The Return of the Genius Ranker’s Myth Warehouse - Chapter 73

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 73
Chapter 73
“Man, now that’s what I’m talking about! This is my real friend! Everyone, this guy is my friend! My friend!”
“Stop it, will you.”
“Why? You’re changing your appearance with the Secret Gear and the Ring of Shame anyway, so nobody else recognizes you, right?”
It’s the Secret Cloak and the Ring of Oblivion. And I’m not worried about my identity being exposed—I’m embarrassed because of you.
“Embarrassed? Come on! Right now, if you search the Beginner League, your name comes up first, doesn’t it? Hey! Innkeeper, one bowl of kalguksu!”
“Why are you calling for an innkeeper all of a sudden?”
After the main round ended.
I ran into Kang Ju-hyuk, who kept whispering excitedly as he walked over.
Truth be told, meeting Kang Ju-hyuk wasn’t so bad.
Beyond just being close friends, I could grasp the latest information and overall details about the league through him.
“I knew it from the start! Your skills from ranking first in First wouldn’t just disappear!”
“Yet you kept warning me that 150 levels wouldn’t be enough.”
“Even monkeys fall from trees sometimes! I was just warning you not to get careless!”
“Never mind that. What’s the public reaction like?”
“What do you think? Everyone’s talking about you! They’re all debating whether anyone in the tournament can actually beat you!”
That final strike I landed clearly made quite an impact.
All talk of other championship contenders had vanished, and my victory was practically treated as a foregone conclusion.
Still, surprisingly, quite a few participants had declared they could beat me, and several experts had analyzed the possibility of my defeat.
“Everyone’s convinced you’re a ranged attacker, and it’s killing me not to say anything!”
“Are there any other theories? I used various weapons in the Duel Arena too.”
“Most of them got one-shot by you anyway. If Lee Hwa-jin, your final opponent, said something, that’d be different. But since she’s keeping quiet, not much has gotten out.”
Lee Hwa-jin—my final opponent in the Duel Arena.
She lost to me there and didn’t give any significant interviews.
She seemed to want to show something through her skills rather than words, but according to what Kang Ju-hyuk told me.
‘She said she got eliminated in the Master League preliminaries.’
The Master League preliminaries.
Apparently, Lee Hwa-jin tried to make an impressive showing by getting close to the Beehive, overextended herself, got surrounded by a swarm of wasps, and collapsed.
Since then, she’s been lying low.
Thanks to that, information about me is leaking out less.
“And that final attack you showed was so incredible, right? Everyone was shocked, so they’re all convinced you’re definitely a ranged attacker.”
Well, that works in my favor.
In the tournament coming up, there’ll definitely be people who think I’m a ranged attacker and recklessly charge in.
Honestly, based on my experience so far, I feel like I could win the championship just using a bow in the tournament.
That’s all I need to say about myself.
“How about you? Did you watch the matches carefully?”
“Of course. You know how hard I analyzed everything!”
“You should try to find the Pyramid as quickly as possible. The Desert terrain is way too disadvantageous for you.”
“I know. You mean I should get inside the Pyramid and fight there, right?”
“That’s right. There’s no need to fight recklessly in unfavorable terrain. Eventually, everyone will end up in the Pyramid anyway, so we can raise our rankings then.”
“If only people like you didn’t exist, that is.”
“Even with people like me around, you should be able to claw your way into the Pyramid one way or another.”
“Oh, what’s this? Compliments now?”
“Your skills aren’t bad either. Brawlers as a class lack standout specialties, but they’re well-rounded enough that they don’t have many weaknesses.”
This was the experience I’d gained from competing in the main round.
Drawing on the knowledge I possessed, I offered him my counsel.
Before long, a System Message appeared announcing the start of the Master League’s main round.
“I’m heading out!”
“Do well.”
“Ugh, who taught me? Of course I’ll do well!”
Kang Ju-hyuk moved to participate in the Master League’s main round.
* * *
After the Beginner League’s main round had concluded.
Right after the strong championship favorite, Unmemory Spirit, was eliminated, and a rising star named Mir burst forth with dazzling brilliance.
Despite the overwhelming display Mir had shown, users began appearing one by one who believed they could defeat him.
A considerable number of the users who had made it this far were receiving support from major Guilds.
These individuals had been educated through their Guilds’ analysis of Mir.
“As you’ve seen, Mir’s class is presumed to be a ranged attacker. In fact, it’s obvious. If he weren’t a ranged attacker, there’s no way he could unleash attacks of that magnitude.”
“I’m aware of that, but….”
“Furthermore, those attacks he was firing from atop the Pyramid. While they were certainly powerful enough to astound us, they absolutely cannot be used in a tournament.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“That blood-red sniper rifle. It was 2.2 meters in length alone. Since it requires time to install and fix the weapon to the ground, there’s no way it could be used in a tournament with a limited arena size.”
“But still….”
The tournament participant listening to the Guild’s analysis hesitated.
Though he’d heard that the sniper rifle couldn’t be used, Mir’s final attack remained vivid in his mind.
Even without the sniper rifle, if an attack half as powerful as that final strike came his way, he had absolutely no confidence he could block or evade it.
Noticing this, the analyst from the Guild reassured him.
“In fact, that final attack is judged to be less a matter of Mir’s power and more the result of a powerful weapon combined with the energy of the loaded mana stones.”
“Mana stones?”
“From the lowest-grade mana stones to the highest-grade ones. He fired them off without hesitation, regardless of cost.”
“If we’re talking about the highest-grade mana stones, even a single one would be astronomically expensive….”
“Exactly. One shot per mana stone. Based on the footage, the total cost of the mana stones used during the main round alone is estimated to easily exceed tens of billions.”
“T-tens of billions? Is he the youngest son of some major corporation?”
“The problem is the mana stone used at the end. It’s presumed to be a special-grade mana stone with higher purity than the highest-grade ones.”
“Special-grade? I thought the highest-grade was the limit for mana stones?”
“It’s not widely known, but special-grade mana stones do exist. They’re so rare that their value speaks for itself, but even at minimum, we’re talking over a billion.”
“A, a billion in a single attack? That’s insane….”
To expend a billion-won mana stone in a single attack.
Where else could such extravagant spending occur?
Even the son of a major corporation would be kicked out of the house if he squandered money like that, wouldn’t he?
That’s how absurd the situation felt.
On the other hand.
‘Then that wasn’t the monster’s true power, was it?’
Relief washed over me.
That insane final attack had been created through the power of a sniper rifle and a premium-grade magic stone.
In the main round where sniper rifles were difficult to use, that attack would be unavailable.
“You’ve realized it then. While they possess excellent equipment, they’re ultimately just a ranged attacker. In a tournament with limited arena space, that’s an extremely disadvantageous class.”
“I see!”
“You’re more than capable. With your superior mobility, you can close the distance in an instant and block their ranged attacks, bringing them down with ease.”
“Excellent!”
“But don’t let your guard down. We confirmed footage of Mir using a dagger in the preliminaries.”
“That’s just self-defense level, isn’t it!”
“True. A ranged attacker’s dagger skills wouldn’t match your twin-blade mastery anyway.”
The analyst nodded.
While data was scarce, analyzing both the preliminaries and main round showed that Mir wasn’t an impossible opponent.
The Archer class simply happened to excel in both the preliminaries and main round.
Ranged attackers like archers were the class that weakened most dramatically once entering a tournament.
“Moreover, Mir defeated Unmemory Spirit. Since that promising prospect backed by Parcheon has been eliminated, you have every chance to win the league.”
“Win the league…!”
“We’ll increase Guild support as well, so do your best.”
“Yes!”
And this wasn’t happening only here.
Among the thirty-six users who advanced to the tournament, nearly all except Mir received this kind of coaching.
They were supplied with defensive gear excellent for blocking ranged attacks like arrows.
In the training facilities prepared at Second Crown, they learned methods for countering ranged classes from the Guild’s archers and gained practical experience.
If they could just defeat Mir, they could win the league.
That thought occupied the minds of all the tournament participants.
While the participants made these preparations to face Mir.
[ The Master League main round begins. ]
Following the Beginner League, the next match started.
* * *
The moment the Master League main round began.
I naturally switched the screen to Kang Ju-hyuk.
I’d told him he should rush to the Pyramid immediately, but Kang Ju-hyuk remembered another piece of advice I’d given and didn’t move from his position right away.
‘Locating yourself.’
Kang Ju-hyuk didn’t have the Compass of the Sun.
My item was untradeable, so I couldn’t lend it to him.
Therefore, I’d taught him how to navigate the Desert using the characteristics I’d personally experienced and knowledge gained through First.
‘The sun’s position.’
Kang Ju-hyuk compared the sinking Desert to the sun’s position.
Above all else.
‘The direction of the cacti.’
From my own direct observations, the cacti in that Desert where the main round was taking place leaned slightly toward where the sun rose.
In other words, the cacti themselves were pointing east.
They were tilted only very slightly, so discerning this amid the sloped sand and swirling dust clouds was an extraordinarily difficult task.
‘Good.’
Kang Ju-hyuk found his path by maximizing his own instincts and the Six Sense skill that fighters possessed.
With that method, he could definitely move toward the Pyramid.
During the journey, he did encounter other users.
‘If you’re not confident you can take them down quickly right now, avoid them.’
Kang Ju-hyuk remembered my advice properly.
The most important thing right now was entering the Pyramid.
Fighting in the Desert was far too disadvantageous for a fighter, and if the opponent fled, a chase would ensue, wasting precious time.
It was better to ignore them.
Kang Ju-hyuk moved swiftly according to my advice and finally located the Pyramid.
‘Good.’
That didn’t mean he needed to stand guard at the Pyramid’s Entrance.
Inside the Pyramid.
He found terrain suitable for hiding and located a position ideal for ambushing enemies and taking them down in one strike.
He wouldn’t record a high kill count, but he could secure certain kills while ‘surviving’.
He could pass the main round simply by surviving, without needing to rank high.
My advice was that rather than chasing high rankings in the Desert terrain that disadvantaged fighters, he should aim for a safe and certain pass.
As time passed, the Desert sank closer and closer to the Pyramid’s doorstep.
The moment users began entering the Pyramid.
Thud!
[ Player ‘Kang Ju-hyuk’ has defeated player ‘Day After Day’. ]
Kang Ju-hyuk began to display his true power in earnest.

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