Chapter 70. Registration (2)
Arena
It was the new PvP event in Ark and Pegasus corporation had huge plans for it.
No matter what game, PvP was a thing that was always popular among the viewers.
Many players were requesting for a PvP event on the official website of Pegasus corporation and Arena was what they wanted.
Not only can they show their skills in the Arena, they can also get famous and earn various rewards.
To make the competition fair, Pegasus corporation had divided the Arena event in 2 leagues.
The first was the Masters league in which only players above level 200 can enter.
It was the event for the rankers and people were anticipating their favorite rankers to participate in it.
The Master league was the event that interests the people the most.
The second league was the Rookies league and only players that are level 50 or below level 50 can participate in it.
It was the event that would highlight the players that can become future rankers.
It was the best opportunity for new players to get recognition.
At the same time, all the guilds would be interested in the Rookies league more than the Masters league.
It was because most of the rankers already have a guild that they are associated with.
It was really hard to find a ranker who is not a part of the guild. One such example was the top player Brendan but everyone knows that he doesn't have much interest in guilds.
That's why, the Rookies league was the perfect opportunity for the guilds to recruit skilled players.
The top guilds had even dispatched some of their members to watch the Arena and recruit the players that would stand out during Arena.
In that sense, a player like Ian would surely stand out more than the other players.
"The registration fee to enter the Arena is 5 gold for the Rookies league and 50 gold for the Masters league. Which league will you enter?"
"Rookies league."
Ian said and gave the old employee 5 gold coins.
"Thank you for joining the Arena."
The old employee said as he wrote something on the paper. The registration was done with that and a message appeared before Ian.
After taking a look at that message, Ian left the registration counter.
'With this, I have finally entered Arena.'
He thought as he looked at the area around the Coliseum. There was still a long line of players there who wanted to enter the Arena.
Whether they were confident on winning or not, players were actively registering for the Arena.
Ian smiled seeing that and walked towards the Rowlet restaurant.
It was the place where Ian had learned his cooking skill and his reputation with Alina, the restaurant owner, Jeff's wife was high.
Because of that, he can easily get a discount while eating here and he also cooks in the restaurant from time to time to earn some money and increase his proficiency.
His proficiency in nature cooking was already on beginner level 8.
Today, he was going there to meet with someone.
Creak!
With a creaking sound, Ian entered the Rowlet restaurant. He looked around and noticed many regulars eating and drinking.
"Ian, come have a drink with us!!"
"It's been so long since I have last seen you."
"You seem to have gotten stronger. Why don't you cook us something today? I want to eat that soup you made last time again."
"Yeah, make us some meat soup."
"We miss your cooking!!"
The regulars greeted Ian enthusiastically and most of them wanted Ian to cook for them.
Although Alina's cooking was good, it can't be compared to Ian's cooking which had a unique taste to it.
Most of the regulars were fans of Ian's cooking.
"Sorry but I'm here to meet someone today. I would cook for you next time."
Ian simply apologized after hearing the regular's request and looked around the restaurant.
He was searching for a particular person and he finally found him sitting in the corner.
The person also saw Ian and shouted.
"Brother Lu!"
"I have told you to call me Ian in Ark."
Ian sat down in front of Xiao Ming and observed him.
It was the first time Ian was meeting Xiao Ming in Ark and he had to say that Xiao Ming looked slightly different than his appearance in real life.
He must have modified his appearance when starting Ark.
"Have you already registered? Brother Lu, I mean, Ian."
"Yeah. What about you? Will you register for the Arena?"
Ian asked as he tilted his head but Xiao Ming just shook his head.
"I'm not confident enough to take part in the Arena and it would be embarrassing if I lost."
"I don't think it would be embarrassing."
"Still, my skills are bad."
Ian stopped himself from frowning when he heard that.
Xiao Ming was playing as a magician and he was currently level 44.
He had enough time to increase his level and Ian was sure that he would at least be able to win some rounds.
But Xiao Ming himself was not confident in himself.
His inferiority complex was still there and despite Ian's urging, there was no effect on Xiao Ming.
'It's better to leave it alone currently.'
Ian had already realised that it would be hard to cure Xiao Ming's inferiority complex.
Xiao Ming himself has to become more confident. Ian can only push him a little.
"Have you brought it?"
Leaving the matter aside, Ian quickly started the main topic.
"Yeah, it was hard to find a cool looking mask but I was able to find one and it would surely look good on you."
Xiao Ming nodded his head and brought out a black mask from his inventory.
The mask was pitch black with some white lines on it. It would cover half of Ian's face but it was enough to hide his identity.
"It sure looks cool."
Ian examined the mask and said.
"Yeah, I found it in a second hand shop. Although it doesn't have any buffs on it, it is enough to attract attention."
Ian also agreed with that.
The concept that they had thought of for their V-tube channel was a mask.
For that, they didn't need high grade equipment but simply a mask that can attract attention.
This mask was perfect for that.
"Are you sure that the plan would work? I am not doubting it but what if you got defeated in the early rounds?"
"That just means that I am lacking in skill."
There were three reasons that Ian had decided to enter the Rookies league in the Arena.
The first reason was that he was after the reward that would be given by the emperor himself.
The second reason was that Ian wanted to compete against other players to see the extent of their skills and compare his skills with them.
The last reason was his V-tube debut.
Even if he uploaded videos of him hunting in a dungeon, it would take a lot of time for him to become even slightly famous.
He would not be able to earn money quickly If that happens.
In V-tube, the more subscribers and views you have, the more money you can earn.
In that case, Arena was the perfect debut for him.
It was the hottest topic around the world and If Ian can reach the finals, no, if he just reached the semifinals, then he would surely attract a lot of attention.
If that happens, then he just surely will be able to make a small name for himself on V-tube.
Ian was precisely aiming for that.
'An explosive start.'
That was what Ian wanted and Arena looked like the perfect place for it.
"By the way, aren't you already level 50?"
Xiao Ming asked suddenly and Ian nodded his head.
"Yeah, I'm."
"But the Arena would only start in a week. What will you do till then?"
That was one of Ian's dilemmas.
He doesn't have anything to do in this one week.
He had sent an email to the Dark Luna guild about the antidote but there was no answer yet.
He can try to increase the proficiency of nature cooking by working in Rowlet restaurant but Ian felt that it would be too wasteful.
"I am still thinking about what to do in this one week."
Ian sighed while saying that.
Seeing Ian like that, Xiao Mind suddenly thought of something and opened his mouth.
"Why don't you visit the training center then?"
* * *
The top guilds ran in different ways than other small or medium sized guilds.
One difference was their Information network. All the top guilds had an information network which was looked over by the information team.
As one would expect, the Information team was in charge of managing information and reporting important facts to the guild.
There were many reasons for running an Information team.
First, it was important to receive feedback on customer satisfaction. It was also to receive potentially valuable information.
Of course, about 80 percent of reported information was completely useless.
Of the remaining 20 percent, 10 percent were so bad that the team wanted to throw the sender into the jail.
In other words, only 10 percent of information was somewhat useful.
Finding useful information from this pile of garbage was truly hard for those in the Information team.
But what choice did they have?
"God, it's all trash. Like, this one is asking us to find a missing cat. What the hell?"
One of the employees in the information team of the Dark Luna guild complained but what choice does he have.
They were being paid for it, so they couldn't not do their job.
"That's cute. Look at this. This one says it'll tell us the location of the Sunyan canyon boss, Devil goat."
"Haha, it's probably some sort of joke. The Devil goat had already been killed by the Dragon heart guild."
"It can be expired information too."
"No matter what information, we have to go through it."
In any case, the Information team organized the tips they received. Although most were thrown out, they were still checked in the process.
It was a subjective process, as what might be a jewel to one may be trash to another. It was especially so in the case of information.
You have to be sure of everything here.
"Oh! I got an interesting email."
One of the female employees exclaimed in a loud voice, attracting the attention of the other employees.
"What does the email say?"
"It says that the sender wants to sell the antidote for the poison of the Venomous python."
Everyone laughed when they heard that. It was not the first time they had gotten this sort of email.
It was probably a fake one but the female employees' word hadn't finished yet.
"There's also the screenshot of the effects of the antidote."
"Huh??"
It was the first time someone had sent a proof. Although, they don't know if the proof was fake or not, it was still something looking over.
"Who's the sender?"
"Anonymous. It's a new email account. Someone had probably sent the email from an internet cafe."
The employees started discussing when they heard that.
"There's 99% chance that it's fake."
"Yeah. Not even the best alchemist player can make an antidote for that deadly poison."
"Someone probably wants attention."
"But…"
There was a large chance that it was fake but there was still a scenario where it can be true.
"What if it's true?"
The information team can't take this chance. So, there was only one thing they could do.
"Send that screenshot to an expert and find out if it's fake or not. If it's fake, then there's nothing we can do but if it turns out to be true, then… Jackpot!!"