Absolute Dweller-Chapter 196

{Retainer Party System}

A maximum of five members could be bound together around a retainer, forming a single party.

The party would share experience points and settlement funds, and all members would benefit from the title-based experience and settlement fund amplification effects granted by the retainer.

Simply put, it was a type of party system.

‘Sharing experience points and settlement fund amplification effects, huh?’

In other words, even regular civilians, just by being part of a retainer party, would gain up to 900% of the experience points and settlement funds.

‘That’s insane.’

It just so happened that the personnel onboard each K-9 self-propelled howitzer were exactly divided into groups of five.

From a conventional standpoint, the logical choice would be to distribute them among the artillery units and merge them into a single entity—

‘But that would be meaningless.’

Why had I chosen to accept non-awakened artillerymen as retainers in the first place?

‘To maximize the experience and settlement funds being generated at this very moment.’

It would have been impractical to pull back the awakened retainers fighting near the ceasefire line just to reassign them to the howitzers. Besides, I had already assessed the resolve of the soldiers during the formation review.

Even so, accepting non-awakened individuals as full-fledged retainers was still inefficient.

So, how could I minimize losses while maximizing the benefits?

‘Just recruit all those responsible for pressing the fire buttons into the retainer party.’

There was no need to officially register them as retainers—simply including them in a retainer party would suffice.

Apparently, retainers could form their own parties, but since I had the authority, I could forcibly bind them together.

‘Bind.’

The moment I accepted all artillerymen in charge of pressing the fire buttons into the retainer party, the profit margin skyrocketed.

‘About 700 billion per minute.’

Of course, even though the K-9s had been reinforced, there was still a limit to continuous fire. The barrels required cooldown periods.

However, after an adequate break, the earnings per minute once again exceeded 700 billion won.

‘The performance is absolutely insane.’

Before the Monster Apocalypse, Europe and the Middle East had heavily praised the K-9’s cost-effectiveness and performance—and now, I understood why.

The 10 trillion won invested in Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie artillery batteries would be recouped in just 30 minutes.

By the time half a day had passed—

A temporary gap had emerged due to experiments with the reinforced metal sphere meteor.

And then—

【Household Absolute Ruler’s Wallet Lv. Max】

Current Balance: 103,298,090,221,887 KRWOnce again, my wallet had shattered a new threshold.

After frequently handling trillions of won, I had developed an uncanny ability to instantly identify the unit by simply glancing at the commas.

The fourth comma marked the trillion unit.

Which meant—

‘100 trillion...’

To be exact, 103 trillion, 2.98 billion, and 9.02 million won.

Honestly, I had no real sense of how much money that actually was.

And then—

[Your skill level has increased.]

Not long after my last level-up, my Household Declaration skill had leveled up again.

[The effect of Bright Mirror, Still Water (明鏡止水) is activating.]

‘This is unbelievable.’

This level-up had come purely from hunting small mobs.

As skill levels increased, the experience points required to level up grew exponentially, which meant that most level-ups had been achieved through hunting high-level monsters.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

The higher the monster's level, the greater the experience rewards, so hunting a single high-level monster was always more efficient than wiping out tens of thousands of low-level ones.

But at a certain threshold, when hundreds of thousands of low-level monsters were eliminated, the experience gain became absurd.

‘Still, I never expected to level up this fast.’

Right now, the Corpse Legion advancing from the north was incorporating monsters that respawned in its conquered territory, absorbing them into its ranks as it advanced.

I had no idea how far their influence stretched, but judging from their numbers, they had likely overrun not just North Korea, but even parts of China.

Essentially, they were herding every monster from their vast domain and pushing them southward.

And just as «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» this was happening, I had discovered the perfect way to commit mass slaughter on low-level monsters.

To me, the Corpse Legion was nothing short of a goose laying golden eggs.

‘I need to exploit this opportunity to the fullest. Who knows how long this situation will last?’

One thing became clear—

[Jae-hyun, sir.]

[Yes, Da-bin?]

[If we were to organize an additional artillery battalion right now, how long would it take?]

I was now completely convinced that artillery units were the best way to process the incoming wave of experience and settlement funds.

After a brief moment of serious contemplation, Kim Da-bin responded.

[We can have it operational within the day.]

[...That fast?]

I had hoped for quick deployment, but this was faster than expected.

[Yes, it's possible. Given the nature of the mission, as long as we have fire direction control officers to calculate firing coordinates, the artillery can function efficiently. Since they are operating from a safe zone, there's no need for immediate repositioning after firing.]

[...Excuse me?]

[Moreover, thanks to the Volley Fire effect, only the central gun requires a fire direction control (FDC) input. That means we have nine surplus FDC personnel, who can be immediately reassigned to a new battery. If the newly formed battery includes a self-propelled gun with Volley Fire, we can operate an entire artillery unit with just eleven personnel. We only need one FDC officer for the central gun, while the rest handle loading shells, inserting charges, and pressing the fire button. Theoretically, it’s entirely feasible.]

In short, this meant there was no longer any need to assign five personnel per howitzer.

Since they were operating within a safe zone, drivers were unnecessary, and task efficiency could be optimized by assigning multiple roles simultaneously.

A classic example of corporate efficiency—or, more bluntly, a hyper-efficient black company mindset.

[That’s impressive.]

Of course, this was nothing like an exploitative black company.

Everyone participating in this mission was about to earn an absurd amount of money.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

‘Even their base pay alone is in the trillions.’

By the time this mission was over, they would have secured enough wealth to live comfortably for life.

And on top of that, they would be leveling up at an insane rate.

Those who had been around Level 10 were now in their early 30s.

Even among elite hunting teams, only those who had been grinding relentlessly for months had reached Level 30+.

Yet here, these people had achieved in a single day what would normally take months of effort.

‘They deserve it.’

These were people who had volunteered to fight monsters at the risk of their lives.

Luck had played a role, sure—but they had seized the opportunity with their own determination.

And their growth would undoubtedly bring massive benefits in the future.

Even if a major crisis arose down the line, these were the kind of people who would sacrifice themselves for the community.

They were worth investing in.

[Begin immediately.]

[Understood.]

As Kim Da-bin busily restructured the unit, I scanned the expanding territory for the ideal placement of the newly reinforced self-propelled artillery units.

‘This place has grown even bigger.’

The Imjin River, where Lee Joon-hyuk had been standing his ground, had now been absorbed into the safe zone.

As the territory of my detached residence continued to expand in real time, it crossed the Military Demarcation Line, causing the heads of all the assimilated corpses in the area to burst simultaneously.

[Hostile entities detected within the Household Absolute Ruler’s domain.]

[Eliminating threats.]

[You have hunted an Assimilated Corpse (Lv. 21).]

[You have hunted an Assimilated Corpse (Lv. 21).]

[You have hunted an Assimilated Corpse (Lv. 23).]

[You have hunted an Assimilated Corpse (Lv. 26).]

[You have hunted an Assimilated Corpse (Lv. 31).]

...

...

The explosions of corpses clearing the field served as undeniable proof of the ever-expanding safe zone.

"Advance! Keep moving forward!"

The sharp-witted hunting teams, stationed in the rear to support the retainers, began moving fluidly.

Familiar with the boundaries of the safe zone, they swiftly opened fire on the assimilated corpses.

Tududududu—!

‘Come to think of it, it’d be smart to include these guys in the retainer party.’

Eventually, retainers would need to organize their own retainer parties, but for now, I forcibly bound them together under my authority.

‘The self-propelled howitzers can go here.’

Thanks to the expanded detached residence’s domain, the safe zone was now positioned just as close to the ceasefire line as the forward bases in Gangwon Province.

‘Purchase K-9 self-propelled howitzers.’

After selecting an optimal location for the artillery, I accessed the shop and initiated the enhancement process.

‘Enhance.’

[Enhancement successful.]

[Enhancement successful.]

[Enhancement successful.]

...

...

Billions of won were vanishing in an instant, but it didn’t feel wasteful at all.

As long as the Corpse Legion continued advancing, the profits would multiply exponentially, and even if the legion disappeared, the artillery units would remain a valuable asset.

‘Perfect.’

A smile naturally formed whenever I acquired a self-propelled gun with the Volley Fire skill.

I was completely engrossed in organizing the new artillery units when—

‘Huh?’

At the very frontlines of our forces—no, deep within enemy territory where my Avatar was fighting—something unusual occurred.

‘What the hell are those?’

Clank— Clank—

Accompanied by the sound of metal clashing, an entire battalion of skeletal knights began marching forward.

Unlike the assimilated corpses we had faced so far—comprised of goblins, orcs, giant serpents, and other grotesque creatures—these enemies were uniformly human-shaped skeletons.

Moreover, they were fully armored, wielding bows, spears, and shields.

At the very front, some rode skeletal horses, clad in black full plate armor, making it impossible to determine whether they were even skeletons underneath.

‘.......’

Their numbers were merely a few thousand.

Compared to the sea of corpses covering the battlefield, their presence was almost insignificant.

However—

「Assimilated Elite Skeleton Soldier (Lv. 40)」

「Assimilated Elite Skeleton Archer (Lv. 41)」

「Assimilated Elite Skeleton Spearman (Lv. 41)」

「Assimilated Skeleton Knight (Lv. 44)」

Each individual among them far surpassed the average assimilated corpse.

And then—

At the forefront of their forces, leading the charge—

「Death Knight (Lv. 50)」

A monstrosity with a level beginning with 5.

Memories of the panic caused by the 51-level Cyclops instantly surfaced in my mind.

Back then, if not for the transparent barrier surrounding the Household Territory, capable of withstanding its colossal punches, we would have been wiped out.

At that time, 50-level monsters were nothing short of walking disasters for us.

But now—

‘They’re just EXP piñatas.’

To me, they were nothing more than a massive lump of experience points.

Even if retainers were facing them instead of my Avatar, the result would be the same.

A 50-level commander leading a force averaging in the low 40s?

[Wipe them out.]

"Got it."

One punch was more than enough.

‘Enhance.’

The black energy intertwined with my protective qi, condensing into my fist.

My Avatar, now fully accustomed to wielding this power, effortlessly extended its fist—

[13,300,000,000 won consumed.]

The dark energy shot straight ahead, devouring the entire skeleton battalion in an instant.

At the same time—

[Your Avatar has converted accumulated experience and settlement funds.]

[You have obtained Skill Points.]

[You have obtained Skill Points.]

[You have obtained Skill Points.]

The Avatar had just spit out three skill points.