Overgeared

by Park Saenal

  Peeeeeong!

  Kiki was also part of the 10 Rookies. The White Wolf Guild’s number two person. Her sniper skill was comparable to Jishuka, the expert archer. She precisely fired an arrow at Grid’s head. Veradin had no doubt that the person would experience great damage or confusion, and took out his staff. He was trying to raise the corpses of the Ul and Elvo with magic when he suddenly froze.

  “T-This…?”

  Cries of shock burst out everywhere. They saw it. The famous golden blades.

  “I am surprised.”

  The man’s voice was heard from behind the golden blades that protected their master from the arrow. The voice was filled with a powerful anger that could stop the heart of the person who heard it.

  Sururuk.

  Was it due to the shock wave caused by the arrow and blades colliding? The hat the man was wearing fell off. The ID that most people in the world knew was exposed.

  “Grid…!”

  The first legendary class, three gold medal holder in the National Competition, the hero of the golem invasion, the first user to become a duke, GOD, etc. He had countless nicknames attached to him.

  Then he pulled out the blue greatsword that he used to defeat Hurent in five seconds. The people present felt frightened at Grid holding two huge swords in each of his hands.

  “Don’t use surprise attacks!”

  ‘You did it first!’

  The White Wolf members wanted to cry out. But they couldn’t grumble. Grid’s eyes fixed to the top of the mountain 300m away.

  “You first of all. Transcended Link.”

  Kwa kwa kwa kwang!

  Blue-white and jade energy blades emerged at the same time. It was the moment when one small mountain permanently vanished from the map of the Saharan Empire.

  [Your party member Kiki has died.]

  “…I would’ve rather met Faker.”

  The White Wolf members complained. Veradin couldn’t keep his composure anymore. This was the worst catastrophe since the guild’s launch. The result was a complete annihilation.

  ***

  “Huh? The size of the desert is less than it was a year ago?”

  A black-haired man dressed in white stepped foot in the western part of the Eternal Kingdom.

  Chapter 239

  Chapter 239

  ‘An A-grade quest was surprisingly tough.’

  Grid’s power was unique: ever since he had obtained it, he had almost easily solved all A-grade quests. But this time was different. He lost more than one-sixth of his stamina and health at the cost of hunting 25 enemies.

  “It was an unexpected melee.”

  Anybody who heard that statement would cry out, as there was no such thing. It was more accurate to say that it was a slaughter of 25 people without a conscience. However, Grid thought differently. This was shocking for him, the one who had overwhelmed the top rankers in the National Competition!

  ‘The average level of the enemy was only around 200. Yet I couldn’t succeed in an instant…’ This was because Veradin was a necromancer. ‘That bastard was too strong.’

  A necromancer was a nuisance as an opponent. They didn’t distinguish between friend or foe, as corpses were unconditionally revived and used as soldiers. It was a class that consumed the enemy’s resources (health, mana, stamina etc.) because it was so easy to make.

  In the case of Veradin, his level was high and knew how to fight. The undead soldiers were skilled in offense and defense, so they harassed him. Veradin’s combat ability was no less than that of the Overgeared members.

  ‘It would be nice to create an item that could easily kill the undead.’

  Indeed, experience was very important. Grid gained insight from his new combat experience. He was able to make more advanced plans by adding items to fight the undead in the future. Grid was quickly evolving in real time.

  He touched the Guardian’s Bracelet with a gentle expression.

  ‘The more I use this, the more I like it.’

  Originally, Grid’s indomitable stat was 900. Now, however, it was over 1,000 after wearing the Guardian accessories set. As a result, the effect of the indomitable stat was often triggered. He completely resisted the attacks of lower-levelled enemies.

  It was the result of his abnormally high defense and indomitable stat.

  ‘Randy was more than I expected.’

  Grid had no doubts about Randy’s fighting skills. Randy copied 30% Grid’s stats and items, so he was around a level 180 swordsman. However, the legendary-rated Pagma’s Swordsmanship gave Randy wings.

  Randy copied Pinnacle and Link, as well as the highly usable Revolve. He was able to beat quite a few level 200 users, and was a really good colleague. Grid praised him as Randy returned to the shape of a little girl.

  “You fought well.”

  Randy’s buggy eyes shone like stars.

  “Praise! Happy!”

  It was a lovely smiling face with a flush.

  ‘Sehee was once cute like this.’

  Grid patted her head and said,

  “I also want to fight with Master! Nyang! Why don’t you let me fight? Nyang! Why is the best demonic beast being treated like this? Kyang!”

  Noe had been hunting alone around Reidan and was now level 143. He was hoping to grow with his master while traveling together this time, but Master was too busy with the doppelganger and not looking at Noe. He didn’t like it.

  Grid soothed the jealous Noe, “You are my precious secret weapon. I don’t need to borrow the strength of my great secret weapon for something minor like this.”

  “Ohh…! Ohhhh!”

  The words ‘secret weapon’, ‘precious’ and ‘great’ were attached to him, so Noe really liked it. He danced with his short limbs. It was cute and ridiculous since Noe’s chubby body was shaking. Grid observed Noe’s appearance. The horns that rose from the forehead were slightly bigger and the fangs were sharper.

  ‘He is becoming increasingly like a demonic beast.’ Grid’s demonic power rose by one every time he PKed. ‘Surely I won’t become a demon if my demonic power stat increases?’

  The higher the demonic power, the more likely he was to go to hell. However, at present, there was no way of going in and out of hell so he couldn’t help imagining bad things.

  Then the Ul Clan survivors came running.

  “Hero!”

  The village mayor, Buda greeted him on behalf of everyone.

  “If you didn’t help us, our people would’ve been lost in the backdrops of history! I don’t know how to express our gratitude!”

  [The quest ‘Ul Clan’s Rescue’ has been complete.]

  [Affinity with the Ul Clan has risen to the maximum. The Ul Clan will jump over a cliff for you.]

  The Ul Clan bowed to Grid. Grid took out the Great Lord’s Sword and looked at their abilities.

  ‘Their intelligence stat is very high?’

  General NPCs had an intelligence around 100. But the average of the Ul Clan was 300. In particular, a girl called Hwarin stood out.

  Name: Hwarin.

  Age: 11 Gender: Female

  Occupation: Refugee

  Title: Last of the Ul Clan’s Royal Family.

  Level: 7

  Strength: 3/70 Stamina: 12/249

  Agility: 14/398 Intelligence: 120/1,890

  Charm: 155/1,503 Dignity: 30/550

  Skills: Haven’t learnt any yet.

  A survivor of the Ul Kingdom that the Saharan Empire destroyed. Her identity might be hidden but she actually has the noble lineage of the Ul Clan.

  ‘This is good.’

  The Ul Clan was an excellent race. They would be useful in many ways. Among them, it was possible to train some as magicians. Grid asked them, “The empire isn’t a place where you can live. Would you consider moving to the Eternal Kingdom?”

  “The Eternal Kingdom…?” The Eternal Kingdom was one of the great powers among the 17 nations of the continent. But these kingdoms weren’t in the same position as the emp
ire. “Will the Eternal Kingdom accept us, who are hunted by the empire? It might provide grounds for the empire to…?”

  “If you move in secret then the empire won’t notice.”

  “But the royal family won’t be happy.”

  “Don’t worry, go to Reidan. Even the royal family can’t intervene in the administration of a duchy.”

  “Who are you?”

  “I am the master of Reidan. I promise the people there will treat you without discrimination.”

  “Heok…! That means you are a duke!”

  The Ul Clan were perplexed. Why was the duke of another kingdom in the empire? They couldn’t understand it with their common sense.

  Grid whispered to Lauel.

  –I need someone who can lead 930 people from Earl Zebra’s territory in the empire to Reidan.

  -Yes?

  Grid explained the situation to the confused Lauel. The joyful Lauel then recommended Faker. Grid responded with surprise.

  –Faker? Is it okay?

  Faker always moved in the darkness. He didn’t show himself in public, and wasn’t a suitable figure to lead people. But Lauel gave a different opinion.

  –Faker’s trap installation ability and situational judgment abilities are unique. If there are pursuers, he can install traps as quickly as possible as well as secretly lead the Ul Clan.

  –I know his abilities but… Isn’t there someone better than Faker?

  –There is a lot of work piled up in Reidan. It is impossible to send more than two people, so please trust Faker.

  It was decided. Then Grid used a skill.

  “Summon Knight.”

  [Summon a knight. Currently you have Huroi, Lauel, Jude, Jishuka, Euphemina, Faker, Pon and Regas. Which knight would you like to summon?]

  “Faker.”

  [The target has accepted the summons.]

  Sururuk.

  A man wrapped in a black cloak rose from Grid’s shadow. He spoke to Grid with a nonchalant expression.

  “You worked hard.”

  “Yes.”

  Suuk.

  Faker observed the Ul Clan with emotional eyes. The Ul Clan felt like crying as they saw him.

  ‘Those eyes feel like they are penetrating me to the bone.’

  ‘I-I’m scared.’

  The Ul Clan felt fear. They were affected by Faker’s killing intent stat. That’s why Faker normally acted in secret. He had to consume his mental power to hide this killing intent. For an assassin, the killing intent stat was like a type of penalty.

  “Go.”

  Faker didn’t delay. He instructed the frightened Ul Clan to grab their luggage and immediately left the village.

  After a few days with Faker, the Ul Clan felt like they were sitting on a thorny cushion. Faker didn’t say a single word, but they became increasingly frightened of him. They felt like they would die if they touched him, and couldn’t even breathe.

  On the other hand, Grid changed his schedule and was busy hunting. It was an inevitable choice because his infamy went up due to PKing. It was impossible to enter a village or city if his infamy figure was high. It might be okay to move freely in the Eternal Kingdom, regardless of his infamy figure, but this was the empire. It was necessary to lower his infamy by hunting monsters.

  However, the monsters in Zebra were only level 180~220. They gave less experience and it wasn’t easy to decrease his infamy. Grid was nervous because he was delaying more than he wanted, but he still remained calm. He bought time by practicing dual swordsmanship and raising the experience of Randy and Noe.

  Then a homing pigeon arrived.

  It was the letter from Irene that regularly arrived once a week. Normally the letters expressed a desire to see him, but today’s one was special.

  “This letter?”

  Grid was astonished.

  Irene was always stating that she wanted to get pregnant, but he didn’t think it was really capable to get pregnant from a relationship between a user and NPC.

  Around a month ago, my stomach has started hurting. I didn’t think much of it, but then I started experiencing pregnancy symptoms. Somehow, I feel like my belly has… Happy tears are flowing. I would like to have a son that resembles Dear Husband.

  “Heok…”

  A child?

  Grid was more baffled than glad. It was confusing because it was a totally unexpected an unfamiliar experience. Then a notification window popped up.

  [Do you want to honor the news of your wife’s pregnancy?]

  [The birth of a new life should be congratulated, but those with no sense of responsibility should keep in mind that they don’t deserve to be a parent. Think carefully.]

  Chapter 240

  Chapter 240

  Satisfy had some areas that were completely different from reality. If a user had a child in Satisfy, there could be various problems.

  There were too many risk factors, such as neglecting reality by being too immersed in the child in the game or ignoring the child in the game because they were too busy playing. Only those who had established mature values were eligible to enjoy Satisfy’s parenting system.

  ‘Can I really do well?’

  The Grid of the past would’ve said okay without thinking about it. But the current Grid realized the seriousness of the situation. He thought carefully about it.

  ‘I…’

  He was still too immature to be a parent. But he wanted Irene to be happy. She was one of the most precious people to him, despite being a person in virtual reality. Thanks to her, he learned how to love. Grid wanted to make her dream come true. He didn’t want her to be disappointed.

  ‘I also want the result of the love that I share with Irene.’

  After a few hours of deliberation, Grid made a decision.

  “I am grateful for the news of the pregnancy.”

  The notification windows immediately blinked and responded.

  [Congratulations on your wife’s pregnancy!]

  [The preferences and abilities of the child will be affected from prenatal development.]

  [What type of child do you want? The child you want and the child your wife wants will affect prenatal development. Work hard to communicate with your wife.]

  “I wish my child…”

  It wasn’t that hard to imagine.

  ‘Someone different from me.’

  He didn’t want them to be petty or stupid. Grid had no talent and was narrow-minded, so he hoped that his own child wouldn’t experience such an unfortunate life.

  ‘I want someone who resembles my wife, a child who is bright, generous, and pretty. First of all, I wish for a clever child to be born. Congratulations on your pregnancy. And thank you.’

  Grid wrote it in the letter to Irene. It was difficult to find traces of his childhood in his careful expression. Grid would turn 28 years old in five months in real time. He was becoming a true adult with this pregnancy.

  “Taemyeong means ‘fortune’ in the sense of a jackpot…”

  There was no question that he still had no naming sense. Even so, it was fortunate that he only thought about Taemyeong.

  ***

  A regular board meeting held at the head office of the S.A. Group.

  The main agenda of the meeting was to set the budget for the Second National Competition to be held in Paris next year. At the end of the meeting, one member was brought up. Grid.

  “It’s actually Grid again!”

  “Isn’t the parenting system only activated for mature players?”

  The executives heard the report from the operations team leader and expressed their anxiety. Recently, Grid was conducting himself as a legendary class, but the prejudice didn’t easily disappear.

  The executives had been watching Grid from the beginning and still saw him as that. Now he would have a child with an NPC? Just imagining it was terrible. They were worried about the worst situation.

  “He will raise a child? This is ridiculous!”

  Games had implemented
a parenting system many times in the past. There was even a separate child raising simulation game. A typical example was Princess Mama. Such games didn’t make users feel any responsibility. Users could delete their child or neglect them. Such an act didn’t cause any moral issues either. The characters in a typical game were nothing more than 2D characters that acted and talked according to a given scenario.

  Then what about the characters in Satisfy? The supercomputer Morpheus gave all Satisfy NPCs the perfect artificial intelligence. As a result, NPCs had thoughts and emotions. They were no different from humans.

  It was only a matter of time until an immature user experienced the parenting system. If the users neglected or abused their children in the game, the creators couldn’t rule out the possibility of social problems.

  The parenting system was a double-edged sword. Satisfy’s game would be better if used well, but public opinion would take a hit if it was exploited.

  The development team arranged the parenting system so that only a very small number of users could experience it. It was based on the fact that the married couple’s liking was at the maximum, and the parenting system was designed to be activated only for users who had maximum respect for NPCs.

  But Grid? The person who sent malicious emails to the group when he couldn’t make legendary items was selected for the parenting system! The executives were convinced that there was clearly an error. They couldn’t tolerate it.

  A surprising figure emerged to defend Grid. It was Director Yoon Sangmin. In the past, he had a tendency to hate Grid more than anyone else.

  “Don’t you know about the recent Grid? He has grown. He’s different form the past. So don’t worry.”

  “We all know that his abilities have grown. Didn’t he win three gold medals and save the kingdom from the golem army? What we are pointing out is a personality matter.”

  “He has grown up personally.”

  It was Director Yoon Sangmin.

  The executives frowned.

  “How do you know that?”

  “You will quickly notice if you show a little interest and watch him.” Grid’s inner growth was something that could be seen just from his actions. “In the first place, the system chooses. This means that Grid is qualified, so there is no room to negotiate.”