Chapter 97

I tapped Cheeda’s stomach and opened the stock app. Then I used all my balance to buy Nemesis stocks.

Ding!

My account, which had briefly risen, shrank again. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that it was fleeting.

“Is this a good thing…?”

There was a slight uneasiness but buying for 2.1 million won seemed cheap. In fact, when Nemesis stocks were at 3.4 million won, I spent around one billion won to buy 300 shares. Thinking about it now made me feel even more aggrieved.

“Ah! If I bought these stocks with that one billion won back then, I could’ve gotten so many more! Ah, I was careless after suddenly receiving 1.5 billion won!”

In that situation, I could’ve purchased nearly 500 shares instead of just 300!

“No, calm down. It is obvious to buy them when they have fallen from 15 million won to 3.4 million won.”

He muttered like a wet puppy, his mood fluctuating wildly by the second. He pondered over various better choices that would have allowed him to make huge amounts of money without having to work so hard.

“Ha.”

jae-yeon shook his head to clear these thoughts away.

“I used to be content with what I had… How did it come to this?” Despite his lamentation, there was nothing he could do about it. Working tirelessly for more income and constantly thinking about money inevitably changed him.

“Don’t assume anything and just keep living as is for now.”

There’s no end once you start making assumptions. It sounds simple when looking back on things, but how can one know unless they possess the ability to see into the future?

Well, even if someone could, it wouldn’t matter.

The master of the Destiny Magic Tower, Grand Mage Lucky Strike’s investment failure was well-known worldwide. Even she, possessing divination abilities, slipped on the slippery slope of stocks! It was said that this once-wealthy woman invested 400 trillion won and lost 300 trillion. No matter how great a grand mage, losing such a massive amount equivalent to a national budget couldn’t be recovered easily. Now, instead of conducting personal research, she reportedly had to churn out enchantments like a slave just to repay her debts.

‘She might have been the one who opened the Dreamworld gate I entered.’

With this thought, I reaffirmed my determination:

“All I need to do is buy Nemesis stock.”

Nemesis stock was different from other stocks. For me, it wasn’t merely about generating profits or owning part of the company; it represented fragments of authority.

Just by possessing them, I had the power to interfere with Ardenia’s system.

‘With this, I have 424 stocks.’

During my time in Ardenia, I confirmed what could and couldn’t be done with stocks.

‘First is restoration.’

I could temporarily restore systems that weren’t implemented or were problematic in Ardenia. For example, summoning shop NPCs that didn’t exist in Ardenia, using chat, mail, etc., all fell under this ability.

‘Second is patching.’

I could insert, change, or eliminate weapons from drop tables. For instance, I could patch the orc’s drop table, making it drop low-grade iron ingots instead of inferior ones or preventing any drops altogether.

‘Third is events.’

I could initiate events such as Chuseok event, Seollal event, Valentine’s Day event, Christmas event, etc.

“However, that is all.”

The things I could do with stocks were truly amazing but still, there were three limitations. For example, it was impossible to use Fire Ball while Sword Star state, make lightning fall from the sky, create diamonds out of nowhere, revive dead beings or adjust the AI of pets using stocks. The fact that these actions couldn’t be done despite having the power to summon non-existent NPCs indicated the directionality of this stock strength.

‘It seems…like inheriting the authority of an administrator.’

However, there were more issues:

‘Even with what’s available, I can’t use everything.’

The restoration and events were definite cases. Whenever jae-yeon tried to implement something present in Revenge but not Ardenia, it failed due to insufficient stocks, yet there was always some response.

The problem lay with patches.

‘Some work, while others don’t.’

He could add certain items to the drop table, but not all. Some items could be removed, while others couldn’t. For some, he could increase their drop rate by as much as two percent, whereas for others, only decreasing the rate was possible.

‘I need to investigate this further.’

Thinking about the power of these stocks helped clear his confusion somewhat. He took a deep breath.

“Right. In any case, I’m buying these stocks anyway. Even if things get complicated, I’ll just slow down my purchases.”

I turned off the stock application. Anyway, I wouldn’t be going to Ardenia for some time so there was no need to check it.

[Thank you to our valued customers who always love New World Corporation. The capsule-type access device S-33 is loading.]

Click! Grrr…

[Loading has been completed!]

[Guest account.]

[Executing simulation software, Chakra Opening and Training.]

My consciousness sank momentarily before the background changed to show simple images of buildings. Suddenly, a calm black-haired woman appeared in front of me.

“You are a new student. Nice to meet you. My name is Kim Sohyang.”

The owner of the War Constellation, the strongest Gigant Master (Giant Master) and Lioness Queen, Kim Sohyang smiled at me.

I was familiar with her but naturally, she didn’t recognize me. The place where I trained under her was my one-room access device and I had blocked the upload of information there. Looking at her, I said, “Keep the physical data and psychic energy data confidential. Learn spells that can simultaneously open cold elements, then train using the cold element itself.”

“You seem to think personal information is important? But I need a body scan to determine the training intensity.”

She was right. Despite being a psychic training program, the depth of virtual reality implemented by the access device was only level three. Without a body scan, the training would be completely detached from real-world abilities.

“It’s okay. Please teach me from receiving to present gates.”

“No, you want such a wide range of training? You really risk your life for security…” Despite being baffled, Sohyang was just a duplicate personality and complied with my request, teaching me accordingly.

After the lessons ended, it was time for practical exercises.

Shuaa…

I left the hotel and stood on the beach, quietly focusing my breathing amidst the crashing waves. I concentrated so deeply that the distant laughter faded from my consciousness.

“Ardenia. Receiving Gate. Open. Summoning. Bone Sword.”

Pop!

The bone sword appeared. I grabbed it and threw it towards the sky.

Kwahk!

Then, while maintaining this posture, I formed hand seals.

Pop pop pop!

As I completed the hand seals, the bone sword fell before my eyes. Grabbing the handle, I opened my chakras.

Cold Air. Sage Door. Strike. Receiving Gate. Open.

Ice Slash.

The moment the spell was activated, coldness filled my body. Similar to Ardenia’s elemental attribute, the power of cold greatly reduced the burden of simultaneous opening. The effect of Ice Slash added additional cold damage for the next attack once.

Then…

Chasyajul (Instant Technique), First Form.

One Sword Force.

Zek!

A wave approaching from afar was cut apart with one strike. The sword energy stretched out tens of meters, splitting the sea and revealing the bottom.

Then…

Crackling!

The split sea froze solid.

”…Phew.”

I took a deep breath to shake off the overwhelming fatigue enveloping my body. The Strike element was newly opened by me. It suited my combat style best, as I pour everything into one strike. Being highly limited, it was easy to grasp its nature.

‘Its limitations must be equally clear.’

As a chakra cultivator, this might seem like a tremendous waste, but it didn’t bother me. Occupying castles compensate for the resources consumed by elements.

Crunch…crunch…

I slowly walked between the ice walls, the shards beneath my feet breaking with each step.

“Hrmm… Is this it?” I touched the ice wall. The ice wall was one meter thick and didn’t melt at all despite the hot temperature of the resort. Looking at the atmosphere, it seemed like it wouldn’t melt for several days.

“It’s okay…”

My One Sword Force wasn’t cost-effective since it poured all my power into one strike. Additionally, Ice Slash required preparation time.

‘But it is good for me.’

It took approximately seven seconds to form the hand seal for Ice Slash. I still wasn’t proficient with the technique, so I couldn’t simplify or omit the seals. Seven seconds—it was a fatal amount of time during combat but I didn’t care. With my login/logout ability, I could practice it in another world.

‘But it is disappointing.’

One Sword Force was a type of ultimate skill but still based on common sense with sword techniques. It wasn’t really a technique that poured everything into one strike.

I aimed my sword at the sea while thinking,

‘I need something more extreme. A one-hit kill where there truly is no retreat.’

Instead, its power should cover all these disadvantages.

‘It must exist somewhere.’

If I were from another civilization or planet, it would be difficult to find such martial arts, but Earth-34 had a culture where almost all information was publicly available. By searching MyTube alone, I could find such techniques.

“Again.”

I threw the bone sword into the sky and opened my chakra.

Bang!

Bae Sarang, the president of Nemesis Soft, gritted her teeth. “What is going on?! Why are our stocks falling so much?!”

Initially, it was due to disharmony between new and existing users. Then, there were issues caused by late entrants in the market. In fact, such phenomena did exist. However, for the stock price that once broke through 15 million won to plummet down to 2.1 million won? This wasn’t normal.

“Who is attacking us?”

Attack. That’s what she had to think. Despite defending against the falling stocks using both personal savings and loans, they continued to decline relentlessly.

‘How can this crazy selling volume occur? We succeeded where others failed, even obtaining a patent on the new technology!’

Despite her desperate attempts to investigate the cause, she couldn’t uncover anything. All she knew was that major players on the stock market were scrambling to sell their shares, and it caused panic among retail investors who followed suit.

Fwip!

At that moment, space split open, revealing a man before her.

”…Kidam ahjussi?”

“It has been awhile, Miss Love.”

The elderly gentleman appeared without warning and politely bowed to her. He was Kidam Kim, the chief of staff for Il-Sung Corp., which dominated the global economy.

“Is…is this your doing, Father?”

“What do you mean?”

“My company’s stocks!” Bae Sarang yelled at him.

Kidam shook his head at her outburst.

“Of course not. The chairman neither helps nor hinders your business ventures.”

Kidam’s calm response allowed Love to take deep breaths and compose herself.

“Then what is going on?”

“It’s about divinations. For quite some time now… Nemesis Soft has been absent from all forms of divination.”

Love’s face hardened at Kidam’s words because she knew exactly what it meant.

Being erased from all divinations…

If this happened to someone, those with divination abilities or Transcendents wielding similar powers would come to one conclusion:

Ah, this person has reached the Transcendent realm.

If someone ascended to godhood and transcended destiny, they would become unpredictable by divination. Of course, it might be possible for even higher beings, but any slight deviation from accuracy meant that it was no longer true divination, just speculation.

However, things were different when it came to nations or organizations like companies, as seen in this current situation with Softon.

They would likely think:

-Ah, this indicates impending doom.

It made sense. An abstract concept like a nation or organization could not transcend fate itself. Naturally, if it were merely delisting shares, their future would still appear in divinations rather than being erased entirely. However, at least one could surmise that something extraordinary was about to occur.

”…I don’t trust divinations. Haven’t you heard about Grand Mage Luck Strike?”

It was a well-known story of a magic tower master who met ruin due to failed investments. Divination is powerful but not absolute, as it can be disrupted by the interference of Transcendents stepping outside destiny’s framework.

However, Kidam shook his head.

“More than ten Transcendents have reached the same conclusion, including a noble of rank 10.”

“A…a rank-10 noble means an elder dragon. For such a being to take interest in our small company is truly an honor.”

Despite Love’s growl, Kidam continued undeterred.

“Of course, this information is mostly confined to Transcendents…but it’s gradually spreading among their close associates.”

”…”

“Be prepared for any eventuality, my lady.”

Fwip!

Kidam vanished as if he had never been there at all.

Craaaack.

The expensive desk, fortified with various protective spells, couldn’t withstand Love’s clenched fist and split apart.

“This… This is ridiculous! I was so close. Why?”

Her usually confident face twisted into despair. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“What the hell is going on?!”

Despite her confusion, time continued to flow inexorably onward.