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Translator: uly
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: 400 Million Simultaneous Logins and Upheaval
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"What? You just left and you're already back?"
Geon-woo, deep into crafting new Jiangshi in his underground hideout, sensed Paeng's return and rushed outside.
You could log out anywhere outside a sanctuary, but doing so left your avatar right where it was.
To fully disconnect your avatar too, you had to use one of the sanctuaries scattered across Omniroad.
That's why Paeng had logged out, but his avatar had stayed behind in the underground hideout.
Geon-woo had noticed that avatar moving and come out to check.
"Get ready! Get ready!"
Paeng, running into Geon-woo in the corridor connecting their two lairs, shouted urgently.
"Huh? Ready for what?"
Geon-woo, not understanding a word, shot back with a stunned look.
"Four hundred million simultaneous logins. Countdown's on."
"What? Is that for real?"
Even Geon-woo couldn't hide his shock at Paeng's words.
"That's why you need to prepare."
"Okay, I get the four hundred million logins part, but prepare what exactly?"
It was shocking news, sure, but what the hell was he supposed to prepare?
Geon-woo kept giving Paeng a puzzled look as the guy repeated the order.
"Your Ark Capsule on Earth, obviously. We've gotta protect those things."
"What are you talking about? Why the Ark Capsule?"
"Four hundred million get in, the rest get locked out. Who knows what those banned users'll do. So first, secure your login slot with the four hundred million. Then head straight back to Earth and guard your capsule."
"You rushed all the way here for that?"
Geon-woo's shoulders slumped a bit at Paeng's explanation.
His own Ark Capsule was already buried under layers of top-tier security.
Considering the money he'd sunk into it, it'd be weirder if outsiders could breach it.
Even if Geon-woo assembled his elite team personally, infiltration would be a long shot.
"What's with that reaction?"
Paeng sounded a little disappointed at Geon-woo's lukewarm response.
"Thanks for the heads-up, but don't worry about me. I've already done everything possible. Unlike you, my identity's fully exposed, so yeah."
"Ho? Pretty confident, huh? Maybe I should take a crack at your capsule while I'm at it."
Geon-woo's words lit a competitive fire in Paeng in a whole new way.
"Don't do anything stupid. Anyone who messes with my peace ends up dead—one of us, guaranteed."
Geon-woo's face hardened as he let out a chilling wave of killing intent.
With Paeng's unpredictable nature, he might actually show up on Geon-woo's island.
"Heh heh. For now, contract's still on, so I'll follow orders. But once it's over? Who knows."
"Doesn't matter. Just remember: one of us walks away."
"Man, you're one creepy bastard."
Paeng grumbled, averting his gaze.
Geon-woo glared for a moment at Paeng's blurred, unrecognizable face, then withdrew his killing intent.
"So how much time left..."
Geon-woo started to ask how long until the four hundred million mark, then clamped his mouth shut.
He felt a change rippling through his avatar.
Something profound, something he couldn't resist.
"Ah, you feel it too?"
Paeng looked at him, and Geon-woo nodded silently.
"Feels like my avatar and my mind are linked deeper than ever. It was already like my real body, but now? Sync rate's gotta be several times higher."
Paeng had nailed exactly what Geon-woo was sensing.
Unity with his avatar.
That's what this was.
Geon-woo instinctively knew it tied to the four hundred million logins.
"So what does this change?"
Geon-woo muttered just then.
= My lord, my connection to the Celestial Neural Split-Mind Jiangshi Control Technique has grown much stronger. No—now I feel completely linked to you.
'Completely?'
= Even if you return to your homeland, I sense this spirit can follow you.
"Ah! This..."
Hearing Ilryeong's words clicked it for Geon-woo.
The change was compatibility between avatar and real body.
Abilities once limited to Omniroad now overlaying onto his Earth body.
"This is insane. So that's why I had a bad feeling about losing login rights."
Geon-woo muttered.
"What? What is it?"
Paeng, still not grasping it, pressed him.
"Avatar and Earth body are overlapping. Looks like I can use avatar powers on Earth now too."
"What? No way—avatars were made to block demon incursions... Don't tell me?"
"Whew. Hate to say it, but yeah. Creatures are almost certainly hitting Earth too."
Geon-woo let out a deep sigh at the grim future flashing in his mind.
Maybe not future—maybe right now, demons were invading Earth.
"What're you gonna do?"
Paeng asked.
Go to Earth? Log out?
* * *
Pop!
Geon-woo rose from his Ark Capsule and stepped out, triggering the underground safety zone lights to blaze on.
= My lord, is this where you live?
Before Geon-woo could even look around properly, Ilryeong appeared before him.
She took the form of the same young Jiangshi girl reflection from Omniroad.
"Yeah. This is Earth."
= I see. But it's so barren. So artificial.
"Fifty meters underground."
= Even Omniroad's underground didn't feel this way.
"Hmm, probably 'cause this is concrete and rebar."
= Concrete and rebar?
"No need to know that. Just think of it as artificial rock."
Rumble rumble rumble!
Geon-woo spoke while channeling telekinetic force, testing the safety room floor.
The concrete heaved at his will.
"Guess I can only pull about 20% of the power I use in Omniroad here."
By testing his telekinesis, Geon-woo gauged how much avatar strength he could wield on Earth.
With his soul stone fused at five thousand souls, it came out to around 20%.
= Paeng draws 80% with twenty thousand souls, so ten thousand should be about 50%.
"Yeah. But there's definitely personal variance. I mean, look at me."
Geon-woo activated the Celestial Neural Split-Mind Jiangshi Control Technique to boost his mental power and telekinesis.
Groooan!
"See?"
The concrete floor lifted far more easily than before.
Geon-woo kneaded the pulled-up chunk with telekinesis, shaping it into various forms.
= How's that compare to Omniroad?
Ilryeong asked.
"Telekinesis-wise? About 60% of Omniroad. But..."
Cruuunch!
"Physical abilities feel a bit better. Maybe 70%?"
Geon-woo clenched his right fist hard, gauging his grip strength.
His base avatar physicals had only carried over 20%, but the boosted ones from Jiangshi arts came through full force.
Abilities tied to the Jiangshi arts he'd gained via Ilryeong seemed exempt from system limits.
= At least that's something.
Ilryeong beamed, thrilled the Jiangshi arts manifested properly.
"Alright, let's head up. Got a lot to check."
Geon-woo said it, then worked a panel on one wall of the safety room.
The entire room began ascending.
* * *
Geon-woo didn't bring the safety room all the way to the surface.
He stopped at the living quarters thirty meters down and linked to external comms from there.
= What is this?
"Told you before—internet and monitors."
= You didn't say they were this big.
"Yeah, there are small ones, but these perform way better than portables."
No comparing a smartphone to a semi-supercomputer.
Geon-woo's comm gear was built on semi-supercomputer tech.
= Monitors come split into multiples like this?
"Ilryeong, check out the lab instead. I'll open the door—go see what I've prepped."
= Prepped what?
"Materials for making Jiangshi. Stocked up as much as I could."
= But you said you couldn't make Jiangshi in your homeland. Tried and failed.
"Things have changed."
Seven years ago, post-ban, Geon-woo had slaved alone over Langajang's secrets.
But without the core heart method, every attempt flopped.
No grand arts from the heart method meant no synthesizing Jiangshi materials.
Now, with avatar powers on Earth, Jiangshi crafting might work.
That's why he was showing Ilryeong the lab.
= Understood, my lord. I'll take a look.
Mastering Earth's tech would take Ilryeong time anyway.
For now, sticking to what she knew best helped Geon-woo most—a loyal subordinate's duty.
With that resolve, Ilryeong stepped through the door Geon-woo opened.
Geon-woo watched her back for a moment in the corridor, then turned to his monitors.
"Total chaos."
Half the screens, split into a dozen panes, blared with incidents worldwide.
Four hundred million superhumans? The world was bound to erupt.
Where there were troublemakers, law enforcement moved to rein them in.
"As expected, the rankers are mobilizing."
Governments and multinationals worldwide declared zero tolerance for villains.
At the center: Ark Capsule ranker users.
Somehow prepared in advance, they were forming an international body.
"1st Expedition Team's leading it. Everyone but me and Paeng."
Paeng never built a guild.
He had a small fan club of followers, but that was it.
The other 1st Expeditioners each led user groups, now banding into the provisional "International Superhuman Association."
"And they're already warring with villains before it's even official?"
Screens showed user clashes everywhere—framed as villain hunts.
But to Geon-woo, something felt off.
Plenty of attacks on folks who didn't scream "villain."
"In the end, that's how it goes."
He too had thought of his gains first upon feeling the post-four-hundred-million shift.
These Earth user fights? Just reshaping the order.
And that order would bend to power.
"No point if you can't hold it."
This world would soon be run by the strongest users.
The mightiest among them? Bound to rule in some form.
"Yeah—as long as you can protect it."
Geon-woo muttered the same line again.
He hoped the capsule users onscreen wouldn't forget the creatures.
What good was excitement over new powers now?
Fail to stop the dimensional invasion, and humanity faced extinction.