REAPER SCANS

The Martial God Who Regressed to Level 2

[Translator – SCM]

[Proofreader –  ilafy]

Chapter 269

Even during the Tutorial Season, people blindly followed Battle Net and lost interest in the sports and games they had originally enjoyed. Humanity as a whole was excited to watch a brutal game where blood and guts flew everywhere.

The scenes would have been considered emotionally harmful to children in the past, but parents actively encouraged children to watch such scenes while telling them to become players in the future. It was as if humans were under a collective hypnosis.

As soon as humanity exited the Tutorial Season, though, they weren’t driven by mere interest.

'People started fearing the game…' Robert Gates looked at humanity’s ranking on the screen before him. They were in 4th place at the moment, but there was still a significant difference in how many more points the 5th-ranked species gained per day, so it seemed that they would be overtaken at any moment.

'We’re able to maintain this ranking thanks to JiHan. Without him…' If JiHan hadn’t appeared out of the blue as humanity’s greatest Warrior a year prior, then they could’ve been ranked even lower than the birdmen, which the public were dismissing and mocking.

'Without him, dungeon portals would have appeared all around the world. Cooperation between countries would have been impossible.' The peace that humanity enjoyed thanks to JiHan could be overturned at any time.

Objectively, humanity's physical specs weren't remarkable enough to keep them in the upper ranks. It was all thanks to JiHan. Of course, with such pressure, people weren’t able to enjoy the games as they had during the Tutorial Season. Instead, everyone was focused on maintaining as high of a rank as they could.

'That was the case before the Planet Pioneer game started.' People’s fear of being demoted was flipped from a single change during the game. Robert Gates read the most breaking news.

[A benefit from Battle Net that applies to all of humanity. Mornings became lighter.]

[The medical industry is amazed at the Life Force enhancement’s effect. Incoming patients have plummeted.]

[Baldness wasn't a disease.]

[The Battle Net Association is watching closely to see if Planet Pioneer's enhancements don't have side effects.]

Under JiHan’s leadership, humanity’s team had built a base camp in the Planet Pioneer game. All they cared about at first was getting good results for their rankings. Then…

'The summoned robots mined something too amazing…' Robert thought.

JiHan had summoned 10 bio-robot dwarves for resource mining, which had extracted the hearts of creatures the players had hunted and brought them to the base camp. People wondered why they’d do such a thing until…

[Humanity's ‘Life Force’ has been slightly enhanced.]

Everything completely changed after that message.

- Mr. Sung! Overnight, my mother stopped coughing! I love you, but… can nothing be done about hair loss?

- Baldness isn't a disease, you know? It's just your genetics. You should blame your hormones.

- My genetics? Do you think you'll be safe from balding?

- Is this really okay? It feels like I've become 10 years younger.

- Are you saying he should ask them to stop mining resources when we're all getting healthier?

- My father's face regained color. The colonization must keep going on…

Robert stood and looked at himself in the mirror after he read the comments on the news article. 'It might not be 10 years, but it does seem like I've become five years younger.' 

His eyes, which had dulled due to excessive work, had regained their brightness, and the phlegm that always seemed to be stuck in his throat due to heavy smoking was mostly gone. It was called a ‘slight’ enhancement, but the effects were noticeable.

Robert's eyes sparkled. 'If a slight enhancement has so many effects… then if it gets upgraded even more from here… we could welcome a new era.' Battle Net's effects on his body were sweeter than he could’ve expected.

'Before we leave Battle Net, we have to take advantage of every such effect we can. To do that…' Robert looked at the monitor in front of him and watched one of the dwarf robots go through the corpses of indigenous life forms.

* * *

Reaper Scans

Translator - SCM

Proofreader - ilafy

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"Mr. Sung! Can we purchase more dwarves for resource extraction…?" 

"They're quite expensive," JiHan said.

"Ah, if it's about GP, then it's fine! America First and the People's Association will pay for them!"

America First and the People's Association, rival guilds, were going to join hands? JiHan tilted his head upon hearing what an America First member said. 'Why so suddenly?' After building the base camp, he made other structures like watchtowers and resource warehouses.

He'd been so busy earning Planet Points that he wasn't aware of what was happening on Earth. He was able to make a guess, though… "Did the Life Force enhancement show some effects on people?" he asked.

"Yes! That's right! High-level players like us might not feel the change, but ordinary people have become noticeably healthier."

Someone else said, "My mother said her vision recovered and asked me to convey her thanks to you!"

Naturally, everyone wanted as many Life Force enhancements as they could get.

"Middle-eastern royalty promised to invest all the GP you need. Some are worried about possible side effects, but the significant improvement in health people felt is overriding such concerns."

"Well, I'll inquire about more bots, then," JiHan promised. Either way, acquiring points through resource mining was needed if he wanted to enter the Hall of Fame. He wouldn’t be paying anything for the bots anyway—Earth’s wealthy individuals would be doing it.

He sent Artmu a message.

- Artmu, could I buy more of those dwarf bio-robots?

- Customer, you want to buy more of that junk… I mean, the 22nd-Generation Dwarf Bio-robot? Why so suddenly?

- The others tasted the Life Energy enhancement and went mad.

- Hmm… You aren't spending your own savings on them, right?

- No. I'll be paying with investment funds.

Though JiHan was extremely rich, he wasn’t about to use his own money when someone else offered to use theirs.

After a brief moment of silence, Artmu replied.

- How about this? I'll sell you 20 for four billion GP each.

- Four billion? You're asking for four times the amount?

- Fufu… For you, I'll take off a billion GP from each. We’re the only ones who know what you previously bought them for, right?

- So you're making me your accomplice.

- Yes, after all, you aren't someone who should be acting as a purchasing agent, right? You're someone who's showing overwhelming power, even in ‘Space - 4’. You should immediately become the king of your species and scatter your seeds far and wide… Tsk, tsk. A billion GP is a commission you should naturally take. 

JiHan clicked his tongue. He talked too much for someone who was selling junk. Still… 'I should take what needs to be taken.' He accepted Artmu's offer and then asked something else.

- I’d like you to take one more inquiry.

- Isn't 20 billion GP enough? What inquiry?

- I have a dragon heart. Is there anything useful I can do with it?

- A dragon heart?! You have that?

- Yes.

He’d been absorbing the fire from the dragon heart he’d received from the grand constellation and making it his, but he wanted to know if there was another use for it.

- Oh… Really? Wait. A dragon heart…? I have an idea, but I need to rebuild my forge first.

- Really?

- Alright. I will sell the junk right now, and the GP will go toward repairing the forge. I'll be going to package things up, so you go and collect the GP! Huh…?

- Did something happen?

- Wait a moment… My smithy briefly shook. It seems something hit it. I'll go and check things out.

When Artmu went silent, JiHan went to the America First member who'd gone to see him. "He says that it costs four billion GP each. 20 can be sold."

"That's worth four billion GP…?! A-as expected. It's expensive. Then, is the price 80 billion GP…?"

"It's expensive, right? Maybe the deal shouldn't be done."

"N-no! I'll go and report it to the higher-ups first!" the member of America First ran to tell his superiors.

Sae-jin, who'd been watching from afar, approached. "JiHan, I heard what you mentioned before appeared in the south."

"If it's what I mentioned… did a tree appear?"

"Yes. It was discovered by the People's Association. According to them, it’s a giant tree reaching into the sky that doesn’t match the desert terrain it appeared in.”

JiHan nodded. "So the World Tree's elves have appeared."

"Zhuge Xuan said he was worried about that being the case, so he retreated after watching it from afar for a bit."

Planet Pioneer had started four days prior. After wiping the birdmen out on the first day, humanity had yet to encounter another species. It was unfortunate that their next encounter was with the World Tree’s elves.

Sae-jin frowned. “Encountering an easier opponent would have been nice… I can’t believe we have such bad luck.”

"I think it's better,” JiHan said. “It's best to deal with the strongest enemies at the start before slowly gathering resources."

"I envy how relaxed you are. I still remember being hit by that wooden sword." Sae-jin sighed. After entering the main game, he'd just been pushed around. "Hmm… What?!" Suddenly, he looked serious and glanced up into the sky.

Swoosh—!

Five ball-like objects were falling toward them.

"A-are those… heads…?" Sae-jin asked as five heads thumped near where he and JiHan were standing.

Thud—!

Sure enough, they were the heads of the players the People’s Association had sent to scout the south.

"Ugh. It… it hurts…"

"What have the elves done…?"

"I can't log out…!"

"P-please… kill us!"

The players were able to still speak, even though they were only heads at that point. Half of them had their entire faces split open, and their eyes were blank, like they were in comas of some sort.

'This…' JiHan frowned.

Zhuge Xuan’s head began to speak. "You…! To think I'd see you here. This is great. I couldn't get to you last time, but things are different here." Unlike the other players from the People's Association, who were suffering and asking to be killed, Zhuge Xuan seemed happy to see him. "Enjoy your last moments. I'll come to tear you apart soon."

After that, Zhuge Xuan’s head exploded, and the others’ heads exploded in a chain reaction a moment later.

BOOM—!

"Hmm. Zhuge Xuan previously sent a message saying they would retreat… It seems they somehow ended up being caught." Sae-jin was shocked by the barbaric display of exploding heads.

Meanwhile, JiHan thought of a certain someone. 'Was that the ancient elf who failed to invade Earth?' He remembered the ancient elf, who’d worn a half-mask and mentioned that the Earth was a planet that had been experimented on before.

That being, who was as strong as a constellation, was on that world with them. 

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