Chapter 516. Great Change (2)
Translator: Boko
The atmosphere of Palmar City, which was filled with fruit trees, was quite peculiar.
Tall trees had pierced through the four to five story buildings. Fruits dangled off their branches, not to mention the... monkeys.
Kii-kii-kii!
The city"s evolution into a fruit tree forest had also brought along monkeys. And it wasn"t just one type of monkey either; there were all sorts of them here.
Some had long tails, while others had large noses or were extremely furry. They also varied in size.
Plus, they were extremely mischievous. They threw fruit at anyone that pa.s.sed by.
However, the players enjoyed them, so they didn"t take any action against them. After all, they were playing a game, so they wouldn"t be hurt much no matter how hard the fruit was.
A white monkey approached the pair and suddenly climbed up to Asu"s shoulder.
Kii! Kii!
Although it was covered in white fur, its hands were black. It began pulling on Asu"s golden hair with its cute, small hands.
"Oh, how cute." Asu looked at the baby monkey and smiled.
Then...
Chirp!
Rudy popped out of her buxom. Flames blazed from its cute, beady eyes.
Swish.
It immediately tackled the monkey. "Don"t bother my mom!", it seemed to say.
Kii-kii!
The unexpected attack made the monkey go mad. But at the end of the day, it was still a monkey. On the other hand, Rudy was a Phoenix, regardless of how young it was.
Chirp!
It spewed flames from its tiny mouth, surprising the monkey and causing it to run away.
"It"s ok." Asu calmed Rudy down.
Chirp!
Rudy sat on top of Asu"s head. Then, it watched out for any monkeys that might bother her.
Kang Oh and Asu enjoyed the city, which had become a monkey"s paradise, for a little while longer, and then went on to their next destination.
* * *
The G.o.d of Creation had created several species during the Great Change. The Burumon were one such species.
The Burumon were about half as tall as an adult human. They possessed small, round bodies, pudgy bellies, and short arms and legs. Their hair was so long that it touched the ground.
Plus, they were extremely friendly towards other species, which made communicating with them really easy.
Their village was built on the basin that resided in between the central and western regions. Several players visited this area.
Why, you ask?
The Burumon sang beautiful songs. Beautiful melodies and chords could always be heard throughout the village.
Plus, slapping their pudgy bellies imitated the sound of a drum. Seeing them slap their bellies while singing made people feel happy.
Thus, it always felt like there was a festival going on.
Minstrels, musicians, dancers, etc. visited the village in order to sing songs and dance with them.
Skilled merchants had already begun to sell alcohol, snacks, and other goods here.
Kang Oh and Asu pa.s.sed the time by listening to their beautiful songs with a gla.s.s of beer in their hands.
"This place is so nice." Asu"s cheeks were slightly red.
In Arth, drinking alcohol would get you buzzed, but it wouldn"t make you drunk. You would have to face a monster that cast a status ailment on you in order to get "drunk".
In any case, it seemed like she really loved the atmosphere in the village.
Then...
Two of the Burumon waddled over, grabbed Asu"s hands, and dragged her away.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
They tapped their stomachs, imitating the sound of a drum. At the same time, they began to sing songs.
Asu was part of the girl group, Triple Lower, and was both its leader and the main vocalist. When it came to singing, she wouldn"t lose to anyone.
She began singing along with the beat. It felt like her voice itself was s.h.i.+ning.
At least that"s what Kang Oh thought.
He sat on a nearby empty stump and watched her.
In no time at all, people began to gather in the festivities. It wasn"t surprising. After all, that was how the village worked. When the Burumon began to sing, people gathered around them.
The Burumon began to sing their traditional songs. Asu couldn"t really follow along.
Thus, she began to shake her body around.
The Burumons" voices were already quite quirky, but the ones with Asu had especially striking voices.
The players began to follow the beat, bobbing their heads, their hands or their feet.
But all of a sudden, five Burumon appeared, who began to sing and pound on their bellies. Their voices joined together in harmony. After all, they were originally part of one team.
Asu pulled away, returned to Kang Oh"s side, and sat beside him on the stump.
"Hoo, that was fun."
Kang Oh gave her a thumbs up. "You"re the best."
She s.n.a.t.c.hed his gla.s.s and drank down the rest of his beer.
"Phew." Asu shook the empty gla.s.s and beamed. Then, she locked arms with him and leaned on his shoulder.
"Oppa, let"s stay here a little longer."
Kang Oh had originally planned to go someplace else. There were plenty of places worth seeing, after all.
However, those plans were pointless now.
"Sure."
Kang Oh and Asu stayed in the Burumon Village until night came, watching the sun go down.
Kiss.
A sweet sound could be heard in the night.
* * *
TGN, VG, and GBS were feeling really antsy.
The whole world was focused on the Great Change right now. So what if they were to add Kang Oh"s footage to this?
They would easily pa.s.s 10% viewers.h.i.+p. In fact, they may pa.s.s 20%.
Moreover, people overseas were excited about it too.
If Kang Oh sold them exclusive rights to his footage and it were properly edited, then they could sell it to the U.S., j.a.pan, China, etc. with ease.
Arth had maintained global interest for quite some time. However, Arth had begun in Korea for half a year before anyone else had access. Only after that did servers for the other countries open.
Koreans, which were said to have gaming in their DNA, had gotten access to Arth for half a year longer than anyone else. Thus, all of the Numbers were Korean.
Plus, the 4 great guilds were all Korean, and most of the large guilds were operated by Koreans as well.
In any case, this is why Korea"s gaming networks prioritized Arth over all else.
Ultimately, the other countries were forced to buy footage from Korea"s broadcast networks.
Of course, they didn"t buy everything. The overseas networks made their own footage, after all.
However, they would have no choice but to buy Kang Oh"s footage this time!
In the end, TGN, VG, and GBS were confident that they"d be able to make a killing, regardless of how much they paid Kang Oh.
That"s why they wanted to have exclusive rights to Kang Oh"s footage.
Thus began their compet.i.tion.
TGN made an offer first. They offered him 1.5 billion won ($1.5 million USD).
However, this quickly became 2 billion won.
This is when TGN, which had the least monetary resources, began to add other incentives to their offer. They offered him a percentage of their advertising revenue, as well as a percentage of their sales to other countries, etc.
However, GBS and VG weren"t willing to back down. They added incentives of their own. Not only that, but they raised their offer to 2.5 billion won.
In the end, TGN was forced to resign. Thus, GBS and VG fought in earnest.
As a result, GBS came out on top, as they were backed by a huge parent company.
Their final offer was 3.3 billion 800 million won. This also included incentives such as a percentage of their ad revenue, as well as a percentage of their profit from overseas sales.
"Hurray!" Jae Woo raised his hands into the air.
He had made a killing.
GBS put all of their resources into Jae Woo"s footage. They edited it, readied the program, created promotional material, and pre-sold it to overseas networks.
"Let"s shoot for more than 20%, and hit rank 1!" GBS"s director gathered all of his employees and yelled.
* * *
Change was accompanied by both joy and pain.
Although Maya"s changes made several people happy, it also caused huge chaos.
Various incidents occurred all across the continent. There were plenty of people attempting to make use of this change in order to make a profit.
There were battles everywhere.
Kang Oh was busy too.
"The Forney are being oppressed. Save them. If they go extinct, then the continent will face the G.o.d of Creation"s wrath," the Whispers of the Earth said.
[Guardian of the Continent Quest: Aid the Forney]
The Forney Tribe, which suddenly appeared in the Phamas Mountains, has been caught and oppressed by the Black Bandana Brigade. Save them, and help them settle in a safe location.
Difficulty: Hard.
Minimum Requirements: Guardian of the Continent.
Reward: None.
Failure: G.o.d of Creation"s Wrath.
Since Valan was still healing from his wounds, Kang Oh was the only available Guardian of the Continent at the moment.
Following the Great Change, however, Kang Oh was constantly given quest after quest.
"Haa, it"s the Phamas Mountains this time." Kang Oh sighed. He"d just come back from the north, the land of ice and illusions.
His recent quest was to protect the Forney, one of the G.o.d of Creation"s newly created species, and/or stop the Black Bandana Brigade from doing any more harm.
The Guardian of the Continent"s role was to prevent any incidents that may cause chaos across the continent.
But if he failed to protect this new species, then the G.o.d of Creation"s wrath would sweep through the continent.
"Yeah, I know I told him I"d punish his children when they were being bad, but... Why"s he asking me to punish an entire species? And what"s with his anger?"
However, there was nothing as dangerous as the G.o.d of Creation"s wrath. For example, what if he were to create and set off a volcano in a large city like Altein?
"I can"t let that happen."
Kang Oh immediately headed for the Phamas Mountains.
Eder and Sephiro weren"t with him.
Eder was treating Gainus"s wounds in the dragon"s nest, so he couldn"t leave at the moment. On the other hand, Sephiro said he was busy while Waryong"s wing was healing.
At least he had Tasha and Sara with him.
"It changed," Sara looked around and said.
There were definitely a few mountaintops she"d never seen before.
According to the community sites, it wasn"t just mountaintops. There were new caves, cliffs, valleys, waterfalls, other dangerous locations, etc.
Moreover, there were apparently some new dungeons here too.
"I want to explore the dungeons!"
How could he pa.s.s up an opportunity like that?
Kang Oh planned on finis.h.i.+ng the Guardian of the Continent Quest, which had no reward by the way, and then go through all of the dungeons here.
Sometime later...
Kang Oh found the Black Bandana Brigade"s hideout.
There were several holes throughout the vertical cliff, which made the interior as complex as an ant tunnel.
"Where are the Forney being imprisoned...?"
The Black Bandana Brigade was a gang of bandits that operated on the Phamas Mountains.
They, like their namesake, wore black bandanas around their heads. They were made up of humans, intelligent monsters, and non-humans that went around robbing others.
In the past, the Arabas, Dellas, and Baiyan Kingdoms had led an expedition against them. However, they had, like c.o.c.kroaches, survived, and ama.s.sed forces once more after time had pa.s.sed.
With the Empire Guild taking control of the three eastern kingdoms, there was no longer anyone to stop them. Thus, their numbers had swelled significantly.
"Intruders," the gatekeeper yelled, seeing the three approach.
He was a man with a robust body, a wicked face, and a black bandana around his head.
There was also an orc with tusks that protruded out of his mouth. He too wore a black bandana around his head.
Aside from them, there were twenty bandits sitting around a bonfire.
"Take them down," Kang Oh said.
"It"s hunting time." Tasha smiled wickedly, and gathered blood red energy in her hands.
Sara furrowed her brow as if she were disgusted by their appearance, transformed her hands into ice drills, and rushed into the fray.
"Die!"
"Get out of my way!"
They were up against the Great Forest"s Demon, as well as the Ice Queen, who threatened to freeze half of the continent in solid ice.
The bandits were no match for them.
"Uhahk!"
"Ugh."
"You witch!"
They screamed, cursed, and yelled in agony. One or two of them began to fall at a time.
Whistle!
One of the bandits forcefully blew on a whistle.
Swis.h.!.+
Kang Oh cut his head with Demon Sword Ubist.
A short while later...
When they were finished with the bandits, several more popped out of the entrance like a swarm of bats.
"Who are you!?" the ringleader scowled and yelled.
However...
Swoos.h.!.+
A fiercely spinning jet-black greatsword flew at him!
Boom!
The greatsword ripped right through the ringleader.
"Uheok!"
"B-Boss?"
Having lost their boss, the bandits momentarily panicked.
"I won"t let a single one of you go!"
Kang Oh"s brutal voice resounded throughout the cliff, causing his enemies to tremble in fear.
They had gotten the drop on them.