Chapter 459 - Central Bureau (1) (1/2)

From the inhabitants of the Tower, the players climbing it, and the rankers watching the situation to the Guardians managing the system and the dropouts who had stepped away from the frontlines—everyone could feel it. The rule of the Eight Clans that had been in place for hundreds of years was beginning to fall apart.

An era of war had come! With Arthia's appearance, many of the large clans collapsed, and the hyenas waiting for their chance began to move. Natives who wished for peace swallowed their tears and grabbed their weapons again. The only thing that could protect them was their own strength.

Players began to climb the floors again, and rankers began to gather forces. Mercenaries, alliances, clans…everyone wanted to pull together a group to replace the empty spots left behind by the large clans.

The fight didn’t stop there. In the territory most players couldn’t sense—the heavenly world—chaos had exploded. The spark was the war between Olympus and L’Infernal. The tensions among the many societies grew more strained. It was the beginning of a great war.

* * *

Boom.

〈Heaven King Path〉

Phante pushed forward with heavy footsteps and violent movements. Waves of sound thundered fiercely through the wind. Each punch made space tremble. He shot his right arm forward following the laws of the Extreme Fists and crushed the rock in front of him like a pumpkin and even partially blew the forest behind it away. The impact was so great that the ground he stood on quaked.

Sssss. Phante pulled back his right arm with a satisfied expression. The heat still hadn’t cooled, and the end of his fist was smoking.

“How is it?” asked Yeon-woo, who’d been watching him train from behind. Edora stood next to him, tears slightly glistening in her eyes.

Phante smirked. “Need I say anything?”

“That’s true.” Yeon-woo grinned, knowing that his question had been unnecessary. The right arm he and Brahm had created for Phante seemed to be a better fit than expected. They’d made it as close to his original arm as possible, but since it had just been attached, it would take time for Phante to adjust to it and recover. However, he managed to do it at the monstrous speed of just one week.

In fact, he was even stronger than before; he’d likely learned something from his combat with the Bow God. He had smoother control of his internal strength, looser movements, and blazing blood-red lightning.

‘He’s reached the peak of skillfully using his thoughts.’ He was probably at an expert level, demonstrating a growth that was worthy of attention even compared to the other tribe members. It was like the days of the young Martial King or Head Elder.

He had always declared that he’d exceed both of them, and it seemed like he was already keeping that promise. If he continued to grow like this, he might really surpass the two.

“Actually, I think this arm is better than the other one.”

“We put a lot of care into it.” Yeon-woo and Brahm thought it would be nice if Boo could add more features to the arm and equip it with multiple functions. Most of them were minor, but they would help Phante when he used Mugong. Because of that, Phante’s arm was classified as an artifact, and an S-ranked one at that.

“Hm.”

“What?” Yeon-woo’s eyes narrowed at Phante’s contemplative face, wondering what was going on. Was there a problem?

“Nothing. I was just thinking that since this has so many good features, I should change the rest of my body too.”

What kind of new bullshit was this? Yeon-woo was speechless as he watched Phante ponder whether or not to replace his entire body. It was clear that Phante wasn’t joking.

“I’m serious.”

“You idiot!” Edora stepped up angrily. She scolded him, wondering how he could say such things after his near-death experience. She asked him where he’d left his brain and said that if he were going to act that way, he should have come back decapitated instead of only losing his arm.

Phante was flustered at her rapid nagging. His eyes, which had been full of glee just a few moments ago, now shook.

Yeon-woo felt like Edora’s calm composure was being shattered frequently because of Phante these past few days. He smiled ruefully.

“OK, OK. Stop nagging! You’re not Mother…!”

“Are you serious?! Why, should I cut your limbs myself? Huh? Huh?”

“Hey! Hey! That’s dangerous! Stop! Ahhhh!”

Edora pulled out Divine Evil and ran towards Phante. Worried that his little sister was serious, Phante quickly escaped, full of fear. Yeon-woo shook his head as he observed the noisy training area. Edora continued to chase after Phante. It was a small incident in Laputa, which floated around the Outer District.

* * *

“You’re here?” Brahm said as Yeon-woo climbed down the spiral stairs into the basement research lab.

Yeon-woo nodded and scanned the lab. The lab in the basement of Laputa was of grand size, as one could expect from a space that Kalatus made. It contained books the Draconic species had written and collected, research notes and dissertations, along with a refrigerator that stored rare materials and various reagents.

Yeon-woo had handed the lab over to Brahm, and Brahm happily moved from the dungeon at the One-horned tribe’s village. He had the ancient knowledge that he’d acquired as a god, the mastery of alchemy that he’d attained while roaming the lower world, and now the knowledge of the dragons. He could do much more. As soon as he settled in Laputa, he immediately began a new experiment. Phante’s right arm was one of the byproducts of this research.

“Have you had any progress?”

“Of course.” Brahm grinned and swept the flasks and beakers off his messy desk, grabbing a book that lay under them. It was called the Book of Jupiter.