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CHAPTER 121 – END OF ROUND 8
<Traitor Group Quest>
└Obstruct the merchant caravan so it can’t reach its destination
└Upon success ▶ Receive Mandragora’s Mana Stem
[You have completed the Traitor Group Quest!]
[As a Traitor Group Quest reward, ‘Mandragora’s Mana Stem’ will be granted!]
[Mandragora’s Mana Stem]
-Category: Inventory
-Description: A stem infused with the mana of the man-eating monster, Mandragora.
For reference, Traitor Quest rewards were identical to Sub Quest rewards.
So if someone had completed the Sub Quest, the moment they received the reward, they would’ve said this:
-What the hell am I supposed to use this for?
It was the obvious reaction when an item came out and you didn’t even know what it was for.
That was exactly how it had been when Ryu Min first got it, too.
‘Never thought a material item would come out as a quest reward. Usually, it was something you could use right away.’
But if you thought about it differently, it meant the item was that important.
Back then, he hadn’t known.
Now, he knew its value.
‘Mandragora’s Mana Stem is nothing less than a God-tier material item.’
He’d planned to make a God-tier item before Round 11, but the materials were already all gathered.
That was why a smile spread across Ryu Min’s lips.
Whether he smiled or not, the angel only cared about its own work.
[You’ve all checked the rankings, correct? Then, in order of highest contribution, up to rank 1,083 will survive. Everything below that will be erased.]
“No, n-no!”
“Please save me! P-plea—…!”
As always, half the Players turned into a handful of ash.
It was unfortunate, but Ryu Min didn’t have the leisure to care about other people being erased.
Reward messages began popping up one after another.
[Congratulations! You have achieved the quest as Rank 1 in your zone!]
[Congratulations! You have achieved the quest as Rank 1 across all zones!]
[Your current ranking, ‘Black Scythe’님, is Rank 1 across all zones and Rank 1 in your zone.]
[As a reward for Rank 1 in your zone, ‘Reputation Increase Ticket’ will be granted!]
[As a reward for Rank 1 across all zones, ‘Special Reward Selection Box’ will be granted!]
Normally, the Rank 1 reward for the zone had been an equipment item, but this time it was different.
‘A Reputation Increase Ticket… If it were someone else, they’d wonder what kind of reward this is.’
But it was a reward.
A definite reward.
It was a chance to raise reputation with another race by one stage, without any effort at all.
‘It’s also a message telling me to start working reputation in earnest.’
Until now it hadn’t come up, but from here on out, the main stage would become a fantasy world with NPCs.
In that sense, reputation with races mattered.
And when you thought about what you could get out of other races, the importance of reputation didn’t even need explaining.
[You may select one of the following races to increase your reputation.]
[Please touch the race you want.]
└ 1. Humans (Time Reverser—Hostile)
└ 2. Elves (Black Scythe—Friendly)
└ 3. Dwarves (The One Who Leads—Friendly)
Reputation application differed depending on your nickname and title.
For example, when meeting Dwarves, if you used a title other than The One Who Leads, you wouldn’t receive proper treatment.
‘For now, I should raise Friendly to Very Friendly.’
He didn’t deliberate for long.
Ryu Min’s finger moved toward Elves.
[The Elves’ reputation toward Black Scythe has increased from ‘Friendly’ -> ‘Very Friendly’.]
The reason he chose Elves was simple.
‘Because I’ll be able to get better rewards.’
If he’d raised Dwarves, it might’ve laid the groundwork for obtaining Legendary and God-tier materials, but—
‘When you get down to it, raising Elves is better. Those guys who’ve mastered magic have a lot of rare rune fragments.’
Ryu Min valued runes more than the value of items.
Both were important, but if he had to choose, it was Elves.
‘Now, if I meet the Elf race under the name Black Scythe, they’ll treat me like royalty.’
Maybe the council elders who held power in Elthorium would even hand over the princess to him.
To maintain a friendly relationship.
‘Whatever. I don’t care about that. As long as I get rune fragments, that’s enough.’
There were several rune fragments he wanted from the Elves.
Those were all he was aiming for.
With the promise to meet Elves next time, he used the Special Reward Selection Box.
[You may choose one of the following special rewards.]
[Please touch the reward you want.]
└ 1. Material Item Selection Voucher
└ 2. 30,000 Gold
└ 3. Information about Round 9
Option 1 always used to be a stat or EXP buff, but this time it wasn’t.
Without any room for hesitation, he chose the Material Item Selection Voucher.
[Choose one of the following materials.]
└ 1. Broken Ironwood Branch
………………
…………
└ 8. Mage Skeleton Bone Powder
└ 9. Sturdy Mana Shell
└ 10. Rhinoceros Horn
Most of the listed items that appeared in a stream were Unique materials.
‘But only one of these is a Legendary material.’
Ryu Min’s finger selected number 8.
[Mage Skeleton Bone Powder]
-Category: Inventory
-Description: An ominous mana can be felt from the powder.
This made it his third Legendary material.
If he gathered just two more, he could make it.
The materials were piling up, neatly and steadily.
◀ END OF ROUND 8 ▶
[All Zones]
└Survivors: 1,523,955
[This Zone C2-ESKA003]
└Survivors: 1,083
[Shortly, your soul will be transferred into your body in the original dimension.]
[Round 9 will begin at midnight on September 1, 2022. Then, we’ll see you in the next round. Congratulations on surviving.]
After Round 8 ended.
The moment Christine opened her eyes, she went to find her father.
“Father.”
“You’re late.”
Butler Jeffrey was already beside her father.
She’d come as quickly as she could, so it felt hollow.
“Did you hear the report?”
“Yes. I heard everything from Jeffrey.”
Her father, Nathan, narrowed his eyes sharply.
“That everything in that friend Ryu Min’s prophecy was true.”
“Yes. Honestly, I was surprised too. It was hard to believe.”
The information about the Round 8 quest she’d heard from Ma Kyung-rok had turned out to be true.
Unlike the vague information of Round 7, it had been concrete information—so she couldn’t not believe it.
That the job called Prophet truly existed.
“It turns out it’s true that your fiancé has been securing the next round’s information through prophecies all this time.”
“Right…”
Christine’s lips jutted out.
It stung that he’d been hiding it from her all this time.
“So what are you going to do now?”
“Pardon?”
“A prophet who can see the future is in a business partnership with your fiancé. If things go well, you can benefit from seeing the future too. So shouldn’t you seize that?”
“Seize it? The prophet?”
“Of course. In times like these, isn’t a prophet essentially a goose that lays golden eggs? If you can know the strategy for the next round in advance, that is.”
Since survival was directly tied to every round, the value of information was immense.
Nathan had grasped that long ago and was saying they must not let the prophet slip away.
“Get close to him. No matter what means or methods it takes.”
“But…”
“Does something bother you? Are you still unable to believe in prophecies?”
“That’s not it. It’s just… it feels uncomfortable to deliberately approach someone with an ulterior motive just to achieve a goal…”
“Is now really the time for you to be picky about that? Isn’t he the one holding your lifeline in his hand?”
Christine remembered.
The prophet’s words—that in Round 11, she would face a life-threatening situation.
“Go to Korea. Get more information from him. Find out more about how you can survive—so that, as the prophecy says, Round 11 doesn’t become the end of your life.”
“…Yes.”
Christine answered her father obediently.
Your rice bowl is something you have to protect yourself.
To live, she needed even more information than that.
“Then I’m tired, so I’ll head off now.”
As soon as Christine left, as if he’d been waiting, Jeffrey asked:
“What should I do? Should I go to Korea and keep watching that prophet?”
“No. Now that it’s confirmed he really is a prophet, there’s no reason to dig up information in secret anymore. And if he notices the tail and we offend the prophet, that would be troublesome.”
“Then…”
“You go to Korea with Christine. Follow her as her attendant, observe what kind of person the prophet is from close by, and report back to me.”
“I will carry out the order in the name of God.”
After giving a solemn bow, Jeffrey left the room.
Left alone, Nathan murmured,
“A prophet… truly, an existence worthy of being called God’s apostle.”
Then a thought crossed his mind.
‘If my daughter’s fiancé had been that prophet instead of Representative Ma, it would’ve been better.’
Regret rose on Nathan’s face.
The first thing Ryu Min did after opening his eyes in his room was open the Shop.
‘Everything in the Shop has been upgraded to Master grade.’
The Shop’s inventory changed depending on the Player’s rank.
Once he passed level 60, he could purchase Master-grade equipment.
‘Not that it’s anything special. It’s still just Normal items.’
Most Players would fill their equipment slots with these Normal items.
If they had some money, they’d have a few Rare or Epic items from the Today’s Items corner.
‘But from now on, I won’t deal with anything below Epic.’
Starting today, Ryu Min planned to fill his equipment slots with Unique-grade and above.
As for materials, he’d already bought everything through the Plpl app, enough to make three items.
‘So… where do I start?’
From the Shop, Ryu Min bought a helmet, armor, shoes, and a ring for 6,000 gold each.
They were all unimpressive Normal items, but even so, they were Master grade.
‘In a moment, magic will unfold that transforms them into Unique grade.’
Ryu Min filled his slots with the equipment and the ordered Unique materials.
[Main Material]
-High-mobility boots
[Sub Materials]
-Deer-tree root
-Orc’s tusk
-Gnoll’s spine
-Sturdy Mana Shell
-Black diamond
He put the materials that would become a Unique item into the sub-material slots, and put the Master-grade equipment he’d just purchased into the main-material slot.
‘If I combine them like this, the Normal equipment will be reborn as Unique.’
That was why he’d waited until after level 60.
If he was going to upgrade equipment, it was better to upgrade Master grade.
When he pressed the button, a welcome message appeared.
[Combination Successful!]
[You have created ‘Ghoststep Boots’.]
[Ghoststep Boots]
-Category: Shoes
-Grade: Unique
-Defense: 300
-Effect: All stats +15, Movement speed +15%, No footsteps sound.
-Durability: 5,000/5,000
-Use Requirement: Master grade or higher
-Description: Shoes that erase the sound of your steps like a ghost. It really feels like you’ve become a ghost.
A Unique item was created.
He immediately made another item.
[Combination Successful!]
[You have created ‘Devil’s Ring’.]
[Devil’s Ring]
-Category: Helmet
-Grade: Unique
-Defense: 400
-Effect: All stats +10, Skill damage +15%, Damage +1% per enemy kill (stacks 15 times)
-Durability: 5,000/5,000
-Use Requirement: Master grade or higher
-Description: An item that lets you place a devil’s ring above your head instead of an angel’s ring.
[Combination Successful!]
[You have created ‘Red-Eyed Skull Ring’.]
[Red-Eyed Skull Ring]
-Category: Ring
-Grade: Unique
-Effect: All stats +15, Damage +10%
-Durability: 5,000/5,000
-Use Requirement: Master grade or higher
-Description: A skull ring with striking red eyes.
After making three Unique items, he used up all the materials he’d saved.
‘Now all that’s left is God tier.’
Ryu Min had thought about it.
What would be best as his first God-tier item.
Weapon, helmet, armor—depending on the slot, the performance would differ.
But he didn’t dwell long.
‘It’s best to make whatever slot I can get right now.’
It wasn’t like he could choose which materials would come into his hands, so he decided he’d craft whatever he could as materials arrived.
Since each slot required slightly different items.
‘With the materials I have right now, what I can make is…’
Ryu Min placed the God-tier material items into the combination window.
[Main Material]
-Faded coat
[Sub Materials]
-Condensed Ether
-Black iron powder
-Glossy horse tail
-Angel’s golden powder
-Mandragora’s Mana Stem
‘Armor.’
He pressed the combination button immediately.
With a golden effect different from usual, an item was created.
A God-tier item, no less.