◈ Episode 114. Naming (2)
The incident in Muon, the Holy Land, had been brought to an end.
It was as if a time bomb on the verge of exploding had been defused.
Everyone had suspected that the attack on the player, Guyver, was only the beginning. There was more than enough possibility that an untimely war might break out around Muon.
“But then, right there, the Magic Tower’s Chief Mage appears!”
Yet the Magic Tower’s intervention had been unexpected.
Muon, opening its gates as though nothing had ever happened.
And even the appearance of the tentacled monster, which no one had predicted in the slightest.
The rapidly changing situation in Muon was vividly relayed by the players.[The paladins’ charge that makes your chest swell ㄷㄷ][Views: 132,407,117]
Tens of thousands of paladins.
The sight of them charging toward the mass of tentacles was, in the truest sense, a grand spectacle.
So was there even any need to add an explanation? Of Ho-yeol, commanding those paladins with a single gesture.
“Seriously, just thinking about that moment still makes my chest feel full.”
“You’d only know if you saw it. That feeling.”
“It’s a shame we can’t release the footage as we please. Truly.”
Of course, the protagonist of the footage was Ho-yeol, after all.
No matter how crazy for views and aggro a NetTuber might be.
There were times when one had to know better.
If they uploaded footage of Ho-yeol as they pleased at a time like this, far from getting attention, they would be hit with backlash asking whether they had even gotten permission.
Without Ho-yeol’s understanding, they could not release footage in which Ho-yeol appeared.
However, how many people had watched that scene live?
Countless players and viewers said in unison.
Lee Ho-yeol, he was truly on a different level.
“Doesn’t that mean tens of thousands of lives were in his hands?! If it had been me, I would’ve been so burdened I wouldn’t even have known what to do... But he was just completely fearless in his actions.”
“But honestly, even without the paladins, it looked like he could’ve hunted it alone. You all saw him freeze that gigantic mass of tentacles in an instant, right?”
“So what’s the identity of that skill? Huh?! You’re saying it’s high-level magic even ice mages don’t know about? There really is no end to him. I guess he didn’t become Chief Mage for nothing.”
That was not all.
After the battle ended.
The conversation Ho-yeol had with the commander of the Goddess Church’s paladin order also became a hot topic.
The paladin commander, Talim Eber.
The man who had poured out hostile words toward humanity.
Not only did he kneel respectfully before Ho-yeol.
“With his voice all low... He said he would take full responsibility!”
-No, he didn’t just say he’d take responsibility lol-For real, he said he’d accept even judgment as that responsibility, right??
-What on earth is the story behind this???
Responsibility, and furthermore, declaring that he would accept judgment.
The ripple effect could only be even greater than the battle Ho-yeol had shown.
But perhaps it was because of the crowds gathering.
Ho-yeol and Talim moved elsewhere.
So no one could know what conversation was exchanged afterward.
However, one thing was certain.
“In the end, Player Lee Ho-yeol did it again.”
Ho-yeol had done it.
Why, even right now, if Ho-yeol had not been there.
If he had not stepped forward and slain the mass of tentacles.
No one could guarantee that the lives of the players who had entered Muon would be as safe as they were now.
There were those who realized that fact earlier than anyone.
Nam Taemin, Leoni, and Hisagi.
“See? I told you, instead of worrying about Mr. Ho-yeol, all we need to do is take care of ourselves!”
“I don’t know if we’ll be able to follow that level, though...”
“Now, shut up. Break’s over. We don’t have the luxury to be resting like this.”
“......
What’s with her? She was the one making the biggest fuss until just now.”
“Fuss? Who? When? Me?! Bullshit. No, I wasn’t?”
At present, Ho-yeol did not need their help.
Because they had faith in Ho-yeol.
Even amid the Muon incident, they could focus solely on growing stronger.
Jesse Heinness’s case was not very different.
“Even freezing magic like that! As expected, you’re amazing!”
The realm of Ho-yeol, which one could only see as much as one knew.
The one making even more of a fuss than Jesse herself was the pointed hat.
The pointed hat bobbed as it made a commotion.
-To think he has already reached that realm. My disciple, you still have a long way to go.
And there were also those who felt that fact more painfully than anyone else.
AAU.
At the branch meeting, they ended up reaching a conclusion.
“With the Muon incident, it has become certain. Arcana’s updates have gone beyond the realm that we, AAU, can predict and prepare for.”
Silence flowed—In truth, they had realized it long ago.
From the time monsters that did not exist in the database began to appear.
No, if one traced it back, perhaps it was from the moment demon-type monsters appeared in rifts.
Someone smacked their lips bitterly and said,
“In a way, isn’t it only natural? Even back when Arcana was nothing more than a game, we were overwhelmed. Now that it has become another world, predicting the flow of the Arcana Continent is impossible.”AAU knew their role well.
That was why their incompetence struck them all the more painfully.
Someone else said,
“It seems an official announcement is not far off.”
An official announcement.
Informing the world of AAU’s limits.
The aftermath was difficult to imagine.
Even now, there were many players waiting only for AAU’s information.
But they could not hide it forever.
The gloomy meeting ended.
Park Minjae, the head of AAU’s Korean branch, took a deep breath.
“......
Does humanity have any way to survive?”
He recalled his past as one of Arcana’s developers.
Even if they had not been serviced at the time, there had been plenty of content scheduled to be serviced someday.
There was no need to give many examples.
Just one, the “dragon.”
Yes, even just the “dragon.”
“Won’t it reveal itself one day?”
Whether in a rift or in reality.
Park Minjae tried imagining humanity facing that dragon.
He ran a simulation in his mind.
“We really did go and develop the damn thing ridiculously strong.”
Huu—The more he thought about it, the only thing that escaped him was a deep sigh.
Even if players leveled up and humanity mobilized its armies, what remained would be defeat. Or a victory that was no different from defeat.
But Park Minjae knew.
The path to survival he had witnessed.
The one and only possibility.
“......
Lee Ho-yeol.”
That was Player Lee Ho-yeol.
Regarding him, even AAU could be certain of nothing. Not Ho-yeol’s level, of course, nor even his class. But they could guess from the path he had shown.
“Just how much do you know?”
Even in the Muon incident.
Had Ho-yeol not acted as though he knew everything?
Above all, if one was human, one could not hide fleeting emotions. The fact that Ho-yeol’s expression had not changed even at the sudden appearance of the mass of tentacles was proof of that.
“You make even a die-hard realist like me hold hope.”
Why people went wild over Lee Ho-yeol.
He felt as though he understood the reason.
Soon, Park Minjae’s shoulders rose.
“Fine. Hope or whatever, shouldn’t we do what we can until the end?”
Yes.
It was not the time to calculate possibilities.
In the end, it was all or nothing.
Park Minjae, too, was ready to stop caring about the consequences.
What such a Park Minjae could do was simple.
To deliver any information that might be of help.
To the sole hope, Ho-yeol.
However.‘AAU is already entangled with the interests of countless countries. AAU cannot step forward openly. On top of that, providing internal information to just one player... Even if that player is Lee Ho-yeol. There would be plenty who would oppose it for the purpose of keeping Korea in check.’Even so.
Had Park Minjae not made up his mind?
That from now on, he would not care about the consequences.
So.
“From here on, it’s a deviation staked on the pride of me, Park Minjae, as an individual.”
Of course, that deviation did not seem easy from the very first step.
“Anyway, not only do I have to have a one-on-one conversation with Mr. Lee Ho-yeol... It might mean I’ll have to stay in contact with him from now on.”
Those cold eyes.
That prickly attitude.
Lee Ho-yeol, before whom even persistent reporters and NetTubers trembled.
In the end, Park Minjae let out another groan.
“What a damn fate. Past half a century old, and it looks like I’ll have to start with etiquette lessons all over again. I need to somehow get rid of these ingrained habits first......”
Suddenly, he grabbed two people passing by and asked,
“Hey, Sugyeom. And...... Right! Employee Seong Hyeonjun.”
“Yes? Branch Head Park.”
“I’m asking just in case. Am I a boomer?”
“......
Pardon? All of a sudden, what do you—?”
“Hey. Just answer the question with yes or no. Am I a boomer?”
Of course, even a journey of a thousand li began with a single step......*
I feel this anew, but it is a little unfair.
My sleeping hours are not even that long.
Yet somehow, the speed at which each day passes is no joke.
Drip, drip—I can guarantee that one of the causes is this physical training.
The objective that always occupies the first slot, even if the class quest changes.[Class Quest: Akshan’s Annihilation]
The annihilation of Akshan and the demon hunters.
O last demon hunter.
Uncover the truth entwined with the Holy War.─Train your weakened body. (Repeat) ▲●Run 30 km (Success)●Push-ups 2,000 times (Success)●Pull-ups 1,000 times (Success)●Burpee test 500 times (In progress)[Strength] and [Agility] stats were the same as levels.
The higher the absolute number became.The amount of training required to raise them by 1 point changed.
The target was always at a level that left me gasping for breath.
“......
Light work.”
Light work, my ass.
You nearly fainted several times today, and still with that damn bravado.
At least what had improved compared to before was the effect of medicine.
About the extent that I could receive help from the elixir herb.
Click—I lifted the teacup.
“However, proper rest is also helpful for muscle growth.”
As if cool ice water would not have been enough, bitter, hot tea.
This must be what it means to feel like dying.
Still, since it is good for the body, I endure it.
I need to drink at least this much for my body to hold out.
As I caught my breath, I checked the next quest objective.─Identify the forces that participated in the Holy War. (In progress)●Encounter the Saint of the Goddess Church. (Success)●Identify the true nature of the Saintess of the Goddess Church. (Success)●Hunt the demon disguised as the Saintess of the Goddess Church. (Success)●Identify the original sin of the Magic Tower. (Success)
All the objectives related to the Goddess Church had succeeded.[Akshan’s Annihilation] quest had not ended yet.
That meant there was still a force that had stabbed Akshan in the back. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me, just in case.‘The demon hunters, every single one of them had a foul personality.’You know, that saying.
When you gaze into the abyss.
The abyss also gazes into you.‘Especially in the training grounds, they were demons in their own right.’There was no saying more fitting for demon hunters than that.
Back when Arcana was nothing more than a game. Compared to friendly NPCs, the demon hunters’ attitude had been infamous even among players.‘To think I thought that was cool. What taste.’Of course, at the time, none of that had been a problem for me in the slightest.
In any case, simply because they were disliked, they got stabbed in the back?
No matter how much it was “just in case,” that was an impossible possibility.
“This, too, must be the petty schemes of those lowly creatures.”
In the end, it was all because of demons.
After all, even the Saintess of the Goddess Church, the greatest religion on the Arcana Continent, had been a demon.
It would be safe to say there was no region or force safe from the clutches of demons.
In that sense, my rest was not long.
Click—The teacup set down.......
I have to finish filling it, the 500 burpees.
To make overestimation into reality as well.
To move forward as well.
One must not stop struggling even for a moment....
Of course, there was good news even for me, who suffered day and night.
The senior mage of the Spiritology School, Feyan Lot.
The letter she sent by parchment.
I had unexpectedly received great help from those lines.[Toxic Spore Refuge][Appropriate Level: Lv.350][Collapse Progress: 0.1%]
I entered the rift.
An ordinary rift, generated routinely without being specified in the update.
Considering my level and the appropriate level, even if I hunted hundreds of the monsters that appeared, it would be difficult to raise even one level.
But my goal was not leveling up.
I opened my mouth.
“Haiel.”
At that moment, mana drained away in an instant.
Goooo—Soon, what revealed itself in midair was a nymph.
And one that, even to Granfell’s aesthetic eye.
Boasted a flawless, perfect figure with not a single fault.
That was right.
Following the information Feyan had delivered, I gave the nymph a name.
My knowledge regarding spiritology was nothing more than a shallow skim of the surface.‘I had no idea a name held that sort of meaning for a spirit.’According to Feyan.
To a spirit, a name was no different from a vessel.
Because I had continued to call the nymph “nymph” even after making a contract.
Even though the nymph had fulfilled the conditions to be reborn as a {Unique Spirit} by accomplishing the tremendous feat of the World Tree’s germination, all that had changed was that its exterior had become impressive......!
When I learned that fact, I unknowingly felt relieved.‘So my mana wasn’t having a bad influence.’However, that relief had come far too soon.
I had overlooked it.[Name: Granfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo]
My own naming sense, which had created that bizarre name.
The nymph offered an elegant greeting.
“Haiel has answered your call.”
That was right.‘Haiel.’
To be exact, “Haiel Crisiad Four Seasons Leaf.”
A full name as long as Granfell’s.
That was the name I had given the nymph......!......
Damn it.
Every time I called Haiel’s name, some indescribable emotion welled up within me. Yet, naturally, I showed no sign of it.
Shamelessly, I asked Haiel about the matter at hand first.
“What is the situation on the Arcana Continent?”
Haiel’s report followed immediately.
As I listened in silence, before long, I was able to escape that indescribable emotion. Because in the news Haiel brought, I suddenly glimpsed a possibility.‘If it is an incident of this scale, then perhaps......’......
It might lead to the next regular update.