Chapter 141

Level Up IlDanSimPanGwan – Episode 141 (141/227)

Episode 141: The Continent in Turmoil (Part 2)

Thanks to the endless stream of recent events, Warode-related communities have been buzzing nonstop every day.

And a new world event has emerged.

The Light Church’s movements soon led to the destruction of the city of Amsterdam.

No one could’ve predicted that they’d actually attack and bring down one of the top 12 guilds’ cities, leaving many people shocked.

It wasn’t even just the Church’s knights or executives NPCs – it was merely players from two regions who moved.

Even so, the fact that such force could take down a major city held significant implications for people.

It showed that the Church possessed much greater strength than most players had realized.

And when perceptions change, people naturally flock accordingly.

Those quick to pick up on information realized that the Light Church had taken a big lead in the competition among the seven churches.

At this point, joining the Church wasn’t just out of interest but had become a strategic choice.

But the very person who brought about this change was currently staring blankly at their skill window.

“Really… a legendary-grade skill…?”

Still having trouble believing it, Eil slapped his cheek.

The newly acquired skill, “Ascetic’s Zeal.”

It possessed amazing effects befitting its legendary rank.

It completely changes how divine magic skills are influenced by stats.

And the stat that replaces mana is none other than the IlDanSimPanGwan-exclusive “Faith.”

“For so long, I had to pass up great skills if they were magic-based, but now my options have expanded greatly.”

The IlDanSimPanGwan class is fundamentally melee-oriented.

Not only does it rarely use attack magic, but it’s also far from bows or throwing weapons.

They only learn divine magic skills with utility aspects, nothing like what priests or mages specialize in.

However, things are different now with this new skill.

As long as you have sufficient Faith, you can easily exceed the normal power levels.

Just looking at Eil’s current skills – “Guardian Shield” which creates a protective barrier and “Healing Light” which grants continuous healing effects – both originally influenced by mana became much more powerful after obtaining Ascetic’s Zeal.

The representative skill of the IlDanSimPanGwan, “Sacred Flame,” already isn’t affected by mana since it’s based on weapon damage and Strength stat, but now there will be many more options available.

“This legendary skill really lives up to its name – absurdly powerful.”

The ridiculous potential of a legendary-grade skill.

Even more surprisingly, this passive effect is only mid-tier among legendary skills.

Poof!

When Eil waved his hand, a solid stat window appeared.

Main Stats:

Strength: 275(+254) Agility: 250(+215) Vitality: 265(+225) Mana: 20(+98) Faith: 362.1(+98) Madness: 358.9(+98)

“I never thought Faith would become this important.”

After checking the screen, Eil fell into thought.

Mana consumption, cooldowns, casting time…

Previously, the Faith stat only slightly improved efficiency for class-specific skills in various ways.

Compared to the Madness stat, which directly boosts combat power, it wasn’t considered particularly crucial.

But now with the Ascetic’s Zeal skill, Faith has become more important than basic stats like Strength or Agility.

[You have donated ‘30,000’ contribution points to the Light Church.]

[Your Faith increases by ’60’.]

“Normally, there’d be no need to spend contribution points just to boost stats… but this isn’t a bad deal right now.”

With a grin, Eil spent a huge amount of points all at once.

Church believers can choose to donate their earned contribution points instead of using them at the shop.

The reward is simply a small boost to Faith.

It takes a whopping 500 points to increase one stat point.

Other players know how difficult it is to earn 500 contribution points, so they don’t usually donate for stat boosts.

But for Eil, it was a worthwhile expenditure.

Thanks to spending 30,000 contribution points, his Faith stat skyrocketed to 420.

“The remaining points are just under fifteen thousand.”

Knowing another situation requiring contribution points might come up, he made sure to leave some aside.

Clunk!

Having arrived at his destination, Eil got off the carriage.

After devastating Amsterdam, he left the Binghai region which was still embroiled in war and headed toward Sudrafel Fortress.

A stronghold owned by the “Dawn” guild, one of the Six Major Guilds.

It was to sell off the items obtained during this siege battle – with the city entirely burned down by their hands, there was no other option.

Though it was a border region between two massive guilds, it was much safer than lingering around Amsterdam without an immediate war happening.

“Better get this done quickly.”

Entering the fortress, Eil immediately headed to the auction house.

Being geographically located where many people passed through, it was quite a large base, and being near the Nightmare Guild’s territory meant its defenses were solid.

[‘You have entered the item trading post of “Sudrafel”.]

– The trading system has been activated.

– Sudrafel Fortress is currently under the jurisdiction of the “Dawn” Guild.

– A standard fee of 10% and a guild tax rate of 5% will apply.

[Item, ‘Thorium Ingots’, registered in quantity of 174!]

[Item, ‘Axe of Perseverance’, registered!]

Eil listed all the Thorium ingots he had stored in the warehouse for sale, along with numerous equipment items obtained by defeating members of the Binghai guild.

If they sold at fair prices, a very profitable return was expected.

Of course, this wasn’t the sole reason he visited the auction house here.

Operating the trading interface, Eil searched for items.

It had almost become a habit to check the listings each time he visited the auction house for battle-useful support equipment with excellent additional effects.

While browsing through the gear, he noticed sharp fluctuations in certain items’ market prices.

“What’s going on suddenly?”

The price trends of several raw material categories were unusual.

Though Warode’s auction house system doesn’t display detailed price fluctuations per item, Eil had access to massive data.

Prices for various potions, equipment, and especially some raw materials were soaring far beyond their established market rates.

“Hmm… mysterious indeed.”

Eil’s concentration twisted his pronunciation.

But now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

“Steel ingots have nearly tripled in price, and the others aren’t much different. Price fluctuations this extreme usually only happen when there’s a strong smell of war…”

The resources consumed in Warode’s wars are unimaginable.

Naturally, they significantly impact the market.

However, even with the 12 top guilds like Binghai and Black Wolf at war, the current price surge seems excessive.

In Warode, conflicts are practically everyday occurrences.

Yet seeing fluctuations of this magnitude indicates something massive is approaching.

“Then… is it just the Six Major Guilds?”

Eil had one suspicious part in mind.

Nightmare Guild and Dawn Guild.

These two giants, enemies since the New World days, colliding would easily cause fluctuations of this degree just from war preparations alone.

“Lately, there’s been a lot of talk behind the scenes… will something explode soon?”

He adopted a serious expression.

The ominous atmosphere between these two guilds had existed for a while.

There was an incident where guild members were attacked in the Necromancer’s Tower within Nightmare’s territory, with rumors pointing to Dawn as the culprit.

Despite this, Nightmare didn’t show any aggressive moves, leading to many speculations.

Of course, this was information only high-level members of various info sites like Eil could access, mostly credible sources.

“The prices are already almost maxed out. It’s too late to jump in now.”

Originally, this would’ve been the perfect timing to make money in the auction house.

But entering late to stockpile now would only waste money.

One should’ve acted early knowing the information, buying at low points. At this point with prices already fluctuating, it’s already too late.

Buying in late considering auction fees and various additional costs would only result in losses.

“Not too late for raw material stockpiling, then…”

With practiced ease, Eil began operating the auction house screen.

On the other side, he opened the continent map.

Examining the border areas between the two giant forces known as the Six Major Guilds, he carefully analyzed potential conflict zones.

“The first place likely to be hit in a war… would be here.”

Eil pinpointed the location.

Starlight Mining District.

A mining area rich in the upper-tier rare metal “Nocturnum,” it’s the largest Nocturnum-producing region owned by the Dawn Guild.

Used extensively across all fields and highly valuable as an upper-tier metal.

Located in the eastern Solstice region, Dawn controls a staggering 68% of production.

It’s very close to the border, and if full-scale war breaks out between the two guilds, it’s highly likely this area would be targeted first.

Even if not the main battlefield for primary forces, rear attacks are inevitable, and the resource-rich border mines won’t survive.

Of course, Dawn could potentially defend well and avoid damage.

But at minimum, operations would be suspended during the war period.

“Smell of money, smell of money.”

Smiling, Eil operated the screen.

With the already scarce supply of Nocturnum set to decrease further, prices will soon skyrocket.

The Nocturnum market hasn’t yet been affected by the war.

With confidence, Eil pooled all the tens of thousands of gold he’d saved in storage for investment.

“Instinct tells me… go all in!”

In past online games, he maintained Ranker status without ever paying real money, managing to keep up with other Rankers’ equipment.

The reason? He made a fortune through auction house arbitrage.

Since coming to Warode, he’d focused on growth rather than auction house gambling, but this time was different.

The smell of money was too obvious to ignore sitting idly.

“Divine Lady, please bless me again!”

Eil clasped his hands together in sincere prayer.

Praying for another successful Nocturnum coin pump.