Chapter 92: Alright, fall for me (1)
Chapter 92: Alright, fall for me (1)
Translator: miraclerifle
[Talent for Plunder, Seo Ju-Heon (~22 y/o)]
[Number of artifacts in possession: 50]
Pandora members who saw that were astonished. His talent for plunder was one thing, but the number of artifacts in possession!
“My goodness, 50?!”
“Furthermore, please look at the detailed data. That number is the amount he has on him.”
This was an unbelievable amount.
It wasn't as if Pandora had been sitting around sucking their thumbs all this time; they had quickly started to move from the moments artifacts first appeared.
Chairman Kwon who had 21 artifacts was proof of one of the people who had started to move early on. Furthermore, Chairman Kwon only moved in cooperation with Pandora, which meant that he had not collected all 21 on his own.
However!
“50 artifacts alone?”
“Who the f*ck is this bastard?!”
The Pandora members were shocked. The detailed data didn't show anything that said Ju-Heon was a talented excavator no matter how many times they looked.
“That is why this data makes no sense!”
“We need to deploy thousands of Pandora soldiers to maybe come back with ten of them.”
“Did he maybe form an excavation team with the Holtens?”
“Are you joking? Excavation teams have a few hundred people at minimum. General Keira would have crushed them if she noticed such a large movement!”
“Ah, if his talent is in plunder, maybe he stole them from others......”
That made Pandora’s members sulk even more. They were afraid that they might end up getting their artifacts stolen.
“A, anyway, please keep the information about the seven tombs a secret from the press. We cannot allow anybody else to take them.”
“Pandora and its partner nations must take them all.”
“We can’t let the others on this list find out, but...... We must absolutely make sure this Seo Ju-Heon doesn’t get any information about it at all.”
They nodded their heads.
However, their cautious actions would end up being useless.
Why?
[There are sudden tombs that have appeared throughout the world. Thankfully, they are small tombs but a total of 1,690 tombs have appeared......]
“What the hell? That’s the precursor to the 7 Great Tombs.”
It was because the person they were worried about had already realized what was going on. Ju-Heon looked at the map that popped up on the news and started to squint.
‘Is it time for those things to slowly pop up?’
However, Irene tilted her head in confusion at Ju-Heon who was smiling while watching the news.
“Mr. Ju-Heon?”
They were currently in the New York penthouse. She was currently being taught by Ju-Heon.
Yoo Jaeha who was also getting taught about artifact usage with Irene asked a question.
“What do you mean by 7 Great Tombs?
Captain-nim, is something weird coming out again?”
Ju-Heon pointed to the map on the news instead of responding. The locations of the tombs were visible on there and they were connected like a round ring.
“That’s called the Ring of Tomb.”
“Ring of Tomb?”
It seemed to be similar to how they called the earthquake region in the west the Ring of Fire. And the large tombs would appear in the locations within the ring that had the strongest aura.
There would end up being a total of seven of these tombs.
That was one of the reasons they were called the 7 Great Tombs, but the artifacts inside played a role as well.
It was because the 7 Great Tombs had characteristics of the Bible’s Seven Deadly Sins (Avarice, Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, Lust).
“Basically, seven large tombs will appear in the future. Each of them will have an artifact corresponding to a deadly sin. The order is random. But based on the type, they can be extremely precious tombs that could change the world.”
Most of the people who conquered those tombs ended up solidifying their positions as majesties. That was the strength of these artifacts.
‘Well, they originally showed up a few years later.’
The events of the future were being pulled forward a couple years in advance. Maybe it was the risk for his return. It was as if it was slowly tightening its grasp on him.
But Ju-Heon just found it ridiculous.
He might need to rush the preparations, but it was more advantageous for him if the future events occurred earlier.
Why?
‘It’s obvious there are less competitors now than in a few years.’
It was as if it was trying to help him.
Furthermore, the 7 Great Tombs were special to Ju-Heon. One of these tombs was where the past Ju-Heon earned the Archaeologist's Artifact and became an < Excavator >.
‘I remember it was the Tomb of Avarice.’
It had been greed for historical knowledge.
That was the reasoning behind how that possession-type artifact came to be.
However, Ju-Heon got a headache thinking about the past.
There was a simple reason for it.
‘Everything was great about that artifact except the retarded risk.’
That Archaeologist's Artifact's risk was related to written text addiction, viewing addiction, knowledge gathering addiction, basically, it made him addicted to research.
It was normal for people to be extremely tired after barely making it out alive from a tomb.
But this damn artifact wouldn't even let him sleep, forcing him to go to libraries, museums, and art galleries throughout the world to shove historical and artistic knowledge into his brain.
Not only that... There was a time when the risk struck him while he was about to do the deed with a woman he liked in France.
He could not forget that terrible memory of how he suddenly ran toward the Louvre telling her, ‘I suddenly want to see the Mona Lisa for a moment.’
That woman probably looked at him as if he was crazy as well.
‘Forget being my partner-artifact, I wanted to destroy that shit during those times.’
The Tomb raiding team members laughed at him so much about that.
‘Especially this bastard Yoo Jaeha.’
Ju-Heon started to grind his teeth thinking about that.
Maybe that was the reason. Ju-Heon said the following to Yoo Jaeha who was in front of him.
“Number 1. Finish restoring all artifacts by the end of the day.”
Yoo Jaeha foamed at the mouth hearing that completely unbelievable order.
"Excuse me?! What do you mean? You said you'll give me a week because I've suffered a lot lately!”
“Who cares. I'll kill you if you can’t do it. Get it done.”
“Damn it!”
He was half-joking, but Yoo Jaeha who suddenly had to pull an all-nighter started to sniffle.
Anyway, Ju-Heon had such shitty risk in the past but it didn't matter now.
He had this Tomb Raider skill he got from the Crow instead of the Archaeologist's Artifact. Either way, the Tomb of Avarice was the most difficult of the seven tombs to clear and had not been conquered for many years.
That was why Ju-Heon ended up gaining that artifact late in the game at 27 years old when he put his life on the line and went inside.
‘But the 7 Great Tombs...’
Wait a minute...
‘Then is the Archaeologist's Artifact coming out in the Tomb of Avarice again?’
Would the artifacts in the other tombs be the same as well even though they were random?
As Ju-Heon was thinking about that...
“Those don’t seem to be regular sized tombs. Hyung-nim, will you be able to go in there alone?”
Oh Seung Woo, the farmer who now had to take care of the Herb of Eternal Youth and grow tea leaves, had asked the question. Ju-Heon started to laugh as if that helped him realize something.
‘Right, it's a waste of time thinking about the Tomb of Avarice right now.’
Forget the Tomb of Avarice... It might be difficult to even clear the rest of the 7 Great Tombs as well. They were very particular.
‘The chances of survival are too low on my own.’
They were level 4, Disaster-Grade tombs. He would need at least one guide member and one or more battle members.
He needed people to support him when he was busy. He needed people who could be like his fingers.
Yoo Jaeha was a necessary member because he was a precious restorer but he was like a eunuch when it came to battles. His skills were far from Tomb Excavation.
It might seem funny that he was looking for a few people when others took hundreds of people to excavate tombs, but that was enough for Ju-Heon.
If it was his subordinates...
‘But I have no idea what any of them were doing at this time.’
He had met them in his late twenties.
That was why it was a bit disappointing. All those punks who died with him in that final tomb...
There were none as skilled as them in this world.
‘It's disappointing but oh well.’
He couldn't miss out on the 7 Great Tombs even if he wanted to go find them.
That was why Ju-Heon left the Oh Seung Woo group to find those people for him while he looked through his artifacts. It was so that he could do some image training.
‘If I use the 7 Great Tombs of the past to run some simulations......’
He currently had 50 artifacts.
It was thanks to going into small tombs nearby every night to excavate them. Well, small tombs were mainly a part of people’s houses, so, honestly speaking, he had broken into some houses but it didn’t matter.
‘I got rid of their Tomb Appearance for them.’
Of course, he ended up doing some vandalism... And also swiped the items that had turned into the artifacts, but none of that mattered.
‘They would have ended up with tomb syndrome if I left them there.’
The shameless Ju-Heon scratched his cheek while looking at the artifacts. These artifacts would be useful in the current world, but...
‘Damn it, most of them are B or C-Grade so they won’t be useful in the 7 Great Tombs.’
But he was certain that they would be of great assistance in the 7 Great Tombs if he could raise their ranks. He could estimate that much based on the rope's level up.
That was why he was disappointed.
‘Damn it, there are some artifacts that look like I could use them properly if I could at least raise them to A-Grade.’
Unfortunately, it didn't seem easy to upgrade them.
Why?
He had received the following message.
[In order to upgrade an artifact, it must meet a specific value.]
[Antique-Grade (D-Grade) -> General-Grade (C-Grade) (Commence general action)]
[General-Grade (C-Grade) -> Rare-Grade (B-Grade) (Commence rare action)]
[Rare-Grade (B-Grade) -> Treasure-Grade (Antique-Grade) (Must possess enough value to be considered a treasure)]
[Treasure-Grade (A-Grade) -> Legendary Hero-Grade (S-Grade) (The Master must be approved as a Hero who made an impact in the world)]
[Legendary Hero-Grade (S-Grade) - Divine-Grade (SS-Grade) (Either the artifact or the master must become deified.)]
Based on these criteria, the rope artifact was able to upgrade because it did something rare for an artifact.
‘But enough value to be considered a treasure...’
That was not easy. Furthermore, it needed to become deified among humans to enter the Divine-Grade? Ju-Heon started to think. It'd be one thing if this was the world of the past with idolatry and polytheism. It was impossible for a human to be deified in modern society.
Even people who receive the Nobel prize or the geniuses who impact the world would probably reach their limit at the Legendary Hero-Grade.
‘Divine-Grade......Divine-Grade.’
Other grades were fine too, but he was obviously greedy for the Divine-Grade. The greedy Ju-Heon could not take his eyes away from the Divine-Grade description.
He then had a thought.
‘Hmm, if I become deified, wouldn't that mean that the artifacts in my possession would reach the Treasure-Grade?’
He had not tried it out, but it seemed likely based on the descriptions.
For example, the birthplaces of heroes were considered rare sights or treasures. They had to consider artifacts belonging to a deified individual as treasures.
Then the 7 Great Tombs would be doable as well.
It was at that moment. A message popped up as if it was reading Ju-Heon’s dark mind.
[It is possible based on the artifact's characteristics but based on the current average human abilities, it will be extremely difficult to raise it to the S-Grade(Legendary Hero-Grade) and difficult to even raise it to the A-Grade (Treasure-Grade) level.]
[Furthermore, based on the user’s current abilities, B-Grade seems to be the maximum.]
[It is recommended you just use the artifacts in your possession well.]
‘Oh, would you look at this?’
Ju-Heon scoffed thinking that this thing was mocking him.
But it was understandable.
‘It's not easy to reach the Treasure-Grade, Hero-Grade, or Divine-Grade.’
But Ju-Heon wasn’t the type to give up so easily on something so useful.
‘To become deified...there should be a way even without being Jesus or Sakyamuni.’
It was at that moment.
[Something mysterious is happening in Kyoto Japan. Women are disappearing from different areas. The number of women who have disappeared is currently surpassing 2,000.........]
[Police have determined that a cult is responsible for this incident......the investigation]
Ju-Heon peeked at the news after hearing the CNN news anchor's loud voice.
‘A cult...... A religious leader?’
Ju-Heon then started to smile.
He had realized an easy way to become deified in the modern world.
‘Becoming deified? It’s not that hard.'
The message bastard said that a modern human could not become deified.
That was true. The people who were deified by humans were legendary figures from ancient times.
That was why there was no way for someone to be treated as a god in human minds right now. It was obvious.
However, there was still a way. He couldn't become Confucius, Mencius, Jesus, or Buddha, but that wasn't important.
‘Right. It’s fine as long as some people think of me as a god.’
In simple terms, religious fanatics! A religious leader! Fans!
Crazed fans!
There was an extremely effective way to deify himself at least temporarily even if it wasn't permanent.
It was a kind of a trick. There was a loophole based on the message.
‘Yes, this bastard didn't say what kind of deification it needed to be.’
It just had to be something similar to being worshipped. That was why Ju-Heon wickedly smiled.
‘Then I can definitely upgrade them. I can get them to the Divine-Grade!’
Well, he would give it a go whether it worked or not.
Both Rockefeller and the Monarch of Evangelism had used this to create religious fanatics after all. This was probably one of the many ways to become stronger.
Ju-Heon who had become crazy with that thought immediately grabbed the Avesta Sacred Text.
Of course, he had not contracted the Avesta yet. But Ju-Heon decided to use the artifact of Evangelism to raise the ranks of his artifacts.
‘Alright, respond. Avesta. It’ll be easier to take on the 7 Great Tombs if I can activate you.’
The Toombglyphs that were the symbol of a contract appeared once he channeled his Dominance.
These texts would end up somewhere on his body. However, the text quickly disappeared.
“!”
That wasn’t the only reaction. The Avesta went back to sleep as if it never started to shine in the first place.
‘This dog-like bastard.’
What was going on? The fact that it started the contract process must mean that his Dominance wasn’t low. Then why?
A message popped up at that moment.
[You do not meet the requirements to use the corresponding artifact.]
[Evangelism-type artifacts require the user’s fame of popularity as a base.]
[You need at least ten people who have fallen for you.]
“......”
Ju-Heon clicked his tongue. Now that he thought about it, possession-type artifacts were picky about their masters.
‘I guess there really is a condition.’
Every artifact was different, but they required things like high virtue, talented artistic abilities, good math skills or things like that.
It wanted someone with the qualifications to use it.
‘The Code of Hammurabi was easy to contract though.’
But that was because the ‘Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’ concept...
Fit Ju-Heon's personality very well.
Anyway, Ju-Heon now understood why Rockefeller was a writer, musician, and actor.
That was the minimum requirement to use the Monarch of Evangelism's artifact. The user could probably use more of its abilities based on their popularity and number of people worshiping them.
It was killing two birds with one stone since getting to use the Avesta meant that he could raise the ranks of his artifacts and get new abilities.
‘But ten people...ten people...’
Who could he turn into his fans?
He wasn’t a celebrity so how could he suddenly make ten people fall for him?
He looked at Irene, Yoo Jaeha, and the Oh Seung Woo group in front of him.
That was five people to start.
‘I can't think of a way to get Irene to fall for me.’
He had never seen such a type of person before.
As for the men......?
Wasn’t it more difficult to get other men to become his fan?
However, he gasped after looking at Yoo Jaeha.
Now that he thought about it, he was Rockefeller's fan to the point that he fell for the hypnosis as well.
‘He said he read that novel called < Clandestine Housekeeper >......’
It seemed to be a 19+ erotic novel.
Ju-Heon started to laugh.
‘Then I can just write one too.’
Ju-Heon opened the word window on his laptop and started to write.
As for the results of his spirited endeavor......