Ch.33. Between Game and Reality

When I came to my senses, I had already left the dueling arena. Looking around, this place seemed to be some kind of lounge area arranged near the practical exam venue.

As I realized this, memories from earlier came flooding back. The pathetic sight of me fainting after accidentally hitting him with my elbow while desperately trying to break free from his grip.

‘Ah… I must be a real idiot.’

It was hardly worth even calling it a defeat.

In truth, even without that incident, my hasty actions and terrible response left me with no excuses for my loss.

If I had waited for him to attack first, or if I hadn’t panicked when he charged at me, victory would have been guaranteed. But I failed to do either.

Honestly, I had been arrogant. Even by my own admission, I had been raised like a precious treasure and had never been criticized for any shortcomings.

‘His name was Ludion, wasn’t it?’

He had introduced himself as someone unremarkable, but the fact that he had already finished the theoretical exam by that time revealed he was far from ordinary.

To have underestimated someone like that… Looking back now, it was truly a foolish judgment.

As I reflected on what had just happened, I somehow felt embarrassed.

‘That was my first time being so close to a man.’

Not because of my mistake, but because of the interaction between us.

I kept recalling his forceful behavior as he grabbed me.

As I unconsciously found myself fidgeting with my left wrist, the door opened and a woman walked in.

“You’re awake? How are you feeling? Any headaches or anything?”

“Ah, no. I’m fine.”

“That’s good. But just to be safe, should I give you another healing treatment?”

“Um, no. I think I’m okay.”

I knew my own physical condition best. This wasn’t just a figure of speech—it was actually true.

“Really? Then that’s fine… Oh right. I’m late introducing myself. I’m also a supervisor here. Though I came here to do this sort of thing.”

The supervisor said this while lightly tapping my temple.

From her tone and expression, it felt like she was teasing me somehow…

Still, perhaps because she was an adult, she did offer some consolation.

“Don’t be too discouraged. From what I can see, you couldn’t beat him no matter what you tried.”

I wasn’t sure if this was consolation or just rubbing salt in the wound.

Whatever it was, I couldn’t accept that I couldn’t win no matter what. I was certain that if I had just responded better, my magic would have activated, and things would have been different from how they turned out.

“You look like you don’t believe me. Well, since the exam is still ongoing… How about it? Want to go watch?”

“…Yes.”

I heard it was noisy outside, so it seemed the exam was still in progress.

Right, let’s see just how good he is that I had to hear such things. With that mindset, I followed the supervisor out of the lounge.

Unlike the quiet atmosphere from earlier, the exam venue was now packed with an enormous crowd.

The space was so densely filled that I thought it would be impossible to pass through alone, but a path opened up in the direction the supervisor walked, so I focused on keeping up without falling behind.

We arrived at the front row of the spectator seats with the best view of the dueling arena. Beyond the railing, I could see Ludion still holding his position and another figure facing him.

And that duel was nothing short of shocking.

“What is this…?”

“Unbelievable, right? I feel the same way. I can’t believe someone like him exists.”

What the supervisor had said wasn’t consolation or anything else. She had simply stated a fact.

“Do you think you could have won if you hadn’t foolishly hit your head, if you had properly used your magic?”

“…”

“Do you still think so now?”

I shook my head.

It was truly frustrating, but no matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t picture myself defeating that man.

Perhaps it was because he was the first wall I’d ever encountered in my life besides my parents.

For some reason, I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

///

Bullying newbies turned out to be much easier than I expected.

Originally, differences in stats should be overcome with skill… but even Celia is at a chick’s level right now, isn’t she? Not to mention these fresh newbies just taking the entrance exam.

Look at that cute newbie, holding a sword but unable to control the distance, wasting energy in completely ineffective positions.

‘This is seriously too erotic.’

I’m practically drooling. I really want to kidnap them right now and teach them all kinds of training methods and sword techniques.

But that one looks somehow familiar… Wait, could it be?

“What’s your name?”

“Artes.”

“Whoa.”

It’s the protagonist? I couldn’t recognize him right away because he’s always wearing weird customizations.

I couldn’t see the sturdy appearance from the title screen yet, but he still had that shounen manga protagonist face.

Wow, seriously, later on don’t go to some other guy, come to me. I’ll treat you well.

‘He’ll be assigned to the lower class with his current skill level anyway, so I don’t need to worry about him now.’

I handled him moderately and then knocked him down to get his surrender.

I’ve been accommodating everyone who’s come out so far until they show their skills, so this shouldn’t look too bad to the supervisors.

As I continued dealing with these low-level guys, I sensed that some proper contenders were about to enter the dueling arena.

The prospective upper-class students. These guys were actually quite talented and frequently appeared in the story, influencing it…

So I knew exactly who was who… and honestly, they were much tougher opponents compared to the others.

While it’s true that my stats are top-tier at this point, from here on there are plenty of physical monsters who aren’t far behind.

Among them, unlike me who’s just relying on raw stats without utilizing any game knowledge, there are those who already have proper traits and have been honing techniques that suit them.

In other words, from now on, I could actually lose if I don’t execute a proper strategy.

‘But what should I do?’

While dealing with the newbies, I realized that games and reality were definitely different. Unlike games where you input commands with keyboard clicks, in reality, I had to move my body directly.

Of course, thanks to my high stats, I could move better than expected. I wasn’t even that tired despite moving quite intensely for a long time.

Still, games and reality are different.

How could a game that ignores all physical laws with its zeros and ones be the same as reality where you stub your pinky toe if you step wrong?

For example, in games, graphical models sometimes pass through each other even when they appear to collide, but in reality, even the slightest touch has consequences.

What good is knowing all the attack patterns if you can’t dodge them?

So at this point, despite being somewhat looked down upon and considered taboo by veteran players, I had no choice but to bring out a certain piece of equipment.

“What did he just take out?”

“Don’t you know? He’s been fighting bare-handed all this time, but it looks like he’s finally going to use something. Must be getting nervous.”

“Well, the ones coming out now are all well-known fighters.”

“But is that a weapon? Looks like a shield.”

“A shield?”

That’s right. The best defense is… whatever, attack. If you can’t dodge, all that’s left is parrying!

Of course, that would also be nerfed in reality… Parrying? I’d be satisfied just blocking or deflecting an attack or two.

That’s what I was thinking, but I guess things never go as planned.

“Wow, that’s him. The dwarf with the huge build.”

“His muscles are insane…”

“But the other guy doesn’t lose in terms of physique either? They’re both crazy.”

A major character from the story had appeared immediately.

An all-rounder cheat character skilled in equipment crafting and combat. Harold, the muscle pig who was uniquely tall among the pureblooded dwarves of this world.

You might wonder what kind of dwarf goes around with a name that sounds like a default hero name from some game development tool, but this guy’s narrative is literally that of a hero.

He seems more like a protagonist than the actual protagonist, and he has so many fans despite being a male character that there was an overflow of inappropriate fan art… thinking about it suddenly makes me feel sick.

No, no. This isn’t the time to recall images of Harold in crop tops and garter belts.

Dwarf Harold. He later becomes a MacGyver-like man who crafts all kinds of equipment and utilizes them in the right places… but at this point, he’s just a barbarian warrior.

The weapon he currently uses is a large hammer.

And what happens if you try to block a hammer with a shield? There’s no more foolish act than that.

It’s a hard counter. I finally swallowed my pride and took out a shield, only for it to become completely useless.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

“Is it right for a man to act all high and mighty while only facing those weaker than himself? Let’s see you fight properly!”

He’s swinging a hammer bigger than his own body like it’s nothing, with a look that suggests one hit would be the end of me.

His strength must be in the 20s right now? I’d really be done for.

And so the duel began.

I managed to dodge his attacks with my high agility stat, but in reality, I was just retreating.

The large hammer had such a wide attack range that it was impossible to dodge while staying close.

I could see his attack patterns. But there was no gap to exploit.

I tried to target an opening, but his trait activated and immediately blocked it.

As a result, I kept backing up until I was cornered against the wall.

“So this is all you amount to? You’re just another one of those who pretend to be strong in front of the weak.”

Harold’s voice had lowered, as if he had lost interest in me who was only running away.

“I’ll give you credit for enduring this long. Now it’s time to rest.”

With those final words, the hammer monster approached, swinging his weapon.

I recognized the skill motion, but unlike in the game, it didn’t seem like I could dodge it.

At this rate, my head would be smashed by the hammer.

For all my boasting about being a veteran player, it was a pathetic end.

‘Ah, the karma for cracking Celia’s head is already coming back to me.’

I thought as I watched the approaching hammer.

Looking at it now, getting hit by that would probably do more than just crack my skull. Well, I probably wouldn’t die.

‘But it’s going to hurt like hell.’

Maybe it was because of that thought. Just before the attack connected, I instinctively visualized deflecting the attack.

Following that image, I raised the shield I was holding.

A sensation of moving as my body commanded, not my mind.

A motion I must have seen hundreds of thousands of times on screen. The technique I had thought impossible until just now was being recreated through my body.

Parrying.

The heavy mass touched the shield and bounced right off.

Clang-

“What?!”

Harold was thrown off balance and staggered from the massive repulsive force that erupted from my light movement, something that seemed impossible.

It was an unexpected situation, and he clearly looked surprised, but I was no different.

This… I didn’t expect this either? Wait, why did this work?