WKOC Chapter 2

Here’s the current situation:

– The Light Saint thinks I’m a ‘Heretic.’ He has a yellow name.
– Holy Knight Guard A thinks I’m the ‘Holy Knight Captain.’ He has a green name.
– Holy Knight Guard B thinks I’m the ‘Disgrace of the Holy Knights.’ Yet, he also has a green name.
– And the Light Pope, while he hasn’t expressed his opinion of me… has marked me with a red name!

Me: “…”

This situation is too complicated for my measly 1 point of Intelligence to handle, so I can only stay silent. I turn my head back and look up at the only red name here, the Light Pope, Hilier. As expected of an SSR of the Light faction, his skin is so pale it seems to glow, his features are gentle, and his brows are furrowed in a naturally sorrowful expression. His light brown braid drapes over his right shoulder, and his lake-green eyes gaze at me as if holding two pools of clear water.

“You all may leave,” Hilier said. His voice, no longer cold when addressing the Holy Knight guards, was as gentle as a spring breeze. However, when he looked at me, his tone turned cold again. “I have a few words to ask of the sinner of the Light.”

—Great, I’ve just earned another title, [Sinner of the Light]. This achievement sounds like it’s hard to get.

The two Holy Knight guards retreated without objection, clearly trusting his words. The Light Saint hesitated for a moment but followed them, keeping a slight distance. People around us had already noticed something happening in this corner and didn’t dare approach, so they kept their distance, watching from afar. Though I couldn’t hear their murmurs, I could clearly see the look of disgust on their faces—their disgust directed at me. Many of these NPCs turned into red names the moment they saw me.

—So, did the devs give me the wrong identity? Am I not the Holy Knight Captain but the Death Knight Captain?!

As I was pondering my hidden identity, Hilier suddenly spoke, “Why aren’t you resisting?”

I was startled.

—Rather than saying “I don’t want to resist” it’s more like “I can’t resist”. After all, I only have five 1-point stats and am still level 1, while the Light Pope is a max-level, level-100 character. Just the two light rings on my wrists have 3,000 HP each. If I tried to break free with my 1-point attack, it would take me about an hour and a half…

I wasn’t sure what answer Hilier got from my silence, but I could see his expression darken. He glanced around at the surrounding crowd, and when his gaze returned to me, it was filled with complexity. His voice dropped to a low whisper, “You knew the exact time I’d return from my patrol… You appeared deliberately at this moment.”

Me: “…”

No, it should be the devs who knew, not me.

“You want me to kill you,” Hilier murmured softly. “To judge and execute the ‘Sinner of the Light’ in front of everyone… Is that your goal?”

I opened my mouth to protest but swallowed the words back down.

—Now I get it. The devs refreshed me here on purpose, specifically so the Light Pope could kill me off in the plot. No wonder they didn’t give me any memory supplements—there’s no need for them!

When they said, “We don’t need to add many scenes.” this is what they meant.

Resigned, I lowered my head, accepting my inevitable plot death.

The pristine white boots in front of me suddenly took a step back, kneeling down on one knee. Puzzled, I looked up at Hilier—since we were so close, I was the only one who could see his expression. His gentle lake-green eyes shattered like ice, revealing clear loathing and malice.

I was stunned by this expression, so out of character for him, and then I heard him whisper in a voice barely audible, “Alvin, you really are a loyal dog to your master.”

“…”

He left those words behind, then stood up in my shocked gaze and ordered the Holy Knight guards from afar, “Take him to the dungeon.”

The two Holy Knight guards responded in unison, “Yes!”

They stepped forward but didn’t make any further moves, seemingly hesitant. I glanced at their green names, knowing they couldn’t attack me, so I got up on my own and headed toward the dungeon, following the map—I didn’t know why Hilier didn’t kill me, but getting to live a little longer wasn’t so bad.

The two Holy Knight guards, relieved by my cooperation, quickly followed behind me. The crowd didn’t disperse but parted to form a path to the cathedral. Among the sea of red names, there were a few scattered yellow ones, creating a very striking visual effect.

I hesitated for a moment before bracing myself and walking through the passage.

Suddenly, an overlay appeared before me, showing the familiar sight of Xinshi City. The Savior, or rather, the player, stood before me, asking, “What do you think of the Church of Light?”

—That’s the perspective of the Holy Spirit.

The “Holy Spirit” is a special mechanic in this game, essentially a fragment of the original character that players can obtain as cards. After all, it’s impossible for players to run around with the real Light Pope or Dark Saint in tow. By passing trials (or drawing cards), players gain the original character’s approval and receive their “Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit retains some of the original character’s combat abilities and can grow stronger by absorbing mana, battling, or spending money. Even if the original character dies, the Holy Spirit remains, and unless the player chooses to release it, it will revive after some time, even if destroyed.

Although the Holy Spirit and the original share memories, they are otherwise unrelated. For NPCs like me, who have joined the card pool, it’s not unusual for a player to bring my Holy Spirit along to fight against me.

At this moment, I was seeing the memories of the Holy Spirit.

After completing the first main storyline, players must choose a faction. They can ask their cards for advice before making a decision, and the responses are pre-set. If the player asks me, they’ll get a standard reply:

【…People need the Light.】

Wait.

That’s not the reply I was supposed to give!

My reply should have been a rigid introduction to the Church of Light, identical to any other Light faction NPC!

Maybe since I was upgraded to an SSR, my responses changed?

Without stopping, I turned a corner down the corridor and descended the white stone steps. The walls on either side became increasingly rough, and the ornate candlesticks were replaced by torches. As I passed through the dungeon’s gate, the player in Xinshi City asked the second standard question, “What do you think of the Church of Darkness?”

【Though they are enemies, some of them are quite interesting.】

Me: “…”

No, this is really wrong! Looking at these two responses together, it makes perfect sense for me to have the ‘Heretic’ buff, doesn’t it…

The player was clearly shocked by my unexpected and two-faced answer. After staring at me for a while, they moved on to ask their other cards before leading us to the Church of Light, seemingly planning to choose the Light faction.

I watched through the Holy Spirit’s perspective as the player conversed with the priests of the Church of Light, my mind wandering.

The first storyline is the same for all players, but once they choose a faction, things diverge. If they choose the Light faction, the first task in the second storyline is to use a teleportation array to travel to the Holy City of Kaerya for a baptismal ceremony. But upon arrival, they get caught up in a faction war as the Church of Darkness launches a surprise attack on Kaerya…

Me: “…”

Wait, hold on—

A loud rumble echoed from above, followed by the blaring of alarm bells, signaling an attack on Kaerya. The dungeon ceiling trembled, sending dust cascading down, and the Holy Knight guards escorting me instinctively assumed defensive positions. The other prisoners in the dungeon also looked around nervously.

Amidst the confused silence, a sinister laugh suddenly broke out.

In the cell next to mine, a Dark Church cultist, draped in tattered robes, threw himself against the bars, cackling madly. “It’s God! I hear the voice of God! God’s messenger has come to save me! Hahahahahaha!”

I calmly watched this NPC’s exaggerated performance.

No, in reality, it was the Dark Saint who had convinced a group of dragons to join him in attacking Kaerya. His plan was to sneak into the Great Cathedral of Light amid the chaos and steal the divine relic left by the God of Light, the Judgement of Light. He had never intended to free the Dark Church cultists in the dungeon.

If the player successfully stops the Dark Saint, they’ll gain the approval of the divine relic, the Judgement of Light, receiving a boost in Light attributes and favorability. If they fail, they won’t get this boost and will have to complete a very complex faction quest later to reclaim the Judgement of Light…

Thinking of this, I decided to improve the player’s experience and immediately said to the Holy Knight guard beside me, “Send more people to guard the relic.”

“Yes!” He straightened up and was about to run off, but then remembered himself, stammering, “Cap… I’ll follow your instruct… uh, consider your suggestion. Could you… could you please… go inside first…?”

I took two steps into the dungeon and turned around, signaling him to lock the door.

He slowly pulled out the key, glancing at the other Holy Knight guard. Whatever silent communication passed between them, the second guard suddenly looked away while the first hastily locked the door, clumsily hanging the key on his belt. Then, with an unnecessarily loud shout of “The cathedral is under attack, we must go assist!”, he dramatically spun around—sending the key flying into the cell.

The two Holy Knight guards dashed off like they were being chased by wild beasts, leaving me staring at the key lying right in front of my toes: “…”

Even though I have the title of “Sinner of the Light” my reputation in the Holy Knight Order still seems quite high. Every Holy Knight I’ve encountered on the way here has had a green name. Now, the two guards even handed me an escape tool, clearly hoping I’d take the opportunity to flee.

But the problem is, even if I manage to unlock the cell door, I still can’t get rid of these ‘Light Bracelets’ that Hilier put on me!

I could only sit silently on a pile of straw, feeling the vibrations from above and listening to the increasingly urgent ringing of the bells while I slowly chipped away at the 3,000 HP handcuffs with my 1-point attack.

When I’d finally whittled them down to 2,000 HP, I heard footsteps approaching the dungeon again. Someone rushed in—it was the Light Saint. When he saw me, his eyes lit up, and he immediately ran over, shouting, “Alvin, the attackers are from the Church of Darkness, and they brought a group of dragons with them! Teacher is busy maintaining the barrier to protect the city from the dragons and has no time for anything else. You must come with me to stop the other invaders!”

I hadn’t expected this plot to involve me—wasn’t the Light Saint supposed to assign the task of stopping the Dark Saint to the player?!

Before I could respond, he blasted open the cell door with a spell, then used another spell to remove the handcuffs I’d been chipping away at for half an hour. Grabbing me, he dragged me out of the church defenses. When I looked up, I was stunned by the scene before me.

Hilier stood in front of the cathedral, holding his staff with both hands planted firmly in front of him. A dazzling light shot up into the sky, spreading out to form a golden barrier that covered most of the city. Countless dragons circled outside the barrier, their various elemental breaths bombarding it in turns, yet they couldn’t break through the seemingly fragile shield. Meanwhile, chaos reigned on the ground. Everywhere, battles were raging, with the Church of Light struggling to protect the citizens, leaving them at a disadvantage. In the few seconds I scanned the battlefield, I saw the Holy Knight Order’s defensive line get breached. A high-ranking archer seized the opportunity to release a shadow arrow aimed directly at… Hilier!

The barrier protecting the city from the dragons depended entirely on Hilier’s concentration. If he fell…

I didn’t have time to think. I quickly dashed forward, grabbed a damaged shield from the ground, and rolled in front of Hilier to block the arrow.

The shield didn’t last half a second. Five shadow arrows pierced through it, impaling my arm, shoulder, and chest, releasing a burst of purple-black corrosive mist. The damage numbers were in the tens of thousands, and it was continuous damage. I could hear my armor sizzling as it corroded, along with the Light Saint’s anguished cries…

“Alvin! No—!!!… Huh?”

I tossed the broken shield aside, stood up, patted the pitted armor, and turned back to glance at the Light Saint, whose face was frozen in a twisted expression of shock. I gave him a reassuring smile.

I’m a beginner guide: no knockbacks, no debuffs, no stuns, no HP loss!

A slow clap suddenly came from ahead.

The high-ranking archer who had just dealt massive damage with an ordinary shadow arrow stepped forward, pulling off his cloak and tossing it aside, revealing a head of flamboyant red hair and a striking face.

—The Dark Saint, Yasha.

He was barefoot, standing on a ground soaked in blood, with a layer of black mist swirling around him, partially obscuring his pale legs. It seemed like he was wearing something beneath the mist, but his bare shoulders made it hard to be sure. This suspiciously risqué card gave me a dazzling smile, his pupils contracting like a snake’s. “Well, well, look who we have here—the famous Captain of the Holy Knights.”

“Son of Light, Blade of the Lord, Beloved by All, the Devout One, Embodiment of Virtue… What else?”

With each title he named, a burst of snickering came from the Death Knights behind him. After a deliberate pause, he drew out his words with a self-satisfied grin, “Oh, right, how could I forget the most important one—”

“—Sinner of the Light!”

“…”

The battlefield fell silent.

I had no idea how I’d earned this rare achievement, nor did I know how to respond. Luckily, Hilier spoke first. Still focused on the dragons above, he only slightly turned his head in my direction. His red name briefly flickered green as he said, “Give him his sword.”

The Light Saint was stunned, but his face quickly lit up with joy. He clasped his hands together and pulled out a massive two-handed greatsword almost as tall as he was from his space ring. The sword blazed with white light, dazzling to the extreme. Its stats were absurdly high—an orange weapon. Most importantly… I saw a binding mark on the sword.

The character it was bound to was me.

“Take it,” Hilier said. “Kill him.”

The sword was so heavy the Light Saint couldn’t lift it, so he had to plant it on the ground. He tilted the hilt toward me, looking at me with eager anticipation.

Me: “…”

I stared at the greatsword bound to me, but I didn’t reach out for it.

Hilier frowned, his name fluctuating between yellow and green. “…What are you waiting for?”

The Light Saint looked at me in confusion. I had no idea what he was thinking, but his grip on the hilt tightened until his knuckles turned white. “Don’t… Don’t you want your sword back?”

Across from us, Yasha suddenly burst into laughter.

Leaning lazily on the scarf—or rather, the collar—hanging from his arm, he drawled, “It’s not that he doesn’t want it, it’s that he can’t pick it up, right?”

Me: “…”

He’s right. It’s not that I don’t want to take the sword—I literally can’t. Because—

“Why don’t you tear off his armor and take a look…” Yasha pointed to his own chest with the hand not holding his bow, smiling mischievously as he added, “…Maybe our dear Captain still has a few charred bones left in there?”

The Light Saint’s hand slipped, and the greatsword fell to the ground with a heavy thud. He stared at my chest in horror—where the armor had taken the brunt of the damage, dented and deformed, with purple-black corroded arrow holes, revealing only darkness inside. His face instantly turned deathly pale. “You…”

“I’m fine” I quickly reassured him.

“Let me see…” He took two steps toward me, then hesitated, pulling his hand back, too afraid to touch me, and stammered, “Alvin…”

Me: “…”

I can’t let him see! I don’t even have a body model under this armor—this armor ‘is’ my body. If it could be removed, it would glitch out!

As everyone knows, archers have the highest damage on weak-point hits. Yasha’s shadow arrows dealt a critical hit, enough to severely wound even someone of Hilier’s level. I had no idea how to explain my unkillable bug, so I could only glare emotionlessly at Yasha.

It’s all his fault for drawing the right conclusion from the wrong reasoning!

The reason I can’t pick up the sword isn’t because I’m gravely injured and near death, but because…

That sword requires level 100 to equip, and I’m only level 1!!!

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