Ranker's Return

Chapter 791

After the fourth awakening, Tang-E went through another change. Hyeonu only noticed it after a few more battles.

“Well done. This time it was very good.”

As usual, Hyeonu summoned Tang-E and Gom-E and won a neat victory. They swept up the god tribe and divine creatures without giving the descendants of the Luos Empire a chance to step up.

‘Isn’t there something strange?’

Hyeonu was picking up the gold and items on the ground when he cocked his head.

‘Why are the traces like this? Why are they so neat?’

The traces of the battle on the ground and the surrounding area were in a neat arrangement. Of course, the word ‘neat’ wasn’t something that should be said when looking at the broken or turned upside down traces of a battle. The standard of neatness that Hyeonu mentioned was due to the absence of water or fire. The opponents had been neatly broken down.

‘It is weird. I’m sure Tang-E used magic…’

Hyeonu’s senses had clearly felt Tang-E using magic. Besides, Gom-E had fought alongside him, so he naturally knew how they fought. Gom-E didn’t draw enough magic power to leave traces on the ground, and Hyeonu wasn’t an idiot who couldn’t even recognize his own traces.

“Tang-E, come here for a moment,” Hyeonu called for Tang-E, who was picking up the loot that had fallen to the ground.

“Huh? Why are you calling me, Master dude?” Tang-E approached Hyeonu with a bunch of gold in his arms.

“Tang-E, try using the magic you used earlier.” Hyeonu crouched down and made eye contact with Tang-E.

“Huh? Magic? As expected, Master dude recognized it.” Tang-E laughed. He was very satisfied with Hyeonu, who noticed his changes at a glance.

“I learned it from my mother and father. It was hard to learn.” Tang-E put his paws on his waist and stuck out his chest.

“You had a hard time learning it? Then will you show me?” Hyeonu said while stroking Tang-E’s head.

‘Pet skill window.’

At the same time, he opened Tang-E’s skill window. Hyeonu would see the new change through the demonstration, but he wanted to check it with his own eyes first.

‘By the way, he learned it from two people, so does he have two skills?’

Hyeonu checked the skill window with some expectations.

‘What is this?’

His eyes widened when he saw it. There were three skills he hadn’t seen before.

[Light of Communication]

[Dark Domination]

[Chaos Domination]

‘There are three skills?’

The names were intuitive enough that he could tell what type of skills they were just by the name.

‘Is it also an attack skill?’

Hyeonu lost his composure and checked the information of the newly emerged skills.

[Light of Communication]

[Releases light attribute magic power.

Type: Immediately Activated

Rating: Unique

Skill Proficiency: F

Releases up to one ray of light attribute magic power.

Skill Cooldown Time: 60 seconds]

[Dark Domination]

[Releases dark attribute magic power.

Type: Immediately Activated

Rating: Unique

Skill Proficiency: F

Releases up to one ray of dark attribute magic power.

Skill Cooldown Time: 60 seconds]

[Chaos Domination]

[Releases chaos attribute magic power.

Type: Immediately Activated

Rating: Epic

Skill Proficiency: F

Releases up to one ray of chaos attribute magic power.

Skill Cooldown Time: 120 seconds]

‘It doesn’t make sense.’

Two unique skills and one epic skill. All three were immediately activated skills, and the skill cooldown time was short.

‘I think they will be very compatible with the original three skills.’

The skills Tang-E already had were Ice, Fire, and Lightning. These three alone meant there was no inconvenience during hunts. It was because if Tang-E used the three skills moderately according to the opponent, Hyeonu could gain the upper hand over the opponent.

Nevertheless, this didn’t mean it was perfect. In theory, the more attribute magic that could be used, the better it would be. In the case of players, they chose one or two flagship attributes due to proficiency and used the rest of the attributes as appropriate.

‘By the way, Tang-E only has three.’

Unlike regular players, Tang-E only had three attack skills. Naturally, there were fewer skills to increase the proficiency, so adding three skills didn’t change anything.

“Watch carefully, Master dude. It was hard to learn.”

Hyeonu couldn’t hide his surprised expression as he looked at the skill window, but he was soon awakened by Tang-E’s voice.

“Uh, yes. Hurry up and try it. I am curious.” Hyeonu’s words showed he was overly excited.

Unaffected by Hyeonu, Tang-E calmly prepared the magic. He extended one of his paws in front of him, and black smoke started to form around it. After a while, the black smoke became a small sphere. The completely black sphere shot out with an explosive force, flying for a long time before disappearing in a spectacular explosion.

‘Is this the power of Dark Domination? Isn’t it too strong?’ Hyeonu looked surprised at the sight of Tang-E’s new magic, which was much more powerful than he expected. It was really strong. It was totally unbelievable that this was the power of a newly created F-rank skill.

Tang-E used Dark Domination and didn’t even move from his position of reaching out. Only his mouth moved.

“I learned that from my mother. Now I will show what I learned from my father.”

White smoke rushed to Tang-E’s paw. It was the exact opposite of before.

‘Is this Light of Communication?’ Hyeonu recognized the identity of the skill just by the color of the magic power that Tang-E used.

No, anyone would be able to tell. The white magic power stood out that much. Once again, the white sphere flew through the air, disappearing only after breaking dozens of trees.

“It is strong. Wasn’t it hard to learn?” Hyeonu approached Tang-E and stroked his head.

“It was hard but I learned it. I should help Master dude. I persevered and learned it.” Tang-E turned around to look at Hyeonu with a smile.

Then Tang-E, who had been continuously smiling, spoke as if he suddenly remembered something: “Ah, right. I didn’t learn this one… It just appeared. I think it is due to the essence that Master gave me before.”

“Really? Then can you show me that as well?” Hyeonu had already looked at the skill window, but he pretended not to know what Tang-E was talking about.

“I’ve tried it once… I think this is the strongest one, Master dude.” Tang-E showed a serious look this time. He summoned a heart and carefully injected magic power into it. A black air current rushed into the golden bead, wrapping around it in an instant.

Just then, a white air current appeared and wrapped around the now black bead. At the same time, the color of the bead started to change.

‘Black and white are combined… Why did it end up purple?’ Hyeonu snorted when he saw Tang-E’s heart change. It wasn’t a sight that could be understood with common sense. Well, this was a game after all, so Hyeonu just glossed over this detail.

Tang-E slowly held out the purple heart, and a purple lightning bolt exploded from it. The ground suddenly became hollowed out. It was as if a bomb had exploded.

‘As expected, an epic is an epic…’

It had a more terrifying power than that of the previous two skills. This was enough to be used for hunting right away. Due to the low proficiency, it wasn’t a power that was significantly ahead of the existing skills, but the potential was different. Those skills weren’t this strong at the beginning.

“Tang-E, you learned well. I’ll ask you to keep doing so in the future.” Hyeonu smiled warmly at Tang-E.

***

The incident in which Hyeonu found the League of Different Species and then found and disclosed the divine world was great news for those who enjoyed Arena. Rankers and large guilds were provided with new content material that could be shown on live streams or actually enjoyed, and others were provided with new things to see. Yet for some, it provided them with a big job to do.

“Team Leader Park-nim, did you finish the project well?” Kim Jinyeong asked as he put a cup of Americano with a few drops of syrup in front of Park Hyeonjun.

“It hasn’t ended. This is the beginning. However, I feel fortunate that we started work on the divine world beforehand.” Park Hyeonjun sighed and drank the Americano. The Americano was bitter and sweet as always.

“Nevertheless, looking at it from the top, they seem to be enjoying it. There is a prediction that more people will come in once this patch is finished.” Kim Jinyeong smiled bitterly. Park Hyeonjun was struggling now, but once his work was over, it would be Kim Jinyeong’s turn.

“Is that so? I think it is more likely that the loyalty of those playing Arena will be stronger rather than more people joining the game. They will be able to switch to a different species to play. This is perfect material to hold onto the light users.”

The patch prepared by the Quency General Planning Team, which included Park Hyeonjun, was directly related to the League of Different Species. It was a patch that made it possible for players to start in the cities of the League of Different Species, unlikely in the past when they could only start in the two empires of the East and West Continents.

“In addition, existing players will be given quests to change species they want. Therefore, their loyalty will be guaranteed to some extent.”

The opportunity to play as a different species will be given to both existing and future players of Arena.

“It is a thorough plan, as expected.” Kim Jinyeong looked at Park Hyeonjun with a strange smile. Park Hyeonjun felt uneasy about Kim Jinyeong’s compliment. They were two people who always felt like fellow sufferers. Yet today, Kim Jinyeong felt more like a messenger who took a soul to the underworld than a friend.

“I contacted Team Leader Park-nim today is for one simple reason. I think you need to do your current work a bit faster. I came to tell you this.”

“What do you mean? Faster? Isn’t there still a bit of time left?” Park Hyeonjun asked back with a pale expression.

“There is a problem in the northern part of the continent. I’m afraid… I think the scenario that we first planned in Arena will be finished in a snap,” Kim Jinyeong replied with a stiff expression.

The scenario of the northern glacier zone had to begin at least a few months after the discovery of the League of Different Species. This way, they had plenty of time to apply the patch. Unfortunately, someone had an accident there, and the deadline was greatly shortened.

“Hah…” Park Hyeonjun sighed and swallowed the Americano. He knew best what Kim Jinyeong was talking about.

“Okay, I will finish the development of the League of Different Species as soon as possible. There shouldn’t be… any problems now.” Park Hyeonjun threw the empty cup of Americano into the trash can and disappeared.

Left alone, Kim Jinyeong closed his eyes and thought about what he needed to do in the future.