AECS 45

Chapter 45

A New Residence (1)

Baek Jin-woo had become a nationwide hero just from the selection tournament.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Yet, he never neglected his training.

As usual, he went to an open field, released his summons, and continued his bodyweight exercises.

“If you focus only on strength training, you may get stronger, but you won’t gain agility, and your flexibility will drop. The most important thing is balance, my lord.”

“Okay, okay.”

Even while sweating profusely, Baek Jin-woo held his stance with a fierce, determined look.

Actually…

There was only one reason why Baek Jin-woo could perform at such an overwhelming level.

The level in South Korea is just too low.

Not to mention countries with the Five Emperors, but even in mid-tier countries, he might not have lost—but he wouldn’t have dominated every single moment.

Hoon-gyo and Dol-dol’s damage probably wasn’t enough.

As for Lamba… well, he had equipped her with graduation runes that would last over ten years without a problem. But the other summons were an issue.

All of them were equipped with only intermediate or advanced runes, upgraded to just a reasonable degree.

Now it’s about time to properly set the runes.

The first step was the 20th floor of the Tower of Trials.

By going there, he could craft guaranteed B-rank summon scrolls and from them, extract the legendary overpowered summon, Rune Dwarf.

Also, I should start raising the weekday dungeons to Advanced soon.

Summons specialized for weekday dungeons—like the Combat Guardian, Priest of Radiance, and Lava Drake—had also reached decent levels.

Thanks to Hoon-gyo’s intensive training, they had learned new skills, so aiming for Advanced dungeons would now be faster.

Every morning, Baek Jin-woo received reports from Yu Ji-ah in the field.

A mix of greetings, training, and business updates!

It was practically like a shareholders’ meeting in the mountains every day.

After finishing a round of exercises with Hoon-gyo’s assistance, Yu Ji-ah wiped off his sweat with a towel she brought.

“Here.”

Baek Jin-woo tossed her a chilled water bottle from the cooler.

Gulp, gulp.

He drank, and the way he swallowed the water looked like a commercial shoot for a celebrity.

“Ah, that’s refreshing, Jin-woo.”

“Huh?”

“I think we can start preparing to move the training field soon.”

“Oh?”

Baek Jin-woo widened his eyes.

He had heard the training grounds were under construction, but was it already completed?

“It should be finished in about a week.”

Much faster than planned.

All thanks to Baek Jin-woo.

Because he had become famous, construction companies poured in all their equipment and manpower.

“We’re also preparing housing for your family.”

“You’ve been working silently all this time.”

“No, no! You work harder, Jin-woo. Oh, and…”

Yu Ji-ah laughed, waving her hands, before moving on to the next topic.

“The government promised huge funding.”

“Oh, how much?”

“One trillion won per national team player! Plus, since you’re the captain, an additional one trillion won—so two trillion! They scraped together eleven trillion in total. It’s unprecedented.”

“Whoa.”

Trillions? And two trillion just for him?

Although South Korea once had budgets exceeding 600 trillion, these days it had slowed down.

The economy had faltered, placing them at the bottom of the world league. National debt was still enormous, and there were mountains of expenses to cover.

Yet somehow, they had collected eleven trillion.

This shows just how much the government was invested in the World League.

“There are conditions, though.”

“Conditions?”

“All the allocated funds must be approved by the headquarters and used only for player growth. Of course, you can’t just accept the funds and then naturalize elsewhere.”

“Of course.”

He had no intention of spending the taxpayers’ hard-earned money on personal matters. There were plenty of runes, summons, and materials to buy.

And he had no desire to betray the country his family belonged to.

“Also, one more thing.”

“Conditions are piling up.”

“Ha, well, it is a huge sum…”

It wasn’t just any sum—it was in trillions.

“What is it?”

“There’s a weekly national team gathering. Since you’re the captain, you’ll lead the other nine national team members, training them and practicing matches. Each session will probably take over ten hours. That’s your responsibility for the additional one trillion.”

“Once a week, ten hours…”

He was about to get even busier.

He needed to set up weekday dungeons and climb the Tower of Trials.

But?

If they were paying, it changed everything. Consulting? He could easily handle that.

“When will it be held each week?”

“That’s up to the national team, but if you decide, they’ll follow, right?”

“…They’d actually listen to me?”

“Don’t be silly. Haven’t you seen interviews of the top rankers?”

“No, I haven’t.”

At first, he had tried checking, but stopped—there was just too much.

Every community, the entire world, was talking about him.

Even while reading, new posts kept appearing. One hour in, he felt sick and closed it.

What the world thought didn’t matter.

What matters is myself.

The national hero?

JinuGod?

The current Baek Jin-woo hadn’t even recovered 10% of his past glory or power.

“Take a look at this article.”

Yu Ji-ah showed him her phone.

It roughly said:

[Baek Jin-woo is my idol!]

[Kang Gun-ho, Korea’s #1 ranker: “If rankers ignore Baek Jin-woo, that’s foolish. He has proven himself as the top ranker.”]

[Arirang sub-guild master O-rang, who failed the selection: “What’s most disappointing is not being able to receive Baek Jin-woo’s coaching!”]

[Carpe Diem officials: “Baek Jin-woo will be the role model for our guild.”]

…Sheesh.

Why was everyone praising him so much?

“You know, right? About JinuGod.”

“….”

Baek Jin-woo’s expression stiffened slightly.

Still, Yu Ji-ah didn’t seem bothered.

“Domestic rankers already see you as JinuGod. Your skills prove it, and you’re symbolic as well. They can’t not follow.”

“I see.”

Looking at Yu Ji-ah’s expression, Baek Jin-woo realized:

She’s 100% sure too.

He would reveal it someday, but not to the world just yet.

With Yu Ji-ah, it was fine—they were on the same side.

“What do you think?”

“Huh?”

“Do you really think I’m like JinuGod?”

“….”

Yu Ji-ah, who had thought it over several times, finally nodded.

“Actually… I had suspected it for a long time. It was intuition at first, but now I’m almost certain.”

“Ha ha.”

Baek Jin-woo scratched his head.

True. Anyone smart would have figured it out.

Why did I have to choose the nickname JinuGod?

Now, as an adult, it was embarrassingly cringy. His arms practically bristled with hair.

“Yes, that’s right. I did use the JinuGod account back in Battle of Summoners. Sorry. I said I only played for a year to avoid standing out, but it wasn’t true.”

“I knew it…!”

“But I don’t want to make it official yet. At least not until I regain half of my old strength.”

There’s nothing more dangerous than fame without power.

Being suspected as JinuGod? That was one thing. Official confirmation? That was another.

“I understand.”

“Let’s hold the national team gatherings on Saturdays. Sundays should be rest days.”

“Perfect! I’ll notify the rankers!”

“And…”

“Yes?”

“I want to focus on the 20th floor of the Tower of Trials for now.”

“…The 20th floor?”

For reference, the world’s #1 Rachel had reached the 29th floor—after three years of relentless climbing.

And in Korea? Not a single ranker had cleared the 20th floor.

Yet he was confidently attempting it now.

Chills.

Yu Ji-ah felt thrilled to the point of madness.

This was like witnessing a living legend right before her eyes.

“Great! Contact me directly if you need anything!”

A week passed.

He had successfully set up the Advanced weekday dungeon rotations.

I could do Ultimate, but…

Efficiency was too low. Too much time would be wasted, so running Advanced repeatedly was more cost-effective.

No one else was likely running Ultimate dungeons at this point.

Naturally, his record was the best in the country.

He received 21 Advanced summon scrolls as rewards.

“Summon Scroll Window.”

He muttered, and the window appeared:

[Owned Summon Scrolls]

1. Advanced Summon Scroll x21
2. Ultimate Summon Scroll x1

He sold all other miscellaneous scrolls through Baek Ah-jin.

He planned to save up Ultimate scrolls to open many at once.

To prepare for the 20th floor of the Tower of Trials, two things were needed:

• Hoon-gyo’s pre-graduation runes
• Pokryong-i’s Flame of Pokryong Technique (炎)

The flame technique was crucial.

炎 (Flame) is the third stage after Union (聯) and Transform (變).

Union stacks consecutive Pokryong waves. Transform can modify those waves.

Flame allows accumulated Pokryong waves to be released in one burst.

The 20th floor boss is the King of all vampires, the Primeval Vampire, Dracula (S-Rank).

He’s weak to fire, so Baek Jin-woo must incinerate him with Flame.

For now…

It’s still too soon for Pokryong-i, who hasn’t mastered Transform, to reach Flame.

Better start with Hoon-gyo’s pre-graduation runes.

Graduation runes can only be applied after obtaining Rune Dwarf, so pre-graduation runes would suffice for now.

And Baek Jin-woo had two trillion won, all of which he planned to invest in Hoon-gyo.

“There’s an Ultimate ‘Universal’ Rune.”

Ah! Universal Rune! I know it! It’s famous!

Baek Ah-jin’s voice came from his phone.

“Get it for me, along with Ji-ah. As many as possible.”

Wait… she wants me to get that?

She was flustered—and had every reason to be.

[Rune]
[Grade: Ultimate (Rare)]

• Limited to 100 worldwide
  [Set Effect: Universal]
• Equip 6: +500% to all stats, +10,000 HP
• +2 additional stat options
  [Level: 1]
  [Stat Increases]
  Strength +12%, Intelligence +12%, Vitality +12%, Agility +12%, Crit Chance +10%, Crit Damage +20%

Like Lamba’s Light-Speed Rune, this was a limited rune—but it increased all abilities and had absurdly high stats.

Typically, runes can have up to 4 stats—but the Universal Rune has 6.

It can unleash the best performance from any summon, universally.

That’s insanely expensive. And practically impossible to find.

“Exactly.”

Baek Jin-woo smiled.

“I’ll get it for more than the market price.”

This rune was so popular that even governments were scrambling to acquire it.

How many do you need? 6 for the set effect, right?

“No.”

Baek Jin-woo shook his head.

“18.”

He needed exactly 3 full sets.

He’d explain the reason later when the opportunity arose.