Chapter 33
An offer you can’t refuse!
Moreover, it wasn’t just any quest. It was one of those rare quests with more than two completion conditions, meaning it had a branching point.
Depending on which objective I chose to complete here, the subsequent chain quests would likely change as well.
Looking at the quest, I laughed inwardly.
‘Giving me a whole month? He must be overflowing with confidence!’
It wasn’t like he was going to attack tomorrow or the day after. He was giving me a month!
That was more than enough time to prepare countermeasures.
“I understand well, so I’ll be taking my leave.”
“In one month, when our Alliance’s grand fleet appears on the horizon, I hope you will have made your decision.”
Leaving those words behind, Edward left the office.
As I watched him disappear, I clapped my hands together.
Now that the quest had been given, it was time to discuss countermeasures.
▄ ▄ ▄
Jeil Content Hub Building.
In the conference room located at the very top, I was discussing countermeasures to the current situation with my dedicated support team, logged out as usual.
The difference from before was that Ignis, the Master of JDG, and Shin Ha-yeon were also participating in the meeting.
“The Pirate Alliance’s power is as I’ve reported before. Excluding Eugene and his allied guilds, there is currently no user faction in Ard World capable of engaging in a full-scale naval battle with the Pirate King and emerging victorious.”
“So you’re saying even with JDG’s strength and mobilizing all the eastern users, a full-scale war would be difficult.”
I finished speaking and took a sip of the water placed in front of me.
“That is correct. However, this quest isn’t a full-scale war, but a simple defense of Lawless Port Granado. It’s unknown how much of his forces the Pirate King will mobilize, but the defense itself has a reasonable chance of success if we utilize JDG’s power.”
Team Leader Lee continued.
He was right.
The objective of this quest was a defensive battle!
It was common knowledge that the defending side had an advantage over the attacking side in a siege battle.
Therefore, Team Leader Lee was saying that while a full-scale naval battle might be a different story, simply defending Lawless Port Granado was possible with their current strength.
“If we show them that we can once again triumph against the Pirate Alliance in this defensive battle, the support for Drakan-nim will solidify even further, and it will also have a positive impact on the burgeoning Drakan-nim fandom.”
Fandom!
I already knew from a previous report that my fandom was just beginning to form.
The strategy Team Leader Lee presented was extremely orthodox and reasonable.
It was also true that public opinion towards me, mainly centered in the east, had shifted positively. If we followed Team Leader Lee’s proposed strategy, we would be able to smoothly solidify public opinion.
That’s right.
Smoothly.
However, I had no intention of going about things smoothly.
My ultimate goal was Eugene! To defeat him and once again ascend to the top of Ard World!
And Eugene wasn’t an opponent I could defeat through such mundane methods.
‘Eugene is not an easy opponent.’
I hated Eugene, but I didn’t underestimate him.
And likewise, I didn’t overestimate myself either.
Know your enemy and know yourself!
I knew very well, through countless experiences of victory and defeat in the previous game, that knowing both the enemy and oneself was the first step towards victory.
Of course, it was also a fact that I was currently absorbing public opinion at a terrifying pace, leveling up, clearing quests, and creating a whirlwind in the stagnant Ard World.
A promising candidate for the next Ranker, the current dark horse, and a former top Ranker, a seasoned rookie!
That was my current position in Ard Saga Second.
And I knew very well what kind of position my current “promising candidate” status was.
‘A user with a high probability of becoming a future Ranker, and a being that existing Rankers both love and hate.’
In Ard Saga, a promising candidate was a paradoxical existence.
They were the target of recruitment by veteran Rankers leading guilds, while simultaneously being the target of checks and balances by Rankers forming the establishment and the veteran cartel.
An existence that could influence the future power structure in some way!
Because that was what a promising candidate was, the under-the-table battles of solicitation and checks and balances between guilds over promising candidates were fierce.
Just myself, I had countless times checked or solicited promising candidates who opposed the rule of the Guild Alliance and the Iron Blood Alliance, so it was self-explanatory. Eugene, too, had been subjected to tremendous scrutiny during his time as a promising candidate.
Moreover, I wasn’t just any promising candidate.
A special-grade promising candidate who could potentially aim for not only the Ranker position but even the High Ranker or Over-Ranker position!
A rising star who, not long after appearing, formed a contract with the Dark God, burned down Lawless Port Granado, and garnered the support of the eastern users!
That was my current position.
Under normal circumstances, countless guilds, managements, and agencies would have sent me love calls by now, but the reason they hadn’t was obviously because of the Jeil Group backing me.
The Jeil Group!
There was no guild, agency, or management in Korea with the guts to dare try anything against the 5th ranked chaebol conglomerate in Korea.
Anyway, the important thing right now was that I was ‘still’ a promising candidate.
In order to quickly shed the promising candidate label and become a true named Ranker, and furthermore, to surpass Eugene, I needed to climb even faster than now.
‘If I choose the path of smooth growth, at this pace, I might be able to reach the Over-Ranker position somehow. But defeating Eugene, that guy, would be difficult.’
Above all, I knew very well.
That while I was growing, Eugene wouldn’t just be waiting for me at the top!
Currently, Eugene was known to be carrying out the Legacy Quest.
The Legacy Quest!
A quest that retraced the achievements of one’s character from the previous game. It was unimaginable how much stronger a guy who had unified the continent and reached the ending in the previous game would become after completing the Legacy Quest.
Of course, in the previous game, I would have mobilized the Iron Blood Alliance to hinder Eugene’s Legacy Quest, but now I didn’t even have the power to do so!
In the current Ard Saga Second, where Eugene held hegemony over Ard World, hindering his quest was no different from suicide.
Even mobilizing the forces of JDG and the Jeil Group, defeating Eugene in Ard World, as opposed to in reality, was still impossible.
So now was not the time to challenge Eugene.
However, it didn’t mean that Eugene was complacent and idle at the top.
In this current situation, the only way I could close the gap with him was one way!
To devour everything and climb rapidly, to the point where anyone would call me crazy.
And to do that, I couldn’t just follow the quest objectives as they were.
“It’s a smooth and good strategy. But that’s why it’s a shame.”
Team Leader Lee flinched at my words, and I continued.
“To defeat Eugene, a smooth strategy isn’t enough.”
A cold silence fell over the conference room at my words.
And it was Shin Ha-yeon who broke the silence.
“Drakan-nim is right. We can’t defeat Eugene with just a smooth strategy.”
Shin Ha-yeon, with her usual alluring smile and soft voice, looked at me and said,
“So, do you have any other plans in mind, Drakan-nim?”
Looking at her, I said,
“Let’s try to draw in another force, like we did during the Lawless Port Granado Recapture.”
It was Team Leader Lee, not Shin Ha-yeon, who answered my words.
“If you’re referring to the eastern users, even with their help, a full-scale war with the Pirate Alliance would be insufficient.”
“I’m not talking about users.”
I smiled at Team Leader Lee’s words and recalled what Khalid had told me before.
I remembered clearly what he had said.
The Merfolk!
He said they had the potential and power to defeat the pirates.
Moreover, the description window of the Abyss Lighthouse said the same thing, so it was likely to be true.
And anyway, for the sake of clearing the ‘Apostle’s Path’ quest, the Merfolk quest was something I had to do eventually!
It’s better to get hit first, so while we’re at it, if we delve into the Merfolk quest, subjugate the Merfolk, and then use their power to deal with the pirates……
I would be able to catch two birds with one stone – the Apostle’s Path quest and the elimination of the Pirate King – and even gain the complete support of the eastern users.
Of course, the difficulty of the Merfolk quest was sure to be considerable, but I never thought I would be able to breeze through a full-scale war with the Pirate King.
Rather, the fact that there was a path, the Merfolk quest, that could potentially resolve the full-scale war with the Pirate King was what mattered to me.
From the previous game to now, excluding the single defeat I suffered against Eugene, I had continuously achieved victory and success.
Among them, there were several quests considered impossible by the public, and I had the experience of successfully completing such quests against people’s expectations.
Even the Overlord Quest, when its contents were revealed, people claimed that no one would be able to succeed, even though I was at the top Ranker position at the time, but I succeeded.
Although I ended up handing over hegemony to Eugene not long after, anyway.
Therefore, no matter how difficult this quest might be, it wasn’t impossible.
Looking at Team Leader Lee, I said,
“The Merfolk. We’ll drag them into this game.”
▄ ▄ ▄
Lawless Port Granado.
This city, which had recently become a hot topic due to the Lawless Port Granado Recapture, was now bustling with users.
Black Magician!
Lawless Port Granado was the only city where one could change to the newly opened advanced class.
“Hello, hyungs! I just finished changing to Black Magician. Now I’m going to demonstrate Black Magician skills in the dungeon ahead. Please subscribe and like!”
From streamers broadcasting Black Magician-related content with live streaming turned on, to users deleting their raised characters and raising new ones to change to Black Magician, to newbies who flocked to the city after hearing the rumors!
Lawless Port Granado was so crowded that it was no exaggeration to say it was packed like sardines.
What caught the eye of the users in Lawless Port Granado was undoubtedly the construction site that covered the entire city.
Not only were the burned buildings being rebuilt, but also the walls surrounding the city and various facilities under construction, including the new casino!
It was to the extent that it was no exaggeration to say the entire city was a construction site!
Watching the spectacle, the users murmured.
“Wow, just how many buildings are they building?”
“Was Drakan born with a silver spoon in his mouth? He must be rolling in money to be able to build this much all at once.”
“It’s probably the first time in Ard Saga history that the person who destroyed a city is rebuilding it.”
“That’s none of our business. Let’s just go do the construction repeat quest, shall we? The rewards are decent, and it’s worth doing as a daily quest when you’re a newbie.”
The person who burned down the city is rebuilding it!
People were surprised once by the unprecedented sight, and surprised twice by the construction quest that even offered a decent daily wage.
Users were amazed by Drakan’s endless wealth, which was practically pouring gold onto the ground, and some of them started working at the construction site after receiving the construction daily quest.
Not all users were overflowing with gold, and newbies were short on funds, so the construction daily quest quickly emerged as a hot spot for gold acquisition.
And just like that, a week passed in game time.
