章 9: Chapter 9
- Relics used to be cheap in the past.
The Saintess reminisced on the old days.
- Their ranks were high because they were relics, but their options weren't good.
- Is that so?
- Yes, but when the Tutorial Season started in 2010, people thought there could be a secret to them, so the prices were high.
The Saintess spread her hands.
- Since no secret was revealed even 10 years later, the prices dropped.
- So? Let's get to the point.
- You're always in a hurry. I was about to tell you my story of relic collecting.
She pouted and then went to the point JiHan wanted to hear.
- Some relics came from other worlds.
- I know.
- If you hold onto them and concentrate your Divine Power while praying, you'll get a message that says, 'Your understanding of another world's faith has deepened,' and you'll gain some Divine Power.
- Is that it…?
- Yes, but it must be a relic from another world, and you have to hold onto it for quite a long time.
- It seems like an easy condition. I don't understand why it wasn't more known.
- From a Support's perspective, there's no need to use another world's relic. After all, relics from Earth's religions give you a Divine Energy bonus, but there's no such thing with relics that come from other worlds.
The Saintess tilted her head.
- But now that I think about it, I don't think I was the only one who knew this. There was someone else who consistently bought other worlds' relics.
- Really?
- Yes. However, that person disappeared after 2019.
He didn't take the Saintess's words seriously back then, but when he searched his brother-in-law's penthouse, JiHan realized who the other buyer was.
'It was my noona.'
JiHan's noona, Sung Ji-ah, used to be Korea's top Support, a 'Saintess'.
She'd sacrificed herself In 2019 to stop a huge accident from happening in Korea.
It matched the time the American Saintess said the other purchaser of other worlds' relics had disappeared.
'And… I found a large number of other worlds' relics inside my noona's storage.'
When he was exploring the penthouse, JiHan discovered many other worlds' relics stacked in Ji-ah's vault, and most of them…
[Other World's Relic (F-rank)]
- It used to be a relic, but the Divine Power inside has disappeared, rendering it useless.
Most had a description similar to that, but unlike others, some weren't F-rank.
'This one, for example.'
Paf! Paf!
JiHan recalled the item's description as he crushed a zombie's head.
[Other World's Relic - Metal Pole (E-rank)]
- A weapon with the advantage of being durable.
- The other world's clergy members build their faith by striking the heads of the heretics.
Maybe it was because you had to build faith by striking the heads of heretics, but the item's Divine Power hadn't been absorbed, and it had rested in his noona's vault.
Every time JiHan crushed a zombie's head…
[Your understanding of another world's faith has deepened.]
[Your Divine Power has increased.]
Such messages kept popping up, especially when dealing with the powerful blood zombies.
[The relic is pleased to have met a horrible heretic.]
[The relic's original purpose is being followed. Divine Power is rising on its own.]
JiHan had low Divine Power, so it was helping him understand how to use it.
'It's similar to raising Ki in some aspects.'
Of course, using Divine Power and using Ki were different—the flow of Ki started from the lower abdomen, and Divine Power went from the head to the hands.
Anyway, both were forms of energy.
After receiving some guidance on Divine Power, JiHan became able to manifest it through the weapon.
Paf!
Another blood zombie's head was smashed, and its body was engulfed by white holy fire.
It was an overwhelming display of strength that wasn't compatible with a level 6 Bronze player.
After killing over a hundred zombies and bursting the heads of ten blood zombies…
[You've completely understood the faith from another world.]
[Your Divine Power has increased by 1.]
[The rank of 'Other World's Relic - Metal Pole' has been decreased to F.]
After he absorbed the Divine Power from it, its rank went down.
It must have concluded that he'd understood the other world's faith since he'd crushed the heads of the heretics.
'Even though it's ranked F, it's still useful.'
Only the Divine Power inside the relic had disappeared; the metal pole was as durable as ever.
'From now on, I'll fight while conserving as much Divine Power as possible.'
Despite having blown off the heads of many zombies, others kept swarming at him.
Paf! Paf! Paf!
He crushed the normal zombies' heads with pure strength.
Tsss-!
Whenever smoke rose from between the zombies, he pulled Divine Power along the metal pole in preparation.
Perfectly distributing his power, JiHan beat up all the zombies without taking a step back.
"Woah… This is insane." The Archer watched him with a dumbfounded expression on his face.
The metal pole moved with chilling precision and hit each zombie on the head.
GaYeong, on the other hand, was surprised by JiHan's strength.
'His control is perfect…'
He saved his Divine Power for the blood zombies and used strength alone against the regular ones.
Although Im GaYeong was Bronze, she could use Sword Ki thanks to her exceptional Gift, so she knew how difficult that was.
'Just like the young lady said… I was lucky to not have met him at The Colosseum.'
JiHan's strength was overwhelming, and his metal pole popped the zombies' heads as if they were melons.
'Would I be able to dodge that?'
Im GaYeong wasn't sure.
JiHan fought alone for dozens of minutes, and another change happened in the game.
"A-another tower has already been disqualified! We aren't last!" The Archer was happy when he saw the scoreboard.
The tower that finished 10th had killed 430; they had killed 478 and were placed 5th.
"We should help him and increase the kill count at least a little bit!" The Archer grabbed his bow—his attitude had completely changed from before.
Once five towers were eliminated, the ranking would be determined by the kill count, so they needed to kill as many zombies as possible.
"Can we participate?" GaYeong asked.
JiHan looked at the scoreboard. '478… As expected, I won't be able to reach a thousand.'
The chain quest had asked him to eliminate a thousand zombies, but despite him killing zombies without taking a rest, doing it within the time limit was impossible.
'Once my level increases, I'll get matched with stronger people, so I guess I'll have more leeway.'
He wouldn't have to defeat the zombies alone because of a troll in future games.
'Should I… go down there to clear this achievement?' JiHan looked down from the tower.
The number of zombies climbing the tower couldn't be compared to before.
Even if he had Martial Power, it was too much for him at the moment.
'I'll have to try it after I've grown a bit more.'
JiHan gave up on the chain quest and replied to Im GaYeong. "Yes, sure."
"Okay!"
Slide-
GaYeong unsheathed her sword, which was closer to a Chinese blade than a Western one.
JiHan realized who she was when a certain scent wafted through his nostrils.
'Im GaYeong… I was wondering who she was… so it's 'Plum Blossom Sword'.
Plum Blossom Sword Im GaYeong was the one who received the spotlight as Korea's next Warrior-class representative after Sword King Yoon Sae-jin left.
When JiHan awakened his Gift, learned Nameless Divine Arts, and started growing at a fast pace, she was already one of Korea's top-ranked players.
'But things didn't end well for her…'
She participated as Korea's representative but ended up dying in the last part of the East Asian League final match to Sword King Yoon Sae-jin, who'd become Japan's top player.
'She won't die this time, so she should be thankful to me.' JiHan naturally thought that he would become Korea's representative; the strength he was displaying supported that line of thought.
"Oh…! Two more towers have been defeated. We're third! There are only 10 zombies of difference with 1st place!" The Archer kept shouting excitedly while looking at the scoreboard.
He was still shooting arrows, but he looked more like a commentator than a player.
When he heard that, JiHan decided it was time to do something about it.
"It seems like it's going to end soon, so I'm going to push myself a bit."
"…?"
"Please hold this position."
How could he push himself even more?
GaYeong was confused, but she nodded.
"Alright. Here I go."
Flash-!
A white light began shining from the tip of the metal pole, and JiHan jumped off of the tower.
"12 kills of difference. The gap is widening. Let's do our… Eek?! Wh-where are you going?!" The Archer was shocked when he saw JiHan jump from the tower.
"Huh…? Th-the kill count…! We've caught up! We're 2nd now! There are only three kills of difference!" He couldn't help but smile at the sudden increase in the kill count.
The metal pole wrapped in Divine Energy was burning through the zombie mountain.
'It's about to end anyway. I'm going to use all my Divine Power.'
Fwoosh!
The holy fire covered the zombies' bodies and easily burned them away, and the fire quickly spread to the surrounding zombies.
Screech-!
It didn't take long for the zombie mountain to be covered in holy fire.
"1st place! We're in 1st place! Woah… How is this possible? A Support?" The Archer danced in happiness and disbelief. He'd thought they were naturally going to finish last, but they were in 1st place with 561 kills!
Of those kills, 550 were JiHan's doing.
'Is he really the same person who did the tutorial with me?' GaYeong felt a sense of emptiness as she watched the scene unfold below.
The alien game, Battle Net, was famous for not being balanced, but there should've been a limit.
She wasn't sure if even a Silver player could show such a performance, yet it was all being done by someone who was only on their second game.
'Should I quit…?' Im GaYeong was experiencing something she'd never experienced before—a wall.
[5 towers have collapsed.]
[Defense game '10 Towers' is ending.]
Flash-
As the game ended, JiHan was summoned back to the top of the tower.
His clothes were covered in zombie blood, but his body was fine.
"Woah… Great job! Thanks to you, I finally experienced what it's like to finish 1st! I'm finally going to reach level 10!" the Archer shouted excitedly and said goodbye before logging out.
He seemed thrilled to have finished 1st in a game he thought he'd lost.
"Sung JiHan…" After the Archer disappeared, GaYeong walked toward JiHan.
Forgetting about her earlier disappointment, she opened her mouth while making a determined face.
JiHan, who was about to log out, looked at GaYeong. "Do you know me?"
"I…" Her lips quivered.
'I'm Im GaYeong from the Twin Star Guild.'
'Our guild is interested in signing you, so could you give me your number so we can contact you soon?'
She'd prepared to say something like that, but…
"C-could you give me your number?"
Maybe it was because she was in a hurry, but without any preamble, she went straight to the point.
"…"
"Ah. You see, I'm from the Twin Star Guild… It's for recruitment…"
"I'm sorry, but I don't remember my number."
"What…?"
"I'll tell you when we meet again."
He didn't remember his own phone number?
'What kind of nonsense…?!'
GaYeong looked at how JiHan logged out after saying that.
'Did I just get rejected?'
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