Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: The Ripple Effect
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Meanwhile, while Lee Shin was leisurely enjoying his shopping, a commotion was brewing outside.
The cause, of course, was the main quest triggered by Lee Shin.
[Someone on the Western Continent has discovered the main quest.]
[A new destiny for the continent is dawning!]
The messages above appeared for high-ranking players in the Eteun Kingdom and for the top 1% of all players.
Naturally, the players were in an uproar.
“……!?”
“A main quest!?”
Even a rare quest offered rewards equivalent to dozens of normal quests, but with a main quest, one could aim for immense rewards just by participating slightly.
If they did more than just dip their toes in and participated directly, they could even aim for enough growth to change the top rankings.
Of course, there were risks involved, but the players' reactions were nonetheless incredibly enthusiastic.
This was because all the players who received the message were considered high-rankers.
Players with above-average levels and a certain degree of confidence in their skills!
If their levels were too low, they would have given up and waited for the next opportunity, but these players had no reason to do so.
Confident in their abilities, they were willing to take the risks and participate in the main quest.
‘We have to do this!’
‘I need to find information…’
There was only one piece of information to be found in the two short messages.
“Where did it say? The Western Continent?”
“Yeah.”
The location.
Using this hint, the players immediately deduced the kingdom where the quest had originated.
The conclusion was easy to reach.
“If it’s in the west… is it the Eteun Kingdom?”
The Eteun Kingdom.
Of course, the Eteun Kingdom wasn't the only one on the western side of the continent, but it was the most likely candidate.
The argument that it was about time for something to happen in the Eteun Kingdom, since no major quests had ever appeared there before, was persuasive.
Also, there had been rumors in the past that a main quest might emerge from the Eteun Kingdom.
This too was actually a little incident caused by Lee Shin, but unaware of this fact, the players began preparing to leave for the Eteun Kingdom at once.
“Hey! Let’s go!”
“Where?”
“The Eteun Kingdom. It’s a main quest, we have to get in on it!”
However, despite their enthusiasm, many ran into difficulties right from the start.
“Does anyone have connections in the Eteun Kingdom? Or came from there?”
“Probably not.”
“Not a single person?”
“Who would go there? Besides, if they were from the Eteun Kingdom, we wouldn't have accepted their guild application in the first place.”
“……Ah, true.”
Finding a player from the Eteun Kingdom was no easy task.
No, to be precise, it was difficult to find a ‘trustworthy player from the Eteun Kingdom.’
Most native players from the Eteun Kingdom were former marauders.
Of course, there were exceptions, but unless a guild was desperate for members, there was no reason to recruit someone from such a dangerous region.
“So what do we do?”
“What else can we do? We either look for someone in another guild or pay a trustworthy person to guide us.”
“Pay them? That feels like a waste…”
“We have no choice. Later on, we might not be able to hire anyone even if we offer money. This message wasn't sent only to us, you know.”
“…Ah! Right.”
This was happening in most mid-tier guilds.
It was even common for guilds to compete with each other.
Thanks to this, the value of explorer-type players from the Eteun Kingdom began to skyrocket.
“Hey! They’ve all signed contracts with other guilds already!”
“What? How much did they pay!”
“Well… about this much?”
“Offer double!”
“……!
“If that doesn’t work, offer more. Just bring someone, whatever it takes!”
“Ah, got it!”
This phenomenon, where the once-avoided adventurers from the Eteun Kingdom saw their value break through the ceiling, clearly showed that a continent-wide event was unfolding.
Meanwhile.
Among the rankers, those who surpassed the top 1%, a slightly different conversation was taking place.
For them, the emergence of a main quest was not surprising in itself.
It was sudden, but considering when the last main quest had occurred, it was about time for a new one to begin.
As rankers with far more information than regular players, they were capable of such speculation.
The problem was the source.
Who discovered it?
“Well, it wasn’t us…”
“Our allied guilds all said they don’t know either.”
“Then is it one of the Chinese guilds? They’ve been quiet lately, was this why?”
“No, they’re busy building workshops and arenas in their territory. Our spy confirmed it a few days ago.”
“Ah, damn it. Then who is it…?”
The question of who was leading the charge on a main storyline like this was a very sensitive issue among rankers.
This tendency became particularly pronounced after the new player influx patch (the level-proportional EXP and drop rate adjustment patch).
With a cap placed on the rankers' leveling speed, they had to seek growth methods other than mindless grinding, and these large-scale quests were the answer.
The future balance of power would shift depending on how deeply one delved into the quest.
It was only natural for the rankers to react sensitively.
The problem was that no matter how hard they searched for the source, they couldn't find it.
The reason this was a problem was that the top-tier players usually knew a lot about each other.
They roughly knew what the others were up to.
It wasn't that they shared information.
They just found out naturally.
The top guilds had so many members, and even more people connected to them, that if they tried hard enough, they could find out anything.
Even if they didn't know the specifics, they would at least naturally become aware that ‘something is going on!’
But for there to be no clues at all…
‘Could it be?’
The same thought crossed the minds of all the rankers.
There was only one answer.
The person was outside their field of vision.
In other words, not a ranker.
‘But they accessed a main quest without being a ranker? That can’t be easy.’
‘Even if that’s true, how has someone like that remained unknown until now?’
The rankers harbored these natural doubts.
And at that moment, there were some who came up with a deduction that was very close to the person's true identity.
***
Inside a room with ornate patterns.
A woman with purple hair asked the man standing before her with a stern expression.
“It has to be him, don’t you think?”
“……”
Her name was Grania.
She was 11th in the individual rankings and the guild master of ‘Union,’ a multinational guild ranked 4th.
In response to her question, the man, Doyle, nodded and replied.
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“It’s not certain yet. But I’m almost positive.”
“Hmm……”
Hearing his answer, which was as good as saying he was 99% sure, Grania rested her chin on her hand.
After thinking for a long while, she murmured faintly.
“……So that’s how it is.”
Doyle was a high-ranker, 38th in the user rankings.
A cut above the rest!
In Avala Online, with its hundreds of millions of players, a rank like that carried enough influence to draw tens of thousands of viewers just by streaming.
But surprisingly, he had a trait that garnered even more attention than his rank.
His class.
He was a legendary class user.
This was why Doyle received unparalleled support and attention even within the Union Guild, whose members were mostly rankers.
The growth potential of a legendary class was that high, after all.
However, it didn't only have advantages.
It was also an incredibly difficult class to obtain.
“How many months did it take you again?”
“Six months.”
In reality, it took Doyle a full six months from obtaining the legendary class advancement quest to actually changing to the legendary class.
This was despite receiving the full support of the massive Union Guild.
It wasn't because Doyle lacked skill.
This was simply how it was.
He had to complete over 20 chain quests in the process.
Thanks to this, hiding a legendary class advancement was virtually impossible.
Hiding the whereabouts of a guild's high-ranker for half a year?
Especially when they were receiving the guild's full support?
It was absurd.
…Or rather, they had thought it was absurd.
Until Doyle changed his class.
It had happened just one month ago.
[Are you sure you want to change your class to the legendary class, <Geomseong>?]
[This is a class that cannot be changed later.]
[Please decide carefully.]
‘I will.’
[You have changed your class to the legendary class, <Geomseong>!]
[You are the 8th person on the server to obtain a legendary class.]
[This is a great achievement! You have acquired the title, ‘The Eighth Legend’.]
‘……?!’
…Why the eighth?
That was the thought that crossed the minds of all the guild executives watching Doyle's class change.
They had expected him to become the seventh legend, so when that message appeared, everyone in the guild suspected it was a bug.
But…
[There are no issues with the game.]
That was the definitive answer from the game company.
At that moment, the guild's leadership, including Grania, realized something.
‘Someone else has already obtained a legendary class!’
‘Judging by the fact that we don’t know, and no one else seems to either, they’re not a high-ranker or a member of a famous guild!’
Someone had obtained a legendary class and was keeping it a secret.
How they had hidden the arduous process of obtaining a legendary class and the result was a mystery, but…
In any case, that was the reality.
Naturally, this sparked much discussion within the guild, and the conclusion was this:
‘For now, we keep this a secret.’
‘If we find the unknown legendary user, we make a recruitment offer immediately.’
‘If they refuse the offer, we request a cooperative relationship.’
Considering the impact of a legendary class, it was a natural conclusion.
The proposal was agreed upon almost unanimously, and the Union Guild began its secret search for this user.
And only now had they finally found a real clue.
The only person they could think of who was influential enough to access a main quest despite being completely unknown among the rankers was this mysterious legendary class user.
‘It’s certain.’
Although Doyle had added the qualifier ‘almost,’ Grania was already convinced.
Her intuition was telling her.
It's him.
And the moment she realized that, she knew what had to be done.
Grania stood up from her seat and said.
“We’re going too. Gather the members.”
The massive guilds and rankers began to flock to the Eteun Kingdom.
This heralded the storm that was about to descend upon the kingdom.
***
While all this was happening outside, Lee Shin's shopping spree was reaching its climax.
“Buy everything.”
“We’ve already bought so much, though?”
“It’s fine. Buy more. Just put it all in. Fill up the inventory.”
“Is that really okay?”
“What does it matter? It’s not my money.”
Lee Shin was milking it for all it was worth!
Thinking if not now, when, Lee Shin splurged not only on gear and miscellaneous goods but also on expensive consumables like magic scrolls.
Naturally, it cost a lot of money, and Lee Shin stopped counting after ten million gold.
[Inventory is full.]
“It’s full now.”
“Is it?”
Her inventory bulging, Jeong Yu-ra shot Lee Shin a sideways glance and said.
“……I’m not taking responsibility. I only bought it because you told me to.”
“What do you mean? You’re an accomplice.”
“Hey!”
“I told you, it’s fine.”
“What do you mean, fine? Even the merchants were asking if it was really okay to buy this much!”
“If he says anything, we’ll just set fire to the estate and run. It’s his territory, so he’ll have to deal with it himself. How’s he going to find us?”
“I-Isn’t that a bit too much…?”
Jeong Yu-ra broke into a cold sweat at Lee Shin's casual remark.
Of course, she knew Count Aaron was an NPC, but in Avala Online, where the characters seemed so lifelike, she couldn't help but feel concerned.
Jeong Yu-ra quickly changed the subject.
“…Anyway! We’re done now, right?”
“Yeah. There’s no more space.”
“So what will you do now?”
Lee Shin turned his head and answered Arthur's question.
“Time to go hunting.”
“Is there a hunting ground nearby?”
“Yeah.”
There was apparently a huge dungeon near the city.
Dungeons usually had a higher monster density than field hunting, making it a faster way to gain experience.
‘This is perfect.’
He was waiting for a reaction from the outside world, and the level range was right, so he planned to focus on leveling up there for the time being.
It would also be a good opportunity to raise Arthur's and Jeong Yu-ra's levels to a decent point and secure footage for his next YouTube video.
A perfectly decent plan!
…or it would have been, if not for something unexpected.
“Who are you?”
“……?”
A group of players blocked Lee Shin at the dungeon entrance.
They shouted at him.
“Get lost!”
“This place is monopolized by our Black Tiger Guild!”
“……!!!!”