Seong Jihan’s BattleTube channel.
There, scenes of unilateral massacre were being broadcasted.
Whooooosh!
[What’s happening?]
[Is this… Dragon Breath?]
After reaching the Master League, Seong Jihan was only matched against alien species.
The game began, and immediately, a massive fire was unleashed from the sky.
With such one-sided attacks from a distance, the game ended quickly.
The viewers released comments as they watched.
-Wow, it’s over already? I just took a brief trip to the bathroom after the alarm and it’s finished
-You see the big one? That’s why I watch it on my phone even when I’m doing my business
-Lately, a general matchmaking game lasts at most 10 minutes LOL
Following his battle with Constellation Longinus in Gangnam, Seoul, Seong Jihan had been matching in BattleNet general games for about a week.
By the matchmaking system, the highly-rated him was matched with strong players even in the Master League, but…
The results were always a complete victory for Seong Jihan.
-Against aliens, who could match Seong Jihan? He even defeated a Constellation.
-Really? Is that true?
-Yes, the Sword King himself said there was a Constellation descent in Gangnam.
-Having defeated a Constellation, the others are just guaranteed defeats LOL
-Oh, the screen is dimming.
-It’s ending already… ㅠㅠ
Before the viewers’ conversation could develop further, the game concluded, closing the channel.
Games in recent weeks always ended this way, leaving viewers craving more.
Meanwhile,
‘It ended so quickly, but I still leveled up.’
Seong Jihan, exiting the game, checked his growth.
Normally, reaching the Master League should have meant that leveling up would substantially slow down.
However, perhaps due to all kinds of buffs overlapping since acquiring the VIP membership, Seong Jihan’s growth rate remained significantly fast.
‘Level 360…’
Seong Jihan reviewed his stats on the status window.
Name: Seong Jihan
Level: 360
Affiliation: Master League – Space 3
Martial Soul: 299
Void: 150
Red: 17
Eternity (Imperfect): 2
The considerable growth in his stats.
Yet, Seong Jihan frowned upon seeing them.
‘Martial Soul isn’t moving up from 299.’
Martial Soul, which had been increasing independently without the need to invest remaining stat points, had stopped growing upon reaching 299, remaining unmoved.
Since he is unable to invest the remaining points, he has no choice but to leave it alone for now.
‘I shouldn’t increase Void right now.’
The stat Void, in a sense, was the easiest to raise.
The Arena’s Master hadn’t taken back the half-mask, the Void Processing Facility; just wearing it on the face steadily increased stats.
However, this stat shouldn’t surpass its limit.
Originally 200, this limit had substantially increased through the VIP membership, but…
‘Still, there was no exact figure on how much the accommodation had extended.’
Moreover, the VIP membership would be reclaimed after 6 months.
Before finding a significant way to increase the void accommodation, it was crucial not to invest in this ability.
‘The stat Eternity hasn’t budged.’
The imperfect stat, Eternity.
Since it first rose to 2, it showed no signs of growth.
Eternity 2 allowed for the infinite extraction of the essence of life, a game-breaking ability.
Yet, as beneficial as it was, points couldn’t be invested in it, and the trait showed no intent to increase.
‘Among the 4 stats, the only practically upgradable ability was red.’
With Martial Soul ceasing to increase, the only option left from the remaining points was red.
Seong Jihan poured all his accumulated remaining points into red, raising it to 17.
Certainly, focusing his investment made the power of fire more formidable, and coding became easier, but…
Even then, Seong Jihan was not satisfied.
‘I need to break through the wall of Martial Soul at 299…’
Rejecting the Arena’s Master’s offer and confronting the entity that detained his sister Seong Jiah in the Abyss.
To fight against him, possessing the strength of a high-level Constellation, more strength was necessary.
But currently, only Red was upgradable.
He had to puncture through the Martial Soul limit, which had hit a wall.
‘I need to delve further into the Annihilation Techniques.’
Martial Soul increased as he mastered the Annihilation Technique.
The very first Annihilation Technique, Iron Blood Cross, was nearly fully analyzed after acquiring Longinus’s spear.
From the second technique, Myriad Ghost Sealing Gods onwards, even though he had managed some adaptations, it was hard to claim full mastery.
Moreover,
‘The utilization of the Third Annihilation Technique, Return of the Light, remains vague.’
Return of the Light, an annihilation technique related to fire.
This granted the brief resurgence of power before death, it felt misaligned with the concept of an annihilation technique.
Plus, the activation condition was unclear, whether it needed to be on the verge of death.
Since remembering its name, Seong Jihan hadn’t grasped the technique’s utilization.
‘Ascending from the Master League won’t be tough, but challenging the Abyss Master would be impossible without continuous growth. I need to break the Martial Soul 299 barrier.’
Seong Jihan pondered upon the Martial Soul stuck at 299 when.
Knock knock.
“Come in.”
“Boss… it’s me.”
Lee Hayeon entered as the game concluded.
* * *
Lee Hayeon’s condition was visibly poor upon entry.
Dark circles under her eyes from a week earlier, her face seemed thinner, yet her gaze remained intensely sharp.
“Hayeon, haven’t you been sleeping?”
“Yes. Discovering the BattleTube channel for aliens through Jihan’s account was like finding a new world…”
“Yawn. Really, there’s all sorts of stuff there…”
Following Lee Hayeon, Yoon Seah also entered, appearing tired but not as visibly affected due to being a high-level player.
“I recently watched ‘A proposal to escape from BattleNet’s relegation zone with just 10 million GP. Testing if it’s true.’”
“That proposal. Was it real?”
“No. The portal was leading to a World Tree Elves lab after all.”
World Tree Elves.
They’d gone that far?
“What’s scarier was a reply left under the video by a World Tree Alliance Elf saying, ‘We cannot overlook the malicious defamation of the Alliance’s honor.’”
“Why’s that?”
“An alien who used to upload one or two videos a week on his channel hasn’t uploaded anything in 100 years since this comment was posted.”
Silenced, then?
The influence of the World Tree Elves was indeed significant.
“I wanted to see more because there was so much other interesting content, but Hayeon said we should focus first.”
“Right, our priority now is boosting Jihan’s subscribers.”
Lee Hayeon sighed deeply.
“Initially, when I browsed the alien BattleTube channels using Jihan’s account, boosting subscribers didn’t seem overly difficult. The cosmos is filled with Constellations, strong players, yes, but cases like Jihan’s, not even a Constellation yet defeating one, were extremely rare. There seemed to be plenty of content to work with. But… there was a deadly flaw in BattleTube.”
“What flaw?”
“… BattleTube has severe racial discrimination.”
“Racial discrimination?”
Confused, Seong Jihan listened as Lee Hayeon elaborated.
“Species interacting with BattleNet across the cosmos typically rank at least medium… These species hardly acknowledge lower and lowest rankings as equals. They don’t bother to seek out their content. So, I thoroughly browsed channels run by lower and lowest ranking species. Subscribers really don’t increase.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. And even if you watch, it’s somewhat self-deprecating content? Like a lowest rank race demeaning themselves. Giving off a vibe like ‘indeed a lowly race…’”
“You know it well.”
Lee Hayeon’s analysis prompted the Shadow Queen to emerge from Seong Jihan’s arm.
“Not anyone can browse the alien BattleTube. It requires being at a level to interact with alien races as a player. And those who reach such a level are at least medium or above… They’ve climbed by stepping on lower ranks. To them, lower rankings are fundamentally objects of contempt.”
“Is that so? Then isn’t it strange that I, being the lowest rank, have around 100 subscribers?”
“That makes sense… Initially, I hadn’t paid much attention to the number, but for someone from the lowest rank to gather around 100 subscribers is indeed peculiar.”
BattleTube’s alien viewers, disregarding the lowest ranks.
Capturing their attention would not be easy through ordinary means.
“Moreover, with the diversity in species and differing ecosystems, interests vary… It’s even harder to capture the attention of outsiders with the limitation of being ‘lowest ranking’.”
“That’s true.”
“However, there is one interest that binds all these players together.”
Lee Hayeon gestured a circle with her fingers.
“GP.”
“No matter how high you climb, GP seems always scarce. Videos related to GP are wildly popular.”
“Even in higher leagues, the amount of GP required for revival increases. Plus, maps with strange penalties ask for ten times the GP for revival, so if you’re unlucky, you could die in game. GP is practically a lifeline in BattleNet.”
Even in higher leagues, the necessity for GP grows, as Shadow Queen elaborated.
To races from diverse ecosystems, the common interest was how to earn GP.
“So, I had an idea…”
“What is it?”
“The Space Arena!”
Lee Hayeon’s eyes sparkled.
“You’ve participated in games there before, right? It’s a cosmos-wide betting ground for all sorts of games!”
“Unnie almost quit gambling, but after searching for arena-related info, her eyes changed…”
“I stopped! This time, I had no choice but to conduct research for the sake of the boss’s subscribers!”
Yoon Seah shook her head in disagreement, prompting Lee Hayeon to swiftly counter.
“This month’s end, there’s a game for Master League players in the arena. If the boss participates and wins consecutively as someone from the lowest rank, those scouring for players to bet on will start noticing him.”
“The Space Arena… Where the bet-obsessed ultimately gather. Standing out there will inevitably attract attention, whether you like it or not. The structure of the arena, however, makes it difficult to keep winning streaks…”
“Why?”
“If you keep winning, the arena matches you with stronger opponents. But the jump in difficulty is so high that most topple after around 5 consecutive wins.”
Hearing this, Seong Jihan tilted his head.
When he joined the Space Arena as a game map.
He had easily strung together consecutive wins.
So, he encountered the concealed being, ‘Remnant of the incarnation,’ and absorbed its power.
‘Was it just easy because it was a game map?’
Thinking this, Seong Jihan asked the Shadow Queen.
“Do they give experience points in the arena?”
“Thinking of leveling up? The experience rewards will be substantial. Still, the penalty for losing is high… If you’re not fully prepared, your level could plummet.”
“That’s fine.”
If he were defeated in the arena and lost levels, how would he face the formidable foes he’d meet in the future?
Seong Jihan focused more on the victory rewards than the defeat penalties.
“Let’s participate in the arena. But just participating might not draw enough attention.”
“How about mixing it with a high self-bet? The focus intensifies if the player himself places the bet. At first, no one may notice, but as you start winning in the arena, the high self-bet is revealed, increasing the frequency of mentions. ‘Did you see the new player? Bet a huge amount on himself.’ Something like that. And there’s more…”
Lee Hayeon, passionately pouring out strategies to draw attention, was brimming with ideas, her exhaustion transforming into vigor.
Even if she quit gambling, her interest in betting seemed undiminished.
“Shouldn’t we upload the previous arena win as a video beforehand? To show that I dominated in the arena mission too.”
“Hmm. Shall we start with that?”
Accepting Yoon Seah’s suggestion, they organized past videos for upload.
[A subscriber ‘CEO Octane Investments’ donates 1,000,000GP with a message.]
[It is an extraterrestrial being. Do you accept the sponsorship?]
“…Is this that octopus from before?”
One of the hundred or so subscribers had quickly sent a donation.
