Akasha System 2.0

"Ahh. That hits the spot."

Yujin stretched as he woke to the morning sunlight, savoring a rare, clean rush of freshness.

How long had it been?

A morning this good.

In the first timeline, at least, he was pretty sure he'd never had one. Every day had been a fight just to stay alive. Sleep had been little more than stolen dozes, and even then he never fully dropped off — always half-alert, always watching the dark.

The second run hadn't started any better. He'd wrecked himself hunting the Lightbolt Crow, and then the Akasha System had thrown him into an upgrade he never saw coming. Rest had been a luxury he simply didn't get.

Today was different.

No stray thoughts. No worries. No need to keep one eye on the room. The result was the most thoroughly refreshing morning he'd had in a very long time.

Of course, Lee Sia ending up half a corpse yesterday had played no small part. She'd paid full price for the insolence of talking back to him. That, more than anything, was probably why he'd slept so well.

"Let's see."

He casually summoned his status window.

"Oh?"

Almost done. By the time he washed up and came back out, it should be finished.

Half excited, half expectant, Yujin scrubbed himself down in a hurry and stepped outside.

At that exact moment, a notification window bloomed in front of him.

"…Holy shit. This is insane."

The curse slipped out on its own. The upgrade had unlocked three new features — and every single one of them was broken.

"Party."

Same idea as parties in any other game. Form a group, hunt together, and everyone takes a cut of the experience even if they're not the one landing the kill. In other words, he could run a bus. True, game-breaking cheese would still be off the table, but the help was undeniable — not just for raising Lee Sia and Park Ji-hoo, but for his own growth as well.

"It's a hell of a feature, but…"

Next to the other two, the party system was almost ordinary.

"Daily Quest."

Normally, quests came from NPCs or Administrators. That was never easy. There simply weren't that many of them. Too many players, too few quests — the competition was brutal. On top of that, plenty of quests, like Citadel's, demanded you clear certain conditions first. Yujin's first-timeline knowledge gave him an edge, sure, but even then, landing a quest was never simple.

"But a daily quest…"

No greasing NPCs. No dancing for Administrators. One free quest, every single day. He couldn't say yet how good the rewards would be, but if ordinary quests were any guide, they wouldn't leave him hungry.

This is going to help.

He'd already been pulling ahead, but with daily quests he could outpace every other player by a margin no one would even believe.

And then the last one.

This was the real jackpot. Yujin's face lit with anticipation as he spoke.

"Coin Shop."

A soft flare of light burst open — and a whole new world unfurled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠before his eyes.

Exactly as advertised — items, skills, and even traits, all available for purchase. Almost without thinking, Yujin tapped the weapon items tab.

A list unspooled in a long, glittering cascade.

"Insane."

There was no counting them. A casual skim put the total well into the hundreds. And then—

"They sell this?"

Even Yujin, who had solo-cleared the Tower, had never laid eyes on anything like it. The Akasha System was stingy with praise — and even it had slapped the word "formidable" on this thing. Beside it, Black Wing [A] looked like a child's toy.

"Just one of these…"

And the Tower would practically clear itself.

Yujin swallowed hard and checked the price.

"Ah, fuck. Of course."

1,000,000 Coins.

A million. He currently had five. Even if he tallied every Coin he'd scraped together across the entire first timeline, he'd be lucky to hit a hundred thousand. This was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ten times that.

"This wasn't put here for anyone to actually buy."

Performance-wise, the price made a kind of sense — but it was still obscenely high. Even with every scrap of knowledge he remembered, he might or might not ever afford it. And the shop was packed with items on par with Flame Emperor [S], or better. The prices on all of them were enough to make a man laugh out loud.

Skills were no different.

"There's Instant [S], too."

The same skill as the Instant [E] he'd earned on the Tutorial Floor — only this was the finished form, fully grown. No charge limit. No range limit. The description claimed you could hop freely from the first floor all the way to the hundredth, any destination you wanted.

"Broken."

That was the only word for it. And the price was broken right along with it.

"Two million."

Double Flame Emperor [S]. And skills like that were scattered all over the list.

But the real crown jewel was the traits. Things Yujin had never even heard of.

Heavenly Martial Physique [S]. Ruler of Mana [S]. Sword God [S]. Hypercalc Intelligence [S]. Just the names told the story. Buy any one of them and you could slap the apocalypse across the face. Of course, the prices were equally beyond imagination.

"It's like a luxury department store."

Ordinary people could walk in, take a look, and walk right back out. Akasha System 2.0 probably hadn't put these on display expecting anyone to buy them.

Which meant what Yujin should actually be aiming for was the bottom of the list. He spun the scroll like a madman, and at last, reasonably priced goods started to appear.

"Cheap."

Black Wing [C] was even in there. About a hundred and fifty Coins. Fair enough — no, factoring in its potential, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it was a bargain. In the first timeline, if Citadel had put Black Wing [C] up at that price, the line of buyers would have stretched for hundreds of meters.

"Nothing I can buy right now, though."

Yujin had all of five Coins. For three days since being summoned into the Tower, that was an absurd haul — but in absolute terms it was nothing. He couldn't even afford Earth Dragon's Blood [D] with that.

"Not now. I'll save up and buy later."

Luckily, the ways to earn Coins were endless. For the moment, leveling came first — but once he hit his stride, he'd start stockpiling Coins as well.

"Shame. Shop'll have to wait."

That finished his survey of Akasha System 2.0. It had felt like a quick look, but morning had already slipped past into midday.

"Wait — it's already this late?"

The sun was high overhead, and Lee Sia and Park Ji-hoo still hadn't gotten up. Yesterday had been brutal, especially for Sia — she'd genuinely come within a hair of dying. So letting them rest a little longer…

Yeah, right.

"These little shits are getting soft."

Yujin closed the status window and stood. Today was the last day on the first floor. He'd have to come back eventually, but for the near future, this was goodbye. He couldn't afford to waste any more time. Last day meant they were going to work twice as hard.

That way the second floor will go a little smoother.

A cruel smile tugged at his mouth as he left the room. Destination: their quarters. Time for a shower of Red Goblin blood.

The next day.

Yujin led Lee Sia and Park Ji-hoo — both of them with faces drowned in dark circles — out of Terra.

"A-are we heading up now?"

"Yeah."

Yujin's answer was as half-hearted as they came, but Sia's face still lit with pure relief.

"So that's it for Red Goblins, then? We're done?"

"That's right."

Over the past two days, the Red Goblins that had died to Sia's and Ji-hoo's hands had to number over a thousand. Maybe even two thousand — he hadn't been counting. Thanks to that, both of them had hit level 20.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Level 20, at a point when other players were just starting to get their bearings and think about maybe planning a hunt. They might as well have been living in a different dimension.

Yujin himself had reached level 22. He'd handed almost every kill to Sia and Ji-hoo, and he'd still leveled. All of it was the party system. He'd done nothing more than keep them from dying — the bare minimum of support — and the experience had rolled in on schedule. In short, free food.

Once again, he couldn't help but marvel at the sheer arrogance of Akasha System 2.0.

Should I grab a few more slaves and run a whole factory?

Ten more, and experience would basically auto-copy itself. The thought crossed his mind. He discarded it almost as fast. People like Lee Sia and Park Ji-hoo didn't just grow on trees. Drag a bunch of randoms along and he'd spend more time cleaning up after them than anything else. Better to stick with the original plan: a small crew of skilled workers.

Yujin looked at the two of them with genuine satisfaction.

"U-um… what about the Earth Dragon?"

Ji-hoo asked, catching that look.

"We kill it on the way out."

Yujin had already taken down the first floor's gatekeeper, so the path to the second floor was open. But days had passed; the thing would have respawned. Its nesting ground sat right by the stairs to the second floor, so clearing it again on the way through made sense. With a little luck, it even dropped decent items.

"Can we handle it?"

Sia asked. They were both level 20. The Earth Dragon was only level 10. Even factoring in a boss monster's special abilities, there was no reason two people at their level shouldn't be able to kill it.

"Yeah. So you two take this one too."

It wouldn't be easy. Compared to the Red Goblins they'd been farming, this thing was in another league of size and strength.

"It'll be good experience."

The upper floors were crawling with monsters built like Earth Dragons. Getting used to fighting that scale early wouldn't hurt.

"Let's move."

For a while, at least, it was farewell to the first floor. Yujin left Terra with Lee Sia and Park Ji-hoo at his side.