Ranker’s Return

It was Thursday, two days after Hyeonu wasted a whole day sleeping. The Arena community was on fire. It was because Arena’s patch had started.

-Milk Drinking Yuljae: When will the patch finish?

-Unexpected Death when Touched: Maybe Friday? I heard it would take all of today?

-Power Muscle King: It is a forced day off. Shivers.

-Pro Dreamer: I haven’t played Arena in a long time. ㅋ ㅋ ㅋ

The players’ reactions were unusually similar. The patch would take a long time to implement, so it was a day off. However, no one was dissatisfied or outraged by this long patch time. The players’ confidence in Arena was high.

“Uh, so what should I do today?”

Hyeonu was no different from those players. It had been a long time since he started pouring everything into Arena. At this moment, Yeongchan opened Hyeonu’s door and came in. “Hey, let’s go exercise.”

‘I’ve been taking a week off, so I should go today.’

Hyeonu had taken a week off from exercising in order to pass Garon’s test. Inwardly, he wanted to rest, but Hyeonu had experienced the effects of exercising and couldn’t stop. He couldn’t quit since it would waste what he had done so far.

“Yes, let’s go.”

***

Finally, the long patch was over.

One by one, the streams started to analyze the patch. Hyeonu chose to learn more about this patch instead of accessing Arena straight away.

‘There isn’t a suitable quest I need to help me gather information and think about sucking up the honey.’

Additionally, there wasn’t a quest that required him to connect to Arena and clear straight away. It was Sunny’s stream that Hyeonu chose after he accessed A-World.

[A Patch Analysis with the Analysis King Sunchip]

It was a stream involving people with faithful sources of information, so Hyeonu thought it was worth watching once.

‘Sunchip is a great person, and his wide network isn’t a joke.’

Apart from that, Sunny’s casting power was also formidable. Sunchip was the number one player that every guild wanted as a miner. He refused them all and just worked as a freelancer.

“If we have to talk about today’s patch, there are three main things—the third class change, the siege, and the pets.”

Hyeonu connected to Sunny’s stream just as Sunchip started analyzing the patch.

“As everyone knows, the third class advancement takes place at level 200. Rare classes are strong, so they must meet additional challenging conditions. It is very reasonable. Rare classes with very good skills will find the third class transfer very difficult. It is a type of balance. They want to lower the power of the class.”

‘It doesn’t matter to me. I just need to reach level 200.’

It was a distant story for Hyeonu. Only his level was insufficient. He was confident that he could clear any quest that Lebron was going to give him. It was the same with the other viewers. For them, the third class advancement at level 200 was a distant thing. The majority of viewers hadn’t even experienced the second class change yet.

-In any case, it is a long way in the future.

-Yes, isn’t this just for the rankers?

-Are there any rankers who don’t have skills but rose due to their class?

-I admit it. The rankers have no problems. It is the kids running among us with a rare class who will be having trouble in the future. ㅋㅋㅋ

This was the case with Sunny.

‘How will I do my third class change?’

Sunny was lucky enough to get a rare class, Master of Corpses. She was able to hunt with a large number of undead. However, her ability to judge situations was significantly reduced, and she was unable to properly achieve the efficiency of her class. It would be impossible for her to do the third class change on her own if she continued with it like this.

“Is it really difficult? Sunchip?” Sunny asked Sunchip in a slightly anxious voice.

Sunchip answered decisively, “Yes, it will probably be difficult. In fact, there has been a lot of talk about the balance between classes. This is a relative sense of deprivation. I think that Quency has thought about that well this time.”

Then Sunchip immediately started talking about the siege. “It feels like Quency has also worked hard when it comes to the siege. Apart from the professional league, they want to raise rarely used content. Quency’s intentions are likely to succeed. If you don’t have a castle, you will have no place to play in the professional league. So the value will go up. And if the value rises...? The prices will naturally go up. Then the content will come alive.”

His insights were truly worthy of an analysis king. Hyeonu agreed with Sunchip’s opinion.

Castles would certainly be very expensive. The popularity of Arena was enormous, and the value of professional teams was also huge. What if a player were expelled from a professional club? What if there was no castle? No matter how big the castle, it must be less valuable than a single professional club. If so, what was the long-term benefit of buying a castle?

‘You are the winner of the lottery if you get a castle.’

The problem was that the odds were much lower than the lottery. They needed to have both luck and skill.

“Everyone, it is already the last one. What about pets? I love pets as well. In particular, Alley Leader’s Tang-E—I love him.” 

Sunny had a blank look as if she was thinking about Tang-E. It was the same with the viewers. The chat window was bombarded with hearts.

-Haha, Tang-E, haha.

-I want to have such a pet as well.

-Really. Tang-E will win this contest unconditionally.

-Others can’t even mix in. Isn’t Tang-E superior?

‘Contest? Did they get the exact information?’

Hyeonu had no information about the pet contest since the announcement would be released later.

“Yes. I think so as well. I think the championship is already fixed. The pet contest is like an audition program that selects the most attractive pet through a brief burst of charm. What type of pet will be able to beat Tang-E to win?” Sunchip also predicted that Tang-E would win the pet contest. “It is said that the winner of this contest will receive an ‘essence’ that increases the pet’s stats. Tang-E will become even more powerful. If you have a pet, apply now. You can apply until 12 o’clock tonight. The pet contest will be held tomorrow.”

‘Until tonight? I’ll have to apply quickly.’

Hyeonu was thinking about the pet contest while Sunchip kept talking.

“Additionally, the pet arena will open. It feels like Quency has worked really hard to bring out the contents of the pet system that has been dying. However, this content itself won’t have much effect.”

Sunchip brought up a small image. It was a cute bear. The identity of the bear was known to everyone who was watching Sunny’s stream.

“Since Tang-E became a celebrity, interest in pets has increased, and the pet arena is likely to succeed. In a way, Quency should give Tang-E a gift. One piece of content has been saved,” Sunchip said seriously like he was sincere, not joking. “Then we have to talk about the events—the best pet event and the pet contest... I talked about the contest a little while ago, so I’m going ahead to talk about the best pet event.”

As Sunchip was about to continue, Sunny interrupted him. “Sunchip, will the best pet event be interesting? There are no rankers famous for pets, so won’t Tang-E be superior?”

Sunchip nodded at Sunny’s question. “I think so as well. It isn’t just me. Everyone thinks the same as Sunny. We know how powerful Tang-E is. That lightning magic—it contains great power. What’s more, did you see a huge change in his melee combat in the recently released video? This is what’s shown in the video.”

He flicked his finger, and the screen changed. Once Sunchip and Sunny disappeared, a video of Hyeonu and Tang-E hunting Crasul appeared.

“This is the scene. The boss monster’s aggro was focused on Alley Leader, ignoring Tang-E. Then Tang-E attacked and took the aggro back. This type of aggro ping pong is what pets and players can do. Is this the end of it?” 

Aggro ping pong was when two or three players sequentially dragged the monster’s aggro. It was a technique that required considerable control. Yet one role was perfectly done by a pet, not a player.

“I wonder if this event will be Tang-E’s solo show. Isn’t that right, viewers?”

-ㅇㅇ. Tang-E will sweep it away alone.

-First place in the pet contest is reserved, and first place in the best pet event is also reserved.

-Kuk... I should’ve drawn one of these pets.

-I aimed for Tang-E, but a wolf came out instead and raising it is hard.

-Tang-E is a unique rated pet just looking at it. There are around 30 known unique pets right now?

“However, there is some sad news. We know that Alley Leader will take a break from streaming tomorrow as a result of his bet with viewers. It is really sad. I won’t be able to see Tang-E’s performance.”

-You can’t see him via the stream, but you can watch videos or on the field.

-How do I get there? There is no answer. How many people are there?

-When will a video be released again?!!

-Ah, really, I want to cut off the hands of all those who made a bet at that time.

The viewers trembled thanks to Sunny’s words.

-Why did I accept the bet at that time?

-Me too. ㅠ ㅠ

-We were swept up in the atmosphere.

-Will he be resting tomorrow?

-He has taken three out of four breaks, so of course, he will be resting. Don’t you know Alley Leader?

Viewers had little expectation that Hyeonu would be streaming tomorrow. Hyeonu had already taken a break three times. It was difficult for the first time, but it was easy to do after that. This was something that viewers were familiar with. Thus, they weren’t expecting it.

‘If I stream tomorrow, will they be impressed and praise me? Will they throw gold coins at me?’

“Ohuhuhu,” Hyeonu laughed at what he was imagining.

***

The event field was crowded with a large number of players. Those who didn’t have access to Arena connected to A-World. There was only one reason why they were gathered. It was to see the world’s best pet event being held today.

“Hey, is Alley Leader really not streaming today?”

“How can he do it? It is his day off, day off.”

“Indeed... I would rest as well. If I hunt during the time it takes to stream, then I will level up.”

“I still want to participate in the event.”

“That’s why we came here after hunting.”

Suddenly, the conversation between the two of them stopped. The conversation wasn’t cut off. It was just stopped. The reason for this was the person walking toward the two men. It was a masked man who had a teddy bear sitting on his shoulder. They were Hyeonu and Tang-E.

It was only after they passed that the two people opened their mouths.

“Hey, isn’t that Alley Leader?”

“Quickly write a post on the community. Alley Leader has appeared.”

As the two of them were making a fuss, Hyeonu was already preparing to stream. He created a waiting room. The title of today’s streaming was simple.

[The Difference between Heaven and Earth, Tang-E’s Solitary Existence - the Tang-E Show]