Chapter 38. Summoner association (1)
A white light appeared in the central plaza, and from the white light, a silhouette appeared.
No one was surprised to see a man appearing from the white light. It was even to the point that no one gave a single glance to it.
It was because the central plaza was mostly occupied by the players, and no player would be surprised by this sight.
One could see countless sights like this every day as hundreds of players would log in to Ark every day.
That's why no one gave their attention to it!
'The central plaza is bustling with people like always.'
Ian thought as he walked out from the white light. He looked around his surroundings and saw many merchant players with their stalls.
There were some groups of players who were standing in the plaza, just to invite players to their party and go hunting.
Aside from that, some players were from a guild and were recruiting players to join their guild.
"You won't find this leather armor anywhere else. Just for 5 gold. You can try your hand on an uncommon grade item."
"It's a rare chance for players to join our 'Let go of that girl' guild. We will be aiming to become the number one guild."
"We need a cleric and an archer to join our party. We will be hunting in the mountain ranges."
Ian ignored most of the shouts of the player as he moved towards the class towers area.
He had a purpose for going there. More specifically, he was going towards the summoner association, which was also the class tower for summoners.
Class tower.
It was the place to obtain the basic classes, and also the place to periodically obtain information on skill books.
At the same time, it was a meeting point where players who shared the same class gathered.
As a result, no matter which castle one visited, the class tower would be surrounded by many people, and the class tower area would always be bustling.
As always, greed lurked around a place filled with people. There were people with different purposes near class towers.
The most prevalent were scouts!
"We're recruiting fire or wind attributed magicians!"
"Haori guild is recruiting lightning magicians. We'll fully support you to level 100."
Scouts near class Towers all had the purpose of recruiting new players.
Ark had a system of guilds, and every guild's aim was clear. They wanted to become the best and get their own territory.
One could create a guild if they were above level 50, and passing level 50 wasn't a big deal in a game with over a billion people.
So most guilds had a clear aim, and to achieve it, they needed a large number of players. They were always in shortage of players.
It shouldn't be the case in a game like Ark, but with the high number of players, there were a high number of guilds too.
It was to the point that one would be confused about which guild to choose, and because of this, guilds would always try to recruit more players.
Even then, they won't just receive any players. A guild has its own standards, and they would always want to recruit skillful players.
Obviously, it was extremely difficult to recruit skilled, well-known, and high-leveled players.
If you couldn't recruit one, you just had to make one!
It was much more efficient to recruit new players and raise them to be the type of players one wanted.
Of course, even if one touts on the street to recruit newbies, often one wouldn't be successful. Even so, it was much better than posting some recruitment post on an online forum.
It made sense that talking directly in the game would show more results.
However, after being unsuccessful for a long time, some became frustrated.
Those who already had decent levels and played for some time didn't like being so subservient just to recruit newbies who had just started playing.
They didn't want to just stand in the sun, calling out to random players. They wanted to adventure and go to kill monsters.
But they couldn't do anything about it.
They had to quickly recruit some players. Thus, sometimes in their frustration and anger, things could get a little rough.
"Hey, you! Wait a moment!"
That was the case with Ian.
A player who had been recruiting guild members suddenly called out and grabbed Ian's right wrist while he was trying to enter the summoners association.
The scout held Ian's wrist tightly as he was afraid that he would get away.
"You're a new player, right? Hear me out for a bit."
Ian was still wearing the equipment which he had bought after defeating Krysil.
He had gotten some new equipment after defeating Leverill. Still, he had not bothered to wear them in the middle of the capital.
That's why he was looking like a newbie to the scout.
Moreover, Ian was entering the summoner association, and he didn't look like a summoner.
The scout thought that Ian was here for a class change.
"What do you want?"
Ian stared at his wrist, which was being held by the scout. He didn't like it, but he still asked in a polite tone.
"I can see that you want to be a summoner, but do you know how hard it is to become one?"
"No, I don't."
The scout's eyes glimmered with hope when he heard that. He thought that Ian was a pushover, and he would soon beg to join his guild.
Thus, he continued.
"First of all, it isn't easy to catch those ferocious monsters, and even then, the quality of the monsters would differ."
"So?"
"I'm just saying that you need some backing to become a well-known summoner. If you join our guild, we will help you to catch monsters and even provide you with items to raise them."
Although the scout said all that, he didn't tell Ian one thing.
'We will work you like a slave.'
The guild will help a player level up quickly, but it will also make him work until there's no strength left in his body.
It was just like entering a slave contract.
After entering a guild, one also couldn't leave it quickly as the guild would become hostile to him and would hunt the player.
There was no penalty on PK in the game. A single player couldn't go against an entire guild anyway.
Of course, this wouldn't apply to all the guilds. The majority of the guilds wouldn't do something like that because they needed to maintain their reputation.
But the guild, the scout was from, was not like that!
'When will he stop?'
Listening to the words of the scout, Ian felt bored, and at the same time, frustration was building up in his heart.
The scout didn't stop even when Ian was bored.
He began to explain the disadvantages of playing as a summoner.
It was almost like he was selling some product to Ian, and it would surely be effective on normal newbie players.
They would think that playing as a summoner was a tiring job after hearing the scout's words, and the player would quickly get fooled.
In the end, he would join his guild for sure.
He would think that joining the guild would be the only way to play as a summoner.
But he would just become a slave for the guild, working day and night endlessly, but in return, he would only get some measly items.
The higher-ups of the guild would take most of the items for themselves.
That's how some of the guilds worked in Ark, and no one could do anything about it, but because of that, they would often have a bad reputation.
"What's your guild name?"
Ian asked as he looked at the scout who was still blabbering about how entering his guilt would be beneficial for Ian.
"Oh, it's Black skulls guild."
'I think I have heard that name somewhere.'
Ian wondered where he had heard that name and realized that the three PKers he had killed before were from this guild.
He also had heard some bad rumors about it on the A.L.F community.
"I think I have heard of it, but they were mostly bad rumors."
"You should not listen to them. They were started by the rival guilds who are jealous of us. They are just trying to defame us."
The scout said as he waved his hand.
'Do I look like a fool?'
Ian thought in his mind.
Only a fool will believe his words, and Ian was not one. He would just waste his time talking to the scout.
"Sorry, I'm not interested."
"You should think about it once more. It's a once in a lifetime offer."
Ian shook his head when he heard, and then, he tried to pull back his arm from the grip of the scout, but the grip on his wrist became tighter.
"What do you want?"
Ian raised his head and looked at the scout.
"I'm being generous here, but you are refusing my kindness. Do you know it can prove fatal to you in the long run?"
The scout's tone was polite, but it was clearly a threat.
'You will find these types of people everywhere.'
Ian sighed in his heart, and suddenly, his eyes became ferocious. It was the eyes of a predator, filled with killing intent.
'What's with him?'
In just a second, Ian became another person, and the scout felt some fear crept up inside his heart.
His instincts were telling him to stay away from Ian.
"I will say this just one more time, but I don't like people treating me as a pushover. So, you should better be careful next time."
Ian shook off his hand from the scout's grip and said that.
Then, without looking back, Ian entered the summoning association, and the scout was not even able to say anything.
"I thought I would die for a second there."
After a while, the scout finally let out some words. Ian's eyes were still engraved in his mind.
'I should report this to the guild leader.'
The scout had a feeling that Ian was not an average player. That's why he quickly reported it to the guild leader.
* * *
"He didn't come to school today too."
Fang Xue muttered as she lowered her head, sadness, and worry written on her face.
It was because Lu Fei had again skipped school today. If he kept being like this, then it would leave a bad mark on his record.
As his homeroom teacher, Fang Xue wanted him to pass high school and then aim for a university, but in her heart, she knew how difficult it would be.
His grades were terrible, and the national college entrance examinations were in a few months.
There was not much time left.
'He said he was playing a game called Ark, right.'
Fang Xue stared outside the glass window as she thought about Ark's promotion video, which she had seen on the TV.
Even her sister wanted to play that game!
"Wow!! The world is really changing."
"Yes, I never thought they would include that course."
"Even being a gamer is a respected profession these days."
'What's happening?'
Fang Xue turned her head and looked back at the teachers who were actively discussing something with each other.
She titled her head in confusion, and then, she turned her head back and looked at Old Zhou, who was calmly drinking his coffee.
Then, she asked.
"What's the discussion about, Old Zhou?"
"Oh! Well, Many universities has recently opened a new course in their semester. So, all the teachers are discussing it."
"What type of course?"
"It's called virtual reality."
Fang Xue widened her eyes in surprise when she heard. She was not able to believe it, so she asked again.
"Virtual reality as a course?"
"Yes, games are really changing the world. I had heard that they are taking all the professional gamers who are applying."
Old Zhou said that while sipping his coffee. Then, he indulged back to the book he was reading.
On the other hand, Fang Xue was thinking about something else.
'He said that he was earning from that game. Maybe, it can work…'
Fang Xue thought that, and then, she began searching for information about the virtual reality course on the internet.