Absolute Dweller - Chapter 26: Construction (4)

[Episode 06] Construction (4)

A strange rumor was spreading among the survivors.

One that claimed killing goblins yielded ‘money.’

[Goblin (Lv. 7) hunted.]

[You have gained experience.]

[1,024 won deposited into Citizen Kim Min-ho’s wallet.]

‘…It’s true?’

Kim Min-ho hadn’t expected such a change during the few days he took a break from hunting and cleaned up his house.

As Kim Min-ho was momentarily lost in thought, a goblin approached from behind.

Slaaash—Phwoosh!

Its ambush was thwarted as an arrow pierced through its throat.

The one who shot the arrow, Moon Hae-ri, shouted at Kim Min-ho.

“Mr. Kim! Stay focused!”

“Sorry!”

Reacting to the sound, Kim Min-ho tightened his grip on the spear.

‘Let’s focus on the battle for now.’

This was a place where tricks like hunting in safe zones from the apartment couldn’t be used.

Taking your eyes off for even a moment was almost asking to be attacked by goblins.

Some of them also carried dangerous weapons like knives or awls.

In fact, Kim Min-ho had already fallen victim a few times and was saved by Kim Da-jeong.

“Hup!”

[Goblin (Lv. 7) hunted.]

[You have gained experience.]

[1,033 won deposited into Citizen Kim Min-ho’s wallet.]

Although Kim Min-ho’s party consisted of only three members, they were quite formidable.

Especially Moon Hae-ri, who was a former national team member, and Nam Ji-ho, a former special forces officer, their skill levels were exceptional. During their first hunt, they had made short work of several goblins.

While Mr. Kim Jae-hyun initially supplied them with bows and spears, the exceptional skill of Moon Hae-ri and Nam Ji-ho made everything possible.

They shot to death at least six goblins from a distance before entering close distance, making the hunt seem easy.

In addition, Nam Ji-ho’s skill with the spear was so good that he had no trouble dealing with the goblins that approached.

In the beginning, he could almost single-handedly sweep away most of the goblins.

‘These people are on a different level than someone like me, who just has a muscle for show.’

Of course, Kim Min-ho wasn’t just exercising casually, so he quickly became accustomed to combat.

[Footnote: He’s a bodybuilder iirc.]

As he became more familiar with using the spear, now the three of them could handle even twenty goblins without any issues.

“Whew. Good job, everyone.”

“You too, Mr. Min-ho~. Hehe.”

Kim Min-ho asked his party members.

“By the way, did you see that? When you kill goblins, it really gives you money.”

“Yeah. While we did get notifications about goblins and experience points before, it’s the first time I’ve seen money. I earned about 5,000 won… Honey, how much did you earn?”

“6,000 won.”

“Then if we combine ours together, it’s over 10,000 won!”

Moon Hae-ri seemed to find joy in the money that came every time she killed a goblin.

Kim Min-ho remarked, “But where do we use this money?”

“Well, who knows.”

Nam Ji-ho casually replied, “Something seems to be happening on the first floor.”

“Oh my! I saw that too. Maybe we can buy something now?”

Moon Hae-ri was excited, but Kim Min-ho didn’t have such high hopes.

Because they were already living well without any shortages.

Kim Min-ho’s family and Nam Ji-ho’s family had been promised full support from Mr. Kim Jae-hyun in recognition of their achievement of being the first party to hunt 100 goblins.

With the supply of electricity, water, and gas, they were living a normal life at home. They even received support like eggs and milk, making their lives quite comfortable.

In fact, they hardly felt the need for money.

Nevertheless.

“Hehe, let’s make a fortune today.”

“Shall we?”

“There’s nothing bad about having more money.”

Money coming from goblins stimulated their desire to hunt.

This wasn’t unique to Kim Min-ho’s party.

Even those who had only completed the most basic hunt 10 goblins quest and ignored everything else began to take an interest.

Things truly ignited after a mysterious space called a convenience store was created on the first floor of the apartment.

***

I stared at the air with all my might.

At that moment.

Crackle—crackle!

Sparks flew from the air.

‘Success. Next is…’

This time, I shifted my focus to the bathroom bathtub and concentrated on the sensation.

Then.

Drip—

A water droplet formed in the air, coalesced into a larger mass, and fell into the bathtub.

Splish! Splash!

This time, too, it was a success.

‘I’m getting used to it now.’

It wasn’t a newly awakened skill.

This was purely Dignity Maintenance.

‘Feels like I’ve become a wizard.’

A wizard using money instead of mana.

‘At least now I can handle electricity, water, and gas for sure.’

Originally, the supply of electricity, water, and gas was a massive system on the national scale.

However, with the appearance of monsters and the collapse of the system, the means to supply them disappeared.

But by using the Dignity Maintenance skill, I could supply electricity and water anywhere within the homebound area, extending from my house to the entire territory.

I could create them.

Naturally, I concluded that within the homebound area, I could generate electricity, gas, and water. After a few practices, I could consciously produce them.

‘Whew.’

At that moment.

[The daily sales of the convenience store have been settled.]

[320,981 won has been deposited into the Absolute Dweller’s wallet.]

A profit of 20% meant 320,981 won.

In other words, the daily sales of the convenience store had exceeded 1.5 million won.

It was an obvious statement, but it meant that many citizens were hunting monsters, collecting money, and purchasing goods at the convenience store.

I immediately used the Absolute Dweller’s Eye to look at the convenience store.

I could see citizens shopping there.

“Hey, how much more do we need to gather?”

“The price of this bow is 150,000 won, and we’ve collected about 10,000 won today, so it’ll take about 15 days.”

“Hey, you fool. Haven’t you thought about buying water and noodles for the next two weeks?”

“Oh, right. If you’re so smart, calculate it yourself, hyung~.”

Most citizens actually purchased groceries such as water, instant noodles, and cola.

However, some were ignited with the will to hunt when they saw bows and spears.

‘Just distributing settlement funds has changed the atmosphere to this extent.’

Perhaps it was because they were accustomed to capitalism.

Once private property emerged, citizens began to voluntarily hunt goblins. Now, a week later, it had become difficult to find goblins near the apartment.

Now, citizens had to go outside the apartment complex to hunt goblins.

‘Leveling up is going smoothly.’

As the level of the Absolute Dweller’s Declaration reached 11, every part of the underground parking lot became completely zoned.

However, in the process, the number of goblins in the vicinity had dried up to the point where only 10 goblins were killed during the expansion.

Now, it was safe to say that there were no goblins inside Apartment Complex 1.

‘The number of citizens has increased significantly.’

Current population: (789/11,000 people)

Additional experience points +100%

Additional settlement funds +100%

Due to the citizens’ activities, goblins disappeared, and citizens who had been hiding inside joined in large numbers.

The promise to supply electricity, water, and gas to the house to those who rescued 10 survivors resonated well, and the number of citizens was rapidly increasing.

‘Population growth will probably continue exponentially.’

The fortunate thing was that the population limit increased to 10,000 when I reached level 10.

Thanks to that, we could accommodate as many as we wanted for a while.

‘At least I can accept all the survivors inside this apartment complex.’

Unfortunately, not a single newcomer had an awakened ability.

It was surprising that there wasn’t a single survivor that had an awakened ability.

That was how rare awakened ability users were.

‘In the future, it’s better to focus on registering awakened users as vassals.’

The case of Ha Dong-geon’s party was unique.

Among the numerous survivors within the apartment complex, he was the only one who came out to hunt goblins.

He was part of the initial members who joined at a point when there was no data available.

At first, it was advantageous to increase the number of vassals quickly.

The situation led to the case where all party members were accepted as vassals.

‘Now there’s no rush.’

There were only a few slots left for vassal registrations.

I didn’t even have the intention of selecting teams like Kim Min-ho’s and Baek Sung-yeop’s, who actively engaged in hunting.

The difference between having an awakening ability and not having one was clear and had been keenly felt during this opportunity.

[Orc (Lv. 18) hunted.]

[You have gained experience.]

[1,243,817 won deposited into the Absolute Dweller’s wallet.]

‘It’s starting again.’

I stopped observing the dynamics of the citizens and shifted my gaze to Ha Dong-geon’s party.

The first thing that caught my eye was a bear running inside the subway station. Even though it was a dark subway station, the bright light emanating from the bear made everything visible.

The bear rushed into a group of orcs and directly tore apart one of them.

“Roar!”

With the sound of its neck cracking, one orc collapsed.

The fate of the other orcs was similar

They had to sacrifice their lives without even properly swinging their glaives.

Kachak!

The eyes of the bear, who instantly cut off the lives of seven orcs, emitted an intense red light.

Crack!

The excited bear gradually reduced its size with a deep breath and turned into a human.

“Eon-ju unni!”

Kim Da-jeong, who ran up from behind, spoke in a friendly manner to Oh Eon-ju.

“Are you okay? Are there any injuries?”

“I’m fine. Even if I’m a bit injured, it doesn’t matter.”

Following her, Kim Ga-yeong came forward, sticking out her tongue.

“Unni, you’re amazing. We never get a chance to take action because of you.”

“Sorry for monopolizing everything. I have my reasons.”

“Why are you sorry, unni? Thanks to you, we’re comfortable, safe, and it’s totally great.”

Upon hearing this, Oh Eon-ju responded with a meaningful smile.

Oh Eon-ju’s insistence on hunting was because of me.

I told her that a certain amount of energy was needed for resurrection, and that was why she aggressively hunted in order to gather it.

Thanks to Oh Eon-ju, the orcs that used to swarm around Jeonpo Station had significantly decreased.

Currently, I had a whopping 3.1 billion won in my possession.

In fact, if the situation was right, I could reward Oh Eon-ju right away.

‘Bringing in Oh Eon-ju and Kim Da-jeong was the right decision.’

Oh Eon-ju and Kim Da-jeong had an astonishing chemistry.

They had become very close while living together, and maybe as a result of that, they got along very well.

Oh Eon-ju’s presence, fueled by Kim Da-jeong’s blessings, was truly intense.

‘It’s amazing.’

Even the muscular orcs became powerless lambs in front of Oh Eon-ju.

‘Well, it’s only natural looking at her stats.’

『Name: Oh Eon-ju (Lv. 40) [+]

Titles: [Ninth Vassal] [Knight] [Warrior]

Trust: 66   Loyalty: 66

Awakening Abilities: Werebear, Primordial Vitality, Berserk

Experience Distribution Rate: 200%

★Quest Assignment』

{Warrior}

Melee attacks become 50% more powerful.

Primordial Vitality (Grade A)

Regeneration increases dramatically with each additional wound.

Berserk (Grade S)

Eyes turn red and physical abilities increase by 300% when exposed to blood.

Starting at Level 40.

Additionally, all the newly-acquired titles and awakening abilities from becoming a vassal were creating an almost fraudulent synergy.

In her humanoid form, Oh Eon-ju possessed abilities several times more powerful thanks to the Berserk ability. When combined with Kim Da-jeong’s blessing, a monster was born.

A horde of orcs at a mere level 18 could be slaughtered effortlessly, like trampling worms.

At that moment.

“ROARRRRR–!”

There was an enormous roar echoing from the subway entrance.

‘What’s that…?’

It was a monster with a body that was one level better than ordinary orcs, wielding a spear that had a wider blade than a common glaive.

At a glance, it was clear that this was the leader of the orcs.

The momentum the orcs displayed with its arrival was also formidable.

Their eyes were filled with rage and malice.

“Graaaaaah!”

Then, a brilliant radiance emanated from Oh Eon-ju as she charged toward the orcs.

However.

Bang!

“!!”

Surprised by the sudden increase in size and ferocity, the orc leader stepped back.

The next moment.

Riipp!

Oh Eon-ju’s arm, in an instant, penetrated deep into the orc’s chest.

[Orc Chief (Lv. 28) has been hunted.]

[You have gained experience.]

[73,263,099 won has been deposited into the Absolute Dweller’s wallet.]

Immediately after.

[Citizen Oh Eon-ju has defeated the leader of ‘Jeonpo Station.’]

[Conditions have been met.]

[The construction item ‘Outpost’ has been added to available items.]