Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
==[You have arrived at the Judge’s Continent.]==
“Open Stats Menu!” I cared more about my reward than the fact that I had arrived at the Continent or the ramparts, which were marked Section 35.
==[Name: Lee Jiwon
Level: 973 Death Count: 0
Title: Earth’s First Deva
HP: 16,090,700/16,090,700 MP: 602,800/602,800
Strength: 41,133 + 6,591 Agility: 25,101 Vitality: 28,001
Willpower: 5,968 Intelligence: 5,228
Unassigned Stat Points: 6,000 + 3
Fatigue: 0
Special Effects: Luck Boost (X+1), immune to all Status effects, Dungeon Seeker 14 points
Physical Attack: 164,297 Physical Defense: 62,597
Magical Attack: 15,954 Magical Defense: 41,534]==
I smiled when I saw that I still had the Luck Boost. I was definitely going to need it in the coming battles, whether it was to get more SK points or when it came to opening my new Random Item Chest.
I also noticed the 6,000 stat points I received just from coming to the Continent. My base STR was also exactly 28,982 points; I just needed a little more than 1,000 points to get it to 30k.
I took out my Comm Link for now. I had to make sure my grandfather, my mother, and my other comrades registered in Call were okay. But as soon as I took it out, it rang. It was probably my mother or someone from the Empire.
“Jiwon!” It was my mother.
“Hi, mom.”
“It took you long enough! Why didn’t you pick up all this time?”
“What do you mean? I just arrived.”
“What? We couldn’t call you for a month!”
“A month?”
“Yes, a month!”
I looked back at my Stats Menu. I only had 3 SK points, meaning that only a day had passed for me, but my mother wouldn’t lie about that. I then remembered how long I had to wait at the giant Don Gate. That must have had something to do with it. “Okay, we’ll figure out why later. Are you somewhere safe? What about grandpa and the clan?”
“Yes, we’re fine. Don’t worry. We’re with the Sunbin, Myth, Ravi Guilds and some others from the Empire. We’ve secured a base for now.”
“Whew… that’s a relief.”
“Where are you right now?”
“I am…” I looked around me and noticed the ramparts labeled Section 35 off to the distance. “I see a sign that says Section 35, and a lot of Earth devas are around too.”
“Section 35?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s the section where we all are! Come to Center D! That’s where we set up our base!”
“Great. I’ll be right there.”
“Okay. Hurry.”
I hung up, but the second I did, my Comm Link rang again. It was the Sunbin Guild this time, and our conversation was pretty similar to the one I had with my mother. I arrived a month later than everyone else and was also directed to get to Center D as quickly as possible.
“Well, at least it’s not the worst thing to happen.” It was good enough that we weren’t completely separated. But that was good news for others as well. I turned my head to the sky to look at the leaderboard that showed the numbers of each side. We were outnumbered by 700 million. The enemy would like that we were all gathered in one spot.
“Well, we’ll find out who’s truly disadvantaged once we fight for real.” Relieved that my family and comrades were at least safe for now and I knew where they were, I turned back to my Stats Menu and started to increase my STR.
==[Your base STR has surpassed 30,000 points.
Your total STR points: 42,151
Your base STR points: 30,000
STR points increased by items: 11,850
STR points increased by skills: 300 (King-Emperor’s Grand Dignity), 1 (Kiran’s Stat point.)]==
==[You will be awarded a bonus for surpassing 30,000 points in STR before anyone else.
STR will be increased by 2,000 points.
This bonus is awarded to the first person to accomplish this achievement.]==
I was always happy to see those messages, but I had honestly expected a bit more. “What, I only get 2,000 bonus points now?” I had expected it to go with the pattern and get 3,000 extra STR points! Well, it was probably for balance reasons…
“I guess it doesn’t really matter. I got a bonus either way. Now the question is, what do I do with the remaining 4,982 points?” I had planned on going straight for STR after getting my base AGI and VIT to 20k, but I had way too many points to spare now.
“Should I get STR to 40k first and go from there?” My base STR was now at 32k. I needed 8,000 more points to get to 40k, but I had almost 5000 points remaining. I just needed 3,000 points now and I was confident that it wouldn’t take long to achieve.
“Alright! Let’s do that then!” I invested my remaining points into STR. Once I was done, I jumped fifty meters down to the bottom of the ramparts. It wasn’t difficult for me to figure out which way was Center D, thanks to all the signs all over the place. There were also a lot of people around, talking to one another.
—
“Are you sure you want to stay in Section 35?”
“Of course. This is where the Empire is set up.”
“Yeah, shouldn’t staying with the Empire be safe enough?”
Another deva sighed. “You idiots. Think for a second.”
“What?”
“The Empire already announced that they’ll be doing everything they can to ensure Earth’s survival. Do you really think Section 35 is going to stay peaceful for long?”
“Oh… you think so?”
“Of course I do. Why do you think Russia’s number 1 guild, D. Nerv, left this place?”
“Black Moon left the West Gate yesterday, too.”
“See? They don’t want to get caught up in the Empire’s war.”
“But we’re just normal devas… do you think the Empire will force us to do anything?”
“That I don’t know. But all I know that it’s going to get real uncomfortable for us if we stay.”
“…”
—
They definitely weren’t wrong and I completely understood why they would think that way. But what I also realized was that not pulling your weight on the Continent meant incurring huge penalties. When the Otadolon stage first started, there was nothing about a requirement to become a deva and doing your best. But now, mortals were being punished and were now called Tardy Devas. Something similar could happen to you if you didn’t fight, especially now that you were on the Continent. There was definitely going to be a reward for those who did their best that would further increase the distance between them and the lazy ones. I then heard someone who had the same idea as me.
—
“I don’t know about the Black Moon, but from what I heard, D. Nerv left Section 35 because they didn’t want to be pushed around by the Empire before we even catch a glimpse of the enemy.”
“Yeah, that’s what I heard too.”
“Besides, you all saw what happened to the mortals before we came here. There’s also the whole point system we encountered at the giant Don Gate.”
“Whatever we do here on the Continent has to be more important than anything else. I’m positive only those who at least try hard will be rewarded.”
“Yeah. We’ll get screwed if we get lazy here.”
“Do you really think so?”
“I think so. I mean, we only have one life now, so we do have to be careful. But that doesn’t mean we can crawl into a hole and hide until this all blows over.”
“Hmm… it sure is a tough choice.”
—
As I overheard the conversations, I finally made it to Center D.
“Oh! Mr. Lee!”
“Mr. Lee is here!” I was greeted by members of Abu Dhabi first and managed to finally meet with my mother, grandfather, and the officers of the Empire. Once I made sure most of us were all right, we got together to figure out our next step.
“According to this map, Earth controls Sections 1 to 75 and the enemy controls 76 to 150.” A large map was spread out over a large table, illustrating a land mass divided into 150 sections.
“Where did you get this map?” I had noticed a few weapon, skill, and item shops on the way here, but I was met with the same message each time.
==[You cannot use this shop at this time.]==
I doubted that they were able to obtain a map of this size by fulfilling whatever requirements in a month’s time.
“We got it through a quest.”
“A quest?”
“Yes. Everyone in Sections 1 to 75 received the same quest, and we managed to obtain three copies.”
“Ah…” That explained enough. The officers continued their explanation about the Continent. Earth controlled the West side of the Continent, while the enemy controlled the East side. Currently, the center border was impassable.
“We haven’t been able to cross the center border at all.”
“We’ve tried digging beneath it and tried to climb over it, but an invisible force stops us from going and seeing over. Blink obviously doesn’t work, either.”
So, no one had seen anyone from World 1512.
“In my opinion, it’s been blocked off because you had yet to arrive,” Taniya said. “The system was probably waiting for all participants to join.”
“That does sound plausible.”
“That’s the best theory so far.”
“If I’m right, then it’s going to begin very soon, as long as they don’t have late arrivals like Mr. Lee.”
“I hope that’s the case,” Song Daechul added.
I and the other officers nodded in agreement. We were all sure I was late because of my points. There was no other explanation otherwise. If they had someone arrive later than me, then it could only mean one thing; that person was stronger than me. Either way, we decided to deal with that when the time came, and discussed our next move. We also tried to get more people involved to raise our chances for survival.
The next day, the voice spoke again.
-Ah. Ah. Ahem. In my 3700 years as Judge, this is the longest time I’ve ever waited. Just how many points did you have to make me wait this long?-
