Chapter 17: Savouring the Sweetness of First Place in the Clan War

“Hey, Si-young. How’s Se-ah doing these days?”

Kwon Si-young paused the fork that was twirling her aglio e olio pasta.

“Se-ah? She seems pretty busy these days, I think?”

“The kid who said she was sick and resting at home?”

“No, well. I don’t know the whole story either. You know Chief Secretary Lee Eun-byul, right? The one who’s close to my aunt… that competent woman.”

Kwon Si-young’s mother and Kwon Se-ah’s eldest aunt, Kwon Ha-jung, thought for a moment before nodding.

“Of course, I know her. She helped Mom out too.”

“She said she’s doing something with that woman… Ah! Right, it’s that, that! The contract Se-ah got when she went to China, right? Something about selling dolls and opening a cafe. She’s busy because of that these days.”

“Is that so? Blood really can’t be denied, it seems.”

Kwon Ha-jung gave a bitter smile.

“The child must be having a hard time, but it seems she’s doing whatever her mother liked, somehow.”

“When I bought her a present last time, she looked really unwell, but these days she seems fine again.”

“Yes, you should take care of her a bit.”

Kwon Si-young chuckled and moved her fork.

“How hard it must be for her. Helping out at times like this is what family and relatives are for.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll take good care of her myself.”

Kwon Si-young, who had answered sharply, paused her fork for a moment.

“But you know. There’s something a bit strange these days?”

“Why? What’s there to be strange about?”

“Well, it’s nothing major. But she used to meet me once a month to buy clothes, you know?”

Kwon Ha-jung chuckled as soon as she heard about clothes.

“Yes, that shopping almost drove Mom crazy.”

“Ah, why! What! I’m doing well now, aren’t I! Do you know how many influencers are lining up to wear the clothes I made?!”

Kwon Si-young shouted and then cleared her throat once.

“Anyway! It seems her mind has changed a bit. She’s not distancing herself from me, right? But she hasn’t mentioned buying clothes even once.”

From Kwon Si-young’s perspective, it was an incredibly suspicious matter, but it was a story Kwon Se-ah couldn’t possibly know.

***

People don’t take an interest in things without rewards.

The reason people were enthusiastic and diligently participated in the ‘Clan Battle’, hailed as the pinnacle of PVE content, was also because of these rewards.

“Then, shall I check what kind of rewards have come in now!”

I had a vague idea, but I hadn’t looked into it in detail to manage my expectations.

In the first place, some rewards were even mosaicked and silhouetted, so I couldn’t have known even if I wanted to, right?

[Obtained 5,000 ‘Glimmering Dreams’!]

[Obtained 5,000 ‘Clan Battle Coins’!]

The first rewards that caught my eye were, as expected, the stones and clan battle coins.

With 5,000 stones, I can do about 30 character pulls.

Converted to monetary value, it’s less than 100,000 won, and considering that having C6 characters is semi-mandatory to get 1st place…

“It feels a little stingy, but whatever! They can’t give out 100,000 of these at once, can they!”

In the first place, my goal wasn’t stones from the beginning!

Clan battle coins can be used in the ‘Clan Shop’.

“Because there are characters that can only be purchased with clan battle coins. This is also a kind of reward for those who diligently participate in clan battles.”

[Obtained Ines (Imaginary, Abundance)!]

The character that needed to be fully purchased as soon as coins became available was this one.

Her ability to generously fill the entire team’s ultimate gauge with a single click honestly seemed to have many uses.

“Hehehe, and she’s even a blonde beauty with an aloof look, wearing black stockings, no less…!”

I used up all 5,000 of my clan battle coins purchasing Ines, but it didn’t matter.

A character that never appears in gacha, a character that ordinary users can only purchase after the next, next clan battle opens, I have her now!

Her slightly short stature meant she couldn’t become my absolute favorite character, but her strangely teasable appearance was exactly to my liking.

[Obtained Title ‘The Best and The Strongest’!]

[The Best and The Strongest]

[Acquisition Condition: Settle the clan battle with 1st place in individual score while being 1st in the clan battle ranking competition.]

“This title is proof that I carried the clan battle…!”

Without hesitation, I immediately equipped the title.

…But this doesn’t particularly float above my head, does it?

Is it just something visible in the friend window?

As if to say it’s not a Chinese game, the sparkling gold is a bit old-fashioned, yet strangely appealing.

[Obtained Skin ‘Seele – Shy Golden Bunny’!]

[Shy Golden Bunny]

[Acquisition Condition: Settle the clan battle while being 1st in the clan battle ranking competition.]

“This is the 1st place clan battle reward, huh?”

I knew they gave a skin, but I didn’t look at it beforehand because I didn’t want to be disappointed by knowing in advance…

“Ah~ It’s a bunny girl, huh?”

The skin’s identity was a bunny girl outfit for Seele, with sparkling golden high-legs.

The colour felt a little tacky, but the lines of her thighs, made more comfortable and clearly visible in the bunny girl outfit, were very much to my liking.

[Obtained Housing ‘Returning Spring Weather’!]

…What is this?

Housing? It looks a bit like a trophy?

No matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t figure out its purpose, so I opened the clan chat.

◆SeeleSoftBoobs◆
-Clan Leader-bbi!!! Hurry up and come in and build the ship!!!!

◆MeiLingAbortionPunch◆
-We got 1st place! We got 1st place! We got 1st place!!!!

◆LenakosBabyPalaceExplorationTeam◆
-Hawawa~ Clan Leader-bbi is a middle school girl-chan, so she’s probably sleeping soundly right now.」

◆ReleasePrincessLili◆
-If she’s sleeping until 11 AM, is she a middle school girl-chan? lol She’s a bum lol」

“Ship construction?”

I hurriedly looked around every corner of the UI, and indeed, there was a button labeled ‘Ship Construction’.

[Ship Construction Complete!]

[Destroyer Class]

◆LabelleAr◆
-Hawawa! Middle school girl-chan built the ship as oppa-yas instructed!」

◆SoloConstellation◆
-No no」
-You can do more, keep raising the class.

◆Shuri◆
-If you go into the construction tab, there should be an upgrade.
-Upgrading requires clan merit, but since we got 1st place, we should have plenty.

I don’t know what it is, but it’s probably good to do as much as possible, right?

I mashed the upgrade button.

[Ship Construction Complete!]

[Battleship Class]

◆LabelleAr◆
-Middle school girl-chan has no more merit, so she can’t upgrade anymore!

◆LenakosBabyPalaceExplorationTeam◆
-Wow, this is already a battleship

◆ReleasePrincessLili◆
-Right now, probably only we and Hwamuhwamu can build a battleship, right?

◆NongNongDanBanEuroJugeo◆
-Clan Leader-bbi!!! Hurry up and do the housing!!!

“Oh… So this was the ship, huh? It was a feature kind of like My House!”

Ship construction, though worded difficultly, was simply a house decorating content, like a ‘Clan House’.

However, it wasn’t an entirely useless toy feature; once you ‘boarded the ship’, you could meet other ‘clan members’.

◆NongNongDanBanEuroJugeo◆
-Bbi-bbi~ Bbi-bbi~ Bbi-bbi~

◆LenakosBabyPalaceExplorationTeam◆
-Clan Leader-bbi!!! Do the housing!!! Clan Leader-bbi!! Do the housing!!!

◆MeiLingAbortionPunch◆
-Originally, decorating a house like this should be done by a woman 

The clan members wandering around the empty interior of the ship were in the form of ‘Seele’ or ‘Ha Eun-rich’.

It seems you can use the characters I pulled as avatars.

That ‘MeiLingAbortionPunch’ over there, true to their nickname, had set their character to Mei Ling and was wandering around.

◆LabelleAr◆
-Since middle school girl-chan is a middle school girl-chan, she’s not good at housing.

◆SeeleBoobsSoftBoobs◆
-Oh, what? Because of the clan leader title, fireworks are going off above her head lol

◆SoloConstellation◆
-The effect is a bit lame;

◆LenakosEfficacy◆
-Wow, I’m jealous of the title, ours don’t have effects like that.

“Oh… So the 1st place title I got earlier can be used to show off in multiplayer content like this, huh?”

This is definitely good!

Even though we got 1st place together, because of the title only I have, I can feel you envying me, can’t I…!

◆Shuri◆
-Clan Leader-nim
-If housing is difficult, please give me housing permission.
-I’ll do it for you.

As expected, it’s best when someone else does these annoying things.

I immediately gave ‘Shuri’ housing permission, and that person decorated the ship in less than 5 minutes.

◆Shuri◆
-Clan Leader-nim
-You have to install the limited housing items yourself.
-Just install those somewhere roughly.

If it’s a limited housing item, it must be ‘Returning Spring Weather’, right?

So this is where it’s used.

– Clunk!

[Returning Spring Weather]

[Slightly increases the probability of obtaining a 5-star Arcana.]

Arcana was another piece of equipment that characters could wear.

Head-Chest-Gloves-Legs-Necklace-Ring

A total of six types had to be farmed, and there were various grades, but only ‘5-star’ grade items were viable.

Anything below that had too much of a performance difference from 4-stars and was merely transitional equipment.

“Then, if the probability of getting a 5-star Arcana increases even a little, isn’t that incredibly good? I think I know why everyone was nagging me to do the housing quickly!”

The 1st place clan battle rewards were more abundant than I thought.

‘Returning Spring Weather’, even excluding its performance, had a certain atmosphere as it recreated the final scene of a moving story as a statue, right?

Moreover, outside the ship’s window, our clan’s name was displayed prominently on a billboard.

[Congratulations on 1st place in the Clan Battle! ‘Hawawa Middle School Girl-chan!’]

[The Star of the 1st Place Clan Battle! ‘LabelleAr’]

“Ah… This is really nice. Other people will see this every time they enter the clan house too, right?”

Anyone who plays Galactic Train can’t help but know my name.

Hmm~~! Why does this fact make me feel so proud? My face is flushing red again, and a thrilling sensation is surging through me…!

◆LabelleAr◆
-Middle school girl-chan wants to know how long the 1st place will be maintained!」

◆LenakosEfficacy◆
-Dunno

◆NongNongDanBanEuroJugeo◆
-Until the next clan battle, isn’t it?

◆Shuri◆
-It’s maintained until the next clan battle, and after the Colosseum ends, another 1st place will be displayed separately below that.

◆LabelleAr◆
-Colosseum, you mean PVP, right?

“Alright… Then shall I slowly prepare for the Colosseum too?”

But what do I need to prepare?

I think I’ve finished all the character enhancements I can do by farming materials!

◆LabelleAr◆
-Middle school girl-chan wants to do well in Colosseum too.」
-I need an oppa-ya to teach me!」

◆LenakosBabyPalaceExplorationTeam◆
-Ehehe, Clan Leader-bbi, want to be secret friends with oppa-ya?

◆Trailblazer◆
-I don’t do PVP.」

◆SeeleSoftBoobs◆
-Clan Leader-bbi, are you really going to do PVP? There will be a ton of psychopaths.

As expected, unlike PVE, many people strangely dislike PVP.

Well, if I wasn’t in a situation where I could spend money infinitely, I probably wouldn’t have paid any attention to PVP either.

◆Shuri◆
-Clan Leader-nim」
-Are you really going to do Colosseum?

◆LabelleAr◆
-Hawawa! Middle school girl-chan is planning to work really hard!

◆Shuri◆
-Then, there’s someone named Heretic who broadcasts on Chzzk.
-If you watch that person’s broadcast and copy their characters and settings exactly, I think you’ll get 1st place.

Kakashi? Ah, does that mean just copy? Because she does strategy broadcasts?

“Oh… That’s a really good idea, isn’t it? Now that I’ve hit 1st place, it’ll be impossible for me to pretend to be a viewer and get help from Mallang or Lilith!”

First, since I have leftover Trailblaze Power, I’ll set this to auto-farm Arcana and go to Chzzk to search for Heretic right away.

Since she’s going to tell me the settings herself, I should diligently take notes!

[Colosseum Preparation Day 1]
[Viewers: 183]

“Oh… What! The virtual avatar is super pretty, isn’t it? The color scheme is amazing too, right? But why are there so few viewers?”

To get 2nd place in the clan battle, shouldn’t she have a decent number of viewers?

Her avatar is pretty too, right?

I was shocked by the fact that her viewership was less than 200, but this question was easily answered not long after.