Chapter 231: XP Bank and Shadow Fruits
Knowing his family had left the city, Sora suggested, "Let's leave Seoul."
He stood up, cloaked everyone in a [Veil], then waved his hand, making the pocket dimension vanish.
Alius took a few steps through the air to join his side and whispered, "Can you return my [Soul Pearls], please?"
Sora froze at the request and answered aloud, "You're saying you want me to return the [Soul Pearls] you gifted me?"
Alius' face darkened as Sora raised his voice, and he sent a mental message, "Stop joking. I only sent you a million [Soul Pearls] to scare our enemies."
Sora smiled and replied through telepathy, "I'll return them if you admit, in front of the others, that you just wanted to flex."
Looking defeated, Alius shook his head. "Forget it. Keep them. You're probably still struggling with Soul Power anyway."
With a triumphant smile, Sora materialized a million [Soul Pearls] and handed them back to his little brother. The overwhelming wave of Soul Power made the others tremble. All three of them couldn't help but stare enviously at the fortune changing hands.
Alius asked privately, "I heard from Mom and Dad what happened here a month ago. How have you been since then?"
Sora was caught off guard by the question. He took a moment before answering. "I'm alright. Kara and Salim aren't really dead. They're back home. That's probably the only reason I haven't gone crazy. But I'll make Norj and Abbott pay for what they did."
Alius nodded. "You ended up creating more Alter Egos! But seriously, what's with the names you gave them? They're awful."
Sora scratched his ear and laughed, attracting the curious gazes of the other players. "What would you have done? You'd have given each of them a unique name? I'd go insane trying to remember them all."
Alius smiled ans asked, "How are they doing? Any sad or depressed ones like I used to be?"
Sora blinked, suddenly remembering. 'Oh! I forgot to tell you! Alter Egos don't disappear when I fuse them back. They now have their own space in my [Soul Palace]. I've fused and split with them multiple times, and there are only good side effects so far.'
Alius stared at him in surprise. 'That's incredible. That'll probably help keeping the troops motivated. What about skills? Do you keep their supreme skills?'
Sora shook his head. 'None of them have unlocked a supreme skill yet. We haven't been able to test that for now.'
Alius grinned. 'Well, my supreme skill is way too valuable to risk. Once you're sure those don't vanish, I'll fuse back with you.'
Sora snorted. Just as he was about to enter the portal leading to New York City, he received a message.
[Seven: You were supposed to give us instructions... Most of us are still waiting all over the world.]
Sora thought before sending his reply.
[Sora Hashino: Form groups and start gathering information. Once you're done, split and take advantage of any opportunities you find. If you're about to do something stupid or risky, inform me or the others so we know what to expect. And come to me if you want me to use the [Soul Stamp] on anything you want to keep after resetting with [Prestige]. I'll reach out if I need help.]
[Seven: Sounds good. See you around.]
Having reached New York City, he traveled through another portal leading to [ARAM] headquarters. Sora's thoughts lingered on his Alter Egos and how he should spend the next thirty days.
'I didn't expect the month-long protection to activate right after we started the counterattack. Most of today's casualties were people killed by the enemy because I triggered their reaction. Damn it.'
Frustrated, he struggled to focus on his next steps.
Taking a deep breath, he regained his focus by remembering the list of things he had planned.
'I wanted to focus on studying bloodlines first. Raising my bloodline level by one tier made me and all Alter Egos ten times stronger. And One Hundred-One's power is leagues above everyone else because of his unique path. It seems he and One Hundred-Sixteen are already reaping the fruits of their labor.'
'To have a chance against Abbott and Norj, I have no choice but to speed things up. Maybe I can't afford to waste too much time on Hannah and politics myself.'
He turned to Alius and asked aloud, "How strong is Hannah?"
Alius gave a casual answer. "She's level 240. Her power level should be around Omega 53 or 54."
Sora froze. "She's already reached that level? But the players she enslaved shouldn't have been enough to give her that much experience. Did she enslave all her guildmates?"
Alius shook his head. "We don't know how she did it. During Guild Wars, we can move freely between our territory and hers, so we weren't worried about interference from other races. But we were also locked out of grinding in the wild. Somehow, she gained a ton of levels without leaving her guild territory. We suspect she's receiving outside help."
Kim Dong, walking beside them, added, "You may know of my power, but I'll tell you anyway. I can help people gain levels and grind skill proficiency by sending them into dungeons I've cleared. Our theory is that someone close to [GODS] is doing something similar for her, feeding them massive amounts of experience. Maybe she's combining that with her innate ability."
Emily frowned. "Probably Edward McCall, the last POTUS. Or his wife, Caitlyn Rock. They keep harassing us to end the 'civil war' and manipulate public opinion to turn against us."
'I wanted to get rid of Hannah quickly, but she might be just one part of something much bigger. Do I really have time for all this bullshit?' Sora thought.
Sighing, he asked some of the questions he had, "And why are you still fighting? You saved Hope after all, so why is there no truce? While we're at it, can you explain to me how Guild Wars work after the update?"
---------------------------------------
While Sora dove headfirst into a headache-inducing mess of politics, guild wars, and hidden forces, Seven Hundred-Seventy-Seven floated in front of a dungeon.
As he analyzed the symbols etched into the dungeon entrance, a voice called out from behind him.
"Triple Seven, why did you insist I come with you? I'm better at gathering information... What if Sora scolds me?"
Seven Hundred-Seventy-Seven, now known as Triple Seven, didn't turn around. "Shade, you're the most suitable for my next experiment. You died recently and are still level 1. With your path relying on shadows and darkness, you're the perfect test subject. The lower your level, the better the results should be."
One Hundred-Sixteen didn't mind the nickname. It suited the new path he had chosen.
"The class you chose last time was good," Triple Seven continued, "but I think Brother Sword One's was even better. Don't you want to become the ultimate assassin? I think I can help you. Forget about Sora's mission and help me instead. We all have the same goal, anyway."
Shade didn't reply at first, but after a moment, he gave a nod. "You're the strangest one of us," he muttered, then added, "What are we doing here? This dungeon is only level 50… Why bother coming here?"
Triple-Seven turned to look at him with a strange expression. "Did all your company members become stupid when Sora assigned you to sword practice? Don't you remember what was here?"
Shade's face darkened as he heard the insult but he refrained from answering. Instead, he recalled the information Sora had gathered about the [Earth] during the update.
Then, suddenly remembering, his eyes lit up. "That?!"
Triple-Seven nodded. "Yes. Stop wasting time and accept."
A few notifications appeared in front of Shade's eyes.
[Seven Hundred-Seventy-Seven invited you to the guild, "XP Bank."]
[Seven Hundred-Seventy-Seven invited you to his party.]
He accepted both requests, and another notification followed:
[Guild Rules]
[Guild members must give 100% of their gold earnings to the guild.]
[Guild members must give 100% of their experience earnings to the guild.]
Shade didn't blink as he read the conditions, as he knew he was supposed to remain level 1. A second panel appeared:
[Warning: Your guild cannot force you to deposit more than 20% of your gold or experience.]
[Do you accept a tax rate of 100% for gold?]
[Do you accept a tax rate of 100% for experience?]
He replied [Yes] to both prompts, closed the system panel, and followed after Triple-Seven, who had already entered the dungeon.
[Would you like to use the Fantomas' Hideout Dungeon Special Key?]
Selecting the option, he was instantly transported to the bottom of a small mountain. Looking up, he spotted a path through a forest, leading to the summit. Before he could take in the surroundings, he noticed hundreds of corpses scattered along the path, each one turned into gold. Triple-Seven was already climbing the mountain without waiting. Shaking his head, Shade vanished from his position and rushed to catch up.
A few minutes later, the reward they came for appeared.
[You have acquired a Shadow Fruit (F-Tier)] x3
Reading the item description, Shade smiled.
[Shadow Fruit (F-Tier)]
[Description: Gain F-tier affinity with the [Shadow] element.]
Turning toward Triple-Seven, he tossed him the three fruits. "Do your thing, please."
Triple-Seven didn't answer. He took one fruit in his right hand and stored the others in his inventory.
Shade watched silently as his brother began absorbing Soul Power from the surroundings, condensing it into his palm.
If you're enjoying the story and would like to help me from my dream, I'd be incredibly grateful if you could join my Discord or support me on Patreon!
By joining, you'll get:
Early Access: Read 1 chapter before anyone else, exclusively for my Patrons!
More than 55 Advance Chapters: Dive into the future of the story with over 50 chapters ahead of everyone else. (Use code YEAR on Patreon for 30% off yearly support)
Your support means the world to me and helps me continue write chapters. Every little bit helps me overcome the hurdles of becoming an author, and together, we can make this journey even more exciting!
Thank you so much for your support! I can't wait to see you all tomorrow!
Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/Mimou2006)
Discord Link : https://discord.com/invite/beVP9UaG5r