The Space Beyond the Stairs Was Very...

The space the stairs opened into was painfully cramped—so tight there was hardly room to plant a foot, and dark besides. Yujun edged forward with care.

That was when he found a single golden box on the floor. Found was hardly the word. It all but leapt into his eyes.

A golden box...

One glance was enough to tell it belonged with the golden key. He drew the key from his inventory and slid it into the empty slot.

Click.

The key seated perfectly. It had gone exactly as he'd expected, and that, somehow, unsettled him more than it pleased him.

Can a fit really be this clean? Not that I'm complaining.

The instant he turned the key to the right, the lid of the golden box swung open.

"Huh? This is..."

Yujun's eyes went round as he took in what lay inside.

What he'd just obtained was the very thing people called a trait pill. Its proper name was the Long-Aged Elixir.

"This drops here?"

A hardened veteran of War of the Gods, Yujun couldn't hide his shock. Trait pills were absurdly difficult to come by—they carried, after all, the option of adding an entire trait. The Long-Aged Elixir in particular was one of the items currently missing from his inventory, and for good reason. Every time he'd gotten his hands on one, he'd swallowed it on the spot. Naturally, none had ever been left over.

"Jackpot."

His mouth hung open and refused to close. For a moment he simply stared, gone. Then, afraid someone might snatch it, he hurriedly tucked the Long-Aged Elixir into his inventory.

There was a reason he wasn't drinking it now. It wouldn't be too late to use the elixir after he'd secured an item with a luck option. The grade of the trait it granted would be influenced, if only a little, by luck.

As he glanced around, a thick greed settled in his eyes.

Anything else?

The place was so cramped that a single golden box was about all it could hold. Still, just in case, Yujun smashed the wall.

Boom! Crash!

Nothing. A shame.

Still. Getting the elixir is nothing to sneeze at.

His steps as he left the cemetery were light enough to fly.

Time to go collect my rewards.

He had no idea why things that had existed only in a game were now real. Adapting to the situation in front of him was still the best he could do. The operator's last words had been heavy with meaning.

That chat wasn't sent for nothing.

Yujun returned to the spot where he'd brought down the werewolf. The portal was still there.

"Hoo..."

The clear reward for the Hell-difficulty tutorial. He'd slain every undead in the cemetery and hunted the werewolf without much trouble. With achievement ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠modifiers stacked on a Hell-difficulty clear, how far would the rewards go? He was painfully curious.

In high spirits, he stepped into the portal.

His body lifted, weightless, into empty air. A violent nausea surged through him—and in that same instant, his blurred vision snapped wide open.

Yujun looked around. Once again, a familiar scene greeted him: pure white, and spare. No furniture. No appliances.

The Tower of Infinity? No.

This place, he remembered for certain. It was the Waiting Room of the Tower of Infinity, a sight he'd seen more times than he could count in War of the Gods.

So there's no Rathenes Village?

That was the starting village you reached after logging into War of the Gods and clearing the tutorial. But where he stood now was the Waiting Room of the Tower of Infinity. He couldn't help being bewildered.

Did they change it?

The Tower of Infinity was a place of growth you could enter only after finishing the village quests.

First things first. Check the rewards.

He still hadn't properly grasped what was happening, but his heart was already racing. The Hell-difficulty clear reward. He wanted to see it. Yujun read the hologram window that had been blocking his view since a moment ago.

Whoa. What is all this?

His head was spinning. He had never seen notification windows stacked like this. Clearing Hell difficulty must have been that outrageous.

As he read down the hologram, his eyes suddenly went wide.

An Intermediate Tutorial?

He'd more or less expected the two titles and the rewards. Titles were always granted; only their grade changed with the difficulty. But the existence of an Intermediate Tutorial was news to him.

Is this something new this time? Or do you earn the authority by clearing Hell difficulty?

One thing was certain. The right to enter the Intermediate Tutorial had been given to him alone. It was the reward for the first Hell-difficulty clear, so the odds of that were very high.

Should I sort the rewards first?

Yujun read the notifications through again. First, the Rare and Heroic titles.

He liked both effects. Level requirements had locked him out of the broken items he owned, so an increase in experience gain was a treasure of the ages. The Complete Conqueror of the Tutorial title was no different. A boost to every stat was good without a second thought. It would be a great help from here on.

Next was the Legendary Item Box. It let you choose an item of Legendary grade and obtain it.

I must've burned through something like four thousand dollars trying to get one of these...

He wasn't flexing about how much money he'd sunk into the game. He meant the item was that precious. Yujun sank into a brief dilemma. There was one problem.

Even if I obtain a Legendary item now... I can't equip it.

He already had more Legendary gear than he knew what to do with. He simply couldn't wear any of it yet. There was no need at all, then, to pull a piece of Legendary equipment.

In that case, the answer's already decided.

The Rainbow Sticker. A sticker that eased an item's equip restrictions. Stick it on, and that item's requirement dropped.

A Rainbow Sticker would definitely help me right now.

Decision made, he took the Legendary Item Box from his inventory. The moment he laid a hand on the brightly glowing box, a list of items unfurled. Without a shred of hesitation, Yujun selected the Rainbow Sticker.

The option was exactly as he'd seen it before. A faint smile crossed Yujun's face. An effect that cut the level requirement by a full hundred. That alone was more than enough to earn the Legendary grade.

Now the question was which item to use it on.

What's my level right now?

Yujun opened his status window.

"Already?"

Once again, he couldn't hide his surprise. Clearing a single tutorial had raised his level by thirty? Hell difficulty was hardly easy to clear, of course, but he hadn't expected this many levels.

The achievements must have amplified the reward.

Either way, it worked out for him.

At this rate... I could even equip an item locked to level 130.

He had no intention of hoarding the Rainbow Sticker. He had plenty of items anyway. To wear better gear, he needed to raise his level as fast as possible.

I should look for a weapon.

Unfortunately, the Super Novice Set had unequipped itself. There was no need to be disappointed, though. He'd obtained a Rainbow Sticker that lowered equip requirements.

It's a shame I don't have armor, but...

It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wasn't as if he had nothing he could wear. There was a Rare-grade armor set equippable at level 25. For now, that would do.

Items start with the weapon. They always do.

Rationally speaking, investing in armor ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was the right choice. This wasn't a game anymore. He had only one life. Even so, he didn't want to spend the Rainbow Sticker on armor.

The best defense isn't defense. It's offense. Good.

Having successfully talked himself into it, he swept through his inventory, checking only the Legendary-grade weapons. Swords, in particular, were everywhere. That was because he had stubbornly used nothing but swords throughout War of the Gods.

Looking back, that's a bit of a shame. I should've collected every kind of weapon.

His inventory had no limit, but he'd cleared out the lower-grade weapons of other types simply because organizing them was a hassle. Even so, the number of weapons he owned was hardly small. If anything, pieces of Heroic grade and above were beyond counting, regardless of type.

Most of them are Heroic or higher, so the level requirements are all sky-high... tch.

It didn't take him long to find a sword that fit just right. He checked the information on the blade, which flaunted an elegant form.

The Longsword of Koihem. It was a longsword, a little longer than the Super Novice Sword, and in both attack power and options it far outstripped that blade. The reason two items of the same Legendary grade differed so sharply in attack was the equip-level requirement. Which was why level truly mattered.

If I want to be safe, raising my level through hunting really is the way.

If the world of War of the Gods had been reproduced in reality as it was, it would become a world where a low-level beginner could never survive.

Finished sorting his rewards, Yujun turned his gaze to the portal before him—the one that led out of the waiting room. When he stood in front of it, two choices appeared.

He'd thrown himself around so violently in the tutorial that he badly wanted to rest. Yujun moved to the residential sector.