<[Episode 21] Maintenance (1)>
When I came to my senses and opened my eyes, I saw a familiar ceiling and system notifications that I had not yet checked.
[The declaration of the corner of the house has reached level 30.]
[You gain 3 skill points.]
Notification of skill point acquisition.
[The number of citizens reached 100,000.]
[When the number of citizens reaches a certain level, the ‘Power of the Stars’ is unlocked.]
It was a new function that was opened up as the civilian population increased.
When I checked the citizen information, it was some kind of reinforcement system, where you could spend money to strengthen citizens.
When you strengthen it, you get one star and your overall ability level goes up, which seems quite useful.
Naturally, since vassals were included within the scope of citizens, it was like saying that it was possible to strengthen vassals.
‘Thanks to the crown, the strengthening effect will be doubled.’
You can think about strengthening other citizens after you finish strengthening all of your vassals.
“How much time has passed?”
It was a time when I would repeatedly faint in pain and then immediately wake up in pain.
Because I had awakened and fainted countless times, it was difficult to perceive the exact passage of time.
‘Has it been about a day?’
I got out of bed and opened the curtains to see the sun was high in the sky.
It was said that at least several hours had passed since he killed Jinjo and leveled up in the middle of the night.
‘I almost got into trouble.’
As the area expanded at once, a large number of new people came in.
But I could not afford to grant citizenship to citizens in the midst of suffering.
‘It’s fortunate that citizenship is granted automatically.’
An automated system was temporarily used to accommodate survivors pouring into Homeplus in Ulsan, and those in Busan also benefited from it.
If I hadn’t turned on the automation system, countless new people would have been unable to move until I came to my senses.
The longer I was unconscious, the more pain I must have suffered.
‘That’s fortunate, but… there’s more work to do.’
We will have to be very careful to see if there are any vampires or something similar among the new arrivals.
‘By the way, I really thought I was going to die.’
Because I went up five levels at once, I was in an unprecedented amount of pain.
The pain was already getting worse as the level went up, but now even the level has changed from 27 to 32.
‘The Eyes of the Absolute.’
As soon as I regained my composure and regained consciousness, I immediately used the Eye of the Absolute to check the locations of the spirits.
The operation was still ongoing.
Fortunately, the vampires were rarely seen. Naturally, there was no fighting.
The crew was focusing all their attention on rescuing the survivors.
However, some of the vassals did not feel connected.
“…Three people died.”
Kim Ji-tae, Shin A-young, and Hong Gyeok-taek died.
I didn’t think we could complete the operation without any damage.
Still, seeing the damage like this firsthand made my mouth water.
“……..”
We held a moment of silence to honor their spirits and used our communication rings to gauge the situation.
He spoke to Seo Ye-jin, who was sitting cross-legged and diligently controlling the mice in the Homeplus Operations Command Center.
[Yejin.]
“Oh, brother?”
Then Seo Ye-jin opened her eyes and looked around.
[Can you brief me on the situation so far?]
Seo Ye-jin nodded and opened her mouth.
“Yeah. As my brother instructed, we’ve been moving with the rescue of survivors as our top priority for the past two days. Fortunately, after my brother killed the leader vampire, the rampage has stopped except for the lowest-level vampires…”
[Wait a minute. Two days? Does that mean I was asleep for two days?]
“huh.”
Seo Ye-jin said with eyes full of worry.
“Is that why you’re like that? How are you feeling? Are you okay?”
[…I don’t care now.]
“thank god.”
She sighed and asked.
“Where are you now?”
[I’m home. I’ll be there soon.]
“okay.”
I used the Gate of the Absolute to go to the Homeplus Operation Command Center and looked at the overall situation, but there was no corner where I could interfere.
Even if the lowest-level vampires were in a state of berserk, they were weak enough that all vassals could easily deal with them, and in fact, they were being dealt with easily.
Rather, the problem was hidden among the survivors.
“Keeeeeek!”
At first glance, low-level and mid-level vampires who appear no different from ordinary people have come here, hiding among the survivors.
The stupid vampires were issued citizenship, but their identities were immediately revealed, and they were immediately subdued by Jang Seong-jun’s psychic powers and locked in the basement.
The reason why those who were revealed to be vampires were not killed was because they had acquired citizenship.
Killing someone who had already acquired citizenship would have resulted in a huge ‘murderer’ penalty, so they had no choice but to keep them locked up like this.
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[Execute him.]
I was able to eliminate all the vampires by hunting them down one by one and stripping them of their citizenship.
After finishing cleaning up all the vampires trapped underground, I asked Seo Ye-jin.
“The survivors’ reactions are not very favorable. Since when has it been like this?”
“Hmm. I think it’s been since the vampires’ rampage ended.”
When the vampires ran wild and tried to take our lives, we came to Homeplus to somehow survive, but now that Jinjo has died and the vampires’ rampage has ended, there is no need to follow our instructions.
Rather, there were countless survivors who doubted us even more.
“Let’s organize things slowly.”
“What about the survivors?”
“What can I do if you don’t like it? I should just leave you alone.”
“but….”
“Why? Is there a problem?”
Seo Ye-jin said with a small sigh.
“The monsters that were around are gradually flocking to Ulsan.”
“Monsters?”
“Yeah. I think I sensed Jinjo’s death.”
Now that the owner of the territory has disappeared, those who want to fill the void are coming.
“Hmm.”
People in Ulsan may not know much about the fear of monsters.
Because they were living in a safe enclosure built by vampires, unaware that they had become livestock.
“But let’s withdraw for now.”
“Is it okay?”
“Even if you bring them by force, their resistance will only grow. It’s better to accept them when they want.”
In the process, many people will die or get injured by monsters, but it is better than sowing the seeds of unnecessary conflict.
‘Summon the dead.’
He summoned all the vassals scattered throughout Ulsan and spoke.
“Thank you all for your hard work. This concludes our mission.”
After wrapping up the situation in Ulsan and returning home, I sorted out the current situation.
‘The area has expanded greatly.’
The area that had already expanded to near the sea at level 27 now included part of the sea as part of the area at level 32.
I could see straight into the ocean with the eyes of the absolute being, but somehow I saw more things like plastic waste than fish or marine life.
‘I can’t even guess how wide it has become.’
Since we were only able to check a narrow area near the edge of the area, it was difficult to properly determine how large the area had become.
‘Will this work?’
When using construction mode, you can see the entire area from high in the sky, giving you an idea of how large the area has become.
‘It’s now half-merged with the annex area.’
The two areas that had overlapped slightly near Busan Station now formed a Venn diagram shape that more than half overlapped.
Since the two overlapping areas included most of Busan’s major cities, the entire Busan was now practically my territory.
‘I guess the pain was greatly reduced thanks to this overlapping part.’
Nevertheless, a pain that was completely unbearable came rushing in.
‘If this overlapping part hadn’t existed…’
I really thought there was a chance that I might die from shock because of the pain.
‘I really have to do something about it.’
It was bitter to see the territory expanded.
‘Is it true that only 100,000 people survived in this vast area?’
Of the 230,000 survivors, 30,000 were rescued in Ulsan, meaning that there were only about 100,000 survivors in Busan.
‘Too many died.’
Since Busan’s population was around 3 million, this meant that if there were 200,000 people, the survival rate would only be around 7%.
Only a few months after the monsters appeared in the world, 93 percent of the population was killed.
‘Most of the new survivors are gathered in places where there is water.’
Nakdong River, Suyeong River, Oncheoncheon River, etc.
Months after the monster appeared, most of the survivors were still huddled near the river.
‘Things don’t look so good here either.’
Having a river right next to them solved the problem of drinking water, but food was always a problem.
After taking a quick look inside, it seems that they have been surviving by catching monsters.
They eat monsters like bluefin tuna that come up from the sea.
But this time, as my territory expanded, I was able to exterminate all the monsters in the area.
‘All of a sudden, we lost all our food.’
Fortunately, some areas near the Nakdong River were adjacent to places where monsters still remained, so they could go hunting, but even if they had obtained citizenship and hunted, all they could do was find dead bodies.
‘It’s fortunate that there is an exchange system.’
There were quite a few people who used the exchange to buy food with the money they earned from hunting monsters.
‘I need to build a store nearby and create some facilities. I also need to select some hunters…’
There seemed to be no need to bring them all the way to Seomyeon and merge them.
Since they were a group that already had their own hierarchy and rules, it was clear that if they were forcibly dragged in, there would definitely be noise.
It seemed like they could survive on their own with just some basic support.
‘If you make some instant dungeons, I’ll be able to survive on my own.’
I didn’t intend to take responsibility for everyone.
‘But we have to make them feel that it is much better to obtain citizenship.’
Now, the number of people who could be granted citizenship was gradually reaching its limit.
‘It’s level 32, and the number of citizens it can accept is only 320,000.’
More than half of them, 230,000 people, were accepted.
‘When I was at low level, the number of acceptable citizens increased significantly every time I went up 5 levels.’
Up to one hundred, one thousand, or ten thousand people per level.
The standard, which had been steadily increasing, was fixed at ten thousand people per level at some point.
‘There will come a day when we cannot grant citizenship.’
At that time, we should have been more cautious about granting citizenship.
Because people without citizenship would be forced to live outside my territory.
‘Um. But…’
There was one thing that seemed strange from earlier.
‘There are quite a few awakened people here too?’
The lower reaches of the Nakdong River, a long way from where I am.
As was the case in Ulsan before, there seemed to be a fairly high percentage of awakened people here.
‘Although there are very few people who have awakened high-grade powers, there are more people who have awakened low-grade powers than you might think.’
Is it just a coincidence that the number of awakened people was small only in Seomyeon?
‘Maybe the survival rate of the unawakened was high because I was there. Or else…’
Several hypotheses have emerged.
‘The number of Awakened ones may be small because of my presence.’
If there was a certain amount of energy that could be awakened, there was a possibility that I could have eaten all of it.
‘…My power is quite absurd.’
Those who were granted citizenship through my ability could be said to have an absurdly high average compared to ‘ordinary people’.
If you are not an Awakened, you will get nothing from hunting monsters.
However, those who have obtained citizenship gain experience points from hunting monsters and become stronger.
If your level is lower than level 15, you can raise your level just by working out at the gym.
So the average level of citizens cannot but be high.
‘In a way, you could say that all the citizens I accepted were low-level Awakened beings.’
I suddenly realized the extent of my power.
‘Oh my goodness.’
Suddenly, I remembered what Jinjo had said to me.
He portrayed me as if I wasn’t supposed to be here.
I spread my hands and unleashed my power.
Hwaruruk
The black energy surged like flames.
‘What is this?’
It was obvious that he knew a little more than I did.
‘Jinjo did not become a vampire from a human.’
I could be sure.
The system also determined that the guy was not eligible for citizenship.
It also has absurd power.
Even in a brief conversation with him.
He was fundamentally different from other vampires.
‘He’s a monster.’
It was clear that the guy was a monster from another world, like goblins and orcs.
‘Where on earth do those monsters come from?’
It was an old question.
A question that has been on my mind ever since the goblin appeared on the apartment walkway and I was unable to leave the house as my powers awakened.
‘…Huh. I don’t know. Let’s try out some new features.’
The power of the stars.
The first citizen to be given 1 star is, of course.
“It must be Moon Byung-ho.”
<[Episode 21] Maintenance (1)> End
