Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: No-Strings Sponsorship (2)
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‘I figured it would be a bit tricky.’
It was an EX-Rank item, after all.
And one made exclusively for demons, no less.
Kang Hyun-soo had assumed Sword King Jang Seok-won would place a high value on it.
He’d been worrying about how to pressure the man into handing it over, how to set the mood just right.
‘But he brings it right to me on a silver platter.’
From Kang Hyun-soo’s perspective, it was obvious.
‘Jackpot.’
But he couldn’t let that show.
“To me, it doesn’t look like it’s worth tens or hundreds of billions of gold. Even being generous, I’d say it’s under a hundred million gold, right?”
“It’s an EX-Rank item! And a weapon designed for greater demons! Even at the lowest estimate, it’s worth at least three hundred million gold! And for Dark Knight, who clashes with the Demon King’s forces so often, I’d say it’s easily worth over a billion gold!”
Sword King Jang Seok-won spat out his passionate rebuttal to Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
He’d been hoping to settle it with a single Tear of the Goddess.
But Kang Hyun-soo’s reaction had been thoroughly underwhelming.
“It might help in fights against the Demon King’s army, but on the flip side, doesn’t that mean it’s useless in every other situation?”
Sword King Jang Seok-won’s attitude grew even more desperate in the face of Kang Hyun-soo’s lukewarm demeanor.
“That’s exactly why it’s the perfect item for Dark Knight, isn’t it? The Tear of the Goddess is worth at least a billion gold, no question. I guarantee it.”
Sword King Jang Seok-won appealed earnestly, his face set in determination.
“Well, yeah, I suppose.”
“Then please, accept it.”
Sword King Jang Seok-won pleaded with Kang Hyun-soo, his eyes brimming with desperate hope.
‘I can pretty much guess what’s going through his head.’
Right now, Sword King Jang Seok-won’s innermost thoughts were probably something like:
-Please just take this and leave, I beg you! He won’t try to take even more after accepting an item worth over a billion gold, right? He’s not that shameless, is he?
‘This is about enough.’
There was no need to push Sword King Jang Seok-won, whom he planned to recruit under his wing someday, into a corner.
‘Mission accomplished, after all.’
Just as Kang Hyun-soo pondered briefly and moved to accept...
“And on top of that, I’ll add a hundred million gold as sponsorship funds for Dark Knight.”
Sword King Jang Seok-won even opened up a bag of money.
‘He must be terrified I’ll take even more items.’
It was only natural, really.
Money could always be earned again.
‘But S-Rank items and above? You can’t buy those with gold.’
They might casually say things like ‘worth tens of millions of gold’ or ‘worth hundreds of millions of gold’ for convenience.
‘Unless they’re desperate for cash, no one sells S-Rank or higher items.’
They just circulate them internally within the guild.
Never let them leak outside.
Unless the guild was on the brink of collapse, that is.
“Thank you. Then I’ll be heading out.”
Sword King Jang Seok-won’s face lit up at Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
He’d narrowly escaped having his guild’s entire item warehouse looted.
-Hyun-soo, everything go well? How’s it over there?
As Kang Hyun-soo stepped out of Balhae Guild’s item warehouse, Song Ha-na’s voice echoed in his mind.
-No need for a show of force?
If there had been, she would have asked, and he would have summoned ten battalion commander-grade summons.
-Nope. They were super friendly. Almost too much. Even gave us two hundred million gold in sponsorship.
-Good to hear. Call me if anything comes up.
-Got it.
A faint smile tugged at Kang Hyun-soo’s lips as he finished his conversation with Song Ha-na.
‘Goryeo Guild’s master, Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu, is as upright as ever.’
Like Balhae Guild, Goryeo Guild was one of Terra Kingdom’s three great guilds, and its master was the Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu.
‘Famous for his righteousness.’
His title wasn’t given lightly.
Not only that—he was a genuinely kind and upright man.
The reason Kang Hyun-soo had sent only Song Ha-na and Tu Huang to Goryeo Guild was his trust in Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu’s character.
Those who disliked him sneered that it was all an act to win favor.
But it was no act.
‘Before regression, he sacrificed his life to protect the weak.’
Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu was a man worthy of universal respect.
Moreover.
Despite his noble character, he’d built Goryeo Guild into a massive force in the强者-dominated Atlantis dimension.
‘Overwhelmingly strong.’
Of course, Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu couldn’t beat the top named players with titles like God, Emperor, Sovereign, Lord, or Saint.
But.
The lower ranks among them?
‘He could give them a run for their money.’
Winning might be impossible, but a draw seemed feasible.
If he had to compare?
‘About on par with Duke Kalmus, called the Guardian Saint of Mulan at home and Mulan’s Protector abroad.’
Among those with king-level titles, he was the strongest.
‘And he has the skill I absolutely need.’
The unique skill that had forged the current Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu.
‘Skill Amplification.’
A cheat skill that massively boosted the power of all possessed skills.
‘In a way, it’s similar to Replica.’
Replica could only unleash 10% of its original power at F-Rank.
But once it grew to EX-Rank?
‘All Replica skills gain 300% power.’
They overlapped in boosting skill power.
However.
‘Replica is limited to Replica skills.’
Skill Amplification, on the other hand?
‘Boosts the power of all possessed skills.’
If he turned Skill Amplification into a Replica?
‘It’d be double amplification.’
The Replica-boosted Skill Amplification would then amplify all possessed skills again.
‘The key is how much it boosts.’
Typically, enhancement skills go from 1% at F-Rank to 45% at EX-Rank.
But outlier skills like Replica?
‘10% to 300%.’
Skill Amplification couldn’t be ordinary.
If it were?
‘Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu wouldn’t be where he is now.’
If Skill Amplification had growth like Replica’s outlier scale?
‘At EX-Rank, all skills gain 300% power.’
Add Replica’s boost on top?
‘900%.’
That’s what you’d get if both Replica and Skill Amplification reached EX-Rank.
‘I wish EX-Rank Skill Amplification could boost EX-Rank Replica’s power, and then EX-Rank Replica could boost EX-Rank Skill Amplification in turn.’
But that was impossible.
‘It’d be infinite growth, basically.’
Endless loops of enhancement?
Skill power wouldn’t stop at 900%—it’d skyrocket to trillions of percent or more.
Then?
‘I could one-shot the Demon King with a single skill.’
If the Gaia System granted players such power?
None of this would have happened in the first place.
‘First things first: meet Shin Chang-hu and secure Skill Amplification.’
And if he luckily recruited Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu under his wing?
Kang Hyun-soo’s forces would surge dramatically.
‘Well, even just a friendly alliance would be fine.’
Of course, before that.
“We’ve assembled all guild members.”
“Let’s begin the inspection.”
He had to wrap things up at Balhae Guild first.
Sizzle!
“It’s a doppelganger!”
“Grab it!”
The identities of the doppelgangers infiltrating Balhae Guild were revealed one by one.
The silver lining amid the misfortune?
‘Not too many of them.’
Compared to eight out of thirty executives being doppelgangers.
Among regular guild members, they were as rare as hen’s teeth.
‘Their goal was to seize control of the leadership, after all.’
It was only natural that doppelgangers weren’t numerous among regular members.
“It’s over.”
Balhae Guild’s master, Sword King Jang Seok-won, spoke with a somber expression.
Even if few in number.
More had fallen victim to doppelgangers’ murders.
‘Can’t blame him for feeling sick about it.’
Even Kang Hyun-soo felt a strange unease.
None were close like Kwak Dong-su.
But doppelgangers had appeared among those whose faces he recognized.
‘Definitely different from before regression.’
The victims killed and impersonated by doppelgangers before regression.
Were different from those now.
‘I’m the cause, probably.’
Kang Hyun-soo’s actions after regression had accelerated the doppelganger legion’s invasion.
Twisting the fates of the casualties.
Some he’d saved from pre-regression deaths at doppelganger hands.
Others, like Kwak Dong-su, whose futures had warped—surviving before but dying now.
‘Sorry.’
Kang Hyun-soo silently apologized to Kwak Dong-su and the other victims.
But nothing changed.
To win the war against the Demon King’s army.
To save the countless lives sacrificed in that process.
To return to Earth.
Kang Hyun-soo would continue twisting the events of the pre-regression timeline.
To prevent that hell from repeating.
“I have somewhere to go for a bit.”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
“Where to, exactly?”
Sword King Jang Seok-won asked with a peculiar expression.
Kang Hyun-soo leaving after taking heaps of items and gold?
That would be fantastic.
But thinking it over?
He’d already given everything he was going to give.
So?
Whether building rapport.
Forming an alliance.
Or receiving aid.
From Balhae Guild’s perspective, they needed something more out of this with Kang Hyun-soo.
“I’m heading to Goryeo Guild.”
Sword King Jang Seok-won’s face brightened at Kang Hyun-soo’s answer.
“Ah, I see. Shall I assign a guide? Or I could escort you personally. We’ll need to discuss future matters with Shin Chang-hu anyway.”
‘His intentions are crystal clear.’
Probably thinking, *You got screwed, so now it’s your turn.*
“Then let’s go together.”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s words.
“Very well, then.”
Sword King Jang Seok-won quickly fell in step.
In the end, Kang Hyun-soo and Sword King Jang Seok-won headed to Goryeo Guild together.
‘I hope he holes up at Goryeo Guild entirely.’
Sword King Jang Seok-won wished Kang Hyun-soo would stay there.
It would prevent annoying follow-ups or further gold and item grabs.
If needed?
He could just go fetch him.
‘How much will he squeeze out of Goryeo Guild? We gave up an EX-Rank item, so they should match that to keep up appearances, right?’
Sword King Jang Seok-won grinned, imagining Kang Hyun-soo’s rampage(?) at Goryeo Guild.
But whether his wish would come true.
Was uncertain.
Unlike Sword King Jang Seok-won, who’d tried to gloss over it with words.
Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu had cheerfully donated two hundred million gold to Dark Knight.
* * *
“You’re saying the head of Dark Knight is coming here personally?”
Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu asked Song Ha-na with a kindly expression.
“Yes, he should arrive soon.”
“Looks like things went well with Balhae Guild. Good to hear. I was worried—Jang Seok-won’s got a strong sense of pride; it couldn’t have been easy.”
Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu had fretted quite a bit upon hearing Dark Knight’s leader had gone to Balhae Guild.
He knew what kind of man Sword King Jang Seok-won was.
‘But it worked out. Of course—Jang Seok-won’s no fool.’
Proud and cunning, sure.
But he judged situations well and had leadership.
And he wasn’t the type to mistreat a benefactor.
“Oh, Balhae Guild’s master said he’s coming along.”
“Sword King Jang Seok-won?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s surprising.”
Though it was due to the doppelgangers’ schemes.
Relations between Balhae Guild and Goryeo Guild had been quite strained lately.
Yet Balhae Guild’s master was personally visiting Goryeo Guild’s guild house?
‘He must realize how serious the situation has become.’
Balhae and Goryeo Guilds had finished their purges.
But other guilds hadn’t.
Doppelgangers could be active across Terra Kingdom—or even extended their reach to neighboring nations.
‘If Jang Seok-won cooperates, it heightens awareness of the doppelganger threat.’
Then?
‘We can prevent more damage faster.’
One of Terra Kingdom’s three great guilds stepping up.
Versus two.
‘It carries different weight.’
He’d worried Sword King Jang Seok-won might downplay the damage for pride’s sake.
But coming here personally? That worry could be set aside.
“Sword King Jang Seok-won of Balhae Guild and Dark Knight have passed through the gates.”
“Then I’ll go greet them myself.”
Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu stepped out of the guild house personally.
Balhae Guild’s master, bearer of a king’s title: Sword King Jang Seok-won.
Dark Knight’s leader, at the forefront against recent Demon King army incursions.
Neither could be taken lightly.
‘Best to build a cooperative relationship while we’re at it.’
The issue was.
‘How to persuade that guy?’
Sword King Jang Seok-won’s pride in his guild and himself was so strong it sometimes bordered on arrogance.
‘Not easy.’
He was mulling how to stroke his ego and convince him when.
“They’re almost here. This way. Ah, there they are. Let’s go.”
That prideful Sword King Jang Seok-won was personally guiding what seemed to be Dark Knight’s leader.
Bowing his waist and using honorifics, no less.
Meanwhile, the presumed Dark Knight leader.
“Got it.”
Accepted the guidance with casual disdain, as if it were his due.
In this utterly unexpected scene.
Benevolent King Shin Chang-hu’s jaw dropped.