n

n

nYTBC’s planning team was in a panic.

nIt was because phones from the customer service center kept ringing.

nMost of the calls were from angry viewers.

nEveryone was blaming the planning team now.

n“Mr. Lee! What is happening? The Rookies’ League has never been so popular!”

nThe angry director Park Munseong asked while Lee Hansung, manager of the planning team, was

nembarrassed.

nHe knew well why Munseong was angry at him.

n‘I couldn’t have known that this Rookies’ League would be such a hot issue just like you!’

nWhen the Arena opened, Lee Hansung made all the special effects team and video editing team work

non editing the main matches of the Major League, just as usual.

nHowever, as soon at the Arena was closed, viewers started to protest about not broadcasting the

nRookies’ League.

nPersonal videos of players were uploaded to the community, but their quality was not as good as the

nbroadcasting station’s videos taken by crystal spheres and, most of all, many users wanted to hear

nthe commentary.

nSo, YTBC’s planning team hurried to start editing videos of the finals and semifinals of the Rookies’

nLeague.

nHowever, it took some time.

n“I-I think it is because of the new classes.”

nVideos of Major League were, of course, more splendid and more dynamic as users of the highest

nlevels fought in there.

nHowever, players who participated in the Major League were mostly the popular ones who everybody

nknew about.

nAdditionally, the Major League had ten times more participants than the Rookies’ League, so the

npreliminaries were just over. As a result, YTBC had no video from important matches.

nIn this situation, it was natural that users were more interested in the finals of the Rookies’ League in

nwhich users from the new classes did surprisingly well than in the Major League’s preliminaries in

nwhich users did what was predictable.

n“Oh, you think I don’t know that!”

nPark Munseong was angry. So, he yelled at Lee Hansung.

n“Make everyone work on the Rookies’ League’s videos and get ready to broadcast them! Starting

nfrom round 64!”

n“Ev-everyone? Everyone including those who have been editing videos of the Major League?”

nThe director yelled again, “Yes!”

nLee Hansung replied in a sad voice, “Yes, Mr. Park…”

nPark Munseong spoke again, “You will get fired if those videos get broadcasted later than the other

nstations!”

nBam-!

nPark Munsung slammed the door while Lee Hansung was left alone. He sighed, “Oh, this wretched

ncompany! Why am I still here?”

nHansung huffed, but he hurried to leave the meeting room and give instructions to the planning team.

n…

nAfter the Rookies’ League ended, Ian received his reward and quickly used a Return Magic Scroll to

nleave the Arena.

nHe didn’t want to waste time on people who would bother him.

n‘Many guilds would try to recruit me… and there must be many users who are curious about my

nhidden class.’

nAnother reason was to reflect on himself for losing so easily.

n‘Hu… I let him take control of the match.’

nLimlong was certainly strong.

nEven counting that the Summoner class was not good at fighting Assassins, Ian could not react

nproperly to skills of the hidden class which he knew nothing about. Limlong was still a powerful user.

nHis hidden class, which used skills based on shadows, must be a high class that was not worse than

nIan’s hidden class.

n‘However, it was not like he was undefeatable. I didn’t know much about him… I should have dragged

nthe time to learn about his attacking pattern instead of countering…’

nIn a way, Ian had been defeated by the same swift attack that he had used against Himenes.

nHe couldn’t even have the time to get used to Limlong’s attack pattern and fighting style.

n‘I have been relying on my pets too much…’

nIan’s way of fighting was natural for a Summoner.

nAdditionally, Ian’s class was the Taming Master that was even more specialized in taming than

nordinary Summoner, so of course he relied more on his pets.

nIt was a big advantage in PvE (Player vs Environment) battles, but it was also a critical disadvantage

nin PvP (Player vs Player) battles.

n“Khmm…”

nIan felt bad about not being the winner, but he got over it soon.

nIt wasn’t Ian’s style to keep a defeat in his heart.

n‘I will win the next time.’

nIan was in high spirit.

nHe felt bad about the times where he had spent to prepare for the Rookies’ League, but there would

nbe more important new leagues as his level got higher.

n“Let’s check the items!”

nIan got over his grief and opened his inventory to check his second-place reward.

nIan got two rewards, 80,000 Reputation and a box of Hero rank gears for Lv. 50 Summoner.

nIt was known that the second-place gearbox contained one random Hero rank accessory and one

nrandom weapon.

nIan went to a desolate place and took out the box from his inventory.

n“I get excited the most when opening things like this.”

nThe excitement of checking random rewards was a separate thing from the frustration of not winning.

n“What should I open first? The weapon box? Or the accessory box?”

nIan decided to open the accessory box first.

nApart from the hair accessory he had gotten at the Dungeon of Chaos, the accessory was the gear he

nmost wanted to change, although it was time for him to change all gears.

nIan put his hand on the accessory box.

n“Open!”

nA blue light came out of the box as it opened.

nSystem message came up.

nInformation of the item appeared.

nSummoner’s Shining Fighting Spirit

nCategory: Ring

nRank: Hero

nUsage Limit: Lv. 50 or higher

nDurability: 255

/255

nOption: Summoning Magic 100

nOption: Spirit Magic 30

nOption: Friendship 50

nOption: Leadership 15%

nRecovers additional 1 Spirit Magic per second while wearing.

nAll stats of pets that have maximum Friendship and Loyalty increased by 5%.

nItem belongs to the user Ian.

nIt cannot be given or sold to other users. It is not dropped when the character dies.

nLuxurious ring given to the Summoner who excelled at the Arena.

n…

n“Oh, it’s good!”

nIan checked the info and smiled while he nodded.

nThe options of increasing the stats were good enough, but the part Ian liked the most was its unique

noption for recovering Spirit Magic.

n“I frequently run out of Spirit Magic when using Lightning Spheres, so it’s great!”

nIt had a Lv. 50 use limit, so it’s options were about the special stats Ian got at Lv. 50.

n“But why does it belong to my character?”

nHowever, Ian didn’t like that the ring belonged to the character.

nUnlike his hair accessory, it wasn’t good enough to be used permanently.

nHe needed to sell it when his level got higher and got a better ring, but he couldn’t do that.

nHe would have been able to get huge money as the item was really good.

n“Now, shall I open the weapon box?”

nThe Ancient Summoner’s Steel Knuckles, which was Ian’s weapon now, was still very useful at Lv. 50.

nEspecially because it had the unique option Linking, so Ian wasn’t going to change his weapon unless

nhe got a really good one.

n“Open!”

nJust like before, the box opened with a blue light.

n“Oh! Bow! It’s a bow!”

nIan was very excited at getting a bow. He started to read the information.

nSummoner’s Shining Longbow

nCategory: Longbow.

nRank: Hero

nUsage Limit: Lv. 50 or higher

nAttack Force: 205~395

nDurability: 600

/600

nOption: Speed 65

nOption: Summoning Magic 30

nOption: Fatal blow probability 15%

nAll summoned pets’ Speed increases by 20%, Attack Force increases by 30%.

nRecover 3 Spirit Magic when inflicting critical damage to the enemy and leave a Shining Mark on the

nenemy.

nThe Mark lasts for 5 seconds. Hitting the enemy again with the bow before the Mark disappears

ndecreases the cooldown time of all skills by 5 seconds.

nThe item belongs to the user Ian.

nIt cannot be given or sold to other users. It is not dropped when the character dies.

nLuxurious longbow given to the Summoner who excelled at the Arena.

n…

n“Ha…”

nIan started to think hard.

nThe item was better than he had thought.

n‘If I change my weapon, I would not be able to use Linking.’

nAlso, the knuckles’ options of increasing the critical damage of all pets and the Leadership would be

ngone.

nHowever, the bow also had good options, so Ian couldn’t decide quickly.

n‘But recovering the Spirit Magic and decreasing the cooldown time are too appealing!’

nThe bow also had a stronger Attack Force, however, the weapon’s Attack Force wasn’t that important

nto Ian.

nNow, Ian’s Attack Force depended mainly on the Spirit Magic stat that directly affected the skills’

ndamage.

nIan made a decision after thinking for long.

n“I should use the bow and keep the knuckles for now until I get another weapon with the Linking

noption.”

nIan had a reason for making that decision.

nHe liked the bow’s options more for now, but if Ian’s pets got a powerful pet Unique Skill, he might

nneed a weapon with the Linking option.

nIan made up his mind. He then took off the knuckles and put them in his inventory. Next, he took the

nbow.

n“Now, after hunting for a while, Training skill’s cooldown time should decrease by a few minutes!”

nThat was why Ian had decided to use the bow.

nWhat Ian valued the most was the Potential stats of his pets.

nThe bow had an option that could make the Training skill’s cooldown time end faster.

n‘Now that I think about it, I should check Ly’s Potential.’

nIan had been using the Training skill on Ly ever since he bestowed the Enlarging Shell skill on

nBukbuk.

nThanks to that, the Training skill was Intermediate Lv. 8 now, and Ly’s Potential was over 50.

n“Good.”

nIan smiled.

nHe could use the Training skill faster now, so Ly’s Potential would soon reach 100.

n“If I get a good new pet, I can raise it properly.”

nActually, to use Potential stat with the maximum efficiency, he needed to make his pets gain levels

nonly when their Potential was 100.

nThe higher the Potential was, the more stats went up when gaining a level.

nHowever, Ian got stronger by raising level quickly than by caring about all the stats of the pets, so he

nlet his pets gain levels regardless of their Potential.

n“My Friendship is over 300 now. I wish I could get a Hero rank monster with the Evolution Possible

noption.”

nThanks to his high Leadership, he could capture most Rare rank monsters quite easily now.

nHe hadn’t captured Unique rank monster except for Bukbuk, but he felt he could do more.

n‘Hhhhh… Ly started as a Regular rank, and he had gotten so strong, so if I capture a Unique or Hero

nrank monster and make it evolve, it would be great!’

nIan got happy just imagining it.

n‘If I get a Hero rank Evolution Possible monster and raise it by filling 100 Potential starting from Lv.

n1…’

nIf he could do that, he would be able to get a great pet.

nIan stretched his back and organized his items. Then, he started to move.

n“But I should gain levels until the vacation ends.”

nHe had wasted more than a week because of the Rookies’ League.

nIan suddenly recalled the bet he had made with professor Lee Jinuk.

n‘Oh, right… Lv. 93… I have to reach that before the vacation ends!’

nIan calculated the time he had left.

n‘One month and ten days till the semester starts. I can miss the first week as that is the time to

nchange courses… and professor Lee Jinuk’s first class is on Thursday, so…’

nIan’s head started to work faster than ever.

nHe finished calculating. He had about 50 days left.

n“I’m screwed!!”

nThe time was too short. It would be impossible!

nIan needed to gain at least one level every day to almost reach Lv. 93.

nHe would be able to gain 2~3 levels a day for now, but he knew well how hard it was to get EP after

nLv. 70.

n“Uh, there’s no time to waste! Hunting! I must go hunting!!”

nIan hurried to move, Ian’s gaming life depended on the bet.

nHe couldn’t even imagine losing.

n