Chapter 137

There were no difficulties after that process. I cleared the dungeon at spawn point A-1 and completed the siege. Then I built a high-grade castle on the spot. Honestly, I felt it was a waste to spend 500,000 won but endured it by thinking of it as an investment for the future.

‘Still, this is a perfect location selection.’

Where was A-1 on the Go board coordinates? It was the lowest part and furthest left side of the Go board. In other words, one of the four corners. Specifically, the lowest level.

It was the tutorial area where you arrived when choosing a dwarf in Revenge for the first time.

‘Even here, there are food ingredients available.’

I placed a large fountain amidst the high-grade castles and settled refugees from the Holy Empire there. The castles weren’t even rare grade, let alone hero grade, but it didn’t matter if they were insufficient to accommodate one million refugees.

‘Most of them will remain in Ignition.’

Although the Flame Monarch created this city as a place to raise sacrifices, it wasn’t possible for over one million people to abandon such a splendid city where they had lived for more than a year. Most of the city was close to the desert, but there was quite a large oasis at its center, making it sufficient to live there for some time. Of course, it couldn’t last forever.

‘The demonic people who supplied hellhound meat have disappeared.’

Ultimately, food would be a problem for sustaining one million people.

[A splendid brick castle (high-grade) has been upgraded to a magnificent fortress (rare)!]

[A magnificent fortress (rare) is being upgraded to a perfect fortress city (hero)!]

Ku-gugugong!

The castle walls of Flame City rose to 40 meters high. They became thick enough for buses to run along the top, and magic arrays with Magic Resistance were drawn on the entire surface. Watchtowers and mana-powered turrets appeared between the castle walls, while automatic repair functions operated using stored resources. However, despite seeing all this, my heart wasn’t at ease.

‘Ah, I wanted to build a legendary castle.’

However, it wasn’t possible now.

[Do you want to upgrade this castle?]

[Yes (300,000 diamonds), No.]

‘Ha, shit.’

Three million won. Unlike before when I had billions of diamonds, it was currently unaffordable for me.

“This is truly, really…” While I sighed, Harmony groaned at the sight of the growing castle walls. “It is akin to a divine miracle. To build such a magnificent castle with just a wave.”

“Well, it’s about this much. Compared to Iron Castle, it is merely a hut.”

Currently, it was only hero-grade but ultimately, this place would become ‘Gigas Land’. Above all else, power was the most important thing in Ardenia right now.

In Ardenia, various types of Lands such as amusement parks filled with attractions, the Dream Demon city where charming characters could be met, office centers for efficient business work, and vast forests to encounter nature spirits were inefficient. In any case, all Players in Ardenia didn’t need to pay anything. Buildings that earned diamonds were just a luxury.

“Well…I should use it anyway.”

I consumed some diamonds to build one building.

[Construction of a 2,000-seat semicircular theater (high-grade) has started!]

On an open space in Flame City, a stage suddenly appeared. Harmony, who had been calm until now, showed a mixed expression.

“Wow! This is the first time I’ve seen such a neat stage! Moreover, there are instruments!”

She flew onto the stage like she was flying. On the stage were various instruments such as keyboards and electric guitars, drums, etc.

Ding~ Ding! Ding!

Harmony pressed the keys on the keyboard. After pressing them one by one…

Ding~♬ Didi-ding~~♪

…she started playing a tune spontaneously. A pleasant sound spread out.

“Not bad. What is the title?”

“It doesn’t have a title since I just made it up now. Rather, this instrument produces really clean notes. It’s my first time seeing an instrument that makes such sounds with just pressing!”

I raised an eyebrow at Harmony bouncing around, as if her previous calmness had been a lie.

“You just played but what do you mean ‘first time’…?”

Despite my confusion, other actors gathered nearby.

“Wah! Look at the floor material! You won’t get hurt even if you fall!”

“Listen to the sound reverberating!”

“The space behind the stage is incredibly spacious and clean!”

“Oh my god! There’s a separate shower room! Ah, there’s also a huge mirror!”

I was worried they might be disappointed with the small stage but fortunately, everyone seemed satisfied.

‘Well, it’s good that they are enthusiastic.’

Honestly, I didn’t know much about music. Just as Ardenian literature wasn’t popular on Earth, their music might not catch on either.

‘Still…it sounds quite decent to me.’

Therefore, it was natural to nurture these people. Art was the only thing from Ardenia that could be exported to Earth, so expanding from literature to art wasn’t a bad strategy.

I left behind the actors and orchestras from Great Hall, then handed Edward a booklet. “Memorize this.”

”…What is this? Ah, what is it?”

“Nine-Nine Light Sword Force. When reaching its extreme, you can create 99 swords of light with this martial art.”

It was confirmed as ‘Myth’, but I couldn’t raise him as a priest. It wasn’t possible to let him encounter the Outer Deity that he originally contacted by using priest tech. Honestly, I didn’t know if he had talent for swordsmanship, magic or elementalism. What was certain was that he already awakened his aura, which possessed the attribute of light.

“Is it okay to give me this kind of thing?”

“I gave it because it’s fine. Memorize it first. Once you’ve memorized everything, I’ll teach you any parts you don’t understand.”

”…Yes.”

After sending him away, I sat on the throne and opened the Book of Light.

‘This is the last treasure-grade book.’

It couldn’t be considered the original text since the Holy Empire had created 100 handwritten copies to spread God’s word widely.

‘Well, it should be alright.’

Although slightly disappointing, wasn’t my intention to create another handwritten copy anyway? Ultimately, whether it was the original or not didn’t matter as long as the result was a handwritten version. In fact, many works I obtained from libraries were already sponsored copies.

‘The problem though… is that even after completing the frenzy, there won’t be immediate income.’

The island where Survival Island was taking place through some inexplicable force had become isolated. It was impossible to play Revenge online or communicate with the outside world. Even if I completed my frenzy writing, there would be no sponsorships, and my limited charging power would continue to decrease. Essentially, nothing could progress until Earth’s five dragons defeated all the Transcendent monsters.

“Log out.”

On Earth, specifically within the flower cart of Green Dragon Flower, I continued working on my frenzy. Although I couldn’t immediately publish it, I thought that saving the documents now would allow me to upload them all at once later.

“Log in.”

Time continuously passed as I worked.

The Regiment of Flags, which had departed from Iron Castle, safely arrived at both the World Tree’s Castle and Storm’s Castle to begin their defense. What was surprising was the scale involved.

“Thirty thousand people?”

I connected the underground tunnels with the surface using land worms, and I couldn’t help but gape as thousands of carts moved along the underground paths, carrying 10,000 Players and 20,000 ordinary civilians.

These were families of Players, merchants, laborers, soldiers, and more. The number of people gathering exceeded simply defending the castles; it was enough to form small cities.

“Yes, Your Majesty. There were so many volunteers that we had to select carefully.”

“Why are there so many? It is far away and not completely safe.”

The Hero’s Castle with its apartment-like castle walls seemed impregnable, but it could be penetrated by high-level or flying monsters. The wyverns that recently attacked Iron Castle were a prime example of this vulnerability.

“Yes, it is dangerous. However, at the same time, it is also a land of opportunity.”

“A land of opportunity…” I looked at the man speaking calmly.

“That’s why you came here personally, bringing your knights under your command.”

“Indeed, Your Majesty.”

Surprisingly, Hundred had arrived at Stormwind Castle leading his Silver Cross Knights. As someone holding significant power within the Human Empire, his presence in the frontier was remarkable! Although we exchanged only a few words, I quickly grasped the situation.

“The drop items are problematic.”

“Yes.”

Two years ago, meat was only eaten on special days in Ardenia. In fact, it was common for people to be hungry every day. When I fed barbecue and stew made with meat to refugees, they weren’t exaggerating when tears flowed down their faces at how delicious it tasted.

‘But now it is different.’

Currently, wild boar meat was the least popular ingredient in the Human Empire. Some people even felt nauseous just from smelling grilled wild boar legs.

‘It has become tiresome.’

No matter how much you liked a food, eating it three times a day for 365 days would make anyone tired of it. In reality, the value of wild boar meat had fallen so low that it was cheaper than potatoes or corn of the same volume.

Even if items serve the same purpose, they become valuable when rare and worthless when common. The prices for overproduced items like bone swords, wild boar leather, etc., had plummeted to rock bottom. Similarly, goblin-made items from Starting dungeons and drops from Ice Queen’s Paradise were also gradually decreasing in value.

‘People dispersed even though I didn’t forcibly drive them away, but it is due to the same reason.’

Similarly, people were flocking to the newly ‘conquered’ dragon veins for the same cause.

‘It isn’t bad.’

They came not to protect the castle but to raid dungeons. Nevertheless, this increased the overall power of the castle. In fact, I welcomed their movements driven by personal desires.

“However, ensure they don’t monopolize dungeons or exceed their authority.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

“Yes. It’s good to see everyone working hard.”

Upon returning to Flame City, I used Nan Flower to check the current population status of each city. Interestingly, Light Castle, directly connected to Iron Castle, now had over 150,000 inhabitants.

But that wasn’t all.

“There have been 870,000 birth reports just this year…”

Considering the entire Human Empire barely surpassed six million people, this was astonishingly high. With the crisis somewhat under control and stability restored, citizens began starting families. The rapid population growth was even more remarkable given that the average age remained low due to the loss of older generations during the monster crisis.

‘Yes. As monsters become stronger…humans are also growing and prospering.’

The increasing population wasn’t the only change; now the number of Players was steadily rising without me distributing class cards. Those with substantial gold were forming guilds by paying the creation fee of one million gold. They used merit coins earned from attendance, achievements, etc., to purchase Lower-Class Summoning Rights.

“The current number of guilds is…”

I opened the guild window. It wasn’t difficult to check the existing number of guilds.

One Guild (1/418)

“It’s accelerating…it will soon reach 500.”

The seeds planted continuously through my part-time work had grown vigorously, forming a forest.

In just a few years, everyone in the Human Empire might become Players.

“Log out.”

I returned to Earth and finished transcribing the Frenzy of Light Scripture. Then while roughly browsing its contents, I thought:

‘As expected… It seems based on the Bible?’

Although I hadn’t seen the Bible before, there were familiar phrases scattered throughout the Frenzy of Light Scripture. These verses were often quoted in games or movies. However, it wasn’t entirely identical. Instead of stories about Jesus or Yahweh, it spoke of the Five Great Gods: the celestial gods, demon gods, civilization gods, nature gods, and the goddess of fate.

“Ah, but since it isn’t a complete copy-paste… how would sponsorship work for potential plagiarism cases?”

However, it was unknown how things would turn out since serialization wasn’t possible right now.

“Log in.”

I roughly organized the document and entered Ardenia. I had spent enough time on the flower carriage, so after getting some deep sleep, I planned to participate in the battle again.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

Just as I made this decision, someone burst through the doors of the castle. From my throne, I saw Edward running towards me with a sharp sword drawn. If anyone else witnessed this scene, they might mistake him for an assassin.

“What is it? I’m going to bed.”

“Look at this!” Edward exclaimed.

Woo-oong!

In an instant, light surged from the sword he held. It was a manifestation of inner energy—a hallmark of a supreme master known as ‘sword energy’.

“This is the Sword of Light you mentioned before! Just eight more to go, right?”

I looked down at the beaming blonde kid with disbelief.

Is he…out of his mind?

Edward became a sword master.