玩国王游戏

Chapter 311. Strange Twist of Fate

“Hm?” As soon as Chi-Woo got out of the bathroom, he met a familiar face. Though they had come to Liber at the same time, it had been a long time since they saw each other.

“Oh! It’s been a while,” With his hand raised, Allen Leonard greeted Chi-Woo excitedly.

Ru Amuh had invited Allen to join his team when they first migrated to Shalyh city, but Allen had already joined the Cassiubia League and turned him down. Thinking this, Chi-Woo vaguely recalled how Allen said during their time at the fortress that his dream was to become the head of an adventure guild to foster heroes. He didn’t know what Allen had been doing since he came to this city, but the bright expression on Allen’s face seemed to indicate that he wasn’t having a bad time.

“It’s been a while, Mr. Allen Leonard.”

“Fufu. It’s been so long. But I’ve been keeping up with the news about you. I heard about you recently…” Allen said with a laugh and trailed off. He quickly glanced behind him and cleared his throat. “I was guiding some lost lambs back to their destinations. As enormous as this tower is, it isn’t so complicated.”

“That’s true.”

“It sounds like we came here with the same goal, so let’s hurry. We are running a bit late.”

“Ah, I already have someone I planned to go with.”

“I see. Then let’s meet up later in an official capacity.”

“Yes. See you later.”

Allen Leonard immediately moved, and two figures followed him. Chi-Woo tilted his head.

‘Are they Mr. Allen Leonard’s companions?’ Chi-Woo wondered. Humans weren’t the only ones participating in this draft event. With Chi-Hyun’s permission, there were also groups under the Cassiubia League in attendance, and Allen’s adventure guild was one of them. Perhaps the Cassiubia League’s participation was only natural considering the recent rise in humanity’s reputation. Given that heroes were gems that the Celestial Realm specially picked out, any random hero could at least fulfill the minimum expectations and always strive to become stronger.

“Boss! I’m here! Here!”

As Chi-Woo walked, he eventually heard Eval’s voice. He saw Eval wave his hands around and jump up and down in excitement.

“Ah, why are you so slow, boss? I told you many times that this is very important to us.”

He also heard Ru Hiana retort, “Ha. It’s not even a big deal. We were only a bit late, but he makes such a big deal out of nothing.”

“I do not!” Eval replied in frustration, and Ru Amuh tried to calm both of them down.

“Sigh. Why am I the only one trying so hard among our group? I bet all the other groups have their members scanning the area,” Eval said.

“Sorry, I ran into someone I knew on my way. Let’s go now,” Chi-Woo said, and everyone hurried up the stairs. They arrived at an open space on the third floor. When Zelit guided Chi-Woo to this place before, he had said that this floor was going to be used as a multipurpose space. That was probably why there weren’t any visible rooms or compartments, and it was just a wide-open floor where everything could be seen at a glance. Chi-Woo felt as if he was standing alone in a large baseball or soccer field.

As expected, there were others. Hundreds of people gathered all around them, and there was quite a stir. This multipurpose floor was being used for a banquet this time. Oil lamps dangled from the walls and ceilings, and there were circular tables covered in white fabric stationed in places, each of which covered in delicious-looking food and drinks.

“Boss, come here.” Eval guided them to the central stage. There, one could check their surroundings by simply turning their head around. It was the stage Chi-Hyun had prepared for groups to connect.

‘What do I do now…?’ While walking up the stage, Chi-Woo met eyes with a couple of other people. He was supposed to make connections with them, but Chi-Woo wasn’t sure whether he should simply meet their eyes or have private conversations with them.

‘I should go in order…’ Chi-Woo thought. He was feeling quite nervous, but he still went up the stage while shaking his head. If things didn’t work out, he intended to use his die. He wasn’t using it pointlessly since this was an event that Boboris had strongly emphasized to him, and Chi-Woo thought it was worth a die-throw. Chi-Woo exchanged looks with Apoline, who was already seated, but as soon as he met eyes with Emmanuel, he had to look away. It was because Emmanuel had gotten up from his seat as soon as he saw Chi-Woo.

‘Sit. There’s no need for you to come over to greet me, please,’ Chi-Woo pleaded desperately with body language, and Emmanuel sat back down, reading his intention clear. For some reason, he looked slightly regretful with the way he licked his lips.

“You should’ve let him come to you. It’s important to show your connection in a place like this,” Eval murmured regretfully to Chi-Woo after Chi-Woo let out a sigh of relief.

“I will think about doing that next time,” Chi-Woo smiled dryly and sat at a table that had a plaque that said ‘Seven Stars’.

‘This is the meeting place…’ Chi-Woo thought. Here, new heroes from the Celestial Realm would meet heroes who had come to this world before them. The new heroes would be curious about all sorts of things about Liber, while organizations would be curious about the quality of the new talents. Thus, this was the time for the two groups to ask and answer each other’s questions and appeal to one another.

Of course, not everyone would get an equal opportunity. A total of 372 heroes had come as part of the tenth reinforcements. Considering the seventh recruitment that Chi-Woo had been part of consisted of a little more than a hundred heroes, the number of new blood was three times as high. In comparison, there were still very few organizations. Even though the Cassiubia League was participating in this event, the number of organizations participating in the first draft was still within single digit, and they wouldn’t be able to handle all 372 people on their own.

“Hey boss, do you have that with you?” Eval asked.

“Yes, of course.” Chi-Woo lifted a hefty pouch. It was what he had received in today’s briefing session. Inside were a total of 100 coins that emitted a soft golden light. These coins could be described as ‘dibs’ in one word, or in a longer description, ‘the priority to negotiate with a hero alone after the draft’. For instance, if a hero of Ru Amuh’s caliber and fame entered the floor, all organizations would be eager not to miss their chance of recruiting such a hero. A fight could arise while competing for the hero, and that was why the coin system was set in place for the draft.

All the organizations could give the coins they received to the heroes they met depending on how much they wanted to give. And when competition arose for a hero, the side who gave more coins to the hero was given priority to negotiate. Chi-Hyun distributed the coins according to the organization’s recent achievements. For example, the organizations from the Cassiubia League received 30 steel coins, while Afrilith and Eustitia got 50 bronze coins each. Ho Lactea got 70 silver coins, and Seven Stars got 100 gold coins in total. This meant that Seven Stars could get absolute priority on at least one person. Even if Ho Lactea used up all their coins on someone, Seven Stars could beat that amount with 71 of their gold coins and still have 29 left.

Still, this didn’t mean Seven Stars was guaranteed to get anyone they chose. These coins gave ‘priority to negotiate’, not ‘priority to choose’. As Chi-Hyun emphasized, recruits needed to happen based on discussion and negotiation. A hero had the right to choose their organization like how an organization had the right to choose a hero. This meant that a hero had the authority to decide whether they should accept the coins or not. This could be a disadvantage for Seven Stars since the Celestial Lights’ existence alone had a huge advertising effect.

Afterwards, they would move to the next step. The heroes who didn’t receive any coins stayed on the floor and waited for a second round of drafts for the smaller teams. Originally, they planned to only open up the drafting event to organizations, but since the number of organizations was still much lacking compared to the number of people coming in, Chi-Hyun made an exception.

‘What a fierce competition,’ Chi-Woo thought after looking around. The atmosphere was tense from the beginning—not just on the organization\'s side, but for the heroes as well. The majority of them were glancing up and down the central stage. They probably realized the positions they were in as soon as they entered this place and heard about Liber’s situation. Any hero would realize—no, desperately hope that they would have a professional organization backing them up rather than them trying things out independently.

“Here you are,” someone suddenly said. Chi-Woo turned around and saw a man with a long head. It was Zelit.

“The main event will start soon. He’s coming here now,” Zelit said, and Chi-Woo could easily guess who he was talking about.

“How is it?” Zelit turned sideways and asked. Judging from his gaze, he seemed quite moved by the scene before them. Chi-Woo could understand how Zelit was feeling. There used to be a time when they had to live like escapees, eating whatever scraps they found on the ground with nowhere to sleep.

[I am going to build an inn here! An inn!]

[I want a restaurant instead.]

[I want to establish a guild.]

[An adventure guild sounds good, but won’t we need a temple?]

All these establishments were taken for granted now, but there had been a time when they desperately wished for them to exist.

[Okay, let’s try once.]

[But let’s still try. Let’s try to build inns, restaurants, guilds, temples…]

That was what everyone had hoped for.

[Like those who had come and those who had been here dreamed of, let’s make our ideals into reality.]

[I believe our stories and what we’ve been through today will go down as legends in the future. That’s what we have to do.]

And such a day was finally here.

“Are you crying?” Chi-Woo asked, and Zelit chuckled.

“Don’t make fun of me.”

Though Zelit said he wasn’t crying, the edge of his nose was slightly red. Chi-Woo smiled thinking Zelit was surprisingly emotional.

“I actually came to you to give information, but…” Zelit started. Eval’s ears perked up hearing ‘information’, but Zelit said, “I don’t think I can give you any in the end. I’m too scared of the legend. You understand, right?”

Though this situation couldn’t be seen as absolutely fair, there were rules in place. If something beyond what the rules permitted occurred, Chi-Hyun would not let it slide given his personality. There was a hundred percent chance that he would give a harsh penalty to anyone who broke the rules since Chi-Hyun was someone who hated variables.

“Of course. We are already at an advantage. There’s no need for us to shoulder unnecessary risks.”

“That’s true. Then, I wish you all good luck.”

Zelit turned around. And Chi-Woo and Eval naturally exchanged looks. Though Zelit told them that he couldn’t give them information because he was afraid of Chi-Hyun, that was a clue in itself. As Apertum’s manager, Zelit probably had checked the list of incoming heroes beforehand. If there wasn’t anyone worth noting, he wouldn’t have even bothered about passing on information. Yet Zelit spoke as if he wanted to give important information but couldn’t because of his position. In other words, there was a hero in the tenth reinforcement Zelit wanted to highlight. They didn’t know who it was, but it was Seven Stars’ responsibility to find the hero. Perhaps it was the hero Boboris had told Chi-Woo about.

Fortunately, Chi-Woo was confident about finding the right hero because his Spirit Eye was at S rank. His ability to see user information and hidden potential was cheat-like at times like this. He would use the World’s Milestone as the last resort, and with these two abilities, he would be able to pick the right hero out of the 372 people in the room. Then he would just hand over 71 gold coins to that specific hero, and everything would be solved.

It was then the noise around them settled, and the place became quiet. Soon, he heard his brother’s voice from the central stage.

“Welcome, everyone, this is Choi Chi-Hyun. I’m sure you all heard yesterday, but Liber’s current situation is difficult to say the least, and even the status quo was only achieved through several overlapping miracles.” Chi-Hyun was telling them that even if they were heroes, that didn’t mean much in a world like Liber.

“I’m sure this is evident from the fact that the Celestial Realm is continuing to bring in reinforcements. Thus, we judged that newly incoming heroes need systematic help to grow and adjust to this world….” He was telling them that they were all just ordinary folks right now, and he and the organizations were all doing this for them. Thus, they should behave and obediently accept the help they were offered.

“Of course, I’m not forcing you all to abide by this system. If you wish, you can act independently…” And if they weren’t willing to accept, it didn’t really matter to them. They could die for all they cared. This was how Chi-Woo interpreted his brother’s words, and he fixed his posture as the speech went on to its next portion.

“Then, let me now introduce the organizations that had worked harder than anyone else to achieve our current situation.”

This was what they had been waiting for. As the only group who received gold coins, Chi-Woo had expected Seven Stars to be introduced first.

“The first one is Ho Lactea,” Chi-Hyun said. ‘What?’ Chi-woo blinked hard and turned to his brother. Chi-Hyun was speaking while looking at the Ho Lactea group members sitting at their table.

“Ho Lactea is led by Alice Ho Lactea, who entered Liber as part of the eight recruits. They had recently found a new god and…”

There were exclaims from the audience. Some turned their heads to look at the Ho Lactea table. Though they couldn’t compare with the Choi family, the Ho Lactea family name was one that could garner a response of this level. After giving a simple introduction about Ho Lactea, Chi-Hyun brought up Afrilith and Eustitia next.

“The two groups participated in the Hala Forest expedition not long ago…”

Seven Star’s introduction didn’t even come up after them, and Chi-Hyun introduced the Cassiubia League next. This meant that they would be the last to be introduced.

“…What? What about us?” Ru Hiana whispered, thinking something was wrong. The order of introductions was important, and the first introduction was especially symbolic. Yet Seven Stars were going to be introduced last at this rate. Chi-Woo also looked stunned, but he waited because he saw that Eval was quietly listening.

“And…” Chi-Hyun, who had been speaking smoothly until now, stopped for the first time. He put down the piece of paper he was holding and took out a new one and unfolded it.

“Hm. There sure are a lot. Lastly, I will tell you all about an organization named Seven Stars,” he murmured like he wanted the audience to purposefully hear him.

“Seven Stars are made up mostly of elite seventh-recruit heroes. Though they are few in numbers, their achievements remain unrivaled…” This wasn’t a simply ceremonial introduction. The heroes who had only been looking at the Celestial Lights looked toward Chi-Hyun and went ‘Huh? What did he say just now?’ The weight of Chi-Hyun’s words was different from before.

“Seven Star’s current head saved the fifth and sixth recruits and achieved their purpose for coming to Liber. And in the process, they established a god named Shahnaz.” If members of Seven Stars had spoken of these achievements themselves, no one would\'ve believed them. People would’ve thought those from Seven Stars were bluffing too outrageously, but it was different when the stories were coming from the legend’s mouth. The legend was simply someone who oversaw this event. He had no reason to intervene or lie, so he could pass on the most objective information.

“Furthermore, he also joined hands with one of the main four factions on Liber, the Abyss, and stopped the Sernitas’ invasion. Then, with the Abyss’ collaboration, he contributed significantly to the union between the previous recruits in the central region and the latter recruits.”

The heroes in the audience glanced at one another. They looked a bit astonished by Chi-Hyun’s speech, and in the meantime, Chi-Hyun pulled out another piece of paper. Though all the previous organizations’ introductions had ended in a single piece of paper, he was already on the second page for Seven Stars.

“Even after that, his team managed to extinguish the great demon, Indras, who was hiding inside the ex-Salem capital, Vepar during the eight recruits’ rescue mission, Zepar on a separate expedition, and more. Seven Stars’ head has made lasting and deep contributions in small and big affairs…”

The introduction was still not over. The longer Chi-Hyun went on, the more people’s gazes began to gather in one place.

“And when the Seven Stars first came to Shalyh city, they had the sole gold-ranking member in their team among all heroes and were the first ones to receive a zone. After they received information that the Demon Empire was preparing to invade Shalyh, they used the situation to their own advantage and called upon a foreign god named White Horse General to achieve an overwhelming victory.”

Exclaims and cheers that only Ho Lactea had received up until then erupted. “Furthermore, to conquer the Hala Forest where you all entered Liber from, the head of Seven Stars led an expedition there and succeeded, thus bringing stability to the place…”

People weren’t just exclaiming anymore. There were murmurings and quite a stir. Even the exact word choices that Chi-Hyun made for Seven Stars were far different from the ones he used to describe the other organizations. When he mentioned Afrilith and Eustitia, he had simply said they ‘participated’ in the expedition, while he said the Seven Stars ‘led’ it. Anyone could tell the difference in the implications.

Apoline clearly understood what this difference meant, and her expression soured. The part where she had been injured felt sore again. And a part of her thought Chi-Hyun was showing great favoritism to his brother, but she couldn’t say anything to refute it. This was because everything that Chi-Hyun said was the truth.

“…That is all.” The explanation finally ended. Silence flowed through the floor, and Chi-Woo finally managed to catch his brother’s intention. It was commonly said that the most important information in a presentation came first, but if one had the skills to do so, saying the important thing last could leave an even greater impression. Thus, Chi-Hyun had purposefully left Seven Stars’ introduction for the last. It was very effective, and the majority of the heroes were looking toward Seven Stars’ table.

“Then—” Chi-Hyun picked up his pen and the sheets of paper and said after tapping on the podium. “I hope you all make good use of your time.”

It was then Chi-Woo and the rest of Seven Stars’ members were sure that they were the main characters of this drafting event.