Buying (2)

Seo Jincheol, the Sword Immortal, was surrounded by a throng of reporters.

"Sword Immortal! Is it true that you're attempting the Dragon's Tomb with only five people?"

"That's correct."

The reporters murmured among themselves. The higher a gate's rank, the more people it required—and the Dragon's Tomb was notorious for being among the hardest S-rank gates. Even a full party of thirty might not be enough, and he was taking just five?

Those five weren't even all S-rank awakeners who had enjoyed illustrious heydays. There were only four S-rank awakeners on the raid roster: the Sword Immortal, the Divine Spear, the Poison Demon, and the Fist King.

And the remaining member was Park Siwoo.

Out of nowhere, an awakener none of them had ever heard of had appeared on the list. A hurried inquiry with the ranking office revealed that he was merely an F-rank awakener who had awakened a few weeks ago.

It was unbelievable.

'They're taking on an S-rank gate with this lineup?'

'Will they even reach the midway zone...?'

Some reporters even suspected the Sword Immortal had gone senile. That was how absurd the whole thing sounded.

As high-ranking awakeners, S-ranks barely aged and enjoyed vastly extended lifespans. But that didn't mean they never grew old. Besides, it had already been twenty years since the awakeners of the Sword Immortal's generation had last entered a gate.

Awakeners of that generation generally devoted themselves to training their successors instead of entering gates. They still occupied the highest spots in Korea's awakener rankings out of respect for their past achievements. Doubt was inevitable.

The reporters hurried to ask questions.

"Why on earth is an F-rank awakener included in the raid roster?"

"Level doesn't determine everything."

"Are you saying he has tremendous potential?"

The Sword Immortal nodded.

"This boy will be more useful than most of those young upstarts."

"...!"

An F-rank awakener who could be useful in an S-rank gate? That was the impact of the Sword Immortal's unequivocal endorsement.

At the prospect of a new Super Rookie, the reporters rapidly tapped away at their keyboards. All the while, their mouths never stopped firing off questions.

"Even the top guilds avoid the Dragon's Tomb! The White Tiger Guild was the last to attempt it, and they failed with horrific casualties. Are you truly confident?"

The White Tiger Guild had once ranked third. They had boldly challenged the Dragon's Tomb, only to lose the majority of their fighting strength. They were lucky to have escaped alive from the midway zone.

Their raid force had consisted of six S-rank awakeners and twenty-four A-ranks. Even then, they had failed. The White Tiger Guild had gone into decline afterward. Naturally, people had their doubts.

Then... the Sword Immortal spoke quietly.

"The current awakener system simply divides ranks by level. Isn't that so?"

The reporters nodded. Of course, level wasn't literally the only consideration. There were cases of low-level awakeners being awarded higher ranks because they possessed extraordinary skills or titles.

The problem was that awakeners didn't want to reveal everything about themselves. Who wanted to expose the full extent of their capabilities to the public? That was why level had become the standard for ranking: it was the easiest number to distinguish and one awakeners didn't feel particularly burdened about revealing.

Besides, a higher level generally meant a greater likelihood of possessing powerful titles, skills, and other advantages. That was how ranks had come to be determined by level.

"But it's precisely because that makes ranking so straightforward that the entire world adopted it as the standard, isn't it?"

"I'm not opposed to it. But it doesn't tell you everything about an awakener. We'll show you that we're not finished yet."

"Sword Immortal!"

"Just a few more questions...!"

He left the waiting area and headed toward the gate entrance. The enormous gate came into view: the Dragon's Tomb, located in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. The other awakeners had finished their preparations and were waiting for him.

The Fist King stepped forward and spoke with a wry smile.

"Man, you fellows, we've really fallen far. They're doubting whether we can clear a lousy gate like this."

"It just means that much time has passed," the Divine Spear said calmly.

As he wiped his spear with a cloth, his gaze turned to Park Siwoo. The boy the Sword Immortal had brought along. An F-rank awakener, from what he'd heard.

"Sir, I came because you called us together for the first time in ages, but who exactly is that boy?"

"My disciple."

"... Isn't Yerim your disciple?"

"I've taken another."

"He must have some talent, then."

The Divine Spear's eyes gleamed. If the notoriously demanding Sword Immortal called him a disciple, his potential was obvious. The Fist King and the Poison Demon seemed equally surprised, repeatedly glancing at Park Siwoo.

Rather than the taciturn Poison Demon, it was the wild, unbridled Fist King who spoke first.

"You there, kid."

"Yes, sir!"

"Confident you won't die?"

"I'm confident I can at least protect myself!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Well, if he speaks that highly of you, I'll see what you've got."

"Yes, sir!" Park Siwoo replied, breaking into a cold sweat.

He was wound tighter than a spring. Since Kim Minwoo had introduced him to the Sword Immortal, all they had done was spar a few times.

'And now I'm his disciple?'

Then he had shown up after being summoned out of the blue, only to find an S-rank gate right in front of him. As if that weren't enough, legendary S-rank awakeners were all gathered in one place. He was far beneath them in age, experience, and reputation alike. It was no wonder he was standing so stiffly at attention.

DING!

He hurriedly checked his phone. The last KakaoTalk message he had sent Kim Minwoo was on the screen.

—Minwoo, help, I'm suddenly going on an S-rank raid. Is it okay for me to go? I'm only level 52, but the Sword Immortal asked me to come along...

[20 minutes ago]

—Yeah. That's one hell of a free carry. Guess he likes you. Go for it.

[1 second ago]

'Is it really okay to go?'

Sure, level wasn't everything, and those four had once been called legends, but...

"Hey, kid! What's keeping you? Get over here!"

"Yes, sir! Coming!"

At the Fist King's bark, Siwoo scrambled to gather his things.

'Ah, to hell with it!'

Minwoo must have had something to go on to reply like that. Siwoo stepped into the gate, and soon its radiance gradually dimmed.

* * *

The Sword Immortal was raiding an S-rank gate. That was an entirely unexpected development. Minwoo had known the man liked him, but he hadn't expected him to go this far.

'Actually, this is even better.'

The Sword Immortal's strength far surpassed the S-ranks of this era. These days, even people who had barely passed level 500 were considered S-rank awakeners. They were in an entirely different league from the awakeners of the Sword Immortal's generation.

The Sword Immortal, the Divine Spear, the Fist King, and the Poison Demon. Real awakeners who knew how to fight.

'They've just gotten older and stepped back to train the next generation...'

Had they remained active, no one would have called Korea a weak nation when it came to awakeners. From the looks of it, the Sword Immortal had gathered his old comrades to get some dragon bones.

The Dragon's Tomb?

'They might clear it while picking their noses.'

That was why he had sent Park Siwoo off without a worry. Even if the kid contributed negative ten people's worth, those four would drag him through by the scruff of his neck.

'Well, even if he just gets a few taps in with his holy sword...'

The experience would come flooding in. For Park Siwoo, this was an extraordinary windfall.

'Drawing this kind of attention isn't bad, either.'

Once they cleared it, Park Siwoo would be showered with attention too. And if Minwoo recruited him into the guild when he reached level 101? Public interest wouldn't merely heat up—it would explode. People would understand what it meant to accept only the very best.

[Skill book enhancement successful!]

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

"Oh."

A basic D-grade necromancer skill. He examined its details.

[Curse of Aging (D) +9]

[Consumes 30 Mana to place a Curse of Aging on the target. The cursed target's Defense and Speed decrease by 20 (10+10)%.]

Its effect had exactly doubled.

'That cost me a trillion won to make.'

Having it break at +8 had hurt. That had doubled the cost.

If Summon Skeleton was the foundation of all summoning skills, Curse of Aging was the foundation of all curse skills. It was important enough that he didn't begrudge the money.

'And the results are certainly worth the investment.'

A reduction like that to speed and defense? One curse could send you straight to your grave. Of course, casting a curse didn't guarantee it would land.

Its success rate depended on the target's magic resistance, size, and evasion. Even if it landed, its effectiveness would be reduced if the enemy's level was too high. Against someone like the Apostle, he would probably have to cast it endlessly just for a chance of landing it once.

Still, once it landed, the fight would become much easier. There was no reason not to learn it.

Kim Minwoo calculated his remaining funds. He had received a five-trillion-won cash injection in exchange for a ten-percent stake. Added to the 300 billion he already had, that made 5.3 trillion won. Subtracting one trillion for the curse skill left 4.3 trillion.

'Then subtract 800 billion for the intermediate elixirs.'

Given the orcs' appetites, he would have to budget at least 500 billion won for food. And that wasn't all. He hadn't even factored in the bones yet.

An average of 25 million won per party. Plenty of parties would be going in and out of gates after seeing the purchasing notice. Other gates offered no guaranteed minimum income, but the gates with bones to sell did.

And if they kept running those gates throughout the day...

'At two thousand parties, that's roughly fifty billion.'

Over two weeks, that would be 700 billion. He also needed dragon bones, but he would leave that aside for now, since he couldn't settle on a price until he met the Sword Immortal.

He needed to replace all their gear with level-101 Rare equipment too. That alone would cost at least fifty billion won, since both he and Cedric needed new sets.

Altogether, he would be spending close to three trillion won. What would that leave him? A little over two trillion.

Advanced elixirs cost around three billion won apiece. Eight hundred of those? That was 2.4 trillion. He wouldn't even have enough for the elixirs.

"Whew. Good thing I learned those crafting skills, at least..."

The advanced-elixir stage. Starting around level 151, gearing up became truly punishing. Even Ilseong's backing wouldn't change that. The sums involved would inevitably be a burden, even for a corporation—enough to make anyone choke at simply handing them over.

'It's about time I helped Ilseong grow too.'

If he was the only one growing, he couldn't sustain his spending. He needed a second job: running the automatic money printer called Ilseong. That cash cow itself had to grow if he wanted to keep drawing funds from it whenever he needed them.

That was why he had readily agreed to model for their ads.

'I heard the ads boosted sales a bit...'

But that wasn't enough. It was about time for something with real impact.

'Time to start selling equipment and potions, right?'

Of course, corporations weren't fools. There was no way they hadn't already entered the field. It was a brutally overcrowded market, with countless companies—including Ilseong—already competing.

But...

'How are they going to beat mass-produced plus-grade items?'

Even major corporations had a limited number of artisans. He, on the other hand, could supply an unlimited number just by expanding his mana pool. And he wouldn't have to pay those artisans wages.

He would flood the market with goods bearing Ilseong's name.

"And then sell them. Cheap."

A price war? He welcomed it. There was no way he could lose when he had the edge in both quality and quantity.

First, he would take over the low-level equipment market. Then the mid-level market. He would wipe out every last competitor that way.

And after that?

He would swallow the entire market.

'And it doesn't have to be limited to selling equipment...'

He could rent it out too. The market potential was endless.

If Ilseong completely dominated the equipment market like that, its value would reach tens of trillions of won. Factoring in future overseas expansion, it might even exceed a hundred trillion. Then he would have grounds to ask for money.

The plan was perfect.

Just then... breaking news came from a TV near the auction house.

—Huh? Wh-what...? The Dragon's Tomb gate is glowing right now... It's g-green! The Sword Immortal has done it! And he's cleared it at an insane speed...! Wait, isn't this a new world record?! Everyone! It's a new world record!

The Sword Immortal had shattered the world record for an S-rank gate.