Chapter 1954
Chapter 1954
Chairman Lim Cheolho’s desperate threat made the skinny old man smile.
“In other words, you will cooperate with us if we give you a convincing reason?”
“It won’t be easy to convince me.”
Chairman Lim didn’t hide the incident from the company. He admitted to some team and key members that he didn’t know anything. He was planning to mobilize everyone in the company in order to prevent the update from rolling out.
However, it turned out that the update would be released in ten days. Finding the people behind this incident and preventing the update was practically impossible given the short amount of time he was working with.
How could he find people who had been missing for years in just ten days? Even more, this group had quickly taken over the S.A. Group’s network and easily gained access to their communication.
Chairman Lim Cheolho was nervous. Originally, in the worst case scenario, he was prepared to shut down the entire Satisfy server. However, given this group’s abilities, he didn’t think he would be able to do that after all.
The old man’s smile got wider when he saw the conflicting emotions on Chairman Lim’s face.
“As expected, you are clever. That is why we chose you.”
“I made the choice. I was the one who identified what you were capable of when you were scattered around the world and got you involved in this project.”
“Haha. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t only revolve around you. Was it really a coincidence that the manpower you desperately needed just so happened to be on your radar exactly when you required it?”
“Are you saying that you intentionally approached me from the very beginning? Now that things have turned out like this, that seems plausible.”
Chairman Lim Cheolho smiled bitterly as he recalled visiting the scientists in different countries decades ago. His anger flared up at the thought that he had been played like a pawn from the very beginning. However, he managed to calm down. These guys weren’t opponents who should be confronted without a plan. He had to reach a consensus with them.
“Tell me why. Why are people like you so obsessed with meddling in a mere game?”
“A mere game. That is a radical statement. Isn’t Satisfy a utopia to you? By now, your family should be living happily in that utopia of yours.”
Chairman Lim Cheolho’s expression darkened the moment the topic of his family was brought up.
“Oh, right, information about your family is confidential. I’m sorry to have offended you. I just wanted to tell you that Satisfy is important to us as well.”
The old man apologized and got to the main point.
“Do you believe that virtual reality, which provides people with the same five senses as reality, was created purely through the power of science? If you are smart, you have probably had your suspicions for quite some time. A congenitally blind person can see colors and objects in Satisfy. A person who fell into a coma through an accident could manifest their consciousness to the fullest in Satisfy… How could this power be obtained only through science?”
The old man was still taunting Chairman Lim Cheolho. A person who was born blind or fell into a coma because of an accident… The chairman’s family was a perfect example. The old man’s unique way of speaking made Lim Cheolho hyper-focused on what was being said.
The chairman barely suppressed his anger, though he knew that the old man always had such a temperament. He remembered something. The thirty-three scientists who used to solve the issues that he could never solve at critical moments… Their contribution and Lim Cheolho’s had come together to create Satisfy.
He had been skeptical of them for a long time. He suspected they weren’t just geniuses who were much smarter than him. They potentially walked the path of apostles rather than the path of scientists.
The whole situation was so surreal that he tried to ignore this thought. Ever since the completion of Satisfy, he had been living a dreamy life. Because of this, his doubts and fears were now diluted…
“Satisfy is a priceless treasure. You are a great scientist who has contributed transcendent knowledge and theories to an immense treasure. Of course, Satisfy wasn’t that great right after it was completed. However, it was used and refined by billions of people and rose to the 95th place among great treasures. It is among the top three acquired treasures that humanity remembers.”
“…What the hell are you saying?”
“Let’s talk a bit about the asteroid approaching Earth, shall we?”
A long conversation began.
Then Chairman Lim Cheolho gave an announcement to the company that he would proceed with the update without any problems three days later.
Rumors that this update had been made with the intervention of people other than Lim Cheolho didn’t spread at all, surprisingly. The employees’ loyalty to the company exceeded his expectations, although he knew that they knew the truth.
A few days later, the news that thirty-three scientists had been reinstated in the S.A. Group caused quite a stir in the industry.
***
“Umm…?”
Ke ong had been working on building the second capital on the Tomb of the Gods, and he was being exploited every day. As a dwarf, he was passionate and found great satisfaction in the endless stream of work. However, because of his physical limitations, he eventually took a few days off and returned to Reinhardt.
Coming back, he was surprised at what he was seeing. The Overgeared Palace had changed greatly!
“W-What is this…? Is there an architect better than me in the world?!”
The changes to the Overgeared Palace were minor. There was no sign of any new material additions or alterations. Still, Ke ong immediately noticed that the tens of thousands of bricks were more tightly bound than before. Every white brick was engraved with drawings of animals and natural scenery. It was as if he was looking at living and breathing nature itself. In fact, the air around the palace felt particularly fresh and full of the scent of flowers.
“Ahh, this is so refreshing…”
Ke ong’s tired body and mind recovered in an instant. He went back the way he came without stopping at his residence in the palace. There was no need to rest anymore, so he put a stop to his vacation.
These amazing changes were happening all over Reinhardt. Major facilities such as the magic tower, the sword tower, the temples, the academy, and the barracks were in a much better state than before, and had a beautiful and mysterious aura around them. This was because of Grid’s interventions.
Grid was amazed as he inspected the researched buildings.
‘The end result is amazing.’
The magic tower and sword tower gave off pure magic power and sword energy, helping magicians and swordsmen in their training. The blessing effect of the temple was nearly doubled, and the academy and barracks increased their training effect, even though there were individual differences depending on the student or soldier.
He had chosen those buildings as research targets out of simple curiosity. The results turned out to be better than what he’d expected.
Grid smiled cheerfully and returned to the smithy, which had also evolved. His production speed was slightly increased, and the probability of making higher rated items had also increased a few times. However, the biggest buff of all was that the probability of the crafting failure was greatly reduced.
Originally, Grid’s ability meant that the chances of failure were close to zero. This had changed when he tried the body manufacturing method. The probability of success of body manufacturing was extremely low. Additionally, if production failed, the Greed which had been used as material would be permanently destroyed.
It was already a shame considering the Greed he had accumulated so far was piled up like a mountain. If Greed had been a typical expensive material that was hard to find, creating a body in that case would have been a real pain.
‘I’ve gotten some fresh air, so let’s try again.’
Grid turned up the heat of the furnace and pulled out 87 kilograms of Greed from his inventory. He had hung dozens of almost naked portraits of himself on the wall and couldn’t think clearly for a moment. The portrait showed the real Grid from head to toe. His face flushed as he remembered the immense embarrassment he felt as he’d struck all types of poses in front of Picasso in only a pair of underwear.
‘Why can’t I use screenshots as production materials?’
Satisfy’s realism was too poisonous at times.
Grid sighed and changed strange spells. Divine words with various colors flowed out of his mouth and seeped into the black-gold metal.
He encountered his first obstacle not long after. The process of combining divine words was complicated and confused Grid. The divine words that permeated Greed expanded and were regurgitated. The material shook like it was going to break every time the words fluctuated violently.
Grid narrowed his eyes and increased his chanting speed while sweating.
The first time he’d tried making a body, he’d failed several times. The Greed had turned to ashes and disappeared. Still, it was thanks to those failures that Grid knew what to do now. The divine words soon stabilized. The ones that gushed out permeated Greed again. Over time, the material emitted a mysterious glow. At first glance, it looked like the material changed its color to jade white, and then to what looked like his skin color.
‘Now!’
Grid’s eyes lit up and Greed was thrown into the furnace. He carefully used the bellows while taking out a new hammer he had just made. The tool was specially created for the body manufacturing process. It was made out of Greed, a magical inscription written in divine words swirled at the tip, and a magic circle like starlight spun around the tool.
Ttang!
The moment the Greed in the furnace absorbed the heat and was divided into exactly eight equal parts, Grid changed the divine words and transferred the material to the anvil for tempering.
After making four thick, elongated sticks, he made a pair of hands that he could now make with his eyes closed. Next, he crafted feet and attached them to the sticks. He blew divine words into them and threw them into the furnace.
The God Hands on stand-by eagerly started the bellows. This was one of the shortcuts that Judar had told him about.
In the meantime, Grid forged the torso and the head.
Ttang! Ttang! Ttang!
Two large lumps of Greed started to resemble the Grid from the portrait.
Grid released divine words again. He tempered the lumps of Greed and tossed them into the furnace. Meanwhile, the God Hands placed a pair of hot arms and legs on the anvil.
After checking their state, Grid took a deep breath and pulled out a black-gold chisel. With the help of Braham and Euphemina, he carved fifty-eight magic circles.
‘Let’s get this started.’
The tense Grid started carving. He carved the arms and legs with the chisel so that even the smallest muscles and blood vessels resembled the ones Grid had in the portrait. He was chanting spells non-stop. The fifty-eight magic circles emitted a different glow, brightening and fading repeatedly.
It took him at least twenty hours of immense concentration. The heat of the furnace and the beads of sweat dripping into his eyes clouded his vision, but Grid didn’t lose his concentration for even a second. Since he was a former blacksmith, standing and working in front of flames for days was familiar to him.
“…Finally!”
It was now morning. He could hear the chirping of birds flying through the air of Overgeared.
Grid finally carved out a perfect pair of arms and legs. If he compared them, they were exactly the same as his actual limbs. Even the color resembled his actual skin color. Almost as if he had used real human skin.
Grid felt a certain sense of unity with this creation, as if he now had four arms and legs.
“Noe, Randy!”
Grid confirmed that the head and torso in the furnace were smelted safely and called the ones who were sleeping outside the smithy.
“Don’t play instead of training. Especially you, Randy. You might be using my body in the future, so you need to push your skills to the maximum.”
“I trained all night and fell asleep…”
Randy nodded excitedly while Noe complained a lot. Grid glared at him, and he returned to the yard with the tail between its legs. He started to fight the hundreds of God Hands floating in the air like a cat chasing foxtail. It didn’t take long for Noe to become frustrated and hide in a corner, but he was dragged out by Randy, screaming and kicking his legs.
Nyangmong happened to see everything unfold while visiting the palace to supply milk, so he called for Noe to come to him.
“This is milk from a mutant minotaur that was born at our ranch. If animals drink this, they feel refreshed, and their bones get stronger. Why don’t you try a little?”
“Kyaak! This rancher! How dare you treat Noe, the number one demonic creature of hell, like an animal… Oof! Gulp, gulp! Kyaak…”
Noe, who felt strength return to his body, was forced to keep training. After this incident, Nyangmong regularly visited him, and Noe’s training time increased every time.
Noe was confused. He couldn’t tell if this person was on his side or not. Then, one day, a small noise rang out in Grid’s smithy. The flames in the furnace flashed a mysterious silver color and turned into strange letters.
Tens of thousands of meaningless letters permeated safely into the head and torso in the flames. Grid cheered and returned to work with a bright expression.
At the same time, the S.A. Group made a big announcement about the update. The world was shocked upon hearing the news about the game’s very first update. The scheduled date for the update was Thursday, four days later.
People were surprised that an update would happen without any warning whatsoever. Reactions were mixed. Many news channels from all over the world covered the issue.
It turned out that the vast majority of people were enthusiastic about the update.