“Mom… is alive? Really?”
Yoon Seah asked with an unbelieving expression.
Seong Jiah using sacrifice then turning to stone, consumed by darkness, was still vivid in her mind.
So, when Yoon Sejin mentioned going to explore North Korea, Her expectations weren’t that high but…
“No, it’s too early to conclude. The ring reacted slightly, that’s all.”
“How did it react?”
“When clearing the fourth dungeon, the ring itself vibrated strongly.”
Saying that, Yoon Saejin took out the necklace with the ring hanging on it.
“It wasn’t the vibration felt when clearing dungeons. It was a movement originating from the ring itself.”
“Oh… the color of that ring changed a bit.”
“Right… I couldn’t tell since I cant see”
Previously shining pure white, the ring now had traces of blackish purple.
“May I see it for a moment?”
“Go ahead.”
Seong Jihan received the ring and carefully observed traces of light.
The aura was similar to dark magic power but felt slightly different somehow.
“Ariel. Do you know anything about this energy?”
[Hmm… I can’t tell with just this much either. Doesn’t seem like shadow energy.]
“Hmm…”
Perhaps because the remaining magic power on the ring was too little, even Ariel the shadow elf didn’t know.
”It seems different from the death aura I saw on the chaos battlefield…”
As Seong Jihan was unable to discern the energy, Yoon Seah who had been observing intently next to him swiftly snatched the ring.
“Oh, this… seems related to the Void?”
“Void?”
“Yeah, I’m a Void Archer. I’m familiar with the power of the Void.”
Saying so, Yoon Seah drew her bow and released a Void Arrow. The purple light flickered for a moment, then the arrow disappeared, becoming transparent.
“Come out now.”
As Yoon Seah swung her bow, the disappearing arrow reappeared.
“It really is huh?”
Indeed, the power felt from her arrow was similar to the ring’s energy.
Now certain this energy was void,
Flash!
The light from the ring and the Void Arrow resonated.
A brief sound emanated from the ring.
=Yoon…
Just saying ‘Yoon,’ the voice was cut off.
With just that, it was possible to identify whose voice it was.
“Huh!? This… Mom!?”
“…Yes. It sounds like my sister’s voice.”
Is my sister really somewhere in North Korean territory?
After hearing the voice, Seong Jihan couldn’t stay still.
“Brother-in-law, I’ll help with dungeon clearing too.”
“No… it’s okay for now. We need to clear the dungeon with the ring, and it’s not a lack of force in clearing. We actually need more support for other things.”
“Is that so? Is there a shortage of Exploration Gift players in the Alliance Investigation team?”
“The support from the investigation team is fine, but the problem is the players with the ‘Exploration’ supporting gift. It’s not as easy to find dungeon cores as I thought. Moreover, the exploration abilities of the players sent to Korea are at B to C levels.”
On top of that, after finding one, it took time to organize dungeon-related information and upload it to the alliance.
Even when the Sword King personally swept away dungeon monsters, the progress didn’t seem to advance smoothly, and there was a reason for this.
“If you have a player with exploration… should I give it a try?”
“Is this voice… the guild master?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Perhaps because it was Christmas, Lee Hayeon came dressed more powerfully than usual. Listening quietly to the conversation, she decided to join in on the current topic.
“I heard that Divergent Guild, which used to secure a lot of exploration abilities, is now making fun of them because they have nowhere to use them. I’ll borrow someone from there.”
“Wouldn’t the Divergent guild pester you for that? Saying you should return to the guild and all.”
“It’s okay, Boss. If they bother us, we can contact other top guilds. Divergent guild is not the only guild that has secured people with exploration gifts.”
Lee Hayeon answered with a relaxed face. Being the guild master of a top guild and having dealt with world-class figures, she wasn’t particularly worried about Korean top guilds now.
“Then, please do. Ah, and we will scout excellent exploration players from this side. You can use as much GP as you want.”
“Yes, Boss. In Korea, B-rank is the highest, but…”
“B-rank is the highest? Didn’t the supporting gift grade increase last time? The difficulty was lowered.”
“Yes, that’s why B-rank is the highest now. I’ll try to focus on scouting A-rank by turning our attention to overseas, as there may be more talented individuals there.”
Since his sister Seong Jiah’s voice came out,
Seong Jihan decided to organize an investigation team directly from the guild rather than just rely on the Association support team.
There was a pile of GP that had accumulated because there was no place to use it at the moment, so it was time to use it.
Moreover,
“I’ll also provide Akashic Pages to A-rank ability holders. That should be enticing enough.”
“Oh, Akashic Pages…? The price of those has been skyrocketing lately…”
“I happen to have some.”
Seong Jihan decided to utilize the Akashic Pages obtained from Shizuru.
“Uncle, if you’ll use Akashic Pages can I ask someone I know to join too?”
“Who?”
“Sofia’s brother. I heard he raised his exploration ability to A-rank due to the difficulty reduction.”
If it was Sofia’s brother, it was Christoph, who frequently appeared as a commentator during international BattleNet matches. He held a firm position in the BattleNet industry globally, so whether he would accept the proposal was unknown.
“Sure. Let’s ask.”
“Yeah. With Akashic Pages as bait, he might be interested.”
“…Thank you for the support.”
“It’s my sister’s issue, of course.”
“Are you really sure I can’t go?”
“Yes. Sweeping through the inside of the dungeon is easy for me.”
“If there’s anything you need help with, feel free to contact me anytime.”
At Seong Jihan’s words, Yoon Saejin slowly nodded.
“Of course. I hope the opening match ends quickly.”
“Ah, the opening match…! I completely forgot because of mom’s issue. Ariel, do you know what games will unfold?”
Yoon Seah asked Ariel who was well-versed in the BattleNet.
Despite the constraints of the tutorial, Ariel had tried to provide as much information as possible within her knowledge.
[Opening match? That’s up to you guys to decide. Just think of it as a game where you fight and kill, like usual in BattleNet. True to the essence of BattleNet. However…]
“However?”
[Now, you can really die.]
“…Really die? In the game?”
At Ariel’s words, Yoon Seah’s face stiffened.
“Do you mean like when Boss cleared the promotion match? Death as a penalty?”
[Yes. To decisively lower the rank of the opponent’s race below yours, killing the enemy’s core player is the best way.]
“Well that’s true but…”
“Dying in a game… It’s hard to believe.”
Perhaps due to having been immersed in BattleNet as a game for ten years, despite Ariel’s words, those who heard them couldn’t truly grasp the reality. Except for Seong Jihan.
‘Countless players died during the opening match…’
To those who couldn’t believe it.
The incident that truly made them realize that real players could die was the disaster of the Space League opening match.
With traps set up from the first game, the World Tree Alliance was waiting. Humanity, caught off guard, faced great confusion from the beginning.
‘It’s time to return the favor this time.’
With not much time left until the opening match.
He intentionally remained in Platinum this year to grow for this day.
Seong Jihan’s eyes sank coldly as he thought about the opening match game.
* * *
[Sword King joins the Daegi guild!]
[Daegi Guild is recruiting people with exploration gifts. The basic salary is 5-10 times the existing salary. Akashic Pages for A-ranks?]
After the Christmas meeting, the Daegi Guild immediately began searching for exploration abilities. With a generous investment using the money they had saved up until now, they offered extraordinary conditions, attracting a flood of people to the guild.
-Wow, these conditions are insane…?
-They’re giving an Akashic Page? Wow, I heard it’s worth more than 500 billion these days.
-Yeah, nowadays, with the popularity of nurturing gifts, each guild is calling it a bargain to create a second team.
-Giving that to exploration abilities… Isn’t there a significant reward for clearing dungeons?
-Yeah, there might be something. The Sword King has been exploring dungeons a lot lately, so maybe that’s why they’re investing like this…
People wondered what he saw in his dungeon explorations to make such an investment.
However,
-But what about the opening match lineup??
-The list of 2,000 people was released.
-What kind of game are they playing with so many people?
-When is it coming next year?
The hottest issue still remained the Space League opening match drawing near.
After a decade-long tutorial, Earth is finally entering the main game.
Humanity is more optimistic than worried about the world after the tutorial.
They couldn’t wait to watch the opening match.
Meanwhile,
[Jihan! I heard from Seah!]
Seong Jihan was on a video call from Sophia.
“Ah, about the exploration issue?”
[Yep~ Brother refused saying he would never do exploration work until now… But when I talked about the Akashic Page, he showed interest! Brother, come talk to Jihan!]
[Player Seong, nice to meet you. I’m Christopher.]
As if waiting, commentator Christopher popped his face into the video call.
He looked at Seong Jihan with twinkling eyes.
[As a fan, it’s an honor to meet you! My little sister said something about my exploration gift, and until now, you’ve kept the secret well. Thank you.]
[You talk too much. You can tell Jihan anything! We’re going to be family soon anway.]
[He has a girlfriend, Player Seong… sigh… My sister is too young. I’m sorry.]
[No, that’s…! I can’t say that.]
[…Anyway, Player Seong. I heard from Sophie but still can’t believe it, so let me confirm. Do you really plan to provide Akashic Pages?]
“That’s right.”
Seong Jihan nodded.
“But it’s not for selling them off. It has to be used to strengthen your abilities.”
[Of course! I didn’t want to use my exploration ability until now because it looked dangerous. but using it under Sword King’s protection should be fine. I’ll have to take a break from commentary for a while.]
Although firmly established as a commentator in BattleNet circles,
It seemed Christopher didn’t want his support gift going to waste, showing a positive attitude.
“Will you come immediately then?”
[Ah… I still want to finish commentary for this opening match. It’s something I really wanted to do as a commentator. Since the Sword King is also participating in the opening match, shouldn’t the schedule be fine even if I come after finishing?]
“Yes, there’s sufficient time.”
[But it’s really a shame! If Player Seong had become a Diamond, you could have participated in all the matches…]
As the Space League opening match approached, information about the opening match began to be gradually released through the system.
One noticeable thing was participation requirements for matches 1 to 5.
[Only Diamonds or higher can participate in the Space League.]
Among them, the noticeable condition was the participation requirement for matches 1 to 5.
-Ah damn, Platinum couldn’t participate huh.
-Seong Jihan can’t participate in the opening match!
-This is like a boomerang for not leveling up because of Shizuru.
-What about not properly leveling up because of the People’s guild?
-Anyway, It can’t be helped
One of the most powerful players on Earth, Seong Jihan, couldn’t participate, and people expressed their regrets.
[But there are still 100 Platinum players on the reserve lineup. Maybe there’s a chance?]
Sophia, standing beside him, also spoke with a disappointed expression. Seong Jihan smiled slightly.
“I have a good feeling.”
[A… feeling?]
“Yes. I feel like I’ll be the MVP of this opening match.”
Wait, you can’t be MVP without participating in the game. You have to play to get MVP.
Christopher looked puzzled, but Seong Jihan spoke confidently.
“I’ll give you a present when you come to Korea, so bet on me for MVP.”
Seong Jihan spoke with a face full of confidence.
[But you need to be able to participate to receive MVP…]
Is it really ok going to Korea believing this guy?
Christopher became anxious whether he made the right choice.
And a few days later, on Channel 0.
=Everyone! The day has finally arrived…!
The day of the opening match has arrived.
*****
*****
