Before Second Ares opened—

People all over the world were intensely curious about what Ares would look like after the server merge.

And they were just as curious about what mattered most in Second Ares.

At the press conference hall for Lee Sejin, where the largest crowd of reporters had gathered, one reporter asked:

“What do you think ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ is the most important thing in Chapter 2?”

The most important thing in Chapter 2.

It was exactly the kind of question users who had enjoyed Chapter 1 would be curious about.

“First claim.”

“First claim?”

“Yes. Second Ares has truly limitless new content. You’ll reach new places, see materials you’ve never seen, and unexpected beings will appear. This limitless content—being the first to claim it will be incredibly important.”

Why would something as trivial as being first matter?

That was what the reporters initially thought—until they caught Lee Sejin’s meaning.

It mattered. Enormously.

If ordinary users got there first, they could sell that information for a tremendous price.

And if it was high-level users—high rankers—they could use what they claimed first as a foundation to become even stronger and push further.

Especially in a game like Ares.

The first. The earliest. The pioneer. The first entrant.

They all reaped special rewards.

That was how important first claim was in Ares.

*****

A woman stumbled out of her capsule, shaken.

Her name was Yongwol.

“No....”

She clawed at her hair.

She’d been forced to log out by Hyunsoo—and she’d dropped her gear and armor.

“Of all things, why did I have to drop that...!”

And she’d dropped something else, too.

Something tied to the “first claim” Lee Sejin had just been talking about.

Yongwol had obtained it during the Chapter 1 adventure.

Clever as she was, she’d never doubted it would let her monopolize information in Second Ares—let her claim it first.

It’s not something you can buy, no matter how much money you have!

And what made her despair the most was simple:

The one who would pick it up was Hyunsoo.

It was a map.

Its name was Map to Meet a New Race.

And ridiculously enough, it didn’t guide the way—and it didn’t even tell you what race it was.

In other words, it couldn’t be appraised.

Yongwol had once paid an obscene amount to seek out the best appraiser in China.

That appraiser had failed to appraise the map as well, and said this:

“There seem to be two ways to appraise a map like this.”

“Two ways?”

“Yes. The first is meeting the condition the map demands. Put simply, reaching a level threshold. A new race—just looking at it, doesn’t it seem like content you’d only be able to do later even after Second Ares opens? I’d say you’d need to be well past level 450 before it can be appraised.”

“And the second?”

“The seal on this map appears to have been placed by that unknown new race. The one they call. The someone they want. It looks like it will be released when you reach that person.”

“The person they want? That means the possibilities are almost nonexistent.”

“Correct. You’ll most likely have to meet the level requirement. But Yongwol—this can’t be priced in money. Every user knew it: that a new race would appear someday. Claiming it first is beyond common sense.”

Back then, Yongwol had agreed.

New materials, new resources, new monsters, new dungeons—

Their value was simply too great.

And Yongwol also knew:

Hyunsoo won’t be able to unlock it either.

It was a petty, spiteful thought.

But she didn’t know.

That map was tied to the achievements Hyunsoo had already built.

*****

Alerts flooded Hyunsoo’s senses.

[You have executed the leader of the rebels, Sword Duke Roman.]

[You obtain 1,119,004 experience.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

Hyunsoo had become stronger—yet again.

Four levels, in an instant.

With this strength, it meant Hyunsoo could protect Atlas even better.

More alerts followed—about the rebel army.

[All 2,103 enemies who took part in the rebellion have been annihilated.]

[18 soldiers and 3 knights among the allies have fallen.]

[A staggering achievement.]

[Contribution accumulates according to the territory war system.]

[You obtain 75,031 Contribution.]

[The king’s descendant restores peace to the kingdom by executing the rebels.]

[It was a greedy rebellion that no citizen wanted.]

[The citizens’ trust in the king’s descendant rises dramatically.]

[You obtain 300 Fame.]

[You obtain 120 Overwhelm.]

[The amount of dropped gold increases by 10%.]

[The amount of experience obtained by soldiers and knights increases by 10% and is applied.]

[All stats of all guild members are raised from +3 to +5.]

[You obtain 5 All Stats.]

[The successor’s standing becomes firm and unshakable.]

[However, more enemies will begin to target you.]

The alerts reminded him again of what Roman had said.

More enemies would target Hyunsoo.

But Atlas had grown more solid.

[An average is calculated based on the end of battle.]

[Soldiers have leveled up by an average of 6 levels.]

[Knights have leveled up by an average of 2 levels.]

The number of level-ups was absurd.

And a large portion of the current forces were soldiers who had originally been asleep within Atlas.

They were those who once followed the Virtuous King who had ruled the continent.

They believed Hyunsoo was walking the Virtuous King’s path as well—but they’d carried anxiety about battle.

Of course they had.

Battle was where lives were on the line.

Yet the allied casualties weren’t even twenty.

They didn’t know it was a gift left behind by Kabel—they all believed it was the result of Hyunsoo and Nell’s brilliant strategy.

I’ve never experienced a battle like this in my life.

To wipe out an overwhelming enemy with such an excellent plan...

I’ve never seen artifacts like these. They protected me, and they let me defeat the enemy.

All I feel is awe and respect.

[The forces’ loyalty toward you is sky-high.]

“It’s an honor to serve you, my lord.”

Watching them, Hyunsoo smiled faintly.

And there was still something left.

Every soldier and knight collected the spoils of war.

A knight, representing them, prostrated himself and presented the spoils.

“I’m deeply happy to offer these spoils to you, my lord.”

There was sincerity in him.

[There are too many spoils.]

[The spoils are consolidated.]

Hyunsoo froze.

This much...?

It was a quantity that made no sense.

Hyunsoo didn’t know it, but if he remembered who he’d fought, it was only natural.

The Chinese users had crossed over grinding their teeth for plunder.

And in the process, just in case, they’d armed themselves with the flashiest, best artifacts they could.

And in a territory war, gold drops changed according to the enemy’s strength—and the same applied to artifact drop rates.

As for the rebels, with Sword Duke Roman at the center and famed knight families taking part, most of them had worn good weapons and good armor.

[You obtain 979,401 gold.]

Worth roughly nine hundred million won.

And among these golden goblin spoils, what mattered most was the artifacts.

This is insane.

One Legend Above Legend grade item that Pond dropped.

One Legendary-grade artifact besides that.

Three artifacts closest to legend.

Around thirty Unique-grade artifacts.

And even if you only counted Rare and Epic, it approached two hundred.

If you added the Normal-grade artifacts on top of that, the value was monstrous.

A large portion of that money would be used as territory development funds.

And artifacts could be melted down and created anew.

Because this is a blacksmith territory.

The synergy it would cause was beyond imagination.

Right now, Atlas was at least twenty percent stronger than it had been before.

Then Hyunsoo’s expression shifted.

His inventory was stuffed to the brim with junk items.

And among them, something was reacting to him.

Hyunsoo opened his inventory.

In the packed mess, he found something that glimmered.

Map to Meet a New Race...?

He pulled it out.

[Map to Meet a New Race responds to you.]

Hyunsoo frowned.

Why is it reacting to me?

But Hyunsoo, too, understood the value implied by “a new race.”

Could it be...?

There were two races people thought of first when they heard “new race.”

Dwarves and elves.

Hyunsoo could welcome either one.

If it was dwarves—

I’m a blacksmith. That’s why I’ve always wanted to meet dwarves someday.

Dwarves would probably display forging methods distinct from humans.

And that mattered, because—

My growth has a clear ceiling.

Think of the best soccer player.

Even if that player reached the summit, they couldn’t keep rising forever.

From that point on, it depended on condition and luck.

But being able to learn a new crafting method meant a new kind of growth for Hyunsoo.

Second—

Elves...

Hyunsoo thought of Carsel Territory.

The territory that had been under attack by undead.

There, Hyunsoo had recreated Ramas’s Bell, saved the place, and received lowest-grade orichalcum from Kern, the territory lord.

Legendary-grade mineral orichalcum is a crazy mineral.

Light, springy, with outstanding cutting power.

As precedent—Hyunsoo’s own blade, the Supreme Blade, had been forged with top-grade orichalcum.

And Lord Kern had said his ancestor obtained it from the land of the elves.

The elves’ land.

If there was orichalcum in a place humans still couldn’t reach—what would happen?

Hyunsoo looked at his four thousand soldiers.

...An army armed with orichalcum.

A lunatic idea.

But he had to be sure.

It might not be there.

Just because an ancestor obtained it from the elves’ land didn’t mean it lay scattered everywhere.

Then—

[You have obtained the qualification to appraise.]

Hyunsoo checked immediately.

“Appraise.”

[Map to a New Race is appraised.]

[Its name changes.]

[It changes into a Map to Elvenheim.]

[You only meet half of the qualifications.]

[When you reach a certain level, the path will open.]

[The level threshold you must reach is far lower than for ordinary users.]

“What?”

In old-fashioned terms, Hyunsoo wanted to ask:

What the hell is Elvenheim, you freak?

In the end, it still didn’t give him directions.

It still didn’t even tell him what race was there.

A ridiculous wave of disappointment washed over him.

Still, at a lower level than everyone else...

Then—

[You saved a small world tree.]

The connection revealed itself.

A small world tree.

He’d first discovered it through Spear Heaven Ben, and it had been a mad material—even among legends, it was top-tier.

Even more, it was the best material in Ares for forging spears and bows—legendary top-tier.

But that had been Chapter 1 Ares. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Hyunsoo had once formed a hypothesis.

Why is it a “small” world tree?

Why not just call it a world tree?

That hypothesis unfolded before his eyes.

[You learn that a true world tree exists.]

[The true world tree is calling you.]

Hyunsoo could feel it.

That there existed a new material that overwhelmingly surpassed a small world tree.

At that moment—

[Supercomputer Ares responds to user Hyunsoo.]

Lee Sejin watched Ares’s reaction with interest.

It didn’t respond to Yongwol, but it responds to user Hyunsoo—why?

Sejin realized supercomputer Ares held the same concern he did.

That concern was on the screen.

[His people do not need to be human.]