Absolute Dweller - Chapter 19: Expansion of Influence (1)

[Episode 05] Expansion of Influence (1)

The Absolute Dweller’s Eyes which had been looking at Moon Byeong-ho was forcibly canceled, and his senses expanded throughout the entire floor.

Simultaneously, the area slowly expanded along with a swelling pain that seemed to engulf my entire body.

‘Ugh!’

This time, it started from the bottom of the 30th floor and slowly expanded downward.

Real-time pain where muscles twisted and veins seemed to burst.

The expansion finished when the area covered by the floor, extending from the 30th floor, swallowed up to the 21st floor.

[A being satisfying the conditions to be recognized as a citizen has been found.]

[Would you like to grant citizenship?]

I checked the pictures of the seven individuals that appeared before me.

‘So, there were still people remaining.’

I thought they had all received citizenship during the goblin hunt, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

‘Grant citizenship.’

[Jo Woo-jin, Kang Hyun-soo, Kim Da-jeong, Nam Ji-ho, Moon Hae-ri, Nam Ah-yeong, Nam Jin-joo have been granted citizenship.]

With an additional 7 people, the total number of citizens reached a total of 101.

The count had surpassed 100.

[The number of citizens has reached 100.]

[Experience points and settlement funds earned by citizens increase by 100%.]

There were familiar notifications as expected, but there was also an entirely new one.

[As the number of citizens has reached a certain level, all citizens gain the ‘Power of Trust’ skill.]

[Footnote: 신뢰의 힘 – Power of Trust, Trust Power, Trust Energy, etc.]

‘Power of Trust?’

A new aspect had emerged.

Although I wanted to check it immediately, there was something more urgent at the moment.

It was checking the status of Ha Dong-geon’s party.

‘Absolute Dweller’s Eyes.’

They were running through the alley.

‘Anyone injured?’

I quickly scanned for Moon Byeong-ho, who was covered in blood earlier.

Fortunately, he was in good condition and running with his grandmother on his back. Seeing that, it seemed that the blood I saw earlier didn’t belong to him.

‘Sigh.’

The problem was Oh Eon-ju.

Oh Eon-ju, who was being carried by Kang Deok-soo, was bleeding from her side and had lost consciousness.

‘She must have been attacked by the Red Tiger.’

The good thing was that she possessed self-healing abilities.

I wasn’t sure what happened since I didn’t see the battle scene earlier, but judging from the settlement funds, it was clear that Moon Byeong-ho had delivered the finishing blow.

The level of the recently appeared Red Tiger was 27. It was at the same level as the Kellican which I burned to death before.

Considering that it gave around 9 million won, the 39 million won couldn’t be explained unless it was a special bonus twice the amount of the settlement funds.

‘Did it manage to harm her despite the level difference?’

The Red Tiger was level 27.

A level 27 monster had dealt a heavy injury to Oh Eon-ju, who was level 33.

It seemed that levels weren’t such an absolute measure.

‘Well, if levels were that absolute, I wouldn’t have been able to defeat the Kellican.’

In that case.

‘Is there really a need to spend 100 million won to level up?’

It wasn’t that I thought the money was wasted.

‘But this is a big problem.’

Of all the party members, it had to be Oh Eon-ju who got injured.

From what I had observed so far, Oh Eon-ju had made significant contributions to the party.

The number of goblins she had taken down alone so far outnumbered the total number of goblins the other party members had defeated.

It was only natural for me to be worried.

‘I hope she’s okay.’

However, that was just overthinking.

“Kkieeeek!”

As soon as Ha Dong-geon’s party exited the alley, they effortlessly swept away the goblins they encountered.

And that was without Moon Byeong-ho and Kang Deok-soo participating in the battle.

“I hit them!”

“…Me too.”

This was thanks to the arrows from Yoo Hye-rin and Kim Ga-young that had missed before now finding their mark on the goblins’ foreheads.

[Footnote: They used to miss their arrows but now they were all accurately hitting the goblins.]

Furthermore, the arrows fired by them had become much sharper.

“What’s going on? My body suddenly feels incredibly light…”

“Me too. I’m not even short of breath.”

Watching their strange reactions, the notification I had seen earlier came to mind.

The ‘Power of Trust’ skill that all citizens had supposedly unlocked.

{Power of Trust} (Passive)

All attributes increase by (Trust Rating)%.

‘So, it’s because of this.’

The Ha Dong-geon party had a base trust rating of 50 or higher across the board.

Attributes such as health, visual acuity, strength, reflexes, etc.

If all attributes rose by 50% or more, it would naturally lead to a rapid rise of combat power.

At that moment, Moon Byeong-ho said to the bewildered group.

“You’ve all been chosen by him. Like me.”

It felt somewhat similar to the experience during vassal registration.

With the confidence of someone who had risen to level 30, Moon Byeong-ho continued.

“You feel lighter, and energy overflows through your body, right? I experienced the same thing during the goblin hunt. It seems like he’s helping us.”

Surprisingly, his words had an effect.

[Citizen Kim Ga-young’s Loyalty has surpassed 30.]

[Citizen Kim Ga-young has met the conditions for vassal registration.]

[Citizen Yoo Hye-rin’s Loyalty has surpassed 30.]

[Citizen Yoo Hye-rin has met the conditions for vassal registration.]

Two citizens have now met the conditions for vassal registration.

‘Register both as vassals.’

At that moment.

Wooong!

“What, what’s happening?”

“Ahh!”

『Name: Kim Ga-young (Lv. 20) [+]

Title: [Fourth Vassal]

Trust: 58 Loyalty: 32

Awakening Ability: Piercing

★Quest Assignment 』

『Name: Yoo Hye-rin (Lv. 25) [+]

Title: [Fifth Vassal]

Trust: 69 Loyalty: 33

Awakening Ability: Poison Mist

★Quest Assignment』

Looking at their levels, it seemed that each of them had acquired B-grade and C-grade skills.

A group of goblins, stimulated by the light from their registration, rushed towards Ha Dong-geon’s group.

As always, the first to react was Kim Ga-young.

However, the arrow she shot out reflexively had a faint light attached to it.

Whooosh!

“!!!”

The arrow she shot hit the goblin’s forehead accurately, like usual.

But this time, it was much cleaner, piercing through the goblin’s head, and then one after another, penetrated the bodies of the goblins rushing from behind.

“Keeeek!”

“Kagak!”

“Kkeok!”

Goblins with holes in their bodies rolled on the ground, screaming.

Of course, the most surprised was Kim Ga-young.

“What, what’s this?”

This was the effect of her awakened skill.

Piercing (Grade C)

Consumes mental power to fire a piercing arrow.

It seemed that she used the skill subconsciously by concentrating.

‘I should give them a quest.’

Upon seeing the skill name “Piercing” written in the quest, she would instantly know what kind of skill it was.

Since Kim Ga-young completed the goblin hunting quest she was given earlier, she could be given a new quest.

《Quest Assignment》

Quest Details: Hunt goblins using Piercing (0/10)

Time Limit: 10 minutes

Rewards: Enhance Piercing proficiency

Failure Penalty: Fatigue

After confirming the quest details, Kim Ga-young began to go on a rampage.

With well-aimed Piercing arrows, she took down at least two goblins with a single shot.

As Kim Ga-young freely wielded the skill and started her rampage, I hesitated for a moment before deciding to give a similar quest to Yu Hye-rin.

‘But this ability is a bit ambiguous.’

Poison Mist (Grade B)

Consumes mental power to create a lethal poison mist.

The ability itself was good.

It could probably be used in the underground parking lot to wipe out the remaining goblins.

However, there was a problem.

It was a B-grade poison mist skill, and it seemed to be extremely lethal.

If used incorrectly, it could adversely affect the team members.

‘I’ll put this on hold and look into it later.’

It seemed unnecessary for Yu Hye-rin to step forward right now.

[Citizen Kim Ga-young has completed the quest.]

[Quest cost: 67,773 won.]

[Citizen Kim Ga-young has exhausted all available quest attempts for today.]

[Evaluating the quests completed by Citizen Kim Ga-young.]

[······ Evaluating ······]

“Wow.”

What happened was completely different from Choi Hyeong-jun, who had awakened a C-grade ability.

‘Amazing.’

She was making the most of the penetrating arrow attribute, incapacitating as many goblins as possible.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that she was opening the path herself.

[Evaluation complete.]

[Experience points slightly increased.]

I was slightly hopeful, but it was another disappointment.

‘Isn’t it obvious?’

If the probability was high, the system message wouldn’t have congratulated him on winning the jackpot.

Once again, I realized that Moon Byeong-ho’s case was a wildcard.

‘I probably don’t need to worry.’

The apartment alley was soon visible, and it seemed like Ha Dong-geon’s party would arrive safely.

‘Should I go meet those people?’

I intended to meet Kim Dabin and Kim Min-ho in person, but upon checking, they were still not done with their showers.

‘I’ll go in a bit.’

Even though it had been at least 30 minutes since the shower started, it still hadn’t finished.

‘Should I explore the newly expanded area?’

From the 21st to the 29th floor.

About half of the newly expanded area was empty with no one around.

The refrigerators in these vacant houses were filled with neglected and rotten food, side dishes, and bugs crawling around.

Although the situation was relatively better in the houses with people, the accumulated waste in the toilets or dirtied interiors due to lack of cleaning were another kind of hell.

‘It’s terrible.’

Perhaps because I could feel the overall situation in the houses, these scenes disgusted me even more.

However, one place stood out in maintaining cleanliness even in these circumstances.

‘Those are the people I just granted citizenship to.’

It was an ordinary house where Nam Ji-ho and his family lived, but compared to other houses, it was surprisingly clean, to the point of being bewildering.

A peculiar point was that the bathtub was halfway filled with water. Upon entering the bathroom, I saw someone filling a water container from the tub, revealing the purpose.

Drinking water.

‘Ah.’

It seemed they had filled the bathtub with tap water before the water supply was cut off.

With that, the family of four could secure enough drinking water to last a month.

In order to survive immediately, they could also drink the water from the tank behind the toilet, but it was enough for now.

‘Impressive.’

That wasn’t all.

In the living room, there was a camping gas burner, and it seemed they used it to cook instant noodles or rice.

Even now, there was some leftover rice in one pot.

Moreover, unlike other houses, they seemed to handle waste neatly.

Thanks to this, the house they lived in seemed to be in a better situation than the other houses that had received relief supplies from me.

‘No wonder they didn’t respond to Ha Dong-geon’s rescue party.’

There was no reason for them to willingly open the door for strangers armed with bows.

People who had joined Ha Dong-geon’s party during the goblin hunt were in such a desperate situation that they had to go outside where monsters were rampant to find drinking water or food.

Most of them had no choice.

Unlike them, when Ha Dong-geon’s party came to them, they had the option to choose whether to trust them or not.

To be fair, it was weirder for them to believe people who came armed with bows and baseball bats claiming themselves to be a rescue team.

‘I want them.’

The quick action of filling the bathtub with water before the water supply was cut off showed that this person was no ordinary survivor.

Someone who could use such resources effectively in a crisis was indeed a crucial asset.

‘Hmm?’

Of course, not all the new survivors who joined had rejected the rescue team based on such rational judgments.

In the living room right below our house, 2902, there was a person lying quietly on the floor.

At first, I thought she was dead since she lay there motionless.

‘Who is this woman…?’

She looked almost as if she were about to die.

『Name: Kim Da-jeong (Lv. 26)

Trust: 18

Awakening Ability: Heal

Experience Distribution Rate: 0%

Reward Distribution Rate: 0%

★ Quest Assignment 🖾Expulsion』

Heal (Grade B)

Consumes mental strength to heal wounds.

I immediately sprinted down towards 2902.