Chapter 49

When I started meditating, I sank deep within myself.

”…Good. It has been applied.”

Over three days, I cleared seven additional dungeons: Windy Beach, Refugees’ Forest, Coniferous Forest, Goblin Air Rifle Fortress, etc.

As a result, most of the control points around the Statue of the Goddess were now in my hands. The only exceptions were the dungeons near the flower shop and its vicinity, which contained hero-grade bosses.

“Well, practically speaking, I am controlling just one starting castle. Will it become two once the forces led by the swordsman reach Windbreak Highland?”

Similar to the situation in the Blue Whale County, I claimed ownership of the remaining dungeons but left them untouched.

The dungeons on the outskirts were intact because the nobles ruling those territories were still alive, and I knew consuming destroyed territories hastily would be a waste of manpower.

‘First, consolidate my position. Once my strength grows, it won’t be difficult to expand.’

I stood at the first-floor window, gazing at the seven pillars of light. It was a satisfying sight, but there was a problem.

“I’ve consumed seven castles yet remain on the first floor.”

When I won the siege warfare and took control of the starting castle, I opened the third gate, Giant Gate. While it wasn’t impossible for a first-floor cultivator to open three gates, it typically required extensive preparation and acceptance of long-term damage. This indicated that my castle undoubtedly had some sort of ‘buff’. However, despite receiving this buff even with just one castle, there seemed to be little difference now with seven castles?

“Log out.”

I tested my abilities while moving between Earth and Ardenia. As a result, I obtained several meaningful outcomes.

‘I see. The starting points provide correction or auxiliary power. Until now, it has been raising the limit of doors that can be opened with Unbounded Strata itself.’

It wasn’t possible to summon hero-grade items. Eating more castles only changed the ‘capacity’ but didn’t strengthen the ‘grade’. It meant that I could summon more rare-grade items but couldn’t summon higher-ranked ones.

”…Wait a minute.” Suddenly, an idea came to mind.

I stood at the window. In the distance, I could see the massive continent.

‘It is just an image though.’

There was no actual continent; it wasn’t as if I was observing the land from high above.

If that was the case, I could stand here and observe Ardenia on a macro level.

Blink.

And then it…

Blink.

Just because this is my image…

Blink.

I closed my eyes, and each time they opened, the distant continent appeared closer.

Bang!

With a rough sound, the window disappeared. Then a large Go board emerged on the wall where the window used to be.

Click!

The first move at position R18 - White stone placed above Statue of the Goddess 3-3. This marked my initial territory, the starting point.

Click!

S17 - Blue Hammer Fortress.

Click!

T17 - Rabbit Hole.

Click! Click! Click!

One by one, Go stones were placed on the territories I had claimed.

“These images represent the lands I’ve occupied… Huh?”

Click!

Just as I thought it was over, something landed at Statue of the Goddess 3-3, within Bronze Sword Marquisate. However, it wasn’t a Go stone.

“No way… Why is it placing pieces? Does it think this is chess?”

It was not hard to identify the nature of these game pieces resembling chessmen, as they took the form of orcs wielding swords.

“Khan Slashers.”

Both Go stones and chess pieces coexisted on the board. However, there was no time to be baffled by this sight.

Click! Click! Click!

Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!

Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!

Pieces flooded the entire board.

“T-this…”

Suddenly, the board became densely packed with pieces. Each one resembled a distinct monster, appearing almost lifelike, beyond mere representations from dungeons.

”…This is…”

The Ice Queen’s pieces should only be present in the flower shop, but they were also located in all directions around it. It meant that the monsters of the flower shop had occupied the surrounding dungeons.

“I see.”

I had guessed to some extent. If there was no purpose, the ice elementals wouldn’t have ventured so far. However, I didn’t expect ‘occupation’ to mean something new being placed on the board.

“Are the monsters in the occupied dungeons subjugated? No, if that was the case, other monsters would’ve been interspersed among the invading ice elementals. Perhaps…the regenerating monsters might change upon occupation.”

It was good that Khan Slasher couldn’t come up right now but it meant ice elementals could swarm here if things went wrong.

“Anyway.”

I shook my head to dispel this unexpected information and did what I originally intended.

Sook.

The youso located on the first floor… I grasped ‘Body’. The initial size of Body was close to a small mannequin, but as soon as I focused on it, its size gradually decreased until it became the size of a fingernail. Then I placed it…

Pop!

On the starting point, precisely on the white stone there.

As ‘Body’ entered the Go stone, the first floor, which was half-filled, suddenly felt spacious.

“It’s done…!”

There was a limit to the number of ‘youso’ that a chakra cultivator could open.

Opening each so—[Weapon], [Sword], [Shield], [Gun], and more… While not impossible, every one of these elements occupied a certain “capacity” within his stratum.

That’s why I’ve only opened Body.

Choosing which elements to open required careful consideration. Cultivators sought after those that best suited them, were essential, and could be continuously honed throughout their lifetime—a pursuit akin to mastering chakras.

Of course, there is a way to overcome this limitation.

As the mastery level of Unbounded Strata increased, the overall capacity of the chakra expanded. Additionally, as the depth of understanding for Eight Gates of Divination deepened, the space consumed by each element decreased.

For me, Ardenia exemplifies this.

The completed small universe had already opened the Heavenly Gate. This massive world didn’t impose any burden on the Unbounded Strata due to its sheer size. It existed purely by itself. That was why chakra cultivators could open doors to new elements after sufficiently training one element.

“Good. Can I increase the number of elements this way? Logout!”

I exited directly from the inner world to Earth. Then I moved towards the access device to consult with Sohyang about the newly opened elements! However, my movement stopped just before entering the access device.

[Level up!]

My character on the monitor was enveloped in light.

[Main Quest - In the Name of the Legion has become available!]

“Wah. It is amazing. Now level 40?”

Despite staying in low-level zones for several months, I had reached level 40 just by hunting. I ate some food items obtained through pushes and proceeded with quests as usual. In other words, I clicked on the quest list repeatedly.

Da-In: The evil ice flowers have stolen scriptures! Will you catch 150 of them?

Percival: We need to recover the power of the scriptures. Please kill 400 ice elementals!

Droba: There is insufficient magic power to exert divine law! Ice golem hearts (x300)…

Poor Killians was silently drinking potions while killing monsters. Naturally, I visited the city multiple times during the quest progression.

As I performed this quest, my eyes danced over the sight of Players.

[D-D-Dragon Knight (Legend) Advancement Dance for Luck]

“That is always there.”

Moreover, his broadcast was on again. I didn’t know why he was advertising it all over town when he was just throwing away money.

[Really, really this time…I’m going… Ahhhk! Really! You Nemesis bastards! Does this make sense?! Is the probability rigged?!]

Above the angry man’s head, it said [Cumulative Consumption: 480,000 Dia. Currently Free].

It meant that he spent around 50 million won and got very little.

“Savage.”

Seeing this, I realized how unrealistic my expectations were at the beginning of the game when I wanted to summon the Sword Saint.

[You have completed -In the Name of the Army!]

[You have acquired Advanced Summoning Rights (Quest)!]

[You have earned 1.5 million gold!]

[Acquired Crystal Blade (Rare)!]

[Acquired Crystal Ring (Rare)!]

[Acquired Great Soul (Rare)!]

Quest items. After giving the Frozen Scripture (Legend) to the NPC, I received rewards befitting a main quest.

[Ah! It came… Ha… This is truly a victory with only wounds…Ha… Still, Dragon Knight was great… Huhu…]

In the central square, I saw a man looking at his legendary card with disappointment. It seemed he had gained something big but lost too much money already.

“Unlucky.”

I clicked my tongue and grasped the first high-class Summoning Rights I obtained. Then a warning window popped up:

[This is a quest reward!]

[The probability of summoning hero grade has increased while the probability of summoning legend grade has decreased. The probability of summoning myth grade has greatly decreased.]

“So it’s telling me to settle for hero-grade? Well, I’ll be grateful if even a hero-grade comes out.”

Despite the higher chance of heroes, I wanted to transfer it to Ardenia, but as a quest reward, this item couldn’t be deleted or taken out of Ardenia.

“Well, at least a game character needs minimum combat power… Wait, won’t it be just a high-level ordinary?”

He grumbled while throwing the card upwards.

Ping!

The card soared into the sky, passing by the mischievous face of the colossus statue. Then…

”…?”

There was a momentary pause before his doubts surfaced. The card wasn’t falling back down.

Rumble…

Boom! Boom! Thunder roared!

Dark clouds suddenly gathered over the castle.

The dancing Players froze simultaneously, and frantic chat messages started flooding in:

Jumping Bean: Huh? Hmm? What??? Are those dark clouds perhaps indicating…?

Slave to Oneself: Is this what I think it is? I’ve only heard about it before…

Is It Real?: For real? Seriously? Truly happening? This isn’t a joke?

Dogok-dong Goddess: It is glorious to see this live ㅋㅋ I am so glad to see this live ㅋㅋ It is glorious to see this live ㅋㅋ

The players started running around. I watched blankly before raising my head. The goddess statue, which always showed a playful smile, now had her mouth wide open.

[I…]

“No, is she talking?”

Regardless of whether I was astonished or not, she spoke.

[I can’t believe…]

Then at the same time…

Ding… Ding… Ding…!

A majestic bell sound echoed as the black clouds parted and light shone on the city.

Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash!

Hundreds of people were suddenly teleported from the central square, filling up the area outside the castle with thousands of players.

OneSunSlave: Ah! Isn’t that person over there? They have the aura of Ice Scripture’s Protection.

Following someone’s words, the Players gathered around me and started talking loudly.

Tututubangbang: Wait, isn’t the ID green? Is their class now advanced?

BulletproofMiddleAge: The equipment…ordinary…advanced…could it be free-to-play…?

OneSunSlave: No, that’s not the problem!? Look at the Ice Scripture’s Protection buff? Didn’t they just complete the main quest for level 40?

Tututubangbang: Quest-related…high-level…class…Summoning Rights…for real?

Dogok-dong Goddess: Wow. Regardless of how crazy this world has become…this is…

The chat messages were rapidly scrolling up. It wasn’t just them speaking.

KillerKingQueen: Sir! Would you like to join our guild? Our KillerKing Guild…

ScoutDeals: Account for sale! Please contact ScoutDeals on SecretWindow!

AlrangaTV: Hello! This is Alranga! May I interview you?!

As I stood dumbfounded amidst the endless stream of chat messages, ominous clouds covering the sky parted to reveal a majestic voice echoing throughout the land:

“Finally transcending humanity, he ascends with his mortal body.”

“O God, forgive us.”

The darkness dissipated as light intensified.

[All shall give praise. The ninth myth has been born here today.]

[For the next 24 hours, all hunting grounds will receive a 100% experience point buff.]

[Please note once again. The ninth myth has been born this very moment.]

Alongside the grand world message—

Flash!—something shimmering in multiple colors descended and landed right before me.