Chapter 58

. End (8)

The Hall of Fame.

A list of names to honor those who have scored the highest points on each floor of The Tower.

If someone was given the opportunity to register their name in the Hall of Fame, it meant that they have shown an outstanding performance. It was a significant milestone in one’s way of becoming a god. It was an honor that every player hoped for.

However, Yeon-woo shook his head.

[You have refused to register your name.]

[Your record has been deeply engraved in The Tower. You can register your name later on were you wish to.]

Yvlke opened his eyes slightly wider and soon burst into a jolly laugh.

“Well, ### surely has a very different personality. But still, there are players like you from time to time. Those who have great skills, but don’t want to come to the surface.”

It seemed Yvlke had interpreted Yeon-woo’s intention differently.

‘Doesn’t matter to me.’

Yeon-woo simply didn’t want to reveal his real name. But such a misunderstanding wasn’t bad for him, so he didn’t bother responding.

“Now then, it’s time for your reward.”

Yvlke’s word caught all the players’ attention. They were dying to know what kind of reward would be given for such an overwhelming amount of Karma points.

At least one thing was certain. That The Tower, which has been quiet since the Arthia incident, would be stirred up once again.

Yvlke stretched out his palm. His hand flashed with a pool of light, revealing a blue box with a big question mark on it.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

It was an item box with his rewards.

The box floated about for a while and disappeared with another flash. Then, a new message appeared in front of Yeon-woo’s eyes.

[You have acquired ‘Zeus’ Key’.]

[You have acquired ‘Beast Lord’s Lion Mane Helm’.]

[You have acquired ‘Iblis’ Embryo’.]

···

A smile appeared on Yeon-woo’s face as he read down the list of the rewarded artifacts.

Every single one of them looked great. Among them was an artifact used by a former Lord.

‘Though, they’ll all be traded for different items.’

Still, there was one thing that caught Yeon-woo’s attention. A palm-sized key with a bright shimmery yellow hue, as if it were made from a topaz.

It was Zeus’ Key.

[Zeus’ Key]

Classification: Miscellaneous

Rating: C+

Description: A key used to open the treasury of Zeus, the sky god. Nothing is known about its use.

Despite having the name of a god in its name, Zeus’ Key was only rated as C+.

But even that was because of its name. Without that, it wouldn’t be strange if it were to be classified as an F-rating trash item. Because Zeus’ Key alone was of no use at all.

If an outsider were to see this, they might have complained about why such an item was a reward given to the top ranker of the tutorial.

In fact, there have been many players who had received this key and ended up discarding it.

However,

‘After quite a few players climbed up to higher floors and discovered the use of this key, most of them regretted throwing it away.’

But even if they knew the secret of the key, it still wasn’t easy to use. Because in order to complete the key, players had to collect the other 11 keys. And of course, the rest of the keys were all hidden pieces, all as hard to acquire as Zeus’ Key.

‘But I must open the Olympus Treasury no matter what it takes.’

It was a reward he had earned by enduring all those hardships in the tutorial. He couldn’t afford to lose it.

His grip on the key tightened at the thought of it.

Then, Yeon-woo let out a chuckle in spite of himself.

‘Now that I have this in my hand... It’s starting to feel real that the tutorial is really over now.’

It had been less than a month, but putting together everything he had been through in the tutorial, it felt much more arduous than his four years of missions in Africa.

‘The problem is that things are only going to get harder .’

After cramming all the rewards into his backpack, Yeon-woo slung his backpack over his right shoulder.

There were too many eyes focused on him right now, most of them filled with jealousy. So he decided to check the other items somewhere else without other players.

*Clap*

Yvlke clapped his hands loudly to call the players’ attention to himself.

Yeon-woo and the other players turned to look at Yvlke.

“This is the end of the tutorial everyone. Once again, thank you all for your hard work. Those who have been deemed qualified to enter The Tower will be notified soon, and even if you don’t receive the notice, please try again in the next round. Now, I must bid farewell. I hope to see you all again.”

Yvlke said goodbye with a dignified look,

“The exit door is down below.”

And he disappeared with a blowing wind.

Screens of light came down over the heads of Yeon-woo and the other players.

[You have proven yourself to be worthy of climbing The Tower. The Tower will continue to pray for your firm will to becoming a god.]

[Will you enter The Tower?]

A blue portal opened under Yeon-woo’s feet.

But the moment before he entered the portal, he heard Phante shouting at him while approaching with fast steps. He was slightly frowning as if he hadn’t completely recovered from the injuries.

“Hey, you in the white mask!”

Yeon-woo gave him an indifferent look.

“What do you want?”

“I challenge you to a duel. What happened in Section G, it was all because of your artifact. Chuck in all that bullshit and let’s fight with sheer strength. You’d better not refuse if you’re a warrior like me.”

Phante growled as if he were dying to get his revenge on Yeon-woo.

However,

“I surrender.”

Yeon-woo lifted both hands over his head with an apathetic look.

Phante was perplexed by his response.

“Wh, what?”

“I said I surrender. Let’s just say you beat me. Isn’t that what you wanted? Don’t tell me you’re going to pick a fight with someone who has already surrendered? You’re a warrior.”

Phante was struck speechless. Because for what he knew, surrendering was not something done so easily.

“Well then.”

Yeon-woo immediately activated the portal as if he didn’t want to deal with him anymore.

“Dude! I’m not done talking yet!”

Phante belatedly came to his senses and reached out to catch Yeon-woo, but he had already vanished from his spot.

“Fuuuuck! You motherfucking son of a bitch!”

Phante tore his hair out in anger.

From the beginning to the end, he couldn’t help but think that they had been toyed by Yeon-woo.

Edora, on the other hand, stood behind him and gave a little smile.

And now at last, the curtain had fallen upon what felt like a long but distinguished round of the tutorial.

* ? *?? *

A major new talent burst his way into The Tower!

As soon as the latest round of the tutorial finished, such rumors rapidly spread within various communities all throughout The Tower.

The one who had acquired more than 500,000 Karma on his first try in the tutorial.

The one who swept through the whole Section G, defeated the royal blood of the One-horned tribe, and hoarded everything that existed in the section.

Thus, people gave him the nickname ‘The Hoarder’.

And because of that, many clans desired to recruit the the rumoured player

As The Tower’s history grew longer, more and more players had completed the tutorial and entered The Tower. But at some point, it had become difficult to find new players of notable talent.

Under such circumstances, the advent of the new talent had them all excited

Countless people tried to figure out who this player was. But there were only a few things that they could find out. That this player always wore a mask over his face, and that he didn’t even register his name on the Hall of Fame because he didn’t want to reveal his name.

Some of them were able to find out this player was acquainted with Kahn and Doyle, but when they found out that their relationship was merely made from a deal, everyone fell into disorder.

In the end, with the identity of the player unrevealed, several clans started to take action to make contact with him.

However, even after quite a long time since the tutorial ended, nobody was able to find him or even hear anything about him. As if all the rumors that had spread throughout The Tower so far had been lies.

No one could find any trace of this player. And as time went by, the rumors about this mysterious player only snowballed with all kinds of strange conjectures and speculations.

* ? * ? *

Yeon-woo frowned at the bright light that pricked his eyes.

‘I’m getting dizzy.’

His eyes were burning, and his vision was spinning. He was feeling dizzy as if he was in a plane stunting up above in the sky.

He thought he wouldn’t feel this kind of sensation unless he used his skills.

‘Maybe the transition magic from jumping from space to space is different from other skills?’

He presumed it could be just the process of his body trying to get used to entering a whole new world.

But fortunately, his Mana Circuit soon activated, helping him stabilize his bodily functions. The dizziness subsided as his vision stopped spinning. From then on, Yeon-woo was able to take a look around more comfortably.

‘So, this is the world of The Tower.’

A wide expanse of the world greeted Yeon-woo’s eyes.

Before his eyes, there were various shapes of houses and buildings stretched along the endless horizon. The boulevard was full of people of different races dressed in all sorts of clothes and armors, leading their busy lives.

Even though there were so many different things mixed up in one scenery, everything felt just beautiful and harmonious.

Just by watching, Yeon-woo couldn’t help but let out an exclamation.

And there was one thing that stood out the most amid this beautiful scenery.

Right in the middle of this vast land of civilization, there stood a lofty tower. It was so tall that the peak could not be seen amid the clouds.

Even if it was standing completely still, it felt like something was waving at him, telling him to go inside.

‘The Tower of the Sun God. Obelisk.’

The sight he had seen over and over in his brother’s diary.

But there was a huge difference between what he had seen in the diary and what he was actually seeing.

If anything came to his mind, it was sheer awe. And there was nothing that could properly express what he was feeling towards the tower.

An ideal world where different universes and dimensions meet and merge like a cobweb, forming a society of a vast melting pot with a countless variety of races.

However,

‘They are there, inside that tower.’

In Yeon-woo’s eyes, it nothing more than a pandemonium full of devils and demons. Ranging from a single high ranker to the entire clan.

The players involved with the death of his brother were all rulers in command of The Tower.

Every single action his brother took, must have been seen as a challenge towards them.

His brother had been left powerless.

‘But it’ll be different now.’

Yeon-woo was going to look at them with his brother’s eyes and ask them in his brother’s voice.

And then, he was going to return to them what they had done to his brother.

‘This is the beginning.’

Beneath the white mask, the two Will-O-Wisps were blazing with fury.

* ? * ? *

Anyone who is climbing up The Tower desires to reach the final 99th floor and become a god.

But here, a man who possessed a different purpose in his mind began to climb The Tower.

The journey of a player with the title of ‘The Hoarder’, or the one who would later be known as the ‘Black God’ was just beginning.