The Golden Prospect's Viral Return
As stories about Kang Yujun continued to dominate the news, reactions flooded in on MeTube as well.
Kang Yujun's story was perfect material for video content.
A golden prospect who had failed to awaken, now returning as a trainer? It was the kind of hook no one could resist.
Thanks to the algorithm's favor, Yujun's videos began appearing one by one. On top of that, a short-form clip exploded past ten million views, spreading news of him even further.
Obtaining an A-rank license immediately was shocking enough, but the fact that the person who did it was Kang Yujun made it even more unbelievable.
The golden youth, Kang Yujun. Who could have predicted that the man expelled just recently would make such a dazzling comeback as a trainer?
With Kang Yujun's spectacular return, scouts were frantically sending out calls in every direction.
"I thought we'd need to watch Woo Hana a little longer, but this blew up way too fast!"
"I didn't expect it to explode like this."
"Can't get through to him right now?"
"Is there anywhere we can reach him?"
Every scout was trying to make contact with Yujun, but it wasn't easy.
Ring ring— Ring—.
Yujun's phone kept ringing nonstop.
Hmm.
Yujun had no intention of belonging to any organization. Still, he needed to collaborate with guilds. He hadn't built connections with many guilds yet. In that case, the bridge would have to be the scouts contacting him now.
"I'll have to maintain good relationships with them by giving and receiving what we each need."
Scouts were people he could work with for mutual benefit. After all, they needed to produce results too.
There will be times when I need to borrow the scouts' power as well.
Scouts were connected to countless guilds and Awakened.
They have the power to provide information and make connections.
"In that case."
It would be far better to give them results and maintain those relationships.
Only through mutual benefit will I get something solid in return.
"I'm planning to gather as many points as possible in preparation for the demonic beast training request."
Yujun had never dealt with demonic beasts before. Training them had only been planned content for the Infinite Tower and hadn't actually been implemented yet.
Of course, I have faced them before.
Since he had to lead a division climbing the Infinite Tower, he had clashed with demonic beasts countless times.
But training them is an entirely different matter.
Killing was one thing, but training required careful attention.
Then I need to eliminate as much risk as possible.
That was why he intended to stockpile as many points as he could.
The training hints are incredibly helpful.
Training hints allowed him to spend points for multiple additional pieces of advice.
When he had trained Kim Gyucheol, it would have been much harder without those extra insights.
Besides.
Right now Yujun had become the hottest topic in the trainer community. He was the first to achieve A-rank in the newly difficult exam. Even before the test had become this hard, passing and immediately receiving A-rank had been unprecedented.
Not only had Yujun accomplished it, he had left an overwhelming impression on the examiners. Word would have spread among the well-connected examiners, so everyone would want to contact him now.
More and more people will be looking for me. This is exactly when I need to be most careful.
While some would approach him with good intentions during this spotlight, many others would try to use him.
The only one who could protect him right now was himself.
I can't waver.
In fact, in a situation like this, he needed to generate even more buzz.
My current standing is still halfway up the ladder.
He planned to raise his reputation even higher.
Half-baked evaluations get you nowhere.
Just then, an achievement that perfectly fit the situation came to mind.
It's an interesting achievement, one that can raise my own abilities too. It will also let me maintain mutual benefit with the scouts.
Of course, the difficulty was equally high.
That's exactly why I have to do it.
There was no reason to avoid it just because it was difficult.
"For now, I need to complete any achievement that is absolutely necessary to me right now."
To achieve this particular feat, he would need help from the two guild masters he had already formed ties with.
The moment Yujun was about to contact the two guild masters—
"You're exceeding all expectations. I never imagined you would achieve A-rank immediately."
The Neverland Guild Master's message arrived at the perfect time.
"I'll place a bid for the demonic beast training contract right away. The chances are very high. Not only have you become an A-rank trainer, you're also receiving massive public attention. Being at the center of this issue means you'll definitely win the bid."
With that, the demonic beast trainer matter was resolved.
Perfect timing.
Yujun immediately contacted the Sky Guild Master and the Neverland Guild Master.
"This is Kang Yujun. The reason I'm calling is..."
"This is Kang Yujun. Thank you. I'll wait for that matter. And I have one other request..."
The achievement Yujun was aiming for was large-scale training.
More than thirty people.
It was an achievement that could be completed by training over thirty Awakened at the same time.
"Doing large-scale training with the first teams alone won't be enough."
That was why Yujun planned to conduct large-scale training with the youth trainees from both the Sky Guild and Neverland Guild.
"And I'll invite all the scouts here as well."
By calling the scouts to the large-scale training session, he would let them gain plenty of information and results. At the same time, he would promote himself.
"I have no intention of joining a guild."
But he was willing to work with them.
"I'll show the scouts exactly what kind of training I'm capable of."
Yujun immediately took the scouts' calls and shared his plan.
* * *
The two guild masters who received the call gladly accepted the proposal. In fact, this was something the guild masters should be thanking him for.
Ring—!
Messages arrived for the scouts as well.
The scouts, who had thought they wouldn't be able to reach him, eagerly replied that they would definitely attend if invited.
A total of twenty-three places.
The scouts who contacted him belonged to twenty-three different guilds.
Quite diverse.
They were guilds spread across various rankings and fields.
This one is a trainer-specialized guild.
Numerous scouts from each guild expressed their desire to participate.
All twenty-three guilds accepted the invitation to observe Yujun's large-scale training.
"With this, preparations are complete."
Sky Guild and Neverland Guild.
He planned to gather around fifty of their youth trainees.
However, conducting large-scale training for fifty people would be quite difficult for the current Yujun.
"Even though they're youths, numbers are still a brute force factor."
Therefore, Yujun had no intention of rushing into it blindly.
"I need to upgrade first."
He had gained points from training Kim Gyucheol.
A full 250 points.
"I'll raise the level of Awakened Scan."
The current level of Awakened Scan was 2.
If I raise the level, large-scale training should become possible.
Of course, it still wouldn't be easy.
It's certain that my proficiency with Awakened Scan will rise significantly.
To raise the level of the Awakened Training System itself, proficiency in other skills was required.
This is the optimal way to build proficiency.
Would you like to level up Awakened Scan?
Required Points: 200P
"Level up."
Points have been consumed!
Awakened Scan level is increasing!
A fierce gust swirled around Yujun's body.
Crackle—!
At the same time, red lightning struck down.
Awakened Scan has reached Level 3!
Awakened Scan Lv.2 → Lv.3
Just like the Insight skill, Awakened Scan was also accompanied by red lightning.
Both are powers that pierce through to the core.
Their fundamental nature had to be similar.
Yujun closed his eyes.
Then slowly opened them again.
"It's clear now."
Starting from Awakened Scan Lv.3, he could easily view even S-rank information.
Of course, even among S-ranks there are vast differences.
Ranks were basically numerical values calculated through artifacts. The government had simply set the grades for official categorization and evaluation.
From S-rank onward, even within the same grade, the actual levels often varied wildly.
They're unofficially divided into low, mid, and high S-rank.
Awakened Scan Lv.3 would let him see everything up to low S-rank.
That means I can now see Yu Jena's full status window too.
He could now properly view the stats of Yu Jena, who was at the lower end of S-rank.
I can train her properly now.
It had felt disappointing to end with a training score of only three points.
Yujun immediately checked the state of his eyes.
"Geumgang Staff Scan."
When he had scanned the Geumgang Staff at Awakened Scan Lv.2, only the most basic information had appeared.
But now that it was Lv.3, things were different.
"...!"
Yujun narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Geumgang Staff.
"I can see this now?"