Chapter 431

The NPC called Swan.

He had the unique skills of ‘Adaptation’ and ‘Escape.’

Adaptation showed the effect of ‘increased speed of recovery from abnormal conditions,’ ‘decreased terrain penalty,’ and ‘decrease in the usage conditions of items.’ Escape had the effect of ‘never being caught by the enemy and never dying in combat.’

Grid had an idea the moment he saw Swan with the Great Lord’s Sword. He gave Swan the role that he originally intended for himself, under the assumption that Lauel predicted all his thoughts and actions and prepared countermeasures for them. It was to convince the enemy that Swan was Grid and make them follow Lauel’s plan.

The result was commendable. Swan was armed with Grid’s Greatsword and Triple Layers. He was recognized as Grid and served as good bait for Skull’s group. The US determined that Lauel’s plan was a success and completely erased their guard against Grid.

Thanks to this, Grid could act freely. He waited until the buff effect of the Motley Flail was activated and successfully pushed the US into a crisis.

The result was a defeat.

***

After the end of the siege.

The resurrected NPCs gathered around Grid. The NPCs in the US team seemed to be resurrected as well. The NPCs for the siege weren’t disposable. At least, in the server dedicated to the National Competition, they enjoyed eternal life, just like players.

“I’m sorry. I was unable to properly perform my role as bait.”

Swan apologized and looked at Grid.

Grid alternated looking between him and Lucky. He was filled with a powerful possessive desire to have them.

‘I want to take them to Reidan...’

Third advancement NPCs. The level was nearly twice as high as the soldiers in Reidan, and a lot of them were able to deal with the unbuffed Grid. In addition, Lucky had the good luck special stat and Swan had skills that would be useful in raids. But Grid had to end this relationship here. They would only temporarily be used for a limited amount of time in the National Competition.

“You did nothing wrong. I’m sorry that you lost because I was lacking.”

Those who were originally in a high position couldn’t easily recognize their mistakes because they had a lot to lose, and were also good at passing on responsibility. But Grid was the opposite. He apologized to Swan and even knocked on his shoulder to encourage him.

Swan was thrilled because he was a noble person with humility and responsibility. There was a growing sense of respect in his heart. Grid reached out to the thrilled Swan. Did he want to shake hands?

‘A noble man is shaking hands with someone like me...’

The moment the excited Swan grabbed Grid’s hand.

“What are you doing?”

“...Huh?”

There was rising resentment in Grid’s eyes as he looked at the bewildered Swan.

“Are you planning to keep my items?”

“Ah...”

He could feel killing intent. The frightened Swan hurriedly started to take off Grid’s items that he had been wearing for a while. Grid also gave back Swan’s items.

"...”

The two men had an expression of regret as they changed items. Someday, they hoped to meet again. On the other hand, the magician Lucky was staring at Grid in a hot and sticky manner.

'The taste of hitting was very good...’

He couldn’t forget the thrilling feeling whenever his flail hit Grid’s hard muscles. Due to Grid, Lucky got a new hobby. Unfortunately, his everyday life was destined to be difficult.

***

Thanks to the match between South Korea and the United States, other countries were able to gather useful information.

First, the NPCs had hidden abilities. Second, the NPCs could be armed with new items. Third, there was no need to be deceived by the eight paths.

“It’s a simple matter if you walk through the center.”

The shortest and widest path. It was better to concentrate their forces on the most efficient path, rather than disperse their forces and take risks on inaccurate plans. Most of the countries thought this, making the siege matches very monotonous.

The moment the siege started, they gathered in the central path and fought. The country who won there would win the siege. Of course, it wasn’t just a contest of power. The battle tactics was the key. The representatives of each country distributed their items as efficiently as possible, armed and strengthened the NPCs, and fought against the enemies in an extraordinary manner.

As a result, the siege event maintained a steady high audience rating and produced many conversations. But the South Korea vs US match received the highest ratings.

Grid broke his existing image of ‘ignorant overgeared’ person and prepared a lot, while Lauel’s brains made everything useless. Grid’s destructive force which smashed the US formations.

The South Korea vs US match had more elements to stimulate the viewers than any other match. Grid and Lauel’s reputations rose in an incomparable manner, and this was directly linked to the rise in awareness for the Overgeared Guild.

***

The National Competition’s third day.

After the round of 32, round of 16 and the quarterfinals, the four finalists were decided. Under the power of Damian, Japan earned the nickname of the ‘Strongest Army.’ Russia had Kraugel, who broke through the enemy and reached the castle. The world’s strongest United States.

Thus far, there was nothing big. People predicted that the US and Japan would enter the finals, and Russia’s actions were also within prediction range. But Argentina was different. Few people expected Argentina to advance to the semi-finals. Even the people of Argentina didn’t expect it. Argentina was one of the countries weak in Satisfy, and they didn’t even qualify for the 1st National Competition. They were almost the same as South Korea.

But they advanced into the top four and were facing the strongest countries. How did they do it?

Seuron. The result was due to his absolute force.

“Soul Predator...”

The reserved audience seats. The South Korea representatives, including Yura and Peak Sword, kept a close eye on Seuron. They weren’t the only ones. Players from all countries were concentrating on Seuron as they watched the siege. It was due to Seuron’s presence. His strength was comparable to Kraugel, Damian, and Grid.

'This is the dignity of combat specific classes.’

Seuron’s unique combat ability to exploit the souls of enemy and allied corpses to increase his own strength was perfect. It was difficult to find any weak points in all aspects of physical attack, magic attack, defense, resistance, AOE , CC, etc.

‘I think that even God Grid will find it hard against Seuron...’

Peak Sword had this thought, despite being a passionate follower of Grid. But Grid had no interest in Seuron. Grid was only focused on Kraugel.

‘How can he think about moving like that?’

Kraugel’s movements avoided all the concentrated attacks of dozens of NPCs while breaking through the enemy at the same time. Grid couldn’t even imagine the movements, let alone mimic it. Grid realized one thing.

‘Imagination.’

Maybe this imagination was one of the important elements of his strength? It was a tremendous weapon because Kraugel could move in ways that others didn’t expect. It was movement beyond predictions. However, did a person have to be smart to be imaginative?

In other words...

‘He is good at fighting and smart?’

Grid recalled that he heard people who were smart were good at sports.

"This is very annoying.”

It was a desperate reality for Grid who wasn’t smart. He felt like he faced a higher barrier than an average person living in this world. The Grid in the past would’ve trembled with anger and lamented.

‘But I’m not useless.’

Grid now knew. It was much more profitable to overcome this than to blame his own talent.

“Umm...”

Grid grew more and more focused as he watched Kraugel. He was devising methods to win against Kraugel in PvP.

At that moment.

Ttiring~

A mail arrived on Youngwoo’s phone.

'Is it Sehee?’

A phone that almost never rang. He expected it to be from his parents or sister, only to find something interesting. Comet Group. It was a mail from one of the domestic companies that offered to sponsor Grid.

[Shin Youngwoo-nim.

We’ve been watching your activities in the National Competition with great interest. As a Korean citizen, I feel very proud and thankful. If you don’t mind, can we discuss the contract that was cancelled the other day? We will do our best to satisfy you. Please give us a positive response.

Head of the Public Relations Team, Yook Shihyun.]

It was the company that offered him 300 million. 300 million. He couldn’t deny that it was a huge amount of money to receive just for wearing the mark of the Comet Group on his chest. However, Grid’s value was much higher than that. It wasn’t a baseless pride. Weren’t there articles about Zibal getting 3.6 billion from the world class company Radidas?

‘I should get at least 1 billion...’

Yura spoke to Grid, who was looking at the text message.

“Why aren’t you replying to it?”

“Hrmm...”

Grid turned to look at Yura. There was a pink flush on Yura’s white cheeks. She couldn’t help feeling embarrassed as Grid stared at her. But Grid wasn’t conscious about this at all.

“I don’t want to meet them at all. They don’t know my value.”

It wasn’t a grudge. Above all, Grid was in the position of master of Overgeared, so he couldn’t put down his value. He was worried that the value of Overgeared would fall if he was too cheap.

Yura asked him with a serious expression, "Youngwoo, your current cash assets should be around 6 billion?”

“No, it’s around 5 billion.”

If he added the building that was to be completed in a month, his total assets would be 15 billion. It was huge for Grid, who was debt-ridden two years ago. He couldn’t help being proud as he recalled those days. The fact that he could eat food without worrying about money made him feel like he could have the world.

Yura handed out reality to Grid with a gentle expression.

"Youngwoo, 5 billion isn’t as much money as you think. It is likely that you will have to spend billions of won if you want to buy high end materials like adamantium or dragon scales, that ultimately must be collected.”

Then Peak Sword chimed in.

“There are many rich people in the world, and at this moment, a new rich person is being born. There are hundreds of gold spoons in South Korea alone who can collect cars worth more than 5 billion won. As the average level of the users in Satisfy increases, the value of items will rise more and more. We need to have enough money to adapt to the times.”

The end point was simple. If he was aiming to be a king, he shouldn’t be complacent with what he currently had. Grid wasn’t in a position where he could reject the pumpkin that rolled up to him.

‘That’s right.’

Grid received enlightenment and replied to the team leader.

-4 billion.