by Park Saenal
The upset Damian proclaimed to him. “I will change everything! I will root out all the rotten people, including you, who treat Rebecca’s Daughters as sub-human beings! For Isabel-chan and Rin-chan! And for the sake of Luna-chan!”
Damian accepted the quest that he put on hold.
“I…! I will become the pope!”
[The quest ‘Become the Pope’ has been accepted.]
[Become the Pope]
Difficulty Level: SS
It has been one year since the death of 13th Pope Drevigo.
The Rebecca Church has barely recovered from the confusion and is now preparing to elect a new pope. However, Pascal is now the most powerful pope candidate and he plans to use the Rebecca Church as a political tool.
As the agent of the goddess, you have an obligation to guide the Rebecca Church to the right path and to stop Pascal’s ambitions. Your power, beliefs and willpower will play a major role in defeating irrational violence and calming political strife.
After your crowning, you can never disobey Goddess Rebecca.
The faithful church members will cheer for you.
Quest Clear Conditions: In three months, become the pope in the pope’s election.
Quest Clear Rewards: Second class ‘Pope’ will be obtained. ‘Goddess Rebecca’s Armor,’ ‘Goddess Rebecca’s Helmet,’ and ‘Goddess Rebecca’s Gloves’ will be acquired.
Quest Failure: Pascal will become the pope. The Rebecca Church will decline even worse than the days of Drevigo.
“You will become the pope?”
Pascal was angry. He’d already bought more than half of the votes. This declaration had no foundation to succeed.
“Well, good. As the Goddess’ Agent, you are qualified to be a pope candidate. I respect you.”
Thump thump.
Pascal nodded before heading over to Isabel’s bed. Isabel looked at him and he gave her an order.
“A Yatan Temple was found in Kent Village on the outskirts of the empire. Show them the divine power of the spear. Ah, can you hear me? This is the command. Read this and act accordingly.”
The user of Lifael’s Spear always had White Transformation triggered. Naturally, the work had to be done fast, so the elders assigned Isabel more duties than the other two Rebecca’s Daughters. As a result, Isabel’s life energy was depleting more quickly, but the elders didn’t care. They were already preparing substitutes in large quantities.
“I will go.” Damian intercepted the command. “I will take on all the duties that she will perform in the future.”
Pascal rejected it. “Didn’t I say it before? Are you making fun of the elders’ commands? As you know, the pope’s seat is currently empty so they are working on his behalf. Violating their orders is like going against the pope…”
“I am the Goddess’ Agent.” Damian responded strongly to Pascal, who tried to repeat an explanation that Damian had heard several times already. “As you said, the elders aren’t the pope.”
“…”
“I don’t want to hear anymore about the elders’ orders. Only the true pope and Goddess Rebecca can command me.”
Damian’s words sounded good, but he had a weak base. The senior priests didn’t treat Damian as important and ignored his opinions. But now Damian made his position clear, so Pascal couldn’t help feeling dumbfounded.
“Hrmm…”
Pascal tried to think.
‘If this guy is busy on the battlefield, he will be less likely to win the pope’s election held in three months.’
Damian wasn’t competition in the first place, but it would be a good idea to clear the path.
Pascal nodded. “Go ahead. But I doubt that you will be able to perform the difficult missions with your abilities.”
“I am strong.”
He had a unique hidden class. Now Damian was different from the past. He was no longer the extra who just watched while Grid fought Drevigo. Damian was also a protagonist.
“Kukuk, good. Prepare your heart. If you become tired and fall down, Isabel will take on the missions again.”
Then Pascal left the room. Damian cursed him and planned for the future.
‘The mission is in the east of the empire. It is relatively close to the western part of the Eternal Kingdom.’ Reidan was located in the west of the Eternal Kingdom. ‘I will stop by to meet him.’
The person who went against Pope Drevigo and saved Rebecca’s Daughters. He helped Damian become the Goddess’ Agent. Also…
‘The only one who can seal Lifael’s Spear.’
Pagma’s Descendant, Grid. He was the only person Damian could rely on.
“Damian…”
Isabel called out to Damian who was about to leave. Damian took a deep breath. His expression that was distorted with rage gradually softened to a smile.
“I am going, Isabel-chan. Please stay well.”
Damian said goodbye to her with a smile.
***
[The experience of (Witness of God’s Weapon) Legendary Blacksmith’s Craftsmanship Skill Lv. 5 has increased by 19%.]
[A unique rated item was produced, increasing all stats by +4.]
[Reputation throughout the continent will rise by +150.]
[You currently have 25,110 reputation throughout the continent. You can use the Reputation Store when your reputation reaches over 30,000.]
“It’s good.”
Grid was very satisfied as he checked the result.
Chapter 227
Chapter 227
[Grid’s Boots]
Rating: Unique
Durability: 477/477 Defense: 483
Movement Speed: -10%
Evasion Rate: -7%
* Increases defense by 12% against attacks from the bottom.
* When using a dashing skill, there is a 25% chance of failure.
* Defense will increase by 15% in dark places.
Weight: 1,930
“Good, good. It wasn’t an epic rating.”
In the past four months, Grid had produced over 630 items, but he hadn’t produced one legendary item. However, he produced five unique rated items, so he was very pleased.
‘Five unique items out of 630 items… It’s so rare that I was lucky. And honestly, I am reluctant to make any more legendary items.’
Grid had made eight legendary items after becoming Pagma’s Descendant. If he produced two more, a ‘special event’ was likely to occur that would make him feel sick. He would rather make unique items.
‘The unique rated items aren’t greatly lacking compared to legendary items.’
The 30 young blacksmiths approached Grid who was grinning with satisfaction. They admired Grid’s Boots.
“Duke Grid, this is a work of art!”
“The degree of completion can’t be described in words!”
“Such elegance hidden inside a primitive design…! It truly is high quality!”
It was practically impossible for inferior blacksmiths to understand the work of the legendary blacksmith Grid. They just felt like it was great. But unlike their current appearance, their potential for development was enormous.
Grid had searched the 20,000 people of Reidan and selected those with excellent qualities, then Khan taught them. The ability of Grid and Khan to closely observe their skills exceeded common sense.
‘At least eight of them are going to become advanced blacksmiths. I will raise new blacksmiths around them.’
They were people who might’ve become advanced blacksmiths in another city. Grid had the Blacksmith’s Affection skill, so he wasn’t exaggerating.
[Blacksmith’s Affection]
Appreciation of the NPC, which is the maximum skill level of the blacksmith, a minimum of 1 and a maximum of up to 5 randomly.
The blacksmith who received your teachings will be loyal to you for life and will share with you every time they learn new item production methods.
‘Anyway, next is the enhancement…’
Grid had a passive skill
that ‘increased the probability of item enhancement.’ He enhanced Dainsleif to +8 and Failure to +9, so Grid wanted to try strengthening these boots to at least +8.
‘I’m aiming to use the Grid set for a long time, so I want to try enhancement…’
To do this, he needed enhancement stones. But the price of the enhancement stones was rising. At the present time, the price of a general enhancement stone was 180 gold and a blessed enhancement stone was 2,500 gold. Given his previous experience and the current price of the enhancement stones, he would need at least 500,000 gold to enhance one piece of equipment to +8.
‘Dammit, why does the price of the enhancement stones keep climbing? In the old days, the price of the enhancement stones were 100 gold and the blessed enhancement stones were 1,200 gold.’
It was because the overall level of the users had risen. The higher the level, the longer it took to get out of that level section. Therefore, users felt the need to enhance their current items. As demand grew, the price of the enhancement stones also grew. There was no reason for the price of the enhancement stones to go down, unless the S.A. Group significantly increased the drop rate.
However, the S.A. Group wasn’t able to raise the drop rate of the enhancement stones. In order to maintain game service for a long time, the minimum requirement was to avoid gold inflation.
However, Grid couldn’t think of such complex things. He just lamented and sighed.
“Huh?”
Grid suddenly became confused. It was because the 30 blacksmiths admiring Grid’s Boots were now depressed.
“What’s wrong?” Grid questioned and the blacksmiths started explaining.
“Lauel commanded us to produce boots and gauntlets to supply the soldiers. We’re working hard on the boots and gauntlets, but…”
“After seeing Duke Grid’s work, the boots and gauntlets that we produced are too insignificant.”
“We know that it isn’t possible to make items at the same level as Duke Grid, but can you teach us so that we can at least mimic it?”
Khan had already passed on the boots production method to them. However, they were hoping for Grid to teach them instead of Khan.
‘I feel sorry…’
Grid watched Khan. But Khan just smiled.
“I don’t mind. Their desire to learn from you is very natural.”
A legendary blacksmith was on a different dimension from an advanced blacksmith. Khan knew this better than anyone. Grid saw his heart and nodded. Then he started smelting four pieces of iron ore in front of the 30 blacksmiths.
“It is very simple to make boots. Watch and learn.”
“Yes!”
‘I can receive the teachings of the great Duke Grid!’
The 30 blacksmiths’ eyes shone as they watched Grid. Grid made the boots while adding brief explanations, then…
[The experience of the Legendary Blacksmith’s Breath Skill Lv. 4 has increased by 9%.]
[The experience of (Witness of God’s Weapon) Legendary Blacksmith’s Craftsmanship Skill Lv. 5 has increased by 19%.]
[When legendary rated items are produced, all stats will permanently rise by +10.]
[Reputation throughout the continent will rise by +500.]
“…”
Grid made legendary rated level 80 steel boots, shortening the time to the ‘special event.’
“Wah! Really amazing boots!”
“You can easily produce such a great piece!”
“Indeed, Duke Grid is a legend!”
“Damn…”
Grid shed tears. If Grid’s Boots were made with the legendary rating, he wouldn’t have felt so bad. Now one more legendary item remained until the special event happened.
“Hah…”
Grid could only sigh as he left the smithy. He couldn’t let go of his unhappiness at completing boots for a soldier with a legendary rating.
“Sigh…”
Trudge trudge.
He had no strength in his steps. Grid staggered like a man who had lost his country. The people who saw him started to worry.
“Duke Grid is always proud and dignified, yet now he is having a hard time…”
“Surely a crisis isn’t approaching Reidan?”
“Maybe it’s a large monster invasion…?”
Originally, it was a law that bad rumors spread faster. The security rating that was maintained at a stable figure thanks to Jude and the soldier’s efforts dropped dramatically. Jude and the Overgeared members were confused when they found out that the cause was Grid, but Grid didn’t even know about it.
***
Reidan Castle.
‘According to Piaro, Asmophel’s escorts are very strong…’
Grid was unable to abandon enhancing the boots and searched the guild’s warehouse. He hoped to find enhancement stones inside. However, the guild’s warehouse only had a few minerals and sylphid scales that were supplied by Jishuka in Bairan.
“In the end, I’ll have to buy them.”
Grid checked his inventory. He currently had 20,000 gold. It was the money he acquired from disposing of the loot dropped by monsters that he hunted on the way here. What about the 5.5 million gold acquired from the golem invasion? Five million gold was used as the guild’s funds, while the remaining 500,000 was converted to Korean money.
Grid currently didn’t have enough money.
“With this much money, I can only enhance it to +5 if I’m lucky.”
More money was needed. Grid went to his private warehouse. But there wasn’t a single item in his warehouse that was worth money. A few months ago, he disposed of most of his items to acquire the money for his land and building in reality.
“Shit…”
He was a duke! Why did he have to be the owner of a big city?
“Huh?”
Grid was grumbling that Reidan was a poor city when he suddenly found an item in a corner of the warehouse. It was a glass bottle the size of his little finger. There was golden liquid in the glass bottle.
‘Maybe this will make me some money?’
[Goddess’ Essence]
Weight: 0.1
It was an item he acquired from the Pope Drevigo raid. However, even the Legendary Blacksmith’s Appraisal skill didn’t have an explanation, so he didn’t know where to use it.
‘The pope wouldn’t drop a cheap item…’
Pope Drevigo was the one who dropped the Holy Light Battle Gear, which was the strongest armor set. Grid thought that the Goddess’ Essence dropped by Drevigo was bound to have considerable value. But it was just a vague expectation. It was difficult to gauge the value because he didn’t know where to use it.
‘What should I do? Ah!’
It was a mysterious item that couldn’t be determined with the eyes of a blacksmith. Then a well-informed person was needed to figure out the identity. And he had such a person nearby.
It was Rabbit.
‘He has handled many goods, so won’t he be able to recognize the value of this?’
Please let it be a valuable item, as he expected. Grid eagerly looked for Rabbit.
***
Rabbit’s office had documents stacked up like a mountain.
“I don’t know.” Rabbit observed the Goddess’ Essence a few times before giving up.
Grid panicked at the unexpected result. “There’s something you can’t grasp with your insight?”
“I know that is is liquid that contains the divine power of Goddess Rebecca. But it is hard to tell what the effect will be.”
“It can’t be sold?”
“Be cautious.” The always calm Rabbit raised his voice. “This liquid contains the divine power of Goddess Rebecca. You will regret it someday if you decide to sell it. You should treasure it for now.”
“I need a quick source of money.”
“Why?”
“I need enhancement stones.”
“Enhancement stones…”
Rabbit unfolded a gigantic map of the western part of the kin
gdom. During the past four months, the Overgeared members had adventured and completed this map.
Chapter 228
Chapter 228
Everything on the map seemed to have a smaller scale. Reidan, marked in the middle of the map, was only the size of a 500 won coin.
‘500 won… A large city that can accommodate 430,000 people is only the size of a 500 won coin…’
It showed how big the west truly was.
The Eternal Kingdom was divided into four regions: the east, west, north and south. However, the size of the four regions wasn’t constant. The west was the largest, followed by the north, east and south.
But this large territory suddenly became a desert. What if he destroyed the giant worms and restored the west? Grid was the next in line to the main power in the north of the Eternal Kingdom. He would be able to establish a unique position.
“Look here.” Rabbit pointed to one side of the map. It was the Hebend River that penetrated through Reidan. “As you can see, the villages and cities are concentrated on the southern basin of the Hebend River.”
Were there survivors in those places? But that didn’t matter.
“What is the reason?”
“…?”
Grid was surprised by Rabbit’s sudden question.
‘Why are the cities and villages concentrated there? Why is he asking me this? How should I know?’
The Grid of the past would’ve expressed his disgruntled thoughts. However, the current Grid was eager to improve his thinking abilities.
“Umm…”
He used his lacking brain to think again. As a result, he barely found an answer. “Is it because of water?”
People needed water to live. It was a simple reason and answer. But it was wrong.
“You’re wrong. Isn’t it also easy to secure water from the north basin? The reason why the population was concentrated on the southern basin in the past was because there was something to attract people there, besides water.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s the mines. As you can see, there’s a small mountain range, so it’s geographically possible.”
“Mines?”
This was good news. It didn’t matter if it was iron ore, silver or gold. Securing any resources, whether large or small, would unconditionally benefit them. It was good news for Reidan. However.