“Fortunately, it seems my father came all the way to Artemis. I managed to reach him.”

If it had been Luteran, word wouldn’t have reached as far as Trivik.

To come all the way to Artemis in person to find his daughter… from a parent’s perspective, it must have been an infuriating situation.

“What did you reply?”

“Um… I told him I found a mentor!”

A mentor?

I stared at her with bewildered eyes.

I hadn’t even given her a definite answer, yet Chasey’s mind was already wandering through fields of flowers.

“When I told him I found a mentor, my father didn’t say much else.”

Her father, who had been Chasey’s original mentor, changed his stance because he felt his abilities as a Silver tier player were insufficient for his daughter’s growth.

Luteran was far too small a land for a daughter overflowing with talent to remain in.

There was also a political dimension to this—bringing to his side the unidentified player who had been revealed as Hans’s patron and the creator of the assassin deck.

“He’s probably relieved since he sent my sister along, too. Hehe-“

Of course, this was a choice she could make because there were sufficient safeguards in place.

The Adjudicator Ariel, a 3-Cost champion, was precisely that safeguard.

After all, who would dare entangle themselves with someone under an Adjudicator’s protection?

Perhaps realizing that mobilizing her entire family was an imposition, Chasey offered an embarrassed smile.

“huu-“

I let out a short sigh. It seemed I had become the protagonist of this situation. Which meant troublesome things were headed my way.

“So, can you teach me about the druid deck!”

Chasey’s eyes sparkled brightly.

No matter how susceptible I was to a woman’s charm, I couldn’t let myself get swept up in this. Not much time had passed since the incident with Hans.

For my own safety, I needed to live carefully. Very carefully…

“Let’s eat first.”

“Okay-“

Chasey pouted at my answer. But there was nothing quite as painful as watching delicious food go cold.

Swish- swish-

Chasey expertly wielded her knife, cutting the Black Water Eel into bite-sized pieces. She then speared one with her fork and brought it straight to her mouth.

I watched the food enter Chasey’s mouth, anticipating her reaction. Surprisingly, her response was indifferent.

“It’s a bit greasy.”

Clack-!

Then, as if it didn’t suit her palate, she set her utensils down on the table.

Watching this, I felt a tremendous shock similar to when I had witnessed Hans’s death.

She’s saying this isn’t delicious…?

Sure, living on the streets had coarsened my palate, but this was objectively delicious food…

Between Chasey Einthoven and me existed a gap that could never be bridged.

Seemingly uninterested in food, Chasey tried to resume our conversation, but my gaze refused to leave the plate before her.

‘Do you know how much that cost.’

“I’m looking forward to it. I wonder what kind of reactions will come when the article is published.”

Apparently, this was the first time deck operation strategies would be brought into public discourse on such a scale.

Moreover, it wasn’t mere analytical data—there was the case of the Einthoven Private battlefield, making it highly credible information that would work in practice.

If a definitive solution to the gunslinger meta emerged, follow-up articles aimed at establishing a new meta would come pouring out.

Its impact would be far greater than I could imagine.

“So? Has this given you any inclination to teach me about the druid deck?”

Chasey looked at me with sincere eyes.

Chasey had certainly done everything in her power. To fulfill my request, that is.

So I, too, met her gaze earnestly.

“I’ve already received it, so I can’t exactly take it back. But can you really trust me?”

Swish-

Then I subtly slid the plate in front of her toward my side. Chasey didn’t notice my covert action occurring beneath the surface.

“I know because I experienced it firsthand. That assassin deck that broke the Holy King’s formation. It was absolutely beyond the skill of an ordinary player.”

I nodded with satisfaction, and Chasey, perhaps interpreting my reaction as positive, offered a faint smile.

But something had been nagging at me for a while.

“By the way, who exactly is the Holy King?”

“You didn’t know? The formation I used when running the gunslinger deck was the Box Formation created by the Diamond tier player Romaro Vatican!”

‘The Box Formation is considered that remarkable?’

“To break it without even knowing… as expected…”

It seemed my presence had grown larger in Chasey’s mind, but it was an unavoidable misunderstanding.

I briefly pondered why the gap in formation knowledge between high and low tier players was so severe, but when I recalled the Placement Exam, the answer came surprisingly easily.

‘So this isn’t a game, is it?’

This phenomenon arose because players’ growth trajectories differed depending on what the battlefield and the game each prioritized.

Games were designed to be fair, so players focused on optimal champion placement and composition.

In the battlefield, however, there were many elements that directly influenced combat—such as Item combination formulas and Original champions—so formation methods were relatively less emphasized.

Rather than spending time researching formations, one could simply acquire a better Item combination formula or contract a stronger Original champion than others.

And in practice, that was the more effective approach.

Even in the Placement Exam I participated in, no matter how much I struggled with different formations and compositions, I was thoroughly trounced by a single out-of-spec champion.

Naturally, only high-tier players with comparable item levels would bother caring about formations, and it wasn’t until reaching the level of the Diamond tier Holy King that one would pay attention to such things.

Which meant that comparing myself to other players, my fundamental approach to the battlefield was entirely different.

Having deduced these facts through my conversation with Chasey, several strategies surfaced in my mind.

‘In that case, there are a few more strategies that might work…’

Strategies that would have been impossible in the game, but were entirely feasible in the battlefield.

And conveniently, a specimen for accumulating experimental data sat right before my eyes…

‘Shall I give it a try?’

I hardened my expression, planning to build up slowly and methodically.

“huu- You have no intention of giving up on the druid deck, do you?”

“Don’t tell me… it won’t work?”

Chasey looked at me with anxious eyes.

After coming all this way, was the druid synergy ultimately a dead end?

There were more than a few synergies that had faded with the times, but Chasey couldn’t bear to see the druid synergy fall into obscurity like this.

If asked for a reason…

She simply felt that way.

“It’s not that there’s no answer. But it is difficult.”

At my words, Chasey sent me a desperate gaze.

“I don’t care if it’s difficult! As long as there’s an answer, I can find a way to reach it!”

No matter how difficult, the fact that a possibility existed was enough.

“The druid synergy has been my dream from the very beginning.”

Chasey smiled brightly.

***

“… …”

The street in front of Artemis Station.

There stood a woman with white hair and an intellectual air, alongside a middle-aged man.

People bustled about busily, yet surprisingly, no one was near them.

The heavy atmosphere radiating from the white-haired woman deterred anyone from approaching.

“Chasey…”

She who had returned to Luteran from the imperial capital after eight years.

The Adjudicator Ariel couldn’t help but recall the face of her one and only younger sister.

After all, Ariel had returned to Luteran for her half-sister—Chasey Einthoven. It was for her.

“Then take good care of Chasey, Ariel. huu- I’ve been away too long.”

“Yes, Father.”

“I’ll be going on ahead. irat-!”

Neigh-!

What an incorrigible sister.

Giving their father such grief.

Recalling her sister’s tomboyish behavior, a faint smile formed at the corners of Ariel’s lips.

Her lips returned to their original position almost immediately, but anyone who knew her would have been astonished to witness it.

To Ariel, Chasey was the only person capable of moving her emotions.

Chasey Einthoven.

She was a very special child.

An event from eight years ago, when Ariel left Luteran—something that wouldn’t exist in Chasey’s memory.

+

[Accept your destiny.]

On an otherwise ordinary day, a strange voice echoed in Ariel’s mind.

“Hm?”

Glance around.

She looked around but saw nothing.

Thinking she might have misheard, Ariel scratched her ear.

[Accept your destiny.]

“What the— Aagh-!!”

When the voice came again, her head suddenly felt like it was splitting apart.

Her hands clutched her face.

“Aaaaaah!!!!!!!”

Ariel’s hands trembled violently.

“My eyes… my eyes…!”

Clench.

Even as she felt the pain, Ariel couldn’t remove her hands from her face.

Udeudeudeuk-

Her eyes. The round eyeballs were being pushed outward.

‘Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts!!!’

Crash-!

Ariel thrashed desperately in excruciating pain.

Jingle-!

A glass bottle on the table fell and shattered.

Trickle-

The white carpet was stained red.

The more she thrashed, the deeper the sharp glass fragments dug into her body, but it was nothing compared to the agony in her eyes.

Yet strangely, her mind remained crystal clear.

She was enduring a horrific, hellish pain where every second felt like a year.

The metallic stench of blood filled Ariel’s room.

“Ariel!”

Boom-!

Her door was thrown open violently.

It was her father, Federer Einthoven, who had come running, startled by the horrific screams.

“Sister…?”

Behind him stood a girl whose baby fat was only just beginning to fade from her face.

Who had celebrated her tenth birthday just last week.

Her half-sister Chasey stared blankly at Ariel.

It was a gruesome scene.

Eyes were being pushed out of a beloved family member’s face of their own accord.

And she was desperately trying to stop it with her own hands while writhing in agony.

“I’ll fetch a priest! Please hold on just a little longer, Ariel!”

Crash-!

Her father’s frantic footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

But would I be able to hold on until then?

No. I couldn’t.

“Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts!!!”

“Sister Ariel…”

And so, only Ariel and Chasey remained in that hellish space.

Amidst the excruciating pain, Ariel’s hair was being dyed pure white.

Ariel would only later learn the cause of that pain.

Before explaining this, one must address the question of whether champion rankings could be determined solely by mana efficiency.

1-Cost was simply the qualification to participate in the battlefield. No special conditions were required.

2-Cost was the stage where one could handle mana above a certain level, and one’s attributes and lineage were determined.

Then what about 3-cost?

If high mana efficiency alone were sufficient, the Empire would have countless 3-Cost champions.

There was a reason this wasn’t the case.

The condition for a champion to achieve 3-Cost was synchronization with their synergy.

An assassin, as an assassin should.

A warrior, as a warrior should.

A mage, as a mage should.

A druid, as a druid should.

3-Cost was the process of the mind and body transforming to align with one’s synergy.

In a word, it was the stage of becoming “synergized.”

Of course, for those who were prepared, synergization was simply a necessary stage to pass through.

But for those unprepared, sudden synergization meant death.

“Aaaaaah!!!”

Indeed.

That day, Ariel was undeniably dying.

Writhing in the horrific agony radiating from both eyes.

Vwoomm-!

“It’s okay, Sister… it’s okay.”

And that day, Ariel saw it clearly.

Flash-!

Even through her hands covering her eyes, she felt it—a radiance so brilliant it was chilling.

The pure white light erupting from Chasey’s body blanketed the sky.

Bright and brilliant.

“It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

That day, Ariel became an Adjudicator.

+++

There were a total of 110 Adjudicators in the Empire.

With Ariel’s ascension as a new Adjudicator that day, the total number of Adjudicators serving the Empire became 111.

Adjudicators—God’s representatives who held the right to judge players—were also called the chosen profession of God.

Adjudicators were obligated to serve within the Empire.

On the day she became an Adjudicator, her father returned belatedly with an Imperial Priest, and the revelation that Ariel had become an Adjudicator forced her to leave Luteran.

Her destination was the Temple of Radiance, the headquarters of the Adjudicators.

The Temple of Radiance was located in Imperium, the imperial capital. And so, eight years passed.

Seeing Chasey again after so long, she no longer had the cute appearance of her childhood, but had grown into a mature young lady.

Her personality was free of sharp edges, possessing the same purity as other girls her age.

In truth, the eight years had been spent not only undergoing training as an Adjudicator.

But also to uncover the identity of the light that had erupted from Chasey’s body on the day she became an Adjudicator.

And after extensive inquiries, she managed to obtain relevant information from the thirteenth Adjudicator.

Each person had a certain compatibility with different synergies.

Some were drawn to the shieldbearer, others to the Assassin, and others to the Druid—that kind of compatibility.

When such compatibility existed, one would naturally be drawn to the corresponding synergy.

This was said to be the process by which champions unconsciously chose their class.

For most people, this compatibility value was generally low, so they could change classes relatively freely.

But if one’s compatibility with a synergy was strong, they could continue to grow consistently without changing classes.

However, occasionally there were exceptions.

People who possessed an abnormally high compatibility value exceeding the standard threshold.

This manifested as a pathological obsession with the corresponding synergy.

When such individuals became champions, this obsession dramatically accelerated their training speed.

But when they became players, it sometimes manifested differently.

As a unique trait that distinguished them from other individuals—an “Individuality.”

‘The light I saw that day…’

The events of that day had been erased from Chasey’s memory. But given the right trigger, it would soon awaken within her too.

Something now nearly extinct within the Empire.

The Individuality of the Druid.