He took me to a place—the [Virtual Combat Training Center for Robot Soldiers].
The center had a virtual space where people could fight.
Inside, the virtual space was exactly like reality.
The difference was that in virtual combat, your brain entered another dimension to fight.
It simulated combat situations with 100 percent accuracy.
You had all five senses and could feel pain.
After you were killed, you were simply ejected; there was no effect on your real body.
There was no limit to your stamina.
Without hesitation, I lay down on the machine that connected me to the virtual space.
Before my brain connected to the virtual space, the Marshal said to me:
“Beat all your unhappiness out of them.”
“Yes.”
17
I couldn't remember how many people I'd challenged.
All I knew was that the more I fought, the more fired up I got.
With no limit to my stamina, I could pick up on every tiny detail and take down my opponents as quickly as possible.
At first, my opponents were weak. Gradually, they got stronger and stronger.
The higher their mental strength, the heavier the pressure on me.
Under that pressure, I couldn't afford to make a single unnecessary move.
I lost count of how many opponents I'd killed. Three hundred? Or four hundred?
And now, I was facing the toughest opponent yet.
The mental pressure alone left me unable to breathe. Every time I inhaled, I could taste the metallic tang of blood in my throat.
It felt like gasping for breath after a 100-meter sprint.
And his combat instincts were on a completely different level from everyone I'd faced before.
He could find a fatal weak spot and would never let me live.
Still, I wasn't so easy to kill. I always managed to deftly evade his fatal blows.
Against such a powerful opponent, my strategy was to drag the fight out.
That let me train my breathing under intense pressure, synchronizing each breath with my attacks and defense.
It also wore down my opponent's patience, leaving him in a state of “seeing me but never landing a hit” until he broke.
All I had to do was wait for one moment.
The instant he got impatient, he'd leave himself open.
After slashing at me hundreds of times without success, that moment finally came.
I turned and counterattacked, deliberately taking the blade that stabbed into my abdomen while my sword slashed straight at my opponent's head.
After my opponent disappeared, I waited for the next one, but no one came.
The virtual space ejected me.
As soon as I got off the machine, I saw the Marshal in the crowd.
I was a little excited.
“That was amazing, honey! Who was the last one? I want to fight him again.”
The Marshal's face was as cold as ice.
Everyone around us was staring at me. Their faces showed three parts fear, three parts disbelief, three parts as if they thought they must be seeing things, and one part admiration.
I was a little awkward around people.
“What's wrong?”
Everyone fell silent.
No one answered me.
Apparently, they needed a moment to process what had happened.
After a long while, the robot-soldier team captain muttered:
“You killed every robot soldier in our center!”
“The last one to enter the arena was the Marshal.”
“The Marshal lost.”
—
That battle really was exhilarating.
It was also truly shocking.
My entire fight had been recorded.
That night, the headquarters' social-media account posted a ten-hour video.
It showed the entire center challenging me.
It set off a frenzy.
[That's incredible! You're saying this is the Marshal's Alpha?]
[Hey, up there, this is an E-level Alpha.]
[The Marshal lost? Do you really expect me to believe that?]
[The Marshal played along with the whole center and put on a good show to protect his Alpha's fragile heart.]
[I'm a top-level robot soldier. I watched the whole video, and the Marshal's Alpha won fair and square.]
[I'll remain skeptical.]
…
Seeing the online commenters' doubts and denials, I was unexpectedly calm.
I seemed to care less about what they said now.
That exhilarating battle had cleared my head.
It was like clouds parting to reveal a blue sky.
For a long time, I'd been mistaken—I cared far too much about what other people thought of me.
My background and rank were constantly brought up and criticized.
My mediocrity and lack of distinction were also frequent topics of gossip.
That was where my inferiority complex began.
Because of that insecurity, whenever I was with the Marshal, I unconsciously compared myself to him and kept affirming how wonderful he was.
I rarely acknowledged my own worth.
I became insecure, sensitive, and weak.
I'd even signed divorce papers, wanting to run away.
Looking back now, if the Marshal hadn't tried so hard to hold on to me, I might have run away.
I would have tucked myself away in a little corner like a turtle withdrawing into its shell.
Luckily, I have an incredibly brave wife.
Now I understand.
I don't need to make things hard for myself just to please others.
I don't need to care what outsiders think.
It doesn't mean anything.
I only need to care about the people who truly care about me.
Most importantly, I have to accept myself.
Accept my imperfections.
And acknowledge my strengths.
There must be a reason the Marshal loves me.
And that reason comes down to one thing.
Because I'm worthy.
I am worthy.
What I need to do is find my own strengths.
Once I understood all this, I felt a weight lift from my whole body.
On the way home, I chattered nonstop with the Marshal.
About robots, tactics, bugs, and the future.
But as soon as we got home, I collapsed onto the sofa…
No matter how much the Marshal called to me, I couldn't get up.
It wasn't that I didn't want to get up. I just couldn't.
I seemed to have a fever.
As soon as he realized, he called a doctor.
Before the doctor arrived, he anxiously gave me some high-grade nutritional solution to drink.
I shook my head.
I knew this feeling well.
The doctor arrived, examined me, and ran all kinds of tests.
The doctor had sweat beading on his forehead and stammered:
“This... does it look like you're going through differentiation?”
18
That's right.
My third transformation.
When I woke up, the first thing I did was check my level.
The result: Level B.
My public information had also been updated from Level E to Level B.
The first person to notice shared a screenshot on social media.
So I was trending again.
Fortunately, there were no negative comments this time.
[A third transformation? The Marshal's Alpha?]
[I've never heard of anyone transforming three times. Isn't twice supposed to be the limit?]
[I'm starting to believe that the earlier video was real.]
[The Marshal is S-rank. Whoever is 99% compatible with him must be extraordinary.]
[Exactly. A 99% compatibility match applies across the board. How did we not think of that before?]
[If I said the Crown Prince was secretly behind the smear campaign against the Marshal's Alpha, would anyone believe me?]
[I won't believe rumors unless you provide proof.]
[Check my profile.]
Someone wasn't convinced and clicked on that user's profile.
Sure enough, there was evidence that the Crown Prince had ordered a smear campaign against the Marshal's Alpha.
…
A few days later, an article exposing the Crown Prince's corruption was published.
Soon after, major bloggers all spoke out to criticize the Crown Prince.
Those who manipulate public opinion will eventually be manipulated by it themselves.
The pressure on the Crown Prince mounted.
Seeing this chain of events brought to light, I felt it couldn't have been a coincidence.
When I voiced my suspicion, the Marshal admitted without hesitation:
“I did it.”
Hearing that, I felt shamefully delighted.
But I still advised him:
“You didn't have to go that far for me. He is your former lover, after all. You should still show him some respect.”
I shot him a provocative glance.
I hoped he wouldn't realize that I was a hypocrite on the inside.
The Marshal looked at me with disgust. “Me and the Crown Prince? That piece of trash? Disgusting. Who said that? Are people taking rumors for facts now?”
Rumors?
Hearing the Marshal deny it with his own mouth, I was overjoyed.
We really were made for each other.
A few days later, after an investigation, the evidence of the Crown Prince's crimes was undeniable.
The King immediately stripped the Crown Prince of his right to succeed to the throne.
To compensate me for the damage to my reputation, they also transferred half the Crown Prince's assets into my name.
It was an enormous fortune.
I felt uneasy accepting it.
So, after discussing it with the Marshal, we decided to distribute the fortune among all the citizens of the country.
19
After reaching Level B, I was told I still couldn't have children.
The Marshal said, “I'm not interested in children.”
I felt relieved, too.
What could be better than living our quiet little life together?
And so, we lived peacefully for half a year.
Until the country issued an alert.
The monitoring system detected that the alien bugs were preparing to launch their largest attack yet, intending to breach the border.
Alien bugs are extraterrestrial creatures. They aren't intelligent, but they reproduce at an astonishing rate.
They're difficult to deal with.
The Marshal and I went to the front lines.
We were accompanied by soldiers who piloted robots, technicians, and medical personnel.
When we reached the encampment, there were twice as many bugs as expected.
Even the old and frail bugs were fighting.
During the battle, I noticed their movements were frantic but clumsy.
As if they were being controlled.
After I shared my theory with the Marshal, he agreed with me.
“The alien bugs must have a queen.”
The queen was highly intelligent and could control the others.
To kill the queen, we first had to make sure we could safely reach the center of the bugs' territory.
I put together a device on the spot that played recordings of the sounds the bugs made when communicating, to fool them.
After repeated tests, we identified several frequencies that would keep the bugs from attacking.
Then I secretly organized a suicide squad.
We prepared to lead the squad deep into the bugs' territory.
The original plan was for the Marshal to lead the squad, but I didn't want to put him in danger.
Besides, the front lines needed him more.
So he wasn't the best choice for the raid.
My small team and I took the device and made our way in smoothly.
At the center, just as expected, we found a huge, fat queen directing the others with her flexible tentacles.
By the time the queen spotted us, it was too late. We were already close.
My teammates held back the bugs outside.
I faced the queen alone.
She was so fat that she could barely move, and her tentacles were her only means of attack.
She was very intelligent and could predict my next move.
She inflicted quite a bit of damage on me.
Fortunately, we settled the battle before I drew my last breath.
As soon as the queen died, the pressure on the front lines dropped by ninety percent.
While I was unconscious, my teammates safely brought me to the medical bay.
20
When I woke up, half a month had passed.
The nurse was the first to notice that I was awake. He hurriedly pressed the call button.
I remembered that before I passed out, I had barely been breathing.
Now, aside from feeling a little weak, all my wounds had completely healed.
In theory, I shouldn't have been able to recover so quickly in half a month.
“Congratulations, you've leveled up again,” the nurse said.
So that's what it was.
The higher the level, the stronger the body's ability to recover.
I smiled. “I'm A-rank, right?”
I recalled a little of what had happened. I seemed to have had a fever.
Just then, the Marshal rushed in, looking exhausted.
I looked closely and saw that his legs were trembling slightly.
Several doctors followed the Marshal in.
The doctor at the front was excited, hurrying forward.
“You're the first S-rank Alpha in a hundred years. I can hardly believe it—an Alpha evolving! This is truly unprecedented!”
“After reaching S-rank, your recovery ability far exceeds that of ordinary people. You went from the brink of death to completely healthy in just one week. It's a miracle!”
“May I take some blood samples from you?”
S-rank?
Me?
It wasn't just him. I could hardly believe it myself.