82
Swish-
A long system window unfolded before Se-woon.
Within it, a reward list was recorded, incomparably more diverse than the twenty items that had been floating around him.
‘Damn it, that player. Just what is he?’
Looking at Se-woon, who was now sparkling with interest, unlike his previous indifference, Tuning bit her lip as she looked at the list.
Even if he achieved first place, he was just a player in the tutorial. They barely know the basics about the system or the Tower.
But what about Se-woon?
As if reading Tuning’s mind, he refused the excellent rewards and chose his own.
If an outsider saw him, they would mistake him for a high-ranker who had already climbed the Tower extensively.
‘And shouldn’t he be a little surprised that I, the administrator, showed up in person?’
When Se-woon first stood at the entrance of the Tower to complete the tutorial, the tutorial management office was in chaos.
A total contribution of 1.5 million points.
Even after searching through the long history of the Tower, there had never been such a high score.
As such, the system experienced confusion and called for the administrator.
Naturally, the subordinate employees turned their heads and avoided this embarrassing situation, leaving Tuning with no choice but to step forward herself.
No, honestly, even if a subordinate employee had volunteered, she couldn’t have sent them. Who knows what might happen if a subordinate made a mistake.
That kind of thing was happening right before Tuning’s eyes.
‘Even so, it’s unlikely he’ll pick a reward better than what I showed him.’
The reward list Se-woon was looking at had a slight trick to it.
‘All rewards.’
As the name suggests, it contained all the rewards that could be received in the tutorial.
Looking at the names of the items and checking them all was virtually impossible.
Besides…….
‘I’ve modified the names of all the dangerous items.’
The countermeasures for any possible situation were also firmly in place.
At best, he would pick something slightly better than the rewards Tuning had shown him earlier.
However, why?
‘Why do I feel so uneasy?’
Tuning kept biting her lip, feeling an inexplicable sense of unease.
* * *
‘As expected, the previous rewards were for an ordinary rank 1 player.’
The reward list before him contained dozens, no, hundreds of rewards.
Perhaps because they didn’t like the idea of him choosing his own rewards, some low-level rewards were mixed in, but Se-woon didn’t mind.
Because Se-woon had struggled and toiled in the Tower before his regression.
[ Dagger of Swiftness ]
‘A B-grade dagger. It’s a useful item, but far from enough for a rank 1 reward.’
[ Giant Flame Tower Hammer ]
‘It has a grand name, but it was famous for being inconvenient to use.’
He could roughly grasp the grade or value of most items just by looking at their names.
Thanks to this, Se-woon was able to quickly sort through the items.
Not long after he started reading the list, Se-woon had already picked out three useful rewards.
[ Coagulated Divine Blood ]
[ Emperor Taejo Mu’s Battle Robe ]
[ Black Thorn Vine ]
All three had much greater value and potential than what the administrator had initially shown.
In fact, when Se-woon removed these from the selection list, the administrator’s mouth widened.
Moreover.
-The Constellation, ‘The Crow Who Bows Its Head,’ is sparkling as it looks at the rewards you have chosen.
-The Constellation, ‘The Crow Who Bows Its Head,’ praises your excellent discernment.
The Demon God of Greed, Mammon, also acknowledged the rewards Se-woon had chosen.
Since Mammon had been indifferent to any item except Durendal, Se-woon was even more confident in his choices.
He was quite satisfied with these, but since the reward list was so long, Se-woon leisurely continued to browse the remaining items.
There was no time limit anyway.
“P, Player? Shouldn’t you choose soon and enter the Tower?”
“I didn’t hear anything about a time limit.”
“There’s no time limit, but other players are quickly climbing the Tower while you’re doing this!”
“I’ll take care of that myself.”
“Haa…….”
Seeing the administrator sigh deeply and fidget, Se-woon became even more certain. There must be an item in the reward list with even greater value than the ones he had already selected.
As he carefully went down the list, one item particularly caught Se-woon’s eye.
[ Small Key ]
‘Key?’
Unlike the extravagant names of the rewards so far, this one had a very ordinary name, regardless of its performance.
He enlarged the description, but there was no proper explanation or usage written.
However, the moment he checked the item’s image, Se-woon’s eyes changed.
‘This isn’t an ordinary key.’
As an adventurer and explorer in his past life, Se-woon had seen various keys and locks.
However, the key he was seeing now had a unique appearance among those many keys.
It lacked the shear line that a key should naturally have, and it was made of orichalcum, the strongest metal, an extravagant material for a key.
If an ignorant person saw it, they would have dismissed it as just a slightly unusual ‘rainbow-colored key,’ but Se-woon’s instincts were telling him to ignore the previous items and choose the key before him.
-The Constellation, ‘The Crow Who Bows Its Head,’ recognizes the identity of the key and widens its eyes.
-The Constellation, ‘The Crow Who Bows Its Head,’ is greatly puzzled that this key is a reward from the tutorial.
He could be sure of it from Mammon’s reaction.
Se-woon finished his deliberation and chose the key before him.
“I’ll take this.”
“R, Really? No, how about choosing something else? Doesn’t that seem too low-level to take as a rank 1 reward?”
“Is that so?”
“Yes! Getting a key with an unknown purpose won’t help you at all in the Tower! The divine blood or battle robe you chose earlier would be much better!”
“I see. So it’s a much lower-level key.”
“Yes, yes! The administrator’s eyes are very accurate! You can trust me!”
The administrator forced a smile as she continued to speak.
However, Se-woon was already certain.
Why was he humoring her? It was to catch her in a ‘slip of the tongue’ like just now.
“Then, you can give me an additional reward.”
“……Yes?”
“You said it was a low-level reward. So, you can give me another reward to match that level, right?”
“……Haha! You’re quite the comedian. The ranking reward for the tutorial is only one.”
“So, are you, the administrator of the tutorial, trying to pass off the situation by giving the rank 1 player a ‘low-level reward’?”
“What are you talking about!”
“How disappointing. I’m just a powerless player, so I have no choice but to accept it, but I wonder what the Constellations watching me will think…….”
-The Constellation, ‘The Crow Who Bows Its Head,’ smiles wryly at your greed.
-The Constellation, ‘The Crow Who Bows Its Head,’ agrees with your words and nods.
-The Constellation, ‘The Crow Who Bows Its Head,’ steps forward, saying they will formally protest this matter to the Tower’s management office.
“Th, That can’t be!”
The Tower’s management office didn’t care about players at all.
However, it was different if the opponent was a Constellation.
Se-woon didn’t know the details yet, but he knew that the influence of a Constellation had a great impact on the management office. Especially if the opponent was a ‘Demon God,’ even more so.
“Haha! I must have been mistaken! In fact, that key has tremendous value…….”
“Surely, you weren’t trying to deceive me by saying it was a worthless reward so I wouldn’t choose it, were you? The person in charge of the tutorial management office.”
“How did you know I was the person in charge!”
“If you’re someone who can speak freely about rewards without even looking at them, you’re either the person in charge or a bad employee. One of the two.”
“Ahem…….”
-The Constellation, ‘The Crow Who Bows Its Head,’ stares at the administrator, trying to suppress the rising corners of its lips.
-The Constellation, ‘The Hungry Prince,’ complains about how there isn’t a single edible item among the rewards.
-The Constellation, ‘The Serpent Enclosing Jealousy,’ scowls at the Tower’s true nature, which it hasn’t seen in a long time.
Se-woon looked at the administrator with a ‘what are you going to do now’ expression.
She was trying to deceive a player who didn’t know anything, but now she had to give out an extra reward.
Three Constellations, including a Demon God, were watching Se-woon, so she couldn’t change her words.
Of course, Leviathan was outside the Tower, so her influence wouldn’t be great, but even without her, the influence of two Demon Gods was enormous.
The administrator imagined the endless scolding from the top floors of the Tower and lowered her head, muttering softly.
“One more…….”
“Then, give me this.”
“That won’t do! Since it’s the second reward, at least a low-grade one!”
“Ah. So, you were intentionally trying to give me a ‘low-grade’ reward from the beginning?”
“……Understood.”
Watching Se-woon choose another reward as if he had been waiting for it, the administrator let out a deep sigh.
* * *
[ Emperor Taejo Mu’s Battle Robe ]
Category: Cloak
Grade: S-
Description: The battle robe used by ‘Cao Cao,’ the last chancellor of the Han Dynasty and the Taejo [posthumous temple name] of the Wei Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period.
Abilities: 1. Versatile Hero – Increases the efficiency of all stats and skills by 10%.
2. Emphasis on Personal Expedition – Increases the combat power of the troops by 10% when leading them in battle.
3. Emphasis on Relatives – Increases the combat power of trusted troops by 10%. (Up to 10 people can be designated, and can be stacked with Emphasis on Personal Expedition)
Emperor Taejo Mu’s Battle Robe. In other words, Cao Cao’s battle robe.
It was an S-grade item that surpassed the A+ grade items that the administrator had initially presented.
The Coagulated Divine Blood and Black Thorn Vine also had tempting abilities, and Se-woon would have chosen them in the past.
‘But this would be better for leading a clan.’
The current Se-woon was no longer alone. Now that he had decided to lead his clan members, including Yoo Seo-ah and Kang Han-cheol, he needed at least one command-type item like this.
Besides…….
‘These abilities all apply to me too.’
The first ability, increasing all stats and skill efficiency by 10%.
In addition, the Emphasis on Personal Expedition and Emphasis on Relatives could all be stacked.
In other words, Se-woon’s combat power would soar by more than 30% when he went into battle. Just by wearing a cloak, not a sword or armor.
This alone was enough to qualify ‘Emperor Taejo Mu’s Battle Robe’ as an S-grade item.
Swish.
‘The fit is good too.’
The battle robe was mostly red with a golden dragon pattern symbolizing the emperor, and it suited Se-woon as if it had been his from the beginning.
It was a little disappointing to give up the fear ability of the ‘Gray Wolf Cloak’ he had been using, but this battle robe had excellent performance that made it worth giving up.
Next was the ‘Small Key,’ which could be said to be the main reward of the tutorial.
[ Small Key ]
Category: ??
Grade: ??
Description: ??
Abilities: ??
Unfortunately, even after receiving the real thing and checking the information, he couldn’t confirm any proper explanation.
However, Se-woon had a vague idea about this key.
‘A master key.’
In other words, a Master Key.
A key that can open everything that is locked or sealed. A legendary key that he had only seen in literature.
Of course, he couldn’t be sure because the information wasn’t confirmed, but he could check it out when he entered the Tower.
Even if it wasn’t a master key, the material, orichalcum, was a mineral worth enough to be a rank 1 reward.
“Shall we go in now?”
He turned his head and looked around at the path he had come through.
The tutorial felt longer than he had expected, but considering the Tower climb ahead, this was just a taste.
Thinking that, Se-woon took his first step into the entrance of the Tower.