novelThe Invitation from Macao, Part II
| ← Ch.090 | Ch.092 → |
Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
Macao was controlled by two people. One of them was Toh, a man who had controlled the underground since before the world changed. The other was Wanhu, a woman who came forth to partner up with just when Toh made strong strides in Macao.
Toh was also known as Emperor Wu, after the real Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, for his total conquest of Macao. Soon, the two rose to absolute power over the City of Sin.
Toh and Wanhu controlled 70% of Macao's hotels, casinos, and nightclubs together. The remaining 30% were split evenly between themselves.
Toh had started out as a normal deva, but was able to kick out any competition in Macao for one reason; he had the random skill known as Swap.
[Swap (1/1), (Active)
Swap HP, MP and Stats between two targets.
Caster can only swap up to 70% of targets' HP, MP, and Stats.
Caster can swap with up to seven people at a time.
Target and Caster's Stat points must have a 5:1 ratio. (If the target has total stat points of 500, caster must have at least 100 total stat points. )
Both parties must agree for Swap to work.
Unless the Caster releases Swap, Stats will remain swapped for one year. After one year, swapped Stats will return to original owner.
Swap effect will cease upon Caster's death.
Caster will lose a swappable Stat every time the Caster dies.
When Caster can no longer swap Stats, caster will lose Swap skill.
Caster cannot swap own Stats. ]
Because of the 70% limit on the skill, Toh couldn't do much to make himself stronger. He could, however, make seven of his men stronger. It didn't seem like much, but it was enough to control Macao.
Soon, a mainland guild caught wind of Toh's special skill. That guild was Shanghai's Heung Cao Guild. The Heung Cao Guild had a proposition for Toh; in exchange for allowing Toh to control Macao, Toh would have to swap Stats with the guild master and the guild master's son. Toh agreed.
Toh then had an idea; why not do the same with the other mainland guilds? In less than a year, Toh began swapping Stats with at least one person from each mainland guild. It was then that Toh became greedy.
He had the idea of selling this service to large guilds. Toh could not profit from selling as the guilds would provide their own hosts, so Toh decided to profit from distribution rather than selling. There was one problem, however; it was difficult to find the right hosts.
Since only 70% of host's Stats could be swapped, low level hosts were worthless. Kidnapping high level hosts was pointless, as well, since they needed to agree to the swap for the skill to work. Toh tried bribing them with enormous amounts of golden rings, but those high leveled hosts already had enough money. No high leveled deva in the right mind would ever agree to such a thing.
That was when Wanhu approached Toh. Wanhu also had a random skill called Buddy.
[Buddy (1/1), (Active)
This skill can force someone to become the Caster's buddy. However, if the target has higher Stats than the Caster, the target can resist the skill.
Force up to five people to become Caster's buddies.
Usable up to three times on one person. First lasts 1 year, second lasts 6 months, third lasts 3 months. After the time limit, target is no longer Caster's buddy.
Caster's buddies cannot reject caster's requests. However, Caster cannot request buddies to hand over items, to kill themselves, or to do anything that will bring harm to buddies.
Every time a target resists the skill, the caster will lose one from max number of buddies.
Caster loses all current buddies upon death.
When Caster can no longer have buddies, Caster will lose skill. ]
Wanhu was a godsend to Toh. Their random skills seemed to have been made for each other. Toh would use his Swap to increase Wanhu's Stats so that she could forcibly bring someone to their side. She would then ask her buddy to swap stats and borrow items for a time. They always agreed, as she asked rather than told them.
Toh and Wanhu would have the buddies locked up in a room and not train so that when the buddies were released from the skill, they would be too weak to try anything. Toh and Wanhu had no trouble silencing their victims.
Together they were able to maximize their profits by selling Stat points to large guilds. Buying from 2000 to 5000 Stat points without having to put in the work in appealed to any wealthy person. Soon, they had all of Macao in their palm, with no one able to contest them.
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Toh and Wanhu were still in the room full of jewels discussing what to do about Lee Jiwon.
"Let's send him an invitation."
"Do you mean an invitation to the Hive auction house that we control?" asked Wanhu.
"Yeah. Don't you think that's enough to lure him?"
"Hmm..." Wanhu thought about what Toh said, and thought that it wasn't a bad idea.
These days, everyone wanted into the Hive auction house. The only way to enter was by invitation only, which served to increase its popularity.
"Very well, let's try it."
And so, Toh and Wanhu sent out an invitation to Lee Jiwon, inviting him to the Hive auction house where only the most important of VIPs were allowed in. Neither of them doubted that Wanhu's Buddy skill would work on Lee Jiwon. Wanhu's level was at 663, and had base Stat points of over 13, 000. She also had 'borrowed' 8, 890 Stat points from her buddies, bringing her total stat points to nearly 22, 000 There was no way Lee Jiwon's stat points were higher, even if he was an Unrivaled.
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Toh and Wanhu's prediction wasn't entirely wrong, if Lee Jiwon had learned Unrivaled the normal way at level 500. However, something was about to go very wrong for them, as badly as it went for the Blood Prince during his Showdown.
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"Forty levels in one month..." I finally crawled back outside after spending an entire month in Khufu's dungeon.
"It's still going to take at least another ten days just to get up to 350." My current level was a 342. I would have stayed in the dungeon until I reached 350, but it was beginning to take a toll on my mental health.
I really needed a proper night's rest and a proper Korean meal. It might seem strange to expect Korean food in the middle of Cairo, but it was the Myth Guild that prepared my own personal chef.
I quickly headed back to base, thinking about what today's meal would be. Someone was there already, waiting for me.
"Hello, Mr. Lee." A sharply dressed, mustached man in his forties greeted me as soon as he saw me. The man had a white crow emblem on his suit. He was a messenger, capable of delivering anything for the right price.
I remembered that messengers were extremely strong and had extensive knowledge about almost anything. They were that reliable.
"Yes, hello."
"You're a tough man to find, Mr. Lee."
"I was training at the dungeon."
"I know. I went inside to look for you, but you were so fast that I had to give up and decided to wait for you here."
"Why me?"
"Why else would a messenger come looking for you? I'm here to deliver something to you." The messenger then took out a letter from his inside pocket."Here you are. The owner of the Hive auction house also wanted you to have this box." He produced a chest about as big as a small suitcase.
"Now then, Mr. Lee, it's time for me to say farewell. I have more deliveries to make." The messenger began to sprint out of the Myth Guild's base before stopping and coming back."I forgot to tell you something very important. We were both filmed to prove that I did in fact deliver the package to you. Goodbye, Mr. Lee." The messenger quickly disappeared off into the distance.
"Hive auction house, huh?" I knew exactly what they were."Whoever sent this is obviously a con artist."
The Hive auction house was so famous that even I knew about it during my past life.
The reason for its popularity? It sold random chests!
Random chests could only be found after dungeon boss raids, and had to be opened then and there. They disappeared after a while even if they weren't opened, and they couldn't be placed into inventories. But somehow, the Hive auction house was able to take a random chest from a dungeon and sell it!
No one believed it at first, until a Chinese guild bought one and obtained a Rank 9 item. The reaction was explosive.
The Hive auction house even filmed them placing a random chest into an inventory and explained that it was due to a skill they had.
"It's somewhere in Macao, run by...who was it again? Gah! You idiot! How do you not remember that one thing?" It was later revealed that whole thing was a scam, and the names of the two people behind it all surfaced. Well, it did become obvious that they were behind it all along, but no one could really do anything about it.
"Ah, now I remember. Toh and Wanhu." The trashiest of the trash."They invited me?"
There was no way they invited me out of the goodness of their hearts. A leopard couldn't change its spots
"This... is definitely a trap."
I had to find out more, and went to go pay a visit to Naika. The Myth Guild should have something on Toh by now...
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