Chapter 183
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Ascalon made a loud metallic clanging sound as it fell. Arthur reached out to retrieve Ascalon, but before he could do so, a large foot in leather shoes stomped on his hand.
“Ugh.”
“Hmm. Young boy, you still don’t understand. Can’t you tell that it’s too early?”
The well-built black man stomped on Arthur’s hand. He was 210 centimeters tall and weighed 180 kilograms. The man’s body was covered with rippling muscles that looked like armor, and he had an extraordinary sense of balance and perfection, making him seem more like a biological weapon than a living being.
“Ugh… ha… ha… ha….”
Arthur lay on the ground in front of the man, breathing raggedly while he absorbed the nearby natural mana to replenish his lost energy.
“Still, you’ve improved from before. What was it that you practiced… premarital chastity?”
“Soul swordsmanship. How did that become premarital chastity?”
Arthur grunted as he got up. Next to him was Toothless, a black drake that was covered in dust as if it had rolled on the ground.
When you're just trying to make great content at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
“Ugh. Shit. Both of my wings are broken.”
“Can you recover?”
“It’s hard for me to heal right now. One hit from that guy shattered my bones and scales in the worst way. Moreover, his strikes are imbued with other strange powers, making it more challenging.”
“Hey, you know I went easy on you, right? It seems you believe in your own powers too much, but if you continue overly relying on your senses while fighting, you’ll always be limited.”
The massive man smiled broadly as he rubbed Toothless’s hair, with the drake having a slightly flattened body. Toothless, a top-class summoned being, roared ferociously like a lion, but the man didn’t seem to care. Before the man’s overwhelming power, Toothless couldn’t do anything.
“I don’t know, Lionel. How… how the hell do I create a strong qi?”
“Tsk. Again, you’re trying to fly without being able to run. Did I use strong qi while fighting you?”
“No, but….”
“Don’t be impatient, little boy. Aren’t you the strongest user? There’s no point in training any further, so use what you’ve learned and solidify those lessons through direct combat experience.”
Lionel, the ruler of Valiant Heavenly City, smiled kindly and patted Arthur’s shoulder. This city was the holy land for internal energy users, but Arthur’s frustrated expression remained.
“It’s tricky. To be honest, I can’t figure it out. No matter how hard I try-”
Lionel cut Arthur off from grumbling further.
“Everyone has to make an effort.”
“…”
“I’m sorry, but all I can say is don’t be in such a hurry. Next time, have more confidence when you challenge me.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Lionel disappeared. At the same time, text messages popped up in the air.
/You have failed the Level 20 test! You cannot retake the test for a period of one week in real time./
/End of test./
In an instant, Arthur found himself back in the clean, well-organized housing space he’d purchased previously. He was living in an area of Valiant Heavenly City that was available to users.
“Are you alright?”
“Don’t be in such a rush, master. He’s a complete monster, so you probably can’t defeat him anytime soon.”
Arthur’s draconic sword, Dustin, and Arthur’s summoned pet drake, Toothless, tried to sympathize with and cheer up Arthur, but the user didn’t reply. Instead, he walked into a room and lay down on a bed. Toothless gently pounced near Arthur and started rubbing his head against Arthur. Alas, the latter still didn’t show any response.
‘It’s difficult. It’s too difficult.’
Arthur was facing a barrier. Of course, everyone who trained faced this hurdle. If an individual learned something new, they were bound to face a learning curve. This happened every time someone reached a certain point in progressing their abilities, including martial arts. Some could overcome the barrier with time and effort, but others would never do so even after a lifetime of trying.
Therein lay the problem for Arthur; he had never faced a barrier, not even once, until now.
‘What should I do….’
He had always developed rather easily. Despite not having a teacher, when fighting, Arthur would examine the [Reason] behind his opponent’s every move, learning how the enemy attacked and teaching himself their abilities and improving them. Arthur never needed an instructor. The secrets of the perfected principles and cultivation methods provided by DIO were just inspiration material rather than something to follow for Arthur. Yet, even for him, the barrier of transcendence, to go beyond mortality, was simply too high.
‘Why can’t I achieve it?’
Arthur had remained at Level 19 for four months. However, those were four months in real-time. Since time in DIO flowed 12 times faster, and the training room was further sped up by 100 times the in-game speed, Arthur had not been able to take a single step forward from Level 19 for over 20 years.
It wasn’t so simple as merely failing to materialize his sword qi. No matter how much he wielded his sword and trained, his abilities and skills weren’t improving. This stagnant state, where he felt that his skills were not improving but rather regressing, was a barrier that thoroughly confounded him, as he had always understood concepts immediately.
‘I don’t know.’
Arthur had lost his way. As if trapped in a thick fog, his sense of direction was blurred. He felt thoroughly exhausted.
‘I want to quit.’
Arthur was lying on his stomach and didn’t lift his head. As they saw him like this, Toothless and Dustin were saddened. If Arthur, the master who summoned them, closed his heart like this, there was nothing they could do as summoned beings. They endured and were able to stay by his side because they were high-ranking pets, but if they were normal summoned beings, they would have already been forcefully sent back.
‘I want to quit.’
Everything had its limits. Mental power and fortitude also have their limits. Any action that requires the will to do something results in the consumption of mental power. The fact that Arthur pressed forward with his training and pursuits for 20 years was in and of itself proof of his transcendent-like will.
However, even someone with the will of a transcendent would face limits.
‘Perhaps… I’ll never be able to cross this barrier.’
Arthur lay limp in bed as he sighed. It looked as if his will and existence were visibly leaving his body.
Beep!
While he remained sprawled out, his Beholder made a familiar mechanical noise, serving as the user’s smartphone. As explained before, a Beholder allowed a user to send whisper messages, receive and look up announcements, and even surf the internet.
Arthur took out his Beholder and looked at the newly arrived message. The message was from his employer, the Noblesse organization.
“Oh, it’s from work. It’s a job assignment,” Toothless commented.
“Yeah,” Arthur replied.
“You’re not planning on working?”
Arthur begrudgingly sat up. He didn’t feel like moving, but unlike other users, he wasn’t playing this game for fun. As an employee of the Noblesse organization, Arthur conducted missions and received a hefty salary in return.
Furthermore, the Noblesse had saved his mother’s life from her terminal illness, so they were essentially his mother’s lifesavers in Arthur’s perspective. Hence, as someone who was responsible, Arthur couldn’t knowingly ignore his work.
‘Phew, well, there’s nothing I can do. It’s not like rushing will do anything either way.’
After standing, Arthur started adjusting the bracelet on his right arm. This bracelet allowed him to enter a mission or meet with other players without having to enter the Star Temple. In other words, the bracelet was an operator’s item, something that one of DIO’s GMs would possess.
“Transport.”
For a moment, the bracelet flashed with a bright light before Arthur completely disappeared. His destination was Noah.
***
Lancelot stepped out of the training room. Then, he turned around and tried to re-enter.
“Once more, please.”
“Uhm… Lancelot… you don’t have enough EXP.”
“Oh, I don’t?”
Lancelot had been waiting for the door to open with a neutral expression. He perhaps even looked a little dazed when he turned around again without any hesitation. The NPC who managed the gate, Carlin, furrowed his brows as he met Lancelot’s gaze, which seemed void of any life.
“It’s not recommended that we interfere with users… but don’t overdo it. The principle of the world is not something one realizes simply by training a lot.”
If someone could enter the realm of transcendence through extended training, the fairies and draconic existences that had lived for a thousand years would be able to enter transcendence. In addition, the dragon species, which entered transcendence around the thousand-year mark, would be considered great existences.
“Hahaha. Quite entertaining words. So, Carlin, what’s needed? An innate unique quality that Cruze has? After all, she has reached a higher level than me in only a month.”
“Lancelot.”
At Carlin’s heavy tone, Lancelot sighed lightly and apologized.
“… Sorry for my thoughtless comment.”
Lancelot and Carlin were now amicable with each other. NPCs like Carlin were essentially humans, so like the users, they would become familiar and friendly with people once they met and interacted with them for a long time.
In addition, Lancelot’s training which made it seem as if he was trying to destroy himself, had the power to make observers unconsciously root for him. In Carlin’s case, he’d stopped training when he realized that he couldn’t improve or develop anymore, and he felt even greater sympathy for Lancelot.
“How about taking a break? I heard users have created movie theaters in the main marketplace, so it might be nice to experience a bit of culture and games while rejuvenating yourself.”
“Is that so….”
Lancelot smiled weakly and nodded. Carlin had said an undeniably correct statement based on sound, logical judgment; however, if everyone agreed with that form of logic and lived by it, conflict and crime wouldn’t exist.
Beep! Ting!
Lancelot took out his Beholder, and the screen lit up after giving a startup sound. The Beholder’s screen was as large as the palm of someone’s hand, so it couldn’t display a lot of information, but with their enhanced eyesight, users could read the Beholder’s text clearly. As such, even a small liquid crystal in-game could contain more information than a fairly sizable monitor in real life. Obviously, some users couldn’t see small letters well due to their occupation or status, but in those cases, they could adjust the text size.
“The website has changed a lot.”
“You’ve spent quite some time in the training room. You can’t access the internet in the training room, right?”
“Right. It’s an isolated space. There are restrictions on what I can bring into the training room, so internet access is definitely not possible.”
Users could only bring basic weapons and their bare bodies into the training room. This was because there was a kind of [Memory] in the training room, which made it difficult to inject external information into the space.
Since the training room accelerated a single user’s experience of time passing, it was impossible for two users to enter together or connect to the outside world. This was an inevitability that came alongside accelerated time, which was up to 1,200 times faster than in reality.
If more items could be carried into the training room, it would have been possible to bring a gaming console or novel for a break or a stack of books to study and memorize.
“The popular hunting ground these days are… New Continent.”
“Hey, are you going to take a rest?”
“I’ll rest. However, if I completely stop without doing anything, I know I’ll suffer more later on.”
Hard work also had its limits. Conceptually, mental power was consumed the more it was used, so even the indomitable would wear out over time and eventually give up. This is why Lancelot changed his training method as soon as he felt his mental limit; these changes were ‘habit’ and ‘tendencies.’
“I’ll be taking a break. Please let me know if a Unique spiritual core comes up for sale.”
“Will do.”
Then, Lancelot left the Exchange Center. As always, countless users were bustling about in Starting. DIO’s user base had increased so much that it was difficult to say DIO was simply a game. DIO had already become a society encompassing the various people who inhabited Earth.
“Currently, the number of Masters… 182 users. The number has grown quite a bit.”
Lancelot was one of the original Masters, often called the pioneers, as they rose to the status of Master within a month of DIO opening. When he realized the meaning of stabbing, Lancelot was able to output powerful attacks without using a lot of force, allowing him to rise to the level of Master.
However, now that DIO had been in service for more than half a year, he was not as special as he was before. Lancelot was currently Level 12, which was only one level higher than it was six months ago, in real-time. Furthermore, in his perspective, the last six months were greater than half a year. Only half a year had passed in real life, but the time he experienced was…
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Ascalon made a loud metallic clanging sound as it fell. Arthur reached out to retrieve Ascalon, but before he could do so, a large foot in leather shoes stomped on his hand.
“Ugh.”
“Hmm. Young boy, you still don’t understand. Can’t you tell that it’s too early?”
The well-built black man stomped on Arthur’s hand. He was 210 centimeters tall and weighed 180 kilograms. The man’s body was covered with rippling muscles that looked like armor, and he had an extraordinary sense of balance and perfection, making him seem more like a biological weapon than a living being.
“Ugh… ha… ha… ha….”
Arthur lay on the ground in front of the man, breathing raggedly while he absorbed the nearby natural mana to replenish his lost energy.
“Still, you’ve improved from before. What was it that you practiced… premarital chastity?”
“Soul swordsmanship. How did that become premarital chastity?”
Arthur grunted as he got up. Next to him was Toothless, a black drake that was covered in dust as if it had rolled on the ground.
When you're just trying to make great content at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
“Ugh. Shit. Both of my wings are broken.”
“Can you recover?”
“It’s hard for me to heal right now. One hit from that guy shattered my bones and scales in the worst way. Moreover, his strikes are imbued with other strange powers, making it more challenging.”
“Hey, you know I went easy on you, right? It seems you believe in your own powers too much, but if you continue overly relying on your senses while fighting, you’ll always be limited.”
The massive man smiled broadly as he rubbed Toothless’s hair, with the drake having a slightly flattened body. Toothless, a top-class summoned being, roared ferociously like a lion, but the man didn’t seem to care. Before the man’s overwhelming power, Toothless couldn’t do anything.
“I don’t know, Lionel. How… how the hell do I create a strong qi?”
“Tsk. Again, you’re trying to fly without being able to run. Did I use strong qi while fighting you?”
“No, but….”
“Don’t be impatient, little boy. Aren’t you the strongest user? There’s no point in training any further, so use what you’ve learned and solidify those lessons through direct combat experience.”
Lionel, the ruler of Valiant Heavenly City, smiled kindly and patted Arthur’s shoulder. This city was the holy land for internal energy users, but Arthur’s frustrated expression remained.
“It’s tricky. To be honest, I can’t figure it out. No matter how hard I try-”
Lionel cut Arthur off from grumbling further.
“Everyone has to make an effort.”
“…”
“I’m sorry, but all I can say is don’t be in such a hurry. Next time, have more confidence when you challenge me.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Lionel disappeared. At the same time, text messages popped up in the air.
/You have failed the Level 20 test! You cannot retake the test for a period of one week in real time./
/End of test./
In an instant, Arthur found himself back in the clean, well-organized housing space he’d purchased previously. He was living in an area of Valiant Heavenly City that was available to users.
“Are you alright?”
“Don’t be in such a rush, master. He’s a complete monster, so you probably can’t defeat him anytime soon.”
Arthur’s draconic sword, Dustin, and Arthur’s summoned pet drake, Toothless, tried to sympathize with and cheer up Arthur, but the user didn’t reply. Instead, he walked into a room and lay down on a bed. Toothless gently pounced near Arthur and started rubbing his head against Arthur. Alas, the latter still didn’t show any response.
‘It’s difficult. It’s too difficult.’
Arthur was facing a barrier. Of course, everyone who trained faced this hurdle. If an individual learned something new, they were bound to face a learning curve. This happened every time someone reached a certain point in progressing their abilities, including martial arts. Some could overcome the barrier with time and effort, but others would never do so even after a lifetime of trying.
Therein lay the problem for Arthur; he had never faced a barrier, not even once, until now.
‘What should I do….’
He had always developed rather easily. Despite not having a teacher, when fighting, Arthur would examine the [Reason] behind his opponent’s every move, learning how the enemy attacked and teaching himself their abilities and improving them. Arthur never needed an instructor. The secrets of the perfected principles and cultivation methods provided by DIO were just inspiration material rather than something to follow for Arthur. Yet, even for him, the barrier of transcendence, to go beyond mortality, was simply too high.
‘Why can’t I achieve it?’
Arthur had remained at Level 19 for four months. However, those were four months in real-time. Since time in DIO flowed 12 times faster, and the training room was further sped up by 100 times the in-game speed, Arthur had not been able to take a single step forward from Level 19 for over 20 years.
It wasn’t so simple as merely failing to materialize his sword qi. No matter how much he wielded his sword and trained, his abilities and skills weren’t improving. This stagnant state, where he felt that his skills were not improving but rather regressing, was a barrier that thoroughly confounded him, as he had always understood concepts immediately.
‘I don’t know.’
Arthur had lost his way. As if trapped in a thick fog, his sense of direction was blurred. He felt thoroughly exhausted.
‘I want to quit.’
Arthur was lying on his stomach and didn’t lift his head. As they saw him like this, Toothless and Dustin were saddened. If Arthur, the master who summoned them, closed his heart like this, there was nothing they could do as summoned beings. They endured and were able to stay by his side because they were high-ranking pets, but if they were normal summoned beings, they would have already been forcefully sent back.
‘I want to quit.’
Everything had its limits. Mental power and fortitude also have their limits. Any action that requires the will to do something results in the consumption of mental power. The fact that Arthur pressed forward with his training and pursuits for 20 years was in and of itself proof of his transcendent-like will.
However, even someone with the will of a transcendent would face limits.
‘Perhaps… I’ll never be able to cross this barrier.’
Arthur lay limp in bed as he sighed. It looked as if his will and existence were visibly leaving his body.
Beep!
While he remained sprawled out, his Beholder made a familiar mechanical noise, serving as the user’s smartphone. As explained before, a Beholder allowed a user to send whisper messages, receive and look up announcements, and even surf the internet.
Arthur took out his Beholder and looked at the newly arrived message. The message was from his employer, the Noblesse organization.
“Oh, it’s from work. It’s a job assignment,” Toothless commented.
“Yeah,” Arthur replied.
“You’re not planning on working?”
Arthur begrudgingly sat up. He didn’t feel like moving, but unlike other users, he wasn’t playing this game for fun. As an employee of the Noblesse organization, Arthur conducted missions and received a hefty salary in return.
Furthermore, the Noblesse had saved his mother’s life from her terminal illness, so they were essentially his mother’s lifesavers in Arthur’s perspective. Hence, as someone who was responsible, Arthur couldn’t knowingly ignore his work.
‘Phew, well, there’s nothing I can do. It’s not like rushing will do anything either way.’
After standing, Arthur started adjusting the bracelet on his right arm. This bracelet allowed him to enter a mission or meet with other players without having to enter the Star Temple. In other words, the bracelet was an operator’s item, something that one of DIO’s GMs would possess.
“Transport.”
For a moment, the bracelet flashed with a bright light before Arthur completely disappeared. His destination was Noah.
***
Lancelot stepped out of the training room. Then, he turned around and tried to re-enter.
“Once more, please.”
“Uhm… Lancelot… you don’t have enough EXP.”
“Oh, I don’t?”
Lancelot had been waiting for the door to open with a neutral expression. He perhaps even looked a little dazed when he turned around again without any hesitation. The NPC who managed the gate, Carlin, furrowed his brows as he met Lancelot’s gaze, which seemed void of any life.
“It’s not recommended that we interfere with users… but don’t overdo it. The principle of the world is not something one realizes simply by training a lot.”
If someone could enter the realm of transcendence through extended training, the fairies and draconic existences that had lived for a thousand years would be able to enter transcendence. In addition, the dragon species, which entered transcendence around the thousand-year mark, would be considered great existences.
“Hahaha. Quite entertaining words. So, Carlin, what’s needed? An innate unique quality that Cruze has? After all, she has reached a higher level than me in only a month.”
“Lancelot.”
At Carlin’s heavy tone, Lancelot sighed lightly and apologized.
“… Sorry for my thoughtless comment.”
Lancelot and Carlin were now amicable with each other. NPCs like Carlin were essentially humans, so like the users, they would become familiar and friendly with people once they met and interacted with them for a long time.
In addition, Lancelot’s training which made it seem as if he was trying to destroy himself, had the power to make observers unconsciously root for him. In Carlin’s case, he’d stopped training when he realized that he couldn’t improve or develop anymore, and he felt even greater sympathy for Lancelot.
“How about taking a break? I heard users have created movie theaters in the main marketplace, so it might be nice to experience a bit of culture and games while rejuvenating yourself.”
“Is that so….”
Lancelot smiled weakly and nodded. Carlin had said an undeniably correct statement based on sound, logical judgment; however, if everyone agreed with that form of logic and lived by it, conflict and crime wouldn’t exist.
Beep! Ting!
Lancelot took out his Beholder, and the screen lit up after giving a startup sound. The Beholder’s screen was as large as the palm of someone’s hand, so it couldn’t display a lot of information, but with their enhanced eyesight, users could read the Beholder’s text clearly. As such, even a small liquid crystal in-game could contain more information than a fairly sizable monitor in real life. Obviously, some users couldn’t see small letters well due to their occupation or status, but in those cases, they could adjust the text size.
“The website has changed a lot.”
“You’ve spent quite some time in the training room. You can’t access the internet in the training room, right?”
“Right. It’s an isolated space. There are restrictions on what I can bring into the training room, so internet access is definitely not possible.”
Users could only bring basic weapons and their bare bodies into the training room. This was because there was a kind of [Memory] in the training room, which made it difficult to inject external information into the space.
Since the training room accelerated a single user’s experience of time passing, it was impossible for two users to enter together or connect to the outside world. This was an inevitability that came alongside accelerated time, which was up to 1,200 times faster than in reality.
If more items could be carried into the training room, it would have been possible to bring a gaming console or novel for a break or a stack of books to study and memorize.
“The popular hunting ground these days are… New Continent.”
“Hey, are you going to take a rest?”
“I’ll rest. However, if I completely stop without doing anything, I know I’ll suffer more later on.”
Hard work also had its limits. Conceptually, mental power was consumed the more it was used, so even the indomitable would wear out over time and eventually give up. This is why Lancelot changed his training method as soon as he felt his mental limit; these changes were ‘habit’ and ‘tendencies.’
“I’ll be taking a break. Please let me know if a Unique spiritual core comes up for sale.”
“Will do.”
Then, Lancelot left the Exchange Center. As always, countless users were bustling about in Starting. DIO’s user base had increased so much that it was difficult to say DIO was simply a game. DIO had already become a society encompassing the various people who inhabited Earth.
“Currently, the number of Masters… 182 users. The number has grown quite a bit.”
Lancelot was one of the original Masters, often called the pioneers, as they rose to the status of Master within a month of DIO opening. When he realized the meaning of stabbing, Lancelot was able to output powerful attacks without using a lot of force, allowing him to rise to the level of Master.
However, now that DIO had been in service for more than half a year, he was not as special as he was before. Lancelot was currently Level 12, which was only one level higher than it was six months ago, in real-time. Furthermore, in his perspective, the last six months were greater than half a year. Only half a year had passed in real life, but the time he experienced was…
Ascalon made a loud metallic clanging sound as it fell. Arthur reached out to retrieve Ascalon, but before he could do so, a large foot in leather shoes stomped on his hand.Ugh.Hmm. Young boy, you still don't understand. Can't you tell that it's too early?The well-built black man stomped on Arthur's hand. He was 210 centimeters tall and weighed 180 kilograms. The man's body was covered with rippling muscles that looked like armor, and he had an extraordinary sense of balance and perfection, making him seem more like a biological weapon than a living being.Ugh ha ha ha.Arthur lay on the ground in front of the man, breathing raggedly while he absorbed the nearby natural mana to replenish his lost energy.Still, you've improved from before. What was it that you practiced premarital chastity?Soul swordsmanship. How did that become premarital chastity?Arthur grunted as he got up. Next to him was Toothless, a black drake that was covered in dust as if it had rolled on the ground.When you're just trying to make great content at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.Ugh. Shit. Both of my wings are broken.Can you recover?It's hard for me to heal right now. One hit from that guy shattered my bones and scales in the worst way. Moreover, his strikes are imbued with other strange powers, making it more challenging.Hey, you know I went easy on you, right? It seems you believe in your own powers too much, but if you continue overly relying on your senses while fighting, you'll always be limited.The massive man smiled broadly as he rubbed Toothless's hair, with the drake having a slightly flattened body. Toothless, a top-class summoned being, roared ferociously like a lion, but the man didn't seem to care. Before the man's overwhelming power, Toothless couldn't do anything.I don't know, Lionel. How how the hell do I create a strong qi?Tsk. Again, you're trying to fly without being able to run. Did I use strong qi while fighting you?No, but.Don't be impatient, little boy. Aren't you the strongest user? There's no point in training any further, so use what you've learned and solidify those lessons through direct combat experience.Lionel, the ruler of Valiant Heavenly City, smiled kindly and patted Arthur's shoulder. This city was the holy land for internal energy users, but Arthur's frustrated expression remained.It's tricky. To be honest, I can't figure it out. No matter how hard I try-Lionel cut Arthur off from grumbling further.Everyone has to make an effort.I'm sorry, but all I can say is don't be in such a hurry. Next time, have more confidence when you challenge me.As soon as he finished speaking, Lionel disappeared. At the same time, text messages popped up in the air./You have failed the Level 20 test! You cannot retake the test for a period of one week in real time.//End of test./In an instant, Arthur found himself back in the clean, well-organized housing space he'd purchased previously. He was living in an area of Valiant Heavenly City that was available to users.Are you alright?Don't be in such a rush, master. He's a complete monster, so you probably can't defeat him anytime soon.Arthur's draconic sword, Dustin, and Arthur's summoned pet drake, Toothless, tried to sympathize with and cheer up Arthur, but the user didn't reply. Instead, he walked into a room and lay down on a bed. Toothless gently pounced near Arthur and started rubbing his head against Arthur. Alas, the latter still didn't show any response.It's difficult. It's too difficult.'Arthur was facing a barrier. Of course, everyone who trained faced this hurdle. If an individual learned something new, they were bound to face a learning curve. This happened every time someone reached a certain point in progressing their abilities, including martial arts. Some could overcome the barrier with time and effort, but others would never do so even after a lifetime of trying.Therein lay the problem for Arthur; he had never faced a barrier, not even once, until now.What should I do.'He had always developed rather easily. Despite not having a teacher, when fighting, Arthur would examine the Reason behind his opponent's every move, learning how the enemy attacked and teaching himself their abilities and improving them. Arthur never needed an instructor. The secrets of the perfected principles and cultivation methods provided by DIO were just inspiration material rather than something to follow for Arthur. Yet, even for him, the barrier of transcendence, to go beyond mortality, was simply too high.Why can't I achieve it?'Arthur had remained at Level 19 for four months. However, those were four months in real-time. Since time in DIO flowed 12 times faster, and the training room was further sped up by 100 times the in-game speed, Arthur had not been able to take a single step forward from Level 19 for over 20 years.It wasn't so simple as merely failing to materialize his sword qi. No matter how much he wielded his sword and trained, his abilities and skills weren't improving. This stagnant state, where he felt that his skills were not improving but rather regressing, was a barrier that thoroughly confounded him, as he had always understood concepts immediately.I don't know.'Arthur had lost his way. As if trapped in a thick fog, his sense of direction was blurred. He felt thoroughly exhausted.I want to quit.'Arthur was lying on his stomach and didn't lift his head. As they saw him like this, Toothless and Dustin were saddened. If Arthur, the master who summoned them, closed his heart like this, there was nothing they could do as summoned beings. They endured and were able to stay by his side because they were high-ranking pets, but if they were normal summoned beings, they would have already been forcefully sent back.I want to quit.'Everything had its limits. Mental power and fortitude also have their limits. Any action that requires the will to do something results in the consumption of mental power. The fact that Arthur pressed forward with his training and pursuits for 20 years was in and of itself proof of his transcendent-like will.However, even someone with the will of a transcendent would face limits.Perhaps I'll never be able to cross this barrier.'Arthur lay limp in bed as he sighed. It looked as if his will and existence were visibly leaving his body.Beep!While he remained sprawled out, his Beholder made a familiar mechanical noise, serving as the user's smartphone. As explained before, a Beholder allowed a user to send whisper messages, receive and look up announcements, and even surf the internet.Arthur took out his Beholder and looked at the newly arrived message. The message was from his employer, the Noblesse organization.Oh, it's from work. It's a job assignment, Toothless commented.Yeah, Arthur replied.You're not planning on working?Arthur begrudgingly sat up. He didn't feel like moving, but unlike other users, he wasn't playing this game for fun. As an employee of the Noblesse organization, Arthur conducted missions and received a hefty salary in return.Furthermore, the Noblesse had saved his mother's life from her terminal illness, so they were essentially his mother's lifesavers in Arthur's perspective. Hence, as someone who was responsible, Arthur couldn't knowingly ignore his work.Phew, well, there's nothing I can do. It's not like rushing will do anything either way.'After standing, Arthur started adjusting the bracelet on his right arm. This bracelet allowed him to enter a mission or meet with other players without having to enter the Star Temple. In other words, the bracelet was an operator's item, something that one of DIO's GMs would possess.Transport.For a moment, the bracelet flashed with a bright light before Arthur completely disappeared. His destination was Noah.***Lancelot stepped out of the training room. Then, he turned around and tried to re-enter.Once more, please.Uhm Lancelot you don't have enough EXP.Oh, I don't?Lancelot had been waiting for the door to open with a neutral expression. He perhaps even looked a little dazed when he turned around again without any hesitation. The NPC who managed the gate, Carlin, furrowed his brows as he met Lancelot's gaze, which seemed void of any life.It's not recommended that we interfere with users but don't overdo it. The principle of the world is not something one realizes simply by training a lot.If someone could enter the realm of transcendence through extended training, the fairies and draconic existences that had lived for a thousand years would be able to enter transcendence. In addition, the dragon species, which entered transcendence around the thousand-year mark, would be considered great existences.Hahaha. Quite entertaining words. So, Carlin, what's needed? An innate unique quality that Cruze has? After all, she has reached a higher level than me in only a month.Lancelot.At Carlin's heavy tone, Lancelot sighed lightly and apologized. Sorry for my thoughtless comment.Lancelot and Carlin were now amicable with each other. NPCs like Carlin were essentially humans, so like the users, they would become familiar and friendly with people once they met and interacted with them for a long time.In addition, Lancelot's training which made it seem as if he was trying to destroy himself, had the power to make observers unconsciously root for him. In Carlin's case, he'd stopped training when he realized that he couldn't improve or develop anymore, and he felt even greater sympathy for Lancelot.How about taking a break? I heard users have created movie theaters in the main marketplace, so it might be nice to experience a bit of culture and games while rejuvenating yourself.Is that so.Lancelot smiled weakly and nodded. Carlin had said an undeniably correct statement based on sound, logical judgment; however, if everyone agreed with that form of logic and lived by it, conflict and crime wouldn't exist.Beep! Ting!Lancelot took out his Beholder, and the screen lit up after giving a startup sound. The Beholder's screen was as large as the palm of someone's hand, so it couldn't display a lot of information, but with their enhanced eyesight, users could read the Beholder's text clearly. As such, even a small liquid crystal in-game could contain more information than a fairly sizable monitor in real life. Obviously, some users couldn't see small letters well due to their occupation or status, but in those cases, they could adjust the text size.The website has changed a lot.You've spent quite some time in the training room. You can't access the internet in the training room, right?Right. It's an isolated space. There are restrictions on what I can bring into the training room, so internet access is definitely not possible.Users could only bring basic weapons and their bare bodies into the training room. This was because there was a kind of Memory in the training room, which made it difficult to inject external information into the space.Since the training room accelerated a single user's experience of time passing, it was impossible for two users to enter together or connect to the outside world. This was an inevitability that came alongside accelerated time, which was up to 1,200 times faster than in reality.If more items could be carried into the training room, it would have been possible to bring a gaming console or novel for a break or a stack of books to study and memorize.The popular hunting ground these days are New Continent.Hey, are you going to take a rest?I'll rest. However, if I completely stop without doing anything, I know I'll suffer more later on.Hard work also had its limits. Conceptually, mental power was consumed the more it was used, so even the indomitable would wear out over time and eventually give up. This is why Lancelot changed his training method as soon as he felt his mental limit; these changes were habit' and tendencies.'I'll be taking a break. Please let me know if a Unique spiritual core comes up for sale.Will do.Then, Lancelot left the Exchange Center. As always, countless users were bustling about in Starting. DIO's user base had increased so much that it was difficult to say DIO was simply a game. DIO had already become a society encompassing the various people who inhabited Earth.Currently, the number of Masters 182 users. The number has grown quite a bit.Lancelot was one of the original Masters, often called the pioneers, as they rose to the status of Master within a month of DIO opening. When he realized the meaning of stabbing, Lancelot was able to output powerful attacks without using a lot of force, allowing him to rise to the level of Master.However, now that DIO had been in service for more than half a year, he was not as special as he was before. Lancelot was currently Level 12, which was only one level higher than it was six months ago, in real-time. Furthermore, in his perspective, the last six months were greater than half a year. Only half a year had passed in real life, but the time he experienced was
