CH 245

Blood spurted from Siegfried’s nose…

“Damn it…” he wiped the blood and glared at the training dummy.

Tak! Tak! Tak!

The training dummy was bouncing up and down as if it were Bruce Lee or something.

Clack… Clack! 

Then, it motioned to Siegfried with its wooden finger before walking away.

“Is it asking me to follow it?” Siegfried muttered. He seemed perplexed as he followed the training dummy.

“Your Majesty? Are you going somewhere?”

“Greetings, Your Majesty.”

“Y-Your Majesty! You’re bleeding!”

The maids, servants, and guards he met on the way were shocked upon seeing blood dripping from both of his nostrils.

“Ah, please don’t mind me and continue with your work,” Siegfried replied before following the training dummy.

‘Huh? Isn’t this my personal training area?’ 

The training dummy brought him to his royal training area.

“My name is Bruce—Bruce Wood,” the training dummy introduced himself.

“W-What did you just say…?”

“My name is Bruce—Bruce Wood.”

“Bruce? Your name is Bruce, and your last name is Wood…?”

“My name is Bruce—Bruce Wood.”

“…”

“My name is Bruce—Bruce Wood.” It seemed that the World’s Strongest and Most Evil Training Dummy only knew how to introduce itself. “My name is Bruce—Bruce Wood.”

The training dummy introduced itself once more before it flicked its finger at Siegfried.

“You want me to attack this time?”

“My name is Bruce—Bruce Wood.”

“…”

“My name is Bruce—Bruce Wood.”

Siegfried decided to take that as the answer and attacked.

He got his ass whooped to his heart’s content.

“Ack! Gwaaah! S-Stop! Stop hitting meeeee!”

Siegfried’s cries of agony reverberated throughout the peaceful Proatine Kingdom.

***

Meanwhile, Chae Hyung-Seok temporarily left the hospital and went home.

He headed straight for his capsule and entered it.

Tremble… Tremble… 

He still hadn’t fully recovered yet, so his arms and legs were trembling, but he didn’t care about his trembling limbs.

Why?

Chae Hyung-Seok was not logging into the game to play.

“H-Hyung…”

Chae Hyung-Seok was met by the teary-eyed Min-Woo after logging into the game.

Slap!

And he slapped Min-Woo as hard as he could before walking away.

“Hyung…” Min-Woo muttered, stunned.

“Don’t show up in front of me whether it’s in the game or reality,” Chae Hyung-Seok said coldly before walking away.

A few hours later, Chae Hyung-Seok was kneeling on top of a lavishly decorated red carpet, waiting for someone. The place he was in right now was decorated unsparingly, was quite vast, and was the epitome of luxury itself.

However, this was no surprise because the place he was kneeling in was none other than the deepest part of the Marchioni Empire’s imperial palace. The Marchioni Empire was the strongest empire on the Nürburg Continent.

“His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!”

The chief eunuch announced the arrival of the emperor in a firm and booming voice.

Stuttgart von Posteriore.

He was the highest authority of Brave New World, and he appeared to meet Chae Hyung-Seok.

‘This damn emperor bastard… Why is it so difficult to meet him when he’s only an NPC?’ Chae Hyung-Seok grumbled inwardly. The amount he had spent just to request an audience with the emperor was already a few hundred million won in real life.

He had to bribe numerous nobles of the empire just for them to write a recommendation letter to the emperor.

Emperor Stuttgart was not someone that a mere Adventurer could easily meet.

Chae Hyung-Seok hid his inner thoughts and showed respect to the emperor. He was certain without a hint of doubt that a killing order was going to be issued by the empire against him and the entire Genesis Guild if his thoughts were exposed.

“I, the guild master of the Genesis Guild, Desire, greet the great and mighty emperor,” Chae Hyung-Seok said and bowed down to the ground.

“For what reason did you request to meet me, Adventurer Desire?” Emperor Stuttgart asked.

“That is… I have dared to commit this insolence of requesting an audience with the emperor to make known the atrocities committed against me. I plead the great and mighty emperor to lend an ear to the injustice I have suffered!”

“Atrocities and injustice, you say…” Emperor Stuttgart muttered, seemingly interested. He asked, “What kind of injustice have you suffered that you required an audience with me, the emperor?”

“I am currently being persecuted by a king that the great and mighty emperor has appointed.”

“A king I have appointed?”

“The king—Siegfried van Proa—is relentless. He has viciously attacked me and my guild members. He does not allow me to lie down in peace for even a minute.”

“Tell me what happened in detail,” Emperor Stuttgart said sternly.

Chae Hyung-Seok listed everything that had happened to the emperor.

Why? It was all because to make himself look like the victim.

“I see… so that happened…”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Hmm… What do you want me to do about it?”

“I merely request the…” Chae Hyung-Seok trailed off before continuing. “…the revocation of the protection period that Your Majesty has bestowed upon the Proatine Kingdom.”

“Hmm…”

“Siegfried van Proa of the Proatine Kingdom has struck me and my guild first, and he has caused massive damage to both property and lives. I merely wish to enact revenge on him.”

“So you want revenge, but the protection period I have promised is preventing you from doing so?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The reason that Chae Hyung-Seok went through the trouble of meeting the emperor was solely to have the protection period revoked so that he could swoop in and lay waste to the Proatine Kingdom.

“It is a known fact that King Siegfried has attacked us without probable cause, so I have the right to defend myself. I hope the great and mighty emperor would agree with me.”

“I guess you’re not wrong…” Emperor Stuttgart trailed off and added, “However, I should find out why he attacked you in the first place.”

“…!”

“I can’t just revoke an imperial edict after listening to only one side of the story, right?”

Chae Hyung-Seok’s heart dropped to the floor.

‘Fuck! This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!’ Chae Hyung-Seok immediately realized that he had made the wrong decision.

He didn’t expect the emperor to react that way, and it was a gross miscalculation on his end. Chae Hyung-Seok underestimated the emperor simply because he was an NPC.

He was deluded, thinking that the emperor would move according to his whims just because the emperor was an NPC.

He failed to understand that NPCs in BNW were just like human beings, and it seemed that his inability to comprehend that would be his demise.

“You may leave,” Emperor Stuttgart said before adding, “I will summon King Siegfried and make my decision after investigating the matter.”

“T-Thank you, Your Majesty…” Chae Hyung-Seok muttered.

He left the audience hall while drenched in sweat.

‘FUUUUUUUUUCK!’ he screamed inwardly. There was a saying that fools will somehow rush to their demise when left alone, and Chae Hyung-Seok had done that exactly.

***

“S-Stop… H-Hitting… MEEE! AAACK!” Siegfried screamed at the top of his lungs. He was well into his third day of training with the training dummy Bruce Wood, and he was getting beaten up left, right, and center over the past two days.

‘Huh? What’s going on? My basic attacks suddenly deal more damage…?’ Siegfried suddenly noticed that the random swinging of his mace was dealing a lot of damage. ‘What is this feeling…? Why does my basic attack feel like Smite…?’

[Alert: Your active skill Smite has been converted to a passive skill!]

A message popped up in front of his eyes.

‘What?! Smite is a passive skill now?!’ Siegfried was shocked.

He never imagined in his wildest dreams that the active skill, Smite, could turn into a passive skill, and this meant that Smite’s cooldown time was reduced to zero now.

But that was not the end of the surprise.

[Alert: Your active skill Flying Spur has been converted to a passive skill!]

[Alert: The name of Flying Spur has changed to Flying Sword!]

Siegfried’s one and only ranged attack skill Flying Spur was now Flying Sword.

[Alert: You may deal ranged damage using Flying Sword!]

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Smite and Flying Spur had become passive skills that influenced his basic attacks, which meant their cooldown was reduced to zero.

‘My DPS is going to be absurdly strong now, right…?’ Siegfried couldn’t believe it.

DPS meant Damage per Second in game lingo, and it literally meant the amount of damage that one could deal to an enemy per second.

Siegfried was certain that his DPS was going to increase explosively because he no longer had to wait for his powerful skills to go off cooldown.

“Wait a minute…” Siegfried suddenly realized something. “I think I’ve only used Smite and Flying Spur while training with this dummy. Is that why these two skills changed?”

He hadn’t noticed anything while he was getting beaten up, but he quickly came to a conclusion upon thinking about what he had been doing so far.

Bruce was extremely fast, and its fighting style was a dynamic combination of melee and ranged attacks, which had been confusing the heck out of Siegfried.

Siegfried didn’t have the luxury to think about any other skills and had to depend only on Smite and Flying Spur, and it resulted in him receiving the messages that had just popped up in front of him.

“Wait… did you force me to use only Smite and Flying Spur?” Siegfried asked the training dummy.

The training dummy haughtily crossed its arms over its chest and replied proudly, “My name is Bruce—Bruce Wood!”

Its reply didn’t change, but it was more than enough of an answer for Siegfried.

Siegfried smiled and said, “All right, so I can become stronger by playing with you, right? Then, we should keep going at it.”

“My name is Bruce—Bruce Wood!”

“It’s my turn now, got it?” Siegfried asked before charging at the training dummy.

***

After that, Siegfried was subjected to endless physical abuse disguised as training in hopes of becoming stronger. The training dummy managed to force him to use his brain and comprehend the optimal timing to use his skills.

In other words, he was starting to get better at judging when to use his skills.

A week of horrendous abuse later…

“My name is Bruce—Bruce Wood!” Bruce exclaimed before pointing at something.

Siegfried was a bloody mess, and his eyes were completely black and swollen.

“H-Hmm…?” He turned and realized that the training dummy was pointing at the skill book floating next to his right shoulder.

“You want me to check the skill book?”

“My name is Bruce—Bruce Wood!”

“Sure.”

Siegfried couldn’t understand what the training dummy was saying, but he got the gist of what it was trying to say by reading its body language.

It seems that you’ve completed your training.

Words appeared on the skill book’s blank page...

Alright, it seems that you’ve mastered the basics.

It is now time for me to teach you how to maximize the abilities of the Debuff Master.

“Thank you, Master…” Siegfried thanked his master at Mount Kunlun and bowed.

Then, he focused on the words in the skill book.

But don’t you think it’s a bit lackluster if only your debuffs get stronger?

I do not wish to see my one and only disciple be content with catching just one bird.

Hitting two birds with one stone is the norm, right?

Kekeke!

“You are absolutely correct, Master.”

I have prepared a mission for you that will not only make you become even stronger but will also enhance your debuff skills.

So do your best to complete the mission and become stronger!

Deus was basically telling him to enhance his debuff skills and level up at the same time.

‘Kyah! As expected of Master! I’m getting drunk in his graciousness!’ Siegfried exclaimed inwardly while bathing in Deus’ mercy.

He patiently waited for the quest details.

Ding!

A message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Alert: A quest has appeared!]

Moments later, the quest details of Deus’ quest for him appeared in front of him.