Chapter 341
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 341
Chapter Title: Preparations for the Third Extinction
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Everyone's started moving after seeing the announcement.
Jeong Hoon gazed down from the rooftop of the building, a satisfied smile on his lips.
Below him, countless people were clearing dungeons and grinding levels nonstop.
Awesome! My level just shot up to 21 in an instant!
At this rate, 200 will be a breeze.
Those with low levels rocketed past 200 and even 300 in no time.
It was only naturalhe'd lifted the level caps and maxed out experience gains from every dungeon.
And that wasn't all.
Huh? It's advancing me to the next class automatically?
No way...
That hacker saved us!
Woooaaah!
He'd even rewritten the code so class advancements happened automatically, without needing quests.
That meant no more wasted time on class changesthey could pour it all into leveling.
Well, I have to say I'm not thrilled with this decision.
Tenebris, standing beside Jeong Hoon and looking down, didn't hide his discomfort.
Why not?
Making humans stronger is pointless anyway.
Actually, I think the opposite.
The opposite?
They need strength to fend off the penalties.
With the code tweaks in place, no extra penalties would hit for now.
But if the Named got involved, they'd obviously revert his changes.
Then extinction would come againand they'd need people ready to fight it.
Escannon's meddling had stalled player growth, but this code fix would punch right through it.
Anyway, what's the next plan?
We've got the third extinction left.
The third one... which wasn't even in the code.
Exactly.
While tweaking the code, Jeong Hoon had tried to intervene in the third extinction too.
But no matter how deep he dug, there was no code for it.
Yeah. The first and second had code, though.
What if it just doesn't exist?
No, it does. I deferred the second extinction's reward, remember?
The reward for the second extinction.
He'd held it back to combine with the third's.
So the third extinction was definitely coming.
That's weird then. If it's part of the designer's plan, there should be code for it.
Hmm...
If I'm right, the third one's probably a Named intervention.
The code Jeong Hoon touched was the kind Escannon could access.
He hadn't laid a finger on anything only Named could reach.
So there were two possibilities.
One: Escannon hadn't set up the third extinction code yet.
Two: It was buried so deep even he couldn't touch it.
If it was the latter, a Named would trigger the third extinction.
That would be the worst-case scenario.
Jeong Hoon frowned.
Actually, it might be better that way.
Why?
Because the code's already in place.
The first option was unlikely he could edit code with the Creator tool, but not create new ones from scratch.
So Escannon couldn't spin up fresh code either.
That meant they'd rigged it so the third extinction code activated when the episode hit 99 and the second doom was averted.
Hmm, but they could still tweak the code.
If they were gonna, they'd have sabotaged you already. Why just watch?
...Baal, what do you think?
Jeong Hoon turned to Baal, who had been listening quietly.
I agree with Lord Tenebris. The higher-ups are more lenient than you'd think. They're probably giving Escannon endless chances.
Is that so?
Everything after the second extinction was uncharted.
No future knowledge to lean on, so better to weigh multiple views before deciding.
Tenebris and Baal had a point.
'Still, better safe than sorry.'
Pulling off something as insane as rewriting the code meant any reaction wouldn't be surprising.
Vrrr
Right then, his smartphone buzzed.
Jeong Hoon checked the sender and grinned.
'Looks like you've ascended to the heavenly realm.'
His guess hit the mark.
Hoon! Mom did it!
Jeong Hoon burst out laughing at his mother's cheerful voice.
Congratulations! What about everyone else?
Everyone succeeded!
Thanks to the code fix, starting with his mother, they'd all reached the heavenly realm.
Great. Did you get ultimate energy too?
His mother was a 5th Genesis Sniper.
Ascending to the heavenly realm had broken her limits as a Celestial.
Now she qualified to gather ultimate energy.
How'd you know?
I've already got the ultimate power.
Ah, that makes sense. Climbing the realm gave me 10. I was wondering what was left.
10?
Worth setting it to max acquisition.
Yeah. Once I hit 10, the 'Path of the Ultimate (1)' quest auto-completed. Got the rewards too.
The Path of the Ultimate quest unlocked at 8 ultimate energy.
Back then, Jeong Hoon had used it to join the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
There, he'd fused Heavenly Demon Divine Arts to upgrade his skills.
With the code tweak, his mother skipped it and grabbed the fitting rewards straight away.
'Perfect. Before the third extinction kicks off, I'll get everyone to the ultimate realm.'
He'd boost their levels fast tooover 1,000 easy.
Mom, bring everyone home.
Home?
Yeah.
Got it.
You damn bastard! I'll kill you with my own hands!
Escannon spat curses and shot to his feet.
Hey! Escannon, what the hell happened?
Abaddon, who had been watching Earth with interest, couldn't hide his shock.
Someone tampered with the code.
You mean the code you designed? Is that even possible?
How... I locked it so only I could edit it.
One of the Named's protected pets, maybe?
......
Murderous intent poured from Escannon.
Calm down. You're not thinking something stupid, are you?
I get the protection. But wrecking my design? I can't just sit by.
So you'll play into a mere human's scheme?
What, you want me to just watch in this mess?
Before the third extinction began.
Escannon had sat quietly, waiting for the humans.
Then he sensed something off in the code and checked it fast.
He found his entire design in ruins and rushed to fix it.
But the code was lockedhe couldn't edit anymore.
Hmm, this might be what the Named intended.
What?
Handing over edit rights means they want that human on our level, somehow.
......
Moving now would just play into their hands.
So what's your point.
I'll help you.
Help me? What's in it for you?
Like I said beforeI don't want you stepping down.
......
Escannon narrowed his eyes.
The guy never moved without gain.
No way this was pure goodwill.
He wanted something.
Quick on the uptake I like that.
Abaddon laughed heartily.
What do you want.
The Seven Deadly Sins. All the sins you're holdinghand them over.
Ha.
Escannon let out a hollow laugh of disbelief.
Why? That guy's so protected he can rewrite code. You can't handle him alone.
Say the Named are backing him. If I lose, you think you'll come out unscathed?
You think I'm like you?
Abaddon's icy voice echoed.
There were ranks among the Celestials.
Escannon was low-tier; Abaddon was solid mid-to-high.
A mid-high wouldn't lose his spot, but no disadvantages either.
If he was right, the Named meant to replace him.
Helping would go against their will.
'Means he covets the Seven Deadly Sins that much.'
Baal's betrayal to the human had handed most sins over already.
No way he'd yield the rest.
'Might be better to give them to Abaddon.'
All sins together would be a huge headache.
Let's hear the details.
Heh, now we're talking.
Ascension to the heavenly realm: 10 ultimate energy.
Path of the Ultimate (1) auto-complete: 5 energy.
The rest via dungeons.
Jeong Hoon gathered everyone and headed straight to a dungeon.
Kieeeek!
His Titan slashed the boss monster's neck without mercy.
The weakened Lv.100 boss couldn't resist and dropped dead.
As you can see, dungeon difficulty's way down.
It's true... How the hell did you hack it?
They'd gotten the announcement too.
No need to explain the debuff.
Anyway, how much energy did you get?
0.1.
Jeong Hoon nodded.
He'd tweaked the code for energy from all dungeons.
Set to max, but gains were tiny.
Just 0.1 per clear.
'Actually, not bad.'
On the flip side, massive EXP meant 1-2 levels per dungeon.
By 100 energy, they'd all breeze past 1,000.
Here's your assignment: Keep clearing dungeons nonstop.
To gather 100 ultimate energy?
Yes. Deadline: before the third extinction.
The third extinction.
Zero intel.
Max out power and prepare.
Got it.
Yeo Min-ji nodded and headed for the exit.
To grind energy as fast as possible.
See you later.
Yeo Sun-woo followed her out.
You two, head out.
Jeong Hoon looked at Ha-jin and Deok-gu.
Got it.
Moving out!
Deok-gu barked a crisp reply, military crisp, and left with Ha-jin.
Only his mother remained.
But her expression was off.
Mom, what's wrong?
Son, was that announcement... you?
Yeah.
My god... How?
Details later. You need to reach the ultimate realm before the code reverts.
That was why he was rushing.
Revert the code, and ultimate ascension becomes impossible.
...Okay. We'll talk when I get back.
Lee Na-yeon nodded after a moment's thought.
She had tons to say, but respected her son and held back.
Thanks for understanding.
He wanted to move together, but needed to split updistract watching eyes like Escannon's.
Alone now with his mother grinding too, Jeong Hoon shifted to the next plan.