Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: The Appearance of the Venomous Insect Legion (2)
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‘First, I need to match their numbers.’
It was impossible to grow a one-man army through quality right now.
So, he had to push through with quantity instead, right?
But even so.
‘I can’t fill it with just any riffraff.’
At minimum, level 600 or higher.
Anything less than that wouldn’t satisfy him.
‘If only I had enough stats.’
He could have turned all the elites of Kabbal Guild and Zhonghua Guild into summons.
But due to stat shortages, he’d had to give up on that.
‘By now, even Hwan-do is gone, and Baek-do has scattered completely.’
He had no choice but to fill the shortage of summons with monsters.
Hunting grounds weren’t an issue.
Why?
Because Zhonghua Guild had the full backing of the Mightier Kingdom.
He could just use the hunting grounds managed by the Mightier Kingdom in Zhonghua Guild’s name.
‘Later, I’ll make it so nations can’t control hunting grounds anymore.’
It wasn’t just the Mightier Kingdom; every nation in the Atlantis Dimension enforced the same policy.
For now, there was no solution.
‘I need to make those guys give up on controlling hunting grounds of their own accord.’
This required brains, not brawn.
No matter how strong Kang Hyun-soo became,
he couldn’t force every nation in the Atlantis Dimension to bend to his will.
‘Their lust for power is beyond imagination.’
If he tried?
It would spark war between Kang Hyun-soo and the nations.
‘I can’t just slaughter them all.’
The regular armies of each nation in the Atlantis Dimension were the finest meat shields against the Demon King’s army.
They had high overall quality and the largest numbers.
It would be foolish to eliminate such valuable resources with his own hands.
‘First, let’s build up strength.’
In just over a year since regressing, Kang Hyun-soo had achieved tremendous results.
His level was 0,
but his stats were on par with a level 400 player.
He’d taken the Sand Emperor and Earth Emperor under his wing,
turned the Dragon King, Knight of Flames, Sword Ghost, One Kill Fist, and Magic Knight into summons,
and even acquired the Demon-Exterminating Spear Jin Gu-pyeong and Zhonghua Guild.
All this in just over a year since regressing.
‘But I can’t be satisfied with just this much.’
For Kang Hyun-soo, this was only the beginning.
Kang Hyun-soo took Song Ha-na and the Earth Emperor back to hunting.
The hunting grounds were deserted.
Thanks to the main forces of Zhonghua Guild and Kabbal Guild largely wiping each other out.
Kang Hyun-soo increased his summons whenever his stats allowed,
while Song Ha-na and the Earth Emperor quickly leveled up and grew.
Just like that, a year passed in the blink of an eye.
* * *
‘Now it’s time for the Venomous Insect Legion to make their move.’
During that year of hunting, Kang Hyun-soo had steadily expanded his Guopi fields.
With Zhonghua Guild’s cooperation, it had been even easier.
Zhonghua Guild had suffered massive losses in the all-out war with Kabbal Guild a year ago,
but in just one year, they’d recovered most of their former glory.
Guild Master Demon-Exterminating Spear Jin Gu-pyeong had shown astonishing prowess against enemies targeting Zhonghua Guild, earning the new title of Demon-Exterminating Spear King.
It was thanks to the SSS-Rank item Fenrir’s Fang and the buffs from Kang Hyun-soo’s Commander Appointment and Commander’s Blessing,
but as a result, Demon-Exterminating Spear King Jin Gu-pyeong stably filled the vacancy left by Dragon King Kyung Wi-gang.
Additionally, Sword Sovereign Ju Wi-cheon, with Zhonghua Guild’s full support, grew rapidly, acquiring the title Sword Demon and ascending to named player status faster than before the regression.
Beyond Ju Wi-cheon, newly recruited and growing players had increased their named players and rankers to a total of seven.
Of course, no matter how many they added,
their overall quality was much lower than a year ago.
But by swallowing up Kabbal Guild’s hunting grounds as well, their scale was even larger than before.
So it wasn’t surprising that Zhonghua Guild appeared to have fully recovered its former glory.
‘Without my help, they would’ve collapsed long ago.’
Kang Hyun-soo had lent his strength to Zhonghua Guild through his summons.
Thanks to that, Zhonghua Guild endured the checks from other major guilds in the Mightier Kingdom, like Gold Guild and Red Flower Guild.
Without Kang Hyun-soo’s help?
They would’ve gradually lost their interests and been demoted from major guild to mid-tier guild status.
‘They’ve just been stockpiling in the warehouse until now, but now they’ll sell in bulk.’
Guopi would become Kang Hyun-soo’s reliable cash cow.
‘The Venomous Insect Legion will keep appearing from now on.’
For mid-to-low-level players, Guopi was an essential item they had to carry while hunting.
Considering the number of mid-to-low-level players in the Atlantis Dimension?
The profits would be like scooping money with an excavator, not just a rake.
‘If I leave it to that guy, he’ll handle it perfectly.’
There was one target Kang Hyun-soo planned to recruit.
The man called the Golden Lord before the regression.
‘He was impressive.’
He was a healer.
But not with titles like Saint of Light or Savior of the Battlefield.
He had the out-of-place title of Golden Lord.
‘He’s probably thriving right now.’
The Golden Lord was a god of commerce.
Especially as an Atlantis native who’d early on taken a liking to Earth culture.
‘Who would’ve thought he’d start an insurance company in the Atlantis Dimension.’
Targeting players who could die at any moment, no less.
Everyone thought he was deliberately trying to fail.
‘But he succeeded big time with casualty insurance.’
The Golden Lord was a healer.
Naturally, he could heal.
Typically, when an Atlantis native awakened as a healer?
They’d choose to join the kingdom’s army or a major guild.
But the Golden Lord, head of a merchant family, made a different choice.
He hired players for his trading company, hunted with them to level up,
and once at a decent level, started an insurance company selling casualty insurance.
By paying premiums, if the player suffered severe injuries, he’d heal them personally, building his customer base that way.
‘Other healers mocked him as an idiot.’
Healers were a great job for making big money.
People with severe injuries would come begging with cash in hand.
Cast one heal skill after taking the money?
You could rake in huge profits.
But he was selling that right for pennies, so to other healers, the Golden Lord looked like the world’s biggest fool.
In truth, the casualty insurance run by healer Golden Lord was a business that couldn’t fail even if it tried.
But there was still a chance of losses.
If he didn’t make as much profit as charging top dollar like other healers?
He’d be giving away healing rights for cheap.
However.
Casualty insurance sales were a massive hit.
‘No one gets injured because they want to.’
Unlike on Earth, where you get payout money for injuries, this was direct healing, so no reason for insurance fraud.
Plus, players often died from severe injuries while hunting monsters.
Even with party members, it was the same.
In a near party wipe, who has the presence of mind to care for a severely injured comrade?
Many paid premiums, but few needed treatment, so of course it was a jackpot.
The Golden Lord even sold casualty insurance to non-players.
Another massive hit.
The Golden Lord acquired a potion crafting workshop and hired more healers, expanding his business further.
As a result, the current Golden Lord, not yet past thirty, had risen to the ranks of Saclant Empire’s top ten merchants.
However.
‘Soon, he’ll go completely bankrupt.’
The Venomous Insect Legion’s appearance was hell itself for the Golden Lord, who’d soared through casualty insurance.
Injured patients who didn’t die but survived, lining up demanding treatment.
Treating them all with potions from the workshop and a few hired healers was practically impossible.
‘The deficits were enormous.’
The Golden Lord healing personally cost nothing,
but producing potions required labor and material costs.
Maintaining healers in other regions cost a fortune too.
‘He went under in the end.’
Overwhelmed by patients and refund demands from untreated players, the Golden Lord, who’d reached Saclant Empire’s top ten merchants, ultimately collapsed.
‘Though he made a miraculous comeback after.’
It took far too long to recover.
‘A full ten years.’
Two reasons.
First, the debts from the Venomous Insect Legion were too massive.
Second, refunding premiums to those who’d canceled insurance prevented him from saving money, whether working or succeeding in business.
‘But he succeeded in the end.’
After the Venomous Insect Legion saddled him with huge debts and he refunded all insurance premiums.
The Golden Lord made a splendid revival.
‘It’ll be similar this time.’
But there was a difference.
Kang Hyun-soo was mass-producing Guopi.
However.
‘If he can’t buy it, it’s over.’
If the Golden Lord couldn’t buy Guopi in bulk from Kang Hyun-soo?
He’d collapse just like before the regression.
‘It’s plenty feasible.’
Use Guopi as bait to bring the Golden Lord under his command.
Then entrust him with the money.
The Golden Lord would grow it reliably.
‘Even though he failed once.’
It wasn’t really his fault, but due to the unexpected variable of the Venomous Insect Legion.
Despite that setback.
He upheld his credit by spending ten years repaying massive debts and fully refunding casualty insurance premiums.
‘He becomes the Atlantis Dimension’s greatest merchant in the end.’
* * *
Charles’ party hunted diligently, focusing on monsters.
Weeeeng!
Then, with a strange wing-flapping sound, a bee-like monster appeared.
“What’s that?”
“First time seeing this monster.”
First time or not, a monster was a monster.
Charles’ party easily took down the bee-like monster.
The problem was.
Weeeeeeng!
They lived in swarms like bees.
“Block them!”
“Kill them!”
“Everyone, hang in there! These guys aren’t tough!”
Fortunately, Charles’ party hunted the swarm of bee-like monsters without much damage.
“These aren’t bad. Plenty of residual mana to absorb, and they’re relatively weak.”
Afterward, more insect-type monsters appeared,
but Charles’ party repelled them easily without issue.
And the next day.
Charles’ party collapsed with persistent high fever and stomach pains.
Such incidents happened simultaneously across the Atlantis Dimension.
Naturally, the Saclant Empire, where the Golden Lord operated, couldn’t stop the Venomous Insect Legion’s assault either.
“Patients are flooding in, Guild Master!”
Gold Road Trading Company head Saemaal couldn’t catch his breath amid the sudden chaos days ago.
Severe injury cases, usually one per day if any, now numbered 400-500.
The main branch was relatively better off.
The branches were overrun with even more patients, complete mayhem.
‘It’s impossible to treat them all.’
Patients arrived faster than mana recovered,
faster than skill cooldowns reset.
Naturally, patients began piling up.
But that wasn’t the only problem.
“The price of herbs for antidote potions has risen 30 times!”
“Buy them anyway!”
Given time, it could be 300 times.
“The potion craftsmen say they’ll pay the penalty and break the contract unless you raise wages threefold!”
“Raise it threefold! But raise the penalty tenfold!”
He wanted to make it a hundredfold,
but then the craftsmen might pay the penalty and bail.
“The branch healers say they’ll quit immediately unless you raise wages tenfold!”
“Raise it!”
Even 20 or 30 times over, he had to keep the healers.
‘I need a solution.’
He’d doused the immediate fire with accumulated funds,
but continuing like this meant certain bankruptcy.
The problem was there was no solution.
A simultaneous crisis across the Atlantis Dimension left no room for countermeasures.
‘Am I going under like this?’
The way to avoid ruin was to flee in the night with the casualty insurance premiums.
But that would lead to even greater ruin.
A merchant without credit was finished.
Then.
“They say Guopi, the medicinal herb from the Mightier Kingdom—a vassal of the Rokto Empire—is being distributed in bulk!”
Fortunately, a lifeline appeared.