Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
The Pharos Dungeon in Alexandria, Egypt…
I swung my spear at a Giant Croc and its thick hide was cut through like a hot knife through butter. “Man, I really did get stronger. Too strong.” It was my goal to become the strongest since returning to the past, and I was on the right track, but my strength and abilities had noticeably increased in a very short amount of time.
“I think it all started with Pedro and what he left me.” Those 5,000 Stat points helped me get my STR past 20k, and the Avatar of Revenge was no doubt crucial when it increased my STR by another 5,000 points. All the gifts I had received from the Abu Dhabi Guild and from Madun boosted my abilities as well, but this item was definitely the game changer.
“Item Check.”
==[The King-Emperor’s Commitment (Rank 10)
The King-Emperor’s true treasure.
All Stats increased by 1,500 points
Increase Mana Conversion skill level by 6
Add Blink Skill (Cooldown: 150 seconds, MP Cost: 1, no skill points required. Skill range: 1,000 meter radius)
Increase CRIT rate by 29%
Increase CRIT damage by 1,000%
Increase Penetration by 950 points
Increase EXP gain from monsters by 199%
DEF 2,000, MDEF 2,000]==
“…” I’d checked it again and again countless times since it was upgraded, but I still couldn’t believe it. I doubt even Dorofei could have expected the Commitment’s power to go up this much. At least Amplification had a specific explanation about what it would do. But Upgrade Item Rank just said that there was a chance the effects’ powers would go up, and not by how much. That just showed the difference between Item Ranks, even if it was by just one Rank. It was evident by how much it raised my Mana Conversion level and increased the power of all the other effects.
It was just so crazy to believe. The Commitment’s past power was enough to make me probably the strongest in the entire world, and now, I was sure I was the strongest in the world. And I was growing even stronger, thanks to the increased EXP boost that had gone up sixfold.
==[You have gained a level.]==
A creepy laugh escaped from my mouth. I was always happy whenever I leveled up. It was all a huge success. Then, in the middle of my self-revelation, my Comm Link rang.
“Hello?” I picked up right away.
“Young master, tomorrow is the day. It’s time to come home.”
“Is it that time already?”
“Yes sir.”
“I’ll be right there.” I hung up the Comm Link. “I guess it’s time to go.”
Dorofei completed his task to the letter. I had received calls from all my allies, thanking me. We then decided to meet together to discuss what to do about the Judge’s Continent. We had to win this competition, no matter what.
——
Back at my home in Seoul…
I could smell the mouth-watering aromas coming from my home base from a few blocks away.
“Young master! You’re back!” A member of my clan noticed me enter the base grounds and greeted me.
“It’s busy here.”
“Yes, sir. We’re preparing for a feast, as per the madam’s request. They always somehow find out, but the other factions have brought over their own cooks and food. It’s going to be one hell of a party.”
We had decided to use my home as the summit for the meeting, and when I told my family that, they had pulled out all the stops to welcome my allies. While the feast we had earlier was for the victory we had over the NCR Guild, this feast was to be in my name.
“Hurry on inside! The madam has been saying that the star of the show shouldn’t be late and has been asking for you nonstop.”
I nodded at the clan member, who seemed as happy as if this party was his, and headed inside. It was nice that they were all doing well since joining under me. I entered my house and met my mother, who was waiting out in the foyer with her apron still on.
“You’re late, Jiwon! You know full well there are countless guests coming tomorrow. The host should be helping with the preparations.”
“It’s tomorrow, so it’s fine.”
“You should still be early in case something happens!” She was nagging, but I wasn’t annoyed or put off by it. I was happy, actually, to have someone looking out for me.
“Did you eat?”
“Not yet.”
“Alright. Go wash up and rest.”
“Okay.”
——
The next day…
A huge crowd of people filled Lee Jiwon’s home and the surrounding area. They were all intelligence gatherers from large guilds and information guilds. Today was the day Lee Jiwon and his seven allied factions met all at once in one place.
“Wow. Even the guild masters are here.”
“Of course they are. This is the first time they’ve all met together, and at Lee Jiwon’s home at that.”
“But shouldn’t we be in there, too? Sticking to the strongest side will at least give us a higher chance to survive…”
“Who knows what will happen? They might just end up having to fight the most enemies. There’s a chance they’re the most exposed to danger…” a captain of the Messenger Guild’s Intelligence division said to his subordinate, but didn’t finish his sentence.
-The rest of us are probably just hoping that they don’t turn to us, since we don’t want to die. We don’t want to have to fight for our lives against enemies that will be doing the same. We just want to hunt the monsters instead, but will that happen?-
As much as the weaker guilds and organizations wanted to just stick to hunting the monsters on the Judge’s Continent, they knew that they would still have to end up fighting the enemy. No one would ever let the enemy train right in front of their eyes, after all. This was a battle to the death; there was no easy way to do this. To the Messenger Guild, it was clear: no one wanted to let their world die, but no one was quite yet willing to put their lives on the line.
——
“It’s great to finally meet you.”
“Likewise. I wish we could have met earlier and more frequently…”
“Well, it’s good that we still got to meet like this.”
The guild masters were all greeting each other.
“It seems we have quite the audience,” Lod brought up. Just as he said, there were countless eyes watching them.
“Oh, let them be. It’s not like we’ll be keeping whatever we decide here a secret from the world,” I said, and the guild masters agreed.
With that, I and the guild masters with their vice-masters or their highest ranking officers finally moved to the conference room, where the fifteen of us sat around the conference table.
“I would first like to speak for the Sunbin Guild and express our gratitude to Jiwon for having Dorofei give us this information without cost. We can’t ever repay you fully for this kindness,” Song Daechul said and the other guild masters followed suit.
“Please, I just did what I knew I had to do. Besides, Dorofei has enough clients. He didn’t need to sell to all of you.”
We started off the meeting in high spirits and each guild disclosed its current situation and how their country was reacting to the Judge’s Continent before moving to prepare for it.
“Whatever the case, shouldn’t we all stick together?” Baden al Nayan asked, and the other guild masters agreed.
“We should. It’s better to face danger with friends than alone.”
“I have to agree with you on that.”
It was just what I wanted to hear from them. Since we didn’t know what to expect from the Judge’s Continent, it was better to stay together and tackle whatever problem it posed as one.
“There are a total of eight factions here. What say each faction has one vote when it comes to decide which strategy we have to employ?” Aman Lagus said.
“If there are only eight votes, there is a chance we may come to a stalemate. How about if Jiwon has two votes instead of one? With nine votes, we can still come to a decision,” Song Daechul added.
“I agree.”
“Let’s make it so.”
And with that, the decision was made. I would have two votes while the other seven factions would have one each. We continued our discussion for some time and when we came to a decision, we announced it to the world. The Empire, what we decided to call our alliance, will not hide from our fate and will instead fight only for victory on the Judge’s Continent. It almost sounded like a threat, but it was only because we didn’t want to have to be the only ones to put our lives on the line. All of Earth was in on this, no matter what.
——
The Messenger Guild’s headquarters in Melbourne, Australia…
“Hm…so that’s what the Empire decided it would do.”
“Yes, sir.”
Victor Lucas, the guild master of the Messenger Guild, stroked his chin. “Contact the Empire and get ready to leave Kintore. We’re joining the Empire.”
The Messenger Guild and four other guilds of Australia made up an alliance known as the Kintore Alliance. That same Kintore Alliance had made the decision to not fully commit to the coming battle the day before. To Victor, this was an extremely foolish and misguided decision. Victor obviously didn’t want to play the hero, but he also didn’t want to see this world end. What would all his treasure and golden rings be worth if there was no world, and no Store to spend his fortune at? He could at least do enough to secure the world’s safety!
Victor noticed that his only son, Arthur Lucas, was nowhere in sight and asked his subordinate,”By the way, where did that punk disappear off to?”
“Well…the thing is…”
“What did he do this time?”
“I should have told you about this first. Lucas broke into Vault 1… and ran off with everything inside.”
“…” Victor stared at his subordinate in shock. Vault 1 held 10 billion golden rings! “That crazy little shit! What’s he planning this time!?”
