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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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Chapter 340
Bang!
A gunshot rang out, and the stem of the flower burst apart.
That made the 150th Laplanta she had hunted.
Even so, she had only obtained two of the Laplanta Seeds the NPC had requested.
The drop rate was low, but if it was this bad, it was going to take even more time.
“I need to finish this quickly...”
Lee Nayun furrowed her brow and stepped closer to check the item dropped by the Laplanta.
“Huh?”
Her eyes widened as she checked the item.
“Four?”
Even after hunting 150 Laplantas, she had only seen the seed twice.
So, even finding one seed was something to be thankful for—but she had found four.
From two, the total suddenly became six.
“…At this rate, I’ll have ten in no time.”
When she only had two, she’d wondered how long it would take, but now that she’d passed halfway in an instant, she felt more confident.
Lee Nayun hunted another Laplanta.
And just like before, four more seeds were found.
“Oh my god…”
She never expected to get another four.
That made a total of ten already!
She quickly moved on to the next step.
Now that she had collected ten Laplanta Seeds, it was time to gather ten Wills of Harmind.
“Wait!”
Just as she was about to move to Harmind through the portal, the NPC Harphael hastily grabbed her.
“What is it?”
Lee Nayun tilted her head.
Never mind the fact that he stopped her—what was with that expression?
He looked extremely serious, as if something had gone terribly wrong.
“W-What did you do?”
“What do you mean, ‘what did I do’?”
“How did you get four Laplanta Seeds at once?!”
That shouldn’t be possible.
The chance was so low they would only appear once in a while.
But four at once?
And it happened twice in a row?
It was something that couldn’t possibly happen without some kind of trick.
“I don’t know either.”
Lee Nayun had simply done her best in the hunt.
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
Of course, Harphael didn’t believe her.
He was convinced she had pulled some kind of trick.
“Why are you getting angry?”
“Human, because you cheated!”
“Cheating? Do you have any proof?”
“Then can you prove you didn’t?”
“…Unbelievable. I went through all that effort just to be accused of cheating?”
Before she realized it, Lee Nayun’s gaze had turned cold.
To be labeled a cheater just because she gathered the seeds quickly.
Could anything be more unfair?
Just then—
The others who had also been hunting Laplanta began returning one by one.
“Huh? Mom!”
Yeo Min-Ji, who had returned to the hall, noticed Lee Nayun’s expression and quickly ran to her side.
At Min-Ji’s arrival, Lee Nayun relaxed her expression and welcomed her.
“Min-Ji, you're back already?”
“Yes. You know how the Laplanta Seeds were dropping four at a time? So I gathered them really quickly!”
“See? That’s what she says.”
Lee Nayun smiled as she turned her gaze toward Harphael.
Her lips were smiling, but her eyes were anything but friendly.
“Th-This can’t be… You’re all using tricks!”
Harphael, visibly flustered, shouted in anger toward everyone.
“Hyung, what’s he even talking about?”
Bong-Goo, looking dumbfounded, turned to Hajin.
“Just ignore him. All we need to do is gather the materials.”
Hajin brushed it off and crossed over to hunt Harmind.
“Hyung! Wait for me!”
Bong-Goo hurriedly followed after him.
“Don’t go around accusing people of cheating without proof.”
Lee Nayun gave Harphael a warning, then disappeared with Yeo Min-Ji.
“Tch… Damn it all…”
They were clearly using tricks.
After the last human came and took the power of the heavens, Harphael had reinforced surveillance on the area.
Which meant—he had seen everything about how they got the seeds.
They had only been getting 2 to 3 seeds, then suddenly started getting 4 at a time.
Could something like that happen without manipulation?
‘No choice, then… Once they bring back all the materials, I’ll crank up the difficulty and make sure they fail.’
Grinding his teeth, Harphael resumed monitoring them.
‘They’re pulling the same trick again!’
Upon hunting Harmind, a total of 3 Wills dropped.
This ridiculous phenomenon continued, and even the rarest item, the axe, was collected in just 2 hours.
Fine.
This time, there’ll be no way they can cheat.
“…The second quest will begin.”
Harphael clenched his teeth and snapped his fingers.
* * *
At that moment.
A new wind of change began to blow across Earth.
“James! You might want to come take a look at this.”
At Amelie’s words, James, who was preparing for battle, turned his head.
“What is it?”
“Well… The level of the dungeon we were preparing to raid has weakened.”
“Weakened?”
“Could you come see for yourself?”
“Alright.”
Until now, they had given up on raiding dungeons under Level 800 due to instability.
And this time, they were planning to raid a Level 900 dungeon—but now it had suddenly weakened?
Just as she said, the dungeon that had been Level 900 was now ridiculously weakened.
“120…?”
It had definitely been Level 900 just a few hours ago. How could it have dropped to Level 120?
“It’s a trap.”
Louis Verdant, who had been observing the dungeon without pause, declared it was a trap.
“Yeah, figured as much.”
“Right. There’s no way a Level 900 dungeon would suddenly drop to Level 120 otherwise.”
He agreed with Louis.
There had never been a case where a dungeon’s level dropped so drastically in an instant.
Most likely, it was a trap meant to lure people in.
But they couldn’t fool James’ party, which had already done their research.
“How’s the prep going?”
“We’re ready to go anytime.”
Just as Louis said, the party members were already fully prepared.
“Okay. Then let’s head in.”
After finishing a final check before departure, James took the lead and entered the dungeon.
Inside, a demon boasting Level 900 was waiting for them.
“Damn… It’s a demon.”
“Everyone, stay sharp!”
Everyone’s expression, including James’, grew grave.
Up until now, they had encountered a demon only once while clearing an unstable dungeon.
That one had been a Level 780 demon and had been quite formidable.
They barely managed to take it down, and the aftermath had been severe.
Even pouring in healing wasn’t enough—they had to rest for nearly a week before they could move again.
And now, it was a Level 900 demon.
This fight would not be easy.
“Positions!”
James calmly directed his team as they closed in on the demon.
“Damn it! The debuff won’t wear off!”
But something was wrong with the demon’s condition.
It shouted in desperation, and in that moment, an opening revealed itself.
“Now!”
James raised his shield and thrust his sword with his right hand toward the demon’s neck.
“Kegh!”
“Uh…?”
James’ eyes widened.
The Level 900 demon had been killed far too easily—its neck pierced clean through, blood gushing out as it died.
Then came the wave of messages.
They were level-up notifications.
* * *
That was the end of the code modification.
To be honest, he was itching to tweak it more.
<You must not interfere any further!>
Even Escanon, the system’s architect, had no authority to alter these particular lines of code, so he had no choice but to stop.
If he touched anything other than the code handed over by Logos—one of the Named—there was a chance Logos would intervene immediately.
<Remember, the only reason they haven’t moved yet is because they’re giving Escanon a chance.>
A chance, huh.
Jeong-hoon gave a dry chuckle.
Even knowing that Tenebris had awakened on Earth, could they really afford to give someone a chance?
He was already curious to see how they would respond.
‘Master, are you just going to leave those things be?’
Mukho looked toward Oh Jin-Soo and asked.
“Let’s leave them alone for now.”
With the Creation Device, he could intervene directly and reset things—but if he did that, the NPCs would lose their function.
To truly reset them, he’d have to erase them entirely.
These NPCs still had a role to play.
Jeong-hoon turned and stepped outside.
Maybe it was because he’d modified the code, but everything outside was quiet.
‘Should I start by clearing a dungeon?’
He had reworked the dungeon that Escanon had already renewed.
Jeong-hoon headed toward a nearby dungeon.
[Lv.80]
The dungeon was only Level 80.
Originally, it would have been Level 500–600 or higher.
He wanted to lower it even further, but in order to maximize the rewards, the level needed some balance.
So he set the minimum at 80.
The other dungeons would all be set between Levels 80 and 100 too.
Jeong-hoon entered the dungeon and instantly wiped out all the monsters.
‘No level up yet, huh.’
Was it because he had passed Level 4,000?
His level remained the same.
Jeong-hoon cleared a few more dungeons in this state.
As a result, his level rose by 1—reaching 4,064.
“At this rate, others should be able to level up pretty quickly too.”
The code had been locked to prevent further changes, so things would stay like this for a while.
Depending on when the Named decided to intervene, it could end sooner.
That’s why he needed to take full advantage of this opportunity while it lasted.
The problem was how to notify everyone.
Even though the code had been modified, the network still hadn’t been restored.
That was because Earth’s integrity had been severely damaged from the stacked penalties.
So using HoneyTube was impossible.
Of course, that didn’t mean there was no way.
‘Announcement.’
The code Jeong-hoon had modified also included the ability to send announcements.
Normally, announcements like those used for events were broadcast by headquarters.
In other words, that authority belonged to Escanon.
But Jeong-hoon had transferred that authority to the players.
Meaning anyone could now post announcements.
‘With this, everyone should be able to see it.’
Jeong-hoon quickly began writing an announcement.
He explained that dungeon difficulty had been drastically lowered and that massive experience could be gained by clearing them.
* * *
===
[To all players on Earth!]
-Hey there! I’m the New World hacker. LOL
Props to all of you for surviving in this godforsaken game.
Seriously, what a shitshow of a game.
Some lunatic cranked up the difficulty and started slapping on penalties, so I decided to step in myself.
I’ve lowered dungeon difficulty to Levels 80–100, and you can now earn a huge amount of EXP.
Clear the dungeons and you’ll level up in no time.
I’ve also set it so you can rack up points like crazy, so go farm while you can.
Hey dev team, you ten bastards—get your necks ready. I’ll be dropping by soon to deal with you all myself. ^^
-From the hacker who really hates New World
===
This announcement was sent to every survivor across the globe.
“What kind of notice is this…?”
“They say it’s a hack?”
People who saw the announcement checked it over and over again with confused expressions.
“Is this a scam?”
“Sounds fake…”
Naturally, most were skeptical.
Even if it was a hack, how could someone lower dungeon levels?
This was real life.
Not just some game.
[Additional Notice]
-Who knows when this’ll be patched. Farm now or regret it later. ^^
But when the follow-up announcement was sent, people cautiously began stepping outside.
“Well… if they managed to hack the announcements, we should at least investigate.”
“True. If it turns out to be fake, we can always just go back to the shelter.”
People were reaching their limit hiding in the overcrowded shelters.
If the announcement was real, they needed to level up even a little—gain the power to survive on their own.
“Huh? This dungeon really is Level 80!”
“This one’s 85!”
The announcement was true.
“Then that part about tons of EXP must be real too, right?”
“Let’s farm before things get patched!”
Those who saw it with their own eyes rushed into the dungeons.
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[Translator - Kiteretsu]
[Proofreader - Kyros]
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