A dirty, smelly glove.
Actually, Lee Tae-sung felt a bit worried while bringing it.
It was definitely the Flame Emperor’s possession, but how was he supposed to prove it?
However, Elder Miganic spoke nonchalantly.
“I see. I will verify it.”
“Verification? Is that possible?”
“Yes. It’s not a fake, is it?”
“Of course not. It is certainly genuine, but honestly, I wasn’t sure how to prove it.”
“Do not worry about that. For a long time, we have hoped to recover the treasures stolen by the Flame Emperor and secure his remains. We ultimately failed, but at least we found a way to prove his items.”
All the alchemy masters of the Golden Altar of Alchemy had worked together to develop a specific reagent.
They extracted commonalities from a few items left behind by the Flame Emperor during his life, and as a result, they created a chemical that reacted specifically to his belongings.
Elder Miganic disappeared for a moment to go fetch it and returned quickly.
In his hand was an orange potion bottle.
“I will drop just one drop. If this is truly the Flame Emperor’s glove, green smoke will rise the moment it touches. If not, there will be no reaction at all.”
*Sizzle!*
“!!!??”
Green smoke billowed out instantly.
Elder Miganic’s mouth hung wide open.
“It—It’s real…? No… how…?”
Flustered, he looked at Lee Tae-sung.
“E-E-Excuse me, but would you mind if I checked one more time?”
“You can do it several times, Elder.”
“T-Thank you.”
*Sizzle!*
“!!!”
The reaction was the same when he tried again.
“I-It’s correct!!! It is definitely an item the Flame Emperor used during his life!!!!”
Elder Miganic shouted so loudly the room shook, his face filled with an excitement Tae-sung had never seen before.
Not long after, the Golden Altar of Alchemy closed its doors to outsiders for a while and began an emergency meeting involving the Sect Leader, the Vice Sect Leader, and all the elders.
—
*Pshhh!*
“Whew.”
After logging out and rising from the Dream World capsule, Lee Tae-sung fixed his flattened hair.
This connection had been quite long. From going to Arcanos to visiting the Golden Altar of Alchemy.
In the process, he had heard the Flame Emperor’s voice, found new clues related to him, and received rewards from the Golden Altar.
He had gained a lot.
‘I somehow managed to get an Alchemical Furnace for Lower Grade Elixirs too.’
At the Golden Altar of Alchemy, after a meeting with those at the Elder rank and above, they decided to provide Lee Tae-sung with a fitting reward.
What Tae-sung wanted most was an Alchemical Furnace for Lower Grade Elixirs.
Once the sales of the Lowest Grade Elixirs currently being produced in Korea ended, this would be the item responsible for what came next.
Thanks to this, his anxiety about the future was lessened.
Even if the sales of Lowest Grade Elixirs dropped off, he now had something else to sell.
– “Hmm. Since you only want a Lower Grade Alchemical Furnace… I will give it to you for now, but the reward is a bit insufficient with just that.”
– “Then may I tell you if I need something else later?”
– “Anytime. Our Alchemical Furnace will always be open to you, Tae-sung.”
A Mid-Grade Alchemical Furnace was an even more vital item and truly wasn’t easy to get, so he couldn’t ask for that much.
Instead, since his contribution points remained even after taking the Lower Grade Alchemical Furnace, he left it as a debt so he could request something later if needed.
Afterward, the Golden Altar of Alchemy temporarily locked its gates.
They were said to be starting a ritual to console the spirits of their ancestors.
Now that his business at the Golden Altar of Alchemy was finished, he would normally have to set off again.
He wondered what kind of fortuitous encounters might be sleeping in the locations the Flame Emperor told him to visit.
His heart throbbed with anticipation.
“Sigh…”
However, after logging out, Lee Tae-sung was checking various documents on his tablet.
– Name: Park Yoon-jung.
– Age: 28.
– Career: Two years in the accounting team at the Phoenix Guild.
There were countless resumes.
– “Please hire new employees, Guild Leader!!”
It was a text message from Kang Woo-joo that arrived every few hours.
Taesung Guild still only had Vice Guild Leader Kang Woo-joo and two new hunters.
The three of them were far from doing missions; they were pouring all their energy into packing shipments to handle the flood of orders for Lowest Grade Elixirs.
In fact, Lee Tae-sung should have joined them to help.
There was that much work…
But since he came to China on a business trip, he had settled in and was playing Dream World.
‘I’m sorry. But I’ve laid the foundation for the guild’s growth, so please forgive me.’
Lee Tae-sung sought forgiveness internally.
Still, he really had to resolve this now.
One couldn’t keep using high-level human resources like hunters as part-time workers for packing and shipping forever, could they?
However, looking through the resumes didn’t provide a clear answer.
‘In any case, industrial spies are bound to be mixed in among these people.’
The people who sent resumes to join Taesung Guild were primarily filtered by the Association and Kang Woo-joo.
But there was no way to stop someone who was determined to hide their identity.
As much as Taesung Guild’s elixirs were receiving attention, many forces would likely want to send spies inside to steal the secrets of making the elixirs.
Of course, that didn’t mean they could take or copy the Alchemical Furnace brought from Dream World, but he didn’t want to let such spies into Taesung Guild.
‘Managing people is so difficult.’
Lee Tae-sung looked through the resumes while repeatedly swiping on the tablet.
“Brother. Do you have a moment?”
“Oh, Brother Xuan. You’re here?”
At that perfect timing, Jang Xuan entered the capsule room.
Even though this was Jang Xuan’s mansion, Lee Tae-sung hadn’t seen his face even once over the past few days.
Of course, part of it was because he was inside Dream World all day, but it was also because Jang Xuan was so busy he almost couldn’t come home.
“I’m jealous. If it were up to me, I’d want to stay cooped up at home and just play games too. I haven’t been able to log in to Dream World for days. My hands are itching so much it’s killing me,” Jang Xuan grumbled.
The moment his father recovered and could participate in state affairs, he had been deeply moved.
He had even wiped away tears because he thought he would never see that sight again.
But that was it.
– “Xuan. I don’t know why the country has ended up in this state while I was lying down. I need to move a bit.”
– “…With me?”
– “And?”
– “Father, you have many executive secretaries. Or there are other commissioners…”
– “Stop talking nonsense and follow me.”
Senator Zhang Lifeng’s policies had several points that conflicted with the existing Chinese Communist Party policies.
Humanitarian policies, pursuing a friendly and soft flow with neighboring countries, and walking as partners with the United States as well.
Naturally, the commissioners with Sinocentric ideologies weren’t very pleased, and the longer Zhang Lifeng remained unconscious, the more the policies he originally promoted lost their luster.
And now that he was awake again, he was visiting various people to spread his will.
“I honestly don’t know why I have to be moved around wholesale like this. Do you know what I did? I just kept my eyes sharp next to my father. I worked so hard not to yawn.”
Senator Jang Xuan was also a powerful figure ranked in the top thirty in China, but his presence faded significantly next to Senator Zhang Lifeng.
Everyone they met wanted to talk to Senator Zhang Lifeng; they didn’t pay much attention to Jang Xuan.
“Still, shouldn’t you help your father by his side, Brother?”
“No, no. Hey, Brother, do you want to be a Senator? It’s not even that hard. I’m telling you, you just have to keep your eyes sharp by his side.”
“Haha…”
Lee Tae-sung laughed awkwardly.
This brother sure makes jokes…
Wait, looking at his eyes, does he seem unusually sincere…?
“I’m fine. I just want to play Dream World.”
“Tsk. What a waste,” Jang Xuan clicked his tongue.
And not long after, Senator Zhang Lifeng entered the room.
He was accompanied by two people who appeared to be bodyguards, a young man and a woman.
Among them, the man was someone Lee Tae-sung also knew.
It was Heo Ming, a Ranker from the Holy Sun Guild, with whom he had only briefly exchanged names at the end of the last Gate Incident.
He remembered thinking it was fascinating because it was a guild where only Sword Ghosts obsessed with swords gathered.
Heo Ming also recognized Lee Tae-sung and waved his hand slightly as if glad to see him.
‘A Ranker-class as a bodyguard… That’s impressive.’
It seemed that once one reached the level of a Senator, they received protection from a Ranker.
The other person besides Heo Ming was a beautiful woman with a short bob that stopped near her neck.
She was likely a Ranker as well.
She wore a cold expression, and after glancing at Lee Tae-sung, she blatantly turned her head away.
As Lee Tae-sung tilted his head in confusion, Zhang Lifeng approached and bowed his head.
“Thank you for saving this old man’s life.”
Anyone who previously knew Zhang Lifeng would have been horrified.
For a figure to whom even the Chairman shows respect to show such courtesy!
Lee Tae-sung felt burdened since someone the age of his own grandfather was acting like this.
“No, since you are Brother Jang Xuan’s father, you are like a father to me as well, so it’s not something I shouldn’t have done. I just did what I had to do. If you act like this too much, I’ll feel pressured.”
“Haha. That fellow has never done a single good thing in his life, but becoming brothers with you was the one thing he did right.”
“Father. What do you mean I’ve never done a single good thing?”
Jang Xuan grumbled from the side.
“Be quiet. Consider it a lifelong honor to be with such a noble person!”
“…Well, I agree with that.”
Jang Xuan also nodded.
After that, Zhang Lifeng asked Lee Tae-sung with a gentle expression.
“First, thank you for helping our country during this Gate Incident. Preparations for the corresponding rewards are underway. A Medal of Honor and a monetary reward will be provided, and from now on, you will be a national guest of China.”
Although China was a country where connections called Guanxi were important, once you broke through that side, nothing could be more convenient for a person who was otherwise closed and secretive.
Originally, Lee Tae-sung could be considered a China expert thanks to Jang Xuan, but now, such things became possible through his own power alone.
“And personally, if there is anything you want from me, I would like to grant whatever it is. Is there anything you wish for?”
“Hmm…”
Normally, Lee Tae-sung would have said nothing specifically came to mind.
But now was different.
He opened a map app on the tablet he was looking at earlier, then moved the screen and pointed to a certain area.
“Could I possibly visit here?”
When he first summoned Ashaka before, Ashaka had said that the energy of a Light Spirit could be felt here.
Even while playing Dream World, Lee Tae-sung had looked into what was at the place Ashaka mentioned during his spare time.
There were no cities, just a place that looked like a wasteland.
However, when he asked Jang Xuan’s secretary, they said that although it wasn’t on the map, there was a research institute operated by the government.
Naturally, it was impossible for ordinary people to enter, and even more so for Lee Tae-sung, a foreigner.
“!”
“!!”
However, the father and son, Zhang Lifeng and Jang Xuan, who were looking closely at the map Lee Tae-sung pointed to, both flinched at the same time.
“…Brother. By any chance, do you know about Black Steel Research Base No. 7?”
“No? It’s the first time I’ve even heard that name.”
“The place where my father fell ill and collapsed was that very research institute. He was exposed to a strange light that appeared there, and his body was completely ruined. Not just my father, but everyone who was at the research institute at the time ended up that way, so the research institute was closed down.”
Strange light?
Lee Tae-sung was startled.
‘I should be careful when summoning Ashaka in China from now on…’