Absolute Dweller-Chapter 248

The leader of the Red Hawk Tribe.

He had been experiencing a new world lately.

“Ah! This is a thing called a lighter!”

“Ooooh!”

“Like this, I can create fire!”

Zzzziiing—

“Oooooooh!”

As flames shot up from the cheap plastic lighter, the tribe members responded with overwhelming support.

“Awesome!”

“Is this real fire? Ah, hot! It's really real!”

Especially this time, people of all ages and genders showed enthusiastic reactions.

“Now we won’t have to struggle to make fire! It’ll be so much easier when we go hunting!”

“Being able to create fire anytime? I’ve always had trouble keeping embers alive, you know?”

“Hehe, that’s amazing.”

“Now, we won’t even have to collect sticks for firewood, right?!”

In their tribe’s way of life, fire was directly tied to survival, so everyone was somewhat involved in tasks related to fire.

With just a snap of the fingers, this small tool could replace all that labor.

Someone patted the chief's shoulder.

“You’ve really found an amazing thing.”

“Father…”

It was his father, the former leader of the tribe, “The Silent Shadow of the Red Hawk.”

“Last time, you bought something useless and I was frustrated to hear about it.”

“…Isn’t it because of such failures that we have these valuable discoveries?”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

By the way, the thing the chief had bought last time was ‘bottled water.’

“But still, how could you buy river water with money?”

“…I didn’t buy the water. I bought the transparent bottle. The river water inside is just a bonus.”

The former tribe leader grinned.

“Right. That curiosity was your strength.”

“Yes. That’s how I was able to meet the gods.”

The former leader frowned as he replied.

“Instead, you almost lost your precious child. Danger always walks in the shadow. The bigger the fruit, the bigger the shadow.”

“…I will remember, father.”

About a month ago, he had broken a taboo.

Do not approach the Mother Tree.

At first, he had no intention of breaking the taboo.

However, the prey had fled toward the direction of the Mother Tree, and it was too wasteful to give up.

He had pursued it for nearly half a day and thrown stones at it.

He had known he was close to catching it, and in the moment, he broke the taboo by his own judgment.

And the result.

An elf’s arrow had pierced his son’s heart.

He still could not forget that moment.

The moment when the green-glowing arrow struck his son’s chest.

‘Without the help of the gods, my son would have died.’

That was not all.

It was likely that all the men who had gone hunting, including himself, would have been killed.

The gods had saved everyone.

Not only that, they had personally intervened to revive his dying son.

A miracle had occurred.

‘Since that day, everything has changed.’

Before the gods appeared, humans were weak.

The forests were full of monsters that humans could not fight, and there were creatures like elves that hunted humans.

Especially in the forest with the Mother Tree, this was even more severe.

But not anymore.

The forest where the Mother Tree existed had become the safest of all forests.

All the apex predators, including elves, had disappeared, and it had become a sanctuary.

‘Just as the gods had said.’

That day, all the humans in the forest near the Mother Tree had heard the voice of the gods.

They were told to gather at the Mother Tree.

The chief had never seen so many people gathered in one place before.

And there, the heavenly food had been prepared.

It was food directly provided by the gods.

The time spent celebrating for days with thousands of people who didn’t even know each other would never be forgotten.

And from that festival onwards, humans were no longer weak.

The Thunder Stick had been given to those chosen.

Was it called K-2?

The chief spoke seriously.

“I want to lead the tribe and go to the embrace of the Mother Tree.”

The former chief. Though he had nominally retired from the position of chief, his decisions were still more crucial in determining the tribe’s fate.

He briefly surveyed the tribe.

The tribe, now filled with the gods’ belongings.

And the Thunder Stick his son, the current chief, carried on his back.

Just yesterday, he had witnessed its power firsthand.

The scene of it sweeping away orcs with thunderous sounds was still vivid in his mind.

He nodded and spoke.

“...The chief is you. Everyone will follow your decision.”

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“Thank you, father.”

As soon as his father gave his approval, he led the tribe toward the sanctuary.

And so, at that very moment, his entire tribe gained citizenship.

Fwoooosh—

A bright light burst from one of the tribe members.

***

One month.

It felt long if you thought about it, and short if you didn’t.

The biggest change was the weather.

The temperature had dropped close to freezing, making it clear that winter had arrived.

‘It’s cold.’

There had been a lot to do during this time.

The biggest achievement was that the roots of the World Tree had grown, and he had conquered two more dimensions.

Although the avatar had been diligently advancing, the progress hadn’t been as fast as before, like when they were roasting beans with lightning speed.

It wasn’t difficult to enter another dimension by riding on the roots of the World Tree.

As long as Lilith’s space was used, a door to another dimension could be opened easily.

The problem was that they didn’t know the location of the World Tree.

Unlike before, they couldn’t find the World Tree right near them, and they had to search through vast spaces, as big as Earth itself.

Once they found it, the conquest could be completed in no time, but the time it took to discover it seemed to be growing longer.

‘The second conquest took a week. The third one took more than half a month.’

The ongoing fourth conquest had already been stuck for a week.

‘Is the World Tree playing tricks?’

Logically speaking, if they were traveling through the roots of the World Tree, they should have found the World Tree nearby, but they were getting further away from it, which meant that something was responding on the other side.

‘I’ve been noticed over there as well.’

It wasn’t a mere mistake when he had felt like he was facing the World Tree right after conquering the roots of another dimension.

What was hopeful was that, compared to the World Tree's size, the response from it was surprisingly inadequate.

In the worst case, he had expected the elf army to invade Earth, but there were no signs of that.

‘Even if they did invade, there’s nothing I could do.’

Through the two consecutive conquests, he had confirmed that the elves weren’t all that powerful.

There were many ways to handle them, even without using the avatar.

‘We won’t even need the retainers to step in. I’m sure Ari’s robot army could handle them.’

The World Tree’s 60-level guardians might be a bit of a challenge, but at that point, summoning an immortal specter would be enough.

In any case, there hadn’t been any meaningful resistance so far, so it could be assumed that the World Tree had no means to attack him.

From his perspective, it was a good thing.

‘At this rate, I might really be able to swallow the World Tree whole.’

If he could absorb all the power of the World Tree he had seen, declaring his dominance over the entire solar system would be possible.

‘The only regret is the crystal...’

Previously, when he had been too busy, he couldn’t pay much attention to Chae Subin.

But now, he had set an alarm every 8 hours and made sure to visit her without fail.

‘Only one more hour left.’

If he didn’t pay attention, she could only produce one crystal every 8 hours.

On the other hand, if he infused it with dark energy himself, she could produce 3 at once.

Since the efficiency was three times better, he couldn’t ignore it.

‘Is it 296 now?’

The reason he had become so focused on crystal production was simple.

He needed 300 crystals to build the ‘orchard,’ which produced tens of billions daily.

In the two dimensions his avatar had conquered, he had already planted the hearts of rock golems with the “safe zone” effect.

This was a temporary measure to maintain the connection between dimensions.

‘It costs some money, but it’s not bad.’

To make the hearts of the rock golems with the safe zone effect, they had to attempt reinforcement dozens of times.

But now, thanks to discounted reinforcement costs and increased success rates, it wasn’t too much of a burden.

‘I can’t afford to give up on the daily production of tens of billions.’

One thing that bothered him though...

‘It would be nice if the crystal production speed could be a little faster. I wonder if anyone with the same ability as Chae Subin will show up?’

It was only a regret that Chae Subin didn’t have a twin.

Then.

[A creature that meets the conditions for citizenship is approaching the vicinity of your residence.]

[Would you like to offer citizenship?]

Checking, he saw that people had come from the dimension with the orchard, not Earth.

‘Poor people.’

Looking at the cases from other dimensions, he could confirm that the World Tree really hated humans.

Elves from all dimensions especially hated humans and were ruthless in killing them.

‘Offer citizenship.’

It was then.

‘Hm?’

Among the people he casually glanced at with the eye of an absolute being, there was a face that seemed familiar.

Her hair was messy, and she wore primitive tribal clothes, but the face of the woman resembled someone he knew.

‘Chae Subin?’

At that moment.

Fwoooosh—

Light burst from her body, and she awakened a familiar ability.

Name: Whisper of the Blue Wind (Lv. 20)

Trust Level: 37

Awakened Ability: Crystal Production

Experience Distribution Rate: 0% (+200%)

Settlement Distribution Rate: 0% (+200%)

★Quest Assigned Expulsion

It was exactly the same ability as Chae Subin’s.

‘Amazing.’

He immediately spoke to her and made an invitation.

He gave her chocolates, jelly, and burgers, things that kids her age would like, and she happily accepted the offer.

[Citizen Whisper of the Blue Wind's trust level greatly increases.]

[Citizen Whisper of the Blue Wind's loyalty greatly increases.]

The trust and loyalty levels increased exponentially as a bonus.

The contract terms were the same as Chae Subin’s.

300 million won per crystal.

What was a bit disappointing was that her ability was slightly weaker than Chae Subin’s.

After experimenting, he found that even if he used reinforcement, she could only make 2 crystals at a time, and even though she had become a retainer, she had to wait a full day to use the ability again.

‘But thanks to that…’

With the 3 crystals Chae Subin produced, the total number had reached 301.

That meant he could add one more orchard.

‘Lucky.’

Then.

[An unauthorized subject is attempting to enter.]

With the message about the intruder.

‘Ugh?’

A strong shock was transmitted.

The place was filled with frozen seawater, and a fierce blizzard was blowing.

At the center of it.

Ice Dragon (Lv. 87)

The monster that had passed over the Korean Peninsula once before was now targeting this place.