Leveling with the Gods

A bright light floated out of the Administrator’s palm. 

It was a black-colored light, emitting a holy glow. 

Since it was black, one would think it would cause darkness, but instead it lit up its surroundings. 

The light dissipated after a short while, and what remained was a small onyx crystal. 

The Administrator handed the tiny crystal to YuWon. 

“▷ Where you use it is up to you, and protecting it will also be up to you.”

YuWon took the black crystal from the Administrator’s hand. 

Fsss—

As YuWon grabbed the crystal, a foreign  mana started circulating around YuWon’s palm. It was the energy from the crystal.

YuWon’s eyes perked up.

[Dark Divine Crystal]

ᗌ A fragment that holds the darkness of the genesis. It contains mana with an unending dark property. 

ᗌ It is still unrefined. A skilled craftsman is needed in order to unleash its full power. 

ᗌ Classification : crafting material.

ᗌ Capable of [Stealth.]

ᗌ Can change mana to dark attribute.

ᗌ 20% increase in dark-type* mana resistance.

*TL/N: Type =/= attribute. ‘Dark attribute’ specifically refers to the element of darkness. ‘Dark-type’ can include the dark attribute and any attributes associated with darkness but is its own category. 

# 20% increase in dark attribute mana amplification rate.

# 20% decrease in dark attribute mana consumption rate.

After checking the item’s description, YuWon couldn’t hold back his smile no matter how hard he tried.

The ability to change a mana’s property. And not only that, but an increase in efficiency of the changed mana. 

YuWon couldn’t believe that this was only an unrefined crafting material.

‘I guess that’s natural since it’s called the Dark Divine Crystal.’

For an item of this caliber to appear at this point… It was the reward for achieving a better record than any previous participant as well as defeating the secret boss of the Tutorial.

YuWon had expected a pretty good reward. He had half-expected either an A-rank or above skill or an item that you’d only see a Ranker use. However, this far exceeded his expectations.

‘The other name for this is…’ 

Clench—

YuWon tightly grasped the 「Dark Divine Crystal」 in his hand.

‘The fragment of the Helm of Invisibility.’

Hades was one of the “Big Three” of Olympus. The 「Helm of Invisibility」 was one of the items used by him, one of the strongest items in Olympus. And an essential crafting material for the Helm was this 「Dark Divine Crystal.」 

This was one of the items YuWon had to obtain after he returned to the past. He didn’t really have an idea of how to obtain it, so he had planned to take it from Olympus much later, but he ended up finding it in an unexpected place.

‘At this moment in time, only the fragment of the Lightning Bolt exists. Out of the remaining two fragments, one of them is now in my possession.’

This was a reward that was not in his original plan. 

‘I know where the third fragment, the fragment of the Trident, is. The problem is the fragment of the Lightning Bolt…’

YuWon looked away from the Administrator, turning his head to Hargaan, who was waiting with great excitement. 

‘I might be able to gather them sooner than I thought.’

“What? Why?” Hargaan asked, confused by the expression YuWon was making while staring at him. 

YuWon simply shrugged, not saying a word, and looked back at the Administrator. 

“Will we be departing now?”

“▷ Now that all the conditions have been met, yes.”

The Administrator turned to glance over at Hargaan.

“▷ The others will get their reward according to their CP. Hey, Olympian kid. I’m not thrilled about it, but your reward won’t be half-bad either.”

Hargaan had set the second highest contribution after YuWon during the boss raid. Though he couldn’t be compared to YuWon, who controlled the unsealed Chimera and defeated the Chimera Creator by himself, Hargaan had managed to defeat dozens of human-type Chimeras.

“I-Is that true?”

“▷ That’s right.”

“Thank you, Administrator, sir.”

“▷ … Tch.”

Not content, the Administrator looked up and down at Hargaan before turning back to YuWon. 

“▷ Anyway, this will be our last time. You’re not planning on causing just as much trouble once you make it up there, right?”

“I’m not sure.”

“▷ That sounds like a ‘no.’”

The Administrator looked down at the fragment of the 「Helm of Invisibility」 in YuWon’s hand. 

“▷ Though that’d be par for the course. With that in your possession, you’ll be able to rampage even harder.”

Rumble—

The ground started shaking. 

No, it wasn’t the ground that was shaking. It was the space they were standing in.

‘It’s starting.’

This was something YuWon had already experienced once. 

The world in front of them shook violently, and their ears were filled with white noise. Their bodies felt like gravity had disappeared, and they were levitating. 

It was now time to say goodbye to the Tutorial. 

“Now… again…”

Through the white noise, Hargaan’s voice could be heard faintly. 

For some, this was the end. Some people were satisfied with just reaching the Tower, remaining on the lower floors. 

However, this was only the start for Hargaan, and for YuWon, this wasn’t even the beginning. 

Fwoosh—!

YuWon and Hargaan suddenly disappeared, along with all the participants in the Tutorial. The Tutorial ended for everyone simultaneously, and they went up a floor to the world above.  

“▷ If you’re going to cause trouble…”

The Administrator lifted his chin, looking up. 

At first, YuWon was just a single participant from a small world he didn’t even care about. However, YuWon had left an impression on him unlike anyone before. 

“▷ … It might not be that bad for you to become the wave that shakes up this Tower.”

* * *

[1st – Kim YuWon : 674880cp]

[2nd – Hargaan : 121110cp]

[3rd – Yolche : 48960cp]

[4th – ……

[……]

[TIME LIMIT : 598 : 55 : 40]

[Calculations for the rankings have been completed.]

[You have obtained 67488 points.*]

*TL/N: This is points as in their currency.

[You have set a new record.]

[Additional points will be rewarded.]

[You have obtained 50000 points.]

[You have obtained ‘?’s egg.’]

[Welcome to the 1st Floor. ]

Fwoosh—!

The white light faded as YuWon’s vision returned to normal. 

Because of the string of messages he got, instead of checking the location he arrived in, YuWon first checked the rewards he obtained from his contribution points. 

‘An egg?’

The reward was automatically placed into his inventory. 

When he put his hand inside his inventory, he felt an egg the size of a fist.

‘What is this thing?’

YuWon thought he had obtained plenty of rewards, now that he was in possession of the 「Dark Divine Crystal.」 However, that didn’t mean he had no expectations.

He had racked up over 670,000cp, and since he passed the Tutorial in historic record time, he knew that there would be a reward fitting for it, but an unexpected and not even properly named egg was given to him. 

“We’re here,” Hargaan mumbled, as YuWon looked up. 

The unfathomably high ceiling was as high as the sky. One could only wonder how many kilometers high it might be. 

Though this was only a single floor, the 1st Floor was practically a world of its own. 

Around YuWon, there were tens of thousands of participants, no, people who had earned the title of ‘players,’ around him. They had arrived in the outer Tower region on the 1st Floor. Known as the ‘Meadow of Beginnings,’ this was the place where the players first stepped foot in the Tower. 

And around the field…

“What the—?”

“Newbies?”

“Already?”

“Isn’t there supposed to be quite a bit of time before the Tutorial is over?”

“No way! They already finished?”

Gazes descended upon the newly arrived players. It was the pre-existing players. They had been camping out, so they could welcome the new players that just cleared the Tutorial and entered the Tower.

Many guilds had acted quickly to recruit new players, but they were caught off guard by their unexpectedly early arrival.

“It seems like even Olympus is here this time.”

“We’re as busy as always. Some must have gone off somewhere though. Not everyone is here yet.”

Seeing some familiar faces, Hargaan frowned. Making contact with guilds would be pointless, so instead, he turned to YuWon.

“What about guilds? You don’t have any intentions of joining?”

“Are you talking about Olympus?”

“Yeah.”

“Not really.”

“Not surprising. You don’t even have any plans of forming a team, so why would you join a guild?” Having expected this answer, Hargaan shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I’ll keep my promise, since it’s a no-brainer who earned more CP.”

Hargaan was talking about granting him a favor since YuWon won. 

YuWon nodded in response. Though it was a verbal promise, Hargaan wasn’t the kind of guy to break a promise he’d made. 

“Oh, and about earlier.”

“Earlier?”

“Your conversation with the Administrator. Did something happen between Olympus and the Administrator?”

It seemed that Hargaan was concerned about what the Administrator had said, which of course he was. The Administrator had said he wanted to pull out Zeus’s beard if he could, and Hargaan had never heard of the Administrator feeling so hostile to Olympus. 

“The Olympus you know is probably a place that’s righteous and uses its power to maintain order inside the Tower.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“If you want to know everyone’s true colors, you should slowly uncover it yourself. You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

And with those words, YuWon walked away, following the signs. 

The Meadow of Beginnings had signs prepared for the new players. It pointed towards the direction of the 1st Floor city, which was in the central region of the floor. 

“When you get to town, first register as a player. That way we can at least stay in touch. Also…” While watching YuWon walk away, Hargaan hesitated before continuing, “Be careful of fruit flies.”

After hearing those words, YuWon paused for a second, nodded his head, and waved his hand. 

Fruit flies. YuWon knew what Hargaan meant. Even though he also hadn’t joined a guild in his previous life, he had experienced them before.

‘Jackals.’

Tmp, tmp—

Uninterested in guilds, YuWon avoided the existing players as he headed towards the city. 

‘Jackals’ was a nickname given to them for the silly wolf masks that they wore. It referred to the guys that had given up on moving to the next floor and simply waited for the end of every Tutorial. They were bastards that went after new players who weren’t able to join any guilds in the Meadow of Beginnings, and their favorite prey were new players that went around alone, like YuWon.

‘I knew it.’

When he turned his head, he heard breathing in the tall grass.

‘So they’ve started tailing me.’

He didn’t even have to use [Cinder Eyes.] His high Perception was enough for him to realize how many there were and where. 

“He’s actually alone?”

“It wasn’t a dud?”

“He doesn’t have any companions.”

“Something feels off. Should we just let him go?”

“Why should we let him go? We just need to quickly take care of him. Can’t you tell? That’s a Pyromancy Robe.”

“A Pyromancy Robe?”

“Wow. We hit the jackpot…”

They whispered, watching YuWon. Though uninterested at first, after noticing the 「Pyromancy Robe,」 their expectations shot through the roof.

It wasn’t really surprising. The 「Pyromancy Robe」 was among the highest tier items a Tutorial participant could have obtained. Even if it was given as part of the final reward for clearing the Tutorial, it was something that could only be obtained if you had ranked pretty high. 

‘There’s roughly 20 of them. There’s not that many… But a few of them actually have some pretty decent items.’

YuWon smiled faintly. He felt the fragment of the 「Helm of Invisibility」 inside his pocket. His opponents were small fry, so it was the perfect time to test it out. 

‘Why don’t I try it out?’

Whirr, whirr—

The 「Dark Divine Crystal」 started emitting black light from YuWon’s hand. And then…

Fshh—

[Activating Stealth.]

YuWon disappeared.