Thumbs Up, Level Up

“How far along is Team Beta now?”

“They have all passed level 100 without ease, and thanks to the elixir that you have created, I would say their power is at least level 120.”

“What about the other teams?”

There were other teams below Team Beta, such as Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, and so on.

Currently, the number of hunting teams under Jungjin was twelve, as Ji-Cheok recalled. Most large organizations had hunting teams in the dozens, so Jungjin’s teams were considered elite teams rather than a big army.

‘But this is not enough. We need more.’

Their enemies were already part of the high society. He did not know how many of them were eligible for Ascension, but he assumed that half of them probably were.

He had read somewhere that big business executives were most likely psychopaths. They did not see people as human beings, and they would sacrifice anyone anytime for the sake of power and money. And in light of recent events…this claim clearly had some truth to it.

Pharmaceutical companies turned a blind eye to the cries of people who were dying because they could not afford their medicines in order to make huge profits. Gun companies did not care if society was in chaos and their guns were killing people, they still lobbied government officials to sell their products.

Of course, the world did not always go their way. The public eye and democracy kept them on a leash, long though it was. In other words, a delicate balance was maintained.

When the world became increasingly dangerous, however, that balance was tipped. That was what had happened in Malaga, Spain.

And then there was the Cyclops Dungeon Break, which was an entirely extraterrestrial threat. Of course, by this point, Ji-Cheok’s dimensional barrier generator already covered about seventy percent of the land, which added a layer of security against such threats.

“I thought I told you to give the elixirs to the bottom teams too.”

“Of course I did, but the other teams are just high-potential rookie Hunters to begin with, and not many of them have even been into real dungeons yet. The average level of the highest-level team apart from the current Team Alpha and Beta is 82.”

She paused for a moment.

“One elixir offers them 1.5 Gapja worth of Qi power, which can get the Hunters to a safe power level. That amount of cultivation is more or less equivalent to reaching level 100, but that is it. It’s hard to get stronger any faster than that. Don’t you realize that there are very few Hunters like you who can get stronger at such a rapid rate?”

‘Of course, I know this. How can I not know that?’

Ji-Cheok muttered to himself for a moment, then replied, “I know. But that’s still too slow.”

They were outnumbered and out-resourced by the enemy. Time was not always on his side. Plus, he was worried about what they were planning in Antarctica.

“Director Um, I know your production part is growing incredibly fast, but people can’t grow that fast.”

“No, you’re wrong. There is a way.”

Ji-Cheok had not just walked into this office and asked for this meeting without any plan in his mind.

Her eyebrow twitched at his words.

“Please explain. I’m sure you’re not just here to mock me or ruin my career, right? You must have a legitimate reason.”

“First of all, the elixir can be produced ten thousand times faster than the current rate. Second, cultivation can be taught, and people can be Awakened.”

“Hm…”

“As long as they don’t get Cultivation Deviation, they should be able to get around half Gapja of Qi power per person. And… assuming maximum elixir production, I should be able to turn at least ten thousand people into Awakened per month.”

“You said ten thousand times more?”

“Yes. Ten thousand times. Actually, I can make even more, but I’m using my production power on something else, so this is the best I can do.”

“Wow! A cultivator with half Gapja of Qi power will have more or less the same strength as a normal level 50 Hunter. And you can turn ten thousand people a month into Awakened?”

She was right. Even if they started at level 1, if they had half Gapja of Qi power, they would at least have the physicality and combat abilities of level 50 Hunters. Without any real-world experience, survivability was certainly a question; however, the fact that he could mass produce level 50 Hunters was still amazing.

With that said, the talk was about cultivators, but Ji-Cheok was thinking of Awakening a different kind of Hunters. He was planning on mass-producing Wizards.

‘How would I do this? The same way I’ve been doing for a while!’

Cultivators would be mostly melee fighters, while the Wizards would be ranged fighters. Not only did it put them outside of the danger zone, but it made it easier for them to do things like combination spells, which fused magic spells into one attack.

‘Alright, let’s make one million Wizards! I’m going to pump my mana into as many Wizards as I can get my hands on to prepare for what’s to come!’

“But even then, we still don’t have enough people in our company to do that.”

“I know, so I have an idea, and I’d like to ask you to consider it and move forward with it.”

“What’s the plan?”

“First, I would like you to start strengthening our teams more seriously. Second, I am thinking of building a Hunter Awakening School.”

“Ah, I see. I now understand where you’re getting at. Since we can make ordinary people into Awakened, if we build a school and expand it into a big business…and even teach post-Awakening combat training…we can make a lot of money. Yeah, that would make a lot of money….”

Her eyes gleamed suspiciously. Clearly, she had caught the scent of big, big bucks.

A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.

“Actually, it’s very important to help people Awaken, so I want to make it as cheap as possible.”

Her dreamy eyes regained focus and narrowed at his words.

“Is there a reason?”

“Yes, because the world is about to end.”

She looked at him like he was crazy.

‘Sigh… I guess it’s time to let her know.’

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“It’s a little tight trying to do this without Cheok-Liang…”

Ji-Cheok missed his all-around advisor. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do, as the little fox was busy directing operations in the deep sea.

“Let’s see…”

Ji-Cheok was searching the Likes Shop.

He had been using the search function to find blueprints for various skills and Artifacts, or things that could only be made by other Gods, and he had found a number of things that he thought would be helpful.

[Beginner’s Talent Blossoming Staff by [Creator_of_magic] — 10,000,000 Likes]

[Class: S

A staff forged by the God [Creator_of_magic] that allows a Wizard's talent to blossom.

When powered by mana, the staff grants the Wizard talent to individuals within a certain area.

The level of talent varies depending on the individual’s natural potential.

It is an item crafted by God [Creator_of_magic]. Only 10 can be made per year.*

*100 pieces remain in stock. No longer produced.]

It was an S-Class staff that could be purchased for a whopping ten million Likes. The [Creator_of_magic] was quite a famous God, and there were many Wizards on Earth who worshiped them after becoming a Wizard by being chosen by the God or taking up the job of wizardry.

That was why this item also existed in the Hunter Store.

‘I heard it costs one hundred million Hunter Points in that store. That’s ten times the amount of Likes! I don’t know if this is the right price or not…’

In any case, amazing though this item was, none of the Wizards had ever bought it. The Wizards who had enough Points to buy it in the first place already had superpowers, and one hundred million Hunter Points could buy them a divine skill, power, or a Relic. For example, the Book of [Creator_of_magic] cost the same Hunter Points as the Beginner’s Talent Blossoming Staff.

[Book of [Creator_of_magic]]

[Class: S

A Relic bestowed by the God [Creator_of_magic].

This book, infused with the power of the God of Magic, allows the owner to use their spell once more without expending any mana.]

It was indeed an overpowered item! The owner of this item could cast the same spell one more time, without using any of their mana! Ji-Cheok’s Double Strike ability was also overpowered, but that ability was achieved by acquiring a combination of skills. There were no other skills or items that could allow Hunters to use their skills in a buy-one-get-one style.

This just went to show how great this item was. And this cost the same as the Talent Blossoming Staff!

‘No wonder every Wizard prefers getting the Book instead of the Staff.’

Of course the world was a big place with many kinds of people, such as geeks and researchers, so there could be people who bought one to use it for research. But Ji-Cheok’s Divine Intuition told him that no human being had bought it.

This would stay true in the future—technically, Ji-Cheok was no ordinary human being either.

The staff was ten million Likes a pop. Ten of them would be one hundred million, and a hundred of them would cost him one billion.

‘Eh, this works. Let’s go!’

[You have purchased 100 [Beginner’s Talent Blossoming Staff of [Creator_of_magic]].]

[The [Creator_of_magic] is interested in you.]

[The [Creator_of_magic] looks at you in awe.]

[The [Creator_of_magic] thanks you for your purchase!]

[The [Creator_of_magic] has sent you a gift.]

‘Hm… I guess the God is happy that they got rid of the Staves that weren’t selling well. The item was selling so poorly that they had one hundred of them in stock and even decided not to make it anymore.’

[You have acquired the [Fundamentals of Magic].]

[Fundamentals of Magic]

[Class: Eternity

The [Creator_of_magic] insists that the foundations of magic are important and must be known. Since they are the originator of magic, no one has ever challenged them on this claim.

Function: Increased efficiency for all magic spells by 15%.

Function: Increased resistance to all magic spells by 15%.

Function: Increased the rank of all magic spells by 1 level.

Function: Increased proficiency in all magic spells by 100%.]

‘Holy shit. I can’t believe they gave me this as a gift. It’s like getting cheat notes from a very knowledgeable teacher!’

“Thank you!”

[The [GodTube_superstar] says thank you.]

[The [Creator_of_magic] sent a message.]

[[Creator_of_magic]: If you need any magic-based items or powers, I also accept requests. I think we can be good friends in the future.]

‘Is this dude poor or something..? If they are called the creator of magic, they should be on the same level as the God of War… Something… something feels different. I can smell the scent of desperation coming off of them. Well, that’s none of my business.’

He replied appropriately and looked at the stack of staves in front of him. Moving his shadow, he slipped them all into his Shadow Pouch, leaving one behind.

He needed to modify it, increase its power, and force as many people as he could to blossom into Wizards.

‘For that to happen, I need this!’

[☆★◇◆ Scrooge's Alchemy ◇◆☆★]

[Class: Unique (Upgradable, Rank A+)

Penny @Pinchers! ▶ The Alchemy of the Incarnation, Kim Scrooge’s Vision.

Ingredients are cheap and the production scale is huge!

You too can be rich! Low investment ▧ High value◆ Opportunity to spend!]

It was time to upgrade this unorthodox Alchemy skill. The skill had increased to A+ despite Ji-Cheok not investing any Likes because he had used it so many times he couldn’t even count them.

‘Here we go! Likes in!’

[The rank of [☆★◇◆ Scrooge's Alchemy ◇◆☆★] has been increased.]

[The rank of [☆★◇◆ Scrooge's Alchemy ◇◆☆★] has been increased.]

[The rank of [☆★◇◆ Scrooge's Alchemy ◇◆☆★] has been increased.]

[The skill rating of [☆★◇◆ Scrooge's Alchemy ◇◆☆★] has been increased.]

[The rank of [☆★◇◆ Scrooge's Alchemy ◇◆☆★] has been increased.]

[The rank of [☆★◇◆ Scrooge's Alchemy ◇◆☆★] will no longer increase.]

[The [Scrooge]’s ban has been lifted.]