Chapter 234 - 234)Irina Sainz

Spain's number one Genesis Player, Irina Sainz, was a Grandmaster, just like Night. Unfortunately, she was nothing like him. She didn't have a Legend as her teacher, but unlike Night she had good facilities that helped her train her skills properly. In the beginning all Luke wanted was to stay low key which was why he never flaunted the fact that he was Player Night nor did he send his character after some kind of publicized dungeon hunt.

Naturally from her perspective, it looked like Luke was either fed from a golden spoon or unusually lucky to have received such a good start. It was ironic how all of them blamed his success on his start when in the beginning Luke was probably the weakest character of them all. The truth was that Grandmasters were strong. Annoyingly so, but their true potential can only ever be unlocked once they learn or fully comprehend weapon aura.

The general public fails to realize how stupidly broken the skill is, of course, the potential of it remained unknown, after all, that was simply how it was designed by the KYOJIN. The entire point of the class was that it was a weak one. A class that nobody would voluntarily take if they got past the initial lottery, of course, the rewards for succeeding in the class progressions were exemplary, if used properly, like Night, the skills could very well be considered a bug.

The reason for this is still unknown, what was the point of making a class harder to grow? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of class equality? The truth was that they were indeed equal, but not in the beginning. Perhaps the strongest of them all would either be the Arcane Knight or the Berserker, but that is simply based on the basics. If skill proficiency and techniques were involved then there's a good chance that any one of the classes could win. This was their goal. A VRMMORPG that relied on technique and hard work to succeed and conquer, not simply spamming skills.

Naturally, many argued that in the beginning, the game's nature involved only spamming, while this was half true, it was a step that KYOJIN took after careful consideration, however, there were rumors that Kenny Smith insisted on the game functioning in such a manner, but as well know, rumors….they're just rumors in the end.

Irina was exceptional, it took her many months, but she finally managed to master weapon aura. It was a huge feat, something that could put her on the pedestal with The Anomaly. Her feelings of animosity and envy slowly turned into ones of gratefulness, deep inside, she hated to admit it, but Irina looked up to Night. Especially because of how hard the Grandmaster class was to handle.

In the beginning, it didn't make sense to her, how was he able to play so skillfully? Wasn't it equally difficult for every player? Or were things easier for him? To say she was in denial wouldn't be wrong, considering how anything and everything he did was a mystery for her.

"I've…done it….I actually did it…." Her hands shivered as she looked at the notification stating she had successfully mastered weapon aura. It was a huge deal, not only to her but to the world of Genesis as well. Weapon aura was said to be difficult to comprehend, something that players would achieve at around level 300, but for Irina, who was just above level 110, it was different. Of course, it took her pushing her limits every day for all these months, not only did she level up consistently but she also focused on comprehending and trying to take a step upward in the ladder of weapon aura.

"Did what?" someone around her had asked, after looking at her expression anyone in the world would be curious to know what could cause such a reaction. Naturally, the odds on it being weapon aura were high, especially since Grandmasters wouldn't react to most things in such a way. There were only a limited number of things that could excite one, perhaps it could be that their weapon mastery had reached its pinnacle, it's either that or it's the fact that they've managed to master weapon aura.

"Uh nothing, I managed to hit C grade in weapon mastery….." She lied, trying her best to play it cool and not let the whole world know of her achievement. What was she doing? Why did she want to hide her newfound power, what could she possibly be scared of in a game?

Irina was kind when she had to be, she was an ice skater which wasn't the first thought that comes to one's mind when the word Spain is mentioned, she wasn't a professional, but she definitely could be considered one. Her skin, hair, and eyes, all of them were weirdly the exact same color- light brown. She was rational and saw things through a logical lens, while she understood emotions and their impact, she preferred to do things with her safety principle.

This was why she was constantly conflicted when she found herself annoyed and in denial because of another player. It wasn't something she cared about, which just made it worse. Her secrets were something she would tell only her close friends or people close to her, unfortunately, there was a slight complication. Her sister Sofia Sainz, her in-game name was "Erza", the very same one that was Nate's childhood friend.

Sofia and Nate shared a rather special relationship, they were close and had known each other for a longer time than Nate and Luke did. The Covencut's influence was immense, and Sofia's family was in a way in charge of their business in Spain. Her family was the regional head of the Covencut's business, this was how Nate and Sofia knew of each other and got to talking.

She found it stupid how she felt towards Night, he was a figure of envy for her, and that wasn't something she wanted to openly admit to him or someone close to him. She was afraid that it would lead to bad blood which in turn would ruin the relationship her sister and Nate shared.

"Fck…." She cursed under her breath as she moved away from the others in the dojo. It wasn't exactly a complicated situation, it was just an annoying one to be in. She wanted to share her news with someone, but she was afraid that it would somehow reach Night.

Overthinking. That was her major issue. Her achievement had nothing to do with anyone, in fact, it was a remarkable one, one that deserved praise, but her thoughts wouldn't allow her to tell anyone, in her mind, there was always that one percent chance that Night would somehow find out about her envy, even though there was absolutely no way her sister Sofia, would tell Nate that her own sister hated his best friend for the longest time. Unfortunately, living in your own mind wasn't kind. It was the worst, every decision, every choice involved her fighting a losing battle, struggling with her own being, suffering simply because of herself.

Her in-game name was Bottle, it was a product of her overthinking, the number of possible names to keep was far too many and she felt overwhelmed and couldn't choose between all of them. Thankfully, as an alcoholic, she named herself after the one thing she always had around her- a bottle.

As unfortunate as it was, alcohol dulled her brain down, slowed down her thinking, and allowed her to act more on feelings, which was the complete opposite of what she was like. There exists a defense mechanism in psychology called "reaction formation"- it is when an individual feels so strongly towards something that he/she develops an opposite feeling towards the action or object so as to mask their true feelings. This was exactly what she did with expressing herself with her emotions in the lead. On the surface, she found it futile and pointless, but deep down, she wanted to express herself freely like the others. 

[You have mastered weapon aura]

[You have mastered weapon aura]

[You have mastered weapon aura]

"...." She looked at the notifications once again and calmed herself down. It was a crucial moment in her career and her life, it was just that Bottle failed to understand or grasp that at the moment.

[A Divine being finds you amusing]

[A Divine being sees through your very existence]

[All Stats and skills revealed!]

[All Skills sealed for the next 2 minutes]

[You are being inspected by the embodiment of Wisdom]

[The One who fights in the front, The Unwearying One, The Goddess of Wisdom and Battle Strategy finds your inner turmoil quite unnecessary. She questions your need to constantly compare and over think]

[The Goddess adds that Night is an existence that even she cannot truly comprehend, she says now that you will now have to work closely with him, especially due to this event]