Level 4 Human in a Ruined World

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 421: Sole Candidate (3)

“A promise? We never made any promises…”

“Since when did we ever agree to hand over our equipment?”

Both the Guardian of Italy and the Shadow of Tundra widened their eyes in denial.

After all, none of them had made such a promise.

“What? You’re saying there was no promise?”

Yeongwoo scratched his chin with the tip of Bastard he was holding.

Then, he suddenly pointed the blade at the three powerful figures and spoke.

Whoosh!

“Then let’s make a promise now. Only those who willingly hand over their equipment get to return home.”

“…What?”

“T-That’s your promise, not ours.”

The jaws of both the Italian and the Tundra dropped.

Meanwhile, the Conqueror of the Great Lakes, who was already stark naked, wore a subtle expression.

After all, he had no equipment left to give.

“Then… since I’ve already given everything I can, does that mean I can go home now?”

The Great Lakes Conqueror asked cautiously, forcing a servile smile.

Yeongwoo slowly turned his head and stared at him.

“You’re right. There’s no equipment to take from you.”

“I was dragged here out of nowhere, after all.”

The Great Lakes Conqueror shrugged helplessly.

Then, Yeongwoo spread his palm, conjuring yet another loan contract out of thin air.

Swoosh!

“…?”

“Then you can just pay 200 million more and leave. Let’s make it a neat 1 billion.”

The Conqueror of the Great Lakes had previously managed to secure a reduced loan contract of 800 million instead of the standard 1 billion.

But now, Yeongwoo was shoving a new 200-million loan contract in his face.

“W-What kind of insane nonsense is this? If that’s the case, I’d rather just hand over my equipment…!”

To the Great Lakes Conqueror, it was an absurd proposition.

Even if he sold all the equipment he had previously worn, it wouldn’t amount to a billion—hell, not even close to hundreds of millions.

Yet before he could voice his protest, Yeongwoo cut him off.

“Frankly, I already have plenty of equipment. So, you just give me the money.”

As Yeongwoo held out the loan contract and the tip of his sword simultaneously, the remaining two figures hastily began stripping off their armor.

Clearly, tossing their gear and getting the hell out of there seemed like the smartest move.

“What the hell is going on…?”

“If this continues, is that bastard really going to become the master of Earth?”

As the Guardian Sword of Italy and the Shadow of the Tundra grumbled under their breath while removing their equipment, Yeongwoo’s lips curled into a faint smile.

“Lay your stripped equipment neatly in front of you. I’ll take only what I need.”

“What? Seriously?”

The Shadow of the Tundra, now nearly naked, blinked in disbelief.

Yeongwoo nodded.

“You guys still need to make a living on Earth, right? I’m not that cruel.”

Of course, Yeongwoo had already turned the three of them into penniless beggars.

Still, he meant it when he said he would leave them with enough to survive.

“I’m looking for resistance gear against super powers, elemental damage, and lightning damage. Oh, and special resistance items too.”

This was because Yeongwoo had already set up his resistance stats using the Osmosis effect.

| Fire Resistance: 15% 【Osmosis 60%】

| Cold Resistance: 15% 【Osmosis 60%】

| Lightning Resistance: 15% 【Osmosis 60%】

| Poison Resistance: 15% 【Osmosis 60%】

| Ability Resistance: 60%

| Dragon Resistance: 10%

Currently, all basic resistances were configured to mirror his ability resistance value.

Therefore, he had no need for any elemental resistance gear.

Moreover, since his stats had already reached their maximum potential, equipment that increased base stats was now meaningless.

‘Of course, if I wanted to fill out my catalog, I should probably just take everything… but this is the space era now. No need to be too harsh on Earthlings.’

In Yeongwoo’s mind, he was genuinely being merciful.

Clank!

Soon, all three figures, including the already naked Great Lakes Conqueror, were fully stripped.

“You sure brought a lot with you.”

Yeongwoo scanned the equipment laid out before him, examining each item’s effects.

As expected of Earth’s elite, most of the gear had familiar effects: basic resistance buffs, conditional stat increases, and weather-specific protection.

Naturally, there were no bizarre effects like "increased favorability with machines", nor did he find any % stat-boosting equipment, which was what he actually needed.

‘Not much value here. I should’ve just taken more money instead.’

Then.

Clink!

Yeongwoo halted his steps as he came across a particular dagger with a faint violet hue.

“…Oh?”

The weapon caught his attention.

「Dark Thorn」 – Mutant Dagger

【Increases ability damage by 45%.】

【--Empty Slot--】

“What the hell? Why do you guys even have ability damage gear?”

Ability damage was a special effect that bypassed armor and weakened defensive gear.

However, it was generally useless on Earth.

After all, for ability damage to be effective, the attacker needed to possess ability properties—which Earthlings didn’t.

But Yeongwoo was different.

He had long since recognized the value of ability properties and had been collecting related gear.

「Horn of Kelpite」 – Legendary Spear

【20% of attack power converted to ability damage.】

【40% increase in ability damage.】

「Heresy」 - Unique Gauntlets

【15% of attack power is converted into mental damage.】

Currently, 35% of Yeongwoo’s total damage output was ability.

Moreover, he had fine-tuned his resistances accordingly, making him effectively a space-ready combatant.

“Whose is this?”

As Yeongwoo picked up the Dark Thorn, the Guardian of Italy hesitantly raised his hand.

“…That’s mine.”

“You’ve been carrying around something so useless. This is confiscated.”

“……”

But Italy’s misfortune didn’t end there.

“What’s this now?”

Yeongwoo halted once again.

「Halo of Light」 - Epic Armor

【15% Resistance to Supernatural Abilities】

【When receiving supernatural damage, all stats increase by 1,000.】

“Don’t tell me this is yours too?”

When Yeongwoo lifted Halo of Light, the Guardian of Italy nodded.

“…Yes.”

“Wait, this is epic gear.”

In other words, unlike the Dark Thorn, which was likely a reward for defeating a mutant, this was equipment he had paid for.

“Did you seriously buy this on purpose? You’ve probably never even fought an ability-based opponent before.”

“Yes. But for some reason, I had a feeling it would come in handy one day, so I made a big investment.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

That was the instinct of a planetary powerhouse.

Well, back when he bought the armor, he must have been at the top of his region.

It was only natural that he had the luxury to invest in an uncertain future.

“Ah… you truly have foresight, sir.”

“……?”

Yeongwoo suddenly switched to formal speech.

Then, he carefully cradled Halo of Light in his arms.

“Thanks to this armor, you’ve made a great contribution to our planet. It turned out to be useful after all.”

Although the stat-boosting effect was meaningless for Yeongwoo, the 15% resistance to abilities alone was valuable.

For Yeongwoo, it wasn’t just single resistance—it was…

‘An additional 15% boost to all basic resistances… This will practically push them to the cap.’

There was no need to delay.

Yeongwoo immediately registered Halo of Light in his armor catalog.

Fwoosh!

Right before the Guardian of Italy’s eyes, the armor vanished into thin air, and Yeongwoo’s resistance levels skyrocketed to absurd heights.

「Due to Osmosis, some resistance values have been adjusted.」

|Fire resistance: 15% 【Osmosis 75%】

|Cold resistance: 15% 【Osmosis 75%】

|Lightning resistance: 15% 【Osmosis 75%】

|Poison resistance: 15% 【Osmosis 75%】

|Ability resistance: 75%

|Dragon resistance: 10%

All basic resistances, along with ability resistance, had reached 75%.

Having 75% resistance meant he would only take 25% of the damage from those types of attacks.

And even that would be further reduced by his various damage reduction effects.

‘This is insane… I need to find someone to beat up right now.’

Honestly, at this moment, the thing he most wanted to see was Earth.

The planetary representative he had to convince for the construction of the planetary battleship.

“Seriously though, this guy doesn’t have anything decent.”

By this guy, Yeongwoo was referring to the Shadow of Tundra.

After all, he had already confiscated two pieces of equipment from the Guardian of Italy.

“Hmm.”

Yeongwoo paused for a moment, then summoned the interface for his equipment catalog.

Fwoosh!

The Weapon Catalog interface appeared at the top, showing the upcoming catalog effect.

[Weapon Catalog]

〔19〕

[Catalog Effect: 10]

| +1% damage per registered weapon

‘Ah, I need to fill my weapon catalog.’

Just one more weapon was required to unlock the second catalog effect.

“I guess I’ll just take a sword, then.”

When Yeongwoo casually picked up the long sword left by the Shadow of the Tundra, the man’s face twisted.

Understandable, as it was a legendary weapon—a rare and valuable item by Earth standards.

「Gambler」 - Legendary One-Handed Sword

【Increases attribute damage by 30% when the attack count is odd.】

【Increases attack power by 15% when the attack count is even.】

【55% chance to reduce damage by 25% when defending.】

“…What the hell is this?”

The bizarre item effects made Yeongwoo frown.

Then again, legendary-grade gear often strayed from conventional patterns.

‘Wait… after a closer look, this is actually pretty good.’

Considering Yeongwoo already possessed a substantial amount of elemental damage, all three effects of Gambler were beneficial to him.

During attacks: constant bonus damage.

During defense: 55% chance to reduce incoming damage by a quarter.

Clang.

As Yeongwoo gripped the elongated, single-edged sword, a message appeared in his field of vision, prompting him to register the weapon in his catalog.

「Do you want to register Gambler in the weapon catalog?」

‘Of course. Let’s see what the second-stage effect is.’

The second catalog effect for equipment was often significant.

Especially in the armor catalog, the effects varied greatly depending on the gear's quality.

[Catalog Effect: 20]

| +50% enhancement to the effect of a selected piece of gear

It was only natural for Yeongwoo to anticipate an offensive advantage for the weapon catalog’s second effect.

‘It’s the weapon catalog, after all. It’s bound to be attack-related.’

Yeongwoo registered Gambler in his weapon catalog.

His vision flashed with a bright light, followed by a clear notification sound.

Piiiing!

「A new catalog effect has been unlocked in the weapon catalog!」

‘Finally.’

In the dazzling white light, Yeongwoo squinted to see the new catalog effect listed beneath the first one.

[Catalog Effect: 10]

| +1% damage per registered weapon

[Catalog Effect: 20]

| Sword Mountain

‘…Huh? Sword Mountain?’

Sword Mountain.

An unfamiliar term.

‘The catalog effect is called Sword Mountain? What the hell is that?’

As Yeongwoo wondered, the system displayed a new information window.

「You are now the master of the Twenty-Sword Mountain.」

‘What?’

「You can now summon a Sword Mountain at any desired location using the weapons registered in your catalog.」

‘Huh?’

His mouth fell open involuntarily.

Sword Mountain.

Upon further thought, it wasn’t an unfamiliar term.

―I am Dogo, the King of Destruction, the one born on the battlefield, the master of the Hundred Thousand Swords Mountain!

‘Shit, is it that Sword Mountain?’

Feeling a sudden wave of dizziness, Yeongwoo staggered slightly.

And right on cue, the system displayed a new prompt in his field of view.

「Do you wish to summon the Twenty-Sword Mountain?」

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]