Leveling with the Gods

[1st – Kim YuWon : 22,360cp]

[2nd – Zeus : 8,860cp]

[3rd – Hercules : 8,540cp]

[4th – Odin : 8,020cp]

[……]

[36th – Halimun : 6,230cp]

A new record was set once again on the 11th Floor.

A player who managed to break the record of Zeus, a High Ranker and King of Olympus, had appeared .

‘So he got 36th place.’

Halimun, who passed the test with YuWon, ended up with a pretty high ranking. It was thanks to the five flags he had on-hand and the 600 flags he got from YuWon, netting him over 6,000cp.

It was a pretty incredible record since 36th put him above most High Rankers.

‘As for Hargaan…’

YuWon skimmed over the new 11th Floor rankings. There were quite a few familiar names.

OhGong was ranked 11th, which was pretty low considering his skills. But that was because he wasn’t suited for team-based tests like this. Odin was 4th, and Hercules was 3rd.

Then he spotted another familiar name that popped out to him.

[6th – Hargaan : 7,860cp]

There wasn’t a big gap between 4th and 6th place. It was close enough where Hargaan could have gotten 4th if he had obtained just a few more flags.

‘That’s impressive.’

YuWon saw Hargaan’s records here and there. Hargaan was steadily raising his rankings while climbing the Tower, and now finally on the 11th Floor, he got a result that matched the great beings of the Tower.

‘He’s certainly changed.’

Hargaan was originally brimming with talent. What changed was the Tutorial and his meeting with YuWon.

YuWon had no way to know what kind of a stimulus he provided to Hargaan, but it was a fact that he had essentially given a tiger wings with the Tutorial’s reward. And right now, Hargaan was using those wings to climb the Tower with better results.

“I wonder.”

After checking the rankings, YuWon took a look at his contribution points again. A CP of over 20,000.

This was a number YuWon had not expected.

He would have been satisfied just getting over 10,000cp, yet he had scored double that amount.

This was because of one reason.

[You have been awarded additional CP for an unknown reason.]

[You have obtained 10,000cp.]

This was a message that only YuWon got. It was likely YuWon’s special reward for defeating Hypnos.

The Administrator had kept his promise.

10,000cp alone was enough to top the rankings.

It wasn’t as big of a reward as he had expected, but YuWon had no complaints.

* * *

As soon as he arrived on the 12th Floor, YuWon immediately found himself lodgings for a hefty price.

“This was the last one left. You got lucky,” the owner of the inn told him.

It was a hefty price of 20 points for a single night in a tiny 16m2* room.

*PR/N: ≈172ft2

The world of the 12th Floor was a singular small city. Because there was so little land, lodging was expensive, and it was hard to obtain food. This made the 12th Floor the worst possible place for players to stay.

‘There’s not even anything to do here.’

There were no dungeons and very few facilities.

YuWon unpacked his belongings inside his small room, and then…

“Lackey.”

“> Yes. Did you call for me?”

A small fairy appeared like it had been waiting. Its eyes sparkled with great expectation.

That wasn’t a surprise. Any Lackey would be interested in YuWon with how many points and CP he had.

If YuWon didn’t call for the Lackey, it might have even shown up without being called.

“I want to use the Shop,” YuWon requested.

“> Which shop? The Point Shop? Or the CP Shop?”

“The CP Shop. This is the only place I can use my CP anyway,” YuWon answered.

The CP earned on the 11th Floor acted similarly to points. The 11th Floor’s test didn’t directly reward you with points but instead gave you CP, a much more valuable currency.

And this CP was usable in the CP Shop on the 12th Floor.

“> Okay. CP Shop, coming right up!”

Ding—

A shop opened in front of YuWon’s eyes.

The 11th’s Floor reward was special because you could ‘select’ your reward with CP, which was very different from rewards from other floors.

There was such a wide variety to select from that it surprised even YuWon.

‘So they even have stuff like this,’ he thought.

There were quite a few items and skills with a price tag of over 10,000cp that YuWon wanted.

The CP Shop had a fundamental difference from a normal Point Shop. Normal Point Shops showed all items and skills on sale, but the CP Shop only displayed things that the player could purchase with their CP.

No one knew such items were sold in the CP Shop because no player had obtained over 10,000cp before.

“What the hell?”

The higher the price tag went up, the better the items got exponentially. Around the 20,000cp mark, there were skills for sale that shocked even YuWon. This was certainly a happy problem to have, but no matter what he chose, he would feel like he missed out.

But he had to make a choice.

‘I was wondering where this went…’

It was an item that YuWon was looking for.

‘So it was here.’

It ended up not being a difficult choice. There were other items and skills he wanted, but it was possible to find substitutes for those. However, this item was irreplaceable.

“I’ll go with this.”

[You consumed 22,000cp.]

* * *

The NamGung Clan was the second largest organization in the Martial Realm after the Heavenly Demonic Cult, and it was the center of the 10th Floor’s world that led the Martial Guild. Not to mention, it was an elite clan that produced many Rankers and High Rankers.

“So you’re back,” a man greeted Hoon’s arrival.

Step, step—

Hoon walked towards him.

It was his father, NamGung JinWoon.

JinWoon had a beard that was a few inches long, sharp looking eyes, and a body that didn’t age.

He was Hoon’s father and the man that turned the NamGung Clan, which was on the brink of ruin long ago, into the main pillar of the Martial Realm.

“You returned early,” JinWoon said from amidst a mountain of documents.

It was an image that didn’t fit a man who had wielded a sword his entire life, but as time passed, he had to spend more and more days looking through papers. This was a natural result of the NamGung Clan’s power and influence having grown so large.

“Isn’t there a lot of time left until the Grand Martial Arts Tournament?” JinWoon asked Hoon.

“I have something I need to tell you, father.”

“You could have used your kit to contact me.”

“I decided it would be best that we leave no records of this conversation.”

The player kit wasn’t omnipotent. Though rare, there were players and Rankers who would hack another player’s kit and check their records.

And the security of this information was crucial in this matter.

JinWoon raised his head from the pile of documents and looked over at his son.

“Go ahead,” he told Hoon.

“Olympus is making a move.”

“Those guys are always on the move.”

“I think they found Hephaestus.”

JinWoon’s hand paused while reaching for his cooled cup of tea, and he stared at Hoon, signaling him to keep talking.

Hoon continued, “They’re preparing for the Gigantomachy.”

“The Gigantomachy, you say…”

Instead of drinking his tea, JinWoon tapped his teacup with his finger.

He was reminded of an unpleasant memory. It was a tragedy that all the olden Rankers remembered, and the only ones in this Tower who remembered that tragedy fondly were from Olympus.

“Where did this information come from?”

“I heard it from Kim YuWon.”

“Kim YuWon. I’ve heard his name before.”

YuWon’s name was pretty famous in the Martial Realm. Rankers were already starting to learn of YuWon’s name, but the biggest reason for his fame in the Martial Realm was that he had passed the Heavenly Demonic Cult’s test.

For JinWoon who knew the Heavenly Demonic Cult and the Heavenly Demon, he couldn’t easily brush this information off.

However…

“Isn’t he still just a player? How does he know such information?” JinWoon asked.

Regardless of his fame, YuWon was too small compared to Olympus. A lowly player.

And that preconceived notion was something that was hard to break out of without seeing him in action in person.

“Olympus is aiming for Kim YuWon.”

“What do you mean by ‘aiming for’?”

“The truth is…” Hoon told his father the events that had unfolded on the 11th Floor.

JinWoon’s eyebrows furrowed.

It was a story that was hard to believe… But it wasn’t like he could refuse to believe his son’s words.

“He has been fighting Olympus for a while now,” said Hoon.

“Ngh…” JinWoon let out a faint grunt.

A player that was still far from becoming a Ranker was fighting the giant that was Olympus by himself.

JinWoon felt his chest ache.

“Who else knows about this?”

“Everyone in my team.”

“And your team has Gibbons, right?”

“Yes.”

“It’ll only be a matter of time until Asgard also knows.”

Gibbons was a player who was sponsored by Asgard.

JinWoon felt that a giant torrent was starting up.

The active Olympus and the 2nd Gigantomachy.

And caught in the middle was a small star that had just begun to shine.

JinWoon stood up and looked out his window. He could feel how busy his clan was while preparing for the Grand Martial Arts Tournament, and he had a hunch that this tournament would be more turbulent than usual.

* * *

Fwoosh—

Smash—!

A fireball flew fast in a straight line and smashed the target.

Embers spread out, and the crowd couldn’t hold back their awe.

“Wow…”

“He actually hit that?”

“I couldn’t even see it properly…”

The testing site quickly filled with spectators.

This was a test where you had to hit 100 targets. The test lasted an hour, and the targets became faster as their numbers increased.

YuWon gathered the [Holy Fire] in his hands once again.

A round target appeared again, but it was much faster than the previous one.

‘This isn’t bad practice,’ YuWon thought.

He knew how to handle a myriad of different weapons, but he was most familiar with the sword. However, YuWon also excelled greatly in spearmanship, and throwing spears was one of YuWon’s specialties.

Fwoosh—

A spear made of fire.

Because his focus was still weak, it wasn’t that sharp, but despite that, it was still destructive.

YuWon could see the trajectory of the flying target. And in an instant…

Whoosh—!

… The flaming spear left YuWon’s hand and pierced the target.

Boom—!

[You destroyed 1,000 targets.]

[You passed the 19th Floor’s test.]

[You are now able to teleport to the next floor.]

[You leveled up.]

[Your Strength increased by 1.]

[Your Constitution increased by 1.]

[Your Perception increased by 1.]

[You obtained 50,000 points.]

Messages popped up for Yuwon, who was looking at the remains of the shattered targets.

He had achieved ten times the quota required to pass, and there were still about five minutes on the clock. However, it seemed that there were no more targets left.

‘That’s stingy,’ YuWon thought.

This message should have been happy news, but YuWon was frowning.

It was likely because there weren’t any additional rewards. There was only the increase in stats from leveling and points.

Also, with 100 Arcane Power so close in his reach, other stats kept increasing instead.

‘I’m slowly hitting the limit.’

He had reached a point where it had become harder to get stronger from just hunting and getting rewards from tests.

It was a dilemma. YuWon didn’t know if he should have been happy that his growth was faster than expected or if he should have felt disappointed that his growth was becoming stunted.

‘I guess I shouldn’t expect a proper reward anymore until the 20th Floor.’

Every 10th Floor, the tests became much harder, but they also came with proportionally great rewards. For example, he had obtained the [Holy Fire] from the Heavenly Demonic Cult on the 10th Floor.

And unlike with the 10th Floor where he had gone in blind, YuWon knew what was hidden on the 20th Floor.

‘I’ll have to stop for a moment.’

He had now obtained the right to reside on the 20th Floor, but the 20th Floor’s test was quite tricky.

Well technically it was what YuWon had to do in the test that was tricky.

[Arcane Power : 99]

He was just one point away from 100, and he knew how to get there.

The 「Great Scarlet Medicine Ball.」 It was one of the greatest elixirs that was only made once every three years in the Martial Realm, and it possessed a value of hundreds of thousands in points.

“I should start heading down.”

YuWon didn’t head up after finishing the 19th Floor’s test. Rather, he headed downwards because it was now one day before the Grand Martial Arts Tournament.