Chapter 253
Chapter 253
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 252
Chapter Title: Pay-to-Win Knight
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The door swung open, and a cheese-colored cat came rushing in, panting heavily.
It skidded to a stop right in front of me and looked up with round eyes.
"Your Majesty! I've finished all my work—can I go online now?"
Seeing Harmony's eager expression made a thought bubble up naturally.
'This kid...'
I explained to her that this place was the world outside Ardenia, a realm where mid-tier, high-tier, and top-tier gods existed—beings that could never appear in Ardenia.
A vast universe with hundreds of billions, even trillions, of continents like Ardenia!
I even told her that Ardenia itself had been modeled after Revenge, the game on the 34th Earth.
I figured it was better to tell her upfront rather than let her stumble across it while browsing the internet.
And then.
Harmony accepted it.
'Her mental fortitude and adaptability are beyond human levels, seriously.'
Honestly, wasn't this a shocking truth? Especially for Harmony, who came from Ardenia—this had to feel like her entire world collapsing.
The space she'd lived in her whole life was just some virtual setup created by someone. How could it not be?
But Harmony didn't react that way.
She was shocked, of course, on a massive scale, but she quickly accepted reality and figured out what she could do—what she wanted to do!
I hid my inner thoughts and smiled.
"Hey, you're internet-addicted. Addicted."
"I work 21 hours out of 24 and only get 3 hours! If you report me to labor authorities, the Justice God's priests will drag me away!"
"What? I can't hear you clearly over the sound of you being an illegal resident. And besides, those 24 hours are by our clock—you're heading back to Ardenia every 7 hours, right?"
"There's no internet there! The whole level of culture you can experience is different, and the viewers waiting for me... Meow! Huh? What's this? Meow! Meow! Uh? Meow!"
Harmony, who had been chattering away, let out a bewildered voice. I grasped the situation and pressed her nose.
"Hello?"
"Delivery. Is this Han Jaeyeon?"
I'd been waiting, so I jumped up excitedly.
"Ah! Yes! Coordinates are open."
"Then we'll prepare and come in."
The call ended. Harmony looked baffled.
"What? Am I still a phone?"
"No need to change it in a hurry. Now that your replacement's here, you don't have to worry."
"No, but..."
Leaving Harmony stumbling over her words, I headed to the reception room.
This smart pet I'd bought this time was different from Cheda, which just needed receipt and authentication. How could a 51 billion military-grade latest-model smart pet be the same?
By procedure, I'd have to go pick it up at the Mage Tower myself, but thanks to the Transcendent premium VVIP service, it was being delivered.
[External coordinates connected. Entry beginning.]
At the announcement, Harmony pouted.
"I'll head in."
"Have fun."
Wung!
Just as Harmony moved to another floor, a man in work clothes loaded with various tools appeared in the center of the reception room. Behind him loomed a giant carrying a bag bigger than itself.
'Huh? Gigas? Using a Gigas for delivery...'
Of course, it was the lowest ki-grade among god-star-human-beast-machine gigas ranks, but it looked like a full-spec model with an Iron Heart. And the enchantment power radiating from it suggested a ton of them.
"Wow! They said you could summon indoors, and it's true. Feels like a building—15-meter ceilings?"
The man who appeared muttered in amazement. For some reason, his face looked extremely familiar.
'What is it? Famous person? No, a celebrity wouldn't deliver packages. Acquaintance? Relative?'
This happened sometimes. Time spent in Ardenia was absurdly long, so someone I'd met two weeks ago on the 34th Earth could feel like years or even decades ago to me.
Fortunately, my memory was decent, and I soon recalled the guy's name.
"Sehan! You're Sehan, right?"
"Hahaha! The new wave of the Steel Giant Mage Tower, genius mage Han Sehan, who reached 5th class last month!"
He was the part-timer who ran full shifts when I was working convenience store gigs. A nice, upbeat guy—we'd been pretty close.
I clapped him on the shoulder and laughed.
"Wow! How long ago did you hit 4th class, and you're already at 5th?"
"No, that's what I should be saying to you, hyung! I knew you worked hard, but Transcendent? Every time you popped up in the news, I thought it was some hidden camera!"
Sehan didn't seem intimidated in front of me at all. At 25 years old, a high 5th-class mage put him in the top 0.01% of mages on the famously elite 34th Earth.
'0.01% is still like 550,000 people, though.'
But considering he had no proper master or sponsoring family, it was truly astonishing.
His face showed the pride of earning money on his own, studying, and achieving his dream.
"Haha! My main is chakraline, but..."
"No, see, the micro magic circle I made..."
We sat at the reception room table and chatted for ages. Impossible back in the day—my schedule on the 34th Earth was so packed, I'd even eat in Ardenia.
But not anymore.
Now I had plenty of downtime on Earth, even watching movies or playing games to kill time.
Finally, after hours of talk, we got to the point.
"By the way, the Steel Giant Mage Tower made my smart pet?"
At my question, Sehan explained in the now-relaxed tone from our long chat.
"Hardware from the Steel Realm's Iron Factory, enchanted by us. It was a big project—Tower Lord and most of the Mage Tower pulled all-nighters! Had all the key spells, but customizing them ain't easy."
With that, Sehan swung his hand. A light somatic triggered mana, and the giant waiting quietly in the corner dumped the bag off its back onto the floor.
Charrulk!
Liquid metal spilled out like slime. It hit the floor with a metallic clang, then morphed into a massive structure over 8 meters tall.
Wung-!
Immense mana poured from the structure, splitting space—
Pop!
A huge white tiger emerged from within.
"Transcendent-grade smart pet. Legend Tiger B-Type. Main material's oriharcon, with a magic store using super mithril. Mana battery's processed from dragon heart shards, and most importantly, it has a Lightning Heart producing 100,000 points of lightning mana per hour. The fur, mimicking dragonkin whiskers, offers top-tier defense and anti-magic, but the real kicker? It doubles as an amplifier for the special terminal linking to the latest Astral Network! Built-in storage: 15kg instant inventory, 2 tons open inventory! And tying it all together, the ritual armament [Legend Tiger] with a million points' worth of Geralt!"
Sehan rattled it off excitedly. He gazed at the white tiger in rapture.
I nodded.
"Cool."
"Right? Masterpiece. Throw it into a warzone or stranded on the universe's edge—this thing alone gets you through. Only you, a 34th Earth Transcendent, snag it at this price; retail's 150 billion! Plus, knowing you'd take it out, the Dean blew extra budget—boosted output 10%, added 8 ultimate magics for stability."
Thud.
The white tiger inside the structure stepped out.
Length 5.1 meters, shoulder height 1.7 meters. Way bigger than a normal tiger—rideable!
'Whoa. Bigger than I thought.'
Dragging this around meant ditching public transport. Not that someone buying a 50 billion smart pet rides buses anyway.
"It's 5.3 tons—won't be inconvenient?"
"I wondered when you'd ask."
Sehan grinned and whistled sharply. The white tiger climbed the bamboo in the corner. It bent dramatically under the sudden assault but, amazingly, didn't snap despite the massive weight.
"Gravity control built-in. And that's not all."
Wung!
The car-sized white tiger shrank to cat size in an instant.
"Minification. But use it only in emergencies. It's safety mode—locks most functions. Energy drain's huge; full recharge takes 200 hours like that. An in-grade Lightning Heart would be different, but that's overkill."
With Sehan's help, I registered as user. Military-grade, so way more complex than Cheda.
Sehan waved after finishing.
"Good seeing you after so long! Let's grab food sometime!"
"Yeah. Good seeing you too."
After sending him off, the reception room door opened, and Harmony entered.
"That's the new smart pet? It's huge..."
"Expensive one. Hmm. Since it came up, wanna possess it?"
"Huh? Too big and not cute..."
Harmony seemed reluctant, but at my nod, she closed her eyes.
And then.
"Huh! It worked."
Pop!
It seemed successful for a moment, then she snapped back to Cheda's body.
"Failed?"
"Yeah."
"Same smart pet type—why? Anti-magic?"
Come to think of it, civilian Cheda and military white tiger had different resistances. It could tank ultimate magic; possession shouldn't be easy.
But Harmony disagreed.
"No, it worked briefly. Not anti-magic or anything... it's whether it's Your Majesty's 'property' or not."
"Then why'd you bounce? This is definitely mine."
Spent 50 billion on it!
Harmony explained.
"Somehow... not enough time. Affinity? Ownership? Hard to pin down..."
"So, basically, need to carry it around longer."
She nodded. No rush anyway. She couldn't even use Cheda's full functions yet—couldn't make calls on a smart pet. Same with the white tiger; most features would be inaccessible.
"Grrr..."
Then the white tiger growled lowly. The heavy bass startled Harmony.
"Y-Your Majesty! That thing!"
Ignoring her fuss, I pressed the white tiger's nose.
"Hello?"
"Ah, hyung! Forgot to say—don't use Legend Tiger in combat for the next 12 hours! Best to leave it be so the Lightning Heart mana fully charges the battery and activates all parts and ritual armaments."
"No big deal. When do I fight?"
The white tiger's expression turned odd, mimicking the other guy's tone.
"Huh? If you're not fighting, why buy a military smart pet?"
The bewildered voice faded.
"Oh... right, monsters vanishing suddenly. No more incidents."
'Monsters vanishing?'
Nonsense. But before I could ask, Sehan convinced himself.
"Anyway, leave it 12 hours! Give Mage Tower 5 stars evaluation! Bye!"
"Call ended."
I stared at the silent white tiger.
"...Monsters vanishing? What the hell?"
I touched its side. Fur parted, forming a huge display.
Touched the massive screen—nothing like Cheda's—and checked news.
Bold//[Monsters Stopping Appearances? Investigation: Universe-Wide Phenomenon.]
[Existing Monsters Vanishing One by One? Speaker Media Says 'Not Extinction—Hiding.']
[Monsters Ceasing Attacks, Avoiding Sapients. Why?]//
News said monster appearances and attacks halted completely two days ago.
"...What?"
Unfathomable. Sure, 34th Earth stayed safe with or without them... but [Her] goal of monsters testing us wasn't met. Stopping attacks made no sense.
"Emperor class production started?"
Scary thought, but I shook my head. Couldn't even make mid-Transcendents in games—impossible in reality.
But if attacks really stopped...
"What? What the..."
I narrowed my eyes.
Economic freedom brought peace to my life, but outside my perception, massive wheels were turning.