Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: The 50,000-Soul Avatar Can Access Earth
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“We can do about the same as the National Police Agency. Conveying the flow of overseas information and its implications. And if you want, we can provide assistance when Kang Geon-woo carries out operations abroad.”
The man addressed Geon-woo with a voice and expression stripped of all emotion, as if their sparring session just moments ago had never happened.
In that regard, he certainly seemed like an agent from the Institute.
“Domestic intel from the police, overseas from the Institute?”
Geon-woo asked.
“That’s right.”
“Not bad.”
“And in case it’s truly necessary, the Institute would like to keep the door open for requesting your help.”
“So you’re dead set on using me, huh?”
Geon-woo’s voice dripped with displeasure.
“That’s not it. If a crisis arises that the Institute can’t handle on its own, then...”
“If you pass along the intel properly, that’s the end of it. If I think it’s something I need to step in for after seeing it, I will. Otherwise, no matter what the Institute says, it’s not my problem.”
“...”
“Oh, and if there’s decent compensation, I could take on jobs as a commission. Not sure if the Institute, police, or Ministry of National Defense has anything to offer me, though.”
Geon-woo rose from the sofa, as if signaling the conversation was over, leaving those parting words behind.
If they wanted something from him, they should offer payment and make it a proper commission.
After all, wasn’t that exactly what he’d always done as an international mercenary?
“Well then, it’s time for you to head out. Hope the next time we meet, it’s for something good.”
With that, Geon-woo opened the front door leading outside.
Beyond the open door stretched a steep incline down to a small dock, where four boats were moored.
One was Geon-woo’s speedboat, the other three belonged to his guests.
“You must’ve coordinated your arrivals since you showed up right on time. Why not just share a boat instead of wasting fuel like that?”
Geon-woo muttered the jab loud enough for the departing guests to hear as he stood and headed for the door.
“Wasting taxpayer money. Absolutely clueless about it.”
After seeing the three men off and closing the door, Geon-woo grumbled.
At that moment, the doors to the living room swung open, revealing Ilryeong and three jiangshi.
Dokryeong, Amryeong, and Gongryeong.
These three had been turned into jiangshi from demon tribe members, with their jiangshi spirits extracted and transplanted into user-made living jiangshi.
=It went roughly as you predicted, my lord. Even the hostile foreign factions have stopped sending users.
Ilryeong wore a satisfied smile, as if pleased with the outcome.
She was especially relieved that Geon-woo wouldn’t need to scatter demon tribe jiangshi across Chinese cities anymore.
“There’s always a limit to infiltrating another country with people. No matter how many you send and they go missing or whatever, once the numbers pile up, backlash is inevitable.”
The more people vanished, the harder it became to cover up. And what Cheonsuwan, Pelian, and the others were doing wasn’t exactly above board.
So they had no choice but to keep it under wraps, below the surface.
If things escalated further, information control would become impossible.
Geon-woo figured Cheonsuwan, Pelian, and their ilk would have to halt their provocations and assaults on Korea for the time being.
Otherwise, the police and Institute would come knocking immediately.
At that point, he might really have to unleash demon tribe jiangshi across the world.
But for now, the issue was contained.
So it was time to set aside front-yard worries and return to Onbiroad.
He’d secured a bunch of Ark Capsules while crushing foreign interference this time, fusing enough souls to hit 50,000—and that opened up new tasks.
In Onbiroad.
* * *
Geon-woo passed through the waiting room mid-login and rose in the sanctuary of Veloca City.
He’d made time here and there before to log out from the sanctuary, which let him use the Earth-Onbiroad waiting room.
Thanks to that, his avatar had been fully rebuilt to match the growth of his soulstone.
=You’ve fused 50,000 souls. Has anything changed in particular?
As Geon-woo opened his eyes, Ilryeong asked with eager anticipation.
50,000 souls.
Those were the ones he’d harvested from villains on Earth, looting their Ark Capsules.
Users couldn’t resist logging into Onbiroad.
They couldn’t grow their abilities on Earth.
User growth happened only through their avatars, not their real bodies.
So wherever users went, they dragged their capsules along—and most who’d come to Korea had brought theirs.
Geon-woo had recovered most of the capsules from the villains he’d taken down, extracting soulstones to claim their souls.
He’d fused those souls into his own soulstone in one go, surpassing 50,000.
“My potential limit has expanded, so operating the Heavenly Brain Multi-Tasking Spirit Control Jiangshi Technique feels effortless now.”
=Is that so? And anything else...?
Ilryeong trailed off, sounding a bit disappointed by his answer.
“That’s how it always is. Fusing a ton of souls doesn’t suddenly trigger dramatic changes in the avatar.”
=True, but still.
“And we didn’t come to Onbiroad to check avatar growth or changes.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“The system alert that came with fusing 50,000 souls. It said this avatar can be taken to Earth.”
Geon-woo raised one hand, clenched it into a fist in front of his face, and slowly rotated it as he murmured.
That was why he’d rushed to Onbiroad right after the fusion.
The alert about bringing the Onbiroad avatar to Earth.
Meaning he could use the avatar on Earth without ability restrictions.
And since the avatar could resurrect even if killed...
“Protecting the Ark Capsules just got a lot more critical.”
Lose the capsule, lose the soulstone—and with it, your user status.
All your power gone.
It was already important, but if avatars started rampaging on Earth, destroying the capsule would be the surest way to stop them.
=But right now, there can’t be many users on Earth who’ve fused 50,000 souls, right?
Ilryeong seemed convinced Geon-woo was far ahead.
But he shook his head.
“Nah, there definitely are. Plenty of guys already over 50,000 souls using avatars on Earth, I bet.”
=You mean someone from the 1st Expedition Team?
“No, not them. Out of the eight members, it’s not me or Paeng, and Pelian didn’t seem to be there either last I checked. The others probably top out around 20,000. Paeng was at that level too.”
=Hmm, so maybe no one’s hit 50,000 yet?
If even the leading 1st Expedition Team was at that level, it was a reasonable assumption for Ilryeong.
But.
“It’s not that simple. We’ve got to factor in the 2nd Expedition Team—and over a billion users since then.”
Geon-woo was sure there were hidden powerhouses out there.
Paeng, who could arguably be called the second strongest after him, had only fused around 20,000 souls.
But the world was full of people swimming in money and power.
Especially.
“Neuron Age. You think they didn’t know the perks of 50,000-soul fusion? If they did, there’s no way they sat on their hands.”
The 1st Expedition Team had to pick the absolute best.
No choice there.
Earth’s fate was on the line.
No room for personal agendas.
But when he’d brought back soulstones to make 4,000 Ark Capsules? Different story.
There had definitely been unofficial interference from Neuron Age insiders then.
And those insiders? Just heads of global power groups, when you got down to it.
Humans with desires, all of them.
Among the supposed 100 final decision-makers, how many were shortsighted greed-mongers? More than a couple, for sure.
=Even so, not many will have fused 50,000. And even if they have avatars, they can’t compare to yours, my lord.
As Geon-woo pondered silently, Ilryeong spoke up as if it was no big deal.
It was confidence born from unwavering faith in his abilities.
Geon-woo’s core strength as an Onbiroad avatar was telekinesis.
But enhanced by the system-external Heavenly Brain Multi-Tasking Spirit Control Jiangshi Technique, it had become something beyond specs.
=Even borrowing just a bit of Heavenly Brain Multi-Tasking Spirit Control Technique makes you the strongest user already. Add in the Indestructible jiangshi body and your limb-like jiangshi minions...
“Exactly. Neuron Age, hidden rankers—nothing to worry about.”
Geon-woo grinned and chimed in agreement.
He shared Ilryeong’s view.
=True. Though if there’s any concern...
“It’s not user power. It’s the military might major powers have built up over decades. Can’t just think about me alone.”
=Of course, even that can be managed with your strength, my lord. I believe it.
“Yeah. To make that happen, time to reorganize the jiangshi.”
=How should we handle them, then?
“Extract the jiangshi spirits and rebuild around living jiangshi. We’ve completed living jiangshi for Dokryeong, Amryeong with Blink, and Gongryeong with Phantomization—so hurry the rest.”
=But even for user-to-living-jiangshi conversions, don’t we need demon tribe spirits?
“Users have that soulstone-in-capsule weakness, so demon tribe jiangshi spirits are ideal. User growth is tied to soulstone limits anyway, and losing the capsule wipes out their abilities entirely—that’s a huge flaw.”
In that light, implanting demon tribe jiangshi spirits into human living jiangshi bodies was practically a glitch.
=Yes, the capsule weakness is unavoidable.
“So first, we test how the avatar manifests on Earth. Demon hunting comes after.”
=Understood, my lord.
To take the avatar to Earth, you had to log out from a sanctuary.
Only sanctuaries properly upgraded avatars.
Log out leaving the avatar in the sanctuary, and you could access Earth as the avatar via the waiting room.
‘Looks like the waiting room was only usable with an avatar in the sanctuary as prep for this exact process.’
“Alright, shall we head to Earth?”
=Yes, my lord.
Geon-woo logged out of Onbiroad, hearing the tension in Ilryeong’s voice.
In that instant, his avatar in the sanctuary plaza vanished in a burst of light.
The vanished avatar reappeared in the waiting room, where Geon-woo spotted a new magic circle that hadn’t been there before.
A second one, next to the Onbiroad login circle.
Intuiting it was for Earth access, he stepped onto it without hesitation.
* * *
[Would you like to access your avatar from Earth’s sanctuary?]
“Huh? This is...”
The moment he stepped onto the Earth-bound magic circle, an unexpected alert popped up.
Asking if he wanted to access the avatar from Earth’s sanctuary.
Which meant...
=What’s wrong, my lord?
Ilryeong looked worried at Geon-woo halting mid-login.
“Wasn’t expecting this. Looks like logging into Earth with the avatar starts me in some unknown sanctuary. It’s asking if I want to connect from the sanctuary.”
=So there’s a sanctuary on Earth?
“Yeah. And it might already have an owner.”
=An owner for a sanctuary? That doesn’t exist, does it?
“Not in Onbiroad. But on Earth? Whoever found it first is probably loaded with money and power—and those types would privatize it or control it with influence.”
=I see. So if you go like this, your identity could be exposed?
“Hmm.”
Geon-woo couldn’t shake his troubled expression at Ilryeong’s words.
But.
“No choice but to go. Can’t exactly skip it.”
He pondered briefly, but the conclusion was clear.
Ilryeong nodded reluctantly, accepting it.
=If we weren’t logging in, maybe—but you’re right, my lord.
“Worst case, smash everything. With jiangshi on my side, what’s there to fear?”
=Hoho, exactly, my lord.
Geon-woo steeled his resolve and resumed the Earth login.
Stepping onto the avatar-state magic circle in the waiting room and willing the connection brought the same prompt again.
[Would you like to access your avatar from Earth’s sanctuary?]
“Yeah. Do it.”
This time, Geon-woo agreed without hesitation.
His form vanished from the waiting room in an instant.
=Where is this?
Geon-woo opened his eyes in a space like Onbiroad’s sanctuary.
An empty plaza.
In Onbiroad, avatar logins would flash lights everywhere, but this place was silent and deserted.