Level 0 Master

But, unlike Nick's assumption, not everyone who lived in the capital lived happily.

People in the capital also walked around with empty gazes and carted grains with their hands clutching their stomachs.

Every grain was for a single person. In the middle of Palkantier, there was a large well. The well was called "the well where everything sleeps." The well was large. It had a depth of one kilometer, after all.

Even if a person looked inside it at noon, the bottom of the well couldn't be seen, and even when a stone was thrown inside, nothing could be heard. It was a mysterious place. Going near the place itself was dangerous, but it was always surrounded by people because they had to cart the grains into the well.

The grains, which could have helped a hundred million families survive through the winter, disappeared down the drain.

The darkness ate up everything, but it still wasn't filled, but a small light rose from the bottom.

It was a golden liquid resembling gold but slightly different.

One drop of liquid, which was too insignificant for the rice that had been sacrificed, soared up from the well and was sucked along a tunnel made of jewels. Its final destination was the chamber of the Golden King.

Small drops of liquid accumulated in a huge gem glass, and the glass glowed when it was filled. Kapitle watched the scene with a satisfied smile. "Huhu, I wonder what will come out this time."

The golden liquid in the glass disappeared. Instead, a ring with a cold aura coiled around it appeared. It had to be a powerful treasure with some ancient strength. That was the secret of the power behind the Golden Wise King Kapitle. As a result of eating earth's goods, the "Infinite Well" reproduced every legendary armament into reality.

Every production made during his 100 years of ruling over half of the continent was gathered for him—for the lower class to have just enough not to die and for the overseers to have just enough to become attached to their position. Everything else was gathered for him. That was why "'Golden" was in his title.

Kapitle grabbed the ring. "Hm…" And threw it.

The ring became stuck in the other abandoned artifacts heaped on the floor.

"It's a level B." It had no use among his other artifacts.

Kapitle, who had lost interest, didn't look at the ring again.

The ring, which was born out of what could have been a child's life, was abandoned in the corner of a warehouse.

And the battle between the two men became closer.

* * *

Chapter 4

Returning from the trip, Sungjin did not immediately prepare for the war but checked on his internal court's affairs.

It might have been a bit of a show of leisure, but it was more of a preliminary warning of what could happen if heroes abused the extra class in his absence during the war.

He summoned Count Letret to the capital.

"Did you summon me, Master Sungjin?" The count looked at him with a slight tremble.

"I have visited several school buildings in my absence."

"I see."

At Sungjin's cold voice, the heroes who had lined up next to him started to sweat.

"I have checked the accounts for the school's spending and have found that the wood has been paid for over ten times the amount of market price."

"Yes? Uh, that's…"

"It could be attributed to your incompetence of not knowing the market price, but that shouldn't be."

Count Letret began to seriously tremble.

"After buying the wood at that outrageous price, you'd be returning some of the overpriced payment. It's a scam known as rebating."

"That's not…"

"I've seen that the glass for the windows was weaker than what is regulated. It couldn't even block the cold."

"That…"

"But the money paid was equal to any average-priced window. You've bought cheaper windows at the price of expensive ones."

"Please, kill me instead." Letret begged for death in forgiveness, but Sungjin's eyes only turned colder.

"I will not kill you. But I will punish you by demanding ten times the amount of money it takes to refurbish the schools."

"Ten… Ten times…" He had begged for death, assuming he wouldn't really die, but Count Letret finally felt despair. "Please… Please forgive…"

"I have forgiven you by letting you live. If those buildings you have built collapse, those who die will be innocent lives."

The Count was speechless. The heroes beside him trembled.

As expected of Master Sungjin. He's merciless. If I get caught trying to use some other methods, I'll be dead.

They reaffirmed their thoughts that they wouldn't be able to gain advantages under Sungjin's rule. If they wished to protect their titles and salary, they couldn't be greedy any longer.

The past was great.

Yeah, it used to be good. We could make the extras do our bidding back then.

The extras that God gave to serve the heroes were treated better than themselves. Building schools, building hospitals, restricting taxes, banning vices, and so on, were all evil laws that restricted their legitimate rights and made only the extras happy.

But what could they do? No matter how bad the law was, only more powerful devastation awaited if they were to stand against the powerful tyrant.

Who could restore their right?

Sungjin's eyes turned to the nobles, who were discussing discontent with their eyes. "Those who exploit the tax for their own benefit will receive the same punishment."

The nobles flinched as if they were caught red-handed. They dared not disagree. Sungjin was not only strong but knew too much of this and that.

"Now, should we begin our counterattack on the Golden Wise King's proclamation?" Sungjin was about to proceed with the main itinerary when it became noisy.

"We've been attacked!" soldiers screamed outside.

"What is it?"

"It's a monster's raid!"

"Go confirm." At Sungjin's command, the platoon of guards hurriedly rushed out.

"It's a demented! The infinite desire, Hydra, which was clearly defeated, has reappeared."

"Hmm?" Sungjin's eyes shone sharply. "Why don't we go take a look at whose prank this is." Sungjin took the heroes to the balcony.

It was according to the shouts. A black beast with an infinite amount of heads was running down the back mountain. The monster with infinite tooth-filled mouths on each of its many heads tried to take over the capital.

Crack.

With a roar, a tree was uprooted by its roots and disappeared into the monster.

Roar.

A rock was crushed under the monster.

The earth shook, and a gigantic shadow swallowed up the light.

"We'll call for reinforcements from Rupellion," Ereka said in a panic.

Hydra, with the power of infinite regeneration, was indeed a fearful beast. Although once defeated, it had not died but had only been evicted by Sungjin defeating Seyzo II, who had been the source of the summoning.

But where had this Hydra come from?

Soldiers trembled without knowing what to do.

"I'm… I'm scared." Rachel clung to Sungjin's leg, trembling.

"Uu, disgusting." Jenna waved her tail, saying the Hydra monster was hideous.

"It's… It's coming!" the soldiers cried out.

Ereka raised her shield instinctively. She couldn't let the Hydra attack the capital.

"The Shield of All People! AEGIS!"

A golden barrier stopped the Hydra in its path, but Ereka could only hold on for a while.

In the meantime, Sungjin had to come up with a solution. Sungjin grabbed the balcony railing.

Is this the gift from Kapitle? Hydra, a monster of destruction with endless regeneration?

He had defeated one only because he had known the source of the summon for certain. But this time? It seemed Kapitle had more than one way to summon the beast.

It's a monster that cannot be summoned on the battlefield anyway, so he is testing my response with this.

Then he would respond, but the power he wielded now was not like his power in the past. "Contact Rupellion. Gather all the forces possible."

"Ok." Eustasia moved quickly. In order to deal with infinite regeneration, only a one-hit attack was the best answer. Sungjin's men began to move.

It was an unpredictable situation. Sungjin continued to observe the Hydra with sharp eyes.

Is this being the same summoning as last time? Where is its core? Are regeneration strength and destructive power the same?

"I'm in touch now. I'll call the first four priests first."

Sungjin lifted his hand at Eustasia's answer. "No, nevermind. Tell them they don't need to come anymore."

"What?"

"Ereka, lift your strength."

"But…"

"Trust me."

Everyone was puzzled at Sungjin's words.

At the moment when the Hydra had been charging in, he had ordered everyone to stay still.

But this was Sungjin.

Ereka removed the shield, and Eustasia canceled the request for the dispatch.

Hydra, free of any obstacles, swept into the capital.

"We need to avoid… Avoid it!"

Sungjin smiled at the panicking nobles. "It's fine. This hydra looks flashy but—"

The Hydra made to attack Sungjin, but he did not move from his spot. Black darkness and sharp teeth pressed against him, and in the middle of it, Sungjin stood smiling. "See?"

That one word dispersed the magic. Everyone on the spot realized: an illusion!

A deception loses its power once it is seen through. The Hydra disappeared at once.

Sungjin smiled and looked around the hall. "It was a pretty good show. But only until now."

Who was he talking to?

The sound of bells drifted into the hall after he spoke. The brilliant sound had a mysterious and bright tone.

Everyone's eyes naturally turned towards the source of the sound. There stood a woman who had not been there a second before. From her came a rich and thick scent of rose. It was as if the entire hall had been turned into a rose garden.

The red hair bloomed splendidly, and the slightly tanned skin beneath it was flushed with water. She had covered her eyes with a net, but it couldn't hide the sexy red lips beneath it.

In front of the overflowing colors, which flowed despite her standing still, many men in the hall swallowed. Among all the beautiful women in the world, she was especially beautiful and strongly affected the men's sexual fantasies.

Who was she?

"We meet again."

At Sungjin's words, the girls beside him seemed to understand. Ah… This is the woman who left the mark on Sungjin's neck. Oh, she's a mature beauty.

Ereka sighed.

"Huh, it was her?" That was Eustasia's evaluation.

"Don't you guys start imagining weird stuff again." Sungjin sighed at them and turned toward the mysterious woman. "It was quite a gorgeous debut."

"Huhu. The beauty of a woman may be a treasure to the king, but trickery is also necessary for the conqueror to conquer the continent. I wanted to show my value. How was it?"

"It was a nice illusion spell. If I hadn't noticed, I would have almost wasted all of my forces on a meager illusion."

When Sungjin praised her lightly, the slower ones finally figured out the situation. The mountain behind the capital was silent as usual. Hydra was an illusion she had created. But what was surprising was the scale and sophistication of the illusion.

Although there were magical tools to help create an illusion, it was a huge matter to fool everyone with a huge monster that covered the mountains. But it wasn't simply amazing in its size. What was truly fearsome was the fact that it had looked alive and had been perfect enough that they couldn't tell whether it was real or fake.

If the illusion was created based on fantasy, it had to reveal some clue that it was imperfect and fake. But among their numbers, the illusion had been precise enough that only Sungjin had realized it was fake. Even each and every head of the Hydra had been no different from the real one.

Even if they had panicked due to their previous encounter with a Hydra, they wouldn't have kicked up such a fuss if they had realized it was fake. It ran a chill down their spines to think of what could have happened if the Hydra had been real.

Who could create such a precise illusion to the point that they couldn't differentiate it from reality?

"Formally introduce yourself."

"I greet you, Emperor of another world."

She bowed to Sungjin.

At first glance, it was a normal move. However, the skin that was revealed in the movement of the flowing cloth created a seductive atmosphere.

"My name is Zakiya."