Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Will the Elves Come All the Way to the Central Plains?
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The Ice Crystal Cave, after the expedition team had departed.
A single pterosaur was folding its wings and descending there.
Third Elder Hawol.
It was the very same pterosaur she had ridden when raiding the Ice Palace.
"Aigoo, my aching back. This thing's fast, sure, but the ride's just godawful."
A man with a staff hopped down from the pterosaur.
He rubbed his throbbing lower back and kicked the creature.
Even under those kicks, the pterosaur didn't scream, resist, or fight back.
It was only natural.
Marinated in solitude and drugs for so long, it had long since become a puppet without a shred of self left.
"Maybe I should find a proper saddle for this beast."
Musing to himself, the Fourth Elder headed into the Ice Crystal Cave.
Trailing behind him was a subordinate carrying the ice crystals stolen from the Ice Palace.
"Fourth Elder, sir, why'd you have us steal the ice crystals? We could've just mined them here."
The Fourth Elder scowled at his subordinate's question.
"Hey! Why bother mining when we can just take 'em?"
The subordinate blinked blankly for a moment, then nodded as if deeply impressed.
"You're right! As expected of the Fourth Elder—you're a genius!"
"Right? Even I think I'm pretty smart."
Cackling, they ventured deeper into the cave.
They reached their destination at the end in no time.
"What... What the hell happened here?!"
They soon let out a scream.
At the end of the cave...
The room they sought was already wide open.
The divine artifacts they'd come for—the ones that could collectively unseal the Abandoned Continent's barrier—were already gone.
"Which bastard did this?!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Big bro! We really owe you one this time!"
"You sure you won't come back to the village with us?"
"Come on! It'll be such a shame to part ways like this!"
The expedition Beastkin clung to me relentlessly.
"Got a rabbit starving at home."
I brushed off their invitations and slipped away from the plaza quick as I could.
Left alone, I immediately opened the Unique Gallery.
"Hope the commission reward's climbed to five million by now."
Heart pounding, I headed to the commissions tab and searched my nickname.
One post popped up.
📰 Joint Commission [Shihanbu, Put the Ice Crystals Up for Auction!] [3,200,000 Gallery Points] "Hmm. Not as much as I'd hoped."
Sighing, I checked the auction tab and searched for Ice Wind Devices.
📰 Used Ice Wind Device for Sale - Used for about a year - Shows some wear - Cheap price though Sale Price [5,500,000 Gallery Points] "No way in hell..."
An air conditioner cost more than three years' salary. Absurd pricing.
The reason was simple.
I was on the Abandoned Continent.
Shipping and fees were insane.
Probably 80% of that listed price was just fees and delivery.
"Even if I sell the ice crystals and complete the commission, I still couldn't afford it?"
Haa... Why'd I even boot up this godforsaken game?
As I went to close the Gallery, I spotted the flaming section.
"Gallery's completely flooded with curses, huh?"
The Gallery was always a cesspool of insults and sex jokes.
But not like this.
Curious, I scrolled through slowly.
Every post was raging about one guy.
💬 Comments — Anonymous Gold is a total bastard! People are dying, man! — Anonymous For real, humanity's fucked. — Anonymous How do you even think of profiting off human lives, you fucking dog?! All hate directed at some high-nick called Gold.
The same guy who'd taunted me in chat before my Ice Crystal trip.
"What the hell did he do?"
Checking the hot posts, sure enough, there was Gold's pinned at the top.
📰 I Got the Ice Crystals. Now Bring Them Here. [Author] Gold
- I'll buy each one for about 100 points. What? Don't wanna? You'll have to sell anyway. Why? Our Ice Crystal processing masters say they won't process any you don't sell to us. Who'd buy that useless hunk of junk otherwise? Feeling wronged? Tough luck. Stuck out there, what can you even do? lol "This fucker...?"
Fuming, I searched his nickname.
A stream of his past posts rolled up.
Scanning them, my scrolling finger froze.
It was a post from 15 years ago.
📰 Finally Recognized as a Master Craftsman Myself! -(Photo of a Central Plains man grinning with an Ice Wind Device) My first Ice Wind Device, made with ice crystals I processed! Gonna take it home and test it right away! Wish me luck! "Master...?"
Muttering, I glanced at the gourd.
It brimmed with ice crystals.
Next, the divine artifact that could summon someone I knew by face or take me anywhere: the Guide's Pocket Watch.
And on that pocket watch, a blue glow rippled—the cooldown was up.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A village near the Yangtze River.
Dozens of craftsmen who could process ice crystals from across the Central Plains had gathered there.
One young man spoke up with a gloomy face.
He was a newbie, freshly recognized as a master craftsman this year.
"...Pavilion Master, is this really okay? Even so... without ice crystals..."
He trailed off, unable to voice that without them, many would die, and clamped his mouth shut.
Pavilion Master Gold frowned at the rookie.
But he didn't show his irritation.
He couldn't afford to.
If even one craftsman bailed, the plan would crumble.
"Hoho, don't make that face."
Gold patted the guilt-ridden youth's shoulder with a laugh, wearing a kindly fatherly smile as he soothed him.
"Come on! You think we'd really let people die? We're just pressuring them to sell the ice crystals a bit cheaper."
He showed off his arm.
It was covered in burn scars, marks of a craftsman's years of toil.
"We're just asking for fair pay for our labor. You know how the world's screwed us over."
Lies.
They earned top coin for their skills.
But few are content with their lot.
And words any craftsman would relate to lit up the youth's face.
"Right, yeah! We're just demanding fair compensation!"
Gold chuckled inwardly—stupid fuck—as the kid bought it.
"But Pavilion Master."
The one-eyed craftsman's voice echoed through the hall.
His face trembled with unease.
"Even so... is this okay? You saw what happened to those Western long-noses' magic tower."
The one-eyed man shuddered as he spoke.
Remembering Shihanbu's broadcast.
The elves' deranged faces charging the Crimson Magic Tower right after Shihanbu's kidnapping.
"Wh-what if the elves come storming in...?"
Gold snorted.
"Hmph! Think the elves would come all the way to the Central Plains? Besides, that was then—this is now."
Back then, the elves gathered because Shihanbu was there.
They weren't there to rescue—he was the one they wanted to capture.
Situations had changed.
"Even if any show up, it'd just be a few obsessed ones. We can handle that much..."
Trailing off, Gold jerked his chin backward.
Masked warriors leaned against the walls there.
Ten of them.
All first-rate masters.
Elite assassins from the Killer Network.
"They won't get past those guys."
Even so, the one-eyed craftsman's expression stayed troubled.
The reason was simple.
"...Word is, among Shihanbu's fans, the Snow Girl's the Ice Palace Lord, and the Heavenly Demon who fought Wind Punishment Old Fist is the real deal. They say both dote on him hardcore..."
Gold scoffed again.
He'd heard the rumors.
And he was dead sure they were bullshit.
"What nonsense."
He recalled his trip to the Ice Palace five years back.
He'd caught a distant glimpse of its lord then.
A woman of absolute beauty, as her title Ice Flower suggested.
But her eyes were utterly dead.
Breathing, yet empty—a hollow shell with nothing inside.
A corpse barely animated by a single purpose.
Even now, the memory sent chills down his spine. Alive, but already dead.
"You expect a woman like that to come running the second she sees a stream, begging for baby batter? Get real!"
"Y-yeah, when you put it like that."
"Brilliant insight, Pavilion Master!"
Gold puffed up at the craftsmen’s praise.
The one-eyed man pressed on.
"Wh-what about the Heavenly Demon, then?"
The Heavenly Demon.
The supreme master who'd made her name battling the previous generation's top expert, Wind Punishment Old Fist.
The white-masked figure he'd begged to take as his disciple.
She'd shaken the world alongside him for a time.
And some woman on the Gallery claimed to be her under that nick, but...
"Go search the Heavenly Demon's old posts right now."
At Gold's words, they all opened the Gallery.
Soon, they fell silent.
📰 Hehe! Had a Feast with My Disciples Today. -(Photo of grilled mushrooms) Luckily stumbled on a wild mushroom patch. Want some? Come to the Divine Cult! In a dilapidated hall on the brink of collapse...
People dressed like beggars from the Beggars' Sect laughed, holding mushrooms.
No one there still feared the Heavenly Demon after seeing that.
Rumors said she drew sword aura like taffy—an absolute powerhouse.
No one with that might would live so pathetically.
"See? No more worries. What can elves from afar or that guy on the Abandoned Continent do?!"
With that, Gold dispelled the craftsmen’s fears.
He pulled a bottle from under the desk.
"Let's have a drink and wait for the surrender post!"
As the liquor slowly made the rounds...
BAM—
Someone smashed through the door of the craftsmen’s hall.