Transcendent Rewards

Discovery.

It meant finding something the world had never known—something that had never existed before.

And right now, I had discovered a Heavenly Spirit.

Even as a five-year veteran player, a rotten-water veteran of this world, it was a spirit whose name I had never once heard. Coincidentally, it shared the same name as one of my Hidden Traits: Heavenly.

Coincidence? Or had the Hidden Trait itself allowed me to find it?

Doesn't matter.

What mattered was that I had discovered it. I reached toward the light that stood at the summit of the Tower of Chaos—the unknown itself—and drew something out from within that radiance.

A spirit's egg.

It was a spirit's egg. Yet it was nothing like any ordinary spirit egg. The surface of a spirit's egg always bore marks related to its element—wind spirits left scratches as if scoured by gales; fire spirits left scorch marks. Light spirits were eggs made of light itself.

The egg that cradled the Heavenly Spirit fit none of those cases.

It's wrapped in feathers.

An egg formed of white and black feathers in perfect half-and-half proportion. Hundreds, thousands of layers of feathers composed the shell. I had never seen an egg of this form. Not only was the name unfamiliar—the shape itself was utterly alien.

I stared at it. A parchment bearing the egg's information floated before my eyes.

The description was shorter than expected. Even so, I could extract several facts from it.

Ordinarily, the Heavenly Realm refers to the Divine Realm.

The Divine Realm—the place where goddesses dwell. A Heavenly One would mean a member of the celestial race. Discovering this egg was proof that I was a “Heavenly One.” Of course I was not truly one of them. This had to be an effect of the Hidden Trait Heavenly.

Then… is Heavenly a trait related to the celestial race?

I stroked my chin. That would be the ordinary conclusion. But it was a fallacy of hasty generalization.

…Demons also call the Demon Realm the Heavenly Realm.

We commonly speak of the Heavenly Realm as the Divine Realm, yet the Demon Realm is likewise called the Heavenly Realm—mostly by the demons themselves. From this description alone, there was no way to know whether the egg had fallen from the Divine Realm or the Demon Realm. The equal mix of white and black feathers only deepened the confusion.

I'll have to hatch it to be sure.

I could not decide yet. One thing was certain: this was no ordinary egg. The Constellations of the Hall of One Hundred Constellations, the masters of the towers, and the Spirit Kings were all watching it with interest.

Constellations always took interest whenever something novel or remarkable was discovered. The truly important attention, however, came from the Spirit Kings.

Spirits are powerful enough to create and sustain entire forests.

Spirits are the most vital medium that maintains the world. When contracted with a human, they grant command over the forces of nature; spirits of sufficient rank can erase an entire mountain in a single stroke. How much more powerful, then, must their kings be?

The hundred Constellations of the Hall of One Hundred Constellations, the Dominators who rule the fissures of the Abyss, the Earth-Dragon Giants who guard the goddesses, the Black Emperor and White Emperor said to stand at the northern and southern ends of the world… even compared to those beings, the Spirit Kings were not found wanting.

Not a single person has ever contracted with a Spirit King.

That was why, here in Pangenia, no one had ever formed a contract with a Spirit King. Spirit Kings were absolute neutrals who never interfered in the affairs of the world. Therefore the fact that every Spirit King had taken interest in this “Heavenly Egg” carried a weight that was anything but light. It meant the egg possessed value equal to—or greater than—that of a Spirit King itself.

New text appeared at that moment. The settlement for Main Quest 3 had finally finished. Compared with Main Quests 1 and 2, the calculation time had been considerably longer.

Unlike other towers, this one didn't require a high level to climb.

If it had been a tower that rose according to fixed level brackets, settlement would have been simple; each tower would have possessed its own standardized scoring rubric. The Tower of Chaos was different. Climbing it had been a pure battle against myself.

The score might be lower than I expect.

Assigning a score to a fight against “myself” was inherently subjective. There could be no objective metric. Whatever the method of evaluation, this case was clearly different from the previous main quests. Expect too much and the disappointment would be equally great. So I deliberately lowered my expectations on this point.

Obtaining the Heavenly Egg alone is more than enough.

I steadied my breathing and looked at the settlement sheet floating before me.

It had been updated to the Hall of Fame. That meant I had at least entered the ranking. An achievement no one else had ever accomplished—higher than any score I had received before.

Main Quest 1, Survival: 220 points.

Main Quest 2, Obtain a Class: 230 points.

And this Main Quest 3, Climb the Tower: a full 240 points.

At this level, I could reasonably hope for a high ranking. Yet the rewards were not finished.

Three Constellations I had already met and two I was seeing for the first time. Five Constellations in total had responded. Adding the Lucky Dice, the reward tier had risen six stages, and a message appeared declaring that the very caliber of the reward had changed.

Exceeding twenty tiers meant one could obtain a transcendent reward. In other words, the base reward tier earned by climbing the Tower of Chaos had been at least fourteen or higher. I had expected rewards to have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tiers, yet the system seemed far more finely subdivided than I had imagined.

Transcendence of the reward?

I did not yet grasp the precise meaning. Did it mean I would receive a transcendent reward? Or that the grade of the reward itself would change?

I soon understood.

True. Demon-Slaying. Extreme. Annihilation.

Any item bearing one of those four titles had reached the absolute peak. Even an ordinary object became an incomparable treasure once one of those titles was affixed. Performance and options transformed to match the status of a true treasure—and no amount of money could purchase them. Transcendent items could not be traded or transferred in the first place.

Only one person. Equipment that displayed its full power solely for its rightful user. Just as a human who devoured a star could transcend, those four titles could only be attached to something that had already transcended.

…So this is what “transcendence of the reward” meant.

I was so stunned I lost the ability to speak. Had it not been for the Heart of the Iron-Blooded Lord, my heart would have burst. The effort required to attach those four titles was no joke—it was on the level of walking around the entire Earth on foot. Because the effort was so immense, ordinary equipment or tools were almost never transcended… yet these were not items I had to create myself. They were simply being given as rewards.

Choosing even one would have been a jackpot. They were telling me to choose two.

I was far more excited than when I had cleared the previous two main quests. In this moment I almost hated the Heart ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the Iron-Blooded Lord for forcibly suppressing that excitement.

Incredible.

I examined the items one by one, clicking my tongue in awe. The flood of rewards left me unable to collect my thoughts.

It was the moment I stepped out of the tower and crossed the portal.

“Not bad, Knight King.”

The golden spirit that had first granted me permission to enter the portal spoke. It was a gatekeeper of sorts that guided one into the Tower of Spirits. Yet an ordinary gatekeeper would have no way of knowing the details of those who climbed the tower. More than that—it had called me Knight King. Knight King was the title I had held when I was Wilhelm.

I turned my head in surprise, but the portal snapped shut in an instant.

…Had the golden spirit never been a mere gatekeeper?

“Ohh! So you truly climbed the Tower of Spirits!”

Before I knew it, the High Dryad stood before me. Surrounded by the countless dryads who guarded the area, her eyes were wide enough to pop from her head.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I drew a breath and asked,

“How much time has passed?”

“Not even a full day.”

Barely a day. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It had not been mere sensation; inside the Tower of Chaos I had spent at least a hundred days. Yet here, only a single day had gone by.

Ziiing!

Another portal opened, and Hudson and Isabella appeared.

“Hah! Hah! Uweeeehk!”

The instant he emerged, Hudson emptied his stomach. Whatever ordeal he had endured, not a single part of his body was intact. His clothes were rags; his hair had been scorched into frizzy curls.

Isabella gave me a short, polite bow. Unlike Hudson, she showed no outward change whatsoever—as if she had merely taken a stroll around the neighborhood.

“Druid! I apologize for ever doubting you.”

The High Dryad spoke with full formality. At last she was treating me as a true “guest.”

“As promised, if you give the Spirit Egg to the forest, we shall regard you as our eternal friend. Naturally, we will also grant you a reward befitting that status.”

Ah.

…Right.

I had clearly promised to give a Spirit Egg to the Dryad Forest. The problem was that I had brought only one egg. When I had climbed the Tower of Spirits as Wilhelm, I had obtained five Spirit Eggs. I had expected to obtain multiple eggs this time as well—yet all I had received was a single Heavenly Egg.

Should I just run for it?

In that instant the High Dryad’s eyes narrowed sharply.

“Druid! You don’t intend to break your promise, do you?”

…Her intuition was terrifyingly sharp.