The Power of Reversal
The rewards had gone far beyond merely being good.
Things like the Soulforged Sword [C], the Battle Spirit Eye [C], and the Lucky Pill [C] were so outstanding that even Yujin knew them well by name.
Their effects were excellent, and they were skills and items more than worth using.
The same held true for the item called Reversal [B].
It was far too famous—an outright B-grade item.
Not something that should have been coming out of a mere 16th Floor.
C-grade might not have been all that rare for Yujin and the 3 No, but for other players, it was a grade they had never even laid eyes on, wasn't it?
Even those flies and junkies over there probably didn't have so much as a D-grade, let alone a C.
And yet… B?
B-grade?
Yujin swallowed dryly and checked the description window.
Just once, for five minutes, reverse a designated target.
Yep. Holy shit.
He had wondered if it might be some knockoff with the same name.
It was the real deal.
"Ha… haha—."
Yujin laughed.
It was single-use, and the effect lasted a mere ten minutes.
But depending on how you used it, its potential was endless.
From the dumb stunt of swapping places with an enemy, all the way to flipping the direction of gravity itself.
In the first timeline, the guy who got this had deliberately inflicted a fatal wound on himself and then used it—killing the boss of the 72nd Floor.
That was the kind of item it was. That sort of thing was possible.
Dozens of ways to exploit Reversal [B] flashed through Yujin's mind.
So many he couldn't even settle on one.
"Whoa, insane."
"I've never seen anything like this."
"Me neither."
"This is really C-grade? Crazy. C-grade…"
Everyone except the 3 No was stunned by rewards they were seeing for the first time.
Until now they had only ever seen E-grade, or at best D-grade, right?
Suddenly facing C-grade rewards, their eyes couldn't help but spin.
"Not bad, huh?"
"What did you get?"
"Flame Blade [C]. Says it coats the edge of a sword in fire."
"I got Thunder Fist [C]."
"Just the name sounds strong as hell."
Even as they talked, Lee Sia and Park Ji-hoo carefully avoided spilling the finer details.
There were other players present who weren't part of their party, after all.
They were reading the room and acting accordingly without being told—he had raised them well.
"What about you, Unnie?"
"Not telling."
Of course, there was also the type who grew just fine on her own without any raising at all.
Looking a little sulky, Lee Sia turned her eyes to Yujin this time.
"What about you, old man? Bet you pulled something ridiculous."
How was this kid's mouth getting filthier by the day?
But she wasn't wrong.
Yujin's contribution to this quest had been overwhelming.
Naturally, the rewards would reflect that difference.
"This."
Even so, Yujin had no intention of laying every card on the table.
So what he showed them was the Soulforged Sword [C].
A blade forged from the souls of the dead. Slightly stronger against the undead, and charges with Death Qi each time a monster is hunted. Once per day, Death Qi Explosion [C] can be used.
In the first timeline, it had been the sword used by the Undertaker—one of the Ten Evils.
That bastard had used the Soulforged Sword [C] to slaughter countless lives, then unleashed Death Qi for massacres on a grand scale.
And now it's in my hands.
Losing one sword wouldn't rewrite the Undertaker's entire future, but it would weaken him a little.
With the Soulforged Sword [C] in Yujin's possession, a fair number of people would get to keep their lives.
"Whoa, nice."
She had no soul.
She probably thought her own reward was better.
Well, not wrong.
Flame Blade [C] was an excellent skill.
It boosted attack power, and you could even use it as a torch.
From now on, this one's the vanguard.
Yujin thought with a private smile.
Lee Sia, who had just been voluntarily drafted for a one-way trip to the Statue of Liberty without knowing a thing about it, simply snickered as she coated Black Wing [B] in flames and admired the effect.
"Anyway, we're done here. Time to head up."
"Does the 17th Floor need ten people too?"
"Nah. No rules like that for a while."
As Yujin remembered it, that would be the 30th Floor.
Back then it had been a full fifty-person rule.
Meaning a long wait ahead.
I should start holding back on pulling too far ahead.
Climbing too fast just meant having to stop and wait for the others every so often like this.
Adjusting his pace, focusing on leveling, and keeping an eye on the other players wouldn't be a bad shift in direction either.
That way he might spot another promising talent like Kang Mu-hyun.
Toss them a few decent scraps and they'll grow on their own.
Especially types like the Flame Emperor or the Blade Sovereign.
On the upper floors past the 50th, those guys would be essential.
"I'll take you all as far as the 20th Floor, so keep up."
Yujin looked over Kang Mu-hyun's group and the still-dazed five-person party as he spoke.
"…Thank you."
Kang Mu-hyun bowed at the waist, while Jane and Logan only reluctantly tipped their heads.
But they didn't refuse.
They had seen the insanity Yujin had put on full display with their own eyes.
If those Tomahawks had been aimed at them instead of the enemy?
They didn't even want to imagine it.
"Hehe, is there anything you need, sir?"
"I could carry your bags—oh, wait, you don't have any."
"Want a massage?"
With the three hangers-on scrambling to catch Yujin's eye however they could, the whole group finally started moving.
Toward the place where the 16th Floor's boss monster waited.
Peace, by nature, came from physics—from violence.
Jane, who had still clung to her pride and temper even after getting thoroughly beaten down by Lee Sia on the 15th Floor, no longer ran her mouth so carelessly.
The same went for Logan.
He watched Yujin and the 3 No with a strained expression, reading the room.
All because they had witnessed their true strength on the 16th Floor.
Divine presence.
Even setting Yujin aside, the other three had already far surpassed ordinary players.
Lee Sia's sword.
Park Ji-hoo's fists.
Vivian's money.
Every single one of them was staggering.
Especially Vivian's recovery skill—cast after calling down lightning, and sometimes, once in a while, by burning dollar bills…
That had been insane.
Drained stamina filled back up completely, and even injuries were healed almost perfectly.
They had already lived through countless absurd experiences inside the Tower, but nothing had felt quite so mystical as that.
Even the sheer wealth required to burn money like that felt like a wonder of its own.
She said she was American, right?
Judging by her looks, yes.
The pure white hair was a little unusual, though.
Logan put effort into getting closer to Vivian.
Not as a romantic interest, of course.
He already had Jane.
What interested him more was the free ride—the crumbs that might fall his way.
They were both American. If he got friendly with her in here, maybe it would help him on the outside too.
But of course.
Vivian wouldn't even glance his way.
If anything, she treated him like something filthy and refused to let him near her at all.
In the end, Logan was left looking like a dog that had chased a chicken, staring forlornly after Vivian's back.
Naturally, Jane watched her own boyfriend with open disdain.
Still, she didn't stop him.
She knew perfectly well that getting close to Vivian wouldn't hurt them either.
Even if it wasn't working.
"So how strong is that guy, exactly?"
Having given up on Vivian, Logan approached Kang Mu-hyun this time and asked.
Of everyone here, he seemed the most approachable.
The gap in skill between them didn't look impossibly huge, and his personality seemed easygoing enough to take a question.
"You mean Seong Yujin?"
Kang Mu-hyun's expression turned awkward.
He didn't know either.
With his own level of ability, even gauging Seong Yujin was impossible.
Even without that bizarre power he had named the Chunbae Cannon, it was the same.
Just the way he walked ahead of them right now…
Pabababababat—!
The monsters that drifted too close were, quite literally, shredded.
Seong Yujin wasn't particularly doing anything.
He hadn't activated a skill, and he hadn't even taken an attacking stance.
And yet the monsters fell apart into scattered pieces on the ground as if they had been shoved into a blender.
Logan couldn't even tell how he was doing it.
"I wouldn't know."
He had thought that if they climbed the same floors, he might catch up to some degree.
Instead, the distance only seemed to grow.
It felt so remote he wasn't sure he could ever get close.
"Looks like he's got some special skill or item."
Logan studied Yujin carefully.
Incredibly fine threads drifted and swam through the air around him.
"That might even be an A-grade item."
He spoke with conviction, as if nothing else could explain it.
Kang Mu-hyun let out a short, quiet laugh.
He could guess exactly how the man felt.
"Could be."
They were already on the 18th Floor.
Just by following Yujin and his party, they had climbed in the blink of an eye.
Crisis didn't even exist.
Most of the monsters were wiped out in a storm by Lee Sia, Park Ji-hoo, and Vivian, and anything that slipped through was slaughtered by Yujin's threads.
"At this rate, the 20th Floor will be here in no time."
Jane reacted to Logan's words.
"Ice cream."
"Huh?"
"I want ice cream."
"When we get out this time, we'll eat as much as we want. With the money [AIDER] paid us, we could buy a whole truckload."
As payment for catching those bank robbers last time, [AIDER] had handed them a massive reward.
Enough to buy not just ice cream, but an entire ice cream company.
"[AIDER]? What's that?"
Kang Mu-hyun showed interest.
"Oh, some government agency that manages players, I heard."
Kang Mu-hyun understood at once.
"Sounds like Korea's SID."
"Korea has one too?"
"I heard it was established recently. Under Seong Yujin's lead."
"…That guy?"
Meaning he wielded influence not just inside the Tower, but outside it as well.
Logan swallowed dryly.
I need to report this.
An overwhelmingly powerful player.
Plus enough influence to be involved in founding a national agency.
That alone was more than enough to report up the chain at [AIDER].
They were extremely sensitive about player information.
There were criminals among them, so of course they would be.
Even if Seong Yujin was a Korean player rather than an American one.
They would still have no choice but to take interest.
He's the strongest player alive right now.
Depending on how he grew from here, the fate of the world itself might hang in the balance.
And while I'm at it, I can pocket some cash.
Information of this caliber might fetch a serious payout.
Logan felt better.
He couldn't wait to reach the 20th Floor and get outside.
There were weird players who actually liked living inside the Tower, but he and Jane preferred the outside world.
Still, I can't lose him.
Seong Yujin was a bus driver.
One who would lead them to the upper floors easily, safely, and fast.
He had no desire to lose a treasure like that and go through hell on his own.
Logan resolved to stick with Seong Yujin to the end, and diligently kept his feet moving.
Careful not to step on the scattered remains of monsters along the way.
And so, after a little more time passed…
At last, the 19th Floor.
With the end of their journey just ahead, the boss monster appeared before them—the Star Dragon.
"…Jackie Chan?"
Logan muttered.