Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: Old-Timer (1)
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The paper bore only a three-digit number, stark and unexplained.
【188.】
Theresia, who checked it first, was already frozen stiff.
Then Yuri, peering over her shoulder at the score, quickly stiffened up as well.
But their reactions meant entirely different things.
Yuri's face plainly read, "Only?"
Theresia's, by contrast, showed pure shock.
They spoke at the same time.
"188? Just 188?"
"188? On the first try?"
Their voices overlapping, they turned to look at each other.
Startled by their suddenly close faces, they both pulled back.
Theresia soon sighed as she caught Yuri's disappointed expression.
"188... is a high score."
At her response, Yuri blinked in disbelief.
"This?"
"Yeah."
"Tetsya senior got 198, though?"
"That's me...! Sigh, anyway, 188 is enough to land in the rankings."
"Still, that's like top 20 at best."
"Top 20 on the first try."
Seeing Yuri still frowning despite her explanation, Theresia sighed again.
"The green cave is rated two stars, but in terms of pure difficulty, it's way higher."
"Yeah, it did feel that way."
Yuri had sensed the same, so he nodded without argument.
"And the reason this quest is only two stars despite that... is because you can challenge it repeatedly."
Yuri tilted his head slightly at her words, then asked with a look of realization.
"Don't tell me all scores from repeated attempts count toward the record?"
"Exactly."
"Ah!"
Only then did Yuri fully grasp why this high-difficulty quest was just two stars.
'You can learn through repeats, and there are no limits on recording scores... Yeah, that justifies two stars even with the difficulty.'
Where the traps were, how to handle certain situations.
Repeated attempts would naturally teach you those things.
So Yuri had assumed the academy would impose some restrictions on score measurements...
But no such limits.
Every challenge gets recorded.
A quest like this with high difficulty would be the weird one otherwise.
Theresia motioned with her hand as Yuri's face showed understanding.
"Come on."
With Yuri in tow, she headed for the simple building housing the rankings board.
The man who'd been dozing there earlier was still out cold.
Theresia glanced at him and rapped on the table.
Knock knock-.
No reaction from the sleeping man.
At this point, it wasn't dozing; it was deep sleep.
Sighing softly as he showed no signs of waking, Theresia cleared her throat.
"Ahem."
A thick, urgent voice soon emerged from her mouth.
"Peter Lehman, battle stations!"
The instant the words left her, the bleary-eyed man snapped his eyes open.
He reached for his waist with fierce intensity, his movements crisp and efficient, honed by thousands, tens of thousands of repetitions.
Thud thud thud-.
But his hand patting his waist repeatedly looked a bit pathetic.
Realizing there was no sword, he clocked the situation and reverted to his dazed expression.
Peter stared at Theresia with half-lidded, sleepy eyes.
"...What? Theresia? I told you not to do that."
"You're impossible to wake once you're out, so what choice do I have? Don't sleep on the job."
"Leave me be. Hardly anyone's around anyway, and there's nothing to do..."
His voice matched his looks—thoroughly listless.
Yawning hugely, he asked,
"Haaah, so why'd you wake me?"
Theresia beckoned to Yuri.
"That."
"That?"
"The score sheet."
"Oh."
Yuri nodded and placed the score sheet on the table.
Peter's gaze flicked to Yuri briefly, then back to Theresia.
"Who's this?"
"Junior. 50th Cohort."
"You, bringing someone else here? You who spent days and days soloing the mechanisms? And a junior, no less?"
"......"
Theresia glared silently, and Peter shrugged under her fierce look.
He averted his eyes and picked up Yuri's score sheet, unfolding it.
His eyes lit up at the number.
"Hoh? 188? First from the 50th Cohort to hit the rankings. How many tries?"
Peter's question directed at him got a flat reply from Yuri.
"First one."
"...First? For real?"
"Not lying about something like this."
Peter looked to Theresia.
His eyes asking if it was true.
She nodded, and Peter's dazed gaze sharpened a bit.
He held out his hand.
"Badge, and name."
Yuri paused as he went to pull out his badge.
A flicker of hesitation in his eyes.
Whether it was okay to show Theresia his badge.
But the doubt lasted only a moment.
Yuri promptly drew his badge.
The jet-black Black Dragon Badge appeared.
He glanced at Theresia's reaction, but her face was utterly calm.
As if she'd already figured he had the Black Dragon Badge.
Peter, on the other hand, was the surprised one.
"Black Dragon Badge? Ah! You're the one who joined the 50th Cohort. Yuri Holland, right?"
"You know your stuff."
"The Black Dragon Badge holder is everyone's business."
Peter took Yuri's Black Dragon Badge, examined it, handed it back, then pulled out a small wooden plaque.
Scribble scribble-.
"Let's see, 188... here."
Muttering while eyeing the rankings, he inscribed the plaque.
【22nd / 50th Cohort / Yuri Holland / 188 points】
He shoved aside the old 22nd-place plaque and hung Yuri's in its spot.
Done with his task, Peter turned back to Yuri.
"22nd on the first try—first time for that."
A hint of admiration crossed his face.
"How long till you climb higher? For reference, Theresia spent five months here..."
"Peter!"
Theresia's urgent shout rang out.
As Peter and Yuri's eyes turned to her, she composed herself and replied coolly.
"...You need to explain the quest rewards to Yuri."
"Sure, why not."
Peter, knowing why she was acting up, shrugged lightly.
Yuri, who'd been curious anyway, perked up his ears.
Peter's listless voice continued.
"First off, you need top 100 for points. 100th gets 1,000 points, and every step up adds another 1,000, up to 76th."
And that wasn't all.
75th to 51st: 5,000 points each.
50th to 26th: 10,000 points each.
Finally, 25th to 1st: 50,000 per step.
"So if you hit 1st, total points..."
Yuri calculated faster than Peter could finish.
"1,650,000 points."
"Spot on."
Peter nodded.
Yuri's eyes sparkled.
'This... pays way better than I thought?'
Sure, it assumed 1st place, but 1.65 million from a normal quest was beyond expectations.
But that wasn't the end.
The real eye-opener was just starting.
"And there's a 1st-place perk."
"As expected from the academy! Maybe... 10% extra on the 1.65 million?"
It was a solid guess based on past examples.
And Yuri was right.
Sort of.
"Extra payout. Monthly."
"...Pardon?"
"10% of 1.65 million. 165,000 points straight to your account every 20th of the month. If you take 1st."
"......?"
Yuri blinked, brain failing to process.
Then words tumbled out in stunned rapid fire.
"M-monthly? 165,000 points every month? If I take 1st?!"
"Yeah."
"Until when?"
"Till your record's broken."
"......?!"
Yuri's eyes bulged so wide they might pop out.
His voice trembled like aspen leaves.
"Wh-what if my record... h-holds till I graduate?"
"Then 165,000 every month till then."
"......"
Yuri was speechless.
He just stared blankly at the rankings.
Peter yawned hugely.
"Haaah, so, wanna settle today's first? 22nd place..."
That's when it happened.
Thud-!
Dazed Yuri suddenly slammed the table.
All eyes snapped to him.
A mutter escaped him.
"...I'll pass."
"Huh?"
"No settlement for today!"
Yuri's eyes blazed with massive flames.
Hot passion poured from his mouth.
"1st is mine anyway. I'll take it all in one lump sum... then!"
"...The full 1.65 million?"
"Yes! 1.65 million!"
Peter, meeting those scorching eyes, cracked a small smile for the first time.
"Nice fire."
Muttering that, he nodded.
"Do it that way. Saves me work. That all? Haaah!"
As Peter yawned again.
Yuri, eyes still burning, stared intensely and asked.
"What else?"
"Huh?"
"Aren't there other rankings? Like the one on the back wall."
Peter and Theresia's eyes widened slightly.
Theresia especially looked at Yuri in wonder.
'Come to think of it, he saw that board and didn't ask about it.'
He'd gone straight to the green cave.
As if he knew that board tracked green cave rankings.
Peter voiced her thoughts.
"How'd you know there are other rankings? And that one's on the back?"
Yuri replied like it was obvious.
"Common sense: no way 100 people cleared a quest that kills you over and over."
"Ah!"
Theresia nodded in understanding.
"And when you hung the plaque, the wall shook like it was yelling 'space back here!' How could I miss that?"
"Ahh."
Peter scratched his cheek, embarrassed.
He tapped the wall.
Thud.
Rumble-.
The wall rotated smoothly, revealing the back.
Another wall of wooden plaques.
But far fewer—sparse enough to feel desolate.
Yuri eyed the count and asked casually.
"How far does that track?"
"Seven Star Cave—red cave rankings go to 10th. But..."
Thud thud-.
Peter patted the wall.
"Only these six have come out alive so far."
Meaning survival alone got you in the rankings.
At worst, 7th.
Yuri's eyes gleamed as he asked.
"Red cave quest rewards?"
"Base survival: 2 million points. Plus 2 million per rank jumped."
"......?!"
"Oh, and if you survive for 7th, you get the empty 8th, 9th, 10th payouts too. With base survival and 7-10th rewards, that's 10 million total."
"Ha?"
Yuri let out a disbelieving chuckle.
"So the first to survive the red cave since it started got 1st... and 22 million free?"
"Luck and first come first served are skills too."
Yuri stuck out his tongue.
'No wonder people recklessly try the red cave.'
It made sense.
Just surviving netted 10 million.
How could eyes not roll back?
And 1st meant 22 million.
Yuri's eyes flashed.
'Wait... no way?!'
He asked with eager anticipation.
"Does this have a 1st perk too?"
"10% of 22 million monthly to your account. Till broken."
"......?!"
Yuri clenched his fist tight.
'M-monthly... 2.2 million!'
Add the green cave, and it's 2.365 million.
Just breathe, and that's yours monthly.
Yuri's heart pounded wildly.
Then a voice tempered his sanity a bit.
"But Seven Star Cave gets one shot only. Remember that."
Yuri snorted once and scanned the six survivors' names.
Skipping the unknown 3rd-6th.
【2nd / 49th Cohort / Theresia Winchester / 165 points】
Yuri's eyes paused briefly at 2nd.
Theresia had challenged the Seven Star Cave and survived.
And proudly at 2nd.
All amazing, but right now, Yuri didn't care.
His gaze shot to 1st.
【1st / 48th Cohort / Gunter Rider / 188 points】
Spotting the familiar name, Yuri's lips twisted.
'You again?'
Gunter Rider, hogging 1st in both two-star and seven-star caves.
Yuri laughed.
"Heh heh heh."
Sword Lord's son or not.
Another Black Dragon Badge holder or not.
Nothing fazed Yuri now.
To him, Gunter Rider was just a name to knock off the top spot.
'Heh heh heh, you've feasted plenty already...'
So scram already?
Yuri's eyes glittered with greed.