284 - Bounty

- Hahaha, he did it again! I wonder how many people Jason traumatised this time. I am sure those conspiracy theorists are fuming right now. 

- The complete guide to Mana Breathing is online. This guide is even better than what most NPCs could teach you. Go and learn. 

- The Mana Breathing technique that cost a thousand player lives. Is it worth it? Definitely! A moment of silence for their brave sacrifice. 

- Mana Breathing is open to everyone! What do the developers have to say? Are they going to ignore Jason Hope simply changing the dynamics of The Endless as he pleased?

- Huge advantage for newcomers to The Endless. The number of VR cabin sales tripled within the last 24 hours. 

- Will the old players fall into a competitive disadvantage? Yes or No? Detailed analysis.

- More Mega Guilds entering The Endless - New recruitments and mass purchases of VR cabins. 

- Is there a way to hack the VR cabins to switch accounts? Several black market deals on VR cabins are scams. DO NOT SELL YOUR CABIN. 

- Jason Hope changed the gaming era for a second time - A worldwide rise in the sales of The Endless. 

- Message from Jason Hope: I can kill you all, and I will kill you all.

- No one is equal. It is all a lie. Is he even talking about The Endless?  

- Hundreds of exclusive players of the Crystal Pulse are leaving the Light Shone. What is going on? 

- A Secret Mission? What are they plotting? Dive into the mysterious movements of the exclusive players of the Crystal Pulse with our trained stalkers. We are not creepy at all!

…

“How is damage control?”

Magnus sighed as he leaned against the chair. 

The topic he saw on the game forum was much milder compared to the ripple effects caused by Jason’s actions.

First, his release of the guide to Mana Breathing had brought a new light to The Endless. There were many guides on Mana Breathing online for a while, but none of them had the detailed knowledge of precision like the one Crystal Pulse released. 

Of course, everyone guaranteed it wasn’t easy to learn Mana Breathing through a video, but it wasn’t impossible. Also, this video had the credibility of the biggest name in the game, Jason Hope. 

‘Not only guilds are reacting, but many small nations are also acting up.’

Many countries across the world lacked the resources to focus their entire strength on The Endless, and this one video was enough to bring a new life to them.

The players who gave up or were on the verge of giving up also started returning to the game. However, none of this caused them to take drastic measures to protect Jason Hope. What caused the most disturbing undercurrent was his words. The casual mention of equality caused many people to question various things. 

It may be their landlord, corporate, and even spread into their local governments, but this only showed how big of a celebrity Jason was, and no important parties cared about it; especially when they had no time for another major election before the end. 

However, Jason's words caused those who were at the top mid-level to become suspicious of everything. 

This was the group of people who had enough connections or the high up in the hierarchy to catch the wind about The Endless but did not have enough to know the exact truth. Jason’s casual words made these people get extra suspicious about the truth behind The Endless. 

‘I never thought there would be so many eyes on Jason.’

Honestly, Magnus didn’t think of this group to be this troublesome. 

“Chief… We didn’t do anything….”

“Hm?”

Magnus came back to reality with his subordinate's voice. 

“Nothing?”

“No, Chief. It is like… Walking on eggshells.”

“Sigh. I guess so. But we still have to start monitoring these people. keep an eye out for them and their further actions.”

He got a very unpleasant call from his superior about unwanted people snooping around government secrets. 

If they reacted with drastic measures, there wouldn’t be any secrets to hide. This was the first time Magnus fell into any kind of trouble since he retired as a field agent. 

‘Is this even our fault? I don’t think even Jason knows the truth about The Endless. What are we even supposed to do?’

To be honest, Magnus didn’t expect even Jason to keep a level head if he knew that the world was truly coming to an end and that everything inside The Endless was true.

‘It will be too much even for him. I mean… He is just a civilian, how can he stomach all the killing he did.’

No matter how brave Jason was, Magnus believed this to be too much for any unprepared human. Even among the first group to learn the truth, few broke, and those were the most strong-willed people he knew. 

“Sigh. Can we just keep this man on Yuriel? I feel like he is no longer suited for this world.”

Magnus didn’t notice his words leaving others stunned, but there were a couple of nods from here and there as some even approved his words. 

…

“What are they doing, Leader?”

“Hm…?”

The older man in the black cloak looked at the video the player showed him.

He wondered what magic these immortal aliens used to capture such lively images of events, and his only working eye glimmered with interest. 

‘They must be recording everything we do like this. I think this guy is doing it even now. But this information is invaluable.’

He thought about how he should sell this piece of information to the Broadice Kingdom. 

“They brought hundreds of horses during the Anniversary festival and they are using all these horses to send out players. I am wondering what they are doing. I mean… They earned a lot in that week, no?”

The older man tapped his eyepatch, ignoring the mummers of the immortal human.

“Hey, come here.”

He signed at his trusted subordinate, asking him to come closer. 

“Send a message to the Brodice Kingdom Envoy. Tell him I have a piece of news about Light Shone. I will give it to him for the right price.”

The old man whispered, trying to hide his words from the annoying immortal.

“You did very well.”

He threw a couple of gold coins at this greedy bastard who sold out one of their own.

He had no reason to value that gold at the moment. The price for this piece of news would be much higher than any other deal he made with the Envoy of the Brodice Kingdom.

“Thank… Thank you, Leader.”

“Hahaha… Go on. Go on.”

The old man broke into laughter as he saw the pitiful immortal growling for the coins. 

‘Others might fear them, but I know how to handle these greedy dogs.’

He took pride in his intelligence.

“But… Leader….”

“Hm?”

“Can you tell me what they are doing? I mean… The Crystal Pulse.”

‘How annoying, but I am in a good mood today. I will earn quite a bit with this news.’

The old man rubbed his ragged ashen beard before giving out a sly smile.

 “They are on the hunt.”

“Hunt. Leader? But… They have the forest….”

“I am not talking about animals.”

The old man felt annoyed by the idiot.

“They are going to hunt the bandits and thieves around Forestedge and gather the surrounding villages in one place.”

“Huh? A unification? For what?”

“For war, of course. They are going to erase any surrounding threat. It will solidify the trade routes and give them more manpower. Also, this will remove any assistance enemies will gain from those who know the area. They will also occupy strategic points to outflank enemies ....”

The old man suddenly swallowed the rest of the words. 

He was giving up too much, and anyone would suspect his identity if he knew this much. For a veteran like him, grasping this much detail was nothing based on the preparations made by the Crystal Pulse. 

If he spoke too much, there would be a problem about his true identity. Especially if this immortal weakling had a way to show his speech to the others. He couldn’t take any risks with these undying, greedy, bastards. 

‘They will flank the enemies and devastate them. The Brodice Kingdom is going to suffer. Hehehe… They should pay me a lot for uncovering this. But it is not like they can do anything about it. Only a front assault will do, and then they will bleed rivers against Light Shone. What a mess!’

There was another part this old man wondered about. 

‘How will the Brodice Kingdom face that immortal monster’s revenge?’

He wondered what would happen when Jason Hope started stalking the dark. If the Brodice Kingdom failed to capture him during the war, they would have an unkillable monster stalking them for revenge in every possible way. 

‘Well… It is there proble….’

“Boss! Boss!”

One of his subordinates barged in with a cramped piece of parchment in his hands. 

“They… They issued a bounty.”

“Huh? Who?”

“The… The Brodice Kingdom.”

“What?”

“The old man jumped up from his seat. 

“Ten… Ten thousand Magic Crystals for catching Jason Hope alive.”

“F*ck!”

The old man cursed out loud. 

“This won’t last long.”

The bounty meant an all-out challenge and an invitation for war. They just have to wait for the response from Light Shone. 

He knew everyone was impatient after the appearance of the Master Rune, which was the common name they used for the unparalleled Death Knight rune. Still, he didn’t expect them to be this rash. 

It was obvious someone else was pulling the strings behind the Brodice Kingdom, and Jason Hope wasn’t an easy target to deal with.