AECS 48

Chapter 48

Omnipotent Rune (1)

Once a week.

The consulting session wrapped up smoothly.

“Wow, this is amazing! I didn’t know you could think about it this way.”

“To use psychological warfare effectively, just like Player Baek Jin-woo advised, I’ll need to train a wider variety of summons—and collect runes of all types.”

“This part was in an old textbook… You’re surprisingly solid on the basics. Honestly, I thought you were just a summon trainer tool, but I was wrong. Thanks for today’s help.”

Even though he only gave them rough guidance, the rankers were all satisfied.

It must have been because, after ten hours of training, they could feel the growth compared to before.

As mentioned before, most of the theories humanity has established are things that middle-schooler Baek Jin-woo already came up with in his head.

Additionally, countless applications that haven’t been formally developed are all stored intact in his mind.

Of course, it was impossible for the rankers not to be impressed.

“Glad they’re satisfied.”

Nine rankers. And these were executives of a major guild. That alone meant it was money well spent.

“The problem is me.”

There was a mountain of work to do.

First on the list: climbing the Tower of Trials.

At Yubaek City’s training ground, Baek Jin-woo stretched his body.

“Ahh.”

As always…

This place was just perfect.

From the well-designed open ground in front of the modern building to the view that let you feel the mountain’s energy, you could tell how much care and effort the architect had put in.

“As expected of Yujia.”

He appreciated her more than ever these days.

It was a great decision to partner with her.

When he requested a training ground, she prepared a penthouse, a garden, and even a bunker…

On top of that, she took perfect care of the family. He couldn’t help feeling grateful.

“Pokrion.”

“Yes, Jin-woo!”

When Baek Jin-woo muttered, the dragon he had been training, Pokrion, leapt over excitedly.

“How far have you progressed?”

“I’ve mastered Pokrion Technique up to Transformation (變).”

“Really?”

Since the last incident, Pokrion hadn’t deceived him. She tried her best to learn her skills without trickery.

“Show me.”

“Yes!”

Pokrion Technique – Transformation (變).

Flames of fire spread beautifully from her staff.

Originally, the dragon-shaped fire particles scattered, forming a translucent red shield.

“It can be used as a shield like this.”

Flames flared again!

Through Link, another Pokrion particle split into multiple arrows and spears.

“I can create Fire Arrows and Spears like this too!”

Not only that. From fire walls that form massive barriers to warmth-controlling fire that heats the surroundings like a furnace.

Her control was natural and precise.

“You’ve clearly worked hard.”

“Hehe, yes.”

“Good job.”

Baek Jin-woo ruffled Pokrion’s hair—a form of reward.

If Lamba loved cream buns, Pokrion loved the player’s attention.

“Could you handle Blaze (炎) as well? Or is that too much?”

“Hmm…”

Pokrion thought for a moment and then nodded.

“Destruction (滅) might be impossible, but Blaze (炎) is within memory. Given time, I can master it. And the trainer teaches well, too. I’ll learn it as fast as possible!”

“Okay.”

There was no need to climb the Tower of Trials without Blaze (炎).

“With Blaze, I could clear straight from floors 11 to 20.”

“By the way…”

How many omnipotent runes had they secured?

Pokrion’s Blaze was important, and so were the near-graduation runes for the trainer.

“Phew!”

Baek Ah-jin shook her clenched fists vigorously.

“We’ve secured twelve for now!”

Several staff sent reports from overseas assignments.

They had just completed the purchases.

Since it used government funds, the procedure was a bit complicated… but relentless work got it done.

“Yujia was right.”

Following her advice to push the staff all at once, it became surprisingly easy to gather runes.

Some players even contacted them directly after seeing the purchase post in the marketplace.

A player was urgently selling 100 billion KRW (approx. $72 million).

Not part of the usual stock—new items.

By not missing such opportunities, they had secured twelve runes.

Ten were purchased at an average of 150 billion KRW each, and two at 100 billion each.

The total budget spent: 1.7 trillion KRW.

“Just twelve runes cost this much…”

Baek Ah-jin couldn’t help but stick out her tongue.

It was astronomical.

How strong would a summon become with these runes?

“Especially the trainer…”

Even without these runes, the trainer was strong. With these added…

By year-end, maybe it would even surpass Rachel and reach world rank #1.

Ding, ding!

Baek Ah-jin picked up the phone.

“Director?”
“Yes, Baek. Go ahead.”
“We’ve secured twelve, but the budget is tight. Only 300 billion KRW remains.”

She laughed as she said it. Who would’ve thought she’d ever say 300 billion KRW was “only”?

“Hmm… for now,”

Yujia was monitoring and immediately gave an order.

“Use the remaining money to buy one more.”
“What? The remaining money is 300 billion?”

Baek Ah-jin asked.

“Seems the rumors have spread. Stock is disappearing fast.”
“Really?”

Tapping away at her keyboard with the phone on her shoulder, Baek Ah-jin searched through global marketplace listings.

“It’s true.”

As Yujia said, posts selling at 200 billion, even 250 billion KRW were disappearing.

Either sellers pulled their items or someone bought them quickly.

The cheap stock was gone, and now they would have to pay a premium.

Baek Ah-jin sighed.

“What should we do? Buying just one more won’t solve it… We still need six more.”
“Don’t worry. For now, just get one more before it’s too late. Even at 300 billion, it’s worth it. I’ll give you the contact of Nemesis from India—this player seems the most promising.”
“Yes, I’ll contact them right away!”

Her hands worked even faster.

Success!

Yubaek purchased one more top-grade Omnipotent Rune for 300 billion KRW.

The 2 trillion KRW budget was spent to secure 13 runes in total.

Yujia, who had received the runes from the returning staff, finally exhaled in relief.

“Now only five left.”

With the budget spent, the remaining runes would have to come from Yubaek’s own funds.

Banks were lined up to offer loans, so it would be doable.

The problem:

“No stock available.”

Even after scouring the global market, there were zero items.

Not even 300 billion, maybe not even 1 trillion could secure one.

Yubaek’s intervention had raised the value of Omnipotent Runes another notch.

Honestly…

She wanted to resell the 13 runes at a higher price.

With proper marketing, it would be very profitable.

But she couldn’t.

Because it was Baek Jin-woo’s request.

“For now.”

That’s why she had rushed to buy the last one.

She would need to talk to Baek Jin-woo directly about the remaining ones and deliver the runes.

Yujia headed to Baek Jin-woo’s training ground.

“Wow, you’ve already secured 13?”

Baek Jin-woo’s face brightened when he received the runes.

He had asked her to get them quickly, and she had exceeded expectations.

Finally!

Their trainer would get stronger!

A wide smile spread across his face at the thought of strengthening him.

However, Yujia’s expression wasn’t as cheerful.

“We still need five more, but we spent the entire budget securing these. There’s no stock left.”

Yujia, sitting in the corner of the training ground, briefed him calmly.

“Hmm, I see.”

Baek Jin-woo nodded.

For an Omnipotent Rune, that was expected.

It was one of the top-tier runes among the rare runes he knew.

“There’s no choice. Five is fine. It’ll take some time, but we can make them ourselves.”

“…Make them? That rune?”

Yujia tilted her head, puzzled.

‘Make them? Is that even possible?’

Making limited-run runes? That would be insane!

“Indeed, it’s possible.”

The Rune Dwarves were overpowered in that way.

All runes could be made if you had the materials.

Limited edition or not, it didn’t matter.

However…

“The materials are a bit tough.”

Of course.

To make a limited rune, the Rune Dwarves would have to open its potential through the trainer.

At the time of Battle of Summoners, the Rune Dwarf was just an ordinary summon.

“First, Jin-woo.”

“Yes.”

“There’s another way… Actually, more than a way, someone already owns all five Omnipotent Runes.”

“Really?”

“Yes… a certain Zasim. One of the Middle Eastern oil tycoons. His daughter apparently suffers from a mysterious incurable disease. Since it’s the age of summons, he seems willing to do anything to fix it.”

“I see… So we cure his daughter somehow and request the Omnipotent Runes?”

But…

‘I’m not a doctor.’

How could he cure an incurable disease?

Even a Middle Eastern billionaire would’ve tried everything.

“I got his contact just in case, but that method would be difficult, right?”

“Yes, nothing comes to mind. Maybe an S-rank summon that can cure disease… Wait.”

At that moment, an idea flashed in Baek Jin-woo’s mind.

Omnipotent.

The summon most suited for that word was right here!

“Trainer!”

Baek Jin-woo called out to the trainer, who was educating Pokrion in the open ground.