Not a Bad Echo
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A brand-new line added to the status window.
Really, a title slot has been created.
In that instant, a pathetic scrap of knowledge about Arcana flashed through my mind. But no matter how much I racked my brain...
'Then or now.'
I'd never heard or seen anything about titles. In other games, maybe, but at least in Arcana, titles were definitely a system that didn't exist.
I recalled the message that had appeared.
My feats had echoed across the Arcana Continent.
Those feats had spread among the continent's inhabitants.
And thanks to that, I'd acquired a title...
'This is on a whole different level from unlocking stats.'
Title.
Whether it was a system that had always existed in Arcana from the start.
Or if it was newly updated after the cataclysm.
I had no way of knowing.
But I did realize it wasn't something anyone could easily obtain.
'Even now, the acquisition conditions are insane.'
It meant you'd have to complete a world-class quest at minimum to get one.
Thinking that far stirred another emotion I couldn't quite put into words.
......Is this really the right reward?
Am I even worthy of receiving a title?
Screw the process. I'd only ever focused on results.
Even if it was my best effort, luck was still luck.
Yet shamelessly...
"The Last Adventurer."
Always.
I couldn't show that emotion on my face.
But more than anyone else, I could feel it.
My neck and spine straightening rigidly.
The corners of my mouth lifting ever so slightly—you'd need a microscope to notice.
Even the proud gaze toward the World Tree.
"Not a bad echo."
Yes, sprouting the World Tree.
And making my presence known across the Arcana Continent because of it.
Grandfell considered it utterly natural, of course.
Naturally, I was getting used to this thick-skinned guy's reactions by now.
What I had to do was simple.
Check the title's effects without changing my expression.
Process be damned.
I had to claim the results—the rewards—for sure, right?
Last Adventurer: You will not die on the Arcana Continent. Upon death, you immediately return to reality and cannot access the Arcana Continent for a set period.
Cooldown: 24 hours
But what the hell is this effect?
Hold on—doesn't "will not die" mean immortality?
Even a rough glance showed it was no ordinary effect.
No, forget immortality—the premise alone...
Death on the Arcana Continent?!
No, but even if I don't die on the Arcana Continent, what's the point?
I don't even know how to get there in the first place!
If I did, the Mage Tower mages and other Arcana natives wouldn't be stuck in reality.
'......But why does it feel familiar?'
Somehow, the title's bizarre effect rang a bell.
Wait, the name itself...
Last Adventurer.
Adventurer.
From the days when Arcana was just a game.
The term Arcana natives used for players.
Yeah, I was a player. An adventurer.
'If I ever access the Arcana Continent.'
I'd be the last adventurer for sure.
Viewing it that way, the effect started to make sense.
'This too...!'
Upon death, unable to access the Arcana Continent for 24 hours.
Swap "access" for "log in"...
And it was exactly the death penalty from when Arcana was just a game...!
I reread the title effect several times before speaking.
"A mere hypothesis, but the possibility is ample."
System messages don't lie.
Giving me a title like this?
It meant a day would surely come when I'd make use of it.
And what that implied was simple.
Accessing the Arcana Continent from reality.
Wasn't just pie in the sky.
'Of course, I don't know when that'll be.'
One thing was clear.
"Tremble in fear until then, inferior rabble."
The day I set foot on the Arcana Continent.
Would be the day demons quake in terror.
I'm the guy who thrashes about every single day, after all.
By then, I'd be stronger than now.
Factor in the Last Adventurer effect...
'Even if I die, I respawn after 24 hours and come back.'
To demons, at least.
Grandfell would transcend a mere object of fear.
And become a nightmare, wouldn't he?
Of course, it felt like a distant dream, so I wrapped up my thoughts there.
I looked up at the World Tree.
It had already grown taller than any great tree in the swamp.
Just as the message had said.
This place was no longer the blood-soaked swamp of the Predator.
You have entered the World Tree's Secret Garden.
"B-Brothers! Y-You're all seeing this, right? The monsters!!"
No fighting spirit from the monsters.
Yeah, as lifeforms of the Arcana Continent.
They'd instinctively grasped the meaning of the World Tree's new growth.
That the Arcana Continent teetered on the brink of extinction.
You have cleared the World Tree's Secret Garden rift.
Rumble—!
The world shook.
The space of 【Strange】, blending reality and the Arcana Continent, would now return each to its origin.
A familiar phenomenon for players.
But the nymph looked flustered.
"The scenery is shifting again...!"
Of course, no need to worry.
The nymph and I were bound by contract.
We'd reunite in the next rift.
'So until then.'
The light intensified.
Vision blurred.
I spoke to the nymph.
"Can you witness the state of the Arcana Continent in my stead?"
The state of the Arcana Continent.
As I'd considered before contracting with the nymph.
Information on the Arcana Continent was crucial.
And now, with the title confirming the possibility of access, even more so.
'Of course, it won't be easy.'
The continent was short on intact regions.
That's why the nymph had stayed here, in the Predator's Swamp.
Thanks to the contract.
Influenced by me, the contractor, the nymph's form and nature had changed.
"I shall repay Sir Hoyeol's trust."
Pride had taken root.
No more fear.
But I knew.
Those wings were far too frail to bear that heavy pride...!
Even if she looked like a high spirit or Spirit King.
A nymph was ultimately a low spirit.
And with my pathetic magic power, combat boosts were out of the question.
However.
'My magic may be zilch.'
But I had a little inheritance.
Akshan's legacy, the Quirnburk Mechanical Tower.
Yes, even now.
The tower fulfilled its role as Akshan's ultimate weapon.
That Quirnburk Mechanical Tower was the perfect safe haven for the nymph to roam the continent and gather intel.
Of course, explaining the backstory.
Would take too long.
I sent telepathy to the nymph.
And added briefly.
"Go with my arrangements."
True to form, to the end.
Shamelessly.
*
......Flash!
Players opened their eyes almost simultaneously.
The view: Scandinavian coniferous forests.
"Whoa, I never imagined it'd end like this."
"What was that at the end? The monsters knelt?"
"World Tree? Messages flew by so fast, I couldn't keep up...!"
"Wait, where's Lee Hoyeol?"
The Predator's Swamp.
No, should call it the World Tree's Secret Garden now?
Anyway, in this rift too.
Hoyeol had pulled off the impossible.
Players searching for him was natural.
"If we snag even one scoop, it's huge. Right?"
"Got it. Me too."
"Hurry. Loosen up that mouth. He has to come this way anyway."
"Ugh, why's it still so cold here?"
The reporters around the portal felt the same.
Even if the subject was the great Hoyeol, they couldn't let this go easily.
Sure, skip sensitive questions that might irk him.
"How about just swordsmanship stuff?"
"Yeah, snagging that much is a win."
"Right? He'd answer that, at least. Even Lee Hoyeol?"
"Who knows. We can hope."
There was plenty of hot bait to make headlines.
Of course, Hoyeol's mood was key.
Shiver.
The anchor, lips trembling, pressed on just in case.
"C'mon, even Lee Hoyeol's human. With all he's gained this rift, his mood's gotta be good. He'd answer a quick question, right?"
If Hoyeol's feats had ended at the spirit contract.
They wouldn't have dreamed of asking.
But he'd sprouted the World Tree seed and rooted it successfully.
Pre- or post-cataclysm, no player had achieved that.
"What I'm really curious about is something else, but..."
Hoyeol's bold, unflinching actions.
They seemed like he knew everything.
How much did he know before entering the rift?
What rewards had this performance netted?
'Save the touchy questions for if the vibe's right.'
The anchor took a deep breath.
Then faced Hoyeol.
But that resolve crumbled instantly.
"......!"
The anchor and everyone else.
Couldn't speak to Hoyeol.
Not even as he vanished through the portal.
Clack—
The reason was simple.
'What's his problem now!'
As if satisfaction was a foreign word.
His rock-hard expression.
The aura Hoyeol exuded was far too grave.
As everyone stared blankly at the portal he'd vanished into.
Someone murmured softly.
"......No way, he can't be unsatisfied even with feats like this?"
Yeah.
Impossible to see it any other way.
Questions were inevitable.
How far ahead was Hoyeol looking, exactly?
.
.
.
Pathetically low magic power.
Good thing no one spoke or grabbed me.
Really.
I had no energy left for kind replies.
If someone had, I'd have collapsed right there.
In that sense, impressive.
'Climbing the stairs in this state.'
Clack—
I headed straight to my lab.
To recover from magic exhaustion, I needed mana replenishment.
And the method? Inefficient as hell, but no choice.
Damn formalities...!
Most efficient mana recovery?
Obviously, chug a mana regen potion made from elixir herbs.
How simple? Like drinking a soda.
But Grandfell's noble decorum and dignity.
Would never allow guzzling from a potion bottle.
So upon reaching the lab, I prepped a teacup.
Clink—
Boiled water with the inefficient magic tool, the portable lamp.
Waited inefficiently for the elixir herb teabag to steep.
Recovered mana inefficiently while savoring the tea.
"Placing a period is vital, but so is the comma—the pause."
Yeah, yeah, sure it is.
'I'd rather die than deal with this.'
Still, I agreed wholeheartedly with needing a pause, a rest.
From entering the Predator's Swamp.
I hadn't let my guard down once.
Sipping tea leisurely, a regret surfaced.
The Spirit King's blessing, Dryad's.
'Never got to taste that EXP or drop rate buff.'
By cost-benefit, the world quest was better.
But I was always hungry for levels.
Still, I had an ace.
Why, the moment I activated the Quirnburk Mechanical Tower.
I remembered the messages clearly.
EXP accumulates in the ultimate weapon, Quirnburk Mechanical Tower.
Prestige accumulates in the ultimate weapon, Quirnburk Mechanical Tower.
You have acquired acquisition rights to the accumulated EXP and prestige.
The title, Last Adventurer.
With the certainty it brings of accessing the Arcana Continent.
The Quirnburk Mechanical Tower's EXP and prestige were like savings I'd built up.
'Though I don't know the maturity date.'
Anyway, find it, and it's life-changing.
No—level reversal.
'When that time comes.'
I could uproot the Mage Tower's foundations too.
Lend out tower magic tools I couldn't use due to level limits.
Spam spells too mana-heavy to even attempt!
As I dreamed of striking it rich.
Knock knock.
Someone rapped on the door.
I reflexively checked the parchment.
Clear text floated there.
Ah, right—the scheduled meeting.
'Perfect timing.'
I had good news anyway.
I spoke leisurely.
"Enter, Marcelo."
*
Step—
Marcelo's steps down the stairs were light.
Not from his gaunt frame, but a lighter heart.
The agenda had passed.
Simple meaning.
Pausing on the stairs, Marcelo surveyed the tower.
'Tower Master. Breaking the cycle of contradiction, the Mage Tower moves at last.'
Even if the first step was small.
Everything starts with the first.
Marcelo shrugged.
'Now I can bring Sir Hoyeol good news for the first time.'
What reaction would Sir Hoyeol have?
Maybe a bit of surprise?
But.
Marcelo's ambitious thoughts crumbled fast.
Clink—
The moment he gulped the tea Hoyeol offered.
"?!"
Gulp.
Marcelo barely swallowed the hot tea and stammered.
"The W-World Tree? And intel on the Arcana Continent too? I-I don't understand...! Could you say that again?!"
Even the Mage Tower's chief mage couldn't keep up.