There were people who had come in first to the hunting areas. Not all of those in the south knew what Seong-Il and I looked like, so it was natural for the northern people not to recognize us. One of them approached us as we began to prepare for the camp.

“Yo, you guys must have had some fun hunting. Your items are so fancy.”

Seong-Il responded, “Huh? Everything was too easy. We were so bored.”

“Are you guys from the south?” the guy asked persistently.

“Yes, you are from the north, right?”

I could tell Seong-Il was already on guard.

The guy continued, “So, you are from the south. What brought you all the way here?”

Seong-Il grumpily replied, “Just trying to level up. Why? Come on! Stop pretending you are naive and not trying to do something!”

“Whoa, calm down, man. I was wondering if you’d like to trade some stuff. We are not bad guys. Also, you guys seem stronger than us. What would we get from jumping onto you guys? You have such a nice breastplate. What level is it? Let’s end the deal while our captain is still feeling generous to you!”

The guy threw a mana stone at Seong-Il, and it fell after hitting his body. He continued, “Don’t make us the bad guys, okay? Man, we will give you a fair price.”

“Fuck. I thought today would be a good day.”

Seong-Il rose while grumbling. This was not a big deal as he had experienced it multiple times already. While Seong-Il dealt with those guys, I completed setting up a tent. By then, the situation had been sorted out.

Seong-Il shouted, “Repeat after me. ‘I’m sorry for not recognizing you!’ Go! One!”

“I’m sorry!” one screamed.

“Two!”

“For not recognizing you!” another shrieked.

Bang bang!

Seong-Il walked around their camp as he kicked those who had fallen to the ground. Their entire bodies went stiff with fear as they knew they could die at any moment, and they only flinched a little when Seong-Il kicked them. Seong-Il had learned after the past few days that people like them would form an organization and raid after us if he let them go easily.

Some of them died as Seong-Il pummeled them mercilessly. They started shivering whenever they heard Seong-Il breathe, then he stopped the beating. After a while, Seong-Il showed up with a package of well-dried fish jerky, water bottles, and some relatively small items.

He snapped, “Hey! When did I tell you to lie down? Get back into your position!”

Seong-Il washed off the blood using the water bottle he brought, then sat in front of me.

“I guess you have nothing more in your storage box,” he spoke.

I shook my head. “It’s not too bad. I don’t have to fish.”

“That’s true, but still… Those things who don’t even give me XP always get frantic about my baby,” he remarked as he looked at his breastplate.

Things who don’t even give me XP…

Anyway, Seong-Il called his breastplate a ‘baby’ similar to how many men addressed their cars.

On the next day, at dawn, the sound of people being beaten and screaming filled the air. The guys who had been smacked by Seong-Il had been waiting for us to go to sleep before attacking. Their problem was that they didn’t know the difference between the level of their Sense and ours.

Seong-Il snarled, “Fine! I’ll send you all to hell! You are acting like you want to die, so I will grant your wish. I won’t charge you for this, so be thankful.”

That was when Seong-Il grabbed one of them by his ankles and lifted him up.

“Aaaah!”

Seong-Il threw the man on the ground and looked at me. Yes. It was finally starting!

[Did you wait for me? Hello, the Kingdom of Ilsung. It’s me. Fortunately, Act Two will be run by your cutie, me! It’s all thanks to you.]

The Spirit who used to be my stage’s guide from Act One Stage One was making an announcement.

[If you are from other stages, don’t worry! There will be no favoritism (｡╹ω╹｡). What? Ah, this is why I hate quick-witted people. Please understand if I’m a little excited today. Yes, your stage will expand more and more. Let’s see who you will be with!]

[Camp One: Ilsung Kingdom

Came Two: Blue Dragon Society

Camp Three: Lung Brother

Camp Four: Descendants of Vikings

Camp Five: Revolucion (12)]

I paid attention to the fifth camp. The number behind Revolucion must have been there as the same name would have been used for multiple groups. However, it was disappointing to see how the leader couldn’t unify more groups together as he or she was from Revolucion. Was that person of a low rank in Revolucion?

[In Act Two, Stage One, three stages from Act One have been combined into Ilsung Kingdom. Don’t blame yourself for only uniting two stages, those in Camp Two, Three, Four and Five. There were lots of stages that didn’t even pass Act One.]

Seong-Il came over while rubbing his hands that were covered in blood on his pants. He and I nodded silently.

[As you know, the role of the Ilsung Kingdom has become more crucial. I believe that you guys will lead the other forces well in Act Two, Stage One. You guys will promote me to the guide in Act Two, Stage Two, right? I trust you guys! (Ծ﹏Ծ) ]

The Spirit continued.

[The Kciphos Corps you faced in Act One are on the weak side, so it’s time to confront the Baclans!]

Seong-Il groused, “Ugh, the ox-heads.”

[It’s the same as always. I will give you time to get close to those who will be in the same boat. You will be moved to a different place when Act Two begins, so don’t get attached to this land. Feel free to mingle around regardless of which stage you are from and make friends. In my personal opinion, the Ilsung Kingdom would be the best spot to socialize. Please enjoy it!]

[Remaining time until the start of Act Two, Stage One: 29 days 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds]

[The quest ‘Potential Threat’ has begun.]

[Potential Threat (Quest)

Everyone knows that the Awakened from other camps are potential threats. But is it just them?

Mission: Exterminate Awakened.

Reward: XP and item boxes, depending on the number of Awakened the user eliminates

1 - 10 people: XP or a bronze box

11 - 20 people: XP or a silver box

21 - 50 people: XP or a gold box

51 - 100 people: XP or a platinum box

101 - 500 people: XP or a diamond box

501 - 1000 people: XP or a challenger box

* The more the user exterminates, the more XP he/she gets.

* It’s a quest that can be carried out again even when you complete it once.

* The quest continues until the end of the Stage of Advent.]

***

“What the heck?”

People began to murmur. The guys who were covered in blood were crawling on the ground as a group, but they were in such bad condition that they could barely move their fingers.

“Whoa, I can get XP from killing you guys now. The System will give you XP as well if you kill me. Why don’t you try again? You were so aggressive a while ago that it made me tremble.”

When Seong-Il looked down at them, they moved with all their might. Seong-Il shook his head, then turned toward me.

“Odin. This quest literally makes us kill each other…”

Then, he screamed in the air.

“You motherfucker! What the hell are you doing!”

He was obviously addressing the Spirit that likely had appeared and then vanished from the capital of the Ilsung Kingdom. Seong-Il continued panting afterward. Meanwhile, I spotted traces of the people who had been beaten earlier. They had left traces on the ground that resembled a lumpy line. The lines continued to the back of the building, and I only heard groans from there.

It had to be noted that this quest had only appeared after Act Three started in the past. Basically, this was not supposed to begin now. Unfortunately, this meant that I would end up killing as many Awakened as I had saved.

Shit. I was so angry that my vision began to blur. I wanted to open the challenger quest right away, but I knew it’d be a reckless decision. I had been thinking about the malicious parts of the System. I was certain that I wouldn’t be able to complete all the quests in the System. The difficulty of some of the quests were likely to be supremely hard, so hard that I would think fighting against the Baclan king as “a piece of cake.” If I tested the System, it would throw me into a random quest that would be impossible for me to complete. In addition, I might end up suffering from being gazed at by the Seven Demon Kings again. Therefore, I couldn’t open the challenger quest for now.

I used my chin to point to the gap between the walls where the northern guys hid. I asked Seong-Il, “Are you going to kill them?”

“Huh?” Seong-Il blinked.

I clarified, “Those guys.”

He hesitated before responding, “...Not now. It might look like I killed them only because I was told to do it.”

I shrugged. “It’s up to you.”

[You have used Devi’s Sword.]

Being out of my physical sight didn’t mean that they had disappeared completely. I created a trajectory by following my Sense.

Shing-

[Potential Threat: You have exterminated one Awakened.]

…

[Potential Threat: You have exterminated six Awakened.]

***

[Potential Threat: You have exterminated thirty-four Awakened.]

“What the freak were those Chinese dudes? They must not have had Night Eye. Idiots.”

Seong-Il searched the bodies of those who had attempted to raid us, but he only found useless items. He had been looking for food, but none came out.

“Anyway, this might not be the way. This is where the Chinese stay.”

If it was the area of Chinese Awakened, then we had been going in the wrong direction from the beginning. We were looking for Revolucion(12) among the two camps that were believed to be the Nordic Awakened.

“Wait, there are more.”

People showed up from the opposite direction where the Chinese had attacked us, but they weren’t speaking Chinese. They seemed to be looking for those who had attacked us. Four attack teams scattered around to search, and one of them walked toward us. They must have thought we were Chinese. As soon as they found us, they blew a whistle with a look full of hostility.

Boo- Boooooo-

The whistle made from the tiny horns of the Kciphos Gundrak was much more effective than a human shouting because the sound from the instrument reached further away. Seong-Il and I didn’t provoke them until their colleagues surrounded us. Well, things would have been different if they attacked us first without waiting.

Anyway, it looked like they had decided to be careful as we were calm. When all of them gathered around us, tension soared up as if a nuclear bomb would explode soon.

Then, a woman walked out in slow steps as if she was wandering around her dream. She also widened her eyes and didn’t take her eyes off my face. Her behavior must have been strange to her subordinates. She kept narrowing the distance by shaking off the people’s hands who had tried to stop her.

“...Are… are you really…? Are you…. Odin?”