Chapter 223: Challenger of a Large Area

The most basic Large Areas were seven in total, which could be put into three categories: the three Large Areas of nature, the two Large Areas of yin and yang, and the two Large Areas of life.

Among them, the three Large Areas of nature, sky, land, and sea, were most commonly seen in the game of The Lost World and were considered powerful Large Areas.

The other four Large Areas were not only difficult to acquire, but the two Large Areas of yin and yang had clear weaknesses, and the two Large Areas of life could greatly change the game's dynamics, so they weren't favored.

'...The power to change the board.'

If Sung-Woon was to give the Large Areas a concise description, that was what he would say.

Large Areas truly had the power to shake the game. But their power wasn't just inherently strong.

'If one simply assesses the win rate upon obtaining a certain domain...naturally, Unique Domains like Domain: War would rank high. After all, they aren't domains commonly encountered in the game.'

On the other hand, if players played The Lost World without any issues and reached the later part of the game, they earned the right to challenge a Large Area.

'Exceed the Divine level 31, obtain over 48 Small Areas, and push 12 of the Small Areas past level 10.'

The conditions to acquire a Large Area were simple, but achieving them wasn't necessarily easy.

Passing Divine level 31 meant surpassing level 11 of Semi-Deity status, level 21 of Lesser-Deity status, and only then was a player truly considered a Deity.

To Sung-Woon, it seemed like a simple setting and nothing more, but he could tell the creator’s intention behind the system, thinking one needed this level of ability to be called a proper god.

The difficulty curve made a drastic jump at level 11, and the incline was even more extreme past level 21. If one lost a war, died in a Divine Control state, lost an apostle, or something else along the same vein, it would be difficult to even reach higher 20s in the later half of the game.

'Plus, obtaining 48 Small Areas means getting two thirds of the total 64 Small Areas.'

While one could naturally acquire many Small Areas, without constantly searching for fiends in ancient ruins or killing other players, it was hard to reach the required number.

Another difficulty was that 12 of these Small Areas had to exceed level 10.

'If you don’t pay attention, you end up continuously using the Small Areas you heavily invested in at the beginning of the game.'

If it weren't for Sung-Woon’s fight with Hegemonia through the Contradicting Prophecy, he wouldn't have had as many opportunities to use a large number of Small Areas as he did now, either.

'I would have acquired it, eventually.'

Obtaining a Large Area was an essential task, but it didn't necessarily need to be rushed. Even if one hurried to earn the right to challenge a Large Area from the start of the game, due to the mentioned difficulties, the ordeal wouldn’t be easy, and the acquisition wasn’t guaranteed. What one would get was not the Large Area itself, but the right to challenge the Large Area.

'It was only natural to get the sky domain over the others this time.'

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Gaining the right to challenge one of the seven Large Areas depended on meeting certain criteria. However, the exact Large Area they would challenge was a result of various factors influenced by the player's past gameplay.

For example, the first Small Area that Sung-Woon acquired was Small Area: Insects, which seemed unrelated to Large Area of the sky. However, in Sung-Woon’s first tribe, Sung-Woon had deeply valued a Lizardman who knew constellations, and he had encouraged the spread of the knowledge within the tribe. This tendency played a role in advancing astronomy, and the mortals who believed in Sung-Woon began to explore various scientific knowledge.

Furthermore, Sung-Woon had successfully subjugated a spirit of Demonic Magic that handled electricity. Within the planet, the clearest way to see electromagnetism was through the sky. In the sky, there was thunder and lightning created by the movement of atmospheric charges, and auroras formed when the sun's plasma particles rubbed against the planet's magnetic field. Electricity, to some extent, was an attribute of the sky.

Sung-Woon also enlisted a Garuda with wings and Platy who made the Helix Wings as his apostles. Through winged insects and birds, he spied on his enemies as if through the eyes of a god. He had more observatories and airships than any other nation. Many stars were connected and named constellations with their own stories, and his symbol was a blue butterfly with wings.

‘Things didn't go too wrong.’

Everything had gone according to Sung-Woon's plan.

‘But challenging a Large Area at this point…’

Sung-Woon got lost in thought for a moment.

‘It could be risky.’

Unlike other Domains, one didn't simply earn a Large Area by meeting the conditions. The moment one challenged a Large Area, they were set as the challenger and was made known to all players.

‘A challenger for a Large Domain needs a vast amount of Faith resources.’

Gathering Faith resources was a typical activity for players, but the amount was the challenge.

‘...The Faith points required to invest in a Large Area are one million.’

It was the maximum capacity of Faith points at Divine level 31, so one had to stop using Faith points until it was filled to capacity.

While it would be fine in the short term, based on Sung-Woon's calculations, with the current rate of resource replenishment, he'd have to do nothing for four days, and that alone wouldn’t be enough, so he would also have to recall his creations currently deployed on the battlefield that were continuously consuming faith resources.

‘When the scale changes, the quality does too.’

A Large Area required only a definite amount of level and resources. However, if that amount was immense, both the approach to reaching that level and the method of gathering those resources would change.

‘I can't do nothing for four days. Hegemonia will surely take the opportunity and invade.’

Ideally, even if the gods of the Pantheon did nothing, there were apostles to provide a minimum level of defense. Furthermore, the Pantheon had more apostles, so they would be able to face the enemy's apostles and the rest of their forces. However, Sung-Woon didn't think so carelessly.

‘Hegemonia would achieve overwhelming results with even just an army of mortals. Even if I managed to disguise it well, I can’t assume that Hegemonia wouldn't notice.’

Yet he also couldn't drag things out while trying to obtain the Large Area. Once other players became aware, they would continuously torment Sung-Woon and the Pantheon to prevent them from gathering Faith points. If he made mistakes in his strategic choices, he’d constantly be pressured, and he could then possibly witness his opponents challenging a Large Area as well. In such a case, the gap they had barely created through play would narrow.

‘Well, the silver lining is that we’ve already stabilized the situation before I challenged a Large Domain.’

Originally, as the game approached its later stages, it was rare for two massive powers to fight each other. In The Lost World, it was tough for each faction to cleanly conquer a continent, and since players had similar ratings in the ranks, chaos often occurred. In such individual battles, when someone challenged a Large Area, the other players often cooperated to attack the challenger.

The Empire was already facing all the other players, though, so there was no particular surprise to be wary of.

‘Well, that’s not necessarily a good thing either.’

In some ways, Sung-Woon was at risk. In Sung-Woon’s perspective, it seemed that Hegemonia would also soon challenge a Large Area. He suspected that the Large Area Hegemonia would challenge would be Large Area: Land.

Until players challenged a Large Area, their civilizations had to survive against nature. But if they could obtain one of the three Large Areas of nature, they could evoke massive natural disasters that they couldn't before. Nature, though only partially, would then become an ally instead of an enemy.

‘Hegemonia would take this as a chance.’

It made sense. Sung-Woon was currently fighting Hegemonia through a Contradicting Prophecy, and this prophecy was bound to have a more fatal impact on each player.

‘If I lose this Contradicting Prophecy, almost 300,000 Faith resources would be transferred to Hegemonia. The exact calculations are challenging, but my level would possibly go down.’

The players of the Pantheon shared a single Faith resource. If the 300,000 Faith resources were transferred, they would need to pull back many creations on the battlefield, and support through a Domain's power would become difficult. Just as they had feared, this would enable Hegemonia to gain momentum.

With the emergence of the challenge for a Large Area, it wouldn't just end there. It would become harder for Sung-Woon to challenge a Large Area, while Hegemonia would be one step closer. The hierarchical relationship could potentially be overturned.

"...Hmm."

Sung-Woon carefully reviewed what they had assessed earlier. After confirming there were no issues, Sung-Woon clicked 'Yes' on the message box asking about the challenge to the Large Area.

***

At Pollivia, the unseen war was reaching its end. No, this war was no longer unseen.

Three months ago, the alley that was once chaotic but vibrant had become eerie, begging beggars and street robbers hid knives in their clothes, and people sprawled on the streets smoking drugs. A woman, clutching a found piece of bread, walked hurriedly, frequently glancing around with anxiety. Paired security forces ambled along, but they appeared to have no particular purpose in mind.

Pirates, whose employer remained unknown, had stolen from the ships in Pollivia. Ships that were once anchored there began to avoid the mysterious happenings in Pollivia and left. Rumors spread quickly, and ships started to unload their goods at other ports.

With goods no longer coming in, the quality of life drastically decreased. Quick-witted merchants and nobles fled to their villas or homes in other nations, and without employers, many workers lost their jobs.

The Itimo and Pallet families bribed each other's factory workers. They started strikes under the guise of revolutionaries and broke machinery. Then more people found themselves on the streets.

Taking advantage of the security vacuum, criminal organizations took charge. They began collecting protection money from the remaining shops under the pretext of looking out for them. Those who couldn't leave paid the fee, but due to the scarcity of goods and the declining value of currency, these criminal organizations were not satisfied.

Is Pollivia drowning like this?

On the first floor of a department store closed due to arson, a Troll Oreldin, the leader of the Rusty Brass Coin Gang, glanced at a newspaper and stomped on it with their foot.

"Hmph."

A subordinate Dwarf then said to Oreldin, "Boss, do you think he’ll really come?"

"He will."

The Rusty Brass Coin Gang had a long-standing relationship with the Pallet family. The Pallet family would provide them with insider information on security forces and sensitive news from the council, or help in reducing sentences and in return, when they needed dirty work done, they'd use the Rusty Brass Coin Gang.

However, for the past few months, things hadn't been going smoothly. The rival Itimo family seemed to have hired an impressive mercenary. The Rusty Brass Coin Gang had failed several missions and had faced the wrath of the Pallet family.

Then, by chance, they found a weakness of the mercenary.

"Untie me right now. When Teacher Owen comes, you'll all die. This is your last chance to live."

It was the Xolotl, Simo, who always accompanied the mercenary.

Oreldin had managed to kidnap Simo after a significant amount of bleeding and at a great cost. Many of their men had fallen to the mercenary, but Oreldin believed that now that they had lured him to a deserted department store, they held the upper hand.

Moreover, they hadn’t simply called the mercenary.

"Do you really think he will bring the contract?"

"If we are right, then he will."

What the Pallet family desired was the patent agreement of the Itimo family. Oreldin had demanded the agreement in exchange for the hostage, and the mercenary had complied.

Oreldin was waiting for the mercenary with their men.

Oreldin said, "The fellow used a sword, and some strange magic too. But in a place full of junk like this, you can't really fight with that method."

One of the subordinates replied, "But the others are worried. The building's inside is dark and open… What if someone shoots from afar?"

"You fool. If someone shoots, won't we notice immediately? Besides, we also have guns, don’t we?"

Moreover, Oreldin was confident. From the lessons learned from confronting the mercenary multiple times, they recognized the importance of reconnaissance. Beyond the unseen darkness, their men were watching for any sign of the Lizardman mercenary.

Oreldin looked around and said, "Dozens of us against one Lizardman, and you speak such nonsense. Make sure that Xolotl doesn't escape."

"...."

Oreldin felt something strange. The subordinates who had briefly gone to check out front hadn't returned, and the idle chatter of the other subordinates had suddenly gone silent. Even the subordinate right behind them had suddenly stopped talking.

Hit with an ominous feeling, Oreldin turned around. "Why aren't you answering?"

The Dwarf subordinate Oreldin just talked to had an arrow stuck in their forehead and was collapsing to the ground.

"Oh my."

Oreldin looked up.

Next to the Xolotl, Owen was aiming a bow at Oreldin.

"...A bow?"

Owen tsked as if he thought they were pathetic and then released the bowstring.