The outbreak of a large-scale gate zone—one of the most unimaginable disasters humanity had ever faced.

It wasn’t just a dozen or a hundred gates appearing.

The estimated number of gates was a staggering 821. The exact count had yet to be determined, but the minimum confirmed number was 821.

Then, how many monsters would pour out from them?

Normally, a single gate would release at least 100 to 200 monsters. That was just the minimum—sometimes, several times that number would emerge.

Because of this, the estimated number of monsters that had poured out from this large-scale gate zone was close to 400,000. On average, each gate had released around 400 to 500 monsters.

An unprecedented scale.

More than half of those 400,000 monsters were rated 5-star+ or higher. Monsters of such high rank were rare in this era. Never before had so many high-ranked monsters been slain at once.

As a result, the value of the byproducts and items obtained after processing all their corpses was astronomical.

Approximately 400 trillion won in total—an amount comparable to South Korea’s annual budget. It was clear why superhumans had become the center of the world and why they now led it.

A-rank gates had barely been opening until now, but this time, as many A-rank gates had appeared as all previous occurrences combined. Additionally, five S-rank gates had been discovered, despite such gates usually appearing in the single digits.

Even the mana stones obtained from this monster flood carried immense value, and the byproducts were just as precious.

“But this will be the last time.”

This was the first and last opportunity to make a fortune in one go.

Moving forward, large-scale gate zones would start appearing more frequently. As a result, the continuous influx of 5-star+ mana stones and byproducts into the market would eventually cause their prices to drop significantly.

“That’s why it’s best to make as much as possible now.”

Sungshik had indeed secured a massive fortune this time.

Throughout the prolonged battle, his contribution had been roughly measured through multiple recording orbs. Based on this data, the reward distribution ratios were determined.

1st place. [Korea] Heo Sungshik – 6.7%

2nd place. [China] Hak Ilcheon – 5.3%

3rd place. [USA] Jenny – 4.9%

…

…

Sungshik ranked first with a staggering 6.7% contribution. Approximately 25,000 monsters slain. Three of them were 7-star ranked.

“I really did kill a lot.”

He had estimated that he had slain around ten thousand, but the actual numbers exceeded his expectations.

“The Sword Emperor is seriously incredible too.”

Coming in second place was the Sword Emperor. Seeing his contribution, Sungshik clicked his tongue in amazement. Alongside him, the Sword Emperor was the only one whose contribution exceeded 5%.

It had seemed like the Sword Emperor had just been swinging his sword around casually, yet his contribution was on par with Sungshik, who had fought with everything he had. On the surface, Jenny had appeared to have contributed more, but that wasn’t the case. Though he hadn’t stood out much, the Sword Emperor had essentially roamed the battlefield alone.

“I can’t even imagine what would’ve happened if the Sword Emperor had fought with all his strength.”

Truly fitting for one of the top two among the 11 Thrones.

Letting out a quiet sigh of admiration, Sungshik checked the reward he had received from the settlement.

“Just how many zeroes is this… One, two, three…”

Seeing the amount allocated to him, he swallowed hard. He had expected a hefty sum, but actually confirming it and feeling its weight made his skin tingle.

“Eight trillion…”

An astronomical figure. And that was even after being shaved down a few times.

The total reward pool had surpassed 400 trillion won. Sungshik’s 6.7% share amounted to over 25 trillion won.

Of that, one-third went to China, which had provided the gate zone. Another third went to S30, which had facilitated the opportunity.

The remaining third—more than 8 trillion won—went to Sungshik.

“China and S30 taking a third each feels like highway robbery, but the sum is still beyond imagination.”

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, like winning the ultimate lottery. It was akin to a scenario where thousands of tons of gold had suddenly appeared.

And Sungshik had secured his share.

Leaving only 10 billion won in cash, he decided to convert the rest into cryptocurrency. After all, once the global gate break began, cash would be as good as worthless.

No matter how much he warned people, no matter how much he ran around trying to spread awareness, it was an undeniable fact that the gate break would devastate Earth’s civilization. Humanity was not prepared to stop it completely.

“From the moment the Great Cataclysm began, humanity should have been striving with all its might to become superhuman and raise its rank. Only then could civilization have been preserved.”

That was a common sentiment after the gate break had erupted in his past life and the full scale of the global disaster became apparent.

Humanity had never had the luxury of being complacent. Treating gates merely as controllable resources had been a grave mistake. From the very beginning, humanity should not have ignored the first message it received.

“From this moment forward, Earth shall become the stage of trials. Humanity must overcome the seven Nights of Trial that lie ahead. The preparation period begins before the first Night arrives. May blessings be upon the future of humanity.”

Had they properly reflected on the meaning of this message—had they devoted themselves to a constant struggle for survival, raising their ranks—humanity could have produced far more superhumans.

But it was already too late to prevent the gate break entirely.

Right now, the world’s strongest superhumans had gathered here to contain just under a thousand gates that had appeared across the Pasaeng Grasslands.

But in the future, the number of gates appearing worldwide wouldn’t be just a thousand.

Hundreds of thousands—millions of gates would open, heralding the Great Monster Invasion.

In the process, humanity would lose more than half its territory. And at that point, Earth would no longer belong to humanity.

‘But it’s also another opportunity for growth.’

Opportunities always arose amidst crises.

The monster flood would provide another chance for superhumans to grow. Some regions, altered by the influx of monsters, would even conceal hidden fortuitous encounters.

‘In the end, for humanity to survive, we must overcome the Nights of Trial.’

It was something Sungshik had realized in his past life.

After the Gate Break, nations crumbled, laws and regulations collapsed, and an era where strength was paramount arrived. However, despite that, humanity was still able to survive. At the very least, it was an era where people could somehow resist the monsters and continue to exist.

But during the Nights of Trial, even survival itself became difficult. To stop the Lords of the Night, rather than a large number of moderately strong superhumans, a single overwhelmingly powerful superhuman was needed.

That was why, upon assessing the situation after his regression, Sungshik made a decision. He could not save all of humanity amidst the chaos. But within that chaos, he would grow to an unparalleled level, stop the Lords of the Night, and save the remaining survivors.

In the end, becoming strong enough to stand against the Lords of the Night was the only answer.

For that reason, Sungshik was extremely satisfied with the rewards he had obtained this time. With the coins he had acquired, he could take another step forward in power.

He converted over 8 trillion won into coins. The exchange rate between cash and coins was approximately 1,000:1.

Thus, he obtained 8.2 billion coins. The amount he had been slowly accumulating until now felt insignificant in comparison to the massive sum he had acquired in one go. On top of that, he had also received a considerable number of coins from hunting monsters.

He had collected a total of 4.5 billion coins, and of that, nearly 300 million coins were his share. After deductions from China and S30, what remained was around 100 million coins, which was still a significant amount.

Altogether, Sungshik had obtained a total of 8.3 billion coins.

“This is insane.”

Looking at the coins deposited after the settlement, his mouth gaped open. With this, he could finally acquire the skills he had been lacking, or purchase high-grade items that would be useful to him.

“Wow, even with this amount, I still can’t afford a [Legendary] weapon.”

Logging into the community and browsing the system shop, Sungshik let out a wry chuckle. The [Legendary] Moonlight Sword, for instance, was still priced at 100 billion coins. It was an amount far beyond what he currently possessed.

Of course, since it was an item with a narrative, clearing the related scenario quest would allow him to purchase it at a much lower price.

“Even then, it would still cost over 10 billion coins.”

Clicking his tongue, Sungshik shifted his attention to items of the [Relic] grade, which was a tier below [Legendary].

“Even the cheapest ones cost tens of billions.”

Among the [Relic] grade weapons, even the least expensive ones were priced at tens of billions. They were absurdly expensive. Buying skills instead of weapons seemed like a better choice.

Unlike skills, which had acquisition restrictions (though Sungshik was an exception), weapons had no such limitations. Because of this, the higher the weapon’s grade, the steeper the price increase.

Thinking about it this way, he finally understood why the Nati Clan trio had been so obsessed with his Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword when they found out it was of the [Mythic] grade. It was worth betting their lives on.

“Now that I think about it, obtaining the Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword was a massive stroke of luck.”

― "You have only now realized this? If you have finally acknowledged my value, then serve me with the reverence I deserve."

Today, for once, he was willing to concede to Heaven-Splitter’s arrogance.

“Yes, yes, of course. I shall humbly serve you from now on.”

― "Hmm, it seems you have finally come to your senses. Commendable. Continue to be an enlightened warrior."

After some brief banter with Heaven-Splitter, Sungshik closed the community shop window. He decided to carefully consider how to use his coins later.

Then, he checked the items he had obtained from the 7-star boss.

[Heroic] Bloodstone, [Legendary] Clue to the Natural Body, [Heroic] Cyclops’ Single Eye, [Heroic] Were-Tiger’s Hide.

Among the various monster drops, the most useful ones were these four. The [Heroic] Bloodstone was a jewel filled with negative energy.

“This will come in handy later.”

The Bloodstone had been a rare item even in his past life. It could be used in the future to unlock a path to acquiring a new trait.

“The Cyclops’ Eye and Were-Tiger’s Hide can be used as crafting materials…”

Seeing the crafting materials, Sungshik suddenly thought of Lee Jinwoong.

If he processed the materials through Lee Jinwoong and sold them, he could make an even greater profit. Unfortunately, since China and S30 had taken the bulk of the settlement, he hadn’t had the chance to do so.

“Clue to the Natural Body. Could this be a hint to acquiring the [Skill] Natural Body?”

As soon as he saw the item’s name, Sungshik was almost certain. It was an item that provided the key to obtaining the [Skill] Natural Body.

“Oh…”

A quiet exclamation escaped his lips.

The [Natural Body] skill was considered a top-tier skill, ranked as one of the best in its class. At one point, it had been considered outright broken.

To acquire this skill, one needed a trait that allowed them to manifest elemental attributes. Currently, Sungshik possessed six attributes: fire, lightning, wind, light, ice, and shadow. He had already reached an extraordinary level of elemental mastery.

If he obtained the [Natural Body] skill, it would synergize incredibly well with his [Manifestation] trait.

“With [Natural Body], I would literally become the attribute itself.”

It was exactly as it sounded. A person with a fire attribute who used this skill would become an "Incarnation of Fire" itself.

Once in that state, they would be completely immune to physical attacks. The only way to harm them would be through magical attacks imbued with mana, and even then, the attack would have to surpass their mana resistance.

The best way to counter someone using [Natural Body] was to attack them with an element that directly opposed their own. However, unless one possessed an unlimited number of traits like Sungshik, acquiring an opposing elemental trait was no easy feat.

‘That’s why Edwin, the Lord of Thunder, was once considered completely overpowered.’

Edwin, who had become a living bolt of lightning and tore through the battlefield, had seemed utterly unstoppable.

The [Natural Body] skill was something Sungshik had obtained too late in his past life, after the Nights of Trial had already begun. Had he mastered it earlier, he might have even been able to challenge the positions of the Martial Emperor and the Sword Emperor.

Among the 11 Thrones, when they had entered the 8-star level and Han Eunyeong had fallen from her position, Edwin had risen to take her place. That alone spoke volumes about how powerful the skill was.

If the Four Witches of the Black Moon, the third Lords of the Night, hadn’t possessed the perfect counter to Edwin’s [Natural Body], his reign would have continued.

That was how broken the skill was.

‘This is an unexpected windfall.’

Looking at the Clue to the Natural Body, Sungshik’s eyes gleamed.