NOVEL NEXT Chapter 70: Great Gacha Era (1)
Although it has many nicknames, it is often called the country of blacksmiths, belonging to the Norba Kingdom.
Among those blacksmiths, the dwarf blacksmith Koman, who holds the title of master, was walking towards the territory of Lartania until just a moment ago.
…With a slightly sullen expression.
But that was inevitable.
Basically, dwarves do not like to move to other places and like to hammer iron in a corner, and Koman was no different.
Nevertheless, the reason Koman specifically moved from the Norba Kingdom to this place, Lartania territory, was because of the order given to him as a master by the blacksmith guild he belonged to.
‘Check if there is value in establishing a branch of the blacksmith guild in Lartania territory.’
Koman sighed.
Of course, the order given by the blacksmith guild was not unreasonable.
After all, Koman himself had joined the blacksmith guild to receive support for various items from the guild.But now that he was actually receiving work, Koman felt very annoyed by the situation.
‘…Well, if you just listen to the talk, there’s definitely value in setting up a branch, so I guess that’s why I was sent.’
Of course, Koman also knew about the rumors of Lartania territory, which had not spread widely yet but was still quite talked about among mercenaries.
A territory that, unlike other territories, generates Magic Stones infinitely and is now called a Labyrinth city.
However, Koman thought that there was certainly some exaggeration in the words of those mercenaries.
After all, as far as Koman knew, the Lartania territory was a small territory that had just been rebuilt a few months ago.
Koman, who well knew that a territory that was nothing but ruins could not turn into a ‘city’ in just a few months, judged that the Labyrinth city was a fabrication made through the exaggeration of mercenaries.
After all, mercenaries liked to exaggerate.
‘If a blacksmith guild is established, then who knows.’
Apart from Koman having his own pride in the blacksmith guild, if the guild establishes a branch within the territory, it brings a lot of benefits to the territory.
Just the construction of one of the few branches in the Norba Kingdom would have adventurers and mercenaries visiting the territory to find the blacksmith guild.
And that’s not all.
Having a branch of the blacksmith guild means that the lord can receive supplies from the masters.
…Although it would be a bit expensive, of course.
But that was a story for when a blacksmith guild was established in Lartania territory, and of course, Koman did not casually evaluate Lartania territory.
‘…I heard that a Mage Tower and a Mercenary Guild were also coming, though.’
That was just a rumor, and Koman intended to evaluate Lartania in a way that would be infinitely beneficial to the guild.
‘No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t seem like there will be any benefit.’
Koman smirked and moved on.
Then, an hour later.
When he arrived at Lartania.
“…?”
Koman unwittingly wore a puzzled expression.
That was because the Lartania territory Koman was looking at had a completely different appearance from the Lartania territory he knew.
The first thing he saw upon arriving at Lartania was a huge wall.
And it was a wall made of proper stone.
Of course, the quality of the stone wasn’t that great, and it didn’t seem to have magical formulas or to have been specially refined, but he couldn’t help but admire it.
After all, Lartania had been rebuilt just a few months ago.
So, with a somewhat surprised expression, Koman had his identity briefly checked by the guard, entered, and crossed the second wall.
“…!”
There, he couldn’t help but be surprised again.
That was because, immediately after crossing the second wall, all he saw was a huge empty lot, but two buildings caught his eye.
No, to be precise, they weren’t even buildings.
The site that surprised Koman was just now beginning to be filled with various materials.
But the real reason Koman was truly surprised was because of the emblems displayed on that site.
‘That’s… the emblem of the Mage Tower and the Mercenary Guild, isn’t it?’
The site where the building materials were piled up had the emblems of both the Mercenary Guild and the Mage Tower.
This meant that the rumors about the Mage Tower and the Mercenary Guild coming to Lartania territory were true.
‘…No matter how many Magic Stones are produced, how can both the Mage Tower and Mercenary Guild…?’
Koman briefly wondered as he looked at the empty lot except for the two guild sites.
Koman unwittingly opened his mouth as he reached the first wall after crossing the second.
“…What’s with all this?”
As soon as he entered the first wall, Koman saw an enormous number of people.
Many people were mixed around, the streets were packed, and the market was bustling with activity.
But among them, what caught Koman’s eye was the ‘weapons’.
‘…Almost everyone I see is wearing armor and weapons. That means…! Most of the people walking around here are mercenaries…!’
Of course, Koman had heard the rumors too.
The rumor that almost all the mercenaries on the Continent are gathering in Lartania territory.
However, even so, Koman did not directly believe those words, and since he had never properly seen so many mercenaries gathered in one place even when he was in the Norba Kingdom, he couldn’t help but open his mouth in surprise.
And then.
He realized that the rumors spreading among the mercenaries were not false, and at the same time,
‘This was never a place for me to judge whether to build or not…’
Seeing thousands of ‘customers’ named mercenaries wandering around, he couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh unknowingly.
Rewards will be given!
“Sigh.”
Kim Hyunwoo looked at the currency window with a satisfied expression right after completing a total of five Labyrinth Breaks over the course of about a day since yesterday.
Red Stones:
7,980
Blue Stones:
9,823
Gold Coins:
358,843
Magic Stones:
183,392
Seeing the Red Stones, which had been only 480 in the currency window, replenished once more, he immediately purchased a package to maintain the Labyrinth city and smiled.
‘This buys me another month.’
It was regrettable that the Red Stones dropped from 7,980 to 980, but Kim Hyunwoo shook off the disappointment.
Maintaining the Labyrinth is an essential element for Kim Hyunwoo’s territory currently.
‘But I should start preparing to move on to the next phase.’
Kim Hyunwoo looked at the Gold Coins.
Although it had exceeded a million Gold Coins, now there were only 300,000 left.
In reality, Gold Coins were continuously being spent in real time due to the ongoing exchange of Magic Stones.
‘It’s not really a loss, though.’
Ultimately, all the Magic Stones Kim Hyunwoo was purchasing were money, so using them for trade would inevitably cover any deficit, but he had no intention of doing so.
‘The more Magic Stones are circulated in the market, the cheaper they will become.’
In fact, now that a month is slowly passing since the Labyrinth city was opened, the value of Magic Stones is still fine, but it is natural that it will gradually decrease, if not immediately.
More precisely, it was clear that the price would drop once mercenaries began to slowly circulate the Magic Stones externally, and that was to be expected.
After all, the value of an item is fluid, and it is natural for its value to decrease as supply increases.
‘Well, eventually, when Magic Stones start to spread widely and find their uses, demand and supply will balance out, so maintaining the price should be feasible enough.’
The problem was that even Kim Hyunwoo didn’t know how much the value of Magic Stones would fall, but it wasn’t something to be too concerned about.
He had ways to sufficiently regulate the supply starting from medium-grade Magic Stones, even if not for the lowest or low-grade ones.
However, Kim Hyunwoo planned to limit the distribution of Magic Stones as much as possible until reaching the tier that produced medium-grade Magic Stones, so he intended to process them instead of selling them raw.
And not just any processing.
‘To make at least ten times more profit.’
Kim Hyunwoo swiftly smiled-
🔹️Lowest Grade Explorer's Magnifying Glass🔹️
This is a shoddy lowest-grade Explorer's Magnifying Glass. Made in a few seconds by a Blue Merchant, this Magnifying Glass can randomly obtain items and artifacts when used towards shining places within the Labyrinth
-Probability Table-
Great Amalgam's Sword:
0.0000001%
Yoichi's Bow:
0.000004%
Divine Sword Armor:
0.000006%
Owl Bear Transformation Scroll:
0.000014%
Kamalan's Necklace:
0.000119%
....
...
..
.
Lowest-grade Potion: 15%
Bandage of Holy Power: 20%
Potion of Passion: 30%
Rusty Sword: 35%
1 piece: 50 Red Stones
10 pieces: 500 Red Stones
[Would you like to purchase? Y/N]
※You can make it yourself if you purchase the blueprint from the Blue Merchant
-No, he thought with an evil smile.
Around the time Kim Hyunwoo was smiling at the thought of introducing the worst gacha BM (Business Model) in the history of Arteil.
“……”
The Absolute Ruler of Darkness was near the Lartania territory.
Of course, she didn’t come because she had business in Lartania.
She was in the midst of ‘cleaning up’ within the Calan Kingdom, but in other words, she had just taken her first steps.
The reason the Absolute Ruler of Darkness returned to Lartania, somewhat absurdly, was to see Kim Hyunwoo’s face.
The Absolute Ruler of Darkness knew that what she was doing was ridiculous.
The distance between the Calan Kingdom and Lartania was very far, even at best.
After realizing that a sinister dragon was spying on Kim Hyunwoo, she felt a strange sense of urgency and decided to come to Lartania for the somewhat ridiculous reason of ‘since I have nothing else to do yet, maybe it’s okay to come?’
“…Ahem.”
…She knew that it was a bit absurd, just an excuse to do as she pleased, but she soon felt great joy at the fact that she could see Kim Hyunwoo from afar.
“Is the Boss here?”
“Yeah. This artifact is really great.”
“Right? To be honest, I was wondering where I would use an artifact that allows you to sneak into a lord’s territory without being noticed. I’m glad it can be used for this.”
“Yeah.”
That is, if she hadn’t overheard Merilda and Ryu talking while walking towards a window with a good view of the Lord’s office inside the castle.
“……”
…Rin was basically known to be content with what she had.
But if she could have something even greater than what she already had…
If, instead of watching him from afar, she could see him a little closer, then the story changes.
“…Hmm, ahem…”
The Absolute Ruler of Darkness appeared in front of Merilda.
Merilda’s surprised expression at Rin’s sudden appearance was brief.
“Th-that, can I also-”
Following Rin’s words, Merilda momentarily wore a blank expression.
Sneer.
“I don’t want to.”
She said with a sneering smile.