NOVEL NEXT Chapter 66
It took Jae-hyun one hour to enter the BEXCO convention hall.
This was a result that far exceeded his estimated time by 30 minutes.
To Jae-hyun, who had been a homebody, it truly felt like an eternity, but the moment he stepped into the G-Star exhibition hall, he felt as if he were being rewarded for his hardship.
“Wow…”
The numerous booths set up in the hall and the bustling visitors wandering about.
To be honest, compared to the Tokyo Game Show he had attended a few years ago, the size of the exhibition hall itself wasn’t particularly large, but it somehow felt different, perhaps because it was the game show held in Korea.
‘First, I’ll slowly look around the other booths, but I’ll head straight to the Reverse Arcadia booth.’
Fortunately, the Reverse Arcadia booth could be easily found without needing to wander around.
Not only was it several times larger than the other booths,
but also the in-game characters, including Henrietta, depicted on the four columns supporting the booth’s roof, seemed to beckon Jae-hyun with a tempting gaze.
Using some technique, no matter which direction one looked from, the eyes of the in-game characters would meet, leaving Jae-hyun in awe.
“Overwhelming.”
Indeed, worthy of the top subculture mobile game company.
Discarding flashy appearances and gaming titles, they focused on their characters for success.
This was proof of how confident Reverse Arcadia’s team was in their IP and characters.
Jae-hyun approached the Reverse Arcadia booth with admiration.
First, his eyes caught the cosplayers stationed at the booth entrance, striking poses.
For some reason, their appearances seemed familiar, and after a brief moment of thought, Jae-hyun realized who these cosplayers were.
“Rainia, right?!”
Rainia was literally a mammoth-level cosplay team, made up of Koreans but ranked alongside the top Japanese cosplay teams.
Their rates were just as high as their reputation, and it was said they rarely appeared at regular events.
Thinking “They must be making a lot of money,” Jae-hyun began to take pictures of the cosplayers.
“But… to be honest, it’s a little disappointing.”
Especially the Henrietta cosplay.
Although its quality was undeniably top-tier as expected from a major cosplay team, there was a vague feeling that it lacked 2%.
Compared to the Henrietta cosplay he had seen in a live broadcast, it seemed something was missing.
Regardless, objectively, the quality was excellent, so after snapping enough photos, Jae-hyun entered the booth.
The booth interior was bustling with visitors, proving that this was one of the most popular games at this year’s G-Star.
However, the experience time was limited to 10 minutes, and since the devices were abundant, Jae-hyun was able to start quickly.
“Please come this way.”
A pretty female staff member guided Jae-hyun to his seat.
With her bob-cut hairstyle and medium height, she vaguely reminded him of someone he’d seen before, but
as soon as he entered the experience zone, that thought vanished like melting snow.
“Finally, I’m about to try it out…”
“Please sit here, wear this headset, and you’ll be able to experience the game.”
Jae-hyun followed the instructions, sat down, put on the headset, and began manipulating the smartphone.
A grand OST began playing through the headset.
It was of such high quality that if played for someone unfamiliar, they might believe it was a pop song on the Billboard charts.
Once the OST ended, a sharp-eyed doctor, seemingly a new character, appeared to give a brief explanation of the experience, and Jae-hyun’s session began.
***
The first thing Jae-hyun encountered when starting the experience was the Oath System.
As announced earlier before G-Star began, this was the final content, so there seemed to be no separate tutorial.
“Hmm… what kind of buff is this?”
[Selected Oath Level 2]
■ Increase all enemies’ attack power by 25%
□ Decrease the cost recovery speed of deployed units by 20%
■ Increase Gaia and Legion’s defense by 100% and HP by 70%
□ Prevent allied unit deployment at certain locations on the battlefield
■ Increase all enemies’ HP by 20%
Total: 8 points
Roughly looking it over, it seemed to be a system that gave debuffs to allied units and buffs to enemy units.
“Alright, let’s get started.”
Pressing the operation start button, the game began on an event map covered in snow.
“Operation Secure Milan’s 13th District”
As the loading ended, the first wave began with a majestic BGM.
The first wave consisted of the typical heavy infantry monster relays seen on regular maps.
The method of clearing them wasn’t much different from other mobs either, so Jae-hyun arranged heavily armored warriors in the front line, and surrounded them with hunters, mages, and priests.
While the warrior halted the enemies’ movement, the hunters and mages dealt with them in a basic setup.
Since it was the first wave, Jae-hyun smoothly cleared it without much difficulty.
But starting from the second wave, the difficulty level surged as if mocking Jae-hyun’s assumption that it was too easy.
Possibly due to the new Oath system buffs, elite monsters weren’t as easy to defeat as usual.
Jae-hyun managed to clear the second wave somehow, but then a warning message, “WARNING!!” appeared along with the mid-boss — “Gaia.”
The mid-boss, Gaia, had striking black hair across her eyes, pale skin, dark circles, and a maid outfit that gave her a slightly decadent and adorable aura.
The cute SD-deformed appearance of Gaia, fitting for a mid-boss, perfectly matched Jae-hyun’s preferences.
“Wow, she’s cute.”
But contrary to her cute appearance, when Gaia was introduced to the battlefield, chaos ensued.
Stat-enhanced by the Oath buff, Gaia deflected the damage dealt by the dealers and advanced towards Jae-hyun’s strategically placed warrior.
With a single strike of her gigantic hammer, Gaia crushed the warrior’s helmet, causing it to crumble instantly.
After the tank fell, the rest of Jae-hyun’s characters were quickly mowed down by Gaia.
Watching this outcome left Jae-hyun speechless.
“Did the tank just vanish in one hit?”
Stunned by the shock of the tank who withstood all contents previously being destroyed in one blow, Jae-hyun checked the time left in the experience zone and found that around two minutes had already passed.
“Still, there’s plenty of time, let’s go all out.”
…
…
After playing with maximum strategy for 10 minutes,
Jae-hyun eventually succeeded in clearing the game.
The method to clear was simple.
Instead of the ideal defensive tank, Jae-hyun used a randomly picked 2-star tank from the unit selection window, which became the key to clearing the stage.
The name of this character was “Juri.”
Despite her mediocre appearance and unimpressive tanking performance, this character had one differentiating skill.
That was the “Knockback Ability” to push enemies back.
By using Gaia’s slow movement speed attribute, Jae-hyun pushed Gaia back and utilized ranged dealers to barely clear the stage.
After checking the remaining time post-clear, there was less than 30 seconds left.
Savoring the thrilling victory in his final attempt, Jae-hyun removed the headset,
only to hear applause from beside him.
“Wow, you’ve cleared it! Congratulations!”
The applause came from the female staff who had guided Jae-hyun earlier.
“Your choice of clear rewards will be either Henrietta’s scroll holder or a Gaia plushie. Which would you like?”
Caught off guard by the sudden choice, Jae-hyun hastily chose the Gaia plushie and asked,
“By the way, how many people have cleared it?”
The female staff member paused to think for a moment before answering,
“Probably around 20%. It seems to be more difficult than expected.”
“Clearance rate is lower than expected.”
At his words, the staff nodded and handed over the prize.
“Here’s your clearance reward, the Gaia plushie, and a special coupon for use in-game.”
“Thank you.”
After receiving all his rewards and following the instructions to leave the booth, Jae-hyun felt like he was returning from a dream to reality.
As the female staff followed Jae-hyun out of the booth and bowed slightly, she said,
“Outrage is scheduled to officially update in two weeks! We look forward to your continued interest!”
As soon as the staff finished speaking, Jae-hyun immediately pulled out his smartphone.
[Nickname: ㅇㅇ]
[Title: Breaking News) G-Star Reverse Arcadia Booth Experience Zone has Clear Rewards! Haha]
[Picture of a Gaia Plushie and Special Coupon]
Hey, those who couldn’t make it to G-Star, you alright? Hahahaha.
And apparently, the Outrage content will be updated in two weeks.
Take note.
Jealous? Get over it, you gallery lurkers haha.
[Comment List][Registered Order]
– Stop being salty, jeez haha.
– Who’s this character I see for the first time?
– It’s probably a new boss for Outrage right?
– Yep, it’s a new boss. Middle boss level.
– Wow, quality of the plushie is insane!
The reactions were filled with envy and disdain.
Satisfied with the overwhelming response, Jae-hyun began to look forward to the official update of Outrage.
Even though it was only an experience version without the final boss, it was more than enough to enjoy.