Ranker’s Return

Kale, head of sales at Nike Management, was hard at work today as well. His job was to excavate raw gemstones. His hands were busy wandering around the Arena communities. This only lasted a moment though as Kale didn’t see anything he liked.

“Is it a waste of time again today...”

At this moment, an article caught Kale’s eyes.

[PK Bugs Catching Video.avi]

“Ohu? Isn’t this interesting?”

Thinking it was the video of a ranker or high-level player catching low-level professional PK players, Kale played the video to relieve his stress during the interlude.

“Eh?”

His prediction was off the mark. The high-level player wasn’t the main character. No matter how he looked, the low-level player was the main character.

‘Isn’t this story interesting?’

Up to now, Kale thought it was just a pretty interesting video. Nothing in the video seemed special. It was a player who could be seen anywhere.

“Eh? What else is left?”

Kale thought the video would end with the PK players dying to the dark elf chief. However, there was a reversal. The protagonist of the video, thought to be a low-level player, destroyed the dark elf chief.

“This... amazing!!”

‘He is a friend worth signing up.’

It didn’t matter if the man had a high or low level. Just being able to show this play was enough. It was rare for players to create such a story on the fly.

“Channel Argon? I’ll have to contact it.”

The source of the video was ‘Argon’, Yeongchan’s streaming channel. Kale was busy moving his hands as he wrote a message to the first gem he had found after a long time.

[To: Argon]

[Hello, Argon. 

I am Kale Brown and I’m the head of sales at Nike Management.

Our Nike Management is a management agency created by Nike, a company everyone knows, to watch only Arena.

(Omitted).

The reason I’m sending this email is no different. It is because I want to bring the main character of the video [PK Bugs Catching Video.avi] to Nike Management.

Please carefully consider it and contact me at the below number at your convenience.

Contact: 010-XXXX-XXXX

Email: [email protected]]

“Will I get a reply in one week?”

Kale was certain that a positive answer would come. It was Nike who made the suggestion, not some other company. This was a natural confidence.

“By the way, why is he dressed like that? Are the options really good? Or is he just confident in his face?” Kale muttered while sipping his Americano.

***

While Kale was sending an email to Yeongchan, Hyeonu left for a new hunting ground. It wasn't bad to keep catching the dark elves. He had only reached the tip of the iceberg here. However, he didn’t know what would happen if he kept staying here. Thus, he left.

The Meadow Wolf Tribe—they were the orcs who ruled the north side of the Black Forest. The orcs of the Meadow Wolf Tribe were monsters that were at least 10 levels higher than the dark elves. Hyeonu was hunting these orcs with the help of Tang-E’s buffs.

[A Meadow Wolf Orc has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

“Master dude. Let’s take a break.”

“I will level up if I catch one more. Let’s catch one more.”

“How many times have you said that?! It has been more than five times. Five times!” Tang-E angrily stretched out a palm. He seemed to be trying to express the number ‘five’.

“I understand. Then we will take a five-minute break.”

Hyeonu checked his status window during the break. It was to distribute the remaining stat points gained from leveling up.

[Status Window]

[Character Name: Gang Hyeonu

Level: 24

Class: Warrior

Title: Warrior Acknowledged by Khan.

Stats: Strength: 55 (+68)  Agility: 50 (+28)  Physique: 40 (+50)  Magic Power: 30

Remaining stat points: 5]

‘The level up speed is really fast.’

If there was one difference from the past, this was it—the leveling up process. In the past, items weren’t good, and there was no information. It was because Hyeonu had been the top player. Now, it was different. There were many things he could enjoy as a latecomer. He would use all of them to catch up as quickly as possible.

‘I’ll catch up soon.’

Hyeonu also confirmed Tang-E’s status window.

[Status Window]

[Name: Tang-E

Level: 15

Species: Marionette Bear

Title: Bung Bung Island’s Heir

Stats: Strength: 35  Agility: 35  Physique: 50  Magic Power: 90

The heir of Bung Bung Island. Bear-like physical abilities and high magic power are racial characteristics. He is very affectionate, unlike his prideful tone.

Intimacy: 15

Skills Possessed: Bear’s Momentum, Forest’s Blessing]

‘This is definitely a unique pet.’

The criteria for figuring out the rating of pets was the increase in stats per level. Players gave a rating based on their own standards.

[Uncommon: ~3–5

Rare: ~6–7

Unique: ~8–10]

Tang-E was the highest-rated unique pet by these standards. He gained two strength, agility, and physique, as well as four magic power, per level.

‘His buffs are above average and I’ll be tanking later, so this is perfect.’

“A lucky charm. A lucky charm.”

“Ugh! Master dude, don’t do this.”

Hyeonu was stroking Tang-E’s two ears as he lay comfortably.

“The break time is over.”

***

The orcs of the Meadow Wolf Tribe were powerful. Most players hunted one in a four-player party. Meanwhile, Hyeonu was different. It was even possible for him to compete against three at the same time. Just like right now.

“Human!! Chwiik! Strong.”

“Human, sword warrior who has tasted the joys and sorrows of life. Chwiik!”

Just five minutes ago, the meadow orcs had expected to eat tender human meat. There was only one human, so they had been wondering how to divide the meat between themselves. They had no idea that they would be killed.

“Tang-E! Buff!”

“I understand. Master dude!”

A green beam emerged from Tang-E’s hands. It was Forest’s Blessing. The shape of a bear came to life behind Hyeonu’s back. This was Bear’s Momentum. There were also additional effects when Tang-E’s two skills ranked up. It was no wonder that the buff effects improved.

[Bear’s Momentum]

[-Gives a bear-like strength and physique.

Type: Buff

Rating: Rare

Skill Proficiency: F+

Increases the target’s strength and physique by 10% for 6 minutes.

Skill Cooldown Time: 1 minute.]

[Forest’s Blessing]

[-Grants the vitality of the forest.

Type: Buff

Rating: Rare

Skill Proficiency: F+

-Increases the target’s defense by 10% and restores health by 0.15% per second for 6 minutes.

Skill Cooldown Time: 1 minute.]

Hyeonu became powerful the moment he received Tang-E’s buffs. This power was close to a disaster for the meadow orcs. In the blink of an eye, Hyeonu dug through three meadow orcs. So far, he hadn’t been able to penetrate the thin leather armor and thick muscles of the orcs.

‘This time is different!’

Now it was different. He instantly used Bash and Heavy Blow to maximize the power of his single-edged sword. Then there was a subsequent side-cut! This one attack was a critical hit to the orcs. The battle ended in such a vain and unbelievable manner that it was like Hyeonu was joking around.

[A meadow wolf tribe orc has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have leveled up.]

[All health and magic power have been restored.]

[The skill proficiency of Weapons Mastery has increased to F+.]

[The skill proficiency of Bash has increased to F+.]

[The skill proficiency of Heavy Blow has increased to F+.]

‘Will the video be good?’

Hyeonu ignored the message about leveling up. No, he had no time to care about it. He was checking the video of his recorded battle.

“It will be a big problem if it is poor again.”

There was a reason why Hyeonu was doing this. After the hot response to Hyeonu’s video, Yeongchan encouraged him to continue posting videos, and Hyeonu sent him the ‘okay’ sign. The result was the current situation. He was making a video. Ordinary hunting videos couldn’t attract people’s attention. It might’ve been possible just by being Hyeonu’s video since his combat style was one that couldn’t be seen anywhere else. Yet Yeongchan wanted something bigger. He wanted a video where tension and pleasure coexisted in short battles.

“Oh! This is enough.”

Hyeonu checked the recorded video and then confirmed the things he had postponed.

“Have my skills already improved?”

The proficiency rose faster than he thought. The reason was that the system gave extra points when he caught strong monsters.

“That’s right. Tang-E, can you get rid of those effects?”

“What effects? Master dude.”

“The shining light that occurs every time you give a buff.” 

Tang-E understood what Hyeonu was saying. “It is certainly possible, but don’t you like this? It looks better, Master dude.”

Hyeonu shook his head at Tang-E. “No, won’t it become useless if I have to use it secretly later?”

This time, Tang-E shook his head at Hyeonu’s words. ‘You are a sneaky master dude.’

“Understood. I won’t show any signs in the future.”

Hyeonu nodded at Tang-E's words and turned his attention to where the body of the orc had disappeared.

“It is a finished product!”

It was the emergence of some uncommon equipment that would help pay for potions. Hyeonu grabbed the orc’s leather armor.

“By the way, what is this?”

The thing in Hyeonu’s hand was an unidentified bone necklace. At this moment, a quest was created.

[A quest has been created.]

[Heir of the Meadow Wolf Tribe]

[The bone necklace of Cancun, the next chief of the Meadow Wolf Tribe, has been found. Pass on the bone necklace to the chief, Raccoon.

Rating: D+

Conditions: Deliver the bone necklace to Raccoon 0/1.

Rewards: Experience.]

“Ohu? This is a quest?”

Hyeonu read the contents of the quest and shook his head. Strangely, the quest had a high difficulty. This was despite it being a simple delivery quest.

“Why is the quest rating so high if it is just a delivery quest?”

Hyeonu couldn’t hide his doubts as another message appeared in front of him.

-For Chief Raccoon to appear, you must be acknowledged by the boss monster of the Meadows, Fighter Dakan.

‘Acknowledged by a boss monster?!! This dog-like quest!!!’

“Then the chief isn’t a monster?”

Now Hyeonu could slightly understand the difficulty of the quest. Chief Raccoon wasn’t a monster of this level. He was likely to be an NPC. He was also probably a very high-level NPC.

“The only certain thing is that this is a jackpot.”

The quest Hyeonu received this time was clearly the biggest income compared to anything else he earned in the Black Forest. Most of the quests associated with high level NPCs gave good skills or items. The many rankers proved it. 

“By the way, how do I catch the fighter...”

Hyeonu’s current level was too low to be acknowledged by Boss Dakan. It was only worth a try if he was at least level 30. Hyeonu was currently level 26.

‘There are four levels left?’

"Let's go, Tang-E! Start the hunt.”

***

“Did you get anything today?”

A middle-aged man completed the authorizations and pleasantly greeted Kale who had entered his office. The identity of the middle-aged man was the boss of Nike Management. It was Jamie Moore.

“You start talking about work as soon as you see me. Aren’t you glad to see me?”

Kale wittily replied to Jamie’s greeting. “Today, I found a friend who will be Nike’s jewel. I’d like to scout the owner of this video.

He is a friend with a special talent.”

Kale placed a tablet PC in front of Jamie. It was the video seen by Kale a few hours ago. Jamie watched Hyeonu’s video without saying anything. Throughout the show, he made gestures like he was the main character of the video. Finally, the video was over.

Jamie was lost in the afterglow of Hyeonu’s battle and finally opened his mouth. “He is a great friend. I think it is enough for him to become part of Nike. I’ll be waiting for the good news, Mr Kale.” 

“I hope so too, Boss.”