47
047 ― April
The picture book's contribution came in, and Jin-woo couldn't erase his dumbfounded expression.
'A single picture book is worth 20,000 points?'
An apple was 200 points, and nutritional supplements were 400 points. But a picture book was 20,000?
He couldn't understand the criteria. Was the contribution originally this easy to raise?
If that were the case, even the 1st place in Moonlit Forest didn't reach 50 million. By simple calculation, if Jin-woo offered just 2,500 picture books, he would rise to 1st place.
Of course, he didn't bring that many picture books, but anyway, it meant it wasn't a difficult task.
Picture books were items you could buy thousands of if you just had enough money.
'Could it be?'
Jin-woo tried offering other picture books he brought.
[ You have made a great contribution to Moonlit Forest. ]
• Kang Jin-woo ― God of Moonlit Forest's contribution 38,128 (↑12,966)
[ You have made a great contribution to Moonlit Forest. ]
• Kang Jin-woo ― God of Moonlit Forest's contribution 57,162 (↑19,034) . . .
When he tried offering similar picture books, they still went up tremendously.
This time, he tried offering completely different books. Novels full of text, self-help books, dictionaries, and rigid things like workbooks.
[ You have made a minor contribution to Moonlit Forest. ]
• Kang Jin-woo ― God of Moonlit Forest's contribution 57,163 (↑1)
"1? Only 1 point went up? Just one?"
He had even offered about six books combined - novels, self-help books, dictionaries, and workbooks - but it only went up once. And that was just 1 point.
Anyone could feel that it clearly disliked them with distaste. It was fortunate it didn't go into the negatives.
'Something feels...'
It didn't seem like the books themselves were important.
If he had to set a standard, rather than the fact that they were books, should he focus on the fact that they were children's picture books?
'Let me try toys and balls too.'
[ You have made a great contribution to Moonlit Forest. ]
• Kang Jin-woo ― God of Moonlit Forest's contribution 88,375 (↑31,212)
[ You have made a great contribution to Moonlit Forest. ]
• Kang Jin-woo ― God of Moonlit Forest's contribution 110,827 (↑22,452) . .
'This is it.'
This is it. Now he knew for certain.
The point was that this guy, called the God of Moonlit Forest, was.
'He has kids' tastes...'
Whether he was actually a child or just had the mental age of a child, he had kids' tastes.
He preferred colorful picture books with lots of illustrations over difficult books, and liked carrot knives over sharp daggers. He also readily accepted toys, dolls, balls, and such things.
Let him think for a moment.
If this guy was a World Tree.
That meant those roots he saw in Belen Village were this guy. Were those roots from a young tree? Young enough to like picture books and toys?
'How would I know that?'
It's not like he was some kind of tree appraiser, so there was no way he could know.
Even if he had such knowledge, his opponent was a World Tree, so it couldn't be measured by human eyes.
Still, it was good to learn various things about the God of Moonlit Forest's preferences.
Most importantly.
'This is insane.'
Being able to gain contribution points that should be accumulated by clearing difficult trials to this extent was also a tremendous harvest.
In the 3rd floor, contribution points were equivalent to power. Proportionally more powerful blessings would come down, or he could borrow excellent items.
'I did well to ransack the department store.'
He went around all the floors of the department store buying all sorts of items. Not only picture books and toys, but also cute decorations and souvenirs.
There were plenty of things kids would like, so it seemed he wouldn't have to worry about contribution points.
***
A giant serpent was writhing in pain. Its thrashing tail shattered the ground and split cliffs.
Even so, the Elf strangling its neck did not loosen her grip.
"Hrrrrrruuuup!"
Rather, she put in even more strength. She had realized this was the serpent's final struggle.
After several minutes like this, the suffocating serpent finally collapsed with a thud.
Even then, the Elf didn't let her guard down and continued strangling its neck for another 10 minutes.
Crack crack crack!
Only after the serpent's neck finally cracked and was crushed did the Elf release her arms.
"Whew."
It was an Elf with abnormally overdeveloped muscles.
Ordinary Elves don't develop bulky muscles even with considerable training. Even strong Elves at the level of 5th floor knights were no different in this regard.
But the Elf who killed the serpent was different. She had massive muscles and was built almost like a bear, making her strength appear extraordinary.
She had the qualitatively superior muscles characteristic of Elves while also having massive muscle mass. She was an Elf with strength several times, even dozens of times, greater than ordinary Elves.
"With this, this trial is also finished. Did it take a week?"
The muscle Elf, April, muttered while squinting her eyes.
Originally, it shouldn't have taken this long. She thought it would be finished in about 3 days, but the serpent was faster than expected.
Thanks to that, it took a whole week just to chase and corner it.
'If one trial takes this long, it's hard to quickly accumulate contribution points.'
April grabbed the serpent's head and grasped its fangs. Then she crack! crushed and pulled out the teeth with just her grip strength.
April, who secured the fangs as proof of the trial, set course for Pandemonium.
'Just a little, just a little more, and I feel like I'll gain enlightenment.'
She was originally an Elf who mainly operated in the 4th floor. But no matter how much she trained there, she saw no clue for ascending to the 5th floor.
Going there itself was possible anytime by crossing the Red Portal. But her skills were the problem.
To safely adapt in the 5th floor, she needed to have at least the strength of royal knights, or even upper-level strength among knights.
She thought she wasn't quite at that level yet. That's why she had been seeking enlightenment for a long time.
As one of those methods, she was accumulating contribution points in the 3rd floor while analyzing divine blessings.
'3rd place, huh.'
Even with all this effort, her contribution points were only 3rd place.
If it were just 3rd place, she might try harder, but there was more than a 2x difference from 1st place. She had 48 million, while the 1st place guy, named Lin Shenlin, had 120 million.
'Damn, why is someone already at 5th floor level staying in the 3rd floor?'
She couldn't understand what that guy Lin Shenlin was thinking. She at least had the purpose of gaining a clue for enlightenment to ascend to the 5th floor, but what about that guy?
She didn't understand why he was playing leader in the 3rd floor when he already had the skills to operate in the 5th floor.
'No, I shouldn't envy someone superior to me but find ways to catch up.'
The grumbling woman pulled herself together as she arrived in the city.
Her whole body was a mess with snake fluids and poison, but even washing time was precious. She headed straight for the Moonlit Forest temple.
'What's that human doing there? Why is there a human in Moonlit Forest?'
There was some human man in the temple.
Non-Elves don't get any contribution points no matter how many trials they take in Moonlit Forest, so why?
'Hmph, there are fools doing useless things everywhere.'
If he wanted to do pointless things, it wasn't her concern.
April ignored him and offered the serpent's fangs, proof of the trial, to the altar.
[ You have made a great contribution to Moonlit Forest. ]
• April ― God of Moonlit Forest's contribution 48,789,062 (↑34,824)
'30,000? A bit disappointing.'
She gained 34,000 points by making a great contribution.
It was a figure others would be surprised and envious of, but it didn't satisfy her.
Most importantly, the fact that it was a trial that took a whole week was significant. 30,000 in a week. This was too slow to overtake 2nd place Bertus and catch up to Lin Shenlin...
'The next trial needs to earn at least three times as much.'
She needed to gain at least 100,000 at once to narrow the gap somewhat.
Just then, she saw the human man beside her offering something to the altar. She couldn't see what item it was clearly because the item placed on the altar glowed and disappeared.
That meant the god had accepted that human man's offering.
'He accepted a human's offering?'
April was startled and checked the Moonlit Forest contribution list.
Among them, excluding the familiar Elf names, she found a name she'd never seen before.
• Kang Jin-woo ― God of Moonlit Forest's contribution 2,015,823 (↑51,701)
"T-two million!?"
She was so surprised she shouted loudly.
Two million!? Two million?
'Has he been in the 3rd floor for at least three months? No, even a week ago, there was no name called Kang Jin-woo on the Moonlit Forest list.'
She had been staying in 3rd floor of Pandemonium for a long time. During that time, she constantly performed trials and always checked contribution points.
If someone named Kang Jin-woo had been accumulating contribution points for months, there's no way she wouldn't have noticed.
A name she'd never seen meant he was a newcomer who had recently entered.
'A newcomer has 2 million? No, more than that.'
That wasn't all. What was that number that just went up as an offering?
50,000 points went up from one item?
"Hmm, this series really does get good reactions. Let me wait a bit... This time, let's go with the casual version wearing glasses."
Jin-woo placed a different version of the same character he had just offered on the altar.
It was a holiday fashion concept doll wearing a bread hat and glasses in comfortable clothing.
• Kang Jin-woo ― God of Moonlit Forest's contribution 2,085,949 (↑70,126)
"Got it!"
Focusing intensively on the ones that got good reactions was indeed effective. The previous one was 50,000 and this time 70,000, so just two dolls raised his contribution by 120,000.
'What!?'
April watched this from the side with a horrified expression.
It was unbelievable. She had chased that huge serpent around for a week and barely obtained proof of the trial.
That got her only 30,000 points. A high number, but far from enough to satisfy herself as Pandemonium's 3rd place.
But this human man offered some two toys and got four times that much!
'What is this guy doing!?'
Grabbing her dizzy head, she barely managed to steady her body which seemed about to collapse.
***
After offering tributes for several days, he had developed some know-how.
First, giving everything at once had poor effects. Offering them one by one with appropriate intervals gave the highest contribution points per tribute.
'The items I brought also have limits.'
He had swept up a lot from the department store, but the quantity was still limited.
Moreover, the God of Moonlit Forest didn't like absolutely everything he brought, so Jin-woo decided to offer tributes as strategically as possible.
Appropriate intervals were natural, but most importantly, were series items.
'If there's a character that gets good reactions, push with related series for a while, and when it starts getting lukewarm, move to another series.'
Even with the same character dolls, there were incredibly diverse variations.
Various outfits, cases with companions or rivals, and even cases where series like volumes 1, 2, 3 continued in sequence.
These kinds of toys were the real deal. When he carefully gauged the timing and pushed series items, sometimes a single tribute would raise over 100,000 points.
'But if you wait too long, the effect drops. Probably because it forgets the previous ones.'
Kids' interests and trends tend to jump around unpredictably.
If he waited too long trying to gauge the timing, sometimes the effect would drop, probably because it had forgotten the previous ones.
Finding the appropriate timing between that was the key point.
Sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing like that, Jin-woo accumulated contribution points.
'As expected, toy companies' sales strategies are amazing. If you get caught up in them, even adults fall deep, so kids lose their minds completely.'
Elite professionals who studied spend all day researching ways to captivate kids' souls - there's no way it wouldn't be effective.
He just had to copy that strategy as is. Could there be an easier job than this?
'I need to confirm if the God of Moonlit Forest is a World Tree...'
That was his original purpose, but before he knew it, he had become absorbed in accumulating contribution points.
Well, it didn't matter. Investigating the identity could be done anytime. Compared to that, raising contribution points should be done as much as possible while he can.
The God of Moonlit Forest completely had kids' tastes. Since he didn't know how long kids' whims would last, he had to work hard while he could.
Just then, a hand grabbed Jin-woo's shoulder.
"H-hey there!"
It was some burly Elf. The Elves Jin-woo had seen were all moderately thin regardless of gender, but this was his first time seeing such a bear-like Elf. Looking at just the muscles reminded him of Ma Du-sik.
"H-how did you do it? What method did you use exactly? Did you receive a special trial? Wait, can you understand what I'm saying in the first place?"
At the flood of questions, Jin-woo frowned. Her voice was so loud, like she had a megaphone in her mouth, that his eardrums hurt.
"I understand fine. But ask one thing at a time, just one at a time."
The muscle Elf moved her mouth hesitantly. Before speaking, she organized what she wanted to say in her head.
Finally, she shouted so loudly the temple rang.
"I want to know the secret to accumulating contribution points! Please take me as your disciple!"
It seemed she had misunderstood ‘ask one thing at a time’ as ‘ask only one thing’.