Chapter 16 · 9 min
Chapter 16
Chapter 16
I unfolded Ji Wuchang’s note.
=======
[Young Han Jain!
The equipment needed to arm the outsiders is as follows.
Bring as many as you can.]
1. Flame Axe
2. Elf Boots
3. Orc Bracers
========
The items Ji Wuchang requested did not look particularly difficult to obtain.
Even someone at my level should be able to get them.
“If I don’t help, who will?”
I explained what had happened in Carcosa, and Aqua and Geumsul jumped in surprise.
[I admire. The Great Lord’s loyalty. Very righteous.]
[Aqua... Cool!
(꜆꜄•ㅁ•)꜆꜄꜆
]
“Where can I get these items?”
[These items. Are an extremely famous. Cost-effective set. Used widely. From beginners. To intermediates.]
Ohh.
Raise their combat strength with cost efficiency?
A good approach.
“How much for one set?”
[Per set. 700 million won.]
“C-Cheap...”
It truly was cheap, with no bubble at all.
I must never forget that in this industry, lettuce sells for tens of millions of won.
I need to destroy my sense of money.
“I’m earning plenty of money now, right? It’s time to play wallet warrior. Marketplace window!”
I confidently opened the marketplace, only to get blocked right from the start.
Every item in the set was completely sold out.
“What’s going on?”
[They are. Extremely cost-effective. Sets. Purchase competition. Is intense.]
“So even with money, I can’t buy the product? Ridiculous.”
I stared at the marketplace window and saw [Stock 1] appear.
Someone listed an item!
“Now!”
I pressed the purchase button, but failed.
I wasn’t the only Climber trying to obtain these absurdly cost-effective items.
Failures kept coming afterward.
Stock 1 changed to Stock 0 as if mocking me.
“Ugh. I’m getting dry eyes.”
I abused my eyes and achieved nothing.
This time, Aqua stepped forward.
I had been stupid.
In a contest of reaction speed, obviously a spirit would outperform a human.
All I had to do was trust Aqua.
[Aqua... Item sweep incoming!!!
ᕙﾉ•̀ʖ•́ﾉ୨
]
“Aqua! Don’t just buy recklessly, okay? Our assets are limited!”
Click.
The purchasing battle began.
[Stock 1]
[Stock 0]
[Stock 1]
[Stock 0]
[Stock 1]
[Stock 0]
Whoosh whoosh whoosh.
Aqua’s adorably tiny hands hammered the purchase button!
[Aqua... Ratatatata!
づ
]
Ohhh! At this rate, won’t our territory go bankrupt?!
The result.
My bank balance did not change.
“? You failed every single one?”
[A-Aqua... Eyes unusually dry today! Going to retry!
つ
]
Ratatatata.
Ratatata.
Aqua’s fingertips gradually slowed down.
[A-Aqua... Eyeballs dried to a crisp! No longer water spirit, now crispy spirit!
ᕤ
]
Even Aqua got dry eyes.
We had underestimated this too much.
Climbers around the world were staring at the marketplace while enduring dry-eye syndrome.
[Ahem. Allow me. To try.]
Geumsul stretched itself out and began unfolding incomprehensible equations.
Geumsul was a robot.
It had a biological macro installed.
There was no way it could lose a purchasing contest.
[Poof poof poof...]
Steam rose from Geumsul’s forehead!
A battle decided in 0.01 seconds!
Its electronic brain burned!
The result.
My bank balance did not change.
“What the hell.”
The purchase was a catastrophic failure.
Even Geumsul’s electronic brain couldn’t break through the competition.
All it got was dry eyes.
[Ugh. Vision deterioration.]
“Sellers. I’m trying to give you money! If you just sell to me, the money literally multiplies!”
[Sellers. Must reflect.]
[Aqua... Dissatisfaction exploding!
୧(๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭
]
Complaining didn’t change reality.
I’m offering money here, so sell me some already.
* * *
Cheongyeol headquarters.
Cheon Ryujin pressed a hand to his forehead.
“Lord Merchant, you filthy bastard. I’m trying to give you money, so why are you fucking with me?”
After the government’s HACCP announcement.
Buying chlorella had become difficult.
“He’s increasing lettuce sales, but he’s still selling a rat’s tail worth of chlorella.”
Ah.
Stress.
Cheon Ryujin habitually gulped down chlorella.
Damn it.
The effect was so good he couldn’t even give it up.
“Let’s wait. The monitoring team is buying aggressively.”
Secretary Lee informed him.
“Push them harder. Tell them if they increase purchases by ten percent, I’ll raise their salaries by thirty percent.”
“Wow. Seriously?”
“I! Have! Money! Rotting! Away! And! I! Can’t! Spend it!”
A few days later.
After implementing the incentive, item procurement surged.
“Director. The incentive policy worked. The purchasing team developed a technique for bypassing the restrictions.”
“What kind?”
“The purchasing team leader shouted [Turn on the VPN], and suddenly the team IP became America, then Iceland... They were jumping all over the place.”
“That function exists?”
“Personally, I found the Asgard IP and Roman Empire IP most fascinating... They were pulling up Gojoseon IPs too.”
“They’re making the Tower’s surveillance run in circles?”
“More or less.”
The purchasing team had always been competent.
After throwing money at them, they became even more competent.
“Promote the entire purchasing team by next month.”
“...Not just the leader. The whole team?”
“Need to keep our homegrown talent close. If people with that kind of technology jump ship to another company, we lose.”
Secretary Lee smiled.
Cheon Ryujin was a mad dog, yet surprisingly he had not fallen behind the other four directors.
Cheon Ryujin’s nature...
He had no virtue, but he did possess charisma.
“With this technology, we should be able to purchase any scarce item on the marketplace.”
“That’s good. Anything else to report?”
“The assault division failed while attempting the 41st floor. They suffered a crushing defeat against a single Cyclops.”
Hehehe.
Cheon Ryujin laughed.
These bastards were lower than dust.
“Gather them in the training hall.”
“They’re currently recuperating after getting clubbed by the Cyclops.”
“After getting beaten by me, that Cyclops’s clubbing will feel like feathers. Tell them to gather.”
“Director. They barely survived. Let them off just this once.”
Cheon Ryujin shook his head.
Absolutely not.
Things like this had to be uprooted completely before moving on.
“How many items do you think I shoved into those assault-team bastards! And they can’t kill one lousy Cyclops?”
“Come on. Cyclopes are absurdly powerful monsters.”
“Ha. I killed one alone when I was a student.”
“That’s because you’re abnormal, Director.”
“I wasn’t the only one. Every one of my classmates killed one.”
“That’s because every cadet in Class 13 was insane. If you keep measuring your subordinates against them, they won’t survive.”
Haah.
Cheon Ryujin was about to personally visit the assault division and wreck them before stopping himself.
“Forget it... I’d rather become Buddha...”
“Haha. Director, you’re less Buddha and more one of the yaksha serving beneath him.”
You little.
Cheon Ryujin grabbed the ashtray.
Grip.
“Ahem! I misspoke... Anyway, Director. We need to approach the 41st floor carefully. The Cyclops isn’t recorded in the [Ji Wuchang Strategy Guide] either.”
“That damn Ji Wuchang Strategy Guide... Without that thing, Climbers would’ve all starved to death.”
“When it comes to Tower攻略, isn’t Wuchang basically Newton and Einstein combined?”
“Fuck... Don’t make me laugh...”
But Cheon Ryujin knew too.
Ji Wuchang was undeniably a genius.
He had stood out even among the genius-packed Class 13, and no one could match him when it came to strategy.
“That bastard was good at攻略.”
That was why ordinary people still clung desperately to the [Ji Wuchang Strategy Guide].
The so-called [Ji Wuchang Strategy Guide] was not even an officially published work.
The way it was discovered had been pure coincidence.
After Ji Wuchang fell asleep.
A television documentary team researching Ji Wuchang’s life discovered his journal.
At first, they thought it was an ordinary climbing log.
Then they found astonishing knowledge written inside.
Flashes of intuition.
Genius-level observation.
The strategies that bastard had scribbled down were terrifyingly ahead of their time.
“They say that journal advanced the average Climber’s level by at least three generations.”
“Hmph.”
Ji Wuchang himself had tossed the journal into a closet.
He probably thought it had no value.
He could write notes like that anytime.
Because he was Ji Wuchang.
But the bastard fell asleep, and humanity still had not surpassed those ‘worthless notes.’
That was the legacy a genius had left humanity.
“How would Ji Wuchang have beaten the Cyclops...”
Cheon Ryujin muttered in frustration.
If he were being truthful, he wanted to wake Ji Wuchang immediately and scream at him to write the Floor 41 strategy.
“How about writing the strategy yourself this time, Director?”
“Hit the monster hard and it dies.”
“That probably won’t qualify as a strategy.”
Geniuses were normally terrible at teaching others.
That was why Ji Wuchang was treated as the god of strategy.
Because he had created methods ordinary people could follow.
“Would you rather focus on commerce instead of攻略 for now? Try using the purchasing team’s VPN.”
“We are Cheongyeol. The level of our assault division determines my place in the succession ranking. Even if the purchasing team makes money, that only shrinks the place I have to stand.”
Somewhere.
Somewhere out there, a Floor 41 strategy definitely existed.
Humanity simply hadn’t found the damn thing yet.
* * *
“AAAAAAAH! HEAVENS!”
I screamed in every direction while performing a ritual.
This made it already!
“My 522nd failed purchase!”
Purchase.
Failed like hell.
I even had Geumsul build dirt walls with laser beams and made an altar.
I was trying to borrow the help of heaven and the spirits.
It did nothing.
“Let’s get back to basics.”
I gave up on the purchasing contest.
I admitted our defeat.
Instead, I decided to strengthen the territory itself.
“We need to grow Golden Lettuce first.”
Golden Lettuce was my round-trip ticket to Carcosa.
Its seeds were growing slowly.
At the same time, I expanded the farm.
Buy magic stones.
Stick them in the ground.
Build a farm.
Buy more magic stones...
“Damn it, National Assembly bastards!!!”
I suddenly got angry.
Because of you!!!
The lettuce price!!!!
Won’t go down!!!!
When are you giving up on HACCP!!!
This experience taught me something painfully clear.
Crop prices were heavily affected by policy.
It would be a problem if I kept getting pushed around like this in the future.
How could I reduce the influence of governments?
I needed fields beyond agriculture.
The territory’s technology needed diversification.
‘How did the other lords do it?’
I had only visited one other territory.
If there was any territory I could use as a reference, it had to be that one.
I remembered it.
The city of the deepest dream.
The dim Carcosa.
Beneath its ominous yellow sky rose towering spires, while countless citizens and a rigid class system operated.
This is...
Enough to leave you speechless.
Carcosa may have been hell, but it was also a highly developed territory.
That was why I found myself chasing after the greatness of that dim city.
Because I was a lord.
Any other lord would feel the same.
You want to reach it.
You can’t help being captivated.
By the beauty contained within that yellow city.
Ding!
A quest was generated.
=======
<Quest: Culture 1>
Objective: Spend 「Influence」 to construct a building in your territory
Reward: Obtain 「Appoint Bureaucrat」 skill
[What is Influence?]
[Fame + Reputation + Achievements + various other factors]
=======
Hmm.
Reading the quest, it seemed pretty unfavorable for me.
What kind of fame would a novice lord like me have?
[Current Influence: 251]
What?
I have plenty.
Building.
Build one right now.
I Set Up House in the Tower, and Making Money Became Too Easy