NSE-Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Sword Immortal Seo Jin-cheol.

Numerous reporters had gathered around him.

“Sword Immortal! Is it true that you’ll clear Tomb of the Dragon with only 5 people?”

“That’s right.”

The reporters murmured.

The higher up the High-tier Gates you went, the more people were required.

And this was Tomb of the Dragon, known as the highest difficulty even among S-rank Gates.

When even a full 30 would barely be enough, only five?

What’s more, those five weren’t even made up solely of S-rank Awakened who had enjoyed their heyday in the past.

There were four S-rank Awakened in total on the clearing roster.

Sword Immortal, Divine Spear, Poison Demon, Fist King.

And the remaining one was.

Park Si-woo.

Truly out of nowhere, an Awakened none of them had ever heard of in their entire lives had been included. When they hurriedly checked with the rank registry, he turned out to be a mere F-rank Awakened who had Awakened only a few weeks ago.

It was outrageous.

‘They’re clearing an S-rank Gate with this roster?’

‘It doesn’t even seem like they’d reach the Middle Zone……?’

A few reporters even suspected the Sword Immortal of senility.

Because that was how nonsensical the story was.

It was said that S-rank Awakened, true to high-ranking Awakened, barely aged and had their lifespans greatly extended, but.

That didn’t mean they didn’t age.

Not to mention it had already been 20 years since the Awakened of the Sword Immortal’s era had last headed to a Gate.

Usually, Awakened of that generation devoted their energy to nurturing the next generation instead of entering Gates.

The reason they still sat at the top of Korea’s Awakened rankings was out of respect for their past feats. So suspicion was inevitable.

The reporters hurriedly asked.

“Why on earth is an F-rank Awakened included on the clearing roster?”

“Level doesn’t decide everything.”

“Are you saying he has great potential?”

The Sword Immortal nodded.

“This child will be more helpful than most of the greenhorns.”

“……!”

An F-rank Awakened who could be of help in an S-rank Gate?

The Sword Immortal’s assurance carried that much ripple effect.

At the possibility of a new super rookie, the reporters swiftly tapped on their keyboards.

Even so, their mouths throwing questions didn’t rest.

“Tomb of the Dragon is a place that even top-tier Guilds avoid clearing! The White Tiger Guild, the last to challenge it, failed to clear it after suffering dreadful losses, so are you really confident?”

The White Tiger Guild.

A Guild that had once ranked third, it had a record of boldly challenging Tomb of the Dragon in the past and losing the bulk of its strength.

It was fortunate enough that they’d made it back alive from the Middle Zone.

The force that had challenged it then was six S-rank Awakened and 24 A-rank.

And yet they had failed to clear it.

After that, the White Tiger Guild went into decline. So naturally, doubt was inevitable.

Just then…….

The Sword Immortal said quietly.

“The current Awakened system comes down to nothing more than dividing ranks by Level alone, doesn’t it? Isn’t that so?”

The reporters nodded.

Of course, it didn’t really consider only Level.

Because there were cases where, even at a low Level, someone with a tremendous Skill or Title and so on was recognized as an Awakened of a higher rank.

The problem was that Awakened didn’t want to reveal everything about themselves. Who would want to lay bare all their strength before the public?

That was why Level became established as the standard for rank.

The figure easiest to distinguish and also not much of a burden for Awakened to reveal.

On top of that, if the Level was high, the odds were generally high that various other factors such as Titles and Skills were strong too.

That was why. Ranks came to be divided by Level.

“But since that makes setting ranks easy, isn’t it the format the whole world has set as the standard?”

“I’m not opposing that. It’s just that it isn’t all there is to an Awakened. I’ll show you. That we’re not dead yet.”

“Sword Immortal!”

“Just a little more of an interview……!”

His steps headed from the waiting area toward the Gate.

A huge Gate came into view.

Tomb of the Dragon, located in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. The Awakened who had finished preparing were waiting for him.

Among them, Fist King, who stepped forward, said with a chuckle.

“Hah, big brothers. We’ve really lost our edge, haven’t we. Getting doubted over clearing a measly Gate like this.”

“That’s how much time has passed, I suppose.”

Divine Spear said calmly.

His gaze, as he wiped his spear with a cloth, turned to Park Si-woo.

The kid the Sword Immortal had brought.

From what he’d heard, he was an F-rank Awakened.

“Eldest Brother. I came because you called after so long, but what exactly is that child?”

“My disciple.”

“……Isn’t Eldest Brother’s disciple Ye-rim?”

“I took another.”

“He must have decent talent, then.”

Divine Spear’s eyes gleamed.

If the picky Sword Immortal went so far as to call him a disciple, the potential was obvious without even looking. Fist King and Poison Demon seemed equally surprised, glancing at Park Si-woo.

Instead of the quiet Poison Demon, Fist King, like a wild horse, spoke to him first.

“Hey, you, little brat.”

“Yes!”

“Confident you won’t die?”

“I’m confident I can at least protect myself!”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yes!”

“Since Eldest Brother says so, I’ll take a look.”

“Yes, sir!”

Park Si-woo answered, breaking out in a cold sweat.

He was in a state of extreme tension right now.

After being introduced to the Sword Immortal by Kim Min-woo.

Up until now, all he’d done was a few spars at most.

‘But a disciple?’

On top of that, he’d been summoned abruptly and arrived to find an S-rank Gate right under his nose.

And not only that, the S-rank Awakened called legends were gathered in one place.

In age, experience, and fame, he was far below them. It wasn’t strange that he was stiff as a fresh recruit.

Ding!

He hurriedly checked his phone.

The last text he’d sent to Kim Min-woo came into view.

―Big Brother T_T I suddenly have to go clear an S-rank Gate, is it okay to go? I’m Level 52 and the Sword Immortal says to come along…….

[20 minutes ago]

―Yeah. A power-leveling carry, super sweet? He must have taken a liking to you. Go for it.

[1 second ago]

‘Is it really okay to go?’

Of course, Level wasn’t everything, and those four were Awakened once called legends, but…….

“Hey, you punk, what are you doing, not coming quick?”

“Yes! Coming!”

At Fist King’s bellow, he hurriedly packed his gear, out of breath.

‘Ah, forget it!’

Big Brother must be counting on something too, since he’d answered like that, right?

He stepped into the Gate, and.

Soon the glowing Gate gradually dimmed.

* * *

The Sword Immortal’s S-rank Gate clear.

This was an event he hadn’t even imagined.

He’d known the guy was fond of this side, but he hadn’t known he’d go this far for him.

‘But actually, that’s good.’

The Sword Immortal’s strength was far beyond this era’s S-rank.

It was an era where even guys who had barely passed Level 500 were treated as S-rank Awakened.

Such Awakened and the Awakened of the Sword Immortal’s era were of an entirely different caliber.

Sword Immortal, Divine Spear, Fist King, Poison Demon.

True Awakened who knew how to fight.

‘It’s just that they’ve aged and retreated to the back room to nurture the next generation…….’

If they’d been active in the field, Korea wouldn’t even have been called an Awakened weak nation.

Judging by it, it seemed he’d gathered all his old comrades to get dragon bones.

Tomb of the Dragon?

‘They might even clear it while picking their noses?’

That was the reason he’d sent Park Si-woo without worry. Even if the guy contributed minus ten people’s worth, those four would grab him by the collar and carry him.

‘Well, even just lightly tapping with the Holy Sword…….’

Experience would come pouring in.

For Park Si-woo, it was no different from a fortuitous encounter.

‘Drawing attention like this isn’t bad either.’

After the clear, a great deal of attention would pour onto Park Si-woo too.

Then if he enrolled him in the Guild once he hit Level 101?

Public opinion would get so hot it would explode.

Because people would realize what it meant to accept only the true best.

[Skill Book Enhancement succeeds!]

[Curse of Aging(D)+9 has been completed!]

“Oh.”

A Necromancer’s D-grade Basic Skill.

He examined the contents.

[Curse of Aging(D)+9]

[Consumes 30 Mana to cast the Curse of Aging on a target. A target afflicted by the curse has its defense and speed reduced by 20(10+10)%.]

The effect had risen exactly twofold.

‘Making this smashed 1 trillion.’

The blow-up at +8 was a big factor.

Thanks to that, the money got smashed at twice the rate.

If Summon Skeleton was the Skill that served as the starting point for all summoning.

Curse of Aging was the Skill that served as the starting point for all curse Skills. Since it was an important Skill, the money wasn’t a waste.

‘And the effect is definite, in proportion to what I poured in.’

Speed and defense decreasing like that?

Get cursed once and you’re done for. Of course, a curse wasn’t a Skill that always landed just because you cast it.

The success rate varied depending on the target’s magic resistance, build, and evasion.

Even if it landed, if the enemy’s Level was too high, the efficiency was bound to be halved too.

Probably in the Apostle’s case, it would take casting like mad for it to land even once.

Anyway, if it just landed, the battle would get much easier.

There was no reason not to learn it.

Kim Min-woo calculated the remaining money.

He’d given up a 10% stake and received an infusion of 5 trillion.

Combined with the 300 billion originally remaining, that was 5.3 trillion won.

Subtracting 1 trillion for the curse Skill left 4.3 trillion.

‘Subtract 800 billion for the Mid-Tier Elixirs here, and.’

Considering the Orcs’ appetites, he should budget at least 500 billion for food.

And that’s not all?

The bone cost hadn’t even been calculated yet.

An average of 25 million won per party.

They’d have seen the buy-up notice, so quite a few parties would be going in and out of Gates.

Because it was a structure where other Gates didn’t guarantee a minimum income even if you went, but Gates earning bone money did.

And if you thought of them looping that over and over in a day…….

‘Count 2,000 parties and that’s roughly 50 billion.’

In two weeks, 700 billion.

He also had to buy dragon bones, but he could only set the price after meeting the Sword Immortal, so he left it aside for now.

He also had to swap out all the Level 101 equipment for Rare, and that price alone would be at least 50 billion. Since he had to replace both his own and Cedric’s.

Added together, it looked like close to 3 trillion won would be spent.

The remaining amount?

Roughly in the low 2 trillion range.

High-Grade Elixirs cost about 3 billion won each.

If it’s 800 of these?

That’s 2.4 trillion.

Even the Elixir cost was going to fall short.

“Phew. Good thing I learned crafting Skills, at least…….”

The High-Grade Elixir stage.

From around 151, setting up became truly grueling. The same went even with Ilseong’s support.

Because even for a company, it would be an amount that couldn’t help but be a burden.

An amount that would be suffocating to just hand over.

‘Time to grow Ilseong too.’

If only he grew, he couldn’t keep up with the spending.

He had to run two jobs.

Ilseong, an automatic money-printer.

Only when this cash box itself grew would it be possible to pull money out of it neatly when needed.

That was also the reason he’d readily taken the ad model job.

‘I did hear sales jumped a bit from the ads, but…….’

This was a bit insufficient.

A blazing one-shot was needed soon.

‘Should I start selling equipment and Potions?’

Of course, companies weren’t fools, so it wasn’t likely they hadn’t jumped into this field.

It was an ultra Red Ocean field where numerous companies, Ilseong included, were already competing.

But…….

‘How will they beat mass-produced + items?’

Even for large companies, the number of master craftsmen they held was limited.

By contrast, this side could supply unlimited craftsmen just by widening his Mana pool.

And there was no labor cost for the craftsmen either.

With overflowing quantity, they’d pour out goods stamped with Ilseong’s name.

“And sell them. Cheap.”

A Chicken Game?

Welcome any time.

Since he led in both quality and quantity, there was no way he’d lose.

First, he’d take the low-level equipment market. Next he’d take the mid-level market.

That way he’d kill off every competitor.

And after that?

He’d swallow the whole market.

‘Not just buying and selling equipment…….’

He could go with a rental format too.

The marketability was boundless.

If Ilseong completely swallowed the equipment market like that?

Its worth would reach tens of trillions. If he considered overseas expansion later, it might even exceed 100 trillion won.

Then he’d have a pretext to ask for money.

The plan was perfect.

Just then…….

A news flash came out of a TV near the Auction House.

―Huh? Uhh……? Right now, the Gate of Tomb of the Dragon is glowing…… g-green! The Sword Immortal did it! And he cleared it at a crazy speed……! Huh? Isn’t this a world record?! Fellow citizens! It’s a world record!

The Sword Immortal had rewritten the S-rank Gate world record.