Emperor! Can You See Stats!?

Chapter 198: Player

Eurius’s consciousness was sucked into the video again. 

He looked around with a familiar feeling. 

He had seen this place before.

‘This is where they received their first quest, right?’

The first thing he saw was the temple where the three original players had joined forces. 

The temple looked the same as before, but the people gathered there were quite different.

The first ones to catch his eye were, of course, the three players.

The blond man in a splendid outfit and a crown, Emperor Sharnos.

The woman in a robe adorned with ornaments, with a slightly regretful expression on her face. 

Saintess Dimiana.

The oriental man in a blue uniform, still smiling enigmatically. 

Lee Cheongmun.

And in front of them, hundreds of people were lined up with solemn expressions.

Priests in white robes, hundreds of knights in armor, officials in gowns, and more! They had gathered here for an important ceremony today.

Dimiana, who was looking at them with a complicated face, muttered softly.

“It’s a shame to leave this place. I’ve grown attached to it. And today is the day we depart.”

She seemed genuinely sorry. But the emperor responded calmly.

“That’s true. Today is the end of our wealth and glory as an emperor. Sigh…”

“Are you kidding me? You’ve been here for decades in this world’s time, and that’s all you have to say?”

She pursed her lips with an incredulous expression.

“Of course I’m worried. You’re an executive of a large corporation, right? And that old man is a high-level ability user. But I’m just an unemployed person when I go back.”

The emperor answered with a natural face.

“You’re hopeless…”

She shook her head as if she had no words to say.

It seemed that this kind of bickering was not the first time for them.

“Haha! You two are always so close. Why don’t you just live together when you go back?”

“Who are you talking about!”

The two of them were startled and waved their hands at Lee Cheongmun’s remark.

“Anyway, shouldn’t we get ready soon? There are many people waiting for us.”

“Stop making lame jokes!”

“…”

Anyway, his intervention (?) settled the situation.

“Hmm! Hmm! Then shall I go first as the representative?”

Emperor Sharnos cleared his throat a few times and stepped forward to face the people. 

As soon as he came out, the people quickly prostrated themselves on the ground.

“O great god! We greet your emperor!”

“We greet your emperor!”

“You may rise.”

The emperor commanded with a calm expression. 

He seemed to feel a bit of weight as he looked at his subjects. But it didn’t last long.

“I’ve said everything I wanted to say, and now we’re going back. Take good care of yourselves and don’t bully the commoners just because you’re nobles. Got it?”

He chuckled and finished his speech casually. The subjects bowed their heads again at his words.

“We respect your will.”

And at that moment.

Ding!

[You have cleared the quest ‘Pacify the Turbulent Times!’]

[As a reward for clearing it, you can go back. Please return to your original world.]

“…”

Eurius realized then what kind of event this was.

‘The players disappeared from the world at the same time, right?’

That’s right. 

This was the point where the emperor had pacified the continent and cleared the quest. 

That’s why he earned the right to return to his original world. But there was one question.

‘But why is the emperor still in this world? What happened?’

“Ah! There’s a logout button!”

As if to answer his question, a sharp voice rang out. It was Saintess Dimiana. 

He could see what they saw in their vision because it was a video, and there was a small hologram button on one side of their vision.

[Do you want to log out? Yes / No]

“Then I’ll go first. Let’s meet when we get out of the capsule.”

Pipit!

Lee Cheongmun pressed the button first and disappeared from his spot. 

As if he had never been there in the first place, he vanished without a trace.

“Wow…”

The subjects who saw that were all amazed and watched the scene.

The next one to press the button was Dimiana.

“Don’t think too much and come on time, okay? See you later.”

Pipit!

She also disappeared in an instant.

“Then it’s my turn now?”

The emperor smiled faintly and swept his eyes over them. 

They also knew that it was the last chance for the emperor, so they saluted him with a somber expression.

“Sniff. Your Majesty…”

And then.

Ding!

[An error has occurred. You cannot log out.]

“…”

Eurius’s eyes widened at the unexpected message.

Emperor Scharnos scratched his head and opened his mouth with a serious expression.

“Let’s ask him why. Why he doesn’t want to go back and acts like this.”

“It’s simple.”

Lee Cheongmun answered obediently.

“I had this in mind before I entered the capsule. Even if it’s not a virtual space, but another world.”

“…!?”

“Have you ever thought that human lifespan is too short?”

Lee Cheongmun became serious for the first time.

“The path of martial arts is too wide and human lifespan is too short. It was an inevitable choice to reach the extreme.”

Originally, Lee Cheongmun was a pure martial arts fanatic who had no interest in anything other than martial arts training. But he had one concern. 

It was the fear of aging and death that came with his growing age!

“I tried to forget it by immersing myself in training without thinking about erosion. And I was able to achieve results when I was over forty years old.”

Lee Cheongmun devoted himself to martial arts training and reached the 6th stage, which was the ultimate of superpowers.

Originally, the force, which was the ability of the soul, had infinite ways of manifestation depending on the owner’s desire as they became higher-level superpowers. 

In his case, it was soul transfer! 

He obtained a terrifying ability to extend his lifespan by changing his body.

However, Lee Cheongmun was not satisfied with that.

“Taking someone else’s body is too risky. I had to find another way.”

Unfortunately, the world he lived in was highly computerized, and personal information of each person was carefully managed. 

It was not easy to find a body to switch to, but more importantly, it was harder to find a body suitable for learning martial arts.

“Then I heard a tempting offer. It was the project you participated in.”

Why did he participate in a virtual reality project when he had no interest in worldly affairs other than training? 

It was because he wanted to find a way to maintain his immortality while training.

Project [New World]

This was an ambitious plan to turn virtual space into another reality by transferring souls. But due to an unexpected accident, they flew to a different world.

Lee Cheongmun looked genuinely embarrassed.

“So you don’t have to stop me, do you? I just want to stay here and train.”

“…”

Emperor Scharnos stared at Lee Cheongmun with a dumbfounded expression.

‘He must have lost his mind after living too long.’

So he meant that he would not care about the means or methods for immortality. 

It was already evil enough to steal someone else’s body, but he wanted him to condone that.

Bang!

Emperor Scharnos made a disgusted expression and rushed at him.

“Crazy old man! Go train in hell!”

“Huh.”

The subsequent confrontation was huge. 

Mountain peaks flew away and the sea split apart. 

When two 6th stage martial artists collided, an unbelievable aftermath occurred.

Their battle lasted long, but eventually it ended.

Thud!

Emperor Scharnos’s sword pierced Lee Cheongmun’s neck. 

In this world where the system applied, their skills were almost equal, but there was a factor that determined the victory or defeat.

“It’s because of the hastily made body. If it had been a little better, I would have won.”

Lee Cheongmun closed his eyes quietly with a regretful expression.

***

“Then it’s already over, isn’t it? How did he resurrect?”

Eurius asked Emperor Scharnos with a puzzled look after seeing the result of the duel. 

The duel between Emperor Scharnos and Lee Cheongmun was one-on-one. 

The result was Emperor Scharnos’s victory without giving him a chance to change his body. Then how did he survive?

“Sigh… That’s where I made a mistake.”

“Mistake?”

Emperor Scharnos sighed and continued.

“There was a reason why the system existed in this world. Why did this world have a system like a game? And only for certain people.”

“…!?”

The three people who moved to this world, including Emperor Scharnos, were accidents. But at the same time, they were connected to the capsule.

“So we three are the mediums for transferring the virtual reality system to this place.”

The system they were connected to was managed by three powerful artificial intelligence computers.

Odin, Medit, Mars

These systems merged with this world and gained power like gods. 

That’s where the problem occurred.

“And that damn inspiration is one of the ‘administrators’ of the system.”

Unfortunately, Lee Cheongmun was the core figure of the project. 

He was the only one who could execute the work of separating and transmitting souls.

He didn’t die. No, he couldn’t die.

“Have you heard of reincarnation?”

“Isn’t it being reborn after death?”

Emperor Scharnos nodded at Eurius’ answer.

“Yeah, but we’re not included here. Only our souls came to this world through the capsule.”

Originally, in this world, when a life died, it would be reborn according to the cycle of reincarnation. 

But the players who came from another world were not like that. 

The soul of Lee Chengwen, who had lost his place, went to the system of the capsule and obtained the authority of the administrator.

“Then?”

“Yeah, even if it’s artificial intelligence, a computer can be manipulated. That’s the old man.”

Eurius finally began to understand what he had heard in the Holy Kingdom.

The great one they spoke of in the Holy Kingdom, the one they called God, was Lee Chengwen.

In other words, the Holy Kingdom was in his hands from the beginning. 

The God they spoke of in the Holy Kingdom was the system that moved according to the will of Lee Chengwen, the administrator.

“Ah…”

Eurius finally grasped the whole truth. The reason why Leon was possessed by another being was there.

“Now you seem to understand. He can’t get out of this world, but he can take over another’s body through the ability of soul transfer.”

“That guy had a rather pitiful fate too.”

Lee Chengwen wanted a body with excellent talent, that is, a player aptitude like the Emperor, for his training and to defeat Sharnos, the annoying obstacle. That’s why Leon was chosen.

Eurius could only smile bitterly.

‘Then it was inevitable that I would be executed in my previous life.’

Maybe Leon was already possessed by Lee Chengwen when he was executed.

Here Eurius faced his last question.

“Then why did you turn back time? Why did you give me a chance?”

The Emperor said he used the power of Heimdall, the original god of this world, to turn back time and give him the ability of a player.

‘I can understand regression. It’s a headache if Lee Chengwen gets a body again.’

But did he need to give him a new opportunity? He was just an ordinary royal in his previous life.

“There was no big reason for that at first.”

The Emperor said with a slightly sorry expression.

“It was a deception.”

“A deception?”

“Yeah, the more you stand out, the less attention will be focused on your brother, right?”

“…”

As expected, Eurius could not help but frown.

“So you used me to hide Leon’s existence?”

“I’m sorry to say this now. It couldn’t be helped.”

“Grr…”

The Emperor bowed his head slightly with a sincere apology. 

His first reason was to hide Leon’s existence.

Eurius had the ability to see stats and knowledge from before regression, so he was able to rise as a strong candidate for succession over Leonhart in this life.

And the Emperor cleverly sent the forces of the Church to Leon. But if you look closely at the inside story, Leon never responded to their requests first. 

It was just that the Church or the Demon Church touched Eurius first!

So it was because Eurius made a name for himself on the continent and defeated the forces of the Church or the Demon Church that the Holy Kingdom thought Eurius was a new god instead of Leon and even sent a lion.

The Holy Kingdom realized it in the middle and failed, but this operation was definitely effective. 

The problem was that it was no different from playing with him, so he could only feel embarrassed.

‘Is this guy trying to kill me by making me run around?’

He cautiously looked at Eurius.

“…”

But again, Eurius showed no sign of emotion.

“I see. Then what is your second reason?”

‘He’s a smart guy.’

The Emperor admired him inwardly. 

In fact, what he expected from Eurius at first was just deception. But not now.

And Eurius realized that he had an unfortunate request and gave such an answer.

“Ahem… then I’ll tell you my second reason.”

The Emperor bowed his head slightly.

“I hope you can stop Lee Chengwen, that damned old man.”

‘As expected…’

Eurius bit his tongue inside.

“Why do I have to do that?”

He had some expectations, but Eurius was curious about his reason. 

His ability was still far inferior to that of players like the Emperor or Lee Chengwen. 

Isn’t that why he lost completely a week ago and is still lying down?

‘He said he beat Lee Chengwen several times before. Why does he have to ask me?’

The Emperor shook his head sadly.

“It’s no use even if I take down that old man. Have you ever heard of PvP?”

“Doesn’t it mean player versus player combat?”

“Yes, he and I are from the same world. And we are both under the same system. We can’t die even if we want to.”

Swish

Emperor Scharnos cut his own throat with a knife.

Gurgle!

Blood spurted out as his neck was half-severed, but he did not die.

“Ow… that hurts.”

Emperor Scharnos continued to speak while pretending to be in pain.

“The virtual reality system prevents permanent death by suicide or NPC for safety reasons. Of course, it also doesn’t count the battles between players as anything more than simple PvP.”

‘So that’s why he didn’t die when his stomach was pierced?’

Eurius recalled the scene from before. 

When Emperor Scharnos first came to this world, he got into a fight with a knight and suffered a serious injury, but his wound healed quickly. 

That was because the system treated the ordinary people of this world as NPCs.

“Then there is no way to stop him, is there?”

He shook his head at that. 

He didn’t understand why he was explaining this so earnestly. 

If what he said was true, then Emperor Scharnos and Lee Cheongmun were invincible beings.

No matter what, they were practically immortal, weren’t they?

But as Eurius thought about it, he felt something was off.

‘Wait… player?’

Eurius felt like a lightning bolt struck his head. 

All the pieces of the puzzle finally connected.

“Ah!”

“You finally figured it out, huh?”

Emperor Scharnos pointed at Eurius with a grimace.

“You are the only one who can kill him and banish him from this world.”

The principle was simple. 

First of all, Eurius was born in this world, so he was a human of this side. But he also obtained the authority of a player, so he obviously wasn’t treated as an NPC.

[Being a human of this world and having the ability of a player.]

This was the only way to permanently defeat another person from another world who was a player. 

All the quests he had done so far were part of the process of gaining the authority of a player.

‘Now that I think about it, the more quests I completed, the more I could access the abilities as a player.’

As soon as he realized that, a notification window popped up in front of Eurius’s eyes again.

Ding!

[You have received the mandatory quest ‘Player Awakening’.]