Hyper Luck

< Circuit >.

The abnormal status effects in this virtual reality, such as stun, poison, hallucination, paralysis, etc, were just as varied as other games out there.

However, because the game took place in a virtual reality environment, these abnormal status effects affected the players quite critically. In <Circuit>, a blow to the head by a blunt object will put a player in an unconscious state. And that state is continued until the status effect runs out even if the player logs out.

And I was able to wake up with a small grunt with a migraine, and tinnitus in my ears.

“Urgh… “

<Sanctuary>

With a rumbling stomach and nausea, it was the first time I hated the sound of the music and the words that appeared in my sight.

I got up from a leather bed filled with thick cotton and looked around to have a grasp on where I was.  I was in a dark room, and the half-melted candle beside me was the only thing illuminating the room.

There was also a cup on the table that sat beside the candle. I felt a sudden thirst down my throat the moment I saw the cup so I hurriedly grabbed the cup and drank what was in it without a second thought.

A cold taste of barley started swimming inside me to and fro. Only then I was able to finally start breathing again. I corrected my vision and opened the only door in this dark room.

The moment I opened the door I was welcomed by the wild sounds of the wind and the extremely cold air seized me.  Only then was I able to realize that the armor I had on me wasn’t there anymore.

In the cold weather that felt like even my heart would freeze for a moment, I hurriedly closed the door and headed back to the bed where I woke up from.

“You finally woke up.”

As I was trying to sit back on the bed, I heard a low voice across from the bed. I was able to recognize the voice immediately since that voice was the last thing I heard right before I passed out. 

That voice was from the man who cut down the guy in the black cloak in a flash, along with his head, Robin.

He was also a monstrous NPC with a three digit level.

“Do you like my welcome?”

“… Where is this…?”

My body shivered a little from his words which had a little laughter in it.

“Us, ‘Sworders’ have a rule, you see.”

The dimly lit candle flickered precariously, as he rose from his seat as if he heard none of my words.

And at the same time, the faint light from the candle shone upon him, and his tall stature seemed even greater because of the shadows.

“It’s to never speak of the mission which you are assigned to. Well, ‘Ghostblade Kia’ didn’t seem like a reliable guy to begin with anyways.”

“Ghostblade… Kia…?”

“It’s the name of the guy I cut the head off of. He was a bantling of the bantlings who got his call of the blade not even a hundred days ago.”

Then he sat down on the bed I was lying on.

“He had a habit of spitting out profanities whenever his emotions got to him.”

“What…”

Flustered, all I could do was stand in the middle of the room and twitch, unable to even approach him.

“And if there is someone with a talent in wielding blades or an unusual power among the ones who learn about our secrets, we offer them a chance to join our group.”

“An unusual power…”

The man gave a low and small laugh in absurdity as I mumbled.

“Yes, that power of yours which keeps you away from death. I’m talking about you, an immortal, no a user.”

And as his laughter turned louder in excitement, he said,

“I like your guts for an adventurer. I never thought someone would pull out a sword against a Sworder.”

I couldn’t tell him the honest answer that I don’t even know what a Sworder is or that I only did it for the reward of the hidden quest and there was no other way.

He seemed to be impressed at the one and only fact that I confronted Kia with a blade.

Because he wasn’t playing a game like me.

“And that is why I, ‘Master Robin’, decided to choose you and bring you here.”

“Master, Robin…”

Soon he rose from his seat and approached the candle. Then,

“May Salissa’s inferno fill the vessel.”

The flame on the candle suddenly started to grow larger as he whispered to the faint light on the candle.

Soon the flame turned into a silhouette of a person and walked down from the candle to the table and to the floor.

“Thank you for presenting him with your warmth overnight, Salissa.”

Said Robin to the figure of a burning person. The flame then took a gesture as if it was embarrassed then suddenly extinguished and disappeared.

He looked at me who was surprised, and suddenly came up to me and tapped me on my shoulder.

“And by the way, a master teaches two Sworders. And when the Sworders have broken the rules, the master takes their lives. So if you come across me during a mission that means death, I hope you got that.”

He whispered to me. But that threatening tone he had, like a crawling snake, was enough to make my entire body tremble in fear.

“Alright, then. Shall I hear your name now?”

And I couldn’t move my jaw at the pressure of a new scene that suddenly unfolded out of nowhere, as if I was in an interview for a new job.

“Mose. My name is Mose.”

He suddenly started laughing out loud as I said my name.

“Ah! If it isn’t the famous adventurer himself!”

 He nodded several times with a satisfied look on his face.

“Fame to a Sworder could mean a shortcut to his demise. Looks like I might have to rip your head out from your body pretty soon, eh?”

Said Robin casually. I swallowed a heavy gulp as soon as he said that.

“From now on, you call me the Master. However, just because you can start calling me Master doesn’t mean that you’ve become a Sworder.”

“Yes…”

“I told you to add in Master at the end. By the way I say this again, but us Sworders follow the rules as if our lives depend on them.”

“Yes, Master!”

It felt really weird. I started to immerse myself in this situation more as Mose rather than Lee Ki-Ho. Mose was starting to become a special entity, he’s finally found his identity. And as Lee Ki-Ho, I was starting to envy him.

“From now on, you shall go through the process of serving the blade which you might lose your life from.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Now, repeat these words after me.”

Soon he grabbed a gigantic greatsword from his back and stood in front of me. Then he raised his greatsword lightly like cotton and carefully placed it on top of my head.

“I shall make oaths to the three gods, Bellica, Veluce, and Adiath.”

Then he placed his greatsword on my right shoulder,

“I swear to use only the sword that has received the light from Bellica, the God of the Sun.”

“I swear to bring humane death to my enemies with the sword that has received the light from Veluce, the God of the Moon.”

After that, he shoved his greatsword to the ground in front of his feet.

“I swear to wield my blade with the guidance of Adiath, the God of Blades.”

And as soon as he finished his words, I was able to see yellow light surrounding my body.

***

***

“Where did you get this money from all of a sudden?”

“Just take it, Mother.”

I carefully handed the envelope which contained 4 million won to my mother who seemed flustered. It was only natural for them to be worried about this since it was from their son who lived in a small rented apartment and earned his money from a part time job suddenly bringing this huge amount of money.

“You tell me the truth now. You didn’t earn this money through doing some bad things out there, right?”

“Of course, Mast… I mean dad. I started saving money little by little a while ago. It’s just a surprise gift, nothing else.”

I waved my hands in embarrassment since the word came out wrong. My father laughed out loud at it.

“I noticed you’ve been sounding a little stiff just like back in the days when you just finished your duty in the army. Did something happen?”

“Not really, no. Nothing happened.”

I didn’t answer his question honestly. The word already stuck to my mouth and became a habit. So I’m saying that my habits as Mose in the world of Circuit has infected me, Lee Ki-Ho, in real life.

The level of immersion in the Circuit is so great that it makes an adult male into a person suffering through middle school student syndrome.

Before leaving my parents’ house in a hurry and heading to my room, as always, I stopped by at the gym to work out. The amount and degree of the training I received from my Master, that old man named Robin, was so cruel that I almost pissed my pants.

Yup, and when I logged out of the game it turns out I actually pissed my pants.

It was the first time this ever happened to me, and not only that I felt that my body was starting to get weaker since I have to lie down on the bed for most of the day, so I started working out as if my life depended on it.

And when I got back to my room after finishing my workout session, I naturally finished my preparation to log into <Circuit>.

I lied on the device and closed my eyes in order to log into the game.

“Log in.”

The cool sensation that rushed through my brain passed by, and when I opened my eyes, I realized that I have already become Mose, not Lee Ki-Ho.

“You’re finally back, huh.”

The first woman to greet me was a woman with her black hair tied up with a gloomy expression on her face.

“Sorry, I’m late.”

She was a half-elf with green eyes and tanned skin. Half-elf is a race born between elves and humans. They were a blessed race that inherited the beauty of elves and the intelligence of humans.

However, due to the nature of the elves which hates mixing blood with other races, she had to suffer through severe racism, and as she traveled around the continent without belonging to a group of neither elves or humans, she became a Sworder after meeting Master Robin.

The name of this Sworder is Khea. When I met her for the first time I was literally looked down upon. However, when I finished Robin's goddamned training, she started to acknowledge my skills to some extent.

“We’re on our way to get our first mission right now. Are you ready?”

I hurriedly nodded my head to answer Keah’s question. She then opened her mouth with a worried look on her face.

“I’m saying this just in case, but you’re not gonna leak the secret of the mission…”

“Aww, are you worrying about me?”

“This is not the time to speak nonsense like that!”

Keah immediately straightened her face.

Now, I was close enough to her as a colleague to joke around with. And so we walked through the storming snowfield with the fancy armor I bought from Toico, and her with a leather armor with a hazy look like a shadow. 

And the person we encountered in the snowfield was,

“Master.”

“Master.”

Master Robin. Keah and I greeted him with a bow. It was time to say farewell to our Master.

“Finally, this shall be your first mission, Mose. It’s already been… ‘3 months’ since you started your training.”

Three months. In the world of <Circuit>, 3 months is almost a month in the real world, which was considered pretty long. And I was put through a torture-like training under him in that month. 

For that one month, I was never sure if I was logging in to play a game or to torture myself. 

But all of that ends today.

I was not an adventurer anymore.

I finally acquired the title of a hidden class, a ‘Sworder’.

The real adventure starts now.

*  *  *

[ Sworder is a term that refers to a mercenary group and its members who are spread across five continents and wields extreme swordsmanship.

In the early days,  the group was unfamiliar to many people since there were only a few Sworders. Therefore there was only a little amount of information about them so they were considered a secret organization.

However, since the organization originated from a mercenary group, their only internal rule is to keep the secret of the ‘mission’ that they are assigned to.

Some Sworders that are having financial troubles will often find missions other than the secret mission passed down within the organization.

Looking at their track record, one can easily tell that they are related to many major events across the continents, therefore many countries and organizations have given special benefits to the Sworders since they have such power.

Not to mention that people who want to request missions only to the Sworders started appearing left and right.

In this regard, according to the rumors floating around, information about ‘Sworders who are accepting requests’ is considered a special A rank among the information guilds. First of all, the name of a Sworder alone is considered an approval seal that the mission will be accomplished with certainty.

Most of the requests they have resolved so far have been to exterminate monsters powerful enough to make an entire race stand at a crossroads for the extinction or a national problem, so the Sworders have been closely interacting with the upper levels of the executives of the five continents, and as a reward, they are said to be able to receive special benefits such as, accommodation, means of transportation, mercenary employment rights, and the portals connecting the five continents.

In the ‘Sanctuary’, which is the headquarters of the Sworders, located on each of the five continents, there is one Sword Master who is the administrator of each Sanctuary, and there are ten Masters below that, and two Sworders operated by each of these Masters.

Therefore, the active Sworders, meaning the amount of Sworders, not including the cadre, who are actually accepting requests are barely 100 people.

As mentioned above, the missions operated by the Sworders are treated with strict confidentiality, but it seems that there aren’t any other strict restrictions, as it does not matter if they openly reveal themselves to be a Sworder.

The rules for keeping the secret of the mission are extremely strict, so if you encounter a Sworder and try to dig up information about their mission, you will probably be able to overhear the secret in the afterlife.

Even if you don't know who a Sworder is, keep an eye out for the unusual sword-shaped ring that only Sworders wear, as you are to surely recognize them.

Sworders show a frenzied obsession towards blades, and they can present swordsmanship that has been trained to the extreme to match their fanaticism. Some believe that the roots of this mercenary group are the fanatic cult of ‘Adiath, the God of Blades’, but it is still unclear whether this is true or not.

However, looking at their godly swordsmanship skills, there is no doubt that they are indeed the avatars of Adiath.

The blade is everything to them, so even when they are operating a mission, they wield the sword to find the answer. ]

“Woah, there's a class like this one, huh?”

One user was frantically flipping through a booklet with curiosity in his eyes. He was sitting on the corpse of a monster which he defeated in a clash quest.

The party members who were standing around were exploring the rest of the dungeon. He began to read the ‘rare' rank book he got from the monster with interest

“Sworder? If I wielded a blade then I would have like- over ten of these rare classes like this one.”

He swung the wand in his hand and turned to the next page in haste.

https://discord.gg/MaRegMFhRb