Chapter 1: Ranking and Possession

Sometimes there are people like that.

There are people who choose options that are ignored by others, rather than following the popular scam jobs or strategies in games.

I was exactly that type of person.

Whenever I played RPG games, I always created characters from the lower ranks of popularity.

Even in my life game, “World Saviour Online,” it was the same.

I can chose to be a warrior who could become a formidable [Sword Saint] or [Dark Sword] after advancing.

I can chose a magician with the potential to become a great being like [Magic King] or [Magic Emperor].

I can chose a [Saint] with extreme growth potential depending on which god you worship.

As I filtered through various jobs in descending order of popularity, I eventually reached the last one.

While all other jobs had at least reached their 2nd or 3rd advancement, one job that stopped at the 1st advancement caught my eye.

[Barrier Mage]

A job that manipulates space by unfolding barriers.

A proud Barrier Mage, occupying the lowest population and performance tier.

The gameplay demonstration video was modest but impressive.

The restrained effects, neither excessive nor lacking, deploying various barriers left a lasting impression.

Amidst the flashy effects and cutscenes that often disrupted immersion in other popular jobs, there was something about it that drew me in.

“Romantic approval.”

I immediately created a character as a Barrier Mage.

I ignored the community’s loud reactions about the job having the lowest population or being stuck at the 1st advancement.

A job shunned by others.

A unique concept not often seen in other games.

And even the ability to manipulate space.

There was nothing to dislike.

“Wow, I’m finally going to dominate as a Barrier Mage.”

And now, I have become a ranker.

I proudly inserted my nickname and job [Top Ranker #Barrier Mage] into the rankings of “World Savior Online.”

Sword Saints, Dragon Maidens, Magic Emperors, Dragon Lords…

Among the rankings filled with romance-less scam jobs, I included the Barrier Mage, who had been treated as a fool for stopping at the 1st advancement.

Who am I?

The first and only unique Barrier Mage ranker in the server.

“Seriously insane. Did you really do that?”

“If I can, I will.”

Though I barely made it to 94th place out of 99 in the rankings, I was still satisfied.

The users who had mocked the Barrier Mage as a foolish job became nothing more than losers compared to me once I appeared in the rankings.

In the end, I was the one who survived until the end and emerged victorious.

“But seriously, how did you do it? It’s a fact that the Barrier Mage’s performance is terrible.”

A friend, tilting a cola can, asked me.

As I retorted, lifting up the game manual of “World Saviour Online.”

It was a time when the PC room was bustling with people, but I paid no attention to that.

My body trembled as I flipped through the manual.

The manual vibrated in sync with the muscles.

Eventually, with a contorted face, I forcefully lowered the arm that had been raised.

“Thuck..!”

“You unholy being!!!”

With a satisfying sound, the thick manual crashed into the unholy head.

The unholy one collapsed with a short scream.

He writhed on the ground, groaning in pain.

This petty child, without even knowing what mistake he had made, raised his voice.

“Why did you hit me, you crazy bastard!”

“I couldn’t just let the insult about the Barrier Mage’s performance slide.”

“Did you sell your soul to the devil of barrier magic?”

My friend looked at me with a look as if he had seen the manual as some giant being.

Barrier magic may be ‘a little’ tricky and lacking in killing power, but it boasts almost universal utility in every other aspect.

To say that the performance of a Barrier Mage is weak…

If there was second and third advancements, it would surely be considered a scam job.

Do you know my feelings as I press the dislike button through every update while looking at the job performance tier list?…

“Barrier Mage is a legitimate job, isn’t it? It’s weird for other jobs to use skills like divine protection or magical barriers.”

While I was complaining like that, my friend shoved the rest of his cola into his mouth and said, “Anyway, I’m thinking of quitting the game soon.”

“Why? Suddenly quitting when you’re even more of a gaming addict than me?”

“Well, our new semester is starting soon.”

A nightmare that I had thrown into the depths of my memory came to mind.

Just when I thought I had finally found freedom after crossing the mountain of college entrance exams, there was an even bigger mountain in front of me.

“In college, I didn’t get a girlfriend. Instead, I just got more assignments piled on.”

As always, the guys who had lots of friends and girlfriends in school were the ones enjoying their social lives with girlfriends even in college.

“I’m seriously thinking about dropping out and becoming a full-time YouTuber.”

“But isn’t that fine for you? You have quite a following.”

“Well, that’s true, but there are issues like future stability.”

Honestly, I don’t even know why my YouTube channel succeeded.

It has 210,000 subscribers, but since it suddenly grew, I don’t have much experience in managing it or creating content.

One day, “World Saviour Online” became a huge hit, and my channel, which showcased gameplay as a Barrier Mage, grew along with it.

Now, it’s a well-known channel representing the game, but still, I hesitate to go full-time.

“I should probably graduate from college just in case, but giving up the channel… “

With a heavy expression, I imagined my future.

My friend, who had been staring at me intently, seemed to want to lighten the mood, so he picked up his phone and threw out a new topic.

“But your character is already max level. Don’t you want to try raising another character?”

“Why? Why raise another character?”

“Well, if you’ve tried the worst job, shouldn’t you try the best job too?”

Out of nowhere, my friend, who was telling me to try raising another character, showed me a video.

It was a typical job recommendation video.

My friend manipulated the timeline of the video with his finger under the screen a few times, then let go in the latter part of the video.

“Try raising this one.”

“Ugh…”

I had forgotten who this guy was.

As soon as I saw the recommended job in the video, my impression soured.

My friend is the complete opposite of me.

He’s a performance-oriented user who always prioritizes efficiency and performance.

Naturally, the job revealed in the phone screen was the final advancement of the magician class, [Magic Emperor], which is currently considered the strongest job in the game.

“Hey, ranks 1 to 3 are all currently levelling up as magician characters. If you played based on performance, you could be rank 1 too, you know?”

My friend’s voice was filled with certainty.

It was as if he was saying that if I chose this job, the rankings would change.

He is probably right.

As soon as I became a top-ranked Barrier Mage, this guy sent messages like, “If you had focused on performance, you would have been rank 1.”

“If you don’t want to, just say so.”

When I stubbornly refused, my friend, who was drinking cola, let out a forced laugh and waved his hand.

This was the signal for us to go home.

My friend went home first, and I went to the convenience store to buy snacks and then returned home.

Once I sat down in front of my computer, I exclaimed, “Whoa!”

As soon as I turned on the computer, the desktop showed the game icon for “World Saviour Online.”

When I logged into the game, various Barrier Mage characters were displayed in the character list, welcoming me.

In this game, characters are aligned to the left based on their creation date.

The newly created character is placed to the right of the existing characters.

The character that entered the rankings was the 9th character among the 10 available characters.

After several attempts and 800 hours of research, I finally created a powerful Barrier Mage capable of entering the rankings.

But I wasn’t satisfied.

The more I played as a Barrier Mage, the more potential I felt this job had.

So, I had already decided.

From the moment I, entered the rankings as a Barrier Mage.

The tenth character was also a Barrier Mage, of course.

Building a character with a rootless job like a Magic Emperor is hacking.

“Create Character”

As I entered the character creation screen, the customization system was the first to unfold.

While you can adjust everything from hairstyle to eye color, I honestly wasn’t the type to get immersed in customization.

I applied the appearance preset downloaded from the community and finished customization.

“Select your character’s job.”

There was no need to hesitate.

I scrolled down straight to select Barrier Mage.

After going through multiple trials and hundreds of hours of know-how, the optimal skill tree for a Barrier Mage was finally ready to shine.

I wrote down my real name for the character’s name.

After all, if I do YouTube or broadcast, it will probably reveal my real name anyway.

I wanted to try ranking up as a Barrier Mage with my own name.

“May Seong Yujin’s journey be blessed.”

As I pressed the start game button and the game’s prologue began, a bright light emanated from the monitor.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the scenery from the game prologue outside the window.

“Oh my god.”

I was hit by a surprise visual attack from the monitor.