Iron was already annoyed and pissed off from their continuous provocations but this one made him explode.
“Let’s pick up the pace for the plan.”
Everyone present was startled to attention at Iron’s cold voice. They hastily perked their ears up and listened to his orders.
“Gaon.”
“Yes.”
“Focus on the Southern Kingdoms.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Faulden, go ahead and expand your information network towards the South too.”
“I understand!”
They all bowed their heads to accept Iron’s orders as they hurriedly left the Commander’s Office.
Iron sighed to himself when he looked at his commanding officers running from his office as if they were being chased by something.
“This is pissing me off.”
Iron frowned as he grumbled to himself.
Dealing with the Southeast was already difficult enough but they kept on provoking him. He tried to ignore them but they kept on picking a fight with him. And it has now gone worse. Their level of provocation was getting worse for him to just wait for them to show that they were not real masters themselves. If they left them as they were, then not only the Empire but even the authority of the masters would be compromised and questioned.
‘It’s definitely not because I was called a three-minute man. Definitely not.’
Iron shook his head after finally deciding to educate these cocky and arrogant bastards.
With his anger shooting on top of his head, Iron immediately accepted a reporter’s interview the next day.
[ Come find me yourself. You’re always welcome. ]
This was the only line from the interview that appeared in the newspapers.
Finally, Iron opened his mouth to speak. His words might be short but it was powerful enough to satisfy the people of the Empire and their dissatisfaction.
The people of the Empire became lively at his confidence. Because of this, the Southerners urged the other-worlders to visit him as fast as they could and prove their worth. But contrary to their wishes, the other-worlders continued to dilly-dally.
If Iron had only finished his interview with those words, then the other-worlders would have rushed to the Southeast right away. But he showed off his might right after the interview. The video of his divine beasts, showing off their overwhelming strength and annihilating the monsters by themselves alone, were released right after.
The video about the monster wave that they had released before showed the entire Command along with the divine beasts but this time, the video only showed Iron and his divine beasts alone so they were able to feel how much power his divine beasts truly had.
“As expected, it’s all lies.”
“I know, right. Aren’t they just all talk?”
“They’re using some kind of weird power, how can they dare to fight against a master?”
Contrary to the Empire’s people’s lively reaction, all the Southerners could do was harden their faces. In addition to their Fusion Skills, just their flames, lightning and rays of light alone were overwhelming enough. This show of strength stopped them from making any comeback at all.
In fact, the reason why Iron did not want to respond to them was because he did not want to calm the raging atmosphere down especially during a time when the confidence of the Southerners was growing. The appearance of new masters in the Southern region of the continent where the situation was extremely bad would bring hope to the people. So, he intentionally saved his words. But the other-worlders did not know his considerations and went beyond his bottom line.
So, with the intention of stepping on them, he sent his special unit to the South and even used his intelligence unit to sway public opinion. He felt bad for the Southerners but he still was going to step on them to prevent them from trying to raise another ruckus.
“The South will leave us alone after this.”
Iron looked satisfied after he finished cleaning up the South that kept on bothering him despite him being busy. Now, he would be able to take care of the Southeast without worrying about other things in the meantime.
But contrary to Iron’s expectations, the other-worlders remained persistent.
They were well aware that they weren’t at the master-rank right now. However, they left the title master on their names and did not bother to explain since there were a lot of places where this title was useful. In addition, the title effects that they received from being called a master had given them a strong boost in power.
However, as if there was nothing free in this world, a backlash suddenly appeared.
If the problem was just related to the Southerners’ public opinion, then it was enough for them to ignore it. After all, the South would have been forced to fight a difficult battle if it weren’t for them. That was the reason why they had the guts to ignore their scathing remarks.
But the problem this time was related to their title effects.
“Debuff? Ha! This is crazy!”
Kim Jungtae glared at his title effects.
― Master Impersonator : Until you prove that you are a master all of your master title effects will be removed and all of your stats will drop by 20%.
― But! All of your debuffs will be released once you prove yourself.
― ※ If your level is close to a master or you can be recognized as a master in the future then your debuff will also be released.
The price of impersonating a master was a steep one.
The title effects and innate abilities were the source of power of the other-worlders. But what if the title effect that they received was a poisonous one?
“I’m going crazy.”
Kim Jungtae rubbed his head in annoyance. He felt like he was truly going to go crazy. And the same was true for the others.
The price that they had to pay for impersonating a master came in the form of a system debuff. However, they were in a situation where they couldn’t just ask anyone to recognize them as a real master.
They might be ahead of the others right now but there were still countless people following closely right behind them. The problem was these people did not impersonate a master so the debuff did not work on them. But if this situation continued, the people behind them would most likely be able to catch up with them.
“Hoo… I guess we will have to go and see him in the end.”
Rovanov gritted her teeth as she said so.
Everyone nodded their heads at the words of this woman whose body was covered with bulging muscles.
There was only one answer. Even if they were going there just to experience humiliation, they still had to go and challenge him. Only then could their debuff be removed.
‘That humiliation will only be for a moment of our lives.’
Kim Jungtae gritted his teeth as this thought flashed in his head.
They would definitely reach the master-rank in the end based on the speed of their growth. So, all they needed to do was to endure this humiliation.
“Hoo… Iron. Everything gets screwed up whenever I get entangled with that bastard.”
Evastole, a brave and his guild member, comforted Kim Jungtae after seeing him grind his teeth in anger.
They had met Iron in the East and their plans got screwed. As for their plans in the Empire, Iron single-handedly organized the situation which took away their opportunities to play and move their hands around.
“I also haven’t seen that bastard, Lee Junghoo, yet…”
“Isn’t he dead already?”
Evastole asked as he looked at Kim Jungtae.
Just like he said, there was a high probability that Lee Junghoo had already died since he hadn’t shown himself up ever since they arrived here. But Kim Jungtae shook his head in disagreement.
The Lee Junghoo that he knew was someone who would not die so easily.
The other guild leaders all thought the same too.
They all knew that Lee Junghoo, with the shitty body that he was given and his dunce talent, was able to survive until the end. In this unfavorable situation, there was a high chance that the person that they were trying so hard to find was probably hiding under the radar and scheming something.
“That bastard probably hid himself somewhere waiting for the quest to be over. If that’s not the case then…”
Kim Jungtae stopped talking as he finished the rest in his head.
‘He probably received some sort of benefits that we aren’t aware of.’
He did not know what it was but it was probably an extremely huge benefit that the bastard did not need to go to such great lengths like them.
Believing that Lee Junghoo would appear someday, Kim Jungtae did not dally anymore. He quickly moved to solve the problem at hand.
So, the six strongest other-worlders in the South spoke up in chorus.
⌈ We will prove it! ⌋
They showed their determination in this short sentence.
The only thing left was when this would happen.
Every single person in the continent showed great interest in the other-worlders challenge. This was because this was the most interesting news that spread in the continent after a long time. This event was like a breath of fresh air from all the news about death or a frontline being pierced through in the Auzria Continent. So, everyone eagerly looked at this news.
The other-worlders’ master-rank challenge.
Even if they weren’t masters, this was still something that tickled their interests.
The six guild leaders immediately reduced their activities as they moved straight to Neraha, the largest city in the South, to leave for the Southeast.
While everyone turned their attention towards the Southern Kingdoms’ Confederation to watch the people that have gathered leave for the Southeast, a very interesting rumor started to spread around the other-worlders.
“There’s another way to get an innate ability!”
At first, no one believed the rumors.
Which house’s dog is barking bullshit about innate ability?
It was no exaggeration to say that the other-worlders powers were dependent on their innate abilities. But you’re telling them that they could get another one of that? It was something that even the Southerners couldn’t believe either.
However, their beliefs changed as one story after another appeared to prove that the rumors were true.
“If you get your hands on special weapons like the ones the Chosen Ones had, you will be able to get more innate abilities!”
Rumors like this led the other-worlders to comb through the South.
A shield that had become scrap metal.
A rusty sword.
A battered and worn spear.
A dented and crushed armor.
A ripped and torn cloth.
All of them were old items that weren’t even intact and usable but some of them would emit some strange aura and power. There were even some strange weapons that would only show its power for 5 minutes at dawn everyday.
However, anyone who obtained them would be able to gain another ability no matter what they did with the item. But that did not mean that they would awaken the moment they picked up something. There were tricky conditions that they needed to fulfill. They could only awaken if they had the minimum talent that was suitable for the weapon that they had picked. Nevertheless, everyone’s eyes still burned brightly as they tried to look for one.
While everyone was busy trying to look for their own special weapon, the others warned them.
“The void’s fallen gods might just be playing jokes on you!”
But the other-worlders ignored their warnings. This was only natural. After all, they were humans who would do anything and sell everything that they had just so they could gain power and become strong right away. And it wasn’t just the other-worlders.
The entire Southern region of the continent boiled and buzzed as they began to gain abilities like the Chosen Ones. Of course, the six other-worlders, who decided to challenge a master, also delayed their upcoming challenge to look for special weapons for themselves.
“This… I don’t know about this. This might be dangerous.”
Evastole said as he looked at Kim Jungtae. He could see that the red and rusty dagger was emitting a strange and dangerous power. This was a rusty dagger submerged deep in the sea. And since Evastole was a brave, who awakened with holy power, he could see that the dagger had some strange sense of incongruity.
However, Kim Jungtae did not have the time to pay heed to such things.
“I’ll think about that later. I need to gain strength first so I can challenge that bastard, Iron.”
Kim Jungtae held the dagger as he said so. Then, the dagger responded immediately. A blue energy appeared and wound around his wrist the moment the dagger was held in his hand. And in just a blink of an eye, the blue energy wrapped his entire body.
― Will you sign a contract with me?
The voice that appeared in his head made him extremely uncomfortable but Kim Jungtae still nodded his head. He knew that everything was irreversible the moment he held that dagger.
“That’s right.”
The rusty dagger broke down the moment Kim Jungtae agreed.
Evastole became flustered when he saw the dagger suddenly break. But Kim Jungtae did not even flinch let alone get flustered.
This was because he felt the power sealed inside the dagger run through his veins. Perhaps that wasn’t enough, that was why the surrounding water energy flew mercilessly towards Kim Jungtae.
In just a blink of an eye, a water tornado had appeared and spread around the area. The water tornado spun around Kim Jungtae for about an hour, throwing away the nearby Evastole and his other guild members.
Finally, the voice that Kim Jungtae longed to hear appeared after the water tornado disappeared.
[ You have signed a contract with the Forgotten Water Dragon ??? ]
― It is still in an incomplete condition after being sealed for a long time. Gather the pieces of its body to complete its body to help it restore its strength.
― You have gained the Title: ‘The One who Signed a Contract with the Water Dragon’. The title effects…
‘Water dragon!’
Kim Jungtae couldn’t hide his excitement after hearing who he had signed a contract with.
“With this… with this, it’s possible!”
Although it did not have a complete body, it was still a water dragon. Even though he knew that he wouldn’t be able to beat Iron, he was still confident that he would be recognized as a master with this. And this confidence grew when he called for the water dragon that he signed a contract with to test his abilities.
Kim Jungtae immediately rested to recover his best condition after looking at his abilities in satisfaction. Then, after several days, he moved to go straight to the Southeast with a letter of challenge to Iron in hand.
“You too…?”
Kim Jungtae frowned when he saw Rovanov waiting in the Sky Tower.
Her expression also crumpled into a frown when she saw Kim Jungtae.
“Tch! You must have gained something, right?”
“Aren’t you the same?”
Just when they were about to growl against each other to try and hide their trump cards, a man wearing a turban walked from the other side.
“Al-Assad? You also got it?”
Al-Assad answered Kim Jungtae’s question briefly.
“I will be the one to break Iron into a hundred pieces.”
