Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 141

Thanks to the continuous stream of incidents, the Warlord-related communities were bustling every day.

And then, a new world event emerged.

The Light Church’s movements soon led to the destruction of the city of Amstel.

No one had expected them to attack and destroy a city belonging to a top 12 guild, and many were shocked.

Moreover, it wasn’t even the Church’s knights or executioners who moved, but simply users from two regions.

Yet, the fact that such forces could destroy a major city had significant implications for people.

It meant that the Church possessed far greater power than most users had realized.

And when perceptions change, people naturally flock to it.

Those quick to gather information realized that the Light Church had taken a significant lead in the competition among the seven churches.

Joining the Church was now emerging as a strategic choice, not just a matter of interest.

However, the person who brought about such change was blankly staring at their skill window.

‘A legendary skill, really…?’

Aeil slapped their cheeks as if still unable to believe it.

The newly acquired skill, ‘Zeal of the Seeker.’

As befitting its legendary rank, it possessed an amazing effect.

It allowed a player’s Holy Magic skills to be influenced by completely different stats.

And the stat that would replace magic power in influencing the magic was the Inquisitor’s exclusive stat, ‘Faith’.

‘I had to give up on any good skills if they were magic-related, but now I have far more choices than before.’

Inquisitors were basically melee classes.

They were far from offensive magic, let alone bows or throwing weapons.

They would only learn Holy Magic skills that emphasized utility, and unless they were priests or mages who invested in magic power, they wouldn’t learn them.

But now that they had acquired a new skill, things were different.

As long as they had enough Faith, their class-specific stat, they could exert effects far beyond its power.

Even with the skills Aeil currently possessed, such as ‘Shield of Protection’ that created a barrier, and ‘Light of Healing’ that granted continuous healing.

Both skills were influenced by magic power, but after obtaining Zeal of the Seeker, they became much more powerful.

The Inquisitor’s signature skill, ‘Sanctification,’ was a special skill that was influenced by weapon attack power and Strength, so it didn’t matter, but far more options were now available.

‘As expected of a legendary skill, it really has an absurd effect.’

The majesty of a legendary-grade skill with ridiculous potential.

The fact that even this kind of passive effect was considered middle-tier among legendary skills was even more astonishing.

Flash!

Aeil waved their hand, and a stat window with impressive numbers appeared.

Major Stats

Strength: 275(+254) Agility: 250(+215) Stamina: 265(+225) Magic Power: 20(+98) Faith: 362.1(+98) Madness: 358.9(+98)

‘I never thought the Faith stat would suddenly become so important.’

Aeil, having checked the screen, fell into thought for a moment.

Mana consumption, cooldown time, casting time, etc.

The effect of the Faith stat was only to improve the efficiency of class-specific skills in various ways.

Compared to the Madness stat, which directly increased combat power, it wasn’t that important.

But with the Zeal of the Seeker skill, its importance rose above even basic stats like Strength or Agility.

[You have donated ‘30,000’ Contribution Points to the Light Church.]

[Your Faith has increased by ’60’.]

‘Normally, I wouldn’t use Contribution Points to raise stats… but it’s not a losing proposition now.’

Aeil smiled, having spent a huge amount of points at once.

If you were a follower of the Church, you could donate the Contribution Points you earned to the Church instead of using them in the store.

All you got in return was a bit of Faith.

It was about 1 stat point for every 500 points.

Other users knew how hard it was to earn 500 Contribution Points, so they didn’t donate to raise stats.

But in Aeil’s case, it was a worthwhile expense.

Thanks to pouring in 30,000 Contribution Points, the Faith stat soared to 420.

‘I have a little less than 15,000 points left.’

They didn’t forget to leave some behind, as they didn’t know when they might need Contribution Points again.

Clunk!

Aeil, having arrived at their destination, got off the carriage.

After turning Amstel into ruins, they left the war-torn Ice Sea region and headed towards the Shudrabbel Fortress.

It was a stronghold owned by the 6th-ranked guild, ‘Dawn.’

It was to dispose of the items acquired in this siege, and since the city was completely burned down by them, there was no other choice.

It was a border area between two giant guilds, but since there was no war going on right now, it was much safer than lingering around Amstel.

‘Let’s get down to business.’

Aeil entered the fortress and headed straight to the auction house.

It was a fairly large stronghold with many people coming and going due to its geographical location, and it was heavily guarded as it was not far from the Nightmare Guild’s border area.

[You have entered the item exchange of ‘Shudrabbel’.]

– The exchange system is activated.

– The Shudrabbel Fortress is currently under the control of the ‘Dawn’ Guild.

– A general fee of 10% and a guild tax of 5% will be applied.

[174 ‘Thorium Ingots’ have been registered!]

[The ‘Obsidian Axe of Determination’ has been registered!]

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Aeil registered all the Thorium Ingots they had been storing in the warehouse for sale, and also listed the numerous equipment items they had obtained by defeating the Ice Sea guild members.

A considerable profit was expected if they were sold at the right price.

Of course, this wasn’t the only reason they had come to this fortress and visited the auction house.

Aeil manipulated the exchange screen to search for items.

It had become almost a habit to check the market for auxiliary equipment with excellent additional effects for combat whenever they visited the auction house.

However, while searching for equipment, they noticed a sharp fluctuation in the market price of certain items.

‘What’s going on all of a sudden?’

The price fluctuation trends of some raw material items were unusual.

The Warlord’s auction house system didn’t show the fluctuating prices for each item, but Aeil had a separate massive database.

The prices of various potions and equipment, especially some raw materials, were easily surpassing the existing market prices and rising rapidly.

“Hmm… Interesting.”

Aeil’s pronunciation got twisted because they were too engrossed in thought.

But now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

‘Steel ingots have skyrocketed to almost several times their price, and the others are no different. This kind of market fluctuation usually only happens when there’s a whiff of war……’

The resources consumed in Warlord’s wars were beyond imagination.

It was natural for it to greatly affect the market price.

But even though the top 12 guilds, including Ice Sea and Black Wolf, had gone to war, the current market price was showing an excessive increase.

Wars and conflicts were commonplace in Warlord.

Nevertheless, the fact that it was showing such a large fluctuation meant that a huge event was approaching.

‘Then… is it just the top 6 guilds?’

Aeil had one suspicious point in mind.

The Nightmare and Dawn Guilds.

If the two giants, who had been enemies since the New World era, clashed, this level of fluctuation could easily be reached just by preparing for war.

‘I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about it lately, is something going to happen soon?’

The ominous atmosphere between the two guilds had been present for some time.

In particular, there was an incident where guild members were attacked in the Tower of the Dead, which was Nightmare’s territory, and there were rumors that Dawn was behind it.

However, Nightmare didn’t show any active movements, so many speculations arose.

Of course, it was a rumor that only Aeil, who was a top-tier member of various information sites, could access, and most of it was a source with some credibility.

‘The market price has already gone up almost all the way. It would be impossible to get in late.’

Originally, this was the best time to make money in the auction house.

But trying to hoard things late at this point would only be a waste of money.

You should have known the information in advance and entered at a low price, but after the price has already changed like this, it was too late.

Even if you belatedly followed and bought it, you would only lose money considering the auction house fees and various incidental expenses.

‘It’s already too late to hoard raw materials, so then……’

Aeil skillfully manipulated the auction house screen.

And on the other side, they displayed a map of the continent on the screen.

Scanning the border area between the two giant forces of the top 6 guilds, they carefully considered the places where the two sides were likely to clash.

‘The place that will be hit the hardest if a war breaks out is… here.’

Aeil pinpointed a location.

The Sunstein Mining Zone.

It was a collection of mines where the superior rare metal ‘Nocturnum’ was produced, and it was Dawn Guild’s largest Nocturnum production area.

It was a superior metal that was used in many fields regardless of genre, and its value was also very high.

The mining zone was distributed in the east of the Solstice region, and the Dawn Guild accounted for a whopping 68 percent of the production.

It was also very close to the border area, and if a full-scale war broke out between the two guilds, there was a high possibility that the area would be targeted first.

Even if it wasn’t the main stage where the main forces would engage, rear attacks would naturally take place, and the mines in the border area that were spewing out enormous wealth would not be spared.

Of course, Dawn could defend well and protect it without taking any damage.

But at least during the war, the work would be suspended.

“I smell money, I smell money.”

Aeil smiled and manipulated the screen.

The supply of Nocturnum, which was already not that large, would drop, and soon the asking price would be the price.

The market price of Nocturnum, which had not yet been affected by the war, had not changed.

With conviction, Aeil gathered all the tens of thousands of gold they had collected in the warehouse and invested it.

‘My past senses tell me… don’t miss it and go for it!’

In the past, while playing online games, they had been active as a ranker without ever spending money, and they were able to prepare equipment that wasn’t particularly lacking compared to other rankers.

The reason for this was that they had earned a huge amount of money through auction house price differences.

Coming to Warlord, they had not been involved in auction house gambling in order to focus more on growth, but this time was different.

The smell of money was so blatant that it would be foolish to stay still.

‘Goddess, please help me this time too!’

Aeil, with their hands gathered, offered a sincere prayer.

Hoping for the pump and dump [rapid inflation and subsequent selling] of the Nocturnum coin.