Of course, it wasn't as huge a hit as HOL, which had been a global sensation, but Xenoris still ranked well. Even now, nearly two years after its launch, it was holding steady in the top ranks, floating between second and fourth place.
The fact that it hit the real-time search rankings just because of a new class said it all. It had been a while since I played any kind of progression-based game—HOL had taken up all my time. Just thinking about that made my fingers itch, and I felt a bit excited.
RPGs are definitely better for immersion than AOS games. The more time and money you put in, the more it shows. Smiling with satisfaction, I hit the Start Game button.
A bright, cheerful tune played as the loading screen appeared. First, I needed to choose a server. In these kinds of games, the most populated servers were always the best.
I picked up my phone before choosing a server. I already knew who to ask for help.
—What is it?
As soon as he picked up, the guy got straight to the point. Kim Daeseok. A friend I'd gone to both high school and college with. Skipping over the small talk, I asked:
"Which server are you on?"
—What server?
"Xenoris. I'm asking what server you're on."
—Why? You gonna start playing Xenoris?
Ever since Xenoris launched, Kim Daeseok had kept trying to rope me into playing. He instantly understood what I meant and dropped his bored tone, shouting excitedly:
—You're not messing with me, right? If you're lying, you're dead!
"I'm at the server selection screen. If you don't tell me within ten seconds, I'm quitting and deleting it. 10, 9…"
—Rotel, Rotel! Jesus. Seriously, Yujihan, that personality of yours…
"Is Rotel the most popular?"
—Yeah. It dominates everything. You have to pick Rotel.
Rotel, huh. I double-clicked the central server and, sure enough, a queue popped up. Guess it really was the popular one.
—Hey hey, I'm logging in now too, so send me your nickname on KakaoTalk.
"Alright."
—I'll carry your newbie butt...
I hung up on Kim Daeseok mid-sentence and focused on the screen. The queue ended, and the game moved to the character creation screen.
Anyway, there's not much point customizing your character before you dump in cash for cosmetics. I picked basic brown hair and the most decent-looking face and moved on.
As for the class, of course I picked Mage. You had to start as a Mage if you wanted to become a Dark Mage in your second advancement.
All that was left was the nickname.
"A nickname, huh…"
Nothing came to mind. In a popular game like this, all the good ones were probably taken already…
After thinking about it for a while, I got lazy and just used the nickname from my main HOL account. Fortunately, the character creation went through without a hitch.
[ImSoSleepy]
I couldn't believe no one had taken such a cute nickname yet. Pleased with it, I sent the name to Kim Daeseok on KakaoTalk and logged in to the server with my newly made character.
[Two thousand years ago, the world was born…]
An opening cinematic started playing right away. I spammed the ESC key to skip it and dove straight into the tutorial. Just as I was wrapping up the newbie quests, a friend request popped up.
[SoeSso: Yo, come to Channel 12]
As expected, it was Kim Daeseok. What kind of dumb name was SoeSso? Anyway, I switched to Channel 12. The guy, standing in the middle of the city, spotted me and ran over.
[Global] SoeSso: Heyyy lol
[Global] SoeSso: What's your nickname lmao
[Global] SoeSso: That name's so weird lol
The moment he saw me, he started roasting my nickname. I frowned and gave his character a once-over. It was a female avatar with twin blonde pigtails, dressed in a flamboyant pink dress.
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Better than yours; your character looks ridiculous for real
[Global] ImSoSleepy: What the hell even is a SoeSso lol
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Are you pretending to be a girl online? You're seriously embarrassing.
As soon as I typed out what I was thinking without holding back, Kim Daeseok freaked out and quickly sent me a party invite.
[Party] SoeSso: Are you rapping with insults or what?
[Party] SoeSso: And what's wrong with using a female character?
[Party] SoeSso: It's creepier when a guy uses a male avatar, seriously ––
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Whatever.
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Here, buy me this as a gift.
I dropped a link into the chat. I'd had my eye on it for a while—it was a newbie starter pack. There were a few options, but the most expensive one was obviously the most useful.
[Party] SoeSso: What the? You're actually planning to take this seriously?
Seeing the link, Kim Daeseok sounded a bit dumbfounded. Not surprising, considering I hadn't touched an RPG since high school.
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Yeah, so buy it for me.
It might not have the intense, edge-of-your-seat excitement of AOS or FPS games, but progression-based games had their own appeal. Plus, they probably had fewer trolls and quitters ruining the fun.
[Party] SoeSso: LOL okay.
Without hesitation, Daeseok gifted me the ₩35,000 starter pack. He came from a well-off family and had money to spare.
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Thx.
[Party] SoeSso: No prob. If you've got questions, just ask.
After that, the party disbanded. Early quests were mostly solo anyway, so it made sense.
I opened the starter pack, sorted the items neatly, pulled up a Xenoris guide on my second monitor, and got into the game in earnest.
[Whisper] SoeSso: You psycho bastard;
This was the first message Kim Daeseok sent me on the tenth day after I started playing—just as I hit level 200 and completed my first job advancement. For reference, the max level in Xenoris was 250.
I still had 50 levels to go, but from here on out was where the real game began. Up until now, I'd been soloing just fine, but starting from level 210, raid dungeons would become essential—and soloing wouldn't cut it anymore.
"Guess I need to join a guild."
Even with guides, it was obvious I'd get lost or make mistakes in the beginning. Playing with strangers for content like this would just make me a burden.
So I needed a guild that understood I was a newbie and would help me. Luckily, I had one veteran sidekick: Kim Daeseok.
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: Yo, Daeseok.
[Whisper] SoeSso: Yeah?
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: Is your guild any good?
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: I think I'll need to join one to start raiding.
[Whisper] SoeSso: Oh right.
[Whisper] SoeSso: You're already ready for raids? Damn, you're such a game freak.
[Whisper] SoeSso: But… my guild isn't recruiting right now. Bit of bad timing.
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: ?
Well, that was an unexpected twist. I quickly typed back, annoyed.
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: That's ridiculous.
[Whisper] SoeSso: My bad lol
[Whisper] SoeSso: Hey, there's another guild we're allied with that is recruiting. Wanna try that one?
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: Nah, forget it. I'll find one myself.
[Whisper] SoeSso: C'mon, don't get all sulky lol
Sulky? Please. I scoffed and pulled up the guild list window. Since I couldn't join Daeseok's guild, I might as well just find one on my own.
After picking out a few decent-looking options and closing the window, I saw Daeseok had messaged me again.
[Whisper] SoeSso: "EveningGlow" << This one. #1 ranked guild on the server.
[Whisper] SoeSso: Honestly, it's not the kind of place noobs like you get into...
[Whisper] SoeSso: But they only recruit once a year—and that time is now.
[Whisper] SoeSso: I happen to know the vice guild master.
[Whisper] SoeSso: I'll put in a good word. You should join.
[Whisper] SoeSso: Our guild gets along with them anyway. Whether you join us or them, it's the same deal.
Server's top guild, huh? I reopened the guild list. Sure enough, there it was—first row, first entry.
[1. EveningGlow | Guild Level: Grand | Members: 172 | Guild Master: Yoo Chae]
Not bad. Top-ranked was definitely tempting.
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: You think I can really get in?
[Whisper] SoeSso: For real, I'm not lying.
[Whisper] SoeSso: The vice master's online now—I'll ping her. Hold up.
[Whisper] SoeSso: She actually does more work than the guild master, so her approval is all we need.
Fair enough. Whether it was through connections or not, I had no complaints if I could get into a solid guild.
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: Alright.
While I waited for Daeseok and the vice master to finish their chat, I browsed the auction house. I wasn't buying anything expensive yet since I was still leveling fast, but once I hit max level, I'd need to gear up properly.
I was mentally calculating prices as I browsed the listings when Daeseok messaged again.
[Whisper] SoeSso: Yo yo yo, Yujihan.
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: What.
[Whisper] SoeSso: You're not in a dungeon right now, right?
[Whisper] SoeSso: The vice master wants to meet you. That okay?
Wants to meet? Like an interview or something? It felt a bit excessive for a game, but now that I thought about it, even in HOL, clan recruitment often involved a quick chat with the admin.
Well, considering how many weirdos are out there nowadays, it probably makes sense for them too. After a brief pause, I replied lightly:
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: Sure.