Chapter 83

“Good job today!”

“You worked hard again today!”

After another day of filming, we ate dinner. It had been one month since filming began. The staff members became close and gathered together in groups of three or four to chat, played games with over a dozen people, or went on dates exploring the Dreamworld that was different from Earth.

I grabbed a cup of coffee at the dining hall and settled down at the observation deck set up on one side of the filming location. This place was frequented by many solitary individuals like me.

“Login.”

Now familiar with ventriloquism, I started frenzy. However, as I repeatedly logged in and out while using frenzy, I heard strange sounds in my ears:

[Mine! Follow me! Buccaneer forever!]

[Forever? You’re ruined!]

Looking up, I saw fragments of dreams swirling far away.

“Somebody is dreaming strangely…”

The Dreamworld is essentially a secondary dimension connected to most civilizations on Earth. It is formed from the dreams of countless people. When the existence of the Dreamworld was first revealed, it caused massive shockwaves, affecting stock prices across various companies worldwide. The reason for this uproar was that by defeating nightmares created from the tangled dreams of the global population of 16 billion, one could obtain dreamstones comparable to rare metals and dream herbs akin to elixirs.

I recall a flood of articles at the time. They predicted economic benefits exceeding tens of trillions, the emergence of new professions, and a significant emphasis on combat abilities other than magic due to gigas’ difficulty operating in such regions.

‘But it turned out to be a disappointment.’

It wasn’t that the byproducts obtained from the Dreamworld were worthless. In fact, during movie shoots set there, dedicated teams collected these items extensively.

The problem lay with accessing the Dreamworld itself.

It requires ultimate magic.

In the early days of discovering the Dreamworld, great mages voluntarily opened Dimensional Gates for research purposes, providing immense benefits to others. However, once their interest waned, the situation changed dramatically due to the cost involved in opening these gates.

The expense outweighed the potential gains.

As a result, current practice involves securing investments over extended periods and then exploiting the Dreamworld all at once. Various groups such as excavation teams, alchemists, hunting squads, film companies, food enterprises, etc., would swarm the Dreamworld, scatter across its regions, and return to Earth after one or two months. While this still created a significant market, it fell far short of earlier expectations.

Of course, things could be different if a single great mage consistently opened Dimensional Gates.

‘Who would dare to force a great mage?’

Only intermediates like the three gods, high ranks such as the Sungsungshin or top class individuals like Game Masters could force a great mage. In lower civilizations, great mages were revered as gods. Even if their influence was somewhat lessened on Earth 34, transcendent beings couldn’t be ignored. The 8th class represented the pinnacle of humanity, while the 9th class reached divine territory.

“Jae-yeon!”

I stopped tapping Cheeda’s belly and started drinking coffee when Sungjae appeared. I frowned.

‘No, why is this guy following me around so much? Doesn’t he have any friends?’

He seemed like a good person but lately, I wasn’t looking at him favorably.

“Ah, isn’t that expression too harsh? You hurt me!”

Sungjae had become quite friendly with me now, and I chuckled at his complaints.

“It is because you keep disturbing me while working.”

“We work for more than 10 hours a day. It isn’t normal to still be working during break time! Let’s play a game. Game! Why aren’t you entering World Dungeon?”

“Busy.” As I replied, I continued stroking Cheeda’s belly.

Cheeda’s soft belly rippled, and words were engraved in the air:

[Thorny Horned Flower (Tiara Flower, Deer Flower, Corpse Flower)]

A rare flower that grows as the carcass of a hundred-man beast rots away. It grows using the blood and flesh of magic beasts as nutrients. Once fully grown, it will bloom from spring to autumn for 10~15 years if watered regularly. The flower emits a foul odor, which magic beasts particularly dislike, keeping them away within a radius of 1 km.

Sungjae peeked at what I was writing and asked, “Hey, it is about plants this time. What exactly are you writing? A thesis?”

“Just personal stuff.”

As I gave a vague reply, Sungjae grumbled.

“Ah, can’t you play with me for a bit?”

“I’m busy. There are many people who want to play with you, so why come to me?”

Indeed, the once quiet observation deck had become noisy. Many actors and staff members followed Sungjae here to watch him.

“They are all women though. Despite having many friends, he doesn’t have that many male friends?”

It was true; most of the people following him were women. Of course, there were some men present, but they mostly stuck around due to the crowd of women.

“Don’t call them ‘male friends’. It sounds gay.”

“Ah, you really are heartless,” Sungjae scolded but I firmly cut him off.

“Just finish this work. It is quite large.”

“Sigh. Well, I’m going out with a woman.” Sungjae grumbled as he left and waved his hand at me.

I continued working…

Tap tap tap. Tap!

[Hide hide… Your hair can be seen.]

[Hide hide your hair can be seen.]

[Hide hide…]

[I found it!]

“Ah, so noisy. Why is that thing near the barrier?”

A fragment of a dream—among them, a particularly powerful nightmare was making loud noises to scare us, but unfortunately for him, nobody paid attention. The people coming to labor in the Dreamworld were at least skilled in psychic abilities.

The highest level nightmare wasn’t named and couldn’t break through the barrier, let alone repel any part-timers.

Tap tap tap! Tap!

I manipulated the magic pattern engraved on the window to reduce external noise before posting today’s work of 120,000 words. The ‘Setting Collection’ series was free serialization so it received comments.

->Plant Gallery: Isn’t this really about plants? I searched but there were no such plants! There is something similar in the background setting of Revenge, yet they are strangely different. What exactly is this magic beast? A monster?

“Wow. Despite being free, people are actually reading it.”

I thought only comments like ‘why bother writing this?’ would appear, so it was shocking that some people actually read it.

”…Wait, you still use this?”

I had finished my work and was slowly getting up when Sungjae stared at me with a stunned expression.

“It is done now.”

“Uh, what about sleep? Breakfast will be served soon, yet you stayed up all night…”

At his incredulous look, I shrugged my shoulders.

“My stamina is good so I don’t need to sleep. Let’s eat breakfast together after I wash up.”

“No, even physique cultivators need sleep…” He remained puzzled.

It was understandable. In fact, it would seem strange since I hadn’t slept for 0 hours in Zone 34.

‘However, I am sleeping for 8 hours regularly now.’

Chakra Technique: Perfect Sleep was no longer possible. This occurred because one martial art consumed all the elements required for it.

However, there was some time before the Ice Queen’s regeneration would be complete. The subsequent troops and supplies were steadily arriving, making this situation quite relaxed compared to before. Once the stock prices dropped due to a large-scale sponsorship withdrawal, it would be the perfect time to raid the flower shop.

“Login.”

I returned to Ardenia. Then I sighed at the sight of the massive book spread out before me.

“Haa… It is taking far too long for just one volume. Whether extracting reality from the book or awakening copy-paste elements…”

Four hundred years ago, during the zenith of Ming Empire’s power, Emperor Xuanyuan Ji suddenly had an idea. He wanted to encapsulate all knowledge, serving as a benchmark for everything in existence, within a single tome!

Despite the seemingly random thought, the Land of Midgard was indeed where one could truly challenge oneself as an emperor.

‘The beginning of monumental history marked by the mobilization of Ming Empire’s power.’

In modern times, knowledge held less value. With just a download, individuals could access vast historical records and specialized expertise. On platforms like MyTube, well-produced content showcased advanced techniques for creating martial arts and spacecraft effortlessly.

However, it was different in the Land of Midgard. Even the smallest morsel of knowledge, akin to catching glimpses over someone’s shoulder, felt like a vision. Masters often withheld direct teaching from their apprentices or employees, preferring indirect exposure to maintain superiority. Hunters guarded their skills jealously, while herbalists would not reveal properties of herbs until threatened with dire consequences.

It was a barbaric world where knowledge and information stagnated instead of flowing freely, eventually rotting away. Even for someone with unparalleled power like the emperor, gathering all this knowledge proved to be no easy feat. It consumed enormous human resources and wealth. Despite omitting topics related to raw power, such as aura or mana cultivation techniques, it still took him twenty-three years to complete the project.

The once-mighty Ming Empire began to falter under the strain, leading those who recognized its weakening state to oust Xuanyuan Ji from his throne.

This encyclopedic work came to be known as the Encyclopedia Arcana.

The Ming Empire, which almost ended their dynasty due to this cursed masterpiece, managed to recover some of their depleted treasury by selling it to other countries. Regardless of its controversial origins, the knowledge contained within was genuine, leading other nations to purchase and accept the book as well.

And among those books was this one. In Ardenia, I acquired fewer than 20 volumes from the capital city of the Chrome Kingdom.

“Wow. Despite being an encyclopedia, there aren’t many words in each volume.”

I checked the document file.

2,740,000 characters.

“Wow… If you write everything down, it will exceed three million words.”

In terms of serialized content, that equates to approximately 600 articles or roughly 24 volumes. This feat was possible because the massive book was filled with tiny, densely packed text.

How many people were involved in creating this book? Considering one typo could lead to disaster, how much effort did they put into it?

‘Just typing and transcribing alone would take so much time…’

Time flew by as I worked on the project.

“Great job!”

“Jae-yeon! Can you unleash sword energy about three meters long? Perfect! Hold that pose for twenty seconds!”

“Good work!”

“Yes! That’s great, just like that!”

The filming progressed smoothly. Director Alan seemed possessed as he wrote the script while directing camera angles. The process appeared challenging for him, with his once-neat hair now disheveled and eyes visibly bloodshot.

“Jae-yeon, what was Jae-yeon’s kingdom like?”

“I don’t know.”

Tap-tap-tap! Tap!

As I was typing, Alan asked me a question and received a hasty response. He didn’t seem to hear it and repeated his question again, “Jae-yeon-ssi, what kind of place was your kingdom?”

“I already told you that I don’t know.”

However, he continued asking.

“Jae-yeon-ssi, what kind of place was your kingdom?”

“No, huh…” My breathing became uneven due to the constant interruptions.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen it. Have you forgotten that I’m from District 34?” I turned around with a serious expression. Why was he bothering me when we weren’t even filming? However, I noticed Alan had started recording me with a camera.

”…What are you filming?”

“CUT.”

“For crying out loud, CUT.”

The shooting ended. As just an actor involved in this film, I couldn’t grasp the overall picture despite being part of it.

‘Is the filming going well?’

I wouldn’t care if it was just about receiving my appearance fee and finishing, but I was concerned since there were running guarantees involved.

“Well, they will do well.”

I shrugged it off and finished my work.

[Thus, the treasury of knowledge has been completed as a benchmark for all living things.]

[May the Empire be eternal.]

“Should I remove this?”

The thought suddenly occurred to me, but recalling that I wasn’t creating anything original, I simply typed and uploaded it. Then I quietly looked at the forum. The number of views for the boring posts had fallen to zero. Even if there were any views, it was only around one to three times.

However, it didn’t matter. I silently watched the view counts. Then at some point…

Tap!

Almost simultaneously, every post gained an additional view count.

[Wow! Member ‘M-4’ has sponsored 15 million dragon stones!]

”…!”

My whole body trembled. The fatigue from the daily frenzy seemed to be swept away like a tsunami hitting a dam. It was a feeling that made all my hair stand on end. This was treatment of treatments, the king of mental recovery spells—the financial cure.

“Ah… boss!” I couldn’t help expressing admiration. “I believed in you!”

As I became emotional, I saw another sponsorship message:

[M-4: Excellent.]

“You are excellent too, boss!” I answered out loud even though nobody could hear me. That’s how moved I was.

15 million dragon stones. 1.5 billion won. Just the commission fee alone was 300 million won! An amount equivalent to the previous sponsorships was deposited in my account.