Chapter 19: Ultra-Fast Hardcore Leveling

༺ Ultra-Fast Hardcore Leveling ༻

Boom-

Everyone in the meeting room was startled by the sound of Yu Byungtae slamming his fist on the desk.

“Any objections? Is there anyone who still wants to defend that punk?”

Everyone avoided his gaze, intimidated by his fierce spirit. No one wished to incur the wrath of the Leader, who was practically an absolute ruler within the shelter.

Byungtae clenched his fist, seething with anger. However, his inner thoughts were different from his furious appearance.

‘What happened?’

Byungtae bit his lip in confusion.

‘They were a party formed of at least C-Class Awakened. There was even a B-Class among them….’

Unbelievably, all of them had been killed by that bastard.

“I don’t know what method he used, but he killed four of our Awakened and fled.”

Of course, he was the one to send assassins first, but since they did not know, it wasn’t a problem.

“I will organize a team of Awakened to pursue him.”

Killing an Awakened was a serious crime that threatened the defense of the shelter. Neglecting it could shake the very discipline within.

“But, Leader. Considering the upcoming Shelter War, it might be difficult to deploy many….”

“And we can’t ignore ‘that’ either.”

“That?”

“Uh… That ‘Wave’ thing or whatever the bastard talked about.”

Byungtae’s expression hardened slightly at the colleague’s remark.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

‘Even though I expelled him, does that bastard’s shadow still linger?’

The ridiculous conjecture that punk had made.

It was the claim that soon, zombies might organize and act around evolved entities.

At the time, Youngsik’s opinion was definitely dismissed as mere nonsense. After all, there were too many immediate problems to prepare for an all too uncertain future.

Besides, weren’t zombies zombies for a reason? Weren’t they insignificant creatures without intelligence?

While evolved entities might have special abilities and pose a danger, they still lacked intellect. If zombies had intelligence, humanity would have been extinct long ago.

Yet, despite the absurdity of his conjecture…

Just the fact that ‘he’ had said it was enough to shake them. Even though he, the Leader, had spoken against it directly.

And that was what infuriated Yu Byungtae the most.

Byungtae slowly calmed his anger and spoke. These Awakened were important resources of the shelter. No good would come out of treating them carelessly.

“Then, let’s deploy the minimum necessary personnel. THe goal is to track and investigate. Even if you find him, avoid engagement, and if he has any accomplices, do not approach and report back.”

It was a murder case that killed a whopping four Awakened. Even if Kim Youngsik did not have an Ability, he still might have hidden cards.

“Mmm… That much should be fine.”

“As expected of Leader.”

“Then, who will take charge of the pursuit team?”

“Shouldn’t it at least be someone who is somewhat capable in combat?”

Byungtae already had a candidate in mind. His serpent-like gaze turned to a woman sitting in the corner of the meeting room.

“Yoon Seungah.”

Everyone focused their gazes on her when her name was called. She had her head half-bowed, so her expression was not clearly visible.

Byungtae looked at Yoon Seungah and smiled.

“You will go directly and take responsibility for the investigation. Thoroughly find out how Kim Youngsik killed the Awakened and escaped.”

“…Yes.”

Yoon Seungah’s face fell heavily. Meanwhile, Yu Byungtae smiled unpleasantly.

He knew she couldn’t possibly refuse his order. After all, her mother was still living in the shelter. As long as there was such a hostage, Yoon Seungah could never oppose him.

In some ways, it could almost be considered a charge of contempt.

Leaving her mother behind to go on a distant expedition, as well as being in charge of a pursuit team for a former colleague she had been friendly with. This was practically punishment for defending that punk before.

And upon thinking of how that bastard would have to face her as an enemy made him feel much better.

‘As long as Yoon Seungah knows I have a hostage, she won’t cooperate with that punk. After all, she’s strict about public and private matters.’

And so, that was how the executive meeting ended.

***

“Sir Hyperion. Most bullets won’t be of use against that thing.”

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM-

Evolved entity.

It was a muscular evolved zombie, reminiscent of the Hulk.

​

Even Vacuum Compressed bullets could only stop it in its tracks without causing any significant damage.

That wasn’t all.

Swoosh-

“Heup!”

The view of the screen instantly changed. It was because Hyperion had made a sudden turn.

On the screen, an evolved zombie was attacking Hyperion with tentacles stretching thens of meters.

Swoosh-

Thus, Hyperion slaughtered the regular zombies while dodging numerous attacks from the evolved entity with S-shaped evasive maneuvers.

Of course, Hyperion wasn’t just on the receiving end.

Wooooong- Zuoooooong-

Plasma weapons installed at the front of the craft.

[Plasma Focused Cutter]

A red sphere condensed in the center of the weapon, resembling the pincers of a stag beetle.

Zzzt-

On the screen, it showed the evolved zombies being locked onto.

A plasma beam shot out from the front of Hyperion, who was dodging quickly here and there.

Zzzzzzzzt-

It was the moment when four evolved entities that were locked onto aligned in a straight line.

“Huuuuuh…..”

A beam was emitted, scraping the ground for about 3 seconds.

Though 3 seconds could be considered short, it was absolutely not the case relative to Hyperion’s movement speed,

Youngsik shook his head as he saw the scar left by the [Plasma Focused Cutter] drawn in a straight line on the ground.

Nearly 1 km of the surface’s length was deeply gouged and bluish plasma currents crackled from the fissure.

Except for the muscular evolved entity, all were instantly turned to ash, thus evaporating.

“Huhuhuh…..”

For some reason, he was hit with a reality check.

Usually, a party of more than five Awakened was needed to strategically catch a single evolved entity, just like a raid… But Hyperion was annihilating them all too effortlessly.

[Plasma Focused Cutter Reuse Wait Time : 1 Hour 29 Minutes 58 Seconds]

Of course, it couldn’t be used frequently, but it wasn’t all that unbearable to wait.

Ssssswoooosh-

Hyperion lowered its altitude and flew.

Zap-

A blue magnetic field sprang from the orb located at the very top of the machine and began to cover it in an elliptical shape.

Zap-

A magnetic field with a radius of 20 meters spread around Hyperion.

Woooooong-

As Hyperion passed through the battlefield, all sorts of metals within the range of the magnetic field suddenly floated in the air.

Wooooong- Zap-

Hyperion started to absorb only the materials that matched the preset frequency among the floating debris.

Small red crystals were quickly absorbed into the rear of the craft.

It was quite literally ‘Automatic Hunting’. Moreover, it even had a kind of pet to help with looting!

‘Mmmm.’

The speed of hunting was unbelievably fast.

Thanks to the upgrade, Youngsik could graduate from being a mere looting pet.

‘There’s no way I’ll be discarded as useless, right?’

Youngsik became somewhat anxious for no particular reason.

***

While the Stage 0 Baby(?) Hyperion was sweeping up zombies and hardcord leveling, a new Update Notice was posted in the community.

-Writer : (Oradge) Cosmic Emperor

-Title : Point System Implementation^^

Hello. Nice to meet you. I am Cosmic Emperor, the one working tirelessly for all of you.

(Roughly a meme of a frog holding out a wine glass.jpg)

Thanks to your support and encouragement, I have managed to reach this position. This Oradge! Has not forgotten your grace and favor. And I had to make a significant decision to repay that goodwill.

That is! Drum roll please!

Yes! That’s right. As written in the title, we plan to implement a ‘Point System’!

We will proceed with a large-scale update for this, so access to the community may be temporarily delayed.

What?

Did you ask what the Point System is?

Haha.

Karma.

I am sure most of you have heard of it before.

And no, I’m not talking about ‘Sae Eleia Tera Vi’1A League of Legends character called “Karma” says this when using “Mantra”.

What did you say? That wasn’t funny? Haha. It seems you’re not afraid of the ban hammer, huh? It appears that many don’t know that the vested authority of the ever so diligent Bluadge have been increased recently.

Anyway!

Every user using the ‘Integrated Dimensional Community’ is accumulating ‘Karma’. There is not a single exception. (Firm tone)

And exchanging such ‘Karma’ for Points (Cash) is precisely the big project ‘‘S.T.R.A.W.’ I will be conducting.

What? You find the project name suspicious? Haha. That is a misunderstanding.

Yes. Anyway, str… I mean, the S.T.R.A.W Project is simple. It’s about the circulation of currency in the community!

You all know about the ‘Gold Standard2A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold’, right?

It’s similar to that. Your Karma will serve the role of ‘gold’ in the Gold Standard.

Some of you may have accumulated plenty of karma in your past life, while others may have started without even a penny. In other words, that means some will start with a large amount of Points.

What? You find that unfair?

But life is unfair. That’s how it always was. Don’t try to argue, okay? Still, the Karma you’re currently building are definitely more valuable! (Wink)

Now, then! Everyone must be wondering the same thing.

Where do I spend the Cash I gather?

Isn’t that the most important thing, after all?

Hahaha.

Don’t worry about it.

Who am I? Am I not your Oradge, Cosmic Emperor?

Of course, I’m working day and night to create content that will satisfy all of you. (Grit)

Of course, opening all the content will take a long time. Whining about it won’t speed it up! So, please don’t rush me!

Ah, and for reference, VIP levels will be determined based on the Points (Cash) you have and there will be restrictions on the content you can participate in.

Something sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t it?^^

So, please splurge your Cash with your utmost enthusiasm!

P.S. Your Oradge will be dragg… No, will be stepping away for a bit to work~!

After the Oradge’s Update Notice was posted…

Posts about it flooded the community at a pace exceeding the speed of light.

It was the highest traffic ever recorded in the history of the Integrated Dimensional Community.

1

A League of Legends character called “Karma” says this when using “Mantra”

2

A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold

/genesisforsaken