Chapter 92 - Rebellion-1 (1/2)

Rebellion-1

After being separated from society for the long years that I was, I wasn’t worried about finding my way back. Now that I was here, however, it was easy to see that things were completely different than before. At a surface level, the world still appeared to be driven by laws, morals, and social order. But looking inside, the existence of levels and gold had changed the power dynamics entirely.

“Most places like the mountains and forests have been branded too dangerous since Chaos Souls’ appearance.”

“That’s probably for the best.”

Even though the distance between civilization and monster-infested lands would only take about twenty minutes on foot to cross, the value between the two territories was markedly different. The land outside of the concrete barriers built by human power was worthless if it couldn’t be protected and, as such, could be bought cheaply for silver. The next day, after we stayed at a hotel Lee Chan-yu found, I acquired a plot of this cheap land outside of the protected area of Seongbuk-gu. I hadn’t run into any issues needing identification or paperwork, as the person I bought the land from had been in the battle the day prior.

“Thank you so much for your help! I didn’t think you’d want to stay in Seongbuk-gu.” The man was in his mid-30s and was going bald a little bit. With his help, the process of acquiring a real estate contract was a breeze.

“I intend to stick around and observe those Chaos Souls for the time being.”

“I see. As a citizen of Seongbuk-gu, it’s reassuring to have you around… but why are you trying to settle down on the mountainside?”

“It’s more comfortable for me, and there’s nothing dangerous to me out there.”

“I wish I could be strong enough to speak with such confidence.”

“With the monsters scattered about this world, you need to be strong.” The man laughed in response to my off-handed comment.

“My partner was the president of a small business. I’m afraid this is my limit; if I wanted to raise my level, I would have to jump into some advanced dungeons. I want to be strong so that I don’t die, but I’d have to face death to become stronger. It’s almost funny.”

“Ah, is that so?” I didn’t think he was wrong fundamentally. We just happened to be different.

“Would you like to start by building a house? I have an acquaintance who is good with architectural magic that I can introduce you to.”

“No, that’s alright.” After finishing up my purchase, Lee Chan-yu and I headed to Bukhansan, where the land I had acquired was located. There was a time when the mountain was managed by the government and was a popular hiking destination. Now, however, the roads had been irreparably damaged due to a lack of management. The Great Fusion had also changed the terrain to be rockier than it had been.

But just because of that, and the appearance of monsters didn’t mean people stopped going there. Several large guilds flocked to the dungeons within the mountain range. Bukhansan itself was where the Black Palace District 7 dungeon was. However, the land I bought was a bit further away from that since it had already been secured by other guilds. It had initially been misunderstood to be a simple goblin dungeon and didn’t attract much attention. But now that it was known for the difficulty spike at the later levels, it had become a hotspot. At least, until the guild’s combat units were annihilated by the ‘elves.’

They were blinded by the possibility of rewards and failed to kill the elf, and thus the humans had become anxious that they would make an enemy of the entire elven race. Added to that, the allied forces of several large guilds had been completely annihilated. It was clear that the Black Palace wasn’t the type of place that could be conquered by just one or two big guilds, and there was no guarantee of reward. Ultimately, that encounter had gone well. The increasing hostility between humans and elves, or, more specifically, the Elakatra, was fine by me.

“It’s really out in the middle of nowhere.” Lee Chan-yu muttered to himself, spreading out the monsters he controlled to sweep the area clean. There were no people around this far out in the wilderness, but there were plenty of monsters.

“So why did you refuse his offer of an introduction? You planning on building a hut by yourself?”

“We can’t leave our home to outsiders.”

“So, we’re building a hut.”

“No, a citadel.” I cut him off by raising a hand, activating the Belkena spell. The wind began to blow, bending the trees. A fire began to form, consuming an entire tree, while the land surrounding us began to change, stone walls emerging. Lee Chan-yu was staring forward with a blank expression.

“Captain…?”

“It’s not something that I can finish instantaneously. Can you bring some monsters here?”

“No, it’s already going plenty fast!” He began to yell out orders to his monsters as I laid down the foundations for our new fortress with my mana. It was kind of funny to me how much the game I played with L was helping me out now.

“It’s a bit tricky with the terrain…”

“Is that so?” Little by little, mistakes began to pile up due to my unfamiliarity with the land’s mana. It wasn’t difficult to keep the magic steadily going, however, despite it.

[Kururururahh!]

“He brought some food.”

“Please keep bringing them.” The number of monsters that Lee Chan-yu was accumulating was no joke, but the efficiency of my mana recovery had dropped. Even if I absorbed all of them, it wouldn’t have restored much. I needed to focus on leveling up soon.

“I need to go steal some stuff from the Black Palace.”

“One of the larger guilds got it staked out, be careful.”