Episode 6: Mafia Game / Chapter 93: Independent Troops (4)

TL: emptycube / ED: Obelisk

Since they were in the middle of a war, all the procedures were simple.

“With the name of Commander Mack of the Virgo Cluster, I grant the seven overseers of Earth the authority to use the military gate system.”

Along with those words, fingernail-sized metal shards floated up and rotated around the overseers, imprinting their souls and karma.

“Now, you have become warrior leaders of the independent troops of the Virgo Cluster. The exploration of the Virgo Cluster hasn’t finished yet. Your mission is to explore unknown regions and destroy regions occupied by monsters and their supply routes, ‘Kaluh Kabkun{1}’. As you aren’t being dispatched to other troops and are establishing your own independent troops, I hope for your energetic participation in this mission.”

The earthling’s placement evaluation grades were excellent. It showed that the seven overseers all had the qualifications to be assigned as independent troops. Two of them even received a perfect score.

Still, the opinion that a portion of them would join the division troops for balance was predominant. However, Commander Mack broke their expectations and gave every overseer of Earth the right to form independent troops. That was how seven independent troops were formed. It was thought to be because she hoped they would participate in the exploration more proactively.

Independent troops were granted the right to plan their own strategy while carrying out their missions without the interference of higher ranked troops. It was even possible for them to take action first and report later.

It was also normal for missions to be vague like ‘Explore XX Region’.

However, as their first mission was also a test, it was quite specific.

<Recover the Cayenne star, which has been occupied by monsters, and use the information left behind on historic sites to explore the space around it.>

Tangka, who heard the mission Earth’s overseers received, evaluated it like this,

“It’s a practice game. The Cayenne star system is a region discovered not too long ago, and the monsters there are weak, normally at the 2-3-star level. Also, that entire area doesn’t have the supply route, Kaluh Kabkun.”

Simply put, it was an easy mission. Perhaps it was because of this, but the day of the mission was imminent.

“Finish your preparations and leave in two days.”

All that remained for the seven overseers to do was run around hurriedly.

**

The most important thing to do was without a doubt ‘getting supplies’.

“Woahahahaha! What is all this! Did leader pop in and out of a place like this all by himself?”

“It’s my first time as well.”

It was Baek Seoin, whose mouth was agape, and Choi Hyuk who was shaking his head. Behind them were Ryu Hyunsung, Bae Jinman, Handke and Chu Youngjin. 6 people in total. That was the limit he could bring. The maximum number of people he could bring from Earth to the Laniakea using the ‘military gate system’ for ‘free’ was five people excluding the overseer. The cost would increase by an astronomical amount of Mission Points for every person he added after that.

“Looking around once will be like going around the entire world…”

Ryu Hyunsung said as he looked around with a pale face.

It was as he said. The ‘Laniakea Supply Store’ in front of them looked more like a planet than a supply store. Like those who believed the Earth was hollow, the floor of the enormous sphere curved upwards until it formed a complete loop. Countless buildings, some which surged up towards the sky and others which surged towards their heads, were erected on the floor. There were buildings floating in the space in between the buildings with pathways going off in all directions. It was a suitable size for a supercluster which possessed countless clusters within it.

They soon heard the voice of the artificial intelligence in charge of this supply store.

{Welcome to the Laniakea Supply Store. Wherever you are in the supply store, you will be able to search through the supplies and receive samples through me. Also, it is possible for you to teleport to any store you like.}

They were currently in a situation where they didn’t know what supplies there were. What item would increase the entire strength of the Berserkers? Choi Hyuk suddenly recalled something and asked,

“Do you have a store that sells karma weapons?”

{We do. 6 People. It will cost 1,000 points to teleport there. Will you teleport?}

“Is there a cost even though we’re a teleporting within the supply store?”

{Yes. You need to be at least the rank of a commander of a cluster to teleport for free.}

“… We’ll teleport.”

Warriors who could fight better would be able to obtain more Mission Points. If they didn’t have any Mission Points, they wouldn’t be able to receive any service. Although he was uncertain whether this was a ploy to train better warriors through competition or not, but the Flame Wing Alliance persistently fleeced its warriors’ currency, Mission Points, off them.

Whoosh.

The moment they felt their bodies float up, they had arrived at their destination. The store which sold karma weapons.

There was a black pond in the middle of the room. A red carpet surrounded the pond, and the walls were built out of old-fashioned timber. An elderly alien was sitting in a jelly chair with his ears drooped downwards. When he saw Choi Hyuk’s group appear, he mumbled,

“Earthlings? Hmmpf. It’s good that they aren’t from the damn top 4 tribes.”

By the top 4 tribes, he meant the Flame Wing, Dark, Armored Soul and Speckled Light Tribes.

The elderly alien bluntly asked,

“This is your first time, right? How much did you pay to teleport here?!”

Unsure whether he was asking or picking a fight and while everyone showed awkward expressions at the elderly alien’s blunt behavior, Baek Seoin alone answered right away,

“1,000 points.”

“Damn. Although that’s not much… Did you know those from the top 4 tribes don’t have to pay that?”

“Pardon? It said that you needed to be at least a commander rank for it to be free…”

“That’s only for scraps like us. Those exalted top 4 tribes, who made this alliance, can use it for free, regardless of their rank. Those bastards need to work in black-hole mines for the rest of their lives.”

As the elderly alien swore, he got up from his seat.

“Anyways, why have earthlings come here? You shouldn’t be at a level to come to a store like this yet.”

“You know about earthlings?”

“Of course I do, you scoundrel! It’s been a long time since another species joined the alliance. The top 4 tribes constantly make all sorts of excuses as they look down on other tribes. ‘You got lucky’ is what I thought. Either way, this is a high-rank facility that can make karma weapons. It’s too expensive for rookies like you.”

The elderly alien continuously scolded.

While Baek Seoin felt awkward, Choi Hyuk asked,

“How much is a karma weapon?”

“Karma weapon? Ha! It’s the most expensive! You need at least 1 billion Mission Points to create a Weapon of Calling!”

“…!”

A billion points. Everyone’s jaws dropped at that unreal sum. As Consumables, they only earned 100 points after completing their first mission. Even until recently, they could earn thousands of points per mission, which took a few days to complete. They couldn’t earn 10,000 points per mission just yet. Until then, they didn’t think that they were ‘only’ earning thousands of points.

As a sovereign, Choi Hyuk earned at most 1 million points a day through passage and trade taxes. A billion points was an exorbitant sum, which Choi Hyuk, who was one of the richest people on Earth, would have to save every day for three years to collect.

“It’s expensive, isn’t it?”

The elderly alien giggled and said,

“But do you know what’s funnier?”

The elderly alien paused for a moment before breathing raggedly, as if he was mad, and said,

“The top 4 tribes get them for free. If they want a karma weapon, the alliance just hands them the points to make one! Those monster-asshole-licking bastards.”

They received not 1,000 points but a billion points for free? Shocked, Baek Seoin asked,

“Why do they do that?”

“To other species, they are saying that if you don’t even have the ability to collect a billion points, don’t even think about attempting to get a Weapon of Calling. That they’ll fail to complete one anyways. However, since their species are so great and because they will always succeed, they don’t even need to earn a billion points. Damn bastards… Do you know how many I’ve seen fail?!”

Listening to him, even Baek Seoin became furious.

‘I thought that if we became alliance members, we’d all be equals in formality at least, but I guess not. For discrimination to exist in space, how disgusting. Still, for a billion points to be free. I’m jealous!’

All kinds of thoughts crossed his mind. However, since the elderly alien was already raging with ragged breaths, Baek Seoin felt odd to rage together with him. All he did was sigh in exasperation.

“Haaa. Now, really…”

Then, Choi Hyuk, who had been silent, suddenly asked,

“Then how much does a Weapon of Sentiment cost?”

Choi Hyuk wasn’t really interested in the unfairness. He simply wanted to use this opportunity to figure out the value of the Weapon of Vow he received.

The elderly alien replied,

“So you heard something, eh? But why are you looking for a Weapon of Sentiment here? At most, you can make a Weapon of Calling at the supply store. If you want to make anything beyond a Weapon of Calling, you need to go to the forge in the center of Laniakea, where the Dark Ocean is. Of course, that place can only be accessed by acknowledged warriors.”

‘The forge in the center of Laniakea…’

Choi Hyuk remembered it. As expected, the item Flame-Rain gave him as a present wasn’t normal. Which meant her identity wouldn’t be normal either.

After confirming it, Choi Hyuk asked nonchalantly,

“I see. Then, elder, can we see equipment and enchants for 4-5 star warriors?”

The lowest ranked supply store they had used until now was meant for lowest ranked warriors, so 4-star equipment and skills were rare. Eventually, everyone was fitted with equipment unsuitable for their level.

They wanted to use this opportunity to change out their equipment and skills and planned on using the remaining Mission Points to purchase items that would increase the strength of normal members.

The elder tilted his chin and answered crookedly,

“There are, but it looks like you’re a middle ranked warrior… It’ll be incredibly expensive to buy equipment for middle ranked warriors and engrave them… Will you be fine? Of course, it won’t be much if you think of it as a graduation expense…”

“Graduation expense?”

“Yeah. The moment you become a high ranked warrior, it is impossible to increase your karma artificially. There’s no use for equipment or enchants. From that point, you can only increase your karma through your own effort and karma weapon. You didn’t even know that? Karma weapons aren’t expensive without reason.”

Then the elder began to explain various items while mumbling.

Like the elder said, the equipment was really expensive. It cost over 200 million Mission Points to buy equipment and skills for Choi Hyuk and 6 of his top executives. With that, they used up all the Mission Points Choi Hyuk and his top executives had saved up. The elderly alien scolded them, saying, “You only have that much?” and looked like he was going to give them a discount, but it seemed as though he had to sell items at the set price. He only showed his regret by swearing, “Those damn top 4 tribes. They take whatever they want without paying a cent. Those bastards should be ripped up by the Big Bang.”

While paying, Baek Seoin worried,

“But leader, if it’s like this, then we can’t change the equipment of the other members.”

Choi Hyuk said,

“Nothing we can do since we never knew 4-5-star equipment would be so expensive. Since our members are at around the 3-star level on average, the equipment we bought from the lowest ranked supply store should still be useable… And we need to wait for the good news from Director Lee Jinhee.”

**

While Choi Hyuk and his top executives were busy going back and forth between the elderly alien’s store and other stores, where they were suggested to buy their equipment and skills from, Chu Youngjin stopped in front of an item.

The elderly alien explained,

“Ah, you sort of know what it is, right? It is a reinforcing stone. It’s called the Essence of Blood.”

The Essence of Blood repeatedly became soft, as if it would drip any moment, and then taut like jelly. It also looked similar to a beating heart.

“Normally… it’s better to get a new sword than reinforcing your old one… But it looks like you reinforced that sword multiple times as you used it in fights? Is there a story behind it? Either way, if you are planning on reinforcing it this time as well, then it’s a good choice. It looks like the Essence of Blood suits your temperament.”

As if he sensed there was a story behind his sword, the elderly alien didn’t swear and explained to Chu Youngjin in a relatively considerate manner. He glanced down at the red sword, which Chu Youngjin was very affectionate towards.

The red sword, which had been created when Chu Youngjin’s lover, Lee Hyejin, died. Chu Youngjin couldn’t give up on this sword. When everyone else changed their weapons, Chu Youngjin foolishly used this sword, which was an E rank, a weapon suitable for 1-star warriors. Then, when they gained access to the supply store, he requested Choi Hyuk to buy reinforcing stones and was able to raise the sword’s rank to C rank. This was the limit to what he could do at the lowest ranked supply store.

Currently, as a complete 4-star warrior, he needed a B rank weapon, but Chu Youngjin stubbornly used his red sword.

He now had a chance to overcome its limits. It had been a long time since Chu Youngjin smiled brightly.

“Yes. I’ll reinforce it.”

Ddang!

The elderly alien combined Chu Youngjin’s red sword and the Essence of Blood together, placing the sword into the pond of Dark Ocean water and swinging down at it with his hammer.

Chu Youngjin gazed down at his red sword, which was gradually becoming redder, as his eyes silently reddened.

{1} Was mentioned back in Chapter 40 when the military was first transported. From what I can tell, Kaluh Kabkun are supply routes for monsters.

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