Chapter 156

Chapter 156: Isolation, and a Crisis (2)

“Alright, alright, please gather over here in an orderly way. The battle will begin soon.”

At the front-line base of the Luspel side of the central continent, there were hordes of users affiliated with the Luspel Empire that gathered to participate in the battle.

Front line battles were dangerous to the point that it was quite difficult to avoid death, but despite that, there was an obvious reason why many users looked for this battleground.

That reason could be organized largely into two, and first, as expected, it was because of the enormous amount of EXP that was difficult to obtain through just normal quests, and the second was because the easiest way to obtain ‘Imperial Family Contributions’, which were required to obtain good artifacts or quests, was fighting in the front lines.

Of course, because for users that were affiliated with giant guilds, there were more benefits in fighting while affiliated with their guild, so there weren’t many that came, but for users who didn’t have an affiliated guild or were part of a small guild where it would be difficult for them to enter the central continent, yet were still over lv 100, it wasn’t an exaggeration to think that most of those users gathered at this front-line base.

And because there was a huge crowd gathered, the noisiness was an obvious.

“Yo, but, what if you die as soon as the battle starts? Then you’ll just lose a level without even being able to obtain much Fame or Contributions, no?”

“That probably won’t happen, but even if you were to die as soon as it started, it’s not that big of a loss. Since, on average, you obtain 10 thousand Fame and 1 thousand Contributions even just from participating. A ranking Warrior-class person that I know caught a couple dozen soldiers yesterday alone and obtained over 50 thousand Fame. And I think they obtained almost 10 thousand Contributions as well?”

“Pfft, are you sure they didn’t randomly hit knights and not just soldiers? You’re saying that they just caught soldiers, yet got 50 thousand Fame?”

“No, that person is about lv 130, but they said that they couldn’t touch the knights. They said that Kaimon knights are almost lv 140.”

“Keu, then how much Fame would a knight give? They probably give a lot of EXP too, right?”

And while they individually talked about this and that, Ian also stood in line amongst the empire users that were waiting to register as a mercenary.

‘For crying out loud, the procedure is incredibly complicated. Should I have just gone looking for Hellaim right away?’

If he had went straight to Hellaim, he probably would have been able to register as a mercenary quickly, but the front-line barracks were too wide, and the problem was that there was no way to find out where Hellaim was.

Ian stretched out his neck, and after checking the front of the long line, he grumbled to himself.

‘Ugh, how much longer do I have to wait? I’m dying because of how wasteful this time is.’

However, just then, A familiar voice called Ian.

“Excuse me… By any chance, aren’t you Viscount Ian?”

Ian reflexively turned his head at the voice that called his name, and in that spot, there was a knight affiliated with the Luspel Empire that was staring at Ian while on a horse.

Ian was momentarily taken aback.

‘Who is this? How do they know me?’

He felt like he saw him somewhere, but he didn’t really remember.

Ian erased his taken aback expression and asked him.

“Yes, it is, but… Who are you?”

And Ian’s question was immediately solved.

“Ah, so it is you, Viscount! The fact that you cannot remember me, I’m a little disappointed, haha. I am ‘Valtor’, an adjutant serving the leader of the royal guards, Hellaim. Did we not participate in the hunting of Holdream just a couple days ago together?”

After hearing his explanation, Ian began to remember the other’s face.

No, truthfully, even though he didn’t remember, he needed to act as if he remembered.

‘Alright, I got lucky!’

Ian brightened his face, and held out his hand towards him.

“Ah-ha, Sir Valtor! I’ve made a big mistake; how could I have not remembered? When thanks to you, Sir Valtor, we were able to hunt so easily in the basement dungeon, haha!”

Valtor immediately got down from his horse, and while taking Ian’s hand, he showed his mannerisms, and in an instant, their surroundings began to buzz.

“What the hell, that user is acquainted with a knight of the imperial family’s royal guards!”

“Who exactly are they? Rankers or celebrities are all affiliated with giant guilds, so there’s no way that they’re here. If they are able to act that close with a royal guard, then aren’t they an incredibly important figure?”

“On top of that, the imperial family knight spoke first!”

While jealousy towards Ian and assumptions about his identity were rampant here and there, someone yelled loudly.

“I know that person!”

“Who is it?”

“You see, the Summoner that came out on the trailer videos of this large-scale update, it’s that person!”

“That’s right, Ian, it’s Ian!”

At the unexpected situation, Ian flinched.

However, this was an obvious sequence.

Since, before Ian realized, his popularity had gone up to the point it was comparable with decent rankers.

However, because his stake of popularity was mainly gathered around Summoner users or new class users, in this battleground, where high-level users that were above a fixed standard, a person that recognized him had just appeared a little later.

The number of new class users that could enter the central continent was truly a small minority.

Especially in the case of Summoners, who had difficulty leveling up, the number of users that had the ability to enter the central continent could be counted within ten fingers.

No matter the reactions of the people, Ian brazened his expression and continued his conversation with Valtor.

“Sir Valtor, by any chance, could I ask you for a favour?”

“Please tell me, if it is something that I can do, I must definitely do it.”

Ian was slightly surprised at the reaction that was more favourable than expected, but he soon nodded his head.

‘It’s an obvious that my Affinity with the imperial family’s royal knights is high since I’ve done multiple quests with them up until now.’

Starting from the Griffin Hatching Quest, Ian had completed weighty empire quests such as the War Prisoner Rescue Operation.

Especially, as Ian had conducted the knights magnificently inside the ancient ruins, the dungeon of Holdream’s Grave, his Affinity with Valtor, whom he was currently with, was close to maximum.

“I also want to help the knights at the front line and fight, that is, I want to face as many opponents as I can at the head. Could you, Sir Valtor, guide me to Leader Hellaim?”

He had cleverly packaged up the words that he didn’t want to wait and wanted to jump the line.

Of course, Valtor was delighted as he nodded his head.

“Oh, from what I heard, I heard that the Lotus Guild also had to defend their base, but to run over to the offensive unit at the front like this for the imperial family, your loyalty towards His Majesty is truly enormous, Viscount.”

While being as brazen as possible, Ian let out a hearty laugh.

“Haha, once the front defensive line of the empire collapses, what good would our guild base be? I will lead the first line in blocking off the Kaimon guys.”

Valtor wore a pleased expression as he nodded his head.

“Keu, as expected, there was a reason why His Majesty favoured you. Follow me, Viscount. I will guide you to the leader. The Leader will also probably be delighted.”

Ian slightly bowed his head towards Valtor as he showed his gratitude.

“Thank you, Sir Valtor.”

Like that, Ian finished his short conversation with the knight of the imperial family, Valtor, and following behind him, he disappeared into the barracks.

In the spot that he disappeared from, the remaining users grumbled as they let out their dissatisfaction.

“Wow, for personal connections to be important even in games, too… How sad this is!”

“But still, no matter how much of a named user he is, how much of an active role could a Summoner play in the ferocious front-line battlefield for them to take him away like that?”

“That’s what I’m saying. The fact that it is incredibly difficult to level up a Summoner is something that everybody knows… That Ian person wasn’t even in the ranking list, so would he have even hit lv 110?”

“Hul, these people really don’t know much. Have you at least watched one combat video of Ian’s?”

“No. Well, even if I didn’t watch one, isn’t it obvious? It’s not like I’ve seen a Summoner only once or twice.”

However, just when dispute towards Ian began to thicken, one female user, who had been still up until now, opened her mouth with a quiet voice.

And the rippling effect of her words were quite big.

“I am not an acquaintance, but I believe that Ian is at least lv 130.”

Shortly after, opposing voices immediately burst out from here and there.

“No, what kind of nonsensical words are those? From what I know, the current 1st place Summoner user in the rankings is lv 122 or something like that.”

“Exactly what I’m saying. There aren’t even five Black Magician users that are over lv 130 either.”

However, at her words that followed afterwards, everybody couldn’t do anything else but shut their mouths.

“I am that lv 122 Summoner that is currently in 1st place in the Summoner rankings. And from the result of watching Ian’s combat video, he is much stronger than me.”

The users, who had gathered together to chat away up until then, wore flustered expressions.

“But how could he not pop up in the rankings…”

And she continued her words.

“He probably set up all of his information up until now to 100% private. Aren’t there also a couple of users like that amongst the unofficial rankers?”

“Th, that…”

They were words that were hard to believe easily, but as the character information that popped up above her head added a weight to her words, people stared at the spot that Ian disappeared from with jealous expressions.

• Loren/Lv. 122/Summoner

* * *

• So… You’re saying that you’ll be going in as a spearhead in a war that will break out between the empires 1 hour from now?

Jinsung sat on his chair in front of his desk and was currently on call with someone through his smartphone.

“Yes, that’s right. And I will record all of the battle process with the internal camera in the capsule. As my capsule is the new model with the best specifications that hasn’t been out long, the quality will probably be fantastic.”

A clear, female voice continued to be heard through Jinsung’s smartphone.

• Excellent. No wonder, the video quality of the basement dungeon of Holdream’s Grave last time was also really good, and as expected, you had the newest capsule model.

“That’s right. Anyways, I hope you’ll also edit this video well this time, Sojin.”

• Of course. Don’t worry. The video itself is really good, but you also know my abilities.

“Of course. Then once the video is finished, I will immediately send it to you.”

Jinsung, who finished with his business, was about to end the call, but Sojin’s voice flowed through again.

• Oh, right, Jinsung.

“Yes?”

• When should I upload that Holdream’s dungeon clear video?

At that question, Jinsung was momentarily submerged in his thoughts.

‘Hmm… If that video spreads, it could still possibly be a little dangerous. Since giant guilds will pay more attention to me…’

The biggest problem was that once the video spread, the fact that Holdream’s Holy Grail was under Jinsung had a high chance of spreading together as well.

Of course, the scene where they obtained the Holy Grail will be edited and uploaded, but still, it was a fact that could be guessed at any time.

Jinsung’s words continued.

“Please wait a little more. As information that cannot be known yet is inside… I think it should be alright after about two weeks. I will contact you again then.”

At those words Sojin licked her lips.

• Tsk… I’m itching because I want to upload it quickly… Well, either way, I understand. Then, please contact me again soon, Jinsung!

“Sounds good!”

Jinsung, who ended the call, opened up the internet and searched up the list of videos on YouCast where his combat scenes were included in before he began to look through them.

There were videos starting from as little as a couple hundred thousand views to ones that were even close to about ten million views.

Jinsung mumbled with a satisfied expression.

“Alright, with about this many views, I’ll probably get even more money than last month, right?”

With a broad smile, Jinsung checked each and every video.

Thanks to having passed on quite a lot of combat videos to Sojin, now, if you searched Ian’s name, almost close to twenty videos could be searched up.

“What should I buy as soon as money comes into my bank? As expected, you earn money to spend it!”

At the thought of splurging on things with the money that would roll into his bank account, Jinsung became happy.

However, Jinsung’s next words were the highlight.

“Should I be changing all of my armour into top-class items? Or is it time for me to change my staff? Hmm, as Magic Spheres is still useful, it’s a little wasteful to change it…”

If it were others, they would have thought about buying a car or moving into a better house with the money they earned, but Jinsung just thought of trading the money he earned into game items.

If his parents saw this scene, it would have been hard for him to even salvage his bones, but Jinsung was all smiles as he moved his feet towards his capsule again.

“Still, let’s not use all of it, I should leave a little and at least go eat beef or something with Harin.”

Still, fortunately(?) now, Harin’s stake seemed to have appeared a little in Jinsung’s mind.