Chapter 150
I heard a notice.
[The Guardian Field is determining the enhancent competence of the Player who dissolved the Guardian Gems.]
After making that judgnt, another notice, one that Hyukjin hadnt expected, rang in his ears.
[Based on the Players enhancent competence, the Guardian Tower being summoned can be enhanced.]
[The Guardian Tower enhancent will progress at random.]
[2 additional Guardian Gems are required to enhance the Guardian Tower.]
For a mont, I doubted my ears.
Two more Guardian Gems?
Normally, it only took ten Guardian Gems to summon a Guardian Tower. But right now, I was being asked for twelve.
Twelve gems
We didnt have ti to go to Gajwa Station and look for another two gems.
Theres no helping it.
I turned to stare at Yeonseo.
...Huh? What? Yeonseo took a step backwards. Whyre you giving
such a suggestive look all of sudden? Youre making a girl sweat here.
I never gave her a suggestive look. Yeonseo took another step back, her voice going unnaturally high.
Hey. I dont have one. I really dont. That was my first ti seeing a Guardian Gem.
I was a little flabbergasted.
She shouldnt have even heard the notices.
Looking at the reactions of my teammates, there was no doubt that only I heard the notice that two additional Guardian Gems would be necessary. But Shin Yeonseo had picked up on it sohow. She realized by force of intuition that the Guardian Gem in her possession was about to be pried out of her fingers. The girl took another step backwards.
Yeonseo? I called Yeonseo like an elentary school teacher coaxing a child. Shin Yeonseo.
I really dont
Youre a good girl, right?
...
I vividly rembered Yeonseos reaction when she first saw the Guardian Gems.
Wo So pretty! Ive never seen anything this pretty! Never! Never ever! Pretty stone! Amazing!
The way she kept emphasizing never was unnatural, to say the least. And the most damning proof was her summary.
Summary: Lying Swordswoman
Normally, sothing like Lying Wife was supposed to show up, but this ti, it said Swordswoman. From that, I judgedthat her mindset was closer to a Swordswoman than a Wife because sothing was pricking her conscience.
But well, Swordswoman is better than Wife.
Strangely enough, I didnt think of Yeonseo as a woman, even though she was the dream of all n, the subject of countless fanclubs, and the source of the countless Sword Empress Crushers of all genders. Even though anyone and everyone could see that she was a beautiful and charming girl.
But despite that, I didnt feel anything more for her. There was no need to give her special treatnt. So to , Swordswoman was better than Wife, so I didnt call out her lie back then.
But nows not the ti to nitpick.
I held out my hand.
Yeonseo. I know youre hiding sothing.
The countdown started.
[120 seconds left in the Guardian Fields duration.]
We had two minutes to get to the next part. I had to find two more Guardian Gems, and I couldnt go get them from Gajwa Station.
I also know you really like this gem.
Hng.
Yeonseo looked like she was about to cry. She had apparently taken quite a shine to this Guardian Gem. Her expression was one of a girl being robbed of a truly precious toy. That face might have made so guys relent, but not .
So lets trade.
* * *
* * *
He could take it by force, but that was the last resort. Doing so could emotionally wound an important mber of their party. There were still two minutes left, so they could afford to take a slight detour. Hyukjin didnt think of Yeonseo as a girl, but he acknowledged and respected her.
[The rchant of Venice is watching you carefully.]
This notice was heard not just by Hyukjin, but by Yeonseo as well. The Italian server Guardian started to focus on Yeonseo, too.
...Trade?
Yeah. If you give
a Guardian Gem right now, Ill do one thing you ask of . As long as its within my power to grant.
...
The rchant of Venice was watching. Hyukjin urged her with his eyes to answer carefully. There was one minute and thirty seconds left.
Then co drink coffee with .
Coffee?
Just the two of us.
Sung-gu and Yoohyun coughed at the sa, feigning ignorance. Yeonseos face reddened a little.
Well drink coffee, just the two of us. For at least two hours.
Now wasnt the ti to be choosy.
Okay. Deal.
Friends could drink coffee together, too. Hyukjin still drew a clear line.
But as I said before, I dont see you as a girl.
Hmph! No one asked you about that. As if completely unconcerned by such a minor detail, Yeonseo stuck out her tongue, then took out a Guardian Gem from her Inventory.
Hyukjin heard a notice.
[The rchant of Venice clucks their tongue at the baffling trade.]
There was no real reward attached, but a complint was a complint. Baffling it might be, but Hyukjin got what he wanted.
In contrast, Yeonseo heard a different notice.
[The rchant of Venice loses interest in you.]
The rchant of Venices interest in Yeonseo fizzled out completely, but it was of zero importance to Yeonseo. She hardly ever did any Playing related to trading. As a Player specialized in 1 vs. 1 PVP, she only needed to firmly capture the hearts of the Guardians who liked PVP.
In any case, Hyukjin got one gem. That left just one more. He had one minute left.
Darong?
A [!] mark popped up over Darongis head. The squirrel shook his head like a rattle and started pushing off Hyukjins shoulder, but his attempt to flee failed.
That was because Hyukjin was holding his bushy tail. Darongi flailed in midair.
Hyukjin pulled out a fried chicken leg from his Inventory, which earned him a sincerely dumbfounded look from Sung-gu. Shabam? Why is chicken coming out of your Inventory?
And it was even soy sauce chicken.
Wanna trade for the Guardian Gem?
[!!!] flashed over Darongis head. His hesitation lasted all of two seconds. The squirrel pulled out a Guardian Gem from his Inventory.
Sunhwa stared in amazent. When did Darongi get that?
Hard to say. He either stole it from you or secretly picked one up while following you around.
The process didnt matter. Hyukjin rembered how this squirrel, who was a real sucker for new things, food, or things worth stealing, was sleeping on his shoulder back when Sunhwa pulled out the gems.
But he didnt have any [zzZ] marks over his head.
Which led Hyukjin to conclude that Darongi was pretending to sleep. Hyukjin had taken note of it all; he just didnt show that he had.
He destroyed another two Guardian Gems.
[The Guardian Gems power is perating the Guardian Field.]
[The Guardian Gems power is taking a potent effect.]
[The Guardian Gems power is perating the Guardian Field.]
[The Guardian Gems power is taking a potent effect.]
At the DMC Riverview Xi, the ground began to quake at the big road between apartnt complex 1 and 2. The passersby looked around in alarm.
Huh? Whats going on? An earthquake?
Is it an earthquake?
It wasnt. It was the sign of a Guardian Tower being constructed.
[The Guardian Field is preparing to summon a Guardian Tower.]
[The Guardian Field is starting to restrict the field.]
Huh? Huhh? Huh?
People started to get pushed away. As if there was so kind of invisible force acting on them, they began to get dragged to the sides of the road like soone was hauling them away by their necks.
Ahhhh!
Screams rang out all over the place.
HONK! HONK! HONK!
The honking of a car split the air. It wasnt that an accident occurred. It was just that one of the panicking drivers was slamming their horn, which wasnt surprising considering that cars were flying off in midair. The Guardian Field was restricting the field, and everyone who lacked the qualifications was being kicked out.
Hyukjin examined his surroundings.
Its definitely chaotic.
Thankfully, there didnt seem to be any casualties. A few cars that were kicked out of the field suffered minor collisions. They werent serious crashes, but a few cars were dented here and there.
[The Guardian Tower to be summoned has been decided.]
It was the mont of truth. Hyukjin clenched his hands. The Guardian Tower that appeared here in the past was the growth-type Guardian Tower galodon. You couldnt quite call it a super top-class tower, but it was still pretty high up there. It was that structure that made this place, the Namgajwa neighborhood, the safest place in Korea.
Which Guardian Tower was it?
[The Guardian Tower Tintin has been summoned.]
The ground in the middle of the crosswalk began to writhe. Like a mole poking out its head, sothing shot out explosively. It was like watching a shoot germinate in 100x ti. It grew like the beanstalk in Jack and the Beanstalk and beca a tower about five ters high. The monunt had gray bricks and a blue roof, with open gunports interspersed along the towers length.
This Guardian Tower was one Hyukjin already knew.
Tintin?
It was the starting version of the super top-class Guardian Tower Titan located in Manhattan, New York. When Tintin evolved, it turned into Titan.
Its Tintin?
The Guardian Tower looked the sa as the Tintin he rembered. He looked at it in shock. As far as he knew, it was one of the strongest Guardian Towers on Earth.
Yoohyun lightly touched the gray brick.
Wow. This looks aweso, Hyungnim. Like so kind of fort, or a dieval castle.
Aint it a little too small to be like a dieval castle, bruh? As expected, Sung-gu was very interested in Tintin. Hyukjin, bruh. Just asking for a friend, can this thing, like, transform into a robot?
Why the hell would that happen? At Hyukjins withering gaze, Sung-gu smacked his lips with regret. Itd be damn fuckin cool if it could transform into a robot.
The funny thing was that Tintin was originally the symbol of the sovereign class. It was widely known that the Gold Pyramid Michelle and an Arican Master nad Kwon worked together to summon it.
Michelle and Kwon are said to have worked together.
Back then, he just accepted it without a second thought and moved on. But after going through the process himself, his perspective was a little different.
Ultimately, its one person who summons the Guardian Tower. The Master Kwon summoned it, and Michelle helped a little on the side. Like Yeonseo and Darongi just now.
The world of the top 1%, full of things that the massesincluding Hyukjinwerent aware of. The truth about the Tintin Tower in Manhattan might be a minor detail, but it was another piece of damning evidence that there really was a World Above for Rankers. There was definitely a world he hadnt known.
Bruh. Just tell
straight. Does this thing transform into a robot, or not?
Unable to stay silent, Sunghyun spat out one sentence. As if it could. Try using your brain a little, please.
Cmon, why not? This is a world where you can conjure fire and wind and where cars go whee in the air, so why would a robot showing up be trigonotry?
...
Sunghyun. Be honest. You like robots too, dont you? A fri~ckin transforming robot. Thats like, a guys greatest dream.
I dont want to talk to you, Hyung.
Hyukjin walked up to the Guardian Tower.
[The Guardian Tower registers the presence of Guardian Tower Master candidates.]
This was only the beginning.
Alright. Everyone, get ready.
There was no and they lived happily ever after ending when the Guardian Tower was summoned. The higher the grade of the summoned Guardian Tower and the stronger its ability, the more difficult the Guardian Tower Scenario would be.
All of the party mbers heard a notice.
[Guardian Tower Scenario 01
Qualifications of a Guardian Tower Master, is beginning.]
He already knew this scenario. But for the Guardians, it was the debut of a new scenario.
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