Chapter 109
Chapter 109.
"0.1%... It seems the Dragon Lord has evaluated the Heavenly Demon very highly."
"Is that high?"
"From what I know, there are only a few talented individuals who have been measured with this level of value. And they are all working as Dragon Knights in the core of Golden Fragrance."
Dragon Knight is what now?.
Is this telling me to live as a dragon's knight?
Lee Ganghan, who didn't know much about this, showed a lukewarm reaction, but.
"To become a Dragon Knight..."
"A human?"
"Hasn't the Dragon Lord evaluated him too highly?"
"No... considering that he confronted the Transcendent Gershu, I think this level of evaluation is appropriate."
"Right. If he's truly someone who will become a Transcendent, wouldn't 0.1% be worth investing?"
"But he's human?"
The Goblin Merchants who had been listening to this around them got excited instead and continued their heated debate.
Meanwhile,
"H-Heavenly Demon, how about going to Golden Fragrance? If you become a Dragon Knight, you'll become part of Golden Fragrance's highest echelon. You'll serve the Dragon Lord closely and obtain an ageless body!"
The Goblin Chief, even more excited himself, began passionately explaining to Lee Ganghan what benefits came with becoming a Dragon Knight.
From what he roughly heard, aging would stop and he'd live in a healthy physical state, and since the Dragon Lord would provide support, there would be no money worries at all.
"Here, keeping concubines is also unlimited! There are absolutely no restrictions!"
"That's not particularly important."
"Oh my...! That's the best benefit!"
"Ignore that guy. He got kicked out for causing trouble like that."
When the Golden Tooth Goblin said this while staring intently at the Goblin Chief, the chief hurriedly shut his mouth.
'The Golden Tooth side definitely seems to have more authority than the chief.'
Lee Ganghan watched the two for a moment, then.
"Inventory."
He opened his inventory.
"I'll store it in my inventory for now."
"Ah... Heavenly Demon! Aren't you going now?"
"No."
He understood that the Gold Dragon Lord would treat him well, but there was no need to leave Earth and go to another world.
Still, since he received the invitation, he should store it in his inventory.
"Golden Fragrance is really a good place... Especially if you go as a Dragon Knight, it's heaven...!"
The Goblin Chief regretfully tried to explain the advantages of Golden Fragrance again, but Lee Ganghan told him.
"I have no intention of going now, so stop talking about it."
"Yes, yep!"
"You don't have to use the invitation right now. If humanity later faces hardship with no escape route visible, it won't be too late to use it then. You should make maximum effort to protect your homeland, so you won't get homesick later."
Make maximum effort as part of humanity first, and if that doesn't work out, break the invitation and escape?
'Somehow it feels like he's certain humanity will face hardship.'
Well, since other races had placed so many occupation reservations, it wouldn't be unreasonable to predict that.
"I understand."
"Then since the invitation delivery is complete, I'll withdraw now..."
Swoosh.
The Golden Tooth Goblin bowed his head in greeting, then.
Paaaaat...!
His body was dyed golden, and soon his form disappeared.
'I came to entrust TP to the chief, but many things happened.'
He also learned that 3rd place in the Reserve League was called 'Golden Fragrance' and realized that the leader there was a Gold Dragon Lord.
Lee Ganghan thought it was good that he visited Ten Thousand Demon Battle before entering the First Tower, then.
"Chief, buy some more stolen goods. I'll entrust you with TP."
He carried out his original purpose for visiting.
"Ah! Yes! I understand. Should I look for high-grade equipment again this time?"
"Yeah. Find something decent if you have it. But also purchase C and D-grade equipment for now, there's somewhere that needs it."
"Ah, yep. I understand. But..."
Swoosh.
The Goblin Chief looked at the merchants around him with a somewhat troubled expression.
Why was he acting like that, but.
"Kik kik. Chief, you don't need to worry too much."
"How could we charge expensive prices to someone who will become a Dragon Knight?"
"We'll supply human race stolen goods at the same price as last time, so just expand the warehouse."
Hearing the Goblin Merchants' words, he could understand why they were acting that way.
'Ah. Earlier I essentially appealed to the merchants that I needed goods.'
From the Goblin Merchants' perspective, human race stolen goods equipment that was being disposed of at low prices because it was useless - since Lee Ganghan had publicly stated he needed it, the merchants would have tried to sell it at higher prices.
But because of the 'invitation' he received earlier, the Goblin Merchants were convinced he would eventually come to Golden Fragrance and become a Dragon Knight, so they said they'd charge the same price.
'Dragon Knight must be a position with that much weight in Golden Fragrance.'
The invitation - he should keep it in his inventory for now.
Lee Ganghan thought this way, then remembered the Orc equipment.
"Ah, right. Can you sell this here too?"
He took out the 2 S-grade equipment and 1 A-grade accessory he got from the Orc Warlord.
"Ohhh..."
"This is equipment from an Orc Warlord."
"Did it drop after going on an invasion and getting suppressed?"
"I'll buy this!"
The Goblin Merchants showed intense interest in this equipment.
"Orc equipment is popular."
"Orcs have steady demand after all."
Well, if they're ranked 4th, they'd be stable, so that makes sense.
"If I entrust TP here too, I could purchase quite a lot of equipment, right?"
"Ah. Heavenly Demon, if you sell the Orc equipment, you probably don't need to entrust TP. Actually, the warehouse space isn't that wide, so just the proceeds from selling the Orc equipment would be enough to secure equipment."
"Really?"
Then there's no need to entrust it right now.
When Lee Ganghan nodded, the Goblin Chief made a request as if he just remembered.
"Ah. But would it be possible to upgrade the stolen goods market further here? It would be good if we could expand the warehouse and increase the market size."
"Wait a moment."
At those words, Lee Ganghan opened the Ten Thousand Demon Battle function and pressed the stolen goods market.
[To upgrade 'Goblin's Stolen Goods Market' to Lv.3, the following conditions must be met.]
1. Achieve daily transaction volume of 1 million TP or more in the stolen goods market
2. Player grade Silver or higher
The upgrade conditions appeared.
'1 million TP in transaction volume should be possible if I sell the Orc equipment. And Silver, I can get that tomorrow by running towers.'
The stolen goods market upgrade conditions were definitely on the easy side to achieve.
Lee Ganghan looked at the two items and spoke.
"I need to become Silver to upgrade. I'll do it tomorrow."
"Yep! I understand!"
"Then keep working on the transactions. I'm entrusting you?"
"Yes! I'll do my utmost to make the transactions successful!"
The Goblin Chief was full of energy.
Lee Ganghan patted his shoulder a couple times, then.
'Since I'm here, I should take a look around.'
He opened Ten Thousand Demon Battle and opened a portal to the central area where the Sacred Fire was.
***
The center of Ten Thousand Demon Battle.
'The Sacred Fire has definitely grown bigger.'
Even when looking at the Ten Thousand Demon Battle screen, it felt like it had grown, but when he actually came in and looked directly at the white flame, he could really feel how much it had grown.
If before it was about the size of a large campfire, now the flames were soaring as if trying to reach the sky, burning fiercely.
When Lee Ganghan looked at such a Sacred Fire.
Ding.
[The Sacred Fire is evolving from 'Dim Flame' state to 'Clear Blaze'...]
[It will take 88 hours until the upgrade is complete.]
A message about the Sacred Fire's state appeared.
Compared to when he checked right after the battle with Gershu, it seemed 12 hours had already passed.
'It'll upgrade soon.'
Lee Ganghan thought this way while looking around the Sacred Fire.
Whether the Sacred Fire's flames grew stronger or not, the Spirit of Heavenly Sword paid no attention and remained stuck in the ground in a sleeping state.
'He's not waking up this time.'
When he came after being trapped for a week, the spirit at least came out of the sword and spoke to him, but this time he was sleeping soundly throughout.
'Let's let him sleep.'
He'd summon him in the First Tower in a bit anyway, so he should sleep until then.
As Lee Ganghan thought this way and left the sword, walking toward the Heavenly Mandate Tower.
"H-Heavenly Demon!"
Karana, who had been crouching nearby with a pale face, jumped up.
"Y-you're alive! Even after meeting that person...!"
When entering the tower core, Karana had been blocked at the door and couldn't enter.
While the Goblin Chief knew he had won in advance through interactions with the Goblin Merchants and bowed grandly, Karana had been restless and only now felt relieved seeing Lee Ganghan's appearance.
"Well, I was really lucky to win."
"You won... against that person?"
Perhaps because she knew of Gershu's transcendent strength, when Lee Ganghan said he had defeated him, Karana's eyes widened.
"Well, it was more like I broke the core rather than actually winning, but the tower counted it as a victory anyway."
"Ah. I see... That's a relief..."
When he said he won by breaking the tower core, as if it finally made sense, she nodded with a dazed expression.
"So do you remember anything?"
Gershu, who called Karana 'daughter' but confidently said he discarded her because she was inadequate.
At Lee Ganghan's question, she shook her head with a gloomy expression.
"The thing is... I can only remember a little. It's true that I was abandoned by my teacher, but I can't remember the detailed process."
"Hmm. About being discarded?"
"Yes..."
"Calling you daughter but being merciless."
"Teacher... considers all disciples as sons and daughters. Of course, none of the shamans dare to call him father."
Only Gershu called his disciples sons and daughters, but the shamans who were actually disciples all properly addressed him as teacher.
So it wasn't a blood relationship.
"But when I first saw you, didn't you say you were a descendant of the Gershu Royal Family? Then wouldn't that be a blood relationship?"
"When you become the Great Sorcerer's disciple, you can have your name registered in the royal family. Shamans are royal family members."
"I see."
Lee Ganghan was conversing with her when he suddenly noticed something strange.
"You're not making the chk sound."
"Huh?"
"No, you usually made Orc sounds."
"Ah... that's because..."
At those words, Karana hung her head low.
"...I'm confused about whether I'm really an Orc. Actually, the chk sound isn't something I make naturally like an Orc, but something I deliberately make."
"Well, I knew that from the beginning."
"D-did you?"
Karana bared her teeth and pointed to her lower canines.
"Orcs have developed lower jaw canines. So even when closing their mouths, there's a slight gap between the canines. Air escapes through this, naturally making a chk sound."
"Ah... right. You know in detail."
"That's not all! The nose is flat but has wide, flat nasal cavities inside, so when air passes through there, it makes chk, chweek exhaling sounds. My kind of nose doesn't make those sounds..."
The chk, gurgle sounds that Orcs make - had she analyzed like this to figure out why she couldn't make them naturally?
Karana had a straight nose that met human aesthetic standards, but she was pressing on her own nose as if dissatisfied with it, making a dejected expression.
"...Am I really not an Orc? Am I really an Elf?"
"Just looking at your appearance, yes."
"But from birth, I belonged to the Orcs... I don't remember clearly, but I feel like I definitely did quite a lot as an Orc..."
Even though 'Blind Faith' was lifted from her status, it seemed her identity as an Orc hadn't completely disappeared.
'Besides, when I brought her to Ten Thousand Demon Battle, she showed up as Mixed-blood Elf.'
The designation 'Mixed-blood Elf' probably wasn't given for no reason.
Lee Ganghan looked at Karana, who was staring only at the ground with a dark expression, then.
'Ah. Right.'
He suddenly remembered one of the Orc-exclusive items he had given to the chief earlier.
'Earring Blessed by Shaman - if she equips that, wouldn't we know for sure?'
The earring that increased strength by 1 and increased health recovery speed when equipped by the race 'Orc'.
If she equipped that, she could feel whether Orc racial characteristics applied or not.
"Wait here for a moment, I'll be right back."
"Huh...?"
Flash!
When Lee Ganghan opened a portal, Karana just blinked, then.
Paaaaat...!
When he emerged from the portal again not long after.
"...What are you trying to do?"
She spoke in a weak voice.
Lee Ganghan, to her.
Swoosh.
"Try wearing this."
He handed her the Earring Blessed by Shaman.