Chapter 2: The GM’s Revelation and a Crimson Knight’s Strength

A frame appeared before his eyes, shimmering with a faint blue radiance, accompanied by the crisp ‘Ding-dong~’ of a system notification.

‘What on earth?’

As Leaf Su gazed at the notification bar that had materialized, a tremor ran through his body, as if something had been injected into him.

Subsequently, he felt an invigorating surge within his body, a sudden sensation of strength he had never experienced before.

Following that, the notification frame before him vanished, fading slowly into transparency with a gradual, almost ethereal effect.

‘Is this a game, seriously?!

And did I just level up?

What kind of shoddy game even has ‘GM’ as a profession?’

Leaf Su found himself utterly speechless; working at a game company, he had never encountered such a bizarre setting.

While he had heard of GM accounts possessing GM privileges, the concept of ‘GM’ as a player profession was entirely new to him.

‘Don’t tell me I’ve somehow transmigrated into a game world!’

Leaf Su began to survey his surroundings, yet everything felt remarkably real, perfectly mirroring the aesthetic of the real world, devoid of the granular texture often found in VR games; it was an utterly immersive experience.

If this indeed was a game, then judging by the big sister’s attire, Leaf Su surmised it must be a sword and magic type, perhaps a Japanese RPG?

‘Hmm… I seem to recall that the bug-ridden game I was working on was precisely this kind of game, wasn’t it?’

‘Huh???’

‘No way!

Could it be that I ‘kr-ming’ (TL Note: A Chinese slang term, ‘kè mìng,’ literally meaning ‘to spend one’s life/lifespan,’ referring to working extremely hard or sacrificing one’s health for something) to fix bugs, only to transmigrate into this very game world?’

If this was a game, then as a player, would he be able to see his own attribute values?

For a role-playing game, after all, an attribute list and an equipment list were among the very soul of the game.

The moment Leaf Su thought of opening his attribute list, a new notification box materialized before him without any delay.

Self-illuminated in the darkness, it displayed his character data along with his full image.

Leaf Su [Novice Lv.2] [Hidden Profession: GM (Switchable at any time) Lv.1]

[Title]: None

HP: 20/20

MP: 10/10

Attack: 2

Spirit: 3

Defense: 0

Leaf Su ‘…….’

‘This is absolutely pathetic!

My attack power isn’t even 5; I’m weaker than a ‘battle-scraps’ (TL Note: A Chinese slang term, ‘zhàn wǔ zhā,’ referring to someone extremely weak, often derived from Dragon Ball Z’s ‘combat power less than 5′ meme)!’

‘Little brother, what’s wrong?’ the big sister asked, seeing Leaf Su frozen in place.

‘Are you too scared to move?

How about I carry you again?’

She knelt down before him, perplexed, startling Leaf Su who was still engrossed in his attribute list.

‘N-nothing!

I can walk on my own!’

Leaf Su glanced at the viscous bloodstains on the big sister’s leather armor; though he yearned for the beautiful big sister to carry him, he ultimately decided against it.

‘Then you’ll have to keep up with me, okay?

If you hadn’t stayed close during that last incident, you’d be in a wolf’s belly right now~ Awoo~’

The big sister playfully pretended to be fearsome, mimicking a wolf’s growl and waving her clawed hands menacingly before Leaf Su.

‘Well… I suppose I should just play along,’ Leaf Su thought.

‘I can’t let her see my ‘bleeding-from-cuteness’ (TL Note: A Chinese slang term, ‘méng chū xuè,’ meaning to be so overwhelmed by cuteness that one metaphorically ‘bleeds’ from it) expression.’

He feigned a terrified look, and amidst the big sister’s laughter, they continued forward, gradually leaving the flower field behind.

In the distance, scattered lights twinkled, dense enough to suggest a city.

Leaf Su increasingly accepted the reality of having transmigrated into a game, constantly testing its functions during their journey.

If he had indeed transmigrated into a game, then the functions available to a player would naturally include an inventory, skills, equipment, and an attribute list.

Upon testing, he found he could perfectly summon these features, which appeared as floating windows directly before him.

These glowing notification frames, however, seemed to be invisible to the big sister.

This implied that the big sister was an NPC-type character, lacking the special abilities of a player.

Still some distance from the lights, he silently willed himself to check the big sister’s attribute list, but nothing appeared.

Instead, a red field appeared before his eyes, blood-red text declaring, [Insufficient Ability or Insufficient Authority].

Leaf Su ‘…….’

This was becoming increasingly similar to the game he had helped develop; in that game, player interaction attributes could not be queried unless one possessed a special skill capable of discerning an opponent’s stats.

Such a system also enhanced the game’s strategic depth, as knowing everyone’s attributes inside and out would make it too easy to target opponents in team battles, making information itself a crucial aspect of gameplay.

Among the myriad query methods, a thought struck Leaf Su.

There was one other way to check someone else’s attributes: a GM account!

A GM account, endowed with supreme authority, could view others’ stats, allowing online monitoring GMs to quickly determine if someone was cheating or if any data anomalies had occurred.

His hidden profession was GM; while he wasn’t certain if this was the same concept as a GM account, he figured it was worth a try.

‘Trying won’t get you pregnant,’ he mused.

As he thought of switching professions, Leaf Su suddenly felt an infinite wellspring of power surge within his body.

If the previous sense of power augmentation from leveling up was a mere unit of one, he now felt like 999,999,999!!!!

Indeed, such an overwhelming sense of power washed over him.

The attribute list then unfurled, clarifying his confusion.

Leaf Su [GM Lv.1] [Novice Lv.2]

Title: None

HP: 999/999

MP: 999/999

Attack: 999

Spirit: 999

Defense: 999

[SKILL] Intrinsic Skill—GM Console

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa!!!’

‘These absurd stats… this is absolutely a GM account!

No wonder I felt such an endless surge of power!’

‘I… I started without a gun, without a dog, I don’t need to kill chickens, nor do I need a Dragon Slaying Saber; I can just deal 999 damage with one hit!’

He felt as though he had acquired a terrifying ability.

Suppressing the impulse of his surging power, he turned his gaze to the big sister in knight’s attire walking ahead of him.

Silently willing to check her attributes, her stat list instantly popped up.

Fiona [Blood Knight Lv.65]

Title: [Crimson Sword Maiden] [A-rank Adventurer]

HP: 666/666

MP: 400/400

Attack: 570

Spirit: 200

Defense: 500

[SKILL]: [Blood Prison Lv.MAX] [Swordplay Lv.7]

‘This is definitely the attribute list of a powerful expert; she’s level 65?

The big sister is surprisingly strong, her stats almost rival a GM’s.

However, I wonder if all NPCs in this world are at this level.’

Only after they passed together through what appeared to be dilapidated city walls did Leaf Su realize that this was not the case.

It was merely that the big sister’s attributes were exceptionally high!

As he walked through the streets with the big sister, despite it being night, many people dressed as adventurers were still roaming about.

None of these individuals had a level above 20; the highest was merely Level 19, making them complete weaklings compared to the big sister.

While he was muttering his thoughts, the big sister had unknowingly led him to a large-scale building, at least quite massive within this rundown little town.

‘We’ve arrived,’ the big sister said, turning back to take Leaf Su’s hand and lead him inside.

‘This is the guild~’