Hyper Luck

Asparagan, as a city that copied the name of its continent, was the biggest city known to users.

Since the emperor left as part of the expeditionary force to the north, currently the third prince controls the land which is also often referred to as the promised land.

The name stems from the many opportunities the land offers, such as jobs offered by the empire, guilds made by users, and part-time jobs. Far away from the adventures or dungeons of this world.

Despite that, the reason I wish to go to Asparagan is due to its numerous quests.

After arriving, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the Asparagan castle walls I’ve heard countless times before. 

Known for its grandeur, the walls felt as if it were made from thousands of bricks bigger than the size of the carriage I’m currently in.

After returning my gaze to the front, I noticed the numerous people trying to enter through the castle gates.

From men with alluring armor, women with glamorous robes, merchants, to shepherds that herd massive bulls. 

It gave me the impression that they made a promise beforehand to meet at Asparargan.

At the front gates, the first thing I noticed were the two distinct districts. On the left were the residential areas, while on the right there were commercial areas.

After entering the city, along with loud orchestral music, large yellow letters were displayed in front of me.

<Asparagan>

At that moment, as if a little child, my heart was filled with excitement.

As expected, there were many points of interest from the start.

In the residential area, there was a sign that read <Nest of Paragon>, and in the commercial area, it read <Vault of Paragon>.

Obviously, I immediately turned right, as I had no business nor the money to head on to the residential area.

“Potion made from the extracts of red berries! Buy 10 get 1 free!”

“Perfect for a spellbook! 100 Magic papers made from Limpy wood for just 99 silver!”

“Recruiting adventures to explore ruins! Locals are immediately accepted! Users depending on their stats!!”

As soon as I walked in, the place was filled with a loud noise. There must have been some magical equipment to mask the sounds from the main road.

Users and NPCs, as if parts of a painting, were blended seemingly indiscernible. In other words, it was an enjoyable crowd.

With just a tent and some wooden pillars, anybody could open a venue. But, behind them was the real deal. These were established shops, with buildings that were constructed.

“Woah, there’s Temple Tteokbokki here?”

I was baffled. It was a famous franchise in Korea. I couldn't believe I would see them here; Especially in these old gothic buildings. 

There were people waiting in line in front of the shop. As I continued to walk after witnessing such a bizarre occasion, there were no more stores in sight.

Instead, there was a plaza with a huge building in the center, surrounded by countless people. It was the”‘Information Guild”, known to be the biggest guild in the game.

Currently, there are 5 countries discovered in this game. Which in turn translates to roughly 1.1% of the world map.

There’s still much to discover, but the reason for even getting this far is thanks to the information guild.

They are not bound by any country but have establishments in every country. They collect raw data of the world and refine it to sell usable information.

Also, they are responsible for issuing nationwide quests depending on the situation.

These quests are commonly referred to by <Circuit> users as “Raids”. This is due to the larger size of parties for the quest, but also the opportunity to face absurd monsters never seen before.

If the raid was a success, the rewards were unimaginable.

And now, I’ve finally got to witness the vast size of the guild.

Unlike the shopping district, the noise here took a serious tone.

***

***

In this place, filled with heavy-armored people, they seemed to be waiting for something.

“I heard there was gonna be something big in the Bass mountain range?”

“This is an opportunity to gain fame!”

As I absorbed some of the ushers of the users around me, I kept a keen eye on the situation. Soon after, a man came out of the large building, silencing all other noise.

“There has been a report that a group of trolls in the Bass mountain range have ransacked some travelers. We’ll be accepting raid parties now.

Soon after the speech, the silent crowd started to roar with excitement.

But, the man in charge quickly shushed them again and continued to talk.

“But there’s a catch. Since the confirmed numbers of trolls are humongous, this raid party must be formed as a group of 120 people.”

After the shocking announcement, a man lifted up his hand.

It was a man with a silver robe that I recognized.

The most popular ranker in Asparagan as of late, 

“Si…Silborun…!”

“There’s a ranker here?!”

“Since when was he here?!”

It was Silborun. With 7 magic items fully equipped, he was the object of envy to all users.

“Our guild will take this raid. The Guild master of the <Silver> guild, Silborun, will extend a proposal.”

Silborun confidently carried on. But, the man from the building shook his head.

“There are only 40 people from the Silver guild?”

Silborun calmly refuted.

“It’s not going to be a raid party formed officially by the guild. Though it’s a bit sudden, I’m thinking of making a temporary raid party.”

“A temporary raid party… Well, I’ll trust your fame. Okay, there’s not enough time so please quickly form a party, and head on over to Bass mountain range.”

After the man left, the crowd started gossiping. In the midst of it, Silborun shouted from the center.

“We’re accepting users to join our temporary raid party! There are 80 spots open, so anyone who’s interested please come apply!”

“Requirements?”

“What about the rewards?”

“Obviously the Silver guild will take it all!”

After noticing their unpleasantness, Silborun smiled slightly as he spoke.

“The loot distribution will not be up to us. Anybody that joins us, will be given the rewards equal to their contribution.”

Upon hearing a satisfactory answer, a crowd started to form around him. I was also one of them.

Troll, I’ve only ever heard of it. Apparently, their leather, bones, even a drop of blood are worth a lot of money.

“Since we’ll be facing trolls, what’s the minimum requirement?”

To his curiosity, Silborun confidently shouted.

“Either equipping at least one magic item or reaching level 15.”

In <Circuit> where it’s hard to level up, a level 15 could confidently do his part as a battle class user.

After he declared the requirement, the majority of people turned their heads and left. Despite that, there were still many people left at the plaza.

‘These people all have at least one magic item or are level 15…’

“Okay! Any users equipping a magic item with a strength buff! Here are the tryouts!”

A man, with a silver robe like Silborun, guided the people in the plaza.

I too had a high stat in strength, so I joined their tryouts.

The lineup quickly shortened, and soon it was my turn.

The people who already finished the tryouts gathered around to observe the others.

The crowd either consisted of a dark or bright mood. Which probably is relative to their test results.

The man in a silver robe immediately gave me a bronze coin, one of the currencies in the game.

“It’s simple. If you fold this coin in half, you’ve passed.”

Stat tests for strength are quick and precise.

As I’ve said before, 1 stat point in any stats has a major influence.

Obviously, if a user invested in strength stat, more than any other stat, this is not a hard test.

After logging in <Circuit>, this was my first time having an official guild test. So I couldn’t help being nervous. It reminded me of the time I took my final exam in high school.

After accepting the coin, I slowly applied pressure.

At that moment, 

The coin, ever so slightly folded, as if it's paper. The bizarre sensation coming from my fingertips also bewildered me.

As I was busy being baffled by my own strength, the crowd around me was also amazed.

“Woah. He folds it like paper!”

“What magic item did he equip?”

“I wonder what his level is?”

“That’s super sick!”

Feeling the attention of the crowd near me, I unknowingly applied more pressure to the coin. In response, the coin folded to a shape of a half-moon.

The man in the silver robe looked as amazed as others.

“You’re in. You’ll be the party leader of the 13th party.”

He said as he smiled.

< You’ve joined the raid party formed by Silborun. >

After an alarm, the notification appeared in front of me. Soon after obtaining the rare item, I joined a raid party! What a lucky occurrence!

Soon after the tests were over, only the users that qualified remained. Silborun quickly organized the users into a 4 man party.

I was also placed into a party of 4. Out of the 80 users that qualified, only 3 users had a white outline to them.

It was obvious that they were my party members.

“How are you doing? I go by the nickname ‘Swordsman’.”

A cheerful man approached me and offered a handshake. He had a white outline, indicating he was a party member.

Judging by how he gave his nickname instead of his username, it seemed like he preferred having anonymity.

And, so did I.

“My nickname is ‘Mose’.”

The reason for my boring name was due to my name Ki-Ho, being similar to Morse code.

T/N: The MC’s name is Ki-Ho and in Korea, Morse code is called Morse Bu-Ho.

Thinking back on it, it was an extremely half-assed attempt at making a nickname.

“My nickname is ‘Sharan’.”

Following the introduction was a female user.

“I’m called ‘Gaeil’.”

Lastly, a male user with a cool mustache. At the same time, 

< 13th party is formed. >

There was a notification. It wasn’t a party with a fancy name, but since we’re all here with the same goal, there’s definitely some form of connection.

“After checking with your party members, exactly after 30 minutes we’ll meet up at the castle gates of Asparagan!”

Quickly after the man next to Silborun shouted, the crowd quickly dispersed.

It still felt surreal.

It felt like it was only yesterday when I was hunting slimes in fear of facing a huge monster. But not anymore! I’ll be facing my first huge monster soon!

In a twist of excitement and nervousness, 

I was certain that my excitement was more domineering!