Chapter 141

"Haa…" Yuri swayed a bit and looked dizzy from all of the excitement.

"Yuri!" YeonJu exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, Sis… Maybe I got too excited."

"Ugh, seriously!"

"Uncle… How about casting Heal on her?"

JiHan nodded and said, "That sounds like a good idea." Then he used his three healing skills. "Heal. Great Heal. Regeneration."

He was unable to learn new healing skills due to his change to Master of One, but he could still use what he'd already learned.

Yuri felt vitality surge through her veins, and her eyes sparkled. "Ah, is this what you use on Sae-ah during training?! Woah! I can't believe I got to experience both your healing magic and Force! It's like I'm getting to experience everything I saw on the channel!"

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, but please don't overdo it."

"Yes, yes!"

JiHan glanced at the clock on the wall.

20:30. It was time for him to connect to Battle Net.

'It should be a survival map this time.'

He hadn't gotten another survival map since that elf infused him with a leaf from the World Tree, so it was about time it came up in the rotation again.

'Maybe Yuri can analyze the leaf if I'm able to extract it from my body.'

He was hoping to be able to snatch it from the elf the moment she extracted it and take it back with him.

'If so, then it's better to play the game here than to go back home.'

"Could you appraise something for me after I finish the game?" he asked.

"Eh? Uncle, are you going to play a game here?"

"JiHan…" YeonJu said. "Won't it be late by the time you finish?" She was worried about her sister being woken up late in the night when she was still recovering.

Yuri quickly waved her hands in dismissal. "It's okay! Please, go ahead! I'll definitely appraise anything you need! I was planning to watch the stream anyway, so I wasn't going to sleep!"

"What should I do in the meantime…?" Sae-ah asked.

"Chat with YeonJu and get more advice from her."

"Is that okay…?"

YeonJu smiled and nodded. "Yes, of course."

Sae-ah quickly waved her hand at JiHan. "Uncle, take your time!"

JiHan smirked. "Take a rest," he said to Akari.

Tap–

He tapped one of her pressure points and put her to sleep. He had no other choice since he still didn't fully trust her.

"I'll be going."

Whir-

He took Ariel and connected to the game.

Yuri looked at her manager just after he vanished. "Please…"

"Okay." The manager took a beam projector from her bag, and the wall was soon filled with JiHan's stream.

"There's a TV over there… Why use a projector?" YeonJu asked with a baffled look on her face.

"The screen is too small. The proper way to watch Mr. Sung's stream is through a big screen… Ah! It's starting. Sis, could you turn off the light?"

"Seriously…? Haa." She knew her sister was a big fan, but she never imagined she was so obsessed.

'Even if I tell her to rest, she won't listen.'

She walked over to turn off the light switch and said, "Let me watch too."

"Sure, Sis. I'm going to make you a fan as well!"

"What do you mean, 'a fan'?… Is JiHan an idol or something?"

She scoffed and sat down.

[The mission is 'survival'.]

[You've been summoned to 'Experimental Zone'.]

JiHan looked around at the environment, which was vastly different from last time.

'The zone changed.'

He was trapped within red walls last time, but this time, he found himself in the dense forest of the green zone—the zone with the highest chances of survival.

"Oh~ It's JiHan!"

"You were amazing today! I was awestruck when you defeated Russia…!"

"Ah… I bet that YeonJu would be the MVP for all three games! Why did you perform so well?!"

As soon as he was summoned, all of the other players in the green zone began excitedly chatting. Being in the same zone as him in a survival game was a death sentence, but they were still riding their high spirits from Korea finally winning a game.

- Is this really a survival map? The atmosphere's too relaxed.

- They probably want to watch a superstar now that the main game has ended, hahaha.

- The game against Russia was insane… It's amazing that it took us so long to get a win… Let's go for a winning streak!

- Of course it'll be a winning streak. He completely crushed the Russian Warriors, so it only stands to reason that we'd have a high chance of beating the other countries as well.

- Japan and China are pretty strong… but I think we have a chance against Taiwan.

- If the Sword King were here, we might have been comparable to the USA ㅜㅜ

- Stop talking about that bastard ㅡㅡ

Everyone was still talking about the game against Russia, and donations started to pour in.

The first one was Yuri, who'd told him her ID.

['Downglass' has donated 10,000 GP.]

[Congratulations on the victory over Russia!]

['Max Level 1st Place' has donated 10,000 GP.]

[Let's go for the top spot again!]

- The minimum amount for donations is 10,000 GP, but they're still pouring in!

- This is crazy. The hype for that game against Russia was real.

"Thanks for the donations."

'Maybe I should raise the minimum amount to 100,000 GP.' JiHan thought.

He'd been getting more money than he needed ever since he set up the guild, and replying to each donation would only get tiresome. Wouldn't it be better to increase the limit since his fame had risen as well?

[The game is starting.]

'The elf wanted me to find her, but I'm in a different zone now.'

He could've used the red zone's portal to see her again, but he had no clue how to get there from the green zone.

He looked around at the nine other players gathered in the forest.

'Let's start by getting some kills.'

He still needed to maintain his 1st-place streak, after all.

Only when he summoned Eclipse did the excitement on the other players' faces vanish, and they started to flee far too late.

"Run!"

"Let's scatter!"

There was a good distance between each of them, so they hoped at least a few of them would survive if they scattered in every direction.

Unfortunately for them…

"Let's get this over with," JiHan said.

Swoosh-

Swords poured out of the fleeing players' shadows and pierced through their vital areas, killing them all almost instantly.

- Quick, as expected.

- Well, JiHan just crushed Russia's team, so there's no way Golds would be able to escape.

Such sights weren't enough to impress them anymore. After securing his nine kills, JiHan leaped through the forest until he found a clearing in the center of the zone.

'I should check that out,' he thought as he floated down through the sky. Below him, players from the other green zones fiercely fought each other for survival.

'The game will end sooner if I keep killing people.'

First place was pretty much already guaranteed with nine kills, so he ignored anyone else and stood in the center of the clearing. For whatever reason, a giant, brown, oval-shaped sphere sat perfectly in the middle of the area.

[It's a World Tree's seed. It's absorbing the life force from the surrounding trees.]

'So that's why there weren't any trees here.'

The surrounding trees rapidly died in the process of surrendering their life force to the World Tree's seed.

'A seed… Does that mean the red zone I was in last time is inside of this?'

The seed was big, but not nearly big enough to contain the red zone and the empty space around it. It was probably spatially distorted to be bigger on the inside.

He approached the seed to take a closer look, then…

Whir-!

Light leaked from the leaf-shaped pattern on his chest, and as the light touched the seed, it transformed into a green portal, and he heard a voice speak to him from within.

- So you've finally come. Turn off your stream and enter.

'She seems obsessed with me turning off my stream. Why's that?'

[I'm not sure. Maybe they're worried about a record being left on Battle Tube? Even so, the Battle Net System isn't that lax.]

'Do they have any way to tell if I'm streaming or not?'

[I don't know how they would do that… but it could be possible.]

'Then I should turn off my stream.'

"Everyone, I'll be shutting my stream off for a moment."

- ???

- Why so suddenly????

Beep-

True to his words, he switched the stream off and entered the portal.

* * *

"So you're finally here, my superior test subject."

The elf welcomed him. Although she was speaking Elvish, he was able to understand her thanks to the World Tree's leaf.

"Come closer."

JiHan's chest started to shine, and his body moved on its own.

'Should I let things be for the moment?'

Again, he could regain control at any time if he wanted, but he decided to play along.

"Just as magnificent as I remember…" The elf pricked him and licked his blood in excitement.

"With this, you might be evaluated as a top-tier irregular!"

Swoosh-!

She summoned another green portal and said, "Follow me."

JiHan's expression remained blank as he obeyed her commands.

Flash. Flash-!

It took five portals for them to reach their destination, and every portal they passed through revealed a space almost identical in appearance to where he first met the elf. It was like they were just going through a constant loop.

'How long is this going to take?' JiHan was starting to worry that the game would end soon.

"We've arrived."

The last portal they passed through revealed a completely different space. If the other areas had been organic and wood in aesthetic, as one would imagine of elves, then the new place was a bare, white laboratory with huge, column-like test tubes.

- Contact made.

- Collecting superior test subject.

A wind spirit with lenses over her eyes floated around JiHan and spoke in Elvish.

[What is this place…?]

'That's what I'd like to ask.'

A red light spread from the wind spirit's lens and began scanning his body before suddenly halting.

- Current equipment is insufficient for analysis.

- He's a superior entity. He must be sent to the laboratory immediately.

The elf grew visibly excited. "Superior…?! I had some doubts, but that's incredible!"

- There are two minutes left before Battle Net detects something.

- Please retrieve the World Tree's leaf. I will open the dimensional portal.

"Understood." The elf placed her hands on JiHan's chest.

WHOOM-

A bright green light stretched out, and the leaf was just about to leave his body when…

Swoosh—

"Wh-what…?"

The leaf suddenly sunk back into his chest.

"Why isn't it coming out?!"

The elf placed her hands on him, and he cycled his energy.

WHOOM-!

"Ah, it's out!" The elf sighed in relief. She'd been worried about last-minute trouble, but it looked like things were going to work out. All that was left was to send the superior test subject and complete her mission.

Just when she was about to put the leaf away, her right arm flopped to the ground, and as for the leaf she'd been holding…

"Inventory."

JiHan lightly snatched it away and put it in his inventory.

"Y-you…"

"Thanks. I needed this," he said as he turned his stream back on with a smile on his face.

- Eh, what's this?

- Huh… Is this really the survival map?

The viewers were puzzled by the sudden change in the environment.

[An anomaly has been detected in the Battle Net system.]