Our bodies could recover in one day. However, the mental fatigue from conquering a B-class dungeon, where we had multiple near-death experiences, required a considerable amount of time to heal. This time, we were spending time together in a hotel in Las Vegas without being separated. We focused on resting and enjoying our life for one week. Exploring the newly created show after dinner was also part of the week’s plan. That day was no different than usual, and we returned to the hotel after watching the magic show of a rising rookie magician.
[Baclan Corps’s Interrupter: Extracting power from the Baclan Commander 2/5]
We were discussing the progress of the quest and our future plans while looking at the status window. To be exact, we were using our accumulated points and opening dungeon boxes. I was at the cusp where I could expect my Strength to upgrade to S-class.
[Congratulations. Your Strength has been upgraded. A → S]
The joy of succeeding in raising my Strength to S-class filled me for a few seconds, but…
“What’s wrong?” Woo Yeon-Hee asked with a puzzled expression. I stared at the message that popped up out of nowhere after giving her a sign to wait. At first, I thought I had received a reward for upgrading one of my stats to S-class, but it turned out it was neither a box nor a trait.
[The trait Explorer has been activated.]
The Explorer’s effect didn’t just increase the number of dungeon discovery points I received. If that was it, I would have deleted it much earlier in order to not waste my points.
There were two advantages in developing Explorer to a high class. First, it could inform me of the location of the gate and the remaining time we had until the gate was created depending on the class. The other was that it could notify me about the system itself or monsters, which had happened just right now.
The information the trait provided me was something I had never seen or heard before. It seemed to have occurred in conjunction with me being the first Awakened to raise a stat to S-class.
[About the second round of privileges (Reward for Explorer)
The top ten Awakened who upgrade all of their stats to S-class can receive the second round of special benefits.
Content: The classes of all your stats, traits and skills will be reset as you proceed. Your cumulative points will also be reset. Instead, the class upgrades will be extended to the SS class, and the possession limits of stats, traits, and skills will be extended to ten.]
There was such a thing like… this. I could guarantee that no one, even the Eight Evils and the Eight Virtues, had gone through this. Anyway, it was surprising to confirm that the SS-class actually existed, as it also meant that the SSS-class could also exist.
The Man Who Overcomes Adversity upgraded all stats and skills by one class when I fell into an inoperable state. The trait Gifted upgraded other traits by one class when another trait was activated. The First Evil’s capabilities during the battle with Doom Caso, one of the Seven Demon Kings, were beyond S-class, and the Awakened had wondered about the existence of the SS-class for the first time. I had originally intended to confirm it by raising my Health to S-class.
According to my calculations, the Eight Evils and Eight Virtues would have debated whether they should go through the second round of privileges or not after they left the Stage of Advent. After all, even they couldn’t raise all their stats to S-class before entering the Stage of Advent. The title was ‘privileges,’ but there was not much of an option.
However, there was too much to lose by undergoing this process. If the First Evil went through it, he could have challenged himself to find the existence of the SSS-class with The Man Who Overcomes Adversity, but even he had given up on it. Instead, he had become occupied with building skills with low growth potential, which in hindsight was a wise decision. He had spent a great amount of time and effort building himself to his state, so it would be too reckless for him to start all over. Also, he had to face a lot of enemies in my past life.
From the very beginning, the First Evil had been sharply opposed to any form of organized government. Then, he had become hostile against unlicensed guilds in the middle of the Day of Advent. Finally, when the Day of Advent was about to end, he had risen as the head of the Eight Evils, which were heavily against the Eight Virtues and all that they stood for.
His choices would have stayed the same even in the Stage of Advent as it was a more terrifying world. It was a place where one needed power immediately more than a power that one could get in the future. The System had arranged privileges for the top ten Awakened, but there would be no Awakened other than me who could afford to proceed with it.
It was true that there were opportunities to develop in the Stage of Advent, but if I also refused it, it would just end with me saying ‘Ah, there is such a thing.’ I idly wondered if there was a third round of privileges.
***
It took a while for me to think through all of this, but in the end, I stopped worrying about privileges. I didn’t dare to go through it right now. Upgrading my Strength to S-class would be a great help in the next conquest, but I had still barely managed to finish a B-class dungeon even while risking my life.
I realized that more desperately during my second conquest. I would continue to challenge myself to complete the S-class Accomplishment Reward quests, but I didn’t even want to think about the memories of what I had been through. In that respect, Woo Yeon-Hee was incredible. Probably because she possessed the mental attribute? She was obviously stronger than me in that aspect. I was the one who had rebuilt myself in the B-class dungeon, but Woo Yeon-Hee had silently taken care of me the entire time.
I placed a blanket on her as she was asleep and went out to the living room. I turned on the financial channel on television and enjoyed the screams of Wall Street while reclining on the couch.
I thought the Rothschild Family wouldn’t be able to withstand it until now, but so far, only the small and medium-sized banks had gone bankrupt one after another. Financial figures on television were paying keen attention to the Rothschilds. They knew that this crisis would only really begin when the Rothschilds collapsed.
My eyes became heavy, but one sentence made them wide open.
[Breaking News. Rothschild Chain filed for bankruptcy protection.]
I knew it!
They had only been able to endure this much because they were the Rothschilds. This was a historic turning point. The general public wouldn’t have known any of this, but the world’s money would soon be concentrated in the hands of one force after this incident.
Jonathan called me as expected.
<Seon-Hu: It burst.>
<Jonathan: Yes, it did.>
All I had to do from now on was watch the rising flames all over the world.
“No, there is one more.”
On that day, my long-awaited news had finally come, signaling that the global financial system was sinking, which had started with the bankruptcy of the Rothschild chain.
This time, I headed to meet Jonathan. After passing through the freezing streets in the middle of winter, I entered the Jonathan Group’s headquarters. The atmosphere there was also bleak. Corporate stakes held by the headquarters plunged day after day, and employees in the department handling related tasks looked like they were about to die.
However, only a few floors were like that, and the top floor where Jonathan stayed was filled with joy. Well, at least from my perspective. There were many people who came to borrow money from our group, which reminded me of the times after the Russian financial war.
Jonathan greeted me with hollow eyes as he was buried in a pile of papers. However, his eyes were shining. Kim Cheong-Soo said hi, too. Since he wasn’t a fool, he must have noticed a long time ago that I was in the highest position of the group. He had never asked me, ‘Is Ethan the real owner of our group?’
However, he was always careful and appealed to me whenever he got a chance. Just like now. He began a full-scale briefing on future strategies to take advantage of the subprime crisis. He studied my face once in a while, and his eyes were filled with ambition for greater successes.
After the first briefing, I went up to the rooftop with Kim Cheong-Soo, and we lit cigarettes.
“As you know, the future is more important, Brian.”
I didn’t need to explain that I was the real owner of this group.
“I’m going to expand the group’s business to Asia and Europe. If you have any recommended personnel, please send a list to my email address. As long as their abilities are guaranteed, it doesn’t matter if they are our group’s internal employees or external individuals.”
Kim Cheong-Soo’s eyes shone.
“Thank you, Ethan.”
After patting him on the shoulder, we headed our separate ways. I came back to Jonathan’s office, and the conversation regarding the subprime crisis was over. It was time for Jonathan and me to have a side talk, but I didn’t return to chat. Jonathan had stopped stretching and rummaged through piles of papers.
“This is what you asked for last time,” Jonathan continued while handing me the file, “As you said, there was an interesting attempt. They didn’t reveal themselves, so we don’t know if they are a group or an individual. But it’s more likely that they are a group.”
There was a bite in his words as if he had thoroughly read the nine-page thesis. I pretended to read the paper, feigning that I had no clue.
「Bitcoin: An Interpersonal electronic money system.
Satoshi Nakamoto
Electronic money will allow direct online transactions between individuals without going through financial institutions. Digital signature technology resolves the problems to a certain extent, but if a trusted third party proceeds through double payments, the significant advantage of the system disappears. In this paper, we would like to propose a solution to the double payment problem using P2P networks[1]」
“He said that the system is tamper-proof, doesn’t require any personal information, and ensures complete transparency of transactions. That’s ridiculous.”
Jonathan came up behind me. If all financial systems collapsed from the Day of Advent as in the past, then there would be no reason to be wary of Bitcoin. However, the current financial system remained the same in the future that I had been picturing. Bitcoin could aggravate the issue.
“How long ago did you know about this?” I asked.
“I expected he would try something new, but I didn’t know it would be such a prank. It’s a completely decentralized system, so it looks plausible for now. He has a clear purpose and has many points to attract attention when he brings the development,” Jonathan answered while closing the file.
“They uploaded the thesis as soon as the subprime market exploded. They’re smart,” he continued.
“How is the market reacting to this?”
Jonathan shrugged his shoulders and asked, “Sun, you’re taking this seriously, aren’t you?”
However, he didn’t look like someone who was asking my opinion. He had already come to his own conclusions on Bitcoin, and I felt the same way. Unlike the Second Round of Privileges, I had no hesitation when it came to thinking about cryptocurrency.
“Bitcoin. Not now, but it could be a challenge for us,” I said.
“So?” he asked.
“What do you mean? We should bury it.”
It was simple as we just had to collect all the Bitcoin and Altcoin supplies that would be developed and released in the future. Then, we wouldn’t distribute them to the market. If we keep them in our pockets, they would naturally rot and become stained in stagnant water.
1. Peer-to-peer network, a type where computers can communicate with one another and share what is on the computer with other users. ☜