Chapter 245
Lee Soo-Ah and s.h.i.+n Kyung-Ah… Unfortunately, those two women couldn’t come back here.
[The possessed female human was expelled from the party.]
[The possessed female human was expelled from the party.]
Seong-Il must have seen the series of notification messages that popped up last minute, which was probably why he didn’t ask why they couldn’t come back with us. However, it wasn’t something I had done as a party leader. The System had filtered them automatically. Seong-Il seemed to be lost in thought about them even when I was fighting against the Baclan King.
“Can we not go back?” he asked.
“No.”
Silence reigned after that exchange. We were greeted with sorrowful cries on the night we returned from the long journey. We were in an abandoned village in District 15, and the sounds were coming from the monsters beyond the boundary. The other groups were still going through the Final Stage of Act One. The monsters were scattered throughout the area, and the ones that had crawled out of the spires in Act One, Stage Two were also there, wandering through the darkness over the boundary.
The next day, the cries of monsters turned into screams. One combat unit of Awakened seemed to be fighting. Soon, they entered the village smelling like they had been in the sewers of a blood-stained slaughterhouse. The stench was overwhelming as if they had been hunting monsters for a long time. However, they actually blocked their noses when they faced us.
“Don’t make a fuss, and let’s just treat each other as invisible. It would be better for both of us.”
Seong-Il spoke to the man who was standing on the side who didn’t recognize us. The captain of the group ended up noticing us. Also, there was the youth, Kang Ja-Seong. He was the teen who had saved Seong-Il’s life when he encountered the boss monster in Act One, Stage One. He must have either kept our warning in his mind that he should keep the G.o.d of Wind’s Protective Ring a secret, or made a deal with someone by giving it away. He was not wearing it on his finger.
“h.e.l.lo, I’m Kang Joo-Hyuk in the Sky Guild s.h.i.+eld Squad. It’s an honor to meet you two.”
***
It was unexpected.
I can’t believe I’m seeing them here!
He had heard of the legendary Odin, his henchman Kwon Seong-Il, the captain of the Sky Guild and Gold Attack Squad Lee Soo-Ah, and s.h.i.+n Kyung-Ah, who had shown amazing abilities in the battle against the Kciphos Corps. It had been more than half a year since the four had suddenly disappeared, but now it looked like they had never vanished.
“h.e.l.lo, I’m Kang Joo-Hyuk in the Sky Guild s.h.i.+eld Squad. It’s an honor to meet you two.”
Joo-Hyuk was polite to Odin, who wasn’t very responsive, and Seong-Il, who was staring at him sharply. They were legends. Although they had disappeared without leaving a trace, people constantly talked about them for the past six months.
On the way back, Joo-Hyuk’s face was stiff. If Lee Soo-Ah, who had taken control of the guild and the mainland before disappearing, returned, there would be a huge change in the newly organized governance structure.
However, only the two men were back. Lee Soo-Ah and s.h.i.+n Kyung-Ah, her sister-like friend, were gone. Joo-Hyuk returned to his people after cleaning his blood-stained weapons and armor with doubts. The group was distributing mana stones.
“Is he really Odin?” a man named Jin-Kyu asked. He had taken the unit commander position after the previous one was killed in battles a while ago.
Joo-Hyuk responded, “Why? You don’t think so?”
“Honestly, no,” Jin-Kyu replied.
“I have never witnessed Odin’s ability in person either. I shouldn’t be arrogant and need to believe that the rumors are true though.”
“Is it true that he can summon a dragon?”
Joo-Hyuk shrugged. “Well, we should believe that too. Tell your kids not to approach him because he hates stuff like that.”
Joo-Hyuk and Jin-Kyu stared at Odin from a long distance away, and their thoughts were the same. It was true that Odin had a cold vibe with strong eyes, but the rumors seemed to be exaggerated. Those from the mainland who had been on the same stage with Odin spoke about how Odin had completed Act One, Stage Two alone, summoned a dragon, and covered the earth with his flames and lightning bolts. However, they both privately thought that Kwon Seong-Il, Odin’s henchman, looked stronger.
When Seong-Il raised his fingers and gestured to them to go away, they looked away.
Joo-Hyuk ordered, “Jin-Kyu, tell your kids to look for Lee Soo-Ah. She must be in her room. Also, send those who don’t know anything about her to look for her. We just need to find the girl.”
“Yes, sir.”
Before Lee Soo-Ah had vanished, all of the forces throughout the two hundred districts had been jumbled up. But that wasn’t the case anymore. The majority had either been destroyed by the Kciphos Corps or merged under a stronger group before getting smashed.
The previous two hundred districts were now divided into only two guilds: the Sky Guild with its mainland in southern District 12 and the Ilsung Guild with its mainland in northern District 109. Thousands of Awakened were gathered in each, and they were slowly creating a new inst.i.tutional social order through trial and error.
In fact, it had been over six months since they had become more like a small country rather than a bunch of guilds. But what if Lee Soo-Ah, who was in power in the past, returned to this situation? Joo-Hyuk was certain that she would negatively impact the new structure. She was now an uninvited guest not only to the entire Sky Guild but also to the Gold Attack Squad, Mana Stone Bank, and the Chamber of Commerce she had created. No one would welcome her.
Odin was known for not being interested in politics, and Kwon Seong-Il seemed to not care about it either. However, Lee Soo-Ah had been able to hold that much influence because there was an overwhelming power behind her, which was that young man Odin.
Hmm…
Joo-Hyuk now believed that Lee Soo-Ah and Odin were bigger problems than the issues that had been derived from the changed System.
***
He didn’t know what caused such modifications in the System. It was a grand patch in terms of the game[1]. The method of quantifying ability levels had become completely different from before. It wouldn’t cause any confusion as it just specified the existing cla.s.s system. The stats and items that needed to be valued became clear as the new system indicated their potential power. That part was actually helpful to the Awakened.
However, the problem was the introduction of a level system. Joo-Hyuk felt the gravity of the implications when he saw the changes in the mainland. The ma.s.ses were going wild. Looking at it, the changed system wasn’t much different from before. In the past, the Awakened could increase their abilities by opening boxes that they exchanged with the points they earned from completing. The new System had simply deleted the act of opening the box and instead introduced levels and XP.
Even though it was a small difference, the atmosphere had changed dramatically once the level section had been added to replace the old form of distinguis.h.i.+ng people by cla.s.ses.
“Huh? I level up when I raise my XP by three million.”
“I can level up at least four times if I partic.i.p.ate in one squad quest! Should I try it?”
“I’m going to be silver even if I level up just once!”
The people who were currently excited were the same people who had wet their pants whenever they saw monsters. It felt ridiculous to overhear their excited shouts. Among them, Joo-Hyuk saw a guy who went to the lowest-ranked squad and asked them to recruit him. The issue was that these previously complacent people were the ones who had been responsible for the troublesome or unpleasant ch.o.r.es in return for the combatants ensuring their safety. Their value had gone down because more people, who were satisfied with their current life, had flowed into the mainland. These people formed a thick sublayer at the bottom of the social pyramid, and only a few showed any effort in trying to escape from it.
The kingdom’s hierarchy had been established that way, so the situation was no different for Ilsung Guild of the North. They had also created an economy revolving around mana stones, and trades between the two guilds became active.
However, the System was suddenly modified.
The repercussions of that change are about to make cracks in the stable kingdom. If people are acting this way on the first day the changes got rolled out, things will only worsen day by day.
That was the only issue the changed System had. It was provoking the slaves on the bottom of the hierarchy by asking them: Do you want to level up? You should at least reach the silver. If you work harder, you can even reach gold.
Joo-Hyuk had been most concerned about this, but that was before he had met up with Odin’s group.
However, now he faced a bigger problem! The Sky Guild Command had even asked the Northern Kingdom about any news about the four, but no one had known about their whereabouts. They had disappeared as if they had died.
But why now?
Those who could shake the kingdom’s ruling structure and the System had appeared out of the blue. Joo-Hyuk’s expression became serious.
“Ja-Seong.”
Joo-Hyuk went to see Ja-Seong because the boy’s heart was in the right place despite his young age. Ja-Seong had an outstanding ability, so he had been the main healer of the s.h.i.+eld Squad from the beginning.
However, Joo-Hyuk didn’t need a healer right now. His body was intact and healthy. There was just a lot of static in his brain as one of the rulers of the Sky Guild.
“Tell me what happened in Act One, Stage One again.”
Ja-Seong’s eyes always shone when he talked about Odin. He was usually not talkative, but he turned into a different person when asked about that story. Ja-Seong stared at Odin in the distance with a look of awe, then began to speak. It was the same story about burning capes and thunderstorms tearing the air. However, Joo-Hyuk didn’t want to listen to a hero"s story.
He must have been at least C-cla.s.s during Act One, Stage One… That means he was higher than platinum. Then, is he diamond?
Joo-Hyuk recalled the level section of the modified System because he needed to familiarize himself with the word ‘gold’ and ‘platinum’ rather than ‘C’ or ‘D’ from now on.
“You must be able to calculate now.”
“Pardon me?”
Joo-Hyuk clarified, “Odin"s stats then. Not his items and skills.”
“It has been too long.”
Joo-Hyuk personally thought that Ja-Seong wanted to avoid giving an answer as the teen probably didn’t want to say it instead of actually forgetting. However, everyone from the mainland was the same, so Ja-Seong had no blame in this matter. However, Joo-Hyuk needed to hear what he wanted. He suspected that Odin’s main strength probably came from the man’s rare items and great skills. Joo-Hyuk peeped at Odin from afar, and he noticed that there wasn’t a single piece of equipment on him. However, his henchman Kwon Seong-Il was fully equipped to the nines, making him look quite dignified.
Mmm.
He didn’t know what incident they had been through, but they were covered with clotted blood everywhere.
Did their items get destroyed?
Items could be destroyed when they were exposed to powerful attacks. It was good news if it was the case. Joo-Hyuk imagined the worst-case scenario where Lee Soo-Ah would try to regain political power with Odin behind her back. It was a case where they would demand more power. Then, there was no choice but to conflict with Odin’s party. A war! He thought victory would obviously be his side because even if all the rumors were true, Odin wouldn’t be able to handle the firepower of the entire kingdom.
But how many people would have to be sacrificed to defeat Odin? After that, will we be able to hold more power than the northern Ilsung Guild? Ugh, this one guy is giving me a giant headache now.
Joo-Hyuk continued wondering.
Odin. What level is he on? Is he in the master section? How much Attack Power would he have, over a thousand? How much would he be able to withstand our force, ten minutes?
1. Updates that are released for video games after the initial release. ☜