Chapter 398
Chapter 398
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 399
Chapter Title: The 50-Point Special Reward
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"……Hmm. This isn't bad at all."
Golden Palace, 3rd floor, secret space.
I sat on a golden chair in the corner, reviewing the information I'd obtained through toll fees(?).
［Total Exploration Score Acquired: 44 points］
［Information has been updated.］
［Golden Palace 2nd Floor, West Passage Map］
［Golden Palace 1st Floor, West 3rd Corridor Firebird Mural］
I'd gathered more information than expected.
I'd extracted various intel from no less than seven teams under the pretext of toll fees.
Of course, since it was still early in the exam, there weren't any rare pieces that granted high scores, but the key was that I'd obtained info I hadn't had before.
With these, I could generate new information to guide our next steps.
……Plus, I was closing in on 50 points, which unlocked the hidden rule of the exam: the 'special reward.'
"Hmm. That said, interpreting this isn't easy……"
To acquire new information, I combined everything I had.
Murals, maps, various messages……
As I tried combining them one by one, an alarm rang from the exploration note.
［Information combination successful.］
［Sigil acquired.］
［Combination success: Exploration Score +5 points］
"Got it!"
A sigil appeared on the screen.
A thrilling sense of elation washed over me at finally succeeding.
This sigil was probably the key to entering some special hidden space in the palace.
"Sun-woo, did something come up?"
Yoon Ha-young approached, having noticed my reaction.
"Yeah. I combined clues and got a key sigil."
"Ooh, really? What's it for?"
"That's what we'll figure out from here."
I said that, but I already knew where to use it from my past life's experience.
Golden Palace 4th floor, reception room wall.
"Let's go check it out somewhere first."
And so, Yoon Ha-young and I resumed wandering the palace.
It was so vast that even moving via stairs took a long time, but we eventually reached our destination.
"Hmm. This the place?"
4th floor reception room.
It was still a lavish space gleaming with golden light.
Activating Outsider's Benefit, I spotted the complex sigil hidden in the wall.
I immediately replicated the sigil drawn in the exploration note using mana.
Then I pressed it against the wall.
A brilliant light burst forth at the same time, followed by a loud noise as a door opened.
Woooong…….
Clunk!
"……Huh? It opened."
Yoon Ha-young muttered blankly, and I chuckled softly.
"The sigil we got earlier. Using it here was right on."
"How'd you figure it out?"
"I sensed mana flowing in a similar pattern from this wall."
At that moment, an alarm rang from the exploration note.
［Secret space discovered: Exploration Score +5 points］
［First discovery +3 points］
［50 points collected. 50-Point Special Reward acquired.］
［You can contact a desired person.］
I read the messages with a small smile.
I'd finally obtained the 50-point special reward.
The reward was the privilege of communicating with one person of my choice.
There was also a 100-point special reward, which would greatly impact tomorrow's 'competition exam,' and I planned to snag that too.
Yoon Ha-young, who had been glancing at my exploration note, asked,
"……50-point special reward? You already collected 50 points?"
"Yeah. Hang on a sec."
I tapped the reward in the exploration note.
[Using special reward.]
[Please select the person you wish to contact.]
A list of exam participants appeared on the screen.
I scrolled through and selected Lee Seo-jun, my teammate.
As soon as I chose him, a new alarm popped up.
[Connecting call.]
Riiing……
Click.
[……Huh, what is this?]
Lee Seo-jun's flustered voice came through the exploration note's speaker.
"It's me."
[……What? Kim Sun-woo? What's going on here?]
[Kim Sun-woo?]
[Sun-woo?]
Following Lee Seo-jun's voice came Shin Young-jun and Lee Hyun-joo's.
It seemed he'd joined up with Lee Hyun-joo as per the original story.
Shin Young-jun being with them was a deviation, though.
"I got a contact opportunity with the 50-point special reward."
[……You already collected 50 points?]
Lee Seo-jun muttered in disbelief. Then came a tiny mumble like, "I've only got 34……"
"But you've got Lee Hyun-joo and Shin Young-jun with you?"
[Oh, yeah. Hyun-joo and Young-jun are here.]
"Seo-jun!"
Yoon Ha-young suddenly shouted cheerfully from beside me.
[Yoon Ha-young?]
"Yeah. I'm with Sun-woo."
[I see. What about Yoo Ah-ra?]
"Ah-ra?"
Come to think of it, Yoo Ah-ra was the only one missing. Where'd she go?
"Hmm……"
After a brief moment of thought, I spoke up instead.
"She'll be fine on her own. More importantly, let's share info and meet up. Where are you right now?"
[Well…… some temple. Not sure exactly where.]
A temple?
I had a rough idea of the location.
The underground empire had various places beyond the palace: temples, golden towers, etc.
Since everything was connected underground, getting there wouldn't be too hard.
It was quite a distance, though, so it'd take about a day.
"Got it. We'll gather a bit more info and head your way. Should arrive tomorrow."
[Tomorrow? You know the route here?]
"More or less."
[……Okay? Got it then. But where should we meet?]
"I'll contact you again tomorrow and let you know."
[Mm. Alright. See you tomorrow.]
Click.
The call ended. Now that I knew where Lee Seo-jun was, time to hunt more clues in the palace.
"Let's go."
"Okay."
With that, I stepped into the newly opened secret space.
As soon as I entered, I felt an energy akin to deep demonic qi.
Yoon Ha-young sensed it too and stiffened.
I proceeded slowly, scanning the surroundings.
There was a massive pattern etched into the floor.
Atop it lay heaps of tattered cloth in the shape of empty garments.
Outsider's Benefit activated simultaneously, revealing the sigil's contents in my mind.
[Sacrifice, summoning, creation…….]
"……What is this?"
Yoon Ha-young whispered, sensing something ominous.
I crouched down and examined the sigil's details more closely.
"It's a sacrifice sigil."
"……Sacrifice sigil?"
Yoon Ha-young murmured softly.
I photographed the scene with the exploration note.
［Information collected: Exploration Score +5 points］
I added another message atop it.
［Clothing. Missing people.］
［Interpretation success: Exploration Score +10 points］
Yoon Ha-young scanned the surroundings with grave eyes and said,
"……Sun-woo. These clothes…… human clothes?"
"Yeah. Probably."
"Why are only the clothes left here?"
Instead of answering, I photographed every trace left in the space without omission.
The sigil's form and its connecting direction.
That direction likely pointed toward the temple where Lee Seo-jun's group was.
"Sun-woo?"
Yoon Ha-young called me again. Her voice carried a note of seriousness.
She'd probably connected the sacrifice sigil and the leftover clothes to something.
To ease her tension, I gave her a small smile.
The next morning.
Following the passage connecting to the palace basement, we arrived at the 'temple' where Lee Seo-jun's group had gathered.
The temple was spacious, but following the energy led us straight to them.
After a quick scan of the temple interior, we shared info with Lee Seo-jun's group.
"……Whoa. How'd you gather so much in that short time?"
Lee Seo-jun muttered blankly as he checked my info.
Yoon Ha-young glanced at me slyly and gave an awkward smile.
"……Well, we got info from various places with toll fees."
"Toll fees? What does that mean?"
When Lee Seo-jun asked, I answered for her.
"There's this thing. Better not to know."
"?"
"Anyway. You need palace-related info, right?"
"Y-Yeah."
Lee Seo-jun nodded.
"I'll send everything you need."
"……I'd love that, but doesn't feel right taking so much for free. The rarity drops would hurt you."
He looked apologetic at my offer to share everything, but it didn't matter.
I wanted him to do well in this pro wizard exam, and I'd already secured 1st place with first-discovery bonuses anyway.
Overwhelmingly so.
"It's fine. We're teammates."
"……Teammates. Right."
Lee Seo-jun nodded and received the info from me.
I shared some with Shin Young-jun and Lee Hyun-joo too, without much rarity loss.
Of course, it wasn't one-sided. I got all their temple info that I lacked.
Using that, I started combining.
It didn't take long. I already knew the answers from the original work in my head.
"I'm done combining."
Everyone's eyes turned to me at my words.
"……What? You solved it already?"
I nodded and said,
The exploration exam was basically over for me.
All that remained were the cave exploration wrapping up today and the competition exam.
But first. Some hints.
"Everyone, listen up. You seem lost, so I'll drop a few hints."
Everyone focused on me.
"First off, you know this place is the Golden Empire, Brahma, right?"
By now, all exam participants should know.
"Yeah, we got that."
"I think this exam is about each person's theory on why the Golden Empire fell."
"What? How are we supposed to know something even the Association doesn't?"
I smirked at Shin Young-jun's words.
The Association knew.
They just hadn't revealed it due to the danger.
Though in the original, they learned a new secret through Lee Seo-jun and Lee Hyun-joo's deductions.
"It's not about the right answer. They're probably curious what conclusions we'd draw."
I continued.
"Here's my take: Brahma conducted some kind of experiment."
"Experiment?"
I nodded and showed the sigil from the exploration note.
"This is a sacrifice sigil. It's drawn throughout the entire palace."
"Sacrifice sigil…… There was one in the temple too."
Lee Hyun-joo murmured quietly.
I nodded and said,
"This sigil runs from the palace to the temple, across the entire underground. And around it, only people's clothes were left."
"……Hold on, what? You mean the people were sacrificed? That make any sense?"
Shin Young-jun frowned. I knew exactly what doubt he felt.
"You're right—sacrifice sigils aren't easy to activate. Depending on size, but for this scale, it'd take over 10 hours just to cast and trigger."
The stronger the sigil, the harder to activate.
Especially a taboo one like sacrifice.
If the sigil glowed and people were on it, they'd sense the danger and flee within 10 hours upon seeing the light.
In short, sacrifice sigils don't activate easily.
"But there must've been a reason. Maybe they imprisoned the people. Or they held such strong beliefs that being sacrificed didn't matter."
"……Beliefs."
Everyone fell silent at the word 'beliefs.'
After all, there were real people who died for their misguided convictions.
"So what was this sacrifice sigil for?"
"Probably to create a miracle."
"Miracle?"
"Yeah."
Everyone wore puzzled expressions.
I showed other clues I had.
"These texts praise miracles. Here too. Here. And here."
Since they could interpret sigils to some extent, they nodded in understanding.
"But this isn't ironclad proof. We need more info for certainty."
We lacked details on what miracle they created.
And I hadn't yet obtained clues about where that miracle—unknown even to the Association—was hidden.
Lee Seo-jun looked at me thoughtfully.
Right then, an alarm rang from the exploration note.
[Competition begins in 1 hour.]
[All participants' exploration scores and info lists will be revealed.]
Perfect timing.
I set down the exploration note and said,
"Alright, let's go get the info we're missing."