Level 0 Master

This wasn't Sungjin's first time losing.

Au contraire, Sungjin had experience where he had seen the limits of his intelligence and tactics in front of an impossible opponent who had overwhelmingly stronger power. But it was his first time losing a fight where he had the same amount of power as his opponent and had to fight against him with his calculations.

Although Sungjin had tried to create a chance to save his team, he hadn't expected the Kaiser of Darkness to hit back with a perfect counterattack. It was the first time Sungjin had fought such an opponent. It was the first time he had been defeated like this. It made him happy, in a strange way.

So this is the sacred area. This is what I should expect when challenging to become a god.

This was a painful defeat, but it was also a valuable experience.

It was amazing to have a goal that he wanted to overcome.

Wow, this makes my blood boil.

Whoever was hiding behind the darkness was clearly someone great.

Yes. This is what my opponent should be. I will challenge him again to climb up the mountain. If my opponent is not just a mountain but a sky, I will overcome that sky and fly to outer space.

Chapter 7

Lost in the first round.

When his team looked worried, Sungjin smiled and cheered them up. "Don't worry. The fight has just begun."

"But…"

"It's okay. The first fight was for collecting information on our enemy."

"But we couldn't collect enough information." That was what Ereka was worried about. It was the first fight against an unknown enemy to becoming an Arc Master. It was the first chance out of three, but they had wasted that first chance.

Ereka and the girls had been defeated in their fight with the summoned puppets while Sungjin hadn't even been able to have a proper fight against the Kaiser of Darkness.

"That's not true."

"What do you mean?"

"Now I know two things about him. One is that he can summon and control the puppets, and the other is that he has an ability to separate the battlefield."

"That's right." Eustasia nodded and agreed that they had gotten that information.

"There's one more. He was not just using his level or skill. He was using his intelligence, and I picked up a few things about his tactics…"

"I knew you would find a way. How should we prepare our second round?"

"And because of that, we need to solve one problem."

"What is that, Sungjin?" Sooryun asked.

"You guys are strong enough to fight against the puppets. The problem was that the Kaiser was controlling his puppets in real time while he separated the battlefield so that I couldn't command you guys in real time."

Sungjin had tried to communicate with his team using the stone of wind elf, but since the space was separated, there was a massive delay in their communication. It took almost thirty seconds just to send a word to another battlefield. Moreover, Sungjin wasn't able to keep his eyes on his team. The information he could use was also limited. That made it impossible for Sungjin to command his team like the Kaiser of Darkness.

Pandora broke her silence and told them, "If that's the problem, I can help you with that."

"Pandora, can you?"

"Yes. I can create an equipment to share information that can overcome the issue of distance or separation."

"That means…"

"Just like your enemy is able to control the summoned puppets, this equipment will make you able to command your team."

"Great. I appreciate your help." Sungjin accepted Pandora's offer without any hesitation.

"Then give me a moment."

* * *

Pandora concentrated for a while and started to show her ability apart from "observation and analysis" that she had shown until then.

"Producing the machine." Numbers in 3D image started to display in front of her.

Multiple rows of numbers started to unfold and turn around to create circuits of some kind, and then the circuits started to become connected to each other to show a blueprint. When Pandora reached out her hand to the blueprint, the blueprint became a real machine, and Sungjin recognized the machine right away.

That looks like a walkie-talkie but much finer than the one from earth.

That was an actual machine.

Is that so? The Kaiser of Gold gave such an ability to his granddaughter.

Since his empire studied the foundation and rules of this world, it was not surprising that Pandora had knowledge on science. It was a high tech product that even Sungjin couldn't create. Sungjin understood how the machine worked, but he didn't know all the details behind it.

Pandora is making this fight easier.

Pandora handed walkie-talkies to everyone.

"This uses invisible light to give signals. The speed of light is ninety times faster than the speed of sound, so this will solve the delay problem that you had when you guys were using the stone of wind elf…"

"Wow. So you can communicate well from a distance." Rachel was impressed, and her eyes were shining.

"Correct. Also, this camera here will show the situation in another battlefield to provide better information than verbal explanation."

"That's convenient."

"Moreover, there are additional features to cover blind spots."

When she pushed a button on the side of a walkie-talkie, it looked like something was coming out of it.

"Nano machines will take multi-dimensional photos around you so that you can receive equal amounts of information as your opponent. But this can't overcome the fact that your enemy can control everything by himself while you have to command your team verbally."

"That's good enough. I can handle that much," said Sungjin, smiling confidently.

"Now that we have these, should we start training?"

"Yes."

"On our next fight, I will command you in real time. So let's practice how to adjust ourselves."

"Sure."

* * *

Sungjin and his team started training for their next fight.

Sungjin used his power that he got when he became Kaiser to create four puppets that his team had to fight during their first fight to have a mock battle.

But Pandora was a bit confused about if what she had done was okay.

Why did I offer my help?

Her duty was to observe the answer to the question of what would be winning factors for the final fight at the sacred area. Pandora was supposed to be an observer, but she had provided an item to help Sungjin.

Would it be okay for an observer to provide help and ruin the experiment? Maybe it was my fault.

Pandora couldn't understand why she did it.

Sungjin saw that she was troubled. "Let's take a break." Sungjin gave his team a break and walked toward Pandora. "Do you have worries? You look confused."

"Yes. I am supposed to be an observer, but I just supported you, so I'm worried that it might hinder my pursuit of truth."

"The participation of an observer. Pff. There's something called quantum mechanics on earth."

"Quantum mechanics? What is that?"

"There's a principle of uncertainty, which means that observation is already an intervention, so there's no such thing as a pure and perfect observation without any intervention."

"Observation is an intervention…"

"You told me that you will observe me and my fight for the sacred area. When you told me that, you became a part of the whole thing. Maybe you are apart of your answer."

"Myself as a part of the answer?"

"Didn't I tell you? There are truths that you have to experience to learn." Sungjin smiled again.

"Yes, you did."

"And you told me you wouldn't mind sleeping with me if that was the way to learn everything about me. If you want to learn everything, you shouldn't simply step aside and observe."

" …"

"So, if there's anything you want to take part in, if there's something your heart wants," Sungjin said, pointing at her heart, "Do it. You are always welcome to join me to create the answer."

"Is it okay?"

"I don't believe truth is something that you can find while observing from a distance. For example, when you are playing a game, you feel a thrill that you couldn't feel if you were simply watching." Sungjin was talking about the vivid feeling that only a gamer could feel while playing the game. "Life is the same. I think you can feel the real thing only if you join in and laugh and cry with the others."

"Is that so? Okay. I will not just be an observer but a participant." Pandora thought that she would love to know what this guy Sungjin could really achieve. Not only because Sungjin was the homework that her grandfather left her, but she was truly curious.

Why?

Every time Pandora thought she found out one thing about Sungjin, she always wanted to know more about him.

I will find out the limit of the power of this guy who defeated my grandfather, and I will find out what he's looking for and what the result of his life will be.

* * *

While training his team, Sungjin prepared for his own fight.

There are a few points I learned from our last fight.

It wasn't simply that the Kaiser of Darkness was very smart. The Kaiser of Darkness was very smart and used his intelligence to calculate what would happen next, and his calculation style was…

Very similar to mine.

In order to choose the best solution, the number of solutions had to be limited, but there were situations where there was no clear right answer.

In those situations…

He would choose exactly what I would choose.

Now Sungjin knew his opponent. Now he had to decide how to react to such an opponent.

This is getting interesting.

It was a matter of movements, like the ones Sungjin couldn't detect during his fight against the Kaiser of Gold.

Sungjin was truly happy to have an opponent who had equal power but wasn't an easy opponent to defeat.

He hit me once. It's time for me to hit him back.

* * *

Sungjin headed to the sacred area again to face his nemesis the Kaiser of Darkness.

"Are you prepared to pass the test this time?" the Kaiser of Darkness asked Sungjin, and Sungjin provoked him with a smile.

"Isn't it a bit boring to play just one game?"

"Then?" The Kaiser of Darkness showed interest.

Sungjin used his power to create eighteen more computers on top of what the Kaiser of Darkness had already created. "Let's play ten games simultaneously and pick fifty different characters without duplication."

That meant they both needed to choose characters that they were not used to, and controlling fifty different characters in ten games was already beyond the ability of human beings.

"I didn't think you would chicken out."

"Hahaha. Okay. Let's do that." The Kaiser of Darkness laughed as if he were enjoying this situation and agreed to Sungjin's terms.

"Your team against my puppets. You against me. Let's play again."

They started their second round.

This was the fight that would define who would be the god.

* * *

Sungjin's team clashed with the puppets again on the battlefield. This time, the battlefield was a coast where a desert and an ocean met. In the meantime, Sungjin played ten games at the same time to fight against the Kaiser of Darkness.

It was a war of intelligence between them. Was it Sungjin who was commanding his team better? Or was it the Kaiser of Darkness who was controlling his puppets better? At the same time, they were both playing different games. It was two different wars with eleven different battles to find out the winner.

Is it even possible that one person can receive and process data from eleven different battles and control and command them all? It was natural to think that it was an impossible task, but it was possible for Sungjin and his opponent, the Kaiser of Darkness.

He is the same level as me. I shouldn't give him any chance to defeat me fast.

Winning fast wasn't something that Sungjin needed. Sungjin had to push his opponent to the limit to verify who had more experience and who knew the game better to finish it.

It was a battle of various aspects. Sungjin's team fought against the puppets summoned by the Kaiser of Darkness while Sungjin had to control fifty characters in total in ten different games to fight against the Kaiser of Darkness.

They were controlling so many characters, but they weren't missing any of them. They both were controlling their characters with perfect precision and perfect timing.

It was beyond a game between pro-gamers on earth; they were controlling their characters by 0.01 second.

But… there was no clear winner.

It was clear that Sungjin and the Kaiser of Darkness had the same level of knowledge and ability to use their tactics in the game.