Taming Master Chapter 125

Chapter 125: Unexpected Fame (2)

Sunghoon, who was part of the planning team of LB Sports, was looking over user ‘Ian’s attack, which was showing the hottest response for this event.
To be honest, it seemed that the expression ‘admiring’ was more appropriate than ‘looking over’.
Since for the whole time Sunghoon was reading through the attack, he was far from assessing it and was instead just admiring it.
“No, seriously, what does this guy do?”
The total aggregation period of the Attack King event was three days.
Starting from the results, right now, when two full days have passed by, Jinsung’s attack was overwhelmingly taking 1st place.
After achieving a 15-minute clear record with Fiolan, Jinsung experimented with all of the components of the dungeon while using all 50 minutes every run.
He dug through the Forlan dungeon so thoroughly, it was close to obsession, doing things such as analyzing each and every stat of the monsters that appeared, the number of monsters that appeared according to the phase, the attack patterns, etc.
So, with the statistics that were made, Jinsung analyzed the minimum stats, etc. that were required for the dungeon attack for each class and organized it, and this part caused an explosive reaction from tons of users.
A countless number of attacks were uploaded onto the event bulletin board, but there was no attack as detailed, to the point it was almost perverted(?), as Jinsung’s attack.
“There was a reason why it was claiming 1st place in recommendations so dominantly, really.”
In Jinsung’s attack, there were a lot of factors for users that already had decent specs, but there was also quite a lot of information for beginner users whom have continuously failed the attack.
If it was a user that was interested in the Forlan dungeon, it was an attack that they couldn’t help but read carefully.
“Didn’t I tell you? That writer is really a pervert. There’s no mistake.”
The current number of views was over 100 thousand for Jinsung’s bulletin board post, and the recommendations were over 30 thousand.
Considering that the number of views for the 2nd place bulletin board post was 70 thousand, and the recommendations for that were 8 thousand, it was a result that was truly dominant.
“Sunghoon, would there even be a meaning for us to even grade this? The recommendations of the 2nd place attack post is 23% of the 1st place one… If we wait until the last day like this, the amount of recommendation points that the 2nd place post can receive is only 70 points out of 300.”
Hyein, who was examining the other attack posts next to Sunghoon, grumbled.
This was because, just like she said, no matter how high of a score the other attack posts received from the LB Sports judge panel and the user group evaluation, it was no different from saying that 1st place was already decided.
Even if 2nd place was to receive a perfect 100 points in both of the group evaluations, their total score would only amount to 270 points, and there would be no way for them to beat the 300 recommendation points of 1stplace.
“Still, well… For now, since work is work, we’ll need to do it.”
While looking at Sunghoon, who replied with a bitter smile, Hyein shook her head.
“That attack post, though, I also saw it earlier, but we wouldn’t be able to help but give it 100 points. Even if the planning team that planned out the Forlan dungeon wrote an attack post, I doubt that they would be able to write one out better than that person.”
“… Agreed.”
Of course, the quality of the attack also accounted for a large part of the reason why Jinsung’s attack was dominating 1st place, but it was also because of the synergy of the provocative title that said 15-minute clear and the video that it was able to reach an even more explosive result.
“The guild of the user Ian was Lotus Guild, right?”
“Yes, Hyein.”
Hyein scratched the back of her head as she continued her words.
“Please at least find the contact information of the Lotus Guild’s Guild Master.”
“What for?”
“Because I think the 1st place reward will be sent over there anyways.”
Sunghoon grinned as he nodded his head.
“Ah, got it.”
* * *
Meanwhile, Ian, who had logged onto Kailan, was headed towards the southern continent with a peaceful heart.
This was because, with just the result that he checked yesterday evening, he thought he was already so dominant that 1st place for the event was an established fact.
“I should have bought a return stone beforehand…”
Ian complained as he rummaged through his inventory.
As he had spent such a long time only in the northern continent, he didn’t have one return stone for any place amongst the villages of the southern continent.
Celia, who followed behind him as he grumbled, smiled brightly as she opened her mouth.
“Ehh, Lord, still, since you’re going with me, you’re not bored, though, right?”
While looking at Celia, who trotted right up next to him and suddenly stuck out her face, Ian was taken back and stuttered.
“Uh… Su, sure, Celia. It definitely isn’t boring.”
Amongst his retainers, Ian just brought Celia down with him to the southern continent.
The reason for that was because, amongst the five retainers, Celia was definitely the biggest help.
‘Since it’s a little bothersome to go around dragging the other dudes around, too… And they’re not that big of a help, either.’
Rather than her combat abilities, Celia’s Inherent Ability, the Familiar Healing skill, was truly a big help when hunting.
‘I even regretted not bringing Celia with me when I went to go fight Orvil multiple times.’
The other retainers couldn’t even demonstrate a fighting power equal to one of Ian’s Familiars and died instantly when they met a decently strong opponent.
However, Celia was able to give a lot of help while taking on a support role.
If he just had Celia’s Familiar Healing ability, there would have been no incident of Ddukdae dying either.
“But, Lord, where are we going right now?”
At Celia’s question, Ian blinked and responded.
“Huh? Did I not tell you where we’re going?”
“Nope!”
“… Then, you didn’t even know where I was going, yet said you’d come along?”
“Yep! Since I’m good with wherever you go!”
“…”
While looking at Celia, who made a dangerous(?) statement with a bright expression, Ian shook his head.
‘If Harin saw, it would have probably been hard for me to survive, right?’
Recently, Ian also began to realize that his relationship with Harin was no longer simply just one as ‘friends’.
But it wasn’t like he could define what kind of relationship it was more of…
“We’re going to the Luspel Capital right now, Celia.”
“The Luspel Capital? Wow, then, will we be able to see His Majesty, the king?”
Either way, at Celia’s cute form, Ian grinned and nodded his head.
“Yeah, that’s right. We’re going to go see His Majesty, the king.”
* * *
“So, Emily, what you’re saying is that the central continent will open up this second large update?”
“That’s what I’m telling you. My source is definite, so you can trust the information.”
“No, but it can’t be that special of information if it’s just that the central continent is opening up. That can’t be it for the information you have for me, right? There’s nothing we can find out with just that.”
“Of course, there’s even more important content.”
The Domain ground of the Titan Guild, who were 2nd place in the Korean server’s guild rankings.
Ceilron, the Sub-Guild Master of the Titan Guild, and Emily, his closest personal and one of the leading members, were having a conversation privately.
“What is the more important content that you’re talking about?”
Emily continued her words with a secretive tone.
“Firstly, you’ve probably already speculated that the central continent is also covered with bases that don’t have owners just like the northern continent.”
“That’s right.”
“Something that could probably be considered the biggest deal is…”
After momentarily taking a breath, her mouth slowly opened.
“That the central continent is a PK zone.”
“… A PK zone?”
“Yeah, a PK zone.”
It was silent for a moment.
The words PK zone were words that made one think that much.
It was the same for any game, but ‘PK zones’ were incredibly sensitive content.
Since if this content was poorly implemented, the balance of the game would crumble and there were also a lot of cases where games lost their users instantly.
“When you say PK zone, does that mean the Infamy penalty that you gain from killing a player completely disappears?”
“That’s right. However, that’s not all. If you succeed in killing a player in the central continent, then instead of gaining Infamy, your ‘Specialty’ points will go up. It seemed like you could change these Specialty points to Honour and exchange for items as well.”
Colonar Continent was currently majorly divided into two.
Kaimon Empire occupied the west side of the continent, while Luspel Empire occupied the east side.
The reason that there was no big dispute between the two enemy empires for this whole time was because the central continent, the blocked-off land behind the Wasteland which was not yet open, put a plug in that dispute.
As the northern continent opened up, a form of contact began to appear between the two empires, however, as the territory wars that still periodically appeared were ceasing, the fact that the central continent was being opened up as a PK zone was no different than saying they were going to light a powder keg on fire.
“For them to not just remove the penalty, but to even give us a new reward as well, it’s definitely high-rank content, so it’s not like the rewards are going to be lame.”
“Correct. I wasn’t able to gain information on that, but from what I just heard by chance, there’s something called the ‘Imperial Seal’ as well.”
Emily’s tone slightly rose, and the face of Ceilron, who maintained his composure up until now, changed completely.
“Imperial Seal, eh? The Imperial Seal that’s required in order to be promoted to a Nation-rank?”
Emily nodded her head as she responded.
“That’s right. It’s that Imperial Seal. Specialty points are that necessary, and I have no idea what other requirement will also be attached, but anyways, that’s how it is.”
Ceilron’s mouth slowly began to open after he was silent for a moment.
“Ha, seems like it will get crazy. Imperial Seal, huh… As soon as the central continent is opened, we’ll need to seriously fight like no tomorrow. Looks like there won’t even be much time to go out and hunt or such.”
“Probably. There probably won’t be a reason to go out hunting at all.”
“Why so?”
“It looked like you could obtain quite a lot of EXP even by killing a user or NPC that’s affiliated with an enemy empire.”
As much as the two people were both top-rankers, they immediately began to draw out how this update will influence the gaming direction of the future in their heads.
“Even if a war broke out, since the pre-existing continents will still maintain the No-PK setting anyways, the beginner zones won’t be in danger. In the end, in order to enter the west, they’ll need to get through the Wasteland and Shikar Desert, so unless a path is completely made, it will be a war between the top-rankers that are over lv 120.”
At Ceilron’s words, Emily nodded her head.
“That’s right.”
“Hmm… Amongst the guilds affiliated with Luspel Empire, are the guilds that will be somewhat of a burden just the Splendor Guild and the Oaklan Guild?”
Currently, amongst the top 5 guilds of the Korean server, the guilds quarreling over 1st place and 2nd place, the DarkRuna Guild and the Titan Guild, were both affiliated with Kaimon Empire.
However, the guilds occupying 3rd-5th place, the Splendor Guild and the Oaklan Guild, as well as the Valiant Guild, these three guilds were affiliated with Luspel Empire, so just based off the rankings, it summed up to a decent balance.
Ceilron stroked his greatsword, which shone a white light, as he mumbled.
“If we just grab this chance well, we may be able to create a foothold that will allow us to overtake the DarkRuna Guild.”
“Agreed. We need to secure at least three bases in the central continent and secure a couple strategic locations, and this time, we seriously need to beat the DarkRuna guild.”
To be honest, the guilds that were affiliated with the Luspel Empire weren’t even in the two people’s minds.
This was because, in comparison to the two guilds of Kaimon Empire that were quarreling over 1st and 2nd place, the guilds of Luspel Empire were lacking significantly in fighting power.
“We need to get a hold of the Imperial Seal first no matter what. It’s still far off until we can immediately promote to the Nation-rank, but whether we have that or not is a big factor.”
Ceilron and Emily basically saw Luspel Empire as just a foothold for the growth of their guild.
Their target was always the guild that was affiliated with the same empire as them, the DarkRuna Guild.
“Speaking of which, Emily, where has the Guild Master gone to the point that I haven’t seen them at all lately?”
Shyakran was the Guild Master of the Titan Guild as well as the one that was unmatched in the Korean server’s Warrior class, being 1st place in rankings.
He was the only user that Ceilron respected within Kailan.
“Shyakran has most likely gone to the Capital of Kaimon Empire.”
“The Capital? Why there?”
“Well, probably because of an Empire Quest.”
“I see. Do you know what kind of quest it Is as well, by any chance?”
And Emily’s words continued.
“Who knows. I’m not too sure, but maybe there could be a relation to this upcoming large update as well, no?”