Thumbs Up, Level Up

«That is because you have obtained the Divine Alkahestry and Alchemy, Master. And besides, that is not the only surprise I have for you.»

‘What else is there?’

«The sale of potions that are mainly used in dungeons, such as healing potions and detoxification potions, are also skyrocketing. Domestic sales are slow due to shady deals between government officials and businesses, but the Philippines and China are buying them in huge quantities.»

‘In China?’

«Yes, Master.»

‘I thought they blocked our imports.’

«This information is not yet known outside of the United States, but a few Dungeon Breaks occurred in northern China three days ago, and they have been buying up all of your potions. This information was confirmed today, Master»

‘Confirmed by your hacking skills?’

«Yes, Master.»

‘Hm… So what happened to northern China? And even if you say north, their northern part is Inner Mongolia, which is one of the Chinese autonomous regions.’

«Technically, the Dungeon Break happened between the Hebei province and Inner Mongolia. Because of media control, even people inside China do not know about this.»

‘Hebei province…that’s where Beijing is, right?’

«Yes, Master. That is where their capital city is[1].»

‘And are the monsters advancing southward? If that’s the case… If they reach Beijing…’

«They are blocking them with everything they have, Master. But… they do not know what to do with the dungeons. There are currently two five-star dungeons and four four-star dungeons, unleashing a ton of monsters.»

‘That’s crazy. Speaking of which… Half of Inner Mongolia has undergone Manaforming, right?’

«Yes, Master. And the Mongols are some of the strongest Hunters in the world.»

In the early days after the Dungeon Gate Incident happened out of nowhere, weaker nations, with weaker state control, fell one after the other.

Africa was almost entirely wiped out by the monsters that popped out of the dungeons, leaving the whole continent abandoned and Manaformed.

China managed to hold on because of its strong state control, but the damage was so severe that only 600 million of its citizens remained—less than half of the 1.4 billion population that it had boasted before the Monster Wave.

Unsurprisingly, as a result, some of the areas were subjected to Manaforming. Because of that, China had been at war with the monsters living within the country for a good while.

Later on, China adapted and rebuilt itself, but those who remembered the pre-Gate era knew all too well that the post-Gate China was by far not as powerful.

And right now, Ji-Cheok had just received news of a looming danger to their capital city.

‘If the city gets breached… How many people currently reside in Beijing?’

«There are over 20 million people. The entire population of Hebei is around 74.7 million. If that perimeter is breached…»

‘Then half of those almost 100 million people would be killed[2], and the other half would become refugees. And it’s the administrative capital of the country, so the moment it gets hit…’

«…There is going to be an economic meltdown in China.»

‘Goddamn it. So this is why Ji-Han wanted me to kill the worshippers.’

«I think so too, Master. And Jungjin is doing business with China in dollars, because the situation there is dire. Ji-Han is making sure that in the worst-case scenario, namely, Beijing collapsing, there will not be problems on our side.»

‘Wow, he planned that far ahead…’

—Yes. In order to continue human civilization, and for humanity to survive… in my plan, about seven hundred million people will survive to form nations, maintain civilization, and evolve and develop.

Ji-Cheok thought about what Ji-Han had told him.

‘Did he think the world would be like this, and that seven hundred million was a number that could somehow be saved?’

Rather than making sure that humanity survived the cataclysm, Ji-Cheok thought that it was a much better idea to avoid reaching that point in the first place. He had to think of something.

‘We need more potions. Way more…’

«One moment, Master.»

Cheok-Liang scanned the list of skills for a moment.

[Master of All Metals — 200,000,000 Likes]

[Class: Infinity (Non-Upgradable)

A portion of the power of a being who is said to have mastered all metals.

This being does not have any luck in their love life but has the power of a God who enjoys inventing and working with all the metals in the world.

Decreased luck in the user’s love life.

Function: 500% increase in production of all types of products.

Function: Increases the quality rating of all kinds of products by one level.

Function: 200% increase in the functionality of mechanized items and summoned beings.]

‘What an overpowered skill.’

The skill cost 200 million Likes, and he just so happened to have recovered 220 million likes after buying all the alchemy skills.

«With this skill, you will be able to produce enough potions to supply the entire world, Master.»

‘Good. With this, I think I can save humanity in future wars. Let’s go!’

“Purchase it!”

Flash!

The power of the God [Inventor_that_handles_all_metals] seeped into him. It was a non-upgradable skill by nature, but since he was a God, he was able to learn more about the skill than the System explanation said. Not only that, but the skill even evolved a little bit when he learned it.

Ji-Cheok could feel his summoned potion-making machines changing.

“If China needs help, I will give it to them. But not for free.”

«Of course, Master.»

“You haven’t heard from Ji-Han, have you? I heard he was traveling with Reable.”

«No, Master.»

“Then we shall move on our own.”

‘Okay now, let’s get started. Initiate Operation Dungeon Destruction.’

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Ji-Cheok was inside the very unpopular dungeon named the [Land of Walking Boulders]. He had not been here in a long time, and he turned on his livestream right away.

“Hello! Umji~ Gumji! It’s been a while since my last livestream, right? Say hello to the viewers, Cheok-Liang!”

He lifted Cheok-Liang’s front paws and gave them a cute greeting, and the chat exploded. The number of people watching him was growing at an incredible rate!

-Umji!!!

-The God Slayer!!

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

It had been a while since he had gone live. Understandably, the chat was chaotic.

‘That makes sense. I’ve been off the air for a good while since we destroyed the dungeon in the Philippines.’

-The Likes Potions are fucking amazing! Thank you Umji~

↳Don’t say things like fucking…

↳Who is this killjoy?

-The Likes Potions are really good. I keep some at home for emergencies.

↳You too? Me too!

↳Stop using old memes, my guy.

-Hey that dungeon! That’s the place!

↳Where is that?

↳That place, you know? Where Ji-Cheok used some kind of Bluetooth skill.

↳Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?

-That’s the [Land of Walking Boulders]. It seems like just yesterday when Ji-Cheok was fighting there.

“Yes, that’s right, everyone! This is the [Land of Walking Boulders], and I used to hunt here. Today, I am here to show you something new!”

-What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it?

-Stop copying and pasting. stop copying and pasting. stop copying and pasting. stop copying and pasting.

-I might pass out! Please tell us now!

“I am here to show you this. Ta-dah, a clone skill!”

-Clone? Skill?

-Huh? A clone skill all of a sudden?

-What kind of sh—shit, look, it really works!

A clone of Ji-Cheok appeared beside him—the product of the fusion between an amazing clone skill and an equally amazing avatar summoning skill. Apart from being somewhat weaker, it was practically identical to the main body!

“Are you guys surprised?”

“Are you guys surprised?”

They both spoke in the same posture and at the same time. However, the clone didn’t have Cheok-Liang by its side.

-Wow… Am I seeing this correctly?

-Isn’t that fake? Like some kind of illusion skill.

“No way~ This is my actual clone, and I am showing it to you because… Watch!”

While Ji-Cheok, the main body, was livestreaming, his clone sprinted like lightning. In a split second, the giant Rock Golem that was approaching him exploded into pieces.

Boom!

The explosion in the background did not disturb Ji-Cheok in the slightest.

-Holy shit… That’s a real clone!

-I thought clone skills didn’t even exist.

-It is rare, but there are clone skills. There are a few videos on GodTube that show clone skills, but they were never this strong.

“Now that I showed you this, I am going to show you another thing!”

It was time for him to pull out the thing he had been working on.

‘I am going to do the Zero Two dance!”

-Are you crazy? He’s insane!

-Ji-Cheok, who has defeated a God, is doing the Zero Two dance while his clone is slaughtering monsters!

↳Chaos! Destruction! Oblivion![3]

↳Don’t say that, you lunatic!

-I feel so dizzy! I feel so dizzy! I feel so dizzy! I feel so dizzy! I feel so dizzy!

The number of Likes was going up at an incredible rate! The number of viewers quickly exceeded three million, even though it was a live stream.

‘This is amazing! I’m famous on a global scale!

While Ji-Cheok was dancing with excitement, a Boss monster appeared, as his clone had killed all the Golems.

Thud.

The remains of the destroyed Golems around him converged to a single point, forming an even bigger Rock Golem.

Of course, Ji-Cheok’s clone defeated that one also.

“Rising Dragon!”

Ji-Cheok’s clone used the Augmented Sword Qi to activate a new technique: Rising Dragon. The boss monster was cut in half in one slash!

Cheers erupted from the chat.

“The boss monster has been defeated! And the All-Clear Portal has been opened… but like I said, today we are going to do dungeon destruction!”

Ji-Cheok controlled his clone and used his Qi Sense through it. His Qi spread out.

Since Qi was intangible energy, it was supposed to be invisible, but for the sake of his live stream, he was actually taking an extra step and adding a bit of color to it.

As a result, people could see the energy spread by his clone, like a fog pervading the surroundings. It spread thickly in all directions, and Ji-Cheok caught a strong reaction at a certain point.

Boom!

The clone used Wind Palm! With an explosion, a Golem made entirely of diamond appeared in front of them.

“My clone can handle everything on its own, from defeating dungeon bosses to finding dungeon Cores. You all know that if you break the dungeon Core, the whole thing will be destroyed, right?”

-I had no idea!

-My man Ji-Cheok’s just giving away his secrets!

↳He’s the man!

↳22222

-So how do you destroy a Core?

↳I saw on the Internet that you need to have an ability called Absolute Destruction. And Umji already has that.

“Some of you know, and some of you don’t. And if you don’t, I guess you can look it up on Giggle! I would love to explain it to you, but I don’t have time right now.”

His clone was duking it out with the Dungeon Core, using Ji-Cheok’s cultivation and shadow skills as well as his Soul Telekinesis.

The Core’s body was extremely difficult to break, and in this particular case, it was not just because it had the Indestructible attribute. The Core of this dungeon had no other abilities other than sheer hardness, but it sure had plenty of that. Ji-Cheok even thought it was unfair that his Augment Qi could only barely scratch the Core.

Boom! Boom!

Even though the fight was still going on behind him, Ji-Cheok was having a casual conversation with his viewers.

Normally, he only did this for his breakfast cooking stream or his other mukbang streams, but he was intentionally showing that he was able to stay on the side and relax even in the middle of a battle.

It was a win-win situation—he was getting more viewers and he could also test his clone’s power at the same time.

Eventually, his clone succeeded in smashing the Diamond Golem, which was the dungeon Core, to pieces.

Crack.

The dungeon started to collapse. The fragmented dimension shattered and both Ji-Cheok and his clone were instantly transported back to Earth.

«The test has been successfully completed, Master. Currently, you can operate two of your clones simultaneously. And since you have begun to make astronomical amounts of money, with proper armament assigned to your clones, they should be able to wipe out dungeons that are meant for level 50-60 Hunters.»

1. The cities of Beijing and Tianjin are surrounded by the Hebei Province, but they are not included in it administratively. ☜

2. As explained above, the population of Beijing is counted separately from that of Hebei, even though it is geographically located within the borders of Hebei. They have about 98 million people combined. ☜

3. This is a rather boring meme with a very long and tedious story behind it. ☜