Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Sense of Crisis, Assembly Begins
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Something feels off.
A chill brushes against the skin, morphing into an ominous dread.
As someone who's lived life at the top of a major guild, you can't help but sense it instinctively.
Stay still any longer, and you'll be too late.
You'll get left behind and culled.
[Breaking news just in: The Maris expedition team dispatched by the new guild Molrang has broken through the 40th floor. With a pace over 20 days faster than the previous record, many are filled with anticipation...]
An insanely fast pace.
It's not just about the expedition team.
Truth be told, any of the top five guilds could have pulled off that speed.
Nine out of ten things in the world run on money, so what's impossible with enough investment?
For the top five guilds, though, it was just an act with no real gains.
That's why it was a pretty fitting strategy for a new guild like Molrang.
[A recent survey shows that in guild preference polls, Molrang has taken a commanding lead.]
Molrang news pops up every other day. Across every media outlet in the world.
'Has there ever been a guild that bulked up this fast?'
Maybe Hwayeon back in the day.
No, even Hwayeon would pale in comparison to Molrang.
"......"
His head starts to ache.
The man, guild master of Zenith—one of the top five guilds—rubbed his temples.
His worries were far from trivial.
From the outside, Zenith looked like a thriving guild, but he saw things differently.
Just last week, Zenith had been overtaken by White Night in the guild rankings. A humiliation after five long years.
[Domestic Guild Rankings - Week 3 of April]
1st: New Moon / 98.57
2nd: Quantum / 97.11
3rd: Hwayeon / 95.01
4th: White Night / 94.89
5th: Zenith / 94.22
And now, the gap was starting to widen.
Falling behind is one thing, but boosting scores in a short time is incredibly tough.
Yet White Night had steadily climbed over the past few months.
Goes to show you never know what the world might throw at you.
There was a time they dipped to 89 points, drawing sneers about dropping out of the top five.
And the massive driving force behind White Night's surge—
11th: Molrang / 82.17 (▲2)
—was, naturally, their backer, Molrang Mall.
The ability to create something out of nothing.
That uniqueness was expected to propel Molrang Mall into a sort of 'mega corp' in the future.
The man was one of those who thought so.
But he hadn't anticipated the speed.
FHA contract signed.
Production volume increased 10-fold.
Official guild established.
Mass recruitment of pro engravers.
Mass hunter recruitment under the guise of an expedition team.
All this in barely two months.
And it wasn't even over.
[Molrang Recruiting New Family Members!][Posted by: DragonWantToRaiseRightNow]
Hello.
We've been seeing a lot of each other in these parts lately. lol
Another job posting this time.
Details as follows.
*Qualifications
Field A - Proficient in mana manipulation (relevant certifications preferred)
Field B - Skilled in customer service (relevant experience preferred)
Field C - Pilots or those with skydiving experience
*Contract Details
-No contract work; full-time positions
-Job details classified / separate training upon hiring
*Number of Hires
-TBD / varies by field
"Hmm......"
What are they scheming this time?
Normally, when the top five guilds launch a big project, rumors start flying.
Too many people love digging for info.
Even without that, when giants move, it's impossible to hide.
Ding!
[Han Secretary: Investigation results report.]
[Me: Yeah, what've we got?]
[Han Secretary: No info on Molrang side at all.]
[Me: Nothing?]
[Han Secretary: Yes. Hwayeon tried digging through brokers, but no dice from what we can tell.]
But somehow, Molrang boasted ironclad security.
[Me: What about White Night?]
So they went with Plan B.
Scope out White Night's moves.
[Han Secretary: Intel says they're building something inside a gate they own.]
[Me: Building what?]
[Han Secretary: Haven't pinned that down yet. But a ton of technical staff are involved. Some from Quantum too, apparently.]
Like with Molrang Park, three guilds teaming up again.
Zenith had no choice but to feel the crisis.
White Night and Quantum riding the wave upward was obvious.
Meanwhile, Hwayeon—on bad terms with Molrang—would keep sliding down.
So where did that leave Zenith?
They'd played it safe and lukewarm so far, but it was time to act.
As friendly toward Molrang as possible.
"Haa......"
Wrinkles spread across the guild master's brow. No good ideas coming to mind.
What offer would make Molrang see value?
Zenith.
A guild whose main revenue came from special gate management and operating airports and ports.
No matter how he racked his brain, nothing business-wise clicked.
Overseas trade, maybe? But they didn't operate ships themselves.
"......Tricky."
His worries deepened, but no answers emerged.
**
The schedule was set.
Three months from now, off to America.
To enjoy a welcome banquet with the U.S. President.
So he decided.
On that very day, he'd etch Molrang's greatness into the minds of the world.
Of course, it wouldn't be easy.
What he'd planned was a massive project unlike anything before.
'Time's a bit tight.'
Already swamped, now squeezing even more into the day.
Modeling gigs? Full stop.
Fans lamented the lack of new photoshoots...
Click!
[Have a happy day, everyone!]
Instead, he posted daily life snaps every three days.
Believe it or not, this was harder than pro shoots?
He had to handle all the outfits himself.
Couldn't disappoint the fans, right?
Thanks to that, he had to dig out those clothes Hayoung had bought ages ago.
The ones she'd begged him to wear someday...!
Stuff buried deep in the closet...!
Some saw the light of day.
A sort of seal release.
Just standing in front of the mirror in them made his face heat up—let alone snapping pics?
If the next photobook flopped, he'd quit modeling for good.
Click!
"Hmm....... This one's good!"
After uploading today's pic, he scrolled through the endless praise comments, savoring about 1,000 to fill his daily self-esteem quota.
With modeling quota met, the rest of the tasks were straightforward.
Clang! Clang!
Mornings focused on Molrangtail production.
Minimal breaks, cranking out the full daily quota.
"Okay, done done done!"
11:30 a.m.
Blacksmithing wrapped—time to pour energy into the project.
Woo-ee!
Rustle—Mini dumped a pile of mana stones at his feet.
Mana stones mined from the World Turtle.
"Take those to Hayoung unnie?"
Woo-ee!
Mini crammed the stones back into Molrangtori, then waddled up the stairs.
Hayoung handled special engraving for those.
Fusing multiple stones into one big one.
He'd doubted it at first.
'But it's not impossible.'
Engravers upgrade low-grade stones to high-grade; fusing them should be doable.
An age-old technique steeped in history and tradition, so trust her.
As Mini headed to the second floor, another descended like a baton pass.
Thud! Thud!
Light-footed yet swaggering steps.
The bipedal walk still awkward—Seolbaek, disguised as him, spread a massive sheet across the factory floor.
Enormous size.
Blue paper covering nearly half the factory floor.
"Alright, let's get started?"
Kiiing!
Work piled up atop the blueprint, the master plan.
He shaped mana clumps per the design; Seolbaek received them, kneading them steady.
Stabilizing the mana.
One fragment born.
Like a building block, really.
Assemble them to summon the beast.
Just had to make the blocks from scratch.
Nyaaang!
Like breeding pudding slimes, he jabbed the fragment into Kami's grown tentacles.
To replicate it.
Similar functional parts could share fragments.
'Making them one by one would take decades, even centuries.'
Simple calc from the blueprint: 200 million fragments needed for the summon.
Sure, skip fragments and summon direct—way faster.
But less precise.
If it were just a dozens-of-meters dragon, he'd have done that.
This summon, though: a beast slightly bigger than the World Turtle.
Size demanded perfection.
In hindsight, maybe he bit off too much.
Pop!
"Ow......! Failed again!"
Mismatch in generation?
Fragments often failed to bond organically.
Like forcing ill-fitting blocks together.
If they just didn't fit, fine.
But clashing mana clumps sparked nasty explosions.
Pop!
Boom!
......This gonna be okay?
Not sure he'll hit the deadline.