Chapter 1959

Chapter 1959

Grid’s fist slammed into the middle-aged man’s face, and Laurel cried out in surprise. Grid withdrew his hand and tilted his head to the side. The man’s face looked like a dented pot.

“Why is he so weak?”

“How can a man not wearing any armor withstand Your Majesty’s fist?”

“Kraugel said they regenerate quickly even when their body is cut into pieces.” n)/0VelbIn

“The regeneration power seems to vary greatly depending on the techniques they know and the treasures they have.”

“There are also items...”

Grid nodded and examined the chains that bound the middle-aged man’s limbs.

“You have taken away all his belongings, but you can’t detain him in the usual manner?”

“Yes. He used a technique called Soil Release to hide under the ground like a mole. We had a hard time catching him again. Right now, Braham’s magic chains have sealed away his spiritual power so he can’t pull off the same thing again.”

“You can interfere in spiritual power using magic... There are many tactics to deal with them. So what is his rank?”

Grid’s eyes were cold as he glanced at the middle-aged man. The prisoner was a maniacal outsider who dared to kill three civilians and fifty-one soldiers in the heart of Reinhardt. Fortunately, the nearby players had stepped in and put a stop to his massacre. Had they stayed on the sidelines and did nothing, there could have been a lot more casualties.

Grid wanted to kill this person right that very second.

“A raid team of over eighty people and a party of nine with an average level of 400 was almost wiped out by him alone, right? Does he have the rank of a Great Person? Or is he a Saint?”

“U... Uh...”

“Can he not speak?”

“That might be because all his teeth were ripped out.”

“Tsk.”

Grid poured a potion on the middle-aged man’s face, who quickly recovered. He looked around in shock.

“I can’t believe that potion can exert such excellent medicinal properties even though I didn’t ingest it and turned it into spiritual energy...!”

“Talk in a way I can understand.”

“Gasp! Ah, that... The medicine that us cultivators use are usually in the form of a round pill. We have to swallow them so they can be effective. In order to obtain medicinal effects, we need to use spiritual energy to gradually dissolve the medicine in our bodies... The red liquid given by the elder is commendable because it has medicinal properties without any complicated processes.”

“So what is your rank?”

“...If you are asking me about my degree of cultivation, it is foundation building.”

“What the hell is that?”

“Ah! You don’t seem to know that much about cultivators! Allow me to explain. A cultivator is someone who accumulates cultivation in order to attain the great dao. The realms of cultivation are divided into qi refining, foundation building, core formation, nascent soul, and soul transformation.”

The middle-aged man was very cooperative. He smiled good-naturedly, unlike a maniac serial killer, and explained in detail about the realms.

Qi refining was the realm of cultivating the spiritual root and learning how to use spiritual energy. To put it simply, it was the beginner realm.

The foundation building period was the realm of accumulating and stabilizing a certain amount of spiritual energy.

The core formation period was the realm of pure cultivation and purification. Cultivators mastered various techniques on a deeper level than before. Then they entered the nascent soul stage where they succeeded in forming a nascent soul.

It was difficult to understand what he was talking about when he started explaining that, starting from the nascent soul realm, a second self was created inside the body, effectively granting the cultivator two lives. They would have to see for themselves.

In any case, if the cultivator was well versed in numerous techniques and had managed to sharpen their spiritual energy to the extreme, they could challenge soul transformation. The probability of entering the soul transformation realm was very low. Starting from the soul transformation realm, some of the spiritual energy would be replaced with the heaven and earth origin energy. By manipulating energy other than spiritual energy, cultivators can gain enough power and endurance to crush hundreds of soul transformation cultivators.

Grid wasn’t very interested in this.

Three people entered a snack store in Reinhardt and called an employee to order ramyun and kimbap. Their clothes and behavior were ordinary, so they didn’t stand out. However, they often used unfamiliar words.

The other guests couldn’t hear them due to the transparent protective shield that surrounded them.

***

“Your Majesty!”

“I have returned after carrying out the orders of His Majesty.”

Hundreds of beautiful women bowed their heads down in unison. The prince in the lead saluted with a determined expression.

Grid, who was strolling along on the castle wall, disappeared in a blur and suddenly appeared next to Lord. He pulled Lord to his feet and tugged him tightly.

“Don’t act so formal. I’m sad because it feels like you are distancing yourself from me.”

He was proud of his child, all grown up and returned from his mission. He tried not to show it, but he was getting quite emotional.

He understood the concept of a cultivator. He envisioned a future where Lord could live happily with his family forever.

In fact, until this morning, Grid had been displeased about the time ratio being updated to 1:8. He was scared because the time gap between Satisfy and reality was getting worse. This meant that the time to separate from Irene would come even quicker. He tried his best to not think about it, but he had found a new hope.

‘Lord is clever. He will quickly form his spiritual roots and be a great teacher for Irene and Basara.’

Grid’s group moved to the palace.

“These were taken from Trauka’s storehouse, which was hidden outside of Talima.”

"...?"

Grid’s eyes were wide in shock as he checked the treasures within the wagon. In addition to the dazzling gold and jewels and the hundreds of unusual artifacts and treasures, there was also black dirt and yellow, withered grass. There were even dozens of jars filled with bubbling lava.

Lord noticed Grid’s doubtful look and started explaining, “These are materials that contain unquenchable heat, so I collected them just in case. During my adventure, I visited several villages and heard that everything in the world now has a use...”

“Well done. Really well done.”

It was only then that Grid remembered Lauel telling him that pretty much anything in the game could now be material for treasures. He smiled. He was proud of Lord, who was smarter than him.

Grid screened the artifacts. There were only two of them that he could use, so he took those and carefully considered who the remaining artifacts would be suitable for before deciding on the owners.

Along the way, Lord received five artifacts and Rebecca’s Daughters also received Rare weapons and armor.

“Rabbit, distribute the remaining supplies and materials where they are needed.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Administrator Rabbit was full of joy. The value of the treasures brought by the crown prince was so great, it was equivalent to the 100 year budget of the empire. The wealth that an old dragon had accumulated over the years was immense.

***

Zik’s expression darkened as he looked up at the silent tower. The tower, which was supposed to reach Asgard one day, had stopped being developed for a long time. It didn’t get higher any longer, and had been looking the same for days.

Everyone was indifferent to the tower because they were adapting to the changed world.

It was as if the world was speaking to him:

Zik, no one cares about your revenge. From the day you betrayed your comrades until now, you have been alone. Abandon the hope of salvation forever...

A strange old man’s voice spoke in Zik’s ears as he was standing there in a daze while clutching his rotten chest. “Huh? This is the place with the smallest number of people around, so that’s why I chose it as the rendezvous point. However, I seem to be unlucky after all. I blame myself for coming here. We are trying not to hurt mortals, but the situation is so chaotic that we can’t help it. It is better to think that I am just unlucky.”

A sharp awl flew toward Zik’s brow. Zik turned his head just in time to avoid the sneak attack. He glared coldly at the bewildered old man.

“I don’t care who you are. If you dare to pay the price for invading God’s land, that is enough.”

The suspicion that Judar had planted in Zik left him in quite a delicate situation. Despite this, Zik didn’t doubt or resent Grid. As always, he hated and cursed his own incompetence, but he was still Grid’s apostle.