Chapter 51

I sighed with regret but regardless of everything else, my gameplay became much more enjoyable after obtaining the Mythical class. This was even more so due to Revenge’s class system being shared across all characters like a collection. Didn’t it immediately raise the level of items obtained?

[KillianSpark has acquired Cold Protection Ring (Rare) from the Forest of Ice Giants!]

“Wow!”

Immediately, I opened the inventory while maintaining automatic hunting.

[Cold Protection Ring (Rare)]

Cold Resistance +45%

“Let’s go.”

I promptly strengthened the cold resistance ring up to rank 5 and used the Blessed Item Enhancement Incantation Scroll. If successful with this scroll, the enhancement could increase by up to three ranks at once.

[Enhancing equipment…]

I quietly watched the hammering animation unfold.

[Success! The Cold Resistance Ring has been strengthened from +5 to +7!]

“Wow!”

I rejoiced and used the Blessed Item Enhancement Scroll again. If I succeeded twice here, it would immediately become Lv. 9.

[Equipment is being reinforced…]

Watching the hammer striking the anvil, I was certain.

“It will succeed.”

[The equipment has been destroyed.]

“Ah…”

For a moment, I stared blankly before organizing my inventory and replenishing potions. Then, I started automatic hunting again.

“Sigh… It should work eventually. Two rings drop every day.”

High-level hunting grounds were great. Rare items kept falling just as I was about to forget them.

[The equipment has been destroyed.]

“Darn!”

Despite growing angry at the continuous destruction of gear, I couldn’t afford to give up on strengthening.

‘I must have at least one +9 Cold Resistance Ring.’

jae-yeon no longer worried about Khan Slasher. His current combat power was incomparable to his past self, and even a sword master would have difficulty overcoming a hero-rank dungeon.

It’s not like I’m in any immediate danger.

The orcs were under attack by ice elementals. The reports from scouts stationed around indicated that they were holding their own for now but were at a fundamental disadvantage.

Ice elementals are attribute-type monsters, after all.

Despite being of similar high rank, orc warriors had no chance against ice elementals. Attribute-type monsters received half damage from physical attacks while dealing cold-based damage themselves. Without resistance to cold, it was difficult to defend against them. Of course, with proper gear, these monsters could be easier to handle than regular ones, but where would the orcs find such items?

Despite these disadvantages, they were holding their own thanks to Khan Slasher’s fierce resistance and the proximity of the regeneration position for defenders.

“Log in.”

I entered Ardenia and inspected the reports piled on my desk.

“Ah… I’m going crazy with how busy it is.”

When I was only occupied on Earth, sleeping in Ardenia resolved the issue, but now work was piling up here as well, causing severe sleep deprivation problems.

“I’m glad we succeeded in engraving elements onto the dragon’s vein.”

Grumbling, I raised my chakra levels.

Body, Sleep, Central Gate - Open.

Complete Sleep.

The spell activated by simultaneously opening Body and Sleep channels kicked in.

In a blink…

I closed and opened my eyes. It was just a short nap of about 30 minutes, but it dramatically alleviated my fatigue.

“What a luxurious sleep.”

If other chakra cultivators knew about my situation, they would’ve cursed me for creating such a technique. Opening various elements was akin to diminishing one’s own capabilities.

‘But it doesn’t matter for me.’

I could engrave each element at a single starting point, and once successful, the corresponding element received numerous enhancements from the power of that starting point.

Omission of hand seals (수인) and verbal commands (언령). Minimum consumption of mental energy. Even reducing capacity requirements…

“I think this is enough… I need to make something for combat purposes as well.”

Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time for training. As a feudal lord—no, as a Castle Lord, my duties were increasingly urgent.

“It’s really tough… lacking both money and talent…”

In a relatively short period, Starting and Wild Boar had achieved remarkable progress.

More than 30,000 people lived here, including over 1,500 Players. However, there was a severe shortage of personnel to perform administrative tasks, and public security became unstable due to the influx of outsiders. There was enough food to accommodate the rapidly growing population, but many other resources were scarce. Housing space was also becoming an issue. While Starting and Wild Boar had almost reached city-level scale, they couldn’t handle an unlimited number of newcomers.

“I need to continue recruiting for administrative duties, select elite soldiers to settle in the vacant castles, and assign around a thousand residents with them…”

As I organized my thoughts:

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

As I spoke, Flower entered my study. She had previously worked diligently as a healer in dungeons and even attended Fast Three Academy. However, after reaching level 30, her leveling slowed significantly. With two knights now capable of leading parties to effortlessly clear hell-mode dungeons, she returned to her role as village headwoman.

“There’s an army approaching from the west.”

“The west? That would be…not kobolds?”

“Humans, sire. From the Fox Kingdom.”

I looked up from my paperwork at her words.

“How many?”

“Approximately fifteen thousand soldiers, with eighty thousand refugees following them.”

“Oh dear…”

This was on a completely different scale compared to the refugees we’ve been accepting so far.

“And their leader is?”

“It’s the king of the Fox Kingdom, White Fox.”

“A king…”

There were four major powers in Ardenia: the Bright Empire, the Holy Empire, the Crystal Alliance, and the Eight Kingdoms.

The Bright Empire was once the most powerful nation on the continent due to its strategic location at the Center Point, akin to China’s historical position as the center of Asia. Situated right in the middle of the continent, it boasted vast territories, immense population, and formidable national strength. Its people referred to themselves as Centralians, reflecting their pride in dominating the heartland, which often led to strained relations with neighboring countries. Although now fragmented and destroyed, I had heard that this empire was modeled after ancient China during its prosperous era.

Next came the Holy Empire.

The Holy Empire was located on the western side of the continent and was the largest among the four powers. However, due to much of its land being desert, it didn’t have as large a population compared to its size. Religion played a significant role in this empire, with the pope wielding almost as much authority as the emperor himself.

The Crystal Alliance consisted of various races such as humans, elves, dwarves, etc., who had joined forces. Located in the southern part of the continent, most of their territory comprised forests and jungles. Since they were hostile toward humans, jae-yeon had never set foot there.

And lastly…

There’s the Eight Kingdoms.

Although referred to collectively, these kingdoms weren’t particularly close-knit. They merely stuck together when tensions rose between either the Empires or the Alliance.

I guess you could say they’re like a trade association.

“It looks like they’ve lost their capital city. Not surprising, considering how exposed their flame stores were.”

Of the nine flame stores on this continent, three belonged to the Holy Empire, one to the Bright Empire, three to the Crystal Alliance, and two to the Eight Kingdoms.

It used to be there. I guess that’s what they should say now.

The low-rank zone. Every power not situated at the edge of the continent suffered catastrophic damage due to monsters emerging from the spawn points. The Chrome and Poxi kingdoms, whose capitals were built near these flame stores, had been hit particularly hard. Despite boasting about their special dragon veins, it only resulted in greater devastation for them.

But why would the monsters gather here?

The distance between one energy source and another was never easy to traverse. On Earth, 100 kilometers is a distance that ordinary people can travel without much difficulty, but in this late medieval fantasy land, few humans ventured such distances. Despite veins serving as high-speed routes akin to highways, covering 100 kilometers still posed significant challenges.

Yet these refugees managed to journey hundreds of kilometers… And why specifically did they choose our castle instead of any nearby ones?

“How far away are they?”

“They are expected to arrive in about three days.”

“Three days…”

I tapped my fountain pen, organizing my thoughts before making a decision.

“We must go out to meet them.”

“Meet them…sir?”

“Yes. Call Stonestone, Hundred and Smile. Prepare three hundred elite soldiers with pet mounts.”

“Yes, Lordship,” Flower replied before leaving the study.

After watching her exit, I organized my thoughts.

‘I need more Return Scrolls.’

Then there was no reason to hesitate.

“Log out.”

I returned to the convenience store and checked the exchange. Then I was surprised.

“Ah…why is this price?”

A bundle of 10 scrolls cost 10 diamonds. In other words, what used to be 100 won per Return Scroll now cost 100 diamonds. It was 1,000 won per scroll!

“It has increased tenfold!”

The funny thing was that despite the tenfold increase in price, the number of items available on the exchange had greatly expanded. Now, instead of worrying about availability, the concern shifted to having enough money.

“No matter how you look at it, to mobilize groups of people, we’d need several hundred thousand scrolls… Wait, but if I buy them now, won’t their prices skyrocket even further?”

I couldn’t help laughing incredulously. The price of these once-discarded items had soared simply because someone started buying them…

It was truly outrageous. Aren’t they all just scammers?

“No matter how much we need them, it feels unjustified to purchase them at this price.”

In reality, my funds were insufficient. With numerous expenses already piling up, I couldn’t afford to pour more money here. Thankfully, having accumulated about 8,000 Return Scrolls intermittently over time meant there was no immediate urgency. Alas, though disappointing…it seemed the refugees would have to make the journey on foot.

“Well, there is such a surplus of teleportation incantation scrolls that if I wait about a month, the price will probably return to normal.”

By this time, my potions had run out and I finished automatic hunting before moving towards a nearby castle. The other Players present in the castle saw me and started chatting:

SaradaMakna: Oh! A Mythical character!

Aladdin: How cool. We have a Mythical character in our castle now.

Celiere: Uh, Killians? Isn’t it that person from recently? The one who claimed they were free-to-play…

Papaya: There was a notice today saying they weren’t free-to-play. Apparently, they spent over 100 million won?

Celiere: ? But why does their equipment look like that?

I became a topic of conversation among various groups, but it wasn’t a big deal. Occasionally, some people approached me to talk, but when I ignored them and moved on, they quickly lost interest.

‘Surprising.’

To be honest, I thought my character might’ve been targeted as a non-paying user in Revenge. Wouldn’t it make sense? Someone else obtained for free what others couldn’t get even after spending billions of won; naturally, it would cause resentment. Moreover, Revenge allowed Player Killing (PK) anywhere except safe zones, so it wouldn’t have been unusual for someone to interrupt and kill my character while hunting.

‘But that didn’t happen…’

With a Mythical class, defeating small to medium spenders was feasible, but any higher-tier users could easily dispatch me. Yet, surprisingly, no one confronted or provoked my character.

‘Well… maybe there’s no need to think too realistically here. After all, this is still just a game.’

The emergence of the ninth Mythical was a surprising event but that’s all it amounted to. Revenge was known for having a high average age, so there were fewer childish pranks.

Grrrung…

“Huh?”

At the unexpected sound, I moved my mouse and looked up at the sky. Clouds were gathering.

“Eh? This…”

It was a familiar sight.

Boom! Boom! Crash!

“This is…”

No player terrorized or assassinated me out of jealousy for obtaining the Mythical class. Indeed, no such thing happened. The actions of top-tier players weren’t influenced by mere envy over someone achieving a Mythical class.

-I have finally transcended the human body and risen to the heavens.

-O God. Forgive me.

I didn’t know. My acquisition of the Mythical class ignited a fire among the highest whale users. As a Piramyd, I couldn’t even begin to guess what celestial events were unfolding above.

Their…

[Competition…]

[Everyone praise it. The 10th Myth has been born at this moment.]

[Everyone praise it. The 11th Myth has been born at this moment.]

I didn’t know how it was happening.

[Crazy…] I groaned while looking up at the sky.

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

[Overlap occurred!]

[For the next 24 hours, all hunting grounds will receive a 200 percent experience buff.]

“Seriously…” [Please note once again. The 10th Myth has been born at this moment.] [Please note once again. The 11th Myth has been born at this moment.] “Are they really crazy?”

Later, this day became known as the beginning of the ‘Era of Myths’.