Chapter 84
Chapter 84
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Dream Realm Filming and the Encyclopedia
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* * *
"Great work today!"
"You too, great work!"
Another day of filming wrapped up, and we headed for dinner. It had been a month since shooting began. The staff we'd gotten close with would gather in groups of three or four to chat, or ten to twenty to play games, or even pair off with someone they clicked with to date while roaming the Dream Realm—a world unlike Earth.
I grabbed a cup of coffee from the restaurant and settled at the observation deck set up on one side of the set. It was a spot popular with others who wanted to be alone, just like me.
"Log in."
With the now-familiar ventriloquism spell, I began transcribing. But as I repeated logins and logouts to copy away, a strange noise reached my ears.
[Follow me! Bukanda forever!]
[Forever my ass! It's done for!]
I looked up and saw fragments of the Dream Realm swarming in the distance.
"Someone's having a weird-ass dream..."
The Dream Realm was a sort of attached dimension tied to most civilizations in the world. A place formed from the collective dreams of countless people.
When it was first revealed, it caused such a shock that stock prices across countless companies tanked. Slaying the nightmares in the Dream Realm—woven from the dreams of 16 billion people—yielded dreamstones comparable to rare metals and dream herbs akin to elixirs.
I remembered the flood of articles. The economic value of the Dream Realm exceeded tens of trillions. New jobs would emerge. Since gigases struggled in certain areas, combat abilities excluding magic would rise in prominence, and so on.
'But it flopped.'
It wasn't that the byproducts from the Dream Realm were worthless. There was even a dedicated team collecting items that dropped during film shoots.
The problem was the method of entry itself.
'You need ultimate magic for that.'
In the early days after discovery, archmages opened portals voluntarily for research, yielding massive profits. But once they stopped, things changed.
The 'cost' of opening portals became the issue.
'Bigger than the belly.'
Now, expeditions ran on long intervals, funded to break even in one go. Mining teams, alchemists, hunters, film companies, food corporations—they all swarmed in, scattered across the Dream Realm, and returned to Earth after a month or two.
Sure, that formed its own market, but nowhere near the scale once hoped for.
Of course, if one archmage could be convinced to keep portals open steadily, it'd be different.
'Who dares force an archmage?'
Unless you were a mid-tier god like the Three Gods, a high-tier god like the Star Realm God, or a top-tier like a Game Master, no one could compel them.
Archmages were revered as gods in lower civilizations. Even on the 34th Earth, where the awe was slightly less, transcendents weren't to be trifled with. 8th class was merely humanity's peak, but 9th class was the realm of gods.
"Jaeyeon!"
I paused drumming on Cheda's belly and sipped my coffee as Seongjae appeared.
I frowned.
'Why does this guy keep following me? No friends?'
He seemed decent enough, but lately, I couldn't look at him favorably.
"Whoa, that face is too much! You're hurting my feelings!"
I snorted at Seongjae's complaint, now that we were somewhat close.
"You keep interrupting every time I'm working."
"We film over ten hours a day. Working during breaks is the real abnormality! Let's game. Game! Why haven't you hit up World Dungeon!?"
"Busy."
I replied and resumed patting Cheda's belly.
Cheda's soft paunch rippled like waves, etching words into the air.
[Thorn Horn Flower (Crown Flower, Deer Flower, Corpse Flower)]
A flower that rarely grows from the rotting corpse of a Hundred-Man Demon Beast. It feeds on the beast's blood and flesh, and once mature, blooms from spring to fall for 10-15 years with just water. It emits a foul odor that demons particularly despise, keeping them out of a 1km radius.
Seongjae peeked at what I was writing and asked,
"Huh? Plants this time? What are you even writing? A thesis?"
"Just personal stuff."
I brushed it off, and he grumbled.
"Come on, play a bit."
"I'm busy, I told you. Plenty of people want to hang with you—why me?"
Sure enough, the once-quiet deck buzzed. Actors and staff had followed to gawk at Seongjae.
"They're all girls. You think I have tons of friends? Guy friends? Not really."
Come to think of it, the swarm trailing him was mostly women. Sure, some guys were there, but they were just tagging along with the girls.
"Don't say 'guy friends.' Sounds gay."
"You heartless bastard."
I ignored his jab— who was he to nag a real man? I cut him off firmly.
"Finishing this up. It's a big one."
"Sigh. Fine, I'll go play with the ladies."
I waved as Seongjae trudged off grumbling, then continued.
Tap tap tap. Tap!
[Hide tight~ I see your hair.]
[Hide tight, I see your hair.]
[Hide tight...]
[Found you!]
"Shut up. Why's that idiot messing around right by the barrier?"
Dream fragments—specifically, a nightmare that had gained some power—tried scaring us noisily, but sadly for it, no one cared.
Those who came to the Dream Realm for work were at minimum ability users.
Even top nightmares, let alone named ones, were just trash mobs. They couldn't breach barriers and got chased off by part-timers.
Tap tap tap! Tap!
I adjusted the magic circle on the window to muffle outside noise, finished today's 120,000-character chunk, and uploaded it. The [Settings Collection] series was free serialization, so replies trickled in.
⤷PlantGal: Wait, are these real plants? Searched them up—none exist! Closest are background plants from Revenge settings, but even those are subtly different. What's a demon beast? A monster?
"Whoa. Even free, people are actually reading this."
I'd expected just snarky 'Why bother?' comments, but actual readers? Shocking.
"...You're still writing?"
I'd finished and was about to stand when Seongjae stared at me in horror.
"All done now."
"No, what about sleep? Breakfast is soon, and you pulled an all-nighter...?"
I shrugged at his shock.
"My stamina's good—no need to sleep. I'll wash up; let's grab breakfast."
"But even bio-stamina trainees sleep..."
It was natural for him to be stunned.
On the 34th Earth, my sleep was zero hours, so it'd look weird.
'But whatever, I sleep eight hours straight anyway.'
The chakra spell [Perfect Sleep] was impossible now—one martial art had devoured those slots.
But with time before the Ice Queen's regen and reinforcements plus supplies arriving, we had breathing room unlike before.
Pull one big sponsorship forward, buy stocks at the dipped price—that's when we storm the trading house.
"Log in."
Back to Ardania. I sighed at the massive book before me.
"Sigh... One book, and it takes forever. If only I could pull it into reality or awaken copy-paste."
400 years ago, when the Ming Empire's prestige pierced the heavens, its seventh emperor, Hwanwon Gil, had a sudden thought.
He wanted to compile all knowledge—the benchmark for everything in the world—into one book!
A truly random idea, but in medieval land, when the emperor commanded, it happened.
'The dawn of a massive project mobilizing the Ming Empire's full might.'
In modern times, knowledge held little value.
Vast histories and expertises downloaded instantly to individuals. MyTube alone overflowed with high-level martial arts and spaceship-building tech, neatly packaged.
But medieval land was different.
Even dust-speck, rat-tail knowledge was a secret art. Artisans didn't teach apprentices or employees outright—letting them peek over shoulders was bragging rights. Hunters hid tricks; herbalists spilled properties only at swordpoint.
A barbaric world where knowledge stagnated and rotted.
Gathering all that in such a place wasn't easy, even for an emperor with absolute power.
Immense manpower and wealth were poured in.
Even excluding aura cultivation or mana methods—knowledge tied to power itself—it took 23 years.
The once-mighty Ming Empire staggered; those realizing the empire's strength was draining ousted Hwanwon Gil from the throne.
Encyclopedia.
The Ming Empire nearly sold their dynasty short with that cursed masterpiece but recovered some empty coffers by selling it abroad. Regardless of its birth story, the knowledge inside was real, so other nations bought and adopted it.
One such copy was this book.
I'd acquired fewer than twenty encyclopedias in Ardania from Chrome Kingdom's capital.
"Whoa. Encyclopedia or not, how many characters in one volume?"
I checked the doc file.
2.74 million characters.
"Whoa... Transcribing this will hit 3 million."
As serial chapters, 600 installments; as volumes, 24 books. Possible only because the massive tome was crammed with tiny print.
How many people toiled to make this? The effort in a no-typos-allowed task?
'Just typing it over is this much work...'
Meanwhile, time passed.
"Great work!"
"Jaeyeon! Sword aura—about three meters? Perfect! Hold it twenty seconds!"
"Great work!"
"Yes! That's it!"
Filming progressed smoothly. Alan the director scribbled scripts like possessed, shoving cameras everywhere.
It wore on him too—his neat hair disheveled, eyes bloodshot.
"Jaeyeon, what was your kingdom like?"
"No idea."
Tap tap tap! Tap!
I typed, giving a vague reply to Alan. He asked again like he hadn't heard.
"Jaeyeon, what was your kingdom like?"
"Told you, no idea."
He asked yet again.
"Jaeyeon, what was your kingdom like?"
"Look, sigh..."
Interruptions piling up, I steadied my breath.
"I don't know. Never seen it. Forgot I'm from the 34th Earth?"
I turned sharply, serious. Not even filming—why harass me?
But Alan was filming me with the camera.
"...What're you filming?"
"Cut."
"That damn cut."
Filming neared end. As a mere actor, I was in it but blind to the big picture.
'Is it even going well?'
Pay didn't matter post-wrap, but with running guarantee, I cared.
"Eh, it'll be fine."
I shrugged it off and finished.
[Thus, the repository of knowledge benchmarking all things was complete.]
[Empire, be eternal.]
"Skip this?"
The thought crossed, but recalling this was transcription, not creation, I typed and uploaded.
I stared at the board.
Boring, massive posts—views dropped to zero. Even if any, 1-3 max.
No matter. I watched the views.
Then, suddenly.
Tap!
Every post gained one view simultaneously.
[Whoa! M-4 has sponsored 15 million Dragon Stones!]
"...!"
My body shivered. Fatigue from daily transcription hit like a tsunami, then washed away. Hairs standing on end—this thrill.
Healing during healing. The king of mental recovery spells.
Financial therapy.
"Ah... Big bro!"
Respect burst forth.
"Knew you'd come through!"
Amid my感動, the sponsor message appeared.
[M-4: Excellent.]
"You're the excellent one, bro!"
No one watching, but I shouted. That big the impact.
15 million Dragon Stones.
1.5 billion.
Fees alone: 300 million!
A fortune matching prior sponsorships slammed into my account.