Chapter 98
Chapter 98.
'Destruction?'
Lee Ganghan frowned as he looked at the Goblin merchants' betting board.
Humanity placed 10th in the Reserve League after entering Universe 101 in earnest.
If they get relegated from here, would that lead to destruction?
'But isn't 3 months, 6 months too short?'
It had already been 10 years since the towers appeared.
Despite numerous trials and tribulations over those 10 years, humanity had somehow managed to survive well.
What kind of penalty do you get from entering the Universe that they're betting on destruction within such a short period?
"Still, there's 1% for survival."
"Ah... that was me who bet on that."
"Chief?"
"Yes... I believe in Lord Heavenly Demon after all!"
"How much of your total assets did you bet?"
At Lee Ganghan's question.
"Uh... um..."
The Chief's words trailed off.
"It's okay. Tell me."
"About 3%... I suppose."
This is something.
The Goblin Chief just bet out of loyalty too.
Seems like he has no confidence at all.
Lee Ganghan chuckled and walked toward where the merchants were gathered.
"Kikik... A human?"
"How is a human here in the Goblin market?"
When a human revealed himself in a place where only Goblins had gathered.
All eyes turned toward Lee Ganghan in an instant.
"I hear that person is the owner of this place."
"He subjugated the Castrated Chief and created the Black Market?"
"Really? It's unfortunate that a human is the owner. Won't it collapse soon?"
"Kikikik... Even traveling through various dimensions, such a stable Black Market is rare."
While looking at Lee Ganghan with interest.
The merchants evaluated that since he was human, this Black Market would soon collapse too.
'If the Chief bet 1%, then ultimately all the merchants here bet on humanity's downfall...'
Trudge, Trudge.
Lee Ganghan went to where the Goblin merchants were gathered.
And asked directly.
"Why are you already determining that humanity will perish?"
"Kikik..."
"We're grateful you provided the venue, but merchants don't open their mouths for free."
"Of course."
Even at Lee Ganghan's question, they just laughed.
The merchants didn't seem to have any intention of answering.
Lee Ganghan looked at the betting board.
"If I bet on humanity's survival in this betting, it wouldn't be free for you, would it?"
"Oho..."
"That's not bad."
"If you bet about 500,000 TP, our itching tongues might start wagging..."
500,000.
"I'll bet 1 million. Chief, use the TP I entrusted to you earlier and bet it under my name."
"Yes. Understood!"
When Lee Ganghan bet double.
"Double right away!"
"1 million! You're quite generous!"
Whiiii!
The Goblin merchants whistled and got excited.
When Lee Ganghan finished betting like that.
Swish...
[Universe 101 New Race 'Humanity' Elimination Possibility]
[Destruction within 3 months – 93.05%]
[Destruction within 6 months – 4.95%]
[Survival – 2%]
The probability changed in real-time on the wooden scoreboard.
"I thought it was done manually, but it's reflected in real-time?"
"Yes. There are more things you can do in this Black Market than expected."
Black Market.
The construction cost wasn't much, but somehow its uses are endless?
When Lee Ganghan was thinking anew that this market was well-built.
"Since you bet so generously, it's worth opening our mouths."
"The reason we're certain humanity will perish..."
"That's already been proven by history."
The Goblin merchants confirmed that Lee Ganghan had bet money and.
Opened their itching mouths.
"History has proven it?"
"Yes. The system of Universe 101 has been maintained quite firmly."
"The rankings from 1st to 10th place in the Prime League and 1st to 9th place in the Reserve League haven't changed much."
"However, the 10th place slot where new races should enter has always been filled by humans..."
"And they would perish without lasting even 6 months."
"What 6 months? It's 3 months."
"There's a reason why human goods became troublesome to handle. Kikik."
So humans were repeatedly placed in Reserve League 10th place.
Then disappeared and repeated.
'Were humans such a common race?'
Lee Ganghan thought so while asking the Goblin merchants more questions.
"Through what process did humanity perish?"
"Kikik. We're not human, so we can't know that..."
"With that timeframe, they couldn't put up any meaningful resistance... is all we can tell you."
"How about it? Are your questions satisfied with this much?"
He was most curious about how they went to destruction.
But still, he could understand why they made such bets and the background behind it.
"Ah. Let me ask just one more thing. Do you happen to know what Occupation Reservation means?"
"Occupation Reservation...?"
"Yes. 18 races have placed Occupation Reservations on all of humanity."
At Lee Ganghan's words.
The Goblin merchants' eyes widened.
"All 18 races?"
"Hehe."
"This won't do. I need to switch to 3 months!"
"Me too, me too!"
"Chief! Switch it for us!"
"Ah, that's why let's make 1 month, 2 months too!"
"You can't void bets that have been placed. You all know that, right?"
At the story that all 18 races had placed reservations.
The few Goblin merchants who had bet on 6 months all tried to switch to 3 months.
Some Goblin merchants were raising their voices to create 1 month, 2 month destruction options too.
'I guess that's quite a bad signal.'
When Lee Ganghan frowned.
"Occupation Reservation is simple. It means they're invading."
"Other races are invading?"
"That's right."
Whether the 'prohibition' didn't work on Goblin merchants.
They simply told him about Occupation Reservation.
"The tower difficulty rises sharply, and the other races that made Occupation Reservations intrude there."
"Instead, cooperation is possible like in cooperative battles, but... even if team members increase, you'll get exhausted by the increased difficulty first and fall out."
"And if you can't clear the occupied tower... that becomes a base for invasion."
"A base for invasion?"
"That's right. Invasion methods vary by race... you'll probably see soon."
Then the Goblin merchants whispered among themselves.
"Even one race making an Occupation Reservation is difficult, but 18 races. The human race is being targeted for plundering right now."
"So that's why only human race goods keep coming out."
"In Universe 101, we shouldn't handle human race goods. When consumers who would buy them get eliminated so quickly..."
"But it's also curious where so many new humans keep popping up from."
Meanwhile, the betting board where the percentage for destruction within 3 months was rising in real-time.
'Somehow when I come back next time, destruction within 3 months will probably be over 99%.'
No, would 1 month, 2 months be newly created?
Lee Ganghan thought so while.
Thinking about the other races displayed as ***.
The Goblin merchants seemed unrelated to prohibitions.
Could he possibly obtain information about them too?
"From humanity's perspective, we can't even see what races are in the league rankings... why is this?"
"You can't see the Reserve League 9th place race either?"
"Hehe. That's a bit severe..."
"Human, your score management is completely inadequate."
The competing races' names appear.
Is it related to score?
When Lee Ganghan found a hint in the Goblin merchants' words.
"We can't tell you who's in what position either."
"Right, right. We'd get our merchant licenses revoked. We have to make a living too."
"Haven't we already released quite a lot of information?"
"For 1 million, this much information is cheap."
The merchants said they couldn't tell him who belonged in the league.
'Knowing that much would be difficult.'
Well, even with this much.
Some curiosity was satisfied.
Lee Ganghan nodded.
"I understand. Thank you for the information."
"Kikik... A polite human race."
"I'll visit often, so please expand the market."
"We'll do so if the upgrade conditions are met. If you have human race goods to sell, please trade with us."
"Oh... that's a good deal. We actually had many troublesome items."
"We can supply C-grade items in large quantities. Kikik."
B-grade items weren't unsellable since other races had demand too.
But C-grade and below human race exclusive equipment wasn't selling at all.
Lee Ganghan talked business with the merchants for a while.
'Almost 30 minutes have passed.'
Feeling the return time approaching, he told the Chief.
"I'll come exchange a large amount of TP tomorrow or the day after, so buy up all C-grade and above items for now."
"Yes! Understood, Lord Heavenly Demon!"
"Then I'll be going."
Lee Ganghan gave the Chief instructions to purchase items and.
Returned home.
***
Unlike his previous house, the new house was incredibly luxurious.
Moving to such a nice house should make him somewhat happy.
'What kind of situation is this right after moving in?'
Following the sudden announcement.
Combining the information heard from the Goblin merchants.
It seems the current peaceful state breaking is a foregone conclusion.
'I'll have to enter the tower right after midnight passes.'
Lee Ganghan thought so while.
Checking his backlog of messenger messages.
Kim Juyeong: Hey, hey I signed with GLASS haha CEO Shin Yuri looked favorably on me, seems like I might handle some videos for you too
Kim Juyeong: Huh??? Is something wrong? Something strange appeared at your house;
Kim Juyeong: I saw the news, you came back right? Is your body okay?
-Oh I moved today, come visit the new house later
A week ago.
He replied to Kim Juyeong's worried message, who had been happy about signing with GLASS.
Father: I saw the news. What exactly happened? Is your body okay?
Father: Ah suddenly too many things are happening... My business trip to Korea was delayed a few days due to the announcement. Still, I'm glad your body is safe. This is all thanks to God's grace.
Father: My Korea business trip is confirmed for 4 days later. Let's meet then. There's someone who really wants to see you.
Father: Then I'll always pray that God's grace be with you. May God protect you like this time...
Seeing the long message his father sent.
Lee Ganghan thought.
'About mother, I should meet and tell him in person.'
Rather than talking through messages, it seemed better to meet and speak directly.
-Ah father I'm safe. 4 days later? Yes I'll see you then. I have things to tell you too.
Lee Ganghan sent this reply and.
Spent time continuing to search for news related to the announcement.
And around 10 PM.
[Australia where September 1st came early. Tower conquest begins in earnest]
[Tower with sharply increased difficulty ㄷㄷ]
[Australia & New Zealand situation unable to climb from 1st floor]
In Tower of Infinity-related communities.
Play videos from Australian and New Zealand players began being uploaded.
-What, Australia started first?
-Originally Pacific islands start September 1st first but there aren't many players there...
-Australia & New Zealand start time is meaningful
-Australia is 2 hours ahead of us yep
-Australian players will get more viewers this time ㅋㅋㅋ
Australia, where the date changes 2 hours before Korea.
When players there played the changed towers first.
The world's attention focused there.
And.
-??? What's with the difficulty
-No, they can't climb up...?
-But there seem to be unchanged towers too? Many places are just the same
-Only those towers with changed appearance have increased difficulty?
-Writhing towers?
Some towers had sharply increased difficulty.
Others had no big difference from before.
Extreme reactions were appearing.
Lee Ganghan looked at such posts for a while.
'I'll have to enter to truly feel it.'
He decided to enter the tower right when the date changed.
'Come to think of it, I need to use the No.37 re-entry ticket...'
The prison map he had cleared before entering the Heavenly Demon Sacred Blood Formation.
The special reward he received then was exactly the No.37 re-entry ticket.
If he cleared one tower 3 times consecutively, he could destroy the tower.
Even if the situation changed as of September 1st, he had to use this entry ticket first.
'Let me enter first.'
When it became 12 o'clock and the date changed.
Lee Ganghan used the No.37 re-entry ticket.
Then.
[Tower of Infinity Stage 19]
[Entering Bronze Tower No.37.]
The usual entry message appeared, but then.
[No.37 is a tower under 'Occupation Reservation'.]
[Difficulty increases, and other races may intrude.]
Following that.
A notification appeared that this tower was under 'Occupation Reservation'.