135 – The Kingdom Where the Sun Does Not Rise – 5

“What is a civilization skill?”

“Hyat!”

While running breathlessly down the hallway following Patum, Tilla shrank back in surprise at Gi-jun’s whispering voice; when Gi-jun looked at her as if asking what was wrong, she regained her composure, cleared her throat, and replied.

“C-civilization skill? To think you don’t know that—Jun, you really haven’t been in Leta for long. It’s so absurd when compared to Jun’s abilities that I always forget.”

“So, what is it?”

“It’s literally a skill granted to everyone belonging to that civilization. I guess you could call it a type of initial support to quickly adapt to Leta. …But did you seriously gather the points needed for that all by yourself? How much was it?”

When Gi-jun honestly replied that it was one million points, Tilla wore a dumbfounded expression.

“Even if the requirement is low because it’s the first liberation, how did you gather one million points on your own?”

“Part of it was sweeping them up in a short period by completing various quests and killing boss-class monsters… but there was also a case where I killed someone and they turned out to be a civilization representative.”

“Ah.”

Guessing who he was talking about, Tilla shut her mouth.

An awkward silence flowed between the two for a brief moment, but she suddenly thought of something and spoke again.

“Still, it won’t do right now. As far as I know, tax collection will happen soon.”

“Huh? Ah, taxes. Wasn’t that paid after a year passed?”

“No, all of the summoned living on the continent must pay at the same time. At Gi-jun’s level, with the achievements you’ve made so far, the tax assessed won’t be negligible, and if you spend one million points first, you might not be able to meet the tax.”

“Wouldn’t it be fine if I just catch a few more vampires like that?”

“I think so too, but…”

Tilla, who was checking the date while rolling her head, shook her head with an ambiguous expression.

“The problem is that ‘soon’ might be this evening, or even right now. The system is oddly unfriendly in some aspects, so it never tells us the tax collection period clearly. I understand it means we should always steadily gather points instead of wasting them on strange things, but honestly, it’s very spiteful.”

“That’s a tax collection method stricter than even America’s… Ah.”

Gi-jun, who was feeling regretful, soon realized the fact that he did not need to pay taxes this year.

For playing a major role in stopping the overflow that occurred last time, he had definitely confirmed a system message stating that he was exempted from this year’s taxes.

Tilla was dumbfounded at Gi-jun’s words that he was exempted from taxes, but she replied nonetheless.

“Then there’s no problem, obtain it right away. It might not be of much help to someone of Jun’s caliber, but it will be different for your compatriots.”

“Alright.”

To think I am promoting the safety of the entire civilization with points I earned alone.

If someone other than Tilla, who cherished her own kind, were next to him right now, they would have said he was being taken for a complete sucker, or that he should inform the Earthlings of this fact and collect an appropriate amount of points from them.

However, since the Earthlings had already seen people die while trying to extort others’ points under a similar pretext, they would not easily cooperate with that.

Gi-jun, who was about to blow a raw sum of one million points, went beyond simply feeling proud and even felt a certain pleasure at the fact that he could protect the entire civilization solely by his own strength.

‘And looking at it realistically, since the majority of my party members, including myself, are Earthlings, it will be a huge help.’

Judging from the fact that he had never heard anyone else mention the term ‘civilization skill’ until now, he could easily guess that it was not that grand of a skill.

Still, this would be a very important first step for all Earthlings who had suffered and survived in Leta until now.

Perhaps they would be able to correctly button the civilization harmony that had been buttoned wrong from the very start.

—Would you like to consume 1,000,000 Leta points to unlock the first civilization skill?

—Would you like to consume 1,000,000 Leta points to unlock the first civilization skill?

‘Yes.’

Gi-jun spent the one million points he had painstakingly gathered without any hesitation.

Honestly, since he hadn’t bought anything particularly good with Leta points so far other than the pressure cooker, he didn’t have much regret.

Though the pressure cooker was really great.

He still used it to this day.

‘Moreover, even if I don’t know for sure, by the time I complete this quest, I should be able to get back at least 100,000 points.’

At the moment he was calculating the amount of points he would gain from this quest in his head, messages appeared in front of Gi-jun and Ji-hye’s eyes simultaneously.

—The representative of the civilization has unlocked the first civilization skill, ‘Adaptation’. You obtain basic resistance to all environments, and the longer you endure in extreme environments, the more all stats will significantly increase.

—You are in an extreme environment filled with thick darkness, blood energy, and demonic energy, where a space distortion field is deployed. Under the influence of the Adaptation skill, all stats increase by 15%. A highly positive correction is given to the Adaptation skill. The skill’s rank transcendence is near!

—The representative of the civilization has unlocked the first civilization skill, ‘Adaptation’. You obtain basic resistance to all environments, and the longer you endure in extreme environments, the more all stats will significantly increase.

—You are in an extreme environment filled with thick darkness, blood energy, and demonic energy, where a space distortion field is deployed. Under the influence of the Adaptation skill, all stats increase by 15%. A highly positive correction is given to the Adaptation skill. The skill’s rank transcendence is near!

No, he had just obtained the skill, so what did they mean by transcendence?

Gi-jun was dumbfounded by the messages appearing one after another as soon as he unlocked the civilization skill—but for now, the civilization skill seemed to be an absurd jackpot.

For one, thanks to his unique skill, rather than receiving debuffs in any environment, Gi-jun converted them into buffs, meaning he could enter any environment without hesitation, and the Adaptation skill allowed him to receive even greater buffs in those environments.

Furthermore, by the time a situation arose where Gi-jun would be in danger, it was usually a tremendous, extreme environment, so it could be said there was almost no possibility of this skill going to waste.

“All stats by 15%?! For a Common-grade skill?”

Hearing the explanation of the skill from Gi-jun, Tilla was astonished.

“No, I mean, of course the environment we are in right now is extremely terrible… but even so, at that level, it’s the strongest among all the civilization skills I know of!”

In the next moment, the look in Tilla’s eyes as she stared at Gi-jun became very pitiful.

“Just how weak is the Earth civilization for it to get such a good skill…?”

“Ah.”

Indeed, it seemed the weaker the civilization’s power, the more useful the granted racial skill was.

Having already crossed over to Leta and been active for several months, Gi-jun could confidently declare that the Earth civilization was overwhelmingly the weakest among the civilizations summoned to Leta.

He had thought the balance patch was finished just by undergoing the tutorial twice, but as it turned out, the real balance patch was somewhere else.

…Of course, had it not been for transcendent powerhouses like Gi-jun or Ye-min, they all would have met their ends just like that without even being able to unlock the first civilization skill.

“Wow, Oppa, you gathered one million points?”

Ji-hye, who was startled by suddenly obtaining the Adaptation skill, was also surprised to hear Gi-jun’s explanation but understood.

“But doesn’t this skill look a bit similar to Oppa’s unique skill?”

“Yeah, originally, a civilization skill is influenced by the representative of the civilization who unlocked it. Since Jun is the strongest, it is best for Jun to unlock it.”

“Scintilla unni is scary sometimes when she asserts things like that… No, it’s true, though.”

It certainly resembled the Unfailing Body Clock, but it was also good for Gi-jun in that they harmonized without invading each other’s domains.

He had no intention of backing down from the start, but now that he had gained this much momentum, he was confident he could push a Legendary-grade vampire into a corner all by himself.

‘However, this skill will probably be more effective for the other Earthlings than for me right now.’

He meant the Earthlings who had set foot in this crazy moon world… no, the kingdom of the vampires.

While he was having such thoughts, a contact flew in from Ye-min right on time.

[Ye-min (Leta): Oppa, you did this, right?]

[Master Devotee (Leta): That’s right. How much did your stats increase?]

[Ye-min (Leta): Both Shin and I went up by exactly 10%. But maybe because the other Earthlings are still weak, the correction seemed to apply even stronger for them.]

[Master Devotee (Leta): For a Common-grade skill, it even has flexibility. Anyway, it has become easier to control the Earthlings with this, right?]

[Ye-min (Leta): Oppa?]

[Master Devotee (Leta): Let’s start from there, Min-i. It’s a perfect chance. A significant number of Earthlings are gathered, and you have a justification to control them. There will be no one who won’t follow a representative who devotes themselves to the civilization.]

Ye-min did not reply for a while, and only sent a reply around the time Gi-jun’s group found the second vampire and entered combat.

[Ye-min (Leta): Oppa, that part of you hasn’t changed a bit. Doing all the hard work and then stepping back as if you did nothing…]

[Master Devotee (Leta): If I were there, I would have naturally declared that I did it. But the one in the most appropriate situation to benefit from this right now is you. That is why I am leaving it to you.]

[Ye-min (Leta): Oppa…]

[Master Devotee (Leta): If you really don’t feel like it, give me one million points later. So I can unlock the second civilization skill too. They say the stronger the person who opens it, the better.]

[Ye-min (Leta): Ah, that part has definitely changed. In the past, even if it were true, you would have died before saying you were stronger.]

[Ye-min (Leta): Oh no, I suddenly want to see you, Oppa.]

[Master Devotee (Leta): If you finish everything you have to do and return safely, I will cook something delicious for you.]

[Ye-min (Leta): It’s a bit different from the reaction I wanted, but… yes, Oppa. I will return safely.]

The second fellow was not of Legendary-grade but merely of Unique-grade, and thanks to that, they were fortunately able to safely rescue the expedition member who had been captured by him.

However, they reached the conclusion that they would never be able to safely rescue all the expedition members in time in this manner—and in the end, they agreed to split the team.

Although they could not completely rule out the possibility of the Lord of Thorns’ spatial teleportation magic activating once again, they believed that such magic could not be manifested without any cost and boldly split their numbers.

“Either myself, Jun, or one of the Spirit Summoners must lead a group. The Dragon Knights that the guy we just killed mentioned is a group composed entirely of Legendary-grade vampires. At the very least, there must be one person mixed in who can deal with a Legendary-grade.”

In that way, three teams were created on the spot.

One team consisted of Patum, the rescued expedition members, and Nabinya, who possessed scouting abilities, as support.

Tilla, Gin, and even Laura, who could be the most accurate guide in this castle of all people, made up another team.

Finally, Gi-jun and Ji-hye made up the last team.

“Jun, are you really alright?”

“Even if I’m not as good as Lucy, I can still search to some extent. Perhaps the enemies who hate my energy will find me first.”

“Jun-nim…”

Laura showed signs of suddenly becoming anxious again upon being separated from Gi-jun, but he replied with a reassuring expression.

“I promised, right? That I won’t let you die. If you are in danger, I will run over immediately, so do not worry.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect her so Jun doesn’t have to push himself. Let’s go then!”

“…”

Laura, who was ready to dive into his arms at Gi-jun’s words at any moment, sent him a desperate look as she was grabbed by Tilla and departed.

Gi-jun ignored it and departed in a different direction with Ji-hye.

Ji-hye, who had absolutely no confidence in keeping up with Gi-jun’s movement speed, rode on the back of Ur, who had transformed into the size of a tiger, and quietly muttered as she followed him.

“Oppa has become quite cold-hearted too.”

“I thought it wasn’t good for Laura to depend too much on me. She used to be a girl who got along well with everyone… but after being bitten by Carmilla, her vision became too narrow.”

Gi-jun continued speaking as he spread his Light Mana into the castle hallway, which was not only hung with all kinds of gloomy decorations but was also disgustingly wide, searching for anything that reacted to it.

“Slaying Carmilla to ease Laura’s mind somewhat is the priority, but… aside from that, Laura needs to learn how to acknowledge and generously accept her current self.”

“And the answer to that is her relationships with other people?”

“At the very least, it’s not good to depend solely on me in this one-sided manner.”

Of course, there was no way everything would go according to my thoughts, but—

Gi-jun, who was speaking while sighing, suddenly shut his mouth.

Something had caught onto his Light Mana.

—To dare shine such a filthy light in our castle…!

Gi-jun’s expectation was not wrong.

The enemy, who felt the Light Mana, even cast aside the expedition member he was tormenting and was flying fiercely toward Gi-jun!

“Oppa, the light effect is killer.”

“I’ll make it even more killer from now on, so look forward to it.”

“So, what is the enemy’s grade?”

“Legendary.”

“Just my luck.”

To think two people whose racial grade was merely Rare would gather and face a Legendary-grade vampire!

However, Gi-jun was actually smiling.

“Even when we hunted together with so many people earlier, our levels went up by a lot. What do you think will happen if the two of us defeat that?”

“We have to win first for that to happen, we have to win!”

Yet, it was also true that if one was a Korean, this was a situation from which they could not back down.

Ji-hye initiated her magic incantation.

Gi-jun began to flash his body intensely once again.

At the same time, he sneakily swapped his mask.

* * *

[Biche♥ (Dimensional Rift): I know you don’t have time to reply, so I’ll just say what I have to say.]

[Biche♥ (Dimensional Rift): The reason Kudlak is terrifying is not because he turns the people he bites into vampires, nor because he handles powerful blood magic.]

[Biche♥ (Dimensional Rift): It is because he has accumulated a wide variety of powers over a long, very long period of time.]

[Biche♥ (Dimensional Rift): Perhaps you really did cut off all the hands that Kudlak has played in this quest.]

[Biche♥ (Dimensional Rift): But even if that is the case, they still have a mountain of cards left.]

[Biche♥ (Dimensional Rift): Especially in their stronghold, the castle where the Lord resides, there will be even more means they can employ. Even excluding the Unique Territory.]

[Biche♥ (Dimensional Rift): Do not show any openings to them. If you feel like they are pulling some cheap tricks, do not wait; slice their necks and pierce their hearts immediately.]

[Biche♥ (Dimensional Rift): I should have been there. I should have demonstrated at least once how to deal with those nasty bastards, seriously…!]

[Biche♥ (Dimensional Rift): Ah! Why the hell are these bastards throwing a fit about paying taxes at a time like this!]