Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: Anxiously
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I continued my transcription today, feeling uneasy.
"Login."
Tap tap! Tap tap!
Clang! Clang!
As I was reading the next chapter, I happened to look up. Aside from the few prisoners we'd captured, everyone was energetically continuing their work.
Thanks to feeding them meat for several days in the underground, their stamina had fully recovered.
"Hey! Screw in this bolt!"
"Make more wheels!"
"Lightweight items can just be carried on shoulder poles!"
The Ain tribespeople were scouring the city for anything usable, loading it onto the newly built carts.
Of course, many of those items would be useless once they reached Iron Castle, but I didn't bother stopping them.
"Still, 150,000... If they don't scatter across multiple cities, Iron Castle will finally be packed this time."
I'd preemptively dispersed the residents, thinking we had plenty of room, but I hadn't expected this many to show up all at once.
'The beastmen could go straight into Wild Boar for meat production. No, food's already sufficient, so turning them into players to run high-level or rare dungeons might be better. What heart methods are there for the Ain tribe? Guess I should search MyTube.'
With those thoughts, I kept transcribing.
The next morning, I finished copying the Iron Flame Engineering Manual without any issues.
"Indeed..."
I uploaded the final post and waited anxiously.
Soon, view counts rose on all the posts...
[Whoa! Galaxy has sponsored 2.5 million Dragon Stones!]
"Let's see... 250 million won."
The smallest sponsorship among the treasure-grade books I'd obtained so far.
But it only took less than a day to transcribe!
"Damn, 250 million a day."
The thrill was there, but the problem was that I was running out of treasure-grade books. No more massive sponsorships like before.
[Galaxy: How are you still full from duplicate material like this?]
"So that's it—duplicate material. Not sure what 'full' means in that sense."
Anyway, clearing the debt quickly was good news. Instead of resting, I immediately created a new thread for the Book of the World Tree.
A thin booklet, just like the Iron Flame Engineering Manual.
'This'll take a day too.'
I spent another day transcribing the Book of the World Tree.
[Whoa! SF-elf has sponsored 2.7 million Dragon Stones!]
[SF-elf: Are there still elves out in the boonies?]
A bit more than for the Iron Flame Engineering Manual.
"Huh, 'elf' in the name? And a question in the sponsorship message!"
I quickly fired off a reply.
[Hello, this is the author. As you said, it's knowledge obtained from elves. Care to chat about it?]
A shot in the dark to learn about sponsorship criteria or reasons.
But the result was the same as always.
"Ah, ignored again."
I clicked my tongue after hours with no response. Grateful for the generous sponsors, but their identities remained a mystery.
"SF-elf... Space elf or something? Or mechanical elf?"
Grumbling, I checked my pay-to-win power.
(-432,155,970 won)
"Well, still paid off a lot."
My stats had recovered substantially—back to the level they were at during the aspiring professor shoot.
'In other words, enough to proceed with filming.'
I checked the schedule and questionnaire in the message from PD Na Taeseok. Apparently, I'd need a pre-interview with the broadcast writers later.
"Let's see. Filming date... late summer."
Fortunately, not so tight that I couldn't do the tournaments. Might even make the pro league if things went well.
"Login."
I entered Ardenia, stacked the two books in my backpack, and stood up.
In the distance, the sun peeked over the ridgeline.
"Time."
I headed to the meeting spot. There, plains full of Ain tribespeople and piles of goods between them came into view.
Incredibly, over thousands of carts and wagons had been built in just two days.
"Probably because there are so many dwarves. Impressive in such a short time."
"The monsters barely touched the city's goods, which helped a lot. Plus... for some reason, there was a ton of excellent timber."
I smiled at the explanation from Nasha Blackwood, the leader of the elves who had approached.
'Drop items.'
Not all high-level monsters under the World Tree were elves. Likely a special boss like an Elf Queen.
Her dungeon had Dryads (advanced), and her drop table included high-grade lumber.
"Not just lumber, right?"
"Yes, mountains of gold... and all sorts of equipment. Lots of... bullets? The Hellenes went wild over them."
"Yeah, I figured."
Sure enough, last evening, this message had popped up.
[Hellenes member has acquired K-2 Rifle (Rare) from the Garden of the World Tree!]
It had dropped long ago, but the world message only now appeared for a clear reason.
'Monsters picking up items doesn't trigger messages.'
Maybe even now, monsters were running item factories.
If monsters getting items triggered world messages, it'd spam like Revenge with millions of players hunting.
"Still, this is a huge gain."
It was the same when we wiped out fanatics led by Edward.
They dropped not just preset gear, but all weapons and equipment they held—including drop items they'd wrapped themselves in!
'They realized drop items were better than their default gear.'
Revenge's drop tables were arbitrary enough that killing big dog monsters dropped spellbooks. Collecting the best drops from repeated kills would've easily yielded superior gear.
"You passed on the gold info, right?"
"Yes. We heard. In the Human Empire, 50 gold barely buys a meal... Seemed absurd, but seeing this pile, it's believable."
And indeed, the scene matched her words.
"It's pouring! Pile it up!"
"No way there's this much gold..."
"Can't fit it all on the carts! Gotta leave some!"
Entering the bustling Ain tribespeople, they quieted and parted upon spotting me.
I placed my hand on the mountain of gold.
Flash!
The gold mountain vanished instantly.
"Huh!?"
"The coins!"
I gauged the amount.
[88,131,113,311 gold]
Sweeping up the huge pile barely changed my total. I already had so much gold.
'Gold's piled up more. Once I pay off pay-to-win power, buy some stocks and open a shop.'
With that thought, I flipped my hand.
Clatter!
Gold poured out again—but far less than before.
The Ain looked puzzled.
"What's that? The coins look weird."
"Wait... Aren't those platinum coins?"
Ignoring their shock, I dumped platinum coins onto the carts. Volume reduced to 1/10th, perfect for loading.
I explained.
"I said it before, but gold isn't worth what it used to be. These coins look like a lot, but in Iron Castle, they're just startup capital for settling down. You'll need to find work with your own skills, not money or goods."
With that, I turned to Nasha, who awaited.
"That's the player's power—infinite gold storage..."
"Yeah. A power you'll gain too. More importantly, the books?"
She guided me.
"We gathered all the unreadable books in one place."
"Good."
I'd handle the skill books. Unlike gold, their value remained high. Stacks of thousands, including 4 rares among 13+ types, weighed 0 in inventory, so I could carry them all.
Flash!
I stored them.
Then, I stood before the teeming Ain tribespeople.
"Two groups."
Of 150,000, 140,000 in one. 10,000 in the other.
The 10,000 were obvious at a glance.
Robust beastmen, well-armed elves and dwarves.
"Good morning, Your Majesty."
A wolf beastman stepped forward from the 10,000—Long Legs, a familiar face.
"Morning, Long Legs. Why separate?"
"We're grateful, Your Majesty. You saved us from death and despair, gave us a path to live."
"But you still won't join the Empire?"
He jumped.
"No! How could we refuse Your Majesty's forces? Your humans are untrustworthy... but You're our savior."
"Then what's the issue?"
"The Crystal Alliance has over ten million members. We're lucky to be saved... but most aren't. We want to save them."
I scanned the beastmen. Iron shields and bludgeons. Dwarf warriors with crossbows. Beastmen with siege weapons. Archers with quivers and bows.
A force too valuable to lose.
"Long Legs."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Pledge your loyalty."
He trembled violently.
That was his only reaction.
No questions, no doubts.
Thud.
He knelt unbidden, forehead to the ground, and bellowed.
"Black Wolf Tribe Chief Ranger Long Legs pledges eternal loyalty to Your Majesty!"
"Good."
I pulled a card from inventory and placed it on his back.
Flash!
Blue light of rare grade burst through him, stunning onlookers.
"As of now, I appoint you top enlisted soldier and Thousand-Man Commander of the Ferocious Fangs Regiment. I bestow the rare class Phantom Ranger. In the Human Empire's name, save the Alliance members."
"Ah, aaah. Th-this power..."
"It's humanity's power against monsters."
He grasped the player concept quickly.
"Loyalty! I pledge all my loyalty!"
There, I formed three regiments.
Ferocious Fangs Regiment of beastmen.
Steel Anvil Regiment of dwarves.
Ebonywood Regiment of elves.
Couldn't awaken all 10,000, so 500 each—1,500 total—from the best.
"Farewell then."
The Ain marched orderly underground. The massive Landworm tunnel was like an eight-lane highway—no congestion.
'Definitely.'
"See you again!"
"Daddy! Find sis no matter what!"
"Honey! Sob sob sob!"
After heartfelt goodbyes.
"Landworm."
[Yeah.]
Rumble---!
Sealed the path to the underworld completely.
"Whew. That dragged on. Now, straight to the fireworks shop in one go."
[Full throttle then!]
Boom boom boom!
Ignoring the roar, I picked up a book.
The Crystal Alliance lacked literature, but books existed. I opened the longest novel among the 8 collected.
[Cheerful Seikai and Honey Beer.]
"Famous in the dwarf world, apparently. Wonder if it'll get sponsorships... Logout."
Started transcribing.
But before a few pages.
Cheda meowed.
"Nyaong."
"What?"
"Incoming transaction."
"Not royalty time yet. Show me."
Cheda spun. Text etched on its back.
[J.M.T Entertainment deposited 518,560,000 won.]
"...Huh?"
Movie company money. I stared blankly at the sum. Too unexpected. Last month's 4.72 million from J.M.T Entertainment—now over 100 times that.
"Wait... 500 million?"
I checked pay-to-win power in my vision.
(-432,155,970 won)
"..."
I sat at the PC and dumped all bank balance into pay-to-win.
Result.
(+86,404,030 won)
Pay-to-win power over +80 million.
Crunch! Crack!
Muscle-twisting sounds—welcome kind.
The euphoria from logging in.
Slide-.
I opened the studio window, stuck my head out.
"Huuuuh..."
Inhaled. Deeply, endlessly—wind stirred around me.
Not just breathing—air compressed. Lungs boiled.
No, really boiled.
Sizzle!!
Body heated by compressed air! Exhaled—
Whoosh! Bang!
Gale force. Excess pressure exploded with sonic boom.
Crackle!!
Expansion cooled the overheated air sharply.
Useless for attack or defense, but mere breath causing this defied common sense.
Only for ultra-high vital energy cultivators.
"Ha, haha. Hahaha!"
I laughed triumphantly.
"Finally!"
Free from this damned negative pay-to-win limit.