The message mentioned something about his character being reset.

‘Info! Info!’ 

Tae-Sung hurriedly summoned his character information and checked his status under ‘My Information.’

Tae-Sung’s status was as follows…

[My Information]

[Name: Tae-Sung]

[Level: 1]

[Type: Adventurer (Player)]

[Class: Disciple]

The message wasn’t lying when it said his character was reset.

Tae-Sung was now a Level 1 novice after being purified by the Lake of Purification.

In just an hour, his Level 91 character regressed to Level 1.

“My level…” Tae-Sung muttered in disbelief and despair.

The only thing he had left after losing everything was his level, so he couldn’t help but fall into despair when his level went down from Level 91 to Level 1.

“Aha!” Deus, who had been watching Tae-Sung ever since he fell into the lake, exclaimed in satisfaction before saying, “So the purification process is done! Haha!”

“Master… What happened… just now…? Why did my… level…?” Tae-Sung asked.

“You have to pour new wine into a new wineskin,” Deus replied.

“Huh…?” Tae-Sung muttered in confusion at his master’s response.

“You were nothing but a piece of trash just an hour ago,” Deus said.

“What do you mean by that, Master?” Tae-Sung asked.

“Your strength, stamina, mana, and other stats had been a complete mess! I’m saying that you had been a complete mess from top to bottom. How can you even think about winning against anyone with such horrendous and unbalanced growth? Do you even have an ounce of conscience? Do you even know what shame is?” Deus said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

He had successfully raised a shitty character.

Deus told Tae-Sung that the latter had successfully raised his character to shit.

***

“Is that so?” Tae-Sung muttered. He finally understood his master’s intentions.

What if his character’s stats and skill tree had truly been unbalanced just as his master had said? Then, his master’s decision to let everything be reset was indeed the right choice.

However, the method Deus chose was very inefficient.

It was incredibly difficult to reset and redistribute stat points and skill points in BNW, but it wasn’t impossible.

The item ‘Heart of Phoenix’ allowed the user to reset their stats while the item ‘Sage’s Regret,’ and the item ‘Phlegeton’s Water’ allowed a user to reset both their stats and skills at the same time.

These three items allowed a user to retain their level while returning all of the stats and skill points they had invested. However, the downside was the fact that there was a necessary investment of more than ten billion won before one could get their hands on those items.

And it seemed that the old man saw through Tae-Sung’s thoughts.

“Of course, you could reset yourself by depending on those lame potions,” Deus said before looking at Tae-Sung and continuing, “But such sloppy methods do not suit my style.”

“Why?” Tae-Sung asked.

“Because it’s nothing but repeating their failures. It’s no different from an animal eating its own shit just to shit it out again,” Deus responded.

“Huh…?” Tae-Sung muttered and tilted his head in confusion.

“What good will it do if the person remains the same even if they try again? A loser will eternally be a loser. How much stronger can they get if they simply pull those cheap tricks to get stronger? It will be a relief if they get some sort of enlightenment, but they are just basically walking in circles,” Deus explained.

Deus’ logic was sound.

“But, Master…” Tae-Sung muttered. He seemed to have his own logic to present to his master, and he said, “You could have still guided me to the right path in any case, right? Why was there a need to reset my level as well…”

“You fool!” Deus immediately rebuked him before asking, “Do you really think your hopeless talent will change for the better on that path?”

“Huh?” Tae-Sung muttered in surprise.

“You were born with the talent of… being a weakling. Do you really think anything will change just because you’ll try again? Preposterous!” Deus exclaimed.

“…!” Tae-Sung was shocked.

“I will fix you from head to toe, and I will forcefully raise your potential to the limit. What I’m trying to say is that you will gain 1.2 mana while others will only gain 1 mana. That’s what this is all about,” Deus explained.

“R-Really?” Tae-Sung asked.

“That’s right. Since you managed to get through this trial, you will become at least twenty percent stronger than others,” Deus replied.

“Heok!” Tae-Sung could not help but gasp in surprise.

If his master were telling the truth, resetting his character wouldn’t be a loss.

He would gain 1.2 mana while others would only gain 1 mana. He would gain 12 mana while others would gain 10 mana. Sooner or later, he would gain 120 mana while others would only gain 100 mana. In short, the gap between him and the others would widen the higher their levels became, and Tae-Sung would be able to use his skill twelve times while others would only be able to use their skill ten times.

Moreover, he could invest in other stats without worrying about his mana because he would gain much more mana per level compared to the others.

‘So this is the reason why Master wanted to reset my character!’ 

Tae-Sung inwardly exclaimed upon realizing his master’s intentions.

It seemed his master’s training method revolved around maximizing his potential.

“Master…” Tae-Sung muttered. He then fell to the ground and bowed to him before saying, “Thank you for your kindness. Please accept your disciple’s respectful bow.”

“Kekeke! You’re already so thankful for something like this? It’s still too early for you to thank me! I will turn you into someone who will long for defeat, and you can thank me by then! Kekeke!” Deus responded.

The old man was saying one thing, but his expression revealed something else since he couldn’t stop himself from laughing while looking extremely pleased with Tae-Sung bowing in front of him.

“What do you mean by… someone who will long for defeat, Master?” Tae-Sung cautiously asked.

“Sitting at the top of the world can be very lonely! I will turn you into someone who will have to beg others to give you a taste of defeat! Use my teachings to become unparalleled! The best should be able to take what they want!” Deus shouted excitedly.

Tae-Sung interpreted his master’s words like this…

‘Is he asking me to become a solo player?’

It seemed his instinct as a gamer had led him to believe that the old man wanted him to become a solo player. However, Tae-Sung would find out sooner or later that it was exactly what his master meant.

***

Tae-Sung decided to wholeheartedly follow his master's teaching from now on.

However, the Lake of Purification was just the tip of the iceberg.

“Come, lay down here,” Deus said.

“Yes, Master,” Tae-Sung replied.

“I will stick eighty-four thousand needles into you,” Deus said.

“Huh?” Tae-Sung muttered as he doubted his ears.

‘Is he planning to turn me into a porcupine…?’ he wondered.

He finally understood why his master made him reset his character by purifying him in the Lake of Purification, but he couldn’t understand why his master wanted to stick eighty-four thousand needles into him.

No, was it even possible to stick that many needles into a human body?

“Oh… It’s possible…” Tae-Sung muttered.

It had been an hour since they started, and now, he had eighty-four thousand needles sticking out of him.

“Euk… Euhaaaaaaaaak!” Tae-Sung screamed as pain even more excruciating than the one he had experienced from the Lake of Purification spread throughout his entire body.

The extreme pain of having a needle poked into every single one of the nerve points in the body was painful enough to send someone to their death.

The next step was even harsher…

“This is the next one,” Deus said while pointing at a green-colored pool.

Blub blup! Blup blup!

A greenish liquid was boiling in the pool, and Tae-Sung was instinctively disgusted by it, as he was certain that it wasn’t some ordinary liquid.

“What is this, Master?” Tae-Sung asked.

“It’s a contaminated pond,” Deus replied.

“A contaminated pond…?” Tae-Sung muttered in response.

“That’s right. This is a pond that this great me especially created for you, my disciple. I created this by collecting waste from the innards of various corpses, decayed frogs, cockroaches, and 108 types of poisonous plants on top of many other ingredients,” Deus proudly explained.

“What in the world is it for…?” Tae-Sung asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

“What else? It’s to defile you since you have become purified,” Deus replied.

“What kind of insane thing is—” Tae-Sung muttered.

“Do you want to die?” Deus asked with a hint of threat in his voice.

“I apologize, Master,” Tae-Sung immediately apologized.

He was afraid that his master might flick his forehead.

“But why do I have to be defiled after being purified? The whole point of the purification was to purify me, right?” Tae-Sung asked.

“It’s like tempering and quenching,” Deus replied.

“Tempering and quenching…?” Tae-Sung muttered as he tilted his head in confusion.

“It’s a process to temper your body. Your body will freely absorb and release mana if you repeat this process a hundred times,” Deus explained.

“I will jump right into it,” Tae-Sung said before jumping into the pool without an ounce of hesitation after listening to his master’s explanation.

“Euk… Euaaaaaaaahk!” Tae-Sung screamed in agony.

The contaminated pool inflicted excruciating pain, just as he had expected.

‘I have to do this a hundred times? There’s no way, right…?’ 

Tae-Sung did not believe his master’s words because he couldn’t imagine that it was possible to repeat this process a hundred times.

***

The process was repeated exactly a hundred times, as his master said, and Tae-Sung soon got used to the pain after going through the whole ordeal.

The pain was so unbearable for the first thirty times that Tae-Sung almost logged out of the game, but he soon got used to the pain after the fiftieth time, and he was finally able to withstand the pain after the seventieth time.

When he repeated the whole ordeal for the ninetieth time, the whole process started to feel like he was taking a soak at a hot spring. He even happily hummed a tune while he was soaking in it.

“Ah… That really hits the spot,” Tae-Sung mumbled as he reached the point where he was enjoying it rather than finding it painful.

[Alert: Purification Complete!]

[Alert: The player’s character has been reset!]

When Tae-Sung successfully completed the process for the hundredth time, his master finally complimented him.

“Hahaha! Look at this punk! Your patience and tenacity are truly astounding!” Deus exclaimed.

“Thank you, Master,” Tae-Sung replied.

“Alright, that seems to be enough,” Deus said as he extended a towel toward Tae-Sung emerging from the Lake of Purification before continuing, “Your body will now be able to naturally absorb and release mana.”

“Is that true?” Tae-Sung asked.

“You can’t feel it right now, but you will soon realize that this great me had never lied,” Deus confidently said.

‘Huh? Isn’t this a totally overpowered character…?’ Tae-Sung thought in surprise.

It was natural for him to be surprised since his current stats were probably the highest among all the Level 1 characters out there.

This was Tae-Sung’s current stats.

[HP: 200/200]

[Mana: 300/300]

[Stamina: 150/150]

His HP, mana, and stamina were abnormally high for a Level 1 character. After all, a character of the same level would only have 100 HP, 100 mana, and 100 stamina. If there were any differences, it would be a 10-point margin at most.

However, these weren’t the only things that surprised Tae-Sung.

[Attack Power: 25]

[Magic Power: 20]

[Strength: 25]

[Agility: 25]

[Intellect: 20]

[Defense: 30]

[Magic Resistance: 30]

[Tenacity: 30]

As expected, his other stats were also abnormal for a Level 1 character.

A character’s stats during character creation was determined at random, and a player was allowed three rerolls to change it. However, Tae-Sung’s stats were something that was unlikely; no, impossible to appear.

In short, this meant that Tae-Sung possessed the stats of a Level 10, even though he was just Level 1.

‘So this is why master made me go through the tempering and quenching process!’ Tae-Sung marveled inwardly when he finally understood his master’s intentions.

His master called it a process of tempering and quenching, and his body was truly tempered from being repeatedly dunked into the Lake of Purification and the contaminated pool.

“It seems that you have finally achieved the minimum conditions,” Deus said.

“Huh?” Tae-Sung muttered in surprise.

“I’ll start getting real now, so you better be prepared,” Deus said with a sinister smile.

“Ah…” Tae-Sung muttered. He had almost pressed the log-out button.

***

Afterward, Tae-Sung was exposed to a series of physical abuse, verbal abuse, and cruelty disguised as ‘teachings.’ Every single day was a living hell for him.

His days were filled with such pain and suffering that the pain he had experienced from the tempering and quenching process seemed like child’s play.

‘Endure it! I have to endure this…!’ Tae-Sung thought as he gritted his teeth.

He was standing on the edge of a cliff, and his master’s teachings were the only hope he had to turn his life around.

On the 98th day, his master finally gave him permission to descend the mountain.

“Since you have finally been enlightened to a certain extent, there should be no issues even if you descend the mountain,” Deus said.

‘Finally! I can finally escape from this living hell!’ Tae-Sung rejoiced inwardly.

He recalled the three months of hell he had to endure.

In addition to enduring the hellish teachings in the game, he had to endure in reality as well. Since he could not pay off the principal, he had to pay the interest at the very least, so he had to reduce his sleeping time and work at a construction site to earn money.

Twenty-four hours weren’t enough for Tae-Sung.

He gritted his teeth and steeled his resolve while holding onto his belief in his master.

There was no way Tae-Sung could have endured both hells in game and in reality if it weren’t for the belief that his master’s teachings would turn his life around. It was hope that enabled him to endure the grueling ninety-eight days.

And it wasn’t like he could escape or anything since there was no way he could stand toe to toe against those rankers if he had run away from his master and trained on his own.

“But, Master,” Tae-Sung said as he tilted his head in confusion before continuing, “You mentioned that you will teach me for ninety-nine days, but ninety-eight days have already passed.”

“That’s right,” Deus replied.

“There’s only a day left. Will it be enough for me to succeed you?” Tae-Sung asked.

“It is possible,” Deus responded.

“How is it possible?” Tae-Sung asked with a hint of doubt in his voice.

“It’s because this great me is someone who will teach you how to fish. I am not someone who will give you a fish. So, don’t even think about anything else for now. Come find me tomorrow with a refreshed mind and body since tomorrow is the day I will pass my secrets onto you,” Deus said.

“Yes! Master!” Tae-Sung enthusiastically replied.

He could hardly wait for tomorrow to come. He wondered about just what exactly were his master’s secrets. He wondered again and again, yet he could not help but come to the same conclusion every single time.

He would definitely inherit this Level 999 Hidden NPC skills.