The Fairest Way
The Fairest Way
'Why is my alias written here?'
Flustered, Doyoon rubbed his eyes and looked again, but the list didn't change.
[Awakened Who First Cleared Floor 58]
Divine Bow Lee Seah
Zero-Calorie Alchemist
His alias was written on the list of first clears for Floor 58.
Why was he counted as having cleared it first alongside Seah?
He hurriedly turned on his smartphone.
It seemed this note had been delivered to all Awakened.
If so, there ought to be some reaction on the internet as well.
[Breaking News] Ranker Lee Seah, First Clear of Floor 58
[Breaking News] Zero-Calorie Alchemist also recognized for first clear of Floor 58...
As expected, news articles were featured on the main portal page.
Ranker Lee Seah had cleared Floor 58 first.
Together with Zero-Calorie Alchemist.
'How did this happen?'
Except for certain floors, each floor of the tower can only be entered alone.
Divided into different phased layers, even if in the same spatial location, people cannot meet each other.
It was just like entering the same dungeon in a game but being placed in different instances.
Therefore, Doyoon knew that raiding the tower was meant to be done by a single Awakened person, and a first clear was fundamentally granted to only one individual.
Yet this note stated that Doyoon and Seah had raided Floor 58 together.
Doyoon logged onto the Awakened Gallery.
He thought the users on the forum board might know what was going on.
The Awakened Gallery was also discussing the situation regarding two people getting the first clear.
[General] Hey, how did two people get a first clear?
I heard Lee Seah cleared it?
Then shouldn't only Lee Seah be recognized for the first clear?
Who the hell is this Zero-Calorie Alchemist guy?
ㄴ For real lololol
ㄴ I watched it on TV, and the commentator there said what Lee Seah drank was an elixir.
ㄴㄴ Isn't the Capacity consumption on those insane so even a ranker would drop dead if they drank it? How did she take it?
ㄴㄴㄴ So people are speculating it's an elixir made by Zero-Calorie Alchemist? Isn't that why he got recognized for the first clear too?
There were opinions suggesting that the first clear was recognized because the elixir Seah drank was made by Zero-Calorie Alchemist, but...
[General] No, but seriously, can you get recognized for a first clear when you didn't even clear it directly?
I've never heard of such a case until now?
There were also posts asking how a first clear could be recognized when he didn't even enter the floor to raid it himself.
However, this post was immediately refuted by comments.
ㄴ You know, Floor 54. Back then, I think 'Obsessed Blacksmith' got recognized for the first clear because the person used his weapon to clear it, right?
ㄴㄴ That still counts? Then what about the other blacksmiths whose weapons were used by rankers to get first clears? Why weren't they recognized?
ㄴㄴㄴ As far as I know, it's only recognized when the crafted item has a massive impact on the clear, right? The weapons made by other guys probably got buried under the rankers' own skills.
In short, it meant that even for a non-combat Awakened, if an item they crafted exerted a profound influence, it could be recognized as a clear.
'Then was I recognized for the first clear this time because the elixir I made had such a huge impact?'
Thinking of it that way, it made sense.
It was no exaggeration to say that finishing the Floor 58 raid so quickly—which was expected to take at least a few more months—was thanks to the elixir.
Once he understood why he had achieved the first clear, he became curious about the reward mentioned in the note.
What could the reward be for clearing a high floor like Floor 58?
Filled with great anticipation, he looked at the note.
Then the note transformed into a message window.
[You have obtained 'Witch's Potion Recipe' as a first clear reward.]
'Witch's Potion Recipe?'
He knew what recipes were.
Raising skill proficiency unlocked recipes for new items.
However, non-combat Awakened also obtained item recipes through other means.
Recipes acquired like this often allowed them to craft rare and powerful items.
But he had never even heard of a Witch's Potion.
In the first place, he had never heard of an alchemist obtaining a recipe for a potion.
Most of what Doyoon had heard was about blacksmiths obtaining weapon recipes.
As Doyoon wondered in confusion, another message window appeared before his eyes.
[Witch's Potion]
???
Consumed Capacity: ???
[Currently unable to craft due to insufficient proficiency.]
A potion whose effect and Capacity were both unknown.
It was extremely suspicious, but it was a potion he couldn't craft right now anyway.
'I'll just try crafting it later when my proficiency goes up.'
Thinking so, he closed the message window.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
Wondering who it was, he looked at the intercom, and saw Seah's flushed face on the screen.
Did she return right after clearing Floor 58?
Doyoon quickly went to the front entrance and opened the door.
"Doyoon-ssi!"
As soon as he opened the door, Seah hugged Doyoon tightly.
The soft touch of Seah's chest was felt against Doyoon's chest.
"Se-Seah-ssi."
As the flustered Doyoon called out to her, Seah gasped "Ah," and quickly pulled away.
"I-I'm sorry. I was just so happy..."
Seah's face turned red.
Just as the atmosphere turned awkward because of that,
He felt someone tugging on his sleeve from the side.
Lee Sol was holding onto Doyoon's sleeve with a somewhat displeased expression.
"What are you two doing?"
"No, Lee Sol-ssi. This is..."
"Forget it, just hurry up and come inside."
Lee Sol snapped her body around and walked into her apartment.
'Why is she acting like that?'
Tilting his head in confusion at Lee Sol's behavior, Doyoon nevertheless followed behind her.
As soon as they entered Lee Sol's apartment and sat at the table, Lee Sol spoke up.
"I heard you got the first clear too?"
"Yes. I didn't know either, but it seems even non-combat Awakened get recognized if they exert a profound influence on the clear."
"Well, she wouldn't have been able to clear it without the elixir. It's totally deserving of being recognized as a first clear."
As Seah nodded understandingly, Lee Sol asked.
"So did you get your first clear reward?"
"Yes. I received a recipe. What about you, Seah-ssi?"
"Mm. I received twenty million points and an archer skill."
"T-Twenty million points?"
Twenty million points meant two billion won?
No wonder she had easily given him ten million points, elixir or not.
Furthermore, the archer skill she received as a reward wouldn't fall short of twenty million points either.
Then a question suddenly popped into Doyoon's mind.
Then what kind of item was this Witch's Potion that the Exchange gave him a recipe for instead of twenty million points and a skill?
He resolved to definitely craft it once his proficiency increased.
"Rewards aside, that's actually not the only gain this time,"
Lee Sol said.
"The biggest advantage is being able to raid the next floor one step faster than everyone else."
"Are you talking about Floor 59?"
Doyoon asked.
"Yeah. Originally, the floor gap between rankers wasn't that big. Even if they hit a wall on high floors, repeating challenges allowed them to clear around the same time frames."
"However, clearing Floor 58 through the elixir this time isn't a gap that can be bridged just by repeating challenges,"
Seah said.
"While others have to keep challenging for a few more months, I was able to enter Floor 59 first thanks to the elixir. This is a massive advantage. Perhaps even greater than the rewards received this time."
Indeed, being able to forge ahead several months before others was an invaluable advantage impossible to put a price on.
Furthermore, this could also be called an opportunity for Doyoon.
"Now that it's known that the tower can be raided rapidly using elixirs, requests will come pouring in for Doyoon-ssi from now on."
Because if they didn't want to fall behind in raiding the tower in the future, they would have no choice but to buy elixirs from Doyoon.
Unlike potions, elixirs couldn't be substituted, making it practically a one-man monopoly.
Indeed, when Doyoon checked the Exchange earlier, he had seen countless notes sent to him by rankers whose aliases he recognized.
"I'm planning to practice for about a month before making a raid attempt myself,"
Lee Sol said, fondling her teacup.
"Yes. I'll have the elixir ready by then."
"Good. That aside, what do you plan to do about the other rankers?"
"Huh?"
"Depending on who you give the elixir to, the floor progression of rankers will change. Have you thought about who you'll sell to besides us?"
He hadn't thought about that part yet, but pondering it carefully, it was quite a serious matter.
Selling to Lee Sol and Seah was certain.
Lee Sol was a long-term contract relationship, and he had no intention of cutting off the elixir supply to Seah at this point either.
But he had limits to his mana as well.
Inevitably, some rankers wouldn't receive elixirs and would fall behind in raids.
It was a structure where someone was bound to harbor dissatisfaction toward Doyoon.
To minimize dissatisfaction, he had to sell them in a fair manner, at least on the surface.
"Why overthink it so much? In times like this, you can just use the most fair method."
"Huh? The most fair method?"
Was there such a method?
Lee Sol smiled.
"An auction. The one who bids the highest price earns the right."