Chapter 1: The Dream of Unbreakable Resistance

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

The sound of hammer striking iron echoed through the workshop.

At the clear sound piercing his ears, Kang Juho grinned widely.

He loved this sound so much.

It felt as if not only the iron but also his spirit was being tempered.

Due to countless hammer strikes and the scorching flames of the forge, sweat poured endlessly from Kang Juho’s body, and his work clothes were soaked with sweat.

Even so, Kang Juho didn’t lose his smile and continued swinging the hammer.

At that moment—

Beep!

A sound came from the large speaker in the corner.

Hearing the sound, Kang Juho stopped hammering.

With a smile far brighter than before, he put down the hammer.

“Finally…”

Muttering, Kang Juho wiped the sweat from his face with a towel.

Then he left the workshop.

“You’re out, Young Master.”

As soon as he stepped out, the butler Yang Seok-hyun, waiting outside, bowed slightly in greeting.

“I told you not to wait.”

Kang Juho spoke to Yang Seok-hyun with an apologetic expression.

“No, it’s my job.”

Yang Seok-hyun responded with a warm smile.

“I’ll prepare the meal right away.”

“No, please prepare it in two hours. I have something to do.”

At Yang Seok-hyun’s words, Kang Juho shook his head.

There was a reason he finished forging earlier than usual.

“Understood. I’ll see you in two hours.”

Yang Seok-hyun bowed deeply at Kang Juho’s words.

Kang Juho headed to the study on the second floor.

The study was filled with numerous bookshelves and books.

The reason Kang Juho came to the study wasn’t to read.

He had only bought the bookshelves and books for decoration; he had no interest in them.

Step, step.

Kang Juho sat at the desk.

Staring at the black screen of the powered-off monitor, he muttered,

“I hope it succeeded…”

The PC game Earth.

Once the greatest MMORPG with over 70% market share.

Earth, which seemed like it would devour all other games, began to decline as virtual reality games emerged.

No matter how fun Earth was, there was a huge gap between playing on a monitor and experiencing it directly.

When its market share dropped from over 70% to 30%, the virtual reality version of Earth was announced.

With the announcement, users left even faster.

After all, if Earth was coming to virtual reality, there was no reason to keep playing on the computer.

Most users began selling items to recover some of their investment or time, quitting the game.

As time passed, the number of users dwindled to the point where you could only meet them in major cities.

Kang Juho was one of the few remaining users.

He, too, planned to play virtual reality Earth.

Yet he hadn’t quit the PC version of Earth.

The reason was a goal he wanted to achieve.

It was to craft a single piece of equipment.

The items needed for crafting were God’s Mark, all Elemental Kings’ Origins, Demon’s Mark, and attribute-specific Ailos, items so rare they required months to obtain.

If users hadn’t quit?

It might have taken years to gather the materials.

Or perhaps he wouldn’t have gathered them at all.

Fortunately, as countless users left, a flood of items hit the market.

Among them were the materials Kang Juho needed.

He bought every material as soon as it appeared.

If it wasn’t available, he went out to get it himself.

It took 180 days to gather all the materials.

A full six months.

Once he had all the materials, Kang Juho began crafting immediately.

The crafting process took 72 hours.

Of course, it was just a matter of clicking the craft button and waiting, so it wasn’t too difficult.

The only concern was the 50% success rate.

“Phew…”

Kang Juho let out a deep sigh.

Now, turning on the monitor would reveal the result.

He reached for the monitor’s power button.

Click! Swish!

As the monitor turned on, Kang Juho closed his eyes and turned his head away.

Slowly, he turned back toward the monitor, opening his eyes slightly to peek at the screen.

Crafting Success.

“Nice!”

Thankfully, the crafting succeeded.

Kang Juho leapt from his seat, trembling with joy and excitement.

Calming his excitement slightly, he checked the equipment’s stats.

Esran’s Shield [God]

Restriction: Level 1000

Durability: –

Physical Defense: 50,000

Magic Defense: 50,000

Physical Attack: 50,000

All Stats +1000

All Resistances +19%

A shield imbued with the blessing of the main god Esran, indestructible against any attack.

The item Kang Juho aimed to create was the god-tier item Esran’s Shield.

Among god-tier items, it was at the very top.

“Ah…”

After checking the stats, Kang Juho let out a sigh.

“19%…”

The sole reason he crafted Esran’s Shield was for its resistance.

He made it to boost his resistances.

“Just 1% more…”

The reason for his sigh was the resistance value.

Esran’s Shield’s resistance ranged from 15% to 25%.

Kang Juho wanted 20%.

Only with 20% could he achieve his true goal.

“I can’t make it again…”

He didn’t have the materials to craft another Esran’s Shield for resistance.

With a regretful expression, Kang Juho equipped the shield.

Then he opened his character window and clicked to the second page.

Physical Resistance: 99%

Fire Resistance: 99%

Water Resistance: 99%

Wind Resistance: 99%

Lightning Resistance: 99%

Poison Resistance: 99%

Light Resistance: 99%

Dark Resistance: 99%

The second page showed resistance stats, evasion rates, and more.

“Ha…”

Seeing the resistances, Kang Juho sighed again.

All resistances were at 99%.

That 1% was painfully lacking.

With 100% resistance, he wouldn’t need to worry about any attack.

Unless it was fixed damage that ignored defense and resistance, any attack’s damage would be reduced to 1.

Of course, there were debuff skills that reduced resistance.

But Kang Juho had multiple skills to negate debuffs.

The only thing to worry about was fixed damage.

The strongest fixed damage in Earth was 50,000.

Kang Juho’s health was over 200,000.

As long as he stayed focused, he wouldn’t die in Earth.

“I should’ve made it before quitting…”

A sudden thought deepened his regret.

The Demon King Guild.

The guild that constantly clashed with Kang Juho’s guild, Immortal Corps, was the Demon King Guild.

If he had made Esran’s Shield when they were still around?

With 99% resistance, he could have crushed them thoroughly.

“I’ll definitely crush them.”

Soon, Kang Juho shook off his regret.

The Demon King Guild had sold their items and left for virtual reality Earth.

Kang Juho and the Immortal Corps members were also moving to virtual reality Earth.

The unresolved fight could be settled there.

“Now, shall I give it a try?”

Though it wasn’t 100% resistance, 99% was still incredible.

He could now quit PC Earth with peace of mind.

But before quitting, he wanted to test the power of 99% resistance.

“How long can I last?”

Earth had already updated to its final story.

The final boss was Gretan of Chaos.

A worst-case, strongest boss that attacked with all attributes—light, dark, fire, water, wind.

Kang Juho planned to challenge Gretan solo.

Of course, he wouldn’t defeat it.

His attack power was too low to defeat it.

He wanted to see how long he could survive against Gretan alone.

“Everything’s ready!”

After checking his inventory, Kang Juho used a warp scroll to teleport to the Chaos Rift Entrance.

He spoke to the NPC at the entrance and entered the Chaos Rift.

As soon as he entered, countless monsters appeared on the monitor.

They were Gretan’s Shadows, guarding Gretan.

Gretan’s Shadows were level 950 monsters with light and dark attributes, so strong that even tanks with less than 80% resistance struggled to survive.

But to Kang Juho, with 99% resistance, they weren’t much of a threat.

“!”

Kang Juho grinned widely in awe.

Despite being attacked by countless shadows, his health barely dropped.

With his skills and potions, he could easily endure.

“This is it!”

Smiling, Kang Juho began attacking the shadows.

Having invested heavily in defense, his attacks weren’t strong.

The shadows didn’t die easily either.

“I’ll need to invest in attack for virtual Earth.”

Virtual reality Earth would change many things.

More equippable gear, new skills, and stat effects were said to be different.

Kang Juho decided to invest in attack for virtual Earth and steadily took down the shadows.

After defeating all the shadows, he arrived at Gretan’s location and clicked on it.

His character charged toward Gretan.

[Gretan awakens.]

With the message, Gretan began to move.

Kang Juho’s character relentlessly swung its hammer.

Gretan attacked with claws, breath, and magic in various ways.

Five minutes passed.

They attacked each other without pause for five minutes.

But Gretan’s health was at 99%, while Kang Juho’s character was down to 50%.

At this rate, Gretan would win.

“Wow, five minutes…”

It could’ve been disappointing, but Kang Juho let out a sound of awe.

After all, Gretan was the final boss.

He took every attack without dodging for five minutes, yet half his health remained.

Without a healer, no less.

A smile naturally formed on Kang Juho’s face, who had expected to die.

“99% is broken.”

It wasn’t 100%, but 99% was still incredible.

“Almost immortal.”

It wasn’t perfect immortality, but it was close.

There was no being stronger than Gretan, the final boss.

Surviving this long against Gretan meant he had effectively achieved ‘immortality’.

Kang Juho opened his inventory and used a return stone.

Having tested the power of his resistance, it was time to return.

Back in the city, Kang Juho checked his character window one last time before logging out.

Looking at the 99% resistance, he thought,

“In virtual Earth, I’ll definitely…”