Chapter 91
“I got it out!”
Using his three plump fingers, Yong Yong plucked out a wood block and shouted. Watching him made me smile automatically.
The clone b.a.s.t.a.r.d and Yong Yong were playing with Jenga.
Unlike how it was played with two people taking turns to pull out wood blocks. It was only Yong Yong was pulling the blocks out.
The clone b.a.s.t.a.r.d was taking on the role of meddling Yong Yong’s attempts at getting the blocks out.
Actually, he was more focused on reading a novel. Anyway…
To Yong Yong and the clone b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Jenga was not some simple game for utilizing their focus and maintaining the center of weight of the Jenga tower.
It was a game for practicing the applications of magic.
This could be easily understood from how the clone b.a.s.t.a.r.d was using magic.
He wasn’t just using telekinesis. He was also controlling gravity. He had been constantly changing the weight of the wood blocks.
He also had been adjusting the amount friction between the blocks. He wrapped the Jenga tower with a barrier that absorbed shocked from outside. On the wood blocks, he even applied strengthening magic on the wooden blocks.
Just to prevent Yong Yong’s ability to interfere with magic… That b.a.s.t.a.r.d is even using dimensional spells?
Hey, isn’t that a little underhanded? That’s cheating.
[It’s not a crime if one does not get caught.]
What’s that now?
Are you the Nyarlathotep?
[TL: Nyarlathotep is an Outer G.o.d in the H. P. Lovecraft’s work.]
The clone b.a.s.t.a.r.d recited the famous line by the character and leisurely flipped the book’s page.
Unlike the lax att.i.tude he had, Yong Yong was really concentrated on the Jenga game.
He was endlessly circling the Jenga tower. He was observing the Jenga and using all magic spells he knew to try all sorts of things.
He beamed and looked overjoyed every time he succeeded in getting a block out.
However, it seemed the clone b.a.s.t.a.r.d was still too much to handle.
The differences in abilities were too great.
In fact, Yong Yong is quite skilled at magic.
There probably hasn’t been a dragon in the history of dragons possessed his level of magic at his age.
This is all thanks to the early education.
I think it would be all right to have him try out Polymorph skill soon.
Yong Yong and clone b.a.s.t.a.r.d were playing just fine. I turned my gaze away from them and looked at the dimensional bag in my hands.
It was the bag that Lee Jun-suk gave me before he cleared the Tutorial and left.
It was possible to take things from the Tutorial when leaving. However, the amount that one could take with was restricted.
Moreover, items beyond a certain power and level were restricted regardless by the system, making them inaccessible by the outside world.
So, the graduates who left the Tutorial occasionally gifted their belongings.
Usually, the belongings were gifted to the people they knew. However, there were also many cases where the belongings were auctioned off.
People who were rich in the real world purchased the maxed-out items from the graduates. Such people cleared the Tutorial quickly.
The graduates then received the reward for the sold items at the real world.
Of course, such cases were limited to the Easy Difficulty.
It was an even trade where both sides were happy with the end result.
The graduates got to sell the items which became useless to themselves for good money. As for the rich people, they were guaranteed safety through the Tutorial.
What was a rich person going to do by becoming an Awakened Warrior of rank B or above anyway?
It was going to be enough for such a person to just clear the Easy Difficulty and become an E rank Awakened Warrior with healthy body and long lifespan.
Looking at the bag, brought up some memories.
I had received gifts like these before a lot.
When I opened the bag, the first thing from the bag was his diary.
… You are a guy, dude. Why in the world did you send me your diary?
I opened the book and read it. It was closer to a record of his growth than a diary.
It was packed with memories from the beginning of the second round of the Tutorial, which is when he started, to when he left the Tutorial.
Um… I know this is obvious, but this rascal sure was amazing too.
Lee Jun-suk entered the Tutorial like me in its early days. Instead of learning from others, he had to research and master things himself.
The process was written in great detail.
For a caster who uses Blitz as his main skill, this record would be the greatest treasure in the world.
It would not be a waste for such person to give their entire fortune in exchange for the book.
Unfortunately, this book is not much of a use for me.
I put the record away in my inventory and checked out other things in the bag.
Robe, cape, staff, coat, shoes, all sorts of accessories and even precious…o…b..…
He sure sent me a huge collection
On top of that, the items have incredible levels.
This rascal held the throne of the second strongest in Tutorial for almost ten years. Should I say it is as expected of the man of such caliber?
Actually, in fact, aren’t these items are better than mine?
Although it is true that I didn’t care much for getting best items, this is hurting my pride a little.
I put the items away on the side.
I was thinking that I should give them to Yong Yong later.
What should I do with the rest that would be hard for Yong Yong to use?
As for the orbs, I can use them as materials for experiments.
Um… There are so many items that I am not sure about what to do with.
I had no reason to think hard about it. I opened the community.
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: I’m going to give away S rank items. First two people will get them.]
[Lee Gi-min, 32th Floor: Me!]
[Jung Ji-hyun, 41th Floor: Hand!]
[Lee Whee-sung, 3rd Floor: 1st Place~ Thank you so much. I’ll use them well!]
[Park Jin, 14th Floor: Me!]
[Lee Whee-sung, 3rd Floor: What the… There weren’t any replies before. I got pushed off while I was writing the message. TT TT]
Life is all about timing.
I need to give away items like this occasionally. People really like this.
As for the rest, I should send them to Park Jung-ah and donate it to the Order of Vigilance.
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: They are Lee Jun-suk’s belongings? Of course I’ll be grateful.]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Well then. I’ll place the items on the auction.]
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: I got it. Big Bro, by the way, how did you convince him? I know I am the one who asked you to try, but I honestly did not think he would leave so willingly.]
How? What do you mean how? It’s me, after all.
First, I told him the reasons why he should go back to the outside world.
Of course, they were not all that important for him, so that didn’t really convince him.
Instead, Lee Jun-suk asked me what my level was.
So, I told him the answer.
Afterwards, he agonized for a long time, and told me that he thought about it and decided to go back to the outside world.
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: What’s your level?]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: 351]
Park Jung-ah didn’t send a reply for a while.
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: Really?]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Really.]
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: I find it amazing that levels over 300 even exist. What’s this? How’s this even possible? Does it make common sense? You went up by another 100 since the last time.]
My level is 351 because it is possible.
You shouldn’t even try to compare me to other challengers.
Most challengers use the skills issued by the Tutorial’s system and try to increase the skills’ masteries.
Growing like that, they proceed with clearing stages and gaining more skills.
Meanwhile, they steadily gain experiences and levels. They also gain stats too.
After grinding 100 levels, they graduate from the Tutorial. As soon as they are freed from the influence of the Tutorial’s system, their growth stops.
They may grow in experience and sense, but there are almost never any instances of anyone gaining something like skill levels afterward.
However, I’m different.
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: How are you different? Hurry and explain.]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Unlike others who think of skills as super powers that just dropped from the sky and use them as such, I understand the fundamentals and inner workings of the skills. I can use abilities without skills.]
Ever since I was stuck behind the wall called the 61st Floor, the path I chose in attempt to break through the wall was magic.
I was trying to obtain skills that would allow me to pierce through the floor.
For example, the sealed environment magic or clone production.
I was at the residential area. To obtain new skills, there was only one way. It was through studying magic and obtaining them without the help of the system.
Of course, such attempts all ended up in failures, but…
Like that, I increased my level in magic.
I had plenty of materials for my development.
Inside Tutorial, there were countless skills.
I dissected each of these skills. I discovered their inner workings and fundamentals.
Eventually, I learned new magic spells. I was able to create new spells and modify them.
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: Really… I can only say that this is incredible. By the way, how did you gain the experience points? You can get to level 300 from challenging the 61th Floor repeatedly?]
Of course not.
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: There is a way.]
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: Is it the kind that you cannot share?]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: It is not like that. It is similar to increasing the stats through training. When one’s strength is at 9, rigorously exercise to strengthen one’s muscles will increase the stat to 10. You know this, right?]
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: But I never heard that level will increase too.]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: It turns out it does happen when the height of one’s abilities go beyond the level. For example, if someone who already possesses the power of a SS rank Awakened Warrior entered the Tutorial, then that person will probably start with level 55 instead of level 1. Roughly speaking, think of it like that.]
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: The height of one’s abilities?]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: I suppose I could call it one’s caliber. Once the person’s true caliber far exceeds the given level, the level goes up by 50. There is no reward for the level up. It is literally a change in level only to correctly reflect the person’s true caliber.]
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: I don’t quite get it, but I understood well that it is not normally possible.]
You are actually right. It is more or less impossible.
It will take development a path like mine or something even harsher. Also, it will take cooperation from countless G.o.ds.
In addition to excessive obsession and madness, it also demands over ten years of arduous training.
It is impossible.
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: An event?]
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: Yes. Do you remember that there might be a new event soon? I told you that it definitely will not be a day of the great harmony.]
I do remember.
It’s been a while though.
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Didn’t you say it was inaccurate information?]
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: It turned out to be correct. I heard the next tournament will happen.]
I think this will get bothersome.
I never expected another tournament to happen again at this time.
One special characteristic of the tournament was that the size of the tournament grew each time.
The most recent tournament was a super-size one that combined all servers.
That means, the next tournament’s size will be at least…
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Are we going to be partic.i.p.ating with servers of other dimensions?]
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: Probably. That’s our guess.]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Any other information?]
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: There isn’t any. The information about the next tournament is ridiculously expensive. It was so expensive that we doubted our informant. It will take some time before we can get proper information.]
The problem is when the tournament will happen.
I think I should prepare for this in advance.
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: Still, there are good things about the tournament, don’t you think?]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: What’s good? Because we get to meet again after not being able to see each other for so long?]
[Hey, original b.a.s.t.a.r.d. When you are doing your dating stuff, can’t you shut the emotional feedback?]
Clone b.a.s.t.a.r.d, who was doing Jenga with Yong Yong, complained in frustrated voice. However, I ignored him.
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: T… That’s nice too, but there is the mystery box as the prize for the winner.]
I am certain that the tournament will be problematic for me, but as Park Jung-ah said, there were good things too.
The mystery box, the prize for the tournament’s winner, didn’t have a preset content for the prize.
Depending on the user’s abilities and the situation the user faced, the item that would be most useful for the user or the user’s greatest desire would be gifted to them.
In that case, perhaps I could get an item that would be the clue to getting through the 61st Floor?
I have never heard of such an item, but it was possible.
I got a new goal.
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Ah, I’m sorry, but please confirm the information for me. About setting privacy for a specific information, if it applies for the servers in other dimensions. Don’t put this in the request list.]
[Park Jung-ah, 90th Floor: … I got it. I’ll go find it as soon as I can.]
Park Jung-ah knew about my situation very well. As expected, she understood me quickly.
I expressed my grat.i.tude to her and closed the messenger.
I raised my wrist and looked at the bracelets that were clanking with each other.
They were safety measures to suppress my power.
First, I should make more of these.
Other people are not like Yong Yong or my clone b.a.s.t.a.r.d. They are very fragile.
I am going to be meeting other people. It has been a long while since I met other people. If I was forgetful about this, I could hurt others.
If my mana ran rampant, a large-scale disaster will happen too.
I think I should spend the days making the safety devices for a while.
I opened the inventory and checked the materials.
After that, I checked the points I had left.
There wasn’t much material left to make enough safety devices.
It looks like I’ll have to go to the 61st Floor again.