First Clear
First Clear
"An elixir? You mean that potion that consumes so much Capacity that no one can drink it?"
As far as the caster knew, elixirs consumed even more Capacity than standard potions, causing immediate death by toxicity if consumed, so even top rankers couldn't drink them.
"Yes. That is correct. Among them, it is undoubtedly an Elixir of Agility."
The commentator spoke in a confident tone, but the caster felt something was odd and said,
"Why did Lee Seah-ssi pull out an elixir? She shouldn't even be able to drink it."
"That is..."
When the commentator couldn't answer, the caster asked again,
"What kind of elixir is the Elixir of Agility?"
"The Elixir of Agility is known to increase an Awakener's speed. It would certainly be useful for this mission. However, as you mentioned, it is also true that no one can drink it due to its Capacity consumption..."
The commentator pushed up his glasses with his index finger and said,
"Perhaps Lee Seah-ssi has a means to drink the elixir."
"Pardon? Is there such a way?"
"At least right now, isn't there one possibility?"
"...The Zero-Calorie Alchemist."
The caster muttered the name of the Awakener who had recently been on everyone's lips.
"Yes. Exactly. Perhaps the Zero-Calorie Alchemist can even create elixirs that do not consume Capacity."
It was at that moment.
Seah, who had been quietly staring down at the elixir, pulled out the stopper and downed it in one gulp.
The broadcasting staff gasped.
The commentary team also tensely focused on the screen.
Having drunk the elixir, Seah quietly closed her eyes.
1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.
Time kept passing.
How much time had passed?
Opening her eyes, Seah nocked an arrow and aimed.
The ball was still moving rapidly back and forth, but Seah didn't twitch a muscle.
Her appearance almost made it look as though she wasn't targeting the moving ball at all.
It was while the commentary team was watching in suspense.
Seah released the bowstring.
However, unlike her previous shot, the arrow flew toward empty air.
Just as the caster thought, 'Was that a mistake?',
Suddenly, the ball flew directly into the arrow on its own.
The wing joint of the ball was pierced by the arrow, causing it to fall to the floor.
Faced with a completely unexpected sight, the commentary team was lost for words.
Why on earth did the ball fly into the arrow by itself?
The ball tried to soar back up, but the arrow piercing its wing joint was lodged into the floor, leaving it only struggling its wings on the spot.
Seah approached and aimed her bow once again.
As she released the string, the second arrow thoroughly pierced the ball this time.
The ball flapped its wings spasmodically before quieting down and turning into a cluster of light.
The ball, which had tormented rankers for so long and would have continued to torment them, vanished futilely just like that.
"Uh, then what just happened?"
The caster said in confusion.
"Why did the ball just fly into the arrow, and is it really cleared now?"
He looked over hoping for a breakdown of the situation, but the commentator also had a confused look on his face.
"Uh, well, it looked as though the arrow flew to the ball by itself, or rather..."
The commentator, unable to continue with a dazed expression, suddenly snapped his head up.
"Please replay the previous video right now."
At his words, the staff moved busily, and the screen rewound to the scene just before Seah hit the wing joint with her arrow.
It was the moment Seah was taking aim with her bow.
"Could you play the video as slowly as possible from here?"
At those words, the screen began moving extremely slowly, as if shot by a high-speed camera.
It was when the irregularly flying ball happened to curve its trajectory into the bow's line of sight.
Seah released the string.
As it got closer and closer to the arrow, the ball unfolded its wings and tried desperately to stop, but it couldn't prevent its wing joint from being pierced.
"The ball didn't fly into the arrow. Seah-ssi waited for it to bend its trajectory into the bow's line of sight."
At the commentator's explanation, the caster asked,
"Shooting the bow the instant the ball shifts trajectory? Can a human even see that?"
"I've never seen anyone consume an elixir before either, so I can't be certain. However, contrary to common belief, it seems the Elixir of Agility increases overall physical speed, not just movement speed and attack speed. I suspect it was made possible because her dynamic vision was enhanced."
"Then that really was an elixir, wasn't it? Then the person who crafted it must be..."
"Yes. It is highly likely to be the Zero-Calorie Alchemist."
'Is it that Zero-Calorie Alchemist again?' thought the caster.
After making a spectacular debut in Lee Sol's duel a while ago, this time, although he didn't clear it himself directly, he helped clear a mission that hadn't been completed for months.
"Setting Lee Sol-ssi's duel aside, how should we interpret him helping Lee Seah-ssi clear the 58th floor this time?"
"I do not know either. However, this is just my personal hypothesis..."
The commentator continued cautiously.
"Hasn't he preferred trading directly with rankers rather than selling on the Exchange up until now? Perhaps he has a purpose other than money. A reason he must trade directly with rankers."
"If you say a purpose..."
"I don't know that yet either."
Just then, text popped up on one of the monitors.
"Ah, yes. As we speak, important news has just arrived. A message has been sent to Awakeners stating that the 58th floor has been cleared for the first time. The first clear is..."
Reading the news on the monitor, the caster was rendered speechless by the unexpected content.
Doyoon, having finished unpacking all his moving boxes, was eating jajangmyeon while watching Seah's raid on the 58th floor on TV.
He had been worried whether the elixir would take proper effect and allow her to clear the mission.
However, contrary to his worries, Seah pulled it off brilliantly.
On the screen, Seah's brightly smiling face was shown.
'Thank goodness.'
If the Elixir of Agility hadn't worked, he might have had to refund the one billion won.
Honestly, he was still bewildered by receiving one billion won for a single elixir, but he decided to look on the bright side.
He had heard that first-clearing a floor yielded massive rewards.
Considering that the 58th floor was a high floor and the reward would be huge, one billion won might be nothing to a ranker.
As a non-combat Awakener who couldn't conquer the tower, he felt it was a pity that he couldn't aim for first-clear rewards, but thinking that way was probably being too greedy.
When he turned on his smartphone and accessed the Awakener Gallery, reactions exploded just as expected.
[Awakener Gallery]
[General] Hey, isn't that elixir totally OP?
It turns a human into a straight-up monster. How does it make sense to shoot by calculating trajectories with dynamic vision? If I drink that, can I become a ranker too?
└ As if you could become a ranker, LMAO
└ In the first place, Lee Seah could only do it because she attempted the 58th floor dozens of times. If you drank it, you'd just get a little faster.
As the comments mentioned, the reason the Elixir of Agility was able to exert such a huge effect was that Seah had built up her reflexes by challenging the 58th floor dozens of times.
Even if Lee Sol, who neglected her practice, had consumed it, she would have been nothing more than a young woman who cast magic slightly faster.
[General] But setting Lee Sol aside, how does he know Lee Seah?
Is it a coincidence that every ranker this Zero-Calorie Alchemist guy meets is a beauty like that?
└ FR, some of us can't meet one even if we wanted to, it's so damn unfair LOL
└ But there were rumors that Lee Seah and Lee Sol were close friends to begin with. If that's true, maybe Lee Sol introduced her to him.
└└ I also saw the two of them eating together at a restaurant last time. Seems true that they're pretty close.
Since the fact that Lee Sol and Seah were sisters wasn't known, people were mistaken thinking they were friends.
Thus, it was assumed that the Zero-Calorie Alchemist had met Seah through Lee Sol's introduction.
When in reality, it was merely a chance encounter at Lee Sol's house.
Just then, a new post was uploaded to the Awakener Gallery.
[General] Breaking News) Got a message on the Exchange LMAO
Got a first-clear message, everyone go check it out quick LMAO
I was so damn shocked when I saw it LMAO
└ ?
└ Why? Don't first-clear messages go out to everyone normally?
'A first-clear message?'
It seemed a message was sent on the Exchange when a floor was cleared for the first time.
Doyoon turned off his smartphone and logged into the Exchange.
[Title: The 58th floor has been cleared for the first time.]
Just as the board said, there was a message waiting on the Exchange.
However, upon reading the message, Doyoon couldn't help but be shocked.
[Title: The 58th floor has been cleared for the first time.]
[Sender: Exchange]
The 58th floor has been cleared for the first time.
Rewards are granted to the Awakeners who cleared it.
[Awakeners who first cleared the 58th floor]
Archer Lee Seah
Zero-Calorie Alchemist
The Awakeners who first cleared the 58th floor.
Because his own alias, which shouldn't have been on that list, was written right there.