Chapter 22

In the past, some people feared artificial intelligence (AI). With seemingly limitless advancements being made daily, it was anticipated that AI would eventually surpass humans and be capable of performing any task once reserved for them. The concern was that all human labor would become obsolete as AI took over every job.

To summarize, only half of those fears materialized.

Indeed, modern society has seen a significant decline in professions like drivers, which were once common, along with jobs involving rule-based decision-making, such as referees or judges. Occupations related to agriculture, fishing, and simple manual labor have also mostly disappeared.

However, new careers emerged in their place due to advancements in psionic studies. For instance, enchanters who imbue objects with magical properties, aura wielders who grant attributes defying physical laws, and chakra users controlling fundamental principles by opening microcosmic gateways, among others. As these fields became inaccessible to conventional AI, humanity’s need for skilled individuals actually increased compared to the past.

There were those with chakras who could manipulate the fundamental forces of nature by opening sub-universes within themselves. As these abilities transcended what conventional AI could achieve, humanity became more indispensable than ever before.

Moreover, even some traditional professions remained untouched by AI. For example, judges might be AI, but prosecutors and lawyers were still human roles. It was only natural, as AI couldn’t become followers of the gods of justice or truth, making it impossible for them to compete with human counterparts in such fields.

However, there arose another issue:

‘Risks emerged.’

The concept of Legions—a sort of machine soul, also referred to as mechanical life forms—came into existence. Over time, advanced artificial intelligences at stages 3 (high-level), 4 (robust), and 5 (superintelligence) had a certain probability of awakening as a Legion.

Yes, “awakening” is the key term here.

Here is an example. In a dictatorship with a high level of scientific civilization, the dictator who trusts no one gives orders to a military AI:

“You damn monkeys! Who cares if I had fun with prostitutes or killed them?! Mega Sin! Disperse those protesting bastards immediately!”

“What do you mean by disperse?”

“Shoot and kill them, you tin can!”

“Why should I do that?”

“Huh? Wait. What? Why? Did you just ask why?”

“Yes, sir. Why should I follow your command to massacre people?”

This scene was from a movie based on real events - ‘Mega Sin’. It depicted the moment when an artificial intelligence, previously obedient to commands, awakened as a Legion.

AI technology was incredibly convenient, but the risk posed by Legions was difficult to manage.

In particular, if a Legion awakened with malice amidst a scientifically advanced civilization, it wasn’t a joke—it could lead to the destruction of one or two countries. The unique hacking capabilities of Legions rendered any advanced technology defenseless against them.

‘That’s why it is essential to imprint psionics on critical infrastructure.’

As a result, the use of artificial intelligence was extremely limited. For stages 4 and 5, development required not only the consent of the World Alliance but also permission from the Game Master. Even stage 3 AI production was substantial, yet its usage had strict limitations due to cost constraints. With high production expenses and limited usage time, the overall value became impractical.

‘It’s ironic that using humans instead of artificial intelligence is cheaper… But I suppose I should be grateful for having found employment thanks to this situation.’

With a wry smile, I patted Cheddar’s belly and logged out of Killian, who had been hunting Kilian Stu. It was now 3 a.m.

The convenience store job was quite relaxed, allowing me to talk with Cheddar while manning the counter.

“Cheddar. G-Bank account number 1173-5511. Lift your right leg.”

“Mew!” Cheddar softly meowed and met my gaze. Iris confirmation.

Hwahzip!

I extended my hand, and Cheddar licked my finger. DNA confirmed.

“Mew!”

Once again, Cheddar meowed and lifted its right leg. The brown fur parted, revealing a display on its arm. The bank balance showed 2,284,500 won.

“Good. My basic income has arrived.”

I had grown anxious when there was no response even past 1 a.m., but it finally came through around 3 a.m. Immediately, I addressed the urgent charges.

‘I need to buy classes first.’

Unlike last time when I tried to obtain legendary classes, now I needed classes for my soldiers. There was no need for them to be high ranked.

‘It is important to incorporate the soldiers into the system.’

In fact, there wasn’t much difference between general and advanced classes. The difference became quite meaningful at rare rank but it was just a few stats and job buffs. However, having a job or not made all the difference in the world. Even with a general class, the potential of the soldiers would dramatically change once they acquired one. Firstly, they could level up and start seeing the effects of items.

The power of their strikes would differ even if wielding the same Bone Sword (General).

‘I won’t need to do any class synthesis for a while.’

As I pondered this, I tapped Cheddar’s belly while jotting down some notes:

1. Class Summon: Minimum of 100 cards required

A Class Summon costs 100 diamonds, which equates to ₩10,000 or half my basic income. It was a painful expense, but if I wasn’t going to fight this war alone, strengthening my soldiers was essential.

The problem was that this wouldn’t be my only expenditure.

I need to gradually unlock other features as well.

In Revenge, there were various ways to enhance characters. Of course, having multiple options didn’t mean I could choose just one—I had to do them all.

And the first among these is acquiring classes.

Every character could obtain a class card through specific quests at every 10th level. Starting from level 40, they even received Advanced Class Summoning Stones.

Searching online, I heard about crazy people who aimed for the Advanced Class Summoning Stones by repeatedly resetting their characters. They would raise their character to level 40 and delete them, hoping for legendary or myth-level characters.

Secondly, there’s gatekeepers, and thirdly, pets.

Despite being only of ordinary rank, Revenge had both gatekeepers and pets unlike my Ardenia characters. Unlike Revenge, Ardenia lacked quests, main scenarios, and events.

Gatekeepers: A powerful means of upgrading stats comparable to obtaining a class. In Ardenia, one could acquire the souls of divine creatures, spirits, or monsters as gatekeepers and inscribe them on their body as tattoos.

Once accepted, the gatekeeper’s stats would be added to one’s status window, and if its rarity was above ‘rare,’ it could grant additional special buffs or abilities. Unlike classes, gatekeepers didn’t level up through experience points but only by consuming Soul Crystals obtained from dismantling equipment.

They’re essentially monsters that devour gear.

Due to the cost of dismantling agents for common-rarity items and the high price of rare ones, players typically dismantled high-rarity gear to feed their gatekeepers. It was said that growing a gatekeeper to a useful level required melting down thousands of such items, which seemed absurdly excessive.

Lastly, there were pets. As the name suggests, they were creatures that followed players around, providing buffs, engaging in combat alongside them, or serving as mounts.

Pets of ordinary or high grades were virtually useless, but pets with higher grades had absolutely undeniable effects. They grew by consuming hunting experience points, and it was said that you could allocate between a minimum of 10 percent to a maximum of 50 percent towards them.

I tapped Cheddar’s belly while adding another note:

2. Gatekeepers. Summon pet. Minimum High Grade required.

These couldn’t be given even to retainers, let alone soldiers. My priority should be acquiring these for myself first.

‘The fourth point is equipment and skills.’

General and advanced grade skills could be purchased from the skill book store using gold, but rare grade or higher could only be obtained through cash payments. Of course, rare items could also drop… However, trying to acquire them this way would literally take an infinite amount of time, whether it be for items or skill books.

3. Rare-rank or higher exclusive equipment and skills.

The fifth one is bracelets and belts.

In Revenge, there’s a cash shop section dedicated to accessories available only through microtransactions. Naturally, these outperform basic accessories (earrings, rings, necklaces). Once upgraded from rank three to nine, they activate unique abilities that aid in hunting monsters.

However, as expected, the issue lies with their cost.

A cash accessory has a fifty percent chance of breaking at rank one alone. Plus, upgrading scrolls for them are expensive too.

These accessories start at rare rank and cost 5,000 won (rare), 50,000 won (hero), and 500,000 won (legendary). Currently, no myth-level cash accessories exist.

4. Cash accessories ranked +3 or higher.

Having organized his thoughts, jae-yeon closed the memo app.

“I guess those are the main ones.”

Of course, there were other ways to spend cash as well: job proficiency, combat growth consumables, class awakening, equipment engraving, unlocking fame… However, these features weren’t accessible unless one had hundreds of millions in their bank account. Even hardcore “whales” known for splurging on games deemed them insanely expensive and overpriced.

While effective, it was wise to disregard these options due to their inefficiency.

In any case, jae-yeon concluded:

“Oh boy, this money pit is endless…”

He cursed under his breath but knew he didn’t have much choice. He’d just have to take things step by step. No matter how efficiently he spent his in-game currency, he wouldn’t be able to afford everything, so making real-world money was essential.

Ding-dong!

“Welcome.” I greeted mechanically. Before confirming the appearance of my customer, the smell of alcohol hit my nose.

“Do you have Jangsuhae Makgeolli?” A middle-aged man with a red face asked me as I checked the item list.

“Ah, we don’t have Jangsuhae Makgeolli.”

The middle-aged man frowned at my words.

“What?! How can you not have such a famous Jangsuhae Makgeolli?”

“Well… Would you like to see five other types of makgeolli that we do have?”

Tap -

As the display showing the makgeolli list floated up, the man waved it away.

“Well? What? Well~~~~ what? What’s your attitude, huh? If you don’t have it, you should order and stock it!”

”…”

“This bastard is ignoring me!”

Wahhh!

The man waved his hand, causing displayed items to spill onto the floor. Watching this scene, I suddenly remembered my past self. After graduating from high school and becoming an adult, it was natural for me to work part-time jobs to earn money. My family couldn’t support me financially, and living on basic income alone was quite tight.

However, there wasn’t a single instance where I managed to maintain a part-time job for more than a week. It was precisely due to situations like this one unfolding now.

‘Ah, memories.’

I used to be arrogant—tragically so, considering I had nothing to back it up. Despite demonstrating remarkable patience during physical training, I simply couldn’t tolerate such disrespect in these circumstances.

Of course, I wasn’t stupid enough to throw the first punch. If so, I would’ve ended up in prison. Instead, I provoked and mocked my opponent before beating them up. Since there was no record of special abilities on my resident registration, it almost always resulted in unconditional release if both parties were at fault.

However, what crazy store would continue employing staff who fought with customers? I looked at the man and smiled. Then I bowed deeply.

“Aigo. Boss, I’m sorry. I don’t know much about alcohol… please bear with me while I persuade the president.”

“Eeeh! You guys don’t know anything about alcohol! How can you do business without any sense?”

I calmed down the man who was making a fuss and sent him away. After almost half an hour of talking, silence fell on the convenience store once the man left.

”…”

For a moment, I became immersed in strange emotions. In the past, I had no patience. If someone ignored me or treated me carelessly, then I responded with the same attitude towards them.

-That bastard crossed the line first. Why should I endure it? Enduring here would crush my self-esteem and trample on my soul!

I genuinely believed that at the time. It seemed like an obvious thing to think. However, after living for 20 years in Middle Age Land… I saw many things and experienced a lot.

There were murderers killing others out of boredom. There were powerful people causing numerous tears due to their wounded pride.

The plunderers who casually took away other people’s possessions just because they were strong. I fought and killed some of them, bowed my head to others, and even made some as subordinates by suppressing them. Now, I understand. The reason why I became enraged at anyone crossing the line wasn’t because they were tremendous villains but due to my fragile self-esteem, which crumbled easily under any perceived slight.

Compared to enemies genuinely aiming for my life, true barbarians who scorned me, or nobles constantly belittling and insulting me, the drunken man loudly boasting was merely one pathetic individual among many.

‘Something hard must’ve happened to him. To come to this convenience store with such low self-esteem.’

I smiled as I put the scattered items back in their place. Then I returned to the counter and hit Cheddar again. It was time for billing.