Wasteland's Only King

“Get ready to enable probe permissions!”

“Prepare to break through the server limit!”

“All warship fortresses, full power…”

“Search for the Drake-3 Star System Wasteland Server!”

The reality was just as Don Flack had guessed.

Athena didn’t trust Han Ling.

In the end, she still chose to take matters into her own hands, searching for Yu Jin in this vast star system!

…

…

High-dimensional Universe, Ophelia Federation.

While Athena was hunting everywhere for Yu Jin, even arriving where Dawn Fortress stood in the Drake-3 Star System Wasteland—

Yu Jin, meanwhile, was in another patch of low dimension.

At this moment.

He was in the Crystal Tower of Odin City, at a certain node in the “Wasteland” server, staring at the system panel before him, deep in thought.

[System entering update!]

[After this update, the system will be upgraded to version 3.0, the final version!]

[A lot of content in this update, with major changes!]

[Estimated update time: 6 months!]

[During the update, all system functions will be temporarily unavailable!]

[…]

Brother Tongzi’s update caught Yu Jin by surprise.

What also surprised him was the six-month-long update time.

You have to know—

Previous updates took as little as one day, at most three. Six months? He’d never even seen half a month.

“System functions offline for six months?”

“That’s… honestly, not that big a deal…”

“Me and Dawn Fortress, we’re not exactly relying on system functions that much these days…”

Yu Jin muttered to himself.

Two floating options appeared before him.

[Update now?]

[Yes; No]

Yu Jin didn’t click immediately.

A day or two of downtime wouldn’t matter much.

He’d just reached Tier Twenty, which checked off one of his goals for high-dimensional entry, but he hadn’t finished all of them.

“As for personal power—Tier Twenty, that’s in the bag.”

“Even if Value only went up by 1 point, there must be more to it. I’ll probably need to wait until I’m back at Drake-3 Server to find out.”

“Fortress resources…”

“This bit will take some more work too.”

“To be safe, I’ll wait until I bring all the fortress battleships back to low dimension, then trigger the system update!”

Yu Jin turned it over in his mind and made his decision.

Swoosh—

He didn’t waste any more time. After all, Serenity Civilization was still eyeing up Dawn Fortress.

Yu Jin logged straight out of the “Wasteland” server.

His figure vanished directly from the Crystal Tower in Odin City.

Meanwhile—

Rock Star Realm, Gangval Star.

Odin City.

Ka—

Kaka—

The silver login pod gave out a few soft clicks.

Inside the pod, Yu Jin slowly sat up.

“Hmm…”

“Actually feels a little more comfortable than the helmet?”

Yu Jin muttered, getting ready to leave the room.

Leveling goal: completed. Time to get on with goal number two.

Except—

Yu Jin had barely opened the door—

When he found—

The doorway was packed, a sea of silhouettes.

At the front stood a middle-aged man in a suit, hair slicked back with oil.

“?”

Yu Jin froze.

The middle-aged guy paused too.

“S-So soon?”

The man was none other than Funi Lambert, president of the Lambert Chamber of Commerce.

Just moments before—

He’d brought a service team over, waiting right outside Yu Jin’s door.

He’d even—

Specifically told his wife he’d be home late tonight.

Still, Funi hadn’t expected—

In not even two hours, Yu Jin was coming out already.

Usually, a leveling-up service takes at least half a day before people step out for a break.

And that’s not even mentioning—

The chamber staff had reported: the escort pilots waiting for Yu Jin in the “Wasteland” server hadn’t even seen him, which had actually worried Funi.

“H-Hello!”

Funi broke out of his daze in a heartbeat, turned to Yu Jin, and addressed him in a formal tone.

“?”

Yu Jin was still utterly confused.

“Oh, oh…”

“Sorry about that, forgot my introduction!”

“I’m Funi Lambert, president of the Lambert Chamber of Commerce!”

“Mr. Yu Jin, we’re honored you picked our chamber’s Max Level package service. I’m here to see if you need anything else?”

“Also…”

“Sir, this room doesn’t really fit your status.”

“I’ve arranged for the chamber’s best Supreme Suite for you—no extra charge, free upgrade!”

“All I need is your nod!”

Funi spoke rapidly.

Yu Jin was completely baffled.

Behind Funi, the chamber staff stared in amazement.

Heavens above!

Not one of them had ever seen their own boss acting so obsequiously!

…

…

Lambert Chamber of Commerce, Supreme Suite.

Compared to the standard rooms, this suite was vast: at least three to four hundred square meters.

Plus—

The room was lined with panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows, offering a sweeping view of Oak City’s futuristic skyline.

Right now—

On the big sofa in the central lounge—

Yu Jin lounged lazily, while Funi sat upright, all business.

“Mr. Yu Jin!”

“Here’s what the situation is…”

Funi hid nothing at all.

Honestly, you could even say his honesty was extreme.

In his private chat with Yu Jin earlier, he outright revealed exactly why he’d been acting this way.

5.8 billion Source Points left in the account!

As chamber president, he saw it with his own eyes!

And so—

Funi was dead certain Yu Jin had to be some ultra-connected big shot.

For that—

He, as president, insisted on personally hosting Yu Jin.

“Impressive…”

Yu Jin listened to Funi’s spiel and couldn’t help sighing in amazement.

Leaving aside Funi’s almost hard-to-believe candor—

The sheer willpower it took to resist the temptation of “5.8 billion Source Points” left Yu Jin speechless with admiration.

“Mr. Yu Jin!”

“So—I wonder…”

“Is there anything else the chamber can do for you?”

“If Lambert Chamber of Commerce can make it happen, Funi will pull every string to get it done. I won’t let you down!”

While Funi hadn’t gotten a definite answer from Yu Jin—like which family he belonged to, or what kind of god-level connections he actually had—

It didn’t matter; Funi kept up his respectful, even flattering attitude toward Yu Jin all the same.

“Hmm…”

Funi’s manner was actually starting to grow on Yu Jin.

He was really beginning to like this chamber president.

“Actually, there is something.”

Since the guy was being so up front, Yu Jin also dropped the pretense.

He came right out and said he wanted to get a few fortress battleships.

“Fortress battleships?”

“Combat mecha?”

When Funi heard those words, his pupils shrank, and he froze in place.

Fortress battleships and interstellar spaceships are two different beasts.

The latter is civilian, but the former—

Is military!

“Also.”

“I’d prefer something with heavy weapon systems—strong combat capabilities.”

“Weak stuff’s no good.”

Yu Jin paused, then added.

Funi looked even more shell-shocked.

“M-Mr. Yu Jin…”

After a long moment, Funi swallowed and asked quietly,

“Are you… planning a war?”

At that moment—

In his mind, Funi had already replayed a million “runaway rich-kid leads a fleet to conquer the galaxy” scenarios.

“Hmm?”

Yu Jin raised a brow at Funi’s question.

“N-No, of course not!”

“Forgive me for speaking out of turn!”

Yu Jin’s slight “eh?” made Funi shake his head like a rattle drum.

“…”

Yu Jin studied the chamber president for a while.

Then—

He listened as Funi went on about “fortress battleships are hard to get,” “they’re under military control,” “but if I mobilize the Lambert Clan’s connections we could probably get a few,” and “large quantities would be tricky”…

Yu Jin frowned, suddenly catching the key issue.

What Funi meant by fortress battleships, and what he meant, might not be the same thing.

“So…”

“What I want are low-dimensional fortress battleships.”

Yu Jin cut in, seeing Funi getting more and more into the ’how to smuggle military ships’ topic.

At that, Funi was stunned once more.

“Uh?”

He was a bit lost.

“L-Low-dimensional fortress battleships?”

“What do you want those for?”

That question slipped out of Funi’s mouth automatically.

The instant he realized what he’d said, he covered his mouth in apology.

Yu Jin shook his head—it didn’t bother him.

“Can you get them?”

That’s what Yu Jin cared about.

“Of course!”

Funi replied, sounding utterly certain.

“How many can you get?”

Yu Jin went on.

“As many as you want!”

Funi thumped his chest, steel in his voice.

“Alright.”

“Then get me a billion or so!”