I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 242: Episode 49_Golden Dragon (2)

2.

Hwangdo was not the omnipotent, all-powerful dragon people usually imagined.

Not like Cassius, for example.

Even though they were the same species with the same scale color, Cassius was the perfect, overwhelming specimen of his race. Hwangdo, on the other hand, felt more like some half-baked salamander scooped up off the street.

Even now that his body had grown enormous, that fact hadn’t changed.

His size might be mountain-like, but his cry and his behavior didn’t match his bulk at all. Everything about him screamed ’house pet’ more than ’dragon’.

Naturally.

Buja didn’t expect Hwangdo to show the same depth and wisdom he had seen in Cassius.

They had lived in completely different periods.

How could the intelligence, behavior, and speech of a dragon that had lived for millennia be the same as one that hadn’t even lived for five years?

Expecting them to be the same would be shameless.

Even so, Hwangdo was still a dragon.

“KYUUU—!”

He had not yet reached the level of intellect where he could think and converse like Cassius or Lerbel, but he had at least gained the power to project the kind of majesty seen in movies.

The way he cleared an entire dungeon on his own, without any support from Buja, was proof enough.

’This is nuts. If this keeps up, this might actually be doable.’

One by one, the pieces were falling into place.

Of course, the Demon King was still an enemy who would be difficult even if he stacked dozens of such pieces.

Even Lerbel, who had been stronger than Hwangdo was now, had been killed by the Demon King.

From the Demon King’s perspective, this might look utterly laughable.

A duo that, at best, was weaker than a single dragon.

He could probably just snort and send out his subordinates to deal with them.

What mattered, however, was that the first stepping stone on that path had finally been laid.

Until now, he hadn’t even been able to think about facing the Demon King, let alone calculate a path to him.

At this rate, if he were given enough time, he would eventually be able to wage war against the Demon King—and upload that war to his video channel.

—No way. His pet is soloing this?

—Isn’t this a 7-Star Legendary dungeon? Did he secretly swap it out when he went in?

—Nope, it’s the 7-Star Legendary dungeon. Even if Fly is trying 8-Star and 9-Star dungeons, this is still way too fast.

—Doesn’t this mean that if they team up, they could clear dungeons on Fly’s level?

—And if all three of them got together......

This video was just one glimpse of the road he was sprinting down.

8-Star dungeons, 9-Star dungeons.

A collaboration with Fly.

A process aimed at something new, beyond what people expected.

Of course, that was important too.

Just as the Continent meant a great deal to Buja, the real world was just as necessary for his survival—if not more so.

If someone forced him to compare the two, if the moment came when he had to choose one, he would pick reality without a second’s hesitation.

Naturally, you only stayed steady if you kept your center of gravity.

He wasn’t like those novel protagonists who couldn’t distinguish between reality and another world and ended up abandoning their own.

He couldn’t be.

Years of playing virtual reality games had trained him, whether he liked it or not.

“Wrap it up. Let’s go eat.”

“Kyuuuuuuu—!”

A golden breath weapon filled the dungeon’s interior.

Watching the waves roll in without spending a single gold coin filled him with a quiet sense of pride. Strictly speaking, this was a scene he had paid for by dumping a ton of gold, but it still felt different. It was the difference between a post-tax paycheck and the lump-sum income tax you pay in May. This felt like he’d gotten it for free.

Considering how much gold Cassius’s breath weapon drained, he was more than willing to raise Hwangdo even if it meant only keeping 70% of the gold.

[You have satisfied the ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ conditions.]

[The dungeon will now be cleared.]

[You have obtained ★★★★★★★ (L).]

A clean finish.

The dungeon concluded, rewarding him with a constellation he hadn’t seen in a long time.

—What is Kim Buja even lacking at this point? Now even his pets are insane.

—From now on, Hwangdo’s the new benchmark, right? Actually, isn’t Hwangdo just stronger?

—For real, I bet Hwangdo’s stronger than Kim Buja now.

—Hwangdo’s clear time is longer, sure, but in terms of stability, it’s a landslide victory. The monsters just freeze up in fear and die without putting up a fight.

The comments were starting to drift toward a tone that made him slightly regret releasing the video, but regardless, Hwangdo’s growth—and the dazzling stage that showcased it—wrapped up in a way that stirred plenty of envy and jealousy.

“Oh? A Legendary item.”

—.......

—Life is pain.

—Screw this RNG-trash game, I hope it dies.

It was as clean and flashy a finale as anyone could ask for.

* * *

Buja himself had brushed it off as nothing, but the item that dropped from the 7-Star Legendary dungeon’s boss was anything but trivial.

—Breaking news: 7-Star Legendary item drop.

—Holy shit. Buja picked it up like it was a random pebble, so I almost missed it too.

—Is he out of his mind or what, lol. For real, he just goes, “Oh? A Legendary item,” picks it up, and walks off. LMAO.

—No, seriously. I also just thought, “Oh, a Legendary dropped,” but then I realized it was a 7-Star Legendary. LMAO.

Clad in gear starting with his 9-Star Legendary armor, practically everything he wore was Legendary, so his nonchalance was understandable. Other players, however, were not in the same position.

Even low-level Legendary items came with game-breaking options for their tier. So what kind of monster would a Legendary item be from a dungeon that only top-ranked players could even enter?

[Sword of Clarity]

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Level: ★★★★★★★

▶ Attack Power +250

▶ Strength +50

▶ Agility +50

▶ When you kill a monster, you gain "Power of Clarity." Once it accumulates past a certain threshold, it triggers the "Light of Clarity" effect, increasing all stats by 20%.

On top of that, it was a weapon.

For Buja, who already wielded the Gold Ring, the weapon slot was of little interest. But for other players—especially the sword-wielding majority among the top rankers—it was a treasure with stats that would make their eyes roll back in their heads.

"Shame. If it were a staff, I could have reeled in a nice profit."

A flood of inquiries poured in, with offers high enough to soothe his regret over not being able to sell it to Fly.

The world was wide, and there were plenty of rich people out there.

Many players were willing to go all-in on a single item, and the logic that high-level dungeon drops were worth every penny still held true.

"It feels like a waste to sell it."

If he were being honest, he would want to use it himself more than anything.

Its 7-Star Legendary status aside, the sword’s attack power and stats were laughable compared to the Gold Ring, so there was no real reason for him to dual-wield.

However, that last option—the special effect that had elevated this sword to Legendary in the first place—was tempting enough to override even that.

"All stats plus twenty percent? No penalty, and all I have to do is kill some mobs?"

The activation condition wasn’t demanding, and the effect had no downside for the player.

Its base stats were low, but the special option more than made up for it.

He would need more precise testing to know exactly how "Light of Clarity" worked, but if he could maintain it throughout an entire battle, it would be an incredible buff. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

He made up his mind.

"Weapon Absorption."

[You will absorb the ’Sword of Clarity.’]

[Thanks to your SVIP rank, you may select 1 desired option to transfer to ’Gold Ring.’]

[Spend 2,000,000 Gold to extract the option?]

It was one of the many upgraded features he had gained after reaching SVIP rank.

Two million gold was a hefty sum, but the feature lessened the burden of using Weapon Absorption. In fact, it practically encouraged a Gold Maker to use it.

"Extract!"

And the entire process was uploaded to his channel exactly as it happened.

3.

The players who had been counting their chickens before they hatched let out a collective sigh.

—The rich just get richer, huh? He actually absorbed it.

—Is the Gold Maker class just completely busted? It even has a feature that lets him absorb any option he wants?

—If he keeps absorbing them one by one like that, he’s gonna end up with the strongest weapon on earth.

—I’m jealous.

To them, two million gold didn’t even register.

It was a currency beyond their comprehension, and they didn’t even want to know if two million was a lot or a little.

Only one thing mattered: he had taken a 7-Star Legendary item and absorbed it. Its attack power and stats vanished, but that one special option was added to his main weapon.

It was like scrapping an entire giant robot just to rip off one arm and graft it onto your own body—yet people saw it as if he’d attached the whole machine.

There was nothing strange about that.

People were always like that.

They only saw what they wanted to see and believed what they wanted to believe.

He knew that. He’d uploaded the video purely to show off and to put a stop to the annoying messages.

"Everyone, that weapon that no longer exists is not what matters here."

Since the SVIP update, Buja had been streaming more frequently. He tried to calm the exploding chat as he spoke.

In the past, he’d only gone live to document cash donations, but now that every single view converted into points, he streamed diligently and interacted with his viewers.

He communicated with them, sharing his future plans and the power of the Gold Maker.

"You might not have a good sense of how much two million gold is, but trust me, it’s a lot. There are so many other things I could spend gold on. I didn’t need to use Weapon Absorption. But I did. Why? Because too many people were contacting me to buy it? Because the offers were so high, I knew I’d regret selling. No. I have my reasons."

—Now that he says it, that really does sound like the reason.

—Yeah. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but hearing him say it, it sounds like he absorbed it because he couldn’t bear to sell it.

—As expected of a ranker, he really can’t stand seeing someone else get ahead.

"Anyway, that’s not what’s important. I want to talk about what’s coming up."

Like him or not, plenty of people now followed his every move, checking in on him daily.

For their sake—and remembering he had once been one of them—Buja was more than willing to share.

"Those of you who watched the entire Continent Travelogue already know my final goal. My ultimate goal on Earth will probably be the 9-Star dungeon, or the Final Dungeon, but since those haven’t been released yet, let’s set them aside. For now, my goal is to kill the Demon King. To do that, I’m planning to grind dungeons for about a month, farm Gold and constellations, and then make my move."

—Is the Demon King raid finally happening?

"No. The Demon King raid is still a long way off."

Those who had watched all of the Gold Missions were even more excited.

The war against the Demon King.

The conclusion that would decide the master of the Continent.

But that was still far in the future.

There were many steps lined up before that.

"For now, I’ve set an 8-Star Legendary as my next target."

If he kept climbing the ranks, he’d run into it eventually, whether he wanted to or not. The only difference now was that he was sharing the entire process with his audience.

* * *