter Adrium while transformed as Randolph.

Randolph has become completely evil-aligned. If I go in as Randolph, I’ll be caught by the barrier and exposed.

I would be snared by the Goddess’s barrier and discovered.

That was why I needed the status of Raiga’s disciple.

Of course, that was not the only reason I had remained here.

The power of the Palga. Doesn’t the opening of the 5th Gate ultimately have something to do with natural regeneration as well?

……I had been curious.

The secret technique of the Palga, the foundation of the power with which Raiga had, for a single moment, overwhelmed even Primal beings.

Regarding the opening of the 5th Gate.

If opening the 5th Gate did not mean instant death, then could life not be extended through “natural regeneration”?

If the regenerative ability surpassed the speed at which life was being lost, could one not open the “5th Gate” and still live?

I desperately wanted to learn Raiga’s sword as well…… but what I was most curious about was the secret technique of the Palga.

And so I had remained.

There was no particular reason not to.

Of course, there were other reasons as well.

For example……

……Wilhelm’s identity was that of a prince.

A prince of this very Empire.

Yet he had been treated as a fake and driven out.

Somewhere in this place, there would be someone wearing Wilhelm’s face.

And that was probably—

One of the executives of the Death God Religion is impersonating Wilhelm’s identity.

It seemed I needed to dig deeper into this Empire.

The driven-out prince, and the fake who had taken his place.

Regarding the birth of the fake and the ultimate conspiracy and schemes.

There was a deep darkness in the Empire.

I intended to delve into that darkness I did not yet know and learn more about Wilhelm in detail.

For that purpose as well, the title of Raiga’s disciple was absolutely necessary.

“You will learn not only the spear but all weapon techniques. It will not be easy, so if you wish to give up, then give up.”

“I will not give up.”

“Hmm. Confidence is not a bad thing. Then try to follow.”

Whoosh!

Slowly, Raiga thrust his spear.

It was an utterly simple motion, yet Raiga’s spear precisely read and pierced the grain of the air and wind.

He meant for me to follow that principle.

Even though there was no way someone who had only just taken up a spear could replicate the perfect timing that even a spear master would struggle with.

Huuup.

I swallowed a breath and took my stance.

And then—

Whoosh!

Raiga was troubled.

About ending the “Palga” with his own generation like this.

If I cannot properly pass it on, would it not be right to end it?

The destiny of the Palga was to serve the Emperor.

The “Palga” existed solely for the Emperor alone.

But for a long time the Emperor had slept, and the purpose of the “Palga” had grown ambiguous as well.

Because the Emperor slept, the true forces of the Palga did not step forward either.

Only Raiga moved in the field.

Only Raiga, who had been of slave status and thus had never received proper recognition.

He felt a deep sense of skepticism about it.

Of course, it had not been that way from the beginning.

When I became the successor of the Palga, a storm of blood blew.

The previous master of the Palga.

The man who had been his teacher.

He had sealed the Palga in order to make Raiga the successor.

Unable to wage war against the successor, the forces of the Palga had withdrawn even deeper, and now they did not show themselves at all.

Can I make that same choice for this brat?

Inwardly he shook his head.

He did not think he could make the same bold decision as the previous master of the Palga, his own teacher.

The will to make someone the successor even if it meant bringing a storm of blood.

He simply felt no affection or desire for that.

Yet to accept him as a formal disciple required the approval of the Palga.

That was the rule.

So if he was to take this brat to the sealed Palga and receive approval, he himself needed certainty as well.

Moreover, a certain hesitation was only natural.

After all, he was already dying.

……What an awkward stance.

Raiga inwardly let out a sigh.

The way he held the spear looked exactly like someone who had never held one before.

It seemed he had no thought beyond simply swinging it.

Without any expectations, Raiga watched the boy.

And then—

Whoosh!

The spear was swung.

A spear swung haphazardly, just like the stance.

“…….”

But Raiga could not say a single word.

……Because it was precise.

The single strike of the spear that had read the grain of the wind.

The interval of the spear that had stretched out so smoothly, without any resistance.

Yet the use of every weapon differed according to the weapon itself.

Having learned the sword did not mean one could perfectly know the timing of the spear.

And yet it was not merely at that level.

The subtle principle contained in the spear that had just been swung—

“……Have you ever learned the spear from someone?”

“I have not.”

“……Next is the dao.”

Raiga took not a sword but a dao from the display rack.

A dao.

A weapon with only one side of the blade sharpened.

Different from a sword that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could cut with both faces.

Though they looked similar, the dao was a weapon that maximized cutting power.

Swish!

He brought it down heavily.

Unlike the lightly moved spear, it cut the wind with weight.

At that, the grain of the wind changed.

An even higher-level technique.

Likewise, being good with a spear did not mean one could handle a dao well.

Hyun of Adrium.

The boy who had taken a single dao from the display rack—

Swish!

He swung it and cut the wind.

And once again, it was the same.

“…….”

……He had not merely cut ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the wind.

Raiga’s two pupils trembled violently.

Right now, this brat—

……He cut me.

In that instant, he had cut Raiga.

He had found the grain of the wind that Raiga had cut and precisely bisected it.

This was a technique several dimensions more difficult than simply cutting the wind.

And he had done it by sensation, by instinct.

Yet he could not understand it.

He had merely watched the motion once, grasped it, and taken one step further?

If that was the case, then that meant—

……This is absurd.

……That he surpassed even his own talent.