Chapter 296

Chapter 296
## Chapter 296

War Preparations (3)

The personal characteristic known as 「Avatar」.

The extraordinary power to manifest and command duplicates of oneself.

It was both the genesis and the pinnacle of Han Seong-hyeon’s journey, the absolute bedrock of his current supremacy.

‘If my unique talent had turned out to be anything else… the mere thought makes my blood run cold.’

Without it, gathering such an astronomical quantity of Karma points during his initial days would have been impossible, leaving him marooned in an alien realm completely defenseless, his psyche shattered by sheer panic.

He likely would have perished before even clearing the perimeter of the woodlands, never surviving long enough to reach the settlement where he first crossed paths with the black mages. He would have simply dissolved into nothingness, isolated and terrified.

‘To think my life would take this direction.’

A quiet laugh escaped his lips, accompanied by a wave of pure incredulity.

The once-timid person who had cowered at the thought of the unfamiliar world outside was now effortlessly crossing cosmic boundaries, recognized across the globe as an icon of disruption and transformation.

Actually, calling it that was putting it mildly.

Within the alternate realm of Auterica, he had ascended to a position of immense authority, holding the power to reshape the world according to his desires.

‘And I am orchestrating the entire thing from the comfort of my living room.’

Taking a sip from the chilled beverage he had pulled from the fridge, he gave a slight shrug.

That remained the ultimate advantage.

Regardless of the chaos or conflicts his duplicates instigated, Han Seong-hyeon, the true vessel, remained entirely insulated from danger.

That realization had been the wellspring of his boldness, unshakeable from the very dawn of his journey.

‘It served as the anchor that kept my head clear during the most perilous dilemmas.’

With that absolute security policy backing him, he had successfully navigated past innumerable traps to grasp his objectives, never flinching when it came time to roll the dice.

Terror was non-existent when a guaranteed emergency exit was always at hand.

“Sigh, look at me getting all nostalgic.”

At this very moment, that foundational ability was on the verge of undergoing another transformation.

Its progression had stagnated for a time because his overall advancement had been too rapid, but the recent breakthrough achieved by Heinz the Second seemed to have acted as the necessary catalyst.

It was an impeccably timed augmentation, especially with a catastrophic clash looming on the horizon.

“Time to take a look…”

Settling back into the automated massage lounger, he allowed his muscles to go slack as he summoned the interface of the system.

The recognizable options materialized in the air before his eyes.

『Karma Shop Ver.2』

『Unique Skill Enhancement (1,500,000)』

『Other Skill Enhancement – View Details』

『Status Enhancement – View Details』

『Item Purchase – View Details』

『VIP Market – View Details』

『Dimensional Barrier Weakening (6,000,000)』

『Karma Owned – 4,691,326』

His primary focus landed immediately on his current savings of Karma.

Exceeding 4.6 million points, it was rapidly closing in on the 5 million mark.

The massive reserve brought a profound sense of accomplishment.

‘To think it has accumulated to this degree, despite my relentless outlays.’

Ever since he had validated the incredible efficacy of the 『Growth Elixir (7 days) (200,000)』 available through the VIP Market, it had transformed into a fixed recurring cost.

Furthermore, it wasn’t just the late-stage arrivals like Hesperon, Howard, and Horus who were utilizing it; even his front-line titans like Heinz and Heinrich were being supplied with it on a consistent basis.

‘Securing uncommon resources also takes a heavy bite out of the funds.’

Yet, by virtue of the lucrative Karma streams he had successfully tapped into across the continent of Auterica, his total reserves maintained a relentless upward trajectory.

The destruction of the massive Revolutionary entity within the territory of Tarak had alone yielded an influx of nearly 2 million points.

It had proven to be an absolute goldmine.

‘…There is no way I am going to let that degenerate from the Heaven’s Turn Society destroy what I’ve built.’

His conviction crystallized.

Even if he deployed every single asset at his disposal across Auterica, an eventual direct confrontation with the Master himself was inevitable. Karma points, the ultimate currency for elevating his own capabilities, remained his most critical weapon.

‘No use delaying this. Let us begin with the highly anticipated Unique Skill Enhancement.’

The required investment stood at 1.5 million points.

A negligible fee given his current financial standing.

Bzzz—

He triggered the choice without a moment’s pause. A predictable throbbing pain flared within his skull, followed immediately by an expansion of his sensory network and a sharpening of his consciousness.

“Huu.”

The agony, which had proven too overwhelming even for 「Mind Hub」 to completely neutralize, gradually faded away.

Inhaling deeply to stabilize his overstimulated nervous system, he reviewed the newly updated notifications from the system.

《The performance of the auxiliary traits derived from your unique skill has been heightened, and the operational radius for summoning duplicates has been extended.》

《The unique skill has evolved, unlocking latent capabilities. You have successfully unlocked the specialized trait “Avatar Assembly”.》

The initial update concentrated on fortifying his pre-existing toolkit.

Every secondary trait spawned from his primary power, spanning from 「Mind Hub」 to 「Soul Firewall」, had received a significant upgrade in performance.

Additionally, the operational radius for materializing his copies remotely had precisely doubled, scaling from 30 kilometers out to 60.

‘…Impressive. This means I can deploy my duplicates across the vast majority of Gyeonggi Province directly from Incheon Airport, or project them even from the edges of Seoul.’

Yet, that change was merely the prologue.

The true masterpiece was 「Avatar Assembly」, the fresh mechanism that had just been granted to him.

It aligned flawlessly with what he had been envisioning.

‘I can’t believe the system actually manifested a feature like ‘Assembly’!’

The capacity to instantly concentrate his scattered copies onto a single coordinate.

It was an elegant, yet devastatingly potent instrument.

He was no longer burdened with the logistical nightmare of manually moving his duplicates across vast distances.

A standard isolated duel could be instantaneously flipped into an asymmetric ambush!

‘…This is precisely the tool required for my current dilemma. I can now deploy my copies with vastly superior tactical freedom. There is a operational recovery window, but… ’

That limitation could easily be mitigated as his mastery over the technique deepened.

Besides, he possessed alternative avenues for optimizing his operational efficiency.

His focus wandered downward to the option labeled 『Other Skill Enhancement』.

‘I can invest in upgrading my supplementary abilities as well.’

His upgrading capabilities weren’t strictly limited to duplicate-centric features like 「Mind Hub」 or the freshly unlocked 「Avatar Assembly」; he could also pour resources into general traits such as 「Super Recovery」 and 「Xenoglossy」.

‘Because these upgrades don’t pass down to the unique individual talents of the copies, I’ve restricted my investments here… ’

However, the current crisis demanded that he abandon any notions of hoarding his currency.

He needed to weaponize every single asset within his reach to maximize his probability of coming out on top.

With 3.2 million points still sitting in his balance, he possessed more than enough capital to fund a massive overhaul.

‘I could also choose to directly pump up my core attributes… Wait, what is this?’

While systematically reviewing the interface options,

An abrupt and jarring modification caught his eye.

『Unique Skill Enhancement (2,000,000)』

The baseline fee, which had previously been climbing via predictable increments of 100,000, had suddenly spiked by a massive half-million points.

Leaping directly from 1.5 million up to 2 million?

‘Are the system algorithms actively trying to swindle me?’

What kind of absurd price gouging was this?!

The current system restrictions prevented him from executing another upgrade immediately regardless, but seeing the adjustment was highly aggravating.

‘…Sigh, complaining won’t fix it. I just have to accept the reality.’

Shaking his head clear, he forced himself to look past the annoyance.

A multitude of alternative pathways remained open to him.

He could reinforce his baseline attributes, elevate his auxiliary capabilities, purchase high-tier armaments, or…

『Random Other Skill Acquisition (500,000)』

…gamble on a blind draw.

“…Is it worth taking another shot?”

Though he had initially felt immense regret upon rolling 「Xenoglossy」, it had ultimately proven itself to be remarkably advantageous in the long run.

He would have ran into an endless wall of communication barriers without it.

In hindsight, it had been an incredibly astute acquisition.

‘Let’s roll the dice one more time!’

Placing his confidence in his current luck, he selected the option without a second thought—.

《Triggering unpredictable latent potential. You have successfully unlocked the trait “Sturdiness”.》

…He promptly closed his eyes, an overwhelming wave of regret crashing over him the moment the text manifested.

‘Now that I think about it… ’

Right before he had engaged with the randomized lottery for the first time following the upgrade to the Karma Shop,

He had justified the gamble by calculating that the distributed cost amounted to less than 50,000 points per unit since every single duplicate inherited the trait, arguing that even a mundane ability like “Sturdiness” would provide some baseline utility.

And then, immediately after pulling 「Xenoglossy」, he had sworn an oath to abandon games of chance forever.

‘…Was that inner monologue just an omen of this failure?’

Opening his eyes, he could sense the newly acquired trait propagating across his network of duplicates.

It was seamlessly integrated by the copies who already possessed far grander defensive capabilities, marginally bolstering their overall physical resilience, meaning it wasn’t a total loss of capital…

‘…Yet the disappointment is still palpable.’

His remaining balance sat at 2.7 million points.

The logical move forward was to dedicate those resources toward raw attribute points and calculated upgrades to his existing toolkit.

‘Fortune isn’t smiling on me today. I’ll revisit this gamble down the line. Down the line… ’

He found himself entirely unable to declare that he was quitting the lottery for good.

He was already thinking about how to win back what he had lost.

—

Bucharest, Romania.

Deep within an opulent estate, a grand private study had been reduced to an absolute disaster area over the span of just a few days.

“Hehe, haha~ He completely suppressed Gomorrah without executing their primary authority, mirroring his exact strategy against the Tyrant. This truly is fascinating!”

Doctor, having just reached the conclusion of the intelligence dossier, ran his fingers through his unkempt beard with deep contemplation.

The Duke had brushed the entire event off as an inconsequential skirmish, but Doctor, who remained hyper-vigilant regarding even the most minute anomalies, had been dedicating his entire focus to dissecting the movements of Phantom within the European theater.

Given that none of their initial designs had materialized correctly, he could not permit himself the luxury of complacency.

“This defies all our predictive modeling… He relocates across the globe to Europe, only to spend his time playing games with his newly acquired puppets? And what exactly is motivating those two subordinates to shadow his steps?”

By all rights, Phantom should have been basking in the glory of his conquests, progressing directly toward Romanian territory…

Doctor abruptly cut his own rambling short, bursting into a manic fit of laughter while slapping his own forehead with force.

“Ah! It makes perfect sense now! My choice fell upon him precisely because of his anomalous nature! An anomaly wouldn’t make for a compelling subject if his behavioral patterns were entirely conventional! Ahahaha—!”

To be precise, this entire theater of operations had been put into motion the moment they uncovered data regarding Heinz, the vampire capable of consuming his own brethren without suffering psychological collapse.

They had orchestrated an elaborate web of incentives specifically to entice him onto European soil, isolating him far from the protective shadow of Hahoe Mask.

“If only that Duke had been more generous with his pristine blood supply, I could have engineered a trap that was truly… infallible. Misers, the lot of them.”

His manic amusement vanished in an instant, replaced by a deep pout as an expression of profound irritation washed over his features.

The Duke, a sovereign vampire whose entire dominion was anchored in the essence of blood, had incurred a massive personal toll to facilitate this… but Doctor, a completely self-absorbed and unhinged researcher, felt zero appreciation for the sacrifice.

“Ah~ the anticipation is killing me! I have laid out an absolute treasure trove of unexpected developments! What is keeping him~? Step on the gas~!”

He whined with the impatience of a spoiled toddler.

This disheveled and outwardly unhinged individual held a position within the absolute upper echelon of the Heaven’s Turn Society, the single most expansive clandestine syndicate operating on the planet.

And as if the cosmos itself was bending to accommodate his childish demands,

Piercing through the clouds within a passenger aircraft that had just crossed the threshold into Romanian airspace,

An uninvited passenger, completely invisible to the flight crew and radar alike, sat silently biding his time.

A mere twenty-four hours after bringing Gomorrah, the premier vampire syndicate of Italy, to its knees,

Heinz the Second—otherwise known as Phantom—had officially arrived on Romanian soil.