Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 119
Chapter Title: Feast at the Titanium Mine
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A mining site named [Titanium], vast enough to rival an underground city, was thick with smoke.
The musty underground air had been replaced by the irresistible aroma of roasting meat.
"Delicious... sob... sob sob..."
"Eat more, kiddo."
"I'm stuffed... hehe..."
The Ain races, who had been eyeing each other warily at first, fearing the meat might run out, were now feasting freely thanks to the endless supply of wild boar legs.
Dwarves, beastkin, and even elves who preferred vegetables were all tearing into the meat with abandon—a sight impressive in its own right.
"Logout."
While the Ain enjoyed their meal beside me, I read the Grimoire of Magic.
"Ah, so many trash spells..."
I typed out the contents of the page I'd just read. Unlike other books, where memorizing and transcribing a single page was straightforward, copying the Grimoire of Magic was no easy task.
"Ah... my head hurts."
It was packed with special symbols, and the diagrams and glyphs numbered in the thousands.
Some pages were nothing but illustrations, eating up massive amounts of time just to redraw them accurately.
"Login."
I entered Ardenia. Helaine approached me as I read the Grimoire of Magic. I reached into my inventory and pulled out a hind leg.
"Here, take a break. You didn't come just because the meat ran low, did you? More importantly, how much of this stuff can you even pull out?"
Helaine looked a bit queasy. At first, she'd suspected a trick, then magic, then a miracle—but this was a new expression altogether.
"There won't be any shortages. It's just a bit of effort and consumption."
"...So there is consumption."
"Of course there is?"
And indeed, my premium points had decreased.
'Well, it's not at an unmanageable level.'
Even dropping a 100,000-won Warrior's Longsword (Rare) only deducted 90 premium points. A wild boar hind leg (material) with virtually no value was even less of an issue.
Of course, feeding not one or two, but 100,000 people required an astronomical amount.
'Premium points down 33,000. That's like seven bowls of pork soup. For stuffing 100,000 people? Worth it.'
"No matter how you slice it, being able to feed 100,000 until they're bursting..."
My inventory, once packed to the brim, now had plenty of empty slots. No matter how much I'd stockpiled, it shouldn't have been enough to satiate 100,000.
That was why I was reading the Grimoire of Magic right next to the dining Ain—to keep an eye on things.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
I piled meat onto the table, and Helaine waved her hands.
"I-it's fine now! We haven't even finished what's left!"
I frowned at her words.
"Full means done? Don't we need reserves?"
"Ah!"
"Make jerky or whatever—preserve it so it lasts."
With that, I returned to the Grimoire of Magic.
"Ooh. Reserves on top of everything..."
"But who the heck is that guy? A saint?"
"Even a saint couldn't do this. An incarnated god? Or a legendary dragon...?"
I ignored the whispers and kept reading.
"Logout."
Back on Earth, I transcribed what I'd read, then patted the belly of Cheddar, who was lying next to me.
Killians88 was diligently sweeping through wild boars.
⤷SubcharAmongSubchars: Slaughtering all the boars. Why's a mythic character farming in Windbreak Plateau?
⤷Kenji: It's been going on for a while. Heard it's their subchar and they just hunt here nonstop.
⤷SubcharAmongSubchars: At that level, skin farming would be more profitable elsewhere...
⤷Kenji: Doesn't even go to the city—just hunts. No potions, uses bone longswords dropped here...
⤷SubcharAmongSubchars: Still, you'd pick up loot, right? Is the rumor true they're getting deleted?
Ignoring the other characters' grumblings, I swapped weapons and organized my inventory.
Unlike the meat I kept pulling out, I wasn't grabbing Bone Dagger (Common), Bone Longsword (Common), or Leather Shield (Common) here, so my inventory eventually filled up.
"Next character, then..."
I logged out of Killians88, logged into Killians89, and resumed hunting.
⤷SubcharAmongSubchars: Whoa, Killians89. Wasn't it 88 earlier? How many subs do they even have...? Why make so many? What's the point?
In Revenge, 2-4 subcharacters was ideal. Classes, pets, guardians, and even collections were shared, so a few for experimenting with different stats and gear was plenty.
But my situation was different.
"My inventory's limited, kid. Inventory's the real MVP."
From my perspective, where I could pull items from any Revenge inventory anytime, more subs meant more storage.
The gear I was sharing along with the boar meat would come in handy someday.
"Login."
I moved to Ardenia and laid out the farmed meat.
"Um, over here. I'll take it."
"Sure."
At my words, a wild-looking woman approached hesitantly and bowed her head.
"Thank you! And, uh, sorry about earlier."
"Earlier?"
"That wolf from before... Long Legs, they call her."
'Long Legs... what kind of name is that?'
But thinking about it, my territory's humans had names like Big Hand and Handsome Man. Just English versus Korean—same silliness.
Anyway, I recognized her. It was the werewolf from earlier, now in her humanoid form.
I chuckled.
"Oh, the thug."
"N-no! I'm the chief ranger of the Crystal Alliance and head of the vigilante corps...!"
"Got it. Just grill the meat."
"Yes, sir..."
As Long Legs slunk away with a dejected look, my pad on the table buzzed.
I touched the screen, and Flower appeared in an accepted video call.
[Periodic report, Your Majesty.]
"Go ahead. Anything unusual?"
[Gigas production materials have run out.]
"Ah, so it came to that."
Gigas production took time, but also massive quantities of diamonds and other materials.
'Siege objects that look cool, but way too expensive for something you can't even hunt with...'
Before I knew about premium points, I'd blown through diamonds mindlessly, and my material stockpiles from the auction house were depleted. The original plan was to restock and keep producing, but obviously, not now.
And it wasn't just because of premium points.
"How many pilots have we secured so far?"
[24 for mass-production gigas, none for elite gigas. Testing all soldiers, and plenty of volunteers, but...]
"Ah, why does this have to be so realistic?"
The pinnacle of modern civilization, gigas weren't for just anyone.
Gigas ran on Iron Hearts, requiring pilots with compatible spiritual aptitude to sync.
'Even I couldn't do it.'
With my mana aptitude basically a curse, I'd looked into gigas briefly.
'So what if I can't handle mana? Modern warfare's all about gigas!'
Something like that.
But the result was disastrous—the Iron Heart didn't even register my existence. For me, who'd even enlisted like an immigrant just to try, it was a bolt from the blue.
One reason I started twisting even more.
"I'd settle for mechanical gigas without Iron Hearts."
Especially the early models with Lightning Hearts from the game masters—true "anyone can pilot" universality.
'Of course, they're weaker for it. Iron Heart isn't top galactic tech for nothing.'
Expensive price?
Picky compatibility?
It's a game—what's it matter?
The devs had no reason to include outdated gigas, so every unit from the [Gigas Factory] was cutting-edge. All of them.
Even mass-production models ran Iron Hearts.
Thanks to that—or because of it—the Human Empire had plenty of gigas, but no pilots.
"Well, positively, it means we don't need to rush production. Train the successful ones in the gigas simulator for 10 hours a day. Put them in real gigas for combat drills too. Tell them I'll inspect personally in a month."
[Yes, Your Majesty.]
As Flower replied, something occurred to me.
"How's the contest going?"
[Entries are low, but it's drawing massive attention.]
"No surprise, with those prizes."
Over-the-top prizes, but that's how you pull aggro. And if culture blooms in Ardenia, it bolsters the Empire's strength, fueling ongoing creation.
'Yeah, time to become a factory owner.'
All factory profits are mine.
"Carry on, then."
[Yes, Your Majesty.]
Call ended, I opened the Grimoire of Magic leaning against me.
No time for breaks.
"Logout."
Back on Earth, transcribing the Grimoire.
Progress was smooth. Unfamiliar concepts popped up occasionally, but public papers covered them.
For the truly baffling bits, I posted online.
└ Curious about Ephrem's Law? It's. Scary. Hard.
└ I'll explain that beast!
└ Think of mana as having a minimum unit. Then its form would be...
└ I'm answering here! Why butt in?
34th Earth's magic community was full of old-timers—replies flew in instantly. Knowledge that'd make parents kill kids to protect in Ardenia was freely shared here.
"Ow, my head. But almost done..."
I'd transcribed 80% of the Grimoire. Everything going smoothly.
Just one anxiety.
"Ah, taking way longer than expected."
Unlike simple copy-books, the Grimoire demanded understanding, burning tons of Earth time.
Time flowed like water.
It let me run more auto-hunts in Revenge, sharing meat freely with the Ain—but that wasn't the issue.
"Hope Revenge service doesn't end..."
Revenue kept climbing. Finish the Grimoire, get sponsorships, flip the premium deficit to profit.
Then more money-making opens up.
'Cosmic mercenary runs.'
Copyright fees plus merc gigs—earnings incomparable to now. Perfect plan.
But all that crumbles if Revenge vanishes.
'Even what happens if it does is unclear.'
If I just can't get new items, manageable.
But if my entire game system vanishes?
"That... can't happen."
Part of me wanted to storm Sky Soft and bully Shining. The stronger I got, the more that urge grew.
But in medieval land, I'm emperor; on Earth, just citizen #1.
Act out, and it's prison.
'Force won't work anyway.'
Right. Shining, CEO and 9th-class archmage? Even transcendent enlightenment wouldn't make him easy.
"Sigh... Worst case, Earth time stops, and I'm stuck here forever..."
Muttering, I checked the stock app for Nemesis after ages.
Nemesis – 35,113,110 won (-2,233,500 won)↓
"Whoa, almost hit 40 million... Huh?"
Blue. Down arrow.
Not a little dip. No shares held, so I'd missed it, but -2 million day-over-day was a crash.
"W-wait. Hold on. What does this mean...?"
Head spinning. Good or bad? Chaos.
Quick internet search.
Revenge fan site first—lukewarm reactions. "(Congrats!)" titles mixed with curses; hard to gauge.
Tried a general gaming site.
└ Buying this crap.
└ ThisCrapBuyer(2)
└ BuyinThis(3)
└ ThisBuyin(4)
┤BuyThisOne(5)
Couldn't help laughing at the pity posts. Given the site's past Revenge vibe, the message was clear.
"Ha, haha! Buying... this crap!"
It meant I was saved.