Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 178

“Ah, I see. So, did you encounter any difficulties debuting as a pro, coming from the 0th generation of players?”

“Well, not really. Pros are judged by their skill. If you have the skill, you’ll be recognized.”

The host smiled brightly and continued with the questions. They were very ordinary, the kind Beomseok could easily answer. The interview was just a facade. The real purpose was to imprint the scenes of his performance, constantly appearing as hologram videos, on the minds of the pro team officials. And whether their intentions were working or not, the eyes of the officials sitting in the audience seats grew quite serious.

In the meantime, time passed, and the interview was coming to an end.

“Ah, yes. Then, finally, could you offer a word of advice to the junior gladiators who will advance to the pro scene in the future?”

“First of all, I want to advise you to take care of your physical training when you advance to the pro scene, because your swordsmanship skills will only take you so far. When I first participated in a gladiator match, I suffered because of physical limitations.”

“Ah. Thank you so much for your invaluable advice for the juniors. And thank you, Mr. Beomseok, for your hard work.”

Beomseok bowed lightly and returned to his seat via the stairs on one side of the stage. While a back-and-forth conversation continued between the hosts, the highlight of the day soon arrived: the gladiator introductions.

“Now, let’s get to the gladiator introductions you’ve all been waiting for! The first gladiator to be introduced is Duran Eric, who was the center for Himan High School in last year’s World Academy Gladiator Competition. We ask for your interest and support!”

The first rookie gladiator was named. However, Beomseok crossed his arms and immediately closed his eyes. There was no need to see him because he was a man. He was going to shut off his attention completely, afraid he would feel conflicted if he checked the information window and his abilities turned out to be good.

Whether Duran knew this or not, he came to the stage and briefly showed off his swordsmanship, appealing his skills to the pro officials. After about two minutes of simple questions and hologram videos of his performances, he greeted the audience and disappeared behind the stage. There was no reason to make today’s introduction long, as the event spanned ten days.

“Now, the next gladiator to be introduced is Meisha Garaton of Rose High School for Girls, who won the women’s division of last year’s World Academy Gladiator Competition. We ask for your interest and support.”

Beomseok, who had just opened his eyes at the mention of a woman’s name, glanced at her and closed them again. Not all women were the same. She had a muscular body and a sturdy physique that would make even a tomboy blush. It might give a strong impression to other pro team officials, but she was not the kind of woman he would be interested in at all.

‘Geez. They make you look pretty when you become a modified human, but what’s with that look? What a waste of surgery fees. Tsk, tsk.’

However, the female gladiators who came out after Meisha were showing decent appearances. Perhaps they were aware of the fact that they were women, and there were traces of them paying a lot of attention to their appearance and getting cosmetic surgery. Their bodies were decent enough, and their faces were quite pretty. The problem was that most of them didn’t have much potential for growth. The gladiator Beomseok needed had to have the looks, but also the skills and growth potential to match.

‘Still, it looks like they got surgery from a pretty good doctor. It’s high compared to ordinary Elves [referring to their overall stats or potential].’

The lower limit of the rookie gladiators who came out today was in the late 500s to mid 600s [referring to their potential score], and on average it was close to the late 600s. Considering that the lower limit for Elves was in the 400s, it was quite a high number. However, the leagues where these kids could play were at most the Area League or the Wide League [lower-tier professional leagues]. It was not a satisfactory number for Beomseok, who was looking forward to the World League, the final league, and he wouldn’t want to recruit them unless it was for the promotion tournament that would start in three days.

‘But you never know, there might be a decent kid among them, since the overall growth potential is high.’

In the meantime, the introduction of the rookie human gladiators continued, and Beomseok’s hands were busy. In order to narrow down the top 5 who he could negotiate with, he was updating the list in the document he was currently writing every time a new gladiator came out.

“Now, let me introduce you to another gladiator. She is the swordswoman Jelsomina Arant, who proudly won the World Academy Women’s Sword Fighting Competition last year!”

With the sound of her name being called, a woman with red hair about 170 cm tall slowly appeared and stood in the center of the stage. She had quite sharp eyes, and the body revealed between her tight sportswear was very artistic. Her breasts were full, her S-line was smooth, and her long legs were beautiful. In addition, each part of her oval face was well-harmonized, creating a very beautiful face.

Beomseok, who liked her appearance, soon focused his attention on the scenes of her performance that were coming out in the hologram. And when he saw her wielding a bamboo sword while wearing protective gear in the square ring, he slightly lifted his butt in shock.

‘What? There was such an amazing swordswoman hiding in the academy sword fighting world!’

The swordsmanship skills of Jelsomina in the video could be evaluated as truly great. It was a swordsmanship with experience that appropriately included strength and restraint, like a well-trained beast. Of course, it could be a coincidence because they were showing highlights of her performance, but it was impossible to reveal that level of skill with simple video editing.

Beomseok bit his lip for a moment. He regretted so much that he had excluded the participants of the sword fighting competition while watching the performance scenes of the rookie gladiators before coming here. Most of the swordsmen with excellent swordsmanship skills went to the gladiator teams in the academy, so most of the young students who were devoted to sword fighting were mediocre. So, he, who took some time out of his busy schedule in the evening, mainly looked at the swordsmen belonging to the gladiator teams, and he didn’t pay attention to the participants of the sword fighting competition.

‘But, the world of pros is about the Six Senses. No matter how good your swordsmanship skills are, if you don’t see any signs of improving your physical abilities, there’s no reason to covet them. That level of skill is a skill that anyone in the World League-level gladiator has.’

Six Senses. It was a popular saying in the gladiator world that if technology accounts for 4, physical ability accounts for 6, and it contained the hidden meaning that no matter how excellent your skills are, if you don’t have the physical ability to support them, you are not a good gladiator. Skills naturally increase with practice, but physical ability is governed by growth potential, so there was a clear limit.

In the end, he opened the information window about her with a nervous heart.

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Name: Jelsomina Arant.

Classification: Modified Human (0 years).

Affiliation: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Fame: 124.

Infamy: 388.

Favorability: ???.

H Availability: None.

Stamina: 5400/5400.

Sociability: 28, Strength: 51, Stamina: 54.

Agility: 61, Balance: 58, Intelligence: 72.

Mental Strength: 78. Judgment: 88, Skill: 31.

Luck: 56.

Current Skill/Potential: 577/957.

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Characteristic: Athena of Rage.

Special Note: Winner of the World Academy Women’s Sword Fighting Competition last year. Abandoned by her parents with her younger brother when she was young, she grew up in an orphanage.

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‘Sigh. I’m stuck with this. I have to take this kid with me.’

Jelsomina’s physical abilities are still very low, but her growth potential is 957. This meant that if he succeeded in recruiting her, she would become the gladiator with the third highest growth potential in God’s Knights. Considering that Beomseok had been putting his heart and soul into securing promising players, it was a very high number. In addition, the characteristic of Athena of Rage not only increased all stats by +10 for 150 minutes when activated, but also had the option of increasing strength and stamina by 6 each when angry, while all mental abilities decreased by -2.

Swordsmanship, growth potential, and even top-notch characteristics. It seemed impossible to find a recruitment target better than this.

Beomseok, who had tried to calm his expression, looked at the faces of the pro team officials sitting nearby. He was worried that there might be people who were showing interest in her. If there were competitors, it would be that much harder to recruit her, so he needed to pay attention.

‘Hehehe. There aren’t many. You stupid guys. Even though this is the first year, you don’t recognize the hidden gem…….’

There were not many pro team officials who were showing interest in Jelsomina. Like Beomseok, they were prejudiced against sword fighters because they were caught up in preconceptions, and they were used to seeing Elves with always sleek and strong physical abilities, so they suddenly saw the performance of a human who was much worse than them, so they couldn’t have been impressed. Their eyes were full of complacency, saying, ‘She’s pretty good for a human.’

At that time, the host’s questions about her were continuing on the stage.

“Jelsomina-ssi. Is there any pro team you want to join among these?”

“I haven’t decided on one in particular. However, I’m thinking of going to any team that offers a minimum annual salary of 10 million krang [currency unit].”

With her answer, laughter erupted from here and there in the audience. Even though she was a talent selected from all over the world of academy sports, she was now just an unproven rookie. That was the salary of a veteran Wide Leaguer. It was not an amount that someone who was about to enter the pro scene could mention carelessly.

The host thought the same way, so his face was full of embarrassment.

“Ha, haha. Jelsomina-ssi, you have a very big ambition.”

“It’s not that I have a big ambition. I’m just saying the money I should naturally receive for my skills.”

The pro team officials, who thought she was lost in her delusions, unanimously removed her from their recruitment list. Even Beomseok, who had recognized Jelsomina’s abilities and growth potential early on, was twitching his hands, so how could the other teams be any different? However, if the content in the video was true, Jelsomina was worth that much. She could cover her lack of physical ability with swordsmanship, so she could definitely show off her skills as a Wide Leaguer starter.

‘Still, 10 million krang is too much…….’

It would be impossible to offer her an annual salary of 10 million krang in the current situation, unless God’s Knights went up to the Wide League. It was impossible to give nearly one-tenth of the current holdings to one gladiator every year. However, there was no denying that it was a pity to miss her like this. She was a gladiator who could grow into a World Leaguer if she was raised well for a few years.

‘The problem is that it would be a problem if she was a runaway. Human gladiators are not a concept of ownership, but a concept of possession.’

Human gladiators could transfer to another team as soon as the contract period ended if they didn’t like the conditions set by the team. He had raised her into an excellent gladiator after going through all kinds of hardships, but if she ran away to another team that offered a large sum of money, he would be the only fool. In particular, she was the type of person who was very fond of money, as she had brought up the topic of salary in such a sensitive position, so the risk was great.

‘Tsk. Well, I’ll just have to capture her before that. Hehehe.’

Beomseok, who had a way to keep her in the team, decided to recruit her. He would attach an option that she could never transfer for 3 to 5 years, and then he would quickly eat her up [exploit her potential], and that would solve the problem.

Finally, he subtly turned his head and looked at Director Vincent. Even he wouldn’t be able to deduce her growth potential just by listening to the introduction, but he would be able to notice her inner swordsmanship skills. Of course, it was necessary to carefully observe his actions.

However, Director Vincent, who seemed to have the same thought, was looking at him and smiling with his white teeth showing. Beomseok, who judged that he was going to have a big fight, rubbed his face.

‘Haa~ That old man! He’s never helpful! Helpful! Why is a guy who’s going to transfer to another team being like this! You have to be flexible and give in at times like this!’

Beomseok, who had a sulky expression, crossed his arms and kept blowing his nose. He believed that the sly old man would be able to recognize Jelsomina’s swordsmanship skills, but he didn’t expect that a guy who was going to transfer to another team would be so greedy.

While he was thinking about this and that, he opened the document sent by the host on his electronic notebook and stared at the five blinking notes at the top. They were the negotiation rights, and Beomseok could use them to put up to five rookie gladiators at the negotiation table.

But there was one more interesting function hidden in these rights. That was that you could give more than one right to one gladiator, and the team that offered the most rights would get the priority negotiation right for that gladiator. It was a system adopted to give opportunities to small pro teams that were short on funds, and it was very useful for Beomseok.

‘Hehehe. Good. I’ll pour all five rights into it to get the priority negotiation right. And then I’ll offer Jelsomina the amount she wants to recruit her. Then everything will be okay.’

Beomseok, who had made a decision, quickly poured all five rights into Jelsomina as soon as the gladiator introduction, the first event, was over. He could have watched a little more and thrown them, but if someone else threw the negotiation right now, he would be left chasing after a chicken [missing out on the opportunity].

However, contrary to his expectations, a very unexpected result occurred. Even at this early hour, there were 4 other teams that had thrown all 5 rights to get the priority negotiation right. Two teams were prestigious World League teams, and the other two teams were Dragon Knights and Chaplin Whisper. And there were many other teams that threw 3~4 rights.

============================ Author’s words ============================

Everyone have a good day. I’ll see you again tomorrow. Hahaha. ^^