My Students Regret It After I Retired

15 – Leos’s Growing Fame, Darek’s Downfall

“What are you talking about, a Red Gate Secondary Chain Reaction…?”

As Heresia asked with a serious expression, Leos packed his belongings, explaining simply.

“During the first Chain Reaction, monsters and mutants of a relatively low threat level appeared. But after the Secondary Chain Reaction starts, creatures of a much higher threat level will show up.”

“I’ve never heard of that before…”

“That’s only natural. In the first place, I was the one who established the concept of Chain Reactions, and I’ve almost always been the one solving the problems whenever they arise.”

“You mean back when you were a Gate Keeper? All by yourself… how did you even handle that?”

“When you seal the most dangerous gate within the Red Gate vortex, the chain reaction ends. So whenever a chain reaction started, I always aimed to find and destroy the strongest gate first. I killed the mutations myself too. But I won’t do that now. I’m not alone, and we’re not just short on manpower, we’re even short on supplies, plus we’re being chased by the Empire. I can’t do something like that.”

“So, the chain reaction…it’s still happening?”

“Don’t worry. Even if it continues, I know how to deal with it. Don’t waste your energy on useless things. Just pack your things and come out. We’re moving right now. We can’t endure a second chain reaction in a cave like this.”

Leos took the lead, followed by Bendict and Herisia.

Leos checked his Distortion just in case.

[Current Points: 3,550]

He had only released information on 50 specimens, yet it was already ranked #1 on the popular posts, resulting in a huge influx of points.

‘Now that the chain reaction has started, the value of the shops within the Interrunner community site has increased even more.’

Leos slowly checked the shop items.

[Auction Participation Ticket]: 1,500P

[Item Sending]: 200P

[Item Receiving]: 200P

[Write a Global Announcement]: 3,000P

[Create a Gallery]: 1,500P

[Create a Secret Gallery]: 7,000P

There were many useful items, but the ones that especially stood out were the artifact crafting manuals.

[Lower Artifact Crafting Manual]: 3,000P

[Mid-Level Artifact Crafting Manual]: 5,000P

[High-Level Artifact Crafting Manual]: 10,000P

“Just buy it right now.”

In Red Gate’s secondary chain reaction, so many variables popped up that the more artifacts you had, the better. Herisia had a fair number in her inventory, but they weren’t the kind suited for combat, and modifying them would take quite a bit of time. So, if there was a crafting recipe he could make right away, prioritizing that was only logical.

[You have purchased a lower-tier artifact crafting recipe for 3,000 points.]

[Points Remaining: 550P]

In an instant, almost all the points he’d saved up were gone, but it was fine.

‘If, like Herisia says, getting to the popular posts is the condition for earning points, then there are plenty of ways to get them.’

Leos thought that, checking the window that had appeared on his Distance screen.

“Wha…what is it, Leos-nim?”

Even while diligently following behind Leos, Herisia peered curiously, her head tilting, as the man stared blankly at his Distance.

Leos just muttered, dazed and without replying.

“This… this actually works?”

The artifact crafting recipe window was succinct.

[Item crafting is possible by consuming byproducts obtained from killing monsters.]

[The recipe will be consumed immediately after crafting 1 item.]

[Craftable list: 1,350 types]

An exhaustive list of over 1,000 [Lower-tier] artifacts was displayed. Every time he scrolled down the recipe list, familiar-looking artifacts appeared.

‘I don’t know who the hell the administrator is, but this absolutely has to be taken advantage of. The fact that you can make any artifact you want whenever you’re isolated is an insane advantage.’

Leos thought that and checked his remaining points again. Getting the recipe was great, but regardless of what he wanted to make, right now, he had no byproducts from monsters. So, a first-order problem was that he had to go kill them and gather some. It was difficult to immediately use.

‘Such a waste of points.’

Before the value was apparent, he wasn’t much affected by seeing the points accumulating in real-time, or by spending them. But now that he knew what he could do with points, even 100 points felt precious.

‘The reason a post about monsters became so popular is probably because people are so ignorant about them. It’s something directly related to our lives, yet there’s so little we actually know. If that’s the case, the way to make the next post a hit is simple.’

Leos walked, scanning his surroundings, while using voice recognition to start writing. As soon as he hit the upload button, a new post appeared in the Leos Gallery.

[LEO]

[Title: About Red Gate Chain Reactions.]

[Body: Red Gates initiate a chain reaction after their initial creation. In the first phase, previously closed gates open and mutant species begin to emerge, while in the second phase, much stronger entities become active and expand their territory. The Red Gate is currently in its second chain reaction phase. I’ll reveal more information if this post makes it to the popular list.]

A stiff title and tone, blatant attempts to get popular that would easily stir up resistance, typical of someone who’s never been involved in online communities. It was very obvious that this wasn’t written by a regular user, but less than an hour later, the post pushed his previous top-rated post down, ascending to the new #1 trending post on the Interrunner site.

ㄴ Yo, quick thumbs up. I’m trapped here, goddamn it.

ㄴ Guys, please, hit that like button. Stop just looking and fucking click.

ㄴ Isn’t this dude just saying shit without knowing anything?

ㄴ Fuck you, man. We wouldn’t have lived through that last bit of info he dropped.

ㄴ ??

ㄴ Dude met a Deebringer and managed to kill it and escape, all thanks to LEO’s post. Apparently, there was another Deebringer nearby, and other survivor groups didn’t know about its detection abilities, so they hid in place, got caught and wiped out. He was saying if he hadn’t seen that post he would be dead too. The trending post about monsters moving in packs is somewhere here.

ㄴ Wait, what? Why didn’t I see that? Then everyone, smash that like button god damn it.

ㄴ Next part! Please give us the next part, what is this chain reaction? What do we have to do?

One hour since the post was uploaded.

[Views: 550,125]

[Likes: 101,501]

[Comments: 20,307]

Leos was setting a new record, the likes of which had never existed on the Interrunner site. Furthermore, a phenomenal amount of points began to accumulate in real time.

[Current Points: 7,210P]

[You are now ranked 10th in the point rankings.]

[You have entered the TOP 10 list, and are granted additional benefits.]

With the Distance stashed in his pocket, Leo, busy fighting a monster that had suddenly appeared, didn’t register the notifications. He was thinking,

‘It’d be nice if I got a decent amount of points, not too much, not too little, just around 1000. That way I could participate in the auction house and transfer or receive items. It’d also mean I could help Herisia or Benedict remotely if they ever got into trouble.’

The man shook his head, dissecting the monster’s corpse on the ground.

‘There’s no way it’d be an easy freebie this time either. The info I released now is just the basics about the Red Gate Chain Reaction.’

Only a tiny sliver of the knowledge Leo possessed. He had no idea that even that small amount had everyone in a frenzy.

And that commotion even reached his old disciples.

“Enas! Hurry up and get over here. Is it still because of what I said about Leo before? Just let it go already!”

Enas ignored the man and clicked on a post.

‘This…could it be…’

[Title: On the Red Gate Chain Reaction.]

Red Gate Chain Reaction. The only ones who knew even a little about this phenomenon were gatekeeper managers. So she was sure it was low-level bait and clicked the post, but the content there was quite detailed.

‘Why the hell would someone release this info without any gain?’

Enas also knew that being listed in the Interrunner community’s popular posts would earn you points. But even so, the post made by a user named LEO, especially the ones about the characteristics of monsters, were incredibly valuable. It was something that could be sold for a profit, yet he had openly posted the information. If there was a reason, it was probably to help someone.

‘Wait…LEO…?’

The author’s name felt strangely familiar. She shook her head and sighed.

‘No way… there’s no way someone who did that to his disciples would write something like this to help people.’

Enas pushed aside her unease and walked forward. Then, Darec said with a smile,

“Enas, perfect timing. I just found it.”

“What?”

“The mutant, I mean.”

Following Darek’s gaze, a grotesque monster with two heads was howling before them. Darek charged forward with bravado, yelling.

“Watch closely. I’ll show you I can do what that Leos guy did!”

The instant Darek swiftly swung his sword.

– CLANG!

“Uh…?”

Darek’s sword, it was simply shattered against the monster.