Chapter 2: A New World Awaits

PC Earth’s unattainable 100% resistance.  

Kang Juho resolved to achieve 100% resistance in virtual reality Earth.  

Soon after, he logged out.  

Then he called his butler, Yang Seok-hyun.  

—Yes, Young Master.  

“It finished earlier than expected. I’ll shower and come down.”  

—I’ll prepare immediately.  

After ending the call, Kang Juho stood up.  

Heading to the shower, he thought,  

‘One week! Only one week remained until the release of virtual Earth.’  

He couldn’t wait for that day to arrive.  

Three days before the launch of virtual Earth.  

Kang Juho was hammering in the workshop.  

Clang! 

Clang! 

Clang!  

The clear sound rang out with each strike of the hammer.  

Ring-ring-ring!  

A phone notification interrupted the rhythmic clanging.

Kang Juho set down the hammer and checked his phone.  

“Well, if it isn’t our youngest!”  

The caller was Kim Seok-ju, the youngest member of the Immortal Corps guild.  

—Hyung! Did you see it?  

“See what?”  

Kang Juho couldn’t help but ask in response to Kim Seok-ju’s words.  

—Of course! You’re in the workshop again, aren’t you?  

“Yeah, what are you talking about?”  

—A post just went up on the official site! A guidebook for virtual Earth!  

“!”  

Kang Juho couldn’t hide his surprise at Kim Seok-ju’s words.  

—Check it out quick!  

“Thanks!”  

Kang Juho ended the call and headed to the computer set up in the corner of the workshop.  

Less than three seconds after pressing the power button, the computer booted up, and he immediately accessed Earth’s official website.  

As Kim Seok-ju had said, a post was up.  

It included a guidebook for virtual Earth.  

Kang Juho downloaded and opened the guidebook immediately.  

“Wow…”  

As the guidebook loaded, Kang Juho let out a gasp upon seeing the table of contents and page count.  

“It’s massive.”  

The guidebook was so long it would take at least five hours—maybe more—to read.  

Of course, he had no intention of skimming it.  

Virtual Earth was said to have many changes.  

If he didn’t read carefully, acting on old knowledge could lead to disaster.  

With three days left until launch, he had plenty of time.  

Kang Juho scanned the table of contents and began reading the guidebook in earnest.  

Villenian Empire  

Capital: Villenis  

The first section covered the nations of virtual Earth.  

“A lot more were added.”  

In PC Earth, there were only five nations, including the Villenian Empire.  

But in virtual Earth, the number had tripled to fifteen: three empires, six kingdoms, three duchies, and three city-states.  

“Each nation has a starting city…”  

Unlike PC Earth, where players began in a single fixed city, virtual Earth allowed players to choose their starting city.  

“Two for empires?”  

Each of the three empires had two starting cities, while kingdoms and duchies had one each.  

“Excluding city-states, I guess…”  

However, the city-states—Esran Holy Empire, the mercenary city of Falkos, and the wizards’ sanctuary of Martab—did not allow starting there.  

Only migration was possible.  

“You need to meet conditions.”  

Learning how to migrate to city-states, Kang Juho nodded.  

For the Esran Holy Empire, acquiring a priest or paladin profession allowed migration at any time.  

For Falkos, migration was possible if a guild’s headquarters was located there, and for Martab, a wizard profession enabled migration.  

“This could be fun…”  

After reading all the nation information, Kang Juho grinned.  

Not all nations were friendly.  

Some were at each other’s throats.  

For example, the Villenian Empire and the Keville Empire, sharing a border, were so hostile that skirmishes broke out frequently.  

“I thought we’d just follow the story…”  

In PC Earth, wars were limited to guild conflicts.  

But in virtual Earth, nation-versus-nation wars seemed likely.  

No, they were certain.  

“We need to discuss where to start.”  

Kang Juho wasn’t playing alone.  

Most Immortal Corps guild members were also planning to play virtual Earth.  

Deciding to discuss which nation to start in, Kang Juho continued reading the guidebook.  

“Oh, six more equipment slots?”  

The next section was about equipment.  

In PC Earth, players could equip ten items: helmet, top, bottom, weapon, shield, gloves, shoes, cloak, and two rings.  

In virtual Earth, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, greaves, face accessories, and tattoos were added, bringing the total to sixteen.  

“I thought maybe one or two would be added…”  

He’d heard about additional slots but expected only a couple at most.  

“With this, boosting attack power should be easier.”  

Equipment options included attack power, defense, stats, resistance, or skills, among others.  

Adding even one more item was significant, but six?  

With six, not only attack power but also resistance and defense could be boosted more easily than before.  

After the equipment section, Kang Juho moved to the next.  

It covered stats, evasion rates, and, of course, resistance, which he was most curious about.  

Kang Juho couldn’t help but be shocked reading about resistance.  

“No limits?”  

In PC Earth, resistance couldn’t exceed 100% or drop below 0%.  

But in virtual Earth, resistance had no limits.  

It could go above 100% or below 0%.  

If resistance fell below 0%, damage taken would increase accordingly.  

However, exceeding 100% didn’t restore health.  

Instead, it protected against resistance-reducing debuffs.  

For example, if an opponent used a skill or item to reduce physical resistance by 30% when resistance was 100%, it would drop to 70%, and more than 1 damage would be taken.  

But with 130% resistance, it would stay at 100%, keeping damage at 1.  

“I like this.”  

Kang Juho grinned.  

In PC Earth, reacting to debuffs was difficult.  

But in virtual Earth, exceeding 100% resistance offered a way to negate debuffs.  

“No idea how hard it’ll be to raise, though…”  

He didn’t know how difficult raising resistance would be.  

It could be even harder than in PC Earth.  

And debuffs might have increased significantly compared to PC Earth.  

But Kang Juho was confident.  

Confident he could raise resistance to untouchable heights.  

After critical hits, the next section began.  

It was about the story.  

“Oh?”  

Kang Juho couldn’t help but gasp.  

“The story’s changing?”  

The reason for his gasp was the story’s overhaul.  

He had assumed PC Earth and virtual Earth would share the same story.  

But the guidebook stated that virtual Earth’s story would differ significantly from PC Earth’s.  

“Well, if it’s too similar, it’d be boring.”  

Kang Juho nodded in understanding, muttering to himself.  

PC Earth was wildly famous.  

Many knew how its story progressed and how to advance to the next chapter.  

“So, Gretan might not be the final boss.”  

In PC Earth, the final boss was Gretan of Chaos.  

Though not explicitly stated, with the story greatly expanded, it was highly likely another entity had taken the final boss role.  

“If it’s stronger than Gretan…”  

Kang Juho imagined a being stronger than Gretan of Chaos.  

“Could I kill it?”  

With no information available, he could only guess it would be far stronger than Gretan.  

“I could probably tank it.”  

Kang Juho planned to raise resistance endlessly.  

Above 100%, he wouldn’t die.  

Tanking was feasible, but he questioned whether killing it was possible.  

“Ugh, why am I thinking about the end already? We don’t even know how much has changed.”  

Kang Juho stopped imagining.  

It felt silly to think about the end of virtual Earth before it even launched.  

He resumed reading the guidebook.  

The story section was short, and soon he moved to the next topic.  

“Oh, professions!”  

The next section was about professions.  

“…”  

But as soon as he read about professions, Kang Juho’s expression hardened.  

“Special professions?”  

It was because of special professions.  

PC Earth had no special professions.  

But virtual Earth, unlike PC Earth, introduced numerous special professions.  

“Even Earth couldn’t avoid it.”  

Most virtual reality games released before had special professions.  

And they drew significant attention because of them.  

Despite its high market share, that was in the past.  

To attract attention with a late launch, special professions seemed to have been added.  

“They’re not the type to mess up balance.”  

Kang Juho relaxed his expression.  

PC Earth was renowned for its golden balance.  

Even with special professions, a catastrophic balance collapse was unlikely.  

“Everyone will be desperate to find them.”  

The guidebook only mentioned the existence of special professions.  

It didn’t specify what they were or how to obtain them.  

Many users would likely be frantic to discover special professions.  

“It’ll help those who want to stand out.”  

Kang Juho wasn’t interested in special professions.  

He believed growing with a regular profession was more beneficial than chasing special ones.  

“Guardian Warrior and Blacksmith tree again, maybe?”  

In PC Earth, Kang Juho chose Guardian Warrior as his main profession and Blacksmith as his sub-profession.  

When Guardian Warrior was the main profession and Blacksmith the sub-profession, a profession synergy bonus increased all resistances by 10%.  

He was curious which profession combination in virtual Earth would boost resistance the most.  

“It’s the same.”  

The synergy bonus for Guardian Warrior and Blacksmith was still 10% resistance, just like in PC Earth.  

Kang Juho made a note and began searching for other profession combinations that boosted resistance.  

“Hmm…”  

Soon, Kang Juho let out a thoughtful sound.  

Not only had special professions been added, but the number of regular professions had also increased, resulting in more combinations.  

However, few combinations boosted resistance.  

Most, like Assassin and Tailor, were professions where resistance boosts offered little efficiency.  

“Should I go with Blacksmith and Guardian Warrior?”  

Main profession Guardian Warrior and sub-profession Blacksmith boosted resistance by 10%.  

But main profession Blacksmith and sub-profession Guardian Warrior boosted resistance by 20%.  

The 10% difference was massive.  

Yet Kang Juho hesitated for a reason.