Chapter 75 – Ways to Earn Money (3)
Salon laughed the moment he saw the title.
<AlphaGo Level Of Control! The Ultimate Combo Thief Has Appeared!>
That video with an eye-catching title, despite having been uploaded just then, already had 30 thousand views.
AlphaGo was the name of an old AI that played Go. It had become the basis for most modern AI. So, from a certain point, it became a word to describe an AI with a high IQ.
‘Another click-bait title. I’m just going to watch it because it caught my attention.’
Woah- The moment Salon clicked, he was awed.
Unlike the cheap title, the video was of great quality.
The video showed a user running in slow motion toward an army of undead monsters.
The video showed Hyun running toward the battlefield after reaching a thousand combo.
The scene of jumping alone toward the enemy made him look like the last samurai.
The user’s face had been mosaiced because of privacy, which made him look more mysterious.
‘This is quite cool!’
The moment the user landed on the floor, the speed of the video became normal.
The battle began.
From the moment the user cut a skeleton mage three times, the video began flowing at a speed that made it seem as if it’d been fast-forwarded.
“Hmm?”
Salon’s eye shone.
The movements of the user that appeared on the video, although he was just stabbing and cutting, were unbelievably short.
Even though he wasn’t using any active skills, the movements looked fancy.
‘Woah, he’s good.’
Salon looked at the video closely.
The video varied from a first-person to a third-person perspective.
While looking at it, Salon noticed something.
“Wait… His ultimate attack isn’t «Sword of Despair».”
The user’s attacks were getting much stronger as the combos stacked.
The skeleton archers that needed three hits were suddenly dying with just single attacks.
It was unreasonably high damage!
Salon’s heart began beating faster.
The reason was that he had figured out what the ultimate skill of the user appearing in the video was.
“He learned «Trance»?”
Although «Sword of Despair» and «Trance» were similar in terms of use case, they were different.
«Sword of Despair» extended the time in which combos were counted up until two thousand, so it was more reliable than «Trance», but in exchange, the damage you dealt was lower.
‘How did he stack combos without «Sword of Despair» at the beginning?’
The time you had to stack combos was a second.
As they began stacking, your speed increased, so it didn’t matter later on, but the problem was the beginning!
Stacking combos at the beginning should be hard because of the slow speed, but the user of the video was at a thousand… No, more than two thousand combos!
‘What kind of magic did you use at the beginning!’
Salon kept looking at the video with great attention.
The speed at which the user was moving was starting to get hard to follow.
If it weren’t for the slow-motion segments the editor had placed in certain areas, there would’ve been things he would have missed.
The number of combos at that point was probably at least two thousand… Or maybe even three thousand!
Salon had never been able to stack so many combos.
To be able to do so many combos, you had to find a place where monsters appeared in masses, but you couldn’t face such a big army with the «Sword of Despair».
The main reason was the lack of damage.
Monsters weaker than you didn’t count toward the combo, so they had to be at least the same level or higher.
But if opponents kept appearing and the number increased, you would easily be surrounded and defeated.
‘Did I pick wrong…?’
After looking at the video many times, he began wondering about that.
If only he could accumulate a thousand combos while knowing «Trance»…!
Maybe he would have also been able to run toward an army of monsters in a cool way like that.
‘Of course, I’ll have to practice… But I should be able to copy that within a month. Probably… Right?’
Thankfully, there was something called an ‘Awakening Point.’ By using it, you could either level up your Ultimate Attack or change it for another one of the same level.
The «Sword of Despair» and «Trance» happened to both be Ultimate Attacks that belonged to the third level.
He still had a chance to change it.
‘Damn, but how did you do the first part!’
The only problem was reaching a thousand combo.
Without knowing how he had done it, he couldn’t confidently say whether «Trance» was better or not.
Salon began reading the comments on the video.
There, he could see many users that were complaining about the same thing.
Since the first part of the video wasn’t uploaded, some people were saying that a bug had been used.
Although those kinds of people were the ones Salon hated the most, he agreed with them that time.
‘Hmm…?’
After opening the video description, Salon read a message the video’s uploader had left.
TarrTarr: It seems like many people are wondering about the missing part. Since so many asked for it, I will upload the first part this week : ) please give some love to the channel TarrTarr from now on!
After reading it, he calmed down.
‘Okay, if you’re going to upload the rest, I’ll click on it one more time. This guy seems to be a Thief master, just like me… Should I subscribe to him? I think that I’ll be able to get useful information from time to time.’
From that day onwards, every time he got a notification, he entered TarrTarr’s channel.
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But because the video he wanted was uploaded later, he had to watch another three videos about other topics.
The fun thing was that Salon also watched the other videos of TarrTarr from start to finish without skipping.
Hyun looked at TarrTarr proudly.
Although he was still in middle school, for Hyun, he was someone more talented and capable than most adults.
That meant he was someone that could be of great help to him.
‘Did he say that the amount earned was 0.00077 per view?’
He couldn’t believe that the video had generated $200 USD on just the first day.
According to TarrTarr, the video was soon going to get momentum, and once that happened, it was hard to guess how many views it would obtain.
Of course, Hyun was satisfied with the current earnings, but hearing TarrTarr’s affirmation scared him sometimes because it didn’t feel real.
‘What would happen if I uploaded multiple videos simultaneously…?’
Just the thought of money coming his way made him excited.
That’s why Hyun had decided on the next objective.
“Good job, TarrTarr. Now that I think about it, I haven’t taken good care of you. So that’s why…”
Hyun said to TarrTarr as if he were doing him a favor.
“Why don’t you come with me to do a hidden quest? You can also record some videos while we’re doing the quest. Let’s kill two birds with one stone.”
“Hidden Quest…?”
“Yes, it’s the Knight Commander’s Quest… This one allows a party of two people, so that’s why I thought of taking you.”
“R-Really?!”
“Of course. You’re editing for me, so you have enough right to come with me.”
“Thanks!”
TarrTarr suddenly hugged Hyun.
Hyun wasn’t expecting that kind of affection, so he pushed him a little bit with an uncomfortable expression on his face.
Then he shared the quest with TarrTarr.
[ <Heaven’s Hidden Linked Quest: Search for the Traces of Evil> ]
“It’s my first time seeing a hidden quest!”
“If you’re at my level, you don’t care about normal quests.”
“As expected from a stagnant water from Asra!”
‘…?’
At that moment, Hyun began wondering how the auto-translating option inside the game worked.
He already knew that TarrTarr wasn’t Korean.
But what did he say that it translated to stagnant water?
‘Well, I guess the important thing is that he recognizes my greatness…’
He contacted Ain first before doing the quest.
「Ain, I just reached level 100… So I’m going to do my job ascension quest. I may be a little bit late.」
「Job ascension? Should I help you?」
「No, this isn’t a quest another person can help me with… Also, you still haven’t gotten to 100. Right? Let’s continue with our plans once we finish our respective job ascension quests.」
「Hmm… But if it’s just leveling up, it won’t take me long.」
「No, since the Close-Range Magician is also a hidden job, we don’t know what kind of job ascension quest you’ll get. It could take you long.」
「Then I’ll call you again after finishing the job ascension.」
「If you’re bored, you can go to the duel arena or level up a little bit more.」
「It seems like it’s going to take you a long time?」
Hyun flinched at Ain’s sharp question, so he thought about the answer carefully before replying.
「Not necessarily… But it could take me long if I’m unlucky.」
「Well, I guess it doesn’t matter since I can also do my job ascension quest.」
Ain replied after remaining silent for a little while.
‘Okay, good!’
After completing the preparations, Hyun told TarrTarr about the things they’d to do next.
The goal of the quest was to infiltrate the Abyss.
According to the Knight Commander Ollie, the place where the demon appeared was the ‘Hates Valley.’
It was one of the few places where humans lived that had sided with the Abyss.
Although it was called a valley, in reality, it was a giant city where people that belonged to the Abyss roamed around.
On the quest windows, all the missions were explained in great detail.
[ – Once you reach the Hates Valley, go and look for the Abyss Repository. There, you’ll be able to find the answer. ]
– To enter the Abyss Repository, you’ll need the permission of the dukes, so you’ll probably have to enter the tournament that the Abyss organizes.
TarrTarr became surprised after hearing Hyun’s explanation.
“Eh?! We’re going to infiltrate the Abyss?!”
“Yes.”
“But I belong to the Heavens?!”
“I’m part of the Abyss.”
“But I’m part of the Heaven’s Forces! But wait… If you’re part of the Abyss, how did you get in here?”
Because TarrTarr’s voice was getting loud, Hyun covered his mouth.
Thankfully, it seemed like there weren’t any NPCs around.
Before things got bigger, Hyun explained it to him.
“With this skill.”
Paf-
Hyun scattered away into light and entered TarrTarr’s body.
Once they became one, he murmured with TarrTarr’s voice.
“I was hiding in Ain’s body.”
“I see. But it’s going to be impossible with me. Maybe things would be different if I could use «Assimilation». But even if you use «Assimilation» on me, you won’t be able to change the runes on my hands.”
“What if I could?”
Hyun raised his hands.
When he did that, it was TarrTarr’s hands that were raised.
“Hmm…?”
TarrTarr was surprised after looking at the backs of his hands.
There was a red rune burning in the place where blue lightning should be.
What happened? Why had he suddenly become part of the Abyss?!
Because TarrTarr was surprised, Hyun kept explaining.
“Since I’m part of the Abyss, I can change the runes as I wish.”
“Oh… Then.”
“Yes, as long as I don’t «Disassimilate», you’ll be able to enter the territory of the Abyss.”
Paf- After Hyun <Disassimilated», TarrTarr’s rune turned back to the blue lightning that symbolized the Heavens.
TarrTarr’s eyes trembled slightly after he saw the runes change.
