Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Signpost
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372,342.
The number of Players summoned from all over the world on the day of the Great Summoning.
7,192.
The number of Players who have passed the tutorial to date.
As the number 370,000 suggests, a great many Players came to this world on the day of the Great Summoning.
They were each granted different specialties based on the games they came from.
And naturally, not all specialties were equal.
Even when evaluated solely on the basis of ‘combat,’ the area most Players tended to focus on, there was a clear distinction between good and bad specialties.
Out of 370,000 people, about 10,000 were expected to pass the tutorial.
So far, about 7,000 had actually passed.
In terms of probability, that was 1.89%, a mere 2% even when rounded up.
Even considering the final estimate of 10,000, less than three out of a hundred would survive.
The Players of today were those who had survived against such harsh odds.
Just because they came from the same game didn't mean their abilities were identical. Gaps could form depending on individual skills, personalities, and talents.
Some might have passed the tutorial simply by being lucky.
There were plenty of factors where luck could intervene, such as having a strong person nearby or getting a very simple tutorial.
But this couldn't be dismissed. That ‘good luck’ itself had to be considered an ability.
Seven thousand out of 370,000.
The Players who passed the tutorial were strong. They were individuals who held their own strengths.
And that ‘strength’ was not necessarily confined to the realm of ‘combat.’
***
“Are you telling us to die? A few days’ worth is all we need! Just enough Kron to last until we can move somewhere else!”
Gray hair and golden eyes. Beneath a handsome face, he wore a magnificent suit of silver armor adorned with wings.
He was a Player with a dazzling appearance, but the expression on his face was entirely different.
An unconcealable anxiety and fear were revealed through his desperate voice.
The pink-haired female Player, who had passed the tutorial with the man a week ago, couldn't bear it any longer. She collapsed to the ground and burst into tears she had been holding back.
Faced with the terror of death approaching step by step, there was nothing she could do.
The remaining survival time was approaching zero.
They needed Kron to survive. But the two of them couldn't even hunt, let alone complete quests.
It wasn't because they lacked combat abilities. It was because of the five Players surrounding them.
One of the Players, wearing a sword-shaped brooch on his chest as if it were a uniform, shrugged. He lightly patted the cheek of the pleading, silver-armored Player and said.
“That’s your problem. This hunting ground belongs to our ‘Seven Sword Knights.’ Players outside the order are not allowed to hunt monsters here.”
Controlling the hunting grounds.
Weak monsters that any Player could easily kill appeared in large numbers in this area. It was truly an oasis for low-level Players with minimal combat power.
“You crazy bastards!”
The silver-armored Player swatted away the hand patting his cheek and spat out a curse, but that was all he could do.
He wanted to grind the five men before him into dust, but the silver-armored Player lacked the strength to do so.
In fact, for the past few days, he had been unable to do anything because of these five, only wasting his Kron and remaining survival time.
They had pursued them relentlessly. They took turns following them, preventing them from doing anything.
The silver-armored Player trembled, suppressing his anger. At the sight, the members of the ‘Seven Sword Knights’ with the sword-shaped brooches snickered.
One of them, a tall and thin member, crouched down in front of the crying female Player and spoke.
“If you really want to hunt here, join the Seven Sword Knights. You’ll start as a low-ranking member, but as long as you pay your taxes and show results, you can get promoted. Especially female Players, they get preferential treatment in many ways, right?”
He finished with a lewd smile. His narrow gaze lingered on the female Player's ample chest.
The other Players belonging to the Seven Sword Knights snickered, agreeing with the man's words.
It was a sordid scene that would have disgusted any third-party observer.
But the red-haired Caucasian female Player watching from a distance felt no particular emotion.
She just narrowed her eyes and asked the man who was half-dozing in the shade of a tree.
“What about those two?”
The female Player was wearing an officer's uniform reminiscent of a German officer from World War II.
However, the fact that her lower half was a miniskirt instead of trousers and her long hair fell past her waist to her hips made her look very much like a game character.
The Middle Eastern man with curly black hair, wearing a colorful Hawaiian shirt and blue shorts, scratched the back of his head, adjusted his sunglasses, and replied.
“In terms of potential, they’re both small fry. Their rarity is Common. Looks like they came from an MMORPG. Judging by their generic nicknames, their personalities are probably just as ordinary.”
The man—Khalid Hassan Ahmad—yawned, then stretched languidly before getting up. He asked the female Player—Natasha Shihovich—who wore an icy expression.
“By the way, where did the Guild Ma— I mean, the Captain, go?”
“He went to the castle to attend a banquet hosted by Count Monton.”
Her reply was as sharp and cold as her nickname, the Ice Princess, suggested.
Count Monton was a powerful lord who effectively ruled this entire area. Khalid clicked his tongue.
“He’s really something else. I’m seriously curious about what he did in his original world.”
Park Chang-ho, the captain of the Seven Sword Knights, a group of about twenty Players.
His resourcefulness and control were truly remarkable. You could believe it if someone said he had managed a large organization or been a politician in real life.
The five Players who had been pressuring the silver-armored Player and the female Player laughed boisterously and patted the two on the shoulders. It seemed things had ‘worked out’ as usual.
Threats and persuasion.
If they were just recruiting members to fill their ranks, that method was fine. They were just pawns for expanding their influence and collecting taxes, after all.
‘Well, it is a bit inhumane.’
But it couldn't be helped. Since Park Chang-ho had decided on this method, Khalid had no choice but to follow his lead.
“Why? Is there something you’re curious about?”
Khalid suddenly turned to his side and asked. It was a young girl who had recently joined.
White, large cat ears perked up from her lush purple hair, and a long tail grew from near her hips.
The maid outfit she wore made her look like a well-crafted porcelain doll.
The young member glanced nervously at Khalid, hesitated, and finally spoke.
“Um… about the rarity you mentioned earlier, I was wondering what it is…”
Just as he thought.
It was an explanation Khalid had repeated several times, so he answered quickly.
“Alright, alright. Rarity is literally rarity. How rare something is. We came from many different games, but not one from each of the 370,000 games. So it’s natural that there’s a difference between those from common games and those from uncommon ones, right?”
The girl quickly nodded. Khalid patted her head and continued.
“But this is reality, not a game. Just because the rarity is high doesn't mean it's good. Being unique isn't always a good thing, right? Huh? Right? I haven't met them, but let's say there's someone who came from playing online checkers. Their rarity would be incredibly high, but what good would that be?”
“Uh… yes.”
The girl didn't even know what online checkers was, but she nodded anyway.
Khalid smiled with satisfaction and continued. He enjoyed explaining things.
“Right, for example, my rarity is ‘Super Rare,’ but I’m not particularly strong in combat. It’s not quite the same, but our Captain of the Seven Sword Knights is only a Common, the most common rarity there is. Most people from MMORPGs are Common. So don’t feel bad just because you’re a Common. That’s what you wanted to hear, right? Huh? Cutie Girl. If we’re talking about cuteness, you’re already a Super Rare.”
He winked at the end, and the girl didn't know what to do, her eyes darting around. Her face turned red, as if embarrassed that her inner thoughts had been exposed.
Khalid chuckled again and turned his gaze away from the girl.
Park Chang-ho's origin game was Blood.
The cat girl's origin game was Exa Online.
Both were famous MMORPGs in East Asia.
Most Players in the Common tier were MMORPG players.
By Khalid's own estimation, more than half of the 370,000 people who were summoned must have come from MMORPGs.
Khalid's own rarity level was Super Rare.
And that was to be expected. Khalid's origin game wasn't an MMORPG.
SM (Sports Manager) Online.
The abbreviation often led to strange misunderstandings, but it was by no means a risqué adult-oriented game.
On the contrary, it was a very wholesome and intellectual gentleman's game.
A game where you become the manager of a sports team, recruit and develop players, and create the ultimate team.
As a former player of SM Online, Khalid could read the ID, origin game rarity, and potential talent level of any Player he saw.
And one more thing. An ability that, in a way, had contributed the most to the creation of the current Seven Sword Knights.
When trading Kron through Khalid, the Kron loss rate from the transaction could be drastically reduced.
Park Chang-ho, the captain of the Seven Sword Knights, utilized this ability of Khalid's to select talented individuals and collect ‘Kron taxes’ from the members.
‘But, Cutie Girl, what I said isn't entirely correct.’
High rarity doesn't necessarily mean it's good.
‘Right, it’s not necessarily good. But the ability itself is more likely to be unusual. And uniqueness, by its very nature, has value. Moreover, how that uniqueness manifests depends on the person who possesses the ability.’
Khalid's own ability, which seemed utterly useless in combat.
Park Chang-ho, the Captain of the Seven Sword Knights, was making excellent use of this ability.
If it hadn't been for Park Chang-ho, who had seen his potential early on, Khalid would have likely died without even passing the tutorial.
Khalid stuffed his hands into his shorts pockets and thought.
In the ‘three months’ since he was summoned, Khalid had laid eyes on thirty-seven Players.
Among them, none had a rarity of Super Rare or higher. Most were Common, and the most unusual he had seen was Uncommon.
‘The rarity in SM Online has five tiers. Super Rare is the fourth. And above that is the highest tier of rarity.’
Unique.
Literally, a one-of-a-kind existence.
But did such a Player even exist?
If they did, what kind of abilities would they possess?
Khalid chuckled and shook his head.
370,000 people were summoned, and 10,000 were expected to pass the tutorial. The probability of a ‘unique existence’ among them was ridiculously low.
‘Still… if one exists, I’d like to meet them just once.’
Khalid adjusted his sunglasses. He headed towards the Seven Sword Knights' headquarters with Natasha, who still wore an icy expression.
***
“Ah.”
He let out a dazed sound. Even though his eyes were open, it felt like they were still closed.
Kang-seok closed his eyes again. Then, startled, he shot them wide open.
“Oh.”
Right in front of his nose.
Choi Yu-ra's face was so close that if he moved forward just a few centimeters, their lips would touch, far beyond the point of feeling her breath.
As if in response, Choi Yu-ra let out a sound, then gave a mischievous smile and straightened up. Leaning her arm on the bed Kang-seok was lying on, she asked.
“Are you awake now?”
“Woke me right up.”
“Feels good to be woken up by a beauty, doesn't it?”
“You were so close I couldn't even tell if you were a beauty or not.”
After a casual retort, Kang-seok shook his head once and tensed his core. He tried to sit up but collapsed back down with a groan.
“Keuk.”
“Easy, easy. You haven't fully healed yet. A normal person might have died from that wound.”
Choi Yu-ra gently lifted the blanket covering Kang-seok and gestured with her chin towards his waist. A bandage was wrapped around the area where the Demonic Beast Cimeries' spear had grazed him.
Giving up on getting up, Kang-seok relaxed his shoulders.
“Where's Yu-jin?”
“The bed next to you. And for the record, this is a treatment room inside the temple.”
Turning his head, he saw Seong Yu-jin lying in a bed some distance away. She seemed peaceful in her deep sleep.
Choi Yu-ra shifted her position, blocking Kang-seok's view of Seong Yu-jin, and said.
“Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to nurse you both? Well, actually, I just sat in a chair between the beds, but still.”
Kang-seok tried his best to move his head to get a better look at Seong Yu-jin's condition, but Choi Yu-ra's not-so-large body completely filled his field of vision.
He was about to ask her to move, but then he changed his mind. He settled into a comfortable position and asked.
“Why did Yu-jin collapse?”
Seong Yu-jin hadn't taken any direct hits. Could she have collapsed from accumulated battle fatigue?
For some reason, Choi Yu-ra pouted before answering.