Chapter 71
Chapter 71.
"......You won't fight?"
You won't fight because there's no audience.
What the hell is this supposed to mean?
Lee Ganghan looked at the bronze statue with bewildered eyes, but.
Ziiiiing......
A golden light rippled from the crouched bronze statue Nero.
A thick protective barrier formed.
'This would be hard to break easily.'
Even when Lee Ganghan had charged with Heavenly Demon Divine Art activated earlier.
He had bounced off Nero's barrier helplessly.
But the barrier that formed now was much thicker than what he had seen before.
It looked difficult to pierce through easily.
Meanwhile,
-It's not an arena... is this a problem between humans?
-I thought he might break some record but it's not that kind of battle
-Disappointing. Let's leave
In the chat window with less than a hundred people.
Seeing the current situation, it seemed like an uninteresting matter.
They began leaving one by one.
'Are they interested in maps where multiple races share records like in the arena?'
Well, humans fighting among themselves.
It's your business so why should we care, something like that.
As the already small number of viewers disappeared.
[No...... the few spectators that were here are leaving even more!!! You, did you dare try to fight me with such meager star power!?]
From inside the golden barrier, Nero lectured Lee Ganghan while.
Ziiiiing......
He amplified the barrier's thickness even more.
'Breaking through that today would be unreasonable.'
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art activation time was almost over.
And he had used quite a bit of Sacred Fire on the Angel's Sword earlier.
Rather than fighting recklessly, Lee Ganghan looked around.
'Since it's come to this, I should explore the map before it ends.'
The B2 map's name was 'Golden Palace'.
Right now he was confronting that giant bronze statue in this garden-like place.
But if he moved away from the garden's center to the edges, there was a palace.
Lee Ganghan planned to check that out.
Whoosh!
As he ran toward the palace.
[Hey, where are you going!!!]
Nero, who had been crouching, shouted at the departing Lee Ganghan.
[......I don't know what tune you want me to dance to, what a tiresome opponent.]
"Right. That guy talks too much."
[Exactly. But this place is certainly splendid, fitting the name Golden Palace.]
The Divine Maiden ghost who followed Lee Ganghan.
Looking at the palace walls painted with gold, she expressed her impression.
Then.
[Oh, right.]
She made a suggestion.
[How about summoning those thief monsters from earlier to collect the gold?]
"Thief monsters? You mean Goblins?"
[Yes. They were good at collecting gold from the golden statue earlier.]
At those words, Lee Ganghan looked around.
Walls painted with gold.
Gorgeously displayed sculptures and artistic paintings drawn on the walls.
Looking at each one, there seemed to be many valuable items.
'In terms of gold alone, the broken statue from Columbus's time was more valuable though.'
Well, it's better than nothing.
Should I try calling them?
When Lee Ganghan summoned all the Goblins at once.
"Heavenly Demon Eternal! Ten Thousand Demons Prostrate!"
The Goblin Chief who immediately bowed as soon as he appeared.
"Heavenly Demon! I was separating, extracting, and selecting valuable gold to measure its exact worth! I'll handle the work quickly so please wait just a moment!"
Mistaking that he was summoned because he was late in offering gold.
He quickly rattled off an explanation like an excuse about the work he was doing.
"That's not why I called you."
"Ah. Is that so......?"
"Yeah. I called you to see if there's anything to loot here."
At those words.
The Goblin Chief's expression completely changed as he looked around.
"Hooooh...... Most of the gold is plated, but the artworks seem to have decent market value."
"Really?"
"Artworks from different races are quite popular in our black market. However, it might take some time to sell them......"
"I don't mind that much time. Take the valuable-looking ones. We can't stay long anyway."
"Understood! You guys, start with the sculptures!"
At Lee Ganghan's command.
The Chief cheerfully gave instructions to the Goblins about what to loot.
[You insolent fool!!! I told you to bring spectators but you brought a band of thieves!!!]
[Stop your foolish acts and return to the garden immediately!!!]
From far away, at the garden's center, as if detecting the Goblins' thievery.
Nero's roar reached all the way here, but.
'What's the point of going when you'll just be in your barrier anyway.'
Lee Ganghan ignored his shouting.
He also began looking for things to take from inside the Golden Palace.
'Things like sculptures won't fit in my inventory.'
The Goblins were managing to take them somehow.
But sculptures wouldn't fit in Lee Ganghan's inventory.
Should he look for smaller items then?
When Lee Ganghan, thinking this, touched a jewel decoration on the wall.
[Precious metals that cannot be taken into inventory.]
[You acquire 1,000TP.]
The jewel decoration in his hand disappeared smoothly.
Instead, it was converted to TP.
'1,000 TP seems cheaply valued compared to its splendor or actual worth.'
Still, automatic conversion itself was convenient.
Should he try collecting everything for now?
Swoosh! Swoosh!
As Lee Ganghan began collecting all the precious metals in the Golden Palace.
[This bastard......!]
[This bastard dares to my palace......!!!]
Nero's loud voice came from outside.
[I absolutely cannot stand this!!! You're sentenced to death!!!]
Grrrrrr......!
The earth shook greatly.
Lee Ganghan could maintain his balance without much difficulty, but.
"Kiiiiiek......!"
The earthquake with strong vibrations was enough to make all the Goblins collecting sculptures fall down.
'If he can cause this level of earthquake, he's quite strong, huh?'
When Lee Ganghan felt that his opponent's power was extraordinary.
Grrrrr!
Part of the Golden Palace's wall collapsed.
"Uaaaah!"
Puff, puff, puff!
A giant bronze arm burst all the fallen Goblins at once.
"Uh, uhiiiek......!"
By the time the Goblin Chief somehow survived by rolling on the ground.
'Hmm......? Did the arm get bigger?'
To Lee Ganghan, the bronze arm seemed much bigger than what he had seen before.
Swish!
When he went outside to check.
Nero's bronze statue, several times larger than before.
Chiiiiik......!
Was emitting smoke while looking down at him.
[You thief! Gather spectators immediately......! Otherwise, it's summary judgment!]
"Still going on about spectators?"
Nero's bronze statue demanding he mobilize spectators even at this point.
When Lee Ganghan clicked his tongue at that obsession.
Ding.
In front of his eyes.
['The time you can stay in the First Tower has completely expired.']
A message appeared saying his stay time was over.
'I stayed quite a long time.'
Since he came with his level somewhat raised.
He stayed much longer than last time.
[Returning to the original world.]
As the return message appeared.
Lee Ganghan's body became transparent in an instant.
[This thief......! I told you to call spectators but you're running away!]
Swoosh!
The Nero bronze statue threw a giant fist, but.
Paaaaat......!
A red portal formed above Lee Ganghan's head.
It quickly sucked his body inside.
[Heavenly Demon, then I'll see you again next time.]
With the Divine Maiden's polite farewell as the last.
Lee Ganghan ended his journey in the First Tower.
And returned home.
***
"Phew."
Lee Ganghan, who returned home, let out a quiet sigh.
'After Columbus left, it's Nero.'
Columbus was just troublesome because of the map.
When actually facing him directly, he didn't feel that strong.
But this time's B2 opponent, the bronze statue Nero, definitely felt strong as an opponent itself.
Of course.
'It felt like he got stronger because I didn't mobilize spectators and looted the palace though.'
Would it be a bit different if I properly mobilized spectators and fought?
Lee Ganghan was thinking about how to deal with Nero.
Then remembered what he was going to search for on the internet earlier.
'Right. It was definitely...... Feathered Serpent, Smoking Mirror, Southern Hummingbird.'
The sealed Constellations with peculiar names.
Since they were the ones who newly established the Divine Power stat and gave him 1.
Lee Ganghan clearly remembered those names.
When he typed these names into the internet to search.
"Ah...... they were gods from Aztec mythology?"
The three Constellations' names appeared as Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, and Huitzilopochtli.
The three gods had unfamiliar sounds.
But looking at the explanations about them, they all seemed to have great presence in Aztec mythology.
'To think beings of this level were sealed there so pitifully.'
Just from the descriptions, they seem almost like creator gods.
Lee Ganghan was recalling the three Constellations that were in the box.
Then suddenly remembered what Columbus had said.
-I am a sinner who eliminated a certain 'possibility'.
While lamenting about not knowing why he was the Guardian of Greed.
Columbus had talked about his 'sin'.
What possibility he mentioned wasn't clear at all then.
'Could it be related to these Constellations?'
Lee Ganghan thought of the three Constellations sealed in B1's hidden location.
And connected them with Columbus's story.
With the discovery of the New World, the natives were swept away.
The natives' 'mythology' also essentially disappeared.
Could the possibility Columbus eliminated be related to those Constellations?
'Well...... it's purely in the realm of speculation for now.'
Lee Ganghan considered various possibilities.
Then realized this was a problem with no answer for now.
'Right. Let me focus on the present for now.'
With the information he currently had.
It wasn't easy to draw meaningful conclusions.
Lee Ganghan decided to just organize what he gained from going to the First Tower today.
'First, the Legendary Adventurer's Eye...... it was quite a good reward.'
It was definitely an excellent choice to select the 'Legendary Adventurer's Eye' among the three rewards.
He immediately realized this after coming out of the Sea of Darkness map and freeing the Constellations.
From now on, whenever he discovers hidden locations or clear conditions like this.
The 'Legendary Adventurer's Eye' would continue to be useful.
'And Divine Power...... it's good that I got it, but I don't know what effect it has.'
There are 4 basic stat types in total.
Strength, Agility, Stamina, Mana.
Other than these 4, there are almost no other stats in general cases.
Occasionally, he heard that stat names change due to special traits.
"Divine Power doesn't show up even when I search."
Divine Power was mostly an ability given to healers in games.
But since Tower of Infinity was basically focused on solo play.
There was no 'healer' class.
In towers, you had to climb to higher floors by your own power.
A profession that only handled healing would have a hard time defeating monsters alone and climbing up.
'There seemed to be classes like Holy Knight, but even they didn't have a Divine Power stat.'
The 'Divine Power' stat that didn't exist no matter how much he searched.
Lee Ganghan searched for a while, then gave up when he felt no answer would come.
Instead.
'I should check Ten Thousand Demon Battle.'
Since quite a bit of Sacred Fire was consumed by the Angel's Sword earlier.
He should see how long it takes to replenish that.
When Lee Ganghan thought this and opened Ten Thousand Demon Battle.
Whoooosh......!
At the center of Ten Thousand Demon Battle.
The Sacred Fire was burning more intensely than he had seen before.
'The firepower got stronger?'
The Spirit of Heavenly Sword definitely said he used quite a bit of Sacred Fire power earlier though?
When Lee Ganghan pressed on the Sacred Fire with a puzzled expression.
The Sacred Fire's status appeared.
[Sacred Fire]
The flame that became the origin of the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect.
When the player challenges the First Tower, the Sacred Fire's ember is passed back to the Heavenly Demon.
As the flame grows stronger, Ten Thousand Demon Battle's functions are restored.
The TP required for 'Heavenly Demon Divine Sect' creation is greatly reduced.
Currently in 'Dim Flame' state.
The player has obtained Divine Power.
The Sacred Fire's firepower is greatly strengthened in proportion to the Divine Power value.
The TP required for 'Heavenly Demon Divine Sect' creation is greatly reduced by Divine Power.
'Oh...... it was because of the Divine Power effect.'
So this is where Divine Power was used.
To think it would directly affect the Sacred Fire like this.
Even though the value was only 1, the degree of strengthening seemed quite significant.
The Sacred Fire was burning more fiercely than ever.
'And the TP required for Heavenly Demon Divine Sect creation is also reduced.'
Last time, the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect creation cost had definitely been reduced to 50 million TP.
How much would it be if it's reduced further from here?
Lee Ganghan entered the guild window.
And tried pressing guild creation.
Then.
['Would you like to create the Heavenly Demon Divine Sect?']
[20 million TP is required.]
The creation cost had somehow been reduced from 50 million.
To 20 million.
20 million would be......
"I could...... create it?"