Chapter 167
Kyle: Not edited.
As I entered the ruin I got a strange sense of disharmony. It was definitely the same s.p.a.ce as before but should I say that I felt a minute sense of difference.
I was wondering what was different when Edward suddenly opened his mouth.
"The air changed."
"The air?"
"It means that there's a place the wind flows to."
"Now that you mention it……."
Edward's senses were rather trustworthy. The stuffy and heavy interior of the ruin felt different now.
It was only a little but wind was blowing. The fact that the place is being ventilated means that a pa.s.sage connected to the outside has been created.
I looked back at An Gyu-b.u.m. It was now time for him to start talking.
"The ruin is Alpha System. Ah. We call the original Raid System the Alpha System."
"I know."
This was something I knew as well. I remembered the manual saying so when receiving the ruin's data. The manual I'm using right now is the Delta System.
An Gyu-b.u.m opened his mouth as if it was unusual.
"You know quite a lot."
"I went through this and that."
"Either way, this ruin can be said to be one of the places that save the Alpha System's data. We are organizing many things through information obtained from this place."
"Obtaining information?"
"Yes. These ruins exist in various places all over the world. Many people found the ruins until now and a vast amount of data was obtained from those places. Our System Research Laboratory is doing such work as well. Also, the place with the most amount of information is probably China's National Defense Laboratory."
"Wait a minute. This is a bit sudden."
"Is it confusing? This is a fact that many outside of the top tier hunters don't know. It's an event not known to the general public after all."
An Gyu-b.u.m's words were truly surprising.
To say what was so surprising, it is the fact that quite a few people know that this world is being designed by something in this world.
What is the Alpha System.
And what is Delta.
There's only a single conclusion that remains at the end of that train of thought.
Monster waves are not natural occurrences but something created artificially while current dungeon and raid systems are being controlled by someone's will.
"Then what in the world is the data in this ruin?"
I only downloaded the data into the USB the guy called the owner of Delta gave me.
However, An Gyu-b.u.m and the place called the System Research Laboratory seemed to know some specifics.
"It's simple. It's data that makes the current system work."
"I can't understand with just that much."
"Dungeons, monsters, items, skills. The things that allows these things to materialize is the data. Of course, it's not like it's possible to a.n.a.lyze all the information by obtaining the data. There's a lock that can't easily be opened and even then the data is all fragments after all. However, we were able to achieve many things using that. For example, yeah. Something like this suit."
He pointed at the Eternal Immortality Suit he was wearing. It was certainly a mystery.
Thinking about how level 10 items don't drop easily it's unusual to possess several of such suits.
"No way. Are you able to duplicate items?"
"I'll feel down if you say duplicate. This is a complete product. The necessary funds was not negligible of course, but it can't be compared to imitations like Baek Gyeong."
"Wait. So……."
Was this guy saying that it was possible for them to create items?
"So it means that you wanting to buy my van wasn't just as a hobby."
"Of course. Who would try to use an entire 1t for a personal hobby?"
"I'm finally understanding many things. But what's your reason for telling me all this?"
I was curious about that.
Either way, the things this guy was saying was entirely unknown to civilians.
Many things about hunters were openly available and many things were uncovered throughout the decades.
I did think that there would be things that were kept a secret but to think that they would be carrying out such actions.
An Gyu-b.u.m opened his mouth.
"Well. I know that I receive more the more I give away for guys like you."
"The information I can give may be insignificant though."
"That would mean my eyes were wrong then."
An Gyu-b.u.m said so and pointed at himself with a thumb.
He had quite a talent in making people cringe with cool lines.
"I have a few more things to ask……."
"Whatever you want."
"Are the items being sold in the Hunter Market also things made by you guys?"
"I'm unrelated to that side. Just that we have a business partners.h.i.+p."
"What kind……?"
"Did you not think that it's strange that the price of items isn't dropping much despite items continuously flowing out of the Yellow Sea or dungeons?"
"Well. I thought that the price rebound was slow because they were being exported to other countries."
"Items are pretty expensive products. One normally buys it and uses it for a long time. There's even cases where it's pa.s.sed on through generations. It's impossible for the price to be maintained when it's constantly being poured out unless they're buried in the ground or something."
"Then where in the world are they being used?"
I suddenly remembered something the moment I said so.
The Exotic Energy needed to maintain Baek Gyeong. The tutorial explained that the raw material was none other than grinded items.
"Items are needed for item creation. Golden powder that glows softly comes out if you grind all the low level items that are pouring out. That is being used in various places such as various industries. The generation efficiency of power plants increases, something like that."
"Wasn't that only possible with Exotic Matter?"
"It's a matter that was found out recently you see. Everybody is keeping quiet about it. Don't you think that only the ones who know should profit?"
"Is it really okay to tell me?"
"If you know, well. Do you think that you will be able to do something yourself?"
"That would be impossible."
The GE Group was a large company even before the monster wave.
That kind of company actively operates a raid team and even created a laboratory to study the Alpha System while pouring in an astronomical amount of money in it.
There was no way I could possibly replicate the research achievements made in such a place after hearing a few words.
There wouldn't even be anyone that trusts me even if I went around announcing it.
"Good. I think I told you everything I should have in my opinion. Isn't there something you should give me as well?"
I nodded my head at An Gyu-b.u.m's words and opened my mouth.
I was able to obtain more information than I expected. Then I should pa.s.s him the information he wants as well.
"Baek Gyeong was made in China."
"Are you joking with me? That's something anyone knows."
Well, I expected this much of a reaction.
"99 of them were created until now and it's said that they are planning on creating 1,000 of them in the from now on. The amount of time they can be active is about a month. It's said that the laboratory is in Area 88 but I'm not sure where exactly that is."
An Gyu-b.u.m's mouth opened wide at my words.
He stared at me for a while and opened his mouth with a trembling voice.
"I wasn't looking forward to this but…… To be honest, I was thinking that you would tell me about Baek Gyeong's strength, technique, way of battle, and weak points."
"Is that so?"
This guy, he was simpler than I thought.
An Gyu-b.u.m stood still muttering and then repeatedly nodded his head.
He opened his mouth after he finished thinking.
"Where did you figure out all of this?"
"I don't think I ever asked you such things?"
"But there's no way I could trust groundless information."
"Don't trust it if you don't want to. In the first place, there's no evidence backing your words as well."
"Well, that's true."
An Gyu-b.u.m answered with a shrug.
To be honest, there was no need to lie to each other at this point.
It was difficult to say that we were friendly but it wasn't like we were sworn enemies either. We weren't fighting for profit either.
On top of that, it can be concluded that most of the information can be trusted seeing how the Alpha System was mentioned.
"Either way, there's a single problem if I were to trust your words."
"What is it."
"Where those guys are trying to use Baek Gyeong."
"Seeing how it was brought to New Alaska aren't they trying to prevent America from advancing to this continent?"
"There might be that reason as well but isn't 1,000 a bit too much for just that purpose?"
"True. There would be no reason for such numbers unless they're planning on starting a war."
There was no reason for China to start a war unless they were out of their minds. They weren't poor and they held almost all food production excluding America and Australia after all. They didn't have anything to envy even with just this you see.
Then what in the world were they trying to do with Baek Gyeong.
If one thought about what China lacked the most then the answer was pretty much decided.
It was none other than the Hunter Market. They lacked excellent hunters despite their overall numbers so China's status in the highly priced item market is rather low.
It could be a hasty prediction but they might be aiming to item market managed by South Korea.
I also tried clearing dungeons using a monster army as a test.
With power of a mix of level 3 to 8 I was able to earn several billion they would be able to earn a lot more if they used Baek Gyeong.
One might think that 1,000 was a bit too much thinking about how they can only be maintained for a month or so they might be planning on shoving them into dungeons in rotation.
"They might be trying to use them to clear dungeons. It would be possible operate like a factory in high level dungeons if they can ma.s.s produce that level of hunters."
An Gyu-b.u.m nodded as if he had the same train of thought as me.
"I'm thinking that that's plenty possible. There would be a limited amount of things that can be done with incomplete Baek Gyeong."
China had many hunters. Just that it was a reality that they lacked high level hunters by quite a bit compared to that number.
They are trying to raise high level hunters through policies but ironic situations occured where they would once they became level 10 hunters.
For China that only had a single faction of socialism it was difficult to accept the helplessness of them getting away from national force.
Due to that, they found it necessary to have hunters that could be regulated causing the existence called Baek Gyeong to appear or so it can be interpreted.
"Either way, it sure is amazing. No matter how desperate they were human clones. Isn't it technology on another level compared to creating items?"
"Nonsense. Baek Gyeong is only an incomplete product. That's the reason it dies easily or disappears easily despite its ability. Compared to that the items created by our System Research Laboratory is no different from the original items. No, it can be said that they're better."
"Well, that's so if you think of it like that……."
It couldn't be helped that human cloning is more impressive.