Chapter 51
“Even Third-rate would be wasted on such sloppy forms, but judging from those fundamentals… you are Second-rate!”
The roar echoed across the sparring platform and spread throughout the area.
The users watching clicked their tongues and began throwing in comments one after another.
“L-Look at that attitude.”
“Even the NPCs in the Demonic Cult are weird. Seriously.”
“But another Second-rate just came out.”
“Isn’t that nickname a ranker?”
“Well, same goes for the guy who got Third-rate earlier… ahem.”
“Hey, hey. He can hear you.”
Samjangro sat there motionless, pretending to intensely analyze the streamer’s video.
It was humiliating.
But no matter how much he tried to ignore it, he couldn’t block out the conversations happening behind him.
And if he could hear them, that meant the viewers watching his stream could hear them too.
-Most people are getting low ranks anyway.
-And yet this bastard was the only one who got Third-rate lmaoooo.
-Just wait, I’m coming too!
Sigh.
‘I should hurry up and retake the test or something.’
But if he got judged as Third-rate again like earlier, it would become a complete disaster, so he was preparing more carefully this time.
Shuffle, shuffle.
The user who had just been judged Second-rate stepped down from the platform.
Tattered clothes, a gourd-like item hanging from his waist, and to top it all off, a stick slung over his shoulder.
Like some kind of—
“Wow. He really looks like a beggar.”
“Hey, hey, he can hear you, asshole.”
Voices rang out behind them again.
Samjangro wanted to nod vigorously in agreement.
What happened to the sword he’d used during the demonstration? When had he switched to a club?
And how had he even come up with such a beggar-like nickname?
[JustOneCoin]
“Ah, don’t come over here.”
There wasn’t any smell or anything, but for some reason his appearance alone made people not want him nearby.
“Wow, that’s honestly hurtful.”
“Then you shouldn’t have leaned so hard into the concept.”
His face was handsome, so how had he ended up going down that path?
“If anything, you’re the last person who should talk after choosing the Demonic Cult. A middle schooler using an adult avatar? Seriously? When I first met you in real life, I was shocked.”
“Can we not talk about real life…”
As Samjangro visibly recoiled, JustOneCoin shrugged and sat beside him.
They were seated in the spectator stands overlooking the sparring platform.
Below them, another unknown player climbed onto the stage.
“Man… I still can’t believe I got Second-rate! That makes no sense!”
“It makes perfect sense.”
“Why? Oh right. You got Third-rate, didn’t you? Pfft.”
JustOneCoin burst into hearty laughter at him.
If he were dressed in elegant robes, he’d look exactly like a noble young master.
But right now he was just a beggar.
A flower beggar, to be precise.
And somehow that made it even more annoying.
-And the only Third-rate at that.
-Hey, hand over your Peak title already lol.
-I’m almost there!
JustOneCoin laughed loudly beside him while Samjangro narrowed his eyes.
“No, I meant people can get low ranks if they try immediately without preparation…”
Sigh.
Samjangro let out another sigh and focused once more on the footage playing before him.
Despite so little time having passed, posts analyzing every single movement had already appeared.
“You were right though. If you try immediately after watching it once, of course you’re going to mess up.”
“Right? That’s exactly what I was trying to say.”
“But still, Third-rate? Puhahaha.”
“Seriously? Says the guy who literally just got Second-rate! That’s only a one-rank difference!”
“Yep. And that one rank is the wall separating experts from amateurs.”
“What nonsense from a Second-rate.”
“And you’re Third-rate.”
“Argh!”
“And besides, I got Transcendent Peak while you didn’t.”
“The Demonic Cult doesn’t even have techniques! You guys are all using movements ingrained into your bodies from years of gameplay!”
Instead of answering, JustOneCoin simply chose to snicker.
In the end, the only one suffering was Samjangro, who had actually received the lower rank.
Wearing the face of someone who had given up, he shook his head.
“Whatever.”
Tap.
Someone placed a hand on his shoulder.
“What do you mean ‘whatever’?”
“Ah. Brother Namgung, you’re here.”
Another veteran player bearing the Transcendent Peak title had arrived—Namgung Clan Shopkeeper.
They usually just called him Shopkeeper or Brother Namgung for convenience.
The nickname supposedly came from losing a bet with friends over changing his username. They’d said he resembled the shopkeeper NPC near the Namgung Clan, so the name stuck.
And after becoming famous as a ranker under that nickname, changing it was no longer possible.
“No, this beggar hyung keeps making fun of me for getting Third-rate.”
“Really? Third-rate or Second-rate, same thing.”
He looked at JustOneCoin with an expression full of disdain.
“Right?”
“Right.”
“Kuh, hyung really gets it.”
“That’s true too.”
JustOneCoin stared at the two of them going back and forth, then shouted in disbelief.
“Hey, Shopkeeper! You go take the test too. Let’s see what rank you get.”
“Don’t wanna.”
“Why?”
Namgung Clan Shopkeeper asked back as if it were obvious.
“Is there any reason I have to take it right now?”
“Well, uh…”
“If I prepare more thoroughly first, then maybe I’ll actually have a chance at getting this so-called Grandmaster title. What does getting Third-rate or Second-rate right now even matter?”
“That’s true.”
“Agreed.”
“Alright then, let’s analyze it some more.”
-The veterans have assembled.
-Anyone else heading over there?
The reactions from the small number of viewers were enthusiastic.
And understandably so.
The three gathered there were all veteran players ranked within the Top 100.
The community veterans certainly possessed better information and skill than ordinary users, but they still weren’t on the level of Top 100 rankers.
However—
Even they continued trying without managing to surpass Peak rank.
About two hours later, JustOneCoin returned from the platform, sat down on one of the stone seats, and spoke.
“Well, it’s only been one day.”
“That’s true. They said newbies take about a month just to perfectly imitate the standard forms. We’ve only had a day.”
-Pathetic.
-Shopkeeper you fraud, what do you know about martial arts lol.
-Weren’t you guys supposed to be the Avengers?
Now they began digging into different aspects.
If you copied the movements perfectly, you could somehow reach Peak rank. That meant the issue wasn’t with the forms themselves.
But that was all.
JustOneCoin spoke.
“Let’s organize this for a second. Originally, these standard form sequences couldn’t even produce Transcendent Peak like this, right?”
“If you just copied them directly, yeah. I’ve never heard of anyone getting Transcendent Peak that way. So didn’t the Heavenly Demon modify the forms himself?”
“Calling him Heavenly Demon is a bit much though…”
“The adults are talking, shut up, Third-rate.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Anyway. But how did these standard forms spread in the first place?”
“Because among all the shared forms, they were the easiest way to get the Peak title. Up to Peak rank, the forms themselves matter, but Transcendent Peak was never something you could achieve just by copying.”
“Right. Honestly, even if I tried reproducing the exact thing that got me Transcendent Peak before, I don’t think I could do it again.”
“Same.”
Samjangro, who had been quietly listening, finally asked,
“What do you mean by that, hyungs?”
“What else? Transcendent Peak isn’t something that just exists in the forms themselves.”
“Then where is it?”
“Perfection.”
JustOneCoin explained it in a single word, and Shopkeeper nodded beside him in agreement.
“When I performed those forms, I felt perfection in the sword. I don’t know martial arts all that well, but… it was the kind of perfection where I knew I could never reproduce it exactly again. And while performing it, I instinctively realized it. That I was going to receive Transcendent Peak.”
“Mine was similar. It’s just a game, but somehow I felt it too. Like, ‘Damn, I was incredible just now.’ And when I watch other Transcendent Peak certification videos, I feel the same thing from them.”
I see.
Truthfully, Samjangro had never seriously challenged Transcendent Peak because he always used the Demonic Cult as an excuse, so he couldn’t fully understand their explanation.
“Then what did you two feel from this video?”
At Samjangro’s question, the two who had been talking while facing each other both turned forward.
They were probably watching the clip again.
Silence lingered for a while before Shopkeeper broke the concentration first.
“I don’t feel anything.”
A little later, JustOneCoin also spoke.
“Yeah. That’s the problem. I don’t get anything either.”
-You guys are our only hope! Stay strong!
-Beggar hyung really is the hope here.
JustOneCoin was famous in NoHyup for writing high-quality information posts.
The reason he’d chosen the Beggars’ Sect was because it was an organization centered around handling information.
Though after playing it for a while, he’d started thinking being a beggar was strangely comfortable.
“What the hell is it really…”
JustOneCoin muttered to himself.
“Maybe there’s some special hidden game trigger or something, Beggar.”
“A Demonic Cult-exclusive quest?”
“Maybe.”
“If it were something like that, it would’ve been discovered already. He’s a streamer, remember?”
And JustOneCoin didn’t think Seojun seemed like the type to hide something like that either.
“That’s true.”
“Then that means he really did it through pure skill?”
Shopkeeper’s eyes widened.
“It’s not something that could happen by coincidence.”
JustOneCoin answered calmly.
-Whoa.
-So he’s actually a monster?
-So Grandmaster is real?
-What are the chances it’s fake?
“Well, we won’t know unless more people start getting Grandmaster too. But I’m giving up. Even Transcendent Peak is hard enough.”
After reading the chat, JustOneCoin shared his thoughts.
Then Shopkeeper also declared surrender.
“I can’t do it either. Thinking about it now, isn’t he the guy who beat Shin Hayeon in the training grounds?”
“And he beat Jin Baekho too.”
“Hey! Stop bringing that up!”
“Maybe he really is the Heavenly Demon.”
“No matter what, he’s not actually the Heavenly Demon!”
-So what’s the conclusion then?
-These guys are talking among themselves nonstop.
-What a networking-based trash game lol.
-This game’s playerbase has gotten way too stagnant.
-Wait, he beat Shin Hayeon? Damn. Then Grandmaster is legit.
JustOneCoin looked at the stream chat, then stood up and said,
“If Grandmaster really is a rank above Transcendent Peak without any special conditions attached, then doesn’t that mean Seojun—who modified the standard forms and got it in one attempt—is basically the best player in For the Sake of Chivalry? Alright, discussion over.”
JustOneCoin had already heard some things about Seojun, and he wasn’t the type to let pride get in the way, so he openly acknowledged him.
However, the community veterans couldn’t accept that.
-Huh?!
-I cannot allow that statement.
-Who decided he’s the best player?
JustOneCoin snorted at the viewers.
“Who decided? Mm? Baek Wi-gang decided.”
Soon, Shopkeeper also stood up.
“That’s true.”
“Let’s sleep. We’re done here!”
“Yes, sir! I’ll end the stream now.”
“Alright.”
In the end, they still hadn’t confirmed the truth.
But there was nothing they could do about it.
If they were upset about it, they’d have to ask the developers themselves.
And every statement they’d made was relayed in detail across NoHyup, creating massive waves.
[Even rankers failed for 2 straight hours]
[So Grandmaster is actually real?]
[Master of the Beggars’ Sect “JustOneCoin” declares: “The Heavenly Demon is the strongest player in For the Sake of Chivalry.”]
[“What exactly is the difference between the Demonic Cult’s national spirit and the Heavenly Demon’s swordsmanship?!” The reason orthodox factions tremble in fear while unorthodox factions stomp their feet in envy!]
At first, the original post had simply been dismissed as a joke or fake, quickly forgotten except by a small minority.
But JustOneCoin was famous on NoHyup, and the clip containing his statement drew far more attention toward Grandmaster and Seojun.
Overnight, many more people attempted the Grandmaster challenge.
Yet not a single person succeeded.
[At this point, suspicions that it’s a scam are slowly creeping in.]
[There are plenty of reasons it could be fake. The moment he got Grandmaster wasn’t during his first For the Sake of Chivalry stream.]
[I knew it the moment his nickname was Heavenly Demon.]
[Accusing someone without evidence really is such an “orthodox faction” thing to do. Pure pettiness.]
[Honestly, the Demonic Cult guys defending him by calling him Heavenly Demon is even more disgusting.]
[You people really turned this into a Demonic Cult vs Orthodox Faction issue lol.]
[So which side is actually right?]
It was a chaotic situation where nobody could confidently give an answer.
Though even amidst the chaos, there were still people making absolute claims.
[He definitely used some kind of trick!]
==
I’ve earned the Transcendent Peak title myself, and this isn’t something you can just watch once and casually pull off like in the video.
Martial arts aren’t some bowl of rice you can whip up instantly.
How could some newbie accomplish what countless rankers failed to discover until now?
==
-I think so too lol.
-The way the OP talks is disgusting.
-Turned off the stream and secretly got lucky with a hidden quest or something? Damn.
-No lol. Just because you can’t do it doesn’t make everyone else a scammer.
LIt’s not just me. Nobody can do it. At this point isn’t it reasonable suspicion? (Post author)
-No lol. You just don’t know. The same thing happened in Dawn of the Assassins too.
LPVE game players, please leave NoHyup. (Post author)
-He beat Shin Hayeon in the training grounds though. He’s probably at least better than you.
LI admit the training grounds thing. But martial arts are different. I’ll personally meet him and prove it. (Post author)
LWho the hell are you?
L13th place in the last battlefield rankings. (Post author)
LDamn! Please teach him a lesson.