Chapter 190
Chapter 190
Chapter 190: Desert on the Scales (4)
Translation: godtl
A thick cloud of dust rose.
Above that peculiar, monochromatic haze resembling sand—
[You are the first on Earth to summon 'Ammit the Beast of Duat.']
[Reward: 10 Death Energy stat points acquired.]
[This is a bound stat for Transmutation Power.]
[Converted to 5 Transmutation Power.]
The first achievement reward appeared.
But that wasn't all.
[You are the first on Earth to survive with '10 Layers of Sin.']
[Reward: 5,000 Achievement Points acquired.]
[You are the first on Earth to trigger 'Constellation Intervention' in a formal Arena.]
[Reward: 5,000 Achievement Points acquired.]
Message windows continued to pop up with first-time rewards.
And at that—
"Sweet, so sweet!"
Si-mun burst into a satisfied grin.
'When I get back, I'll also receive the first-time formal Arena completion reward.'
And just how massive that would be—he already knew well, thanks to his illustrious younger brother from his past life.
Si-hyeok had told him all about it.
Si-mun's smile deepened.
"This is why first achievements are the best."
Was this the payoff for risking his life and diving into the Arena?
Though he also felt a tinge of bitterness.
'The players who jumped into the preliminary Arenas earlier must have felt the same way.'
Those who had ventured into the preliminary Arenas first.
Though they were all now deceased.
They, too, must have charged in aiming for these very rewards.
The only downside was the outcome—death.
He could fully understand the mindset of those who had taken the plunge first.
'It was a kind of blue ocean only the First Generation once enjoyed.'
This wasn't unique to the Galaxy Arena—it applied to any field.
Areas unknown to the masses, where there were no competitors.
Being the first to set foot in such a place granted immense advantages, regardless of the field.
In fact, the First Generation players had reaped enormous benefits from first-time Arena achievements.
And the majority of them were still active today, built upon that foundation.
The Iron Wood King and Do-hu were prime examples.
Naturally, the current preliminary Arenas were no different—a land of opportunity, just like back then.
Only.
'It's just that the price of entry happens to be your life...'
The problem was that enjoying it required staking your one and only life.
But this was merely regret for those who had died before him.
Si-mun wasn't entirely sorrowful.
'I even released information beforehand. Challenging it was still an individual's choice.'
It wasn't as if he were some dictator.
He couldn't possibly restrict each and every personal decision.
Above all—
'I staked my life too, didn't I?'
Si-mun himself had stepped in fully aware of the death penalty.
The Death Exemption Talisman, which prevented death, would only become available in the Achievement Shop exactly one week later.
And before such a Si-mun—
[Constellation? gazes at you with sparkling eyes. 'Watching up close is truly delightful. (To think those things were the only ones enjoying this fun spectacle!)']
The reaction of the Constellation who had pushed aside Osiris appeared.
Chuckling, Si-mun responded to the message.
"I'll be sure to craft something for you next time. Please wait patiently until then."
To which—
[Constellation? tilts its head. 'Of course. But... (You do know who I am, right?)']
The mysterious Constellation's question floated before his eyes.
Si-mun immediately nodded.
"Naturally."
Setting aside the reactions of other Constellations.
Osiris, a high-ranking Constellation.
There were only a handful of Constellations powerful enough to grab him by the scruff and toss him aside, as far as Si-mun knew.
Most crucially—
'The moment he handed over the Book of the Dead and called Osiris his great-grandfather, that was the end of it.'
Just the earlier reactions of the Constellations were enough to deduce that much.
'In my past life, wasn't this the backing Constellation of Egypt's high-ranker, Pharaoh Khalid Sharif?'
A player with the distinct, striking features and alluring bronze skin unique to Egyptians.
At the same time, the power of the Constellation he had wielded naturally came to mind.
'I was just thinking I'd need that kind of power soon for the preliminary Arenas. Perfect timing.'
Smiling, Si-mun reassured Constellation? once more.
"I even know what I need to craft for you. No need to worry so much."
Whether those words pleased it or not—
[Constellation? laughs in satisfaction. 'How astonishing. I've never been active in your dimension before. (So the rumors are true? Keheheh!)']
Constellation? responded with clear satisfaction.
After that, no further reactions from the Constellation appeared.
Whoooosh.
Only the desolate wind tickled Si-mun's ears.
Before he knew it, the thick dust cloud had cleared.
The desert, still bearing the scars of the catastrophe, lay exposed.
Just as Si-mun was about to turn his head toward Ammit—
"Hm?"
He noticed a chaotic flicker of light at the edge of his vision.
"Ah, right. I forgot to turn the broadcast back on."
Part 2/4
Earlier, Si-mun had temporarily stopped the broadcast to delve into the minds of the two upper-level Dragonkin using the Death Eye.
Now, he briefly revisited the information he had extracted from them.
'The Second Dragon Emperor ordered the Four Dragon Emperors to accelerate Earth's regular arenas.'
And additionally—
'She also commanded that all Dragonkin must harm me in any way possible if they encounter me in the Arena.'
A laughably petty order.
'Speeding up the regular arenas is actually a favor from my perspective. But to think they'd resort to such underhanded tactics...'
Since directly harming him on Earth was difficult, they must have planned to drag him into a regular arena and snipe him there.
It was a meticulous scheme—but also pathetically transparent.
'Still, I should stay cautious.'
After all, his opponents were Dragonkin.
Having steeled his resolve, Si-mun turned the broadcast back on.
—BANG BANG! Open up!
—What?! The broadcast cut out at this crucial moment?!
—Is it because of Ammit? Just seeing her on screen is terrifying enough.
—22 Ammit and those two massive eyeballs are insane.
—Huh? It's back!
—Si-mun! Are you okay?!
Perhaps because he had abruptly cut the broadcast earlier, the chat was flooding in relentlessly—even in Slow mode.
With a perfectly straight face, Si-mun picked the most popular theory among the speculations.
"Sorry for the late response. Something must've gone wrong with Arenia—the broadcast must've frozen for a bit."
—I KNEW IT!
—Told you! The broadcast crashed.
—Leoni couldn't even breathe properly—of course the stream would glitch too.
—But Leoni's broadcast was fine, though?
—What's the point? It's just her lying there, lol.
—FR LOL. But if the pressure was enough to crash the stream, how is this guy still standing?
—Because he's 'Si-mun.'
—Damn... I got nothing.
Thankfully, the viewers convinced themselves.
Then—
GRRRRUMBLE.
A minor tremor shook the ground.
"K-Kim Si-mun!"
Ammit had just set Leoni down.
Perhaps because the oppressive presence had vanished—
THUD.
Leoni Wolf, now fully recovered, kicked off the air and landed in front of Si-mun.
Then—
"You..."
Her lips trembled slightly, struggling to form words.
After several false starts, she finally managed—
"Th... thank you."
Her voice was strained.
"If it weren't for you, I would've died in the early stages of the Arena."
Si-mun silently watched her as she forced the words out.
"And beyond that... externally, internally... I truly learned so much."
It almost sounded like she was reaffirming something to herself.
"I swear upon the name of the Wolf family—I will repay this debt."
Gradually regaining her usual composure, she finished her thanks.
To her sincerity, Si-mun responded gently—
"If you insist..."
A playful smile tugged at his lips.
"Then I won't refuse."
Leoni's gaze was identical to her past self's—
"...Of course."
Yet somehow, subtly different.
SCREECH—
CLUNK.
The familiar sight of his workshop.
Along with it—
[You have successfully cleared the Arena: 'Desert on the Scales.']
[You displayed unbelievable performance in a 2-player cooperative condition.]
[Clear rewards have increased based on your contribution.]
Familiar messages popped up.
But one thing was different—
[As the first to clear a 'Regular Arena' in NO. 274, you have received additional rewards.]
[EXP reward has been drastically increased.]
[The value of reward items has been drastically increased.]
For the first time, Regular Arena rewards had been added.
Because of this—
[The bound trait 'Philosopher's Stone' has received a portion of the distributed EXP.]
[Level has increased by 25.]
[Philosopher's Stone level has increased by 20.]
[Obtained 'Ankh of Duat' as a clear reward.]
"Holy shit!!"
The rewards were insane enough to make him blurt out in shock.
"25 levels?!"
25 levels.
And considering the Philosopher's Stone had also leveled up—
'That's a total of 45 levels from a single Arena run!'
Even accounting for his stellar performance, this was an unprecedented leap.
Then—
—What the hell?! How did I just level up 20 times?!
The Philosopher's Stone, mid-experiment in its flask, came flying over.
Even it couldn't believe the numbers.
—O-Oppa. Am I hallucinating? Is this real?!
It asked again, just to be sure.
But the first-clear rewards didn't end there.
[Achievement 'First Regular Arena' has been attained.]
[One random owned trait has been upgraded by one rank.]
"Just as Si-hyeok said."
The first clear reward for the regular Arena that Si-hyeok from his past life had mentioned.
"A trait upgrade... This is a reward that's hard to come by even in the regular Arena..."
Since it directly raises the grade of a trait itself,
trait growth was a rare opportunity that even the regular Arena seldom provided.
As his thoughts reached that point—
"Wait a minute."
Si-mun tilted his head slightly.
'Among the traits I possess, there's only one whose grade can be raised, right?'
As if waiting for that very thought—
[The Philosopher's Stone's grade has been raised to A.]
The Philosopher's Stone's grade had increased.
-Heeeuuuung! A sudden level-up and a grade-up?! Double whammy, babyyyy!!
The little guy's excitement had also skyrocketed to another dimension.
Clatter clatter.
The Philosopher's Stone inside the flask rolled around on the floor.
"......"
Si-mun silently stared down at the creature for a moment before sighing.
"Well, anyway."
He picked up the rolling flask with a small sigh.
Whether his earlier words had been sincere or not—
Bzzzt.
A vibration akin to a phone's ringtone continuously pulsed in his palm.
"Tch."
Annoyed by the strangely unpleasant sensation, Si-mun quickly placed the flask back on its stand.
'Right, there was an item too, wasn't there?'
He promptly opened his inventory to check the reward item.
[Ankh of Duat]
Grade: SSS
A divine artifact of Duat, embodying the concept of eternal life.
Depending on its usage, it can manipulate life itself.
The description was modest, if not outright vague.
However—
"Jackpot!"
To Si-mun's eyes, it was anything but vague.
And for good reason.
'This life force is insane?!'
The sheer volume of life force contained within the Ankh of Duat was staggering.
Based on the knowledge of homunculus creation etched into his mind—
'With this, I can cut the homunculus creation process in half!'
It was potent enough to simplify the notoriously intricate process of homunculus creation.
"Hyun-ah! Look at this! The homun—"
Si-mun called out excitedly to the Philosopher's Stone, but—
-Gaaahhh...
The Philosopher's Stone remained sprawled on the stand, still dazed.
"Never mind. Just stay down."
Clicking his tongue briefly, he reopened his inventory.
Even as he stored the Ankh of Duat back inside—
"Heh heh!"
A grin refused to leave Si-mun's lips.
And for good reason.
'If I play my cards right, I might be able to create a homunculus even before reaching Diamond-rank.'
An artificial lifeform—a homunculus.
The sheer difficulty of creating new life was nothing short of monumental, but now,
a single item had halved that challenge.
Still, he couldn't let his guard down entirely.
'It's not like the difficulty has vanished completely. If I'm making one anyway, I should stuff it full of premium materials like I did with Si-yeon.'
At the end of the day,
whether it was a homunculus or a crafted golem, the importance of materials remained the same.
Closing his inventory, Si-mun opened his Status Window.
"Let's see... First, I'll dump all my remaining stats into—"
His original Transmutation Power stat was 219.
Adding the 5 stat points from the Arena achievement reward and the 25 from leveling up—
"Now my Transmutation Power is 249."
On top of that—
"With the +5 from Pick of Kings, my total Transmutation Power hits 254."
Even by level standards alone, 254.
A single stat—Transmutation Power—now rivaled the overall stats of an average mid-tier Platinum player.
But—
'If I stack three rounds of Bound Stats, each worth half of this...'
What if he added Bound Stats on top?
He'd skyrocket into the hundreds, competing with upper-tier Diamond players.
At some point, Si-mun abandoned the calculations.
"Honestly, this feels kinda ridiculous."
A dry laugh escaped him.
Even by his own standards, his specs were absurd.
Glancing downward on his Status Window—
"Total Achievement Points: 53,300? A bit awkward."
He checked his Achievement Points.
'Heavenly Demon Divine Art 5-Star requires 50,000 points, right?'
Si-mun had once asked the Philosopher's Stone for a quote on Heavenly Demon Divine Art 5-Star.
'New techniques get added, and Heavenly Demon's Dominion gains new abilities too, so it's a fair price...'
But with his current Achievement Points at 53,300,
he could dump everything into it without issue.
However—
'Now that it's the regular Arena, I should keep at least 10,000 points in reserve.'
No matter how overwhelming his specs were,
every Arena entry now meant staking his life.
Rankers were dropping like flies these days, weren't they?
Considering that his Achievement Points were directly tied to his combat prowess—
and factoring in the cost of Ars Magna—
keeping at least 10,000 points in reserve was the wise move.
Si-mun's fine brows furrowed slightly.
'Still, holding onto 50,000 points feels like a waste...'
He tapped his chin thoughtfully.
Then—
Ring ring.
The phone lying beside him rang.
Upon checking the caller ID, Si-mun promptly answered the call.
"Good to hear from you, Olivia."
-"The pleasure is mine, Mr. Si-mun. I watched the broadcast. Every aspect of it was truly marvelous."
And immediately after.
-"There's so much I'd love to discuss about it, but first—we do have some business to settle between us, don't we?"
"Ah, now that you mention it, the buff rental period must be nearing its end, right?"
-"Yes, exactly two days remaining."
He had found the perfect use for these 50,000 points.