The Return of the Genius Ranker of All Times - Chapter 337

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 337

Part 2, Episode 3.

[Charlie]

-LV : 58

[Jihad Black]

-LV : 53

Now the situation had gone beyond just catching up in level to creating a huge gap of 5 levels.

At this rate, when Charlie hit the max level of 70, it wouldn’t be strange if Jihad was only hitting level 60.

-I’m the senior here… When I was over level 10, Charlie was only level 1…

-Hmm. Cheer up.

-Rizariza…

Charlie offered comfort to Jihad who was depressed enough to sink into the ground, while Eliza patted his back with her small hands.

Watching this scene, Dohyun shook his head.

‘I’m one thing, but that guy is really something else.’

Actually, Charlie’s growth speed wasn’t fast either.

Even though he received less experience points, he had been hunting for three months and only managed to raise 8 levels.

For Jihad to be overtaken by such a Charlie was extremely strange.

“Still, you got a skill when you hit level 50 this time.”

-That’s true, but… Charlie can use Dawn’s Light or something like that too.

“From what I can see, what you got is absolutely not inferior? It’s just that there haven’t been many situations to use it yet, but there will definitely be opportunities for you to shine later.”

-…Really?

-Rizariza!

-Yes! I think so too. I’ve never seen a Necromancer who uses such abilities before. If I were you, I’d be very proud.

Seeing Jihad perk up his ears as if interested, Eliza and Charlie seized the moment to shower him with praise.

Did it work?

-…A-ahem! Right? I thought so too!

-Riza!

-Yes!

Dohyun chuckled at how triumphant he became, as if he had never been dejected.

He was always such a simple guy.

‘Well, it’s not a lie. He really did get something good.’

It’s just that there aren’t proper opportunities to use it.

As long as they kept hunting field monsters day and night like this, wouldn’t there be no chance to use it for a while?

‘I wonder if a Hidden Quest will drop somewhere.’

Hidden Quests gave tremendous experience points, rewards aside.

If one dropped, Jihad would get a chance to shine and he would level up, so it would be good for everyone involved.

‘No matter how much I use Eye of Truth, nothing comes up… Sigh.’

With not only Hidden Pieces but even the seeds of Quests dried up now, it was just wishful thinking.

Dohyun sighed and closed his status window, turning around.

It had been about 20 minutes since they rested, so things should have respawned to some degree.

Since complaining all day wouldn’t change anything, he thought he might as well hunt more during this time.

Just as he was gripping Cheonbyeon and searching for prey with eagle eyes.

Ding-

[You have unconfirmed messages.]

A corner of the system that had been hidden behind the status window.

There, he could see a notification window expressing its faint presence.

The moment he confirmed the text, Dohyun immediately hesitated.

‘Messages?’

There were several words that weren’t very familiar to Dohyun, and one of them was messages.

Like all gaming addicts, Dohyun did nothing but game, so he didn’t have many occasions to exchange messages with anyone.

Especially after returning from the military, it was safe to say there were none except for family contacts and friends’ group chats.

If that was the case in reality, would games be any different?

‘Is it Auntie?’

Occasionally, messages from Violet-Flavored Auntie, Kukkudakkukku, or Sword Master were all there was.

Kukkudakkukku and Sword Master had sent messages only a handful of times, so Violet-Flavored Auntie was more likely.

‘Looking at it, it seems like it’s been a few days… He’s probably sulking again about me not checking messages.’

At this point, it would be right to develop the habit of checking, but Dohyun had his own reasons.

After his existence became known, he often received whisper requests from strangers, and after catching Garion, it literally went wild.

He usually had no need for whispers, and he had been too focused on hunting recently.

If he had at least leveled up, he would have checked the notifications while looking at his status window, but that wasn’t the case either, so there were valid reasons.

Ding-

The moment he checked his messages, expecting the usual barrage of nagging that would be poured out today as well.

“Hm?”

Dohyun’s head tilted to the side.

[You have unconfirmed whispers.]

[Would you like to check them?]

As expected, it was a whisper notification.

However… the sender wasn’t Violet-Flavored Auntie.

It wasn’t Kukkudakkukku or Sword Master either.

[Hello, Kaiser! I’m BJ Mati. I’m contacting you because I’d like to propose a collaboration…]

‘A BJ?’

A collaboration request from a BJ he had never met.

While it had been a hot topic for a while and he received all sorts of advertisements and collaboration requests, that was all in the past.

Recently, with focus shifting to the New Continent, the trend had somewhat subsided, so Dohyun let out a surprised exclamation.

Moreover, it wasn’t even a name he had seen before.

[As someone who has been watching Kaiser’s activities for a long time… I judged that Kaiser would be perfect… (omitted)… Although I’m just a small-timer with only 46,000 YouTube subscribers, I have a decent fixed fanbase for Godose streaming… While it’s incomparably lacking compared to Kaiser, this isn’t a shameless one-sided proposal.]

‘Godose streaming…’

He had heard of it.

No, Dohyun and all users who played Godose would know about it.

It was a platform where only Godose could be live-streamed, and various Godose streamers were active there.

If YouTube was for re-broadcasts, then Godose streaming would be for live broadcasts.

‘I heard that in terms of real-time topics, Godose streaming was more dominant.’

Comments asking him to do Godose streaming often appeared on Dohyun’s YouTube as well.

Since he said he had some recognition in such a place, it became quite interesting.

But the most interesting part came after that.

[…So would you be able to do a collaboration stream where we clear a Hidden Quest together? I can confidently say it’s a Hidden Quest that no one else has discovered. It’s a Quest that only I have found.]

Also, since this is the first proposal I’m making to Kaiser, I hope you’ll consider it in a positive direction.]

Among the long message that required scrolling down for a while, one word particularly caught his eye.

‘Hidden Quest?’

That was more than enough to stimulate Dohyun, who was more serious about Hidden Pieces than anyone else.

‘There were still Hidden Pieces left?’

Usually, when a game reaches about two years, it tends to stagnate somewhat, and most information gets released.

In the Empire, which could be called the Seoul of Godose, all kinds of users had dominated, and almost all Hidden Pieces had been conquered.

So many Hidden Pieces had been conquered that it had been almost half a year since news of finding a Hidden Quest in the Empire was heard.

How else could even Dohyun, who possessed the Eye of Truth, not find any?

‘A Hidden Quest with prerequisites… If it’s something like this, it makes sense that I couldn’t find it with Eye of Truth.’

Eye of Truth was a fraudulent trait, but that didn’t make it omnipotent.

Because the activation conditions were clear, while it could find stealth like a ghost, Eye of Truth couldn’t find things carelessly hidden in thickets.

If there were prerequisites like talking to NPCs, it would be natural for Dohyun to not find it no matter how much he searched.

‘A Hidden Quest found after half a year…’

Dohyun, who had been thinking deeply, grinned.

‘Perfect for decorating the finale before heading to the New Continent.’

Whether those words were true or not wasn’t something to worry about.

He could just verify it directly.

Having made his decision, Dohyun pressed the reply button.

* * *

BJ Mati.

A YouTuber with 46,000 subscribers.

He always claimed to focus on Godddong streaming, but that was just something he said because he couldn’t make it on YouTube.

In reality, even his Godddong streaming had fewer than 10,000 viewers – he was what you’d call a bottom-tier streamer.

‘I just can’t understand it. Why don’t people watch such substantial broadcasts?’

Mati couldn’t accept this fact.

He seriously believed that no explorer had the ability to handle content as substantial as his own.

It wasn’t baseless pride.

‘Where else can you find exploration logs that make your heart swell with such grandeur?’

A perfect explorer with legendary-grade exploration skills and the hero-grade exploration-exclusive unique ability ‘Eye of Selection,’ treated as quasi-mythical grade.

At least in this field, he had conditions that meant he wouldn’t have many rivals.

If there was anyone to succeed Adventure King Barion, it would be him.

With such pride, he had always competed fairly with content and maintained his dignity as an explorer.

But reality was harsh.

‘Aggro broadcasts that are just provocative without any emotion or admiration get millions of viewers, while genuine unknown exploration gets only 20,000? It’s the end times, truly the end times.’

People preferred broadcasts like ‘I Scolded an Elf with a Confession’ over the unknown exploration he took pride in.

Such childish pranks that elementary schoolers might pull drew more attention than the exploration he had invested months of time and effort into.

‘Even though this is an era where light content sells better than masterpieces…’

This was seriously wrong.

Especially for him, who was famous among friends as a young fogey, it was even more incomprehensible.

Was this why he had rejected all guild scouts and suffered needlessly? For a moment, he felt self-loathing and anguish.

‘No, wait. This isn’t being a fogey. Just because the world is wrong doesn’t mean I need to follow along, right?’

Chasing only provocative content for money couldn’t be called a true explorer.

Taking a deep breath, Mati turned on Barion’s broadcast.

-Why suffer needlessly? The joy gained after hardship is what has meaning. Things gotten for free have no value whatsoever!

Barion’s voice, answering a viewer’s chat, contained unwavering conviction.

Encouraged by this, Mati clenched his fist.

‘As expected of Barion.’

Watching him pursue the adventures he wanted without caring about public opinion always made his heart burn with passion.

This must be what it meant to be intoxicated by romance.

‘But… I can’t stay like this forever.’

This was an era where you needed money to chase romance.

As a full-time streamer, it was difficult for him to raise money for the materials needed for exploration.

Because Godddong’s prices were beyond imagination, even working multiple jobs would barely be enough to put food on the table.

‘One hit.’

No more, no less – just one hit.

He just needed to strike it big once.

And finally, one year after starting as a streamer, that opportunity for one big hit was given to him.

‘Who would have thought I’d get a Hidden Quest through this route?’

He was lucky.

Even that wasn’t enough to describe it.

A Hidden Quest he had obtained like fate through a series of coincidences while pursuing true exploration.

He could confidently say that no one else would be able to obtain this for at least the next year.

Which meant he had to clear it properly…

‘Of all things, it has a 2-person limit and only one chance.’

He couldn’t waste an opportunity he had worked so hard to get.

As an explorer alone, he absolutely couldn’t clear it, so he needed a reliable ally, but the problem was that the New Continent had been updated at this timing.

Most decent players had all left for the New Continent, and he couldn’t even contact them properly.

He had sent messages to the few decent candidates he could think of, but the responses were always the same rejection.

‘They probably don’t have time to pay attention to a bottom-tier streamer like me.’

Did they know what kind of opportunity they were kicking away?

He was filled with the desire to flatten their arrogance, but the reality was that it was hard to even find one decent ally.

A player stronger than most max-level characters who hadn’t yet advanced to the New Continent.

A player who could handle the role of 2-3 people alone.

‘To be sure, I need to find that kind of player, but geez, where in the world would such a player be… huh?’

That’s when Kaiser flashed through his mind.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————