Chapter 53
“…”
I stared at the Message Window with anxious eyes.
I definitely gave him some words of comfort.
But even after a long time passed, there was no reply.
Even someone as dense as I could easily tell what this situation meant.
‘He’s sulking…! He’s 100% sulking…!’
Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa was definitely tilted.
And rightfully so.
- Your guide? I didn’t use it as a reference at all?
- It wasn’t bad for a human, though? Lol.
Anyone would be upset getting a reaction like that after dropping 10 billion won.
Of course, I had shown the utmost sincerity in my own way, but there was no way he would know my circumstances.
I felt sorry, sure.
But more importantly, it was this.
‘No! Don’t go…!’
I had lost a big-spending patron who might have given me even more Gold later.
If it were up to me, I would have typed more messages and begged on my knees, but [Exalted Dignity] wouldn’t allow it.
‘Phew. It can’t be helped.’
I let out a deep sigh and closed the Message Window.
What’s past is past.
And after that, a few more donations came in.
Most were small amounts in the thousands or tens of thousands, but among them were some noticeably large sums.
[Artist has sponsored 100,000 Gold!: .]
Another artist sent 100,000 Gold with just a single dot.
It gave off the feeling that they were quietly watching me, which gave me goosebumps.
Still, it was fine as long as they were giving me 100 million won to do it.
And.
[Eun-Seol has sponsored 1,000,000 Gold!]
This time, there was someone who generously donated a whopping 1,000,000 Gold without even a message.
‘Eun-Seol? If it’s Eun-Seol…’
S-rank Hunter Ice Empress.
Wasn’t her real name Baek Eun-Seol?
“But why did she give me such a huge amount of money?”
If there was any connection between me and the Ice Empress, it had to be this.
I sent Katarina to help her at the Seollim-dong Gate.
But there was no way she could know I was behind that, so why did she make such a huge donation?
Was it because Katarina was a Vampire and my nickname was True Ancestor?
But it was too much of a leap in logic to connect the two based on just that.
“I have no idea…”
There might be some other reason.
Anyway, a good thing is a good thing, I guess.
With that, the total Gold I received today was a whopping 25,000,000!
It was the sum of the donations from the noted registered users and all the smaller donations combined.
My original goal was to gather the 2,800,000 Gold needed for the Territory Level Up, but I ended up getting a massive amount almost nine times that.
When that amount was added to my existing 7,200,000 Gold, my balance became a staggering 32,200,000 Gold.
I immediately opened the System Window and proceeded with the Territory Upgrade.
[Would you like to upgrade Jinjo’s Domain to Level 2?]
[Cost: 10,000,000 Gold]
“Confirm!”
[The Territory has reached Level 2!]
Ta-da!
A cheerful fanfare rang out, and System Messages popped up in a row.
Three new Special Facility items that could be constructed were added.
First of all,
[Special Training Ground Upgrade]
- You can now set your desired terrain and background environment in addition to Phantom Summon.
Cost: 10,000,000 Gold
“Oh!”
This was a much more groundbreaking option than I thought.
Weren’t there many bizarre environments inside gates and the Tower, like forests, volcanoes, snowfields, and swamps?
There was bound to be a World of difference between fighting only on ordinary flat ground and entering actual combat after experiencing and adapting to special terrain in advance.
This directly correlated to an increase in combat power, so I had to buy it right away.
[Coffin of Rest]
- Resting inside the coffin will drastically speed up the recovery of stamina and wounds.
Cost: 6,000,000 Gold
‘Hmm. I don’t need this right away, but it would be good to use if the Retainers ever get hurt.’
And to prepare for when I get hurt, too.
It’s unlikely I’ll get hurt, though.
The Death Scythe was so heavy and large that if I had ever slipped while swinging it and cut my own leg, I would have had to run straight there and lie down.
I decided to purchase this as well.
And the third and final item.
[Oak Blood Barrel]
- Storing Monster Blood here will slowly age it. Fully Aged Blood exhibits special effects. (Aging time varies depending on the grade of the blood.)
Cost: 6,000,000 Gold
“Ooh!”
This was the best one so far.
Didn’t this mean I could upgrade blood?
Low-grade Blood, which I especially can’t drink - if I stored it here, I might be able to drink it.
This was an absolute must-buy.
“But… if I buy all of these, my bank account will be completely empty.”
10,000,000 Gold for the Territory upgrade, 10,000,000 Gold for the Training Ground Expansion, and 6,000,000 Gold each for the coffin and the blood barrel.
32,000,000 Gold evaporated in an instant.
All that was left was a mere 200,000 Gold.
Actually, even this was a large sum of about 200 million won in Korean currency, but I guess money is relative.
Looking at 200,000 Gold right after seeing 32,000,000 Gold made it look incredibly pathetic.
“Wow, I really need a lot of money…”
Just a moment ago, I felt like a filthy rich person looking at my 32,000,000 Gold.
My Bank Balance had slimmed down in a flash.
‘Sob. Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa. Won’t you come back?’
I checked the Message Window with tears in my eyes, but there was still no reply from him.
Anyway, I had to install what I bought right away.
I opened My Room door, went out, and placed the pitch-black coffin-shaped [Coffin of Rest] in the middle of the living room. Next to the kitchen refrigerator, I placed the massive, human-sized [Oak Blood Barrel].
When a coffin and an oak barrel suddenly appeared inside the house, the Retainers' eyes went wide.
“Whoa! Master! What’s this black box? Is it a bed? And what about that big barrel?!”
Riri ran over first, examining the coffin this way and that in fascination.
“Hmm. This is a coffin where you can heal your bodies and find rest. And that is a vessel that will age blood to make it even more precious.”
When I explained it in an elegant tone, Katarina immediately dropped to one knee and bowed her head.
“Liege Lord, thank you so much for bestowing such great holy relics upon us.”
The other Retainers behind her also expressed their gratitude with respectful gazes.
“To repay our Liege Lord’s boundless grace, I wish to become even stronger. May I resume my training right away?”
At Katarina’s determination, I gladly nodded and opened the portal leading to the Training Ground.
“The Training Ground has also been newly renovated, so go and check it out.”
As I entered the Training Ground, a System Interface that allowed me to set the terrain popped up, visible only to me.
Various maps provided by default, such as urban, mountainous, swamp, and snowfield, were on the list.
I selected the mountainous terrain as a test.
Vwooom - !
In an instant, the inside of the Training Ground transformed into a dense forest and rugged rocky mountains.
“T-This can’t be. Is our Liege Lord’s power truly limitless…!”
“Awesome! It’s a mountain, a mountain!”
The Retainers marveled at the changed environment, took their respective positions, and dove into their training.
Katarina used the rough terrain of the rocky mountain to practice Stealth and mobility.
Si-Yeon moved between the trees, practicing the trajectory of her Blood Bullets.
But as I looked around, while everyone else was training well in accordance with the surrounding environment, Sera alone stood there awkwardly.
She was just repeating basic physical training, like doing squats in place or swinging her arms through the empty air by herself.
“Sera, is there a problem?”
When I approached and asked what was wrong, Sera jumped in surprise and replied.
“M-Master… I’m sorry. I want to train properly too, but I don’t have a weapon…”
Come to think of it, she was right.
She was a Knight, but without a sword, it seemed she was only doing bare-handed physical training.
When she crossed over from the Tower to reality, she left the sword she used behind.
At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to properly utilize an S-rank Potential Retainer.
‘Hmm… I’ll have to make her a good sword.’
If I utilized Riri’s [Blood Blacksmith] ability, I would be able to make a weapon perfectly suited for Sera.
‘Phew. There’s so much to take care of one way or another.’
There were many things I had to do from then on.
I thought to myself that I needed to work harder.
Ah. Of course, the ones working hard would be the Retainers, not I. But anyway.
* * *
A few days later.
I was lurking in the Climber Community out of habit.
But one post that came up caught my eye.
[Title: But why is Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa so invisible lately?]
Poster: Anonymous
Didn’t this guy usually live in the Community every day?
Replying to newbies' question posts and writing guide posts were his daily routine.
But for the past few days, hasn’t he written any posts or left any comments?
- Huh? You’re right.
- Isn’t he running the Tower?
└ No, he’s not. Sol-Peul-Jwa is currently trying the 88th floor, and as far as I know, his entry Cooldown hasn’t reset yet.
└ Hmm. That’s weird then. He doesn’t really go to places like gates other than the Tower.
What is it? Did something happen?
I was getting a bit worried too.
He still hadn’t read my message, either.
Up to this point, it was just a simple question post, but an analysis post that came up shortly after caused a huge stir in the Community.
[Title: I analyzed the reason for Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa’s disappearance shiver]
Poster: Anonymous
Do you guys know when Sol-Peul-Jwa’s last login date was?
I checked, and it happens to be the exact same day True Ancestor held the Grace Auction and Sol-Peul-Jwa sponsored 10 billion.
Since that day, his logins have completely stopped like a ghost.
- gasp shiver
- Fuck, that’s terrifying.
- RIP Sol-Peul-Jeon-Sa. You were the GOAT of the Climber Community.
- Did he get 'eaten'?
- Didn’t she turn him into a Vampire? shiver
- Sol-Peul-Jwa is a ranker who can be counted on one hand in terms of combat power worldwide, so is True Ancestor really capable of doing something to him?
└ True Ancestor is fucking out of the norm.
└ It’s obvious she’s a Dangerous Being just from the killing intent in her voice, but she’s been too glorified as a meme here.
└ Ha, fuck;;
…
I stared blankly at the screen.
Uh…
I never did anything like that, though…?