Vortex Gaming

Solo Leveling: Arise revealed its major schedule for the second half of 2024 in the developer notes, and now we've entered July, where the first update to that roadmap is scheduled. In July, we're hearing news of guilds and level cap expansion, but what's catching the most attention is the new hunter and story based on the original work, and the appearance of shadows.

The upcoming stories 'Upper Floors of Demon Castle' and 'Jeju Island Episode' are important content in the original work, and the hunters 'Go Gun-hee' and 'Goto Ryuji' who are scheduled to be added are also key figures in the original work. Therefore, many people are waiting for the addition of this content. How does the original work portray these stories and characters?

※ This content contains some spoilers along with future stories.

'Go Gun-hee', who pleased many original fans with the news of his appearance, is a hunter representing Korea. Before gates and monsters appeared in the world, he enjoyed a wealthy retirement as the CEO of a mid-sized company. After the appearance of gates, he awakened as an S-Rank hunter and became a first-generation hunter who protected people from the threat of monsters.

However, because he became a hunter with an aging body and heart disease, it was difficult for him to demonstrate his full abilities. He retired to organize the chaotic situation caused by the sudden appearance of gates and hunters and founded the Hunter Association. Thanks to his efforts, society gradually stabilized, and 'Go Gun-hee' became a reliable pillar for Korean hunters.

Above all, 'Go Gun-hee' is considered the highest-ranking among S-Rank hunters, so he was able to control many hunters and suppress guild disputes despite his aging body. After recognizing Sung Jinwoo's power after his re-awakening, 'Go Gun-hee' offered him a scout to the Hunter Association, forming a relationship, and later developed into a close relationship where they helped and relied on each other.

The reason why 'Go Gun-hee' was able to exert great power even with his weakened body was because the power within him was the fragment of the most brilliant radiance. National-level hunters possess fragments of the rulers' power, the fragments of radiance, making them vessels with immense power. 'Go Gun-hee', along with hunters Thomas Andre and Liu Zhigeng, who are considered the best in the original work, was also a vessel of fragments. Thanks to this, he was considered the closest hunter to the national level in Korea before the appearance of Sung Jinwoo.

'Goto Ryuji', who crossed the sea for the joint Jeju Island raid between Korea and Japan, is the leader of the Japanese hunters and the master of the Swordsman Guild. He is a powerful S-Rank hunter with the title of the strongest in Japan, and he is believed to be participating in the Jeju Island raid to lead Japan to become a hunter superpower and to rise as a national-level hunter himself.

Although he has great ambition and a somewhat cold and arrogant attitude, he is highly skilled in swordsmanship and his abilities as a hunter are outstanding, befitting the best in Japan. Through the Jeju Island raid, Japan expected to maintain its strength while Korea's strength decreased, giving them an advantage, but instead, many Japanese hunters died along with the Ant King, leading to Japan's weakening.

In the game, the Jeju Island episode will appear in December, so there is a high probability that 'Goto Ryuji' will appear with it. The Jeju Island raid is an important episode in the original work, so many updates will be made.

Considering the original power of 'Go Gun-hee' and 'Goto Ryuji', there is a high probability that they will be powerful SSR hunters when they appear in the game. Although their detailed abilities are not yet known, in the original work, 'Go Gun-hee' uses hand-to-hand combat based on his strong physique, and 'Goto Ryuji' uses a sword, so we can expect a fighter type with these characteristics. In addition, as he possesses the fragment of radiance, 'Go Gun-hee' is expected to appear as a light attribute, and 'Goto Ryuji' with his fast swordsmanship is expected to appear as a wind attribute.

The roadmap for the second half of the year shows that a total of 4 new shadows will be added to Sung Jinwoo's shadow army. Among them, the appearances of 'Cerberus' and 'Kaisel' have been pre-released. 'Cerberus' is the shadow of Cerberus, and 'Kaisel' has the appearance of a wyvern that also appears in the original work.

Considering the recently added shadow of the Orc Great Shaman Kargalgan, 'Tusk', as well as existing shadows such as 'Tank' and 'Iron', we can see that shadows are obtained according to the story progression, as in the original work. Among them, there may be game-specific shadow armies that are not in the original work, such as 'Greed', and 'Cerberus', which was pre-released, is likely to be one of them.

Sung Jinwoo's means of transportation, the shadow wyvern 'Kaisel', was originally the wyvern ridden by the Demon King 'Baran', the final boss of the Demon Castle, so it is expected to appear after the addition of the Upper Floors of Demon Castle episode scheduled for the September update. Currently, the Demon Castle story in the game has been implemented up to the 75th floor, Metus, the Guide of the Dead, following the 50th floor, Vulcan. It is expected that the final floor with the Demon King will appear through the September update.

The Demon King 'Baran' is called the Lord of White Flames, and he is a powerful enemy who rides a wyvern, wields a long sword, and emits electricity. Sung Jinwoo liked the appearance of 'Baran' handling the wyvern so much that he joined his wyvern to the shadow army and called it 'Kaisel'. For reference, the 'Demon King's Longsword', which is implemented as an SSR weapon in the game, is also a weapon acquired as loot after defeating 'Baran' in the original work.

Other than that, information about the shadows scheduled to be added is not yet known, but since the Jeju Island raid episode is scheduled to be added in December, the appearance of the Ant King's shadow, 'Beru', can also be expected. 'Beru', the shadow of the Ant King, who had the power to kill an S-Rank hunter in one blow while alive, is so powerful that he has the power of a general as soon as he joins the shadow army, and he acts as Sung Jinwoo's close aide.

In addition, the Ant King absorbed the healing ability by eating the head of Min Byung-gu, an S-Rank healer, during the Jeju Island raid, so the shadow 'Beru' is also characterized by being able to use healer skills. At the time, Sung Jinwoo resurrected Min Byung-gu, who died, as a shadow to save Cha Hae-in, who was in a dying state, but later released the summon and allowed him to rest in peace.

As the story progresses, various races such as nagas, giants, and dragons join the shadow army, and major figures such as 'Greed', extracted from Hwang Dong-soo, and 'Bellion', a close aide to the first Shadow Monarch, also appear. However, these are expected to be met sequentially according to the story that progresses further in the future.

Webzine InvenSong Cheol-gi Reporter
2024-07-03