25 hours—it was an era where it was possible to cross to the other side of the earth in just a bit over a day. Of course, this was a story when using an aircraft of the ZA87-100 cla.s.s or higher. The airfare that cost tens of millions of won wasn’t a big burden for the main members of the Overgeared Guild. Many members had luxury planes that were several times more expensive than airplane tickets.
“Hmm?”
Spain’s leading player, Pon—he enjoyed world-cla.s.s popularity as a prince or knight on a white horse, and he also had a dedicated aircraft for himself. On the way to South Korea, he asked the captain to take care of the three refueling points and sat in his capsule. Then he c.o.c.ked his head. Grid and the 10 meritorious retainers who were the main members of the Overgeared Guild. There was a single line of notice posted in the group chat room of the members partic.i.p.ating in the party.
The meeting place was strange.
“Texas barbecue? Why?”
Why go so far just to eat American cuisine? It wasn’t a question he had because of complaints. How many people in the world didn’t like Texas barbecue? The brisket that was cooked for a long time and melted in the mouth was one of Pon’s favorite foods.
The reason Pon questioned it was simply because of Peak Sword’s inclination. Wasn’t Peak Sword a person who took pride in Korean food being the best in the world since it was delicious and good for the body? Until now, Pon visited Korean restaurants every time he came to South Korea for a meeting. Why was it Texas barbecue now?
‘Isn’t Peak Sword coming today? In any case, I am comfortable.’
Pon thought that cooking had no borders. Pon believed that the food of all countries deserved respect and had its own charm. The reason it was burdensome to visit a Korean restaurant in South Korea was because Peak Sword forced him to take photos of the food and post it on social media to promote Korean food.
‘Do you know kimchi? Do you know soup with rice?’
The questions that Peak Sword asked him every time he came to South Korea finally faded as Pon lay down in the capsule with a satisfied expression. Playing Satisfy during the flight was a natural habit, no, a duty, for him.
***
“Delicious! Melts in my mouth! This juicy, mouth-watering flavor is the best!”
s.h.i.+n Youngwoo—the supreme one of Satisfy and the dignity of the Overgeared Kingdom was still unpretentious. Unlike the other Overgeared members who wore luxury clothes and goods, he enjoyed ordinary brands of clothing and food. He knew how to express great joy even in everyday activities.
‘He has been riding in the same car for several years already.’
“Che, tsk, hum.”
s.h.i.+n Youngwoo ignored Peak Sword’s sound of dissatisfaction every time he praised the foreign food. Then Vantner asked him, “Grid, where do you normally spend money?”
He wasn’t trying to ask why Grid didn’t wear better clothes or change to a better car. He was just purely curious. Where was Grid spending all his money when he was one of the richest people in the world?
“Gulp. I used it to buy exercise equipment, medicine for my parents, a house for Sehee to live in independently, donated it to people having a hard time, bought land, um... here and there?”
“G.o.d Grid! You forgot the most important thing!”
Peak Sword, who had been complaining about the barbecue, intervened at this time.
“You are contributing to the country by paying a lot of taxes! G.o.d Grid, you are really the pride of South Korea!”
South Korea treated the money earned from Satisfy as unearned income, and for that reason, s.h.i.+n Youngwoo’s taxes were close to 50% of his income. However, s.h.i.+n Youngwoo had never been accused of tax evasion. The same was true for Peak Sword and Yura. Peak Sword, a member of the Korean Patriotic a.s.sociation, knew from his many experiences that it was a proud thing to pay taxes well.
“...Unearned income.”
The faces of the Overgeared members turned rotten when they learned the details. A number of Overgeared members who planned to move to South Korea like Jishuka and Toon started to change their minds.
Peak Sword realized that he missed the beneficiaries who would pay taxes to his country because of his premature remarks. He belatedly regretted it and tried to correct them, but it was useless. Peak Sword drank a bottle of beer with a frustrated heart and started to look for kimchi. Then he became drunk and words started flowing out.
Haha.Hoho.
Jishuka, Faker, and Euphemina sat in the middle and the party continued as the night wore on. No one expressed dislike when Vantner pushed for a second and third round. It was five or six years in reality—in all the years they had been together, the members of the Overgeared members thought of each other as friends and family.
Katz, who felt awkward for a while, felt the same. Katz was an enemy at first, and often criticized and fought with Peak Sword because he was j.a.panese. Now he was also a complete member of the Overgeared Kingdom. Katz wanted to show that he was an Overgeared member. He wanted to prove he was always grateful to Grid.
“Grid, I will leave my plane, Courage, behind in South Korea tomorrow. It is a new model. I’ve only been on it once. You can change the name.” It was the drunk Katz who spoke in awkward Korean.
Peak Sword clicked his tongue at Katz. “A third generation chaebol only knows how to solve everything with money. You should fix that nasty habit. Eh? Grid likes you and trusts you enough to eat and drink with you, yet you are just going to give him a plane to repay that trust? Do you think our G.o.d Grid is so ridiculous?”
“...That wasn’t my intention. Sorry. Cancel my words.”
“Hahaha! Yes, good! Drink! Let’s die together! Once again, congratulations to the legendary cla.s.ses! Cheers!”
“......”
The always smiling s.h.i.+n Youngwoo started glaring at Peak Sword, but Peak Sword didn’t know it. At this time, Huroi started using his eloquence to teach Peak Sword. Peak Sword was annoyed because he didn’t know the reason why, but he still felt it was fun.
***
“Hamburgers are for relieving hangovers.”
They really partied all night. For the first time in ages, he didn’t think about the game and enjoyed reality comfortably. s.h.i.+n Youngwoo returned from seeing off the Overgeared members early in the morning and started the day with a big bite of the cheeseburger that Toon bought. He exercised lightly, washed up, and went downstairs to have breakfast with his family. Then he stared at the sky for a while to adjust his condition before connecting to Satisfy.
‘What to do today...?’
At the capital of the Overgeared Kingdom, Reinhardt...
s.h.i.+n Youngwoo, no, Grid checked his schedule. The administrator, Rabbit, wanted to discuss a new project, and Lauel asked for a few more weekly king quests. Apart from that, there was nothing else scheduled. He spent enough time with his family yesterday, and finished his preparations to go to h.e.l.l again. It would be nice to go to h.e.l.l straight away and concentrate on leveling up, but Grid thought it was a priority to deal with things he had been putting off.
‘Then Latina’s Necklace... let’s leave it to Bullet.’
Latina’s Necklace had grown to the unique rating. It increased the wearer’s intelligence by 350, and had the effect of strengthening the stats of the undead summons. It wasn’t just the item itself that had excellent function. If he raised it to the legendary rating, he could summon the vampire, Latina.
The problem was the growth difficulty. From Grid’s standpoint, there was only one way to increase the experience of Latina’s Necklace. It was the act of summoning the Overgeared Skeletons. However, he calculated it one day and estimated it would take at least four years to grow Latina’s Necklace to the legendary level. Just as Yetima’s Greatsword was entrusted to Chris and Cray’s Bracelet was entrusted to Euphemina, there was a need for Latina’s Necklace to be nurtured by someone else.
‘No matter how I think about it, Bullet is the right person.’
Bullet was a tremendous talent who was the second ranked necromancer. He had named death knights, and could summon and command hundreds of skeletons. Compared to Grid who could only summon two skeletons, Bullet would be much more efficient in terms of power and growth speed. The reason why Grid hadn’t previously left the necklace to Bullet was because Latina’s Necklace was a good item for Grid.
Now things had changed.The need for Latina’s Necklace was relatively reduced due to the Necklace of Hierarchy gained from raiding h.e.l.l Gao.
‘Yes, leave it to Bullet.’
He would use the Necklace of Hierarchy and Ring of Hierarchy anyway, so Latina’s Necklace would be temporarily given to Bullet. The next thing caused Grid a big headache.
[Elfin Stone’s Ring]
[Rating: Legendary
* During normal attacks, 22% of the damage done to the target will be restored to you as health.
* During skill attacks, 10% of the damage done to the target will be restored to you as health.
* This effect is only invoked once every 16 seconds.
* Strength, stamina, and health +50
A ring that contains Earl Elfin Stone’s unique magic power.
It raises the potential and survival ability of the wearer.
* If this ring grows to a legendary rating, the wearer can summon Vampire Earl Elfin Stone.
Weight: 1]
A vampire item that was still one of the most valuable items Grid had gained while playing Satisfy—the ring was the symbol of Elfin Stone, who was closely related to the vampire episode of Braham, one of the most important people to the world view, and had a very good performance. Every time the lifesteal effect was activated, it acquired a small amount of experience points, and it finally grew to the legendary level after a few years.
The problem came after the ring reached the legendary rating. Grid had a.s.similated with Braham a few times and this caused Elfin Stone to feel a great resentment to Grid, who inherited Braham’s magic. Unlike Iyarugt, it was impossible to educate him with violence.
[Elfin Stone won’t respond to your summons.]
Elfin Stone completely refused Grid’s summoning. It was grown to the legendary rating, but so far, Grid had never seen Elfin Stone’s face.
‘At this point, he seems to be mistaking me for Braham.’
It wasn’t strange to be mistaken. Grid had inherited Duke of Wisdom from Braham and ascended to the status of Blood King. It was natural for the air he gave off to be similar to Braham, at least from Elfin Stone’s point of view. Elfin Stone had a deeper grudge against Braham than anyone else and he would stubbornly reject Braham.
‘I just need to summon him once. I think there should be a way after that...’
It was frustrating because Sage Sticks and Great Magician Braham both stated they didn’t know the solution. Who should he ask for help?
‘Marie Rose?’
No, he wasn’t that crazy. Grid struggled for a while before thinking of the tower members. The past generation legends who had existed for a longer time than Sticks and Braham. Perhaps they knew how to solve this problem?
‘I will try it.’
When else would he use the t.i.tle of Pioneer that he had earned? Grid squeezed Elfin Stone’s Ring and left for the Tower of Wisdom. Having pa.s.sed Chiyou’s Test and absorbing the power of the 29th and 33rd great demons, he was no longer overwhelmed by the scale of the tower. He felt confident that he could pa.s.s if the tower gave him new tests.
The man who welcomed him when he arrived at the tower was the sweaty Sword Saint, Biban.
“I’m working on a divine cleansing.”
“Yes...”
“Are you doubting it?”
“No. How can that be?”
“Sigh...”
“Haha...”
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