Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 295

Adam Bronze stood with his butler, Oswald, in a futuristic-looking control room with dozens of screens on the walls. Both of them were looking at the screens with indescribable expressions on their faces.

“I never really thought it was possible to get this far…” Adam said.

“I think that words cannot truly describe the emotions you are feeling right now, Young Master. I understand.”

“I really didn’t think we could survive as a society like this. Jessica said she never saw a future like this either.”

Adam was talking about the Blind Prophetess, Stephanie Jessica. She had told him that she had never seen a future like this one.

She had seen futures where all humans were boiled in something that looked like a giant bowl of soup. She had also seen a future where everything died and turned to ash, and ghostly beings walked on earth, chewing away at the souls of mankind. There was also a future where grotesque lumps of flesh absorbed human flesh, glued them together like clay, and fought other monsters while the world burned. The world could also be destroyed by a race of machines that plucked human brains and carried them around in a container while fighting other monsters.

Plants, insects, darkness, twisted and distorted beings, ugliness…

The world could be dying in more ways than she could count.

Stephanie had seen it all too many times, so she had decided to team up with Adam to survive the end of the world.

“In countless apocalyptic futures, a select few people would ascend and survive. But how the hell would that change anything? Humans are creatures that cannot survive without society. We need society to function as humans,” Adam said.

“Isn’t that why you were trying to build an ark?”

“That’s true. Although now I do not think we would ever need it…”

“Still, I believe it would be wise to keep working on the ark, just in case.”

“I see. You mean in case Ji-Cheok fails?”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“I still think he will make it happen. I really do. I believe there is a future waiting for us that Stephanie could not see.”

Old butler Oswald nodded softly.

“I really hope it is the future that we want, Young Master.”

“It will be a good future, I’m sure.”

Adam squinted at the myriad of screens. There was chaos and confusion, but one thing was certain.

People were uniting their wills to overcome world destruction.

Hope was blazing.

“So we will do what we have to do. Well, of course, I am also a businessman. I have to prepare for the worst. Having a safety net is always important.

“Of course, Young Master.”

Oswald poured himself a cup of hot black tea.

? ? ?

Time passed by quickly.

Ji-Cheok deliberately entered dungeons where time passed much slower than his world. He solved quests with his brother, Mu-Cheok, and the other team members.

Ten days inside the dungeons were a day in the real world. In addition, these dungeons were Regenerative Dungeons. As long as they did not find and destroy the dungeon Core, they could keep entering.

The first dungeon they entered was a kingdom belonging to a non-human civilization. The entire kingdom was about three times the size of Korea, and the quest consisted of slaying Demons all over the place.

They were supposed to defeat the Demons in order, but they could also do it in reverse order to save time. The penalty for doing so was that the Demons’ abilities were greatly increased.

Of course, this was not a problem for the team. Team Alpha had great chemistry, so even under these stricter conditions, they could still make it happen.

Ji-Cheok was obviously very powerful since he had become a God, but he could not do everything by himself. Thankfully, his teammates had also become frighteningly powerful while he had been gone—by this point, they were basically demi-Gods. Together, they cleared many dungeons while improving both their individual power and their coordination as a team.

At the same time, while Ji-Cheok was active in the dungeons, he was also active in the real world.

This was all possible because of his skill, Many-Faced Avatar.

Ji-Cheok ordered his avatars to stay in the real world. He used some Likes to upgrade the skill all the way to S-Rank, which meant that these avatars were capable of unleashing fifty percent of his abilities.

Since he had twenty such avatars, he had begun a full-scale production and installation operation, just like what he had done previously in the Philippines. He had negotiated with many countries, and with the support of their government, the avatars had started to install the Great Generals of Protection.

His factories were mass-producing the Great Generals of Protection and exporting them to as many countries as possible. In addition to that, Kunlun Mountain, which had been initially converted into an amusement park, was now being converted into a fortress. As for South Korea, the country was spending a huge amount of money to perfect its defenses.

If there was one thing he regretted, it was that countries around the world did not share their technologies or actively collaborated with each other.

The United States was preparing to defend its own homeland and had stopped importing the Great Generals of Protection. Ji-Cheok heard they were going to use their own technology called Iron Shield. The same went for Japan—they had allegedly created something called Tate no Okami, the ‘Great Shield God,’ to defend themselves.

Other countries did the same including China, Britain, France, and Germany.

There were only a few of the so-called superpowers that imported Ji-Cheok’s Great Generals of Protection. Yet, the exponential growth in sales was proof that, besides the super-powers, all the other countries needed his help desperately.

The power of Ji-Cheok’s crafting skills was imbued within the Great Generals of Protection, allowing them to kill a level 120 monster within a one-hundred-meter radius like a fly.

Monsters above level 120 would take a while, but even they would eventually be killed as well.

Of course, this was only true if there was only one of these installed. Usually, there were at least three of them in each location. That way, they had a better chance of killing monsters.

That was not all.

The world was moving ahead quickly, enjoying the brief moment of peace. No more dungeons were spawning out of nowhere, only Regenerative Dungeons continued to exist. As for those Regenerative Dungeons that had Portals in important or sensitive areas, they were being purged completely by teams of Hunters that destroyed their Cores. Some people called this the Great Cleanup.

Humanity was acting desperately to prepare for the future.

Hunters were risking their lives to level up, and nations were spending their budgets to mass-produce weapons and armaments.

In the meantime, something surprising happened.

[The dimension has been revealed.]

This System message marked a milestone in human history—it was now possible to make contact with beings from other dimensions.

Most races from other dimensions tried to sell humans powerful magical items while wanting Earth’s food resources in return.

Others were even more direct, offering to fight for humans as mercenaries. Some nations had even decided to accept large numbers of extradimensional races as immigrants.

In the name of survival, a revolution had begun.

The humans continued to prepare. And as they prepared, time passed by swiftly.

[The final quest of the Tutorial has started.]

The final quest was now upon them.

? ? ?

Ji-Cheok was now a Hunter with global reach. He was so famous that less than one percent of the world did not know his name. There were kids who didn’t know the name of their own president, but they knew who Ji-Cheok was.

He was a superstar, to say the least.

Not only was he strong, but he also knew how to put up a good show. People could watch all kinds of videos of him on GodTube, and the majority of people loved them.

This very Ji-Cheok had prophesied that the world was about to end. It was an unbelievable story, but everyone had to believe him. The System did not lie, and it was only natural to believe it, now that everyone could see the global messages it sent.

Everyone had done their best to prepare for the impending final quest, and doomsday was finally upon them.

Countries were responding in different ways.

In South Korea, they had been broadcasting emergency announcements starting the day before.

?23 hours and 21 minutes left. Please close your windows tightly. Lock your doors, and do not go outside. I repeat. Lock your doors and do not go outside.?

And when the time came, the apocalypse duly began.

Woong!

The first place it started was South Korea, maybe because it was the country where Um Ji-Cheok resided.

It happened deep in the mountains of Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province.

A Gate appeared in the uninhabited forest, and a wave of energy set the surrounding trees ablaze.

“Cheeet! Cheeeet!”

Muscular, bipedal monsters with snouts that made a funny sound as they breathed burst out of the Gate. They had faces reminiscent of pigs, with long tusks; they were clothed in leather and held vicious axes in their hands.

These monsters that stood at least a head taller than the average man leapt out one by one and looked around.

They were Orcs.

They were not all that incredibly strong by themselves, but the problem was that there were many of them. At least a thousand of them flowed out of the Gate within a few moments.

Thud. Thud.

What was more terrifying was that there were also giant Orcs twice the size of the others, Orcs that rode wolves, and Orcs that carried staves and had a number of suspicious-looking artifacts hanging from their clothes.

There were many different types of Orcs, and they were all different sizes.

Finally, a huge Orc walked out, nearly six meters tall. It was the Orc Warlord, the leader of the Orcs!

“Cheeeet!”

The Orc Warlord let out a bizarre roar, and the great army of Orcs, now numbering in the thousands, began to move.

However, they were stopped in their tracks right away.

Woong. Woong. Woong.

Dungeons spawned and Gates opened everywhere. Soon, various races of monsters began to emerge.

“Kiiieeaak!”

“Kiku Zelkadun!”

Insects, reptiles, spiders, Undead, and other beings that could only be described as metaphysical and terrifying, all came out from their Gates. Needless to say, they were not exactly friendly with each other.

It was only natural that monsters would clash with each other. The war thus began in the mountains of Cheorwon County, and Gates continued to open from all sides at the same time, letting even more monsters pour out.

This was the beginning of the Great War of the Apocalypse.

Whoever was left standing after this would rule this world.

? ? ?

?Master, the dimensional barrier is now broken. The dungeons are starting to open up.?

Cheok-Liang was in his fennec form and had taken his usual spot, wrapped around Ji-Cheok’s neck. Since Cheok-Liang could also summon avatars, his avatars were positioned in government offices and factories.

The factories were currently producing battle Golems. As long as the Universal Production Machines were intact, they could continue to produce an army even in the midst of a war. Therefore, these factories had to be protected at all costs.

“Yeah, I see it too.”

Ji-Cheok was standing on the roof of his penthouse, looking down at the ground. He could see Gates opening almost every hundred meters.

All sorts of weird monsters came out of them, but as soon as they left the protection of their dungeons, they were burned to ashes by the lightning bolts from the Great Generals of Protection that he had already set up.