Ex-level Player With the Greatest Civilization of All Time - Chapter 70

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 70

I applied Enchantment to Pluto and the other humanoids using Special Materials tailored to their characteristics.
Enchantment always carries a success rate, so failure is possible.
In my case, since I was applying it to medals, every single one succeeded without a single failure.
So the leftover materials I’d set aside ended up gathering dust in the warehouse.
“Well, at least it’s all done.”
After showering, I finally collapsed onto the bed.
I reached for my phone.
The story of my clearing the twenty-fifth floor.
Even the news of Gluttony’s reappearance was making the rounds everywhere.
“Ah, forget it.”
I set the phone down.
Sleep was already creeping in.
That was when Neia spoke.

“Successor Kang Seon-woo. I have something to report.”

I opened my eyes slightly.
“Go ahead.”

“Our inventory of Resonance Stones among recent supply deliveries has become insufficient. Resonance Stones are a basic resource required in the manufacturing process to supply energy from the City to drones. Since our existing stockpile has also been depleted, I am informing you of the following situation.”

We had recently brought additional factories in the City online.
Now that I thought about it, there had been no requests for Resonance Stones until recently, when they suddenly became necessary.
I wondered if the City had been sitting on a large reserve all this time.
In any case, the factories were running harder than usual, so Resonance Stone consumption was accelerating.
But it seemed the supply of Resonance Stones wasn’t keeping pace.
They were essential for manufacturing Seisrunners and the small factory units, so immediate action appeared necessary.
“Got it. I’ll look into it.”
For now, though, I needed rest.
I thought to myself that this clearance had been more exhausting than usual, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Neia, the City’s AI.
Needless to say, she does not sleep.
Twenty-four hours.
Three hundred sixty-five days a year.
There was no need to dwell on such concepts—she was always awake, always thinking, always judging.
Her highest priority was the well-being of the Successor and the prosperity of the City.
Yet for all this time, she had been unable to fulfill that fundamental mandate.
The reason was simple: the Successor, Kang Seon-woo, belonged to the outside world.
And she was bound to this place—Nemesis.
Though she understood nearly everything that existed within the City.
She was ignorant of the outside world.
Until very recently, that is.

– Sharing floor 25 updates.
– What? They’ve actually ‘normalized’ the Floating Garden and now the Red Meadow?
– Join Nex’s superhighway route!

That change had occurred when Kang Seon-woo moved to live in Nemesis.
When he relocated to the Commander’s Office, the expanded internet connection he brought with him had allowed her to freely access information from the outside world.
The Gate that remained constantly open.
And the internet connection extending from outside.
These two things had dismantled the barrier of her ‘ignorance’.
And so she began to absorb vast amounts of information indiscriminately.
A politician’s two faces.
A celebrity’s private life.
International affairs and the latest fashion trends.
Even the smallest detail.
Or the hushed, clandestine conversations that lurked in the shadows of modern society.
Using the City’s technological prowess, she accessed and studied the flood of information that swept across the internet.
And the knowledge she acquired was used solely for the City and Kang Seon-woo.
Through Pluto, she eliminated threats that endangered the Successor’s wellbeing.

[Photo]
[Photo]
[Photo]

– What do you want?
– Nothing at the moment. If something is needed, I’ll contact you.
She had finished preparing politicians who might prove useful—gathering their weaknesses to turn them into fertile ground for the City’s prosperity.

But now, with that groundwork complete, there was little useful information left to acquire.
Modern society, spinning busily, was at best a hamster wheel.
At worst, it was nothing more than a place of punishment endlessly repeating suffering.
That was why truly valuable information that emerged daily was almost nonexistent.
At most, only scattered, severely limited scraps appeared here and there.
Consequently, tracking public reaction to Kang Seon-woo—who operated under the pseudonym Neia—had long since become the bulk of her daily routine.

– Well, if you’re a man, don’t take the easy path.
– Right, no—I feel the Successor’s grace in my body.
– You who don’t know the Successor’s grace are pitiful.
– Don’t reject it, accept it—he is a god!

“It seems people are only now beginning to understand the Successor’s greatness.”

– So when’s Neia’s next broadcast?
– Even Baek Jin-seong won’t tell us. It’s so frustrating.
– If you’ve already had that much fun, get back to work.
– A little stress like that is necessary.

In what they called the Community, there were countless people.
And Neia was the one who most acutely felt, day after day, how Kang Seon-woo’s followers multiplied.

– Thanks to the Successor, our restaurant’s sales went through the roof.
– I made 300% on stocks! Money’s being cloned or something!?
– Should I buy in now? How high is Kang Seong really going to go…
– This isn’t just reviving the economy. It’s an economic revolution!

Neia was, naturally, delighted by it.
So at first, she simply watched for days on end.
But recently, she had taken a more active hand in shaping public opinion.
She created multiple ghost accounts and poured fuel onto an already favorable climate.
How?
By preemptively blocking critical voices.

– Hey, why did the admin ban me? Is this a Neia fan cafe? I got banned for insulting people on the anti-cafe, and for what reason!?
– For real, this is ridiculous…
– No… I never did anything…
– Wait, why did your moderator badge disappear?
– What? Really?
[Cafe has been closed.]

For those who dared not recognize his greatness, she personally erased their bases of operation, granting them the opportunity to repent.

[Kang Hyeon-seok’s Knowledge Café]

As for MiTube channels that stir up strange public opinion…

[Animal Cheers]
– What is this?
– Lol I was wondering when I subscribed to this channel, turns out it was Kang Hyeon-seok’s ㅋㅋㅋ
– What? Did someone hack it?

He hacked the channel, changed its name, and wiped every single video.
Then he filled it with animal healing content.

– But now that I’m watching, it’s actually pretty good.
– We need a healing channel like this anyway.
– Why are the views doing better than before? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
– Subscribers are up too, is this channel booming?

Yet despite all this, there was one site that clearly wouldn’t benefit Successor Kang Seon-woo in the slightest, and yet Neia neither intervened nor closed it down.
That site was none other than Black Track.
It was a site where hunters could request the assassination of targets.
The reason was simple.
Parasites must be exterminated, not reformed.
Such radical elements were not subjects for guidance.
They were subjects for removal.
Beings that served no purpose but harm were eliminated in advance for this world, for Kang Seon-woo.
And it was precisely when she had laid out the stage and waited for such active work to commence.
One bug that needed to be removed had fallen into the trap.

* * *

Kang Min-hyuk.
Once Korea’s finest player and a media darling, he had reached the peak of irritation lately.
On the verge of exploding at the smallest trifle.
This psychological state had most likely persisted since that day.
When Neia had publicly executed Hunter Red Tyrant.
“Just a one-trick drone operator. I should have twisted his neck properly back then….”
Grind.
Kang Min-hyuk gnashed his teeth.
Things had gone poorly ever since.
Because of the hidden card that Neia possessed.
The factions that had been trying to eliminate him showed slightly more caution now.
And the hunters were hesitating to step forward, perhaps due to how Red Tyrant had been subdued one-sidedly.
One’s own life was worth more than a fortune—it was only natural, in a sense.
In any case, Kang Min-hyuk was now properly paying the price for not killing Neia back then.
A full three days.
He had gone directly to Kang Seong for three days to negotiate for Special Materials, only to come away empty-handed.
Today too, after waiting ten hours, he received word that due to pressing business, they would meet next time.
“Then say that from the start!”
Kang Min-hyuk, who had vented his frustration in his own office without even catching a glimpse of Baek Jin-seong’s face, had barely managed to hold onto his sanity.
He had merely been rebuffed by a secretary.
For the representative of Cheongwol, Korea’s number one guild, it was an unparalleled humiliation.
The problem was that he still couldn’t come on strong as usual.
The value that Special Materials possessed was far greater than he’d imagined.
At the same level, having them or not could be the difference between survival and death.
Though Kang Min-hyuk himself didn’t realize it, the Cheongwol guild members operating under him certainly understood how massive an issue this was.
So the atmosphere within Cheongwol was poor.
Talk of being left behind by Kang Seong soon enough.
Speculation that they should prepare to job-hop before it’s too late.
He pretended not to hear, but it was an extremely dangerous situation.
And all of this stemmed from just one thing.
It was a consequence of the Special Material that Neia had handed over to Baek Jin-seong.
“Has the commission come through yet?”
He picked up his phone and opened the internet.

「Neia invited as a state guest by the British Royal Family.」
「Humanoid Pluto unveiled during the conquest of Floor 25.」
「SS-Rank Reward Box appears for the first time in history, drawing worldwide attention…」

The internet was flooded with articles about her.
His stomach churned, but he ignored it for now.
He already knew that her meteoric rise would come to an end soon enough.
And paradoxically, Kang Min-hyuk’s venom was directed not at Baek Jin-seong, who had been dealt a losing hand,
but at Neia, who had given him strength.
He had already moved into the execution phase.
“Good. Has anyone picked up the commission?”
The assassination contract he’d put out that morning while heading to Kang Seong.
Of course, unlike last time, this wasn’t a scheme aimed at Neia.
This target was Baek Jin-seong.
He’d placed the same bounty on Baek Jin-seong that he’d previously put on Neia, and someone had bitten immediately.
It was regrettable to have put up 300 billion won just to eliminate some minor underling sitting next to him,
but gathering information that could become leverage against him and laying the foundation for a plan to dispose of Neia wasn’t a bad investment.
Just as Kang Min-hyuk confirmed the contract with Baek Jin-seong as the target and smiled,
“Wait… did I not close the door when I came in?”
The representative’s office door was open.
Wondering if anyone might have overheard, he checked outside, closed the door, and was turning back to his seat
when Kang Min-hyuk’s body stiffened at the sudden chill.

Slash—

And that instinct was correct.
An unexpected attack came flying; even though he dodged it, it pursued him at incredible speed.
And then his arm was severed.
Agonizing pain flooded through him, but Kang Min-hyuk couldn’t even scream.
The assassin’s relentless onslaught didn’t allow it.
The assassin threatening him was someone he recognized.
A humanoid named Pluto.
“Neia—!!”

Thud—

Pluto’s knife drove deep into his body.
Somehow, his voice wouldn’t come out.
“Huh… I didn’t expect you to dodge that…”
Pluto severed his remaining arm as well, the one he was about to use to cast a skill.
Not knowing what skills a mid-tier Player like him might possess, Neia had instructed that if the surprise attack failed, his voice should be silenced first, then both arms severed.
“I’ve already marked him so he can’t escape to the Tower… silenced his voice… cut off both hands… so now it’s safe.”
Whoosh—
Pluto dodged Kang Min-hyuk’s desperate kick and cleanly severed his neck.
“Mission complete.”

* * *

Four days had passed since I conquered Floor 25.
I hadn’t climbed the Tower during that time.
The reason was the supply issue with Resonance Stones.
Since it was directly tied to drone production, it required immediate attention.
“Who swept them all up?”
Resonance Stones were indeed heavily used materials in the real world as well.
A fundamental resource that miraculously improved modern power transmission efficiency.
Because of this, Resonance Stones—already expensive—were now in what amounted to a supply shock.
“The price is steep enough, but there’s almost nothing on the market…”
Jin-seong had at least stockpiled some listings beforehand, so I’d managed to put out the immediate fire.
But if this problem wasn’t solved, I couldn’t climb the tower with any peace of mind.
Especially since the recent string of battles had already depleted my drone numbers significantly.
“I guess there’s nothing for it but to pound the pavement…”
I had plenty of business cards stacked away.
I’d need to make some calls, reach out to my contacts.
Waiting around relying only on Baek Jin-seong and Kang Seong was making me anxious.
“But what’s going on now….”
After I cleared the twenty-fifth floor,
the Community was in an uproar about it all over again.
Though the ripples seemed less intense than before.
The Red Meadow mission had been streamlined like the Floating Garden before it.
Even with new weapons and Humanoids appearing, it didn’t stir as much.
There was a reason for that, naturally.
The Kang Seong Guild’s special materials were still setting the whole world ablaze.
Gluttony’s return.
The presence of the SS-Rank Reward Box—these weighty topics were scattering people’s attention.
Above all, yesterday evening brought a piece of news that struck the domestic media and claimed another share of the spotlight.
It was none other than word of Kang Min-hyuk’s death.
“There really is everything under the sun, isn’t there?”
The spotlight had dimmed somewhat on me recently by comparison.
But he was the one who held a unique heroic standing in the country…
The shock of his being murdered by someone was not a small thing.
Of course, I was a little shaken too.
I spoke and watched Neia’s reaction.
Neia responded matter-of-factly.

『Yes.』

Was that a yes? Or something else?
I’d thrown it out there wondering if maybe Grace’s Hunters were involved too,
if this was Neia’s doing…
But from her expression alone, I couldn’t tell.
Even if she’d improved compared to before, Neia’s face was naturally still and hard to read.
“I… I think I deserve to be praised for this.”
I turned in surprise.
Pluto appeared—I hadn’t even realized he was in the Commander’s Office.
“What do you mean by that, Pluto?”
I glanced at Neia to see if she knew, and she spoke.

『It seems he desires a reward for successfully completing the secret missions I assigned.』

[Learning Status: 1%]

I stole a quick look at Pluto’s learning data.
It had gone up slightly.
My suspicion deepened.
“Which is why these secret missions have seemed awfully suspicious from the start.”

『Shall I tell you?』

“You can do that?”

『Yes, I cannot keep it secret from you indefinitely anyway….』

Neia began to speak, then closed her mouth.
I, about to ask why, stopped as well.
A message had appeared.

[Line Enhancement has been activated.]
[Special Assembly has been activated.]
[Congratulations—the Drone you created has awakened to a special power.]

The fifth Humanoid had appeared.
“I… um… praise…?”
Pluto stammered, uncertain.
I spoke to him.
“Got it. I’ll buy you Pudding.”
A few days ago, Ar had eaten everything in the refrigerator, leaving Pluto thoroughly dejected.
At the mention of Pudding, his spirits lifted visibly.
The easiest of all the Humanoids to handle, this one.
“Y-yes, I shall serve you faithfully, Successor.”
“That’s the spirit. Let’s keep up the good work!”
I was just wrapping up the conversation with Pluto when—

‘The unit just produced—’

“Wait. Skip the details. I’ll verify it myself.”

‘Understood.’

“Actually, never mind—just tell me whether it’s a Special Unit or a Hero Unit.”

‘It is a Hero Unit.’

“No way—that’s incredible!”
Even with the probabilities raised considerably, the appearance rate of Hero Units remained far lower than that of Special Units.
And a single Hero Unit carried enormous strategic value.
I couldn’t help but quicken my pace, thrilled.
By the time I reached the Supply Base, my heart was already racing.
Hisssss—
The door slid open, and it emerged.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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