Ch. 221

Chapter 221: Preparing to Head to the Heavens (1)

‘I need to check the situation with the Heavens-aligned players.’

Hyun logged onto the internet and opened the Heavens board on a community site he frequented. Since the community’s interest was always focused on top-tier players, finding the information he wanted was far from difficult.

‘If Devas and players hadn’t crossed paths yet, I could understand why there are no listings on the market, but…’

The entire Heavens board was buzzing with news about Devas.

Now, five years later, with the Land of Darkness rising into the sky, the Devas were feeling a sense of crisis as well. However, half of the Devas were Transcendents. To exert influence in the mortal realm, they had to expend their Ego—in other words, shave away their own lifespans. Naturally, most Devas hesitated to consume their lifespans unless they were eccentrics like Maria or Radiate. Thus, it was only natural for them to seek out “players” to act on their behalf.

In fact, several high-ranking Heavens-aligned players appeared to have already made contact with a few Devas.

‘And yet, no listings are showing up?’

The absence of any past trade history meant there was no telling when the item might finally hit the market. Hyun decided to keep looking for alternative methods in his spare time. If all else failed, he could always ask Practice to fetch one for him. Though lower in level than the top rankers, Practice held the Grandmaster PvP rank, making it relatively easier for him to catch a Deva’s attention.

‘Huh?’

It was while browsing through the community a bit further that he stumbled upon an intriguing news article.

‘Is this piece fresh on the main page?’

[The Return of Rank 1!]

[Why Did Latis Pivot to the Heavens?]

There were certain players whose actions alone were enough to spawn news headlines. Among them, Latis drew the highest level of interest.

‘Latis!’

The moment he read the title, Hyun knew Latis had registered his name back on the Hall of Fame. He also understood why Latis had briefly removed his name in the first place.

‘Latis changed his faction!’

When altering one’s alignment, clearing away the fixed perceptions of NPCs beforehand was far more efficient.

‘But why a sudden pivot to the Heavens?’

For Latis, leveraging the Abyss’s achievement bonuses would have been far more beneficial for boosting his specs, so why?

The rest of the article addressed Hyun’s curiosity—specifically speculating on Latis’s underlying intentions for pivoting to the Heavens.

“…His recent trajectory is remarkably unusual. How could a level that remained frozen for two days suddenly jump by 3 in a single day, and then by another 2 the very next? This writer is convinced that Latis is currently executing a large-scale chain quest. If his faction swap is linked to this quest, there is a strong possibility that Latis has already connected with an S-grade Deva…”

‘A large-scale Heavens quest, huh…’

Hyun read the article thoroughly and fell into deep thought. Browsing the community without much expectation had yielded quite a useful piece of news.

Then again, Latis wouldn’t have pulled his name from the Hall of Fame for no reason. He must have made the decision to change factions based on rock-solid information.

‘Will this turn into a bit of a wild card?’

Up until now, Hyun hadn’t paid much attention to Latis. Ever since getting entangled with Louise, there was no longer any need for him to fight Abyss-aligned players—much like how he had teamed up with Mayday not long ago.

However, if Latis had pivoted to the Heavens, that was a completely different story.

‘What level is he now? Ah, I can just check the Hall of Fame!’

[World Rankings]

1. Latis – Lv. 220

2. Mayday – Lv. 214

3. Kepli – Lv. 204

4. Luaruar – Lv. 204

……

Checking the world rankings for the first time in a long while, Hyun chuckled at the familiar sight.

‘What the, it’s the exact same as back then.’

Ranks 1 and 2 were locked in place, while a fiercely competitive scramble unfolded below—a setup he was already well accustomed to. Even now, ranks 3 through 5 shared the exact same level, and the gap between rank 3 and rank 10 was a mere 3 levels. It was the kind of ranking where a single quest or a single death could invert positions in an instant.

‘At level 220, there’s no need to worry just yet.’

Even Latis’s overwhelming level failed to stir much awe in Hyun. To be perfectly honest, Hyun was confident he could catch up to Latis if he spent just a single month dedicated solely to leveling up. It was simply that earning achievements through Main Quests was far more efficient than grind-leveling, making a hard chase unnecessary.

‘Mm, I’ll have to look into the details again tomorrow. I’m starting to get exhausted myself. Better call it an early night.’

Hyun stretched his arms and was about to log off.

It was at that exact moment that a seismic shift began shaking the Hall of Fame.

‘Huh?’

In an instant, the username for world rank 6 changed. A moment later, rank 7 updated as well.

While rankers below top 3 shifted positions frequently, having two names swap out simultaneously was an exceedingly rare sight.

6. Tas – Lv. 204

7. Kang Su-ha – Lv. 203

Hyun’s eyes darkened.

Before he could even process the thought, rank 3 updated once more.

3. BusanHyupgaek – Lv. 205

It wasn’t just the top 10 rankings undergoing changes. Further down, new names were continuously wedging themselves into the list.

11. GhostHunter – Lv. 201

23. KimBert – Lv. 200

In the blink of an eye, the original names had either vanished entirely or been pushed far down the ladder. Over twenty new usernames had broken into the top 50 all at once.

“…”

With all drowsiness instantly evaporating, Hyun corrected his posture from the stretch and stared intently at the Hall of Fame standings.

After a prolonged pause, the shifting finally settled, with entirely new names occupying ranks 3 and 4.

3. PoSeryeong – Lv. 213

4. Myeolsal – Lv. 209

Now, the gap between ranks 2 and 3 was down to a single level.

There was zero chance Hyun wouldn’t recognize these sudden additions—he had personally fought against them not too long ago.

‘They’re Returners!’

The sudden ranking upheaval sent gaming communities across the globe into a complete frenzy. While everyone was buzzing about the newly surfaced usernames, Hyun focused on a specific detail.

‘Why isn’t Berad’s name on here?’

A few names were missing. Still, most of the bastards he had encountered in the Land of Darkness had landed on the leaderboard.

It didn’t take long for Hyun to spot the common thread among the new additions.

‘Right, only those who registered under the Heavens faction!’

Latis switched to the Heavens. Meanwhile, the Heavens-aligned members of the Returner Guild had just posted their names onto the leaderboard.

While it was possible these events overlapping was mere coincidence, Hyun focused on the higher probability. What on earth was going on in the Heavens?

‘Is there something happening among the top-tier Heavens players… that I’m unaware of?’

With thoughts growing increasingly tangled, sleep did not come easily to Hyun that night.

The next day.

While Ain was at school, Hyun gathered various pieces of information. As expected, gaming sites were plastered with articles covering the events from the previous night.

[Returners Back from the Previous Title!]

[Was Hiding Their Power All to Become the Protagonists of a New World?]

Korean communities in particular were in absolute chaos. While some expressed jealousy, claiming these players had hogged insider knowledge to profit among themselves, many others were drunk on national pride, declaring they had raised the country’s prestige.

One thing was for certain: the balance of power among top rankers was about to be rewritten. Though the Returner Guild was modest in sheer numbers, its count of top 100 rankers had surpassed even Darkness!

“Hyun. Shouldn’t we show them a little something, too?”

Salon had been waiting in the Private Room even before Hyun logged in, solely to press his case for entering the Hall of Fame.

“No way.”

Hyun answered without a moment’s hesitation.

When his solemnly delivered proposal was shot down, Salon launched into a passionate plea.

“It should be fine by now! I heard about it the other day—didn’t you single-handedly beat down those Returner Guild guys?”

“Not single-handedly; Ain was with me.”

“Either way… it means you can beat them even if a whole truckload of them comes at you! So registering on the rankings wouldn’t leave us vulnerable to their checks!”

“It’s not player interference I’m worried about.”

“Then…?”

“Salon, you’re entangled with Louise.”

If NPCs were to recognize Salon, the fact that he had fought alongside Louise in Iluna would come to light. Every NPC Salon crossed paths with would interrogate him about the Priestess’s true identity, and Hyun had zero faith in Salon’s ability to handle that line of questioning well.

What if someone caught on to something suspicious? What if eyes began watching them? If luck turned sour, a dangerous figure like Karma might come clinging to them.

“Louise would be put in danger; are you fine with that?”

Above all, Salon knew Louise’s true identity as well. Having encountered Darkness in the first episode of the History Quest, he couldn’t possibly be unaware. While perhaps not to the same degree as Hyun, Louise meant more to Salon than just a generic NPC. Having once shared conversations in the Private Room, he could feel how different Louise was from other NPCs.

“Kuh, threatening me like that…”

“It’s not a threat; it’s for your sake, too, Salon. If the truth that Louise is Darkness leaks out, you’ll be in danger, too.”

In the end, Salon had no choice but to drop his wish.

‘Is not being able to register on the rankings really that disappointing?’

Seeing him instantly deflate into gloominess made Hyun feel a slight twinge of guilt. Thinking back, it felt as though he had done nothing but order Salon around ever since he joined the guild.

“Here, take these.”

Hyun held out a pair of Unique daggers.

“Weapons…?”

“I promised to get you Unique weapons if you brought me the materials, didn’t I?”

“That wasn’t just empty talk…?”

Salon had always stubbornly stuck to cost-effective Rare weapons. Rogue and Wizard classes were wildly popular in Asrian, making it natural for dagger prices to be absurdly inflated compared to weapons of other classes. On top of that, as a dual-wielder, Salon had to source two separate daggers.

“Ah, and there’s still some time left before Ain gets here.”

“Huh? Don’t tell me…”

“Want to go hunting together? We can test out those weapons while we’re at it.”

It was the very first time Hyun had initiated a hunting invitation since Salon joined the guild.

“Well… of course! Even better if you assimilate!”

“Sorry about keeping you from registering on the Hall of Fame.”

“Kuku, what kind of man holds a grudge over something like that! Who cares about public attention anyway!”

Holding the pair of brilliant daggers, Salon’s face lit up with absolute radiance.

However, the very next moment, as he checked the stats on the daggers, doubt crossed his mind.

“Huh? Are these a mismatched pair?”

“What’s wrong with that? Daggers are meant to be used as a mismatched set anyway.”

“Still… one of them has a level requirement of 220, so I can’t equip it yet.”

“Oh, that’s even better then. A Lv. 220 Unique dagger means you can use it all the way up to level 300.”

“But still…”

Salon checked the stats on the other dagger.

‘Why does the other one have a level requirement of 45? Its attack power isn’t even a third of my current weapon. Did the items get swapped by mistake?’

That was precisely the source of his confusion. What was the underlying intention behind proposing a weapon test, only to hand him one item he couldn’t equip and another that was complete junk?

The true reason was simply that Hyun had cleared out his leftover stock while handing over a gift, though Salon had no way of knowing that.

‘Let’s not overthink it.’

Either way, he had received Unique weapons and landed a prime opportunity to absorb Hyun’s know-how, leaving Salon’s heart pounding with excitement.

However, their long-awaited hunt came to an end far earlier than Salon had anticipated.

In the middle of the hunt, Hyun suddenly canceled the Assimilation and murmured to himself.

“Ah, I need to head off now.”

“What? Not even thirty minutes have passed! Did Ain arrive already?”

“Not her.”

Hyun checked his friend list. One person had just toggled to online status.

“Jini just logged in.”

“Jini…? Wouldn’t I hold more sway in the guild than a woman who joined late? So let’s hunt a bit more for now…”

“Right now, Jini’s side is more important.”

“What… did you say? More than me…?”

Salon was momentarily shell-shocked. Since he viewed Jini as just an ordinary Priest, feeling disappointed was only natural.

“Ah, it’s a bit long to explain…”

Hyun picked up on Salon’s mood right away, but finding a full explanation too bothersome, he casually shifted the topic instead. He was already aware of why Salon was so obsessed with Assimilation.

“Besides, you don’t really have anything left to learn, right, Salon?”

“What are you talking about? I know for a fact you haven’t taught me the techniques only you can pull off!”

“No, really, what more techniques do you need as a Combo Rogue? You don’t do PvP, and it’s not like you’re fighting high-intelligence mobs either…”

“Kuh…!”

In truth, Salon knew it as well. Throughout his time hunt-grinding as a Combo Rogue, he had never once faced an enemy requiring high-difficulty movement. Past a certain threshold, Combo Rogue was a class that required zero additional micro-control.

While that threshold was absurdly high for average players, Salon had reached that realm long ago. At the same time, it was a realm where others were bound to catch up eventually.

‘To be honest, I want to, too.’

The reason Salon had become a Combo Rogue in the first place—it wasn’t the path he had aimed for from the beginning, but a choice forced upon him after having his spirit broken by someone else.

When picking up daggers in the Class Selection Room, why had his heart pounded so wildly back then? Was it not because of his dream to become a legendary assassin!

‘Damn it, I want to do PvP too!’