Hi! I am Red. Just like you I was just a normal employee, working eight hours a day, going home early, and the next morning getting up and sending myself to work again. Boring as it may seems, but kinda like it. Playing with numbers everyday and a bunch of responsibility which you'll probably cry to death if you are the who is handling were my daily routines.

But suddenly everything changes when I woke up in the middle of nowhere.

just a bait for bots! vote this up so WN will do something about it them!

Ling Ran followed Huo Congjun and rushed to the Hand Surgery Department.
At that moment, the Hand Surgery Department was in chaos. The doctors who rushed past them only had time to nod at Huo Congjun as a greeting before they swiftly left.
The impact on the Hand Surgery Department, brought about by a five-year-old requiring finger replantation surgery for eight of her fingers, was greater than the impact brought by eight toddlers needing eight different single-finger replantation surgeries. It was also much more complicated. Their panic at that moment was similar to how the staff of an airport would feel when they received news of multiple airplanes being forced to land. At that moment, no matter how well the doctors prepared before this and how much experience they had, they felt like it was not enough.
Huo Congjun arrived at the office and caught Wang Haiyang. "Old Wang."
"Oh, Ling Ran's here?" Wang Haiyang first addressed Ling Ran before he shook Huo Congjun's hand. He said with a smile, "Old Huo, please don't tell me that you're here to watch us make a fool of ourselves."
"What fools? We're here to help each other. If you don't want that help, then we'll go back." Huo Congjun chuckled. He did not let go of Wang Haiyang's hand.
Wang Haiyang said in resignation, "And you say you're not here to watch us make fools of ourselves? Oh well, since you're here, go make preparations. Ling Ran, if you need anything, just ask young Liu for it."
Young Liu was a nurse in the Hand Surgery Department. She was young, and her eyes sparkled as she looked at Ling Ran.
Wang Haiyang had performed a surgery with Ling Ran before, and had also watched the video on Ling Ran performing the finger replantation surgery on the owner of the mahjong house whose fingertip was not completely separated from his finger. He knew that Ling Ran had the ability to complete finger replantation surgeries, which was why he agreed to Huo Congjun bringing him over.
However, Huo Congjun no longer had any time to make any explanations, or rather, Wang Haiyang had the inner desire to stay away from Ling Ran.
"Doctor Ling, what sort of equipment do you need? You can tell me." Young Liu was a little excited. It was rare for her to be able to come into contact with the department hunk at such close proximity.
Ling Ran brought out his phone and swiped across it a few times before he brought out a list of equipment he needed to young Liu.
Young Liu was stunned for a moment before she quickly held it in her hands and carefully read the list over.
Different doctors had different habits when they operated. Every single person had different tools they were accustomed to using even in the simplest debriding and suturing procedures. The difference in the habits between each person in operating theaters were naturally even greater. One of the tasks of the surgical nurses was to set up the equipment the doctors were used to. They would also add in the equipment the doctors wanted if they required it.
Ling Ran was in possession of the Perfect Level Finger Replantation. He could use a large number of tools and equipment, and so, the things he wanted were a little more than what a normal doctor required.
However, this is a miniscule matter when it came to surgeries. All it meant was that there was a bit more equipment to disinfect after surgery. Nurse Liu only needed to remember and mark the different parts of those equipment.
Ling Ran requested for the MRI and X-ray scans before he slowly began to read them.
Reading MRI scans of the four limbs and X-ray scans was incredibly easy for Ling Ran. With the ability to read these two types of scans, Ling Ran could already form a basic idea of the child's severed middle finger. The only thing he could not be certain of was the child's nervous system, but he could get a general idea of that with the help of the MRI scan.
Once Ling Ran finished reading the information provided by the medical images in his left hand, he got up and asked, "When do we start?"
"We still have thirty minutes of preparation time." Nurse Liu's answer was sufficiently accurate.
"Then give me the MRI scans and X-ray scans of her other fingers," Ling Ran said.
The young nurse felt that his request was a little odd, but after a while, she took out a tablet and handed it to Ling Ran.
Ling Ran thanked her and continued reading the scans.
The time for preoperative preparations differed for each surgery. Ling Ran did not have the authority to interfere. He only needed to perform his own tasks.
A specialist would usually require around two to three hours to perform one single-finger replantation. If the surgery did not go smoothly, then it would be impossible for the surgeon to finish the replantation even within four hours. Local, small hospitals did not have the equipment to perform those surgeries. There were even those who would spend an hour to carelessly replant the finger and see whether the replanted part managed to survive later.
The Hand Surgery Department of Yun Hua Hospital naturally sought for success in these finger replantation surgeries. They would usually require around four hours to finish replanting one finger for a child's finger replantation surgery. If they added the time together, then eight fingers would mean they would need thirty-two hours to finish the surgery.
It was naturally impossible for anyone to permit them to perform a surgery for such a long period of time. Finger replantations had to be performed within twenty-four hours of when the finger was severed. In truth, using eight hours to finish performing a finger replantation surgery was something similar to a benchmark for surgeons to consider whether a patient was worth the effort to receive finger replantation surgery. If they surpassed that eight-hour time limit, then the doctors would usually consider amputation.
Of course, there was also no doctor who could perform a surgery for thirty-two hours.
No matter what, microsurgeries were tasks that required extreme attention to detail. Factory workers who had to work for sixteen hours straight usually had to be sent to hospitals for finger replantation surgeries because they had made a careless mistake. If the doctor made a mistake because they were too tired during that time, then it would seriously be a huge misfortune for the worker.
In actuality, continuously working for eight hours was already the limit for most people. Chief physicians who were already over fifty years old were usually incapable of working past eight hours. Hence, this time, Yun Hua Hospital's Hand Surgery Department decided to perform a relay for this surgery. Since there was a limit to how many people could be at the operating table at one time, they decided to have three to four groups of people work on this operation simultaneously. Once a group was done, they would back down and have another group take their place.
Therefore, it would be best for them to have eight chief surgeons available, if not, they had to make do with six or seven.
And there were less than ten people who could perform finger replantation surgeries for five-year-old children in Yun Hua Hospital's Hand Surgery Department. They still had to complete their daily tasks as well, they could not give up treating their other patients just because of one surgery.
Eight doctors were gathered swiftly in the operating theater, and four groups were formed.
Ling Ran was among them. Next to him was Ma Yanlin, who felt lost.
Ma Yanlin was a doctor in the Hand Surgery Department, but he had just been sent to the Emergency Department as part of his standardized training. He was only supposed to stay in that department for a short period of time.
This time, when Ma Yanlin looked over, he saw one chief physician, two associate chief physicians, and three senior attending physicians—there to act as assistants—standing among the surgeons from the Hand Surgery Department who were going to perform the surgery in that department.
A resident doctor would need to work for three to five years to be promoted to an attending physician in the hospital's promotion system; and an attending physician needed to work for five to ten years to be promoted to associate chief physician; and even more patience was needed for an associate chief physician to be promoted to chief physician. They also needed even better skills and great luck, along with having to wait for more than five years before they could be promoted.
And housemen were ranked even lower than resident doctors.
It could be said that all the people in the room right then were Ma Yanlin's superiors. As for Ling Ran the intern, he was also Ma Yanlin's superior "'OTL.
Ma Yanlin lowered his head. He could not quell his nervousness no matter how hard he tried. In fact, he was so nervous that he did not even manage to hear Chief Physician Wang Haiyang's words clearly.
"Keep it steady," Ling Ran said, effectively chasing away all the nonsense in Ma Yanlin's head.
Ma Yanlin made a little sound as confirmation, and quickly grabbed the young patient's left middle finger.
This finger was not completely separated from the hand. Compared to the other fingers, its injury could be considered light, but there was only a small amount of skin left connecting the appendage to the hand.
Ling Ran carefully performed debridement and tried to keep his movements restrained to a small space so that he would not touch the other doctors.
Eight doctors squeezed against each other on both sides of the operating table with their heads bent while they performed their own surgeries. They would occasionally cast a glance at what the other surgeons were doing, and all of them kept quiet.
There were too many people around, even if they wanted to chat, they would not be able to get excited over the conversation.
Besides, all of them had plenty of tasks at hand, and they could not help but have that slight spark of competitiveness boil in their hearts.
Ling Ran also watched the other surgeons operate. He was familiar with Chief Physician Wang Haiyang's operation; the man was as steady with his hands, and as slow as he normally was. The other two associate chief physicians were a little younger than Wang Haiyang, and each of them handled a finger that was completely separated from the hand. Their speed was comparable to Wang Haiyang, but their expressions were more tense.
The surgery they performed today was of a level that was qualified to be discussed in a lecture in the medical society, written into a research paper, or published in a news report. Every one of them wanted to give a good performance.
Compared to the associate chief physicians, Chief Physician Wang Haiyang, who was also the person in charge of the surgery, was more concerned over whether the surgery would succeed or fail, and because of it, he could calmly manage all his tasks at hand.
"I'm done," Associate Chief Physician Fei Zhou, the person who stood across Ling Ran, said rather loudly. 
"Are you done with the debridement?" Wang Haiyang asked calmly.
"Yes." Associate Chief Physician Fei Zhou grinned. He was the first to complete his debridement. It may just be a small task, but he still managed to perfectly stroke his surgeon's ego.
Wang Haiyang nodded his head slightly. Fei Zhou's speed was acceptable. If they wanted to complete two finger replantations for a child in eight hours, completing the debridement at this moment meant a good start.
"I still need five minutes before I finish debridement. Group 2, Group 4, status report," Wang Haiyang asked for the other people's progress to make sure that they did not fall behind the surgery's schedule.
Group 2's Associate Chief Physician Guo Jianming quickly looked down and mumbled, "I'm going to finish debridement soon."
Ling Ran also reported on his own accord. "I'm about to finish with the bones. I'll be making preparations to perform internal fixation."
Associate Chief Physician Fei Zhou was just about to begin reconnecting the bone. He was stunned when he heard Ling Ran's words and forced himself not to raise his head.
Watching another person's operation would not help him increase his speed. Fei Zhou was still an associate chief physician who acquired his skills after working tirelessly in the operating theater. While he continued with his operation, he reminded himself, 'Being fast at the beginning doesn't mean that he's truly fast. He might be used to performing debridement and bone reconnection.'
As for Ma Yanlin, his nervousness had completely receded.
As a houseman, most of his time during his induction was spent rotating between different departments, which was why he did not quite understand the Hand Surgery Department's state of affairs.
When he was dragged over by Ling Ran, Ma Yanlin was worried that he would make mistakes and drag Ling Ran down.
Yet the surgery before his eyes was practically the same as the surgeries he performed in the Emergency Department's operating theaters. Ling Ran did not deliberately speed up, nor did he hesitate in his movements.
Ma Yanlin just did whatever he used to do as Ling Ran's first assistant. Not only did the operation go on smoothly, they were also right on time with their schedule.
Ma Yanlin also did not expect that the others would actually be so far behind them in their progress.
With his status as the first assistant for hundreds of surgeries performed using the M-Tang technique and a few finger replantation surgeries, Ma Yanlin quietly observed the other four surgeries that were performed concurrently and found that their group's surgery was performed the smoothest.
The debridement they did was the same as all the debridements they had done, their bone reconnection was still the same as all the bone reconnections they had previously executed, their tendon suture was still the same as all the tendon sutures done before, and their blood vessel anastomosis was still the same as the ones they had performed in the past…
As Ma Yanlin thought this, he continued performing the surgery. When he stopped, he found that they were nearly finished replanting one finger.
"I'll let you handle suturing the skin." Just like what he usually did when he was in the Emergency Department, Ling Ran let Ma Yanlin take over the last step of the surgery.
Ma Yanlin was used to switching places with Ling Ran. When he stood at the position of the chief surgeon, he swiftly noticed the gazes of those around him.
These were strange gazes filled with fussiness, resignation, indignation, displeasure, shock, and incredulity.
One short hour was not even enough to perform a finger replantation for an adult, much less a finger for a child of only five years old.
At that moment, Wang Haiyang had just finished performing blood vessel anastomosis, Fei Zhou had only performed half of his blood vessel anastomosis, and the slowest Associate Chief Physician Guo Jianming of Group 2 was still struggling over performing muscle sutures.
If anything, their speed was about the same. The fastest was only faster than the slowest by less than twenty minutes.
However, they still had a long surgery ahead of them before they could finish; they had, at most, finished only half of the surgery…
What could Ma Yanlin say? He did not even dare show a single expression. He could only lower his head, grab a needle holder, and quietly begin suturing the skin.
At that moment, Ma Yanlin suddenly missed Lu Wenbin dearly. When they were in the Emergency Department, Lu Wenbin would always bring out the pork trotters he made after a surgery to replenish the energy they spent.
But the operating theater in the Hand Surgery Department was terrifyingly quiet. They would not even have a bowl of porridge with salted fish to eat so that they could replenish their energy.


Ling Ran, a med school senior, begins to see the world like a game UI. He uses it to pave his way towards graduation, a residency, becoming the greatest doctor in the world... And finally getting a Transformer from his newbie packs? Maybe. We don't know yet.

Ji Chen hurriedly lowered his head. "Sir, I'll go check it out right now!"
Having made head and tail of the whole matter, Ji Chen arrived at the top floor. Fearfully, he opened the company's Intranet and showed Si Zhengting the popular post of #zhuangnainaiplagiarism#. 
Si Zhengting's gaze turned cold. A few moments later, his eyes sharpened. "The Imperial Group has no need for big-mouthed people. You know what to do, right?"
Ji Chen's body shook. His voice low, he replied, "Yes, Sir."
That day, the intern from the legal department was fired by the Imperial Group for exposing the company's secrets.
At the same time, the design department came under a sweeping investigation.
Everyone from the design department, a grand total of 180 people, was crammed into the conference room.
Mi Nuo's face was grim. Looking at the people and naming the eight people, she then looked at Zhuang Nainai. Raising her voice, she shouted, "All of you were chatting and fighting during work hours. You have severely contravened company policy; now, in front of everyone, we are making this known. Additionally, all of you have to write a reflection letter and hand it over to me before the end of today!" 
The eight people were stunned at the announcement. Even Zhuang Nainai was puzzled. Was Mi Nuo standing up for her?
Mi Nuo always had a gentle and soft demeanor, resulting in some of them rebutting her. "I'm not satisfied with this arrangement, Boss Mi. What's wrong with a little bit of rest during work hours? Aren't we allowed for some rest time to get a cup of coffee?"
"That's right, Boss Mi, I don't agree with this. What's wrong with us getting together to chat? We didn't even spend more than five minutes together!"
Mi Nuo sighed and looked at them, resigned. "This was from Mr. Si."
The mention of Mr. Si silenced all eight of them immediately. 
Zhuang Nainai's eyes brightened. So the one who was standing up for her wasn't Mi Nuo but him?
But they had been arguing heatedly, hadn't they? And wasn't she just a thief who had stolen the design drafts, a plagiarist and a smearer of his mother Ding Mengya? 
She still vividly recalled how he had coldly told her that he had wanted to strangle her to death that night. His gaze that night had contained both disappointment and hopelessness.
So how was it possible that he was standing up for her? Or was it that he was finally beginning to believe her?
Having thought this, Zhuang Nainai looked questioningly at Mi Nuo. 
Mi Nuo turned to face her. "As for you, Zhuang Nainai, you were arguing with your colleagues maliciously. You have to copy the company rules and regulations 100 times! Please also write a reflection letter and hand it to me before the day ends!" 
The hopes that Zhuang Nainai had in her heart previously were immediately extinguished. 
Was the company punishing her? Or was it Si Zhengting?
The punishments for the other eight colleagues weren't that severe, but for her…
Copying the company rules and regulations 100 times. Was he trying to get her to copy for the whole day? 
Zhuang Nainai clenched her fists. Mi Nuo spoke before she could express anything. "Meeting adjourned!"
As everyone left the room, the eight colleagues and Zhuang Nainai stayed behind. 
As the conference room quietened down, someone from the group of eight asked, "Director Mi, could it be that Mr. Si is trying to find a reason to punish Zhuang Nainai? And all of us just happen to be collateral damage?" 


He's the heir of the Imperial Group, ruthless and calculating. Yet, he dotes on his wife so much. 

"Hubby, I'm thinking of getting a pet. What do you think is good?"

"You are the pet."

"…"

"Hubby, is a rose or peony prettier?"

"You are the prettiest."

"…"

Zhuang Nainai: …Can you say something constructive?

One day, someone asks him, "Why are you always the one bowing your head first when you quarrel with her?"

Si Zhengting: "Because I'm 185 cm, and she's 165 cm. When am I not the first to bow my head?"

In short, this is a black-bellied CEO who dotes on his wife in every way you could think of and tries his best to build a family after marriage by baking a little bun baby.
 


People usually think of France or Italy or the dry regions along the South European coast as major grape production countries. Youngho thought the same before he came to the regions in Southeastern Europe. However, grapes were produced all over Europe, and the regions of Moselle River Valley, a branch of Germany's Rhine River, were especially famous for great-tasting white wines.
Other than those regions, the regions around the Caucasus Mountain Range were considered to be areas producing high-quality wines due to the areas' high daily temperature ranges.
All regions produced wines with distinctive tastes and colors. Now, Zeynep Farm's wine was also gaining some popularity with the people with its distinct taste and quality.

The wine produced in Youngho's farm had a pinkish color. It had a different vibe to it when it was poured in a glass. The wines distributed in different parts of Russia were usually consumed in restaurants because of the romantic atmosphere it created. 
Usually, it was rare for people to get drunk with wines since they were consumed lightly in a seating, but it was different for Russians. Russians, who were used to chugging down vodka, preferred Zeynep Farm's wine because of its smooth taste. Since they drank wine like the way they drank vodka, the consumption rate automatically rose.
Even Sergey asked if Youngho could operate his production line twenty-four hours a day. They had high demand, but the supply was limited. The wines produced at the moment were aged more than eight months in stainless steel tanks or oak casks, and Sergey was asking that they make cheaper stainless steel wines.

As a matter of fact, Zeynep Farm's wine factory's wine tanks were full because of the excessive amount of grape extracts produced this year, which was 350,000 gallons. Youngho was deciding which tank he should buy more. Youngho was thankful for Sergey's timely request. He asked to make more stainless steel wines just in time. 
All of last year's oak wines were already sold out and they would be produced again next summer. So, the factory would need to fully focus on producing stainless steel wines now.

Youngho hired more workers so that the wine factory could operate sixteen hours a day in rotating shifts, and also in order to speed the construction of the newly added southern part of the farm.
A million bottles of stainless steel wine and 600,000 bottles of oak wine were waiting to be bottled by next year. Youngho calculated the estimated profit from the wines. Since their factory prices were five dollars and ten dollars each respectively, they would make him eleven million dollars. His mind was busy under the pressure because he would need to produce all of these by the next cultivation season. In order to do that, 140,000 bottles needed to be produced every month.

Eight hours of bottle processing a day in the factory could produce 4,000 bottles, and it would add up to more than 100,000 bottles within a month since eight bottles could be labeled with Zeynep Farm's logo in a minute.
Of course, it was a calculated amount of bottles. When operating the factory, random problems often happened. There were many times that they needed to stop the production line. The workers needed breaks too. Having two shifts of workers rotating was barely enough. Even if they worked during weekends, it was only enough to produce some extra wine boxes in the storage.

***

The wine production line started to operate from 4AM in the morning and was on a lunch break at 12NN. This was when the morning shift ended. The wooden building built as a resting place for workers and visitors now had turned into a cafeteria and resting area for the workers.
Because Youngho knew the poor working environments in Baku, he wanted to offer the best quality working environment in Zeynep Farm to the extent that people would not envy other big corporations in advanced countries.
By making a great working environment and giving higher payments than other companies in Baku, Youngho tried hard to make his workers loyal to the company.
His efforts were straightly paid back with great results, namely the high quality of their wines and the workers' motivation for the work. It was hard to find defective products. Other than forty-three regular workers, he hired local housekeeper wives as part-time helpers at the production line, packaging line, and the kitchen.
Because the farm was located in the remote part of Baku, Youngho also offered a minibus as transportation to the farm. His goal was to hear that Zeynep Farm, which was managed by a Korean businessman, was the best company in Baku.

It was lunchtime when the workers from both the morning shift and the afternoon shift all gathered together to eat. The afternoon shift spanned from 1PM to 9PM. The cafeteria was crowded with fifty workers.
Youngho, Insoo, and Gerhardt were eating as well, and the Fatima siblings who were on their break also joined them to help out with the farm work.
"Oppa, I can't work in the afternoon. My friends are coming to the farm."
Zeynep talked with bread crumbs on her face. Youngho smiled at her clumsiness.
Youngho noticed that the workers in the afternoon shift were relieved at Zeynep's claim of not being able to help. Youngho could not but laugh. She had been putting the farm's label on the bottles, but it seemed that she had been interrupting other workers rather than helping them out, although she seemed to fully believe that she had been helping.

Since it was wintertime, Youngho had made the reservoir on the farm an ice rink by taking out most of the water and letting the rest freeze in the cold. Zeynep's friends came often to skate on it.
Since the farm was located on a hilly area, its regular temperature was a few degrees lower than the city, and once the water froze, it did not melt throughout the whole winter. Kids loved playing on ice, having not much to play with during the winter season. 
It was Cha Insoo's idea to freeze the reservoir for Gerhardt's children, the Fatima siblings, and the part-time workers' children who followed their moms along to the farm, but Zeynep's friends from school seemed to enjoy the ice rink the most.

***

When Youngho was calculating the number of bottled wines to be distributed in his office, his smartphone vibrated on his desk. Michael, the Chief Director of CIA's European chapter, appeared on the screen.
"Hello? Chief Director?"
Since Michael had only called Youngho before when there was a problem, Youngho was worried first.
'Dang, he always calls me when he needs something.'
"Lee, can you go to Chechnya?"
'Right. He won't call me just to say hi.'
"Yes, Chief. What is the occasion? Is there a problem?" Youngho suppressed his frustration and answered him casually.
"We'll be investigating the rebel forces in Chechnya. An armed forces unit called the Black Widows requested the help of the US CIA. Can you go investigate that?"
The Chechen Republic, also known as Chechnya, suffered from countless civil wars with Russia in the past.
"Chief, I'm still in charge of many areas. Are you trying to make me in charge of the whole Caucasus?" being reluctant to take the mission, Youngho asked.
"Right now, you're our only choice. The fact that you're an Asian helps a lot for missions in places like this since people would not be repulsed by your appearance. If you need a backup agent, you can take an agent with you."

In Southern Russia, people with Asian-looking appearances were spotted often. It was because many Central Asians settled in Russia and through interracial marriages, their appearances were affected. The European chapter considered how Youngho's appearance could blended within that region. Listening to him, Youngho remembered that people did not recognize him as a foreigner in Volgograd. Although Michael appeared as if he was asking a favor, to Youngho, it was a command from a superior.

Michael, who was soon turning fifty, had been pushing agents around to achieve a signal success because of his ambitious goal to be promoted to a position in the US CIA headquarters. Recently, he had been getting along with Youngho every time Youngho visited Frankfurt to attend the monthly conference.
It meant that he was expecting a lot from Youngho since he was overseeing Russia, Azerbaijan, and South Ossetia with a single backup agent, Jongil, whereas ten local agents were in charge of France, and eight are in Turkey. There were 200 agents working in different parts such as accounting, collecting, analyzing, communication monitoring, and field agents, but actual agents who carried out missions were not many.
After Youngho saved Philip, his skills were recognized and he became Michael's center of attention. In any organization, it was inevitable to give more work to a more competent person, and Youngho was that person in the European chapter. Of course, he was receiving commissions for his work. He almost forcefully took this job that he did not want. Not being able to help, he just started reading the data for the mission he received in his email.
 
***

From Baku, it took twenty hours by train to get to Grozny, the capital city of Chechnya, which was connected in Dagestan.
Youngho frowned while looking at the data about the Black Widows. They were known to be an organization of female suicide bombers. 'What had driven them to form a group like this?' he sighed.


While Youngho was reading, Jongil was snoring in his sleep innocently. Upon receiving the mission overseas, Jongil danced in excitement. He had been tired of the same daily routines of his life. Now that he went everywhere with Karajan 24/7, from house to work, he needed some refreshment in his life. Youngho thought the long mission abroad would bring Jongil and Karajan even closer since they would miss each other. Looking at Jongil's face in sleep, Youngho smiled.

Empire of the Ring is a Korean modern fantasy epic adventure novel that sets in the nations of the Caucasus mountain range which separates Europe and Asia. The nations of Caucasus are regions of many conflicts over territories, ethnicities, and religions. The story begins as Lee Youngho, a warm-hearted Korean merchandiser, takes a business trip to a disputed territory of the Caucasus nations to sell Korean unmanned security systems only to get misconstrued as a spy and caught by Armenian militia. Youngho eventually gets involved with the militia and CIA to help out people of the regions from conflicts and works toward a birth of a new empire in Caucasus.

This is an ongoing novel from Korea with more than 750 chapters as of today. The pace can feel a little bit slow in the beginning but as the story unfolds, you will be drawn into the world of Caucasus. If you are a modern fantasy/adventure lover, you will enjoy learning about different regions and cultures in Eurasia and Eastern Europe as Youngho travels around the places. Happy reading! 

*Disclaimer: The following contains depictions of religion and ethnic disputes. We do not support the author's views, we are only translating and editing the novel. This fictional novel is inspired by real-world people, places, and events — the author has taken these people, places, and events and embellished them as characters with conversations and backgrounds as done in fiction.

"You guys will work in the first room, with all the tables and alchemical equipment obviously, and after completing work, you will be able to use the second room to eat your own experiments and try to create a potion of your own," Jack explained.

He also out his books that he had always been carrying on a bookshelf inside the room that they were going to test in.

"You will work for eight hours, and then your shift will be over. You can continue to work if you want and I will pay you to a certain extent. After eight hours, you can do whatever you want," Jack continues, taking out a bowl of his blood to reestablish the contracts.

They all logged off again to sleep, and returned in the morning.

After getting to work, Jack was moving around furiously, freezing their herbs for them.

After eight hours, Jack paid them four silver each.

They stocked up all of the shelves with health potions. Jack immediately left to Denzel's to try and make the [Freezing Array]. No one had come by the shop yet, because they hand opened it.

They would open tomorrow though, so he needed to make a few freezing arrays before it opened, so he would have some more time.

Using the remaining materials he had, he managed to make three freezing arrays. Though they weren't perfect and had their effects reduced, they would still get the job done.

He bought a few more mana crystals which drained the rest of his money.

Setting each array on their respective tables, he placed the magic crystals onto the nodes, activating it.

Now he wouldn't have to run around, freezing everything.

The products would start selling tomorrow, and the money would just roll in. He couldn't wait.

After the first day of sales, he would use the money to by more array materials and try to improve his potions.m

For now though, he could practice drawing magic circles. The quicker he could cast a spell, the less mana it would use initially.

He had eight hours to practice before his workers were done with their shifts. So he did that boring work that only a few others would do willingly.

For eight hours straight, he worked his ass of making magic circles. He had a mana gathering array, so his recovery speed was incredible.

He also took out his buckler and never received any wounds.

He was back in the level zero zone, practicing drawing circles. He was trying to create three circles in a row. 

He was getting the hang of it. He didn't need to actually focus all the time on one thing to just pull the particles into place.

He just needed to create a quick pulling force, and apparently magic physics was a thing, which used momentum to gather around him, giving him space to focus more on other tasks.

After six hours of hard work, he managed to be able to create magic circles without needing to straighten out their lines anymore, increasing his speed tremendously.

He could now make the inner and outer circle in ten seconds. He managed to create two complete circles and a half of the inner circle of his third magic circle.

This time, he wanted to practice drawing runes. He needed to be able to draw draw five runes within a second to be able to get his spell casting speed of the [Icy Mist] spell to 16 seconds.

That was still a massive number. Sixteen seconds in the middle of a battle was a massive number.

He still needed to get to that number before he could improve further though, so he began drawing runes.

Suddenly though, his mana gathering array ran out of magic crystals to use. He added the magic crystals yesterday, so it was natural for them to run out right now, but this lest a realization made by Jack.

Arrays use Runes, drawn like a character in a language. Why couldn't he just do that. Condense all the magic particles into one area and write with it like a pen!

This simple deduction actually took him so long to make. His previous thoughts about magic and how it should be was what restricted him.

Magic was something that you couldn't touch. So you obviously couldn't write with it.

That assumption was completely wrong. You could write with it, not physically though. Just like drawing, it was named that for a reason.

He just needed to write the Runes like he was writing characters from his language. It was just like writing sentences. Except the words were Runes.

He was going to attempt casting one last time before heading out to see the amount of money his little workers had made.

Condensing am extreme amount of mana into one point, took him only three seconds. Within another three, he drew the inner and outer circles of the spell.

His finger was constantly moving like it was writing. This just gave him a better grasp and a more physical representation of drawing.

It helped him visualize. He began writing the Runes, his finger like lightning, flashing around.

After ten seconds, he completed all the runes. The spell was complete. He could reduce the time even further if he had a little bit more practice and got use to the new method of spell casting he just learned.

Returning to his little shop that he had yet to name, he saw all of the racks on the shelves empty.

Health potions were still in demand and their only good supplier was Jack. With three people, in three hours on the previous day, they were able to make 216 elixirs.

So every day, they could produce 540 elixirs. All sold at 40 bronze each, they would make two gold and sixteen silver.

The piece of ingredients were 86 silver and 40 bronze. 20% of the profit went to Denzel as well, which meant he got 25 silver and 92 bronze.

He also had to pay the employees, so he himself made 91 silver and 68 bronze.

Denzel was actually, currently getting free money, because Jack was actually paying Denzel for the ingredients at market price as well. Since he was also getting a portion of the profit, that made him even more money.

He was going to pay Denzel a little visit later. He managed to make that mistake due to the excitement of unlimited resources and 'thanks' to Denzel for providing materials for him.

The times have changed now and he the gratitude he felt earlier didn't really matter now, as he was being cheated for a large sum of money.

He paid the workers, sending them off to do whatever they wanted to do, and went to the market.

Working to the armor section, he was going to purchase a few more pieces of armor.

His [Magic Buckler] and [Magic Guarding Cloak] were good and all, but didn't provide any protection from physical attacks.

He also needed some intimidation factor against Denzel. If he wanted to get Denzel to recreate the contract, he needed to scare him into doing it.

Who would willingly recreate a contract that was making them free money?

From stall to stall, he bought five pieces of armor.

[Reinforced Pauldrons]
(+10 Physical Defense)

[Reinforced Bracers]
(+5 Physical Defense)

[Reinforced Gloves]
(+3 Physical Defense)

[Reinforced Pants]
(+10 Physical Defense)

[Reinforced Boots]
(+2 Physical Defense)

This set of equipment cost him 80 silver. It looked like thin, plated metal all around. It was made of a light material, so it wasn't that heavy.

It gave a three piece, and five piece set bonus for wearing five pieces of the same named set.

For three pieces, it was a passive skill called [Infantry March]. It erased the weight he felt from wearing it before.

The five piece set bonus was a passive skill called [Plated Steel] which increased his Physical Defense by 10%.

This wasn't just to intimidate Denzel though, he also wanted to experience monster hunting. Even though he wanted to make money, he also wanted to experience what this game has to offer.

So he also bought a weapon for ten silver.

[Launching Crossbow]
(+15 Ranged Damage, Range: 120 ft)

He could hold his buckler as well as shoot the crossbow, which made it a great choice, as the crossbow was designed in a way that allowed Jack to use his buckler in conjunction with his crossbow.

He was going to terrify Denzel first though.

He bought twenty bolts for 5 bronze each. He was going to be using these to threaten Denzel.

Entering Denzel's, he looked like a terrifying metal monster. His cloak was covered with pieces of plated metal, he was pretty much one if the best geared player in Battle World currently.

"Hey Denzel..." Jack said sinisterly. He felt bad that he had to do this, but he didn't want Denzel to just freeload off of his profit.

He exited his personal brewing room and looked at Jack.

"Wow! You've really went shopping for some expensive stuff!" Denzel said.

"I'd like to change our contract," Jack declared.

"Oh! How would you like to change it?" Denzel asked.

"You will no longer be getting the 20% profit, but I'll buy your ingredients 10% above market price," Jack said.

"What! No way!" Denzel said surprised. He had currently been making an enormous sum of money because of Jack. He didn't want to lose that source of income now!

"Change it, or I will force you to," Jack said. He wasn't really use to the whole bad guy act, so he sounded kind of strange when he was talking.

"What are you going to do? Kill me! You don't have the balls. I'll milk you for all the cash you got!" Denzel mocked. How dare this lowlife try and threaten him.

Jack took out his crossbow and loaded a bolt. He didn't know what level Denzel was, but his level probably wasn't to high, otherwise he would have killed Jack already.

"Your not actually going to shoot me! Come in then! Shoot!" Denzel yelled at Jack with a disgusting smile on his face.

Jack sighed. How did he not realize how disgusting Denzel was this entire time. Sure he always had that disgusting smile, and that laugh... never mind.

He wouldn't die from just one shot, right? Jack shot a bolt right into Denzel's stomach. Even if Denzel was just an NPC, he was still extremely lifelike, which made Jack feel pretty  guilty when he shot Denzel in the stomach.

"How dare you! I, an alchemist, am far above you! You aren't even good enough to lick my shoes!" Denzel screamed.


Were all alchemists going to be this arrogant?

"Never mind. I've changed my mind," Jack said, this one line making Denzel delighted.

"I actually just want to cancel the contract. Also..." Jack said as he waved his hand a bit.

His summoned aid appeared before him.

"I'll also take this back," Jack said.

"What! You can't take it back! The contract says you have to give it to me! Or you will die!" Denzel yelled arrogantly.

"No. The contract said I would let you borrow him. I can take him back whenever I want," Jack responded.

"You!" Denzel screeched seething in anger.

Jack loaded another bolt into his crossbow. 

"Let's cancel the contract now, or I will kill you," Jack voiced, his tone getting colder each word. He no longer felt guilty about shooting Denzel. 

"You can't do that! That's murder!" Denzel screamed fearfully. He, an alchemist can't die here!

"Obviously. Are you an idiot?" Jack mocked as he aimed his crossbow at Denzel.

Denzel was already bleeding profusely from the first shot. This next shot would end him.

"No!" Denzel yelled as he shot his hand towards Jack, releasing a spell. A bolt of ice shot at Jack.

He just raised his buckler, blocking the ice bolt while holding the crossbow in his other hand.

Denzel was in despair. It took him ten seconds to prepare that spell. He wouldn't have enough time to prepare another one before Jack killed him.

"Wait, Wait, Wait. We can talk this out right? How about reducing my share to 10%?" Denzel asked, still his tone extremely arrogant.

"Denzel. Shut the fuck up and let's just cancel the contract. I'll leave you be and we'll never interact again," Jack said, finger about to pull the trigger.

Even if he did kill Denzel, this game was still incredibly realistic. They wouldn't know until someone reported the body.

So if they never report the body, they'll never find out that Jack killed him. Once Denzel died, the contract would automatically end.

He wouldn't be punished in any way, because the contract didn't say he couldn't kill Denzel. He would just lose a major source of ingredients.

Denzel got his ingredients from an outside source. Jack didn't know about this outside source, so once Denzel was gone, they wouldn't have any ingredients.

Jack had a way to solve this problem though, after all, he wasn't an idiot.

Jack shot his crossbow, piercing Denzel through his heart. There was a lot of blood, but it was late at night in the game, and no one came to Denzel's shop anymore.

[Killed Alchemist Denzel]
(Awarded +500 exp)

Wow! Denzel gave him a massive amount of experience. A level one normal monster would give him 10 exp, but Denzel went far beyond that and awarded him what a level five boss would give him.

It was ridiculous.

[Level Up!]

He would distribute the attribute points later. He first needed to dispose of the body. What better place then inside of Denzel's lab!

Entering Denzel's personal brewing room, Jack places Denzel's body down into the ground.

There! Finished. No one would actually come into Denzel's shop. After all, this was only a beginner village. No other NPC would come patrol around and figure out Denzel has been missing. 

They would just do their work. Sure they would find it suspicious that Denzel disappeared, but they wouldn't care.

The begging we villages was an easier place to carry out an NPC murder, because no one would investigate.

There were no tax collectors in this beginner village, so no one would visit the shop.

All of his customers, which were already few, have already been pulled to Jack's business.

He cleaned up the blood, leaving nothing to be suspicious about. He began searching around the building, discovering the storage room.

It was linked to Denzel's laboratory, but the door was hidden behind a bookshelf. He was able to find it due to the fact that Denzel was extremely arrogant, and didn't think anyone would dare enter his brewing room.

The bookshelf wasn't completely covering the door, so Jack was able to find it easily. Moving the bookshelf he opened the door.

Inside, there was a vast amount of ingredients. There was enough for his little workers to use for a month without running out!

There were also other ingredients that Jack hasn't used yet. After looking around for a little longer, he found a box.

Opening it, he found a bag of money. Pouring the contents out, 20 gold spilled out! Jack slowly began planning, he knew exactly what he needed to do from here on out.

He logged off for the night, it was going to be an eventful next day.

Logging back on, Jack decided to distribute his stats. He put one point into dexterity, two into intelligence, and two into strength. He would be needing the strength.

His stat menu now looked like this.

Jack Nox
Lvl:3
Strength:5
Dexterity:3
Wisdom:5
Intelligence:5
Vitality:1
Skills/Spells:
[Arcane Eye][Summoned Aid][Icy Mist]
Talents:
[Observant]

The first step of his plan was to go to the task manager. He was going to buy another building with his new fortune.

"Hello task manager!" Jack said enthusiastically.

"I didn't expect you to be back so soon," the task manager said laughing dryly.

"I'd like to purchase another building," Jack continued.

"What plot of land would you like?" he asked.

He showed two plots of land. Jack had already purchased one, so there were only two left.

He bought the one closest to his shop. It cost him three silver, but that was a small sum. When choosing the building, he just wanted a large empty room. It had around 1,500 square meters of space.

His only requirement was to have it have two giant double doors at the front. This cost him 30 silver.

It was instantly built. Now came the long and boring step of his plan. He transported all of Denzel's goods into his new warehouse.

It took him four hours, but he did it. There weren't just ingredients in there though. There were also alchemical tools and apparatus.

Everything in there combined would be a massive sum of money. The developers didn't expect a player to straight up murder an NPC.

Especially an important one like an alchemist! 

He left the warehouse, ready to change give his workers more jobs. He was also going to hire some NPC's if he could.

It would be much easier that way. He returned to Denzel's shop, and began taking all of his books and notes, transporting them into the experimentation lab of his shop.

He kept a few to himself though.

[Alchemical Agriculture]
[Alchemical Flame Magic]
[How to grow Alchemical Herbs]

These books made him elated! The first and third book was something he was going to use in the next step of his plan.

The flame magic book was just something extra that made him excited.

After paying his group, he began said something that made them all extremely happy.

"I'm raising your hourly income to one silver."

That one sentence made their day. Jack gave them a little more responsibility though. The cashiers had to go to the warehouse now to get the ingredients for the day.

He also changed the contract a little bit so now they couldn't steal from the warehouse as well.

He showed them the location of the warehouse and started the final stage of his plan.

Farming!

Jack Nox is about to get evicted from his apartment. He doesn’t have a job, mainly because he doesn’t want to end up as a dead end office worker, and sets his eyes on a new Vr game, Battle World.

This is the story of a poor boy trying to get some cash. Literally just for the cash. Who cares about relationships?

(This is my first time writing so please be gentle with me. My ego might not be able to handle it!)

[Mission update:
Make your ward memorize the multiplication tables up till times twenty.

Time: 9 hr 30 min remaining.

Reward: +1 INT

Penalty: Deduction of 50% savings from bank account.]


Rik helped Doll change his clothes. Absent minded from the mission task issued, he buttoned the shirt wrong. 

Picking the child off the bed, he headed to the living room. A plasma screen hovered near the wall showing the weather and current affairs. 

His sister was out for work. Within the two weeks that Doll had become his foster child, he had received many 'guests' to came to inspect over and over again. 



The day before, they said that they would now only come to inspect every three months. Rik was sure that after a couple more visits like those, they would cease to bother.



He placed Doll on the rexine couch and commanded the plasma screen to print out the multiplication tables.


As soon as he finished, the thin screen changed colour and seemed to split into two parallel sheets. One of the sheets floated to Rik and he grabbed it. 


He showed Doll the hundred by hundred table and asked him to learn less than a quarter of it. Leaving Doll with the sheet he answered some messages from his colleagues and composed some articles. 



An hour had passed and he went to check on Doll. "Did you memorize it?"

Doll flinched. "No," he answered softly. 

Rik knew he would have some trouble. "How much did you learn?"

"I know the one, two and five times tables. And up till three times eight." 

Rik sighed. Rubbing his face, he took the sheet from him. "Recite it. Start with two."

This way, Rik kept drilling the multiplication tables into his head. 

The plasma screen displayed the time. Three hours had gone by.

[ 5 hr 30min remaining.]

"What is eight times seven?"
"Fifty-six."
"Eight times four?"

"Thirty-si-"
"Wrong."
"Thirty-two."

Doll's mouth hurt. He was unable to remember when Rik randomly asked the ones he learnt. 

Saying in order was easy. Unordered was not.

Another two hours and a half went by. They skipped the ten times table. And the twenty times too. 

[ 2 hrs remaining.]

"When everything is extraordinary, everything becomes ordinary."

What would happen in a world where everyone has a system?

And what if you became lesser than ordinary by not having one?


...

System: an AI or supercomputer capable of helping humans accelerate their development either spiritually, mentally, physically or psychologically. Usually lives as a parasite within a host body. Provides services based on tasks carried out by said host.

"now... let's make the other three corner the same as this one" Xiao Che then moved to another corner and start digging again with his heavy sword.

"Oh, Third Stone Dragon-san... what are you doing here ? How about you take a rest in a hole...?" Xiao Che moved slowly to the Stone Dragon Warrior while grinning.

Xiao Che grabbed the Stone Dragon leg and throw it inside the trench that he made.

"please have a good rest down there and stop bothering me okay ?" Xiao Che waved to the poor Stone Dragon Warrior.

He then start his work back in making the trench in the other corner using his heavy sword.

One hour...two hours... four hours... Eight hours...

When he tired, he stop for a while to rest and also maintain his heavy sword by sharpening the dulled edge after repeatedly splitting the ground. This heavy sword is still the same heavy sword that he used from his first day training when he still a 5 years old kid.

He keep asking this heavy sword of his to only get improved and customized to fit his strength not trade it with a new one. So many times improvement and adjustment was done to this heavy sword, and this sword keep accompanying Xiao Che all the time till now.

It can't be denied that somehow he grown attached to his heavy sword and have some unexplainable connection with his heavy sword. This sword is already with him for more than 7 years, of course this heavy sword of his become a precious sword to him.

After done with maintaining the heavy sword, Xiao Che the start meditated to recover his profound energy and stamina. While the Stone Dragon Warrior ? It struggling with his one leg to climb out of the trench, but it was a futile act.

When Xiao Che get back to his 100% condition, he restart his work. And almost two full days is needed to complete his project and he even improve the trench width to 4 meters wide.

"okay, now it's done, I hope it's enough... and all the set up I can thinking of is done already... now go on to my next plan..." Xiao Che get himself ready and go on to face the third wave.

The third wave, Stone Dragon Warrior that appeared is four. Xiao Che face the four Stone Dragon Warrior directly and have a slugfest. Xiao Che didn't rush this trial but he treat it as training... Xiao Che then only crush all the four Stone Dragon Warrior when he already can managed fight four at once... and he not forget to take the stone spear from the Stone Dragon Warrior.

The fourth wave, Eight Stone Dragon Warrior. Xiao Che still face all the eight directly but still careful to not get injured. It takes a few days till Xiao Che managed to fight with eight Stone Dragon... Then he crushed seven Stone Dragon Warrior and leaving only one Stone Dragon with crushed leg as Xiao Che want to have some time to rest before the next wave.

After resting he fight the Stone Dragon Warriors again as he treat it as a training for him. He keep doing that in the fifth wave, he fight then rest and fight again till all the Stone Dragon Warrior only left one to get it's one leg crippled giving Xiao Che rest time.

At the sixth wave, with 32 Stone Dragon Warrior, Xiao che fight all of them at once and struggled with all he had. With all the continuous attack from the crowd, Xiao Che can't help it but to get injured.

When Xiao Che can't bear it anymore, he then disengaged with all the Stone Dragon Warriors that surrounding him and struggled his way to one of the corner.

All the Stone Dragon Warrior keep chasing Xiao Che but they can't keep up as ther speed is really slow compared to Xiao Che.

After chasing, as all the Stone Dragon Warrior only have a brain made of stone, the keep charging forward resulting with they all fall inside the trench. With a 4 meters wide and 15 meters long trench, all the 32 Stone Draagon Warrior can fit inside the trench.

As all the Stone Dragon Warrior is inside, it give Xiao Che a time to have a rest and recovering his energy and stamina. Then he fight all the Stone Dragon Warrior again inside the trench as it will give Xiao Che a little advantage because he didn't get surrounded.

One by one Stone Dragon Warrior get crushed by Xiao Che and as always, he left one Stone Dragon Warrior with one leg crushed. Resting again Xiao Che keep doing this trial in this fashion and sometimes he maintain his heavy sword again as slashing Stone Dragon Warriors hard rock body, it makes the edge dulled faster.

Xiao Che doing this First trial really slowly and careful and it takes him around two months till he get to the ninth wave.

In the ninth wave, the stone dragon that he faced is 256 Stone Dragon Warriors. Of course it's not as much as Yun Che in the original story where he faced 512 Stone Dragon Warriors. But it is still amazing that Xiao Che managed to get this far as he didn't have much cheat like Yun Che with all his profound art like Star God Broken's Shadow, The Great Way Of Buddha, World Ode Of Phoenix, and many more.

Now Xiao Che facing all this 256 Stone Dragon Warriors, he directly run to one of the corner to get some of the Stone Dragon Warriors trapped inside the trench. In each trench, Xiao Che managed trapped more than 40 Stone Dragon Warriors.

After trapping some of it in one trench, he then jumped over the full trench and dive to the Stone Dragon Warriors crowd that still too much and force himself in by slamming down his heavy sword making some space.

Forcefully making his way through, Xiao Che managed to crush around ten Stone Dragon Warrior and then break away from the crowd to the other corner. Xiao Che keep doing this till all the four trench trapped many Stone Dragon Warrior. Still, there is more than 60 Stone Dragon Warrior that didn't trapped inside the trench.

"if I knew the trench is still not enough to trap all the stone dragon, I should have make more trench or make it a little bigger."

"okay no use in complaining... now it is the time to fight it out the Stone Dragon Warrior that left with all my strength." Xiao Che brandished his heavy sword and then charge forward.

This man had given two lives and a chance to live his live anew.

This man had a full Inheritance of the Highest Creation Gods.

This man had the knowledge of the Creation God who can even create lives and races

This man had skills from True Gods not just one, but so many of them.

This man not just had the bloods of Divine Beasts, but he even had their Divine Spirit Souls and their godly body part.

This man had a Heavenly Treasures that only Seven of it in the whole universe that more precious than any True Gods or Divine Beasts inheritance. not just one, but two of it.

BUT...

He still let his family suffers...

He let his grandfather die...

He let his loved one kidnapped...

He let his wife almost raped...

He let his child grown without a father beside...

He let his nation invaded...

He can't even make his master acknowledge him...

what he has done ?

But this time... this man is there no more... as he had become someone else... someone who know the future... someone who didn't want to make the same mistake... as this someone is from another world...


Hello, the Author here. This is my very first time writing something and also my very first book. So I decided to write a fan-fiction first to Improve myself in writing.

English is not my native language so, please feel free to have some comment  for my grammar.

Disclaimer : I didn't own anything regarding the original characters and the world of Against The Gods from the original book "Against The Gods".

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