Chapter 252: Chapter 252

Chapter 252: Planetary Alliance (1)

The Demon God's eye, the Demon Eye.

He had been wondering why on earth it told him to visit the Kaisar Continent.

[The Kaisar Continent is currently bound to you!]

[The Kaisar Continent has been added as a new territory of the System!]

[The lifeforms of the continent are worshipping you!]

[The feeling of worship has breached the limit and reached the realm of 'Faith'!]

[Unanimous consent from the absolute majority of the continent's members!]

[You meet the qualifications for a Manager!]

[You have been appointed as the 'Manager' of the Kaisar Continent!]

[You can now freely travel between Earth and the Kaisar Continent!]

[You have acquired the title, 'Worshipped Existence'!]

Kim Minwoo tilted his head.

He already knew from before that the continent belonged to him.

'But what is this Manager thing?'

[Connecting with Ananke.]

Along with the message.

The viewpoint shifted, revealing the face of the Grand Witch.

Wearing a small monocle and flipping through a book, she snapped it shut.

"Hi? Has it been two months since the Outer Sea?"

'Did you contact me because of the Dragon Legion?'

When he conveyed his thoughts just like the last time he went to hunt the Abyss Monarch, she smiled broadly.

"No. Because the signal inside your body arrived."

'...Huh? If you mean the signal...'

"Faith. Is this a good omen, or a bad omen..."

Putting down her glasses, she reached out.

A sheet of pure white paper was placed on the desk.

"Faith is unwavering belief, and it is like an anchor that constitutes the self."

At Ananke's hand gesture, dozens of pens moved to form a huge picture.

An immeasurably large Orc.

A large anchor embedded in that Orc's body.

He could see it shrinking, albeit slightly.

He felt like he had seen it somewhere before.

It was at that moment.

The crows hanging upside down nearby snapped their eyes open.

At Ananke's words, the noisy crows hurriedly closed their eyes.

"Sorry. My children are just too noisy."

Soon after, she pointed at the picture and spoke.

"An Apostle of the Outer God. One born as a lowly creature, who overturned a ruined fate. The anchor and god of all Orcs. Mutakta. You and he have begun to be genuinely intertwined."

It was a name that remained intensely in his memories.

Back when he first carried out the Lord's first arrangement.

The monster among monsters who had toyed with the complete form of Cedric as if he were nothing.

'An Apostle of the Outer God?'

He understood in an instant.

Death Lord had fought against the Outer God and fallen into ruin.

Just like Death Lord, the Outer God must have had his own subordinates.

One would be the spider, Hardronox.

'The Orc Hero Mutakta. It was him.'

If he was a subordinate of the Outer God, who was essentially the final boss of the Stage 6, then Mutakta's absurd strength was not strange at all.

"You must have realized it too while exploring the stage. That Mutakta was once there."

The reason the Orcs of the Kaisar Continent had fallen so miserably.

Wasn't it because Mutakta had received a call from the sky and disappeared?

Does this mean that because he stole the Orcs' faith, he has started to get entangled with Mutakta?

'Then isn't it a bad omen?'

"There are always two sides to everything. Spiders and Orcs are completely different species, you know."

'Could it be a good omen?'

"Perhaps. Since fate hasn't been decided yet."

Shrugging her shoulders as she answered, her tone suddenly turned serious.

"We connected with each other. Actually, that wasn't the only magic cast at that time. To be precise, while planting the connection in your body, I twisted your fate."

Kim Minwoo tilted his head.

Merhen was definitely nearby at that time.

And that was Merhen who had temporarily grown to SSS-rank through Indomitable Spirit.

If she had done something suspicious, there was no way Merhen wouldn't have noticed...

"Ah, don't misunderstand. It was a positive twist for you. That's why the Banshee remained silent too. Because... the moment fate is spoken aloud, it can be overturned."

Answering playfully, she continued.

"Haven't you ever thought about it at least once? That your luck, Kim Minwoo, was 'absurdly' good."

There was a moment he suddenly remembered.

After meeting Ananke, when he entered the Demon Realm of the past to obtain Vulcan.

'I rolled the Dice of Fate.'

If misfortune came out, the next roll would have a luck correction.

Because a 1 came out, a 6 followed.

However, while the misfortune of 1 was manageable, the 6 was...

Not only did it bury an army of 100,000 underground, but it also brought about tremendous luck that allowed him to toy with two Demon Lords ranked 6th and 7th.

"Correct. It consumed a lot of the school's resources. One divine artifact, ten ingredients, and even the fate power that had been accumulated until now. Because of that, the great luck didn't end there."

'What else is there?'

"The Spider. I have been dispersing his gaze and controlling his greed until now."

Soon, Ananke's tone became solemn.

"You have obtained faith beyond a certain level. The light of a gem cannot be hidden forever. The veil is coming to an end. Be careful. The time for the Spider to make his move in earnest is not far off. An ancient monster. A cunning shadow. The one who covets the Father. With your current power, he is an existence you cannot stand against."

Kim Minwoo's face turned serious.

Hardronox's strength was evident just by looking at the High Priest.

Even the High Priest's clone possessed terrifying power.

Then how strong must Hardronox, who could be called his direct superior, be?

The sound of clapping was heard.

Ananke, who had started smiling playfully at some point, spoke.

"Time is almost up. I'll give you one last piece of advice. Gather faith. Before the Spider approaches you in earnest, gather as much as you can. Good luck, little Manager."

['Connection' is disconnected!]

With the message, his viewpoint returned.

Kim Minwoo's expression became complicated.

The luck from that time, which deserved to be called heavenly luck rather than just good fortune.

He learned that it was due to Ananke's assistance.

And even that luck was slowly coming to an end.

'Well, thinking about it now will only complicate things...'

Ananke had advised him.

This probably didn't manifest only in other species.

'To gather as much as possible...'

He had to utilize not only the Kaisar Continent but also Earth.

A name suddenly came to mind.

The only official fan cafe in Korea established by Liang Xiaojun, operating with 13 million members.

'I should make some use of this.'

Until now, it had been half an information exchange center and a playful cafe worshipping Merhen...

'I need to make it a bit more serious. And I should raise my name value as much as possible too.'

Wouldn't being World Rank 1 be much more advantageous in terms of faith than being World Rank 157?

'I'll have to mobilize the Ilsung Group's intelligence team for that as well.'

He would have to shape public opinion.

Beyond simple praise, slowly towards something close to worship.

But what happens if he gathers this faith?

'Do I become a god or something?'

Looking at the case of Mutakta, the God of Orcs, maybe that was possible...

"What are you doing? Why the long face all of a sudden? Meditating?"

Suddenly, a voice was heard.

Lee Seoyoon was looking at him with a puzzled face.

"I just had something to think about."

"Thinking about what?"

"What kind of existence is a god? Something like that?"

Kim Minwoo chuckled at her frowning face, which seemed to ask what kind of nonsense he was spouting.

"It's just something. Go and train my skeletons a bit...."

[The 'Planetary Alliance' system is activated by Manager authority.]

[Searching for a list of currently ally-able planets.]

[Currently, Earth and the Kaisar Continent can form an alliance.]

"What have you been saying to yourself since earlier?"

"Wait. Go over there."

At those words, Lee Seoyoon's body moved on its own.

Having sent the summon away, Kim Minwoo began to check the messages that appeared one after another.

[If a Planetary Alliance is formed, 'safe' exchange between the two dimensions becomes possible.]

[Residents of both planets can freely visit both continents, and the exchange of technology and resources will be activated.]

In an instant, the calculator inside Kim Minwoo's head began to spin furiously.

Alliance, exchange, technology transfer.

It's good, it's all good, but...

'Isn't this telling me to destroy my own livelihood?'

What was the market he currently monopolized?

Namely Runes, Tattoos, and Plus Items.

Things he thoroughly monopolized production of by training his mass of skeletons.

Thanks to that, Ilsung had grown significantly.

It was truly a goldmine among goldmines.

But forming an alliance and starting exchanges?

Earth's production hunters would come running in a hurry to learn the skills.

Dwarven crafting methods.

'How could they resist this?'

Then the monopoly breaks.

Scarcity would also be smashed, and prices would become infinitely cheap.

'The advantage is that the combat power of Earth and Kaisar increases greatly.'

No matter how large his skeleton army was, it was only in the thousands.

It was woefully insufficient to handle the demands of awakened beings all over the world.

Since production speed couldn't keep up with demand, the market was always short on supply.

But if technology is released through the alliance?

Tens, hundreds of thousands of production hunters would latch on and pump out all sorts of goods.

'Of course, it's not all downsides.'

Since he was the subject of the alliance, if the hunters' levels rose, that gratitude would be directed at him.

'Since humanity's level rises, the exchange rate between the Achievement Shop and Earth money will likely change too.'

This would be much more advantageous for gathering faith than the existing monopoly method.

Wouldn't giving at least a piece of bread, rather than nothing, create faith or whatever?

"Looking at it that way, it's not a structure where I just lose out, but..."

As he pondered, an additional message appeared before his eyes.

[A 'Tariff' is applied to all trades and exchanges between allied planets. Tariffs are collected by the System.]

[The Manager can take a portion of the tariffs as a 'commission'.]

[* Caution: Since currency values differ between dimensions, the commission is converted into Achievement Points and paid out.]

Kim Minwoo's eyes snapped open.

What did he just see?

What is the commission paid in?

"Achievement Points?"

Achievement Points were something that was endlessly insufficient even when earning double through the Achievement Vending Machine!

The exchange rate on Earth was around 800 billion to 1.

Faced with this insane exchange ratio, the reality was that even Kim Minwoo found it difficult to dare to exchange.

But they were saying they would give that precious thing as a commission.

If the two planets exchanged goods, how much would that amount be?

It would truly transcend imagination.

Gates had existed on Earth until now, but wasn't that a one-way street?

'Achievement Points will be printed just by sitting and breathing.'

And that, doubled through the vending machine?

Furthermore, Earth gets stronger, and the exchange rate for Achievement Points lowers?

"I definitely have to do this, right?"

Hot determination welled up.

He had to make this alliance happen no matter what.

[The consent of representatives from both planets is required to conclude the alliance.]

[Kaisar Continent Representative: Kim Minwoo (Agreed)]

[Earth Representative: Undecided (Ratification by UN permanent member states required)]

Earth's representative.

It didn't seem like a position an individual could step up to.

It seemed to view that approval from an international organization at the level of at least the UN was necessary.

Excluding the countries that had already disappeared, it was a collective of the remaining 120 countries.

There are a total of five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The USA, China, UK, France, and Russia.

'Well, practically, the representative would be either the USA or China.'

Realistically looking at it, the USA would probably do it.

'Then that means I have to persuade the other four.'

"I'm going out for a bit, so train the kids well."

At those words, Lee Seoyoon looked at him as if he was being ridiculous.

"No, how long has it been since you got here? You said you were going to inspect the non-human villages here."

"Something came up. It's very important business. I think I need to go meet some high-ranking people from all over the world."

[TL/N: Well it's been over a year since I last worked on this, so there might be things which could be wrong, not just in this chapter and the upcoming chapters but also the old chapters (Ik we will have our rereading squad out there as well). And so if you guys find any errors or things that needs to be changed feel free to ping “proks._” in discord.]