Absolute Dweller-Chapter 152

As soon as the forward bases at Seoul Station and Sindorim Station were completed, a notification appeared.

[A number of individuals meeting the conditions for citizenship have been detected.]

[Would you like to grant them citizenship?]

Thousands of pieces of information filled my vision.

This was the result of gathering all the small survivor groups that had been living near Seoul Station and Sindorim Station.

Normally, I would have had to go through each person's details one by one before accepting them, but that wasn’t necessary this time.

‘Grant citizenship.’

Since my vassals were responsible for bringing in the survivors, every single person had already been screened using the Absolute One’s Eye.

Even if I had to process this many people at once, it wouldn't be a problem.

‘All I need to do is scan their information using Absolute One’s Eye.’

By momentarily focusing the Absolute One’s Eye on this area, I could check thousands of individuals in mere seconds.

[Thank you all for your hard work.]

First, I expressed my gratitude to the twenty vassals who had stayed on-site to oversee the forward base construction.

[Now, we will begin the full-scale reclamation of Seoul.]

There had already been one failed attempt at reclaiming Seoul.

At first, I assumed that by simply eliminating all the boss-level monsters in Seoul, it would naturally fall under our control.

That was a massive miscalculation.

Despite the efforts of my vassals, a shocking revelation emerged while rescuing scattered survivor groups.

The casualties had actually increased compared to when we hadn’t intervened.

Without tigers, foxes take over the mountain.

We had eliminated the strongest monsters, but weaker ones quickly filled the vacuum, expanding their influence.

It was like lions disappearing, only for hyenas to begin fighting each other over territory.

At the same time, lesser monsters like orcs and goblins saw an explosion in their population and activity.

For the survivors, this wasn’t an improvement—it was a catastrophe.

Some survivor groups had been hiding under the dominance of certain powerful boss monsters.

But with those bosses gone, the remaining monsters had started hunting freely, making their lives even worse.

‘That’s why I halted the boss hunts and shifted our priority to rescue operations.’

But even that wasn’t easy.

I had handpicked only the highest-level fighters and formed elite rescue teams, but manpower was severely lacking.

Moreover, places like the Gori Nuclear Power Plant and other forward bases required at least five vassals to maintain, further stretching our numbers thin.

There were too few of us and too many survivors who needed help.

However, an unexpected factor turned out to be a game-changer.

The forward base at Konkuk University Station, originally built due to the JHS incident, proved to be extremely effective.

Unlike the rest of Seoul, this area did not suffer from the "boss monster vacuum" problem.

That was because the region had become an absolute no-go zone for monsters.

‘From their perspective, Konkuk University Station has become known as the domain of my vassals.’

Even though not all my vassals were stationed there, a level 30+ elite rescue team frequently moved through the area.

Every single one of them was armed with firearms.

Any monster that entered the designated zone was immediately shot and killed.

As a result, monsters instinctively avoided the area.

The contrast between a safe zone and a monster-infested area had become undeniable.

This made one thing painfully clear—forward bases were crucial.

Instead of hunting monsters randomly and rescuing survivors on the fly, it was far more efficient to first build core forward bases.

That’s why I had constructed the forward bases at Seoul Station and Sindorim Station.

And now...

‘The situation is shifting yet again.’

Since we were desperately short on manpower, I had been working on increasing the number of vassals.

During this process, the "Nobility System" had unlocked.

This system allowed vassals to be granted noble titles based on their accumulated merit points.

The higher a vassal’s title, the larger the domain they controlled.

Baron (남작) → 1km radiusViscount (자작) → 3km radiusEarl (백작) → 5km radius‘One Earl, five Viscounts.’

Among my vassals, only Oh Eon-ju had reached Earl rank.

When I first unlocked the Nobility System, she was the only one with over 1,000,000 merit points.

It made sense.

She had personally hunted a Cyclops during the early days and even killed a True Ancestor Vampire.

Her achievements were unparalleled, so her merit points skyrocketed, making her the first Earl.

As for the Viscounts, they were:

Ha Dong-geonMoon Byeong-hoLee Jun-hyeokJang Seong-junKim Da-bin‘Merit points are largely tied to combat contributions.’

The highest-scoring vassals all had extensive experience hunting high-level monsters.

This was inevitable.

Monster hunting directly provided EXP, settlement funds, and personal power.

‘But it’s clear that merit points aren’t solely tied to monster kills.’

If they were, Kim Da-bin would have never reached Viscount rank.

She had never killed a single monster herself.

Yet she had more merit points than some of the fiercest fighters.

That meant the Nobility System was evaluating a broader range of contributions.

‘Kim Da-bin's telepathy skill, unlocked when her loyalty reached 100, was immensely useful.’

It allowed direct commands to civilians.It was invaluable for giving precise orders to the Kellican-type monsters.‘Everything must be factored into the system.’

Regardless, we now had enough nobility to begin constructing territories.

Territory Construction Requirements:

A vassal with a noble titleA "safe zone" like a forward baseEssentially, a Territory was an upgraded version of a Forward Base.

[Oh Eon-ju, Ha Dong-geon—are you both ready?]

The two of them were stationed at Seoul Station and Sindorim Station, respectively.

“Yes, Lord Jae-hyun.”

“I’m ready.”

Both ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ of them had tense expressions.

This wasn’t without reason.

Right after unlocking the Nobility System, we had attempted our first Territory Construction at Konkuk University Station.

During that attempt, Oh Eon-ju had collapsed almost immediately.

Later, she explained that an unbearable level of pain had overtaken her the moment construction began.

‘This must be similar to the pain I feel when leveling up.’

Additionally, 70% of the construction funds were lost due to the cancellation.

That’s when I first learned that if a construction project is canceled, part of the cost is permanently lost.

[I know this will be painful, but I need you both to endure it.]

Oh Eon-ju gulped nervously.

Ha Dong-geon had his eyes closed, meditating.

‘Start construction.’

[This facility will require an Earl-level citizen to remain on-site for 5 days.]

[Do you wish to proceed?]

[Yes / No]

It was five days of sheer agony.

And yet, there was no other way.

Thanks to Myeonggyeong Jisu, the situation had improved, but I was all too aware of how excruciating leveling up could be.

‘...Stay strong.’

A peculiar aspect of territory construction was that gathering retainers did not increase construction efficiency.

All I could do was offer a small, quiet cheer.

[Then, we will begin with Oh Eon-ju.]

With that notification—

‘Start construction.’

[50,000,000,000 won will be consumed.]

[‘Count’s Domain’ construction has begun.]

[Time remaining until completion of Count’s Domain construction:]

119 hours 59 minutes 59 secondsAt Seoul Station, construction of the Count’s Domain had officially started.

And with it—

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

“Khrrrgh!”

A painful groan escaped from Oh Eon-ju.

[...Next is Ha Dong-gun. Proceeding now.]

“Yes.”

[This facility requires a citizen with a ‘Viscount’ rank or higher to remain on-site for 3 days during the construction period.]

[Would you like to proceed?]

[Yes / No]

‘Start.’

[30,000,000,000 won will be consumed.]

[‘Viscount’s Domain’ construction has begun.]

[Time remaining until completion of Viscount’s Domain construction:]

71 hours 59 minutes 58 secondsAs soon as the system alert announced the start of construction, Ha Dong-gun’s expression twisted in agony.

Moments later—

‘It worked. This time, neither of them lost consciousness.’

I had left Konkuk University Station untouched because I had learned from experience that South Gate (Namdaemun) construction would be blocked during the process.

It was necessary to keep a means of transportation for the citizens.

‘Please endure this.’

Watching them suffer, I could only pray.

Pray that time would pass quickly.

Ha Dong-gun endured the agonizing pain while maintaining his composure.

His strong mental fortitude played a role, but the warning he had received beforehand had allowed him to prepare.

However, beyond the pain itself, what shocked him the most was something else.

‘This...’

A pain so excruciating that it seemed impossible for a human to endure.

‘Is this what Jaehyun-nim has been going through every time?’

As one of the core members of the retainers—

Those who had been with Kim Jaehyun from the beginning knew that he often collapsed or writhed in pain.

And that every time he did, the range of the safe zone expanded drastically.

‘But no matter how bad it was, this is...!’

This was too much.

It wouldn’t be surprising if he passed out immediately.

And yet, Kim Jaehyun overcame this pain every single time.

‘Khrrk.’

Until he experienced it firsthand, he had never truly understood.

It felt like his entire body was being pierced by thick needles that emitted 1,000°C heat from within.

His skin and muscles melted, gas seeped into his cells, and his bones and flesh shattered from the pressure before exploding.

‘Ah.’

However, Ha Dong-gun did not realize something.

The pain he was experiencing was nothing compared to what Kim Jaehyun had endured.

Territory construction fundamentally drew from Kim Jaehyun’s power, and because the safe zone expansion was gradual, Ha Dong-gun was only feeling one-thousandth of the real thing.

But even that—lasting for three whole days—was unbearable.

‘Jaehyun-nim...!’

Through the torturous pain, Ha Dong-gun sought Kim Jaehyun.

Crack!

As Ha Dong-gun endured the pain, the safe zone at Sindorim Station slowly expanded outward.

And with it, his mental capacity also grew larger.

While Oh Eon-ju and Ha Dong-gun were suffering through soul-crushing agony, the other retainers were not just standing idly by.

Expanding the territory through ‘Domain Construction’ differed slightly from Kim Jaehyun’s level-ups.

If there were monsters or humans in the surrounding area, the expansion process was met with resistance.

When Kim Jaehyun leveled up, he absorbed everything into his domain without stopping.

But for Domain Construction, the process merely pushed everything back little by little.

For humans, Kim Jaehyun could offer them citizenship to resolve the issue.

But for monsters, unlike during level-ups, they could not be absorbed into the domain and had to be expelled instead.

And the moment a monster blocked the expansion—

Oh Eon-ju and Ha Dong-gun’s pain multiplied exponentially.

The previous attempt at constructing Oh Eon-ju’s domain had failed because a monster obstructed the expansion process.

Having learned from that failure, every monster in the area had been preemptively eliminated.

Even now, the retainers were scouting and clearing out any remaining threats in real-time.

And so, what felt like an eternity to Ha Dong-gun finally passed.

[The domain has been granted.]

‘It’s... it’s done.’

Thud!

Having successfully completed the mission, Ha Dong-gun allowed himself to collapse unconscious.