Chapter 23
Chapter 23.
[Heavenly Demon, how exactly... did you construct the altar?]
Karana inside the communication screen.
Was touching the building made of blood-red bones while tears welled up in her eyes.
The Orc Shaman's Altar.
It was built just because he thought 'let's just settle for this instead of living on Elf land'.
'I didn't know she would like it this much.'
Lee Ganghan answered the question while watching Karana stroking the bones with a moved expression.
"They gave me a blueprint as an SSS+ reward."
[Tsk. A blueprint...? Heavenly Demon, I'm in your debt. Since it's an SSS+ reward and a good blueprint for me came out.]
"Well, you don't need to think about it that way. I also benefit when you settle here."
Since he had bragged earlier about investing more than half his fortune.
There was no need to brag again about choosing the blueprint instead of 100,000 TP.
Lee Ganghan spoke nicely, saying he also gained from it, but.
[Tsk. No. Didn't you say you put more than half your fortune here? I received an immeasurable favor...]
Karana, who remembered Lee Ganghan's wording from earlier.
[And Orcs always repay their debts.]
Looked at the communication screen with a solemn expression.
[Tsk. That thing earlier... Heavenly Demon Eternal, Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate, would that be good for you?]
"That thing?"
Lee Ganghan recalled the message when he had subjugated Karana.
[You have subjugated a 'Named Existence'.]
[The opponent has not completely surrendered. Heavenly Demon Divine Art is not enhanced.]
Since the opponent had not completely surrendered.
Heavenly Demon Eternal, Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate had no enhancement effect.
Moreover, as could be seen from his friend Kim Juyeong's case too.
When the other party bowed half-heartedly, it didn't have much effect.
But.
'It seems like there might be some sincerity this time?'
Karana, who thought she had received a 'favor' from Lee Ganghan after seeing the Orc Shaman's Altar.
And the story about putting in half his fortune earlier seemed to have worked effectively.
She was voluntarily bringing up the bow that she had said she would never do again.
'Indeed, people need to show off a bit for others to appreciate it.'
Lee Ganghan thought it was good that he brought up the half-fortune story.
And answered Karana's question.
"Well, you don't need to bow a lot. Just do it once with sincerity and it will help me."
[With sincerity...?]
"Yeah. No more, no less, just once with gratitude. Then you'll have repaid the favor."
[Tsk... I understand. Then just this once, I'll bow while thinking of my master.]
Karana, who had removed her hood, bowed with a solemn expression.
[Heavenly Demon Eternal, Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate!]
Unlike before, with a loud voice.
['Mixed-blood Elf Karana' offers sincere worship from the heart.]
Then this message appeared above the Ten Thousand Demon Battle screen.
'Oh. Sincere worship appeared right away.'
The Orc Shaman's Altar must have been that important to Karana.
While Lee Ganghan was quietly examining the message.
Ding.
[The Heavenly Demon Constitution trait is enhanced.][Heavenly Demon Divine Art is enhanced.]
[Two races reside in Ten Thousand Demon Battle.]
[The Heavenly Demon Constitution trait is upgraded to D.]
The Heavenly Demon Constitution trait was enhanced and then upgraded to D, saying two races were residing.
'There are three races in Ten Thousand Demon Battle right now... It seems it wasn't counted until sincere worship appeared.'
Since the Orcs were also forced to bow while Karana was not in her right mind.
It didn't seem to count as 'residing'.
'The Orcs are still in a frenzied state, so receiving their bows would be useless.'
So he had to wait for Karana's experiment to succeed.
And for them to upgrade to Red Orcs.
While Lee Ganghan was analyzing the message like that.
[Did it... help?]
Karana, who had finished bowing, asked cautiously.
"Yeah. It helped a lot. Thank you."
[Ts-tsk...! I-is that so?]
She who was rather awkward at Lee Ganghan's gratitude.
[I won't think I've repaid all the favor with just one bow. So... when I evolve the Orcs into proper Imperial Orcs, I'll help you!]
Promised to help by evolving the Orcs too.
"That sounds good. I'll look forward to it."
Lee Ganghan assigned all four Orcs to her.
"Oh. The Orcs do revive, but they won't revive if they die at level 1. Keep that in mind."
[Tsk. I understand. I'll make sure to succeed before that! Then...]
"Yeah. Work hard."
He ended the communication with Karana, whose eyes had rolled back because she wanted to experiment.
Thanks to the Orc Shaman's Altar.
It was very good that Karana became cooperative, but.
'I spent 400 million in one day.'
Just the TP spent today was 300,000 TP.
And if it wasn't for the Shaman's Altar.
He would have been on the verge of bankruptcy making Elf land and establishing a foundation.
'It was really fortunate that the first one I subjugated was a Goblin.'
The Goblin settlement cost was practically dirt cheap compared to Orcs or Elves.
If the first subordinate he made was a different race, building structures would have been impossible.
'I've somehow managed for now, but I'll need to secure more TP to advance to the next stage.'
Certainly, thanks to the SSS+ reward, he was earning tremendously for Iron grade.
But he was spending everything he earned, or even more, in the Ten Thousand Demon Battle.
When Lee Ganghan was briefly overwhelmed by the emptiness of seeing his account instantly drained.
Brrrrr.
His phone vibrated.
-Kim Juyeong: Hey hey hey
-Kim Juyeong: Send the video right now
-Kim Juyeong: The channel is about to explode!!!!!
Still not working at the company, it seemed.
Kim Juyeong was pestering him to send the video when the tower climbing had just ended.
What sudden explosion?
-Kim Juyeong: Damn, an Elf appeared!
-Kim Juyeong: You need to strike while the iron is hot!
What tide is coming just because one Elf appeared.
Lee Ganghan thought his friend was making too much fuss, but.
-Kim Juyeong: Go check the tower community, your Elf memes are being posted non-stop right now
As Kim Juyeong said, when he entered the tower-related community.
[Today's adventures of the Heavenly Demon whose abilities haven't disappeared]
[Elf joins the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect]
[100 shots from first appearance to bowing scene]
[Neck tattoo, compared with the Orc Shaman's]
The silver-haired Elf.
Photos of Karana were being uploaded as if competing with each other.
***
Heavenly Demon Lee Ganghan.
A player who captured public attention immediately by setting a world record during the tutorial.
But after his trait grade was revealed to be E, his popularity drastically decreased.
He showed impressive performance even after the tutorial.
But the system-certified 'Trait Grade E' worked fatally against him.
So he couldn't draw much public attention.
-Heavenly Demon? Oh, the kid who set the record?
-But he's E grade, right? Won't his ability disappear soon anyway?
-Right. There have been several cases of temporary abilities
An ability that would disappear soon anyway.
Why bother showing interest.
Since many people thought this way, they didn't pay attention to Lee Ganghan.
And even when content about him was occasionally posted.
-So when does the Heavenly Demon's ability end?
-Looking at how ridiculously strong he is, he'll probably just taste Iron and graduate from the tower lol
-Still, living short and thick is better than living thin and long, right?
-What did an Iron scrub live thickly lol
A player who would end at Iron anyway.
Why pay attention, was the majority's sarcasm.
But today.
When the scene of an Elf bowing to the Heavenly Demon was broadcast live.
The interest in him that had been dying down was reigniting.
-The Heavenly Demon is E grade, right. His ability still hasn't disappeared?
-Last time I saw a gif, he was flying around in the sky and made an Elf into a summon too;
-When he makes them bow, he turns the opponent into his summon lol What kind of ridiculous ability does he have
-Shouldn't his ability disappear by the day after tomorrow at this rate?-That's why viewers ask if he's still alive every time they turn on the stream lol
-The Elf is pretty... I hope he summons lots of Elves before his ability disappears...
-I resubscribed to the channel, gotta go watch the Elf heh
Lee Ganghan's channel regaining attention thanks to the Elf.
And as if pouring oil on fire.
Not long after the full video was uploaded.
When a separate Elf special video was uploaded to the Heavenly Demon channel, the view count began to explode.
-Wow... the appearance is really on a different level
-But why does she go tsk tsk, it doesn't suit her;
-Other Elves don't even talk to us lol At least she's talking like this
-For real, why do Elves ignore humans so much when they see them? Can we find out by asking her?
-No no, she thinks she's an Orc... This Elf probably doesn't know either;
Elves that occasionally appeared in Gold and above.
But the Elves that appeared there all showed extreme disgust when they saw humans.
And refused to even talk.
When assigned to the same side as humans in tower missions, they would just give up the mission immediately.
When they met as enemies, they would slaughter humans without question.
The Elves who had been like that.
While the viewers were admiring the Elf.
-Why is the Heavenly Demon's body like that?
-??? What's the problem-So good---;
-But seriously, what drugs did he take to work out? His muscles are crazy lol
Seeing Lee Ganghan tear his shirt in the highlights.
They also paid attention to the body revealed inside.
They had already recognized that he worked out a bit from the muscles glimpsed under his clothes.
But when he unintentionally revealed his upper body.
They saw a more complete physique than expected.
-If the Heavenly Demon wasn't temporary, he would have already gotten lots of advertisement offers
-Can't he summon Elves outside? Then he could shoot a CF with an Elf right now lol
-Would that work? lol If that's possible, the Goblin Chief could pop out too
-Ugh, if that bastard appears in an ad, I'll boycott immediately--;
Lee Ganghan, who regained public attention with the Elf's appearance.
And the places paying attention to him were not limited to Korea.
Tokyo, Japan.
At the Tower Management Agency under the Prime Minister's Office.
Click, click.
"Hehe... Elf, pretty..."
A dull-faced male civil servant.
Was looking at the monitor screen with a goofy expression.
What he was looking at was the silver-haired Elf.
The highlight video that became a hot topic in Korea.
Had somehow spread across the sea to Japan as well.
"I wish she would keep appearing... Can't I see her if the Heavenly Demon's ability disappears?"
As he muttered like that while staring blankly at the Elf's face.
Tap.
Someone tapped him from behind.
"Tanaka, what are you looking at?"
"Ah. Yes, Department Chief?"
"Ho. An Elf? Do they synthesize things like this these days? It looks really real..."
"Ah. This is real. This is TowerTube video, so it can't be synthesized!"
"Really?"
Interested by those words, the department chief who took Tanaka's mouse and moved the video around.
"This player, could it be that Heavenly Demon? The one who set the record?"
"Yes, that's right! After it was revealed he was E grade, interest died down, but it seems he's regaining public attention with the Elf's appearance this time."
"Hmm... He was Korean, right?"
"Yes."
"If it were a few years ago, we could have recruited him."
Korea, which had drastically reduced benefits for players.
Due to that, over the past few years.
Japan was one of the countries that recruited many Korean players.
Unlike Korea, Japan didn't reduce support for players.
"These days, conditions have become similar, so it's hard to recruit. Just look into players from other countries more."
Korea, which started fixing the barn after losing the cow.
And raised conditions to a level similar to Japan.
Now, from the Japanese management office's perspective, rather than investing to recruit Korean players.
It was more efficient to target players from countries with worse economic conditions.
"Plus, he's an E grade trait. His ability will disappear soon, right?"
"That's true, but..."
"Then there's even less need to pay attention. Tanaka, looking at pretty Elves is nice, but shouldn't you focus on work?"
"Yes, yes! I'm sorry!"
"Good."
The department chief scolded his subordinate for slacking off, but.
Click, click.
"If he wasn't temporary, he'd really be tempting..."
Looked carefully at Lee Ganghan's highlight video.
"Right, Tanaka. Since we're already on this channel, could you organize some data on the Heavenly Demon?"
"The Elf... no, about the Heavenly Demon, you mean?"
"Right. Stop looking at that damn Elf and work, work!"
The department chief scolded his dull subordinate like that.
"Heavenly Demon..."
Looked at Lee Ganghan's video with meaningful eyes.
Swish.
Soon turned around.
The Heavenly Demon was still E grade.
He was just temporary after all.
***
Meanwhile.
'Time to sleep is approaching.'
Lee Ganghan, who had finished his day's work, lay down on the bed.
When he woke up yesterday, it had told him the hint for Heavenly Demon Constitution D grade.
'I wonder if it'll give me some information this time too?'
He closed his eyes with some expectation.
Now he would completely lose consciousness.
And wouldn't open his eyes until morning.
Lee Ganghan thought it would be the same kind of night as usual, but.
[The blessing of %&$&$ can no longer dominate you.]
[You awaken.]
The day the Heavenly Demon Constitution grade rose to D.
Lee Ganghan regained consciousness for the first time.