180. Let’s have a blast pulling these.
“Wow.”
“W-what is all this? Don’t tell me these are all Top-grade Summoning Scrolls?”
“You’re just scattering around Summoning Scrolls worth tens of billions, hundreds of billions, even trillions that you can’t even buy with money these days? No, seriously, how many even are there?”
“It’s hard just counting them.”
It was absurd.
[C-rank: 94%]
[B-rank: 5%]
[A-rank: 1%]
Those were the odds for a Top-grade Summoning Scroll.
That meant the expected number of A-rank summons from this pile was about thirteen.
They called them A-rank, sure. But really, they were priceless.
Even the members of SKY Guild, said to be the best in the world, only had a handful of A-rank summons to their names!
Should I list them?
Hong Ari’s Phoenix, An Gijeong’s Poison King, Kang Jihoe’s Mad Demon, Oh Sunyoung’s Fenrir, Kang Geonho’s Paladin and Black Knight, Gi Jaehyuk’s Goblin Master, and Hwang Jiwoo’s Ice Bird.
That made exactly nine.
In Song Yeonhee’s case, and for the newer recruits, some of them did not even have a single A-rank at all.
So of course.
Everyone’s eyes sparkled as they clasped their hands together.
Smirk.
Baek Jinwoo grinned.
“If something comes out that seems like a good fit for one of you, I’ll hand it over coolly, so let’s all take a look.”
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
“Guild Master, you’re the best!”
“As expected of big brother!”
But.
If Magic Cat came out, then it belonged to Baek Jinwoo no matter what.
‘The odds of it appearing are almost nonexistent, but still.’
Even so.
He still remembered pulling Lamba in one shot during the old tutorial.
That was enough to give him hope.
“Oppa!”
From far away, Baek Ajin came running too.
Our sales manager!
She would sell any useless B-rank or C-rank summons for a very high price.
“Waaah! How many are there?!”
Baek Ajin was also stunned when she saw the mountain of Summoning Scrolls.
And every single one of them was a Top-grade Summoning Scroll!
At each rank, the cheap ones started at 10 million won, and the expensive ones could go over 100 million won, while B-rank ones averaged around 200 million won.
As for A-rank?
Those were guild assets.
Normally, you should never sell them.
“You somehow knew I had no work these days and gave me a gift like this...!”
In Baek Ajin’s case especially, 20% of the sale proceeds still belonged to her.
“Just pull anything at all! I’ll sell it for as much as possible!”
And with that.
The wishes of everyone gathered here began pouring into that mountain of Top-grade Summoning Scrolls.
‘Please, an A-rank summon that suits me!’
‘Only expensive ones, please!’
‘There’s gotta be at least one thing in there for me, right?’
‘Just let me get one... just one. If I can just get an A-rank... won’t climbing to the 50th floor get way easier?!’
Gulp.
They swallowed dryly as they waited.
If luck was on their side, it would be like hitting the lottery several times over, so naturally their anticipation could only keep growing.
“Hoo.”
Baek Jinwoo rubbed his palms together.
To be honest, it was a hassle...
It would be nice if someone else could do the pulling for him, but that was not allowed.
Magic Cat (EX-rank) could only be pulled by him alone.
“Then shall I begin?”
“Let’s gooooo!”
“Let’s do this!”
“Please! Spirits of heaven and earth! I beg you, I beg you!”
A grand pulling festival filled with everyone’s hopes!
Just as Baek Jinwoo was about to grab the paper with both hands and tear it open—
“E-excuse me...!”
Someone carefully raised a hand.
‘Who?’
Ah.
One of the new recruits.
Was it Han Yuna?
“What is it?”
“Ah, um...”
After hesitating for a moment, she gathered her courage and shouted,
“Could we maybe broadcast this... no, maybe not a broadcast, but could we at least film this scene?!”
Film it?
‘Ah.’
At that, a certain piece of equipment came to mind.
The equipment he had left in the representative office as soon as he got here.
He had not handed it over to the documentary team yet...
‘Hmm.’
Leaving it behind as video footage would definitely make for a good memory.
What should he do?
As Baek Jinwoo remained silent for a moment while thinking, Han Yuna’s face gradually turned pale.
‘Aaaah! Did I overstep for no reason?’
It was scary.
She had only just joined, and she was afraid the Guild Master might take a dislike to her already.
“Hmm.”
Hong Ari, who had been standing quietly, stepped in to explain.
“She’s a girl called BJ Luna. She became our guild’s official promotional ambassador. Jia unni already gave her permission.”
“Really?”
If Yoo Jia had approved it, then that was an immediate yes.
“Go ahead and film.”
“R-really?”
“Yes, but make sure everyone looks good. Film us nicely.”
“O-of course! That’s my specialty!”
Han Yuna excitedly began setting up the camera.
Then.
Shall we start tearing into them for real?
Riiip!
And so.
The pulling festival at the main training ground officially began.
Riiip, riiip!
He had torn plenty of Summoning Scrolls before.
‘This brings back memories.’
Back at Player Headquarters, in exchange for the information he gave them, he used to tear through ten thousand a day.
And the ones he got out of that were his HunGyo and Explosive Dragon.
Compared to back then, this could not even be called grind work.
There were only 1,282 this time.
Riiip, riiip!
Baek Jinwoo tore through the Summoning Scrolls at high speed.
“Waaah! That one’s C-rank?”
“Oooh! This time it’s B-rank! It’s a Celestial Wyvern? Never thought I’d see one here!”
The players gathered here?
They were all veterans now. The kind of people considered top-class even in Korea.
Just from the shape alone, they could identify the rank and name of most popular summons.
How much time had passed like that?
Krrrrumble!
A lightning effect appeared!
[You are using a ‘Top-grade Summoning Scroll’!]
[Player ‘Baek Jinwoo’ has obtained the summon ‘Volkolak’ (A-rank)!]
“O-oh, oooooh?”
“Huh? Huuuh?!”
Everyone was stunned.
Why?
Because it was a summon they had never seen before!
“It’s Volkolak.”
Baek Jinwoo read out loud.
It looked like a wolf, but with something dark and murky rising from it, giving it a slightly evil-spirit-like feeling?
Looking at its race, it really was part of the wolf tribe.
“Oh Sunyoung?”
“Yes!”
“I think this one belongs to you, Oh Sunyoung. Congratulations.”
She had a wolf-related endgame rune called “Howling”.
Of everyone here, she was the one who could use a wolf-type summon most efficiently.
“Th-thank you!”
Bow.
After bowing her head, she stepped forward and carefully completed the trade.
“Wow...”
“I’m jealous.”
“Of all things, a wolf tribe summon!”
“Meeee! Please come out already, goblins!”
“Haha, if not goblins, I wonder if there are any poison-related summons?”
Gi Jaehyuk specialized in goblins, and An Gijeong specialized in poison.
“Then I’ll keep tearing.”
Grin, riiip.
And like that.
Baek Jinwoo continued tearing through the rest.
“Hoo.”
It was over.
To put it simply, there was no Magic Cat.
‘Well.’
If it had come out, that would have been the strange part.
Still, the results were fairly good.
They had pulled as many as sixty-five usable B-rank summons, and Baek Ajin happily took them away.
And then.
Their luck with A-ranks had not been especially great.
A total of ten had come out.
First, five of them matched guild members well enough that he handed them over on the spot.
Bolkolak - Oh Sunyoung
Phoenix - Hong Ari
Jormungard - Hwang Jiwoo
Grimrok - Gi Jaehyuk
Ramina - An Gijeong
Hong Ari had hit the jackpot. Another Phoenix had come out.
Now, in addition to her S-rank Vermilion Bird, she had become a player commanding two Phoenixes.
She really was the god of fire, no, a goddess!
Since she was a woman, should that be goddess?
‘Jormungard.’
It was a serpent of the glacier.
Since it was an ice-attribute damage dealer, he gave it to Hwang Jiwoo, whose attribute was Fiery Body.
‘Grimrok.’
Apparently it was a being called the King of Goblins.
If Goblin Master was a warrior, then Grimrok was a king.
It summoned countless goblins and granted them buffs.
“Uwaaaaaaaah.”
Naturally, the goblin fanatic Gi Jaehyuk completely lost it.
“Big brother, I love you! I respect you!”
He was so happy he even bowed.
Was it really that great?
What taste.
People really were impossible to understand.
‘Ramina...’
Apparently it was the Queen of Serpents. After taking a look through its skills, Poison Fog, Venom Infusion… they were all poison-related, so he immediately handed it over to An Gijeong.
“To receive Ramina as a gift after the Poison King too. Thank you, Guild Master. I’ll devote myself completely to SKY.”
“Don’t mention it.”
And that was that!
As for the remaining five summons?
Therion, Mirage, Vargas, Unicorn, and Magma Giant.
Those were the ones left.
He planned to interview the new recruits first and then distribute them appropriately.
“The new recruits?”
“Yes!”
Ah.
Now that they were part of the same family, maybe continuing to call them new recruits was a little off?
Well, he had memorized their names already anyway.
“I’ll interview everyone in order, starting from Han Yuna and ending with Kang Daehyuk.”
And so the real consulting began.
* * *
A player and a summon, by nature, needed to be compatible.
If a quiet, unsociable hikikomori were to handle Mad Demon?
That would be a problem.
Not only would they be unable to truly understand that madness, there was also a high chance they would not be able to fill what it lacked.
In that sense, interviews were very important.
First was Han Yuna.
She was twenty-four years old.
Judging by her streaming, her personality was lively.
Her main summons were Luna (B-rank) and Spark (B-rank)?
An elf archer and an elf assassin.
‘Not that good.’
Baek Jinwoo had used them too.
No matter how much you drew out their hidden potential, they were only enough for around the middle floors of the Tower of Trials.
Beyond that, their potential dropped off.
“I-it’s an honor to meet you like this! I respect you, Guild Master!”
“Yes, nice to meet you.”
She looked stiff with nerves, but there was no hiding that overflowing energy of hers.
“First of all, are you planning to keep using Luna and Spark?”
“They’re the two I’m most comfortable with! They were also the first B-rank summons I ever pulled, so I’m very attached to them!”
“Attachment.”
That certainly was important.
The deeper the bond between a player and their summons, the easier control became.
“Okay, then let’s keep using those two.”
“...Thank you.”
“First, make good use of Spark and try using it together with Mirage.”
“Mirage...?”
Han Yuna’s eyes widened.
“Yes, it’s an A-rank we pulled this time. It’s a fox, but it leans more toward assassination. I think it’d also be good for PVP, so try pushing fully in the assassin direction.”
“An assassin fox... Yes! Understood! I think that really suits my style!”
For Han Yuna, one fox!
The next person to be interviewed was Seo Yiyoon.
She was twenty-eight.
The same age as Baek Jinwoo and Hong Ari.
“I don’t really have a summon I mainly use... and I don’t even have a B-rank summon.”
Oh.
Then that meant she had passed the entrance test with only C-rank summons.
She must have had pretty good control, then?
Watching from the side, HunGyo whispered,
—She has an exceptionally gifted constitution. I think you could give her a slightly more difficult summon.
“Hmm.”
After thinking for a moment, Baek Jinwoo made a cool-headed decision.
“I’ll give you Therion and Vargas.”
“...Huh, two of them?”
“Yes, try raising them nicely.”
“Th-thank you!”
Seo Yiyoon shot to her feet and bowed at a perfect right angle.
Therion (A-rank)?
A gigantic golden lion. Its position was damage tank.
Vargas (A-rank)?
A vampire lord.
It too was a damage tank that dealt damage while absorbing the opponent’s vitality.
The ceiling for both of them would depend on control.
“If you run into any difficulties while raising them, feel free to ask HunGyo or me anytime.”
“I-is that really okay?”
Seo Yiyoon’s eyes went wide.
To the second-generation guild members, the Guild Master was practically like the heavens.
Honestly, even just facing him right now made her so tense that it was hard for her to breathe properly.
“Of course. We’re family now, and you could even end up representing the nation. Once you’ve joined SKY, Seo Yiyoon, you’re no different from my family.”
Not that joke companies made when they talked about being a “family-like” company.
No, he meant treating them like real family, taking care of them, giving them houses, giving them cars, even giving them bunkers.
Anyway.
The interviews continued like that.
He gave Unicorn (A-rank) to Jeong Siu.
A white horse with a horn.
It was a healer, but its mechanism was complicated, so it seemed right for someone as skilled at calculations as him to use it.
Fortunately, Jeong Siu was extremely pleased.
Last.
“Kang Daehyuk.”
“Yes, sir!”
A burly, muscular man. He was thirty-three.
“Daehyuk, there’s only one left for you. Magma Giant. But strangely enough, I think it suits you really well.”
“Is that so?”
According to HunGyo’s judgment, Kang Daehyuk was suited to direct and rough summons.
In other words, something like Kang Jihoe’s Mad Demon.
But Mad Demon was too much of a lunatic, so something like Magma Giant would be better instead.
This too was a damage tank summon!
“I’d be grateful for anything you give me. I’ll trust you and raise it well.”
“Good. I’m counting on you from here on.”
There was no way to know how much they would grow.
But one thing was certain.
‘There are only six months left until the league.’
If they could not make it into the corps of fifty he would choose before then...the gap between guild members would only grow wider.
He would support them heavily too.
The Tower?
He already had a plan completely laid out.
If they just followed that plan, every member would clear the 50th floor of the Tower without much trouble.
‘I’m going to send HunGyo and Explosive Dragon together again, just like last time.’
And while I’m at it, I’ll drain Explosive Dragon’s stack clean in one go too.
But?
There was a condition.
They needed to be skilled enough to hold their own to some extent even without HunGyo and Explosive Dragon there.
Otherwise, sorry but...he could not carry them all the way to the 50th floor.
Anyway.
The guild members would all work hard on their own now.
‘As for me.’
Let’s hurry up and start smashing through HunGyo’s awakening first.
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