The Taste of Success

"Man— this is what success tastes like."

I was halfway through demolishing a bucket of fried chicken when—

"Huh?"

"Articles already. That was fast."

Not that I could blame anyone. I'd dumped heals, indiscriminately, on every single person with a broadcast running. Of course the witnesses were everywhere—and of course the arguments were already flying.

"Let's have a look..."

I pulled up the tower forums. The hottest thread in every one of them was the Mysterious Healing Villain.

Even so, the mood was still split down the middle. Was this really a person—some specific Awakener—or a phenomenon the towers had spat out on their own?

Upvoted.

Upvoted.

Upvoted.

I set the phone down.

Sure enough, a lot of people were less than thrilled about a heal being forced on them.

I searched Nutube again for live tower-climb streams. The count had dropped to about a third of what it was, and some climbers had gone so far as to slap PLEASE DON'T HEAL ME straight into the title.

Not everyone felt that way.

On the other end of it, an overseas streamer had pinned an English line right across her broadcast: Please heal me if it gets dangerous. Thank you.

Hermione Hayes. British streamer, frontier climber—and a world-class ranker, famous even here in Korea.

"Hmm."

Healing her when things got dangerous meant I'd have to keep watching the whole time...

"Well. Why not."

The ranker had manners. And she was in the middle of a Floor 55 clear.

Britain has three towers. One had already been cleared through Floor 55; the other two still hadn't reached it. Manchester Tower, the one Hayes was climbing, had a week left on its Floor 55 deadline.

The word was that her odds of pulling it off solo weren't exactly low. But "what if" exists for a reason.

I kept an eye on her stream while I worked through the chicken.

About thirty minutes later, Hayes—who'd been clearing at a smooth clip—met her first crisis. In a corridor, she stepped on a floor trap without thinking.

Shwiiiiik—!

With a vicious ripping of air, dozens of arrows—hundreds—rained in from every side at once.

Ting-ting-ting-ting—!

Hayes battered aside shafts she couldn't even see, at a speed the eye couldn't follow. But when the picture steadied, three arrows were buried in her body. Poison, by the look of it. Her face started turning blue on the spot.

Hands shaking, Hayes fumbled a potion off her belt and moved to drink.

And then—

Wreeeeeen—!

The chat detonated. This was a clear the whole of Britain—and the wider West—had been watching closely, and the reaction went up like wildfire.

Hayes jumped too. She snapped the potion cap shut and, in an awkward little pose, drew a heart in the air.

"Thank you for the healing! Please keep watching!"

What's she saying...? I caught a "watching" in there somewhere, so she wants me to keep watching. Right?

After that, as if she'd found her nerve, Hayes started moving far more aggressively than before. Early on, even three monsters had been enough to make her fall back, or lure them in and pick them off one at a time. Now she charged even when five were bunched together.

Being worked like somebody's personal heal shuttle stung a little, I'll admit.

But it wasn't bad for me, either. The more effective healing I put out, and the more status effects I cleansed, the more loot and experience came back my way.

She probably hadn't meant to take it that far. All the same, Hayes drove forward without a flinch, and in a little over an hour she reached the floor boss's chamber.

"Aha."

So that was the game.

A world record. Britain, with all that pride in being first at everything, must have been dying to smash the American mark one way or another.

With ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my heals in the mix it wasn't exactly a fair comparison—but shaving down a clear time bought more than bragging rights. There was a practical benefit, too. The world-record bonus. From what I could tell, it worked like a random box, handing out all sorts of rewards.

"Hold on... does that mean there's a chance that reward drops for me?"

So far, aside from the experience, magic stones, and coins guaranteed on a floor clear, nothing else had come in. I couldn't tell whether that was just how it worked, or whether I'd simply been unlucky.

"Guess I'm about to find out."

There was roughly fifteen minutes of cushion before the record.

Hermione Hayes was a classic light warrior—a damage dealer with enormous attack power. The catch was that her health and defense sat just as low, so she always had to move with extreme caution.

But she had my healing behind her now. A very solid back.

Less than five minutes after the boss fight began—

Kuuuuung—!

The enormous green dragon's head sheared clean off and dropped.

The chat exploded. The news columns vomited breaking alerts one after another. The Korean communities were no exception.

But I was focused on exactly one thing. The receipt, about to come flying in. What would be written on it?

Ding!

"It's here!"

"That's all...?"

A world record ought to come with an extra reward. Had the seventy-percent split made me miss it? Or had it never been subject to distribution in the first place?

I was just starting to feel disappointed when—

Ding—!

"Huh?"

A second chime, and a new window rose.

"IT DROPPED——!"

There was an extra reward.

One Mysterious Stone.

EX-rank, no less!

I'd seen S-Rank before. An EX-rank item was a genuine first. Nothing on the wiki. Nothing anywhere. What kind of item even was this?

Buzzing, I summoned the Mysterious Stone on the spot.

Tok—!

It was round, a river pebble of a thing, with something like runes carved across the surface—characters I couldn't read.

"......That's it?"

Offer it as tribute. And then what, exactly? I turned the system window this way and that. There was nothing more.

"What is this."

I'd gotten all excited over the EX rank, and it wasn't equipment. It wasn't even a consumable.

"So I won't know until I climb a tower and see for myself...?"

And not just any floor. Floor 10, at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the minimum. I'd have to enter a tower sooner or later, that much was certain—the magic stones were piling up and needed selling, and the coins needed exchanging.

But I was just hitting my stride. Did I really need to rush a climb over some unidentified rock?

The towers weren't going anywhere. I didn't need a lump of cash this second, and nothing about my life was particularly inconvenient.

Besides, with this much attention on me, it would be safer to go once the interest had cooled.

That was when it happened.

"Hello? Hello? Healer, are you still watching?"

On the screen, Hermione Hayes had started glancing around, searching for someone.

"I don't know who you are, but... thank you. Truly, for the healing. Because of you, I could attempt the clear without holding anything back!"

Beaming, she lifted both hands over her head and formed one enormous heart.

I hadn't caught every word.

But of one thing I was certain. She was deeply grateful to me.

"Hmm..."

She had to have already confirmed it—that seventy percent of the loot had flown off somewhere.

And yet there she was, smiling wide, without a trace of bitterness or regret on her face.

"Weird person."

Even so, somehow, I had a feeling that smile was going to stay with me for a long time.