God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 194: Episode _You Can Come Whenever You Want, But You Can Only Leave When I Say So (2)

Chapter 194: Episode 194_You Can Come Whenever You Want, But You Can Only Leave When I Say So (2)

30,000 gold is $3 million. In what world would a madman spend $3 million on a single skill in a single game battle? Of course, it’s a fantasy everyone has had at some point. What if you were so rich you never had to work? What if you were so detached from money that you earned $30 a second, $1,800 a minute, over $100,000 an hour just by sitting still? Instead of buying the game company, how much could you spend while pretending to be an ordinary player?

It was a happy fantasy, but a difficult one to entertain. Everyone thinks within the limits of their own reality. They would instinctively shy away from spending $3 million on a single click, even in a hypothetical scenario. A primal thought would surface: wouldn’t it be better to spend that money on improving my real self rather than on a game?

But Han Simin had done it. He, who would still be happy to find a 50-cent coin on the street even now that he was a building owner with $3 million in his bank account, had spent a whopping $3 million on a single spell. Behind that decision was the frustration that the gold could never be his, and the thorough calculation that by winning the war, he could convert that unusable gold into profit in other ways. But in any case, he had spent it.

He fell silent.

The result did not disappoint. It was only meant to provide a catalyst. A message to the Marquis: ’Give up and run away. We still have weapons like this. If you annoy us, we’ll take you down with us.’ That was all he wanted.

But the power of Squeaker was beyond that. No, the power of 30,000 gold was beyond imagination.

"...Hey, you could have at least given me a heads-up. Whoa, I almost died."

At the last moment, just before the spell hit, Kardian had thrown up a shield around Han Simin and the rabbits. Even so, it had shattered, and the damage had bled through.

"Kkyuu. Kkyuu." The rabbits were scattered about, whimpering and smelling slightly cooked. Han Simin’s health bar was at rock bottom. And if that was the case for him, wrapped in +15 gear, what about Kardian? The robe she wore, nestled in his arms, had long since burned away. If it weren’t for the third-person camera filming from above, the broadcast would have been slapped with a 19+ rating. Even so, with the tantalizing glimpse of her form visible behind Simin’s back, viewers were already wide-eyed, zooming in on their screens.

"I told you clearly. It is the ultimate lightning magic of a Golden Dragon," Kardian said with a smirk as she accepted a spare robe and put it on. It had all happened in an instant, and blood trickled from her lips from pushing her depleted mana beyond its limits, but she remained composed. In fact, the corners of her mouth were curled up in pride. "This is what it means to be a dragon." ’This is the majesty of the dragon you treat like a servant!’ Although Black Dragons had never acknowledged the other dragon species, at this moment, it was "we are the world." A feeling of draconic unity!

"Our Squeaker is pretty amazing, huh? After only seeing you use magic, I was starting to underestimate dragons."

He fell silent.

"Ppaeaek!"

His vicarious boasting had no effect on Simin.

"Golden Dragons are the second strongest species after Black Dragons. Depending on the amount of gold, they can even temporarily surpass our kind. To overlook that... you are not qualified to be the master of a Gold Dragon."

"So how come your shield broke trying to block one Gold Dragon attack?"

"...That was because of the restrictions."

In any case, Kardian had to admit it. Even as she explained nonchalantly, she was, in fact, shocked. No matter how powerful a Gold Dragon was, Squeaker was not even fully grown.

"The war is over," she stated.

"Looks like it," Simin agreed.

The mood, along with the unexpected situation, had cooled. Looking around, all they could see was an empty wasteland and the pale faces of the Marquis’s soldiers who had been lucky enough to be outside the blast radius.

"Wow, that guy is really lucky." The Marquis was among them.

Han Simin waved cheerfully. The cinematic masterpiece he had been trying to film was unfortunately about to end without a proper conclusion, but this worked out well. The rising action had been so spectacular and impactful that he wasn’t sure how to end it, but he approached the Marquis anyway. To ask a question. To see if he’d had a change of heart.

*

"I surrender," the pale-faced Marquis declared without a second’s hesitation. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

There are three things one must be most wary of when waging war on the continent: spies, the enemy’s true strength, and the presence of magic. If you fail to confirm all three at the outset, you cannot guarantee victory, no matter how strong or numerous your army. The last one, in particular, creates a variable that transcends numbers. In real-world terms, it’s like a nuclear bomb. It’s impossible to calculate.

Spells like Fire Ball are manageable, but anything beyond a 5th-circle spell can create absurdly ridiculous situations in a war. And now, a spell that seemed to come straight out of a history book had just fallen from the sky. Those on the scene had only seen a flash, but the situation was vividly etched in their minds. Before their vision was filled with golden light, for what couldn’t have been more than 0.001 seconds, they saw a giant spear fall from the sky! A colossal spear, a strange mix of gold and red, slammed into the ground and scattered in all directions. That was it. That single scene, and the reality that followed, was powerful enough to make them tremble in fear.

Most importantly, it was the result of a single person. If he had known this would happen, the Marquis would never have declared war on this territory.

"I will give you whatever you want. Just spare my life."

Thousands had died in a single spell. His head bowed low, filled with despair. Han Simin saw this and nodded.

"Lead the way."

He was too stunned to speak.

"To your territory."

He fell silent.

"Don’t worry. I’ll let you live."

Considering the 30,000 gold he had spent, killing them all and selling their items seemed like a good idea, but he had no desire to spend gold on magic again. A territory war was, after all, a war to take a territory. And the value of a territory was at least 30,000 gold.

"I needed another territory anyway. This works out well."

His vow from ten minutes ago to create a clean and splendid ending to match the spectacular rising action ended anticlimactically with the cold, hard calculation of a protagonist compromising with reality.

3.

Nodaji was diligently playing the game today, true to his role.

"This makes the game worth playing."

Since signing the contract with Han Simin, he had been traveling the continent, adhering to a strict twelve-hour daily playtime without fail, yet a smile never left his face. It was only natural. His salary came in regularly, and he could receive a bonus anytime he turned in the items he had collected. A world where work equals money! How wonderful. Thanks to this, he was enjoying his status as the head of the household. His wife would prepare eel for him even though he spent all day in the capsule, and his kids loved it when he bought them chicken.

"If I work hard for a few more months, we can move into a leased home."

To do that, he needed to earn a bigger bonus. So, Nodaji worked even harder. The skills he had gained after his job change made it possible. As his level rose and he acquired new skills, the thrill of digging up a wider variety of items was also enjoyable.

It was during one of these excursions that he discovered a strange tomb.

"Huh?"

It was a tomb, but it was unusually large. It was surrounded by trees, and the path was so complex he couldn’t even remember how he had gotten there. He had stumbled upon it in a trance, driven solely by the thought of his family’s future home. It looked like the Sphinx. Not quite that big, but it was the largest tomb Nodaji had ever encountered.

He fell silent.

Fear was his first reaction. This wasn’t a dolmen; it was a tomb made of architecture, not earth. Of course, there was no entrance. It would be strange for a tomb to have an entrance when you weren’t supposed to visit the dead. He had to dig into a tomb like this. He was no longer bothered by digging up simple, round earthen mounds, knowing they would likely contain a skull and a few items, but this was his first time seeing something like this, and it made him hesitant.

Especially since it was a game. For some reason, it felt like a place he shouldn’t enter. Finding an entrance wouldn’t be hard, but what if there were monsters inside? He had brought a weapon and raised his stats in preparation for such a situation, but he was still reluctant to fight. What if he died? What would his wife think if he had to take a three-day break?

He hesitated, but still began to search for an entrance. Han Simin’s influence was a major factor in Nodaji’s challenge. ’I’m sure the boss will pay more for items from a place like this.’

Nodaji, who had been absent for so long he had nearly faded from Han Simin’s memory, began his search for the tomb’s entrance.

*

4.

Losers have no say. It was a rule that applied as strictly in Fantastic World as it did in reality. In fact, it was perhaps the most rigorously enforced truth in the game. In the real world, a loser could still run their mouth, but in Fantastic World, the defeated rarely survived to speak at all. Even on the off chance an opponent mercifully spared you, you kept your mouth shut. There was no telling when they might change their mind and kill you. You were simply grateful to be alive.

And so, the Marquis remained silent. All that mattered was survival. Even if he lost everything else, as long as he kept his title, he could rebuild—not to his former glory, perhaps, but enough. Clinging to that hope, he said nothing.

“Hand over the territory.”

“Hand over the money.”

“You’ve got plenty of jewels stashed away, right?”

“And everything in your family’s name, too.”

Even as Simin arrived in his territory and began to strip him of everything, the Marquis complied. He had expected this. Had he died, he would have lost it all anyway. He simply nodded, handing over his assets. He was a man of experience and cunning, enough to have earned the title of Marquis. The negotiations proceeded quickly and smoothly.

’Just stay alive,’ he thought. His life was the one thing he had to protect.

But he was wrong.

“Hand over your title, too.”

“...What?”

“I bet I could get a good price for it. Hand it over.”

“...I can’t do that!” The Marquis had considered his title an extension of his life, something that would remain even if all else was lost. The protest was instinctual. He had surrendered under the assumption that, at the very least, his title was safe.

“Do you want to die?”

The Marquis fell silent.

Simin’s words brought him crashing back to reality. This man was not merciful, especially when it came to money.

Simin was the kind of person who could be utterly ruthless for the sake of free money, and he had already spent twenty thousand gold on this war. “I’m going to sell off anything worth even a single gold coin, so if you want to live, shut up. Or should I start by selling your organs?”

The Marquis’s resistance ended quietly.

As he watched the Marquis and his family being driven out, Simin smiled in satisfaction. The loss still stung, but at least the war hadn’t been a total waste.

“I’ll turn this place into the Rich Casino.”

Two territories! The grand picture of his theme park was finally beginning to take shape. Simin’s eyes welled up with emotion.

“From now on, my future is paved with gold.”

He repeated the words, brainwashing himself into believing it.

*