[Episode 05] Expansion (1)

The eyes of the absolute that illuminated Moon Byeong-ho were forcibly canceled, and the senses expanded throughout the house.

At the same time, the corner of the house slowly widened with pain that seemed to swell.

‘Keugh!’

This time it started on the 30th floor and slowly expanded downward.

Pain as if muscles were twisting in real time and blood vessels were bursting.

It ended when the area of the corner of the house, which had increased from the floor of the 30th floor, swallowed up to the 21st floor.

[An object that satisfies the conditions to be accepted as a citizen has been found.]

[Do you want to grant citizenship?]

I checked the pictures of the seven people that popped up in front of me.

‘Are there still people left?’

I thought I received all of them as citizens during the Goblin Shepherd Hunt, but it seems that was not the case.

‘Grant it.’

[Citizenship is granted to Woojin Jo, Hyeonsu Kang, Dajeong Kim, Jiho Nam, Haeri Moon, Namyoung Nam, and Jinju Nam.]

By accepting 7 additional people, the total population of citizens increased to 101.

It surpassed 100 people.

[The number of citizens has reached 100.]

[Citizens earn 100% more EXP and settlement money.]

There were familiar notifications that I expected, but there were also notifications that I had never seen before.

[As the number of citizens reaches a certain level, all citizens will unlock the ‘Power of Trust’ skill.]

‘The power of trust?’

Another new thing popped up.

I wanted to check right away, but now I had more urgent matters.

It was to check the status of Ha Dong-gun’s party.

‘The eyes of the absolute.’

They were running down an alley.

‘Who is injured?’

At first glance, I looked at Moon Byeong-ho, who was covered in blood.

Fortunately, he was running with his grandmother on his back, looking fine. Looking at it, it seemed that the blood I saw earlier was not his.

‘her.’

The problem is Oh Eon-ju.

Oh Eon-joo, who was carried by Kang Deok-soo, was bleeding from his side and passed out.

‘It must have been attacked by the enemy.’

Fortunately, she had the ability to self-heal.

I didn’t know exactly what happened because I didn’t see the battle scene, but looking at the settlement money, it was clear that Moon Byeong-ho hit the last blow.

The level of the enemy that just appeared was 27. It was the same level as the Kelican I burned and killed the other day.

Considering that the bastard gave him about 9 million won in settlement, the amount of 39 million won could not be explained unless it was a vassal’s double payment.

‘Did it happen even though there was a level difference?’

The enemy was clearly level 27.

Only level 27 inflicted a fatal wound on level 33 Oh Eon-ju.

I could see that the level was not such an absolute indicator.

‘Well, if the level had been so absolute, I wouldn’t have been able to catch the Kelican.’

then.

‘Isn’t there a need to raise the level by spending 100 million won?’

I never did this because I was afraid of money.

‘But it’s a big deal.’

Of course, it was Oh Eon-joo who was injured.

From what I’ve seen so far, Oh Eon-joo’s contribution to the party was great.

Right now, the number of goblins she caught alone was more than the number of goblins caught by the rest of the party.

As a result, concerns naturally arose.

‘I wonder if it’s okay.’

But it was a misfortune.

“Keeek!”

Ha Dong-gun’s party easily wiped out the goblins they encountered as soon as they got out of the alley.

That’s because Moon Byeong-ho and Kang Deok-soo didn’t even participate in the battle.

“You got it right!”

“···me too.”

It was thanks to the arrows of Yoo Hye-rin and Kim Gun, who had only missed so far, hit the goblin’s forehead.

In addition, the arrows shot by Kim Ga-young and Ha Dong-gun were also much sharper.

“What? Suddenly, my body felt incredibly light…”

“Me too. Not even breathing.”

Seeing their strange reaction reminded me of a notification I had seen earlier.

The ‘Power of Trust’ skill that is said to have been opened to all citizens.

{The Power of Trust} (Passive)

All stats increase by (reliability level)%.

‘It’s because of this.’

Ha Dong-gun and his party basically all had a trust rating of 50 or higher.

Stamina, dynamic vision, muscle strength, reflexes, etc.

If all stats increased by more than 50%, it was only natural that the combat power would rise sharply.

At that time, Moon Byeong-ho said to the confused party.

“Everyone was chosen by him. like me.”

I thought it might feel somewhat similar to the vassal registration.

Moon Byeong-ho, who had reached level 30 in one breath, spoke with a voice full of confidence.

“Your body becomes lighter, and your whole body is overflowing with strength, right? I did too. When hunting the goblin sheepdog. I guess he wants to help us.”

Surprisingly, his words had an effect.

[Citizen Gayoung Kim’s loyalty has exceeded 30.]

[Citizen Gayoung Kim has met the conditions for vassal registration.]

[Citizen Hyerin Yoo’s loyalty has exceeded 30.]

[Citizen Hyerin Yoo has met the conditions for vassal registration.]

It was because two people met the conditions to be registered as vassals.

‘Register for both trails.’

That moment.

Whoops!

“What, what?”

“Kyaa!”

『Name: Gayoung Kim (Lv. 20) [+]

Title: [Fourth Servant]

Reliability: 58 Loyalty: 32

Awakening Ability: Piercing

★Quest given 』

『Name: Yoo Hye-rin (Lv. 25) [+]

Title: [Fifth Servant]

Reliability: 69 Loyalty: 33

Awakening Ability: Poison Mist

★Quest given 』

Looking at their levels, it seemed that they had acquired C-grade and B-grade skills, respectively.

A group of goblins stimulated by the light that awoke the two and rushed toward Ha Dong-gun’s group.

As always, the first to respond was Gayoung Kim.

However, the arrow she fired at the level of the spinal reflex contained a faint light.

Push!

“!!!”

As usual, the arrow she fired landed precisely between the eyes of one of the goblins.

The only difference was that the arrow pierced the goblin’s head so neatly, and pierced the bodies of the goblins running from behind one after another.

“Queueek!”

“Kagagak!”

“Kikki!”

Suddenly, the goblins with wind holes formed in their bodies screamed and rolled on the ground.

Of course, the most surprised was Gayoung Kim.

“What, what?”

This was the effect of her awakened skill.

Piercing (Grade C)

Consumes mental power to shoot penetrating arrows.

It seemed that he was concentrating and using the skill unconsciously.

‘I’ll have to give you a quest.’

The moment she sees the name of the skill ‘Piercing’ written in the quest, she will be able to immediately recognize what kind of skill it is.

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Just in time, a notification appeared that Gayoung Kim had completed the quest to hunt 13 goblins, and she was able to assign a new quest.

《Quest granted》

Quest Content: Hunt goblins using piercing (0/10)

Time limit: 10 minutes 00 seconds

Reward: Enhanced piercing proficiency

Failure Penalty: Fatigue.

Gayoung Kim, who confirmed the contents of the quest, literally started to run amok by herself.

Properly fired piercing arrows caught at least two per blow.

The moment Gayoung Kim started rampaging with her skills freely, I thought about giving a similar quest to Hyerin Yoo for a while.

‘But this ability is a bit ambiguous.’

Poison Mist (Class B)

Consumes mental power to create a deadly poison mist.

The ability itself was good.

It seemed that it would be possible to exterminate the goblins by using the ability right now in the underground parking lot where the remnants of the goblins remained.

But that was the problem.

What a B-grade poison fog skill.

It was sure to be very lethal.

If used incorrectly, it could adversely affect team members.

‘I’ll put this on hold and look at it later.’

Apparently, there was no need for Yoo Hye-rin to step out.

[Citizen Gayoung Kim has completed the quest.]

[The quest costs 67,773 won.]

[Citizen Gayoung Kim has exhausted all available quests today.]

[Evaluate the quests performed by citizen Kim Ga-young.]

[······ Evaluation ·······]

“Wow.”

What happened was that he was showing a completely different appearance from Choi Hyeong-jun, who had awakened the same C-class ability.

‘It’s amazing.’

He was making full use of the piercing arrow attribute to make as many goblins as possible out of combat.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that she was going through the road alone.

[Assessment complete.]

[Experience will increase slightly.]

I was expecting a little bit, but this time it was a hit.

‘Is it natural?’

If the odds were high, the system message wouldn’t even celebrate the jackpot.

Once again, I realized that the case of Moon Byeong-ho was nonsense.

‘I guess I don’t have to worry about this.’

Gradually, the alley of apartments appeared.

Ha Dong-gun’s party seemed to arrive safely soon thanks to Kim Ga-young’s great success.

‘Shall we go and meet them?’

I was thinking of going to meet Kim Da-bin and Kim Min-ho in person, but when I checked, the shower wasn’t over yet.

‘I’ll have to go later.’

Maybe 30 minutes had passed, but the shower didn’t end.

‘Should I take a look at the newly expanded place?’

From the 21st floor to the 29th floor.

About half of the newly expanded area was an empty house.

The refrigerator of the ownerless house was full of neglected and rotten food or side dishes and insects that were attracted to them.

Houses with people were at least a little better, but the bathrooms with excrement piled up or the insides of houses that were dirty because they couldn’t be cleaned were hell in a different sense.

‘It’s terrible.’

Perhaps because the situation in the whole house was clearly felt, they came even more disgusting to me.

However, one place stood out because it remained clean even under such circumstances.

‘These are the people who just granted citizenship.’

It was an ordinary house where Nam Ji-ho and a family of four live, but compared to other houses, it was so clean that it was embarrassing.

The peculiar thing was that the bathtub was half-filled with water, but soon after I came into the bathroom and saw the water in the bucket, I knew what it was for.

drinking water.

‘her.’

It seemed that the bathtub was filled with tap water before the water supply was cut off.

That alone was enough to provide drinking water for a family of four for a month.

In order to survive right away, he drank water from the water tank behind the toilet, but tap water was enough.

‘It’s amazing.’

And that wasn’t all.

There was a gas burner for camping in the living room, and it was like cooking ramen or rice with it.

There was still rice left in one pot.

In addition, unlike other houses, it seemed to dispose of excrement neatly.

Thanks to this, the situation in the house where they live seemed better than the other houses that received relief supplies from me.

‘So, Ha Dong-gun didn’t respond to the rescue of the party.’

There is no reason to open the door when strangers armed with bows come.

The people who obediently followed Ha Dong-gun’s party in the hunting operation were desperate.

Most of them were in a situation where they had to go outside where monsters were raging to find drinking water or food.

It had no choice.

Contrary to them, when Ha Dong-gun’s party, who volunteered to be a rescue team, came, they could choose whether or not to trust them.

To be honest, men and women armed with bows and baseball bats came to us as rescuers, but it was more strange to believe them straight away.

‘I like it?’

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Just by quickly filling the bathtub with water before the water supply cut off, I could tell that it was not an ordinary bet.

A person who showed such a wit in a crisis situation was a necessary talent.

‘Well?’

Of course, not all the newly joined survivors refused rescue based on rational judgment.

Right below our house, room 2902, living room.

At first I thought it was a corpse.

It was because I was just lying on the living room floor without any movement.

‘This woman…?’

It almost looked like it was about to die.

『Name: Dajeong Kim (Lv. 26)

Reliability: 18

Awakening Ability: Heal

EXP distribution rate: 0%

Settlement amount distribution rate: 0%

★Quest Grant Exit』

Hill (Class B)

Heals wounds by consuming mental power.

I sprinted straight down toward room 2902 at full speed.