NOVEL NEXT Chapter 43
The idea that Guardians are only stuck at the base is a huge misconception.
A Guardian who just stays at the base is often called a “benchwarmer,” the epitome of a troll.
Guardians are in a position to coordinate the game.
If the City Core commands the game, the Guardian has to oil the gears, fix things, and basically stay busy moving around.
That’s how the game keeps rolling.
Of course, not every Guardian character is suited for that kind of playstyle.
———
This guy only picks these kinds of characters.
———
Ormal isn’t one of “those” picks, so it’s clearly a misunderstanding.
Guardians have relatively low farming risks because they farm within the base’s defense system.
That’s why Guardians also have low farming returns. If the risk is low but the return is high, the balance would be off.
So, Guardians usually have low growth expectations but are efficient with minimal resources. But if every Guardian were like that, wouldn’t it ruin the diversity?
That’s why there are Guardians with ridiculously high growth expectations.
No point hiding it—our Cheon Hye-eun is one of those characters.
“Do not doubt this lady.”
I picked Cheon Hye-eun because of her Gothloli skin, age, and speech style, but this time, it wasn’t just for those reasons.
The team’s composition was extremely early-game focused, so I picked Cheon Hye-eun for balance.
If the team had been late-game focused, I would’ve picked the bear Guardian and gone with the “Han Yoorim” concept, summoning the glorious Beta Tester No. 1 from *Resurrected Students Also Need Love* as a familiar.
Since I’m back in the game to recover from the bad ending and see Han Yoorim’s true ending, I’d probably enjoy playing the bear Guardian a lot.
Thank you. The GOAT of streamers.
Next time, I’ll treat you big.
I set the base in a location far from the city core, almost on the outskirts.
This creates a miraculous positioning where both the City Core and the Main Carry find it inconvenient to visit the base, but this is Cheon Hye-eun’s standard strategy. Setting the base as far from the enemy’s formation as possible.
Nine palaces. The game started, and everyone spawned at the base.
While the team left the base, I went to the top floor of a building and drew a magic circle.
Immediately, the building’s interior changed.
Like a dragon’s nest.
It was Cheon Hye-eun’s passive skill, [Descendant of the Dragon].
Every Guardian has a passive that colors the base in their own way.
One skill is confirmed to be a non-combat skill. That’s why Guardians are relatively weaker in combat compared to other characters.
Weak in combat, not fun, super busy, and still get called “click-click”—no wonder it’s an unpopular position.
But hey, “click-click” is accurate. Why act all offended?
Click—clack.
Energy gathered in the magic circle. After a minute, I swallowed a chunk of [Heavenly Energy].
There are three ways to use Cheon Hye-eun’s exclusive resource, [Heavenly Energy]:
Base strengthening, character strengthening, and farming enhancement.
I chose the third option.
Another farming magic circle appeared.
After a while, whoosh—. Two [Heavenly Energy] floated up. I swallowed both and drew another magic circle.
I repeated this.
I drew up to the limit of five magic circles. It was three minutes into the game.
Even after drawing all the magic circles, I still had three [Heavenly Energy] left. Now, I—
Enhanced the magic circles.
Using two [Heavenly Energy], I evolved a low-tier magic circle into a mid-tier one.
The mid-tier magic circle simply spat out two [Heavenly Energy]. The efficiency doubled.
Meanwhile, my teammates were screaming in chat and pings, but I ignored them and kept enhancing the magic circles.
By the time I evolved all five magic circles to mid-tier, it was seven minutes into the game.
Currently, I had five [Heavenly Energy] left.
In one minute, 15 more would generate, so by the 3-tier object timing, I’d have a total of 20 [Heavenly Energy].
Using all 20 [Heavenly Energy], I could level up a Level 1 character to Level 5.
Level 5. It’s a very awkward level. By eight minutes, other positions would hit Level 6, unlock their ultimate, and have decent items.
Guardians need to strengthen the base to get items. Since I poured all my resources into farming magic circles, I had no items and no ultimate.
That’s why most Cheon Hye-eun users don’t join objectives and instead further enhance their magic circles.
If the team does well, great. If not, they lose.
However, I think doing that increases the chance of losing.
Cheon Hye-eun is a late-game monster, but before that timing, she’s not great.
Even if you play passively and wait, it takes a long time for Cheon Hye-eun to grow.
So, Cheon Hye-eun’s team inevitably has to play defensively…
But as you know, playing defensively also requires strength.
Already, Cheon Hye-eun being stuck at the base accumulates small losses, and giving away the 3-tier objective for free?
You’d just get pounded by the enemy and lose the game.
If you don’t want that, you have to make at least one move against the enemy.
I used all my [Heavenly Energy] to hit Level 5 and joined the 3-tier objective, [Rift Generation Zone].
A 5v5 standoff excluding the Outer Solo. Our City Core initiated at the right timing.
A fierce team fight broke out.
I used my first basic skill, [Dragon’s Soldier], to help as much as I could in the team fight.
People say Thierry’s performance is bad, but—
In my opinion, the real performance issue is this one.
What kind of core skill performance is this?
Cheon Hye-eun’s core skill, [Dragon’s Soldier], is a summoning skill.
It summons soldiers made from dragon bones.
But these bone soldiers had no exclusive skills and their stats were mediocre.
With this kind of performance, summoning multiple units would have balanced things out, but [Dragon’s Soldier] only summons one.
Cheon Hye-eun’s second and third skills are linked to this [Dragon’s Soldier].
I’d rather move my body directly to twist the situation, but controlling the summoning beast has its limits.
It’s so frustrating it’s driving me crazy.
But after hardship comes reward.
See you later.
I coordinated with our team’s City Core and took down the enemy’s Main Carry. It was a great achievement, spamming those fern-like ranged attacks.
After the team fight, we came out ahead in the kill exchange. 5:3.
The only regret was losing the tier 3 objective.
Our team scolded the Scout, but steal fights are always 50-50. At the point where we couldn’t push the enemy back, the team should have kept quiet.
I returned to the base.
This much is enough to fulfill my role.
“‘Everyone, suffer a bit more for me!'”
Arriving at the base, I used the [Heavenly Energy] gained from kills to level up from 6.
Then I placed my hand on the magic circle.
Cheon Hye-eun’s ultimate, [Legacy of the Dragon].
Its effect was base enhancement.
The most powerful skill in the game is base enhancement. It was blatantly advertising her as a late-game character.
So, I used the ultimate every cooldown and spent all the [Heavenly Energy] on enhancing the magic circle.
12 minutes into the game.
Finally, all the [Heavenly Energy] generating magic circles reached the highest grade.
Now, I gained 25 [Heavenly Energy] every minute.
From this moment, Cheon Hye-eun’s power graph started to rise.
…Actually, it didn’t skyrocket. The power increased through base enhancement to get items, but the immediate growth curve was very gradual.
Cheon Hye-eun is a character whose power graph suddenly shoots to Mars. More patience was needed.
I used all the [Heavenly Energy] as soon as it accumulated for base enhancement.
Guys, just hold on for 10 more minutes.
If it’s really tough, I can help once, so call me carefully?
*
The man cursed inwardly.
Except for the tier 3 objective and the large-scale team fight in the City Core, he didn’t even see a hint of Cheon Hye-eun.
…Although, her control was so amazing that every team fight she participated in was won.
But every fight without Cheon Hye-eun was lost.
It was ambiguous whether this was Cheon Hye-eun’s fault or not.
The man died because he lost in a fair 2:2 fight between the carry duos. But this also needed to consider the nerves frayed by the enemy Guardian roaming around.
Moreover, it wasn’t just the man who lost.
The City Core, the outer solo lane, and the Scout were all pushed back by the enemy.
With even the Main Carry, the man, pushed back, there was practically no winning position.
Of course, our Guardian was still unscathed and had grown, but Cheon Hye-eun is a character who whines for more time even as the game is ending. She definitely wouldn’t finish growing by the next objective.
Plus, this Cheon Hye-eun performed well in team fights. It meant she took the main body growth tech tree from the start. This delayed her completion time even more.
She would probably finish growing around 35 minutes, by which time the man would already be in the next game’s City Core team fight.
Sighing, the man gathered at the tier 2 objective, [Floating Skyscraper], with the feeling of being led to the slaughter.
6:5. A standoff situation without our Guardian. He quickly pinged for help, but Cheon Hye-eun just typed in chat asking for a little more time.
He didn’t know what big thing Cheon Hye-eun could do at just 20 minutes asking for more time, but with a ‘whatever happens, happens’ mindset, he grabbed the ankles of the enemy who was almost done taking the tier 2 objective.
Already at a growth disadvantage, the difference in numbers caused the formation to collapse instantly.
Our team fell one by one.
Remaining allies: five, four, three, two…
“‘I am too late.'”
When only two allies were left, a clear voice sounded behind the man.
Just before he could say, “What took you so long? Get back to the base—”, the man saw it.
Cheon Hye-eun’s height, especially her chest, had grown.
The man shouted.
“Damn, Cheon Hye-eun’s eye version is out!”
Cheon Hye-eun used her skill. The first normal skill, [Dragon’s Soldier].
No.
[True Dragon].
With a rumble.
A giant dragon made of bones was summoned from the ground.
Mounting it, Han Yoorim declared.
“‘From now on, I will show you why I am the Descendant of the Dragon!'”