Unprecedented Rookie (2)

An achievement? Again?

-Seriously, this is insane!

Eunho and Arin's shock spread across their stunned faces. Of course it would. What others could barely obtain once in a lifetime, he had now claimed twice—before even setting foot on the first floor.

Still, Eunho pushed down his astonishment faster than Arin did. Something else was gnawing at his eyes.

A person whose sheet was never created? They're only getting around to it now? What does that even mean?

Scritch, scritch—.

As if answering his question, a sound drifted through the empty air.

The sound of something being scribbled down with a pencil.

Eunho instinctively understood—this was his character sheet being written.

The next moment, a single form materialized before his eyes.

...A status window?

Only then did Eunho grasp what the character sheet truly meant.

So I couldn't use my status window all this time because the sheet didn't exist?

And that Great Late Bloomer, sitting there in plain sight—that was his trait. Which meant he hadn't been able to use that either. No, it went beyond simply being unable to use it. It had never even been detected.

All of it, because that sheet had been omitted.

Ugh, my blood pressure...

Remembering every humiliation and indignity he'd suffered until now, Eunho nearly clutched the back of his neck as his blood pressure spiked.

Focus. I have it now, at least, right?

Now was not the time to rage over old memories—he needed to look at the present and figure things out.

Achievements. Unprecedented Rookie.

At his call, information about the achievement unfurled before his eyes.

"...?"

-...?

Eunho, who had been staring at the achievement, tilted his head. So did the regressor Arin.

What is this?

Is this supposed to be a reward? Why is the flavor text like this?

Reading the description, Eunho couldn't help but feel completely dumbfounded.

Why is the description like this? Is it mocking me ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠or something?

As a last resort, he turned to the regressor, who had far more experience than he did. Perhaps their minds were in sync—she happened to be looking right back at him.

-What is this?

No idea.

That terse exchange carried a whole world of meaning.

Eunho gave up asking her and moved on to the Irregular description.

And this one was even worse.

Reading it at all felt like hitting a wall.

Has the Tower always been like this?

-Uh... yeah, it's unfriendly, but I've never seen it this bad before.

At her answer, Eunho quietly closed the achievement window. Looking at it any longer would only give him a headache.

Alright. I'll figure this stuff out as I go. But what about the rest? Why won't my talent get measured?

The achievements he'd just earned, so those were excusable. His alignment was different for everyone, so that was excusable too. Everything else was standard.

The empty skill field, starting at 9th Grade—all the same as anyone else.

But there was exactly one thing that set him apart. The way his talent was displayed.

Taking Arin's sheet as an example, her talent was listed as Supreme. This was the girl who'd been hailed as the face of Korea, competing for the top spot.

So why not mine?

Everyone else could see their talent's value, and he couldn't. He'd finally gotten a status window, and it was still playing favorites with him?

-Whoa!

But the regressor Arin, it seemed, saw it completely differently. She suddenly let out a gasp of admiration, her eyes sparkling.

-So even the Tower can't measure it! That's so you, Eunho!

Her theatrics made Eunho ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠smile despite himself. Right. So what if the talent field wasn't displaying yet? It said data was being collected, so it would show up eventually.

That single positive reaction alone seemed to wash away every doubt budding in his heart.

Come to think of it, I used to be like this, didn't I?

He used to brush everything off as no big deal, looking at the world with the unwavering optimism that whatever happened, things would turn out fine.

But then he'd entered the Academy, spent his days stamped with the label of "inferior student," ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and somewhere along the way, the positive had turned negative.

All that questioning and grumbling just now had been part of it. And yet, thanks to her, a little of his old self seemed to be coming back.

That old sensibility he'd forgotten while attending the Academy.

The regressor Arin must have sensed it too, because she suddenly grinned. Though that grin was more than a little perverted.

Anyway—Great Late Bloomer. What kind of ability is this supposed to be?

Eunho worked the status window and pulled up the trait's description.

"...??"

Another vein popped up on Eunho's forehead.

Now that he looked at it, his status window seemed defective in all sorts of ways. The talent field was blank, and the trait's grade wasn't even listed. Could he get this thing sent in for repairs?

What is it with this one too?

The description was unfriendly to the extreme. "The vessel is being shaped." What kind of trait description consists of a single line like that?

Taking Arin as an example again—her trait was Savior Saintess. Its description was genuinely long, filled to the brim with praise for her talent.

Great Late Bloomer. That's a four-character idiom, right?

It takes a long time for a great person to fully mature. Surely that was the meaning. But with just that to go on, he couldn't make heads or tails of its actual use.

-Still, it's probably a good one! A trait with no grade is a first even for me! It's probably like the talent field, right?

Eunho let the question slide. Fine. The important thing was that a guy who'd had no trait, no status window, now had both.

I'll learn more as I climb the Tower.

The unfriendly status window, the undetermined talent, the cryptic achievements—all of it. Climbing would tell him everything.

Just as Eunho was about to turn his eyes away from the useless status window, something new flickered into view.

It wasn't like before, when things merely sounded out. Whether it was because he'd obtained the status window or not, a message printed itself directly into both his eyes.

A hundred items in total.

The regressor Arin's eyes lit up at the list.

-Ooh. It's been a while. Winged Step is a footwork technique from the early floors.

Is it any good?

-Mm, not really? It's nice for getting through the early strata, though. After that, not so much.

Why not?

-Because it's useless? Reaching its Extreme is a chore, and even if it does evolve at the Extreme, it never becomes anything great. The time you'd spend fussing over it is better spent training other skills or raising stats. That's what most Rankers did, anyway.

So that was how it was.

Eunho nodded and pointed at the other items. Each time he did, she gave detailed explanations as far as her knowledge went—the veteran's experience clearly hadn't gone anywhere.

And so, the conclusion:

So most of this is garbage.

She said the ones tagged "Skill" or "Trait" were the only ones worth anything, since at least those could be grown.

Though even those, she added, couldn't shed their early-game limits even when they reached the Extreme.

Is this a scam?

Of course it wasn't. Among the things Eunho had looked up, Arin had rated a few as genuinely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠useful even later on.

For example... yeah. This one.

Cursed Wings.

According to the regressor Arin, this trait existed in a "sealed" state.

Somewhere further up the Tower, a trial related to it would appear, and clearing that trial would break the seal and unleash the trait's true power.

So, do I invest in the future and take the safe road, or grab something immediately useful? That is the question.

As Eunho paced back and forth in front of the list, the Arin of the present tilted her head at the sight.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah—I just awakened. Apparently my status window wouldn't show because of a Tower error. I'm picking out items from the compensation right now."

"What?"

Arin's eyes went round as a rabbit's, holy power stirring in her grip as if she couldn't believe it. Then her bewildered expression melted, and a smile bloomed in full flower.

"C-Congratulations!"

"I mean, I don't know if it warrants that much celebrating... but thanks. Anyway, if it were you, would you pick something future-oriented from the list, or something you need right now?"

"Hmm... I'd probably go with something you need right now, since there's no telling how things will turn out later?"

"Hmm."

Sound advice. Sound advice, certainly, but...

Why does it feel so unsatisfying?

It wasn't that Arin's choice was lacking. It was the items themselves that left him wanting.

Rewards he would have bowed to the ground for in the past now looked unimpressive—apparently because he'd had one full taste of the regressor's premium standard.

Not that it's a power I can abuse.

But he needed to cultivate his own strength. That came first, above all else.

The problem was that nowhere among these items did he see anything that would help him do that.

Even where it does, the effect is negligible.

Swordsmanship was low-graded, and Cursed Wings, by her account, only paid off as you climbed and conquered the Tower.

A shame. What a shame.

Just as Eunho was soothing his disappointed heart and moving his hand toward Cursed Wings—

「The achievement 'Unprecedented Rookie' is squirming!」

"Huh?"

「The achievement 'Unprecedented Rookie' is throwing a tantrum!」

What on earth.

As Eunho froze mid-motion at the sudden message, the item list underwent a massive overhaul.

A hundred items had abruptly shrunk to ten. But the quality of their contents brooked no comparison.

A minimum of A-rank? All the way up to S-rank.

-KYAAAA!! Boost! Why is that even on here?!

Boost? You know that trait?

-That one! You have to pick that one, no questions asked! It's an absolutely broken trait!

Eunho had never seen the regressor Arin this worked up.

Well, granted, they hadn't known each other long.

And yet in that brief span of time, she had carved her presence deep into him.

She was the reason he'd survived the test, the source of every form of help he'd received. So this time too, he would trust her words.

Number ten. I select the trait, Boost.

"Oh..."

Eunho was left utterly speechless.

If this were a novel, wouldn't the title need to change?

Something like... I'm the Only One with a Triple Experience Event.