《Ranker's Return》Chapter 155
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“No! Why are you standing there in a daze? The skeleton over there is being beaten up. You need to send over more help or use magic to support. You must’ve learned more than one or two spells. Are you just going to do nothing?” Hyeonu poured out poisonous words like a machine gun while grabbing the back of his neck.
If this was reality, then his blood pressure would’ve definitely fallen.
“No... I can’t do anything if I don’t see it,” Sunny replied in a small voice. She was embarrassed. She hadn’t expected to be publicly attacked like this. It was something she couldn’t even have imagined five minutes ago.
‘I didn’t expect her to play the game like this. No, can’t she multitask?’ Hyeonu was frustrated. This was the first time he ever felt like this. Sunny was not even fighting the opponent directly. The skeletons, undead, and wraiths were fighting for her instead. All Sunny needed to do was give them the right orders and support. Yet she couldn’t do so.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋ He eventually burst. Boom~
-He isn’t a man if he can put up with it. He would be at least a monk or a priest.
-Isn’t it a fact that there are fewer viewers when Sunny goes hunting?
-ㅋㅋㅋ She is just a host. I’m not sure if I’m looking at a MC or a reporter.
-There is no real answer as to how to hunt.
The viewers who originally watched Sunny’s stream laughed. The scene was so funny that Alley Leader’s explosion made sense. Alley Leader, who could make a newbie win a bronze medal in the area, was being embarrassed when it came to hunting in the field. In the end, Hyeonu got involved in the hunt and finished it. One slash of Hyeonu’s sword caused the monsters to fall down and shed blood.
‘How did she manage to reach the Hejin Great Mountain Range so far?’
Shortly after the hunt ended, Hyeonu grabbed Sunny and questioned her, “How on earth have you hunted so far? What level are you now?”
“I’m currently level 170. I hunted in parties with viewers or people I knew,” Sunny replied coldly.
It seemed she was angered by Hyeonu’s relentless scolding. Nevertheless, Hyeonu didn’t care. He kept saying what he needed to say.
“Party hunting? A necromancer?” Hyeonu asked again like he couldn’t believe it.
The viewers reassured him in the chat window.
-Seriously. She is a necromancer, but she does party hunting.
-No soloing. Does he need to ask after seeing it?
A necromancer was the symbol of soloing. If 10 soloing players were grabbed, half of them would be necromancers and the rest would have similar classes. Yet such a necromancer was doing party hunting? It was a waste. At this moment, a chat message happened to enter Hyeonu’s eyes like an uncanny coincidence. It was telling Hyeonu to give up.
-So give up. Even Alley Leader can’t do it.
‘In my dictionary, there is nothing that is impossible. Even if they are a fool.’
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“Today, I will show you how to solo a low-level hunting ground.”
A strange pride filled Hyeonu’s heart.
-Let’s see in 10 minutes. That confidence will disappear.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋ 10 minutes is too long. It will be gone in one fight.
-Breaking news: Alley Leader went to hospital to be prescribed blood pressure medication.
-Today must be a cleaning up day.
The viewers laughed at Hyeonu’s attitude. It was ridicule based on their many past experiences.
***
It took exactly 10 minutes for Hyeonu’s confidence to disappear. In the end, Hyeonu couldn’t bear it and shouted, “No, I’ve said it a few times. It isn’t the end after telling the kids to fight. You have to watch the battle with them, use skills in the right place, and pay attention to the placement of the kids!”
Sunny didn’t lose to him and struck back, “It isn’t as easy as it sounds! If it is that easy, then try it once! You don’t know anything and can only explode with your mouth. A man is only good at talking!!”
“Really? Then follow what I say like a parrot. Let’s see what will be different.” Hyeonu could no longer watch from behind. He felt that if he observed quietly for a minute, his heart would burst. The two people made an agreement and looked around. He found a suitable group of monsters.
‘They came.’
The monsters that appeared were demonic goblins. They were one of the monsters that Hyeonu hunted like crazy in the Hejin Mountains in the past. Sunny might be level 170 with good items, but it would still be hard for her to hunt them alone.
“I have to hold it alone? Me?”
“To be exact, it is ‘me’. You just have to follow what I say like a parrot.”
Sunny bit her lips at Hyeonu’s words.
‘I’ll put up with it once. However, I won’t be able to stand it anymore if I can’t kill them.’
She would endure this time. It was because the other person was Alley Leader. She couldn’t say anything to him without any justification. The moment she said anything, she would clearly be buried by the community. If she lost against the demonic goblins, then she would have justification for herself.
‘I will do what I can.’
This should be enough.
“Wake up. What are you doing? Summon your kids.” Behind the mask, Hyeonu frowned.
This woman lacked everything from one to ten. It was just before the battle yet she wasn’t concentrating. Instead, she was thinking about other things. She couldn’t do anything right.
‘She isn’t thinking at all.’
In the past, there were two major aspects in which good and bad players of computer and console games differed—innate talent and the ability to judge situations. Firstly, talent couldn’t be surpassed. There were also geniuses who worked hard. Secondly, there was the ability to judge situations, which could be improved. It involved simulating and re-simulating battles virtually.
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This was it. It was no different in virtual reality games. Rather, it was worse. Here, it was all about the body. The player had to do this and then do that. Anyone could pass the level of a fool who was unable to do anything if they had a rough blueprint.
‘This woman won’t get this. She doesn’t have any talent,’ Hyeonu remarked inwardly.
Sunny summoned all the undead she could summon. It started with various skeletons. She was still at a low level and couldn’t summon a dullahan or death knight, but this was enough for Hyeonu.
‘If I were a necromancer, I would be the 1st ranked player.’ Hyeonu imagined hunting with numerous undead and Tang-E. He was thrilled just thinking about it.
His thoughts lasted up to there. Then Hyeonu focused on the battle in front of him. ‘The opponents are five demonic goblins. This...’
Meanwhile, Sunny had a skeleton knight on a horse, three skeleton mages who could use black magic, and five ghouls capable of sharp and relentless attacks.
‘This is enough. There is also this magic shuttle.’
Hyeonu glanced at Sunny and started giving her orders. “Attach the skeleton knight to the demonic goblins and focus the magic of the skeleton mages on one demonic goblin. The ghouls will focus on the demonic goblin the skeleton knight is attacking.”
“W-What? Say it once again.” Sunny was perplexed by Hyeonu’s rapid-fire orders.
How could she understand such quick words? Hyeonu briefly sighed and explained it again. “Use the skeleton knight to attract the goblins’ attention. The mages will prepare magic, and the ghouls will aim for the goblins.”
Hyeonu’s words became simpler, and Sunny started to follow them obediently. The still undead started to move. The skeleton horse started to gallop toward the demonic goblins with the sound of bones clattering.
“Kiruk!!”
The demonic goblins confronted the skeleton knight with a black dagger. The ghouls dug into the battle at the right places in a timely manner. Since the level of the undead was high, their artificial intelligence was also quite high. They couldn’t do autonomous actions, but they followed orders admirably.
“Don’t lose your mind. Use penetration or debuff magic rather than explosive magic. Combat isn’t just about the undead. Sunny, you’re also fighting right now.” Hyeonu stood still and ordered Sunny around as he watched the battle.
“Understood. Stop speaking. Darkness Missile.”
In contrast to her blunt words, Sunny used magic straight away. Several arrow-shaped projectiles appeared in a variety of colors. Sunny fired a projectile at the demonic goblin swinging a dagger at the skeleton knight. The demonic goblin trying to hit the skeleton knight was frightened by the flying arrow and aimed at the arrow with its dagger. A ghoul aimed for this moment and bit the wrist of the demonic goblin. This meant the demonic goblin was skewered by Sunny’s magic.
“Isn’t this okay?” Sunny snarled at Hyeonu when she saw this scene.
However, Hyeonu’s attention was drawn somewhere else. “Now the skeleton mages’ spells are complete. Command them quickly.”
“Tch!” Sunny didn’t care for Hyeonu’s indifferent attitude and made a sound. Only then did she issue an order to the skeleton mages. “Shoot the injured goblin.”
The magic cast by the skeleton mages were miniature versions of Sunny’s magic. It was just that since three mages were acting at the same time, the power wasn’t inferior to Sunny’s. Black arrows flew through the air.
“Kiruruk.”
The magic of the skeleton mages cut off the breath of a demonic goblin.
“Did you see?”
“Why aren’t you using curse magic? Don’t rest and rely on the undead. Is the hunt over? Aren’t you full of magic power to summon the undead?”
Sunny once again frowned at Hyeonu’s criticism. The viewers all felt cool when they saw it. Feeling like they were sipping cider, they were in a good mood.
-Phew, he said everything I wanted to say.
-As expected, Alley Leader has discerning eyes.
-He is cold-blooded, so he doesn’t hesitate to assault with facts.
-Honestly, I wanted to say that. Seriously, it is like drinking 10 bottles of digestive medicine.
The battle flowed to Sunny’s one-sided advantage. To be exact, the undead were fighting well. Hyeonu’s spiteful tongue worked. He kept grinding tirelessly at Sunny. Like the stepmother in Cinderella, he didn’t let Sunny rest. Of course, the more he spoke, the more Sunny’s expression distorted and the more she stuck out her lips in a pout.
[A demonic goblin has been killed.]
[Experience has been acquired.]
The last demonic goblin’s throat was torn by the ghouls’ teeth. All five demonic goblins fell. Sunny had a subtle expression. She didn’t like it, but she didn’t dislike it either. It was a complex expression.
‘I hunted the demonic goblins by myself.’
To be exact, she had done it as Hyeonu’s puppet, but in any case, Hyeonu hadn’t pulled out his sword. So to speak, Sunny had hunted them alone. This was something to rejoice in.
‘I have to listen to that braggart again.’
The problem wasn’t Hyeonu’s bragging but that she had to keep facing it.
“Aren’t I right? You can’t hunt because you stand there stupidly. Sunny, your specs are good. Soloing isn’t impossible,” Hyeonu praised her.
Sunny’s face brightened as she smiled. However, the smile quickly disappeared. A reversal came after the praise.
“Of course, if I didn’t help you, it would’ve been game over in a minute,” Hyeonu said, patting Sunny’s shoulder as her expression was about to distort. Then he continued, “From tomorrow, we will add hunting to Sunny’s content. Let’s go.”
The viewers admired Hyeonu’s words.
-Groan... He isn’t just good at games. He is good at push and pull.
-Look at Sunny’s facial expressions. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ She can’t do this or that. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-She actually wants to hit him, but she is enduring it due to the stream.
In many ways, today’s stream was a record-breaking stream for Sunny.
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Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
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