Challenge Log of the Celestial Realm

Ryu Hwi did not move from where he sat slumped on the floor.

The shock and emptiness were so overwhelming that even the strength to stir had drained out of him.

It was the classic three-stage syndrome familiar to every random box addict.

The euphoria of pulling exactly what you wanted.

The crushing regret that follows when you remember everything you burned to get there.

And after the regret—despair.

He had passed through euphoria and regret, and now he had arrived at despair.

Even YggON was cringing.

"Ahaha... ha. It's fine. This is just one step back... for the next leap forward. Ahaha."

It was only a mercy that he had actually pulled what he wanted. If he hadn't, he might have been a broken wreck for a good long while.

"First, let's check the other SRs later, then..."

He pulled up the MR-grade Heavenly Demon Divine Art first—the skill he'd somehow scored two copies of through duplication.

YggON had said skills incompatible with Yggdrasil 2.0 wouldn't appear in the pool at all, which meant this Heavenly Demon Divine Art was usable in the new version.

And since this was his first MR rank, he was genuinely curious how it would perform.

"Isn't the skill description a little too long?"

Ryu Hwi studied the effects of the MR Heavenly Demon Divine Art closely.

It was a skill he'd gotten as a throwaway bonus, but true to YggON's claim that it rivaled SSR grade, it looked outstanding. Best of all was the fact that it carried into 2.0 without any performance nerfs.

Which left only one thing.

"Shuffle Gun!"

He drew out a weapon of a rather peculiar ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shape.

At a glance, it looked like a gauntlet worn on the left forearm. There were slots along the forearm's trim where cards could be inserted, and along the top, a row of positions where cards arranged themselves when a deck was deployed. On its own, none of that explained why it was a shuffle gun—but the glove portion guarding the fist housed a unique mechanism from which a gun barrel could deploy.

The moment he triggered the device, the gauntlet split open and the barrel sprang out.

After getting a rough sense of the construction, Ryu Hwi pulled up the Shuffle Gun's information.

"Shut up! A single weapon that can exert multiple effects—who cares if it's random or not?!"

Reliability took a hit, sure, but it was well worth the trade.

Forget the deck mechanic—even setting that aside, it was an excellent weapon that doubled as a firearm.

Ryu Hwi ran experiment after experiment with the Shuffle Gun. It took a little while to get the hang of it, but once he did, it performed beyond anything he'd imagined. It was a shame he could no longer put Peace Breaker, his trusty companion until now, to proper use—but in exchange he'd gained a far more powerful weapon.

Finally, he checked his currently equipped gear and skills.

He'd swapped out his weapon, armor, and accessory entirely for SR gear pulled from Super Gemini, but on the skill front the only change was replacing Yongjin Ki Arts with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

He'd kept the skills marked (OLD) equipped for now, but since they couldn't perform at full strength in Yggdrasil 2.0, he would eventually need to replace every last one of them.

For the moment, Super Gemini was the only 2.0 game labyrinth in existence, so swapping out skills would have to wait.

To grow stronger, new game labyrinths needed to be created as quickly as possible—by the hour, if he could manage it.

And for that...

"Shall I get to work on my first task as CEO of Jucheongwang?"

The first game labyrinth of Yggdrasil 2.0 had been born.

And yet, people hesitated to log into the labyrinth called Super Gemini.

There was already no shortage of controversies erupting left and right. Nobody was about to rush headlong into a labyrinth made by Jucheongwang, a developer nobody had ever heard of—unless, perhaps, it were a studio that had worked under Latia Soft.

"Jucheongwang... Jucheongwang..."

Sitting in a café, Ragna searched the name, but aside from a single incident where a shop with a Jucheongwang sign in the Entertainment District had collapsed in a fire, nothing else turned up.

"Noir, have you ever heard the name Jucheongwang before?"

Noir, seated across from him, shook her head.

After the Latia Shock, she, Bisque, and Ragna had all left Linzea. Bisque had been bound by an unfair contract over personal matters, but now that the collusion between Latia and Linzea had come to light, the contract holding her captive had lost its force as well. These days she was working her feet to the bone trying to resolve her difficult circumstances.

Despite being Silver rank, she had no breathing room in her life. Even when Noir readily offered to help, Bisque refused to accept it.

So Noir was killing time in the café, trying to shake off the frustration.

"Every other developer's project failed, and this is the only one that succeeded. Noir, have you tried this game?"

"Hearing that it converts your physical body itself... it makes me a little uneasy."

Ragna understood how she felt. It was nothing like the old days of logging into an account through a connection rig. Turning your entire body into data and plunging it into a labyrinth—of course that would be terrifying.

"What are you two doing here?"

Just then, someone spotted the pair and struck up a conversation.

A man so massive you had to crane your neck to look up at him—Pokryeol Daedo. The backlash from his bug abuse had reached all the way into his real-world body, and he was wrapped in bandages from head to toe.

"Awfully leisurely, aren't we. Don't tell me you haven't seen the new video Ryu7017 uploaded."

At his words, Ragna and Noir's eyes went wide.

"Did the Deep Sea Escape series get a new upload?!"

"For an analyst, you're slow with information. What's the point? It went up about thirty minutes ago. And it's not Deep Sea Escape anymore. It's a brand-new series."

Ragna immediately connected to Yggtube through his SEED.

A new series had appeared on Ryu7017's channel.

"?"

The instant they read the title, Ragna and Noir froze in unison.

"He... made a game labyrinth? Don't tell me...?"

Heart pounding with dread, Ragna hit play. They had, after all, been discussing exactly this—the new game labyrinth—with Noir just moments before.

The video began.

Unlike the opening of the Deep Sea Escape series, a carefully produced logo appeared on screen first.

A logo engraved with the words Jucheongwang.

"Jucheongwang is Ryu7017's game studio?!"

At this point, most of humanity was probably reeling in shock.

"The next part's even better."

Pokryeol Daedo, who had already seen the video, grinned wickedly as he watched their reactions.

A man appeared on screen.

His gear had changed in all sorts of ways, but there was no mistaking that it was Ryu Hwi—Ryu7017.

"Hello, everyone. It's been a while. This is Ryu Hwi, CEO of Jucheongwang. I've climbed up to 'Silver' now, so I'm no longer an Unknown."

Against a stark white background, Ryu Hwi sat alone in a chair. He declared himself "CEO of Jucheongwang" right off the bat.

He'd been that way since the Deep Sea Escape series—he never ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠made the slightest attempt to hide what he had accomplished. And that unabashed audacity made people rally to him all the harder.

By now, there wasn't a human alive who didn't know his name. His very first uploaded video had long since blown past one hundred million views.

"Since Yggdrasil became 2.0, hardly any labyrinths have survived, and no new ones have been created, right? What's more, even though people all over the world can now freely access labyrinths, I'm sure many of you feel fear at this unfamiliar concept of 'Conversion'—converting your real body itself."

Just as Ryu Hwi said, people were afraid of Conversion. Even Noir found the idea off-putting enough that she hadn't dared connect.

"For the record, I'm currently inside our studio Jucheongwang's new title, Super Gemini, having converted myself in."

Noir, watching the video, swallowed hard.

"For the record, Conversion is on a completely different level from logging in through some mere connection rig. The sense of realism is far more vivid, and safety is higher, too. It's far safer than connection rigs, which every year produce 'brain death' cases and 'side effects' for any number of reasons. Men and women, young and old—anyone can enjoy it without burden. For example..."

Ryu Hwi drew a knife from his coat and stabbed it into his own hand.

At the sudden self-mutilation, Ragna blurted out a strangled "GAH?!" before he could stop himself.

"Ah, that stings a bit. As you can see, pain control is in place as well. Any gamer will understand just how momentous that is."

Gamers' single greatest grievance was pain. Injured in a game labyrinth, you felt the agony in full—which was why every method conceivable had been deployed to dull it. And here was Ryu Hwi, stabbing his own hand with a knife and calling it "stings a bit." He didn't even look all that hurt, either.

"Now then, allow me to introduce Super Gemini, made by Jucheongwang. Channel locked!"

The video unveiled Super Gemini, the new game labyrinth of Yggdrasil 2.0.

At first glance it looked like something children would play with—a labyrinth almost childish in its vibrancy—but a closer look revealed the depth of its game design. Above all, it was a labyrinth that made you want to try it no matter who you were—not just the established gamers, but every man, woman, and child besides.

In an age when every person on Earth could access game labyrinths, it presented a vision of what a Yggdrasil 2.0 labyrinth could be.

Even Noir, watching, felt the urge to dive straight into Super Gemini that very instant.

Even though, mere minutes ago, she'd been wary of Conversion itself.

Before long, the game introduction drew to a close. The labyrinth was even more sophisticated than they'd imagined, and Ragna and Noir let out their breath in unison.

Pokryeol Daedo looked down at the two of them, beaming ear to ear.

"It's not over yet."

What could possibly be left?

Ragna, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠already drowning in an information overload that made his head spin, had no idea what face to make.

"Super Gemini is open right now, and anyone at all can enjoy it. The gamers of the next era are all of you watching this video. To commemorate the dawn of a new age, I've prepared a small event."

An event?

For some reason, Noir felt a chill run down her spine.

"One month from now, we will hold a large-scale tournament using Super Gemini's multiplayer battle feature. The champion will be granted a portion of Super Gemini's 'operating rights.' Ah—of course, I'll be competing too, so if you want to win, you'd better work hard."

It felt like a bolt of lightning had struck him square in the head.

Watching the two of them lose the power of speech, Pokryeol Daedo ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠finally burst out laughing.

"I'm telling you, that guy's genuinely insane. He's not the type to be satisfied with escaping a mere deep sea. 'Challenge Log of the Celestial Realm'—the name says it all. He's setting his sights on the celestial realm."

The Unknown had escaped the deep sea.

"I'll make you a prophecy. Jucheongwang will, without a doubt, become the center of the age. A storm greater than Latia itself."

His next target: the celestial realm.

The world of the Platinums.