Capítulo 120: Chapter 120
"You… What's your true identity?" Bijang asked as he looked at JiHan in disbelief. "You easily caught those strange birds that even I would struggle against, and you did it with the power of darkness…"
As he was thinking about how to answer, JiHan's mouth opened on its own due to a forced event. "I can only tell you that I'm affiliated with the royal family's secret Assassination Branch."
"The Assassination Branch… I see. I thought they'd fail, but they managed to raise an outstanding talent like you. Does that mean the ascension experiment was successful?"
"Yes."
"Then I guess there's no helping what I have to do next." Bijang nodded as if he understood and took his spear from his back.
"What do you mean?"
"I'll request support from the usually neutral giants. They'll help, since Chojo came back from the dead. In the meantime, you can use this to help guard the bridge."
BZZT-!
Pure-white lightning burst from the spear, clustered into a ball, and shot out.
"This is the Cloud Thunderbolt Spear's essence. I'll temporarily imbue it into your spear."
BZZT-
The lightning intertwined with the Phoenix Flag and naturally fused into it.
"Tsk… It left without even a moment of hesitation." Bijang looked at the essence being absorbed into the Phoenix Flag with a bit of disappointment.
Then he turned and said, "I'll leave the bridge to you."
After those final words, the giant began walking away.
JiHan watched his back for a few moments before system messages started to pour in.
[You've cleared the defense map 'One Bridge'.]
[You completely cleared the map.]
[Experience and GP have been tripled.]
[You are a player who dominates the League. Additional experience will be given to hasten you to the next League.]
[Your level has increased by 4.]
[You've earned 200,000 GP.]
[You've cleared the epic quest.]
[You've earned 50,000 achievement points.]
[You've earned the 'Cloud Thunderbolt Spear'.]
After that, every player, including JiHan, was logged out.
"Wow, amazing!"
"Is it over?"
"The rewards are insane… What's up with this GP?"
Those who'd participated looked over their rewards in excitement. They'd heard a lot about how JiHan carried those he played with and were happy to experience it as well.
Gold players didn't usually gain a level from a single game, but they each went up at least one level, and some even went up two levels, all despite having done very little.
'So this is the JiHan carry I've heard so much about.'
'It'd be great to be his teammate again next time.'
As everyone was being logged out with smiles on their faces, Sofia also grinned over at Sae-ah and said, "Woah… Our levels shot up. Right, Sae-ah?"
Since they belonged in Silver, they'd gained more levels than the Gold players. Just like JiHan, they'd each gained four levels.
"Yes. Well, I didn't do anything…" Sae-ah said, a bit disappointed as she tugged on her bowstring.
She thought she'd at least get to release a few arrows since it was a defense map, but her uncle had done everything on his own.
"A-am I being carried too much?"
"So what? Sae-ah, you can play another game~ Just give it your all in that one."
"Sofia, are you okay?"
"Me?" She smiled. "I'm thrilled. I finished 2nd in contribution thanks to the buffs I gave him."
Since JiHan had practically finished the game himself, it was natural for her to finish 2nd in the contribution since she'd buffed him.
"He's definitely worth supporting." Somehow, she looked at him even more intensely than before. She already liked Warriors enough as it was and seemed deeply impressed by his one-man display.
JiHan looked at the 'Cloud Thunderbolt Spear' as soon as he logged out.
[Cloud Thunderbolt Spear]
Rank: SS
- A shapeless spear created from lightning by the Cloud Empire's first emperor.
- Can reach its full potential when fused with other equipment.
- Greatly enhances fused equipment and additionally provides the lightning attribute.
- Target equipment for fusion must be at least SS-rank.
- The user will obtain the 'Summon Thundercloud' skill when fully acknowledged as the owner of the Cloud Thunderbolt Spear.
- Currently fused with the Phoenix Flag.
It was a piece of equipment that was more effective when fused with other equipment.
'The Phoenix Flag is about as strong as an SS-rank weapon, but it should reach SSS-tier when fused with the Cloud Thunderbolt Spear.'
According to the item's description, it wasn't limited to fusing with spears, either.
"Ariel, can you fuse with this?"
[You mean that spear? Since Eclipse is SS-rank, the two items probably wouldn't show their full strength after being fused.]
"So would the synergy be better if it was SSS-rank?" he asked.
[Hmm… The energies wouldn't interfere with each other, but there wouldn't be any additional effects.]
"Then I should just keep it fused with the Phoenix Flag."
Next, he checked his achievement points.
'I have 630K points.'
He'd earned around 300k points after meeting the Dead Star, and then he'd earned even more from the epic quest, so it was about time to use them.
'I should start by upgrading the Achievement Shop.'
He added a Gift and Constellation Slot before proceeding with the upgrade. Although it cost a total of 350k points, he still had a lot left over and didn't feel too pressured.
'I wonder what'll be added…'
[The Achievement Shop has been upgraded to LV.7]
['Donation' item has been added.]
[You might receive unexpected luck if you donate achievement points to the system!]
He laughed in disbelief. Were they joking with him?
[The level cap for each item has increased.]
[You will need to use achievement points to unlock the cap.]
While the next system message was noteworthy, he felt disappointed after using so many achievement points and only getting 'Donation' in return.
'There's no way I'd do that!' Why would Battle Net's omnipotent creators need donations of achievement points? He vowed to never donate, but…
[To upgrade the Achievement Shop, all items must be LV.3 or higher.]
[To upgrade the Achievement Shop, you must make 5 or more donations.]
He frowned when he saw he had to make at least five donations before upgrading the shop again. The saying, 'Those who have more are often the least charitable,' applied there as well.
'I'll just have to think of them as points I never had to begin with.' With that in mind, he clicked the 'Donate' button with his trembling finger.
[You've donated 10,000 points to the system!]
[You feel invigorated. You'll accumulate less fatigue for the next month.]
He felt lighter for a moment, but not much else changed. On top of that…
'Can I only donate once a month?'
He would have rather got it all over with immediately, but it seemed like the system wouldn't allow that. It felt more like a trick designed to hinder a player's growth than anything else.
'There isn't much I can do.' He suppressed his frustration and invested the rest of his achievement points in the other things he could buy. He needed everything at LV.3 to upgrade the shop again anyway.
Among the upgrades, there was the option that had replaced his additional class slots.
[All for One LV.2 - 250,000P]
Upgrading 'All for One' seemed more useful than expanding his status window or inventory.
[You've purchased All for One LV.2]
'I need another 250K points now.'
He'd thought he could buy anything when he had 630k achievement points, but 610k had vanished in only a few clicks, and he only had a strange donation option and an increase in 'All for One' to show for it.
'Ah… There's also the useless Extra Gift Slot and the Constellation Slot.'
He only had 20k points left and felt a bit disheartened.
'Let's not dwell on it too much. I never had a use for achievement points in my past life anyway. As for this month's random box, it looks like it has an increased chance for an item to appear.'
Thinking he would try his luck later, he closed the Achievement Shop. Next, he opened his status window and thought about how to allocate his free points. He'd gone up four levels with the latest game despite being in Gold, but there was a reason for that.
'There was another system message…''
[You are a player who dominates the League. Additional experience will be given to hasten you to the next League.]
The system was giving him extra experience and practically begging him to advance into the next League as quickly as possible because he was destroying the game's balance.
'My Martial Power will reach 97 if I put all of my points into it…'
He wasn't far from his goal of reaching 100 Martial Power, which was when he could try combining the three elixir fields again.
'I'll definitely succeed this time.'
* * *
On that same day, October 1st, an East Asian Battle Net game was being held between Korea and Taiwan.
= Aah…! The Korean team lost again…!
= How many times have they lost in a row now? The bottom of the rankings is certain if we already lost to Taiwan!
= Ah, when will we win again…?
Sorrow laced the Korean commentators' voices. There was still a big, unfilled gap left by the Sword King's departure, and they'd even lost to Taiwan, which was considered one of the weakest national teams.
"They lost again?"
"Wow, Taiwan completely wiped the floor with them…"
"We can't even compete in the lower ranks?"
"This is bad…"
Rather than criticizing the team, Korean citizens began worrying about the country's future.
"Won't our global ranking drop significantly if we keep losing?"
"Yes. It's hard to find a country with no recent wins like ours when you look at other Leagues. Our national team's performance is basically at the level of self-harm."
"Damn. Won't we end up like North Korea at this rate?"
"But isn't it possible to eliminate dungeons with the Exploration Gift?"
"That's still in the testing phase, isn't it? Regardless, a dungeon appearance would cause our economy to collapse."
"That's true…"
Even if they closed a dungeon, its mere existence would be fatal for the country. Their worry was natural.
"We need JiHan to level up quickly!"
"Ugh… Can't we put him on the national team now?"
"He's only in Gold. The minimum requirement is Diamond."
"There's not a single other person in the world with a record as good as his. I remember when someone could be called a fanatic for mentioning this.
You had to be Diamond at minimum to be chosen as a national team representative, so suggesting that JiHan, a player who'd just reached Gold, should join was absurd.
"Did you see his game? He completely smashed Hojo."
"Hojo…? Are you talking about the boss that appears on the One Bridge map?"
"Yes, Hojo. The giant that fights Bijang."
People who were familiar with Battle Net were utterly shocked by the news.
"Wow… Even Diamonds avoid fighting him, right?"
"Yes! He's stronger than a Diamond!"
"No. It looked like he knew Hojo's weakness. He was defeated too easily."
"That's not it. JiHan's just ridiculously strong!"
"Dude, are you also one of those 'The First' fanatics? I watched that stream too. Even Hojo was surprised by the damage he was receiving."
"Yes. I joined the fan club! The national team is hopeless anyway, so why not give him a chance? Do you want to keep finishing last?!"
The person admitted to being a new member of 'The First' after a few drinks.
"That's not our decision…"
"We can do it. Let's make a petition! More than 100K people have signed already!"
"100K…?"
"Yes. Let's do it right now! I'll send you a message!"
"It won't change anything, but I'll sign it anyway."
Others reluctantly agreed to sign the petition after one of their friends passionately argued about it. It was a bit ironic that the petition for JiHan to join the national team skyrocketed in popularity on the day of South Korea's defeat to Taiwan.
"What's this…?"
In the end, the Battle Net Administration Office was completely taken aback by how many signatures the petition received.
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