Chapter 78
The Grand Martial Arts Tournant was the biggest event in the Martial Realm, representing the 10th Floor, and it was a festival that drew the attention of countless Rankers.
Whenever it got close to the tournant, the Martial City beca chock full of people.
“There really are a lot of people.”
“Did you manage to find lodging?”
“There’s literally no place to stay, but even if there was, we’d have to share rooms.”
“What do we do?”
“I don’t know. I told you, we should have co sooner to secure a spot.”
“But coming five days before the event seems like such a waste.”
“The tournant isn’t the only thing here. There’s plenty of other sights to see. You really are stupid.”
“Selling hot jianbing!* We also have veggie stir-fry and dumplings!”
*TL/N: A Chinese street food that’s like a savory crepe.
The streets were filled with vendors selling simple foods.
People drank liquor, shared food, and debated while looking over the list of participants for the tournant.
“It’s gotta be Hoon. Not only is the NamGung Clan the one hosting the tournant, he’s not called a genius for no reason.”
“The NamGung Clan ain’t that great. The Martial Guild isn’t even one of the major guilds.”
“Do you think it’ll be Hargaan then?”
“Is he also participating in the tournant?”
“Of course. He’s the best High Pure-Blood in the last few hundred years. I heard that he made it all the way to the 25th Floor in a flash before waiting for the tournant.”
“What a terrifying speed.”
“At that rate, he might even be able to beco a Ranker in less than ten years.”
Hargaan was one of favorites to win the Grand Martial Arts Tournant. Not only had he made it to the 25th floor, the last floor you can get to before being ineligible to participate, he had ranked highly on each floor he had passed.
“Hey! I got a big scoop!”
“What is it that it made you so late?”
“Sit down already. Could I get another aguardiente here?”
“I’d also like so more side dishes…”
“That’s not what’s important right now!” the man who had arrived late said to his group, all out of breath, “Kim YuWon is participating.”
“Huh?”
“Really?”
“I thought he would have gone on to clear the next floor.”
“I didn’t think he’d be interested in stuff like this.”
Players that participated in the Grand Martial Arts Tournant had various motives. The most common one was to show off their skills and get sponsored by the best guild possible.
Countless guilds paid attention to the tournant, so if you did well in it, it was a piece of cake to get sponsored by a guild.
Another common reason was to elevate the status of a guild.
Players on the lower floors were essentially a guild’s future. They would climb the Tower, beco Rankers, and one day beco a core fighting power of the guild.
Also, a guild’s reputation changed depending on the number of players that did well in the tournant, so many different guilds would push their players to participate. The more players of their own guild that ranked highly in the tournant, the more their reputation would increase, allowing them to expand.
“I doubt it’s to get the attention of guilds…”
“Do you think it’s for the prize?”
“I bet he’s participating, thinking he’s got this in the bag.”
The group of n that were eating now had a different look on their face.
These Rankers didn’t co all the way down to the 10th Floor just for fun.
“When was the last ti we approached YuWon?” the man in the center of the group asked.
He was soone that didn’t bother with pointless gossip, so when he spoke, the mood drastically changed.
“It was after he cleared the 8th Floor.”
“So it’s been a while.”
“He’s managed to climb to the 20th floor since then, but it actually hasn’t been that long in terms of ti, sir.”
“Still.”
“We sent a ssenger, but he didn’t even bother with us.”
“I’ll personally go this ti,” said the man with a face covered in blue scales as he stood up.
It was Brahnil, a Ranker belonging to the Dragon race.
He said, “With the honor of our guild, the 12 Earthly Gods,* on the line.”
*TL/N: The 12 Earthly Gods is a reference to the 12 Chinese zodiacs.
* * *
“Go away.”
That was what Brahnil was told at the door after having jumped through various hoops trying to find where YuWon was staying.
Brahnil had a blank look on his face. He couldn’t believe he had been told to go away. He had thought he would get invited in for so tea and have a short talk before he was rejected.
He had also wanted to take this chance to see why everyone was so desperate to recruit YuWon.
So he was dumbfounded at being treated like this.
“Aren’t you quite rude?” Brahnil asked.
YuWon just silently pointed behind Brahnil with his chin.
Brahnil looked behind him and was shocked to see a familiar face.
“You’re…” Brahnil trailed off.
“Aren’t you from the 12 Earthly Gods? I heard that things haven’t been going well for you guys, but to think the guildmaster would personally co.”
“Sariel?”
As a Ranker of the major guild Zion, Sariel was an archangel who was said to be on the precipice of becoming a High Ranker.
Gulp—
A Ranker from Zion with the position of archangel had personally co to pay YuWon a visit. Normally, Zion would have just sent a player on the lower floors to recruit soone.
‘Could it be that others are doing the sa as …?’ Brahnil thought.
It was rare for a Ranker to personally co and make a recruitnt offer, so Brahnil had intended on scooping up YuWon by getting ahead of everyone.
His thought process was that no matter how great a player might be, there was no way YuWon could beat the pressure exerted by a Ranker.
But Brahnil was completely wrong. This was not the first ti a Ranker had personally paid YuWon a visit.
YuWon had been encountering Rankers for quite a while now, even before he had stepped foot on the 10th Floor.
“It’s a good sight. I hope you keep up the hard work as the head of the pack,” said Sariel.
Brahnil bit his tongue at the back-handed complint. Even if he was a Ranker of the Dragon race, it couldn’t be helped that he felt miniscule compared to an archangel of Zion.
“Are you also going to tell to go away?” asked Sariel, looking back and forth between YuWon and Brahnil.
Sariel decided that there was no need for a long talk. YuWon seed very used to this situation.
“Well, you are my ninth and tenth visitor today,” YuWon answered.
“I see.”
Though he was visited by multiple guilds, YuWon denied all of them a eting.
This was the first ti a Ranker on the level of Sariel had co by, but no matter who ca, YuWon had no intention of giving a different answer.
“Well, if you by chance have a change of heart, contact us here. Zion will always have a spot for you.”
“I can promise you that won’t happen,” YuWon answered, leaving not a shred of hope.
In contrast to Sariel who started leaving, Brahnil stood in place, wanting to get sothing out of this encounter.
That was when a new visitor ca by.
“What about ? Should I also go away?”
YuWon, who was planning on going back into his room, stopped in his tracks.
His annoyance quickly left, and he felt a bit comforted after seeing who it was.
“It’s been a while, friend,” said the new visitor.
‘H-Hargaan?’ Brahnil thought.
A chiseled, handso fellow with golden blonde hair and sharp eyes. Hargaan looked exactly like he had heard.
Brahnil rembered that Hargaan was a comrade that YuWon did the Tutorial together with.
YuWon said, “Yeah. Go away.”
“Wait! Really?”
“I’m kidding. You can co in,” YuWon said, going into his room without closing the door.
While following YuWon, Hargaan let out a baffled laugh, “Your jokes aren’t funny man.”
Slam—
The door closed, and Brahnil mumbled in a daze, “I should just leave…”
* * *
The inn YuWon was staying in was quite big, clocking in at about 65m2.* It was one of the best places one could get in the area.
*PR/N: ≈ 700ft2
“How did you even get a place like this?”
“By paying a pretty penny.”
“You must be rich.”
“Well, I just keep racking up points. I went through the trouble of stopping my ascension. Might as well rest in luxury.”
“Is that so?”
YuWon poured so water for Hargaan.
The cold glass of water was perfect for a hot day like today.
As Hargaan was about to take a drink…
Bang, bang—
“Is Mr. Kim YuWon here?”
“Soone’s here for you,” Hargaan remarked.
“Just ignore it. If it’s actually urgent, they’ll enter by breaking down the door or sothing.”
“You’re real laid back. This must happen a lot.”
“I’ve had people visiting regularly, but it’s been especially bad here.”
“It’s probably because of the tournant. Guilds gather around this ti in the Martial Realm to recruit players.”
YuWon nodded his head. It was annoying, but it was going to be a few days at best, and things were likely going to calm down again once he left the 10th Floor.
“So how did you find ?” asked Yuwon.
“You’re a real celebrity you know. All I had to do was ask around a bit.”
“I would have just told you if you had asked.”
“But what’s the fun in that? It wouldn’t be a surprise visit then, would it?”
“You didn’t really surprise either way.”
YuWon thought Hargaan would have changed a lot, but he was still the sa. A laid-back personality, earnest eyes, and a confident attitude.
He was one of the few ‘real ones’ that YuWon acknowledged.
“What about your teammates?”
“They’re resting at the inn. I snuck out to co see you.”
“Has anyone died so far?”
“Not a single one.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“We’re all going to beco Rankers. They all have what it takes,” Hargaan said with confidence.
And his words had a level of truth to it. So of his teammates did indeed beco Rankers that YuWon knew in the future.
‘Though I’m not sure about Lee SungYoon…’ YuWon wondered.
The one unexpected variable was SungYoon.
He was a player from Earth like YuWon, and he had a great talent for mana, being able to use [Mana Blast] early on. So it was hard for YuWon to gauge how much he might have grown.
‘I guess I can find out by seeing him in person,’ YuWon decided.
There was not much information known about SungYoon, and he was originally a player that should have died in the Tutorial. Maybe it was because they ca from the sa place, but he was the most morable out of Hargaan’s teammates to YuWon.
“I heard you pulled sothing real big this ti,” said Hargaan.
YuWon had a confused look on his face.
He wasn’t pretending. He genuinely didn’t know what Hargaan was talking about since it could have been a number of things.
“I heard you were the one that stopped Olympus from capturing Hephaestus.”
“How did you find that out?”
“I might not be well-loved by my family, but my father is still Zeus. Besides, do you know how many people have beco Rankers after being in my shoes?”
YuWon nodded his head at Hargaan’s words.
There were quite a handful of bastard children of Zeus. Famously, there were Apollo and Artemis, the High Rankers of Olympus. They were both illegitimate children of Zeus.
“I’m able to get ahold of most information. Seriously. I thought you were one real crazy son of a bitch when I heard it. Tsk tsk. What were you thinking? I’m impressed that you survived a fight against a Ranker, but now you’ve made an enemy of Olympus.”
“I’m surprised you ca here despite knowing all that.”
“Well… I’ve never been one to care what others think. Besides, it’s Hera’s faction that’s all up in arms anyway.”
Hargaan had never been on good terms with Hera and Ares, so he had decided there was no need to be careful of them.
“What about Zeus?”
“… You’re the first guy I’ve ever t who says my father’s na so nonchalantly.”
“So?”
“Father has long since stepped away from matters regarding Olympus. He’s focused on clearing the next floor.”
The Tower was known to have a total of 100 floors, but that wasn’t actually true.
People called players who climbed to the 100th Floor Rankers, but that was only because the test on the 100th Floor hadn’t been cleared yet.
There was a higher place in the Tower, and people referred to the place above the 100th floor as ‘The Ceiling.’
“Anyway, Olympus is not happy because you saved the criminal Hephaestus, so you should watch yourself for a bit. When I get a chance, I’ll speak to my father and try to put in a good word for you.”
It seed that Hargaan was unaware what had happened on the 11th Floor.
YuWon wasn’t surprised. The fact that a test examiner had attacked a test participant would be top secret. Even Hargaan shouldn’t be able to obtain such information easily.
Hargaan was showing goodwill, but YuWon was still disappointed by what Hargaan had said.
“So that’s how you see it as well,” YuWon said.
“What do you an?”
“I’m talking about ahjussi. He’s known as a criminal within Olympus.”
After finishing his glass of water, YuWon got up from his seat.
“Do you want to co with ?” he asked Hargaan.
“Where?”
“To the 1st Floor.”
YuWon had so business there, so he was going to stop by before the tournant started anyway.
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“To et Hephaestus-ahjussi.”
Those words made the expression on Hargaan’s face change.
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