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HELHEIM SCANS
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Chapter 73: A Brief Peace
Being able to mediate with gods and souls from other planets, huh?
Right now, it’s a useless ability.
The only gods from other planets I know are Elprian and Drakia, and both of them are dead.
Still, it might come in handy someday.
And then, there’s smuggling...
When I clicked on smuggling, an explanation popped up.
[Soul Smuggling: Designate a god to perform soul smuggling. You can mediate souls without the designated god’s knowledge. All the profits generated during this process belong entirely to the soul mediator. Two soul mediation slots are required. Applicable only up to SSS-grade gods.]
Oh wow.
I get to keep all the profits?
At Soul Mediation Level 5, the efficiency is 100%, and I can mediate with 14 guardian gods.
Right now, my commission is 30%.
But if I use smuggling, I get to keep 100% of the profits.
No, wait—if I unlock smuggling, my Soul Mediation level will increase to 7.
Considering the rate of improvement so far, I’d be looking at 140% efficiency with a 40% commission.
If I use smuggling, I get to keep that entire 140% for myself.
That’s excellent.
Hmm.
But at Soul Mediation Level 19, efficiency reaches 100%, and commissions become entirely customizable.
So, maybe smuggling won’t be useful by then?
Well, I’ll think about it when the time comes.
Alright.
How much SP will the next upgrade cost?
[Would you like to upgrade the Soul Mediation skill? It will cost 2.5 million SP.]
2.5 million...
Sigh.
The costs are increasing fivefold each time—100,000 → 500,000 → 2.5 million.
If Level 6 costs 2.5 million...
Then Level 7 will be 12.5 million?
How will I ever save that much?!
“I wish I could convert the money in my bank account into SP...”
Curious if such a feature existed, I opened the shop.
[You have reached Grade B. You can now sell items.]
As soon as I opened it, a message appeared.
The higher the grade, the more things you can do, I guess.
But as for my money → SP conversion idea... of course, it wasn’t available.
The shop was just filled with gacha draws.
SP 300,000, SP 600,000 for A~D-grade items and skills, all labeled as “on sale.”
Sigh.
They could at least remove the D-grade ones...
“Should I sell something?”
I decided to list one of the A-grade weapons I had been keeping in my inventory—an item gifted by the gods.
When the price was evaluated, it came out to 300,000.
Wow, the price of an A-grade weapon is the same as the gacha cost?
These greedy Chaos gods are such scammers.
Forget it.
I’m not selling anything.
I’ll just slowly save up SP and upgrade step by step.
First, I need to figure out how much income my Soul Mediation is actually generating.
After lounging at home for two days, Hermes sent over his final payment of 200,000 SP.
On top of that, Soul Mediation was bringing in 30,000 SP per day.
Altogether, 330,000 SP appeared in my status window.
Investing in Soul Mediation was definitely the right choice.
I checked my status window.
[Name: Kim Jiho
Class: Soul Mediator
Guardian God: Hermes, God of Messengers
Title: Earth’s Number One
Level: 107
Strength: 121
Agility: 121
Magic: 120
SP: 331,120
Additional Stats: +67]
[Name: Kim Jiho
Class: Soul Reaper
Guardian God: Loki, God of Deception
Title: Earth’s Pioneer – Legendary Grade
Level: 107
Physical Ability: A
Magic: A
Skill: A
Luck: A
SP: 15,084
Additional Stats: +41]
Thanks to the Olympian gods’ buff to Earthlings, I benefited the most.
Every level up granted one point, and I gained more than 40 additional stat points.
Since things are peaceful right now, I’ll just save up those extra stats for later.
If I save 30,000 SP per day, that’s 10 million SP in a year...
I could upgrade Soul Mediation to Level 7 in about a year and a half.
I could increase my earnings by mediating with two additional slots, but I’d rather leave those slots unused for now.
I’ll observe how things play out in the world and decide later.
“Now entering the stage, the star of this ‘Grade B Weapon Rental Auction,’ Mr. Kim Jiho!”
Clap clap clap clap.
Applause erupted from all directions.
The camera flashes were so dazzling they made my head spin.
The association’s usual auditorium wasn’t big enough to accommodate the crowd, so they had hastily prepared a large hall.
As I walked up the aisle to the stage, I saw countless people in the audience.
There were at least several thousand participants in the auction, including prominent guild leaders and even world-class leaders.
Reporters were busy capturing both me and the attendees.
Why are there so many people just for a Grade B item rental?
As I walked onto the stage and gave a light bow, the hall resounded with thunderous applause.
The host was Kang Shia.
Instead of a flashy appearance, her neat and formal attire matched her as she introduced me as the world’s greatest hunter, the one who saved the Earth.
She skillfully praised me, building up my image.
I was cringing just listening to it, but the audience responded enthusiastically, clapping like seals.
“Mr. Jiho Kim, could I check the items, please?”
Click, clack.
The sound of heels echoed through the auditorium as Kang Shia approached me, bringing a wave of silence across the room.
Everyone’s eyes were full of anticipation.
I pulled out two Replication Orbs and summoned two bracelets.
When I handed them to Kang Shia, she reacted dramatically, as if she were watching a TV drama.
“Oh my! Are these the Weapon Summoning Bracelet and the Leonidas Armor Summoning Bracelet? Wow. I really want a bow. Do you think I could summon one?”
“If you strongly wish for a bow, it will appear.”
“Amazing! Then let me demonstrate this right now. Everyone, watch closely.”
Kang Shia placed the microphone down and wore both bracelets.
As the jewels on the bracelets shone brightly, the golden armor of Leonidas fitted snugly on her.
On her back, a glowing blue bow appeared.
“Wow, this is great. Would it be okay to shoot an arrow?”
At that moment, a steel target was brought onto the stage.
They had prepared in advance.
One staff member tried to hand an arrow to Kang Shia, but she waved them off.
“This bow can summon magic arrows too.”
Like Artemis’s bow, as she touched the bowstring, a magic arrow formed on its own.
The arrow flew forward, accompanied by a loud bang, and shattered the target into pieces.
“Wow!”
“So that’s how it’s summoned.”
“That bow is incredible. Magic arrows can be summoned, too?”
“Even though a month is a short time, the quality of these weapons seems better than anything on the market so far.”
“With no more elf assistants, we need to nurture hunters to protect our country. Good weapons are essential.”
“We need to grab as many of those weapons as possible this time. Do we have enough money?”
The audience, excited by the demonstration, buzzed with anticipation for the auction to start.
With the atmosphere warmed up from the demonstration, it was the perfect time to begin the auction.
That’s when the Association President hurriedly approached me.
“Mr. Jiho, a B-grade dungeon has appeared near Jamsil Station!”
“Jamsil Station?”
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HELHEIM SCANS
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A dungeon in densely populated Jamsil?
The murmurs among the crowd grew louder as the news spread.
Hmm…
Should I just take care of it myself since it’s in Jamsil?
The auction doesn’t seem like it’ll end quickly anyway.
“Shia.”
“Yes?”
“Could you manage the auction? I’ll go clear the dungeon and come back.”
I summoned 200 bracelets, piling them on the ground.
Kang Shia looked at me with a worried expression.
“How can you go to a B-grade dungeon alone without knowing what might come out? You could wait until the auction ends and take someone with a high level along.”
“If the dungeon’s difficulty is high, having too many people will only get in the way. I’ll check it out and come back since it’s nearby.”
“…Alright. Everyone, Hunter Jiho Kim will clear the B-grade dungeon on his own and return shortly.”
As Kang Shia resumed the auction, the Association President ran up to me, panting.
“Mr. Jiho, a helicopter is on its way. You should take it.”
“Oh, Jamsil is close. I’ll just fly there myself.”
Shaking off the Association President, who tried to stop me, I jumped.
Crack!
The ground broke beneath me as I instantly reached the ceiling of the auditorium.
Before my body hit it, I activated spirit transformation.
My body smoothly phased out of the building.
“Summon Flame Chariot.”
High in the sky, I summoned the Flame Chariot.
Once in the air, it was a bit confusing to figure out directions, but thanks to the recently built Second Tower landmark, I got my bearings.
Let’s try full speed.
“Accelerate.”
The Flame Chariot sped forward.
Flying over the heart of Seoul felt different compared to when I had to deal with Kevrian.
I could feel people pointing at me from below, gesturing toward the sky.
Having an audience made the ride more enjoyable.
As I neared Jamsil Station, signal flares were fired into the air.
I followed the signal and saw Association staff waving at me.
I deactivated the Flame Chariot and fell to the ground.
“Gasp! Are you alright?”
“I used spirit transformation. Is that the B-grade dungeon portal?”
“Yes… Since monsters can emerge immediately from a B-grade portal, we’ve been keeping watch.”
From a B-grade dungeon portal, monsters can randomly appear.
If left alone, there could be significant casualties.
While most portals take over a day for monsters to emerge, it’s better to deal with it proactively.
The auction should be fine with Kang Shia in charge.
“Alright, I’m going to subdue it.”
“Understood!”
I stepped into the portal.
It had been a while since I entered a dungeon portal.
The structure wasn’t much different from other dungeons.
However, the monsters were…
“Grrr! Human, die!”
Ogres, of course.
Five black ogres corrupted by chaos came charging with clubs.
“Thunder God.”
Let’s start light.
I activated Thunder God.
Lightning crackled, enveloping the five ogres.
“GRAAARGH!!”
The ogres, rushing excitedly, froze in their tracks and collapsed on the spot.
One of them disappeared, dropping a blue mana stone, while the rest showed no signs of movement.
Huh?
Is that it?
So anticlimactic.
The dungeon had a simple structure—just go straight in one direction.
Monsters showed up in decent numbers, but…
They all went down in a single hit.
“Die!!”
“I’m busy, bro.”
[Hu…man… coming alone. You’ll regret it.]
“Yeoui.”
A lich that seemed to be the dungeon boss was standing next to a blue dungeon core.
I pierced its neck with Yeoui, smashed the dungeon core, and cleared the B-rank dungeon.
Huh…
What the heck.
How long did that take?
Definitely under ten minutes.
“Hunter Kim Jiho! As expected… Was it tough doing it alone?”
As I exited the dungeon portal, an association staff member approached me with a worried expression.
They probably thought I failed and ran away.
“The portal’s gone.”
“Huh…?”
“How long did it take me?”
“2… 2 minutes and 10 seconds.”
“Next time, I’ll aim for under a minute. I’m heading back.”
I hopped back onto the flaming chariot and returned.
I landed back in the auditorium where I had started.
“So, 3 billion won per item. Any other bids?”
Kang Shia, who had been hosting the auction, was actively engaged in sales with her armor off.
“Wow, you’re raking it in.”
“Wha-!? You’re back already?”
“Yep. It was easy. Carry on.”
She looked flustered.
The crowd started murmuring as well.
“Already cleared it?”
“What? How could anyone clear a B-rank dungeon so fast…?”
“Not even five minutes passed!”
I felt like I disrupted the auction’s atmosphere.
My bad.
To encourage her, I patted her shoulder lightly and returned to my seat.
The association president, jaw dropped, was staring at me.
“The B-rank dungeon core was blue, right? Why was it so easy?”
“Even Liana took several hours….”
“Really? It felt way too simple.”
“Wow… You were back in under five minutes… It reminded me of the story where Guan Yu beheaded Hua Xiong in an instant.”
“Haha. You should’ve prepared some warmed wine, then.”
The association president looked at me with eyes full of admiration.
Around the auditorium, the sound of camera flashes went crazy.
The auction prices suddenly skyrocketed.
“7… 7 billion won!”
It was 4 billion a moment ago.
Now it’s 7 billion?
“Why are the prices like this?”
“It’s probably because… everyone wants to make a good impression on you. The current bidders are heads of state rather than guild leaders. They’re likely trying to establish a connection.”
Did I overdo it?
By demonstrating that clearing a B-rank dungeon was a piece of cake, they seemed eager to impress me by throwing money around.
This was the opposite of my intentions.
The goal was to distribute weapons to high-level hunters to gain experience.
If the prices got too high, only the wealthy would monopolize everything.
Instead of that, it was more important for high-level hunters to safely clear C-rank dungeons.
As the auction overheated, I decided to pause it.
“Kang Shia, let’s allocate the items per continent and rent them out for 2 billion won each. Weapons and armor combined.”
“Huh? 2 billion?”
“Yeah. It’s more important to distribute weapons than make money. It’s not charity, so that seems like a reasonable price.”
“All right… It’s a bit of a shame, but I’ll do that.”
After changing the auction rules and dividing the items by continent, people praised the decision as being for the good of humanity.
Clearing a B-rank dungeon was now a certainty, and I felt like a super protector of humanity.
Heads of state even promised to compensate those who lost out during the auction and secretly offered bribes.
Some powerful countries subtly suggested I immigrate to them.
But at this point, I had no reason to leave.
After being pushed around by the gods, it was nice to enjoy this comfortable and happy life on Earth.
It felt like this happiness would last forever.
But that peace… only lasted three months.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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