I'll Accept the Mission
"I'll accept the mission."
"Ugh… I'm beat…."
The meal with the Association President had wrapped up successfully.
Thank goodness the President seemed to enjoy himself.
The food had been delicious, but I never got a chance to actually savor it. I'd been far too tense for that. My back was completely soaked through by the end of it.
Still, it hadn't just been a meal and nothing more.
"The Association President… sure knows how to spend money."
I turned the new license over in my hands.
Not a D-Rank license. Not even an S-Rank license.
An EX-Rank license, with a gold border set against a black metal base.
I'd never heard of EX-Rank before, much less seen one, so I couldn't help but find it fascinating.
Association President…? What exactly is EX-Rank?
Heh heh. In the public eye, we use EX-Rank to refer to Hunters who fall outside the standard scale. Just a small gesture of goodwill.
Hmm. I was pretty sure he'd said I'd be treated as an S-Rank.
From the sound of it, though, this is higher than S-Rank.
According to the Association President, I was the only EX-Rank in all of South Korea. It wasn't an official rank, of course — unofficial — but he'd still gone out of his way to gift me an EX-Rank license. I figured I should send him a gift card sometime.
He wouldn't just slap an EX-Rank together because I was E-Rank, right…?
Something to think about later, I decided.
I flopped backward.
Maybe it was the meal, but the post-dinner drowsiness hit hard. That was how I ended up sprawled across the bed like this.
"Ah, wonder if my mana's topped off."
I'd eaten, so my mana should have recovered on its own. Mana needed to be emptied out quickly before it hit maximum capacity.
Mana steadily refilled over time. Left alone long enough, it would fill to the absolute limit — and once it hit that ceiling, it stopped accumulating entirely. Just like pouring water into a cup that never expands no matter how much you keep pouring, Hunters worked the same way.
"Hey. I'm going back in for a re-clear."
Enter the Unique Difficulty Tower?
[YES] [NO]
"Yeah."
Right there on the spot, I ricing-farmed until my mana bottomed out.
Truly a fulfilling…? day.
If only I hadn't heard the Association President's bombshell announcement.
Several days had passed since the meal with the Association President.
I was ricing as usual with the stream running when—
Bang—!
"Kyaang, kyaeng…."
You have successfully cleared Floor 2 of the Unique Difficulty Tower!
Cleared at an astonishing speed!
Final Score: 100,000 pts
Perfect score achieved.
I was checking over the rewards when—
"Huh…? Chat, hang on a sec?"
It was a line I used a lot, sure — but that wasn't the point right now.
My Avid had evolved again.
This time, though, I hadn't gained a new skill. A skill had leveled up instead.
Mana Return
Refunds 50% → 55% of the mana used whenever a monster is slain.
"Ooooh…!"
"Excuse me? I'm completely fine, thank you very much!"
The viewers' concern nearly made me tear up, but I forced the tears back down and kept going.
"Chat, should we keep the stream going? I've got something I want to show you."
"Not a vlog. I'm gonna drink some mana potions and re-clear."
The moment I said I was buying mana potions, the chat went into collective panic mode.
Such kind viewers, fretting over my wallet.
The mask made smiling hard, so I stuck a thumb up instead.
"Ahaha! That pocket change? Who cares. All I need is you guys!"
Busted.
Even taking a loss on potions was fine. No — my content was actually thriving. Donations had been pouring in nonstop, after all.
…
…
…
See that? Look at those donations flooding in. With sponsorships exploding like this, how could I not spend a few Coins for the stream?
"Alright then, potion shopping time starts now. Oh, while we're at it — should I sell the mana stones too?"
Mana stones had become a highly sought-after natural energy source in the modern world. The total energy they held varied wildly by rank, and of course the higher the rank, the more expensive they got — not in a straight line, but along a proportional curve.
I hadn't touched a single mana stone since clearing Easy Floor 1. Partly because my knowledge of mana stones was lacking, and partly from the vague sense that if I stockpiled them, they'd come in handy someday.
I checked the chat for opinions.
The consensus was sell.
"Alrighty~ just a sec?"
Right before I sold every last mana stone, a donation hit.
A high-value one complete with the full sound effect.
Ba-da-bam—!
Short and devastating.
"Hephaestus's Disciple, is there a reason I shouldn't sell them?"
It was a nickname I'd never seen before, but everyone else clearly knew who this person was.
"Is this person that famous? I don't know them."
The chat immediately caught fire.
That famous, huh…?
I'd look them up after the stream.
"Alright then, no selling mana stones. Just buying mana potions."
My total mana right now was 50. Without the Nightfire buff, my mana pool was pitifully low. No need to force myself into expensive potions — three D-Rank mana potions would fill me up to a tight full.
Cost: 30,000 COIN
[YES] [NO]
"I'll buy them."
The moment I confirmed, three shabby-looking mana potions materialized in midair.
"Have you people lost your minds."
Even a D-Rank mana potion was 10,000 Coins each. A million-won potion that restored a measly 15 mana. Straight-up highway robbery.
That was when another massive donation hit.
Ba-da-bam—!
Mission: Buy and drink an S-Rank mana potion
Reward: I'll craft you one piece of gear
Also, please rate the flavor
"An S-Rank mana potion…?"
S-Rank mana potions were, without a single lie, absurdly expensive. If the D-Rank potions I'd just bought were the price of a house in Seoul, an S-Rank mana potion was roughly a Gangnam penthouse. Sure, the 200,000 Coins this person had donated total was a lot of money — but nowhere near enough to buy an S-Rank mana potion.
When I couldn't get a read on things, I always checked the chat. I stared hard at the chat window.
It's that big a deal…?
If the chat was telling the truth, this wasn't a bad deal at all. No — it wasn't a loss. It was a gain.
Not every Hunter was meant to climb the Tower. If your Avid type wasn't combat-oriented, Tower climbing was essentially impossible. That didn't mean those Hunters had no place to stand. Everyone had their own role. The classic example: blacksmiths.
Most items came as rewards from clearing the Tower. The Nightfire I was using right now was a Tower drop, after all. But when a blacksmith used their Avid to craft an item, the system somehow treated it as a proper Item even though it hadn't come from the Tower. Items didn't come easy, of course, and they sold for astronomical prices — but high-rank Hunters with money still sought blacksmiths out. Why? Because wearing gear raised your odds of survival.
"Alright… since Hephaestus's Disciple put it that way, I'll buy it. One S-Rank mana potion."
"I'm drinking the whole thing."
I looked at the three mana potions still floating in midair.
"Instead! After the stream, I'll give away the D-Rank potions~"
Reading the chat, my brow furrowed on its own. These weren't even perverts — why were they this obsessed with my spit?
"Ugh… why is my viewer quality like this."
"I am perfectly normal…. Anyway, let's buy it first."
I typed S-Rank Mana Potion into the shop search bar. Remaining stock: 23.
I reached out to buy one, feeling relieved — and then—
"Huh…? Wh-what the—?!"
Some absolute maniacs started snatching up S-Rank mana potions in real time.